March 26th, 2024 Meeting of the Hopkins School Board

001Hi everyone, welcome to the Hopkins School Board meeting. I'm just gonna make sure that we're ready to go with the streaming portion of the meeting. Welcome, thank you for being here tonight. I would like to call to order. the Hopkins Public Schools School Board meeting for March 26, 2024. We have a full house tonight, which is really nice to see. In particular, I loved seeing that there were books to start the meeting. We start off all of our meetings at the Hopkins School Board with our public comment open agenda section. And our practice has been in the past few years to divide that into two sections. I hope most of you heard my comment before the meeting began that we will be moving comments that are running longer than our 30 minutes at the beginning

002of the meeting to the end of the meeting to that section. And I think we're just going to make it. So if we're really good about our timing. everyone will have a chance to get heard at this meeting tonight. And we do this because we believe that hearing from our community members is crucial for implementing Vision 2031. There are two ways to contact the board. One is through voicemail, and we do have some voicemails this evening, I believe, to be played. They will go first, but... because we have so much public comment for tonight's meeting we are going to limit the time that we will allow voicemails to be played because we do go on a first come first serve basis and they were obviously first so they could take up the whole time so

003we will do voicemails and then our in-person comments that people filled out a public comment card before the meeting began and you are here this evening and we will make sure that you get your three minutes to come and give your comment. So now I have some logistics to read through before we start our session at the beginning of the meeting. The first section will be open agenda that we will hear during four. Topics that are on the agenda, and it will be for a maximum of 30 minutes long. Speakers will be heard on a first-come, first-served basis. And we will, each speaker will get three minutes to be heard. And, oh, I'm not sure. We have some time, place, and manner. for public comment that I am Not finding on here, but the guidelines

004are on the back of your card You may speak for three minutes. There will be a timer On the screen that you will see counting down when you are up here speaking Members of the school board will not respond directly to public comments that are made at this meeting a district representative May follow up with you after the meeting If you have written comments, we would appreciate having a copy, which will improve both our understanding of your concern and our ability to investigate and respond to the issue you raised. And personal attacks by anyone addressing the school board will not be tolerated. Persistence in such remarks by an individual or otherwise disruptive behavior shall terminate that person's privilege to address the school board. So I would like to begin the first comment with our voicemails.

005Natalia, are you set up to play those? Thank you. Megan Klein. My comment is about the media specialist restructure in Hopkins. Dear school board members, my name is Megan Klein and I am a special education teacher at Gatewood. To say that I was shocked and extremely disappointed to hear the district's plan to eliminate our media specialists and restructure the position in Hopkins schools is an understatement. I understand that we have different buckets of money that have restrictions on how we spend it. I understand the need to restructure the position to be in compliance with the funds that our media specialists are currently paid under. That all makes sense. But keep all of our current media specialists as the new digital literacy specialists. The district clearly does not understand the immense impact our media specialists have

006on our scholars and their educational success. Our media specialists have the training and knowledge to guide students in finding their just right books and encourage them to take risks and to challenge themselves with a new series. It is incredible to witness students go from not wanting to read at all to being excited to go check out their next book because of that guidance and encouragement. Our media specialists take the time to get to know our students on a personal level, hundreds of scholars in every building. With that knowledge, they provide the space for kids to build a love of reading and a love of books. Not having a media specialist, or now known as digital literacy specialists, in each building will have a devastating effect on our scholars. I also want to point out that

007the district said that they made cuts in areas that would least impact the classroom. Removing a full-time licensed staff in our libraries will directly impact the classroom. The classroom teacher will now be responsible for trying to fill the role of media specialist. Shaping the minds of the future takes a village. Classroom teachers cannot do it alone and the district continues to take away vital resources and removing media specialists in every building is just another example. I ask the board members to reflect on the negative impact this budget cut will have on scholars and the increased workload on our educators. Thank you. At West Middle School, I am calling... Hello, my name is Crystal Polsky and I'm a technology integration specialist at West Middle School. I am calling to comment on the proposed budget reductions for

008fiscal year 24 and the update particularly related to the reduction of media specialists and the redesign of that role. I work closely and collaborate daily with our media specialists and media para. I moved to this district because of the values and programming and I applied to work in the district. to support the vision, particularly around authentic inclusivity, vigilant equity, and optimistic innovation. And budgets are moral documents, and this particular action in the budget does feel like very short-sighted in that staff, the media specialist staff, have been working to recreate their roles for the last two years. And this feels like a shift that is being done to them rather than with them and takes away from so much of the community that they have built in each of the buildings. I watch as our media

009specialist works to fight for visual inequity and authentic inclusivity by creating materials and finding materials to make sure that our most... frequently marginalized groups have access to content that represents them in our media center. And I worry with this reduction that it will be difficult to be able to have that level of support for students for the types of materials and that other districts that have taken this similar path have chosen to rehire. And I wonder if Any of if if that is a choice that Hopkins makes and that we later work through higher that we will damage the relationships That we've worked so hard to create with these staff members Because they will no longer be interested in working for the district. It doesn't seem very innovative and it doesn't seem necessary to the

010process I Understand that cuts need to be made. I just wonder if we could have done this a little more thoughtfully and with better communication and support with the team that was already working to re-envision the role. Thank you for listening. Hi, my name is Tim Williams, and I'm talking about the financial cuts to our media specialists. I just wanted to say that media specialists play a pivotal role in promoting literacy, facilitating research skills, and fostering a love for learning among our students. They are not only stewards of our library resources, but also invaluable partners in curriculum development, technology integration, and information literacy instruction. Now, I know it may be tempting to view media specialists as expendable positions, however, eliminating or reducing their roles have far-reaching consequences for student achievement and the overall quality of

011our education in our district. Media specialists provide essential support to teachers and students alike, empowering them to navigate the vast landscape of information effectively and responsibly. As stewards of our district's educational mission, it is incumbent upon us to prioritize investments that directly impact student learning and success. Retaining them. Supporting our media specialists is not just a matter of fiscal responsibility, but a reaffirmation of our commitment to providing a high-quality education for all students. In conclusion, I urge the school board to carefully consider the invaluable contributions of media specialists and to prioritize their attention and support as we navigate the financial challenges ahead. By investing in our media specialists, we are investing in the future of success for our students and the strength of our educational community. Thank you for your attention. Hello, my name is

012Ellen Dishinger. I teach kindergarten at Gatewood Outdoor Immersion Elementary School. I'm calling about the budget agenda items that are going to be happening this evening at the school board meeting, and I would like to ask that the school board reconsider eliminating the media specialist positions. Our media specialists are incredible assets to our building. They have built amazing programs from scratch. They contribute to the entire community, school community as a whole, and are an invaluable resource. I want to thank you for what you do, school board members. I know it's not an easy job. Please consider amending the budget so that media specialists can continue to serve our excellent media centers that are the heartbeat of our Hopkins schools. Thank you. Bye-bye. My name is Kate Gerdy. I'm an EL teacher at Gatewood. And this is

013in regard to library media specialists that the meeting will be about this evening. I'm an EL teacher at Gatewood. I have observed over the years what our media specialist, Amy Kodak, means to our students, particularly to our EL students. In the morning before school begins, a steady stream of teachers going in or students going in and out of the media center returning and selecting a book or two. Amy allows them to come first thing in the morning to choose their book of the moment. You should see how excited and proud the students are to tell you all about the good, great, their most favorite book ever. Miss Gerdy, did you know it was so cool when Dog Man is the best book in the world? Half the time I don't even know the kids' names,

014but their passion for reading is a good way to connect. For many, this is a daily routine. It is the best part of their day. Why? Because they have ownership over their choice of what to read, and Amy and Janelle always make a solid book recommendation for them. As media specialists understand that the way to ensure a love for reading is to give students the opportunity to read, Amy makes that possible. Students love the interaction. It becomes personal. Amy knows her readers, and they know that she knows them. Students leave the media center books in hand, practically shoving them in my face to tell me their predictions about what the book's about. And when returning them the next day, I get to hear all the fantastic details. It is a beautiful sight watching them skip

015off to class, thrilled to have a book to read. I wonder if this level of interest among students can continue to grow with fewer media specialists. It'll mean less human interaction due to time crunch, and also they'll be spread too thin. Media specialists are special. to take a student and grow them into readers. Hi, this is Jordan Johnson Warner. I'm calling on behalf of a former student to Hopkins and as a community member and as a partner of the leadership program. I have concerns on district is moving forward on librarians and replacing paras. give them a new name as well as more opportunities for the job but the way the media center is being portrayed to be something else which has to do with tech and lab it's not a good follow-up. I would personally

016like to see that librarians stay because they are a critical part for development and growth with people like myself growing up knowing that I was able to go to the library and know my librarian and as well as I had a parent in my classroom, which I was also fond of that helped me with my work and that I understood that they are the type of person to make sure that not only I get my work done and, you know, get the help that I need because the Even if the teacher wasn't able to do it, at least they were because they were the extra help. Now, I have an understanding that they would have to reapply for their jobs, which I don't think they should have to do. If anything, you know, if you

017guys are going to give them more responsibility, then it should be a written contract or something, not being laid off and then fired or whatever. with the librarians you know I understand everybody's trying to go digital and trying to move forward the future and stuff but you know you got to think about it how long is that really going to be and implement it like if you really look at it are you going to take away people that the kids look up to and look to and ask about You know, because then now you've got to put new people in their phases, and you never know. These people, they may not get along with these kids as well as the people did prior. You know, you take these people out of their workplace, out of

018their environment, you're changing up the whole environment, and that's not okay. So that's all for our public comment through voicemail. I would like to invite our first in-person speaker up to the board table. Randy, is it Clock? Cloak. Welcome. Thank you for being here this evening. Is this the right place? It is. Thank you. And three minutes are on the clock. It will start counting down when you start speaking. Good evening. I'm Randy Klauck and was a library media specialist for 22 years, 15 of them at Tanglin. I'm currently on the Hennepin County Library Board. I want to tell you about some connections I made with students as someone they knew they could trust. As a media specialist, I connected with hundreds of students at Tanglin. Even after retiring, these connections are evident. I have

019been invited to family events, I've gone to B'nai Mitzvahs, and last May I attended a graduation party, six years after I had this girl as a student. It has been an honor to celebrate these Hopkins students, not as a classroom teacher, but as a librarian who made a connection with them. A licensed library media specialist has specific training and expertise in areas that no one else does. We are trained to curate a diverse collection of books that is representative, engaging, and relevant to the staff and students at our school. We weed items from the collection that are out of date. A licensed media specialist also has training that encourages exploration, innovation, and creativity in students. This includes computer science. According to the Minnesota Department of Ed's computer science strategic plan, within the next five years,

020every school district in Minnesota will include computer science learning opportunities for K-12 students. Part of the proposed restructuring of the Hopkins Media Program includes increased planning and instruction of the area of computer science. Eliminating media specialists works in direct conflict with this. There is no license for teaching computer science, but media specialists are currently authorized by the Department of Ed to teach these standards. It is clear that the state believes having a licensed media specialist is important. State legislation is prioritizing school libraries. The governor and legislators recognize that school library must be staffed by a licensed media specialist. And they have backed this legislation. by providing districts with funding of more than $16 a student that can be used towards salaries. The recently approved 2023-25 education bill includes two significant parts on library media centers.

021The first states that a media center provides equitable access to students, teachers, and administrators. It also states that a media center must be served by a licensed media specialist or school librarian. This means if a school claims to have a school library or media center, they must provide a library media specialist to manage the various aspects. Eliminating media specialists goes against the progress our state is working toward and jeopardizes the important connections that our media specialists offer all students in Hopkins. Thank you. Thank you. Katie Tessman you're next. Thank you. Welcome the counter will start when you begin speaking Hi, my name is Katie Tessman. I am the mom of two boys that went to Hopkins schools. My youngest is a senior this year. For six years, I partnered with Amy Cadet, the media specialist

022at Gatewood Elementary, and I directed the summer reading program. The students who participated were hungry to read the books I curated for them. Books provide mirrors and windows for our students. When we have... Books that have both our differences and our similarities in our libraries. We are a society that celebrates those differences and similarities. Libraries are for the curious. Libraries are for our community hubs. Libraries connect people to information and people to people. They are spaces for those who don't fit in. The reason why school libraries are safe havens for students is because the school library media specialist made it a welcoming space for students and staff. As a school library project manager, I work with schools all over the country. My customers in Florida, Arizona, and Texas are struggling to get the best books

023into the hands of their students because districts are failing their families by not having certified media specialists in their schools. Cutting school library media specialists is detrimental to any school district. There will be no certified leader to develop the curriculum in all subject areas and all grade levels to effectively integrate technologies to create a 21st century instructional strategy. There will be no certified and licensed professional to teach digital citizenship and media literacy. Without a licensed media specialist, there is no one with training to curate a collection of books that are representative and engaging to the staff and students at each skill. No one will have the skill to weed out of date items from the collection. And no one will have the training or skill and authority to navigate book challenges. Libraries provide free access

024to books and information that citizens can use to better themselves and thereby better society. Cutting school library media specialists is detrimental to any school district and I am devastated this could happen to Hopkins schools. Thank you. Speak. Lily are you here? Welcome you can come right up. Thanks for being here tonight. Excited to see you whenever you're ready. My name is Lily and I'm in seventh grade at North Meadow School. What I love most about the library is that it's a fun place to work. The librarians help create that experience. They know which books are good for kids that love to read and who struggle to read. They make reading fun. The librarians love their job and it shows. They try to involve kids in projects like putting books back. The librarians know most of

025the kids in the school. The librarians should stay because they help connect the kids with books to make sure the kids learn in a safe place. The librarians make sure everyone feels like they belong in the library. Now these are some stories from my friends about the librarians. On the first week of school, Miss EJ asked me if I needed a book recommendation because she thought I didn't know which book, and she was right. The books she recommended have all been awesome, and she takes the time to talk to me like... Wait. She takes the time to talk to students like me. That book she recommended to me was the best book I've ever read. I've loved... Wait. to all the boys I've loved before. Seventh grade student Ellie. Now this one's from Talia. Miss

026EJ is really kind and is really good at helping me pick out good books. She's patient and suggests a bunch of books that I ended up liking, especially since I am a picky reader. There was also a book I wanted to read and it was... that wasn't in the library. So Miss EJ said that she'd look into it for me. Seventh grade student, Talia. For women, she does many librarians, and I'm one, so she makes future librarians. She is super nice person. Sixth grade student, Elise. At Glen Lake, the librarians were so nice. I didn't like reading for most of my life, but the librarians helped me find so many books and made me love reading. Those books were the best books I've ever read. Elena, seventh grade. Thank you for taking the time to

027listen. I don't know if anyone wants to follow that. But if you do, next comment card is Lisa. I think it's Hake. Welcome. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much. Sorry, I got excited and closed my computer. Just a second. Hello, my name is Lisa Haik and I'm a second grade teacher at Eisenhower Elementary. I'm here to speak about the restructuring of our media specialists. I appreciate the consideration given to our current staffing structure and the importance placed on maintaining the integrity of our media centers. It's evident that financial sustainability is a key concern for our district and I understand the need to align our expenditures with the criteria outlined for Capital Project Levee spending. While I acknowledge the necessity of adapting to meet funding requirements, I'd like to highlight the invaluable role

028that our library media specialists play in our schools. Over the past two years, Mr. Shepard, our media specialist, has worked... hard to collaborate with us gen ed teachers and the other teachers in our school and staff to significantly enhance the integration of media center standards into the curriculum, particularly in areas such as research, website validity, and plagiarism awareness. This integration has transformed our media centers into dynamic learning hubs where students not only access resources, but also develop essential skills in critical thinking and information literacy. As we approach our authorization year in the IB program, it's crucial to recognize the pivotal role that media specialists play in supporting the principles and practices of our IB world. Their expertise and guidance are instrumental in fostering inquiry-based learning and promoting international mindedness among our students. While I understand

029the need for budgetary flexibility, I urge careful consideration in redefining the roles within our media centers. Maintaining dedicated positions for digital literacy specialists is a positive step towards aligning with CPL spending criteria, but it's essential to ensure that the core functions of our media centers, including literacy support, IB unit support, and the promotion of inquiry skills remain a priority. I share your commitment to prioritizing core instruction that's supporting and supporting our classroom teachers, but I also believe in preserving the expertise of our media professionals is vital for the overall success of our educational program. As a classroom teacher, I alone cannot take on yet another area of expertise. A paraprofessional supervising the library will not have the depth of knowledge or expertise that our current media specialists provide. The new model would require one specialist

030to serve three schools. Currently, Mr. Shepherd curates resources for three separate programs in one school, Hunto-Xinjing and Community School. It's the only district school in the district that has three unique programs running in one school. Additionally, he provides invaluable guidance in teaching research skills, evaluating sources, and promoting ethical information use, all of which are essential for academic success and lifelong learning. Asking Mr. Shepard to take on two additional schools in addition to the three programs he is already supporting is short-sighted and unfair to the students of all five of these programs, not to mention he would first have to re-interview for a position that he has done exceptionally for years, which is frankly insulting. It will negatively impact students' learning and growth, and it's crucial to consider how the proposed changes may affect students' access

031to high-quality literacy resources and support for developing essential skills. If our goal is to meet the new literacy targets as proposed in the READ Act and successfully meet IB authorization, this can only have a negative impact on our ability to be successful in both of these areas. Thank you. I'd like to invite Ashley Andrew up. This will be our last Commenter for this Section of the meeting so thank you for being here Okay. Hi, I'm Ashley Andrew. I'm a media paraprofessional at the Eisenhower Elementary fitting because Lisa just went before me I also am a parent of a second grader in a kindergarten at Eisenhower Elementary and the PTO president at Eisenhower. My view from all of these positions is very concerned and in complete opposition to letting the media specialists go in our schools.

032Although I could talk about this for hours about why I do not agree with this and I do not think this is the correct decision, I will try to be concise and offer to talk to any board member who is present and interested to talk at another time as well. First, let's speak to the amount of time that will be spent in the new role of digital literacy specialist in the actual library working in the collection and students visiting the library. Under the new proposal, they will be allotted under three hours a week for this particular thing. Currently at Eisenhower, there are 20 classes in for read-alouds and checkouts every single week, along with 12 additional classes who come in for lessons and checkouts. With three hours in the media center, the status quo at

033Eisenhower will not be. possible. Also at Eisenhower, we house three unique schools as was just stated and our media specialist takes time to buy books for each of these programs in those three languages and catalogs them, which a media pair will not be capable of doing. Other districts, specifically Minneapolis Public Schools, decided to cut a large amount of their media specialists a couple years ago and in May of 2023 they made the decision to hire back a 0.5 media specialist at each building because they saw the negative impact it had on their students. and schools. As a parent, this will not help the enrollment issues that we are having at Hopkins if families are choosing between Hopkins and surrounding schools, and we do not have a media specialist at our schools. That is one of

034the highlights that is talked about when potential students are walked through the media center every single time that they come through. Also, I would just like to speak to the fact that the entire dynamic of the media center as it is right now will not be able to stay as status quo. We will not be able to support staff the way that we do for a hug, a piece of candy, a quiet, calm space to walk through to gather their thoughts, to go back to their classroom. We know that every single staff member that is working in our schools today, teachers, paras, admin, all are struggling and having a hard time. It's a very difficult job. And the media center, as it is right now, is a place where they can regroup. They can come

035to find somebody that they know will welcome them with open arms. There is absolutely no way as a media paraprofessional that I will be able to support staff the way I am now, trying to... Also do all of the things a media specialist does as well. I'm not qualified for that job. I love my job. I want to keep my job, but I cannot do both jobs and keep the status quo. It is impossible. Please do not continue this decision. Thank you all for your comments this evening we that concludes our first portion of public comment and We will then move to our reports section First I would like to Give everyone an opportunity to introduce themselves around the table We start with you clerk Thompson Thanks. Hello, everybody. My name is Kai Thompson. I

036am the clerk on the board. I started my first term in January a couple months ago, and I have three kids in the district, ranging in ages from third grade to eighth grade. Hello, everyone. My name is Brooke Roper, and this is also my first term on the board, and I also have two wonderful students over at Gatewood Elementary. Good evening. I'm Rhoda Marie Perry Reid superintendent and I have a sixth grader at West and a tenth grader at our high school Hello, welcome everyone. My name is Shannon Andreessen. I am in my second term on the school board I get to work at Gatewood Elementary and I also have Two students in the district. One is actually no longer in the district, a recent graduate and a sophomore at the high school. Good evening,

037everybody. My name is Jason Ross. I am in my third year, my first term, and I have three students, or three children, that all attend Tanglin Elementary, two fifth graders and one second grader. Thank you. Hi everybody, I'm Jim Ming Zhao. I'm a parent of two kids in the district in the Hsing Hsing program over at Eisenhower. This is my first term. I'm Jen Westmoreland, she, her. I'm in the middle of my second term on the Hopkins School Board. I'm a proud graduate of Hopkins High School. I'm an educator for the past 24 years and I have a student at West Middle School. My name is Manuel Wahyu. I'm the freshman student board representative, and I go to the high school. My name is Prey Zachaniella. I'm a junior student board representative. And that leads

038us right into the student board representative's reports. Do we have any board reps online? Is that Grace? It sure is. Can you guys hear me okay? Yes, we can. Hi, Grace. So glad you're joining us virtually. Yeah, glad to be here. So for those who don't know, since I did have a pretty packed room tonight, my name is Grace Riley and I am a senior representative. So the first thing I wanted to touch on is... About two weeks ago at this point we had a skip meeting at the high school for those who are unaware Maybe it's your first time hearing about it skip is schools and communities in partnership I was joined there by Mia and praise and it was just a really great opportunity to kind of get to know people again start

039the calendar year, but then kind of the second half of the school year sort of fresh and getting needs met in that space, which was excellent. And then we also have an update. For Lauren Olson, the senior that was in the unfortunate car accident on Highway 7 earlier in the month, she is still doing well. She is currently stable and she is expected to make a full recovery. So it's great news for her. We have also started fundraising for the senior party earlier in the month and at the very end of February, we had yard signs for purchase in the school spirit shop and all proceeds from that went to help fund the senior party. So it is well underway and should be a great success as it was last year. We also have a

040homeless help project currently going on for business management in Mr. Thoreau's class. Students can donate to one of the five, I believe there's five boxes covered in yellow paper. We are accepting all non-perishable food items and all menstrual care products as well as other basic hygiene. Students can do this up until spring break and of course parents you can send things with your kids. You can bring them in and leave them at the front office just kind of any way to help them out in that space. And then several seniors have begun to sell their art at the Dunn Brothers Coffee Shop in Minnetonka. The shop in particular is off of Highway 7 and the art ranges from everything from jewelry to printed art pieces, paintings, even some press on nails. The small business seniors

041that have their art there are Adina Lockets, Chase Snope, Sydney Palm, and Esme Berge. So go support them if and when you can. And then since both of our girls' and boys' basketball season is officially over for the year, we just want to congratulate Jaden Moore, Anthony Smith III, and Liv McGill. They also passed their 1,000-point milestone marks in basketball. And also congrats to Jaden Moore for his All-Metro second team selection and Anthony Smith for his honorable mention. Anthony Smith is a junior this year. He will be going into his senior season next year. and jaden moore is a sophomore and then another big congrats to liv mcgill who i mentioned earlier for being named the mcdonald's all-american female athlete of the year i believe that is all i have for you guys questions comments

042concerns thank you grace any comments or questions from my board colleagues thank you who's next Okay, my name is Mia and I'm the junior representative. So to start this off, so I think it was when Royally Speaking was happening, Director Roeper, she was there along with Ballard and they were having students basically write nice messages so we can have it hanged around our school. So currently we have inspiring quotes just like hanged around our hallway near the main office. Another thing is that a lot of clubs have applied for the ATF grant, the Hopkins Education Foundation grants. Some of the clubs, or not even just clubs, but some of the... Groups that have applied are Hopkins on Wheels, the counselors, the unified PE group, the CNA class, and ProStart. And then Saturday we had our

043spring formal and then during that week, which we do for every dance, is a spirit week. And then on that Friday we did the pep fest where we had our basketball game and for once staff lost. Kind of disappointed, even though I'm a student. And we have a new My Health professor, sorry, counselor in our building named Ms. Day. She's here to promote well-being and health for students. In her office, students can access things like deodorant, menstrual products, hair ties, chapsticks, toothbrushes. toothpaste, snacks, et cetera. Hopkins partnered with My Health, which is located, the clinic is located in downtown Hopkins, which is amazing because it's really nice that we're bringing awareness to mental health, especially how there's like a lot of high schoolers are like need it. And then we did do this last year,

044but we're bringing it back again this year, and it's Linkaroo. It's created to help the underclassmen adjust to, like, the high school because it's, I know it's, like, nerve-wracking, especially how, like, they're 14, and most of the time, I mean, not most of the time, we used to be in the junior high. So now that they're getting brought up. It's really nerve-wracking for students. Avid, they give out Dell scholarships. The two students I won were Kathy Cruz and Farhiya Hassan. They will receive $20,000 laptops and $2,000 in school textbooks. And then National Honor Society is looking for applicants. The deadline is April 19th. And if you do miss that deadline because you don't have like the 30 hours of community service that is required, there is another round in the fall. And then finally, there's

045more information about a summer job. Tomorrow during World's Connect, it's located in the old gym. So if you want to know more and get access to a summer job, that's where you need to be. Sorry, I kept stuttering and stuff. Thank you. That was a lot. Thank you. Of course. Any questions or comments? All right. You did great. My name is Praise. I'm a junior student board representative. I had mentioned the culinary team at the last board meeting, so I'm going to be following up with that in my report today. The HHS culinary team placed top four out of 18 schools at their ProStart cooking competition. The theme they chose was the spice road, and the team consisting of students Julia, Coco, Amina, Angel, and Ariel, with support from Ms. Bolam, Ms. Brandeber, Chef Marco,

046together created a three-course meal for a panel of judges. The starter slash appetizer included pan-seared scallops and a saffron barley risotto. The entree, a seared medium well lamb rack, honey harissa glaze, Moroccan couscous, and a side of carrots with parsnip. Lastly, the dessert, designed by my sister Angel and her friend Coco, it included pistachio mousseline with candied oranges and raspberry coulis. The judges complimented our school on their excellent sanitation and cleaning procedures, wonderful coordination, communication, and teamwork. They received praise for defying odds and competing as an all-women's team, special shout-out because March is also Women's History Month, and a traditionally male-dominated competition. Our students demonstrated their school's pride by clapping and cheering on others, and the announcer of the competition even drew a connection to their pride in relation to how well our school's basketball

047team has been doing, showing how interdependent disciplinary Hopkins High School is. The judges mentioned how they... how they loved that the dishes tied into one and that it followed along with elements of northern African culture. Additionally, they appreciated how the students were able to be both fun and focused. One of the judges even shared that she never actually enjoyed saffron, but our students' amazing skills caused her to have a turnaround, and eventually she really ended up enjoying it. Students and teachers received complimentary cutting boards and gift bags filled with aprons, a food thermometer, and healthy snacks. Ultimately, the judges had zero complaints about the prepared dishes, and our culinary team went home truly happy about it. their experience and performance. My name is Manuel Wahiu. I'm the freshman student board representative. So in the cafeteria,

048the new lunchroom cafe has opened. The cafe sells a variety of foods and drinks, and we currently have nutrition staff working the space, but soon high school students who have applied for the cafe position will be able to work in it. I also heard that students will be paid $15 an hour to work there. This last Friday the 52nd annual Pops Band concert took place. The concert was very successful. It lasted over two hours and many Hopkins students, staff, parents, and alumni attended. Every year, each Pops concert has a theme. This year's theme was dance. Each band ensemble got their own guest artists who they have been working with for the past few weeks in order to showcase their relationship between dance, movement, and music. The guest artists are local and specialize in different arts

049from different cultures. The featured guest artists include... Taiko Arts, which specializes in Taiko, a traditional Japanese drumming style. Capoeira Minnesota, which specializes in capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial arts form. Rush Benson, who is an actor, dancer, teacher, musician, and choreographer. Susana de Palma, who specializes in flamenco, a dance originating in India and brought to Spain by the Romani people. And also Flipside, which is a group specializing in jazz. While I am on the topic of band, next week during spring break, juniors and seniors in band and orchestra are headed to Costa Rica. They will be performing and collaborating with the band that came to Minnesota last month, the Ceres Don Bosco Band. Also on school trips, this June during summer break, current 8th, 11th, and 12th grade Xinjiang Chinese immersion students will be going to China.

050The goals of this trip are for students to practice and improve their Chinese language skills by being immersed in a Chinese-speaking environment, and also for students to better understand, learn about, and experience Chinese culture. They will experience the complexity and development of China by visiting three different tier cities, which are Beijing, the capital of China, Chengdu, a second tier provincial capital, and Zunyi, a third tier town. Thank you. Thank you for that great report. And I was at the Pops concert. It was excellent. Anyone have any questions or comments for our student board reps? Well, I'm incredibly grateful that you are here tonight. You gave very comprehensive reports, and I feel like we all need to experience that meal. That sounded amazing. So we will next move on to our superintendent report. Dr. Mary Puri-Reed.

051Thank you, Chair Andreessen. First, I'd like to start by just greeting everyone in our audience, our in-person audience, and also folks with us online. For those of you watching the live stream, we do have a full house, and I want to warmly welcome everyone and thank you for being here. Your voice matters, and we are enjoying listening to the open agenda comments. I have a few slides for my traditional superintendent update and then I will be addressing the library media specialist proposal before we get into the live agenda. So I wanted to just give you a heads up on that. And I also want to thank our students for being here and for Giving us a detailed explanation of how you experience our libraries. That's really important. So March is a very busy month for

052all of us in the district office and also in schools. We're sort of on a roller coaster as we head into spring break next week. We've had a month full of enrollment and registration activity, student showcase and family nights, for example, the Alice Smith Imagination Fair and Variety Show at our high school. And these highlights are, of course, blended with lowlights, including marathon budget meetings, preparing... budget updates and slide decks for staff meetings in the interest of keeping all staff on the same page so in addition to this winter storm that descended upon us march has been full of a giant mixture of things and i know that we're all welcoming spring break next week it's okay actually it should just say alice smith so i don't think eisenhower had their imagination oh yes oh

053same day okay All right, so Alice Smith and Eisenhower had their imagination fairs, and I apologize, I don't have details to share about the... Eisenhower Imagination Fair, but I have attended many years and it has always been a wonderful event with lots of kids participating and a full house of parents. Same at Alice Smith. Alice Smith had over 250 students presenting their STEAM projects. STEAM is science, technology, engineering, art, and math. And at Alice Smith... All students are engaged in school-wide enrichment STEAM class with Ms. Myers leading the charge. And every child has access to this all year. So thank you to the hard work at Eisenhower and Alice Smith to organize our imagination fairs. Fifth graders in the rap and songwriting elective and third graders at Eisenhower, Xing Xing, and Juntos recently welcomed Terrell

054Woods to class. Mr. Woods is a Minneapolis-based hip-hop artist and beatboxing teacher who was able to visit through the MacPhail Global Music Initiative teaching artist in residence program. Students learned that human beatboxing is the art of turning your body into an instrument. They practiced basic beatboxing sounds and got to witness how Terrell can make entire songs with his voice and looper pedal. And I didn't know what a looper pedal was, so I had to look it up. A looper pedal is an electronic device that creates instant recordings of a musical performance and plays those recordings back in real time. How many of you knew that? Am I the only one? Several. Students at Glen Lake are loving a new unit called Mario March Madness. For all of March, students have been engaged in a Mario

055game where they reveal new reading materials through a question box. Every day, the box reveals a new book or sight word. Students will showcase their comprehension and ability to recall sight words on the unit's final day this Friday. For this culminating experience, students will be immersed into a Mario World Room where they will complete Mario relay games that are skill aligned to comprehension, retelling, and recalling sight words. Hopkins North Middle brought Annie Jr. to packed audiences here at the Eisenhower Theater. Students worked very hard during the previous three months rehearsing, building sets, learning the technical elements of theater, and also learning about how teamwork and community play a huge role in successfully putting on a musical. I was super impressed with the middle school actors, their bravery overcoming stage fright, their beautiful voices, and how

056a large cast of students worked together to create the performance. And I'd like to thank their directors, Tim Williams, special ed teacher at West, and Michael Lopresti, English teacher at our high school, for guiding those students. Our high school robotics team, the Technocrats, showcased their robot here at the board table a couple of weeks ago. They then hosted a very successful open house event at the high school, as well as visited 140 first and second graders in their multi-age classrooms at Glen Lake. They helped the little engineers form teams to build a Lego robot that could knock down another team's cup tower. We were told it was an intense competition of who could save the Lego figure. If you're in town, remember to head to Williams Arena the weekend of April 6th and 7th to

057cheer on the technocrats. They will be battling with other robotics teams from across the state. Please join me in celebrating Sammy Peterson, fifth year teacher at West Middle. Sammy is being recognized by the National Science Teaching Association as a distinguished teacher. In addition to being a fabulous science teacher, Sammy has taken on leadership roles in restorative practices, relationship building, collaborative learning, innovative use of technology, teacher leadership. and equity in STEM education. She is being honored as having made extraordinary contributions to the field of science teaching in her first five years. The award provides her with funds to attend NSTA's National Conference on Science Education. Congratulations, Sammy. On these next four slides, I want to provide highlights and results from our recent community-wide survey. The survey was sent to all parents, all staff, as well as

0586th through 12th graders. It was sent via email and in principals' newsletters and remained open for about three weeks. We had a really high response rate. As you can see on the slide, nearly 1,800 parents, nearly 1,400 students, and close to 500 staff responding. For those of you who responded, thank you. As you can see on the slide, we sought feedback on a number of items, including impact of changed start times, impact of the 6th and 9th grade transition, digital learning days at our high school, investing in safety and other facility upgrades across all schools, as well as overall satisfaction with our school system. I am pleased to share that 67% of parents and caregivers reported being satisfied or highly satisfied with our schools overall. Additionally, the majority of families impacted by start time and

059grade level transitions also reported a positive or neutral impact. As a system focused on continuous improvement, however, we want to consider facilitating focus group conversations for parents and caregivers who are less than satisfied to uncover the trends and identify those contributing factors. So one question I have is what would have to be true and what's also within our sphere of control? that would move parents from neutral or unsatisfied to a more satisfied stance. If this is you and you're listening in, we would love to hear your ideas that are implementable and within our sphere of influence and available resources. And of course, many of you are sharing an important topic this evening. We were particularly thrilled also to see a high response rate from our students. They weighed in on personal impact of later start

060and end times and our 9th and 12th grader, 9th through 12th graders rated how they experienced or are experiencing monthly digital learning days. The majority of students reported being impacted by later start times in a positive or neutral way and the vast majority of our high schoolers are reportedly benefiting from digital learning days. Finally, we want to highlight some trends with staff responses. Here's where we see a little bit more variability. While elementary staff have been impacted by earlier start and end times in a mostly positive or neutral ways, nearly half of our secondary staff respondents shared being negatively impacted by later start and end times. So this is one key pattern that we want to understand more deeply, as well as identify what can be done to mitigate or improve that negative impact. It

061was good to see however that a majority of high school staff reported positive effects of digital learning days on staff collaboration and also on student learning our District's data scientist is dr. Abbey home. So I want to thank her for organizing this survey for us and also Doing a thematic analysis she is helping us by preparing an executive summary that we will send to all families and staff as well of our as our students and you'll be able to learn in more detail what many of the respondents talked about in the open comment spaces. Okay, so I shared this detail at a previous board meeting, but just for our budget context this evening, I did want to share again that Hopkins participated in a day at the Capitol to advocate for increased school funding. We

062talked with the chair of the Education Finance Committee, Representative Cheryl Uwekeem, about the need for additional funding to avoid making cuts. We also spoke with Senator Kelly Morrison about mental health supports for students and school staff. We also teed up a bill for the next session to fund internally provided transportation for early childhood students in the HELP program at the Pavilion and students at the high school who have secured off-site internships. So I really want to thank members of our Hopkins Legislative Action Coalition, our school board reps, Mia and Manuel, were there with us, Chair Andreessen and Director Roper for participating in this important relationship building experience. And we also got to know our students a little bit, which is fun. However, if you may have heard in the news that the governor recently released...

063A SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET THAT INCLUDES NO NEW MONEY FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION AND LEGISLATORS HAVE RECENTLY BEEN OVEREMPHASIZING THAT THIS IS A LEGISLATIVE SESSION ON POLICY, NOT BUDGET, AND THUS THERE IS NO NEW MONEY. SO WE DO REMAIN IN THIS FISCALLY CHALLENGING PLACE. AND WE'VE SHARED IN OUR STAFF AND FAMILY UPDATES THAT Most Minnesota districts are undergoing budget reductions as we transition from this school year into next school year. Just in the metropolitan area alone, districts face an aggregate shortfall of more than $300 million for the 24-25 school year. So it's a really challenging place that we're in. There's a lot of reasons for that that you'll be able to hear during our budget update. I also want to just explain to our community that one thing that has been very difficult for us, and we are

064hearing this in your feedback this evening, is that while our school staff, our principals, our teachers, and other school staff are really busy during the workday doing the good work of teaching and learning, here at the district office, we are... having multiple day-long meetings to really scrutinize our budgets and identify possible efficiencies and areas to reduce that will minimize classroom impact. And so one thing that's difficult is to coordinate everyone's schedule so that we do have greater involvement and greater partnership, and that's something that we can just keep thinking about and try to be creative around. So let's go to the next slide please Natalia. Thank you. Oh What slide were you on? Can you go back? Okay, so What I'd like to do right now is Talk about our library media specialist proposal. We

065will have a budget update during the live agenda But that's going to be centered more around the numbers, and I just want to really honor everyone's time and engagement this evening by focusing specifically on this at this moment. So I also want to acknowledge the... difficulty of budget reductions that do impact our amazing professionals and I want to acknowledge the difficulty of just the the change process in and of itself but change compounded by budgetary reductions in a very fast-paced timeline is has many challenges I also want to apologize for causing harm to our staff during this budgeting process. It's really difficult to facilitate unsettling news, and the truth is that we do care very deeply about our staff, and also the truth is that we are between a rock and a hard place with

066needing to reduce our budget while protecting core instruction in classroom teachers. So we're in a pretty awful predicament here. And it is much worse in other districts, and so there are quite a few factors here in Hopkins that help us have more of a mitigating impact overall. You shared in your comments, and we'll hear also later in your comments, you shared that libraries and library media specialists are critical to students. You talked about students experiencing media centers as safe havens, being able to select books that are rich and culturally affirming, and being able to build strong connections with library media specialists that last beyond graduation. You also talked about the importance of book procurement. and ensuring sound processes to manage attempts at book banning. And all of these are super, super critical. You talked about

067the READ Act and supporting literacy and much more. And you are absolutely right in all of these areas, and we want to find a way to continue these essential services, and we need to move toward a structurally balanced budget. So please understand that there are two main reasons for this proposal. Reducing the budget is sort of the technical reason, and transforming our media spaces is more the adaptive reason. So on this slide that you've been looking at for just a couple minutes here, you'll see the current staffing model on the left. With a few bulleted items that describe the key functions of our current staff and on the right You'll see the proposal which calls for three changes first a reduction from ten to four five or six Specialists that would share oversight across schools

068The unfortunate truth is that Hopkins, like many other districts, will increasingly be unable to afford this model if state funding continues to fall short of what schools need. Also, by funding our library media specialists through the capital projects levy over the years, we've been able to fully preserve this staffing model. However... We're worried. We have a high level of certainty that this staffing model cannot continue as evidenced by surrounding districts. So we're one of the few districts that does still have a full-time library media specialist in every media center. Most districts have engaged in those reductions. Second, we seek to transform the role toward more broadened literacy. Book procurement and literacy support will continue, but we are seeking to increase digital literacy, including computer science and coding as referenced. by a couple of previous speakers,

069and we want these to be cornerstone features in addition to our rich book selection within our ever-evolving multimedia spaces. Within this proposal our current library media specialists who are licensed and have specific passions for expanding digital literacy as well as a desire to learn and evolve as demanded by our external environment are really ideal candidates for the digital literacy specialist role so these would be licensed individuals. And then third, the proposal calls for each media center to be staffed with a higher class media paraprofessional, receiving higher compensation, having more responsibility, and partnering with the licensed digital literacy specialists to expand media centers into even more future-forward multimedia learning spaces. So as I mentioned before in addition to the opportunity for Transformation the budgetary reason behind this proposal is to better align our media positions with

070how they are currently funded And I think you all have demonstrated an understanding that the capital projects levy currently funds library media specialists, which does draw scrutiny because the job description is not explicitly tied to digital support. And so we see a need to create room in the capital projects levy. budget to absorb general fund technology expenditures and then that action would give us the potential to give us relief in the general fund which is the budget we need to reduce. So that is the proposal and definitely would welcome questions from our board members and again our truly our aim is not to eliminate vital positions. However, we are in a pickle because we do need to balance our budget. And I've said that several times to this point, so I apologize. So with this,

071I will close, and I would thank you very much for your listening and your engagement. And as difficult as all of this is, just you being here really matters. It's a signal that you care, and we appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Mary Perry read are there any questions from my board colleagues or comments chair Andreessen Yeah, I had a question Both about the licensure issue and then professional support as well. So On the slide it says four to six licensed digital literacy specialists. So those are individuals who are licensed in Library science in media center like they have the licensure that our current media center specialists have and then they would be taking on this additional Digital literacy piece am I understanding that correctly? Theoretically, yes, and I think as indicated by several

072speakers, if there is an opportunity to continue shaping this with our library media professionals, then I think that would be really ideal. But yes, licensed specifically in that area would be super ideal. What was the second part that you said that? Second part is I'm wondering what kind of support is being provided to our current media specialists who would be interested in applying for these roles or transitioning into these four to six roles? That's a good question. So we have a couple of leaders, our director of IT and information services, John Wetter, and also our instructional design. ...a futurist, Dr. Tiffany Nielsen Winkelmann. Those are two individuals who would be partnering with these professionals. We also have very high capacity, really, really talented library media specialists, and to partner with those individuals would also be

073really useful. I'm curious, too, along the lines of training and professional support, what type of training the Class 6 paraprofessionals would receive to be able to transition into this role that sounds different than what our current paras are doing in the media centers? It's a good question, and I'll have to just admit that we don't have all of that fully fleshed out. One thing that would be important for us to do would be to learn from other districts who have moved in this direction and to work with the state of Minnesota to identify trading opportunities. Great, thank you. My last is more of a comment than a question. You can tell I presented academic conferences. So the comment is that many of our speakers tonight talked about how our media centers are safe spaces, especially

074for... students who may not see themselves in other spaces in our district, even though we're working really hard to ensure that every student can bring their full self to school. And I wanted to explicitly name the impact on LGBTQ plus youth, on queer youth in our community, who I know find refuge in our media centers and are also Have access to to the type of representation that they need and that that they don't always find in other spaces in our community Thank you. I'm done now No more comments or questions Anyone else? Chair Andreessen, I do have a question. Yes, Director Zhao. So I'm kind of a data guy, and I'm doing a lit review of the academic research, and it seems like there's been some studies that definitely say yes, LMS or library folks

075have a student impact, right? But is there a strategic kind of focus, right? The research does suggest that in elementary schools, it's the most pronounced, right? So, you know, having libraries in the elementary school seems to have the most impact. So I would suggest or I would think, you know, like, have you given any thought to if we do end up with four to six, where you place them? It's a good question. We would want all of our media centers to be supported. So I'm not sure if it's about placement, but more around every media paraprofessional having a partnership with a licensed digital literacy specialist. You know, another thing to note is that... while in the elementary schools that relationship and impact of the media center space might make more of an impression and indelible

076impact on our elementary students, our secondary schools are larger, right? We have lots more students. So we would just want to make sure that... We're thinking about all of those things, right? Like at what age is it developmentally appropriate to have the most exposure and how do we consider enrollment and school populations as another factor for what that support looks like? Terandre, you think I asked a question? Yes, Director Roper. First, a comment. I would like to thank all of you all for being here tonight. It really does show solidarity in what you all are believing in, and the library was a safe space for me as a kid. I truly enjoy it, and I enjoy all the media specialists, especially over at Gatewood, where my kids are. Just again, just thank you all for

077being here. This is not an easy conversation and a very difficult one for most school districts to navigate. So I'm just wondering two things. One, is there a way, okay, let me ask this. Do the media specialists have to apply? Is there a way that they can get promoted into the digital literacy? or do we legally have to post that online? It's a technical question that maybe Nick could answer better. I believe if it's an entirely new title with entirely new job description language, we have to post. But I'm actually not sure. Nick, can you help with this? However, I want to say that We're both in a space where so much information about this has gone out to you and our community, and ideas have formed around what people like and what they don't

078like. Maybe mostly don't like. And we are in a space where we can continue to shape this, because... We do want to partner with our staff and we do know that our professionals have a lot of great ideas for how we could make this transition if our community feels that this transition is critical for the budget and for the transformation. So I think that there's still... enough time and opportunity to shape together, but there are also policies and laws that we have to pay attention to. Excellent question, Director Roper. It's really a both and because we want to make sure that people have the opportunity to review, to look at, to consider this as an option that may be of interest. And at the same time, we do have contractual obligations along lines of seniority

079and licensure. So we would need to be looking at both at the same time as we look at the complexity of what that might look like. And we would want to make sure that people... had as much notice and opportunity to ask questions and engage and look at the position, to look and consider that as something that would be an option for them, if that helps. Yes, that helps a lot. And I also want to just give a warm... comment to the administration as well. I know this has been very difficult. It's not easy to make these decisions. And so I want to just say thank you all for doing this with confidence and integrity and trying to mitigate this as best way as possible. It's very important that we stick together as a district

080because, you know, again, there are other districts who have worse deficits, but I really admire the way that you all are. trying to handle this. And then just one more question. Is there a way that, are there any grants we could apply for to retain the media specialist so they won't be on a capital levy, but they have grant funded positions and then maybe we can continue to build off of that? I don't know. It's a good idea. And probably the most critical drawback is that grants are not sustainable. Plan but sometimes they are helpful in an interim Thank you. Thank you Nick Thank You director Roper any Chair Andreessen? Yeah, Clerk Thompson. Yeah, I would also echo what Director Roper had said about appreciating the way you're carrying on the conversation and the thought

081you're putting behind it. Just to make sure I understood when you had said that, you know, other districts have followed a similar course, so it's not like we'd be an outlier following this. Is that correct? Yes, we could get you the precise data, but we do know that many other districts, maybe not every single district, but many other districts have been unable to afford a full-time library media specialist in each school's media center. So we're actually still we I think we've heard from six or seven districts and we're still collecting the data because we'd like to know you know what it what that staffing model looks like for Eight or ten surrounding but people have moved in this direction and you know I don't want to make folks upset in our audience I mean that

082is not a justification for doing this because honestly if we have the resources to afford a full-time library media professional, a digital literacy professional, right? If we were funded the way that districts deserve to be funded, then we wouldn't have to have this conversation. So whenever we're considering, well, you know, like, what can we do? What's possible? Often we look to what other districts have done, and that's where we, you know, collect information about what the landscape looks like. Yeah. Thank you. Chair Andreessen, it turns out I do have one more comment. I just want to make sure that this doesn't get lost in the overall conversation, that the transition to a model where we, of course, are valuing and focusing on print media and also focusing on digital media, which we're already doing, and

083AI is critical. Coming from the higher ed context, many of us are scrambling, right? I do professional development for faculty. And it's been a really, really challenging conversation around AI, ethical uses of AI. And so any support we are able to give educators in the district, and then of course our students, about what this AI landscape means and what it means for their future education, for their careers, I mean, it's critical. Yeah. Karen Driesen, just to piggyback on that. Director Zhao. Oh, sorry. That's okay. I work in information security at a bank, and just to piggyback off what you're saying, people see that, hey, there's going to be more of a focus on digital skills, and maybe people think that means that the kids are going to be on iPads, just doing what they normally

084do. But how you use technology is way beyond just logging in or just, you know. clicking a few things on a portal. There's a certain way that technology people need to think and interact with technology to really understand kind of the guts of what's happening. And as employers, that's what we're looking for, right? It's people that can go beyond just Facebook. So I just wanted to make that comment. Thank you. Anyone else? I too want to just reiterate gratitude for everyone who's here tonight, the comments that were shared, the perspectives that were shared, and also for our student board reps and for our superintendent giving excellent reports that put some context around conversations that we're having, in particular on the... media specialist I just want to reiterate what Director Roper said in that I had

085that experience myself the library growing up the school library in particular growing up was my safe haven and for us I don't think it's like this anymore but where I was growing up we could not have a public library card the only place I could get a library book was at my school library. So it is in some neighborhoods an essential piece of any child's development. And we all know that I think deeply if you spend any time in a school. So we take this very seriously and we're grateful that we have such amazing staff and administration to partner on decisions like this for our families and our students sake. So with that, we will move on to approving our agenda. Do I have a motion? So moved. I have a motion. Is there a

086second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The agenda is approved and we will move on to our consent calendar. These items are provided by the board with information considered to be more routine in nature. And we are looking for approval of the consent calendar. Do I have a motion? So moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The consent calendar has been approved, which moves us to the treasurer's report. And our treasurer, Rachel Heartland, is not able to attend since she is out of the country. So we will move that. I will present the Treasurer's report in financial disbursements in the amount

087of $9 million. I don't even know how to say these big monetary amounts. $9,500,000. 915,864.47 for the period of March 7th, 2024 through March 14th, 2024. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The treasurer's report has been accepted by the board and that takes us to our unfinished business We have some policies to be discussed And I will invite assistant superintendent Nick Lightfoot to the table a while Vice chair Ross gives us an introduction to the policies. We'll be discussing tonight All right, good evening. Yes, definitely welcoming Dr. Nick Lightfoot to the table. We're going to be going over or discussing amongst the board colleagues two particular policies, Policy 514, which is the bullying prohibition. And then we're also going to be in

088discussion and reviewing. I'll pull this up real quick. policy 524, the acceptable electronic resources use. We made a few changes based on some of the discussion we had at the board table last meeting, where we were discussing some of more of making the policies a little bit stronger in the language and then making it a lot more clear for the community and for students. So I wanna hand it over to Superintendent Lightfoot. So with this, yes, we're in process with this. We are seeking additional input before we finalize these and bring it forward in additional reading. Part of what we were looking at in our discussion last time with 514 was looking at the conduct, the code of conduct, and making sure that we included that language, that we were also looking at the input

089and opportunity of our scholars so that we would have additional scholar voice in looking at the implementation. of our bullying prohibition policy those pieces are in process still as we gather that additional information i'm looking for any additional input on 514 that the board might have at this time i just had a question so are you working with our student board reps or how are you collecting student input on 514. that's on our agenda to discuss at our next monitoring committee meeting Great. Thanks. We still have more homework to do. That's what's happening here. That's the update. Yep. Great. Well, both of these policies are very complex, so it makes sense to me that you're collecting more input. 524 we had considerable conversation on the electronic use as we look at the electronic use part

090of the consideration was we were looking at the use of cell phones and how that would be incorporated within gathering again some additional information from surrounding districts as well as looking at how we could implement some of those components within that policy and we are continuing to pull that information in together Any additional comments for 524? Chair Andreessen? I do have a quick question. Superintendent Lightfoot, I noticed that it still says isolated. Is that, I think there was a question last time. Was that supposed to be violated? Yes, it is. And that's the editorial piece. The editing that we still need to do with the policy, all still in process and will be done before final. Thank you. So just to clarify, you're seeking additional board input before you make any of the final changes?

091Correct. Is there any additional input from my board colleagues? And then just to clarify process, these will come back. And so... The recommendation is that we leave them an unfinished business, continue to collect that input, and then they'll come back so the board will still have the opportunity to comment before we do a final approval on them. Great. Is there anything in particular, Vice Chair Ross, that you need from us or the policy monitoring committee that you would like from us at this point? No, I mean, if any of the colleagues have any points they want to make or comments, I mean, obviously we're definitely open. But, yeah, I mean, the clarifying point is we're still doing homework and we're still doing work on these policies, but wanted to at least make sure the board

092knew that this was still being worked on. Well, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity. Chair Andreessen, can I just ask one? The process question. So when they come back, is that the first read or would it come back as the second read? Traditionally, this is still a continuation of the first read. Okay. So when it comes back, it would go back in first read under unfinished business. And then hopefully they would then. be able to be moved to second read, which traditionally typically goes into our consent agenda for the next meeting. Got it. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? I move that we keep these two policies in unfinished business until the monitoring committee meets to review and make the recommended revisions and that we bring them back before the board in unfinished business.

093I have a motion. Oh, second. Clerk Thompson I have a motion and a second all those in favor aye Any opposed? Seeing none. Oh, was there any discussion before we voted? Great. We will move on to our new business, which is the first one is the summary of the superintendent review on March 6, 2024. Thank you, Assistant Superintendent Lightfoot. And we had a closed session where we got an update on our superintendent's progress on her goals. There were a lot of questions since we have new board members. There was a lot of clarification around what the goals are, where they come from, lots of really good, I thought, discussion about where we as a board need a little bit more information and training so that we can support. our superintendent and administration more robustly. But

094I think it was a good review. Things are moving along on very important areas for Vision 2031. And we are, I think, given the landscape of where we're at as a state and a nation, I feel very lucky to have the community that we have that is being led by the superintendent that we have and that there's a strategic vision in place that we can continue going back to that organizes goals and steps forward. Did I miss anything from my board colleagues? Anything you'd like to add? And this is just information for our community and discussion. There's no action required. So that moves us on to our fiscal year 24 budget update. I will turn it over to Dr. Mary Perry-Reed. Thank you, Chair Andreessen. And I'll provide a... Hopefully quick framing as our Director

095of Business Services, Tarira Chapenduka, approaches the table. So I just wanted to help our audience and community members understand how we got to this point. The budgeting process begins with district leaders partnering with the Hopkins Citizens Financial Advisory Committee, or CFAC, and that's a small group of parents who are also financial experts and district leaders led by Director Chapenduka meet with... the CFAC committee to analyze enrollment projections, state funding increases, inflationary and cost of living expenses, and the impact of employee contract settlements here and across the state. So we kind of look at the landscape and really review all the information that is available at that time. And CFAC also scrutinizes our fund balance. I do want to publicly make it known that CFAC praised our Director of Business Services for being prudent enough to

096not overspend during the last two years of COVID relief because this would have put us on a fiscal cliff with even more reductions to make. So, Tariro, you've done a great job leading us all through. This process and I know we're in a very challenging space right now, but as we keep saying it it really could be worse unfortunately so after a series of these meetings then CFAC provides budget parameters to our school board and Those were provided earlier this year, which the board did approve and I wanted to make a note of something else that I believe Director Chapenduka will address later. But initially, we identified $3.8 million to reduce. And as you see in Director Chapenduka's slides, you'll see a final amount that is higher. and it's based on the following reasons. One,

097for student support and school safety, we believe our middle schools need to be fully equipped with an associate principal that they don't have to fund out of their discretionary. So one for West was included in their predictable staffing model, and an additional half of an AP was given to North, which is a school almost twice the size of West. Two, Glen Lake has been negatively impacted as a low enrollment school, also with a low concentration of poverty, which impacts their compensatory education funding. And so in being responsive to their needs, we increased their comp ed allocation to 100% of those dollars following their eligible students. Three, and Tarou, you're gonna have to correct me if I, I think I have all of these. contributing factors, but you'll you'll fix it later if this is incorrect.

098Three, we are committed to permanently reducing secondary class size, which requires more teachers or at a minimum increased discretionary dollars for all three sites. For we increased our targeted staffing amount from 500 to 700 thousand dollars Which is the staffing that we use in late fall for? last-minute school enrollments, and if you remember we got we got caught this past fall with lots of late enrollment and not enough staffing to follow and we don't want to find ourselves in that predicament again. So that being said, our amount needing to reduce increased because of these critical additions to our schools. So when Director Chapenduka shares his slides, you will see a total amount of 4.5 million. So we always try to be very transparent with our budgeting process and with where we are with the budget

099at all points in time. And at this time, we are not disclosing. We did obviously talk about the library media specialist as a group of individuals, but we are not disclosing individual employee names. We look forward to receiving questions from our school boards so that your questions can inform how we proceed with presenting you with the preliminary budget at the April 9 board meeting, which does need to be approved. So I want to thank our Director of Business Services. I want to thank Pam Carman. my team and our principals for honestly lots of sleepless nights and also a ton of creativity to help us reach where we are now which is producing a complex and structurally balanced budget. Terrero, it's your turn. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Mary Perry. Good evening, Chair Anderson. Good evening, respective

100board members and the community. I think you summed it up well, Dr. Mary Perry. So I'll just kind of jump into the details. Starting with some of the foundational beliefs we've put at the forefront when it comes to our budgeting. And I know it's been a challenge, not just at Hopkins, but across the nation when it comes to funding. And I'll try to highlight some of the pressures which have gotten us to this point. But before I go to that, I just want to kind of reiterate some of the beliefs here in terms of our budgeting. And this is what we have been putting at the forefront for the last couple of years when it comes to budgeting district resources, that our budget is a moral document that reflects our organization's values. What takes place

101in our classrooms and our schools matters the most. As such, administration supports principals as instructional leaders. So principals can support educators, and educators can support each and every one of our scholars. With the budgeting process we embark on, we... try to make sure that we identify those resources which are directly impacting buildings. So about 95% of our allocations are actually allocated to buildings. direct allocations which is about 61% or is district wide allocations which is about 34% and the remaining 5% does impact district central office which supports buildings. Some of our district-wide budgets which are actually going directly into buildings but may be managed at the central level include transportation, our custodians, our operations and maintenance, our utilities, certain components of our budget which are tied to special education. And then the central office budgets

102which are supporting buildings and departments include, for example, human resources, the business office. We have employees who process payroll, who process our invoicing accounts, payable accounts, receivable. We also have... budgets tied to the board. We have budgets tied to our innovation, designing and learning, the central office portion of special education. So those are some of the examples where there are certain elements of the budget which are sitting at the central level, but the majority is actually directly coming into the buildings. Can you go to the next slide, Natalia? The next slide actually shows the timeline. I'll just kind of reiterate what the superintendent said in terms of when we start the budgeting process. And this process actually starts after the current year budget is adopted by the board. But the actual numbers, we start shaping

103them starting in October into December when we certified the property tax levy. In January, we actually send out the first draft of our projected enrollments to leadership because enrollment drives funding into the district. And then in February, and this past February, February 21st, our citizen financial advisory committee came to the board and gave recommendations based on either market conditions or based on revenues we are anticipating to receive from the state, as well as negotiations with our bargaining groups. And those recommendations do lead to us starting to put together the elements of what will be the budget for the following year. And then in March, as I'm doing right now, we do give the board an update, which will take us into April, where we do the preliminary budget presentation to the board, as well as

104the revised budget for the current year. and then between may and june we do our first budget read and the final adopted budget in june Some of the pressures which we've actually experienced and some of these pressures have always been in the system, but we are seeing more of it in this current budget cycle, which has led to some of the challenges we are seeing. Natalia, can you go to the next slide? A lot of it in... I'm sure most of you have seen this happening in our system in other school districts, declining or flat enrollment. That does have a lot of pressure. A lot of our funding is actually driven by enrollment. And we've seen some shift when we... started getting into the pandemic season we did see a lot of movement in terms

105of mobility across our system which we had not seen in the past so that mobility started to impact our projections and then we went back and revised some of those numbers to where now we are stable. Lucky enough at Hopkins our enrollment is flat as we see it into the future. If you compare to surrounding school districts, we've seen quite staggering changes which are driven by enrollment. So although we can do better, but at least we are not in that space where... This is impacting to a greater extent our current terrain. The other component which we have seen is around contract negotiations. Our contract negotiations have been averaging between 10 to 12% across different bargaining groups. When you start to look at an increase in funding of currently 4% and into next year 2%. When

106you take a 6% increase over two years and then factor in a 10 to 12% increase in cost of living adjustment, you can see that the balance is not structured. So that does have an impact in terms of... in terms of funding. And I mean, I want to make sure that everyone understand that we definitely want to make sure that we pay our teachers, we pay our staff appropriately, attractively to meet market needs, as well as to retain them in our system. So we have to put that into... consideration as we develop the budget but at the same time it also kind of does have an impact and we've tried to mitigate some of those impacts with the savings we've captured over the last couple years The other component which I also mentioned earlier on

107is around funding formulas. Going into next year, our funding is only 2%. And when you factor in an average of 5% to 6% in cost of living adjustment and other consumer price inflationary increases, that leaves a gap. And that gap is what we are trying to address as a system. The other element is around those one-time funds we received from the federal government starting in fiscal year 2020. Those funds are drying down, and we have until September 30th of 2024 to use the remaining funds. And we have been very intentional since the pandemic in terms of how we've prioritized those funds for... long-term sustainability but due to the fact that they've been propping the system they've been closing the gap now we are not going to have them so we need to make the necessary

108adjustments uh can you go to the next slide natalia uh so it's uh As explained earlier by the superintendent, the recommendations our citizen financial advisory committee gave to the board, starting with the projected increase in our allowance for revenue, which was 2% for fiscal year 25, as specified by legislature. We also factored in a projected enrollment which is flat going into fiscal year 25 and into the foreseeable future. We also factored in a 5% annual increase in fiscal year 25 for cost of living adjustments which accounts for about 60% of our total expenditures. fringe benefits we keep those at a flat of 42 percent Purchase services, utilities, transportation, and supplies, we think that in an increase of about 5%, just knowing that we have seen a spike in transportation costs across the metro. Our current

109fund balance is of fiscal year 23, was sitting at about 12%. When we factor in... 24 it will be about 11 percent and then we are also projecting that 4.5 percent um 4.5 million dollars in uh general fund uh deficit which we are closing on and we will discuss further on what that looks like Some of the factors we've actually applied in terms of trying to structure balance our budget centered around some tools which we are using. We are using the predictable staffing model which actually is a resource allocation tool. And what it does, it outlines our school staffing allocations based on a formula or a range. and then any remaining dollars will be divided across our system based on enrollment. as discretionary allocations which are used by buildings through their bills to prioritize resources

110into different needs across our system. And the allocations are informed by enrollment projections. As earlier on mentioned by Superintendent, we also put some dollars on the side. In case when we come back in July, August, September, when we start to see actual enrollment, if we start to see enrollment increasing in certain buildings, we leverage those dollars to be able to add additional staff. What predictable staffing model isn't, it's not a tool. outside of our control. So the formulas, the ranges we have created in partnership with district leaderships. And the predictable staffing model is not also a tool which dictates how adults within a school should be deployed. So those are decisions which are either made at the district-wide level or made at the building level. Can you go to the next slide? I just also

111wanted to put into this space here some of the different funding outside of the formula allowance which we receive as a district which are either driven through the free and reduced application or other collection mechanisms from the state for different purposes. And this categorical dollars are supposed to be used to add additional funding to the system based on different needs, for example, title. And not every school gets title because of the parameters and the guidance from the federal government or from the state. We also have compensatory dollars. We also have access dollars. So we have leveraged those dollars differently to be able to close the gap we have and also be intentional and strategic how we continue and standardize the use of these resources. So one of the things I just mentioned earlier on is

112around enrollment and enrollment being the driving force on funding and resource allocation. I just put together this slide which is cutting across from 2007 to about 2023. And as you can see on the top orange line across, it is flat, which kind of speaks of what enrollment has been at Hopkins. I mean, it has fluctuated slightly down and above, but for the most part, enrollment has been flat for the system. And the next slide kind of speak the same language around what we have seen between when we project enrollment and when we actually receive the students into our system. And we've been very good. I want to thank Pam Carmen who does our enrollment. She has been doing this for many years in the district, so she really knows where the... students are coming in

113and out and our enrollment has just been projected in a very conservative way and we always see that the projections and the actual numbers coming into the system are close because that's very important when it comes to staffing as well as allocating resources because we are planning our budget based on projections. If our projections are off limits, then we end up either overstaffing or understaffing. So it's very important that we actually are very clear and we are very specific to what those projections are so that there is not a lot of shifting in our system when we start to see the students coming into the district. The other component, again, as I mentioned earlier on, is around funding. And this is something we have to work together as a system, not just at Hopkins, but

114across the state when it comes to funding. And the graph I have on there, and I know I've shared this before, just shows the gap between funding going back to 2003. projecting it into 2025. The top blue solid line actually fit us in a compounded inflation. If the state was funding us using all the inflationary components, currently our allowance per student for fiscal year 2025 would have been $8,637. Based on how the state has funded us, for the most part, either a 1% increase or 2% increase, and I know in fiscal year 23-24, it was about 4% increase, which also came with other conditions. Currently, our funding pay formula allowance is $7,281 per average daily membership. which actually leaves a gap of about $1,356 or 18.6% for us to be fully funded and for our

115budget to structure a balance. So that's a challenge we have. That gap is huge. It will take a long time for us to close it. But as long as we have gaps like that, we'll always have challenges between balancing our revenues and expenditures. The next element is around the stimulus aid which we received and I know it's kind of been a challenge in terms of prioritizing those resources and knowing that this is not the first time school districts have received one-time funding. If you go back to 2009-2010, school districts did receive some stimulus funding. and the ending result was dire straits across school districts. So we're trying to be very intentional, having learned from those lessons on how to prioritize resources coming in so that we don't end up in a fiscal cliff. So some

116of the resources as they came in initially, we're given resources and we try to prioritize around the needs during the pandemic. And as things stabilized, we started to look at long range projects. and long-range strategies which would sustain the district in the future and also shifting resources to be able to create some sustainability. And those resources have been a great saver for the district. The next slide actually just shows where we are with our fund balance and this is critical because what we are doing, we are also tipping into our fund balance going into fiscal year 24-25. It's not sustainable so we are trying to do it intentionally as we start to restructure our... our budgets, structure and relocate the different programs we offer in the district and align them to Vision 2031. And I'm

117not going to deeper into details on the next slide, it just shows initially our projected deficit of $4.5 million, between about $125 million in revenue, factoring in a 2% increase, and $129 million in expenditures, factoring in the parameters I explained earlier on around the cost of living adjustment and consumer price indexes. And what we have done, and I will probably maybe have the superintendent help me with the next slide, in terms of what we affected in sitting with leadership on what cuts we are actually implementing and taking off from both departments as well as some restructuring we've done with categorical dollars to sustain building programs as well as lessen the impact in classrooms in terms of instruction. Some of the cuts were reductions, some of them were reclassification of certain positions which either were funded

118through different funding sources or certain contracts which we are reducing and moving those dollars to be able to fund positions within our system. A good example. So we do receive long-term funding dollars from the state. And those long-term funding dollars are used to, one, maintain our buildings, as well as if there are any deferred maintenance, or sometimes we go for a bond for capital projects. In the past, the district has mostly relied on outside contractors for that work. What we are doing, we are moving positions which qualify to be funded out of LTFM, which have been funded out of general fund in the past, into the LTFM, which kind of frees up those dollars in the general fund. So we've looked at this across different... facets of the system to create the spaces to be

119able to leverage the general fund and close that gap. Some of the cuts around some restructuring, which is part of the discussion we had with the library media specialists, as well as certain proprietary funds, for example, community education. In normal circumstances, we can do a chargeback to community education for certain expenditures which are funded. through general fund and when we got into the pandemic there were some challenges with community education and then we had to reorganize and and then they ended up organizing their programs and are starting to build a health fund balance So now we are going back to leveraging some of those dollars to either cover for certain positions which are aligned with community education or certain expenditures which should be paid out of community education. So those are some at a high

120level, some of the elements we have taken an undertaking in terms of identifying the cuts for the district. That being said, after we factor in the $4.5 million, it structurally balanced our budget, but still we need more resources to actually be allocated into the buildings. So we are taking about $3 million out of our fund balance to be able to distribute those resources to buildings. to continue with quality programs this system is providing. And then we'll have to come back later on and take a look, because this is a one-time initiative. We can't continue taking dollars out of fund balance. So we need to find other efficiencies going into fiscal year 2526 to be able to structurally balance our budget without relying on any resources coming out of the fund balance. That being said that's

121all I have for this will be coming back again to the board with more details When we do the preliminary budget approval in April I'm not sure dr. Mary period if you have anything else to to it. I don't think so I think we should find out if board members have questions and question director yeah director Chet Maduga so as we've I think we've said I really appreciate the leadership that you and the team have provided I know it's a lot of you know it's kind of the tip of the iceberg there was a lot a lot of work that went into this so I really appreciate all the responsiveness you've had I guess my question here is around, you know, so when this first started, we kind of, or at least I said, hey,

122we don't want to impact teachers and student kind of facing outcome type positions. And I think, you know, everybody in this room is telling us that LMS folks do have a impact on learning. So I guess my question is, have we turned over every rock and kind of tweaked everything that we could possibly find to find savings and you know, I When I hear that maybe we're gonna hire some more principals you know to me the the the the student outcome of that is not as much potentially as our Librarians and so, you know, it may be the case that it is truly necessary, but I'm skeptical I guess I would say of that so I guess Can you kind of show us or tell us what other levers can we pull to find money?

123Okay, I'll give the opportunity to the superintendent and then I can kind of jump in in terms of your question, Director Zhao. Sure, thank you for the question, Director Zhao. First, I will just share with you and our audience that research says that the quality of school leadership actually is, if done well, contributes at a high level to student learning. And so we do need to ensure that our schools are properly staffed with a high-quality principal and in our middle schools and high schools have the proper and effective associate principal support. That is absolutely critical and that is feedback that we have heard from our school staff. Secondly, we have... I would say a short list of items and then you can continue further, Terrero, of areas where we want to do further discovery, but

124we may not have the systems in place to realize a specific. targeted amount to reduce for next year. So for example, utilities, right? So we spend a lot of money paying our utility bills and we think that we can reduce in those areas, but we actually need to identify, well, what would be the specific behavioral shifts? and new practices that staff would engage in so that we can realize a $200,000 savings in utilities, as an example. At this point, we didn't really feel like we had the structures in place to do that, but that's one area where we could take another look. We also, per... Your insistence and board members insistence and our staff members insistence. We literally looked at every single non instructional non instructional position within our schools and also at the district

125office To identify and it's a really hard question right because it's very subjective Right we have we have staff in our schools who are doing very very critical work around student safety and instructional support but they are listed as non instructional staff right and so how do we identify positions that maybe are not adding as much value as others or we're not seeing the return that we had hoped but we have done that analysis and we can continue more We also are spending I don't know what the total amount is. I believe it's 3.5 million dollars in time card Yes, a combination of the sub budgets and time cards for you know in additional extra duties outside of maybe a teacher duty day so we do have quite a lot of expenditures in those areas

126so we've been looking at a different model in terms of how we are able to sustain the system going above and beyond what we've done in the in the past. So we had lengthy discussions around well how might we reduce the amount of money we spend on time cards, but that impacts how staff get paid when they are engaged in curriculum writing or subbing classrooms, engaging in PD after contract hours, et cetera, right? So that's a really hard decision to... to make because that further impacts staff, but we do think there's an opportunity there. We would just have to be very specific with what kinds of activities we're not going to continue compensating for. So those are a few examples of areas where we have looked and perhaps we could take another look. And I

127really do appreciate your question and want you to know that we feel that urgency as well to really scrutinize every single budget. And most of the budgets we've looked at over and over and over. And we will continue to do that work because we will be here again next year, maybe not, hopefully, goodness, not to the tune of 4.5, but we will have to identify efficiencies for next year. And between now and then, I hope that we've built the systems or... the additional lenses that are needed to further reduce without impacting core instruction and classroom teachers. I hope that answers your question. Yeah, I think so. I think overall I'd like to, you know, and I know a lot of things are theoretically possible, right? Like there's scenarios that, and I kind of asked this

128at the beginning, is like can we have a scenario where, you know, there's not this impact? What does it mean for everything else? I think I'd like to see that and we can weigh our options. And I know that's... adding a lot of work for you, so I apologize for that. But at the end of the day, we do need to have the best outcomes for our students. And so I think I would sleep better at night if we could say, hey, we have looked at literally everything. And there was a scenario where we could keep the LMS folks, but X, Y, and Z had to happen, and that's not worth it. At least we can... know that we tried everything. So I would appreciate that before the next, before we make a final decision.

129So to clarify, if I may, are you asking for the administration and in particular business services to make public? the discussions that they have around budget cuts? So yeah, I know there's a certain- That sounds like what that is. Right. I know there's a certain level of confidentiality and everything, but I would like to understand what a scenario would look like if we more limited the LMS. What would the corresponding cuts in other areas look like, right? I would like to maybe see a scenario of what that would look like. Just so we could say, hey, we considered it. Maybe it's not worth it. Okay, that's totally fine. I can feel better about that. But, you know, I think we at least need to, I need to understand what that scenario might look like. So

130I don't know. Is there confidentiality? You're asking for the scenario of us retaining at the current levels our LMSs. Right. What does that mean for the rest, everything else? the rest everything else meaning like what what would we need to cut in other places like non non-forward student facing i'd just like to know okay yep and i would also then like to know um It's my understanding that we engaged prior in an approval of the CFAC recommendations, correct? And I just had a follow-up question around, I think that it would be great if we could have some clarification from you, Director Chapenduka, around what our fund balance is and why CFAC is recommending that we keep it. at the level that it's at. Because from what I've heard from your presentations and all the information

131that's come to the board is that that's kind of, we really don't have any other options. But my mind goes to, well, what about our fund balance? So could you talk more about that? Sure. So currently our fund balance is sitting at about, for Fiscal Year, putting into consideration some of the adjustments we have to make, is sitting at about 11%, which is a little over $40 million. And fund balance is usually calculated by taking into account the remaining dollars we have in our, what I would probably put in layman terms, in savings, in our savings account, divided by our total expenditures for operations. So when you are looking at a... an 11% budget and you take $3 million out of that, that brings our fund balance to about 8%. And the board policies that

132we keep our fund balance not less than 6%. And I mean, the district does know that the district went into structural operating debt many years ago, which took many years to get us back. If we continue going into fund balance within two years, We will be bankrupt. I just want to make sure that the community understands that because what we have done is if you go back to 2018-2019 our fund balance was hitting close to 6% And then we built it over the last three years to where it is now and to where it actually can prop up our general fund to be able to sustain the additional costs we are incurring, which are necessary costs. But at the same time, we can't have a situation going into next year knowing that we are already

133hearing that there is not really any new funding coming in from the legislature. to be able to sustain our expenditures. So we are going to have to look deeper in terms of restructuring our system so that we don't have another $3 million, which is going to bring our fund balance below the board policy 6%. Thank you. Chair Andreessen. Yes, Tomson. Can I dig into that just a little more? Because it's the first I was hearing about that $3 million transfer from the fund balance. So in slide 14, it shows here's the $4.5 million deficit that we have to make up. And then slide 15, it says here's how we can do that. But then slide 16, it says we're going to do this $3 million transfer from the fund balance. And then it sounds like

134I had heard you say we're going to have to come back here in 25 and figure out how to pay that back. So I don't understand where the $3 million fund balance came from when 14 and 15 slides made it seem like we've got the potential savings outlined here to get to that 4.5. So the $3 million, these are additional resources which we have to give back to the buildings if we are not going to impact instruction. What's happening right now is if we, honestly, if we had taken our projected revenue, which is a 2%, and factor in a 5% increase in terms of salaries and purchased services, that really That's a 3% gap we are seeing right there. So what the $3 million is doing is just propping up buildings so that we don't

135have, because we might end up having to cut. Propping up buildings? Correct. So the $3 million is going into buildings. We've put that as discretionary dollars for buildings to be able to buy any additional services which may not be covered under the predictable staffing model. Chair Andreessen, I just have a clarification there. And that's helping to mitigate the issue that we ran into this year where we had more students than we were anticipating and we didn't have funds set aside to. To staff for that is that part of the transfer? That's not really because for this year. We didn't use any fund balance to do that What what was happening this year? It was best first of all it was based on The great configuration so when we did the projections and not knowing what

136the impact would look like when sixth graders go to the middle school, and ninth graders go to the high school. Since this was the first time, we had seen that we didn't have enough information about how many students we're going to be able to retain. So that actually did impact the class size components. What we are facing here is a true reflection of limited funding. We've built up a fund balance and that fund balance, what we are doing is instead of us going back and making more cuts, we are saying, well, we need time to relocate our system. We are going to take some dollars out of our fund balance to be able to at least continue the level of service we have, while at least we are looking at more deeper cuts going into

137the future, which definitely, again, putting our lens and focus on instruction and classrooms, want to make sure that we are looking at cuts which have minimum impact into classrooms as well as into instruction. So if we were not making that transfer, we would be looking at reducing $7.5 million across the system. Correct. Thank you. And if that answers your question, Dr. Thompson. That helped me understand it. I mean, is it almost to say it's a loan to ourselves? Is that a way to think of it or not? So the way we have done it, because again, this is long term. So the structure we are looking at right now is a structure which is impacting us beyond 24-25. So what we've done is we went back and said, okay, for us to at least structurally

138balance us, we need to get our expenditures to match our revenue. And then from there, we need to look at what else is needed. for buildings to be able to continue the quality education and instruction. And then we moved $3 million to be able to provide that level of service, knowing that we'll have to come back and re-look again at our structure, especially when we start to look at what labor negotiations may look like going into the future. Chair Wortham-Morland. Oh, sorry. I apologize. This has been a rough night. So just to make sure I understand it correctly, looking at the budget, the first thing is that that $4.5 million, in order for us to balance the budget, we need to get to zero to be able to show that. The $3 million is to,

139because how I'm looking at it, the general fund is your checking account. The fund balance is a saving account. And in order to continue those operating, you need to have some operating funds that shows up. Hence the reason why we're doing that $3 million loan is basically robbing Peter to pay Paul to ensure that those buildings are ready to go. And if anything, there must be some level of projection to say we need that $3 million. if anything happens, we will have that 3 million to cover those buildings. So am I tracking from what I'm looking at at the slides? To a greater extent, yes, Director Ross. Yes, we are moving $3 million from our savings account to be able to make sure that we sustain our structure of living. I'm just putting it in

140layman terms. We need to come back again because we know that from a layman's standpoint, I mean, like when you get your salary and you have your household expenditures and then realize that, well, my salary is actually not enough for my household expenditures. You go trim things and then you come to a point where you say, you know what, my salary and my household expenditures are zeroing. now, but I still have a lot of things which I need to pay for. I'm transferring a few dollars at this point in time from my savings account. While this I'm looking at a long term on sustaining because I know for certain that my increases in terms of inflationary increases may not be sustainable if I'm continuing to get a 2% when my overall expenditures are 4%. And

141that's kind of where we are coming from. But the thing is, when we take the dollars out of our savings account, Unfortunately, they can't just be replenished until we change something. And this wasn't an issue last year. So how I'm also looking at it is the ESSER funds in layman's terms equals a stimulus payment that the federal government gave out. And now, like the average citizen, we're running out by 2024. The average citizen would have exhausted that stimulus funds that the federal government gave due to COVID. So then basically you have to say. What the average person is gonna have to do say I have to reach into my savings account put money into my checking account in Order to make sure I need to make my car payment. I need to make my house

142payment so on and so forth All right, the question I have so thank you for humor me on that I'm not as intelligent on the finances as you are so The question I have is was there I know that there was a conversation On March 18th, regarding in the budget listening and engagement session, I thought I heard somebody reference an operating referendum levy. And I believe we were at a cap, which translates into we can't go to the voters until 2025 to raise taxes, basically ask the voters to give us more money to be able to. add money into the system. Is that an accurate assessment? That's an accurate assessment. Unfortunately, we've reached our ceiling. So even if we wanted to go to the voters and ask for more money, there's a cap for the

143state. And we are one of those school districts, among other surrounding school districts, where we have reached the cap. The one thing we can do is we can... ask for a renewal, but that doesn't add any more money. It's just a renewal of what we're already getting, which might include some components of inflation. Unless and until the legislature make changes in terms of either giving boards flexibility to be able to go out to voters without these caps, we're in a situation where even if we go back and ask for more money, they'll just give us what we already get. Director Chapenduga, thank you for your eagle-eye vision and the work that you've put in to present this presentation. So I appreciate it. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Sharon, you just got to ask

144a quick question. Thank you so much. I always appreciate your analyst of the budget. It's very helpful. And as I'm learning about budgets, I appreciate both of you and how articulate you are with it. I just have a quick question and you may have already answered this and I apologize. How much is it to, like if we wanted to retain all 10 library specialists, how much like total is it? If I'm not mistaken, if we want to retain the current group of library specialists, I think it's about close to $800,000. When I check, I mean, then you have to add in probably additional 5% increase. I'm talking about what we have for this year. So that's about $800,000, $850,000, somewhere there. And is that per year or is that just like for this year? Because

145I'm assuming like is that with like I'm assuming a promotion would need to happen, you know, for like salaries, right? I think people get promotions for their salaries. So is that like without promotion, it's just like the $850,000? Yeah, so what I'm talking about is our current structure. It might definitely look different. I think that's where the cost saving comes into play when we look at that new model. I'm not sure what that will look like from a compensatory standpoint. What I'm referring to is the current salaries for the number of media specialists we have. right now without factoring any bump or any inflationary increases or any cost of living adjustments. Okay. And this is just another ask, a really quick ask. I know for me at home, right, like I have subscriptions that I

146don't use. Like I just get it taken out of my account. I'm like, whoa, I'm still playing for Netflix. Wow. But is there, it's true, are there like any subscriptions or anything that we have looked into that's not really heavily utilized in the school system that we could, you know, try to have savings there and to retain? another staff member? Yeah, they are. And I mean, I can also have a director waiter, you know, if he can maybe provide. And we've kind of looked at some of those. They are also factored into some of the cuts. We actually have a team looking at every single subscription that we currently are paying for, identifying which ones we can no longer support and what that means for our cost savings and identifying which we can renegotiate. So

147we're doing a careful analysis of that. I don't know how much... in total in terms of subscriptions we've identified eliminating, but it's a substantial amount. Chair Andreessen, I just have a comment. As I'm looking at slide 15 that has the detailed budget reductions, I wanted to note that... district office position reductions and the district-wide reductions so thinking printing consulting supplies travel all of that is in response to feedback from our community that we received during our last budgeting session when we had to reduce you know really asking us to look at efficiencies in those areas and well we don't want to lose anyone and we certainly don't want to add a greater workload to people in those positions. Those are the reductions necessary to keep cuts far away from the classroom. And so I just

148wanted to point out the large sum there, 1.7 million that falls into that category. Thank you for that, Director Westmoreland. And just taking a look at time, I want to thank you for this update. I think that in particular, this slide about the detailed budget reductions is really helpful for us to see. that everything really has been scrutinized and I appreciate that and all the work that went through it. Also, I know that there are lots of meetings that take place and that site leaders are present at those meetings and are part of these discussions, which I always appreciate knowing that that input has been taken into account. I did just have one. question and it's it's a practice we engage in at district 287 that I find really helpful when we're doing budget discussions

149for myself as a board member but also I think for context for our broader community if we could start getting an idea of how many of our services staff and programs are funded by grants I think that that would be really helpful for us to be able to see that that funding, while those programs, services, and staff are critical for our students and for our district as a whole, that that is not secured sustainable funding. And I think that it would be really helpful if we could have an idea of what that looks like for our district in particular. And to Director Roper's point, are there grants available for this critical service that we know our students and our families need, and yet we also know that grants are not the ideal way to fund

150public education? Yeah, before we close. So I just want to thank... the board members for the engagement and the critical thinking. I also want to be very clear on what the ask is and manage our expectations along the way. So what I'm hearing is that the board would like to have us relook at where we can find efficiencies and come up with another option. outside of a library media specialist reduction. And what I would like to state is that... What what we're going to do is exactly that however What we're not going to do is to bring in front of the board and our community Of this versus that in terms of people impacted options. We're not going to pit staff against each other because we have looked at well You know, can we continue

151to afford world language in our elementary schools, right? Because we were very clear that the board was asking us to not touch classroom teachers, right? Which we have not done. So because we're not going to pit staff against each other in a very public way, then I believe as a cabinet, we will retake a look at our budgets to... see if we can identify non-position or people impacted reductions that we for some reason haven't seen to bring those ideas to the board table. So that's what I wanted to share and are there any questions or clarifications about that? which will be incredibly challenging because over 80% of our general budget goes to staffing. So I just want to name that as well. So because behind, you know, we're not going to pit staff. against one

152another in a public setting. But of course, behind the scenes, we do say, well, if we reduce more in the district office space, that will mean an impact to critical services, right? Reduce in HR, then there's, you know, people are waiting a long time to get a response from HR. Reduce in business services, same thing. Can't reduce in transportation. We've got to make sure that we have a flawless fall, right? And so... do we impact more positions at the district office, which then impacts services to schools, or do we try to find school-based positions that... that we can somehow restructure, reduce, without critically impacting instruction. It's a very difficult predicament. I do apologize for the difficulty, but I wanted to just name out loud that we gotta be careful with how we're talking about this

153versus that with people-impacted reduction possibilities. Thank you for that. I appreciate that. Yeah, and can I just make a quick comment? Thank you. You don't have to apologize. They need to be apologizing to us for this investment in public education to put us in this position in the first place. So thank you for all that you're doing to really try to make this a very easy process for everyone because it's not easy. So thank you. Thank you for that, Director Roper. And I think that we can all agree on that. This is our future and we should be investing in it. So thank you all for this very robust discussion. I appreciate all your input. With that, I would like to move on to our next agenda item, which is policies in first read. And

154I will turn it over to Vice Chair Ross and invite- Thank you, Taruro. Oh, yes. Thanks, Terrero. And invite Assistant Superintendent Lightfoot to the table. Thank you. We're going to be going over five different policies, and they're going to all be timely because they're going to be directly related to budget and budgeting policies. And what we're going to be going over is these particular five, and I will hand it over to Superintendent. All right, so Assistant Superintendent Lightfoot, to be able to walk you guys through these particular policies that we're going to be discussing at this moment. Good evening. Good to be with you again. As Director Ross identified, the policies that are in front of you that we have, the monitoring committee has reviewed and looked at are related to the budget. What you

155have in front of you as far as documents are the, if there are any recommended changes to the Hopkins policies, you will see those outlined. In addition, you have the model policies that are generated from the Minnesota School Board Association. With that, you have... five that we'll be looking at this evening. The first of which is the establishment and adoption of school district budget. The monitoring committee did review this. As you will note, there were some clerical components that were part of the editorial adjustments, but beyond that, no substantial change is recommended from the monitoring committee. And if there are questions, we will entertain those for 701. I don't see any. Typically changes to this set of policies are driven by statutory changes and we didn't have any of those over the past session so

156that's why you see no changes. I want you all to know that we did do our homework on these policies and reviewed them very carefully. We have no doubt. 701 is the modification of school district budget as outlined here there again no specific changes as you will note there again just a couple modifications just based on some cross references but no changes as well from any of the model policy any questions regarding 701.1 i don't see any 702 relates to the UFAR coding component that we have as part of the budget. It's really the structure that we use to report to the state, track all of our expenses. As you will note, that is captured here as well. No specific changes as well recommended here. Just some general statutory updates that were done as part

157of a clerical component on this as well for 702, but no substantial change. Questions on 702? Chair Andreessen. Clerk Thompson. I'm just curious, Assistant Superintendent Lightfoot, would this accounting and reporting system be what's moving to Oracle in Hopkins, or is that different? Yeah, excellent question. It is part of the structure, and Director Chapenduka can speak specifically to the fiscal components. Part of the UFARS coding is a statewide element that really tracks on specific areas that the state has designated. We have our own kind of internal coding components that are part of that system, but it does ultimately, in a uniform system, to the Department of Education so that there are common tracking components that really are outlined throughout the state related to the coding structure. Does that help? It does. Thank you. Anyone else? I

158think we can move on to 703. Thank you. Annual audit, 703 as well, you will note here, this is specific to the Hopkins component. There are no recommended changes as well for 703, no updates as part of any model MSBA work other than just changing some titles to specific statutory reference. Questions on 703? I don't see any. All right. And the last one in the rapid-fire round. 704, development and maintenance of an inventory of fixed assets and a fixed accounting system. Here again, it's really about tracking the property components well within the system as well. We are getting some to the question that Director Thompson asked earlier, looking at some additional tracking components with fixed assets so that we can better track those within the new systems that we're using to make sure that we

159have that inventory tracked and accounted for as we think about there again the efficiency of any expenses related to it. So with that no recommended changes as well for 704 would entertain questions there as well I don't see any questions or comments so then I would look for a motion that the board approves the above policies in first read and further the board directs the administration to prepare the policies with No suggested revisions or with the suggested revisions for approval in second reading at the next meeting as part of consent so moved I Have a motion. Is there a second second? I have a motion in a second any discussion Seeing none all those in favor. Aye any opposed The policies are approved and are going in for a second reading. Thank you. Thank you,

160Nick. And now we will move on to our board member reports. Anyone want to be Steve and go first? Are you looking at me? I am looking at you. I'm the most senior board member on this team. Just one quick report. Today I toured the Carpenters Union training facility over in St. Paul, which was really fantastic. And we've been working on more career pathways, direct entry for our students at the high school. And so I sent Dr. Mary Perry-Reed some information about that and how we can... form a closer collaboration with that program. Anyone else? Chair Andreessen, I have a board report. Yes. So I think somebody, one of the students mentioned that there was a skip meeting and I attended that as well. And it was a big round table with all the nonprofits

161and services that kind of wrap around our school community. And I was just very impressed by just how much people care in the community at large. And so, you know, I was, you know, I left very energized and like, wow, you know, people are looking after our children. And it was a great thing to see. Thank you. Chair Andreessen. Yes. One, I apologize for calling you Chairman Westmoreland. No problem. Big shoes to fill. So I have two quick reports. One, 3-18, March 18th, attended that budget listening and engagement session. It was great to hear feedback and comments from our community in regard to the budget and obviously the stress that all... public school districts are under. And then on March 22nd, attended the AMSD meeting where we approved the priorities for 2024. And then obviously

162we got a quick read at the governor's supplemental budget RECO, which obviously education was called out that it was missed and it was highlighted that it was missed multiple times. So I know that was... disappointing to a lot of the staff people that were a part of the meeting that's all i had thank you for that anyone else Well, I am eagerly awaiting to hear from the rest of our community members who Who have sat through a very long meeting and I appreciate all of you So we will now move on to our second section of public comment hosted by the Hopkins School Board and okay now my My iPad is open So I would like to invite Laura Jensen up to the table to address the board. I'm assuming no one needs a reminder

163of the... the protocols. No. Okay. You have three minutes. We did come up with a fundraising idea for y'all. Sell concessions at very well attended board meetings. That can be our PD. Yeah, people are hungry. Hey, I turned down free tickets to the Indigo Girls tonight to be here. My people, the Indigo Girls, to be here with my other people. That's how much I believe in our library media specialists. I'm Laura Jensen. I use she, her pronouns. I have a daughter who's a 12th grader at Hopkins High School. I'm a reading teacher at North Middle School, part-time LGBTQ plus community liaison, co-advisor for the Gender and Sexuality Alliance at North. I could speak for many of these positions, but will speak about my advocacy and support of queer kids and how media specialists support them,

164which Jen already raised. Media specialists are a lifeline for some of our most vulnerable kids in the district. Many queer kids are not supported to the degree they should be at home. We are their support. Media specialists help all kids, but especially queer kids, be seen. Be seen and accepted for their true, authentic selves. To read stories about their people. I end almost every 20-minute read in GSA and say, keep reading about your people. They need to know their history and who came before them. Whether that's elementary school, King & King, Okay, which was a book I read to my own daughter as she was growing up or young adult books like a love story about the AIDS epidemic in the 80s that we can learn so much from. So our media specialists are a

165literal lifeline for our LGBTQ plus students who are three to four times more likely than their straight peers. to engage in self-harm behaviors, suicide ideation, and suicide attempts. According to the Minnesota Department of Education, 84% of LGBTQ plus students report hearing negative remarks at school, at our schools, at all schools. Okay, about gender identity and sexual orientation. Dropout rates are disproportionately higher for queer kids. I believe having licensed full-time media specialists to support our most vulnerable kids, our queer kids, is essential. Many of our surrounding districts do still have media specialists, Osseo, Edina, Minneapolis, Robbinsdale, St. Louis Park, not all 1.0. And this is something that we need to have in Hopkins. We have great paraprofessionals. Anne at North is amazing. We need licensed media specialists. Thank you. I'd like to invite Jim Eichhamel. I

166was looking for you, Mr. Eich. Welcome. Thank you. Good evening. Thanks for having us here to hear our sides. I am commonly known as Ike. I've been teaching at Gatewood for 23 years. I am a proud dad of a Hopkins grad. I'm here to address the library proposal, of course. It's my understanding that each elementary school is supposed to be unique in order to better serve the potential scholars in our area. I think that's probably why I have my position as a naturalist at Gatewood. Our librarians add a lot to that uniqueness. The collection and the culture at each media center in each building is not transferable to the other buildings, and they use their training to help to create that. They are a critical part of our learning. They create our learning and reading

167culture. They participate in extra events such as I Love to Read Month, and they put out the great collections that are relevant to what's going on at that time. And if we don't have the support that we have in the media centers now, we have to say goodbye to those things because there isn't a teacher in the district that is working only their 40. contracted hours and we cannot take on one more thing. And that's just not going to be able to continue. If we think that our paras who are amazing and do wonderful work, but if we think that they are capable of picking up all of that with less contracted hours working the media center, if we think they can do that, then we owe them an apology and a whole lot of

168back pay because we've already admitted that they're not earning and doing the same with that. We saw on the slides earlier tonight that our budget is a moral document that is supposed to reflect our values. And whittling away at the media center is not a value that I think we share. It's not what the kids want. It's not what the parents expect. It's not what those of us with boots on the ground think is the right thing to do. It's our understanding that if we eliminate essentially everybody in the media center and then hire back the pairs at a higher you know higher number and then hire back four to six librarians in a different role our savings is $400,000 and that seems like a small amount compared to the amount of money we're talking

169about. I know this isn't big money, but as the naturalist, we could be whittling away at how much we spend on our waste stream. We don't need to spend so much on our electric bill. We don't need to spend so much on our gas bill. There are areas where we can work together and come up with $400,000, and I appreciate the work that you've done and your creativity, and I encourage you to do so because this is something that is vitally important. Thank you. I would like to invite Anne Malley to the table. Welcome. Thank you for being here. Hey, my name is Anne Malloy, and I'm the media para over at North Middle School. I'm speaking tonight on behalf of all 12 media paras in our district. Ours is the role that will allegedly

170staff the media centers next year, and we are dedicated individuals who love what we do and the students and staff that we serve. We have a unique insight into just what it will look like next year, and we're staffing our spaces alone, and we are united in our opposition to this proposed elimination of media specialists in every media center. Currently, the majority of our time as paras is spent managing the library circulation to allow licensed media specialists time and support to teach and develop media collections. We check in and out books, textbooks, calculators, and more. We manage overdue and lost materials, help students and staff find materials, and reshelf hundreds of books that circulate daily at each location. Along with our media specialists, we organize, arrange, and change book displays to promote literacy and a

171love of reading, as well as embrace Hopkins' celebration of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We already work outside the scope of our purview. In addition to circulation management, assist with iPad and Chromebook issues, create fun activities to promote reading, run book fairs and book swaps, and manage behaviors of students who... visit the libraries throughout the day. The middle schools and high schools can have up to 50 students in the library at a time and behavior is a major issue for the staff and one best handled with a licensed media staff member. present. In addition to the current full-time work that we do, media pairs are being asked to take on additional roles our current media specials are licensed to provide. No matter how valiant, dedicated, and skilled a para is, it will be impossible to get

172all of this done. We will have to give up the many pieces of what we do to make our spaces so special. The district is stressing that literacy instruction and reading will continue to be valued, but this is not possible under the current proposal. While media paras are being asked to take on light instruction per the Minnesota Department of of Education, this cannot include read-alouds, which must be given by a licensed staff. The current proposal effectively eliminates library read-alouds and instruction, other than the time the new potentially licensed digital literacy specialist is visiting a building. Media specialists develop book collections that reflect our students' needs. These specialists work one-on-one with students to ignite a passion for reading. They collaborate with teachers to support curriculum needs. They teach research and digital citizenship. The media specialists bring

173magic to the library and media paras support their work to make this happen. Our switch in para-classification does not fill the hole in losing a media specialist. These proposed changes means that students will not be able to come check out a book whenever they or a teacher would like them to because there cannot be someone at the desk to check for them. It means that we will be closed for a lunch break and on sick days. It means that while a class visits to check out books, there is no one out and about to help someone and recommend books because the para is tied to the circulation desk. We Paris stand to make more money in this change though our positions will be reposted and first we have to reapply But not one of us

174would want the raise we are heartbroken at the move away from the focus on the importance of literacy in our schools And we believe that it is a core value of Hopkins. We're very disappointed in this proposition I'd like to invite Jonathan Lubbers Liebers LUE BB he left okay then Ann Baird is up next welcome thank you for being here Thank you for sticking around. Good evening. My name is Anne Baird. I am the instructional coach at Tanglin Elementary and a letters facilitator for Hopkins Public Schools. I am here to address the proposed reductions and reclassifications of our media center staff as we transition from a media center program to a digital literacy program. Tonight, you continue the difficult work of creating a balanced budget that also prioritizes our scholars. teachers and the programming essential

175to upholding our vision 2031 a vision of innovation created with the core belief that every student deserves a brilliant future On March 13th, our 10 K-12 Hopkins media specialists were told that their existing positions were being eliminated. In their place, the district was creating four to six new positions. The media specialists were told that they would be required to reapply for these new positions with no guarantee, despite continuing contracts or seniority, that they would receive one. No articulated job description has been shared with them. No clarification until tonight was given about even the position being a licensed position. There's no plan for how to equitably distribute this new role across all 12 sites who serve scholars ages 4 to 18. And no direct updates have been given to the media specialists since the March 13th

176meeting. This proposed 50% reduction of staff is significant in the life of a child who is first learning to read. or in the life of a child who is a sophisticated senior who is researching future cities for a personalized project. So if these reductions must be done, then they must be done with great care. My ask this evening is for a pause in this work so that a detailed implementation plan can first be developed with... supported by our most highly trained and knowledgeable professionals in this area, our K-12 media specialists. A seamless transition to a digital literacy program requires their presence at the table and their voice in the implementation process. They have yet to receive this invitation. Take pause carefully consider and require an implementation plan Co-developed with our media specialists so that our

177students step into a digital literacy program that indeed provides them with a skill set To have a brilliant future. Thank you Thank you I would like to invite Jackie Mandujano is that correct? It's Mandujano, it's like the H. Oh, okay. It's okay So my name is Jackie Manujano. I am a junior at Hopkins High School. Today I am speaking on behalf of myself and my friend Rosie Eckert. Together, Rosie and I have been lucky enough to create a book club where we read books by esteemed female authors. One of the many wonderful aspects of our friendship is our shared love of literature. So as avid readers and library dwellers, this decision deeply upsets us. Not only will this affect the future of our book club, but it will also be detrimental to the student body.

178Even though the books will remain, the heart of the library will be gone. Our media specialists are what make libraries what they are. Without them, the library would simply be an empty room with books on shelves. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, our librarians were faced by unprecedented challenges and adapted to these changes. As the world continues to evolve and technology gains traction, media specialists have been pushing forward for the sake of students. So as I look across this room, I see my childhood. I see the people who are responsible for my love of books. Replacing them would be a grave error on the district's behalf. Rosie and I would like to respectfully ask the board to reconsider this proposal and side with our wonderful librarians. So thank you for your time and your

179consideration. I would like to invite Kevin Spencer to the board table. Welcome. Hi. Thank you for being here tonight and for waiting. My name is Kevin Spencer. I currently lead the Chaska Public Library. But prior to this, I was a Hopkins Library media specialist for 16 years. And let me just say that I am so touched personally from all the words that I've heard here tonight. And I imagine my colleagues are feeling it so much more than me. To be clear, Hopkins won't have libraries or media centers if the media specialists are cut. This comes from definitions set in last year's education legislation. Additionally, the legislation brought forward this year, which proposes to put major limits on book censorship, also requires a trained licensed librarian or media specialist to be choosing the materials placed in

180the library media center. Dr. Mary Perry-Reed mentioned research that shows principals have an impact on student outcomes. I can tell you there is more research proving that school library media specialists directly, positively affect not only student learning, but also quality of instruction. She also compares Hopkins to other metro schools. Having a fully staffed media specialist staff as well as technology support has been a draw to the Hopkins schools both for students and for high quality prospective staff. This is also a question of equity. It is from a very privileged perspective to assume or expect students and families to go to the public library, where they can find the trained librarians they need to help them with reading choice, navigating fake news, information literacy, research, connecting to resources, or just finding a safe place. I know

181that budget cuts are always terrible. Having worked for many years in Hopkins, but living in other communities, I feel like I can give an area to reassess, and I would personally look at administration. For the size of this district, Hopkins is incredibly top heavy. It is well known that administrators cost more than teachers. Rather than cutting the people who have direct one-on-one impact on every student, staff member in a school, think creatively about a leaner, cheaper administrative staff. Thank you. I would like to invite Pam Dionne. Dionne? I was getting too fancy, sorry. Welcome. Thank you for being here tonight. Let me get this up. My glass is on because I'm old. Good evening. My name is Pam Dion. I'm speaking tonight both as a parent, a member of the Hopkins School Alliance community. As

182a parent who's had four children graduate from Hopkins Public Schools, I find the challenges facing our district deeply concerning. We're currently grappling with two significant issues, declining enrollment with budget constraints, with the daunting task of... Trimming millions from the next year's budget, the district is at a crossroads. The current exodus of students contributes to financial strain. Alarmingly, 33% of Hopkins' student body chooses to open enroll elsewhere. resulting in the net loss of 250 students and millions of dollars in funding. The most recent Minnetonka enrollment report sheds light on why families are seeking educational options outside of our district. With approximately 1,400 Hopkins students opting to enroll in Minnetonka schools, academic rigor is cited as the principal primary factor. This hits close to home for me. I've witnessed firsthand the shifts in curriculum and instruction within

183Hopkins. From my oldest to my youngest child's graduation, I've seen departure from fully guided, teacher-led instruction towards student-centered mythologies associated with Vision 2031. Unfortunately, these changes have been coupled with an over-reliance on technology and elimination of gifted and talented programs, such as accelerated math and elementary-middle school levels. These shifts... Despite research that indicates an over reliance on student centered learning is not the most effective way to teach subject matter content. This is apparent in Hopkins given the noticeable lack of academic growth post COVID-19 alongside a widening achievement gap. This. Take this heartbreaking statistic only 2.9 percent of black fifth graders in Hopkins were proficient on the MCA math in 2023 far below the state average of 2018 nearly 40 percent of Hopkins black 5th graders were proficient on the math MCA, beating the state average.

184The district attributes the decline to shifting student demographics and bias tests. However, schools in the demographically similar districts that prioritize teacher led instruction consistently achieve higher MCA scores than those in Hopkins. Currently, families are troubled by the district's decision to cut. a full-time equivalent, licensed librarian, media specialist. The position citing budget constraints as a primary factor, perhaps if we retained more in-district families, our budget would be stabilized and our licensed librarian media special wouldn't need to be cut. The district must address these concerns in order to retain local families and stabilize the budget. The limitations of Vision 2031 aligned approaches are clear and now is the time to... pivot towards methods that have a proven track record. Thank you. Three minutes is done. Our students and staff deserve it. Thank you. And now I'd like

185to invite Janelle Batty up to the board table to give your comment. Oh, okay. That was our applause. Well, that was our final comment. Card that was filled out. Thank you all so much for being here tonight If you want to follow up with the board or administration, please feel free to do so And I'm worn out so I am going to I'm going to look for a motion to adjourn so moved I have a motion and a second any discussion Seeing none all those in favor aye Any opposed? The meeting is adjourned at 10 15 p.m