001I call this meeting to order. This is a regular meeting of the Northfield Public School Board. Today is Monday, January 12th, and the time is 6:35 p.m. This meeting is being livereamed and recorded. The recording of this meeting will be posted on the district website as soon as possible. Welcome members of our community here tonight to observe the important work being done on behalf of all school district stakeholders. Dr. Helman, we have some items in the table file. Will you update us? Yes, there are several items in the table file. There is an updated file uh to accompany the stadium naming rights contract. Uh there are also several personnel items including appointments, increase, decrease, change in assignment, and some resignations. Uh we also have the enrollment report uh the first of 2026 included in the
002table file this evening. >> Okay, thank you very much. If there are no objections, we will add these items to the agenda as we move forward. Is there a motion to accept the agenda as presented? Okay. Moved by Jeff. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Maggie. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. Okay. Motion passes. Item three is our public comment and we do not have anyone signed up. So, we'll move on to item four, which is announcements and recognitions. Yes, we have several this evening. I just want for those listening uh I want to acknowledge that there's been an issue at the video bridge tonight. So, we are streaming audio only and that will be posted uh to the website after the completion of the meeting. Uh this evening, I'd like to
003share that Evelyn Bower and Isaac Schlife have been named Northfield High School's 2526 AAA award winners. Evelyn and Isaac will now advance to compete with other region 1A school winners for the opportunity to be uh selected as regional selective selections in this Minnesota State High School League um program. The academics arts and athletics AAA award is sponsored by the state high school league. It honors high school seniors across the state who maintain a 3.0 or higher GPA while participating in league sponsored athletics and fine arts activities. So congratulations to Evelyn and to Isaac. Northfield High School juniors Bella Christopherson and Christopherson and Ben Heimers have been selected as the 2025 MSHSL Excel Award recipients. Bella and Ben stood out in a highly competitive field through their outstanding achievements in athletics and in the fine arts,
004their meaningful volunteer contributions, and for their exemplary leadership. So congratulations to Bella and Ben. Uh the Excel Award, which stands for Excellence in Community Education and Leadership, is a distinctive recognition program created exclusively for Minnesota high school juniors who are actively involved in school activities, demonstrate strong leadership, and show a deep commitment to community service. Proud to share that Bridgewater Elementary School principal Nancy Antoine has been selected as the recipient of the city of Northfield's 2026 Human Rights Award. Uh Mrs. Zantoin was selected for this award for her dedication to advancing educational equity and justice for all students as well as her leadership, mentorship of future leaders, and her work to dim to diminish persistent educational gaps within the Northfield public schools community. Uh she will be honored during the city's Martin Luther King Day
005uh Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration on Monday, January 19th at 6 p.m. that is being held this year in the Northfield High School Auditorium. That's the first time that I can recall that we've hosted this event. So 6 p.m. next Monday in the high school auditorium. And then finally, I want to share that 80 high school students gathered at Carlton's White Center on December 11th for the 10th youth data summit. Five Northfield students led this year's summit, welcoming peers from Farbo, Waterville, Alleian Morristown, and Tri City United to dive into Rice County's 2025 Minnesota student survey results. Our student leaders facilitated meaningful conversations, built connections across districts, and helped everyone learn more about their communities. The proposals the students developed will help shape real decisions that affect their peers. Uh so just want to
006thank um Emily Culver and all the folks from um HCI who helped really facilitate that youth data summit. Those are your announcements for this evening. >> Thank you very much. Board members, do you have any announcements or recognition? You First, as a former member of the Human Rights Commission, I just want to say, wow, Nancy Antoine got it. That's great news. Um, but I do have an announcement as well. I This is just more of a shout out to Ray Cudre and the Northfield Fine Arts Boosters who had a very successful fundraiser on Saturday evening at the Armory. And I had the joy of attending. They had all different groups playing the music of Bruce Springsteen. and um I'm sure they raised thousands of dollars to help enhance art education and activities in our district.
007So, thank you to all of them else. Right. Thank you. Next item is items for discussion and reports and first we have our financial forecast and revised 2025 2026 general fund budget. Director of Finance Val Merf will review the recommended revisions to this general fund budget. The general fund budget revision accounts for legislative impacts, financial audited data, and settled contracts and benefits. Welcome, Bal. >> Good evening. Thank you for having me. So, we're a little out of sync of our normal uh kind of routine that we've been in the last uh several years that I've been doing this. But tonight, I'll be presenting the revised general fund budget and the financial forecast at the same time. The audit results were a little delayed this past year, so we're kind of shifting, but um this will
008be a lot of information, a lot of detailed information. So, um certainly I will open it for questions at the end. there was um a lot of information in your packet. I've used this picture uh the last couple of years for the forecast just because I feel like they're looking into the future with their binoculars. Um so it's one of my favorites. In no shocking turn of events, we start every presentation with our strategic plan. Um so our vision is preparing every student for lifelong success by developing critical thinkers who are curious and ready to engage in our society. Um obviously as the finance department stewardship is our primary strategic commitment lens that we're looking through but obviously we're making sure that our decisions and our financial resources are meeting all of these um the
009best that we can. So, I wasn't joking when I said there's a lot of information. Uh, so the general fund budget revision, we're going to talk about updated enrollment. Um, now we're past October 1st, so we um revised that estimate. We have a settled contract with the NEA, the Northfield Education Association, and we have our final audited data. Um, so all of that kind of goes in to say what was uh projected in the spring, what's changed, what do we know? um and updating those items as they come about. And then we take that revised budget and that's really the base for the updated financial forecast. Um so we'll talk a little bit about the financial cycle that we use here in Northfield, what our known parameters are, which I will just give you a
010teaser. There's not a ton of them. Um updated enrollment projections that go beyond just this year, and then the financial assumptions that we're putting into the model. We're going to talk a little bit about the board's um opportunity to renew the operating levy and what that potential timeline looks like and then all the budget presentations for the for the coming spring. So for the 2526 general fund budget revision, um again key factors are really that audited information, making sure everything's finalized from the prior fiscal year. October 1st is no longer a projection. We know how many students are showing up every day and can have a a stronger projection for the end of this year. Employment contracts are settled. We have staff hired. We know where they were placed. Um any grants that we have
011or that you know last minute get delayed by the state for a year. We have all that updated information. Um any contract renewals um and we have some more benefit information finalized into this year. So those are kind of what drive the bulk of this um revision. So in terms of enrollment projection, I like to look at it this way. So you can see last fiscal year, what did we project in the spring? What did we revise and how did we actually land? Because that's a, you know, 70% of our revenue is enrollment driven. So if this is really far off, then it's going to impact everything else that I'm presenting. And so you can see we projected last year to end with about 4,157 weighted pupil units. Um so that's waiting 7 through 12
012at 1.2. That's what all the formulas revenue on. And we ended with slightly higher than that. So 4,172.8. So that's a good place to be. Again, it's the ballpark, but anytime it's over means we got a little more revenue than originally projected. And then for 2526 in the spring, we were projecting about 4,120. Um, again, not a significant change, a very slight decrease. Um, lots of shuffling between grades, which I found very interesting, or between grade groupings, I should, but overall a 1.9 student weighted student decrease. So for all intents and purposes really consistent uh in terms of what was projected. So for the revenue revision um again most things are pretty similar. There were not um large swings other than you'll see state sources uh increased. that is primarily driven off the audited results
013where we had a pretty substantial one-time bump in our special education revenue. Um that was due to a a change in specifically how we used our federal funding uh to pay for tuition billing. And so that was kind of a one-time bump up and then we expect to stay at that level with kind of the normal increases year-over-year after that. And so that was a big shift there. Um, the decrease in federal sources is because the 21st century grant that we reapplied for in the spring, I believe we submitted in March and we were supposed to hear in May and I believe we found out in August uh the end of August if I recall that they were just freezing that for a year because the federal funds had been held and they didn't have
014enough time to process everything and so we just do not have that grant for this year. Um that was about a $125,000 grant each year. Um depending on how how we used it, it was a three-year grant typically and we've had it for nine years. Um eight or nine years, something like that. So that was a big deal um to just have that not showing up when we were planning. So we've shifted gears a little bit on how the community school program looks this year, but we are still running community school programming. Again, that is one of the bright spots out of how we used our ESSER funding um to kind of expand that model. We built up the fund balance um in that targeted services um area to help support that. So, we are
015still able to offer it even without that funding this year. But again, that'll be kind of a long-term consideration um depending on what they choose to do with that grant moving forward. And then we did get a one-time um they had a cyber security grant and it was honestly one of the easiest grants I've ever applied for. It was a quick onepager. Do you spend money on this? Yes. How much? Um and so this is helping. we were awarded $80,000 to offset um our annual um subscription for the Arctic Wolf, which is our kind of cyber liability um insurance network where they're monitoring our network 24/7. Um so that was a nice bonus. Again, those are those kind of one-off grants that the state has the 2023 legislature really modeled that competitive grant. Um, so
016again, these are one-time things which I will try hard to emphasize a lot because it's important to remember when things are continuing and when they're not. Um, but those were kind of the big ones in terms of the revenue. Um, and so I think it's about just over a million dollar increase over the prior year. Again, the vast majority of that related to special ed. Um, so about a 1.46% increase. And this is even more data to look at. So I'll talk through this a little bit. Um we talk about expenditures um in terms of how where we're spending it. Uh what type of program is it administration? Is it in the classroom? Is it supporting? Um and then what are we spending on salaries, contracts, supplies? And so these are the same dollar amounts
017just split out in two different ways. So you can see the different classifications. So in terms of um expenditures, we're looking about $350,000 more, which is not um not a huge increase, about 0.52% and definitely where I would love to be. It's great when the expenditures are um projected to be close what we were already projecting. So that's a good place to be. Most of these um increases are really related to um the settlement with the NEA and just making sure that all of the costs are um captured and associated there. Um the Minnesota paid leave tax takes effect January 1, so this next payroll, we'll see that for the first time coming through. Um and then I think those are the big ones. uh health insurance being a big one um that came through
018on the teacher contract. That was a little more than we had originally projected. And so that's just kind of shuffling through um making sure all those match up. So about 350,000 more. And then in terms of the fund balance projection, this is obviously a really critical data point that we use um to make sure that we are um being good stewards and making sure that we're meeting the board's goal of the 14% and using that to make sure we have enough fund balance to support any kind of um one-off things that we are not anticipating. So, we had originally projected ending 2425 with I want to say about 12% fund balance. That increase in the special education um and the expenditure budget coming in right on target meant we ended at 15.3. And so, anytime
019you're projecting and something ends up better, that's going to forecast forward. And so for 2526, I intentionally left the original beginning fund balance in calculation. Uh so we were projecting to end at 15.1 this um fiscal year, but now that we have that final data from the audit, we are actually projected to end at about 18.4. And so this is a great um this is exactly what we were hoping for when we went through the priority based budget reduction process. The only way currently for the school district to not um have a priority based budget reduction every other year every year is really to build up that fund balance. Just like when we passed our operating referendum, we built it up and then spent it down. um because our revenue just does not keep pace
020with inflation's or with inflation in the way that um where we could manage that year-over-year. So, this is a very solid place to be um and provides us the stability that we were really working towards. So, that's pretty much the the revision of the budget. So, now I'm going to kind of shift gears into the forecast. Um the financial cycle is one of the um best parts of working in this district. Um I actually get to teach this to other school business officials um because it works so well for us. And so really what this means is we are in front of the board and the community at least four times a year updating um and making sure that things make sense and that they're on track with what we were expecting. So, we are
021up in the little red quadrant right now doing that financial projection. Again, typically we do the revised budget in December, but we're combining those tonight. The financial projection is really setting up the adopted budget um for the next um for the next school year. So, we're looking at the legislative um assumptions that we're going to make um and other just contractual assumptions. We're going to be negotiating with the other 16 contracts in the coming months and so making assumptions about how those will settle. Then all spring, as you know, I'll be up here presenting the variety of budgets that we have. Uh we make assumptions about staffing and student count with enrollment, legislative, all the good things. And that's all adopted before June. And then in the fall, we do the audit and we verify
022if things came in at where we were expecting. Um and then we again circle back to that revised budget after we have that October one enrollment. All the contracts are settled and staff are hired. Um and we just kind of keep going around. So it has worked really well in this district to make sure we're on top of um the numbers. Um, again, it's providing a lot of uh transparency for the community um and keeping people informed. So, I'm a big fan of it and I hope you are too. So, here's what we do know. Again, it's limited. Uh, so again, strategic commitment to stewardship, that is the lens that we are constantly looking through to make sure that we are meeting not only the goals um and the vision of the district, but community
023expectations as well. So we ended 2425 with 15.3% unassigned fund balance which is above the goal 26 revised budget has a surplus of about 1.9 million. We are still experiencing that ongoing incremental declining enrollment. Um so that does play a pretty substantial um part in our revenue budget and 80% of our budget is just salary and benefits. Um, I may sound like a broken record, but that is how our budget is structured. We are we hire people to do good things for kids. So, that's where we're at with that. And again, that is not unique to Northfield. Every school district has a budget like that. Enrollment drives about 70% of our total revenue. Again, why we highlight that uh data point so significantly. And then we know um and you've heard it probably hundreds of
024thousands of times at this point, but the state's financial support, the state is 68% of our revenue budget is consistently losing ground to inflation for the last 20 or 30 years. Um and so we'll talk a little bit about that as we go through the slide here. Minnesota paid leave tax implementation, again that started January 1. and then any legislative impacts. Again, in this second year, there's not as many um but still a few to consider, but then also planning what what is that going to look like in their next cycle. So, this is the six-year projection um in terms of enrollment. So, you can see some of the history of where we've been and where we are projected to be. You can see it's not mass exodus. It's slow incremental um which can almost
025be more challenging um just because of the way it erodess the revenue um and the ability that we have to respond to it. So overall what this shows is the middle school is actually going to say pretty consistent or slightly increase over the next couple of years and elementary and secondary decline slightly. Um so again it's it's been pretty consistent year-over-year what we've seen it aligns with what our demographic study said is held constant. Again that can be really variable depending on the market. Um, and then we know we'll continue to see an increase in our oped levy. That's our other post-employment benefit levy. Um, so that supports any retiree subsidies for staying on health insurance and those sorts of things based on their contracts when they retired. So this is the revenue over seven
026years. Um, you can see what I really two things I wanted to highlight on this particular one. The orange block in the middle is the referendum and the local optional revenue. So the local optional revenue is like $424 per weighted pupil and the rest of it is our voter approved operating referendum. So when I say 9 million, that's a pretty substantial portion of our budget. And then on the bottom, that percent change really highlights um I talked about 2% at the state level, 2% for special education. Um and so you can see our percent change being 1.4 or 1.6 or 1%. That's really an impact of declining enrollment. So we are not seeing a 2% increase in our revenue because we're getting revenue on less students. Um, so I just wanted to highlight that because
027it this is our persistent math problem that we've continued to talk about. Um, even when the state gives inflationary increases when you're in declining enrollment, it does not keep pace. In terms of our expenditure assumptions in the model, um, salaries are modeled based on settled contracts. So if we know what the settled contract terms are, those are included. But obviously the model is looking out three to five years. Um and so r the increases range from three to four percent. But again this is encomp encompassing 17 total contracts um that include their base pay steps longevity uh sub pay co-curricular um all sorts of things. And so there's a a range of things that are included in that projection. It does assume a similar staffing ratio, which again with declining enrollment is not necessarily a
028given, but because it's been slow and incremental, assuming a similar staffing ratio has worked pretty um pretty well and then we can adjust each year as we determine. For benefits, um we're assuming the TR employer contribution remains at 9.81. they have increased it nearly 3% in the last six years. So, I'm hoping that they feel like this is a place we can stay for a little while. The paid family medical leave tax um is still projected at 044%. That could change based on the state's um initial data in the program um because they're using that to fund it. So, if there's a large need, that would likely increase. We know that the district increase in health insurance will be 10% for 26 and 27 and then we're assuming 5% after that. The model also assumes
029that we'll have similar participation that we're not going to see lots of people, you know, enrolling in other other plans and that sort of thing. Same employer contribution for dentals assumed. Um a 3% increase for summer employment. Again, that really is matching the salary expectations because that will um increase as the salaries increase. And then a 2% increase in that other post-employment benefit, that retiree benefit again is really a contribution of um to their health plan. And so that will increase just like our health insurance increases. And then non-s salary um which again it's about 20% of our total budget has about a 3% increase across the board each year. There are obviously concerns about um inflationary and procurement pressure. Um not as much as in past years, but there's still quite a bit of
030volatility and things that we just don't know till we know them. So 3% um may not be enough, but in terms of our projection, we're really only looking at 3 years out because the legislature goes in two-year cycle. So anything past 3 years is pretty challenging for the district to um estimate accurately. Um so this is just a another visual of our um expenditures. And so you can see basically the blue and orange that's salary and benefits. Um so that is the largest portion of our budget. And again that percent change on the bottom 4.6 2.8 2.9 this is our math problem. Even with 2 to 3% increases in revenue that declining enrollment really chips away at what we have the ability to provide our staff um in terms of salary increases and contracts and
031supplies. uh financial assumptions in the model assuming that the fund the f it's been a long day fund balance goal continues to be 14%. Uh just as a reminder that calculation excludes um operating capital, long-term facility maintenance, student activities, and scholarships. Um, so that expenditure total is slightly less than the grand total you see at the end of this. Um, it does assume a slight spend down of that ALC targeted services fund balance supporting that community school model like we talked about. Um, but that is included as part of the assumptions. So this is um the 2425 actual our current budget which is actually the revised budget um that you will approve later tonight and then the orange column is that projected for next year and then the blue is 3 years out after that.
032Um, and so really on here, what I would say is that increase in net position for fiscal 25 really put us in a strong and stable position um to continue evaluating the impact of declining enrollment and the general economic uncertainty and instability. Uh it shows a pretty healthy buildup of the fund balance that will provide budget stability through likely for sure the 2728 school year. Um which is exactly what we told people when we did the budget um prioritization. We were hoping to get a couple of years because it is a painful process to go through with our staff and having to do that every year every other year is not ideal for um for morale. This provides consistency for staff um in what they can expect. And then again, this just continues to show
033that ongoing deterioration of the state funding um and the the purchasing power that we have access to. And this is just a visual kind of of what you just saw on the other um the detailed numbers spreadsheet. Um the blue line across the middle, that light blue line, that's the unassigned target fund balance. So that's 14% of expenditures. The orange is our total fund balance. Blue is that unassigned. So the dark blue against the light blue is really what we're looking at in this slide. And then the yellow's just restricted. Um so you can see we kind of build it up, spend it down, which is a a very normal expected operation. And I know you've seen this slide before because I had it in here last year and I just kept it because it's
034important. But we are looking at 13 or $1,400 probably at this point um in terms of the state being behind inflation. That is nearly $6 million for our district. Um, our taxpayers obviously have stepped up and are providing an extra 9 million to offset what the state has not kept pace with inflation. Um, so this continues to be a struggle. I uh suspect it will continue to be a struggle for a little while. And then this is our budget development calendar. So February 9th, I will be presenting the operating capital and long-term facility maintenance budget and then we'll have our first initial discussion with the board about um the potential of renewing that operating referendum. The 23rd will be debt service and our internal service fund. That's our self-insured health and dental. As part of
035the um board renewal of the operating levy, we are required to have a public hearing. And so that will be a date to be determined um should the board choose to move forward with that. Um probably sometime between February 9th and March 9th. Um so March 9th will be the construction fund. April 13th will be the child nutrition and community services budgets. You'll get a break from me for a little bit and can hear from Stephanie and Aaron. And then um our recommendation would be the board vote on that renewal of operating referendum on that April 13th meeting should you choose to move forward with that. April 27th will be the general fund and then May 11th will be that all budget approval. Um, so this is a couple meetings ahead of where we were
036last year, which is a much better, more comfortable place to be, but um, hopefully everything will go on track with that, but that's our current plan for the spring in terms of pulling all the budgets together. So, in summary, that was a ton of information. Um, but if you take anything away, just know that we are in a really strong and stable position to meet our vision. um and provide some stability for our community and our staff and our students. Any questions? >> Thank you, Val. We appreciate you and um we are in excellent hands of you. So, thank you for your leadership. >> Thank you. >> Members, do you have any questions at this time? Amy, >> first I want to second what Claudia just said about how much we appreciate you. Um, I
037was just reading recently about a large school district to the north of us who um have three of their top financial people on administrative leave right now for issues. So, I thought of how lucky we are to have you and your expertise as part of our district. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Very grateful not to be in the news for those things. >> Yes. And then also um uh thank you for your detailed presentation. Again, sort of impressive and mind-blowing in the same time. A lot of information. >> Thank you for not saying mind-numbing. >> Maybe a little of that, too. But um I didn't say that. You did. Um so, uh I know I've asked you this in past years. I'm going to ask it again because you said to me some magic
038words updated demographic survey. >> Yes. >> And one of the things I keep wondering about is we use the Rice County birth rate and your predictions are almost spot-on. So I don't want to mess up your process at all because you're doing such a great job. But my presumption is that most of our students are born in Dakota County because they're born at Northfield Hospital which is in Dakota County. And I'm wondering if you've thought um at all of trying to see if there's a way of considering the at least the Northfield hospital birth rate in your projections because I looked at the numbers that you had and it was the younger years, the younger students that really the numbers bumped up a lot and it was the you know like the high school and
039middle school students where we lost students and I'm wondering if that might be because of this sort artifact that we have where we're looking at Rice County birth rates. Uh especially with Northfield Hospital trying to market itself as a birthing center and a place for people to come and I know they're coming from all over but a lot of them are Northfielders as well. >> Yes. So, I have looked into this um a couple of different times and I will say no one has yet been able to give me a definitive answer about if the birth rates are specifically from where the hospital is or where they live when they're born. Um I will also say what we're doing is using trend data, right? And so we're saying on average we get 32 to 36%
040of the Rice County births. I think if we use Dakota County numbers, it'd be a similar thing, only a much smaller percentage because Dakota County is significantly larger um and encompasses many of the larger districts um to our north. And so I I would expect it to be similar where we would say we get 7% of the Dakota County births rather than 32 on average. Um, so I don't expect it to be dramatically different and I do um with the current announcements about the birth center um really becoming kind of a hub um with Farbo discontinuing theirs, it I think it's going to further um exacerbate that that it's not just Northfield, they're coming from all over at this point. But it is trend data which is what I always go back to rely on.
041Um, so we're looking at the last five years. Um, really because that's all you can do for in terms of kindergarten. Um, because that's who's been born for sure. Um, but that that has been very consistent for us, which is one of the reasons that the production has been relatively solid for the most part. Well, I would love to hear what you find out that the answer is, whether it's the hospital's location in in Dakota County or whether it's the parents address. Tell me as soon as you find out. I've been curious for years. Yep. >> The other thing I want you to keep in mind is if we're stealing pregnant women from Farabo because they're no longer giving birth in Farabau, that means the Rice County birth rate is going to go down because
042fewer babies are born in Rice County. So that might affect the trend as well. So just keep that in mind. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. Appreciate the question. Anyone else question at this time? >> Hey Jeff, >> isn't that quite an assumption being a baby is born that by the time it gets to that age it's going to still be in school? I mean that's a whole separate issue, isn't it? >> Um I I would say the the data suggests that it's been pretty consistent. Um in terms of we've seen kind of ups and downs in terms of that birth rate in Rice County um particularly during COVID and 5 years after it's it's playing out in that 32 to 36 each year. So it has been a pretty solid um trend data point for
043us but we always you know we're always we want to know when birth centers are closing and when we're consolidating and other things that could impact that. um data point that we've used pretty consistently. >> I'm just thinking how often people move. >> Anyone else question at this time? >> Thank you, Belle. >> Thank you. >> Our next item is the stadium naming rights contract. Um this as outlined in policy 809.1, the district requested proposals for stadium naming rights for Memorial Field. Who will be presenting on that? Yep, that's me again. I could have just stayed up there. >> We do have Lance here, too, for questions. >> Oh, great. I uh I wasn't sure if he was going to make it. >> Let me just get logged back in here. This will be an
044item for individual action at the January 26th board meeting and there are details in the memorandum. >> Okay. So, um, as you know, last year we really, um, kind of full force put effort into into the naming rights and advertising, um, as another option for generating some additional revenue to support, uh, the general fund budget. And so, this was our first real um, naming rights proposal. Um, and so we solicited for bids. We had um we had a night where interested vendors could come in and see um they learned about the high school project. They learned about kind of Memorial Field and how it was staying the same, you know, what was going to be different um and some future opportunities that we're considering. Um and then we opened up a proposal. We had the
045bid set at a minimum of 12,000 annually. Um, and then within that they get um, obviously they get their their name on the the new digital scoreboard that was authorized uh, a few meetings back here that we're going to be putting in this summer hopefully. And then um, we opened bids until December 1st was the deadline. And so uh, we're very excited to share that Heritage Bank was the high bidder. Um, their bid was 18,000 annually for 10 years. And so in the packet you saw some um kind of mockups of what the digital scoreboard will look like. Um it'll be Heritage Bank um stadium at Memorial Field. And so making sure we're incorporating Memorial Field and keeping that historical component um while still honoring this uh new partnership. And so they will it's basically
046the lump sum payment. They'll pay us once a year. um they'll get some advertising on the sign, an actual mesh banner at Memorial Field, and then um their name stated and um you know when they're doing all the um announcements and all those sorts of things. So, Heritage Bank is super excited um to partner with us. Um their their comment in the survey was this is a a fantastic way to support the community and our students um and feel a part of that. So, there's a draft contract which will ask for approval at the next board meeting. Um, and then that those mock-ups of the uh digital scoreboard I think are the most recent that we have. That's the model we're going with and what it'll look like. Um, we're just going through the kind
047of final process. We have to have it reviewed by the city and sign on with the vendor, but that should all happen over the summer. Um, so this is our first real kind of naming rights opportunity. Um, obviously came in financially more than we were hoping for, which is, um, very exciting, but we're just super grateful for the support and partnership, uh, in our community. So, um, I don't know if Lance has anything he wants to add to that, but, um, otherwise, I'm happy to to take questions. >> Excellent. Very exciting. Thank you, Val. Thank you, Lance. Board members, do you have any questions for Lance or Val? >> Just have to keep talking to you, Val. Um, so a question for Val and then one for Lance. Okay. Um, so I'm looking at the
048contract. >> Yep. >> And I I think the contract in general is fine, but of course I always go to worst case scenarios in my mind. So, what happens if uh Heritage Bank goes bankrupt and goes out of business? I mean, that doesn't seem to really be covered and or if they have some terrible scandal where we no longer want to be affiliated with them. Yep. >> Can we break this contract? Um, >> yep. I believe there's I don't of course have it right here on my screen. Um, but I do believe there's language that allows for like a 30-day >> um >> if they don't pay olution of the contract. >> What what I read, and maybe I didn't read it clearly, is that was if they didn't pay the amount, the $18,000. >>
049So, if they're bankrupt, that would work. But >> that's true. Um, we can uh we can dig more deeply. Typically, our contracts have kind of a either party within within with written notice within a certain amount of time can um dissolve the contract. So, we'll make sure that language is in there. Um, I don't see Heritage Bank having a problem with that either. On the on the flip side, if they for some reason determine they can't continue. Um, but the goal is really because we're putting it on a sign, um, the intention is for a long-term contract. Um, because it there is a cost to changing that out. So, but that's a good good point. We'll make sure that it's not specific to payments and update that >> right now. My question for Lance first,
050Lance, I have to say I'm very excited about this. It's It's going to be such an upgrade to that field and I think everybody's going to really enjoy having a 21st century scoreboard there. Um, I do have a question about the design. Mhm. >> Um the side that I would call the back of the scoreboard, but it's the first part of the that >> faces the school. >> They faces the school. >> I'm just wondering if we could >> um take the top half and still say Northfield High School and Heritage Bank Stadium and but have something like welcomes you. make it more welcoming and maybe get rid of a row of, you know, one of the skinny rows of of the advertisements just to seem like it's not all advertisements, but it's us welcoming
051everybody to the stadium because that's the first thing opponents and their families see when they come to our stadium. Just an idea. I don't know how much money that would lose us and what you know what that would cost but it had have the full half of that side. It would include both Heritage Bank in there and Northfield High School but then sort of welcomes you something like that. >> Yeah. Um I think off the I don't have anything in front of me here but I think that cost you about 20 grand a year. Um >> is one strip? >> Yeah. It's four across there. Correct. I don't have anything in front of me though. I don't have the mockups there. But yeah, it would be four and so each one of those would be
052uh five grand a year. So, >> and maybe that's not worth it to everybody else, but I was just thinking of looks or maybe those are the last spots you sell. So, if nobody buys them, >> yes, >> it could be something that we use. We have talked about that and I did talk with Heritage Bank about that about um some of those things and that'll come to some fruition here once we start meeting with some more that are interested. Uh but we would like that first row right underneath that is I think Heritage Bank is already not officially signed off on that uh mockup that we made there on that side that you're talking about. Uh but they really do like that one. Uh, but the first row directly underneath it, we would like
053those to all be logos with a white background uh to help separate um uh from Heritage Bank and the and the the colors and just to make it look the way we want it to look. Um so yeah, we could maybe put something out there where that would be the last row that we would sell out. That's not a bad idea. And then I just like the idea of using the word welcome or something similar. So it >> Yeah, I haven'tingiting. >> Yeah, I and John is Mr. Mahal has asked me to start, you know, providing the logos to him, you know, as soon as we get through this process and we start selling some more. I need to be giving the the uh company the logos right away so they can start making we
054don't want to make them all in July, right? Um, and so we can maybe reach out to Nefco and and see what that would um what that would cost if there you know what that additional cost would be to put a a sign in there for the school, a welcome like you're saying come up as a design for that. >> And I assume because of how this turned out that having a double-sided screen just never panned out. That was my >> It did. uh Maha uh inquired about that and that put us out of scope with the budget. >> Thank you. You anyone else? >> You have one followup for Amy. >> Okay. >> So, Amy, just um we'll I think what we should do, Val, is make sure that we reference policy 809.1 in
055these agreements. This is one of our first bigger agreements like this. and policy 89.1 which is the sponsorship of school district owned property which this would be obviously one of those that policy does give the district the ability to terminate the sponsorship at its sole discretion so the district has that ability for a case like yours and that was when we developed this policy that was exactly that again I don't don't see any foresee any or anticipate issues with heritage bank but it was that if you had a sponsor that for whatever reason started to tarnish the image of the district that the district would be able to terminate that contract at its sole discretion. So I think the solution for moving forward is to reference that it has to be in alignment with 809.1.
056>> Okay, Jeff. >> Well, one other part of that, uh I don't know about bankruptcy. I wouldn't necessarily worry too much about that other than the fact that a bank would probably be sold if if it was I mean a lot of banks consolidate and are sold. So if it was sold and had to redo the sign on that, whose cost is that? >> Heritage Banks or Yeah, whoever. Yep. Yep. That's spelled out in there. Okay. And then uh when you reached out to the x amount number of people you put that out for bid, did you feel like um that was a a fair and good process and you had you contacted the people that were really interested and maybe taking a look at >> Yeah, we tried to put it out there and
057I mean would have I like to have sold, you know, like a baseball or softball field first and done one of those other high visibility things. Yes, in hindsight because this is going to create some some energy. There's no doubt about it. But we we have so many things that we got the ice arena and the reimagine and this the scoreboard was already in process even before the reimagine. Um and so it's it's we needed something big to give these businesses some vision as to you know what we're doing here and at the quality that we are going to be doing it at. And uh right now because Northfield is so far your vision is so far ahead of most other school districts, it's it's hard. It's a little bit of a cell. They have
058to sort of see it see it, feel it, touch it. Um hear the response from it um before they want to put this out there. But um but it did land as far as the price. It landed right I would say near the the top end of what we we've seen sold um around the Rochester area in particular. some of the the gym floors and things there that have and some naming rights that have sold. This was the near. >> That's who the people that were kind of invited. And then how did you come up with you just said too, you're kind of playing entrepreneur because you're first part first first one at the party. Yes. >> You kind of got to pick the price and the ticket to get in. So you you said
059that you got some other input from other markets. >> Yeah. Both from the other markets and also the companies as well. both uh Nevco in this case and Dacttronics also you know they some other schools have done this of course before um and not too many have sold both sides of a scoreboard like this or at least to this level um we have one other in our conference Albert Lea is a double-sided uh video board but um they're not getting near the revenue off of it currently that Northfield is going to be. >> And the last question is on terms you landed at 10 years so where did that come from? Uh yeah, a lot of the air stuff that we've done, the scores table and the press box and some of those things were
060five-year, but we wanted to make this a 10 because if we had a five, it would essentially always be up for bid and we just we needed some continuity uh so that somebody could confidently bid on it and then they could have it for a while. Um so that's why we landed on 10. >> Thanks for all your effort. >> Yeah. >> Hey Corey. >> Hey Lance, thanks for being here. Yeah, >> more of a curiosity. Maybe this is a bit pedantic and I'll defer to the sports experts in the room, but um when is a stadium at a field and when a field is at a stadium? I guess I'm struggling with the stadium at Memorial Field and I can understand from a advertiser standpoint they want their name first, >> but does that
061make sense in that order? I know >> there's a lot of naming rights out there and I guess I'm not familiar with all of them and right >> I'm not suggesting the change. I'm just specific. >> We mocked it up both ways. Um, and I don't know that there's um it it I don't know if there's a rendering in that packet that we gave you with the the other way around >> in the table. >> Uh, I think I maybe I've sent you a lot. >> It is not something that's at all important to me, but it was something that I noticed. I don't know if it should be at Memorial at Heritage Bank Stadium, but >> um again, yeah, I don't know that we we've had some preliminary, you know, congratulations and talks with
062them about that and shown them some renderings and we've gone back and forth a few times even since you got this probably four more times since you guys got this a week ago. Um but uh I I think it's still open for discussion and >> I'm comfortable with administration moving forward. I just >> I do think Corey there is another example, very famous example here in Minnesota. I think when everyone heard that we were changing the name of Maruchi Arena, right, our venerable hockey stadium on the University of M hockey arena on the uh University of Minnesota campus, it's 3M Arena at Maruchi, right? And when people first heard that, I think they had a similar um reaction that you did and I think over time people are there, right? And so I I think
063it is about, you know, I think the important piece is where did Heritage Bank think their name was going to be placed in that. I >> being writers of course you know that opposite way would tend to be more how we would think a field is part of the stadium but in this case it's about maximum you know it's certainly about maximum revenue. >> Yep. I I actually have a question for you guys quick if you could put that mockup uh back up one more time. Tim especially on the field side of it. Um, uh, we've, uh, mocked up a couple more versions where the booster club and home of Raiders would be right above Northfield High School. Um, so that's another thing that we're kind of going back and forth with. I know when
064uh with NCC builders, you know, just thinking about spacing and um putting, you know, what higher and lower and all those types of things, but um we've marked that up both both way in both spaces as well. So, just some information for you. >> I have a question. Um well, it's not really a question. I just wanted to push back on um Amy's point because I think if we can sell the space and people are willing to do it, I would vote for that. I think um you've done such a great job uh highlighting the local businesses and I just love that. And I think, you know, they they want the opportunity to not only advertise to Northfielders, but to people who are coming to our stadium from surrounding areas because a lot of these
065businesses, you know, are working in in some of the towns around as well. So, I think um they look I think the signs all look great. Um, as far as home of the Raiders, I guess if someone's willing to pay for that slice of the board, let's let's give it to them. So, >> did you have a comment, too, Jeff? >> Well, I don't know. As a Raider, the only alumni in the the board here, I mean, it is home of the Raiders, but I would have to wait and see how the sign looks up. And you mean you want to Amy's point and to your point, I mean, you just you want it to look professional, you want it to look good, and you don't want it to look, you know, goddy, right? And
066uh that's kind of the difference between advertising and I think that that's going to finally come back to the final mockup of what it actually looks like and whether we approve that or want to adjust that. So >> yeah, we have definitely noticed and we take it very seriously in the office that we try to do everything we can as first class as we can within the budgets that we have to work within and you know and having also allowing students to be in the mix and do their stuff with us. Um but the by me by us pushing the quality of everything that we do has encouraged the local businesses to want to do more and given them the confidence to do more. Uh Heritage Bank I think also just bought your um uh
067uh scoreboard in your ice arena as well. So um it's >> it's the city's I understand that. I understand it's the city's ice arena that the school is going to be Yeah, I understand that. But uh but it from my point of perspective, you know, it's all going this way. Um and it just it's awesome. >> Yeah. And to realize that there are about 15,000 plus I think was a number of the graduates that are alumni of that school. So it's kind of like and I mean I'm obviously alumni. So it's kind of like and I can tell you what the beat is of the Northfield alumni in a lot of respects, but you know I mean that that depends. But um so I mean yeah you want to reach out for people and give
068them the opportunity to give a little bit of input you know on that too. So we just you know wanted to look professional and obviously you're leaning in that direction. >> Anyone else commented question. Okay Ben >> Lance I just wanted to say thanks for you know being a partner in this and kind of leaning into this helping us navigate it and all the work that you do on the Northfield Live. you know, I think that's just yeah, kind of just elevates people's experience and being able to see events remotely and, you know, just right kind of upping the quality of the experience that they'll have at the stadium as well. So, thank you. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Anyone else? Okay, Amy, >> one more question. I'm just wondering about are all of the
069advertisements on separate panels that then can be changed in and out easily? Is that how it works? So yeah, they're sold um horizontally, if you will. Uh um so if we were like I think in that mockup the first one in that second row that we were talking about, that was two spaces that that vendor was talking about there. But um so but yeah, besides that, they're all individual. So we can sell like a whole row by row if somebody wanted to buy all four of those spaces. Um, but otherwise they're those how they're divided up there is how they would be. I think there has to be one clear down the middle. And that was sort of unclear both in dealing with the vendors um about how that was. Um, and we're also when
070we're talking about the lighting because we again we wanted to look first class and be lit very nicely, you know, uh, we didn't want it lights shining up into the sky, we were thought we're thoughtful about the the light giving off and when it would be on and all of those things. Um, and we want to get equal um, representation to all like we don't want like the ones in the corners to be dark or anything like that. So, >> so they're back lit then? >> They would be back lit. Correct. U. But yeah, as far as I'm not exactly sure if that especially that one going right down the middle has to be there or not. Um, but I feel like it might have to be for structural integrity. >> But still, some company
071could buy the whole link if they wanted to and just go right across and right if somebody changes their logo you can they can switch it out or if somebody bankrupt or whatever. Yes. >> Yep. That's why we marked up both Cardinal and Post like that. So in quarterback club so that we could show that somebody can buy if they buy more than one that's how it has to be. >> Anyone else? >> Good. Okay. Thank you, Lance. >> Yeah. Thanks. >> Exciting. >> Okay. Item C is special services um FTE request. Director of Special Services Sarah Pratt will um come up and share the details of her request and this will be an item for individual action at our next board meeting January 26th. Thank you for having me and um I appreciate your
072time and attention to this. Um I am here to respectfully ask for your consideration of additional FTE. It's not my favorite thing to do, but I will reassure you that we have amazing staff in place in our buildings who are working really hard and diligently to meet the needs of students. And despite their best efforts, um we still have some ongoing pretty uh complex and intense needs that um are impacting safety for students and staff. And we do have a need um after all of the problem solving we've done to meet those needs at a costneutral way, we do have a need for some additional staff um for your consideration for a full-time or a 6.75 hour a day position at Bridgewater Elementary and then for a 3.375 hour position at Spring Creek Elementary. Um,
073and with the 55% approximate 55% reimbursement of salary that we get, um, the total cost for those two positions for the remainder of the school year would be just over $23,000. So, any questions? >> Hey, Ben. >> Thanks, Sarah. I just wanted to kind of touch on the safety concern that you raised there and just recognize that um will be an item for action at our next meeting. Would it be beneficial for us to consider it now just so you can move forward in that hiring process? Maybe calling out kind of safety. >> Yeah. Again, I I always appreciate that consideration. It's not expected, but if it's something that you would like to consider, it' certainly be appreciated. >> Want to make a motion? >> Uh do we do that now or want to get
074to items for action? do it now. >> Um, we will need to make a motion to move that to items for action, but why don't we allow for some more discussion. Did you have a question? >> No, I was just if he's going to make a motion, I was going to second it. >> Oh, sure. Sure. Anybody else have a question or comment at this time? >> Thank you, Sarah. >> Oh, Corey did. >> Sorry. >> Appreciate you being here. Never regret asking for help. >> Well, thank you. I appreciate >> agree with Ben to move it to an item for action. >> All right. Ben, do you want to make a motion for us? >> Sure. So, I move uh to move this particular item, which I >> Yep. >> have in front of
075me, but if somebody wants to fill me in, we can do that. Uh to items for action for tonight's meeting. >> Okay. Is there a second on this move? >> I second that. >> Okay. Thank you, Jeff. Um Okay. And we'll take a vote now or >> you need to take a vote to move it to the another vote later. >> Okay. Okay. All those in favor to move item C, special services FTE request to items for individual action for tonight say I. >> I opposed. >> Okay, motion passes and we will move this item C into um individual action items tonight. >> Thank you all. >> All right, well done. Item six is our committee reports. We have three. Uh board members, you're welcome to leave your report as is or you can give
076some comments. First, we have communications advisory committee and Maggie Epstein will provide an update or leave it as is. What would you like to do? >> Sure. I'll let it stand. Um, but I did want to say thank you to Kelly Spilman Kramer and Aaron Bailey who coordinate and guide that group. >> Excellent. Thank you. And thank you for submitting that report. B is automotive and transportation CTE committee and this report was submitted by board member Jenny Nelson. Jenny, would you like to give some comments or let it stand? I can let it stand, but I just wanted to make a comment that it was not included um in our committee list um that was in our board packet. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Right. And then item C is facilities advisory committee and board
077member Amy Gerwit submitted that report. Amy, would you like to give some comments or let it stand? >> Um I'd like to let it stand, but I'd also like to open up the opportunity for more people in the community to join this committee. It's an interesting committee to be part of and just let the district office know if you'd like to join us. >> Thank you very much. Okay, our next item is the consent agenda and as a reminder, there was some personnel items in the table file added to the consent grouping. Is there anyone who would like to pull anything from the consent grouping for separate consideration? Is there a motion to approve the consent grouping? Motion. >> Okay. Thank you, Maggie. Can I get a second? >> Okay. >> Thank you, Jenny. >>
078All those in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Opposed. Right. Motion passes. Okay, we are quickly on to items for individual action and we will have three items. We have our fiscal year 202526 general fund budget revision. Um, I'll take a motion first and then we can have discussion. Is there a motion to approve the revised 202526 general fund budget with revenues of 70 uh 70,171,484 and expenditures of 68,28,74? >> I'll move. >> Thank you, Corey. >> Second. >> Thank you, Amy. All right. Um, so Val presented on this item. Are there any further um items for discussion, more comments or questions? Right. and we can move to a vote. There is a motion on the floor. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Okay. Thank you. Motion passes. >> Item
079B is our policy committee recommendations. And I'll take a motion um to approve the policy committee's recommended changes to policy 2036, 519, 712, and 722. >> Who will move? >> Amy. Thank you. Second. Second. Thank you, >> Maggie. Are there any questions on any of these policies or any comments board members would like to make? And at this time, okay, we have a motion and a second, so we'll take a vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Okay, motion passes. Thank you. And then our newest item, which was the request for a full-time position at um Bridgewater Elementary and um another partial position at 3.75, I believe. 3.375 hours per day at um Spring Creek. Is um Okay. Can I get a motion to approve this request? >> So moved. Okay.
080>> Thank you, Ben. Second. >> Thank you, Corey. Okay. Are there any questions or comments? All right. We'll take a vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Okay. Motion passes. Thank you for moving that then. >> Okay. Next, we have our items for information. We have an enrollment report and Dr. Hillman will provide um we'll review that January 2026 enrollment report. That report is found in your table file and also published on the district website. >> Yes. So for the second month in a row that you will see that our um enrollment uh based on the numbers with the exclusion of early childhood and the part-time independent study students at the ALC is at 36.85 which aligns with what the projection has been. So for two months in a row
081we're right on what the projection has been from Val. I also am committed to showing you uh this part right here each month which shows the elementary school class sizes. So you can see on the screen here um the distribution similar to what it has been most of the year. I'd be happy to take any questions about the enrollment report. >> Board members, any questions for Dr. Helman at this point? >> Don't see any. So, thank you for providing that and we will move on to the next item which you will also be presenting construction update number 21. >> Yes. So, I'm going to let the report stand. Uh we will be just I'm going to point out one item uh which is that um at the next meeting going to have our second large
082report from Walden Kudson. So, they're going to give you updates on design, updates on process. Uh we're getting it's going to get very real in the next few months. We're starting to do the pre-bid uh preparation and so um bids will be released in February and uh looking to approve those likely in very early April. So Kudson and W will be here to provide a very significant presentation at the next meeting major update for the community. Otherwise, I'll let the report stand. >> Excellent. Thank you for submitting that. >> Okay. Item 10 is our future meetings and those will be at Monday, January 26, 6 p.m. It's a regular board meeting here in this boardroom. Then we have a board work session Thursday, January 29th, also in this boardroom. And the topic is later school
083start times. We have a regular meeting Monday, February 9th, 6 p.m. and a regular meeting Monday, February 23rd, 6 p.m. Both of those in this boardroom. That is all the business that we have tonight. I get a motion to adjourn our regular meeting. >> Motion. >> Thank you, Jeff. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Maggie. All those in favor say I. I >> opposed. Right, we are adjourned. Thank you.