##VIDEO ID:6zmqnzb02dE## good evening welcome to the little fall school board meeting December 16th 2024 we'll be calling the meeting to the order with the start of the Pledge of Allegiance please stand and join me I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice our district mission statement is Little Falls Community Schools work together for each learner to achieve academic and personal growth in a collaborative safe and engaging environment do we have any public comments this evening do not thank you um at this time I'll accept a mo motion to the approval of the agenda as printed so moved we have a motion a second please second we have a motion in a second any questions comments or concerns about the approval of the main agenda hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed I'll I'll accept a motion to accept the consent agenda the consent agenda includes the Personnel approval of the prior meeting minutes and approval of financial transactions a motion please so moved second second we have a motion a second for the conscent agenda any comments questions or concerns signify by sorry any comments questions or concerns hearing none all those in favor of the consent agenda signify by saying I I I opposed the consent agenda passes I'll now turn it over to Mr gerby for the resolutions for the acceptance of Gifts Mr but it'll be me sure oh you changed back again yeah whereas the following have generously offered to donate to the Little Falls Community Schools therefore be it resolved by the Little Falls Community Schools Board of Education to gratefully accept the gifts Anderson custom processing donation of $150 to the Little Falls Community Schools robotics program contegrity group donation of $525 to the robotics program Little Falls Youth Baseball donation $557 61 to Little Falls Community School school's baseball program for baseball equipment Anonymous donation of $1,000 to Little Falls Community Service for the Olympic weight lifting program Rebecca Jacobson straw donation of $1,500 to Little Falls Community School's Carol R straw education Memorial Scholarship fund Rebecca Jacobson straw donation of $500 to the Little Falls Community School's Avid scholarship fund St an's christian mothers donation of $400 to Little Falls Community Schools coins for a cause fund Stephanie neelon donation of $250 to Little Falls Community Schools robotics program Central Minnesota electric donation of $250 to the robotics program Little Falls machine donation of $250 to the robotics program DMS machine donation of $100 to the robotics program Pine Country Bank donation of $200 to Little Falls Community Schools Polar Plunge program North risk Partners donation of $500 to Little Falls Community Schools clay target League Little Falls boys basketball boosters donation of $1,000 to Little Falls Community Schools basketball program Flyers girls basketball pro basketball Club donation of $1,000 to Little Falls Community Schools basketball program Little Falls Basketball Association donation of $4,899 to Little Falls Community Schools basketball program Minnesota Power donation of $500 to Little Falls Community School's flyer Fest fund Jerome and D Dolores Smith donation of $50 to Little Falls Community Schools care closet the flyer athletic boosters gaming account donation of $10,000 to Little Falls Community Schools golf simulator I will second that all right right uh Mark yes Julie yes Sharon yes and myself yes thank you carries um at this time we'll have the flyer Pride cards and Mark would you start that for us sure my first card is for Kayla grber thanks for all the work with the daycare licensing your efforts are not unnoticed by Mark deal John soak Middle School head custodian thanks for all of your work cleaning the Middle School pool Mark deal Matt bomb um Matt is a team player always willing to step up and help out for the greater good thank you Matt for all you do you are appreciated nurse Amanda at in school Paula Daniels perah Dr Knight she has helped out in time of need and has been great Sarah flippy teacher Sarah looks for ways to plan things to make the staff feel connected and have fun and gravy Sarah or I'm sorry Scott o n ANS or or or orens technology coordinator Scott thank you for all your Technology support and dedication to keeping everything running smoothly your expertise is greatly appreciated Chelsea Robinson Palmer stra busing company both companies are great at accomplishing families accommodating family staff and students to support students to our facilities and communication has been great to provide successful rides Nate Miller Bridget rowski special at Pera Lincoln remembering all the things I can't handles what we throw at her dayto day advocate for her students and can laugh with me Lori Lauren Martinson Emily Lucas Savage uh special educ special PA Lincoln positive attitude building amazing relationships with students advocate for students handles whatever is thrown at her dayto day by Lauren mattinson okay Jackie Crow High School perah Jackie is an excellent perah she's positive patient and encouraging the students always looking for new ways to encourage and engage students and willing to jump in wherever she's needed Sarah Underhill Jill Moore High School secretary Jill does so much to keep the high school running on all cylinders no matter what your question is she will go out of her way to get you an answer we would be so lost without her Megan Maniac that Jessica Peterson music at Dr Knight Jessica put on an amazing program to honor a veterans on Monday thanks for all your hard work and dedication to your job Lea rosi Jess olssen Dena students Jess olssen holds students accountable in consistent fair and Equitable ways she has a way with keeping the person separate from the problem as evidenced by the care she shows to students and the way they respect her Jess uses every opportunity to teach so students learn from their mistakes and always know the next day is a fresh start Jessica Jan roxan jalinski District nurse our district nurse started a month ago and has hit the ground running her leadership shines in every meeting and I am so grateful for all she's already brought to the district thank you for your dedication Chelsea Robinson Cara Shilling teacher at high school Cara supports two new teachers this year as a mentor she has dedicated time to teach them and support in an extended absence situation thank you Cara Carol Potter Sarah philippy language arts for providing positive leadership in our building and promoting our staff to be up to date on the latest Avid strategies she is also a student first teacher I don't know that word who truly cares about her students Dan fiser Greg Johnson superintendent thank you Greg for your consistent support ideas Innovation and great sense of humor I appreciate you Carol Potter Chad sver school age child care perah Chad continues to shine in our after school Child Care Program I appreciate Chad's knowledge of the program building and children that attend thank you Chad for all you do Kayla grber and Mary Beth grams all schools Mary Beth was able to load students and staff into our Swiss Data Systems so we can report behaviors at the high school I'm so appreciative of Mary Beth and her willingness to always help us out thank you so much Rusty GL uh recipient is Rebecca Jones preschool teacher at Dr Knight thank you Rebecca for always sharing your craft supplies with me thank goodness you have everything I need your generosity and kindness are appreciated Glenda Davis recipient Joel H Holly holy um sped teacher for being a positive Cornerstone for our building affectionately known as the commissioner of fun and fashion he motivates students and staff to be positive and still have fun Dan fiser Amy shill PE professional at Lindberg Amy has consistently gone above and beyond in supporting students in our classroom her dedication compassion and proactive approach has made a significant impact on student progress and overall Dynamics Larry ederton Sally H is that correct um a big shout out to Sally for her incredible support mentorship as a host to Emily sadovski who is a student teacher uh her guidance encouragement and dedication has been exceptional um Chris Chris doas okay going to get some penmanship lessons there um for the high school math department to all Math teachers the high school math department is dividing is diving into the data working with each other to improve student math series um Mr borgi thank you Kelly prer praiser got to get it right our superintendent's assistant um Kelly thank you so much for helping with all the data andry and our Skyward system for the state reporting your help is greatly appreciated and makes a big difference Chelsea I'll double that one too um Jessica jansky uh middle school counselor just supports our students beyond measure she is a wealth of knowledge and works hard to support report PB I open gym cool commissary and much more thanks for all you do recommended by Jess Olsen first was Jess jansky from Jess Olsen uh to Carol Potter special ed director Carol has been so helpful navigating some difficult situations in our Afterschool Child Care Program thank you Carol for all your help Kayla Gruber amandaa scusa um a big shout out to Amanda for her incredible support and membership as a host to abigal saket the student teacher her guidance encouragement and dedication has been exceptional Chris doas Miranda Mertens EC teacher Early Childhood I assume uh Miranda thank you for stepping up and proving awesome opportun providing awesome opportunities for early childhood family education families I appreciate your yes attitude and willingness to try new things Kayla gr Kevin Jordan our Athletics director Kevin at the flyer Fest committee and the flyer Fest committee have done a wonderful job planning and organizing the first annual flyer Fest fundraiser for the activities program very well done everyone Mr bori Little Falls Senior High School principal Stephanie Paton Middle School social work work Stephanie has been an amazing addition to our school she works hard to support our students and is also great support to our staff so thankful you joined us this year thanks for all you do Jess Olen Lindsay bom also a social worker recognition for her organization and dedication to the change for the holidays event her hard work and commitment were instrumental in raising nearly $2,000 making a significant impact during the holiday season Danielle mki a PA professional at while the teacher has been on leave Danielle has gone above and beyond ensuring the stability in the room her flexibility and connection she has made with the students has made a significant difference in the overall experience for these students from Larry ederton Miranda Mertens preschool teacher I am so appreciative of Miranda's can do positive attitude she is always seeking additional fun ways to support students and takes on several other special roles such as ECFE teacher to support our young youngest Learners and their families from janom Joel holy Joel brings the fun and encouragement and encourages staff connection he plans random spirit days and is very encouraging and gravy Isaac Toma special ed teacher at Lincoln great team player with a great sense of humor and attitude he jumped you into a new role and is working hard to make relationships with his students Lauren Martinson Roxy jelinsky the district nurse Roxy has done an amazing job hitting the ground running acclimating herself to new position and being supportive I really have appreciated roxxy's presence in meetings and how thorough she has been Welcome to our district Roxy from Rusty Quast Lisa salber the mtss coordinator Little Falls Community Schools are so lucky to have Lisa guiding our mtss journey she approaches every situation with curiosity and a drive to help all students she brings an invaluable expertise to the district she's amazing Megan San Paula Daniels a parah at Dr Knight Paula is an excellent perah I have appreciated her positive attitude and willingness to do anything to help out the team thanks Paula from Lear rosi Sarah Wester a first grade teacher at Dr Knight Sarah is kind patient and compassionate she has a large group of energetic first graders and does so so well with them they are lucky to have her as their lead T Lear rosi um let's see Lindsay bomb social worker Lindsay is constantly providing support to kids at Lincoln students always have access to anything that is needed to help support their needs she is consistently supporting all students in any capacity that is needed thank you Lindsay from Nate Miller Scott orian technology coordinator Scott thank you for all your help especially behind the scenes all your late night hours to make sure we can do our jobs efficiently and keep everything operating smoothly you're the best at what you do Kelly presser Sarah philippy Middle School Ela teacher Sarah works so hard to create positive relationships with our students and our staff thank you Sarah for leading with your positivity and working to instill camaraderie in the middle school we are so lucky to have you Jess Olen and Carol Potter the special ed director I appreciate Carol's leadership guidance and overall kindness as our new spre director she is a Jim Lea Ros thank you thank you to each of you at this time we're going to go into our presentation starting with our student Representatives which one is starting first just okay there we go I was waiting for it to pop up well before we start or like get into the slides um we're having a winter week this week so that's why we're in pajamas right now it was Christmas pajama day um tomorrow is Mt about plaids so wear plaid let's see Wednesday is I think winter white out so wear white and then Thursday is candy cane day and then Friday is ugly Christmas sweater day so we're excited to have a fun Christmas week at our school yeah yeah well this first slide is about our school's food drive that's going on and that started December 3rd and then it's going to end on the 19th but students can bring in non-p perishable food items or a cash donation to their advisory and then the advisory with the most donations um is going to get a pizza party and that goes for different advisories in each grade and so the donations are all going to go to the morison county food shelf and then we also sat at coburns for 2 days and we collected donations from people shopping at cence this was also put on by the little fall teud Council as well yes and deca so both of those clubs combined so do you guys know if it's still true that if they receive money they can buy like more food typically they get a little bit more bang for their Buck like buying from a food bank as opposed to um donations do you know if that still holds true or not I'm not sure um but I just I just know that the cash is has been our biggest like our biggest source of donations that we've gotten this year from sitting at coburns that's the biggest thing that we've gotten and then something that's starting tomorrow is principal advisory Council so we started that my sophomore year of high school so two years ago and that's where every Tuesday um a group of students that applied to be in principal advisory Council 9th through 12th grade talk with our principal Mr borgi and we get to talk about different issues and so so we're super excited to have that startup Molly and I are both in it and an issue that we solved previous years was a student parking lot because once it's snows um all the lines in the parking lot get covered and it becomes really crazy in the student parking lot it becomes impossible for students to park safely there just because they can't see the line so they don't know where to put their cars and so one thing that we came up with was having um rows of snow as like the marker for the line and then students could pull up to that snowbank so they know this is where I'm supposed to pull up instead of parking in the middle of the row brilliant idea yeah yeah I wish some of the other stores would follow I know yeah it gets pretty crazy in the student parking lot so that is one of the bigger issues that we tackled and so I'm excited this year to see if we have any upcoming issues um the students get an opportunity to talk about those issues with our principal and then we get to try to solve them so that's super exciting you said they have the opportunity to apply who decides who sits on the council I'm not sure it might be it's either our student council advisor it could be Mr B blame him yeah I know there is an application process yeah MH um this next slide is about our holiday band in choir performances so um I believe it was last Sunday we had our magical dinner which is a fundraiser hosted by the falls choir and it's not just the choir that performs there's a theater production there's a recorder Ensemble and there's also a brass Ensemble that are all pictured there but the way the magical dinner works is you come in there's a bunch of old timey music playing and then you get some fun drinks and you get to be a part of the show and you get dinner and a show and you get to listen to some great music and you get to support the Arts so it's one of their biggest fundraisers and with our banter coming up that'll be super excited um up next is our inquire holiday concert which is actually tonight so if you guys have time after this that would be a great way to come out and support the Arts it starts at 7:30 um we're going to have performances from the jubil years which is like um it's like choir but it's a smaller group and then they also dance so that's fun um we're also going to have performances from our Jazz one band they are very good we heard them practice today doing band is awesome um and then we're also going to have performances from the wind Symphony and just regular choir as well so yeah um this is more of like a winter sports update um this is all uh feedback from the students that are in the sports mostly captains but this was from reaching out I got um records and other things like that so for dance they have had their season started at the end of October actually so they start pretty early but uh they have five competitions down and the girls that I talked to they really super excited they've been placing higher up than they have in in the previous years and it is um looking very good for their competition season I know they have a theme each year and this year it is The Wizard of us so that's exciting with Wicked coming out as well so um the one act play I think rehearsal started this last week um they if you don't know how one act Theater Works um it's basically like competitive theater so they have a shorter show and then they travel and compete against other smaller shows um but our show this year is called the summer people which is based on a short story um girls and boys hockey those are their records I didn't know that you could tie but they both have apparently this year um but yeah talking to both of them they're feeling very very strong especially the boys and um the captain that I talked to he said season's like a roller coaster just wait until the end you're I was like okay all right I I'll wait I guess um wrestling is super exciting they were super happy when we talked to them they're having a great season so far which is super exciting uh they have some new coaching staff they also have a lot of new wrestlers as well so they co-opt with Piller for one more year and they have very large JV team um but that's only for more year so we'll see what the numbers look like next year um this was a quote from one of the kids that I talked to today he was feeling very optimistic about the year and he said that the team really feels like a family they've been just working working their butts off in practice and they're having lots of fun so um nor skiing you might be wondering how it's going without any snow but um we have other ways to practice we have roller skiing we can run we can run with poles we can do all sorts of things but uh this kind of in between weather is really difficult for us just because it's too icy to roll or ski but there's not enough snow to actually ski anywhere without traveling like 2 hours anyway you go so it's hard to take a bus of 60 kids somewhere to ski but we do have our first meet tomorrow for sure we were supposed to have a couple but there the snow was looking good and then it all melted so yeah but we have our first meet tomorrow at Maple log which is super exciting and we get to bring our Middle School along as well so that'll be super fun and then the girls and boys basketball those are the records for the season um the girls are super happy they're having lots of fun I saw when they were in the locker room today they're having a Christmas practice so that's exciting um the boys they are talking about some things they're doing to improve as a team they also have a new head coach Colin Ekman and um they were talking about communication and working on shooting as well so yeah but yeah that's all I have yeah do you guys have any questions about anything no I've been able to see a few of those EV that so right good sounds good thank you I do want to say I really appreciate Mark and the having it online and being able to sit home on the couch and watch yeah it's it's it's you actually I think see more and I know for the wrestling is the one I watch the most they got fantastic um narrators on that especially when they're saying ref get out of the way CU then we can't see anything but thank you girls wonderful report thank you all right next we're going to have Miss Mr Bor come up and talk to us while College in the schools so the reason I didn't wear my pajamas today so otherwise I wouldn't have missed that opportunity well take your jacket off sure looks like your shirt is well you know purple Pride as they say purple Pride so I'm uh like to share with you a proposal that we have for the 252 six year uh College in the schools program give you a little history I think you have a kind of a one-page document that I sent uh to Kelly last week so you should have received that but uh prior to co um The Higher Learning commission which oversees all college and the schools in the state of Minnesota and really in the region came up with a uh new guidelines that said if you were going to teach a college in the school's class you had to have a master's in field which means if you're a math teacher you have to have a master's in mathematics or 18 graduate credits in field in order to teach college and the schools then Co came and the deadline has been kicked down the road for about 5 years well now finally next fall in the 25 26 school year uh the requirement of Masters in field or 18 graduate credits and field is firmly in place our major college and the schools partner of Central Lakes college and Brainard now we do have some other agreements um with stcloud State uh for our physics program which I which I'll I'll run through here shortly so that puts us in a in a little bit of a a situation where we have currently we have some college in the schools classes that are being offered that our teachers will no longer be credential to teach because they don't meet the requirement of a master's in field or 18 graduate credits so we're not alone in this dilemma there are certainly other schools in the region Andross the state that are also looking at different options and so one of the options we're strongly considering and I'm bringing forward to the board tonight is um a proposal that would include a coop model that Central Lakes college is offering which will allow us to keep the classes that we currently are teaching and actually expand it um but that comes with a price so I can run through the uh the classes that we have and and I'm sure Ellie and Miss P here have have uh been in a lot of these classes so we currently uh offer calculus uh as you see as I have listed it's the college course number the number of college credits the students receive the cost per the course and then the teacher on staff who teaches that class all right so we start out with Calculus John Morgan teaches Kelk he's fully credentialed uh and the cost per offering calculus in our school whether it's one section two sections or three sections is $3,000 now we happen to only have one section of calculus and it's a $3,000 for for the year to offer that course and the students in that Course once they've completed it uh will earn five college credits in calculus great deal for our kids the other classes that we offer in math for college credit are preal which is again a five credit class and then embedded in that pre-calculus class that really is most of our juniors in and and some seniors um is the college algebra class so a student takes those college classes at Little Falls High School they can get 13 credits uh in just math taking to wherever they decide to go after high school School uh the important thing to note there is any class at Central Lakes college that is a 1400 level class is a mincu transfer level class so if it's a 1400 CL 1400 offered class um at at Central Lakes College it's accepted at Brainard Morhead State Winona State stcloud state any of the state mincu universities must accept those 1400 level college classes having three three children of my own graduate from Little Falls um one went to University of North Dakota every one of her college classes were accepted one went to St John's all their college credits were accepted at St John's and my youngest son went to the University of Minnesota duth so three different systems um but all accepted um which again puts puts students at a various you know why what's the advantage of taking College in the school's classes one the exposure to the rigor of a college level course and what it requires and two of course there's a financial incentive to get college credits while you're still in high school and once students get to College it provides them with a lot of flexibility again just using my three children as an example my youngest child was able to double major in in four years in econ and finance because he brought 20 some extra credits with him to duth my youngest son was able to navigate uh a transfer from the University of North Dakota to St John's and still graduated in four years and my daughter was able to space out her uh academic programming and be able to work and left four years of college with with really little debt so it provides a lot of different options for kids when they when they leave high school with College college credits uh I'll drop down and just talk a little bit about science we currently offer physics for four credits that's the only St Cloud State College in the schools course we offer offer um CLC does not offer physics and so that's the case Mike Huck is that teacher again he's fully credential so the course is $3,000 and that's for four credits uh we offer several credits several sections of uh college chemistry 1414 um Mr Ward is the teacher of that class right now however next year we will not have a credential staff member at the high school to teach college chemistry and so we'll be looking at offering that through a cop model and here's the big difference the price is double because the involvement of the staff member at the college is increased and that is not a cost per course offered that's a cost per section so we have two sections of college chemistry right now that would be $112,000 to offer college chemistry so that's something that we'll have to look at and certainly communicate with the kids um who are who are going to take college classes that are co-taught um for many years we were label to offer environmental biology Mr bellig has taught that uh we're not offering it this year um but we would look at reinserting that opportunity into our curriculum next year and again that is a that would be a CIS caught class and then human biology which is a huge part of our Health Science Academy um debini Alman has taught that class in the past we're not offering it for college credit this year but we would like to reinsert that into our curriculum um next year we have not had uh social studies teachers that have been credentialed uh really since I've been here and so social studies is the one area of the four core that we haven't offered a lot of college credits in just because of our staffing uh credentials we've have wonderful staff members in social studies but they just didn't have those those credentials anyway um mateline Wright who is a little Falls Alum and Val Victorian of her class A number of years ago was a very sharp and wonderful teacher she would love to uh offer Introduction to Sociology that would be a caught Class A 1400 level class would be transferred to you know to any University that they would go to and then we have a large offering in English we have uh 1410 and 1411 which is really College freshman English and every student that goes to college I tell you if you're not taking comp you're missing a huge opportunity you can see it's eight credits and uh Megan seek is fully credentialed and uh it's one of our most popular it's really the staple class for a college in the schools program um and Megan does a wonderful job uh 1416 of the English Lit that's taught by Annie K she too is fully credentialed she's taught that class for many years years and we would like to offer that uh as well so you can see that again if students take that English track like they do the ma High math track they're going to have 11 credits in English that will transfer to the university you couple that with math and you know you're already at 20 credits without considering any of the science or any other area so it's great opportunities for for students um we have some other classes that we have offered in the past we will um put in the registration book again for next year we've offered 1470 art appreciation for many years some years it goes some years it doesn't Karen Warner teaches that class she's fully credentialed and we're hoping to uh offer it again next year we've offered wi Symphony as a one credit class in band uh off and on for for several years uh that would be something that we would look at doing I didn't put the price down cuz I'm not sure what the price is for a one credit class um and then we have a couple of other college and the schools opportunities or excuse me opportunities for college credit uh We've offered uh computer science for the last several years if you remember uh we got a grant from Amazon and so we have uh computer science and then also uh a computer science basically part two uh that is aligned with ap and Mr Hawk teaches that and then one of our new social studies teachers Autumn fosterson was really excited uh when she learned that the uh advanced placement conference was in Minneapolis this summer When She interviewed she talked about her desire to teach an advanced placement class in social studies and again since we haven't offered a lot of opportunities in social studies we thought that was a great thing and Autumn's really excited to teach uh United States uh history as an advanced placement class when I was visiting with Mr Johnson a little bit about just the the the history of the importance of offering college and the school's classes really what it comes down to is we want to keep our kids in Little Falls and we want to provide them with great opportunities um not only to to be able to experience you know the high school experience and all the things that you know the two girls talked about uh but also feel that need and desire for kids to get College in the schools or college credits before they leave high school and go on so we've been pretty fortunate over the years that our college and the schools program has really kept a lot of our kids here in Little Falls uh we had a little blip a couple years ago and really it was probably due to a staffing change when Mrs gu went from the high school to the middle school there was a concern that we were no longer going to be able to offer college comp and we lost a few kids uh to PSO um in the in the 16 years I've been here we've averaged right around 20 kids a year or so give or take you know that are between fulltime and parttime which you go up to Brainard you go to peat you go to other schools their their their numbers and their impact on their school losing kids to full-time and part-time uh PSO is much greater so when we look at offering co-top models which is much more expensive you need to keep in mind that according to the numbers from uh Mr movich you know we get for high school student approximately $7,200 in state aid so when we lose one student we lose that amount of Aid the total number of credits that I outlined in here I think is 50 excuse me is uh would come to just over $50,000 which is um you know seven kids so if we had seven kids leave our high school because we weren't offered enough College in the school's credits uh it wouldn't take long to to get to to 50,000 so I'll have a formal proposal to you after uh after Christmas when we get our final registration numbers the cot offering by CLC is new to them so they're not 100% sure how many cot classes they'll be able to offer it be based on their registration just like us because they have to dedicate a college staff member to oversee uh different Co ctop classes so it's a work in progress as that becomes a little clear we've also I've also explored some opportunities with the University of Minnesota they are not governed by The Higher Learning commission but they're requirements are are kind of similar so there'd be some options if if uh if we need to explore that the one nice thing about having one partner is that when Molly goes to college next year she's not going to have three different transcripts from three different colleges you know she's going to have one transcript from CLC that'll outline all of her all of her classes that's the nice thing about having an individual partner but um we also want to explore our options that was a lot I know I rambled questions yes I have a question so we talk about courses that you've maybe had or nobody signed up for or whatever are we committed to the cost if nobody signs up for it no it's only only when we offered it okay y so we offer it nobody signs up then then it doesn't run okay yeah just like our high school classes and in the past 15 has kind of been the magic number that the superintendent and I have talked about if we don't have a class that has at least 15 students in it then we would look at probably not running that uh in a lot of our departments we offer more classes than we can teach and so some of those classes get Consolidated uh kids will make other choices based on what's what what we're able to offer and what we can offer when you're giving us these numbers Mr biori per course is that for course no matter how many students are in there or is it a minimum amount of students that have to meet that y so that's a huge difference so like right now doesn't matter how many sections of chemistry or pre-calculus we have several sections of that or environmental biology if the staff member is credentialed it's $3,000 to offer the course doesn't many doesn't matter how many sections of that course we would have it's a $3,000 fee so it's for the whole year or for each well those classes except for comple and comp 2 are all semester classes okay all right so the five credits that students get for calculus we call it in our high school we call College Cel it's offered all year long but those students are only enrolled in than one semester at College in Kel same thing with chemistry same thing really with all the classes that well come one in two or two different classes so they're all semester classes and each semester we would have to pay that that amount no no so we we stretch the class okay over the course of the year the kids are only are registered for the class at the University for one semester so for example calcul our one year of calculus is far more than a semester of calculus at the college because we have a whole year and they meet every day that's a that's another huge difference is students get the support uh from their teacher five days a week versus enrolling in a two or three credit class that might meet two or three days a week okay so I can tell you my son is a mechanical engineer major and he had the and he said his first year was significantly easier having that that it really laid a base ground work for him so if um we have a teacher has their um um master's degree in the 18 credits can they teach a college class without going through C CLC CLC well we have to have have a Higher Learning Partner so that was part of the changes that they made no we've always worked with one of the one of the colleges okay um but the credentialing the ability to teach a class kind of fell at each at each individual level so the state for a long time in Chris's experience down south the universities were all over the place Central Lakes College used to be half the cost of St CLA state offering the same class they're offering the same curriculum they're transfer level classes one University would be charging $1,500 a class another University be charging $3,000 a class well that doesn't make sense they're the same system so they finally align that and they're all at the same level right now just like the credentialing so this is a great story so when I was in wadina the college at wadina came to me and said that my science teacher would no longer be able to teach chemistry at wadina high school because he did not have the correct credentialing and I said well that's really unfortunate what are you going to tell the college kids at across the street because he teaches College chemistry at the wadina technical school so he can't teach there either then right the next day I got a call from the the dean he was approved to teach so uh it was a little bit uh there was a lot of inconsistency in the program so it's more aligned it's more consistent one of the things I'll just say and I I've talked with Mr Johnson about this before and prior with prior superintendent I really would encourage uh our board and our negotiations team to put some kind of incentive in the contract for our teachers to get fully credentialed um I know there's not an opportunity for a kindergarten teacher to teach College in the schools but um and so I understand contracts and the union members are E12 but it's a huge deal at the high school it's a huge deal to be able to have staff who are credential to teach College in the schools it's money well spent and I I really would encourage you to think about ways to encourage our staff to go and get their their uh Advanced degrees so we can keep them here keep our kids here and and in the long run save us money I think it's be a wise decision and there's a lot of models out there across the state of how different schools incentivize staff uh to do that approximate number of kids that take advantage of this program oh great question Mark um well we have 200 kids a grade we have about a 100 Kids a grade that say they're going to college about it's it's it's well over a 100 and probably closer to 150 175 kids a year that are taking College in the schools classes it's a great program it is it's great opportunities for for our students M Ellie how many college classes do you have right now I'm not let's see physics band I think four total but that's just this year and we got the opportunity to take college classes last year also so is it Junior and Senior year yep and actually um it's available to sophomores but it's there's more of a CTE um emphasis there and we don't we don't have we haven't had a lot of sophomores do that I think in communities that have a Tech College in their in their Town they're able to do that any questions for Mr Bor no thank you for all the work of putting this information together for us and youcome see you see you in January with the proposal you think yep and if I could have an additional 45 minutes that evening to just talk about how great Molly and Ellie are doing during the student rep part so to answer your question the student council advisor Mrs watercott and a secret Anonymous panel select the kids for the principal advisory committee and it's it's been really neat it's been a neat experience they have a lot of great great ideas we talk about more than just the parking lot we talk about school culture and how to fix various things and I get a lot of feedback from them on what's going well and if you were the principal what would you be focusing on so it's been a it's been a great thing and look forward to get that role in tomorrow well I know I appreciate the having the students the last couple years on the board here because a lot of times we think we know what the students want yeah they tell us we're not right so do they replace you for the day well we we talked about that being a uh an incentive for being the principal of the day I'm not sure there's just a shadow even I'm sure that there's not many takers thank you thank you for coming our next presentation will be with Mr deal with the facilities update I was told I had to be done at 5 50 which gives me we have to close at 6 for gives me about one minute thanks Mr Bor you said take as much time as you want um so just real quick um we'll talk quickly about the daycare center so we're down to flooring and installing Cubbies and that's really exciting so actually next um tomorrow they're going to start up the boiler they'll they'll do some final testing on some things uh early next week then on the 26th the architect is coming down and he and I and the representatives from krity will go through and make the punch list of things that need to get touched up or fixed um and then really it kind of turns over to us after that and uh our custodians will start finishing the floors and getting Furniture into rooms and put together and all that good stuff so and then the licensing aspect starts with Kayla Gru and her work with the state licenser so coming fast March 10th opening it'll be here before we know it so I do just want to say um we've run some prelimin preliminary numbers and the daycare center is coming in under budget and so we'll have some money um available to us to add some extra things that we just left off to start with like uh a playground age appropriate playground and things like that we'll have some money to do some of those kinds of things so that's really good news and it came in under it's coming in under budget because we we've been able to navigate the the contingencies and the general conditions uh really well and so that's good news uh the cquad softball field the that field is in the Agra lime is down we just need to wait for spring now we we um other than the Nordic ski the softball team's probably the only other team in town that's hoping for some significant snow some significant snow would really pack that egg Li well and that would be a good thing um in the spring they'll put the bases in and um get the Dugout roofs on and go with that the Middle School pool is um currently empty and if you so it's uh been empty for about uh about a month now and um we drained it to clean it but we also drained it because we are replacing the media in the pool what's the media well the media according to the pool people is the sand filtration system so you have to replace the sand every 10 years well we haven't done it for about 20 years as far back as I can see on the records and so it's time um we're hoping that when we go to take the sand out it's not a big block um that is actually still sand that can be sucked out so um we're keeping our fingers crossed that happens this week on Thursday um the dis the district office uh the South half that remodel project starts January 6 so the football team is coming in on the 27th to move people out of those spaces and into the stuff's going into the Container that's why that container is between the two buildings um different people are going to be shifting to different um spaces for a temporary period but we anticipate all of that work to be done by the end of March uh we've got some repairs that need to happen over at Lindberg Elementary we've got some windows on the west side that are leaking and if you remember if you look at the building there's actually some overhangs over the windows on the west side and they're sloping backwards now they've the under structure has collapsed there it was a wood it's appears to have rotted so we are um working with a contractor to get that uh resolved likely it'll have have to wait till the springtime when it warms up a little bit um in your truth and Taxation meeting tonight one of the things that she'll uhu be approving is to do some abatements over at Lincoln Elementary School so we're in the beginning plan beginning phases of planning for that and um we've identified the 11 areas that that needs to happen at and we're targeting a June 2nd start date for that but we want to get on people's calendars for that as quickly as we can so we'll be dealing with that in January um we're also looking at replacing the middle the flooring some flooring in the Middle School specifically in the Commons in the adjacent hallways if you've been in the Commons I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to put carpet in the Commons for a lunchroom area but they did um and and we we've worked with it but we're trying to figure out what's the best means of a low of a durable flooring to put in there that's that's going to be um the least amount of Maintenance and so we're looking at some options but any kind of flooring that you put in there takes a lot of abuse because you've got lunchroom tables in there all the time you're setting up for concerts in there a lot so it's an up and down and up and down constantly so um but we look we're looking at trying to get that done right away in June Mark what other um I know you mentioned concerts and stuff are there other than lunch and concerts I know I think youth wrestling was typically in there is there anything else that uses that yeah there's a lot of things that us light that uh youth wrestling is in there a lot um we do the madal dinner over there um um it's other than the other than the gym and the pool you know it's probably our most rented space over there for the Middle School um there's a lot of community groups that are in and out of there for different things we utilize it for school age child care in the Summers kids hide out so that carpet that's in there is probably original to the construction from '93 so having four kids and sitting through 16 Middle School concerts my question is why don't we ever use the auditorium at the high school for concerts since it's kind of that's what it's there for that's a really good question it's a great question and um I know our custodians would love it if we didn't because a typical a typical Middle School concert is about 35 40 minutes but it takes probably two hours to set that up and another two hours to tear that down so it's not an efficient use of space so if you're directing us to look into moving those to the high school we be glad to do that you know I'm done being there but I remember I mean typically it's standing your moment I mean there's not enough chairs parents are lined Down the Walls and on the back and stuff and it just seems not an efficient use of and if it's that big of a deal that we're setting up because I know at the end they ask all the parents and everybody to stack the chairs and do whatever so yeah I mean if we have that ability I'd say absolutely let's look is there a conflict with using the gym like it used to be before that Commons was added on for those concerts yeah especially in the winter time a lot of nights you'll have basketball games going on in there and so you can't set up I mean the lack 45 minutes it's four or five hours yeah cuz you're not put I mean if you were to set it up the gym you'd have to put all the kids up on the stage and now you've got this huge you've got a whole basketball court withth right between the audience and the and the performers and I think that they would probably tell you that the stage is a little too small for them over there okay yeah great questions um our ground mounted solar array I I'll I'll finish with these two things our ground mounted solar array uh we had to we had to put out an RFP that the bids are due this week on Thursday but we're have a Target start date for May 1st if everything goes well and then the um energy grant that we got from the US Department of energy through Region 5 we anticipate that we'll have the contract for that in Hand by mid January with um a Target start date of June 2nd to be replacing uh light fixtures converting them to LED across the district so I have other things but you don't have time for them right now you only got what two minutes yeah any questions about any of that thanks Mark thanks for all the work you did you're aome very much appreciated um we're going to have to move from the number nine presentations down to number 14 by law we have to do our truth and Taxation presentation at 6: p.m. you can finish the rest of the agenda it just has to be after 6 oh after 6 I thought it had to be at 6 okay then we will turn it over to Mr Johnson I'll be really brief tonight because of the truth that station I just want to give a shout out to the uh flyer wrestling team and Amber Rous for their their work to recognize our former high school wrestling coach Simon Waltman for wins for Waltman and selling over 350 t-shirts to support Simon's family it was really a special night on December 5th the first home wrestling meet to have his family there and the amount of uh flyer wrestling support for for Simon family the rest I have can wait all right thank you um moving into new business then um the early retirement incentive this is an action item this evening you do have the seniority list in your package or on your computers any comments questions or concerns that anybody noticed on these pages Mr Johnson any comments or questions that you wouldd like to share with us yeah the EXT extended leave agreement um is similar to what we offered last year we had six staff members take that extended leave of absence and then we continue to pay their TR okay and then we did make one change where we added an age and years of service requirement um to this year's agreement which aligns with state statute and if you would be kind enough as you set make a motion if similar to last year I know we started with five and ended with six applications but if you could select a number to start with that would be wonderful we'll put a motion on the board uh on the floor somebody please to repeat the early retirement incentive program similar to last year a motion please don't moved a second second okay we have a motion and a second discussion is now open how many early retir incentives would we like to have to vote on you said last year we gave how many six total are you looking for like a minimum maximum or just an actual number I would recommend that we have a maximum of five if we receive more that it would come back to you to consider additional okay the union has had an opportunity to look at this and share and discuss it at their cabinet level as well okay then I would amend my motion okay to include a maximum of five I'll second that did did the Union have a number they'd like us to use they didn't okay definitely some interest people have been asking again this year and I think that maximum number is is you know with the the teaching crisis that we have right now and finding applicants gives us a little bit of a safety net if we have more people to app well we're approving up to five correct we're not kicking five out right right okay okay we have a motion on the floor to accept up to five early retirement incentive contracts we have a motion and a second stating that at this time any other comments questions or concerns hearing none all those in the favor of that motion signify by saying I I opposed okay we have passed that we will accept up to five early retirement incentive contracts the next item that I previously mentioned is actually a non-action item this month and that is the emlf seniority list um any comments questions or concerns about that to be brought at this time okay we'll move forward then there is no older unfinished business and we're going to move in reports from board members Mark uh nothing to report hey Julie nothing to report Doug nothing as well well I just spent my time watching a lot of wrestling and really enjoying enjoying that and then this um last Saturday I came to was not I'm assuming this is different the J for kicks is not the dance yeah team separate yeah so because it was three year- olds out there I didn't think we had that which um actually Mrs Waltman was there and her little three-year-old was celebrating her birthday on the Dance Floor she was going to be four the next day on it it was very well attended and one wonderful program to watch again so um that was about it for me on that so now at this time we can move into our truth and Taxation presentation and public comments if we have any public he that shows up looks like the usual crowd I'm just going to sneak and then this will we'll need to certify the tax levy as an action item AR are you able to put up on the you guys have a copy don't you I have on my left y yeah I have one got the paper copy thank you the concert yes thank you girls than you thank you Merry Christmas for you good luck in the con thank you hope you don't eat luck at this [Laughter] point it doesn't start till 7 right 7:30 by 9 okay thank you take care thank you all right we'll kick off our TNT meeting here truth and Taxation for taxes payable 2025 um we'll start off with the basic high level requirements for truth and Taxation um annually school districts must send out a mail tax statement to each uh property owner in the county uh for us the the county auditor does that for us um school districts are also required to hold a meeting to discuss the proposed Levy and the current year budget and that meeting must be held after 6: pm and that TNT meeting needs to be held between November 25th and December 28th um we're here tonight to to check all those boxes and to um hopefully certify the levy um brief agenda we have more than this to discuss but these are the the main topics that we have to talk about um so we're going to start things off by discussing our current year fiscal year 25 budget or school year 2425 and then we're going to discuss our proposed property tax levy for taxes payable 2025 and we have to give the public a reasonable amount of time to comment on both of those agenda items um points to remember when discussing the property local property tax levy for Minnesota schools our Revenue formulas are set by state formulas that are set by the folks down in St Paul um local Aid and Levy mix can can be a a significant point for um increases or decreases in the levy I I will mention that what we call that in school Finance School Finance is Equalization and that has been going down and down over the past couple years to the point where that probably won't be a factor with next year's uh Levy um in point three there kind of piggybacks off bullet point number two that increases or decreases in the school district's Levy does not necessarily mean increased revenue for the school district it just shifts what pieces come in Aid and what pieces come in Levy we're going to jump into our current school year our current budget for the 2425 school year here um we have eight funds um in our district um for the purpose of this presentation I'm only going to touch on four funds the the main operating funds the the big one fund one the general fund is used to account for um normal operations of the school district our revenue is based off of a per pupil um funding stream for whichever category you want to look at that's where our operating referendum is accounted for um special education and other federal grants are accounted for in the general fund um extracurricular activities Sports Fine Arts those sorts of things Transportation um and and most of our deferred maintenance projects are also coded to the general fund um Food Service fund two is used to account for our school breakfast and lunch programs community service fund four is used to account for Community enrichment type activities or early childhood type programs um and fund seven is used to account for our debt service revenues and Debt Service payments looking at our revenues for the 2425 school year starting off with the general fund you can see our revenues our our budgeted revenues are really pretty much the exact same as our audited actuals for fiscal year 24 um even though the state gave us a 2% increase to the basic formula allowance we have declining enrollment which pretty much negates that increase um both food service and Community Ed I I am a pesimist a pessimistic budgeter when it comes to those two funds so realistically we'll probably end right around where fiscal year 20 before was um Debt Service nothing too exciting there just Ling enough to pay our our uh our debt payments so overall our revenues are down about 1.54% between those two funds um looking more specifically at the general funds which is where I like to spend most of my time um about 82% of our general funds Revenue budget comes in the form of State AIDS um about 5% comes in the form of federal AIDS and 11% in local property taxes and the remaining three or so percent comes from other local revenues like donations or participation fees those types of things um transitioning to uh the general or I'm sorry excuse me transitioning to our expenditure budget for the 2425 school year overall starting with the general fund our general fund expenditure budget is down 1.65% if you remember we went through significant budget cuts this spring um so that that makes sense um the Food Service budget is down 133% when comp when compared to the prior year I will say fiscal year 24 we experienced a 40% increase to our food costs so I'm I am monitoring that as we work through this school year I'm hoping it it declines a little bit but we'll see and then community service um our community services director has done a great job of growing programs so it it makes sense that there would be more costs associated with adding programs and our debts service fund is really just kind of maintaining um so overall our general fund expenditures are down almost 2% when compared to the prior year um so where where do we spend our general fund money um looking at the chart on the right hand side we spend approximately 38% of our general fund expenditures on classroom instruction if if you combine Elementary and secondary instruction vocational special ed and instructional support we spend approximately 68% of our general fund Budget on Direct instruction if you include pupil support that jumps to 80% of our general fund budget going to supporting students um a py graph of um the object area of how we spend the general fund budget um 75% of our general fund budget is goes towards paying salaries and wages or excuse me salaries and benefits um the next biggest category at 18% is purchase Services which is primarily going to be Transportation costs looking at some of our bigger fund balance areas the top two are the most important being the unassigned balance at about 1.46 million and the assigned at 254,000 um the bottom one there long-term facility maintenance at a balance of about 1.3 million um that bottom category when you see the district remodeling bathro bathrooms or striping parking lots those S types of things that is where those funds are coming from the state requires we spend spend those funds in that way all right we'll jump into P factors bearing down on future budget decisions enrollment is the single most important factor in determining our general fund revenues over the past six years we've experienced a decline in our enrollment of 4.65% um that's roughly 120 students which roughly counts 1 .2 million annually that would vary depending on which year you want to look at there but it's declining enrollment is significant um looking at our unassigned fund balance graph um unassigned or unrestricted is the primary factor in determining the school district's Financial Health um you can see from fiscal year 21 through 23 we were on a really fell off a cliff when it comes the fund balance um but starting in fiscal year 24 we are starting to turn a corner um and and starting to recover um at the end of fiscal year 24 our unassigned fund balance was 4.2% um which is below the school board's policy of between 5 and 7% the state average is also about 20% so we're well below that this chart here I just think illustrates the the challenges for school districts financially the the orange dotted line is the basic formula allowance over the past 20 or so years and the blue solid line is what the basic formula allowance would need to increase annually to keep up with inflation um currently that Gap is $1,356 per pupil which for for our district would be um over $3 million annually um same information in the graph um you can see the current basic formula ounce is72 7,281 it was a 2% increase this fiscal year um roughly annually you could expect between $3 to $500,000 and basic formula allowance increases annually so it's not a a significant amount of money jumping into our property tax history I'm going to buzz through these um the main point here is our um historical Levy increases over the past 5 years we've averaged um 2.19% over the last 5 years um jumping into the current year Levy now um 24 payable 225 what does that mean um the levy is certified in calendar year 2024 the taxes are collected in calendar year 2025 and the school district will recognize the revenue for our fiscal year 26 which is school year 2025 26 um just to reiterate uh our Levy is based off a state formula uh which is set by the state legislature or voter approved referendums um I think this is an important slide to just kind of understand all the players in the process it starts with the assessor um developing the the market value for our for our district it then jumps to the legislature which sets the rates for the various tax brackets it then gets pushed to the county auditor that takes the assessed value in the tax rates and develops the the tax capacity for the district it then jumps to step four the legislature sets the the maximum formula allowances for the school districts then jumps to step five where the department ofed um develops a lovely 39 page document called the the Levy report that I get to pick through and then step six there is is the school board's um time to make a decision on the levy most districts um like us approve the maximum um and then step seven we we certify um what you ultimately approved to the county auditor and he and and they make the the final um calculations um just to review some of the things that can impact change in a individual's tax taxes um what what happens in St St Paul can be uh can have a tremendous impact on our our local Levy um the examples there are currently not an issue this year um the bottom of the slide there uh issues determined by local voters we obviously didn't have a referendum going this fall so no no impact there other local factors inflationary pressures on the real estate market we've all experienced that over the last couple years abatements um I'm not aware of any of those this year property tax Improvement property improvements not previously taxed obviously if you build an addition to your home and you don't tell the county about it eventually they're going to figure it out um how do we spend how will our 2025 taxes be spent 70% of it will be spent in the general fund 2% in the community service fund and 28% in The Debt Service fund um so our our current proposed Levy for taxes payable 2025 is a 3.23% increase or $182,000 um we did um pay off some debt in the G in The Debt Service fund and that is now shifting to the general fund to be used for projects there so that's why you're seeing a big Shi between those two categories and in fund four uh that decrease there has to do with um some uh school age child care expenses um looking at some of the major Levy categories um um probably the big ones would be local optional um overall nothing too exciting here but I want to point out I I suppose the one thing I should point out would be with long-term facility maintenance that Mark touched on earlier is the the abatement for Lincoln that is a one-time increase of $100,000 um and then just to kind of reiterate some of what what can cause changes in individuals um property taxes um market value changes whether that's your property or your neighbors can have a tremendous impact on your individual um tax statement um voter approved referendums we obviously don't have those this year and changes in state funding formulas which we also don't have this year um let me skip that one um when I touched on inflationary pressures on the real estate market the top here is the overall market value for our school district the bottom left is our referendum market value tax base and the bottom right is our adjusted net tax capacity um so all three have increased significantly over the past two years um and I I always like to touch on the school building Bond agricultural credit even though it's been around for a while now but currently um qualifying a gland receives a 70% credit to um their taxes um which for our district currently is right around $214,000 um significant benefit for Greater Minnesota um it's helped pass a lot of building bonds over the past couple years making it more affordable for our um agricultural property owners um this is just a list of the types of properties that qualify for the the egg credit um this slide here pretty much just says that um the property owner doesn't have to do anything to receive this credit it it's all done internally um at the county level um just to touch on Community Services a little bit um their Levy is their base Levy is structured based off of the population within the district so from the 2020 census our district population was 1,75 people and then their their base base dollar amount per person is $ 6.35 um they get a little bit of they get $1 for you service and and 1.85 for after school enrichment um just a little information on the Minnesota homestead credit refund um I have a link there if anyone's interested in that credit but it's up to um the homeowners to apply for that credit and then finally our our last side to uh certify the levy other than that any questions for me thank you after the presentation I need a motion um to certify the tax levy for a discussion a motion on the floor move second second we're now open for discussion to certify a tax levy this is something we do every year and it's pretty much nothing for us to do it's it's all mandated we just go for the max it's just all mandated to us so and the max would be how much 3.23% 3 is that what was on our statements we received them from the county last week or the week before okay okay so we have a motion on the floor to certify the tax ly at the maximum of 3.2 I it's resol 3.23 resolution is that a resolution then so then that's goes to Mark y whereas pursu to Minnesota statute the school board of Independent School District number 482 Little Falls Minnesota is authorized to make the following proposed tax levies for general purposes maintenance general fund 4,764 one5 Community Services $12,432 Debt Service 1,622 3054 total proposed School tax levy 5,821 um th000 sorry $275 16 now therefore be resolved by the Minnesota by the school board of Independent School District 482 Little Falls Minnesota that this Levy be certified in 2024 to be collected in 2025 is set at 5,821 27516 the clerk of the Independent School District 482 board is authorized to certify the proposed Levy to the county attorney of Crowing County Morrison County and Todd County Minnesota let it we had a motion in a second so I'll take the role uh Doug uh yes Sharon yes Julie yes and myself yes and that resolution approved thank you Mark do we have any any other business to come before the board this evening hearing none I'll accept a motion for adjournment then so you have a motion a second please second we have a motion in a second for adjournment for the December 16th 2024 school board meeting all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed thank you everybody have a good holiday season e