##VIDEO ID:tfL1QuSjwUo## e e e e e e e [Music] he [Music] it is Thursday December 12th 2024 at 6 PM we are at the district service center in Cottage Grove Minnesota we would like is the land of the mawakan Dakota people mawakan means dwellers of the Spirit Lake our first item on the agenda is roll call Dana Ryan Clark here Sharon Van here Eric Tesmer here Pat Driscoll here Melinda do here Simi Pat here Charlotte Wilson here Mariah oand here Brandon Payne here Katie Schwarz here okay 2.0 is Pledge of Allegiance please stand I pledge algi to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation and jce okay 3.0 is approval of our amended agenda we will be adding 11.0 close session for consideration of student expulsion and 12.0 action on resolution for student expulsion can I get a motion mov second motion by simy seconded by Sharon any comments any uh all those in favor I any oppos motion passes 4.0 is comments to the board we do not have any this evening so we will move on to 5.0 and that is student District ambassadors and that will be uh presented by our superintendent Julie Nelson good evening and thank you um you know it's always an exciting time when our students get to come to the board meetings and this group is absolutely no exception um I have worked with students a long time like over 32 years and in preparing for today's meeting when I asked each of them we had our meeting here in the boardroom today and when I asked them you know did you get the uh the graphic organizer to prepare how's that going everyone was done and ready to go and so you are in for some great comments and some great student voice um we're going to start out this evening with Charlotte and so Charlotte I'm going to have you introduce yourself and just talk um a little bit about what you enjoy about being a student leader so my name is charl Wilson I'm in fifth grade and I go to northa and I just want to give a quick shout out that I'm really thankful for the fact that my family and my principal sen Sao is out there tonight and what what when I'm a leader I feel really proud and thankful for this chance because when I'm a leader I have the ability to help lots of people and it makes me really proud to be here because back at my school I get to know that people know that their ideas are being shared so yeah all right well and as someone said um I got to see Charlotte this afternoon and she was on fire this afternoon and so excited and Charlotte just so you know as you came in tonight and some of the adults in the back greeted they're like Charlotte's on fire tonight she's we love love love the enthusiasm so next Charlotte um what is something we know you have an ambassador group at your school um what is something interesting that that's happening at your school and then what types of things are your ambassadors working on so something interesting that's going on right now for my school is technically this just ended but we do 10 days of giving at our school I don't know if all the schools in the district do it but it's where so people get to come and donate toiletries to families who might not have them and then so we donate them and it makes me really happy to know that that because for 10 days of giving it's all about giving cuz like when you receive a gift you feel really happy right but to give a gift it makes you even happier and something that um my student council at my school is working on is since my school is a Spanish Immersion we receive lots of students that only speak Spanish and they're new to our country because they come from a Spanish country so and a lot of the time we have our teachers that give them their tours around our school and we thought that the student ambassadors should help pitch in with that so they can make friends quicker so we can introduce them to their new classmates and their teachers so that's that so um Charlotte what is one of your favorite classes or subjects in school and what do you find motivates you to learn and what do you enjoy about it what motivates me to learn is that I know that if I get it wrong or right I'll always be supported to try again and every mistake I make it's just another chance to try again and to work harder and to know that I'll eventually get it and what would you say is your favorite favorite subject area in school that's really hard but I would probably say Reading Writing or math so all of it and finally uh Charlotte um what what have you learned about the school district representing um being a representative here at the district level what have you learned about the school district I've learned that everyone here is interested in coming in and seeing what we use to learn and and try and get things right and to support each other and if one school might be needing some more tricks people here will come and share our our ideas and different school's ideas to other schools so they can have more and to understand more on what it means to learn and Charlotte have you met any new friends down here when you've come down to District level because we have all of our 16 elementary schools and middle schools and high schools I have a lot of friends here yes fabulous all right thank you Charlotte we're going to move on to Mariah um Mariah comes to us from Woodbury Middle School and um as you know board members with our older students they have the option just to prepare kind of their comments and so um Mariah is prepared to share this evening so hello everybody my name is Mariah I'm in eth grade and I go to Woodbury Middle School as she just said I enjoy most about something I enjoy most about being a student leader is like helping to improve my school cuz like I never knew like how much people like put into this and to see like how it works is like so interesting and so fun something something interesting that's happening is in my school is that we're about to do spirit week and I actually participated in like helping choose what to do so that's going to be really fun and one special day we're going to do is like um choose your like dress up as your type like dress up as a celebrity crush or something and yeah so something special that student ambassadors are going that we are doing is like creating solutions for our schools like very recently we talked about how like bullying and like that type of stuff is like affecting our schools and we're like starting to make Solutions of how to fix that stuff because that is affecting students not only at my school but across the district and yeah and making sure that student voices are heard in our school is also very important so we want to know what motivates them and personally for me what motivates me is my parents cuz they've always supported me since day one and myself cuz I always want to like build up on what I'm doing so if I get I I get a B+ I want to make that answer a positive experience I've had at my school is AVID it's a um college readiness um course that you can apply for and that has been the most funnest thing I've ever took it's so nice there and it's always such a like supportive environment so I'm so happy I signed up for that and something I would want to to create like Avid is like something that includes Premed cuz I know a lot of students and a lot of my friends are interested in that stuff but it's not really available to us but I would love to do something like that because it's so interesting to see how others and how their body works and here not only the has the district meetings been so fun but also I've love to see how it's been working and how they have impacted our school so much like as a little kid I didn't know like I thought it was all unicorns and rainbows but like seeing how everyone has work so hard to impact our school is like so crazy and a highlight of our school is like meeting new people I would never met otherwise cuz like 2,000 or 20,000 people I'm not going to to see them on the street every day but yeah thank you guys Mariah I'm impressed I was going to ask her uh do you remember how many students and she started at 2,000 and she's like that's a little bit low I'm going 20,000 and so we did talk about so many times from the student perspective it's just about their school and the number in their school so you're right 20,000 and I think board members you're aware that when we bust the students from various schools the first time they come in they were quiet they act like they don't know each other and now we're already on the second meeting and they're starting to talk they know each other they go around and you know connect with each other so um the only thing that stopped them from talking this morning when they came in was the cold they said they were Frozen um but outside of that they did warm up um so Brandon we're going to close with you Brandon um is from Eastridge High School hi um I'm Brandon Payne I'm from Eastridge High School uh I'd first like to thank the entire school board and Miss neelson for having me it's really fun experience to be here um I've really enjoyed being a district Ambassador for the past less than a year where I get to come here every month and talk with other high school students and elementary students and middle school students about issues in our school and how to improve experiences of school for all of our students and then getting to bring home information to friends and other classmates um as along with being a district Ambassador I'm also part of our student cabinet which I really enjoy because I get to talk about issues specifically in our school and we've recently been talking about the new phone policy that's Statewide as long as the the expansion of eich which I'm really excited to see and as long as it as like it develops um a um POS experience from my school is being a part of the pltw um Project Lead the Way engineering program uh this is my third year doing it and I'm right now taking engineering development and design or Capstone and I get to work with a partner and a 3M engineer as we develop a solution to um fires caused by lithium ion batteries in electric cars it's really cool to you know find a solution to a to an advanced topic and having that experience and I'd really like to see that pltw um opportunity in other high schools because I know that both Woodberry and park don't nearly have as much opportunities as us and it'd be nice to see that because I feel like the having the opportunity to explore a career before entering college is really important thank you thank you um one thing that um is great to observe as the students come together and as they get to know each other I know um today Charlotte was introduced to to Mariah and Mar Mariah was introduced to Charlotte but as the meeting closed I noticed something Charlotte went up to Mariah and shook her hand and said I I'll see you tonight and so really when we think about leadership part of leadership is communication and so what the students are learning is not only our younger students learning to look up to our older students um but our older students are learning that empathy and compassion of working with the Wiggles um and the squirms and the distractions sometimes and just watching all of the students together today they worked in mixed groups as they were having conversations and it was just a true joy to watch how our olders um were taking um our youngers under their wings um and helping them listening to them trying to paraphrase what they were saying uh but we just are so pleased to have representation from across the district as we do our work they are very attentive they very kind to each other um and this year we made the decision um to have all of them in person we just found that they were going to be more valuable if the kids could come down here to District service center and interact so um Charlotte Mariah and Brandon we say thank you to you um they're so excited I don't know if they were two hours excited though um so for board members and those viewing at home um once we get done with the information items we will um dismiss our students so they can get some sleep um or study for their act Brandon um because because we do have school tomorrow thank you thank you both or all three of you sorry I said both um we move on to 6.0 consent items all consent items are considered routine and non-controversial by the school board and will be approved by a single motion there will be no separate discussion of these items prior to the meeting board members did have the opportunity to review each of these items and could have requested that any of them be moved to an action item for individual consideration that did not happen this evening so can I get a motion to approve move second motion by Sharon seconded by Eric all those in favor I any opposed motion passes on to 7.0 and that is our information items 7.1 is Park and Eastridge High School construction update and that will be introduced by Tyrone brookens assistant superintendent Sheriff Schwarz school board members superintendent Nelson and student ambassadors we are here this evening to provide an update on construction for our two high uh two of our three high schools East Ridge High School and Park High School uh facilitating this conversation would be Mark de boy from uh coma Architects and in the audience we have both principles Todd Herbert and Jim smokovich representing the high schools we also have Dan uh Hines the assistant director for engineering and infrastructure and we have Kyle yuker who's here for uh serving as a director of facilities and they will will be able to answer any questions that may come up uh from the presentation as a reminder uh we passed referendum uh a year ago now uh two questions related to the bond uh question one was around Safety and Security and we have commenced those projects uh and so uh you'll hear an update for two of those projects from that group and then uh question two was around more around our elementary schools and that will commence in January so that conversation will begin to pick up re question to later uh in Janu in January um as we go into the construction planning phase you're going to see uh different renderings and drawings for uh these two high schools I bring your attention that we have been meeting with uh School Personnel leadership teams and uh I would say uh different departments from the high schools to provide input into these designs and so what you see is the work that has culminated from multiple multiple a third multiple meetings with those uh groups uh this here is a graphic that we've shown at every board meeting and this is our our planning uh that goes from 2024 all the way to 2027 as you can see we are closing out 2024 with the design and planning phase for those seven projects uh that you saw in question one and now we're going into January 2025 and you'll see some pickup with those elementary schools that said I'm going to turn the mic over to Mark and he's going to give you an update hey good evening uh thank you all for inviting me back to give another update on East and Park High School the last time uh we looked at this was July and I checked and it was about 75 degrees so a lot has changed from then to now but um in in the main the plans the overall schemes the concepts and the scope has not changed dramatically we'll take some time and walk through we've been since then we've been spending a lot of time in the detailing phase of the design of both projects um to get the ideas onto paper so that the contractors can actually build it and turn it into a reality and that's the exciting part is that we're moving forward towards that the uh Easter idge project has already been bid out and the bids have come in and initial uh initially has been favorable the Park High School project is coming down to the end of the line and those will be put out to bid in January so that's kind of the overall time frame and at this at this point I will walk through some of the highlights of the project um East Ridge and then Park and uh we'll stop for any questions in between the two uh quickly reminder of Eastridge and the scope uh that the referendum outlined and we've been design designing towards uh the addition of classroom space to serve an additional 600 students both uh science and general classrooms and uh special ed classrooms we've also been um providing a space for the growing online learning students as well um an expansion of the CTE Wing particularly the uh construction fa or construction program um where also expanding the cafeteria uh and expanding the kitchen and reconfiguring the existing kitchen to serve the additional students that are coming and um we've also been looking at uh reconfiguration of the entry the drive the drop off the pickup some of the parking to improve that traffic flow as well this is an image of the overall site and uh we will get into the details of that uh later on but everything in color is uh a part of the site that's being touched so the entry the staff parking student parking and uh the CTE Edition on the North the two floor levels are obviously being added on to and remodeled the um spaces in color are the spaces that are being either remodeled or added on to everything in Gray is existing facility that's not being remodeled as part of this project again we'll get into the details of that this being the second floor plan we have um been working on some of the finishes the color paletts materials um for the for the addition and the remodel with the intent of kind of matching primarily what the existing facility had it's not that old obviously and we wanted the additions and the new spaces to flow and read as if they were extensions of the original construction the new uh classroom Edition will be the purple pod I'll get into some of the more uh specifics uh with some of these plans so this is a an En large portion the plan showing the on the right hand side on the East is the expansion of the cafeteria and the relocation of the activities entrance that's currently in that location that will uh increase the capacity of the cafeteria to around 750 students per Lunch Period also the existing kitchen at the top um in blue will be reconfigured to allow a better traffic flow um um and we now will create two separate serving areas one near the new entry and then obviously the existing these are some of the renderings of what the new cafeteria expansion will look like um you can see we're using the same materials color pallets um and so in a way this is just an extension and expansion towards the east another series of views this being um on the right hand side is where the secondary kitchen and Cafe uh servery area will be with the activity center entrance as it sits today second floor there'll be a kind of a bridge or a link that connects the existing second floor to the new edition we'll also be putting together uh a new series of set of bathrooms that will be um easily supervis from the cafeteria itself I also mentioned there's the career in technical education CTE expansion that will be on the west side of the existing CTE uh wing it will be primarily a an expansion to U expand the program into construction and um larger construction uh Beyond small woodworking um again with the idea of providing more experience and preparation for trades uh after graduation it will be an expansion of about 3,000 square feet and it will serve both the woods and the metal shop um depending on which uh is needed again a rendering of what that space will start to look at like you can see some of the um pods I guess we would call them they're um the ability to sort of frame up um some construction and um apply different trades like Electrical Plumbing drywall those sorts of things that would be needed in the trades as I mentioned obviously we're one of the main goals was to expand U student capacity the building was designed and built for about 1,700 this addition will expand the capacity to about 2300 and again it's a two-story Edition combining science in the pink and then general education and special education in the uh brown and green they each of those components will have Collaborative Learning areas outside in s of student Commons and this being the second floor this will be the this is a rendering kind of a shot from the from the sky of the of the addition that will be built kind of around the blackbox theater and connect up towards the new cafeteria Edition this is a rendering of one of the new science rooms with uh some fixed case work those octagonal workstations um lab stations and then flexible seating and Furniture in the middle that can be used either for a lecture or can be moved around to do group work this is an image of one of the collaborative areas where students can come together for small groups work or individual work um if they're not within the classroom some of the other uh re uh Renovations that will be happening uh the Special Ed Wing will uh in the lower gold pad will'll be getting a new DCd kitchen classroom restroom and renovated spaces and as I mentioned the online learning uh student population has continued to grow and so we're going to provide a special space for them um in the balcony area second floor area that kind of overlooks the existing cafeteria I mentioned that we're also trying to improve the site uh as part of this and as I think we've looked at before but one of the main goals is to improve the traffic flow particularly of parents coming in to drop off or coming in to pick up and so the reconfiguration of the entry and um Drive sequence off Hargus will provide significantly more stacking for cars as they come in in the mornings or the afternoons and get them off harus these are some of the exterior renderings we saw some preliminary ones back in July but we've been refining the design the activities entrance this is the new activities entrance which is pull will be pulled further east from where it is now on the left hand side you can see the two beginning of the two-story classroom Wing that connects to it and then we're going to create this new Plaza outside uh to connect from the student parking lot there'll also be some terrorist areas where student students can sit or wait or even have an outdoor class uh as I mentioned the Eastridge project is the bids have already been taken they're being reviewed at the moment with the intention of a ward in January and the construction is intended to begin at Spring break so by March the contractors will start to mobilize on site and begin with the Demolition of the existing activities entrance and put up temporary walls and temporary exits and then they will start to build the classroom addition on the south moving towards the North and by the time school is out in June they will take over that whole area and the activities entrance will be rerouted in addition in the summer they will start the construction of the CTE wing on the North and the project will be tied up and complete by August of 2026 so that's a nutshell of Easter are there any questions or comments or thoughts before we move on to park hi Mark I have a few questions I'm sure it's a shock um so the new cafeteria is going to expand outside where the the gym currently is is that correct like on that second floor of the gym is that correct no um it's going to move Eastward I don't know if this is the best image but um so if you can see that diagram the the little maybe I should find a better one there's a an existing entry oops so basically where this gray um area if I can highlight this everything in Blue on the right in that diagram is new so on the left edge of that blue Bo is the existing entry to the activity center so basically everything will be built out towards the east towards the parking lot and then as we looked at in the this image so so basically everything you're seeing in this is new and you're looking towards the east towards the parking lot oh okay so this is this is moved out then from where the current okay correct okay you're in essence in this image you're an Essence standing where the activi entrance is now okay and then um how many more seats does this end up adding for kids to or how how many sorry how many kids can eat now like during a lunch B lunch C lunch I think that right now it serves about 600 if I'm looking at JY to verify that there has three lunch periods and this addition will increase it to as much as 800 per lunch okay um they may not all fill up at the beginning but part of what we're doing obviously with the kitchen and the cafeteria is to expand for any future that expansion that would happen even Beyond this this project so we don't have to do it again and then can you remind me again why we have the split kitchens why one kitchen is here and one is over here so um after working with the nutrition services quite a bit it was right now obviously if if you're familiar with the building it's pretty tight going through lunch right I'm looking at BR um and so one of the things that we've we discussed and we stood was to actually separate based on the the food that each is is getting they don't all take the same food or take the same meals so by creating a remote kitchen we call it that can be for one type of meal service while the Main Kitchen can remain the main meal service so as you're coming in as a student you're making the choice what am I coming to eat today and I and you would go to either one or the other okay so like allic Carter doubles will be over here and then yes regular meal will be over there okay that's right so in this plan uh again maybe a little hard to see but on the left left hand side of the existing kitchen is where the allart will be so you come directly in for that if you're going for the main meal you go through the main serving and then if you're going for the kind of Express meal you go to the remote kitchen okay near the new entry so so from a traffic flow and stacking of students it it was deemed that it would be better to sort of spread them out okay and then um these questions actually might be for you Jim the with the online learning section is that meant for kids who have like one period or like oneoff online classes or is that the idea is that kids who are doing sashco online can come there but they're if they're boundar for Easter egge yes um so the some students have one online or they may have three online and um and the currently we're asking them to go to the media center our media center is uh um at times 180 to 200 students um right now because of the you know the capacity of that Center is not was never intended for that so this space that we're seeing here is the old Avid rooms um upstairs uh and so we will have the opportunity to have a space um that is located in one spot where they will have uh different seating options and studying options and online uh options and so that we don't have them and I will free up the cafe or the media center again to become a media center again um and uh and have a centrally located um spot and right now um and some of you may have students and Brandon can attest it's it's uh we have students trying to find online space all over the library is jam-packed um and we're just this is one of my like uh most exciting uh things within the within the build is to have that designated space especially with the amount of online that is occurring and kids don't you know most kids don't leave the building when they take online courses some do um but they stay and they need a space and this will accommodate that in in the future and so this is uh this is closed off then to like the hallway or whatever but when it says open to below is that like like open air to below or is there just like a is there a window so they can look below yeah there are there are windows overlooking the cafeteria back there I correct and what we're doing is we're taking out an original Avid wall that's right here so that wall is removed and it provides more space out into that hallway and opens that space up but students will still travel through there during passing time okay so we still have you know the doors can be secured on or Clos so that um once they're in there it's a quieter spot and and so on and so forth but uh it is also that movement between the second floor from the old part of the building to the new part of the building because as Mark mentioned there's a bridge that goes to second floor um in the new in a new Wing okay and then um my last question is the collaborative spaces that you were you're designing are do they exist in Easter Ridge now yes so each um each of the original design pods were outfitted for collaborative spaces and this one will pretty much mimic um a little bit different and maybe different shape and size and longer um but it's the same concept and and um and then we're starting to I'm starting to try to creatively update the current pods that we have to match um so we actually have a sample pod coming here probably spring break and lower green um the building's now 15 years old and the um things wear out quickly and we're a hodgepodge of different things in each pod to accommodate student use and so we're trying to remodel that as I can and then um and then the new setup will be very similar with um with uh but with an increase in technology so that students can hook their Chromebooks in and and have a group meeting and have a display on the wall and um and um there is uh is it still uh the enclosed we also have the glass enclosed uh meeting area for students and or teachers that is right in the Pod but it provides an opportunity for a group of students with their teacher to go into more uh secure quieter area to have a conversation or or a meeting so it's going to be really uh really nice and unique similar and uh and updated at the same time so um Brandon can I ask you a question yeah how do you are you a junior or a senior or I'm a junior you're a junior oh yeah if you're taking the ACT Saturday you would be um Good Luck uh if you're um how do you use like the collaborative spaces or how how do you see them being used in your a lot of the time the cab space is used through teachers teachers request to like use the space during hours so that we can go out there and use the space to maybe be a little bit more separated and work in groups and then use the space to just anything that's going on in our classroom okay does the space get does the collaborative space get used during wind time or is that in Wind time you're supposed to be in a classroom or sorry sorry my children go to Woodbury so wind time Woodbury our our Raptor um no I forgot the question are are the thank you for translating um are the spaces are those collaborative spaces used during art RNR RNR time there actually is some RNR spots there's also an RNR that happens down in the cafeteria right now um have you guys gone to have you gone to any rnrs that are not in a classroom I went to the cafeteria for for like the the pat like preparation stuff with counselors okay and then I know we have an English teacher down there right now too but yeah we have classroom use we're using some of the pods just because there is a lack of space we have traveling teachers a lot of them right now and once we're done we won't we'll have uh the opportunity to not have a teacher on a cart for at least for a few years right um and then actually I lied when I said that was my last question so this is actually for you Mark um the on the Plaza is the accessible entry then going to be alongside the building or because I see that when you come from the parking lot it's all stairs yep um so in this view not sure if there's a better view of it on the left hand side is where the classroom twostory classroom Edition is and right along the edge of that will be a sloped walkway come it where it has Easter EG Raptors exactly yep yep so that'll be the accessible path up to the that entry now okay and then the materials that we're putting in typically how long do we expect those to I mean I I live with children I know how nicely they treat my stuff so how long do we expect them to last in this building you mean the interior like the tazzo and whatever the all the the um finishings yes um well obviously they vary based on what they are the terazzo is going to last forever um well not forever but you know right Beyond us um the um carpet and such is probably 10 to 15 years um tile is probably 20 or probably more often what happens with tile is people say this is kind of outdated and it's not so much that it's worn out it's not use it's just it's just people want to change the aesthetic of it so yep um and so Chris I know this is very exciting so then are like the replacement of the fixtures and stuff like Jim was talking about creatively matching or whatever is that through ltfm then or is that so typically Jim is actually leveraging his Capital dollars so we assign a specific portion of our operating Capital funds to the school sites and I know we worked together just a few weeks ago kind of had a meeting to say hey how can we do this um ltfm typically can't um go for those types of things it's those longer term assets typically okay now I swear I'm done thank you great I have a question okay simy took most of them but that's all right so um as you know I'm I'm an Easter ID parent so I'm just trying to look at the models and visualize this so this new um interior Universal restroom area is that going to be in replace of the two existing ones on both sides of the Loft stage or will those'll still be there as well no we're not removing anything we'll be adding see if I could get to so this is a rendering of it as you're standing in the Universal restroom area and looking back towards the cafeteria as part of the whole intention is that there's a greater visibility on it so that there's Safety and Security included in that um but from a plan perspective um it doesn't quite show up but on the very bottom right it's it just says restroom there so that that will be uh individual uh restroom rooms um and there will also be one room that has a um uh adult changing station uh table that's in there that's part of the new code requirements for any kind of new assembly space um so those will be in addition to serve what additional students or activities are going on in there yep thank you one thing I forgot to mention and maybe we mentioned it before but was the classroom addition the general education spaces uh so the basically that the green and the brown and then the collaborative area with the restrooms within it that will be a two-story storm shelter I think I mentioned that before but that's part of the code requirements again that have triggered now with the additional square footage and student count out but so that will also serve as a storm shelter for 28 or 2900 people so that um in the event that something comes people can enter that building be safe I just have one question about that online space are we going to have a lot of plugs in the online space yes yes charging and and also for um it's a little hard to see here but there's going to be mobile technology that will be connected in as well um so yes we've been adding that to the existing as Jim mentioned there are some existing walls that will remain and they have a lot of power to them already but we'll be adding in some uh in selected spaces as well y just having a student who never charges his I or I have one more question so the student capacity how much is that increasing we are increasing the the building capacity from 1,700 to 2300 so 600 now the Jim can tell you the exact numbers but our understanding is that currently there's about 2100 students in the building so we're going to we're increasing to catch up and then to add a little bit more um so that 20 and 2,300 is the goal at at this point okay so the shelters would be for all the students and the teachers that exact that's where that 29 28 or 2900 is that if this building were to expand even to 2500 students which is future potential not sure but even at that point we wouldn't need to add on to this it it's designed for that capacity that's great actually sorry I should just never promise that it's my last question um so when you you just mentioned that it's there's potential you also had mentioned with the cafeteria that it's sort of more than 2300 students worth of capacity right so is the design that is put in place now like I know we said that this would be kind of a bolt-on addition when from when Eastridge was originally designed does this also accommodate like another bolt-on Edition kind of thing there would still be the capacity for one um in essence um the initial get to the overall plan but the original thought was that there would be a fourth identical pod put on on the south South uh West portion of the site after a lot of conversations and and design meetings and such we decided that this uh location would actually be better um a little more Central for this for the science rooms especially um but that doesn't preclude the future expansion to that fourth which would then become a fifth pod if we so desired in the future okay y but without having to expand kitchen cafeteria or storm shelter y so this is kind of setting it up for a potential future if that were to come if needed okay perfect thank you now I swear I'm done okay great should we move on to Park High School okay Park High School um again the scope from the referendum briefly was not student uh capacity expansion but uh Improvement of existing facilities uh including a new kitchen cafeteria which is the storm shelter um to basically create something new that has been needed for a long time the building the existing kitchen and cafeteria is literally the existing 1965 facility um we're expanding the CTE uh again uh at at Park to provide more opportunities for the construction trades and we are creating uh a a more Consolidated uh safe secure entry and front office Suite that we will look at on the south where also one of the big uh changes is to reroute traffic parent and uh parent traffic pick up and drop off to the north side of the site so there'll be a second secure entry on the North side that we'll look at as well interior remodel of CTE science art business student services special ed so uh throughout the throughout the existing building again uh just a nod to the past and into the future so in 1965 this mural was put up in the building it's still there and we actually have taken some design inspiration from that mural and some of the Aesthetics of it trying to pull that into the future in 2022 we did a media center Remodel and and that you will see some of the elements of that into this upcoming Edition again an overall site that we'll look at in a little more detail but we are U expanding and relocating uh soccer fields football practice fields um we are reworking uh repaving student and staff parking lots we're creating this new uh Ring Road throughout the north side that we'll get into in detail again everything in color is a space that will be either renovated or added onto the gray is existing not touched again a color palette and material pallette one of the big um emphasises emphases that we wanted to achieve in this uh project to the best of our abilities was to provide a more welcoming feel aesthetic materials colors from the moving away from the 1965 aesthetic as I mentioned one of the first things uh as you're aware if you're familiar with park on the south side of the building is where visitors come and um we wanted to provide a a little more secure entryway than what's there now so we're sort of developing I would say at least three levels of secur one is the existing vestibule um then there will be a secure kind of greeting Commons area and then a secure front office so if you're familiar with the plan at all that sort of um angular piece on the south is the existing lecture hall and the plan is to remove the risers make a flat floor and then move the front offices into that space so that it's closer to the front entry and provides a more secure path we'll also be moving the nurse uh to that existing multi-purpose room that is highlighted in light blue on the North side as I mentioned this view is a little bit uh out of context perhaps um it'll make more sense later but on the North side we'll be creating a secure vestibule entry into the new cafeteria and activities entryway um relocating and consolidating the student Support Facility uh or uh spaces was important in this project we have um sort of tried to organize the spaces along what we're calling the Main Street which is a north south hallway that's being created to connect the South entry to the new North entry in the cafeteria and along that Main Street is where students will find Support Services counselor psychologist um and the like in purple is what you're seeing around a courtyard the student services also this in green will be the um relocated new uh inclusion Center as I mentioned one of the main uh goals uh to achieve is the new kitchen and cafeteria the kitchen being the orange and the cafeteria being the yellow cafeteria will seat roughly 750 800 students uh it's broken up into two components the the lower piece uh in yellow is kind of a a lower ceiling a little more intimate space for students that are um preferring to be in that kind of environment as opposed to the large on the on the North side the uh that will be a higher ceiling and we'll see some renderings of that again the kitchen and uh servery is broken into actually three components there's sort of a main servery a secondary servery and then on the south side is where the alart sits and so again that idea of dispersing the students so that there's not so much time going through lines some renderings of the cafeteria um the intention is to uh again this will be the storm shelter as well um but we do have some very large Windows um that are storm resistant um but will also provide a lot of natural light we are trying to use some of these arcs and circular forms to try to break up some of the very rectilinear 1965 uh aesthetic and forms that are there again another image of the cafeteria those are large light fixtures if you're wondering there sort of what what did you say large light fixtures if you're wondering um this is the south end of what we're calling Main Street so this is in essence the existing cafeteria entry on the south side if you can picture that when you go through the student Commons there's a main East West hallway and then there's a north south hallway that heads into the cafeteria so this is in that location but it's going to connect the South to the north this is sitting at the sort of the Hub or the northern connection of that Main Street and what you're looking at in the middle is what would be the new school store with glass again turning the corner to get towards the cafeteria some of the areas of renovation within the classroom as I mentioned I won't go into much detail with it but again we're renovating science biology chemistry adding a adding a chemistry space Earth and space we're also renovating and reconfiguring art spaces in the light blue also the the uh CTE is in Orange that will be renovated the expansion to the CTE being on the North End of what is currently um Small Engines but we're going to turn that into wood and construction we're expanding uh and renovating the business classrooms which will be tied to the school store we're renovating the fax rooms to create a new modern fax lab this is a rendering of one of the science rooms that will be renovated again splitting between lab in the back and lecture in the front but all of the furniture is flexible and can be relocated to serve different educational needs this is a rendering of that expanded uh CTE woods and construction lab again showing the ability to build large pieces um and game real world construction experience in high school this is an image of uh the online learning space that will also double as a professional development um kind of large um meeting room with technology and again as with easd we are going to be creating a new uh exterior Plaza on the North side so so this is the cafeteria in in the straight ahead and then the the new entry North entry is where the signage and the doors are so there'll be um outdoor seating and this will be the entry this sort of being an overhead shot that gives you an idea of the cafeteria on the right the new entry on the top the existing um uh gymnastics gy Museum on the left as I mentioned one of the other major factors or pieces of this project is the reconfiguration of the entry sequence for parents and the separation of parents from buses and visitors so as you know everybody comes in on the south side now and so what we're doing is trying to con uh remove congestion along 8th by separating out traffic so that it's only buses and visitors that come on the south side and then parents that are dropping off or picking up are actually entering over by Crest View and then coming up through and around on the North side and then out onto ideal construction phasing this project will be a three-year project Todd I'm looking at Todd and uh but this will also begin in the spring uh the intention is to start to excavate as soon as the weather permits on the North side to start to do um foundations footings utilities and that will continue through the summer there will be uh this is a colorcoded map that I won't go through in detail but you can see that each one of those colors indicates kind of a different phase within the building for over time from the spring of 2025 all the way through the summer of 2027 as I mentioned this project uh is started a little bit later and is finishing up we will be sending the drawings out for bid at the end of January bids taken in March and then approval and Construction in April any questions about Park I have one okay where in the building is the online space okay good question I probably Blitz through that quickly see if I can find the plan so those were the images um and actually where where it will be is that I if I can get to the plan yes sir yes yes okay so it's on the north side of this image so where that sits probably just need to get to the overall floor plan it will be in uh a portion of the existing cafeteria so the sort of the Western Wing of the cafeteria if you can picture that there's a there's a courtyard in the middle of the building with a greenhouse so just south of that so that online learning uh will will have Windows that face into that courtyard and then you would be able to see the greenhouse so that's it's pretty much dead center in the building if you can picture that it's that kind of dark green highlighted area if you can see that in the middle of the building is that so how many how many seats are we allocating to online learning I guess at either of the high schools I yeah I think think at Easter idge we've been thinking around 150 and I think at Park it's maybe around 100 okay plus obviously they're fluctuating based on the year but um we've we're see I think we're seeing growth at all the high schools of the online so and is that in line Todd with about how many kids per hour are doing online classes or is that more than how many kids are doing online classes right now per hour currently we'll have more capacity than what we have need for at this time so we'll be able to accommod grow into that yes okay then what we have a variety of like seating because I know not everyone want to sit in a chair and whatever there'll be some variety of seating um we're trying to make uh some of the seating mobile because this will also double as without having electure Hall this is where we'll also have staff meetings and so as you kind of look at that green blob you'll see um two little white areas kind of IND Dent yeah so that will work as a hallway uh during the day and then you can see it's right across from the opening from the media center so we'll have some passive supervision from our media clerks to help support that okay and so then all that seating will be set up but then we'll be able there's a storage room adjacent to that where we'll have additional seating we can pull out for bigger staff meetings and also put away so that we can uh set things up for online learning um and then along the South Wall of that online learning there will be um like three of these large type uh wall monitors um so that we can have uh staff presentations and things like that and depending on how things work out it could also expand for um I know Avid likes to get out and do some big presentations as well with their kids so it'll allow for some flexibility and having it right by the media center it gives that EB and flow of being able to use that space is the LA is the removal of the lecture hall what what is your lecture I mean I've only been in there in the lecture hall a couple times like what is it is it typically used much now or not really intermittently I would say it's a space that's it's a it's a it's a handy space and usable space but it is used infrequently okay um and so um it it's it's something we can live without because we can do something different so the I know in the Easter egge pictures there were a lot of the new bathrooms is there only the one at Park that's going to be the open that that's by the cafeteria there won't be any additional yes that's correct okay I E I just learned the more colors the more colors um I think it's going to mean the bigger mess and I think we've we've really tried to prepare our staff for that um I think we have to remember that while this construction while we're talking about phasing we're going to have students in schools activities are going to continue and so all of that is going to be um quite the science to make all of that happen and so um we know that in order to start Renovations at Woodbury and park um we have to add those cafeterias then renovate where the cafeterias were and then all of the other spaces and so um the first phasing might be okay adding the cafeteria because there's no one there yet but those next phases are going to be much more complex as students and staff are moving about in the space so all of the like New Plaza renderings that's all on the North side like toward the neighborhood correct and so on the football field well yeah um since I don't go on the football field I think of the Street behind it but yes the um so the southide is there going to be any exterior improvements at all no okay or I would say because those that lecture hall is turning into the main offices we're going to be adding windows for the offices on that South Wall of the existing lecture hall if you can picture that so that would be the Improvement and the and the change you'll see on the southide okay and so then students so you've got the greeter then at the back of the building and then also the greeter at the front of the building so is this going to be the case that when school is out or when sorry when school is in but it's not when the typical time when kids arrive that there will be a greeter at the back or is that when kids will get dropped off at the front uh so what this will allow for us to do is especially in the the morning and the afternoon is that's when most of our congestion is and both the north north and south entrance are about the same from the student parking lot so we'll work out our procedures if during the day uh kids are continuing through the main entrance uh during the school hours um the the big aspect uh that will really help us out a lot for congestion will'll be having that north entrance to really alleviate the traffic um uh in the afternoon and so I think I've parked behind Park before is this going to take away some of that parking when the project is finished we will actually have a net gain of 50 spaces oh okay okay that's exciting how do we I know Jill you were talking about it going on when school's in session how do we anticipate the noise level and how much that's going to affect the student learning uh Mark and I have had some conversations um and we're trying to be as strategic as we can to have as many of our classroom Renovations occur during the summer months um and for like our um student services and our administrative offices um to try and free up uh the lecture hall space earlier so we can use that as a flex space while we're going through some of the renovations so it's easier to move adults uh than it is to move classrooms especially when you see all the classrooms are lab based so um we're really trying to work those to hopefully uh uh be managed during the summer thank you all thank you so before Katie does the next uh the next agenda item I am going to actually I'm watching the time and I'm watching our students and so students I know you loved seeing all those pictures of construction and I don't know if you're as excited as when you came in um but you are okay to be dismissed right now um and finish your studies and get to bed because school is tomorrow thank you so much Brandon Mariah and Charlotte we appreciate you coming tonight [Applause] okay we will move on to 7.2 and that is our 2023 24 comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness and achievement and integration updates that will be introduced by Kelly Jansen assistant superintendent all right good evening chair Schwarz board member superintendent neelson and I was going to say student ambassador Representatives but um I'm here to introduce the annual report on sashco school's progress toward the goals set forth in the comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness or cacr and the achievement integration plan the information shared this evening is a reflection of the 2324 school year and would be given by Dr maow Jacobson director of program evaluation research and assessment or per and Mr James McGee director of diversity Equity inclusion or Dei we will pause after each of the sections so that we can entertain any questions that you have the role of the board in the statute requirement is to hear details about progress toward the goal set forth in our cacr and Ani plans which we are here to provide tonight you see that on the left- hand side and part of this part of the statute requires strategies developed to achieve these goals in the past we found that when we combined these presentations it was just a lot of information and so you can see that we have moved those strategies to achieve the goals into those curriculum reports and we had our literacy curriculum report in October in January we'll have our math report and then in April we'll have our science report so at this point I'd like to turn it over to Dr Jacobson to start with cacr good evening so I'm going to walk us through the comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness report which is forly known as the world's best Workforce so this is a mandated report that school districts have to do every year the legislation outlines um several prescribed areas and school districts get to decide um what the measures and the goals are um and we report on it every year um a little background um on our goals and measures um many of them are long-term spanning across 9 years so the Baseline year was um the 201617 school year and the end year was is this year 2425 um our yearly goals were established by looking at the difference from that Baseline to the end year and every year there's an equal amount of increase in percentage points to meet that end year goal and then we also um had a change in our kindergarten Readiness measures because we implemented the um Arc um Elementary literacy curriculum which came with a separate um W with its own assessment um there are some additional uh changes to the reporting so last year they eliminated the um goal all students in third grade achieving grade level literacy and that was a result of the read act which states that all students should be reading at grade level um this year in addition to the new name there's a different submission process um so uh the um reporting is submitted with the Essa financial report um the deadline for that was two weeks um earlier than usual um and then also there's a new goal this year uh preparing students to be lifelong Learners so we're required to Define that measure this year and have a baseline measure to report on next year this table out lines um the cacr measures with our um strategic directions and it really just illustrates that um the cicr is embedded in our strategic plan so um before I go into the data I do just want to encourage you all to keep in mind that the cacr measures are not a complete picture of the student experience the measures look at um one point in time on one assessment so for each area you're going to see a table um with these four columns the first is going to list out our measure and any long-term goals um that are identified that second column is going to be our yearly goal um and then that third column is our district results and that fourth column is the result um Statewide I'm not going to touch on that fourth column but it's there uh for some context uh so the first area is all students ready for school and here we have two measures the first measure is the percentage of three-year-old Early Childhood screenings our goal this year was to have 40.1% of screenings be that um of three-year-olds we did meet that goal where 47.2% of our early childhood screenings were completed with three-year-old children the second measure is um the percentage of kindergarten students reading at grade level by the end of of the school year on the eara or the anneal which is the assessment that is tied with um The Ark reading or the ark um curriculum and then the inal is the Spanish version of um the eara which is done at the Spanish immersion school so this year the goal was that um 71.8% of kindergarten students would be reading at grade level by the end of the year and we met that goal um with 72.4% of students um in kindergarten reading at grade level the second area is close achievement gaps so with this area there are two measures again U math and reading proficiency on the MCAS for math um the goal was that 87.2% of all students um would meet that proficiency Benchmark on the MCAS uh we did not meet that goal unfortunately um there were uh 53.7% of students um who met that uh proficiency Benchmark um there are uh the goals and results listed across student groups um presented there we did not meet any of those goals for reading uh our goal was uh for 87.6% of students to meet that Benchmark on the MCA reading exam uh we also did not meet that goal uh 54.4% of students uh were proficient on the MCA in exam this year or last year the third uh area is all students uh career in college ready and for this uh we look at the percentage of students who meet the reading benchmark on the acts uh the goal was for 60% of students in the graduating uh cohort of 2024 um to meet that Benchmark uh we did not meet that goal uh about half of the students met the reading benchmark and then the last um area for this year is all students graduate and here we use the four-year graduation rate uh the goal was to have 93 uh 95% of students in the graduating class of 2023 uh graduate within four years uh we didn't meet that goal but we are pretty close at um 91.8% this is just a summary of the work that we've done with the cacr so in October we had our first um District data and assessment advisory committee meeting where I shared the results and got some feedback um in November we submitted the report and the report is posted on our assessment and creating website um I've been collecting feedback um from interested parties around the new goal I was able to spend some time with the youth ambassadors today um and got some really helpful uh feedback and then in the spring I'll be working with um The Early Education team to identify a long-term goal for the three-year-old screening so last year because it was a new measure we only did a one-year goal right I'm going to turn it back to C right that is our first section for the cacr what questions might you have yeah so I just have one question um when we're comparing the goals we're looking at what the goal was then we're looking at our district and then we're looking at Minnesota Statewide which we're above you know the average of Minnesota Statewide but I'm wondering do we know it all um where we're at compared to like surrounding schools uh we could definitely get that information for you we provided that for context because it really our goals are set by us and then so that's where Dr Jacobson was saying that that we did provide that for contacts but we can certainly get those similar numbers for the similar districts that superintendent neelon often refers to so that would be great thank you I have a question if we're using ACT to check reading do all children take the acts we provide the act for all children but they don't take it our participation rate is pretty high it's about 80% about 80% um so we do provide the ACT to all of our students and it and that participation rate so um 80% that goal is reflective of the 80% that took the ACT half of them what's that half of them were at 80 half of the 80% I believe was the so the ACT goal is actually based off of the graduating cohort of 2024 and so students could have taken the ACT multiple times but that report takes into account the most recent set of scores does it take does it take into account um just that April test date from when they're juniors or does that so it takes into account so like if you've got a kid who gots who gets a 36 and decides not to take it in April um they they're still factored in yep so the um act profile report is for all students who took the test whether it was the district testing date or a national testing date but they take the most recent set the most recent set okay and this is just for the reading subscore so it it doesn't take into account math or science or they have their own benchmarks okay and then um what is our Target score for the reading like do we have a like I mean I'm I'm assuming it's not 36 um yeah so The Benchmark on the reading um is a score of 22 so the ACT scores range from 1 to 36 and um The Benchmark is 22 theer Yeah is and that's what's considered career in college okay um okay and then um one of the questions I had was you know the new state guideline is to create lifelong learners and you said that we are tasked with figuring out what that is has the state provided any guidelines about what they expect that to be or not at that not at this point um they really give that responsibility to districts so we have the freedom to decide what that means for us and identify measures and goals and so so we have to create this and we have to figure out what how we're going to measure it so how do well I guess this is probably not a question for now but maybe later like how do we how are we going to assess if like today's 16-year-old really is a life lifelong learner right and so I guess that's just yeah that's the feedback that we're collecting right now we've talked to principles um ddac youth the youth um advisory um committee so okay um and then for the um achievement Gap stuff so it what the kids are getting on the mca's um is really quite a gap from what our goals are and so are these the goals that are set are those the long-term goals that were set back in 2016 yes and so we never Revisited those like as we saw the trajectory changing we did not so we still just have it measured against this this one set of benchmarks yeah okay and is that the plan for the future to like we'll set another like 10e goal and then try to work or is there any like flexibility when we're you know we see that okay it's 55% of kids and we've got a I don't know goal of 80 and it's coming up in two years maybe we want to either revise the goal or think about how we want to adapt yeah I think that's our work for next year y okay and a reminder that those goals were goals that we chose to adopt that the the Department of Education had set forth oh okay so they back then so it wasn't something that Dr Jacobson came up with or it was something that we saw that that was their goal and we said you know what that can be our goal too okay so those are MD's goals they they were back then yes okay so then um so then the state so Statewide they're also they they've never revised them Statewide given how students have performed Statewide we were just looking at that document in which we adopted those from um and I've seen that evolve so I haven't seen the 90% on them but I can't say that they've said that's not our goal anymore okay and then actually I do have one last question so you had mentioned that three three-year-old learning was 47 screening screening sorry I know what I'm talking about in here we we know so is that that's 47% of three-year-olds in the cohort of students coming to South Washington County or is that 47% of all screening test screening test takers the latter so 47% of all students that we screened last year do we tend to screen um similar numbers of students per year um that I don't know yeah we have to connect with the early we had a lot of conversation around that so it helped me to understand that we screen all kids our goal is screen them earlier that's why we said the three-year-old screening so that was why that goal made that started to make sense when I heard it that way okay thank you one question no it's okay so um it used to be that they changed the the state changed the cut score for uh a passing score for the MCAS are they still doing that for the reading changing it every year so they don't change it every year but there's different um scores that identify the performance levels per grade so it's still um the MCA 3s um and they still have the same benchmark Mark scores and levels it's just it's based off of grade levels so um third grade has a different set of scores that identify whether they they meet proficiency or not versus fourth fifth uh grade and they're not changing that level okay not until they do the MCA 4S okay to recalibrate okay I have one question for you um so specific to the math and reading measures um why are the proficiency goals different based on like ethnic groups why are these percentages that are goals why are they different just a reminder we adopted those from the Department of Education so the goal was to reach 90% for all students with no student subset being lower than 85% so that's how that goal should read is that the goal is 90% with no specific sub subgroup being lower than 85% yet our results here differ quite a bit yeah um significantly so I suppose the next question is what are the key drivers for this why are we uh so far away from the goal especially if this is a long-term goal it begs the question have we not been making in uh incremental improvements to this year-over-year so I guess I'd like to see at some point a year-over-year chart of how we're meeting these goals and are the efforts and Investments that we're making actually making a meaningful difference in these outcomes absolutely we can get you that Trend data for sure I'd like to see that thank you I have a real quick question too um just with respect to the the goals for math and reading as well are the strategies that are being employed every year to I guess get ourselves closer to the goal are those being reassessed at a you know certain increments yearly or is it and I guess what are the mechanisms for assessment on if the strategies are working yeah there's multiple um I would offer that you know the the system of mtss or multi-tiered system of support that we're building has checks along the way for students learning and so I would offer that teachers do multiple checks in their classroom that are aligned with our accountability measures um we use you've heard us talk about the map measures or the map growth measures you heard about the era so we are using other measures um and I think one of the things the kind of the Silver Lining was that kindergarten number that we did did reach our goal with the eara that 70 70ish percent were reading at grade level by the end of kindergarten um so we use multiple measures and you know I can certainly go back to the literacy report or we can revisit those things during the math report and we are always trying to do better always trying to do better and and the kids that come to us every year are very different and so we have to do different things every year because kids come in from us or come to us from different spaces so absolutely we're continuously looking at what we're doing um you've heard about our standard instruction review cycle so when we get new standards we check our resources to make sure that teachers have what they need so that they can teach those standards so how many years has this system been in place the standard instruction review cycle since 2019 okay and I mean there and there's been continual progress from that year as far as the accountability measure of I think that the anomaly obviously is co so we had the co year of no testing and a year and some change of different learning and so um I think we are starting to see more of preco outcomes for sashko students who who traditionally have performed outperform the state and their peers you know I would just add I think that if we look back in history and sometimes it's really tough because we don't necessarily have a timekeeper as we go through with the different iterations of the MCAS um but when we take a look at the investment that South Washington County Schools made in curriculum overall it was very minimal there was a period of time where we had very outdated Health books we didn't even have a literacy curriculum and so in the last 10 years we have began to consisten that's my word um that we have resources in our teachers hands that are similar and so I think that the kindergarten scores that we're seeing are certainly a good indication but we know that when we implemented bridges that was one of the first adoptions in math that we had in many many years we did not have common resources across our elementary schools so Bridges was the first one Bridges got are interrupted by covid we're picking back up we're seeing great things and I think Arc we're going to see a similar Trend that we're going to see that the investment that our with our calendar in professional development along um with what's happening with our new art resources that consistency across 16 elementary schools will make a difference I have every reason to believe that we're going to continue to see our reading and our math scores go up um because we are making some significant Investments and if it doesn't go up Eric I think it was Eric or Ryan uh what you said then we need to re re-evaluate what we're doing in the classrooms to say what's going wrong and what do we need to do and I would say that definitely our teachers and our staff play a huge part you know we're also expanding our work when we talk about um students being literate and math literate we also know that parents and families play a role and we have had those conversations around the use of Technology um it's really tough when students are so plugged into technology that they're not speaking um or they're not communicating because students come then to school at a real deficit they may have um some language development but if they're not using their language it's really difficult to make that transition and I think we can go anywhere and see a lot of use to technology if we take a look back at our Trend scores in South Washington County Schools you're going to take a look at about 2013 to 2016 and you're going to start to see a dip this was a district that was 90% proficient you know teachers in our district aren't doing anything that is that extremely different so what else has changed and what's changed as smartphones came into play so now as a school district we have to think about how do we navigate that and I think as board members you know that we've already put some restrictions in high schools and middle schools on the use of f cell phones we need to make that sure that students are engaged in the content and that they're focused at school our kids are very very intelligent and very articulate and I think um obviously when we look at these test scores relative to where the state set those goals we're very disappointed but I think to know that there is great hope that we were a district that when we got our third grade MCAS our classes in third grade across this District sat at about an average of about 85 to 90% proficient so I know that it's absolutely possible by reinvesting in our core resources and professional development for our teachers so um Julie or Kelly um I know when we introduce a new curriculum like the next couple years you see scores go down right so how long do we typically expect to start seeing the dividends of um the new art curriculum or the new Bridges curriculum so the standard answer is three to five years okay you'll see an implementation dip and then you'll start to see it come back up so like in five years it will be back where it was like before the implementation or it'll be it should be above where it was before the implementation that's what we would anticipate we would see that it's above where we were before the implementation okay um and so with the um like Julie you had mentioned that there's some like preliminary benefits we're seeing now that all the schools are using common curriculum um and so um one of the questions I have is we're they have so many different assessments is MCA the only assessment that's sort of appropriate to use when we're doing this report no that's what we chose okay was that MCA so but yeah you saw that we chose the eara for that so so do we see like a difference in say like kids map scores versus their MCA scores for math right like we um would we anticipate that there is some different um we may see kids being more or less proficient depending on the tests that they happen to take well they're two different tests so right we measure that growth with with map um we can dive into that for math uh we did show that for the literacy slides and and I can dig that back out too um but that is something that we can decide that could be our measure for the cacr and yet we also know that MCAS are the state accountability test and those are the benchmarks for the priority or for the state standards and so we don't want to shy away from performance on them as well so um I do think those other tests you mentioned are the tests that we are using to use during the year so that we can respond to kids where they're at and move them forward yeah I think I was thinking more like a blended or some sort of like you know what I mean if if kids are taking multiple assessments do we should we use multiple assessments to assess how kids are doing and we do and that's what those curriculum reports provide so the literacy curriculum report was you know a section of the data of our kids that we have um and we'll do the same with math and we'll do the same with science so now if I'm right like it would be difficult as far as MCA versus map because MCA all kids are taking this excuse me the same test where with map you know each kid's taking a little bit different thing because you get higher as you go as you answer more answer correctly just two very different tests you know the I I would offer that even the physicalness of the physical environment of taking the map with your teacher in the classroom on your Chromebook is different than the MCA which feels like a bigger thing it's like a higher Stak five I'm yeah um and then how what percentage of our students take the MCAS in any given year yeah the participation rates were presented in October I don't have them in front of me and so we'll revisit those and then we'll make sure that those are in the October in the January report as well yeah it would just be interesting also to see like if there's a a trend line of how or or even if there's like an understanding of who is opting out y right like if it's all like I don't know yeah the nerdiest among us opting out like is that skewing our data yeah I can tell you that our trend line is more kids are opting out okay and in particular at our high school level okay they're just not seeing value in our in the MCA okay all right let's move on to the a Ani plan report good evening everyone uh achievement and integration Revenue uh began in 2013 2014 uh that replaced uh Minnesota's former integration Revenue program the Ani program in Minnesota is meant to uh address a couple different items uh first to pursue racial and economic integration increase student achievement create Equitable educational opportuni unities and to reduce academic disparities based on students diverse racial ethnic and or economic backgrounds so uh sashko is required to participate in uh AI uh as it has been identified as a racially isolated School District this means that enrollment of protected class students districtwide is more than 20% compared to the number of protected class students enrolled in one of our adjoining districts uh for the purposes of achievement and integration uh protected class refers to uh students who ident self-identify as black or African-American Asian or Pacific Islander American Cho or Latino Americans American Indian or Alaskan native and or multi-racial students I always want to put this caveat in um because like everything most things in our district uh these things don't happen in a silo so while the Dei dep Department oversees the Ani plan um and measurements uh the things that we're doing the strategies and the measurements uh are cross Department initiatives uh so while we I'll do the report uh Dei and AI are not synonymous um and multiple departments uh contribute towards the achievement of the goals that we have in our current AI plan so AI in Minnesota runs on threeyear cycles and last year was our first year of our current plan so I'll be reporting on our Baseline year um and we changed the model of our goals a little bit from what we traditionally done and what many districts have traditionally done which would be something like three to five smart goals rather this year we have three overarching goals each of them has multiple key indicators of progress which we've um have their own rubrics that we've developed internally and then submitted to the state the three goal areas that we have are student academic success and uh access uh relationships and affirmation of social identities and Community engagement goal number one uh SOA students demonstrate self-efficacy engagement and Proficiency in the academic expectations required to apply for uh required to apply to a four-year college or university we do not believe that every student must go to college or university uh but we do believe that if we have um educated our students to be able to apply that we have done a satisfactory job in our academic um preparation for the relationship goal wool students staff and families have access to culturally affirming spaces and programming meant to build meaningful relationships in schools and communities and the goal for our community engagement is that sashko students staff and families are empowered to frequently and efficiently access resources and programming offered by our district once again all of these goals are measured by multiple key indicators of progress so for goal one our academic success and access goal um we are on track to meet this goal I did want to tell you some of the the examples of the key indicators that we use to determine uh our progress toward this goal um the impact of our academic success coaches that we have at um some of our elementary schools um they're doing behavioral uh and academic interventions with students at our schools that have the highest rate of free and reduced lunch eligibility and racial e racial and ethnic diversity other strategies that we or key indicators that we're looking at are uh not just representation in advanced coursework or rigorous cour work but also our students finding success in those courses as well we didn't wanted to make sure that we weren't overinflating some of our key indicators by saying yes we've got a lot of students from this background in this class and they're all failing so we wanted to keep an eye on both representation and success uh and then uh AI plays a huge role in uh the implementation of avid districtwide as well and so we also looked at uh as Avid meeting its intended goals and uh I know there's program evaluation that's happening with Avid we took a couple of the key indicators like um application to college and acceptance into University as a result of being a student in the AVID program goal number two regarding uh affirming uh culturally affirming uh spaces and relationships we're also on track to meet this goal as well um some of the the students that are here at uh our youth advisory committee these are students that we were getting feedback from regarding how inclusive do the spaces at your school feel do you have trusting relationships with adults do you you see yourself reflected do you see your culture reflected in the curriculum in the spaces and in your peers um and we worked really hard to make sure that as we talk about culture we're not just focused solely on Race ethnicity but affirming all the identities that our students are bringing into spaces um and so the questions that we ask students are do you feel like you can show up as your authentic self and you're not going to be bullied or harassed uh and are you sure that your identities are not going to be a hindrance to your academic and social success uh other things that we have uh or other key indicators that we have in this goal uh are regarding our racial harm response protocol um uh it's training for our system leaders its usage and then is it making an impact on the number of racial harm incidents that we're experiencing and how we're handling them are we mitigating them for future um future situations then finally our community engagement goal uh we are also on track to meet this goal uh this is looked at uh the number of opportunities that are Community had to engage in both cultural learning and cultural celebratory uh events um this is also for me as a department leader making sure that I am taking the work of diversity equity and inclusion outside of our Silo and making sure that we're partnering with principles and uh other departments to group lift this work um so one of the things that we're really focused on is our uh partnership with Community Education to make sure that the resources that they have at their disposal that we're leveraging each other rather than uh doing redundant work uh side by side so our next steps that uh last year was our Baseline year and so we're going to continue to analyze the K key indicators as they're coming in uh we've already got usable data to make uh some instructional and social moves based on the key indicators that uh We've determined uh and we'll continue to work with our partner districts as well because we partner uh as with integration activities with uh Roseville uh Stillwater and uh Rosemont Apple Valley Egan school districts for some of our integration activities right what questions about you have about the Ani plan um James can I just ask a question so you mentioned that we are we are required to have this because we are a racially isolated District because we have 20% um now I'm trying to find the slide I get the exact language for us um the enrollment of protected class students districtwide is 20% uh higher than at least one of our adjoining districts okay so our uh our district is roughly like 6040 right white students and students of color correct so what this is saying is that like still water or Hastings or one of those districts is 20% or less okay than us than us yeah okay and so um I guess maybe I'm just confused by the term racially is ol ated if we're so not isolated right I feel like if we're split 6040 we're not really yeah it's a it's a you know I think uh it could be easily confused with racially isolated schools which um districts could have a racially identifiable school if uh there it's observed that there's a certain school that has a significantly higher um non-white population however what this means for us it's it's actually has nothing to do with anything right or wrong that we're doing just has to do with the demographics with us compared to our neighboring districts and so um what then as um like what is the state's I guess purpose in having so dis still water or whoever Hasting I don't know which district is but I'm guessing one of those um are they um are they're also required because they are 20% no so um what they'd be considered as an joining District um and for ad joining districts it is uh voluntary to participate in the Ani program uh Still Water for instance does and as a ad joining district with a racially isolated District like ours um we are then in communication to have interdistrict uh integration activities so one of the things that we do to have integration between our districts is summer Avid programming where we'll have uh Avid opportunities for high school students from multiple districts where they can come together and do Avid uh Fine Arts courses or I think uh maybe even Avid or was there fiad I can't remember but Avid Arts courses for sure is one of the integration activities that we have okay and then can you help me understand like what is the state's um uh I guess goal for us as a racially is or for racially isolated districts like what is it that the achievement and integration plan they are hoping to accomplish by having racially isolated districts take part in this uh I think part of it goes back to seeing integration um recognizing that integration is not just important within a district but when we're are neighbors with these other districts I mean a city like wbury has multiple school districts in it so how are we partnering then with other districts so students are getting a diverse ethnically diverse um experience or at least opportunities um if you're in a space that is uh either higher or lower uh in their racial and ethnic enrollments um part of the other thing for us is it's created this multi-district um collaboration opportunity that we have with multiple districts around the Metro where we're trading um strategies uh comparing like what's working for you what's and AI has been a vehicle for us to then have some of those conversations as well yeah I have a question for you so uh the Ani plan goal one it states that uh our students will demonstrate self-efficacy engagement proficiency and academic expectations and so you list some examples of these kpis Kips I guess is the terminology we're using today yeah uh you say that the status is on track yeah so I guess I'm curious to know how we can be on track given the measures we saw previously on the cacr it's great when we are so far behind with the the student populations that are being highlighted with this type of program so I'd like to know how can we state that we're on track when we're clearly not well we are on track what we're seeing is the difference between uh District developed goals uh that we got to build internally and then submit to the state for their approval versus something like a standardized MCA test so one of the things that we look at is for instance our representation in AP courses do we have uh representation uh by race ethnicity and socio economic status that is comparable to our actual student breakdown in those schools so we look at that um in representations in some of our um rigorous courses and then we're looking at what's the success rate of students in those courses still broken down by race ethnicity and socio economic status in those key indicators we are seeing that we are on track and that we've got parity between our school overall population numbers uh and demographic breakdowns and the representation and success in those individual courses not looking at MCA earla or some of those other measures that were mentioned in the cacr these are looking more specifically at uh um specific courses uh or programs that are happening in elementary schools are you able then to tie that back into being you know ready to apply for a four-year college or university if we're not going to make any of these measures based off of the actual standardized measures that we have yeah so one of the thing or two of the things that we looked at and I'd be happy to share the the full supplemental evidence with uh the board we did look at uh the number of for instance Avid um being a College and Career Readiness pathway uh how many of our students in the AVID program are we meeting our intended number for how many students can apply did apply and were accepted so those are things that we're keeping an eye on with this plan as well um I did have one question um so you had mentioned that the uh number of students at the high school is taking like AP Calculus let's call it because it's my favorite example um uh the number of students taking AP Calculus is roughly in proportion with the demographic or or or AP classes in general I guess is roughly in proportion with the demographics of that school is that what you're saying I'd have to look up that specific one so what we did for these key indicators is broke down like AP IB so like we went rigorous course by rigorous course rather than doing the all right let's just lump all of the uh rigorous courses or Advanced course work together and we wanted to get more granular so then we had uh actionable steps if we're seeing um lack of representation or lack of success so does does this ever flow back to like Elementary where you know so for and the reason why I bring up calculus is because it's one of the classes where you you have to you have to prepare for it in you know third grade right so do does this flow back to our elementary schools so that our elementary school students as they are getting what they need to um five years from now enroll in these types of classes or is is that part of this shoot it's all good I would say that we've done a lot of work on our math Pathways so I think your statement of they have to be ready for calculus in third grade AP no no I mean like but the because I think that was the message out there that if they're not in accelerated math then they're not going to meet Kelk AP you know they won't get to Kelk p and so we've done a lot of work with our math pathway so that students have a lot of onramps and off-ramps okay so Y and so do we know then like if you get up to the high school and you're um looking at the different elements schools or middle schools that feed in do we know how the different um different schools socioeconomically or like we get you know x% of the kids in the school come from Liberty Ridge and so x% of kids in advanced classes are from Liberty Ridge or Newport or greycloud or is it still kind of that's maybe a level of detail we don't have um for the purpose of this report we didn't get that granular um I would say for the study on the accelerated math pathway we did because we knew that there were some elementaries that that was their math pathway and we knew that there were others that didn't offer accelerated math Pathways so that was a lot of the data that we pulled five years ago when we studied that math pathway it's a it's a much deeper dive into the student Information Systems to do that cross tracking but we did okay and so like are we seeing that then like bear fruit or on the path to bearing fruit then um I'm speculating if I'd say anything I would say when we did that what we found is students who were accelerated too early weren't successful in high school math classes okay and so that was some of the data that we used for rationalizing slowing down that acceleration so that to make sure that students are ready and to ensure families you will still get to the class that you want or you think you know your child's where your child needs to be okay um so yeah I I I said that was I know the first thing I said was something we studied but I'd have to dive into what you what you asked no I this is great thank you okay thank you okay moving on to 8.0 action items 8.1 is truth and Taxation and that will be presented by Chris Blackburn Director of Business Services good evening chair schwar oh my goodness apparently it is definitely a Thursday this week good evening chair Schwarz school board members of superintendent neelon um Dan used to call this the Super Bowl of finance and I don't know maybe Pro Bowl is the audit then I'm not sure um but he did actually text jul I and say 29 years and the first time he has not been at one I did invite him here but he had other plans for this evening so uh anyway thank you again for the time this evening so as you know that we're required um by munot state law um with regard to tax levies that they're very um regulated and so state law does require I'm going to skip ahead of slide I'll slow down um between nov a public meeting between November 25th and December 30th has to be at 6 PM or later and so is tonight got a little bit later than 6 PM um but it does also have to be part of a it may be part of a regularly scheduled meeting it must allow for public comments ha I get to control not used to not having the click here um seems dangerous to give one but again it does have to be it may be part of a regularly scheduled meeting it must allow for public comments and the board May adopt a levy at the same meeting it includes then and required to include a presentation of the current year budget as well as the proposed tax levy and again just a reminder that on September 26 we did approve the preliminary Levy at the maximum and so this is just kind of that follow-up meeting to set the final Levy tonight the hearing agenda then is the to provide background on the information on school funding to provide kind of information on the district's budget as well as the district's proposed tax levy for taxes payable in 2025 and then also an opportunity to provide public comments Minnesota Legislature does again we talk about this quite often but that they do set the funding for Minnesota schools this has a lot of detail on it um but again it's that uniform system of schools and it just talks about how they do set that funding um the last part the legislator shall make legislature shall make such Provisions by taxation or otherwise as will secure a thorough and efficient system of public schools throughout the state so again that mindfulness that they um wrote right into the Constitution um our requirement really to provide that and authorization to do the lepes the state then sets formulas which determine revenue and most revenue is based on specific amounts per pupil the tax policy for local schools is also set by the state the maximum authorized property tax levy is also calculated in by the stat State we can Levy less and we did discuss that um I think as we set that at the maximum we always have the opportunity to Levy less if we so choose but we cannot authorize more than that amount that was approved in the preliminary um unless there's a vote and so this year of course we were not on the ballot but last year we were um with regard to the capital projects Levy so authorized we can submit those referendums again so again funding is highly regulated for school districts the basic general education formula another topic that we talk frequently about does leg behind inflation since 2002 and three the it's not kept pace with inflation um this past year in 23 24 we did see a 4% increase in the formula based on the previous year this current year in 2425 we've seen a increase of 2% we know as we look forward that they have said in statute that will receive a minimum of 2% and a maximum of 3% and again that's always subject to legis lative change but had they kept pace with inflation we would have needed an additional or would have received an additional $1,364 per student so again that significant um I'll say deficit in funding which also leads us to why we need an operating referendum this is a graphical representation of that Gap and so you can see that it's just continued to increase since that 2002 2003 another factor is under funding of special ed tion um and so we've continued they've made some significant inroads in the past number of years and we'll um see another increase in 27 is scheduled for but in FY 23 according to the Department of Education the cost of providing these programs were underfunded Statewide by 728 million and again even with those recent um inroads to the funding they predict that will'll be 455 million Statewide underfunded by FY 27 the primary options that are available to us are really to um reduce other programming or to um increase operating referendums which again we did and many districts have chosen to do kind of a combination or one or the other budget information so tonight because of school approval um District legs the certification of the tax levy by six months state law requires only the current year budget information be presented at this hearing so the 2526 budget um will'll actually talk about come June of 2025 so that's when the Revenue will actually that we're um going to be discussing tonight the revenue will actually be claimed as Revenue in 26 for us in 2526 but again this coming June that we'll adopt that budget so tonight we'll discuss the 2425 budget they're divided in different funds have a great team in finance and keeps track of all these dollars and all the different buckets and as you know building construction is one of the funds listed and there's a lot of activity going on right now and in the next few years but our primary operating funds are General fund Food Service fund and community service and of those general fund is vastly the largest of all of these funds like I said mentioned it building construction fund we also have Debt Service fund trust fund and that is really our scholarships for any um scholarships of which we um kind of have oversight of and then other post Employments benefits trust this slide it's a little bit hard to read but it does show the district revenues and expenditures that provides both an actual for fy2 24 and the budgeted um Revenue V and expenditures fy2 you'll notice the top two lines are General restricted and that really is dollars that are U very specified in use and restricted and then the next line is General other and if you add those two together to get the overall fund balance so just to keep that in mind that there are two lines for general fund but it does describe the revenues expenditures and fund balance for all the other funds as well and the total on the bottom I will point out on this slide that we did um eliminate the internal service fund this past June and so you'll notice that that is no longer um appears going forward so Revenue um all funds which we don't often talk about but there across the all of those funds we just discussed for 2425 we have a 398 million um a little more than for Revenue dollars as you can see 82% of those are in general funds so the most significant again as I discussed that is in that General operating fund Food Service community service make up another about 7% combined and then again we have some in building construction not a lot of income right now for this year um Debt Service trust in the opep trust when it comes to the general fund revenues for 2425 we have 328 million the state revenue of that makes up 69% of our revenue and so as I looked at it you know kind of ballpark about half of that when we talk about that basic education formula that's about half of that number and so when that's lagging that's a significant uh kind of issue for us our local taxpayers again we've been extremely fortunate to have a generous community that supported those operating levies also the capital projects referendum Levy and so those dollars would be reflected in that the most significant piece is of course those local levies but there are some additional um items such as interest and other in that category as well I'll point out on here just because we've heard a lot of conversation about the federal government and Department of Education and such and I've gotten asked that question a couple of times you know what impact my we have and on a financial sense we have about $5.3 million is all that we receive in federal education Aid so it's just not even 2% of our budget so a real um slim part in the general fund at least Food Service does um get some money as well so general fund expenditures by object so I always say this is the what did you use it for um again you'll notice that salary wages and employee benefits but combined between the two make up 78 over 78% of our budget so again I always remind people that the challenge es for us when we talk about budget really is we could cut all that supplies out um you know 13 million but it's only 4% of our budget so we could never buy another piece of paper or a piece of technology or anything and it it's tough to make inroads um when we have those budget adjustment periods general fund expenditures by program then so this one is really I call it the function how do we use those monies and again I'll point out that over 75% I think it's 76 point something is um Direct on instruction and that's that regular instructional category of 42.6 that's teachers in classrooms as is the special education instruction um at another 21.6 vacational Ed um so some of the Career Tech is 0.9% community service is our voluntary prek and School Readiness plus programming and that's just a small percentage but just to know that that is that direct instruction as well the pupil support services at the top is at 11% or 37 million and is our um transportation particularly it's also school counselors and social workers is in that number instructional Support Services sometimes I do get asked about that number and that is assistant principles it's also media and then there's professional development so a lot of times they call it the teachers the staff supporting staff um as well in that number sites and buildings so everything from keeping the lights on to snow plowing luckily we haven't had a lot of that this year but that's another 11% and I'll just point out that when we look at that Administration and District Sports Services is just um under 7% that we spend on that and so we try really mindfully to keep those dollars in the classroom just to note that change in tax levy does not determine a change in budget so sometimes we do get asked if Levy goes up does you know do you guys get to spend more money and the answer is no um tax levies is based on many state determined formulas um plus voter approved referendums some increases in tax levies are actually Revenue neutral so although the levy might go up we often receive less Aid in certain categories expenditure budget is limited by state set Revenue formulas the voter approved levies and fund balance we can only spend what we get and kind of what we have and an increase in school taxes does not always correlate to an increase in budget then the difference in Levy Cycles so the school district again we kind of have that different lagging a little bit that we do run a our budget year begins July 1st our 25 taxes will be that Revenue in 25 26 in that budget for 20 526 will be adopted this coming June so in about seven months time I'll be back up here talking budget instead the city and county as we know run on a calendar year so they actually start their budget cycle on January 1st and run through um December 30th 31st and so the 25 taxes payable will actually be revenue for 25 so they're more um current this just provides a sample of parcel specific notice mailed to every property tax um property owner between November 10th and 25th and that's required as well so the county distributes and acts as our Fiscal Agent on all property taxes they pay property taxes to various taxing jurisdictions so every property owner does receive this and again they'll pay um perhaps to the county to the city to the school district there may be special taxing districts each taxing jurisdiction sets their own tax syy and so on the statement it does um identify kind of when the meeting information so it had our information for this evening on that notice as well and the levy itself is set by Often by state law for those jurisdictions as well and again the county acts is that Fiscal Agent so they send the bill collect the taxes and then remit um and distribute back to the taxing the other jurisdictions for the school district property taxes each school has limited authority to Levy taxes and the levy mde calculates that Levy and amounts for various categories which are either set by state law or voter approval as we've discussed this evening in the process um there's kind of a multi there's kind of six steps listed here with the city or county assessor determines the market value so that's outside of our control um for each parcel property the legislature then sets formulas for tax capacity and school district levy limits the county auditor then calculates the tax capacity for each parcel of property as well as total tax capacity for school each School District the Minnesota Department of Education calculates detailed Levy limits and so there's multi- page reports that we kind of sift through to make sure that they are accurately reflect ing what we think they ought to um but the levy limits for each School District based on the formulas approved by legislature the fifth step is the school board sets the levy and is we're really the only step in the process so we approved that preliminary Levy in September now the final Levy will put forth for approval this evening the last step then is the county auditor dividing that final Levy by The District's total tax capacity to determine the tax rate need to raise that Levy amount appr approval of District's tax levy um so again just that reminder in September 8th mde prepared distributed the first Levy limit um report and we setting the maximum authorized Levy as well and we started sifting through that on September 26 we approved that U proposed Levy amount at the maximum um and I say air quotes kind of with that but it is that's the term that they use as set at the max when there's not a dollar value associated in mid November the county mailed the proposed property tax statements I did receive a few phone calls have had a couple three very ni conversations with taxpayers so that's always fun for me December 12th it is fun no laughing um December 12th we have the public hearing which is this evening and then following the hearing we'll ask that the board certify the final Levy amounts in the overview just a broad level so what are we approving this evening um this evening that proposed 25 property tax levy um reflects an increase of 1.5 millionar or 1.2% over last year and the changes by Levy category and the reasons are in the upcoming slides so this first slide is really just a comparison of the 25 um proposed compared to the actual 24 so you can see that 1.2% increase at the bottom it does illustrate by general fund community service fund Debt Service so then has it provides a total for all funds and then the very bottom there's the voter approved and the other and that's actually how it will reflect on Prop the property tax statements so explanation of Levy changes the first one is the voter approved operating referendum and that's about $622,000 higher and again this is the reminder of this the reason for the change is we did um again the voters approved that inflationary Factor when they approved the um Levy the operating referendum this last round and so it was offset by decreased somewhat it probably would have increased higher but some of that enrollment the projected decline in enrollment at the time um offset that sum local optional revenue is up about $530,000 and that's the revenue is provided a combination of State um Aid and local tax levy and so because our property value increased the share of funding through the tax levy also increased voter approved technology referendum again this was successful last fall and so $672,000 is the increase there and that Levy is B based on uh a voter approved tax rate applied to the tax base so a slightly different um rather than an amount it's a tax rate that's approved and since our tax base increased that amount increased as well long-term facilities maintenance actually had a reduction this year of 880,000 we are Revenue um eligible for ltfm Revenue based on state approved project costs and levies are coordinated with other capital and debt levies to try to maintain a stable um or declining tax rate for our taxpayers and so as we look at that long-term planning sometimes there's Lev bonded cost um and this reflects that instructional lease costs um in did increase by 819,000 and I'll um I'm pleased to share to today we closed on the property for the transition program and that's what this lease um was for the special education transition program so that we'll be able to combine those two programs that are in separate sites right now in debt service the voter approved um Levy actually went down $1.9 million and that's just again as we ongo um kind of think your mortgage right when you pay off a little bit more sometimes that slowly decreases the amount that um you have to pay so that we're required to pay Levy for 105% of our district Debt Service payments to cover any delinquencies and tax Collections and again they we often coordinate The Debt Service um just overall when we bond to make sure that we're again that stable or kind of declining tax rate for our taxpayers so again some of the questions I get well if my house value goes up do I pay you know like don't you guys just get more money then and really what it does is it just shifts that allocation and so we've talked about the pie slide before but just that reminder that the higher the market value increase it just changes you have a bigger slice of the pie or a smaller slice each property owner just pays a portion but that total pie doesn't change so this just shows the impact of uh property valuations that and again we have we have two properties in the district and they're each valued at 100,000 and I'll say that there's a $500 um total tax levy and they would each pay equal amounts at $250 each if we look to maybe the next year in the property valuation the orange house increased 10% and the blue house increased 25% so again just that shift in one house increased in value by a more significant amount our total Levy itself still stays at $500 but it does generate um the orange house will pay a little bit less and the blue house will now pay a little bit more because of that change in valuation legislatively we always like to just give a little update too and changes for pay 25 the things that impacted in 23 the legisl legislature passed laws that affected our taxes payable this um upcoming year and to recap those two most significant changes were the tax benefit to homeowners so the homestead exclusion increased um on valuations from 76,000 um to 517 kind of a graduated schedule and then it also increased the first tier limit for egg homestead land to 3.5 million um from 3.5 to to 3.5 from 2.15 what happens when I put those backwards so the fouryear school levy comparison so the next really just illustrates the impact um on property taxes it's just meant as an example or illustrative purposes only um and so we talk about if there was no change to valuation and then if we reflected a the net over those years was 27.2 over the past four years is what home values have increased um over that time frame again actual across the district certainly we've had vly different changes in values but so this is again intended just a fair representation of what happened to school district property taxes over that for typical properties the examples provided are for a property in City of Woodbury and the 25 are preliminary estimates and final amounts could change slightly these estimates are also um prepared by Ellers which is our district Municipal financial advisers so again a slide that's slightly hard to read but it does have the if no changes in property tax values What would the school property tax amounts done um what would have happened between 22 2022 and 2025 and I'll point out really that second to last column the column in kind of right between the two gray columns there and you notice that every one of them would go down and so we really try hard to be fiscal stewards of our taxpayer money and this just illustrates that again but it does um that value of the homeowners will impact or the value of the properties will impact that change but had nothing changed we actually would have seen a decrease in the school district tax ta es again these slides reflect no changes of property tax values and provide um a couple illustrations of $250,000 residential Homestead property as well as a $450,000 residential Homestead Property so you can see again that kind of what would have declined um had there been no change in value in each of those situations similarly these two um this is a $600,000 residential Homestead Property and then also a million-dollar commercial industrial property and so again you can see that decline in taxes again had there been no change in property value estimated changes then so if we do take that cumulative effect over the four years on property values of 27.2% increase and this one just provides two examples one at $250,000 residential and one at $450,000 residential and so you will see that increase but again those home values increased 27.2% so there was a significant increase in home value over that time frame and so there's a corresponding increase in property tax levy so as we get near the end here um State Property Tax deferrals and refunds and deferrals I used to do property or tax um work and I said so it would often um come spring season have taxpayers come in with their property tax statements when they got them in April and May and say hey can we do my property tax refund so these are all um administered either by the state Minnesota um typically through the Department of Revenue so the first one is homestead credit refund um the second is special prop prop tax refund and that first one is available to all Homestead Property residential and agricultural it's on a sliding scale um and the maximum refund is U 3,310 for homeowners renters can also apply for this refund and the maximum refund is 2640 for them on the special property tax refund it has to do with if the I'll point to that second bullet if refund is 60% of tax increase that exceeds the greater so what it does it provides some relief if your taxes went up significantly ly the last one is a senior citizen property tax referral often referred to as Green Acres and so it provides an opportunity for people over 65 years of age 65 years or older with a household income of 96,000 or less they can defer portion of property taxes um on their home and so the Deferred property taxes plus acree interest must be paid when the home is sold or when the homeowner would pass away and so that does provide some relief although sometimes there can be that little hook at the end as well um um when they if particular if they sell that so it's always mindful but sometimes when you're on a fixed income this can be a really useful um program to participate in so the next steps tonight will have uh asked the chair to have take public comment on the proposed Levy and then at the end after following public comment if there is any then we'll ask for a motion to certify the 2025 property tax levy with that any public comment okay okay can I get a motion to approve so moved second motion by simy seconded by Melinda any comments um I had a question um which I cannot believe I forgot to ask the other night um at CAC but um so this is the 1.2% increase is on the local portion of our budget only or is it one it's no sorry sorry I lied so when I multiplied 1.2% time times the amount of local dollarss that we have between that number and 1.5 million which is the levy amount there is a $400,000 difference so what is the driver of that difference like what are the funds or whatever that are so it would likely be Community um community service because they would not be in that um oh in that local funding correct and neither would Debt Service be in that portion either perfect I feel like I'm trying to real slide back to the slide but I'll keep going for instead that's all I wanted to know I realized like no I that's a really good question because in general fund certainly the predominance is general fund but there's certainly is community service and Debt Service okay um impact as well okay perfect thank you so much you're welcome okay seeing no other comments all those in favor I opposed motion passes thank you okay on to 8.2 and that is our kids club supervisor agreement presented by by Abby Baker Executive Director of Human Resources and operations good evening chair Schwarz members of the school board and superintendent neelson good news I have the shortest report tonight tonight I will be presenting 8.2 and that's the tenative agreement with kids club supervisors um negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement between South Washington County schools and the kids club supervisors and Teamsters 320 have resulted in a tentative agreement to be effective July 1 202 24 to June 30th 2026 I will note that we this is our last contract of the cycle um and we are a little behind with this group because they changed membership this summer and so we had to go through the petition to get them represented um by Teamsters 320 um members of the Union approved the tenative agreement on December 3rd 2024 and the economic casting of the tenative agreement includes the following for wages in year one of the contract it was a 6.25 increase that includes retr pay um year 2 is a 3.75 increase for health insurance beginning January 1 2025 it's a 10% increase of the district contribution to the high deductible plans and then for 2026 it's an 8% increase to the high deductible plans for dental insurance it's an increase of a district contribution from $20 per month to $42.96 per month for single coverage and $60 for family coverage um we did increase the district's TSA which is the 43b plan annual matching plan contribution to of $100 and we added juneth to the holiday schedule so we recommend approval of this contract can I get a motion to approve so move second move by P seconded by simy any comments I do have one how many supervisor this is a small group isn't it it is a small group supervisor yep so we have 19 Kids Club supervisors any other comments okay all those in favor I oppos motion passes thank you thank you okay on to 9.0 and that is our superintendent report thank you uh to share with the board and Community this week we hosted the music showcase um well we hosted one of the music showcases I should say and this was the one I could attend um that showcase is for our fifth graders who are taking a look at band Orchestra our choir so I attended the uh showcase at Park High School where I think five or six elementary schools uh bust their fifth graders there they got to watch our really cool District video uh video about being in Middle School um done by our Communications Department and then they also got to listen to the full groups play Andor sing um they got to have breakout sessions with the actual instruments and I think the Highlight was just going into a high school sometimes we forget how cool it is for elementary kids to go into a high school and then like oh there's my brother goes here and you know just the conversations that they have as they're entering so just really a nice opportunity to highlight our band and band Orchestra and choir programs um next we held our first uh literacy evening um it was our soash family literacy Academy um and while a small attendance I would just encourage anyone um who is interested in the future we will have two more sessions um it was very helpful um and many times families come together when their children children may be struggling readers or writers and so um just taking a look at the presentation from pheic awareness to phonics to fluency to vocabulary and comprehension and thinking about how we can incorporate strategies to help support students as readers and writers in natural ways you know all of the fun car games you can play and Grocery Store games that you can play um your kids will love you when you're done but there are really so many great ways to incorporate literacy um into the day um as parents and family members and so we were able to highlight um the five pillars of literacy and then talk about ways that families can help support that um I also want to point out um yesterday I believe it was yesterday or maybe two days ago um we had our first GED uh graduation ceremony of five adults um I want you to know Joe if you're watching um Joe was 71 years old and um really the highlight of the celebration was watching his family watching his son watching his grandchildren um watch him get his GED and so um thank you to Susie Evans um and her team um just really quite an honored to be part of that celebration and recognition and we did have five total graduates um that received their geds um this coming Saturday December 14th we will have a very big very large typically our M years New Year celebration will be held at Woodbury High School from 1 to 5:00 um always great activities uh Great Performances and just a wonderful opportunity to engage um with with their culture um and then finally we have winter break coming up it's really hard to believe it feels like we just got done with Thanksgiving um but our students will go to school through Friday December 20th we will resume after Christmas on January 6 2025 teachers and staff will be back on the second for a workshop day the third for a react training day and then again students coming back on January 6th so to everybody have a wonderful winter break okay thank you Julie um 10.0 is future meeting dates January 2nd we will have a Schoolboard business meeting here at the district service center at 6m and then immediately following that meeting we will have a workshop meeting and then on January 16th we will have our Schoolboard business meeting at the district here at the district service center at 6 PM um 11.0 is a closed session for consideration of student expulsion the next item on the agenda is the proposal expulsion of a student enrolled at South Washington County schools in order to consider the proposed expulsion the board must review and discuss educational data regarding the student the open meeting law Minnesota statutes section 13 d05 subdivision 2 A3 states that any portion of a business meeting must be closed if educational data is discussed um can I get a motion to move to close session for the purpose of considering the proposed expulsion of a student so excited so moved second there go move by Sim seconded by Ryan I will comment that we the board will come back um for a vote after the Clos session any other comments all those in favor all uh any opposed motion passes e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay we are back can I get a motion to resume the public meeting moved second uh Sharon and who seconded Eric yeah okay um all those in favor I any opposed motion passes we are back then we will move on to 12.0 and that is an action on the resolution for student expulsion at this time I would like to remind the members of the school board that it is inappropriate to discuss any details regarding the incidents which gave rise to the proposed expulsion or any other data regarding the student proposed for expulsion this dat is private data under the Minnesota Government data Practices Act I will entertain a motion for consideration of the student expulsion so moved second moved by simy seconded by Melinda uh any comments that don't actually mention anything okay and this is a roll call vote Ryan clerk yes Sharon vanleer yes Eric Tesmer yes Melinda dolles yes Pat trisco yes Simi Pat dank yes and Katie Schwarz yes okay motion passes and with that we'll move into 13.0 and we are adjourned okay e e [Music] he e e e