##VIDEO ID:NWWB0nvR4QE## at night um so part of that process is reaching out and finding um retired superintendant talking to them and then when you feel like you have a viable candidate you bring it before bring the person before the board to kind of talk and then you would have a formal vote on that um so Michael Balman was a was a candidate that um I contacted and have met with and talked with and I thought would be someone to bring forth to the board to talk through and have some discussion about um I think just for um the purpose of keeping our Focus where it needs to be I kind of want to start the discussion with the board and ask the board to kind of talk through what do you see is important for that interim process like what what do you think the district's needs are what would you like to see an interim person address um or how you want the some things in place for that keep in mind that that interm process is very shortterm because we're going to be looking at hiring a new superintendent so long-term goals would be more for the next superintendent that would um that the board would hire so just kind of opening the discussion that way what what would you like to see from a candidate in this interim process what is shortterm well depending on when we can get someone hired and when they could start I know but for how long what's the short term well I think the hope is that we can hire someone to start by July 1st yeah so from last week's msba presentation the uh uh the person that came in what was her name Barb Barb dor she made a comment that said hey it's important that the board members uh make a choice and make the right choice and not settle for a second choice and so however that long that process takes for incoming board members to weigh in on that decision is reasonable and so I would assume a lot of good candidates that may still be out there already are in a superintendent or in exective Services capacity and their role probably won't expire until end of June of next year so one can L logically maybe come to a conclusion that an interim capacity would be at least until June uh for for any new candidate that comes in and then hopefully by then uh you know during the process we able to identify someone to make that transition if not then I would assume that we'd want to probably continue on the interim capacity until all the board members are aligned with um the next superintendent so that that'd be my point of view am I mistaken am I off or no I mean that's the process I was just you said short term and I was just curious what that meant okay anything else I've got some comments I mean the intern process all right so the intern process let me rephrase that not the intern process what you're looking what I'm looking for for the district you know a lot has happened in the past year and a half or a year and eight months from budget cuts to boundary changes to levies to XYZ uh and and part of that in my mind my observation is that there has been a a um maybe a a lack of execution on a robust change management plan for those key transactional events um I think from a board's point of view from my point of view I wish I would have more trans parency more of a road map of these key decisions that need to be made uh key input from the board members uh as we are to provide the direction and the guidance while the administration and the school district implements um I believe that change management is a huge piece that I would look to in the next uh superintendent for that transparency and because of all the swo and because of all the uh experiences that that we went through a lot of reestablishing or rebuilding of relationships between the various partners and stakeholders within our community that that has to be a a huge plus now I we we want to be mindful that again this is an interim superintendent and and so I don't know how much you can expect out of a superintendent in in that capacity uh because as we go through the permanent search there's there's going to be other variables but for now in my mind building that relationship having that transparency and a good robust change management plan for our operations that we still have to do for the next 9 months we still have a levy we may have a bond we have negotiations these are still big transactional events and and let's like can we do it differently this time around so those are my thoughts um I'm just thinking about this in the couple minutes we've been sitting here so I apologize if my thoughts aren't really um comprehensive but you know I I agree um one of the things that's really important to me is it feels like over the past couple years there has been a lot of um transition in terms of thinking about things at a higher systems level perspective and so um something that's really important to me is that we have someone come in to maintain that direction um that really there has been um I think in the various Department's efforts to really for instance try to make sure that different buildings are kind of following different processes and procedures and those are things that um I think are hard change so to speak to kind of change management can we do we have a leader who can come in and continue to push that work forward and also be someone that the staff and community and the board can get behind in terms of just having that trust and and going because I think one of the most important things with change management is having a leader in place who people can help or that person helps everyone see the vision that they're trying to create in our district and so I do think that's important to move forward um I think we I think we came in in a very difficult time and I I knew that when I was campaigning um for this seat and I would like to continue our forward progress on financials um that's really important for me as well that we maintain and continue to replenish our uh general fund um also we need someone who can come in and be a champion for us in terms of our Levy and bond uh well Levy for sure that's on the on the ballot this fall and also probably hopefully a bond for spring and so thinking about someone who has success with that is able to lead our community through that um and someone who can come in and and be that champion right away um I also you know something we had talked about last week is a choice you make in this situation of hiring someone who's retired versus considering someone internal and um I want to make sure that our process is um our search process for a new superintendent is RO as robust as possible and for me that means looking to someone who's retired so that it's clear that we're doing a robust search when it comes time right well I'm pretty retired just so you know I do know that check that block off right well for for those that weren't at that training one of the things that msba discussed with us is if you have a retired superintendent as your interim then when you actually going through the superintendent process you it's easier to get candidates that are interested in the district because they know the person that's in the interim role isn't interested in being this next superintendent um so a lot of times that helps with that process so that's what Carly speaking to should that's okay got one more at the same time I think that is um a favorable thing for us to have because an internal person knows the board knows all the nuances has been engaged in what we're doing and um can pick up without um missing a beat and I also believe it gives a stretch opportunity for themselves and others within the district to help fill the void and backfill positions and tasks and I think it gives them an opportunity to do that so um I think there's more of an upside to somebody internal than not so um I think that I don't that was worthy of a discussion I didn't know if that discussion had been had since the meeting went forward and I wasn't here but um for a permanent person no no for for person um and stuff so um and I think from um the budget impact too I think that makes a difference from a budget impact as well and so because that's my concern and I'm um I uh I'm very about the process and for whatever reason I know we're here tonight talking about this we had a meeting last week we're here tonight talking about this and we're voting at something tomorrow and that's just not a normal process that this District goes through when we want Community engagement and feedback and involvement with the last superintendent searches that we've had we've had a high level of community engagement in whether it's um in interim or whether it's the superintendent um with Dr Van zile we had the highest level of Engagement that we've had in the process so from community and staff and so I I'm concerned that we're talking tonight about this and voting on it tomorrow with no Community engagement and no feedback and as you can see we're starting to get some emails now about this and so um I think we have to be very conscientious about what we're doing here because the process is very important if you don't want to alienate people and I think that's exactly what this process is doing right now and so anybody that we bring whether it's external or internal we're putting them in a bad position because we haven't fared this out with timely feedback for our community to share with us and our staff so um that would be a concern knowing that whoever is sitting in that seat interim is going to have to deal with all the feedback after they're here instead of knowing what they're walking into is that certain that voting on it tomorrow I mean we can put it to a vote and the board can decide to table it until later let's put it this way it's on the agenda is on the agenda so they have 24 hours to respond to us so last week we uh we had the msba person come in and I think all the things that You' have shared definitely make sense especially as we find a permanent superintendent uh one of the things that when you're looking for an interim superintendent it's one of those where we may not need to spend for four to six months trying to find a super an super intendent for the short duration that we have do you do you recall I believe msba suggested for I don't what the process is what's what was their recommendation on the interim process um for what they shared with me it's a it's an informal process because when you are talking about retired superintendents they don't they're not vying for the job so they don't want this um situation where you know it's contentious or you know you're fighting against someone else for it so um as that process was shared it's more informal what they say is they provide some retired superintendent phone numbers the chair calls when you feel like you have a viable candidate you bring it before the board and then the board meets the person and then has an opportunity to vote or talk about that person um given the current time frame that we have like I I hear what you're saying Judy like I I think for the superintendent when we're looking for the actual person that we're going to you know hire for an extended period of time that yeah I mean we want a process that's got community involvement that has you know some time behind it with the time frame that we have right now I think that would be difficult um as far as considering internal candidates um I know we don't have a whole lot of people within the district with a superintendent's license um one of the things with just I know people have asked about just promoting our current assistant superintendent to superintendent but we also have to take into account the stress that we're putting on her from running dual roles with the training that she has for the redact with um a levy with a bond with a new math curriculum that needs implemented and Emily is the head of teen sheing and learning that be a decision for her to make and the organization to make not us I spoke with her about so you know you've been here for 27 years have we ever hired a interim superintendent yes and what was those processes like it was uh discussion with the board on who it should be if it should be a retired superintendent if it should be internal we've done it a few times so there's been but the process always the same and did you do did you do stakeholder feedback too like the process that our process that we do for um any votes is we announce things in a work session or board meeting we wait two weeks and then we before we vote on it so they can provide feedback so that's what we do with the that's what our process has always been whether it's policy superintendent but is that what you did what you just shared is that what you did with the previous superintendent hires that you said that that you had for interim for the interim yeah okay yep and stuff so it's because it's just to me that's it's always making sure that our community is whereare and the staff are aware of what's Happening as much as what's happening and when and if they have any thoughts or feedback to share then we can hear in the circumstance we would call like an emergency session for a since we have tomorrow as a regular board meeting and then we don't vote in work session so we would call an emergency session if we wanted to table it to a later time we could do that that's a board decision just remember it's a holiday you know to the next week I'd like to add one more thing if I forgot I think you're right with the systems process that you shared earlier because there were good uh from my understanding good initiatives in place where in elementary school is the same as another Elementary School and so forth and having those uh consistency with uh the amenities and the service offerings within each building makes sense um I would say that you know in my profession we have significant leadership changes that happen quite often and and with those or changes you know there's a lot of ambiguity with staff and they don't know which way am I supposed to go uh you know what is the deadline what are the the initiatives are the initiatives still the same XYZ and so I think that the interim superintendent and while it may not while it's not a permanent role accountability is a huge Factor because I know that there are instances where there are a lot of business units or staff where hey the leader's not here or we've got a new leader they're going to be gone we need to make sure that uh the next individual has um the the support of the board to make sure that the accountability of of Staff of principles of whoever may be are still executing on the day-to-day operations assume they are are but obviously I'm not in the weeds of what a superintendent you know does with the administration and and the district and staff but I I can share again from my point of view from on the business side you've got various departments with leadership changes sometimes you know not as much can get developed or not as much can get through and and things get delayed at times so think people accountable and I think that accountability goes to this board too as we saw in the most recent survey the superintendent favorability was increasing and ours was decreasing so if you're talking about going out of building trust and build developing relationships and improving relationships that's us that has to do that as much as a superintendent especially when we have a levy referendum out there we can't have a levy referendum looking for support for our students and teachers with board member favorability declining and that's exactly where we're at so we have to figure out how we are going to bring this up and instead of trying to be on one side or another and fighting our board members are to be Bridging the Gap between the partnership we have with the superintendent and our community and that's one thing that we've been very challenged as a board doing is Bridging the Gap we've picked sides so if we want anybody whether it's an internal external candidate in an interim role or the future superintendent we have to learn how to partner with them and bridge that gap between the community and the staff and the administration Dave Terry I was just goingon to say I think there I certainly see many opportunities for improving our processes um both as we Face a levy and as we bring three new board members on so y always wish have a good onboarding plan for these board members so here's the thing Michael was not perfect but he was always respectful and I worked well with him and so I just want stability for the next whatever 10 months whatever it takes while you guys find a new person and do it right so that's my reasoning Terry haven't heard from you I kind of agree with a lot lot of the things that Carly said um but I think there's one one area that the superintendent is going to have to really deal with and that is interim or super the interim superintendent interim superintendent needs to deal with is the fact that we've got three board members with two years experience and then we have three board members with no experience and I think that's a challenge I think the current board is a challenge and I think that uh the superintendent it's going to have to deal with that that's that's going to be an issue yeah maybe not an issue it's going to be a challenge it's going to be a challenge not an issue I think the current board had challenges Y and I think with new board members those challenges are going to go away right yeah yep those challenges will go away and and I think with a collaborative spirit and partnership I think that's just unexpected in someone in this kind of profession so I hope you're right what I think um yeah we have had challenges as a board but we've also been dealt very challenging situations um and I think what we have to be mindful of is that um you know when I hire a team I'm hiring like people that I know you know I'm looking for certain skills I'm looking for personalities that work with the team we're elected individuals the community elects us and I think that the diversity that we have on our board speaks to you know what the community thought that they needed at the time time so all of those people we I mean we're we were chosen by random community members right like the community voted Us in it wasn't like we could sit here and pick everybody that's on our team so we have to learn as a board how to work together and I feel like that we've made a lot of progress on that um like I said I know that it was difficult as we started out um but I do feel like there's progress that's been made and and I feel like we'll continue to make progress as we have new new board members join us anything else anybody else want to add on what we're looking for like I agree with the relationships um I think one thing that I'm looking for is also you know maintaining the progress that we've made so that consistency and that direction um forward progress and financials Carly I think you're right on I want to see that unassigned fund balance go back continue to Rise um the accountability then I also think about like our I think it's really important right now given the the specific area that we're that we're in that long-term plan on on building like we have a lease that's going to be up on our district office we have middle schools that are going to be reaching capacity soon um we have a new elementary school that just opened we have an Early Childhood Center that's at capacity so we just have a lot of things going on within the district and so I think we need to take a second look at that long-term plan and just kind of make sure that we're on track for what we want to do um that's one of the things that that's just been a lot weighing pretty heavily on my mind do you want to open it up so for some questions to Michael does anyone have things they would like to ask I think we should ask Michael what he's what he's thinking about after listening to us yeah I like that put it back in his lap um there's there's a lot there uh I'm not sure what I'm being asked um I I'll frame what I think I think uh and go from there uh there's no question that process matters and in public education process if you if you do the right processes the majority of things will go the go well if you don't they will not and there's a there's a um relationship that superintendents have to have with boards Lakeville wasn't my first school district um and being a superintendent was was not my U objective in in my professional life in public education um but for whatever reasons and we won't go into all that story uh that's that's where things landed and I live in this community I I moved in this community in 2005 at a home built by DR Horton over on the northeast side of Lakeville and uh when I had an opportunity to leave St Paul and come here uh it was it was a blessing because it's in my community um I care very very deeply about Lakeville schools um I think anybody out there who's spent any time in their professional lives trying to build something um want that to to be successful I happen to have a career in the military where change is endemic it's institutional and we had a mantra and the Mantra was leave things better than you found them and then help the next individual who succeeds you to take it to the next level and so on and so on and that's that's what has always been in my heart uh you know I I feel like whatever is going on uh in the in the depth of what's going on I I'm I'm concerned I I don't have any other way to say it our kids need leadership that is an example for them to follow and that's everybody sitting at this table including me and I feel very strongly that uh we got to get focused back on the the key elements of education education education education academics however you want to frame that um my interest is in my wildest nightmare or dream I did not expect to get asked to consider this I truly did not and it's it's been a a very spiritual journey for me since Thursday afternoon and um I care about everybody in this room I I care about our kids so desperately so if I can help I want to help do I want to is every Community member out there GNA be behind me I'm sure not because you can start the the word superintendent and after that there's all kinds of adjectives that can be used and some of them are not kind but I I just want to help if I can I guess is what I would say out loud if the interim opportunity is something that you all can agree on then you know I'm I'm stepping forward and saying I can adjust my retirement is so beautiful um but I believe in teams I believe in building teams I believe and people can say whatever they like to say I believe we built a good strong team uh I was on a good team I think when I was offered an opportunity to be the business director here um and I think I was able to continue that and grow grow that as a superintendent um and all I'd want to do is whatever is necessary to set conditions so that the district can move Beyond where it's at and get on a a positive trajectory uh to to improve the the situation overall uh and all the reasons of of whatever may be going on or what has happened what one thing I do know there's three things you have to do in education if you're gonna be in this business and those three things are relationships the second thing is relationships and the third thing is relationships and that's it and you got to be really good about that uh and you got to care about what's going on around you and and situation awareness for everybody leaders everywhere from top to bottom have to have situation awareness of what's going on because that's where frustration sets in things are going on changes are happening and nobody knows what's going on um and you know that starts with the superintendent for sure because it goes to the board it goes to the community goes to the staff it goes to the kids out there every day and you got to be out there with them in the classroom at the football games at the baseball games at the dance at the whatever you got to be there and you got to listen to people who are going to be critical of you and you know listen to what they have to say and find out the essence of the complaint and keep the personal stuff you know where needs to be but people personalize things a lot I get that um but I just want to say if I can help I'll help if I'm an inhibitor or there's lots of community push back as you know use knucklehead don't don't bring that knucklehead back fine um but I'm in a situation where I can contribute and if it's helpful then on bended knee I say give me direction if it's not helpful send me about my way because I got a good thing going well thank you for even uh considering this and thank you for coming in and even having the conversation with us um you know obviously with the executive staff and the the um folks that we have today uh not that they can't do the job but again there's a lot of job that still needs to be done and so the additional resources the additional leadership that we can provide and and augment the team in this kind of phase that we're in I think it's it's one of those that we have to do and so do we spend 3 six months to find an interrupt superintendent until we find the superintendent to follow for for the next well the problem is if you get if you go and try to find another person they're going to have to learn the system in the school district and that's going to take a long time and then they'll be done so well the other thing is is I mean in one month you can start the superintendent search process right now I mean in acting super intendent doesn't sit in place very long and you can start the superintendent search because the assumption is the pool of superintendents have been very low so planning on two rounds starting it sooner rather than later and if you get somebody in place they just because they're in someplace right now if you put the start date on 71 they can plan and give their District heads up and whatever else so and then we also have to be talking about um getting an appointment done and stuff seat and so there's a lot that's going on with all of that right now and I think we have to and there's a lot of team building that has to be done with this board this board doesn't operate as a team and it needs to figure out how to operate as a team and get back to having discussions on children we don't have discussions on how our decisions impact the classroom or impact the kids and so we need to get back to that and um and again partnering with the superintendent and the cabinet members instead of being picking sides I I have to I mean I don't know what is happening right now um I just I feel like we are not a perfect board um I don't feel like I think about kids all the time um I get that but the discussion isn't I'm just saying that we do make a lot of decisions that impact children and um I do feel like we've made a lot of progress if you go back to when we first started even before we started just the style of communication how things how the temperature of meetings it for me has cooled quite a bit and I know we have very much opportunity to grow but I also don't think you know criticizing the board right now and this moment it's not helping us make a decision together I'm not criticizing I'm just saying that we need to also work on ourselves I I'm not saying we don't so and I think I think um that is important for us to continue to do and making sure that we're continuing to build that and I know that we're all thinking about kids but we need to have that discussion and conversation at the table when we're making decisions on the long-term impact to the classroom and to the student I just don't think it doesn't I don't think it doesn't happen superintendent needs to help drive that so so any new superintendent any new permanent superintendent is going to be hired with new board members and so this existing board will not be voting for any new permanent superintendent period okay right so go ahead sorry you're finishing no I just I I think I don't think we're there is a lot of criticism coming out right now in terms of saying we're not a team and we're not doing things I I think we we have made you know our last vote in terms of um when we look at things like the upcoming Levy it was very important for us to be unanimous in that vote we were unanimous in that vote so I feel like we are making those um decisions that directly impact kids and I don't think this is time to kind of I I I'm not sure what's happening I guess I just feel like we're I consider you a team member right I think the conversation um even even from the get-go has been about kids that's why the budget cuts were so hard because we knew how it was going to impact kids and we're trying to make the right decision that that gets things you know back in place as far as like our financials but also is having the least impact on the students in the classroom I I think the discussion is always around kids um I think we need to get over our personal issues that we have with each other I don't think there's Division I don't think any anybody's picking sides I'm not picking sides I'm just trying to do what's best for kids and what's best for the district which is why I brought someone forward because I'm concerned about not having someone to help balance what we have going on this year for our kids the read act the levy a possible Bond you know all of these different things that we have going we need leadership in place and we need someone to help that load with our assistant superintendent because the last thing I want is another person leaving the district so uh since the intent of this conversation or this meeting was to interview Michael bman uh I would like to ask a little bit more about your change management philosophy I know that we've got a lot of big changes that are coming up and big things that are that need to be done like how do you define it what would you do obviously with the years of experience that you have in the military and sounds like a couple because I don't know you super well so so you tell me what's your story what's your jam what's change management to you well the essence of change management resides in communication and um whether that's vertical horizontal uh however you want to shape that um the most important thing uh in in the is to have a process and then to identify with Clarity what what the problem is because a lot of times people have a difficulty defining the problem they start solving symptoms but would change um information input so if change is top down your your opportunities for Success are pretty low this is my experience and learning change should be bottom up and processes should be shaped to do that but as change being contemplated there's there's a lot of different stakeholders and in a public education system it's not a direct line I mean you can't always draw those things clearly it's more like an atom right you got a nucleus and you got electrons positive charge negative charge and they're flowing around and you're trying to work through that so the runways for change have to be longer if it's if it's corporate which been spending some time there they decisions are really pretty fast um and the um I I would say the caring part the compassionate part of that with people is a lot lower just my experience um you know the in the military it's it's topped down a lot and um it's not it it's very endemic there's a whole education process that leaders go through and they all get the same leadership training however that is in public educ you got none of that going on so you have to have longer runways you have to be more um strategic on the front end uh before you get into all the Tactical nuances of that um I think the less change you can be putting on people the better you know a little more um let's do the things we have and do them well instead of always trying to do the next thing and chasing this next shiny object um and and I think you know if you're an interim that that's probably what you got to focus on as opposed to some uh Dynamic change management process the other thing is there's there's a lot of uh the communication that superintendant have to have with the the leaders is intense constant and Relentless uh and that's I think how you are better able to affect change uh in an organization but change will come you can't avoid it I mean if you try to say oh it's going to be flat and Status Quo and no it's going to come I mean look look how this District had to react to I was hoping never to say this word again Co but if you think about it if you think about it um on scale um and look at that as maybe a case study of change um change was thrust upon everybody uh the Department of Education took a lot of um control and districts had to react in literally change an entire operational system on the Fly uh and that's going to cause a whole lot of many times right and then there was yeah several times and then there's there's and there's a lot of political piece to that too that's going to enter into the conversation or the the distress that everybody was having and this District did that well uh they did it well because there was a there was a lot of communication now was it was it the best that ever could possibly be nope and was everybody happy yeah no no nobody few few are going to be happy in that scenario but my point is in talking about change and reacting there's a reaction that you want to get out of you want to be proactive and to me that's runways and by runways I mean if you have a planning process uh that you think is 6 months you better be looking at it at 9 to 12 months and extend that out and that's to get that stakeholder input that stakeholder uh Judy talked about a little bit of ownership you wna you want to hear actually you probably want to hear more from your critics than anybody else so that you can either confirm or deny that what you're doing is is sensical and helpful and Progressive uh in the manner in which it needs to be so I don't know I I can't lay out a I could draw you uh a process if you want to sit down and go through that but my my my concern is I know you have a very strong business background and the applications there are things that can apply across and there are things that I just don't think would ever uh work that way and that's kind of been bolstered by the work I've been doing in the private sector away from public education so um you know one of my life goals was was to get involved in the private sector because I spent time in the military then I came into public educ a and hey let's go to private sector and just round out this old man's uh life experience so that that's what I've been uh focused on and um it change management processes in business are very are I won't say super linear but more linear than they are in in public education because the the constituencies are different and in public education the constituencies are far broader you know I think I think to you bring up a good example with change management with all the co stuff that we had to deal with and then we did the community survey the majority of the community felt that we handled Co well and I think that's one of the things that we have to lean on more as a as a board in a district is what our community overall is saying because I think we get locked in too much into social media and what's being said on that and um I've said this before like what's in our little bubble but when we look at decisions we make um if the majority of the community is liking the decisions we're doing the right thing even though we maybe got a 100 emails about it um those are just 100 emails when you look at the number of kids we're representing the number of families we're representing 100 emails sometimes from the same people over and over again is input to consider but not to be driving decisions and stuff so I think with the change management piece some of the things that we've dealt with in your first couple of years you know is yeah we're going to hear some negative feedback on the responses and what we did but that doesn't mean the process was wrong or bad and so um I think Michael you hit it right on the head is the corporate world no matter how much you try to wedge it the school district processes into the corporate world the way we're funded and the way everything operates just doesn't align well it's not a direct overlay but there are some things that are done in the private sector that you frankly could could do in public education and probably should do uh and and learn and benefit from that uh uh certainly without question and I think public education lags a little bit in in that some of it has to do with technology and information management systems not having the the uh developmental dollars aside like I can tell you almost every company I work with has a little budget over here on the side where they're doing development it's just not it's not resident because there's there's there's no category for that unless you carve it out of the general fund and with the cross subsidy scenarios that we're dealing with with special education uh and and that challenge that exacerbates every single dollar you have in the district and that's you know you don't want to pit special education against general education that's that's lunacy frankly yeah and uh so but you have to live with that and you you can't have super deep conversations with the general public on that matter because I can tell you uh Mr Thompson or director Thompson um the the there are budget pressures in any entity and organization but public education is a special situation for sure um the the drivers on Revenue are just not the same and the Cycles are just not the same and it's unfortunate that doesn't mean you can't plan for using a a a suite of planning assumptions uh to project out five years and you got to get in a constant iteration of refinement right and you know I could talk about that and can can I speak to that real quick just um so Michael we had a great conversation about um fi Financial financials of the district and just looking at um some of the things that we've went through as a district and one of the things you did a really nice job of explaining to me was where um the finances were um when you retired and then well you can go look at the record um and then and then how that seven million like how you explained that budget deficit that that happened there so if you if you don't mind like taking a moment to explain that bill I think Bill did explain that uh in the in the video what he didn't what I would have probably preferred was like some numbers instead of pretty Bill talking and and I I love bill but um you know show show me the show me the numbers and where were the decision points so at the end of Co and I don't want to speak out a turn but there were we I I recall and I think we were in this room where we were responding to covid and we were going to expand the online school and we needed I want to say 2.5 million was the number that sticks in my head I could be a little off on that I think that's right and then the DPS coming out of that decision points coming out of that had to be or checkpoints had to be the legisl the legislative actions that were taking place and when do you stand that back down because if the legislature wasn't going to make you whole you just spent 2.5 million and if you didn't back that out and you didn't like I don't mean to sound pejorative but you had to shut that down and the DPS your decision points on that had to be backwards planned so that you could say okay we're here in X time we don't have an answer from the legislature we're sitting here looking at a at a potential shortfall we got to start already talking about doing a levy referendum as well well that we didn't go forward doing because of Co that's correct so we had a levy referendum discussion that never got to go forward correct and and I know that the conversations uh with regard to the state at the time was we're going to make districts whole yep and so then when none of that happened and the levy didn't happen then when we got to that next budget cuts were necessary yeah but I think again I think there there were some things that we had I can just speak for what I what I know y uh and and what was in place were at the administrative level not at the board level there were checks we had along the way that needed to be hit and if you didn't hit them there were a DP is a decision point along a Continuum of whatever action it is and with Finance we know what the cycle is we know what the legisl and I don't know what the legislature did this last time with regard did they go over session no no so they they had made their budget decisions and so the planning assumptions could turn into actuals that you could then um so I you just have to stay in front of those and you got to watch them and if you if you let them pass you're going to do a budget calculation that's going to put you in that in that spot in that case in that scenario now I do think if memory serves uh that the legislature gave districts some special education money that's six million some okay and the shortfall was how much well we had 15.4 so the shortfall was 9 million no I'm talking about the budget I'm sorry the budget cut was what oh seven yeah so there's there's another point of of categorical aid from the state you got to you got to be watching you got to be careful with it and by that I mean you have to you have to make your planning assumptions and then you got to watch what happens and make your refinements and they have to happen in stride as you're moving toward we haven't always accepted them that's correct I've been on the receiving end of that yeah I know and and it's and it's fine I mean it should be it should be uh but you know in the end of the day a as you as you budget budget forecast that's another thing that has to be communicated on a consistent and constant basis whether that's Administration to the board and what the board wants to you know put out publicly um whether you find a way to to dashboard that stuff I mean that's another that that's where I think business does have a uh a pretty good system in place where you know you're just on an ongoing dashboard where you can kind of see your major muscle movements and watch that but the unassigned fund balance is the is the key to success in the Finance Management world if you can understand unassigned fund balance and you can master that and everybody's watching it it's really hard to go wrong I mean there's some tough decisions that have to be made right to sustain that fund balance but uh I think everybody should know that see that coming Y and I think those were one of the things that we were trying to do this year is to create that kind of dashboard and get some more transparency for our community members whether we put it in the regular board meetings or not I did get a chance to look at the the June 2022 um uh the budget that was approved and at that time the projection was that we had roughly almost you know $9 million in our savings account at that time uh there was a um an end towards of getting to that 5.5% number um and so the board approved that in June of 2022 and then like you said if there isn't constant refinement and and understanding the revenue that's coming in or lack of Revenue coming in how do you course correct that and so whether the new the superintendent that that that was that there at that time the course correction maybe wasn't as quickly maybe or maybe it was uh but unfortunately it resulted in a $1.5 million in our savings account at the end of 2023 school year well I think too if if memory serves me that uh the the other thing that was happening the economy took a a huge took a nice nose dive Transportation costs inflation utility cost all that stuff kind of a perfect storm of and I think the good news is that there was you know $89 million in our savings account to weather that storm and if we did not then we would have probably had to make even more Cuts in the year of 2023 in addition to cutting significantly more than the 7 million for the following year but I do have another question if I can ask sure for it I have a question as part of this is this a different question oh I do have a different question but I'll I'll pause here if you want wasn't there also because there was access in the general fund at one time wasn't there also purposeful spend down that was complicated by weren't there decisions made about spend down that were Complicated by all the co stuff yeah that's what I was talking about the 2.5 million was the big one there may there was there were some other ones but you know the the truth too is that the feds did give some money back into into this Lakeville when I was still here I I know about those but those were all categorical and it wasn't it really it wasn't much so categorical means I'm going to give you this and you could only drink it to here and then you got to give back to me um we get a lot of funding that way uh where where it's um and I I I I don't know if you know those terms or not and sometimes I speak I speak in those terms so I you may know more about categorical funding than I'll ever [Laughter] know um but that's what you know that's that's some of the challenge because some of your fund balance problems if you could move money like in the business world yeah because I that's there's an art to that if you can move money you can balast that scenario Michael we got 10.4 million from the state we barely get to use 4 million as we want everything else was restricted well there you go and most of the and most of the community did not know that and so the the the reality is that the you you have to I I don't know I think there's just ways to get uh more transparent about it and maybe dashboard is the answer maybe you put a dashboard up there the the challenge you're you you definitely will have to consider about that is you know what does it say and what do people understand about that so you got to be really clear about it yeah sometimes it could do more harm than help because it seems I don't think anytime you show the public your financials it's ever bad no it's always a good thing but it has to come it might be painful has to come with a lot of asteris well it's it's something that even with onboarding and doing all that it takes a long time to understand how all these funds work and I mean that's one thing that I think that's the when you give information you have to do it in a way that is actually going to be the the public can absorb in a way that is helpful as opposed to drowning them information that they don't understand correct a lay persons type of right yeah because that's why I say major muscle movements I think most people in I'll just say in Lakeville because I talk to people in Lakeville they could they can understand it I don't think that would would be hard uh but there is some Nuance that's for sure well well that's why there was two days of required Finance ring by board new board members so I mean it's not it's not just by accident yeah I spent a lot of time in it and I'm still learning so yeah apparently I failed one class goad so so I um apologize for if this is too personal but I did hear that you said the military just kind of curiosity thanks for your service but be like what what did you do and and You' said that a couple times was curious um what did do I I don't know a long time he wrote a book about it he y uh let's see what did I do in the military well uh I was I was I was an Airborne Ranger with a knuckle Dragon knuckleheaded uh approach to life I uh I spent 20 years on active duty uh I I enlisted in the Army out of high school then I went into uh for all the veterans out there who might listen to this I drank the Kool-Aid uh became an officer uh or aaer whichever one you want to use uh and spent uh 20 years then uh in the Army I retire as a lieutenant colonel uh after a uh privileged opportunity to command a battalion uh fighting on the west side of at Baghdad and um I had a son um who I had seen much of as a little boy and decided that rather than go on to the next one and the next one and the next one that I would retire very very difficult decision in my life um I love the Army I loved everything about it um it's I grew up in it I was a army brat I've moved and lived all around the world uh I'm originally from Minnesota though Olivia Minnesota um and uh I went to Bloomington Jefferson let's see 1978 so I'm dating myself uh we moved back to Minnesota from uh place in Japan and uh I went to high school ninth and tth grade in Japan and then uh here Bloomington Jefferson Jaguar class of 80 that's that's what I did with the military and uh yeah I I learned a lot I learned a ton but I learned a ton also working in education maybe soften the edges a little bit uh because one of the things I'll say about Lakeville uh I I was in St Paul for about 10 years I think St Paul Public School System learned a ton there big operation um but Lakeville we have the we have the best teachers I think in in the country in our in our community and we have great our principles they they they're just amazing people and uh the staff here when I came here Lisa was the superintendent Dr Snider um you know I was on a team with Renee and and Emily and Tony and uh there like brothers and sisters to me I mean literally and I know the difference um I know the difference and and I appreciated them uh because they cared so much about this work and they cared a lot about this school district uh they cared I think everybody was universally focused on trying to help uh kids and families even at the their own detriment um I witnessed that uh so you know it was it was was awesome and the community out here uh you know whether it's lions or rotary or uh trying to think of something you know all the all the folks down there qa1 the the BTD everybody down there on office 70 um the chamber the faith community just flipping great and they all worked together to make this a place to raise kids they were very supportive of of of the school district working with the city staff Justin and uh you know Tom Terry Tom Terry love Tom uh you know Doug was the was the mayor most of the time while I was uh while I was here um just fabulous people who care about the school district and they they just they they're they're amazing now Chief I think the chief police changed now it's yeah so I worked with with Chief long um and and his uh lieutenants pretty closely um fabulous people um I'm not sure I I don't think I've met the gentleman that's the chief now but you know that would just be an introduction and I don't drink so it wouldn't be a beer but I'm just I I know I went a little off there but my point I guess come bringing it back is you know there there's parallels that I have between time I was in the military and and working in for sure in Lakeville it's it's a really amazing place and um you know our coaches the the the people are out there coaching our kids I'm not just talking Sports I mean drama speech you know our two our choirs I mean INF Fuego for you who don't know what that means fire yeah yeah seriously I mean it it's just you sit at the Christmas thing over there at Porter housee I don't know if they still do that and they it's so you want to cry you want to cry it's just so peaceful and wonderful and yeah I don't know what else I can say this is a great Community it's great School District thank you I have a question can um so we have some big changes coming this year with just the counselors being added to the high school um as well as middle school counselor as well as the levy that has hopes to bring in more so just wondering your thoughts about that kind of coming into some change there well I I can only give you generalized because I I really don't know the details Devil's always in the details um are you asking me about the levy or about doing a levy now or I'm not sure exactly at the question what do I think about Mental Health and Social support well it is that a fair way to State it yeah I mean I think I certainly care about someone who's going to like I said Champion our Levy that we're going after and part of that is rounding out the counseling and and really even getting to four counselors is is probably we probably want to aim higher there so trying to help build that system well uh I I would I can't speak to the detail uh at this point in time I I will just say that I know that the the mental health challenges that we face in our community and I'll just stay local and immediate um are are significant I'm I'm not when you talk about County and social support and and uh City and and then the school districts I think the school systems have been handed the the a very difficult uh situation both financially or I I'll call it resourcing our resourcing is is just not it's not at at the right level but the challenge the bigger challenge is so what's your what's your core function what's your core mission to educate the kids and do so in a in a safe environment and so when you start getting into mental health and social issues that are attendant to that you know a a child and I can speak to this in great depth uh from being in an urban environment um if a student comes to the classroom and has all these other things going on the learning isn't going to happen and we're asking our teachers to deal with a lot of that and they need the support as well they absolutely do um I I live with one at least she unless she's leaving now better break this news to her carefully no we she's in charge my my point so I I do think that mental mental health and and social supports are just they're are very very important to the core mission of teaching and learning but the core mission of teaching and learning and when you're resource constrained you have to have prioritization in order to execute and so I think that as if those are in alignment then then I then I can be supported when they're not in alignment then then I you know I would have to find a better or different way to do that but limited resources is and how those get used is where all the generally where all the arguments start and end and you have to prioritize and execute at some point you have to make a decision prioritize execute so um I I don't know on this Levy uh I would have to dig into it and look at it more in in its detail um I do know it's out there um but I I don't know the details of what what the allocation expectations are with regard to those dollars yeah I think and and I I don't know where to I I would say that if we haven't defined it in dollars and cents um we would want to prioritize that and communicate that to the public clearly as fast as possible if it's not already out there I think something that I as a board we've been trying to hear is I mean obviously with our last run of negotiations those are very difficult um but the culture there's been a shift in terms of how our teachers feel in the classroom and like you're saying so much of that feels like the stress of things there's just something that has changed with behaviors and things and mental health it's it's the it's the second and third order effects of decisions that were made about taking kids out of school and all those things and and I'm not we're way past the the Judgment of all of that we're in the how do we recover from that and what's different that needs to be addressed that maybe in 2018 we would have never considered like it wouldn't have been on our mind but things have changed for sure they've changed well and I I do think that a lot of these things were going on before Co it just took this basically this pandemic to exacerbate everything and put a lens on it in a way that was very different and in terms of inequities it highight highlighted all of those kinds of things and so I do think there was already and undercurrent of that for sure so a lot of the levy is really trying to for for my mind hear our Educators in terms of you know if we can't make the salaries be exactly what they they would like and we would all like to give our teachers way more money than we pay them but can we create a culture that is more supportive to them that gives them what they need as resources in the classroom to lessen some of these extras um even a mentorship program well well and how that affects kids to giving the kids someone to speak to because these long-term effects what happened um for students like we're we're still feeling them I said in a meeting today with with a kid and and I'm talking about like all of the um the things that had impacted this child and the mom was like yeah well we had Co during kindergarten and like it just so that's our key Early Childhood years when that was some missed points there so I mean just the impact was Heavy very much so so hopefully these are things that we've been talking about would have that positive direct effect on the classroom environment which like you're saying you don't if you have that environment that isn't right for kids there the learning stops the learning isn't what you needed to well it's not only the learning for that student it's whatever the behaviors are that are going to impact collaterally within that classroom and stress out the teacher right so that's the goal Brian yep uh so this this is my last question and I'll defer to others who want to ask uh uh with my shortterm being on the board I've had a very onesided experience of what it's like to work with a superintendent and as a board and so I'd love to get kind of your definition your interpretation and like how does a superintendent work with the board what are they supposed to do how do they work with them what do you expect out of the board and so forth it's a very it's very open-ended there is no right or wrong I think loed it's PR loaded but I you know what I don't know all I know is the one experience that I've had with the existing uh relation experience that I've had and and love to get a different perspective third I I said it at the beginning and I'll just repeat it it's it's a it's a relationship thing and it's a communication thing uh and it starts with respect you got you you are taking on a huge task running a campaign getting elected to a board you know tip of the hat to each and every one of you for that I don't I don't look at it any differently than well there's six boss is sitting here so I have to be responsive to you all now I've worked with Judy I've worked with David I've worked with Terry ask them they're going to tell you the truth my my TR my belief my understanding is uh if they reach out I I had dialogue uh with them and try to work as a what's my what's the official thing a superintendent a adjunct member what do that yeah exio I almost made officer exop ficio okay but I just tried to be on the team to me team is everything without it you're just you're just going to be in a world of hurt so to speak uh got to get out of The Hurt Locker and be on a team be a team member uh and be candid be a team member I think I did that and again uh Mr Thompson I'd say probably talk to them they're going to give you they're going to give you whether it was good bad or and different but I made a point of it to be as communicative and as relational as as I could be and stay professional because I'm probably not going to go out and drink beer and get drunk with you thank you yes sir any other questions from the board Dave statement um Emily requested a meeting last Friday with Kim and I to discuss many issues and uh just so everybody knows she was in support of Michael becoming the interim superintend second any other questions all right um given the current weather situation and um to get Michael off the hot seat there it's called the Budweiser Hot Seat can I just say I didn't feel like I was in a hot seat at all and I would also just like to say I I respect whatever you all choose to do um I if I can help I'm standing up and saying I'm willing to help if it's if I'm going to be some sort of what's some NE negativity on top of negativity I'm the last guy you want to be talking to so um I live in this community I love this school district and that's why I sit here my name is misspelled up there there another end and the only reason I'm the only reason I'm pointing it out was it's just proof that when you go you're gone and I'm and I am so okay with that all right I I am okay with that but um if if I can be any kind of helpful force uh then then I'm I want to do that if I'm a disruptive Force um you know then then that's fine too uh because like I said I live in Lakeville I love Lakeville not leaving Lakeville that that was on the table for a while with my wife and I but we've made a really concrete decision about staying here and um so if you see some construction around my h house it's her fault don't point at me you meant her you told me about honey doers oh yeah oh yeah so it is my fault it is your fault yes sorry thank you we just want to thank you so much for for coming in and um for accepting uh the opportunity to come in and talk to us it it means a lot to us um as a board and um just hearing your servant leadership style and and your answers to your questions it's um I love Lakeville too that was one of the reasons that you know I ran to be on Schoolboard was that I owe everything with my kids to this district and these teachers that have um kind of helped bring them into the the young individuals that they're growing into so I mean I I share that that level L go with you and um again like I said thank you so much for coming in and um you know we will we'll keep in contact and as this process unfolds and um you kind of see where it takes us so like I said I want to get everybody home safe um with the impending weather sh Terry was sharing you know his phone alerts with actually it's going to start right now it's going to start right now all right so and a quarter to eight or the hail comes H having having discussed everything I I would say this meeting is officially adjourned so thank you thank you you need a second or anything like that good no because it's a working