##VIDEO ID:QIms0gLcJAM## e e e e e e e e e e good evening the regular meeting of the Independent School District 279 School Board is called to order at 6: p.m. on September 24th 2024 this regular business meeting of the asua school board is being conducted in the boardroom of the Educational Service Center the meeting can be monitored electronically by streaming online from the district website an archived recording of tonight's meeting will also be available on the district website seated in front of you tonight from my left to your right is is director Thomas Brooks director Heather Douglas director Tanya Prince myself Jacki mosa Jones director Sarah Mitchell and director Tam McGrady also present in the boardroom is superintendent Dr H and members of the superintendent's cabinet we are so happy to have our Stu school student School Board representatives for the 2425 school year join us this evening we'll be introducing them shortly um those of you who can please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and director Mitchell will you please leave thank you Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you board members are there any additions to the agenda um seeing none is there a motion to accept the agenda as written so moved all right motion by um director Douglas is there a second second second by director Mitchell um is there any discussion all in favor say I I all oppose say nay motion passes to zero the 202 of 2024 2025 school year is our fourth year of having student Schoolboard representatives and we're very pleased to welcome this year's exemplary representatives from Park Center Senior High oio Senior High School Maple Grove Senior High School in 279 online Dr H please start us off on the introductions yes thank you chair mosita Jones I'm honored to welcome this evening our three amazing Scholars seated uh here today this evening as our student board representatives for the 20242 school year um our Maple Grove Senior High representative Gavin is able to be here this evening as well as an toet who uh goes to oio senior high so formal introductions will be done in a moment by uh Miss Amy toson our district level principal and Mentor for our student board reps but first I want to thank each of you so much for your commitment to serve in this capacity your voices are truly valued and of course we look forward to your reports and insights throughout the year so Amy please go ahead and do your introductions thank you superintendent Dr hyle I am thrilled to be here today um and I have the fortune of working with our student board reps and I can tell you that um we had many amazing applicants for this apportunity in the spring and it's always really difficult because we could have so many students here sharing their perspective perspective and experience however we do identify one from each school so I am going to invite name Naomi Cooper Greer to share her uh report first like this yes yes yes okay hello everyone I'm Naomi Cooper hyen Greer and I represent Park Center I wanted to join this committee for the people who don't have a voice or who feel like their thoughts and opinion aren't being heard I also love leadership opportunities so this is the right place for me moving on this is officially the first month of the school year so all of our teachers have been doing an outstanding job helping kids and students get back into the groove of school side note I'd also like to give a thanks to link crew members and other leaders around the school who help incoming freshmen and new students at our new school making them feel welcomed and at home at our great big pirate ship the first week of school was an adjustment for everybody readjusting sleep schedules to better fit with the school schedules instead of waking up at 12:00 in the afternoon along with being back in a learning environment everybody was just excited for the first day of school the lunchroom was filled with people and positivity like I've never seen so many people stand up but it felt very comfortable and it was a nice place to be in homecoming has been a big topic for many people around the school some wondering if the they're going to attend the dance others wondering if they're going to go to the football game some wondering if our team is going to win but nonetheless there's a good amount of excitement and anticipation surrounding the homecoming dance and game that is coming up within the next few days I believe that our culture and our student body at Park Center could use a little bit of work there has been a lot of discussion about how to get people at Park Center more involved in the activities more importantly the activities that don't get a lot of attention whether it be sitting in the stands or more participation within the activity itself I believe that this is taking a step in the right direction for Park Center more importantly it makes our students feel like a family rather than split up groups of clicks and people who just see each other on a daily basis and I can't wait to see what this does to our school environment finally I just can't wait to see how much our school changes and how much our student body flourishes from these changes I just just want this to be one of the greatest years for Park Center and thank you all so much for having me here thank you thank you so much Naomi reason good evening everyone my name is Reen Atkins once again representing 279 online I wanted to represent my school because I'm a very experienced student at 279 online or for someone who has been attending as long as I have distant learning academy I believe it's very important to have insights on the school's on this District's Virtual School seeing as though it can be forgotten about sometimes or have little to no recognition at all I not only am I speaking from from my own point of view I'm also speaking for our entire virtual community so thank you once again for allowing me to represent and inform you for 279 online's 2024 to 2025 school year September is basically already over September is basically already over so as Scholars kiss away the 21st night we all grooving away into October 279 online has had a fresh breath this year as we welcome new staff and new Scholars the student leadership team is still under development with future plans they have underways high school students are putting their thoughts and efforts into creating their first ever in-person prom event for next year conferences will be held on October 1st where parents and Guardians will be able to meet with someone with will be able to meet with their students teachers for an opportunity to review their performance and during the school year with these conferences teachers can evaluate on what areas a schol could improve on and what areas a scholar is succeeding in other than that students have been getting back into their normal schedules and habits attendance question attendance has became a lot more serious this year as we have swapped out our attendance quizzes for live attendance in class every day we also have a new system in place for our wild Wednesday uh blocks students can sign up for teachers and teachers can request students as well to come and see them as usual we support as usual we have our homework support and homework help classes and we also have more fun classes like game social block and gardening tips 279 online has a lot of underw wraps for this amazing school year and I once again honored to be able to share our monthly update with you guys I hope everyone has had an amazing start to the beginning of their school year as we grow into the year of 2025 thank you thank you so much to our student board reps and we look forward to the rest of the year with having your voices be present we're so so happy that you're here thank you welcome back reason thanks Naomi okay um at each business meeting of the school board um going forward our student School Board Representatives will give a report from their respective schools and board members will ask the representatives if they have any input on future meeting agenda items so welcome to you all um and again um our representative from oio antoanet Brown and representative from Maple Grove Gavin uh cha are not not able to make it tonight but we hope to see them next month the next standing agenda item is recognitions we are so very happy and proud to highlight the accomplishes accomplishments that are on this evening's agenda we have four recognitions I'll be calling each coach to step up to present their amazing Scholars after each recognition we will be taking a group photo so don't run away at this time I ask that board members superintendent Dr H and student board Representatives please move to stand in front of this um dis so that we can offer our congratulations after all I don't got it okay so at this whoa that was really loud um coach Randy Glassman will you please step up to the podium to introduce the 2024 state champion Maple Grove Senior High girls golf [Applause] team thank you very much and we're happy to be back here as backtack winners of of the state championship um we'll see uh what next year may have in store for us uh perhaps you uh saw it in the newspaper but uh for the 2526 school year Maple Grove will be Maple Grove golf at least will be participating in the Lake Conference so we're going to see a lot of different uh teams teams that we know nothing about uh other there was probably going to be a little more driving to uh get to Eden Prairie and Edina and buffalo and all of the teams that are part of that so uh I'll have to do some scouting this season maybe to see uh what we have in store for us uh this year's state tournament um was fantastic the girls um just let left everybody else behind and we had um outstanding play both days and everyone uh was able to help the team uh in one day or the other or in some cases both days so it certainly was a team effort um but leading up to that we had just an amazing season uh we had uh nine conference matches we were victorious in all of those we've won every Invitational that we went to we won the conference Championship by a lot of Strokes uh that advanced us to the state tournament and then of course getting to Bunker Hills in the state tournament uh we just hope I'll be back here next year for a three repeat and we'll we'll see how that works out um we lost two seniors uh from last year uh Mia Morton and McKenna Hogan both of which are at uh college right now uh McKenna is in Nebraska going uh into a golf um program not playing on the team I guess but some type of a a golf program and Mia Morton is on the golf team at St Thomas University and uh if you ever watch Facebook and uh which I'm sure a lot of you do uh Mia has been uh very active with her team and um shooting some fantastic scores so I think she's going to U do just fine there I'd like to have the girls come forward now and I'm just going to go in the order that they handed me the the card so if you want to all come up and kind of line up at the end there and first of all we have three sophomores this year and Payton Anderson congratulations Monica [Applause] Hendrickson another sophomore Emerson [Applause] Soderberg Junior Abby stend finally we have Isabella unoff that U we did not have a recognition certificate ready for her tonight but she will get one and congratulations for I guess that's it all right you go back they're professionals [Applause] our next recognition is the 2024 track and field state championship champion in P VA PV Vault mapel Grove Senior High School's Henry white coach Sean Heaton please step up to the podium to share Henry's accomplishment go Henry all right hello everybody and thanks for having us so um talk a little bit about Henry so I've been coaching Henry in a number of different sports uh for a number of years my first memory of Henry would have been when he was in either seventh or eighth grade I can't remember on the Nordic ski team uh skiing um and refusing to put his hands into the pole straps um and I don't think he ever did I can't remember one time he ever did um so at that time was was I thinking that Henry might be a state champion one day um at that time I didn't even know he was a p Balter so uh no it didn't come to mind but um this past year which was his junior year Henry's now a senior um he hit the ground running uh came in right away uh saying things about um you know setting school records and and winning state titles and doing these types of things and uh and you could tell that there was an air of seriousness to it and that he was going to back that up with some hard work and that was the case um so uh it was a school record setting season um you know many uh great meets led to an eventual School record um and then a couple you know iterations upon that School record and so one fun thing about that was that uh Henry's coach so I'm the head coach but his pole ball Coach Andrew Norman uh was actually the previous School record holder so he was able to take that record from Andrew in route uh to a State title and so uh this was our uh first ever P vaal State title for Maple Grove so a really special moment uh on quite a windy day and so it was actually the case where they pivoted to move the event indoors uh for the day which is not something uh Paul volters have especially at the high school level have the opportunity to do a lot of and so um Henry was able to uh pivot not be affected by a change in Venue at the last minute um and able to perform on the day so uh Henry uh won the State title with a vault of 15 ft uh and 3 in uh which is currently a School record but immediately uh be you know after maybe even during I know he was talking about more records and and what to come next being that he does have one more year so was a really uh great time uh to be around all of the hard work and success this year so Henry if you want to come forward I give you guys your did you get a picture mom congratulations so many hardworking Scholars and the next recognition is oio Senior High School's Linton mcferson for the second place State title in the 110 hurdles coach John runquist will you please introduce Linton good evening Dr Hy and School Board cabinet and the oio area schools I am coach runquist I am one of the head coaches for oot track and field um teamed up with Coach Andy Claire's who is who was not able to make it tonight but uh we've got two two groups that we're going to recognize so I did want to hand this off to uh for for Lenton for his his primary coach to go ahead and give a nice little little Spiel on him hello I am coach Boden and I have the honor of representing Linton mcferson who cannot be here tonight he has um continuing his education and his track career at Minnesota state Mano so he's having a great time with all that and he's going to represent 279 well so I'm excited about that but Linton when he was a sophomore qualified first state in the same event 110 hurdles got dead last he was the last guy he contemplated quitting track like what am I doing here I didn't know all this was going on in his head but the next year he came back and he goes I am not doing that again came back got third in state so this his senior year he's like I'm doing better and he came back and got second in state broke his school record and if anyone's ever done hurdles they're not for the the squeamish cuz you were going to fall and you're going to get up and and he's a great example of the hard work and I really do believe he does the oio Excellence and everything he does so I'm I'm very proud of [Applause] Linton thank you coach um I'm going to go ahead and cover the boys 4 by8 who ended up taking third uh at the state meet in June uh with this group of boys uh there's um you know 18 seasons of track and field that uh for the these the four primary guys that ran at state of Seasons I've had with them so it's been just a special Journey um that's one of the things I love about track and field a lot of times you get these kids when they're in six or seventh grade and you get six seasons with them and um I will say some of these kids um you know it maturity the stories behind the scenes it's just it just makes it all the more special and for them to go ahead and and take third to wrap up their careers was was a special thing um and they also broke the a School record at AIO um at sections which had stood for about 40 years and uh that was something very special with a 753 and so um for this group of boys um we had Kate sanvic who just graduated he is not able to make it as he's out at South Dakota State uh continuing running there for cross country and track and field for the jack rabbits Earl Peter also graduated out and he is currently uh at basic training down uh with the US Air Air Force and then he set it to uh he'll be working his way later the in the next year over to the University of Arizona Tucson uh continue his education and then our alternates was uh our primary alternates was sea Lakeman who also graduated he's out at Colorado State and then we've got Eli Berg who is uh currently uh he's a 10th grader uh here with us uh with AIO yet but uh we do have two that are are present and uh we've got my I guess it would be technically you are my son you're also of my so um we do have uh we've got quinin quinin ranis who is who is a senior uh who played a key part and also uh current Junior Ben sanvic uh who also uh is uh here to go ahead and take this recognition so just a just an honor to represent District 279 good things are happening and uh we just appreciate your support as a district to make these uh opportunities come to life for these children students and athletes thank you two conat congratulations got it okay one more hand for those hardworking uh [Applause] students okay our presentation this evening is the preliminary fiscal year 2024 financial report to be shared by John morstead Executive Director of Finance and operations and Kelly benusa Director of Business Services hi hi uh as you will see director benusa was unable to make it this evening she is not feeling well but I will take this on and and uh roll right through it for you so thank you and good evening chair moscada Jones board members uh superintendent Dr H tonight we're presenting preliminary yearend Financial results for the fiscal year that ended on June 30th of 2024 the district is required annually to complete independent audit and submit our financial reports by December 31st We Begin this process in late June and the results are presented to the school board by our independent audit firm for final approval in November by September the process provides elimary uh excuse me preliminary year-end Financial reports to assist in budget development for the upcoming fiscal year although our numbers are not final we don't anticipate any significant changes I'd like to start by thanking Kelly B and the entire Business Services team for their efforts during this process would especially like to recognize Mike Huer Assistant Director of Business Services Michelle Larson coordinator of business services and Liz lanto District controller um all four of these individuals are incredibly instrumental in ensuring that our audit is performed at the very highest level of expectation which they have consistently exceeded year-over-year the school board has before them a memo along with three attached exhibits which summarize the financial results the first being discussed is the general fund this fund includes the primary operations of the district in providing Educational Services for students from prek through grade 12 and includes Transportation the exhibit one shows the general fund revenue and expenditure budget variance the combined variance was a positive 1.57 which is under our planned Benchmark of 2% so here's a quick Qui look at exhibit one showing the actual results in comparison with the budget amounts and we're going to go through a few of the highlights here um the general operating revenues were more than budgeted by approximately 1.3 million or a little under a half a percent so um always good when your Revenue comes in higher than you thought tax collections decreased by about $535,000 from budgeted amounts meaning we collected less taxes than we anticipated um this is a sign of increasing Financial stress for taxpayers so something we want to keep an eye on over time investment earnings were more than we budgeted due to the improved um interest rates by a little over $400,000 general education Aid was more than was the our budgeted amounts the actual students served were 62 more adjusted pupil units and 14 less extended time pupil units from previous estimates at the midye total um adjusted pupil units for the year was 22578 kids Special Education increased from budget amounts combination of increased current year Revenue that was more than anticipated based on formula calculations provided by the Minnesota Department of Ed and partially offset by prior year over acral special education is a difficult ult one to to Peg down so we we ACR and and um kind of rides a little bit of a roller coaster year-over-year so this one happened to be a little bit down and the year prior was a little bit up so it goes back and forth um also the desegregation Transportation increased by $360,000 from our budgeted amounts um that this is a category that is refunded at 100% for us but it's on a year lag so typically in the first year we have to front the funds for it then we'll get them back over time thirdparty Billings for medical assistance decreased by about $180,000 from budgeted amounts this is an area we need to be monitoring during the current fiscal year overall revenues were again more than budget by 1.3 million or a positive 0.44% when compared to actual as we move to expenditures salaries um is the first category they were under budget by almost $2 million or 1.1% that variance is due to several factors first 1.5 million in savings from open positions overtime casual assignments unused budget capacity and contract settlements and also $437 $437,000 in adjustments for Grants the variance for employee benefits can be attributed to four main areas first employee health insurance and HSA contributions were about a half a million less than projected second um FICA was about $94,000 under budget third workers comp at 88,000 under budget and finally retiree HRA contributions were 73,000 less than anticipated the purchase Services expenditures were $4.2 million under budget Transportation contracted services and snow removal were under budget by a, 332,000 and 62,000 respectively we really didn't have much snow last year so thank you um transportation actual costs were lower due to several factors including savings for Route consolidation and adjustments to type three transportation and other routing Solutions along with Propane fuel rebates our utilities were under budget in several areas natural gas by 62,000 less than budget capacity and electricity was about 474 th000 under budget other purchase Services were were under budget by a milon 37,000 um these fall into three main areas Consulting and Professional Services under budget by 477,000 primarily due to Cost Containment and management of Staff tuition paid to districts and PSO paid to colleges was $431,000 under budget and student resource officers or SRO were under budget by $141,000 due to the inability to contract for services lastly repairs were under budget by about 129,000 due to Cost Containment um measures Again by management staff in the supplies capital and other expenditures category we were under budget by $990,000 General instructional supplies was the the majority of this at 926 th000 again uh credit is due to Cost Containment by management and staff at the buildings they're really what what is controlling this number um new for fiscal year 4 was curriculum capacity of 1.5 million which was $461,000 under spent which is included in this item overall a positive variance of almost $8 million or 2.75% was achieved when comparing actual expenditures with budgeted amounts we're going to move to exhibit two which is the general fund Financial summary the district's planning Benchmark is the um is that actual revenue and expenditures be within 2% of our budgeted totals the district size operations is a total of just under $600 million when you add revenue and expenditures together um and the district's procedures are to analyze our revenue and expenditure budgets um and revise to adopted budgets to try to get as close as we possibly can um being within 2% is a a lofty goal and we've been able to achieve it multiple years in a row most of our Benchmark districts run a range of 2 to 4% so we we trying to run in the 0 to two on purpose again I will give that credit to our financial staff that are excellent and do just a great job of not only estimating but staying on top of it throughout the year so for fiscal 24 our net revenue expenditure variance was 9.3 million or 1.57% okay so now last exhibit is the fund balance summary for all funds um don't be shocked by this number I can explain it overall the fund balance for all funds as shown at the bottom of exhibit three increased from the prior year amount of 138 million to 410 million on June 30th of 2024 a combined increase of 272 million we'll go through the funds to kind of explain this the general fund in blue increased in fund balance by 24.6 million which includes non-operating funds like grants gifts and Student Activities capital expenditure land proceeds fund which is the yellow fund here decreased in fund balance by almost 2.1 million the fund balance of almost 7 point or excuse me 5.7 million is restricted by state statutes for facilities equipment textbook technology and long-term facility maintenance the food and nutrition services fund increased its fund balance to almost 5.8 million or 34% of ual expenditures we will continue utilizing these resources to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of operations through the um through future Capital Improvements within Food Service community service Fund in green decreased fund balance by just over $300,000 to 6 million or 32% of expenditures under state law all revenue and fund balance are reserved for Community Education programs and finally the big one building construction fund balance increased by $24.6 million the increase is due to the issuance of 23835 million in General Obligations School building bonds and Facilities maintenance bonds series 2024a which was from the voter approved building projects and board approved long-term facility maintenance projects and also the $21 million spend down of current and prior bond issuances for building projects and ltfm projects already in process The Debt Service fund balance increased by 11.3 million Debt Service fund revenue and expenditures represent the amounts necessary to meet our principal and interest payment schedules associated with the long-term debt of the district so this is a familiar slide you've seen before this is our our one-page highlevel um fiveyear projection for the general fund I'm going to break it into its three components just to make it a little easier to see the top section is revenue and expens ures differences in fund balance the fund balance percentage for a seven-year window that begins with actual in fiscal 23 and 24 adopted for fiscal 25 and projections for 26 through 29 you would typically see some sort of operational adjustments right underneath the chart um if needed um assumptions and I'll talk about that a little bit more in a minute um the the Assumption section shows also our revenue and expenditure assumptions that that we're using in the 26 through 29 projections the next section shows the budgeted projection for revenues in blue and expenditures in red trend lines in the same color show the general trajectory of each of these items as you can see expenditures are projected to outpace revenues beginning in 2025 and continuing the final section is a look at fund balance projection for the same overall time periods the green bars represent our actual projected actual and projected fund balances for each year the orange bar shows the minimum required fund balance of 5% as said in board policy and again trend lines show the trajectory of the fund balance related to the minimum as you can see fund balance is starting projected to start to decline in 25 and we'll need to monitor our financial projections in order to maintain the board required minimum fund balance of 5% in the future under this model we're not currently planning any operational reductions through 2029 however as we learn more about our tactics for revenues and expenditures coming in like contracts for services um and our settlements for our bargain groups as soon as we know that information and can include it we will actually add it to an update this chart okay next steps in summary the year-end results are considerably better than we anticipated due to several factors including the continued efforts again of both staff and administration these combined efforts have reduced the need for future budget reductions through 2029 based on our current projections the fiscal 24 Financial results will be incorporated into the longrange financial planning process as designed as usual the board will be providing direction to take action in three different fiscal years over the next few months this action will be impacted by positive year and results from this current fiscal 24 report first on November 12th we will continue the formal fiscal 26 budget planning process at the board's work session these year and results will be incorporated into that lrfp process second Auditors will be presenting the final fiscal 28 audit report on November 19th at the school board meeting and lastly these results will be utilized in the fiscal 25 midyear budget update and brought forward for approval to the board on February 25th thank you and I will turn it back to chair Mada Jones for any comments or questions thank you so much um board members are there any questions or comments uh you mentioned the within the 2% that's just phenomenal um and I know that we look at the numbers regularly throughout the year um our audit reports are always fantastic so a lot of appreciation to you and the finance department as well um I think for the community members who see all of this detail um I think it's it's great that we adjust at midyear so we don't drop every dollar to the bottom line we do look at midye we do make adjustments where we need to but hopefully this demonstrates that um as a district and as a board the fiscal responsibility to ensuring that we do um drop those budget numbers that we're not um needlessly redeploying them um because we're looking at this from a long-term perspective year over year over year um so thank you for the presentation and phenomenal as always thank you and again I want to thank our financial department um um I'm in another school district and there are a lot of school districts that are that are cutting and we do not have to do that here in AIO so thank you again you're very fortunate so thanks to everyone who makes that happen thank you thank you okay the next agenda item is the opp audience opportunity to address the school board um before sharing some guidelines for audience participation I'd like to remind us all that everyone here this evening regardless of their point of view on matters before the board have the best interests of our scholars in mind we want our children to care about each other even when there's disagreement we strive to be one community and in so doing decorum matters in this public space since this is election season we would like to remind everyone that this is not the forum for campaigning we need to concentrate on our role as a governance body and champions for our Scholars and families speakers will be called to the podium in this order student parent staff community and others when I call your name please come to the microphone and state your name the topic and whether or not you are a district resident please keep your comments to three minutes and address the entire board that means we're not addressing an individual board member or the audience verbally or with posters or literature the board and audience will listen and not respond back at this time if you'd like someone to follow up with you on your questions or comments please let the board um secretary Sherry know comments and interactions between board members and the public are expected to be respectful courteous professional and civil and for the good of our community Personnel concern should be directed to individuals in the following order building principal Executive Director of Human Resources assistant superintendent superintendent and finally in writing to the school board I just want to thank you for your cooperation and for your advoc advocacy of Scholars regardless of our Viewpoint we know that everyone here is um advocating for our Scholars we continue to lead with our mission to inspire and prepare each and every scholar with the confidence courage and competence to achieve their dreams contribute to community and engage in a lifetime of learning and with that our first speaker is Natalie Sonic good evening my name is Natalie Sonic I have a student in the district and I'm here to express my concerns regarding the failed leadership of the school board our district website States our goal is to help each student graduate with confidence courage and competence yet 35% of our students meet state standards in Reading 27% % in science 27% in math this is a failure of the school board and a sign that you have not been placing education as your main goal you say that the safety of our children is your highest priority yet a year ago three of you voted to limit the role of our safety resource officers in our school which then triggered the temporary removal of the sro's from our schools for months this done even after the local law enforcement officer spoke directly to you regarding the concerns with this change in the recent school shooting in Georgia the local paper indicated that the hero in stopping the shooter was a safety resource officer you say that every voice H is important and you want freedom to read yet when you cons when a concerned parent or Community member attempts to read excerpts from a book found in one of our libraries they're they are censored from reading it because the content is too sensitive for young listeners or when a page is shown of one of these same books suddenly new rules are put into place to censor parents from community members from seeing any content of these books so let me get that straight that is in censorship you tell the the that the book is fine for students but not for the people sitting in these board meetings that's hypocrisy you tell people concerning um with concerns coming forward with a book said their concerns are strictly because it's lgbtq themed the five that I'm aware of are not allg all lgbtq themed there's a National Organization gaze against groomers which has over 800,000 followers and have spoken at many Schoolboard meetings regarding these exact books one of their posts that they had on on a social media site says yes we're advocating for the removal of inappropriate books from school libraries kids should explore curiosity sexuality naturally at their own pace not through explicit content in schools stop sexualizing children you say that you want teachers to have the freedom to teach yet I've heard teachers come here and express that they want to be allowed to focus their teaching strictly on course subjects of expertise and yet their voices are dismissed that is not freedom to teach continue with the same theme that every voice should be heard three individuals from the school board recently attended a policy meeting which reviewed the policy 652 the right to challenge a book one member of the committee made the recommendations to strike members from the policy community members from the policy this restriction makes a clear statement that if you're a Community member without a student in the district your voice does not matter unless there is referendum that needs to be passed which entails the needing needing your vote and and your money it is clear we are in need of new leadership leaders who will empower the voice of the family ensure our children's safety and will put the focus back on where it needs to be back onto education thank you thank you Natalie Julie Smith hi my name is Julie Smith I'm a Community member who truly cares about the safety and mental health of our students I don't want to be here but I think people should know what recently happened a school board member a district council and a coordinator of media tried to make my voice null and void by editing policy 652 and removing the ability for community members to voice concern over what is being taught and offered in schools Why by the way this is illegal according to the 2023 Minnesota statute 120b point11 sub division 3 it states that community members must be included in District advisory committees my journey in this began well over a year ago when I found out that there were sexually explicit and pornographic materials being offered to our students I was shocked I thought that only happened somewhere else I started reaching out in September 2023 to let our once trusted official know so that they could correct this situation I reached out to principals the coordinator of digital instructional media and the board I kept getting the runaround everyone was pointing to somebody else I let the board know the process to review materials in the school was cumbersome and not functional I thought things would be corrected they weren't so on February 8th 2024 I began the process to challenge a book in our schools because multiple parts were extremely sexually explicit and potentially harmful for immature youth youth the school level re-evaluation committee chosen by the principal and a coordinator of media voted to keep offering this book to kids as young as 14 even though a number of the committee members admitted the book was dark a hard read depressing Etc I can't remember all the exact quotes because yet another rule got added to the committee rules that said we couldn't record why that makes a person wonder what is going on and at this level my trust was Zero I petitioned to ch ched the book to the district level I got blown off now I know why they knew the changes they were pushing on policy 652b they knew my youngest was a senior last year I'm no longer a parent of a student I'm just a taxpaying Community member I and others were written out with these edits of 652b a few people and a board member were able to add this back in but it was a fight this was sneaky and underhanded we don't want to ban books we want safety measures to be taken and parents to know about these materials we want our students safe and protected I and others suggest that we rate books with topics typically not deemed appropriate for youth like movies TV shows Etc we were told it would take too much time to protect our kids from very graphic materials and of course more of our taxpayer dollars this process has been very disappointing I think we can recover but trust is hard to rebuild I hope all of you work for Less Division and more teamwork so we can truly achieve the mission that is stated by this District thank you thank you Leon good evening Leon San District resident and concerned parent my topic tonight is the intersection between School Board autonomy and the state so right around the time that a few of us were challenged ing a handful of sexually explicit books here in our district a ban on book Banning came down from the state and I found the timing fascinating we've heard the cliche that the wheels of government move slowly but the trifecta we have in St Paul was very fast and swooped in with the Bill signed it into law mayate 17th and effective August 1st as you already know the law known as the access to library materials and rights protection prevents public libraries and libraries and public schools from removing moving materials based on messages or opinions it conveys I find it foolish that this same vague law was written to cover Public public libraries and school libraries while other state statutes such as 134.5 wisely recognize the vital difference between public and school libraries and the wording of the second part almost tries to paint a caricature of us as extremists who want to ban messages and opinions so I'd respectfully ask you as a board to reject this narrative if we're going to be criticized for wanting to shelter children from sexually explicit content so be it it's an honor to be criticized for that I was just thinking the other day even dogs fiercely protect their young and so who am I as a human being to not want to protect my young and their generation here's a quote from Governor Waltz the day he signed the new law he said protecting access to books means protecting access to the knowledge that our kids deserve and I cannot fathom defining the explicit content from the book that I challenged as knowledge that our kids deserve his quote continues if you're Banning books you're always on the wrong side of History I know some who have tried to equate our book challenges with the historic book Banning in Hitler's Germany or the Banning of books about apartheid in South Africa Etc which is over the top even the book Banning verbiage is over the top as if we're Banning certain titles from the entire planet we are simply trying to remove sexually explicit content from school libraries not County Libraries not Barnes & Noble and by the way Barnes & Noble has a big display right now for banded books which I wouldn't have known about except one candidate who's trying for a seat on this board took a photo up in front of it uh so if people must access books with erotic themes there are plenty of places to find them I don't recommend it because God says to set our minds on whatever is noble and praiseworthy 30 seconds dark compulsion to do so the items are sadly out there last two facts I want to mention about the new law it mandates challenged books be reported up to the Minnesota Department of Education so again interesting tension between local boards in our state and Minnesota state librarian Tamara Lee clarified the new law stating book Banning is different from book challenging as challenging books is still supported thanks Brett Stuy thank you good evening my name is Dr Brit stusy and I'm a district resident I got involved in the book reevaluation process because I wanted to exercise my rights as a community member to call into question the appropriateness of explicit obscene and harmful materials and publicly funded School libraries I got involved in the re-evaluation process because I understood what it felt like to be a depressed and hopeless teenager I was manipulated and coerced into believing casual sex would make me confident and solve all my problems believing this world view led to me being raised at 17 and 23 that is why I'm here because oio students deserve better they deserve to have books in their libraries that do not promote and normalize subject matters such as casual sex violence suicide beastality and instructions for accessing porn policy 652b serves as a means of accountability the ability for parents and community members to audit the district to make sure funds are being spent on quality educational materials that Empower an equip District students to make sure tax dollars are not being misappropriated on instructional materials that are intended to manipulate and coer students into harmful ideologies it is the duty of District parents and community members to regularly audit materials in the library and draw attention to the school board in inappropriate books one such example is Choke by Chuck penck at mapl High School some of the major themes in this book are sex addiction and sexually deviant behavior on the copyrights page it reads quote portions of this book have previous appeared in Playboy chapter 20 appeared in the June 2000 Playboy and chapter 40 appear in the January 2001 Playboy from chapter 40 on page 248 quote another woman two Knuckles deep and disappearing into herself a different man his four inches dancing between his thumb and forefinger primed and ready to cough up little white soldiers end quote on page 10 a woman spreads peanut butter on her vagina and has a dog lick it off for those of you that are visual Learners does this book as stated by the AIO Mission quote Inspire and prepare each and every scholar with the confidence courage and confidence to achieve their dreams end quote was this book a good use of taxpayer funds is it appropriate to have a book that appeared in a pornographic magazine available to high school students the majority of of whom are under 18 policy 652b exists so parents and community members can ask questions like these to school board members in a public forum parents and community members deserve transparency if the oio district and School Board believes these books serve a purpose then they should defend their positions publicly most importantly the district should work with parents and community members to put guardes in place to protect impressionable young students from explicit obscene and harmful content well some school board members are making this issue political and adversarial I believe in Partnership to work with the district in order to better serve students to help them achieve their dreams thank you for your time and I look forward to our continued partnership time thank you that was our last um card and the next agenda item is the superintendent's report Dr Hy good evening chair mosquito Jones and school board members it's with pleasure that I welcome everyone to the 2425 school year I'm thrilled to report we are off to an exciting start to the Academic Year our students both returning and our new uh students have brought a renewed sense of energy back into the district and into our classrooms and is wonderful to witness the power powerful interactions and positive interactions that are occurring across K through 12 um we're excited uh to welcome a new cour court of students as well this year I'm confident they'll quickly fill it at home with us alongside that we also are welcoming new staff members this year who we sure will make a positive impact on our our babies or our Scholars we also have several existing staff members stepping into new positions bringing in those fresh perspectives to their roles and our team is looking stronger than ever and I look forward to the year ahead with this outstanding group of Educators today I had the privilege of having the first meeting of the year with my superintendent student Advisory Group this group of except I Scholars 22 of them represent the voice of our high school students and I was incredibly impressed today two of the ladies that was here today also sit on that committee I was incredibly impressed with the level of Engagement and motivation we discussed a variety of topics including changes they would like to see in the district and changes they would like to see in their schools and they also provided us some valuable input for the new cell phone policy and you'll be quite interesting of what they had to say it's probably the opposite of what you may be thinking um their ideas and the insights were thoughtful and it shared Innovative steps that we can take to ensure that all of our Scholars are set up for Success no matter what their pathway is when they leave o seal area schools this group will continue to serve as a critical advisory body and I'm confident their contributions will lead to me meaningful change in our district as well so I'm excited for what this year holds and grateful for the dedication of our staff uh the enthusiasm of our students and always the support of our community because we could not do it without you so let's continue to work together to make AA area schools one Community for all where all voices are valued and heard so thank you so we're going to go into the regular report of the superintendent's report of points of Pride for our district sharing these points they contribute to the accomplishments of our mission and our mission which most people probably know is to inspire and prepare each and every scholar with confidence courage and competence to achieve their dreams contribute to the community and to engage in a lifetime of learning and so this evening we do have with us members of our district cabinet to assist in sharing some examples of this from the last month in the area of achieving dreams superintendent Dr H and staff across the district were excited to welcome back Scholars to another great year of learning on the first day of school we are dedicated to making oio area schools one Community for all where all voices are valued and heard students from across the district were recognized for the work at the Minnesota State Fair K 12 competition the K12 competition presents an annual exhibition of the work of students in kindergarten through grade 12 students enter uh students enter exhibits in 31 different categories The Works were displayed in the education building at the State Fair oio Senior High School student Luke Scott first in the 11th grade wheel throne Ceramics category and Ty Swanson play second in the 12th grade wheel thrown Ceramics category Maple Grove Senior High School student recent graduate Madison Hills Camp header peace Nature's Fray received a grand prize for the whole K12 exhibition and a blue ribbon first place in its category recent graduate cityon K oer received third place in category in the in its cat category for its work handmade teapot and cup oio education center students Katherine Kellerman Abraham Wallace and William hyid had their crap art displayed as well congratulations to Maple Grove Senior High School seniors Matthew Hoy Gabe Hackett Samantha Leonards and shobani re for being named 2025 National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists these students were four of four of more than 16,000 semifinalists named nationally on the first day of the new school year CCX media visited North U Middle School with superintendent Dr Kim H to see the results from the student summer renovation from excuse me from the school summer renovation project which brought flexible learning spaces and a new library media center to the school along with other improvements and modernization before school started many students and community members gathered to cheer on the Maple Grove Senior High and oio Senior High football teams in their season opener in the area of contributing to community on September 21st The District 279 foundation's 14th annual reading is Fund 5K took place at Elm Creek Park Reserve nearly 300 community members registered for this year's familyfriendly event and raised $113,000 to purchase learning resources for media centers in uary schools the event highlights included a stretching activity with music a community Gathering a 1K and 5K in the area of lifelong learning students from Ukraine recently visited oio area schools meeting the students and teachers and experiencing a day at Maple Grove Senior High School these International students were a part of you lead program sponsored by the global Synergy group that are visiting the country for 4 weeks as part of a leadership program the visiting students partnered with link crew leaders attending their classes and launch with them as well as participating in a pep Fest to celebrate the first week of school Crestview Elementary will be celebrating 65 years this 2425 school year the Year kicked off with a prep pep rally full of excitement and good cheer this school year will be filled with opportunities to celebrate crestview's past and present students and staff as they prepare for its repurposing go Cardinals Aaron Bo spends each day fostering a sense of community and belonging in her art classes at Maple Grove Senior High School in recognition of her her outstanding work Bo recently named art educat educators of Minnesota or am art educator of the Year B said I truly quote I truly feel like I found the perfect job for my personality and my values every day uh I get to Foster inclusion and belonging and create Community my extroverted self just loves chatting with people every day and just being around people and laughter unquote staff members from sites across the district gathered before school started for a fantastic all staff event the day included food trucks yard games caricature artists a mascot race and a speech Pursuit from superintendent Dr Kim H and in the area of mission driven employees a few of our elementary school students sat down with the six new Elementary School principles to introduce them to our district Community please check them out check out the videos on our website and social media pages to get to know our new principles as schools welcomed 167 new certified staff members this school year these new staff members members attended a new teacher Workshop event at Park Center Senior High School on August 19th which included information resources and Technology support offerings lunch and speeches from District leaders we're so happy to have these new professionals on our team for the 2024 2025 school year the O area school's grounds crew was hard at work recently installing artificial turf in the Elm Creek Elementary School Gaga pit thanks for all you do for our students in September Minnesota school boards Association is sponsoring Minnesota school board recognition month Public School boards have heart to recognize school board members for their commitment to Minnesota's public school students I'm going to turn it to Dr H for some additional words thank you Brian historically the Minnesota School Board Association had designated February of each school year at school board recognition month uh change has in made to implement this year to recognize the school board members Statewide in the month of September to coincide with the start of the school year so this year's theme as Brian has shared as public school boards have heart so the recognition is to build awareness and understanding of this vital elected school board members play in our society I Area Schools is joining other public school districts from across the state to celebrate School Board recognition month to honor our local board members for the commitment to our district and to our Scholars school boards I don't have to say this play a crucial role in shaping the future of our students and strengthening the bonds within our communities their mission goes beyond their setting policies they are dedicated to improving student achievement and fostering Community engagement that represents all of our stakeholders creating a thriving environment for Education by setting a Clear Vision for the district establishing strategies to achieve key goals in holding the system accountable for Progress which they do if you don't know that and they ensure every scholar has opportunity to meet and exceed performance standards the responsibility of guiding Learners from prek through adulthood is Monumental School Board uh service carries profound influence impacting not only the future of our children but also the quality of life in our communities while many understand that significance of the board's work fear May realize the intense Dedication that it requires board members spend countless hours preparing for meetings engaging in work sessions studying educational issues and laws and listening to the voices of parents staff and the community the work is Relentless and ever present but is done with passion and a deep commitment to make a lasting difference in keeping with this year's theme you're all receiving your iHeart ISD 279 Scholars cookie as well as a motivational notebook I truly from the bottom of my heart I thank each one of you for your service we appreciate all that your of your time and service you have committed Ed to oil area schools congratulations thank you I think for all of us it's an honor to be on the board with you oh thank you that came back okay thank you all right for our next slide we're just going to wrap this up just some small notes and reminders oio senior high will be celebrating Centennial anniversary this Friday September 27th before the school's homecoming football game so alumni former staff and community members are all welcome to arrive at 3:30 p.m. and the school will have food trucks yard games student L School tours from 3:30 to 5:30 prior to the start of the game alumni and past staff members will be lined up on the football field and recognized by their decade I don't know if I want that or not the homecoming game will then begin at 6 PM uh and also just a reminder we do need help for uh your school by filling out those educational benefits form even though u schools have free and reduced lunch we do need those forms filled out out for other items here in the school district so please visit our website to learn more uh tonight was the first night of three School preview nights for our Crest viiew families they have the opportunity this evening to check out Edinbrook and they also will be checking out Zan wood and Fair Oaks as they transferring School options for next fall so if you remember this change is due to crestf being repurposed a lot of communication has gone out to our impacted families and our communic community is welcome to learn more at district279.org repurposing also a very important item we do want our community members to know is to be aware that a community engagement process has started for attendance boundary change process over the next several months Elementary and Middle School attendance boundaries will be reviewed to determine needed changes these adjustments will reassign elementary middle schools for some of our households that are zoned to attend so our community support is very important to us for building better future 2023 to help minim minimize as much as possible the impact of that change so please make sure to take your time and provide feedback your voice is important on the attendance boundary considerations by October 9th and that can also be found online at two district279.org boundaries thank you and that concludes tonight's superintendent report thank you thank you our next agenda item is Schoolboard reports director Brooks do you have a report no school uh director Douglas no right tonight director Prince yeah I have the 279 uh Board of Trustees met which Emily leis on too not a trustee or voting member but um we had a review of the year- end financials um and for those that may not know all of the things that the foundation does there's three big events that was just mentioned the 5K event which was fun and the lightning and rain cleared out just in time for it to be successful um so thank you to the 300 uh F 300 community members who signed up to run and participate and contribute and sponsor um we also have a night out and that's every year in February and that's um a significant Revenue driver again all of the dollars go to supporting additional um classroom experiences and experiences outside the classroom as well um through grants and then the investment in Youth and that's the uh May Awards where we recognize students and staff across the entire District so um I just ask that the community uh keep your eye out for those things go to the 279 Foundation uh website to learn more we also have a number of uh organizations and individuals who contribute directly with funding um and it's just very generous I'm just looking um from our reports everywhere from um $1,000 contributors up to over 8,000 from different organizations that support the foundation um and then of course all of them employees in the district also um have a giving campaign to support the foundation as well um so do go out there take a look see who the trustees are because it's a very small group it was just mentioned that it's a working board um where the board members the trustee members are also the volunteers um and the there's also opportunities if you go to the website to volunteer for these different events as well um and already the planning and the activities and the um construction for the night out is beginning so check out the website and if you want to help out for that event uh register to be a volunteer so thank you to our community for supporting our Scholars with exceptional opportunities thank you and the night the date for the night out again is Brian February February first Friday in February can we share the theme yet yeah Western team will try to raise over $50,000 for class room grants in one night so yeah sign up look for registration what's that what kind Western Western ye you have plenty of time to buy your cowboy thank you thank you all right director Mitchell do you have a report yeah just we had the kickoff meeting for um also with Brian he's a busy man with um for CPAC Our Community Education Program and um I appreciate hearing from the variety of community members we have some that have been um many years almost 20 years um involved and we had a good recap of um some summer successes and collabor priorities for the new year so more on that to come director Grady nothing tonight okay at this time I have two quick reports um with District 287 um we uh approved several student policies that were reviewed by students and um change because of student input and then we um Extended the superintendent's contract um and then there was introduction to new Business Leaders at Northwest Suburban integration School District um the main uh item from that meeting last Wednesday was the Strategic plan and um goals for that so the next agenda item is the consent agenda board members are there any items you would like to remove for separate consideration hearing none is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as printed uh moved by director Brooks second second by director Prince um is there any discussion again the consent agenda um includes minutes of meetings and financial reports and um School field trips things like that um all in favor say I Al POS motion passes six to zero uh our first action item on is the recommendation for approval of the 2024 pay 2025 preliminary Levy um information will be shared by John morstead again Executive Director of Finance and operations um so thank you it's the John show a little bit of the John show okay thank you chair Miss Gada Jones again board members and superintendent Dr H good evening um this evening We'll be asking for the board to approve the 2024 payable 2025 preliminary Levy um State Statute requires that the school board certify a preliminary Levy limitation by September 30 of each year the purpose of this is to provide information to henpen County Auditors so the proposed text statements can be prepared and mailed to taxpayers by November 24th the final certification will take place at the December 17th 2024 regular school board meeting after the truth and Taxation hearing which gives um the school board an opportunity to review the level the the levy prior to final certification and also the public to make comment legislature has authorized Minnesota school districts to Levy and collect property taxes for specific elements of school funding about 50% of the dollars levied are authorized through voter approval the remainder of the levy is authorized by state statute as a mechanism to provide spec specific funding for student programs or operational expenses this is a unique time of the year as the business services staff are currently working across three different fiscal years we are um wrapping up the close out of the audit which we spoke about earlier and also actively working obviously on our current year and then preliminary Levy here is the start of the fiscal 20 six budget we'll now take a look at the preliminary Levy I will start with the caveat of the numbers that I have in front of you here are all wrong um and the reason they're wrong is the levy gets updated every single day um typically in September and there was another Levy run today so we know this number is not quite right I'm still going to walk through it because we're really really close um it's it's I think that the run I saw today had us at 0.51% um but in general most of our major categories are going to be spot on um it just kind of highlights that the levy process is very very complicated especially for the Department of Ed to run and track everything um so it takes a lot of time and it just because we're on an approval on the 24th of September um they're they really need up to towards close to the 30th of September to make sure that they have most everything correct so um a little bear with us but this is pretty normal um so here's this information is also included in exhibit a and the board materials that were provided Ed it summarizes the total Levy changes um from last year and then also the proposals for this year so as of this one which was yesterday's um a 200 27259 or 0.19% though um other than specific voter approval there are four major ways that the local Levy can change first is through changes in state law second is pupil unit or specific population changes third is changing market value or tax capacity of the district property which is an important factor for levies some levies are equalized which means a portion of the funding formula is paid through state aid and the remainder is paid through the local Levy as the market value grows these types of levies are designed to De decrease the proportion of levies picked up by the state aid and increase the proportion picked up by local Levy the final way levies can change is when expenditures change um for those programs whose revenue is based on actual expenditures we when we Levy we do an estimation of those expenditures this slide summarizes information and Exhibit C of the board materials again the $272,000 I want to highlight net tax capacity net tax capacity in the district is changing by growing by 2.6% this is the number that we use to calculate our capital projects technology Levy which is taking that this number and multiplying it by 4.7% referendum market value uh is a term that is essentially what you use to calculate the overall value of all the property in the district so from last year to this year we increased by about 1.5 billion or 6.17% that is good news if you are a taxpayer because the the pi that is our Levy just got spread across another $ 1.5 billion dollar worth of property so your piece individually should be smaller the next set of slides covers line items in the general fund Levy uh this is also in exhibit B of the board materials First Column of the numbers represents the proposed pay 25 Levy for each category the next columns you can see the comparative dollar amounts for last year's Levy and the change from year to year the single largest line item in the levy is the voter approved operating referendum several factors influence this the formulas calculated based upon pupil numbers the voter approved formula also includes an inflationary factor which for the 2026 school year is estimated at 2.43% when the um this brings the voter approved operating referendum to about $2,772 per pupil the decrease you see here is primarily due to the increase in market value of the district also in this line are prior adjustments of 735 ,000 due to um inflation adjustments and also adjusted student Counts from the previous year local optional Revenue the board approves a levy this is a board approved Levy for $724 per pupil this per pupil amount um will increase in the manner much like the operating referendum it's an equalized Levy so the state aid portion of this formula has declined with our increasing tax capacity in our district this Levy is 100% covered by the local Levy and there is no state aid we're expecting an increase of about 118,000 or 7/10 of a perc primarily due to changes in enrollment capital projects Levy will increase as tax capacity Rises this again is a voter approved Levy that is calculated as that percent of net tax capacity um again the the current authorization was approved in November of 2022 at 4.71% of net tax capacity so the increase from the previous year is 97,000 or 6.7% and is a direct reflection of the increase in that net tax capacity and the increase in the number of or value of the homes in the district operating Capital Levy is increasing as it's linked to our building age which increases each year and student enrollment so you're looking at 224,000 there this slide covers the next several lines of the general fund Levy um I'm just going to highlight one item here being re-employment Insurance the legislature changed laws um in 2023 to include summer unemployment that first year what the legislature did was gave a lump sum of $135 million to cover the costs for school districts some are unemployment for staff that previously hourly staff that weren't eligible that now are the first year we that cost our district about $850,000 which was again fully reimbursed by the state um this most recent summer we saw our cost almost double to a m570 th000 it's expected that and now the state's fiscal year catches a little bit of next June where this June's went to last year but we're expecting that at the end of fiscal 25 without legislative changes although director Grady did mention to me this is already on the agenda so it's great news um without that that 1.57 million would become the responsibility of the district's general fund to pick up that cost so it becomes a a pretty big um piece that we need to account for um unless there are legislative changes that pick it up what you're seeing here that $200,000 that's our estimated regular unemployment costs um because the summer Levy unemployment we're not allowed actually the summer unemployment piece we not allowed to put on the levy this slide covers the last several lines in the general fund Levy long-term facility maintenance being one of the biggest um our lfm line item includes the pay as you go portion of ltfm funding which provides part of the funding for the rolling 10year deferred maintenance plans and projects pay as you go Levy is decreasing under this plan as we've shifted um many of the expenditures to um bond that you'll see in our debt service here shortly there it offsets there so the the large almost $15 million decrease will be offset in the debt Levy next want to highlight the building lease category among other leases that we have this Levy includes principal and interest payments for additions to buildings such as Rice Lake Elementary and some Senior High additions along with leases for activities and our portion of intermediate 287s leases the negative amount includes adjustments as we reconcile estimated expenses with actual expenses in previous years so again the summary of the total general fund lever is a decrease of 14.6 million or- 12.2% moving to community service the primary change in this fund is increasing our estimation for school age care as we are now fully staffed and can offer service to all residents with no weight lists nice job Brian um and and it also includes a little bit of previous year adjustments overall this fund's Levy is increasing by 214,000 or 7.7% as you know the vast majority of revenue for community service fund comes from fees for services so assciated with each individual program finally we'll take a look at The Debt Service fund the top line for regular Debt Service are the plan principle and interest payments for current debt as mentioned previously the increase here is offset by a decrease in the general fund as we issue ltfm bonds and reduce our pay as you go ltfm Levy um debt excess one thing to to note on here too is we are required by law in our regular Debt Service to Levy 105 % of our principal and interest just in case as I I mentioned in the previous presentation we had a a negative amount of tax collection the the 105% is meant to cover cover that in case our tax collection doesn't come in enough to cover our own debt that we have a little bit of a backup when we have extra which routinely happens that's called debt excess so we give that back when we can so this year we are giving back 88,000 in change um a little bit less than last year um just as how the the payments came in but uh we're able to return that additional amount back to our taxpayers so that our total debt service Levy is increasing by about 14.7 million the percentage is kind of scary but it's it's not that bad overall so total proposed Levy increased currently calculated at 272,000 or1 n% as I mentioned before the update that I saw about an hour and a half ago is at 0.51% we are aware of there still being two errors in that so still working through that process but that will lead us to kind of the next portion as as we get to the action item I just wanted to give you a quick timeline of of how the levy process works so mde gives the first run of Levy data to us um we start actually loading information in July and August for the state and then we get the first output of information on um September 6th from there to the end of the month we have 16 working days is to make all Corrections update our information and and try to create the most accurate Levy possible for the board to approve final step is on December 17th of 2024 following the truth and Taxation hearing which will include that opportunity for public comment the school board would be asked to approve the final Levy amounts for the taxes payable in 25 all right so with that going to ask the school board to take action but you do not have to make a final decision today we are going to request that the school board approve the 24 pay 25 Levy at the maximum as in previous years we're requesting approval at the maximum to provide maximum flexibility for the school board and for the district to allow our staff to continue to work with mde and finalize that data to ensure its accuracy we will bring the final Levy back with an exact dollar amount to the penny in December oops and I'll turn it back to you all right so is there a motion to approve the preliminary 2024 pay 2025 Levy at the maximum as presented all moved mov by Dr Grady is there a second second second by director Prince um any discussion John can you tell me again um the per pupil we get for um levies it was 2,100 something for for the operating capital is 21 or I mean excuse me our operating referendum is 21 77 and a little bit of change 21 cents something like that and we still per pupil it's per per pupil unit correct not per per adjusted pupil unit yep and what that means is if you're at prek we get about 0.5 per pupil from first grade through sixth grade I believe we get one and from Seventh through 12th we get 1.2 so it's weighted with the understanding that it just costs more to operate higher levels of of grades and so they f it a little bit for us thank you that's what I wanted to clarify for everyone all right any other questions or discussion yeah so I always say so um was interesting because I was talking with some city council members and the cities set a budget and they Levy for their budget for us it is as John outlined a number of different elements it is tightly governed and regulated by the state there's the state allocations there are their requirements for our share later we'll see that lovely line item that all the that show what is what we required to do and so um but it's also the result of our choices so our choices with the bond referendum and the support of the residents of our community as well so it's a combination of um what the community has authorized us to do the decisions this board has made leading up to this this is kind of lagging those decisions um and what the state decisions are um so it's the combination of all those things so it's very um pleasant when we see that n number be much smaller um than maybe in other years as all of those shift um and kind of in talking with other local elected folks we know that hennipin county is coming in at 5 and a half Maple girl at 6.96 I haven't seen Brooklyn Parks yet but when the residents when you get your tax statement you'll see all of those components that um impact you um and so being able to be a the smallest contrib of that is definitely another good thing for us and I would even say kind of piggybacking along that the the roughly half a percent that we're expecting that number to be when you offset that with the growth of the district I I can't make promises to anyone but I actually anticipate most people to be either completely flat or a decrease in the school portion of your property taxes and we'll be able to provide a little more information on that in December that actually charts out the rough value of your house and so forth but I I it's in it's it's very favorable numbers for us so it's it's nice to see when you see some big numbers in other places yes thank you any other questions or comments okay um all in favor say I I I I'll oppose say nay motion passes six to zero thank you John our next action item is the recommend ation for approval the agreement on the terms and condition of employment between the Independent School District 279 school board and School Executives July 1st 2023 through June 30th 2025 information will be shared by Amy Moore general counsel Amy thank you uh School Executives is a group of eight employees comprised of associate superintendents and executive directors the agreement contains language changes to reflect current District practices in addition changes have been made to compensation and conditions Group Insurance leaves of absence memoranda of understanding sections terms and conditions uh in the compensation conditions section um language was modified to include a 5% increase to base salary in year 1 3% in year two this uh this is consistent with other groups that you have approved the ranges were also increased by 99.3% to the minimum and maximum salary ranges uh in addition salary advancement has been changed to pay for performance and will be paid as a stipend instead of adding on to the base salary um work condition second section was changed from 225 workday uh to 260 261 depending on the year work dayss um in the same section we the employees will receive 12 paid holidays and 25 vacation days um deferred compensation District contribution was increased from 2,000 to 4,000 the group Insurance section um employees reive District contributions as outlined in the contract that is posted um and the salary investment outlined above or outlined in in entirety is consistent with the financial parameters established by the school board for the 2325 contract negotiation the 2-year agreement results in a 99.95% total package increase the total additional Financial investment is $339,500 279 school board and School Executives July 1st 2023 through June 30th 2025 so moved uh motion by director Douglas is there a second second second by director Mitchell um any discussion I just want to say on behalf of the board thank you for um Coming to an agreement on this um we really appreciate your work um all in favor say I I I I'll post say nay motion passes six to zero and again thank you executive directors for the hard work that you put in um we know you work many many many hours over your time the final action item is gifts to the district is there a motion to approve the gifts to the district totaling $1,945 so Mo um motion by director Douglas is there a second second second by director Prince any discussion we all say thank you um all in favor say I I I'll oppose say n and that motion passes um 6 to zero our next agenda item is informational items General councel Amy Moore will share the information for the first reading of policy and procedure 432 teacher inv voluntary transfer process policy 441 digital Technologies and digital systems accept acceptable use policy 640 class size and student teacher Staffing ratio policy and procedure 652 instructional and Library material selection and re-evaluation and policy and procedure 57 corporal punishment and prone restraint Amy you got a job ahead of you we do um but we're here for it um so as you said first reading um they these policies will will be posted then for the next month and uh up for board uh vote next October at the regular meeting so we'll start with policy 432 teacher involuntary transfer process you see it's a very short policy and is covered in our collective bargaining agreements and that's why we're recommending this for repeal any questions kind of go policy by policy so that also has a procedure then that would be repealed um policy 441 digital Technologies and digital systems we have executive director pedos here as well if there are any uh questions but the main thrust behind the changes for this policy um was to put it in language about how to be a responsible user of technology versus the don't don't don't um and then updating um some kind of uh pieces that um were outdated um um and reflecting um some legislative changes I know you've had the policies and be able to go through them um is there anything in particular that you have questions on I have I have a question um one of the questions is um so this is in Personnel the 400 series um but some of this also applies to student use and so I'm wondering if this is the appropriate category for it um so that's just something that I think maybe policy should evaluate uh where the appropriate series that this policy falls under um and then also that I am wondering about a little bit of crossover between um Tech the this is the digital technology acceptable use um but then it kind of crosses over a little bit with like cellone use policy for students and so I'm wondering if policy committee will be kind of looking at these in conjunction with each other um at some point and U particular with regards to like social media um in the expectation piece um because social media is used as a tool for staff to engage with students regarding certain activities like group me and WhatsApp and things like that um and so so that's one area that I'm wondering about um as we move forward and and look at those things and then I have one other question um which is for the uh sipa sea I don't know CI paa child internet protection act thank you that act yes so uh my question about that is um sorry I'm trying to pull it back up again where okay went um so some of that I guess what I'm wondering about that piece of it is is if that crosses over into the uh 652 policy that we're reviewing tonight um because we deliver instruction via the Internet and digital um mannerisms and so those two things kind of go together and so I'm wondering like has that been looked at together are we going to incorporate that aspect into the instructional material selection um and the reason I asked that is partly because of the discussion that um or sorry comments that were brought forward by um community members tonight um which made me think about this internet piece which specifically prohibits um explicit content and um um the way that children may be impacted by the use of those materials and so I'm really wondering like where where are we going with that has that been evaluated yet um is policy committee looking at that do we need to bring both of these back for further evaluation um so that's kind of a lot but so I can share having sat on policy committee um you know we have have had a lot of discussion for many months particularly on the instructional um side of things so I would say we have not been able to you know make these completely perfect to every piece of input or um every situation so I think um the spirit of these improvements um was to advance good solid policy forward um and it will continue to work on them I I don't think that the policy committee um I think with the work we've done so far I'm not sure that we should be sending things back to policy at this point I'd say that those are really great questions to keep working toward and building into our continued work and even in policy committee when we discussed moving forward the 6 652 um we we had the discussion that doesn't mean we stop working on it that we can continue to refine and especially with further input that will come through this the reading process as well so those are really good questions we did not explicitly um look at the technology um components or cross reference those with the 652 but I think we had the spirit of those conversations and policy I don't if any other policy committee members would want to add to that no I just want to say we heard you um great questions great concerns um I think with all of these policies um we've all operated under the assumption that these would come back to policy committee at some point for further discussion um so I think just given um you know we can only talk about you these policies so much in policy committee so um incremental progress um and you know contining to take in that feedback and make improvements as we do on the question of uh social media and the use of apps um I don't know if there wanted to be any remarks on that and the work that's being done to kind of monitor systems of adults communicating with students I don't know so we do have um pieces in our employee handbook about our expectations of Staff interacting with students um we have discussed and it is um potentially uh bringing forth uh looking at a social media policy uh in particular we just haven't gotten to that yet um in relation to cell phone policy we will actually bringing forth the cell phone policy that currently in place uh and any updates uh to that um to the extent that um you know child internet protection act is implicated in any curriculum that happens that's of course going to be followed um so they they act together um to the extent that it would apply um um I hear your comment about oddly numbered and there's there's some other policies too and I think as we start continue through our cycle of review and maybe get to the 500s um some of them we have kind of uh broken out but there are some that are just naturally probably going to be a bit awkward and maybe calling that out more um as we get to them but I don't know if there's anything else I would just say historical context on that the last time um acceptable use policy was reviewed there was a 400 series and a 600 series and at that time we merged um to build a comprehensive um acceptable use policy that applied to both students and staff um which is how it ended up Landing in 441 at the time but I think it's you know a good question to kind of wonder where where it might fit long term okay thank you any other questions okay so the next is policy 640 class size and student teacher Staffing ratio again a very short policy uh that is covered in our collective bargaining agreement so we're recommending this one for repeal as well and uh policy 652 and you will see we've included uh procedures 60 652a and B as well as the form that would be utilized for requests for re evaluation and then um we've also included guidelines uh for audience members and guidelines for the committee just so you could have a full understanding of everything that we've kind of been discussing and trying to update um I can go through every change um and I will look to you as to what you think would make sense now you've had the materials um there's been a lot of back and forth you can see the red lines um I think we've landed in a place that recognizes a lot of discussion uh back and forth and um this would is one way for us to kind of move forward uh some improvements uh to the policy um that has hasn't been reviewed for some some time now so maybe I'll pause and look for questions and if you do want to go through things we can certainly go Page by page so the policy committee's seen this I guess I defer to the other board members who are looking at it more in depth for the first time if you want to go line by line or if you'd rather I don't need to have it read to me line by line because I've read through it but if other board members do I do have questions though okay we can go to questions then did yeah anybody else want to go first or no okay so um and I did speak with um Amy Moore about most of these questions actually prior to the meeting um but I wanted to bring them up for policy committee um to consider as well um so regarding policy 652 and procedures A and B I do have some thoughts and questions um that I hope will be considered for discussion uh the revisions proposed in policy 652 eliminate language regarding producing materials and I do recall having a conversation about the removal of that language in reference to materials that are physically produced in the district and that's no longer a common practice um but while we don't Mass produce printed instructional materials I am wondering about electronic materials that are created to supplement instruction and how that is factored into this policy if there was discussion around that um and I'll just keep going through I don't need like answers to all of these questions right now um so moving on to uh policy 652 section V or 5 F6 which is Library materials shall meet high standards of quality in one or more of these categories and there are seven categories I'm specifically looking at category number six which is high interest for intended audiences so I'm wondering what does high interest mean and is there a threshold for that and furthermore are we referring to intended audience of the book or our student population and if we're referring to our student population which is what I think is the um intent um how do we determine the age range of that audience uh moving on to section six regarding individual student access to specific Library materials the policy reads that the school district shall take reasonable steps to fulfill this request when a parent or Guardian has asked for specific materials to be restricted um from their personal students I'm wondering uh what steps are currently available and and if there are plans to implement a specific process or procedure for those requests and then um that's those are my questions for the policy itself looking at procedure 652a um I would like to have discussion around a few potential language changes for clarity and to ensure that we aren't placing the burden of responsibility on a single person um under the general statement a 1 A and B um sorry there's so many like 1 a b 2 3 um so I do apologize but let me just pull it Forward here so I can remember exactly what it is um so under this is the general criteria for selection under one instruction libr instructional and Library materials must be evaluated on the B basis of the purpose for selection set forth in policy 652 Etc um there is uh subcategories a through f c d e and f are concrete they're not dependent upon anything else however A and B um State a I'll just read what they say um they basically they're denoted as one or the other um or I suppose it could be and but it just says or and so my question is um section A States instructional and Library materials will have favorable recommendations based on examination by District instructional Personnel or and then B States instructional Library materials will have favorable reviews found in standard review sources so what I'm wondering is if we are unintentionally reducing a check and balance by using this specific language um and it would help me to understand how we're defining District instructional Personnel the way I read it initially would make me think that it means an individual District staff person um that any staff person that provides instruction or is involved in the process of choosing instructional materials um and if that isn't the ca case please let me know um but if that isn't the case I'm wondering uh if we should refine that language to specify which Personnel roles or teams were referring to a bit more directly so as to be clear that no one individual is solely responsible for the selection of materials um and if we are talking about any individual um person who provides instruction I suggest that we consider changing the language or separating that um separating instructional materials and Library materials in this particular instance um uh or I guess coming up with some check and balance because I don't think any individual person should be solely responsible for um the selection of materials I guess ultimately is what I'm getting to I think that poses a problem both for that person and as well as people receiving the content um so then moving on to section c I'm sorry I have a few but I am I am almost done um in uh procedure 652a section c b I noted that the materials review plan is supposed to include both DPAC and the human sexuality advisory committee as part of their review process and um in order to provide them the opportunity to review the materials and provide input and that has not been a consistent standard practice but it is an important part of the process and so I'm wondering how we can ensure that we're consistently following this procedure going forward um and that was all I had for 652a and with 652b um and I talked to Amy about this I noted just a couple of like inconsistencies in the way that we worded certain phrases from the policy to this procedure um and the example is just the order in which like students parents Guardians residents is listed and so I just suggested that we make that language consistent across documents um but the actual um that that's really minor the concern that I have though is in reviewing this um document there uh several places where I feel like we could build in some uh more transparency in our process particularly regarding um appointed positions um and Amy and I had talked about this a lot of the um positions on the challenge committee are appointed by a specific person and my concern is that creates a um a situation where it may appear that the committee is being stacked or um that people are being handpicked to have a particular outcome um and so I think that it would be wise for us to consider evaluating some of that language to create a process which is more um number one more transparent but also um will uh ensure that it isn't always the same people on every challenge committee um and I understand that there might be some difficulty with that um just finding people who want to participate in the process um one suggestion that I had given is uh if a principal or assistant principal is required that maybe we have like a rotation of which building you know like if there's a challenge a then it's Park Center and Challenge B is oio and challenge C is Maple Grove or some sort of process where we're having um a rotation where there isn't any like specific one person um that is doing that and I don't have any like specific language suggestions I just think that maybe that's kind of a back to the drawing board situation um but also uh for specifically formal procedures and that's specifically for formal procedures by the way those what the comments were for um but also When selecting uh the the people for the committee right now it's a single person who selects the participants of the committee and I think that it should be it should be inclusive also of the director of educational equity and the director of learning and achievement who are also part of this process in other uh areas of the uh reevaluation process so those are my suggestions I know there's a lot but I have written them down if you'd like me to send them to you thank you thank you I appreciate the questions um for transparency sake and Clarity are there any of those questions I know we can't cover them but that we can receive answers for tonight um or Clarity and um also just going forward how will we receive answers to um the questions um well like I said everything will be posted for a month um typically what would happen is I would then bring back that to the next board meeting um you know given that the level of comment and uh possible questions are going to be more than what we typically see um if there was an interest in um communicating before then you know I can I can certainly do that and then make sure that we um from a public standpoint that they have information as well I have to I have to think through that I don't know exactly but one way would be to basically use then the October meeting to really go through everything right and then maybe bringing it back in November for a vote versus October depending on that that could be one way of doing it okay thank you that would be helpful I'm I'm open to suggestions though that would be helpful I I wonder I don't know if a work session would be appropriate Forum but that could be another option to address some of the questions that's a good idea so you can do it little more no action would question and answer just for those questions um Andy did you want to talk about the production piece of it thank you sure so again Andy bedau um coordinator of digital learning and instructional media and um Heather you sort of already alluded to the the answer you were talking about why production was sort of struck out and it's it it's a a practice that we no longer do so we have a Publications in a print shop so um in the past even probably prior to me we did a lot more of creating and making our own um you know textbook materials things like that so um to your point though like if materials are created um digitally or even um if people are creating um you know print materials they would still fall under the supplementary process as part of this Pro process thank okay um in regards to high interest you know we uh I think we in our guidelines we talk about utilizing Miriam Webster for what things mean um I don't know if you have anything to add to that how you would High interest for intended audience what does it mean is it students based on the students or the age yeah I just off you know just thinking um how I interpret that a couple you know just off the top of my head um you know dog man series you know so what are what are things that kids are wanting to you know have in their hands right away so obviously things that they're asking for um I also think about high low so we have students who are um reading it at a lower level and we still want them to be high interest books and topics that they're interested in so they're not you know babyish or you know seemingly being you know uh Tu or read down to so I will just touch on the um parents currently in regards to if they have concerns about their students and materials they can talk to the principal or the media specialist I think that's happening already informally um putting something up on our website regarding that is something we can consider we um want to recognize that uh different media centers will operate differently but you know really it it can just be sending an email to the library media specialist would start that process yeah we did have quite a bit of discussion in policy about um you know how to execute on it and we know that that's kind of all the supplementary actions and internal work of the district so we'll probably have high interest to kind of know how that comes together but um I know um uh director Brooks also brought up a lot of those concerns in policy and how do we actually ensure that we can live up to that promise to parents and um what are the options that we have available to us so we discuss it a lot and I do really appreciate the questions I think this is um a topic that we need to be thorough on um and go live line by line and that's what we've been doing for many sessions in policy so I think that's important that the board members do kind of have that level of scrutiny and ask the questions that need to be asked I appreciate that I think that's part of what makes this difficult is not being a part of that process I I don't know what you guys have talked about so I have a lot of questions absolutely um you know we do kind of come back um so for the public as this is out it's the reading um folks can go to our district website go on to the about us school board or about US policies and procedures Schoolboard policies and procedures and there is a place to provide uh feedback there um so definitely invite the public to do that these materials are all published and available for everybody to look at um I think the policy committees worked really hard to balance many different viewpoints and to be very concrete um and I'd say like even with the state leg isure um adding the language but not be able to um uh to uh make sure I read this right Library material shall not be banned removed or access restricted based solely on its Viewpoint or the messages ideas or opinions expressed um that's always I think been in our work in our policy that's already been um ruling in case law by the Supreme Court we have a list of what standards of quality are um so I think that did not in my opinion dramatically affect this policy or the work of our policy committee that we're still focused on what does meet high standards and I think that that was the spirit of our conversation is to balance um all of those different perspectives and concerns um so I think that again continues to be a work in process and in discussion but I think that this felt like a good policy to keep moving forward at this stage and we streamlined a ton of the different steps and I know Amy's worked hard to um create U more efficient forms and processes with um the book challenge process as well so I appreciate the hard work that the district's done to be responsive that's all I got I just I just want to thank the policy committee for um working so hard on um all of the and I know we have one more policy to talk about but on all the policies um particularly this one because it's it's it's a difficult one and I appreciate the question about um transparency and one um person being in charge of picking because for I mean for both sides of that deal you you don't want to be a person picking someone and being accused of stacking or unintentionally stacking or any of that so I appreciate that and our next policy um I'd like to go ahead I have a couple things to say Thomas did you on this policy no okay we have put a lot of work on this policy in the policy committee and I'm really proud of the discussions that we have had and here's what I think works with policy parents have the right to ask a teacher or a librarian to not allow their child child to pick out a book parents are allowed to ask for a building review to decide whether or not that book is appropriate in that setting parents can then elevate it to the district level for another check and balance against whether or not that particular piece of material is um appropriate for children and let me clarify that this policy is about library book choices now if we all remember what libraries are they're a place for everything and these books are not required they're available here's what doesn't work for me in this policy as it is written now I'm not comfortable with any Community member asking for a book review because this is a parents' decision and parents should be in charge of making those decisions even more so I am even less comfortable with the continuing book challenges coming to the school board here's why last June we enacted more pieces of the lgbtqia plus resolution and there are small group of community members who shared their concerns about the impacts that this would have on their their children I think many of them were they were all heard and very well listened to and sympathized with their concerns however the district has a mission to support every single student no matter what their identity is I think this small group of parents some of them were very frustrated that our district upheld our mission to support every single student again on books that are available for some students students if they want it at the library these book bands have come after lgbtq students erasing their identities and they have not stopped there the next book that might come to our board is Tony Morrison we talk a lot about what's age appropriate or what's age appropriate but I can't think of anything more inappropriate than working to seek to remove a book of a pillar of africanamerican literature from our students in schools again this is a book that's available to them as a choice for those who need it and those who need to connect with it because once a small group of people come after one marginalized group they always come after another point of order are these comments related to the policy or personal preferences and conversation that you want to bring to the board I'll let you continue to make your points Tanya to the extent that you are willing to and then I'm happy to start my discussion over I I think it's wise that our board keep our comments specific to our issue and not um conject um have conjecture about intentions of community members Point note continue I know everybody's here to help kids and wants to support them and I understand that there are a lot of people who are fearful of seeing marginalized students and identities supported in schools but more than once folks have come and quoted gays against groomers which is a hate group designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center and once again they started with attacking and erasing lgbtq identities and now they're on to Tony Morrison thank you I will not be supporting this policy as it as it is written I have a comment I'm sorry we just have to clarify for the record here this policy is very specifically in the title instructional and Library material selection that means this policy is not just for Library book so that's a really inaccurate representation of what this is second of all our taxpayers pay for those instructional materials and library books they 100% have the right to be a part of the process let's just get that straight this is not your political platform this is a policy meant for our community to participate in our process and they all have a right to participate in it period thank you heather for sharing a point of view it's not a point of view it's a fact so um again the policy committee has worked really hard to bring this um forward constructively so I hope we can keep the constructive Focus moving forward through the second reading and continuing on so thanks again to everybody who's put a lot of work into this really appreciate it okay the last policy uh policy 507 corporal punishment and prone restraint uh it is updated to reflect the the legislative changes that came about after the last session uh about uh SRO uh explicitly not being um School District employees and updating those language uh so are there any questions regarding that last policy and my understanding is that's that's been in our contract with SOS it's been in our contract correct so we have been we have been in a good place with that that is the last one so these will all be published and um we'll see how the comments come in and kind of decide and communicate with you how we will move this forward then thank you at this time the board will take a brief recess and then reconvene in the foreign room for a closed session the session will be closed pursuant to Minnesota statute 13 d03 for labor negotiations with AA a esps confidential support Specialists custodians esps hourly technical kidstop instructor instructors registered nurses and licensed practical nurses and school nutrition basically the people that are the glue to our district um is there a motion to recess the regular meeting for 10 minutes and reconvene in the for room for a Clos session so second uh motion by uh director Prince and second by director Douglas uh any discussion all in favor say I I I I'll oppos say nay all right this uh meeting is recessed at 812 p.m. we are all going to collect our thoughts do some deep breathing and we will adjourn at the conclusion of the closed session e