2025-04-14 LFCS School Board Meeting for April 2025

001Welcome to the April 14th Little Falls School Board meeting. Uh at this time, I would like everybody to rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. The district mission statement is that Little Falls Community Schools work together for each learner to achieve academic and personal growth in a collaborative, safe, and engaging environment. Kelly, do we have public comments tonight? All right. Um, thank you. Okay. So, um, Little Falls Community Schools welcomes you to the meeting of the Little Falls Board of Education. This portion of the agenda will be limited to a total of not more than 30 minutes. Individual speakers are

002asked to limit their comments to not more than three minutes. The board asks that all comments be in keeping with contribute to an atmosphere of civil, courteous, thoughtful, and respectful discourse. Um, I have one other thing, too. Kelly will have a um a note. They're three minutes. So, if you're getting close to your time, she'll just hold it up so you know. So, uh looks like I have Renee Krowy. Okay. Why don't you come on up to the table? Okay. So, I don't know. I kind of have a few different things. I don't know if it'll go over three minutes, but anyway, I have two granddaughters that have been attending the Randall School and recently the third grade granddaughter was pulled out of Randall and sent to Lindberg. I don't totally know why, but last

003week there was a singing program at Lindberg School and um when I got there there was no parking space in the parking lot. And I got there about 15 minutes early and um anyway I found a place and then when I got inside there was no place to sit and there were people lined up all around the gym and other people were sitting. There were a few people where there you could see in the middle there was a seat you know that people didn't get together but anyway there was no sitting space and no parking space. that it was announced before the play started that there were 168 third graders. And so I just had thought in the back of my head when the schools banded together, I probably figured there was like 40 kids

004in each grade. So maybe there'd be 80 to 100 kids when the schools banded together, but there's 168 kids. And that's not counting the Randall kids that are you guys may probably plan on sending there. Um, when the play was over with, we were told to meet the kids in the gym or someplace. Well, my granddaughter's in a new school. I want to know who her teacher is. I want to know. I had a couple questions. So, in Randall, she was learning cursive. And I did find out at the Randall School, they say the pledge of allegiance every day. And those are two very important things to me. So when I got to her grade after going through a neverending hallway to get to her classroom, and I remember back in the day, I don't

005remember when that addition was put on Lindberg School, but I remember parents back then complaining about the expense of the windows and the addition, but my kids didn't get go there, so I don't know anything about that. Um, but anyway, it seemed like there was a lot of wasted space for a big building. So anyway, I get to my granddaughter's classroom and I'm told by a couple teachers I wasn't supposed to be down there for everyone's safety. So I don't know if they think you're going to trip and fall or what, but whatever. I had a couple questions to ask the teacher. So I asked about cursive handwriting and she said she introduced it to them about a month ago, but that the fourth grade teachers would teach it. And when I asked about saying

006the pledge of allegiance, she said it comes over the microphone or the loudspeaker or something. And then she said to my granddaughter like, "Right, we say that every day." Well, my granddaughter doesn't know that they say it every day. So, I don't know how it's being said there. Do they get to do whatever they want while it's being said over the intercom? I don't know. Um, so then, um, so that's kind of like one complaint then. Uh, thank you, Rene. Okay. Is that it? That's it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, that is it for our public comments. Um, board members, you should have an agenda in front of you. I'm looking for an approval of tonight's agenda. Also move. Okay. Okay, I have a motion by Sharon. I have a second. A second. Okay,

007a second by Dan. We have a motion in the section. Any further discussion? Okay. If not, all in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Same sign. All right. Next, we have the consent agenda. Um I would that's going to cover personnel approval of prior meeting minutes and approval of financial transactions. Assuming you have all had a chance to take a look at that, I would look for a motion for approval. So moved. Okay. I have a motion by Mark. Second. A second. All right. And a second by Dan. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppos. Same sign. Okay. Resolutions. This would be you, Sharon. Right. All right. Take it away. Okay. I have a resolution for the acceptance of the following gifts. Whereas the following have generously

008offered to donate to Little Falls Community Schools. Therefore, be it resolved by the Little Falls Community School Board of Education to gratefully accept these gifts. Excuse me. Zion Evangel Lutheran Church, a donation of $150 to the Little Falls Community Schools Dr. Knight Social Work Fund. Randall Cusheen Lions Club gambling account, a donation of $1,000 to the Little Falls Community Schools preschool program. Jim's Electric, donation of $33.75 to the Little Falls Community Schools electrical repairs within the district. Mid Minnesota Federal Credit Union donation of $1,100 to purchase tumblers for the Little Falls Community Schools grad bash. Dick and Ted, excuse me, Dick and Pat Tedford, donation of $100 to the Little Falls Community Schools Care Closet. Five Wings Art Council, a donation of $5,000 to the Little Falls Community Schools High School band program to help

009with visiting musicians. Pay It Forward Foundation, the IceFest, a donation of $12,500 to the Little Falls Community Schools Care Closet. Pay It Forward Foundation. Ice Fest donation of $15,000 to the Little Falls Community Schools Flyer Pride Backpack Program. So Lions Club, their gambling account, a donation of $1,000 to the Little Falls Community Schools Sovieties Lion Scholarship Fund. Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, donation of $935 to Little Falls Community Schools. James K. I believe it's pronounced witchy scholarship fund. Zion Evangel Evangelical Lutheran Church. A donation of $150 to Little Falls Community School Flyer Pride Backs. DMS Machine. A donation of $100 to Little Falls Community Service Clay Target League. Randall State Bank. A donation of $100 to the Little Falls Community Service Clay Target League. I will second your resolution. Sharon, we have a second from

010Doug. It is a roll call vote. So, Dan, yes. Julie, yes. Doug, yes. Mark, yes. And myself is yes. The following has passed. Okay. Next, we have flyer pride cards. Um, I'll give you a break. Sharon. Dan, why don't you lead us off here? Okay. First one is Cody Pelzer, lead custodian at Lindberg. He helped us with all our with our grow tower set up being. Thanks for being extra prompt. We appreciate it. Terara Poly, Shannon Vi, and Tony B. recipient, Marcy Hmerson, preschool childc care teacher. Marcy, thank you for all you do at Little at Little Flyers. The preschool age children are doing a rockstar job adjusting to a new setting. Your passion and previous child care experience is shining. Kayla Gruber, Chelsea Robinson, human resources. Chelsea goes above and beyond to assist with

011any concern or question when I do not know who to ask about a matter, whether it be healthcare, taxes, FLA. She is there to help and will provide her will provide me with the information needed in a very timely manner. Great asset to the district. Nicole Brambrink. Ryan Tennold, middle school band teacher for students. Ryan offers calm, firm, caring support. As a colleague, Ryan is the definition of a team player, addressing any issues in a collaborative, calm, problem-solving manner. He's the best. Sarah Flippy, Bonnie Maro, school psychologist. Thank you, Bonnie, for your dedication to students and staff, your expertise in special education. I appreciate all your help and guidance over the years. Thank you for your leadership in the teachers union as well. You will be missed. Sarah Pullman. Dan Fischer, middle school principal. I

012appreciate that Dan truly listens and works together to problem solve. He respects all staff and students. He's open to ideas and feedback from everyone. Dan trusts us. Thank you, Dan. Sarah Flippy Nate Miller, student support and sped coordinator. Nate is a dedicated staff member who consistently supports both students and staff with care and professionalism. He works to create positive and supportive environment where everyone can thrive. In addition, he is always looking for ways to improve our school system for all. Little Falls is lucky to have him. Lisa Solver, Sandy Rudek, second secretary at the middle school. Sandy is a shining example of what it means to go above and beyond. She almost always has the answer for anyone calling in about events across the district. If she doesn't, she's great about tracking down the info.

013Sne is kind, committed, and knowledgeable. We are so grateful for all she does. Thank you, Sandy. Sarah Rusted and Todd Peterson, band director. Todd helped plan an awesome trip to Nashville for the band and choir students. It was great to witness his connections with students and his calm demeanor. Thanks for all your work, Todd. Anna Gravy. All right, Liz and Emily, lead infant teachers. You ladies are rock stars, so patient, kind, personable, and supportive to our students, families, and other staff. Thank you for being part of our team. Kayla Gruber. Jeff Maderas, custodian. Jeff has stepped up to take over the head custodian role at Dr. Knight. He is kind, resourceful, and dedicated. We appreciate you, Jeff. Lea Rosski. Roxan Ree, Lindberg, testing coordinator. Roxanne has done a great job leading Lindberg Elementary as they

014get ready for testing. Roxanne is a rockstar. Leoski, Larry Edgarton, elementary principal. Thank you for your open-minded approach to new ideas and programs within your school. Whether it's opening your building to hall walking or welcoming high school students to engage with your students, you always listen with an open ear and a let's try it attitude. I truly appreciate your willingness to make a positive difference. Thank you, Sarah Rustad. Mara Roberts, first grade teacher, great person to collaborate with to best support our students, flexible with student needs and always willing to problem solve together. Lauren Martinson, Carmen Zair, media center at middle school. Carmen goes above and beyond in her role in the media center. Besides the duties of the media center, she actively searches out students who need help with academics and works with them.

015She is amazing. Sarah Phillipy Maggie Ruby sped teacher. Maggie is an awesome person and teacher. There is never a time when she is not there for students or staff. I am thankful for that that I get to work with her and learn by watching her. Pam Hton, Darla Thompson, Dusty Parker, and Jeremy Statam. Specialist teachers. Wow. If you have not had the privilege of watching a concert at Lmberg Elementary, you are missing out. Darla does an amazing job with the songs and choreography. Dusty makes all the backdrops that are fantastic, and Jeremy helps with the setup, lights, and anything else that is needed. These three put on a spectacular concert. Lindberg Elementary. Lynn Guast, ELA teacher and site assessment coordinator. Lynn works hard in everything she does from meeting the needs of her students in

016the classroom to following testing protocols to ensure test security. Her organization and communication skills bring a sense of calm to students and staff alike. Her professionalism and drive to grow as an educator make her a prime role model for others. Lisa Sver Kermit Klepsis, high school test coordinator. Kermit has done an amazing job setting up MDA testing at the high school. Kermit is a hard worker and we appreciate him. Leah Rosski, Lin Gu, and Steph Patnode, uh, middle school testing coordinators. Lynn and Steph have worked very hard to prepare for the MEA testing season and the middle school. I appreciate their hard work. They are rock stars. Leah Rosski have one for Lisa Lame. No matter the question, Lisa is quick to respond with help. She allows me to ask any and all questions without

017judgment. Great asset to the sped department. Nicole Brambr, Anita Tremba. Thank you, Anita, for your always positive attitude and jump right in personality. I appreciate you. Kayla Guber, Megan Waldock, amazing job running and organizing the chocolate bar fundraiser. Our school and families appreciate the KA's hard work to support our school. Leo Rosski, Nick Abbott. I want to recognize Nick for his dedication and hard work. He goes above and beyond in everything he does from coaching a phenomenal team of champion lifters to developing the next generation of pitchers on the softball field. His nononsense approach not only builds great athletes, but also helps shape responsible, driven young adults. Thank you for all you do. Sarah Rusted, Payton Carl, quick learner, ask questions, and great at forming relationships with students. Plus, you get my movie and music

018references. Lauren Martinson, Deb Yelanimi, Allen, Ya was the mederson extraordinaire for the band choir trip. She put in lots of hours working with Roxy to get things ready. She was also an amazing chaperone on the trip. What an asset to our district. and Gravy, the Little Falls Elementary PTA parent volunteers. Thank you Little Falls Elementary PTA for all the fun events you have hosted this year. The pool party, spring dance, book fair, book bingo, popcorn days, once a month field trips, and so much more. We are so lucky to have such a great group of adults supporting our students. Thank you for the countless hours spent on these events. Lindberg Elementary. Sandy Rudik, Middle School Secretary. Sandy is the definition of going above and beyond. She is always helpful and incredible and incredibly supportive. Her

019smile is contagious. Sarah Philippy Jordan Carl, administrative assistant. Jordan has willingly stepped up to run the office at Dr. Knight. She is hardworking, loyal, patient, and professional. We are fortunate to have her. Learoski Kelly contra Conrad pair professional Kelly has been with LFCS for nearly 30 years. I've had the pleasure of witnessing her dedication to the students of Lincoln Elementary for the past 27 years. Kelly is very insightful in recognizing the needs of the students she supports in the classroom. She sees things that need to be done and does them without being asked. Her dedication to Lincoln students will be missed as she moves on to retirement. Julie Alholm and Miss Marcy, preschool teacher. Little Flyers has been a gamecher for our little guy. He loves going each day thanks to the welcoming environment that

020Miss Marcy creates. Thank you, Lisa Sber. Mara Roberts, first grade teacher. Thank you for being a great partner. I've enjoyed working with you. Flexibility with the students we share. Lauren Martinson. Camila Larson, choir teacher. Camila did an amazing job planning and leading the choir band trip to Nashville. The students had amazing opportunities. What a gift she is to our district. And Gravy Jeremy Statam PE teacher Lindberg for keeping the traditions of Scooterville alive at Lindberg. Your hard work of setting it up does not go unnoticed. Tarny and Sharon Bjord. Heather Olen, school readiness. Heather does an amazing job keeping our center running smoothly and efficiently. She always has a positive attitude and a smile on her face and we are so incredibly lucky to have her. to blast. Jess Jansky, counselor, Jess, thank you for

021being a calming sounding board for students and staff. I appreciate you. Sarah Flippy, Joanne Newman, professional. Joanne is an amazing parah. Her relationship with all students is so supportive, kind, and helps them reach their potential. We are so blessed to have her in our schools and gravy. The Lindberg Elementary cooks. What does one say about these ladies? They are fantastic are nothing short, Close the voice again. Nothing short of amazing. Everyone is greeted each day with a smile and a hello. They do a wonderful job keeping us all fed. You ladies are a vital part of our school community and we appreciate your friendly faces and dedication. Thank you from the Lindberg Elementary. Mary Bartlett, food service director. Mary, thank you for your leadership of our food service program. You have done an amazing job

022over the past couple months with implementing new procedures to ensure our food service program is operating at its very best while also coordinating all the required documentation for our review. I appreciate all you do for our school. Chris Muick, Scott Orens, and Nate Selby, our tech in our technology department. Scott and Nate work tiredlessly to ensure that students and staff technology is online, accessible, and that the tools needed for daily learning and teaching is working smoothly. This is not a small job. Mary breath programs Sheila Goiac a parah Sheila is a fantastic coworker. She's definitely keeps us all on our toes. She makes sure that all the paras are remembered on their birthdays and definitely keeps our morale up. Thank you so much from Pam Hawk. Mary Beth Grahams the technology specialist. Mary Beth brings

023such a positive attitude to any project she's working on. She is also willing to help troubleshoot problems to ensure future success. Little Falls is very lucky to have Mary Beth in our district. Lisa Sver Jamie Fuches, music teacher at Lincoln. Jamie, thank you for your hard work, energy, and passion you put into the grade level concerts at L at Lincoln Elementary. As a parent of a first grader who loves music, it was clear why um he loves it. You do an awesome job. Kayla Guber, Rusty Gu, our assistant principal at the high school. Thank you for your generous clothing donation to the Lincoln Nurses Office. I was able to keep two boxes at Lincoln and share two boxes with Lindberg. Your kindness is appreciated. Nurse Amanda from Lincoln. Cindy Beman, paraprofessional. Cindy is an amazing

024person. She shares her kind personality with students and staff alike. She always puts her best foot forward and I like I love getting to work with her. She does a great job. Pam Huck. Ryan Tennel, the band director. Ryan was a fellow chaperon on the band choir trip to Nashville. His connections with students was awesome to witness. His instructions at the middle school band level help students learn to love making music, and they do make great music and grady. And I do not have a card, but I'd like to just add um a thank you to Molly, our student rep, who donated her Saturday to help us at the prom dress exchange. Thank you. Thank you everyone for the submissions. Nice to hear. Good stuff going on in the district. All right. And with that,

025we do have um presentations. And looks like Molly, you got to kick us off today solo, huh? Yeah. Elliot um she's busy tonight. She's playing in the pit for the musical in May. So, she's got a full schedule right now, but I have a couple things for you guys. So, uh April and May are really busy for the senior class. I was looking at my at my calendar. I was looking what I needed to update the board on and I was like, "Oh, these are all senior things." Wow. Okay. So, the honor society is tonight. Um, after this I might sneak out a little bit early, just a heads up. But, um, this is where the seniors will get their cords that they wear at graduation. Those are GPA indicators. And you are inducted into

026the Little Falls Honor Society. I think it's if you have a 3.75 GPA or above. And then coming up here, we have the activities banquet on the 5th. Um, this recognizes students who have been in activities throughout high school and just shows appreciation for the students that stuck with it. Um scholarship night is on the 14th of May. Um the students have been applying for scholarships throughout February and March. Um a lot of community scholarships. We have a really great scholarship program and this is the night to recognize the winners of those scholarships. Um the balorate service, the balorate graduation service is held at the high school on the 21st which is two days before actual graduation which is on the 23rd. Oh, our prom is coming up here soon. It's on Saturday, April 6th.

027It's going to be held at uh the Little Falls Ballroom. If you guys are interested in going to Grand March, that'll be held at the high school and doors open at 4:00. Um the theme is masquerade, which is really exciting. I'm on the prom committee. That's been something that we were trying to do and we finally got enough support to do it, which is exciting. Um the band and choir festivals happened um last week, I believe. Yes. Uh the days passed very fast lately, so I was kind of slipping away from me, but um that happened last week. The band and choir had them on the same day, so there's a little chaotic getting the kids who are in both from back and forth from both the sites, but it was a lot of fun.

028Um it's not a competition, but there's a lot of schools that bring their uh bands here. They get um judged and we get critiques from the judges. So, we perform our pieces and then they help us make them better. And it's a lot of and we get to listen to our other bands. We get to critique them and um help them as well. And then the spring musical is coming up here also. That's where Ellie is practicing tonight. It's a year with Frog and Toad. Um I have a lot of friends in the musical. It's going to be really fun. It's a cute story and uh they're having three shows, the first through the third. And then it's not on here, but I know it's being voted on tonight and um I wanted to speak

029on it just a little bit. Um this was something that was introduced about the pledge that me and Ellie were excited about because it was kind of what our position was created for was to pro provide that student perspective. And so we we took it from the meeting and then we brought it to our spaces that we're involved in. So we brought it to our student council which um incorporates kids 9th through 12th grade. We brought it to principal advisory council which also incorporates kids 9th through 12th grade. We talked to our calculus class which is seniors. We talked to our comp class which is seniors. And then I talked to my psychology class which is juniors through seniors. And one two apprehensions that the students have with doing the pledge every day is that

030it would be just a little bit disruptive um to plans that have already or like classwork that has already happened. So, a lot of times the pledge doesn't always happen right away at 8:00 and it once class begins, it becomes a little disruptive when we're maybe playing a game or something and we have to pause instruction or pause what we're doing to do the pledge and then get back on track. I know my calculus class can get a little off track sometimes. So, uh wrangling that kids, I don't know what it would be like in a classroom with freshmen, but um that's just what my experience has been this past year. And then another um uh apprehension that has been expressed uh through those outlets has been um the fact that we might lose the

031um appreciation we have for it right now. Right now it's um has a dedicated spot on Monday morning and it's just widely known around the school that this is when we're going to do the pledge. I feel like um it's not me but uh the students feel like um we would lo maybe lose as much participation or it would just become another part of our routine that we do daily and then we lose that kind of respect for that we hold with throughout our day. So that has been the two biggest things that students have been um brought to me when we talk about it. So okay thanks Molly appreciate the feedback. Yeah. Okay, next. Looks like Cam, you are up, huh? With the choir and band Nashville trip. Yes. Awesome. Yes. Fantastic. Um, I

032wanted to, um, yes, tell you a little bit about our trip. I'm going to share some photos and maybe some recordings with you of our experience as well. So, I'll let you kind of go through a little bit. Um, here we are on our way. Uh, we went March 19th through the 24th. Um, that's everybody just getting off the bus at the airport. Um we had 85 of us total that went on the trip. So um our first day full day in Nashville was quite busy. Um we did the RCA StudioB um tour. We also got to record. The choir got to record and the band got to record. Um this is a recording studio where Elvis made over 500 of his recordings. Um the piano is still the piano that everyone has played on

033since uh that studio has been. Um, and so it was pretty exciting to sit at the piano and play in the same keys where Elvis has played. It's pretty cool. Um, so we got to do some recordings there. I do have two. If you do the one on the left side, this is a little bit of the band. I'm sorry I didn't let you introduce. No. Oh, sorry. It's the band. Um, they recorded the school song. So, we'll play [Music] I should say. [Music] F O Y E R S O Y E R S C H A R T E. [Music] Um so cool experiences. We got each uh each group got to got to uh have about a 30 minute time frame to to record. And so they did several takes. I got to

034be in the room with the band when they did theirs. Um and it well it wasn't really that much bigger than this room. No, it was very small. Whatever 50 some 60some kids crammed in with their instruments um in the studio. Um so yeah, it was it was it was a cool experience. Um the other recording is for the choir which I'm hoping and I'm excited that we got this recording. It's of the national anthem and I'm hoping now that we have this recording that they can be played at like the basketball games or um in so that it's when when we can't be there live, we have a really good recording of the kids singing it. So, you don't have to play the whole thing because it's like three and a half minutes, but

035you can play a little bit for sure. Oh, I had an urge to want to stand during the song. I think we should say by the dawn early so proud we at the twilight last stripes. and brighter. [Music] For the ramps we watch were so gallently stream and the rockets bursting in proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, [Music] say for the land of the free and the brave. It was a really great experience with the kids. Um, going through a recording studio and having that u for some of them probably never been in that. Um, so you have the microphone and we we had several takes that we did and it was like, "All right, let's move some people around and let's see what this sounds like when we do

036this and that." And so, and there were definitely some changes and um the kids didn't get to hear it every time we do a take. I got to go into the the sound booth room and listen to it and say, "Oh, yeah, no, oh, we need to fix this or let's do this." And then we come back, we try something again. And um so it was a really neat process, but I'm excited that we have this um recording now and hopefully can use it for for the school. So it's really cool. Um we did record one other song as well just for fun. We had time so that was good as well. Um Country Music Hall of Fame we went to next. Um we had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Then we got a

037chance to walk around downtown Broadway and explore which is I think the kids had a lot of fun with that. We did spot some celebrities um while we were down there as well. And then we ended the night at the Nashville Nightlife Dinner Theater. So there's some pictures you can scroll through. Here's the pictures in the top row is all of them at the recording studio. Um the picture in the middle is in front of the Country Music Hall of Fame and they're eating lunch there, some of them. And then the night dinner theater at the end. Um Ellie, who's not here tonight, Mason and LA all got to get up on stage and sing a Taylor Swift song at the at the concert. Um, and so we had a lot of fun. It was

038a that was a good good first day. Um, our second day included a master class at Vanderbilt. We also got to take a tour of the campus as well. Um, for the choir kids at least. Um, we went to an assembly food hall which is kind of like a high-end kind of like like food court, I guess, um, with all different kinds of um, different things that they could pick from. Uh, we spent the afternoon at the Nashville Zoo. It was a beautiful day. And then we went shopping at Opry Mills Mall and ended up at the Grand Old Opry. Uh we got to hear Vince Gil and quite a few others. It was a great performance night. So you can click to see some pictures. Um the top pictures are there at Vanderbilt, the

039band um and the choir working there and then on the tour. And then middle one in the zoo. They got to pet some kangaroos. That was a fun little excursion there. Um some of the kids are bending over petting them. It's kind of hard to tell. Um and then the Grand Old Opry, which was um pretty cool. Well, if you click the next one, you'll see the whole group there in front of the Grand Old Aubrey. So, good. And the next one, um, our third day was the Belme Plantation and the National Museum of African-American Music. And then we also took a riverboat cruise on the General Jackson. Um, and they do dinner and then they have a show as well. So, take a look. Um, here's at Belme. Um, the we spent most of

040the day, like the whole morning into part of the afternoon there. Um we had lunch there while we were there and we took two different kinds of tours. One was within the the Belme plantation, the mansion there which the kids are standing in front of. And then the second tour was around the grounds. Um the kids got to learn a lot about what life was like for the enslaved um on the plantation for so many years. Um got to learn a lot too about the horses. Um because Belmeid was known for um their horse races and and all of that. Um, and we also got to have a lot of fun. Um, you can kind of tell that we were having a little um, croquet and playing. They had all different kinds of yard games

041and we had some time um, during some breaks between to play some games. It was a beautiful day. The kids were enjoying the sunshine as well. So, you can click the next one. Um, I wanted to share this is a quote. I got an email from the head of education at Belmeat Plantation and she sent me an email said, "Our staff has been raving to me about how awesome your students were this past weekend. They were thoughtful, engaged, and we had a great time touring with them." Um, they were not the only ones. We heard many times on our trip from the staff at our hotel to parents on the riverboat cruise who spoke with us about how amazing our kids were that um they were so well behaved. And um you know when you

042have that many kids altogether um they said that um we were the best group of students that the hotel has ever had as a group. We were never loud, never got complaints. They were kind and considerate. Um and I just want to again say we have the best kids here in Little Falls and their flyer pride, our band and choir kids, it was just phenomenal. I never worried one time. They were just amazing all the time and I wanted to share that with you too. That's great. um the National Museum of African-American Music. Um here the kids are. Gabrielle's at the piano. The kids were jamming out and playing and singing um at the end. Um just kind of showing a thing a few things. We did that for a little bit. It's a brand

043new museum. Um just opened a few years ago. Um the kids did some of them had some fun. They could go into some studios and do some wrapping and do different things. Um Molly, did you do part of that too? No, silly. Yeah, it was fun. It was fun to watch. But there was a lot of interaction, hands-on things. You could go into with like a green screen and you could sing with the gospel choir and it would record you and then you could go back and watch yourself like singing along with them and you could put on a choir robe and it it had a lot of fun and really cool things. Um just a great museum. If you ever get there, check it out. Um the General Jackson, um the showboat, that's a

044picture of all the seniors on our trip standing there. Um um big paddle wheel. It was a lot of fun. There's a picture of the group that was performing. It was called Music Nights. They did all different um you know '9s country and for me I was like oh my gosh it just went right back to high school and college days um of listening to all the music but very fun great buffet I think the kids had a great time. Would you agree Molly? Yeah they had bottomless Shirley Temples for $5. It was great. Yes. Yes. Well that's a memory. Yes. And you got to keep the coats. Yes. Um this is just pictures of every I took a picture of every table so you could see all the kids. They were all dressed up

045so nice and we're having a lot of fun. So, it was a it was a great evening. Um, our last big day was um a big drive to Memphis. We went to Graceland and then came back and watched The Lion King with the Nashville um Symphony Orchestra. Um probably of all the days we had the most I don't know disruption, I guess, right Molly? We had some issues with the busing um that day and so uh some of the groups didn't get the full time in Graceland and it was a three-hour drive to Memphis and then Graceland and then we had to three hours back to get back in time for the symphony. So that was probably the one the big downer of the trip, but at least we all got there eventually. Um so

046we'll show you a few pictures here. There's everybody outside at Graceland picture in Elvis's house and some of all of many many suits. There were walls that looked like that. Mini walls of all of his um outfits. So, it's pretty pretty cool. Um and this was at the Lion King. This was a really cool I don't know if you've ever done this. I know they do this in Minneapolis and I've always wanted to go. So, it's kind of fun for the kids and for the band kids. It was great. They had the full live orchestra and they would we watched the movie but while they played all the music live. So the vocals, like the singing and the the speaking parts were still from the movie, but the orchestra would play along and you could

047kind of see it. Um the conductor had a computer screen up and so it kind of like the bouncing ball of like following and so that would be his cue like when to start and then they would play with that so he could see how it would fit with the movie and which is kind of what they do when they record for movies when the orchestra is recording um for that. So, it's a really really cool experience and a great last night. Uh, just had to throw in a few. Um, this is kind of a funny, but the Tennessee Flaming Flamingos was our group chat for our texting for all the chaperones on the trip. So, when we saw the flamingos at the zoo, we had to take a picture. Um, we had a great

048time. Um, I want to say, and it was really kind of an um to leave so many notes about all the chaperrons, but I also want to say that she also was fabulous. Um, every single one of those, um, chaperones did a great job, work well together, were so kind and caring. We had several kids that got sick on the trip. So, we had a chaperon that stayed back at the hotel every day of our trip um to stay with us, whoever was sick. Um, and so it was unfortunate, but um, we had great staff that were willing to do that to take care of the needs of our kids um, and help out. Um, and Debb did a lot with meds. We had a lot of things going on. we had a student in

049a wheelchair and crutches and then by the time we left we had two in a wheelchair. Um so um that's a that's another story. Um so anyways it was um it was great. They were fabulous. So thank you very much for the opportunity for allowing us to go. Uh for some of these kids it's the first time they ever flew. For some of them it's literally the first time they're out of the state of Minnesota or maybe even out of Morrison County. Um, and so to be able to go and experience all of these different things. Um, we had jam-packed days and I know I pack a lot in when I plan these trips, but it is um to give as many opportunities for kids to see other parts of the country and and yeah,

050it's just um it was great and we made some great music. We had some wonderful opportunities um doing that as well with um with the recording and uh with the master classes. So, thank you very much for the opportunity to allow us to take the kids to do this. Yep. Sounds like a great trip. Yeah. Any questions for Tam? What's on your wish list for going forward? Where would you like to go? Oh gosh. Well, we did we did survey the kids about things. Um I don't you know I am disappointed that COVID never never got us on our New York trip that we were supposed to take. So, I don't know. I maybe maybe beyond the United States. I don't know. We'll uh we'll see we'll see where where the next one goes, but

051yeah, something something new and different. Thank you for putting so much time and it's so well organized. Thank you very much. Y thank you. Thanks. Thank you. All right, next we have Mr. Borgi with our spring update. Thank you. So before we get started, I just have to echo um what Molly and Camela both just said about our students at the high school in Little Falls in general. I think they are amazing. They're very well behaved. And I think it's a product of this is year 14 of Flyer Pride. So every single kid that comes up through our school district understands what Flyer Pride is. And I think those expectations of respect, responsibility, positive attitude, and being safe just carry over. And when we have a group of 90 kids go to Nashville and I

052heard it from several people, not just Camela and Todd, that our kids were complimented all the time about just how they conducted themselves. So proud, so proud of those kids. They just do a great job. Speaking of doing a great job, you took the first slide, so that's awesome. Wally, I on my handout, I have a list of all the uh upcoming events for the senior class, and I just want to highlight two of them. One is this is our 15th year of Day of Caring which will be again on it's always on the first Wednesday of May. I can't thank the community enough for their support they have and um we're looking forward to a great day and uh we have about 165 people already signed up with folks on the waiting list and

053we're really hoping that we'll get some more adult volunteers otherwise we're not going to be able to uh meet all the needs of the people. So the the program grows every year and and we're really looking forward to it. I know our seniors are are anticipating having a blast at day of caring. And then commencement, which to me is the best day of the year to uh to graduate our seniors. Uh again, this is the second year now. The commencement is on Friday evening. It's at 7 o'clock. So, uh, looking forward to, uh, graduating the senior class of 2025 and then sending them off to Grad Bash for the evening. It's, uh, it's it's a great end of the year. So, we have uh, our senior class has 10 valadictorians all tied for 4.0. So,

054that'll be something that'll be really cool that we'll highlight tonight at our our reception. Does anybody have any questions about the calendar events? I know I sent you a document early earlier and you've seen it now a couple different times of the events coming up in the spring. One of the things you'll notice is some of the other things I'd just like to highlight in my few minutes here is everything that we do, you know, going forward and ever since the strategic plan has been adopted by the door by the board, we really try to tie things to the strategic board strategic plan so we can meet the goals and priorities of it. And so, um, one of the things that, so I I included a copy. I know you probably have a hundred of

055them, but our curriculum and programming, we just completed registration for the 2526 school year. We're in the process of putting all of our registrations into the number of sections. And I just want to highlight some of our new classes and some of our classes that are in year two. So, we have a couple new college in the schools classes next year. We have AP American history that we're adding and we're also adding a world history class for college credits. So part of the strategic plan uh you know priority one I think it's goal two is to continue to develop and enhance our curriculum in the school. Uh and so we continue to uh try to improve and enhance our curriculum which brings me to the second two bullet points. This will be year two of

056our CDL and aviation classes that's part of our transportation academy. And I believe Eric has 27 kids signed up from Little Falls for the CDL program. And then we have students from Piers Royaltton and Upsula that will be taking the class as well. So we offer it really one semester for Little Falls kids, another semester for the county kids. Um, that's year two. And also for the aviation class, we have 25 kids signed up for aviation year two of that. Uh, Peter Master John is is teaching that class. So, those two programs are established. The kids love them. And Eric, if I can put you on the spot, how many kids so far have passed the test? Well, they all get through the federal ELDT and they all get through the courthouse Minnesota state tests.

057Um the driving gets a little bit more challenging because there's quite a bit of cost that come and go. Um as cheap as I've had kids get through is $1,500. Some of them up to four or 5,000 depending on how much driving time they need. Um it's about $200 an hour get drivers. So it it adds up real quick. So I would say probably at least 25% of our students that actually that complete the written have actually gone through and completed the driving and have their complete class A CDL so far. So and I know I got a lot of them in the pipeline. We work really well with Adam Corola at Central Minnesota Truck Academy out of Royaltton and uh he keeps he keeps me in the loop on when he gets one of

058my new students come through. So I know he's got three or four working on it right now. a lot of them try to get it through their employer. Um once they get hired, the employer's been uh able to finish some of their driving with them as well and just sign them up for the state test. So, it's been going really well. So, you think about getting your CDL, think about getting your driver's license. You have a classroom component and then you have behind the wheel. Eric takes the students all the way through the classroom component and then we partner with um a couple different companies to help them get their behind the wheel if and their road hours to so they can be uh fully licensed. So questions on that? That's really a good a

059good leadin to the next page. We are uh actually in the process of really kind of launching our careermies and pathways. We have a lot of pathways in Little Falls High School. have talked a lot about our CNA pathway. We have transportation pathways. Um, but we've been working with a group of uh seven or eight staff members the last two years in developing three differenties. I have a handout for you and then a number of different pathways. So, it's right behind the strategic plan. Um, we have a stream academy which is science, technology, natural resources, engineering, agriculture and math. And then you see the different pathways that are aligned to that academy. And then we have health and human services. And then our business and communication. Every one of ouries, our goal is, and we're

060just starting this is to have either uh college in the schools classes and advanced classes, um a certification, a job experience, um a job shadow, potentially an internship. So when students are finished with their with their high school experience, they have some real life, real world activities experience in in one of themies. Um looking forward to really kind of doing a big launch next fall where we'll really enroll all of our students and ask them to to be in one of themies. It's not like declaring a major. If students say, you know what, I want my focus of my high school experience to be in health and human services. doesn't mean they can't take a manufacturing class or they can't take a class that's not necessarily in their academy. It's just more of a guideline

061of if you want to be a veterinarian, here are the classes you should take in Little Falls that prepares you to be for a career in veterinarian. If you want to be an educator, if you want to be a teacher, here are the classes in the Health and Human Service Academy that you should take that will help prepare you for college and being a teacher. If you want to be a welder, these are the classes you should take. So that's how all of our classes going forward are organized bymies and pathways. So uh you're going to hear a lot more about that uh you know next fall when when school starts. Okay. And again that's all aligned to our strategic plan. That's that's I think it's goal two of of strategy one is developing that

062evidence-based career and college readiness uh plan for every student. The other college and career readiness program that we implement at the high school is called AVID. Uh you've heard me talk about AVID before. I provided you just a a refresher of some of the things that we're doing with AVID right now as we continue to expand the AVID experience across the high school. Uh and then the last thing I really wanted to highlight is again meeting uh the teaching and learning goals of the strategic plan goals one and three is we've under went begun a a process of a school improvement process at the high school. It's under our MTS umbrella of multi- uh multi-tiered systems and support. So we're working with Sourcewell and we have uh developed a school improvement team that's going to

063really look at our data. really excited about a couple of new programs uh software programs that we have available at the high school across the district actually. It's it's prolific and school links. And so we're using those two programs a lot to uh help track how we improve um you know both of those are our our uh college and career readiness and our school improvement. So, um, we're we're doing our best to try to make sure that the work we're doing at the high school aligns with the direction that the, uh, that the board and the community has has set for us. So, no fancy slides, but uh, I could talk a lot more, but I need to get to the honors society. But, does anybody have any questions? Oh, that's that's a great update.

064And I like the kind of the the flexibility and the I guess the new approach. Not necessarily new approach, but I like the open approach that you know the pathways. It's a I think that will help everybody. I I think it's uh it's an exciting way to look at your high school experience where, you know, having children that have gone through the high school, you know, they all went to college. Um some of them, some of my personal children had more direction going out of the gate than others. Um, but as I've I've tell the kids, sometimes it's just as important to find out what you don't want to do as what you do want to do before you go off into a two-year school or a four-year school and spend a bunch of money.

065Our best example of a of a an internship that we can provide kids is is going into a classroom at the elementary level and finding out if they really do want to be become a teacher. And those kids get to intern for two, three hours for a whole quarter, sometimes a whole semester. And we have, some people call it growing your own. I think we've hired four or five kids that have been through our personal internship program as a high school senior in Little Falls and we've turned around and hired them. We've really have grown their own. So, it's been uh it's been pretty neat. Okay. We want to do more and more of that. Any other comments, questions for Tim? No, just thank you. Thank Yes. Thank you. Appreciate it. See you later. All

066right. Next, we will move on to Mr. Johnson, the superintendent report. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Board members, a number of updates. First of all, I want to say thank you to our presenters tonight and sharing so many of the positive things that continue to happen in our school district every day. And board members, I know it's a time commitment, but reading the flyer pride cards as well, I think is a important thing for us to do. We have, just so you know, April 24th, both at Lincoln and Dr. Tonight we have come and see day which is an opportunity for parents to come in and get an experience students as well to see what kindergarten is like. It's always been a successful opportunity to be able to give folks that experience prior to the school

067year starting. Uh we're also working on planning summer school. Um, to piggy back off of kindergarten, we have kinder camp in August, August 11th through the 14th, where our kindergarters come in for a half-day experience for 4 days to get a feel for kindergarten and prepare themselves for the start of the school year without anyone else in the building. We also have special education, extended school year, summer school, middle school, summer school, and high school summer school. All starting right away in June. And then the elementary grades, kindergarten through fifth grade, have summer school August 4th through the 14th. Mark, if you I put you on the spot for a second. Just real quick, Mark, we've been working with Camp Ripley on a mutual aid agreement to enhance our unification process and procedures. If you

068don't mind talking about that. Sure. So, a long time ago, probably back in the early 2000s, the district had a handshake agreement with Camp Ripley that if if there were ever a need for us to mass evacuate buildings, whether or whatever kind of a situation that we could take the students out to to uh camp and and and use that as a reunification site. And so, um, recently there's been changes in leadership out at camp and there's obviously been changes in leadership through since 2000, early 2000s in in the district as well. And so, we felt it was time just to sit down and kind of formalize that. And so we've uh worked with Camp Ripley and Royaltton schools and um the Morrison County Sheriff's Department to formalize an agreement um that would allow us

069to utilize Camp Ripley as a reunification site. And so um it's it's gone through all the legal channels that that's got to go through now. And so we're going to we're ready to start signing that agreement. We're just waiting for direction on from camp as to who for their purposes who needs to sign first. Do they need to sign first or do they need the districts to sign first? So, it's a it's been a great partnership. Um we meet quarterly with with Morrison County Sheriff, the Little Falls Police, Little Falls Fire just to talk about emergency man emergency planning. So, anything else you want like me to add to that? questions you'd have. Thank you, Martin. Thank you. In front of you, board members, there's a handout titled the Albert Toma Family Endowment. And maybe

070Sharon can help me with this as Sharon and I are both board members of this endowment. And it's been around I didn't realize since 1992. And it's an opportunity. This endowment for Little Falls Public Schools, Community Schools is over a million dollars right now. And that those resources are used to purchase library materials, books, non-fiction books, uh, picture books, online subscriptions to really enhance our opportunities in our media centers as well as our classrooms. I don't know of another district that has something this unique that we spend anywhere from 40 to $60,000 a year to support media centers and books in our school district. Sharing anything? The only thing I was going to add was this year I was impressed that um Ann Becker, who's the family member from Toma, um asked if we had

071ever, and to my knowledge we haven't, if we've ever requested funds to use for our special ed students. And so that is something that's going forward we're going to look at that could help us with that budget. Thanks Sharon. And then we also received just recently a comprehensive arts planning program grant from the Perpich Center for Arts Education. It's $4,500 a year for years 25 through 27 for us to be able to put together a comprehensive arts planning program within our district. essentially creating a strategic plan for arts instruction. like to share. I know board members, we've discussed um a little bit about a listening session for the board with the number of items that we've been talking about related to finance and facilities. And quite frankly, it could be any information that community members

072would like to share with the board. that I'd propose to you that we on April 30th at 7:00 host a listening session open to the public where people could come in and share information for the board in the district location. I believe we'll have that in the high school auditorium. And then in front of you board members, you have a half sheet of paper looks like this. And this is the information that we will share on our website, social media. We'll email it to families. I'll be sharing this on the radio tomorrow and hopefully we can, depending on timelines, get this in the record. but it's information about our community survey which will begin sometime this week and it just gives people a heads up that when they see a 651 or a 507 area

073code don't think it's spam necessarily it's could be someone calling from our survey company survey will last approximately 15 to 20 minutes and it's gathering insights regarding community's opinions on the delivery of education for our students financial and facility practices, assess public interest in potent a potential levy referendum. And so again, in advance, thanking people for taking the time to participate in that survey. I think we've went through three three drafts to get reach the final draft of the survey. It's about 70 questions and again, we'll push that out next this week. And the goal is at the next board meeting on May 12th, the uh Morris Leatherman Company, Peter Leatherman, will be here in person to present the results of the survey. Any questions about the survey? Could we put this survey up on

074the website and let folks who voluntarily want to do it take it? Is that a good idea or a bad idea for our 500 popes group? I don't have the expertise and knowledge that the Leatherman company has in conducting a scientific survey. I'm going to guess I know that's not something that they do with their surveys and there's probably a good reason and certainly post survey obviously will share those questions and people again there's questions related to people just giving their feedback about how the district's doing academically, financially. There's questions in there about four day school week. There's questions in there about class sizes. There's questions in there about closing schools. There's questions in there about community's tax tolerance if we were going to move forward with a referendum. So, it covers an array of

075of topics. And then lastly, not lastly, this may take a few minutes, but board members, you've asked um and there's just been a lot of of information related to our finance and facilities. And I I do um give credit to the amount of questions and obvious interest in big decisions that lie ahead for the school district related related to our budget and uh expenditures. These aren't easy decisions. Obviously, we would I think I don't want to speak for all of you, but we'd prefer not to be in this situation, but it obviously needs to be addressed. So, I do have some additional information to share with you. Again, reiterating that um we're in the idea stage. That's why there's a survey out. That's why there'll be a listening session coming up the end of this

076month and no decisions have been made. Here we go. And board members, stop me at any point if you have questions. This portion of my report, I want to talk about Minnesota birth rates. Would like to take a look at our enrollment trends in the school district. talk a little bit about the reductions the school district has made the previous two years. Um look at staffing costs per student in our district. And then like always we're planning ahead looking at next year 2526 school year staffing scenarios. This is information from the CDC and it it reflects birth rate in Minnesota. So you can see back in it's not reflected down below but in this in the narrative on the right by the numbers the state's birth rate fell nearly 21% between 2007 and 2022 dropping

077from 14.1 births per thousand to 11.2 just the trend that's happening in our state and I'm assuming many states right now. This is an additional comment from someone at the state level, the state demographer, stating that the data from the last few years, and this goes back to 2022, is likely the result of a pandem pandemic related blip where people who held off on trying to have children soon after CO 19 hit did so the following two years, which is why you see a little bit of a plateau here in 2020 through 22. The expectation by the state demographer is that going forward this little plateau is is just temporary and that we'll see the decline resume within the coming years in our state. This was an article um from the Minnesota Star Tribune less

078than a year ago with the title, reversing Minnesota's declining birth rate is costly and controversial. And the subtitle, chronic health conditions and decisions to delay pregnancies mean state may have to rely on methods like immigration to grow. But this isn't again pointing out um these declines aren't anything new. This is a snapshot of Little Falls. I found this interesting. If you go back to 2002, 2003, and those of you who've been in the district longer than me, this is when Little Falls Schools was in statutory operating debt in 2002, 2003. And I believe this was a time when media centers were closed. Perhaps the pool was closed for a period of time. And the fund balance was almost $600,000 in the hole in the red. And if you look at our enrollment in 2002 2003,

079we had 3,022 students. And in just four years, that enrollment dropped to 2530. That's about a 16% decline in four years in the fall schools during that period of time. Um, and if you look at from 2006, 2007 to now, enrollment was 2530, we're at 2,300. That's about a 9% decrease, but spread out over 18 years. So, the decline in enrollment, although it's been steady, has not been drastic. And I really believe it's primarily driven by the birth rate birth rate decline that we see in our state. And I could show a lot of information. Another important data point I think too is open enrollment. And if you look at our open enrollment numbers, when you look at the number of students we gain from other districts based on the ones we lose, that number

080has been consistent over time. This is a snapshot, a projection of looking at Dr. Knight. And if you look at Dr. night projected out to school year 26 27 just based on current enrollment that we have. Second grade would be our current first grade today at 14 students. First grade would be our preschoolers today which again we're sitting at 14 students. And then as we look at projected preschoolers next year that number is at 13 and 14. So again, that trend of declining enrollment, lower birth rates continues to impact the district in all parts of our community. A point with our budget reduction. So fiscal year 23, excuse me, 24 and 25, we reduced our budget by $3 million. And there were no reductions made at Dr. Knight those two years. Majority of the reductions

081that came through took place at buildings in Little Falls simply because it's a challenge in a one section school to reduce teachers, reduce programs. It makes it very difficult during that time period of two years of reductions. I'm not aware and was not privy to any discussion about closing Dr. Knight. Again, we tightened the belt and made significant reductions. Also during that time at Dr. night. We added additional nurse hours. We had added additional media center hours and we increased the amount of principal support significantly during that budget reduction process. This is the staffing cost per student. So what we pay the cost that we have in each of our buildings for the staff that we have divided by our number of students. And you can see those staffing costs by building from Dr. Knight

082to the high school. Also looking at our district average and asked to show a scenario that if if again capital letters and underline if Dr. and I closed what those staffing costs would look like with just four buildings. You can see that balance also noted up here. Currently with all the buildings in play, just just over a $100 difference between Lincoln and Lindberg. Um if Dr. Knight were to close, what with those reductions? Because the the biggest impact in closing a building is the impact in staff savings. If you look at from a teaching standpoint, anywhere from four to five teaching positions, not Dr. Knight teachers, but teaching positions in the district, we would see some savings of $432,000. The principal position, $172,000. These numbers include salary and benefits. Interventionist, $105,000. Five para professionals including

083a media center parah 152,000 two custodians two cooks and a secretary $278,000 which would be a total of just over $1.1 million. What that doesn't factor is lost revenue in in student enrollment. If we lose potentially how many students that would impact the saving the savings in the staff reductions obviously if Dr. Knight remains open for next school year just to note the following positions would need to be hired yet this spring. Two teachers at Dr. Knight an interventionist in reading and math at Dr. Knight a transition teacher at the high school. a head custodian at Dr. Knight, secretary at Dr. Knight, a head cook at Lindberg, media center par profofessional at Lindberg, and a custodian at the high school. What else has changed since we we asked a task force to come forward and

084help us look at our budget situation is the state budget forecast has gotten worse projecting a $6 billion deficit in two years. The governor's come out with his proposed budget, which is cuts to special education, transportation, and likely districts taking over unemployment insurance would be which would be significant increases to our budget and deficit. And then just recently finding out our health insurance rates have increased by 18%. I'd love to sit here and share positive news. I I I wish there were were better scenarios for us to consider and I know we have some difficult decisions to make. I like you am very very interested in what the survey results will will pose to the board and and helping support the district as we make decisions moving forward. Any questions, board members? I am and

085I'm going to not to throw cold water on it, but if I was just reading this for the first time and I didn't know any of the background, I would say yes, Dr. Knight um is a anchor for us. But I wonder how that would change if students that families that want their kids to go to Randall were allowed to because that's not happening now and it hasn't happened for a number of years. Um we are we say we're the Little Falls Community School District, but unless um if you have the Little Falls zip code, you're not allowed to go to Randall. Randall is supposed to be. We say it's part of the Little Falls School District. Um I don't agree with what was decided. I'm not really sure who all decided it um on

086the zip code cuts on it because I know I live 2 miles from the Randall School. Three miles from me is the Little Falls um zip code. that's cutting into what could be going into there and maybe keeping a number of students in our district, not just Randall, but in our district. So, those numbers I don't think are they're honest, but they're not a clear forecast. Just to touch on that, I appreciate those comments, Sharon, and and I know that that's that question has been asked before. I think it's common in school districts that have multiple elementary schools to have boundaries and they do that to be able to best plan and support the needs of students. And it's really hard when a district doesn't have boundaries that you have families then that from any

087given year can choose to be at any particular elementary school in the district. We've experienced some unique situations just this past year at Dr. night with trying to best support students with special education support, some behavior supports, and it's been challenging because we don't have as much support there as we would like. If we had 15 people from Lincoln or Lindberg say they want to transfer to Dr. Knight, that would significant significantly impact our ability to be able to effectively staff that building. And vice versa, if we had 15 to 20 people choose to leave Dr. night and come in a little falls. That would really tie our hands from a staffing standpoint. I'm really concerned though about the the number of students that we potentially could lose from the district, not from Randall, but

088from the district because I have families that are telling me if this goes forward the way they're expecting, unfortunately, they will also be pulling both the middle school and the high school students. And that's a lot of money out of our budget for that, too. We will be hurting in every building. So, I think it's definitely going to be an extremely hard decision, but it's something we have to be open-minded and look at for everything. Absolutely. Well said. And I am hearing from both Little Falls residents and Randall area residents, they really feel that a number of the board members have made up their mind way before any of this was made public. And I haven't um these type of numbers, you know, they're I've known about them for a while, but they're an eyeopening

089deal that the public has to completely be aware of, too. But they need to know the other facts too, not just the numbers on the board. Thank you. Any other questions? The only thing I'd say to that and I'll say the same thing, Shar, and I mean I would agree with you 100%. The other part I'll ask and I asked up in Randall, how many of the people who live in Randall are sending their kids to Dr. Knight? I know there were two of them and they're hoping that, you know, in the community meeting saying we need to keep Dr. after night open yet they didn't send their own kids there. I have a real hard time listening to somebody and taking that person serious trying to get me to tell me what to do.

090I want to keep this school open, but yet I'm not going to keep my kids there. So there is there's there's two sides of that. That's what I said on all of these points. So I get it. And if we lose kids, I mean again with that situation, we're already losing kids because they're not sending them to school. But if we have kids pulled, are we going to lose 1.1 million in kids? I don't know. I don't know either. So, but again, I just know that a number of families have already visited with with Swanville. I'd heard today Browerville, um, Pillager, and a couple of them have already signed up that are actually in Little Falls area that could be going to Little Falls and are going to Piers next year. Sure. I just know

091for me it's it's it's and I hate the fact but I know it has to be the bottom line and the money. I really think we have to look at a lot more than just that. I would agree. But I will tell you from my standpoint too and I can't speak for anybody else. Threatening that you're going to do something to make me make my decision will not work for me. So um it's what it is. I' I'd like to go back to what Greg was saying. I think that's where the importance of this survey is really going to show because like you said it's covering a wide range of subjects. It's covering, you know, uh tax availability as far as people whether they be supportive of another referendum, you know, among other things across

092the whole district. So that's going to have a big those results are going to play a huge part in how we make our decision moving forward because it is a dollars thing. it is, you know, and and we have to do what's best for the the entire district as a whole. We can't look at it just from the Little Falls perspective, and we can't look at it just from the random perspective. We got to look at it from the district perspective as a whole. And that's where the benefit of this survey is going to come through in my opinion. I'd also like hopefully we'll have enough enough people that will come forward to the listening night and actually ask us the questions that you're not just talking about over coffee someplace. Let us know what

093you're really thinking and if you're serious about like Doug said, are you seriously thinking of going someplace else? And personally and for my own mind, if I have a little one in in Randall and you say it's too far for them to travel Little Falls, well, it's no quicker or shorter distance to Swanville or Pillillage or anything, too. We've got to look at the whole picture. Thank you, sir. The students have to be first. All right. Anything else? Any other Can I make a comment? No, you can't. This is not an open discussion. Okay, next we will go on to Are you done, Greg? I am. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. On to um new business. Looks like a resolution for non-real for probationary teachers. We have three resolutions this evening. Our first one is

094um what Doug just said, resolution for non-renewing probationary and this is teachers. Whereas the following teachers, I hope I get three names right. I apologize if I don't. Preschool teacher Cararissa Teser. Kindergarten teacher Elizabeth Hansen. Fourth grade teacher MN Mickelson. Titles fed teacher Jennifer Bragg. Special education teacher Cooper Grasshorn and business education teacher Shannon Larson. These are probationary teachers and independent school district 482. Be it resolved by the schoolboard independent district number 482 that pursuant to the Minnesota statute 122A-40 subdivision 51 and the district master agreement the teaching contract of said teachers listed above probationary teachers in Independent School District 482 shall be non-renewed at the end of the 2425 school year effective June 30th 2025. Be it further resolved that written notice be sent to said teachers regarding the non-renewal of their teaching teachers

095teaching contract. I do need a second for this motion. I will second your motion. Thank you Doug. And then we will have roll call vote. Dan, yes. Julie, yes. Doug, yes. Mark, yes. Myself is yes. That is the first one. Our second re resolution reducing and discontinuing educational programs and positions. Chair Maloo introduced the following resolution and moved its adoption. Whereas the school board of independent district 482 adopted a resolution on January 6, 2025 directing the administration to make recommendations regarding the reduction and/or discontinuence of programs and positions. And whereas said recommendations have been received and considered by the board of education, be it resolved by the board of education of independent district 482 that the following programs and positions or portions thereof be discontinued. 2 full-time E in art and 8 special education teacher.

096I need a second for this motion. I'll second Dan. Roll call vote. Dan. Yes, Julie. Yes, Doug. Yes, Mark. Yes, myself is yes. That one also will pass. Resolution number three, resolution proposing placement of a continuing contract tenur teacher on unrequested leave of absence. Be a resolved by the school board of independent district 482 as follows. It is proposed that Christine Mson, a continuing contract tenur teacher of said district, be replaced on unrequested leave of absence without pay or fringe benefits at the end of the 2425 school year. This will be effective June 30th, 2025. Said action is taken in accordance with the district master agreement and pursuant to Minnesota statute 122A.40 40 and subdivision 10 upon the grounds described in said statute and which are specifically as followed financial limitations discontinuization of the position

097namely a 2 art teacher and point8 special ed teacher your proposed placement on unrequested leave of absent is not the result of imple implementation of an educational district agreement I need a second I'll Second. Thank you. Roll call vote. Dan, yes. Julie, yes. Yes. Yes. Mark, yes. Myself, yes. All three resolutions have passed this evening. Okay. Next, looks like we have a request for po proposal for school food. Um, is there Can you lend anything to that, Greg, or is this just pretty straightforward? I'll turn it over to Chris. Chris. Okay. So, our our food service program is large enough in total size that we have to work on the bid process for our major products in the food service department. Um, our food service director and I worked on developing these and we decided

098to break it into three separate categories. school food, school milk, and school bread products to give us some flexibility with vendors in the area. Um, hoping to keep it local. Um, it has, I believe, a three-year renewal on it, so on the fourth year, we'll go through this process again. Okay. All right. This is an action item. Um I'm assuming do we need to take these one at a time? Probably. Yes. Okay. All right. So the first I am looking for a motion for a proposal for RFP for the school food. It's moved. All right. I have a motion by Dan. A second. Second. A second by Mark. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppos. Same sign. All right. Motion carries. Next we have the proposal for milk.

099So again looking for a motion. So moved. A motion by Sharon. Second. Second. Have a second by Mark. Any further discussion. Okay. Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Same sign. All right. Motion carries. And then finally, the last um RFP for school bread products. So looking for a motion. So move a motion by Dan, a second. A second by Sharon. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. Same sign. All right. Motion carries. All right. Right. And then it looks like there is a our wellness policy 533. This would be the first read through this. Um this is not an action item, but just more information um for the board to take a look and go through the first reading of our wellness policy.

100All right. Next, we will step into old or unfinished business. Um first item is the approval of a marketing and grant writing position and this is an action item. So um you do have a copy of the job description in there and let's see why don't we go with get it on the table and then we'll get any discussion going. So I'd look a mo make a motion for the approval of the marketing and grant writing position. Okay. So, you had first or I I'll I'll make the motion. A second by Sharon. Okay. Any discussion? Everyone's had a chance to look at it. I think it's a it was a suggestion, I believe, from the community group. Um it's one that's been discussed for a number of years. Uh the grandfing was part of it.

101I am still a little confused on the how that would be paid. Would that be partially on the amount of grant money they bring in? Yeah, we would have That's a great question, Sharon. This position would have a flat salary and then built into this based on uh not only the work in attaining grants, but also their work in communications and marketing, there would be an incentive component to that salary to encourage additional grants for the district. Okay. Okay. Any other discussion, questions? All right, we have a motion, a second. Um, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppos. Same sign. Motion carries. Our next is approval of policy 531, the pledge of allegiance policy. Um, let's see. Looking for a motion. I'll make a motion. Okay, I have a motion by Dan,

102a second by Sharon. Any further discussion? Yes. Okay, go ahead. Go ahead, Sharon. Um, for the last couple years, this has came up a number of times. I would like to see us continue with uh following this the state law of it being once a week over the intercom. I've spoke to Molly this weekend plus some other high school students and a couple middle school students and they pretty much gave me the same information that Molly gave to the board tonight that um they felt it would lose the significance. The only opposite part that I was heard was some of them felt that and I don't know maybe we aren't doing this that they are not being taught um some of the significance of why the pledge is said and the importance of the flag

103and the symbolism behind it and they would like that from what I understand from our elementary teachers it is being said every day in the elementary schools so we're talking mainly the middle and high school doing it once a week. And like Molly mentioned earlier, it was the same response I got from other people, both parents and and students, that you say it over and over again, it's like some things even in your in your religion, you say it so much after a while you're just doing it on remote and you're not you're not actually thinking about what you're saying or the reason behind it. And it I think it would lose its importance if we do that to the students. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Dan, I kind of wish Molly was still

104here because I had a question for her and we didn't get a chance to ask questions when she was done with her brief. But it'd be nice to know the number of students that she actually interviewed. Like if she did a poll, what she did about three different classes, but like what percentage of the actual student body did she actually talk to and did she get those responses from? because I mean she may have gotten say 50 of those responses but when you factor in 50 out of 6 through 12 you know we don't know what that number of I don't think she did middle school I think it was 9 through 12 right but it would it' just be nice to know what that number of responses was frankly we live in probably some

105of the most polarizing times that we've been in the last 20 years regarding the division among people with everything that's going on. Um, and in my short time of just over two years on the board, I haven't seen any major issues discipline wise or anything like that in the elementary schools. We don't see those issues starting until the middle school and in high school. Well, the common theme to that to me is we're doing the pledge daily in grade school and we stop doing it in middle school and high school. Um, and part of this policy and the way it's been rewrit rewritten includes one of the things you actually was talking about that you heard students saying they would like to learn the significance and have the understanding. That's part of what the policy

106is getting set up the way it's set the way it's been rewritten and and adjusted u the way it is in front of us here tonight. But um I think I have I personally have the issue and people I've spoke to have the issue of having it be res recited every day. I think the point that you're just making now, Dan, that we need to make sure the students understand it and why that it's being said. I think that is something maybe we need to look into because I don't know if the schools if they have a class or lessons on that, right? And that's that's literally part of what the policy is putting in place here. But the part of the policy that says recitation required every day is the part I had the

107problem with. No. Okay. Any other discussion hearing? None. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. I. All right. Three to two it carries. Okay, start. See, we didn't specify it for this school year. So, I would assume the first beginning of next year will be a new parent go out in the parent handbook with updates. Fall of 25. Fall of 25. Okay. All right. Reports from board members. Um Dan open my phone here. Look for some notes. Um okay. Trapped. Uh spoke with the trap coach and um he's uh got nothing but good things to say about uh the trap program for Little Falls, our program over the last four years since he took over. Mike Thompson as the head coach. He's seen the interest in the program grow from 47 kids to

10853 the following year, 57 the year after that. Now this year we have 62. Um we also get people from all different backgrounds in in trap. We have regular athletes or some some that are in trap that it's their only sport they're all for. It's one of the fastest growing in the state right now with over 400 schools participating. This year we actually have 13 female shooters out of 62, so close to 25%. Um, and Minnesota actually has the highest number of shooters for trap nationwide with over 12,000. So, and zero zero injuries over 20 years. So, it's impressive. That's all I got. Okay, Julie. Nothing. Nothing. Sharon? Um, yeah. I'd like to make sure people are aware that on May 5th through the 9th is teacher appreciation week and please send a note or

109just let them know that you do appreciate what they've been doing with the students for the for the year. I want to thank both Little Falls and Randall citizens who have been reaching out by email um text, phone call and let giving me your opinions on things like that. We need information from everybody from every walk of life on it. I'd like to give a special thank you to um Rose Albbrick and the Helping Hands 365. Like I mentioned, Molly was there. They did for two Saturdays. They had over 200 prom dresses donated for students to come in and look. And we had a number of suits. And so I think she said we had 13 13 girls that found dresses. So they and it wasn't just from Little Falls. It was as far away

110as Detroit Lakes, um, Long Lawn Prairie, different communities, peers, and Little Falls that found dresses and, um, I think there was four young men that found suits, ties, shirts to go to prom that there was no cost to them at all. So, and she does plan on doing this continuously. And like I mentioned, Molly and I believe there was five other high school students this Saturday that gave up hours and came and helped with it. It says a lot more for our students too that are willing to help out with that. And then also the my last thing is April 24th, the Initiative Foundation is hosting a Morrison County Family Resource Fair. So if anybody has time that day to check it out on social media or contact them and get more information to find

111out things that are going on in this county especially that can maybe help you or or give you information or ways you can find to volunteer to help. Okay, Mark. Nothing new to report. Nothing. Okay. I have a couple things. Um I like Sharon would um like to thank everybody for for reaching out. Um I know we have some big decisions and I would like to thank you from both from Randall from Little Falls, from around the district and stuff. Keep them coming. I'm more than more than happy to listen to them and stuff. Um one thing I do want to um that one thing I want to address though that I've heard out there a lot is is transparency. And what I wanted to do is I looked up the definition of transparency just

112to make sure that I'm not getting it right or I'm getting it right. And the definition I found says transparency refers to the practice of being open, honest, and clear in communicating information. Transparency involves being open about how decisions are made, why they are made, and the information that informs those decisions. Now, I know we've been accused of not being transparent, and what Greg did today and at previous meetings, I don't know how you can say we aren't being transparent with this whole thing. So, um, because you may not be aware of it right away, doesn't mean that we haven't been transparent with it. So, I would appreciate, um, you know, if you have questions, certainly reach out. Um, we have many meetings where we have nobody sitting in the audience, so it's good to

113see people here. So, um, if you have questions, all of our contact information is out there. So, on that, anything else to come before the board? If not, I would look for a motion to adjurnn. So, I got a motion by Mark, a second by Dan. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. All right. Meeting's over. Thank you.