001I call this meeting to order. This is a regular meeting of the Northfield Public School Board. Today is Monday, May 12th. The time is 6 PM. 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 the 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, we have several items in the table file this evening. Uh there's an overnight field trip request for the Environ State competition. Uh congratulations to the Environ students for advancing. And then there are quite a few personnel uh items, appointments, increase, decrease, change in assignment. Um as well as some retirements and resignations.
002That's the table file for this evening. Okay. Thank you very much. Is there a motion to accept the agenda as presented? Motion. Okay. Moved by Jeff. Can I have a second? And by Jenny. Thank you. All those in favor say I. I. I. Post. Motion passes. Item three is our public comment. And I believe we have. Individuals signed up. So I um some comments to make before calling you up um as a public um for public comment. Um, this is an opportunity for residents, business, and or property owners, parents, guardians, caregivers, students, and employees of the Northfield School District to address the board. All comments to the board must adhere to the guidelines set in place by district policy 206 regarding public comment. This is not a time to debate an issue, but only for
003the board to hear your comments. You are prohibited from making comments about specific students, staff, and administrators. The board respects and values input, but when it relates to a specific individual or a specific matter. This input must be heard by the appropriate personnel, including the building principal or superintendent, and not during an open meeting of the schoolboard. You will be gabbled out of order if your comments are not in compliance with these guidelines. Please address the board from the podium after being recognized by the chair, identify yourself, and if you represent a group. We require that you limit your remarks to three minutes. You are not allowed to yield your time to another person. It is expected that members of the public will address their remarks with civility and respect. Personal attacks by anyone addressing
004the board are unacceptable. The board has allotted up to a total of 30 minutes for public comment at a regular school board meeting. I'll now begin to call you um in the order that you have signed in. Um, Vice Chair Cory Butler will be monitoring the speaker's time and he will signal each speaker with the time they have remaining at 1 minute, 30 seconds, and 10-second intervals. Again, please make your comments as brief as possible, but no more than 3 minutes. Okay, we have three individuals have signed up. Okay. So, I'm calling up TJ Austin, FA FFA update, and Kaden Wood and Lillian Duban are joining you. Yes, ma'am. Welcome. Thank you. My name is TJ Austin. I'm the agriculture, food, and natural resource instructor and also the FFA adviser. I'm here tonight to just
005thank you again for your continued support. Two years in, doing very good. Um, it's a building program. We have um numbers increased in all of the classes. I did just get my workbased learning endorsement on top of my agricultural license to hopefully pursue something involved in that opportunities for students. Hello members of the board. My name is Kayen Wood. I am currently the Northfield FFA treasurer. I am a senior at Northfield and I will go be going to pursue a degree in agriculture education and prevet at the University of Wisconsin Riverfalls. I've been part of the Northfield FFA for the past two years now. I want to thank you on behalf of my fellow chapter members for all the support that you've given the Northfield FFA. In the past 2 years, I've grown so much
006and made so many new connections. Thank you for giving me this opportunity and supporting the Northfield FFA. Good evening. My name is Lily Duban, your 2024 2025 student adviser for the Northfield FFA chapter in which I would like to thank you for all your support you have given this year and years to come in and which I'm excited for next year as I'm hoping to apply for this secretary as well as my sister will be able to join in this fun club as well. Thank you. Thanks so much. Next we have Andy Churn here. Yes. Hello. Welcome. I um have a few comments about your agenda here with the presentation about the uh design progress you have from your from your reimagining project. And I would like to remind you there was in the letter
007the July 17 letter of last year where I got actually greenlined to do this. There were a few conditions in there which said also competitive bidding and he was also talking about efficient energy design and sustainability. I would like to address this. First of all, I would like when I looked at that design, I said this is not what I would like to see. I think there's time there might be another uh opinion coming in and makes a present representation about this especially during the design stage and then later on in the uh request for the proposal that you have actually two firms competing in this that would make sense to me. Then the second thing is about the efficiency and sustainability. There is a state law since 2007 27 actually which says uh which
008requires a certain reduction in EUIS. So that is your your energy you're spending per square foot which is right now on your green well design about 40 kilobu per square foot per year and I would like to see a good statement in your presentation what your goals are without these goals you're getting the same design what you got seven years ago I mean this is time that you consider something like this to improve energy efficiency that you set clear design goals for that like for the old part 35 kilob BTU and for the new part something like less than 25 so that means better insulation and that means less load on your utilities you don't want to shift the uh the energy from from one side to the other side from your fossil fuels actually
009to uh uh electric and it just does is more expensive when you try to run the whole thing on electric. So I hope you can consider my request to get that implemented to set clear goals what that's supposed to be and maybe also consider a second firm for the design and u and uh request for proposal. Thank you. Right. Our third speaker is Roger uh but is the last name Raja? You can say Rajuba or Rahuba if you want to say it in German but don't stress your vocal cords. Um, apologies doctor. Um, I don't even know whether this is the right way to address the board here. I already submitted an email. This is a petition to allow one more international student, you know, to make the quota a little bit larger. I have
010we have um excellent very deep personal relationship to a student from Germany who currently is on the uh wait list for you attending Northfield High School next year. Um he's an excellent student. His I know that students international students usually need more support. This is probably not the case in this case. Um he will have bilingual support in the family. So German is not a problem there. And so yeah, I would like you to consider that. I know right now I was told or I was told by the organization that runs this program that he's number one on the weight list. If you could allow one student more, that would be great. Thank you very much. Okay, we're on to item four, which is our announcements and recognitions. Yes, we have a few this evening.
011As I mentioned before, we want to congratulate Northfield High Schools and team. They earned second place. All right, let's start over. Uh, as we said before, we want to congratulate Northfield High School's Environ team for earning second place at the Southeast Minnesota uh, Environ event, and they have qualified for the state competition on May 18th and 19th. And we uh now have a great feeder program as well. Northfield Middle School's Environ teams also did an outstanding job at the Southeast Minnesota Environ event. One team earned first place and the other team tied for second, eventually receiving third based on a tiebreaker. So, congratulations to our Environ teams. uh FFA. Uh we want to congratulate several people including Keith Hner and Macy Mueller who are awarded their state FFA degrees which is an honor achieved only
012by 2% of FFA members statewide. That's a really prestigious honor. So congratulations to Keith and to Macy. We're also proud to recognize the following FFA members who qualified to compete in the state FFA competition. So congratulations to Molly Alers, Travis Balset, Carter Feldman, Keith Hner, Sam Herner, Grant Craft, Allison Malikica, Parker Malikica, and Gavin Winters. So congratulations to our FFA students who are just really doing so well under our revitalized program. So thank you to Mr. Austin for his leadership. We want to congratulate Noah Marole. Noah placed fourth at the Minnesota State High School League uh speech tournament in the storytelling category. So congratulations to Noah. That's a very competitive event and uh just really proud of Noah and all of the work this year. Finally, uh over $100,000 was awarded in the form of
013a 100 plus local scholarships at the Northfield High School senior awards last Wednesday. We're really proud of our senior class for the achievements and we thank the generous scholarship donors and the Northfield community for their support. So, those are your announcements for this evening. Wonderful. Great. Board members, do you have any announcements or recognitions at this time? Item five is our items for discussion and reports. And first up is the reimagine Northfield High School update. S Bagley with Wool Architects will present. Welcome. Good evening board members. Thanks for having me. I'm Sal Baggley and I'm here with my colleague Alex Malna. I'm another design team representative along with several others um who couldn't be here tonight and we're very excited to uh present the progress. So we are going to talk about the process that
014has been used thus far and those who have been involved of which several of you have. Uh then we will talk about the core planning group experience. So that's the input process we've been going through all throughout schematic design. Um we won't spend a ton of time talking about each individual guiding principle or design criteria, but really the philosophy behind the development of them. And I'll highlight a few particular and then we'll end on the current design progress and what next steps look like. Um, I don't expect everyone to be able to read this, but there was an oversight structure set in place similar to the last bond referendum um to allow input to be involved and lots of stakeholders, but still have kind of clear responsibility around decision-m, budget, schedule, things like that. So,
015at the top, obviously, we see the school board um with ultimate responsibility. Um, you all will have to be those who, for example, award bids after a competitive bid day. Uh then right below that we have the project oversight committee which we have several board member representatives on. Um we talk about the status of the project, talk about timeline and then if there's a day to talk about uh budget or schedule or scope modifications it would be that group. Uh then we had the core planning group who met for eight meetings and went on some tours. I'll talk a lot about them today. Um but they helped us establish um priorities, gave a lot of direction about um vision for the facility. And then we also had an activities and athletics subcommittee who focused on
016a particular part of the project um important part and they had four meetings and went on tours as well. Uh I'll talk a little bit more at the very very end but we've just embarked on the user group process. We had I think it was three days uh last week um at the high school getting more input from each um essentially space type or department. So here's just a graphic of that um from an oversight perspective. The project oversight committee is really um ultimately overseeing the entire project. Um but then we had that core planning group with user group and subcommittee input. This is a slide from our first core planning group meeting. So when we explain to a core planning group member, what are we asking of you? Um we're really asking them to
017to um have be representative of their community and be um confident in making uh recommendations. Um we told them we welcome you go talking to your colleagues, right? we don't have to have things in secret. Um, so they would go talk to their colleagues and we always left space at the beginning of the meeting for thoughts since last meeting of new ideas or questions, things like that. We spent a ton of time talking before we drew anything, which some people appreciated and some people wanted to get right to it. Um, but we really like to establish those criteria, right? It's it's difficult and we had a large core group, which is wonderful for input, but it meant that we had to spend extra time getting on the same page about what what are we actually
018trying to accomplish. Um and then we did a lot of activities to make sure that all opinions were heard and respected, right? Um so there was a lot of small group activity or turn and talk and um report out things of that nature. And I would say we had wonderful attendance. Um we had very consistent attendance. Um sometimes you see that there's a lot of energy at the beginning that tapers off or they see that they're maybe one of, you know, over 40 people and so maybe they maybe their attendance isn't important and we had wonderful attendance. um the process for them. This is the overall trajectory. So early in the process, they got to go on tours and I'll show you where they went on tours. And then we spend the the middle two
019or three meetings coming to consensus on criterion guiding principles. Uh and then we spent really the back half of the process developing that common diagram. Uh I did not want to forget uh to cover the other input that was opportunities that were provided to people. Um so on December 17th there was an open session for all uh staff and also any broad community members who wanted to come share their input for the project. And then on January 13th and 27th we were at the high school during the flex time and we had lots of students stop by and give some thoughts. And then not to be unincluded we were also at the middle school on January 23rd. And the questions on the lefth hand side of this were just the prompts used. So essentially what
020are your hopes and dreams for the project? And we broke it into categories, right? Learning spaces, safety, community or gathering spaces, um maybe less building focused but more people focused, the user experience, and then um just general things that work well and don't work well. So, we've got reams and reams of input that the core planning group um was able to review and create some criteria out of. When it comes to schedule, I mentioned we've been at this for the last couple of months. So on the left hand side here you can see the eight meetings that the core planning group had. Um they were approximately every two weeks um held from 4 to 6 in the uh high school media center and then we did um take advantage of the time to go on
021tours on January 21st and 22nd with that group. Um and I think almost all participate in some way. Uh then the activities and athletics subcommittee you'll notice has the same dates. They kind of picked up starting at meeting five with the main core planning group and finished their work on the same day. and those were from 1 to 3. So those were all on the same day. Uh here we are today at May 12 update to schoolboard. Um do not have dates picked out yet, but we think our next update to you all will probably be in October. Um and then likely before we go out to bid um overall project trajectory has us going out to bid in February of next year. Then we're now in that user group phase which we expect to
022be in for a couple of months. Um I can't read every name on here um because I know you all do have a full agenda tonight, but wanted to thank um each person who participated in the core planning group process. So we've got all the names here and their primary role listed of kind of what um viewpoint they represented while they were on the group. So you can see we've got a nice collection of staff across departments. We had several students. We had several um parents uh community member um community partners as well as some board members, first responders. Um so they put in a ton of effort between the commitment of time and just the responsibility of making recommendations. So we are very thankful to them. I mentioned we went on some tours. Um
023so uh there was a kind of a twotrack tour experience offered for cur planning group members. Um so in one day um a large group of people went to four schools and that was Owatana High School, Wasika Junior High School, St. Peter High School, and Tartan High School, which is in Oakdale. Um and so that was about an hour tour at each of those four schools. And then um a smaller group of us, which is actually what I went on, um which had a little more driving time, went to Mora High School and Rockidge, which is in uh the Virginia Eve Gilbert aka Rockidge um school district. And so they spent the following meeting doing a lot of tour likes and dislikes. Um, and I would say that there was not one school that had
024every feature everybody liked. And there was not a school that went on a tour that we didn't learn something from, right? So I think it was a valuable experience for people to get to go see and talk to those of what would you do different or what do you love and you'd do again. Um, so that was a big time investment. Um, you know, arranging transportation and things, but I think they really valued it. Uh then the activities and athletics subcommittee. I've got all of those representatives listed here. Um so this is obviously a little bit more honed in of a group. Um but they represent a very important stakeholders, right? So we've got parents, um we had booster club representatives, uh we had coaches, um physical education and health teachers, um community representatives, and
025so they went on a similar experience um on the 22nd of of January. Um so they went to four um activity centers or um expanded gym fieldhouse is what many districts call it. So they got to go to um New Prague Mound West Tonka Mounds View and then the Wildcat Community Center in Chicago Lakes and had similar takeaways, right? Saw things they liked and didn't like at each um influential on layout and design. Spent a lot of time talking about community interactions. that was a big part of their tour experience was um to what extent do any of these other facilities allow the community to use the facility and how does that influence layout um as well as even just saying gosh I love the floor at this one or gosh I really don't like
026the floor at this one right some of those very tangible I've mentioned a couple times now these guiding principles and design criteria so that's a written list of statements I did include them at the end of the presentation um and they're the guiding principle I'll click forward and come back um is meant to be a big picture or more subjective topic right around um how you want people to feel in the space or overarching goals whereas a design criteria is really more about a functional adjacency this should be next to that or this should be on the same level as that um and it's a little bit more of a pass fail and so when I think about the development of the guiding principles and design criteria it wasn't any one activity that developed them
027but a series of experiences so um tour likes and dislikes certainly kind of called a lot of things directly into question. Um input from the staff, students in the community was a big part of that. We did share all of that input with the core planning group. And then for several topics, we had guided discussion around um for example, how we wanted um departments to interact with each other or um they came up with a guiding principle around the idea of having student services separate from the main office. So then we had to talk about what's a student service, right? what do you define as student services? Who are the services you're hoping to be there? Um, and things like that. So, there was a lot of discussion and we revisited them uh every single
028meeting. Um, when it comes to the development of the diagram, um, I we put a few uh different slides in here to kind of explain where we started and then where we're at today. And we're not done. Um, obviously we are in design through um, February of next year, so we have quite some road ahead of us. Um, and you had a community comment earlier today talking about energy. I I thought that was a good segue. So, some other activities that are kind of just getting underway, um, or at least more in earnest. Um, we have a another technology kickoff meeting tomorrow. Um, so we've been doing some initial visioning for what the technology experience should look like uh, for the project. Um, and then on Wednesday, we actually have a um, energy efficiency and
029sustainability focused kickoff meeting um, on Wednesday the 14th. Um, so we have two meetings even yet this week. um getting together all the parties. So, we've got district representative at both of those as well as our um specialty engineers for different types of things. Um so, there's a lot going on and I'll end on the user group and where we're at with those. Um so, the we started with an adjacency diagram and um we had to spend a lot of time talking to the core planning group that this isn't a floor plan. It's trying to make really more of a mind map of what's important of who's near each other. Now obviously it translates eventually to a floor plan. Um but it's a 2D representation of eventually a 3D experience. Um and so it evolved
030from this you know hand sketch that we created the first time we made it um to this uh more a little bit more technical diagram um which showed arrows representing what wanted direct adjacencies versus indirect and how important those relationships were. then to oops sorry um then to more you know sometimes we get called a blob or a bubble diagram right just very generally who should be located where in the building and you can see this is really kind of by wing and then it evolves in detail a little bit um and I'll come back to this one and then eventually to the um state we're at today and it's actually advanced even in the last half a week right so we've been um converting it to full floor plan but the overarching guiding concept
031that seemed to really resonate with the core planning group um was wanting to have this unifying commons experience. And so you can see that in the blue color um in the center for those who maybe aren't um as color oriented. I get in trouble for that because I have several colleagues who are color blind. So um the commons cafe is in the center of the building. Um, for those who are not as familiar with the building floor plan or the public who are watching, um, right to the right of the E in cafe is where the existing main entry today is. Um, another point of context is that that is your existing game jam and that is your existing auditorium. So, if you're kind of looking for landmarks, um, those things are um, staying where
032they are today and being improved in place. And the main modifications to the building in regards to function are where the classroom and office wing will be located and some modifications in the V-wing. So really what we have is this organizing element of the commons. Um and sometimes we joke with the core planning group that we're really trying to create lakefront property, right? Everybody wanted to be feeling connected to each other and what you have right now is a very hallwaybased building, right? Where you're um discrete elements connected by links and hallways. Um, and this kind of takes that and turns it on its head that we're we're very not hallway based and we have kind of a central organizing commons. We have our academic spaces um in the upper northwest and bottom southeast. This
033is a a north up drawing. So you can see once we come in the main entry um which is actually just proposed to be just east of the existing main entry. Um right off of that we've got the main office. So that's the golden rod color that says OFF short for office. Um so that's the administration and then if you go to the level above that um right above that is student services. So that's an example of that criteria at work of wanting to have adjacency for those adults and professionals who support students but wanting a distinct difference between um attendance for example and going to see my um counselor. Um then in the uh office and classroom wing uh you can see that we've got um a series of green um squares. So those
034represent classrooms and a a huge topic that spent a lot of time with the core group around was how we should be organized. So we went on tours of hallway based buildings. Obviously you all live in a what we call a double loaded hallway based building today. Um we went on tours of buildings that had very large pod or house-based buildings. And then we went on tours of buildings that had very small like four or five classroombased um pods. And the core core group got to spend a lot of time talking about the pros and cons of each of those models. Um, and really landed on the idea of a model that would be flexible for the future but work for how you work today, which is uh departmental. So that really set the building
035block of how big a department should be. Um, so you can see here we've got um on the first floor um we've got science and then right above them we have math and then on the third floor language arts. That's not to say that that's how it has to be forever. And actually, we had a user group meeting last week um that spent a lot of time talking about how most classrooms probably can be quite similar, right? That we don't need to highly customize for future flexibility. Science labs are a little a little different. Um and then on the other wing, um the wing that shares with the office, we've got um on the first floor, we're thinking probably world language and then social studies. Um other things you can see in the floor plan.
036Um we've started to land where bathrooms are, where staircases are, data closets, elevators. Um the purple color represents um some support services for students with um special unique needs. So whether that's a special education resource room or an ML classroom or an ASD oriented classroom, it was important to the core planning group that those things were not concentrated and in fact they were very intentionally distributed so as to not have a wing that's um only serving those students. So they wanted a lot of um integration. Um then I'll kind of jump across the commons to explain in the um V-wing or what people call the V-wing today. I don't know if it'll always be called that. Um we have the art and teched um including um a department uh staying there but with lots of
037modifications around um transparency and more functional systems uh replacement of cabinetry where they wish there was a door. Right? We've got a whole list from every department of things that they wish um were different. Um and then we're also showing relocating the uh culinary lab up there. So that's that darker green space. So there is a small addition there um in addition to the bus entry. If I step into the existing building then um right there we've got the media center and that a little hard to see but in the dark blue that's generally speaking where the media center is today. Um but it can take over the hallway surrounding it just because we don't need those hallways to get anywhere any uh any anymore. Um and we also wanted to make that commons connection
038up to that wing. So I I kind of say that the the media center had to move to the side a little bit to allow that blue commons to come through. In the core of the building, there's a lot of work um to make the kitchen and um serving experience for students. Um everything from hot and cold food prep to freezer storage um to allocart. Um it'll be larger than it is today. So we've worked with Stephanie Strami and her department on the arrangement to that meeting again next week even on equipment layout. Um then in the existing activities area, we've got improvements going on in the game gym um primarily around systems um as well as some aesthetics and then large renovation of the locker rooms. That was a big discussion topic in that
039subcommittee. Um there is a room that everybody calls um health um is it health 01 or health 101? Yeah, it's in the bottom right hand. Health1 and everybody jokes calling it health 101. Um so health 01 is a um space that's used as a classroom but really designed as a locker room. And so we're um talking about where to locate um certain classrooms. Um so actually uh this is a good time to talk about every time we every time we publish a plan. It changes a little bit, right? That's the nature of the design process. So um at the time that we ended the core planning group, we were talking about showing um health classrooms in that space. And we've since gotten feedback that it might make more sense for them to be upstairs. swapped
040with something that I have called mechanical. Right? So, that's the nature of where we're at in the design. Um, then I'll move to the expanded gym. So, that is the volume label that has the numbers 1 2 3 and four on it. Uh, we spent a ton of time, as I indicated, talking about operations and making sure it works for before school, during the school day, after school, and evening and weekend events. And the court the uh subcommittee recommendation was to place courts one, two, and three inside the same volume. Um and then put court four in an adjacent and connected but discrete volume, right? So that you could have the community come and go from, for example, court 4 um even during the school day. Um but that uh before and after school you
041could use it for activities and teams and events. And then if you go to the upper level, you can see we've got a elevated walking track around courts one, two, and three as well as court four. So you kind of have a three track or three court loop as well as a fourcourt loop. So very very connected but um having some security options and and frankly acoustic options, right? Um and then maybe last but not least on this level, I'll talk about the music edition. Um, so the music department is proposed to move from the second floor um to the first floor uh and be on the same level as the stage um to help uh make getting equipment on and off the stage easier, get help getting equipment outdoors easier and into the game
042gym because they obviously have several performance venues. Um and so there's three large volumes in there. just met with that group last week um and understood their their priorities around storage versus office versus um arrangement of practice rooms and things like that. And then um maybe I'll end on in the upper in the existing second floor. So the middle drawing um you can see a couple of um abbreviations there. Um so you see game gym below and balcony. The W on the right hand side represents wrestling. The group did discuss um other potential locations for wrestling but ultimately landed on some improvements in the existing space. And then on the left hand side um you see some volumes labeled OS, M and C. Um OS represents the opportunity space which is like a blackbox type
043you know larger gathering environment. Um you know for with retractable bleachers um you know for hosting those events that maybe don't need a full auditorium but need more than a classroom. Uh and then C represents the community room and then I already mentioned the the M is mechanical and that's the swap with health that actually the group has been talking about since we met. Um so things are I would say still fluid in that we learn more every day about people's priorities and um you know people do wake up in the morning and come up with new ideas and share them with us. Um but we're we're getting more and more level of detail and so I wanted to say that before we move into these next level of detail drawings. Um as we are
044very mid-stream with the user group process, we met once last week with all space users um between Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and then we have a couple of special meetings this week and then we pick up again next week on Tuesday and Thursday and then again on the 29th I think it is. So um we are u moving a little faster than I would say we normally do with that user group process, but we're trying to be respectful of getting um staff input uh before the end of the school year. So, we're kind of really working really hard to get all this input um so that we can um make good progress uh engineering wise over the summer. Before I go to the site plan, does anyone have any questions or comments around building arrangement
045or or how we got to this how we got to this place with with our probably close to 100 people between the groups? Amy, I have to first say this is so exciting to see this actually coming together. Um, I was part of the core planning group, but I'm just wondering how we ended up dropping one of the third floors. What was the Sure. How did that work out? Yeah. So, um, um, what Amy is referencing is that I would say the referendum diagram and probably the first drawing we ever showed. Maybe go back to it. That's actually one of the benefits of showing these progress diagrams. Um, showed the classroom and office edition, which is on the east side, I would say, being two completely equal legs, right, of kind of a pure three-story
046building, you know, from the ground all the way up. Um, and what you can see actually is a couple of pods labeled with like a slash like world language slash this world, you know. Um and as we started to understand the core group's priorities around um adjacencies a little bit better, we learned that the the kind of the key building block is to have eight classrooms together so that a department could actually function together. Another thing, if you don't mind, I might jump forward for a second. This is a proposed massing. Now, this is not materiality. We're not proposing these colors or things, but um for those who floor plans aren't their um kind of their vehicle for perceiving space. Um this is um u we've started to build a 3D model of the existing
047building. So that is what is in the gray. And then anything colorful is shown as addition just to help you interpret this. And so this is kind of a bird's eye view looking at all of that. And as we look at the massing of the existing building, we also wanted to make sure um to that it felt approachable as a person walking up to the building, knowing that on the left hand side of you as you walk up there'd be a three-story sheer face and then a one-story building right next to you. And so I would say between the functional programmatic requirements and that really just wanting to make it a nice approachable entry, it was kind of a marriage of the both of the two. And I think this drawing probably best represents it
048is almost entirely all threetory, right? There's a a section at the end of the uh northern wing that does not have a third story on it, but I would say in large part the commons and then um the classroom and office wing is. Yes, of course. Question or comment? If not, I can keep going. We can always come back. Um, so the site plan is also um a document that's um somewhat in its infancy. We have um worked with our uh civil engineers in the district um and the core group to understand desired operations. Um we have also had three meetings with the city of Northfield thus far, right? Um so as a developer in their community we have to follow their ordinances and required setbacks and um they have ordinances from um everything from
049how you arrange parking lots and um do landscaping to building height and required uh bike parking things like that. Um so as we have those meetings we've um developed this concept. So, what this drawing is showing is the existing building um that's not proposed to be demolished in that darkest gray color. Then, um just for a little context, kind of ghosted in white to the north of that are the existing wings of the building proposed to go away. Right? So, that's the better part of the Mwing and then all of the D, S, and H wings. And then the white are our proposed addition locations. So, on the um east or right hand side, that's that office and classroom wing. Um then on the north we've got a small but important uh fax lab and
050uh bus entry entrance. And then on the um bottom left or uh southwest we've got the um music and expanded gym and some associated spaces. So functionally um this design is showing having I'm going to call it most users approach the site from division. Um so you can see that they would come in off division and be um guided into a large um Q dropoff loop um which is surrounding um student and visitor parking. There would also be student and visitor parking where the um the lot just south of the funeral home is today. Um trying to get people to the front door, right? Because that's what we know parents or family members want to do when they're dropping off a student or picking up a student. Um then we are showing uh just to
051the souththeast of the new classroom and office edition um a small curb cut for our special education buses and vans. So um there are some classrooms that those students are going to be primarily served by near there. So to try to minimize their um transportation from vehicle to classroom. Uh there's an area for them there. Uh we've got more uh parking near Memorial Field and the activity entry on the southwest part of the site. And then um it's a little subtle on here, but the really the intent would be along the west side of the site really to be staff and deliveries and buses only, right? Another way of saying that is you wouldn't invite parents to come to the west side of the site and go to the north. Um so probably with signage
052is how we would accomplish that. So there's some parking. Um obviously that's how you get to the existing loading dock and teched area which is important. Um but the big change would be to um have a bus loop on the north side of the building um to try to create a lot of separation between um vehic types of vehicular traffic. Another layer that's um just starting to show up on this um you can see uh the lighter gray color represents um critical path adjacencies. not every sidewalk we're going to have. Um, but we've learned that there's a strong um desiraability from both district and city side to have um pedestrian and bicycle path connections. So, we're starting to think about, you know, how and where do we get those people across um vehicle paths safely
053and where are those crosswalks and is it better here or there? And so, um we're still very much in progress with that. And actually, we um are midprogress on a traffic study. So, that will help um do some engineered um simulation modeling of how cars would behave in this design. and if there's any modifications. Um I already mentioned some of these but um or I already I came to this but um so this is looking from the northeast to the southwest. Um again that um right by main entry that's the existing main office and then this next drawing um kind of goes to the other the other view. Um so here we're looking from the south to the north. So that classroom and office wing edition is off to your right now and you can
054better see uh the expanded gym and music. Um and one of the intents of this drawing is to um demonstrate intended volume. Right? So a takeaway would be that the intended um experience for that once you go in that activity entry would be to be in a larger volume space kind of between the game gym and the expanded gym. I'll probably go over them quickly. Um, I already made my joke about every drawing we show is slightly out of date by the time I have to publish it, but um, no nowhere is more true than in these. Um, so what were what we last showed the core planning group was these kind of zoomed in plans of each area of the building. Um, and there's no major changes, but there's lots of discussion about, well,
055I wish the door wasn't there, it was here, or I wish the teaching wall wasn't on that wall. I wish it was on this wall. Or actually, I'd prefer the cabinets in the this corner for this reason. Right? And so that's the kind of input we're getting from teachers right now. Um, but if it helps if people zoom in a little bit more in this existing V-wing, which will be more of your kind of your hands-on learning spaces around um, food and animals and vehicles and um, and art. You can see the existing art department on the west there. Um, we are proposing to relocate their um, computer lab, which is kind of in the middle of the hallway right now to the north. Um, along with some gallery space. Uh, that's kind of what
056those little red blobs are. um and some storage. Uh then there's a lot of inner working changes between like the wood shop, the metal shop, the egg, um robotics, the design computer lab. Um a lot of um desire for better function and flow. But I would say in large part the main things kind of staying where they are today, right? But with a lot of changes um internally um you know better circuiting, better ventilation, better lighting, um maybe some equipment layout changes. We have another meeting with them next week. Um and then that culinary um so part of the fax department being located here with that culinary lab classroom and then they have some functions around laundry and storage. Uh if we go to kind of the center north part of the plan, I already
057mentioned the media center is in large part um staying where it is today. I know many of you um have been to that space. And so to give you some context um the kind of the large meeting part of the media center is right underneath the word media commons. And all those little gray um gray dots actually represent the walls of the media center today. They're or the outer perimeter of it. Um so we're letting them kind of take over the hallway around it, adding some function for some small group rooms and media production. Um the two computer labs that are there today are getting relocated. Um and so we just met with that group last week as well. Um then in the existing main office um we've got a couple of departments being relocated
058there. Tech and torch um and maybe um space for Fernbrook. Here's that kitchen and servery. So as I mentioned is getting larger um to better accommodate demand and need and have the appropriate storage. Um if I for a little bit of context the um the existing south wall of the office that's where the kitchen ends now today, right? So, it's getting approximately 40% bigger between all of its various storage and prep and serving spaces. And then we've talked about some of the details here, but um we've even started with the um core group and uh user group starting to talk about um how many hoops per court and striping on those courts and materiality on every single court in the walking track and locker counts by sport. And so that's what all of the detail
059that we're kind of in in the evolution of populating right now is. Um and last but not least, uh the band department. Here's a little bit closer look at just zooming in um on the office and classroom wing. Um so you again can see we've got um two departments located on the first floor along with um some of your setting three special education. Actually, a change that a group last week um made um was to move the um mild moderate room for second floor to first and put ASD um autism spectrum disorder on second. So, we're still making some minor swaps like that, but all of the core planning groups um philosophies around distribution of those types of rooms is being um upheld. Um so, the user group process I've mentioned a lot. Um what
060we do is we show up with a drawing that looks like this at every meeting. This is an example of a teched shop. Um, when we start drawing, you know, every piece of equipment, what power does it need, what's the safety requirement, where are outlets, where are the light switches, we don't pick furniture in these meetings that we're in quite yet, but we often show furniture for scale, right? How many students might use this space at once and where might the teacher setup shop? And um, we really try to get all of that input from each different department. Um, we went through round one last week on the 6th, 8th, and 9th. And then um we were uh doing some emailing about dates, but the round two will be the 20th, 22nd, and 29th. Um
061and then we are certainly available over the summer, but there were some key stakeholders we're trying to prioritize. Um and then we can always revisit things again with staff in the fall when they come back. Um things that don't show up as much in those core planning group diagrams, but are certainly a focus of our team. And um we have a lot of uh team members on the project. So in addition to architects, we have interior designers, structural engineers, mechanical, electrical, um we have technology designers, we have a theatrical consultant, we have an acoustician, right? We have civil and landscape and storm water. So all of those people don't interact as much with the staff. That's what Alex and my and myself do a lot. Um but there's other parts of the project. Um so
062we're talking a lot about security having a meeting at the end of the month around um lockdown zones and the reduction in exterior doors which we know is a goal and the diagram is achieving but we still have to start to think through dayto-day of where are people going to want to prop doors and can we have a better option for them. Uh I mentioned earlier in my presentation um energy efficiency obviously was one of your key referendum messages um both with uh upgrades of existing systems and the inclusion of the geothermal um and so we have um ongoing activities for that including a a kickoff meeting on Wednesday um where EUI and EUI target will be discussed. Uh we have replacement of some systems, lighting, ceiling tiles. You have some existing uninsulated walls that
063need to be repaired or insulated really. Um, we've got some single pane windows, right? So, some of those things. Um, and then the diagram really didn't probably do justice to the major renovation of the locker rooms. Um, but those have both condition and accessibility and title condition accessibility and title 9 challenges. So, those have a major reimagining. Um, and then just met on Thursday about the auditorium upgrades um with Liam and several others. And then furniture really comes as a second phase. It's hard to furnish a space until you know what the space is. Um but that was another referendum inclusion item. Uh so when it comes to next steps and kind of the the phase we're in right now, we've um transition to what we call design development. Uh that's through September. So user
064groups are a big part of that. We are intending to submit to the city of Northfield at the end of that um process to allow their review periods. Um they told us to allow up to 120 days for review. So we need to make sure to get in line there. Um a lot of exciting development around 3D renderings and materiality. Right. Right. You'll start to see our proposals around how the building will really um look and feel and then coming back to you all um at the end of that phase date to be determined. Uh and then we move into the construction documents. It was referenced earlier in the meeting that um the project will be competitively bid. Um so Canuting Construction will be the construction manager on the project and they will break the
065project into what are called work scopes. Um I would imagine that there might be 35 to 40 work scopes on a project of this scale. Um, example would be exterior concrete versus interior concrete. Um, steel supply versus steel erection, HVAC, plumbing, right? Each one of those would be bid out and we'll receive um, multiple bids. And so we need to kind of transition from an input phase to, you know, highly technical drawings and the scope and scale of the project would require that to be months. So you'll see that that's um, from that uh, end of design development through um, uh, February. We do not have a bid date picked out yet. Um but I would also imagine that we might have a longer than usual bid period just given the scale of the project
066and that's also in a few other activities around um getting permitting happen. So we have to submit to the state for both um code compliance review and plumbing review. Um and then like I said we'd come back to you all probably right before we go out for bid and then I uh right after bid we would come to you all um and make a recommendation of which contracts to award. Uh we've had um early conversations around phasing. That's some people's first question when we start talking about this project is kind of how is it going to get done and when. Um so we understand in large part that of course we can't tear anything down before it gets reconstructed. So that's pretty obvious, but there's a lot of nuance um beyond that, including some work
067that has to happen when the building is unoccupied in the summers or lightly occupied. Um, so we're still with Canson showing, you know, I'll call it a 36-month time frame here. Um, but pretty soon here, I think they'll have a working phasing recommendation that might tighten that up. Um, and certainly parts of the building would be done um before before um end of 2029 summer. And with that, I'd love to take any questions and continue to emphasize we've had a ton of input from your community thus far. Um, and we're only part of the way there. Awesome. Sound very thorough, thoroughly updated. I'm so glad that your process includes so many of our stakeholders. Board members, do you have any comments or questions? Hey, Corey. Hi, S. Thanks for being here. Just one quick follow-up
068question on the construction phasing. I know there's still a lot of details to figure out and it's a long range plan, but likely that the new build would be constructed before any remodeling done is done. Correct. I'm assuming most people joining the conversation right now are most curious about when do we see the the new stuff versus Yeah. stuff. Yeah. If I get to the site plan, so it's um pretty obvious that we can't um tear down the DHS and M wings until the new classroom and office wing is online. Um less clear is the expanded gym and music, right? So those maybe aren't as critical because they're one is a space that doesn't exist today and another has a home that's not getting demolished, right? So are those in the same phase or staggered?
069And I think Kudson's working through um a couple of scenarios. One scenario might be with a mindset of get everything done as fast as possible which u might have positive effects for bidding right for inflation and things like that. Um it might mean the most disruption to the site right and so that criteria has to be weighed against speed. Um so I think you're you're right in large part that renovation can't really happen you know a space can't be given a new job until we have um a replacement. Um, but I would imagine that it'll be pretty complicated and the utilities are not uncomplicated of how the building is fed and what's going to get disrupted and Yep. Yep. Amy, so I have a handful of questions. So, if you want me to stop at
070some point and come back see if anybody else Okay. So, um, if you could go back to your design, that one's a good one. This one. Okay. Yes. So, um, first of all, we had talked at one point at possibly having an enclosed courtyard there off the wing that comes out that goes southeast. And I'm wondering if that's still in the works. Um, not maybe not enclosing the whole thing, but enough so the students could go out and eat lunch outside. So, an enclosed courtyard is a building. So what I would say is if you want to enclose the courtyard, we would have to probably reduce the amount of interior space to fund it. What I my opinion is when people want to go outside, they actually are seeking to be outside, right? So you'll
071have a much larger comments and just to the I wish I could. Why by enclosed they just meant gated, I guess. Oh, I thought Sorry, that's a great definition. I was thinking you were thinking roof and wall lights. Oh, sure. So I actually think a wonderful place for that. I'm glad you clarified that. Um would be right here. Can you see that when I Yeah. So just to the south of the blue of the commons, maybe for those who are not looking at the monitor I'm looking at, um kind of between the game gem, the commons, and the science wing, it's it looks deceptively small. Um but we're looking at a very large building, all levels on the same slide. That's a large area, right? So for for context, your existing cafeteria is right here,
072right? So, um I think that that would be a lovely space because it'll have a strong sense of enclosure with building on three sides and it could easily be Oh, I lost my mouse. Um gated in some way right here to create that that sense of enclosure. That's exactly what I was thinking. So, thank you for clarifying page. Yep. And I just wanted to keep that in the mix as you're going through it and talking to about security and various things. I know that's going to be the biggest question for that area is how we can keep it secure during the day but still have a lovely place for students to yeah eat nice weather. So wonderful. Um then I had a question about expandability. That was one of our guidelines. We had talked about
073creating something that was allowed for expandability. So what's your thinking on that? Um sure. So, uh, we've been, um, designing and planning the two classroom w legs of the wing. Um, imagining, you know, how many more classrooms could you go on the end? So, that's been intentional as we discuss it. When we talk about expandability, the line always becomes, do you want to upsize things today for it? Should we plan a bigger electricity service? Should you pay for more boiler capacity today? Should you um stub out pipes to it? So I would say when it if it's just a simple exercise of setting aside space on site relatively simple concept right it's a matter of do you think it's coming to the point that we should invest funds in it today right and so that'll
074be a topic we'll have to have with you know the project oversight committee of um is it really just having a logical place to do it or is it like shovel ready right so the the nuance is there in the details but we have sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp sp spent some time talking about that um I don't know if there's any other We haven't spent a ton of time talking about adding any more gyms, but it's pretty obvious to me where they would go. It might disrupt parking and road though. Um, and as you become, we're pushing against this right now. I'll say with the design, if you were to become a build
075bigger building than you are today, you have to get bigger in every way, right? So, more buses, more people who want to show up and park, um, more people who want to play sports. And so, um, the next thing you start eyeing is green space, right? which has been a strong value of trying to preserve and not change and lose. Um, but I would say that that would be something you'd have to to discuss. All right, Ben. Thanks. Just to ask that question in terms of what's the capacity based on this design that we're planning around 1500 right now. Um you obviously have a current unique um uh flex situation. So dining is a little bit different. Dining and food capacity. We're trying to trying to plan around your current flex experience which is that
076um you know everybody if they wanted to could show up and try to eat at the same time but when it comes to like classrooms and things like that 1500 and I believe you're at right around 1250 today if I'm not mistaken. Yeah. Jeff, thanks for your presentation. Can you give an example of you know the beginning of the day and the end of the day uh with the combination of people dropping off um and as far as student parking and all that I mean how how all of that you see that working for sure buses, cars, kids coming in the beginning of the day and the end of the day. So sure. Yeah. So um what I I'll tell you what I know to be um the goal right now and then I would
077actually say the traffic study might inform some things. So a little too you want to talk about that. Okay. Um so um it is our understanding that there is a lot of momentum and planning around the idea of there being a roundabout on division right here. Right. Not our project not our timeline tied to the turner turnover of that road back to the city of Northfield. And that is also how funding would come unlocked. So, we talk about that quite a bit with the city of Northfield and we're really trying to imagine the site design. What if that was done for the day that your project was done and what if it came later and we don't get to control that certainly. Um, so you'll see that the orientation here um shows current orientation, right?
078So, in-n-out off um division. Um and so I'll I'll kind of maybe take each vehicle type, Jeff, and we can talk through it. So, um let's take dad dropping student off for school. They would come in from whatever direction they're coming in, go up into this drop off lane, which is, as you can see, it's two lanes in one direction, which allows for additional queuing. Um, get everyone to the front door. Um, and then we'd likely collapse down to one lane, which I think we're showing right here, might happen somewhere. Um, a merge point so that people can plan to exit and leave the way they came. Right? That's kind of the intended flow right now. Um, that would also be the intended flow for um, you know, a student would come in off of
079there. Um, and I don't know if the intent will be to um, assign parking lots or things like that, but we're really just trying to show a large mass of parking to the northeast of the site um, to not lose parking from what there is today. Um, whereas a bus would take a quite different journey. So, the intent right now is that a bus would come up Raider Drive. There's kind of an interesting that's like at the turn of the road actually is where your curb cut is. um and go north and then they would park angle park with their door along a curb here which is kind of best practice so that a bus never has to back up or people don't have to walk between buses. Um usually in the morning they show
080up. I call it onesie twoosie. They don't magically all show up at the exact same time. Um in the afternoon they're usually all there almost at the same time waiting for students to load and then at the time they leave the first bus pulls away and that's what this kind of bulbous part is about. Um, so without having to back up, a bus can turn around and they, you know, in a big nice line kind of came leave the way they came. And so that really allows cars in large part um to be separated from buses. Now staff um while important have the benefit of not being not leaving and arriving typically at the exact same times, right? So that peak moment of what you know 10 15 minutes of tons of parent traffic or
081buses all leaving. Um usually staff arrive slightly before and then staff leave slightly after. So while we have to think about them they don't add to the as a traffic engineer would think about it they don't add to the peak moment. Um and then uh we do have to think about first responders as well. Um so um we need to make sure that a um in particular a firet truck can get to all corners of the building and then once they get there turn around. Um so that'll be an ongoing discussion as well. But does that answer your question Jeff? Okay. Thank you. More to come. Certainly the traffic study counts are being done this month. Um and we won't have a report back until June probably. Amy, do you have a couple more? So,
082um I was wondering about storage for gyms. Oh, sure. How did that get decided? Um okay, let me get to I think this is going to be the best drawing to talk about it. Um and it actually I'll gesture on this drawing. Um so when we talk about storage for the gyms, um I would say there's a couple of different kinds of storage. So there's things that are currently stored in the locker rooms that don't need to be stored in the locker rooms. That's just the space you have. So we kind of made that as a category. And then there's things that are accessed off of certain spaces that really want to be. So like an example um of the room where the basketballs and volleyballs are accessed off the game gym that still wants
083to be there. Um and then there um are also things used by other users, right? So community or things like that. And so as the um athletics and activities subcommittee went on tours, they got to see a few different examples of storage. And I think what resonated with them quite a bit and maybe I'll say and all of that is balanced against um other desires, right? Um namely seating capacity. And so as we as we asked questions around what's the philosophy for the expanded gym? Is it storage at all costs or is it you want to be able to have 500 people watching each court, right? just cuz they take, you know, they all take the same amount of space. Um I think they they landed in a measured approach and so um they really
084liked on tours, I think all of them had it in some way, but some had it better than others using the space under the elevated walking track to have, you know, a series of long linear um storage rooms. And so that with a I'll call it a modest amount of seating per court um was kind of their recommendation. Um, and we still need to work with John Mahal a little bit about, you know, assignments forums of like how they might divvy it all up. Um, and we have another meeting, I think it's on Tuesday the 20th with that group. Um, so I would say I mean it's a it's a balance of where should it be stored? Is it access daily versus seasonally versus once a year? Um, who needs to access it? And what
085how can we make it most convenient? How many lanes in the walking track? So, we're currently planning for three lanes in the walking track with some ex extra I'm going to call it extra space to step off and tie your shoes if you need to. Um, which is an example um on one of the tours that they really seem to like as opposed to they actually saw some examples of maybe someone who tried to a district who tried to fit another lane or two in um and they felt it came at the expense of safety, right? that that that the lanes had came so close to the wall or so close to the edge. And so they felt that that um was the right approach because we can't um somebody might say, "Why can't you
086just add more and more to the inside?" You start to um interfere with the state high school league um air basically airspace clearance needed above um basketball court. So we're kind of getting as close to those as you can right now. So Okay. Want to do one more Amy? I have two more. I'll do whatever you'll let me do. Uh so I was wondering where we are with the geothermal. Sure. So we um have a um proposal approved um for a test well um of the Darcy system which we don't know for sure but we think with high likelihood is going to be the right um technology approach for you all. Um and the site plan actually didn't show it. Um but we need to allocate um space for that. Um certainly things can exist
087on top of it. Um and so that test wall fieldwork will be happening right after school um gets out and that will help us hone in on the number of walls we believe we need. Um and so to accomplish both heating and cooling, you know, right now we're I think our engineers are saying somewhere between 12 and 20, which um is a wide range, right? It's and and efficiency of that test wall will be what actually hones in on it. And then they have to think a little bit about site flow and geology. And um we've gotten recommendation that being on the I'll call it the southeast part of the site is is going to be more efficient than being on the northwest part of the site. um just because of the flow of water
088and water table and you know things a little bit beyond my personal expertise. Um so we're probably going to try to keep it um I'm going to call it just to the south of that access road that kind of runs east west but the exact number and arrangement we do not know yet. Thank you. Can I do my last is really is my last. Um, this is just my request and my hope for you as you're going through this design process is that I would love to see us have some sort of signature design element to our high school. Kind of like Owatana has their clock tower. I don't know what it would be for us, but something that would become sort of a symbol for our school. Sure. Wonderful. We can work on that.
089Thank you. Thank you, S. Thank you. All right. Item B tonight is the revised 202425 and the proposed 2526 child nutrition fund budgets. Director of child nutrition Stephanie Stormmy will present. And the revised budget will be an item for individual action at our next meeting, May 27th. The proposed budget will be an item for individual action at the June 9th meeting. from Sydney. Hi, thank you. Um, I'm just trying to figure out cuz I'll close this out. So, just go ahead click on that. Perfect. Thank you, Tim. Good evening. Thank you for allowing me to come in here and talk with you this evening um about the child nutrition program and what we've done over the past year. And then we will also be discussing the revised budget as well as the proposed budget for
090next school year. Um, as we think through our department processes, we always try to make sure that we bring into play the school's vision um or the district's vision, the benchmarks and the strategic commitments. We try and do a lot um whether it's working with the community with some partnerships as I had mentioned in my narrative to all of you. We worked with St. Olaf students um and creating some waste management programs at both the high school and the middle school level and just trying to work with as many partners as we can in the community. Um the the child nutrition department shares their responsibility and understands that we can really take a huge part in the students success during the day. Um we can help to foster their social, their emotional and their learning
091um environment by providing quality nutritious meals which you'll see is kind of the key to our vision which is provide quality nutritious meals that support the growth and development of students to fuel their learning. Um in the next few slides I will be sharing some photos of students. Um these are actually taken in our schools um all of the different schools food that they're actually being served on the lines and um so we will be sharing some of these photos with you and then talking about some of the things that we've been doing throughout the school year. This slide represents um breakfast participation over the last three years. And as we know, um, last year the Minnesota Free School Meals Program came into play. Um, it was passed by Governor Walls the previous year and
092started last year and it continued this year. Um, we know that research has shown that starting the day with breakfast can really help to enhance the day for our students. Um, it helps with better academic performance, their concentration, and even their test scores. We have seen a slight increase for this school year. Um about a 1% increase which we're happy to see even though enrollment has declined. Um you can see kind of in September and October there's a greater increase from last year to this year but that also plays into the fact that there were more school days in those months. So when we look at the overall um from September to January, we saw that there was that 1% increase for that um and we actually served about 65,000 meals in that period of
093time. It is the same number of school days that we had last year um versus this year. So, with breakfast being free last year, we learned some best practices. And that can be another reason why we see that there's maybe not as huge of an increase in our breakfast numbers this year and our participation. We found that especially at the elementary level, um having free breakfast maybe played into students not getting to their classrooms as efficiently as we needed them to and distracting and taking away from class time. Um it also put extra burden on the custodial staff when they were eating in their classrooms. So, we really brought breakfast back to the cafeteria and it created a time um for the students to be able to visit with each other and just more guidelines
094were put into place with that with a clearer understanding and knowing that free breakfast was going to continue and just what the numbers were that we were expecting from each year. Um, this next slide shows lunch and we had about a 2% increase in our lunch participation for this year. Again, this is from September to January. Um, we've served just over 228,000 meals during this time period. Um, obviously we've served a lot more over the last um in addition to the last couple of months, but just wanted to compare last year versus this year and where we were at with the increase in lunch participation. And again, we know that this participation probably would have been um even greater or the percentage increase, but with a decrease of enrollment um we know that that plays
095um has an impact on that. Also, we had um three days. We had two weather related days which we didn't have any participation and we also had the scheduled e-learning day. So, those were three days that um impacted the amount of meals that we would have served. However, they weren't on um uh during these days. The November one was the scheduled e-learning day. We also, in addition to serving free breakfast and free lunch each day to students when they're in attendance, um we do an afterchool community snack. And we've served just shy of 13,000 snacks for this school year. And these are provided at all three elementary schools and they're also provided at the middle school. In addition to that, we've done um meals in the evening as students at Greenville Park are transitioning from
096community school into the evening programming. And over the last month, um Aaron is sitting here. Um we've been able to with a grant that Aaron was provided be able to serve hot meals to the students. So, it wasn't in the past it had been just a cold bag lunch that we gave them, but now we've been able to serve some hot meals for them. Um, and so that's something that will continue through this year and I'm not sure whether it will continue next year or not. We'll just have to see where the funding is with that. Um, one thing that we introduced this year at the high school was a global trends line. And what we had seen um in talking to high school students and kind of sampling some various food options with them
097is these were some of the items that they really um enjoyed or were seeking out. The other reason why we wanted to try doing a glo global trends line is kind of some for planning into you know the development of our new kitchen space and see how many lines do we need to have? You know where are the interests at with kids? Do they want just a pizza line and a main line or do we want to try and bring in some other different exciting things for them? Um, with the global trends line, you'll see the top picture is of a kilbasa um, and the fresh vegetables and fruits that they had with that. The bottom one is actually egg roll in a bowl. It was something that we tried. Um, wasn't a huge hit,
098but it was something that we tried. Um, it actually tasted really good, but I think, you know, some kids are hesitant. They eat with their eyes and so it may not be something that, um, they're as excited about trying. One of the big hits was the chicken tikka masala. Um, and so kids, we sampled that last year. They really enjoyed it, so we brought that on to the line. Um, papooseas, tamali's, we've been serving. The burrito bowl line is every Friday, and that's a huge hit. Um, and then just some various options like we're doing a new cherry blossom chicken in addition to the regulars like orange chicken or teriyak chicken that they're used to having. Um, Swedish meatballs is something else um that we've tried. So, you'll see on their Minnesota Mondays and I'm
099going to share on the next slide a little bit more about that. But on the global trends line, what we decided to do was every Monday feature um a Minnesota produced item. So these are some of the farms that we worked with over the past school year. One that we worked with, Deeply Rooted Farms. I don't know if you're familiar with that. Um it's actually near Canon Falls. And this was a vegan, it's a plant-based um bean or um that the students and we did a vegetarian actually a vegan chili for them and it went really well. Um kids who don't normally eat vegetarian foods also really enjoyed the chili and they were asking about it when it off when it went off the menu. We tried to rotate monthly what we served. So one
100month we did Ferndale Farms. Um, we did a boni sandwich with that which was just a warm turkey sandwich and then it had kind of a um a kleslaw, not a kleslaw, but some vegetables that um were served with it similar to a kleslaw. Um we've tried a pizza burger which is from Ranchers Legacy and that's made with Minnesota beef. And then we also did a hot turkey um with a Ferndale market and um did a lot of produce such as cantaloupe, watermelon and things like that that was also shared on the main lines. Um but we kind of wanted students to know that every Monday on the global trends line that's where they could get kind of a Minnesota produced item. During this school year, um we had to we created a document or
101we had the um child nutrition had our review and this was something that every five years we do with the state of Minnesota and um we're required to do it because we're part of the USDA program. I won't read all of the commendations, but um they were very pleased with our review. Um, we had great results and they were especially proud of how well our staff work together. You know, the receptiveness that they have to trying new things and just how they are um worth working together. [Music] Um, along with that review, we also um have the wellness policy reviewed. Now, that's something that's a district policy. So, it doesn't necessarily just um hit child nutrition. It's the overall district, but it does fall under our blanket when we're being reviewed. And they were very
102pleased with how and very complimentary how our district is actually putting into play the wellness policy. It's not just something that has been written because we know we have to have it and it's just kind of tucked back there for people to access it, but it's something that's being implemented and they noticed it. When they were out in the buildings, they spent two days, one full day at the high school reviewing everything and then they were also um at the NCEC and um had some discussions with Greenville Park as well. In the next few slides, I'm going to start to discuss the budget. And um we know as I had mentioned, we continue to see high participation. Participation was a little higher than we had anticipated this year. So for the 2425 school year, the
103revised budget, we are suggesting um to change the revenue to about 2.8 million. We had previously proposed 2.5 million for the budget, but because we're seeing an increase in local sources, local sources are considered to be adult meals, allocart meals, um allocart purchases, caterings, things like that. Um so we saw an increase there plus um the additional state and federal sources that we have. And then I'll go just for the proposed budget since it's on this slide. Um we are recommending a proposed revenue of 2.8 million for next school year. Looking at the expenditures, we know that along with increased participation, which is great, we also have an increase in our food and supplies budget. Um so we saw quite a significant increase in that. Um part of that might be due to inflation. Um
104it might be um you know various things that have fallen under that. We did also do uh Val and I looked at the actual salaries and benefits and currently um we with the revised budget are suggesting a 1.4 4 million change over the 1.3 million with salaries and benefits because that's more actual and current to what we had spent. Um and then the purchase services you'll see from the proposed to the revised budget actually are lower and this is because rev track purchases fall under that and we know with the free meals we have far fewer online payments so there's um less charges with that. Um, and the food and supplies you can see has increased. Equipment actually went down a little bit and that's because we did get a grant, a farm-to-school grant to
105be able to purchase an oven at the high school um along with some um or some revenue that we'll get to spend on the food and supplies through farm to school as well. Next year, you can see the proposed budget is only 13,000 because we really aren't anticipating a lot of equipment purchases and with the building of the new high school, a lot of things that are kind of working through their time life if we can't reutilize them in the new kitchen space, um we would be looking at purchasing new equipment for that. So total expenditures um for the proposed budget were about 2.7 million and we are suggesting with the revised budget for this school year to be at 3 million. Um and then the proposed budget for next school year to be at
1063.3 million. Again, we know with these expenditures, um, one thing to mention with the salaries and benefits that when we have those weather related days, with the new ESST laws in Minnesota, we are required to pay our staff. So, we don't have any revenue coming in on those days because we're not serving meals, but we have the expenditures because we are paying the staff on those days. So, we know that um as we're looking at the budget that I had mentioned, uh the fund balance max is something that we look at. The state of Minnesota or the Minnesota Department of Education over the last several years extended our um fund balance exceed amount to six months, which is our average operating expenditures. And um they were supposed to change it to three months, but now
107I've heard word in the last couple days, Val, I don't know if you heard word last week, but they're now reconsidering going back to the six month for next school year. So that's to be determined of where we're at. Um you know, these things kind of always fall after we've got all of our plans in place. We know it's kind of fluid and there's lots of changes with that. Um but so when we're looking at that, if we were to exceed um that four months, we really try or the three months, we know we're well under those guidelines for our fund balance for the proposed fund balance for next year of 296,000. um because we really try and stay in alignment with the school district who also has 14% as their fund balance goal which
108would be about 460,000 is where we would want to end our fund balance. Um so for the proposed budget um we're well below that and some of the expenditures we know with the budget proposal um changes that we will be charged back into the general fund um a different amount that can be calculated through the state of Minnesota. There's a calculation that we can do and Val is able to determine what that is. So, a portion of that will be back um going back into the general fund and that's kind of to bill for the services of the use of the building, the space that we're using. Is that correct, Val? Kind of. Okay. Um so, with that three months max, like I said, it would be closer to the 465,000. Um again looking at
109the proposed budget kind of taking a step back um we had proposed ending our fund balance at around 817,000 um for this year. But now after looking at where our current expenditures are, our current revenue um we're actually looking at spending that down a little bit more. So we're a little closer to about 781,000 with that revision. So, as you can see, kind of over the next couple of years, our fund balance um will be considerably lower uh than it has been, but we know that that always changes as we kind of are evaluating our revenues, expenditures, our participation, actual participation. We won't know usually until June um or into the summer what the state will be providing or what the federal government will be providing for our reimbursement rates. Um so once we know
110that we can also make some adjustments. We are looking at um also um keeping the the um staff meal rate at about $5, which is what we've had. But if the state and the USDA comes out with a minimum that needs to be increased, then we will adjust that according to what their minimum requirement is. And we are also looking at adjusting um due to inflation uh the allocart prices which is something we really haven't done over the last couple of years. So, we're looking at um kind of making changes with that and we'll evaluate that with our food vendor as we see necessary. So, with that, um I just want to mention how thankful I am for all of my staff. This was a little message that was sent out to the Spring Creek
111lunchroom heroes. Um last week was lunch hero day and it's it's a giant poster that's hanging in their cafeteria. A lot of the schools recognize the staff for all the hard work that they do. You know, a teacher appreciation, nurse appreciate appreciation all fall within this time. Um, so it's great that all of our heroes in the district are being recognized and um, we know that we couldn't do the things that we do each day without them because they're right there helping those kiddos be wellfed. So, um, I'd like to take this time if you have any questions. Excellent. Thank you, Stephanie. and um very impressive the food options and the local connections and outstanding commendations. So well done on that. Thank you. Do you have any questions or comments? Hey Ben, I do. Um
112thank you Stephanie. Great job. Thanks to your staff as well. That egg roll in a bowl is pretty good. Um we probably have some left in the freezer. You could try it. Um when we look at uh just the budget, you know, looking at and remind me I feel like I should know this, but in terms of the state allocation, do we get is that essentially a chargeback for the number of meals that we serve or is that kind of how is that amount determined by? Yep. So they set um so the federal government sets kind of an amount that they reimburse and then the state is covering the additional cost so that students can all have free meals. So what we do is as students go through the line uh we record each of
113them as they're having a meal. Um and then at the end of the month we pull all of that data together and I submit what's called a claim into the state of Minnesota. Um and then they evaluate that and then determine what our reimbursement rate is. So when we look at that state source for the 26 25 26 we're sort of estimating then the number of meals serving. Is that kind of how we get that number um 385? Yes. Okay. Yep. Yes. So, we we assume similar participation. Again, like uh Stephanie mentioned, we don't actually know the rates and so we just assume they're staying flat. Um I'm logging in to look up what the decline is. Um I feel like it's related to the summer meal service because they talked about switching um and
114making that a lesser reimbursement or a different model. But do you remember off the top of your head why it's declining for next year for for which the state sources? the state sources. Um otherwise I'll I'll look it up here. Yeah. And do we feel pretty confident in terms of federal funding at this point? I mean what kind of question is that? As confident as we can be. How about that? not aware of any significant changes in that particular No, the only thing we've heard to date was about the um farm to school rent which ours was actually state funded and so that was not um at risk at this time. Okay. And Ben, I will say Oops, I'm sorry. I will say the state source I do believe the um there was a portion
115of there or we were paid at the summer food service rate because I think was that the year that we grant what it is there's a supply chain assistance funds that oh it's the farm to school grant because you don't have that for next year at this point oh sure so there's an additional grant revenue in 2425 that we do not have in 2526 that's What the decline is is that is that the end of your question then? No, but go ahead. Okay. I'm going to call on Corey and then Amy. Hi Stephanie. I have two budget questions. The first is concerning the food and supplies increase that we realized this year versus the proposal. Not surprised based on what we've seen in the market. I'm curious how a system our size has navigated some
116of the tariff impact because obviously with perishable foods, anything that's been enacted probably impacts your food cost more quickly. I'm guessing that's why there's a 25% increase over what was budgeted. Uh I see one picture with, you know, two large boxes of bananas. I'm guessing those were more expensive than we thought because maybe they came from somewhere that wasn't in the US. I'm assuming a lot of our products do. Uh so just curious to hear about how that impacted your plan this year and then also obviously see an increase for next year budget as well with some uncertainty. Sure. Yeah. Um I would say one of the biggest reasons that we have the the increase in our expenditures for food and supplies is because um of the increased uh participation that we have. So we'll
117see that. Um, as far as the we call it by American in our world. That's kind of the terminology that they've been using. Um, next year we have a 10% amount. So 90% of our goods have to come from America. 10% can be outside of that. We have things like bananas that are on an exception list, mandarin oranges, canned um pineapple because we know these are products that the students really enjoy um and they're consumed in large amounts and if we have those we're going to quickly go over our 10% and then we have to include a waiver for that to go over it. Um and then we're going to see that number go down to 8% um in the next two school years and then 5%. So this is something that we've had in
118place since last year like for about a year that we've had the biamerican it's we have to track it. So if we have goods that come in and we see that maybe something is coming from Indonesia we have to document it on a form saying you know where the source is why we had it. Are we purchasing it because it's a lower price um than something that we can find domestically because it would have a huge impact on our budget. Um, you know, so there's things like the canned fruits. Some of them we can get that are non-domemestic, but we might be saving $20,000 just because we were able to get them out outside of the US. Um, don't quote me on those numbers. I mean, that's just something, you know, that we've evaluated in
119the past. Um, and so our staff, I know we're looking at as we're planning for next school year, you know, what are the items? our distributor works with us, there's a symbol that says, you know, buy American, buy it, or that it's Americanmade and it meets those qualifications so that we know it's something we can purchase within these guidelines. That's one of the reasons why we um did have that additional um our expenditures are so much higher for next year because we actually went with a 7% increase on our expenditures whereas in the past we were probably closer to that five to 6%. Um so we wanted to give ourselves a little bit more of a buffer with that. Did that answer your question? Did I don't know. Okay. It did bring up another question.
120Is that by American mandate, state or federal mandate? Uh, federal. Okay, makes sense. Yeah. And then this might be more of a valid question. Um, looking at the proposed budget for next year for the ending fund balance, it's about 60% less than what we have this year. Um, and and I, you know, I I understand the different math that comes in after the fact what comes in. Is there any concern though about, you know, looking at the raw number going down by, you know, $400,000 or $500,000, excuse me, because if we did that again next year, that would put us in a deficit. Of course, there's concern. Um, I would say historically when we've looked at this budget, like even if you just look at proposed to revised, um, because we don't have any idea
121what the revenue reimbursement rates going to be, there's likely going to be a positive impact there. We do have um some flexibility with the chargeback, but again there's ramifications to both funds depending on on which way we handle that. I also think as um as we know more with the tariffs, we can respond more to the products that we're choosing. Um we have some amazing options for students and that might have to be scaled back in the future unfortunately. Um but we don't want to react prematurely and be doing that. Um so and again it's a max fund balance, right? So while the goal would be to have 14% um just for that flexibility, this is a relatively stable fund without massive changes. Um unless there's some really dramatic changes to participation that we couldn't
122have projected. Um but for the most part that's pretty scalable. Um, so yes, we'll certainly keep watching it. Um, but we're hoping the reimbursement rate will be an appropriate increase. Um, and that we can switch this in the revised budget to to make it look not quite as terrible. Stephan, you had mentioned the allocart prices potentially increasing. I'm guessing that's not reflected in this then. Um, we did do we have it the alle cart reflected but not the um adult meal. Right. Correct. We kept that at $ five dollar. Yeah. Until we could find out, you know, what they're saying the minimum price is. Thank you. Yeah. Amy, you had a question. Thank you, Stephanie, for your report. Um, your report always makes me hungry. Uh, so my question is about if we lost the
123farmtoschool grant, will that affect your Minnesota Monday menu? Um, we're hoping that we still actually have some funds, smaller amount that will carry over to next year. Um, but we're hoping that we can still implement that because actually some of that stuff is quite cost-effective. Um, when it comes in in the rare form, you know, then you have more labor that goes into it. Um, so you kind of and you know, it's a catch 22. Um, it's either less labor to do it or more, but um, it's something that they like. Uh, and I think it's definitely worth it. We hope not to get rid of that. I think we'll look at other avenues that we can maybe cut costs. The managers are always looking. Just today we had a manager meeting and they were
124all coming with ideas that, you know, maybe we can do this instead of, you know, doing this differently. We're not going to sacrifice on the product they're getting, but maybe it's the quantity that they're getting. You know, one example is guacamole. the students love guacamole. Well, when we have that out in a pan, they're heaping it themselves, but if we can self-portion the guacamole, um they might still get that option, but they're just not going to have as much. And then it also goes further. It helps other children at the end of the line who maybe want guacamole and weren't able to get it at the beginning. So, I mean, that's just one example, but um they're really always trying to think of ideas and ways that they can be creative with things. Bananas we
125know are very sensitive fruits that, you know, they might come in one day and they're not ready to use and then you have to wait the weekend. Well, then they've got the brown spots and kids aren't going to eat them. So, they'll still utilize them. You know, how can they do that? make them into a banana muffin. Um, you know, homemade muffin or something like that. Um, so they're really trying to limit the waste that they have with items. Thank you. Anyone else question comment? Okay, Jenny. Thanks, Claudia. Um, my question is regarding the free breakfast for all students. Are the students who ride the bus are do they arrive on time to fully take advantage of the free breakfast program? Um, they should be able to. We have the option that there are bags.
126So, if students, you know, if for some reason a bus is late or there's a situation that happens that there are those circumstances where they can get a bag and then take it back to their classroom um, and then they would have the opportunity to eat it. We're just not having it where a lot of the meals many many students who got there in time and had plenty of time to eat weren't participating in breakfast. Instead, then they were grabbing the bag and taking it back to the classroom. So, we really wanted to encourage the use of students eating in the cafeteria. Um, but students who come off the bus have that option of coming through and getting a bag. And that's in all buildings at all grade levels that where you have that option.
127It should be. Yep. Yep. Okay. Because I know some some of the students so if their bus arrives late, which some depending on how far away they are do do arrive late and they're late to their classroom. Yep. Um they would still have time. So then they would be more late to their first hour class because they would have to go and grab the bag. Yep. If they if they want the breakfast, you know, then they would just come down and get it. Sometimes at the elementary level, I think they go to the office. Um, you know, if a student goes to their classroom and checks in in their classroom, but they want a breakfast, then somebody will come down with them and grab the breakfast for them. I've been at the schools when that's
128happened, too. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else question or comment? Okay, Ben, sorry. Uh, how many meals did you say for was total was like 250,000? um for lunch like 290 thou 228,000 through January. Yep. That's impressive impressive amount of meal community. Do we and that's great that we're able to source especially locally. There's great options on that. I just had a food safety related question. Do we cook any protein from raw like ground ground beef or um so at the elementary levels and middle school we would not um at the high school we do and it's the raw beef patties that we do and then the turkey that we bring in from Ferndale Farms um we have done that at the middle school so I should take a step back the middle school has done
129that um in the past we had done that at the elementary schools as Well, but with the increase in participation, it's just too hard for them to cook that many because their numbers are really high at the elementary levels and to cook that much raw turkey and to be able to pull it apart or to slice it um and get it prepared for those meals just wasn't efficient. Um and so they haven't been doing that at the elementary schools. Yeah. Thanks for that. And does MDH They get in once a year, don't they? They come twice a year. Is it twice? It's required that they come twice a year. Um, and then they also visit our summer programming. So, we usually get three visits a year from them. And then all of our staff are
130required to be trained in Surf Safe um and have their um certified food protection manager certificate too. Thanks. Anyone else? No. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay. Next, we have the revised 202425 and proposed 2526 community education fund budget. We'll have the the revised budget as an item for action at our next meeting and the proposed budget at the June 9th meeting. Welcome, Aaron. Thank you. Good evening, board members. Thanks for having me. I'm happy to share the uh preliminary budget for the community education department. Um, as we get started, I'll just remind you of the principles of community education, lifelong learning, maximizing community and school resources, maximizing community and school facilities, promoting collaboration and partnerships, and citizen involvement. And to that end, last fiscal year, we did have 11,483 participants in a
131community education program. We did um schedule 1,116 652 hours of community or facility usage by outside community members. So outside of what happens in the K12 school day um through community ed. And we do have approximately 600 employees in the community education department. This ranges everywhere from a flag football coach that might work four hours in a month for a program all the way to our full-time staff and licensed teachers. And that is the cover of the summer community education brochure. So we hope you all receive that at your house in early April. Um these are the programs that make up the comm um some of the community education department. I'll I'm not going to give highlights for all of them, but I'm going to share a couple of highlights um right now. So in
132our adult basic education program that is uh held at the uh Northfield Community Education Center, we did this year they count um for um purposes of attendance to submit to the state. Um we just wrapped up our attendance count for this current year and we are 26% increase over last year. Last year we also had um about a 26% increase. So continuing to see a great increase in attendance at adult basic education um which is really great. We are also in the process uh we did add back GED this year a GED class and so due to the popularity of that class we are in the process of adding a GED testing center at the NCEC. That's kind of a natural progression once you start having a a relatively goodsized class of GED students because
133ultimately the goal is you want them to test and um complete their GED. So we are also in the process of that. And then as you all know we did receive the multi-purpose community facility projects grant and so that was about a half a million dollar grant to renovate the adult basic education space primarily. It also touches a few other places in the building. Um but that was one spot we did not renovate in the initial um renovations of the former Green Bell Park Elementary. So really exciting to do some renovations um in that space. Recreation and enrichment program continue to see um participation that was higher than what we had pre- pandemic. So those programs continue to have really great participation numbers. Um as I mentioned, summer registration opened on April 4th and so
134that's off to a great start. And then when you look at the programs under um our community programs and partnerships, a number of them, that being community schools, the healthy community initiative, and the community action center are all part um of a we were selected as a site visit as part of the national community school and family engagement conference that's happening in Minneapolis at the end of the month. So we we are full. They could take 50 participants and we had 50 people selected. So, they will be busing down um people on the morning of Wednesday, May 28th to um do some tours at our community school sites and then also at the Northfield Community Education Center. So, we're really excited to host them as well. And then, of course, these are the programs that
135are the early childhood programs, many of them which are housed in the North Community Education Center. Um and just a few highlights from these programs. Uh early childhood family education continues to have great registration numbers. We often are very close to full in all of those program areas on the day we open registration. Um, handinhand preschool, as you also know, was selected for voluntary preschool uh voluntary pre uh kindergarten this year. So, we did offer 28 free full day preschool slots and did fill those. We are in the process of registering for Bridges to Kindergarten right now. that is a program a one weekl long program for kids that'll enter kindergarten in the fall at each of our elementary pro um school sites. Uh so continue to have great um great attendance in all the
136early childhood areas as well. As we move into this budget, I just want you just uh to acknowledge and as you saw in the narrative um the community education advisory council and the program coordinators do help guide this work. So they were each a part of um the program coordinators were part of building the program budgets and helping guide that and then as well as the community education advisory council has seen this presentation um and asked that it be shared with all of you. The community education advisory council does meet 10 times per year. Uh members on that are appointed to three-year terms. We do have two student representatives. We do have a school board representative. Jenny is the representative to the community education advisory council and then we do have a member from the
137um city of Northfield's park and recreation advisory board as well. So with that you are looking at the budget revisions for this current year and that is really um has to do with higher revenues in um due to participation rates. Now that does lead also to some higher expenditures um but the we are seeing a higher participation rate driving a lot of those changes. While we're on this slide, one thing I should reflect is while it does appear as one ending fund balance, these fund balances aren't allowed to mix. So we reflected as one ending fund balance, but this is really um what they look like. and we can't decide we want to move funds from one um balance to the other unless it's been approved by the state and typically they've only done that
138at certain times. So just our the community education stewardship goal much like your goal for uh K12 we would work towards a overall fund balance that equals 14% of community education's overall expenses um which you can see what that equals and we would the goal would be to achieve that with all of the fund so all four of those fund balances having a positive balance. So there are some budget assumptions that we have to make at this time of year for this upcoming fiscal year. first of course a slight increase in revenue for feebased um programs on the activity that we're currently seeing in this year. There's also and you've heard those who've been here before have heard me talk about the federal child care stabil stabilization funds. These were the funds that started during
139CO to help child care um centers stay in business and so those uh stabilization funds have shifted to state funded and the state has changed the allowable uses for those as well. So when those childc care stabilization funds started, 70% of the funds were toward payments towards the employees and 30% were towards the organization. And as you'll see on the next slide, those all those funds now go towards the employees. So there's no longer any of those childcare stabilization funds that are um provided to to the organization. As I previously mentioned, we do have voluntary prek funds. that is what is funding our 28 slots in our full day preschool. Those are funded much like a K12 student fund. And so they're coming in in the general fund. They're coming in as ADM and they're
140um at different it's a little bit of a complicated formula as Val can attest to in that there is different things that will weight them differently such as whether a child might also be receiving special education um services um e services other things. And so it's a little bit of a hard formula to exactly nail down what those funds will look like because of it's a little bit different um for each student that's in that program. But that those funds will come into the general fund and then they will offset the the staff that we do have teaching those voluntary prek session sections. We are seeing an increase in adults with disabilities revenue per state statute. So that will um does about double the revenue we do receive in um from the state per the
141state statute for adults with disabilities and then a slight decrease in pupilbased formulas. Our pupilbased formulas are based on um census counts. So when you have declining birth rates, this is also what drives down some of our pupil based formulas because in the areas of school readiness um ECF, those are um census counts that drive those formulas and so as you all know those counts are are not as high as they have been in other years. So there that is what the slight decrease is in those revenue areas. And then for some of the expenditures that we have accom accommodated for the appropriate increases in salary, wages and insurance and I've highlighted there some of the things that are um going into place here in the next year as well. We have the appropriate staff
142support for all children as you all know. Um all of the programs at the Northfield Community Education Center are integrated programs and so we are serving all students and and whatever need level they have and we are making sure we have appropriate support staff for those children. We are going to have a reduction of a hand-in-hand preschool section this next year. What we have found well one with declining enrollment. Our afternoon only preschool sections are are not as popular and people are also migrating more to the full day section. In the full day section, if you do have someone who still naps, it is an easier way to accommodate that. So, we are going to reduce a Monday through Thursday um afternoon preschool section that we have tracked the attendance data for the last couple
143years and we will be able to accommodate students in other sections at this point with the enrollment um with the essentially the grade level enrollment that we are seeing in the early childhood areas and then a slight increase in chargeback from the general fund. This was approved as part of the general fund budget reduction process and so you were all aware of it was the same thing Stephanie mentioned earlier as well. So this slide does highlight the areas our proposed revenue um comes from. As I mentioned we do receive levy in state aid. um those that are in the uh census count in the early childhood areas have gone down but then we have seen some increases um in like our school age care levy and also in our um adults with disabilities levy. So
144there is some balancing out there. The federal aid that you are seeing there are those childcare stabilization grants that I was referencing. So you can see um where that money had played out um in previous audited years that is not in either the revised budget or in the proposed budget. The local sources is primarily fees for programming. So the vast majority of our local sources is fees. Some of the small amounts that would also be in there would be um payment from the city of Northfield for us to administer the recreation programming grants that we receive things like the pathway one and pathway two scholarships. But you're looking at the vast majority of that being um for fees for programming. And then as you see in our proposed expenditures, much like the K12 budget, we
145are a people based program. It takes people to run our programs. And so that's where you're seeing the majority of our expenses um in the salaries and benefits is just the actual human power we need to operate the department. So then as we get to the proposed budget um you can see where we um we've already reflected kind of what the revisions were and then you can see what is proposed for next year and as you can see we are showing that the biggest loss would come in the general community education area and that is specifically tied to early ventures still which is I feel a little bit of a repeat of what I told you last year as well. Um if you remember after we after this budget presentation last year we did have
146a work session with the board and kind of focused is focused on early ventures and kind of what were the the the goals of that program and the next steps. Um when we did open registration in March for this year it was the demand was again extremely high especially in the infant and toddler. So this year we could have not only filled the an infant section plus another class, but we could have we filled the toddler's class se section and we could have filled a second toddler class. Um so what we know in the Northfield community is that care for infants and toddlers is still hard to find, difficult to get into um because there's just not enough of it. with um declining enrollment and the number of other options that become available once you
147hit either that 2 and a half to three area, there's less of a demand right now when you're looking at that um preschool age. So, I'm going to say the four to five more, but even in that late 3 years. So, um, while we are could add a significant amount of spots in the infant and toddler, we are not as full anymore in that preschool age area. And so, right now, um, we are full all the way up to the year before kindergarten next year. We do have, I believe, four slots available right now. Um, every other class is still sitting with a with a waiting list. The only struggle with that, infant and toddlers, as you know, is is where the most cost comes in care as well. the ratios are lower to provide
148care um in that area and of course that's where the greatest need is as well. And all of that being said, as you saw in the narrative, we are we continue to see um extremely great outcomes in kindergarten readiness from those cohorts of um early ventures. As you remember um back a couple years ago, we had two years in a row of 100% of students out of the early ventures cohorts being ready for kindergarten. Um, and we saw n this current kindergartens class had 93%. So, it's it's a a situation we still are working on. We're putting together some proposals of um ways we can look at this differently. It will have some impact to the program, but we are going to need to make some changes in order to um make the budget not
149continue to decline. And that is the only area that is causing the most concern right now. And so that's where you can see in the general community education line item in the fund balance. So we are proposing um in this revised budget of fund balance ending of $574,83 with then the um proposal for next year being at $35,41. And then here is just a a little bit of a fund balance history just because I think it is is good to reflect on what has happened and where the where the community ed fund balance has been um over what's getting close to the last two decades. There is of course some variables that we we can't predict until we really get into the year. That's of course our actual program enrollments, our fee collection and then
150of course student needs. I'll also just take this time um to just reflect on our community school programming in our middle school youth center that is not um in it is overseen by the community education department but not in the in the community school um or sorry not in the community education department budget simply because of what the funding sources are being grants that neither either need to be in the general fund or coming with support from the targeted services program. So we do have after school and evening programming at the Greenville Park Community School. We also have afterchool programming at the middle school youth center, the Bridgewater Community School and the Spring Creek Community School. Um several deliverables as you can see there through programming. But more I just want to share some highlights
151from this last year. So we have this last year offered dental clinics at all elementary sites twice this year. So um children who are uninsured or underinsured can have had two cleanings. So essentially we've got them on the schedule so they're getting a cleaning every six months um at school and then if there is any concerns we do um assist with referrals out for um any additional services that need to be provided. We've developed a great partnership with St. Olaf College and have offered oies for opportunities at our community school sites. This is a partnership um with St. Olaf sports teams and so they're coming in offering um some of their they'll offer a couple nights of clinics. They'll um nothing excites elementary kids more than a few college kids teaching them some sports. Um
152and then they actually invited all the students onto the St. Olaf campus um for supper one night and to um and to have opportunities to play on their field. So that was really exciting. We also have had maker space clubs this year. those um kids who have participated in those clubs have ended with a field trip to the Canon Valley Maker Space. Um and then we are fortunate enough to have some um even more extensive staff trainings, I would say, than we've had in previous years. So, we have been able to have staff trainings that include um food and a staff training. So, staff can come, we have to do these trainings at night because we're running programming every day after school. So, we've been able with this grant to have um a meal and
153then staff training. So staff have been trained on food allergies that included EpiPens, trauma-informed care, supporting um student needs, time to plan with each other around developing club and program um club and program activities and then going through the youth program quality assessment at the same time to make sure they met those. And then lastly, we did submit a 21st century community learning center grant in March of 2025. We have had that grant for 11 years. that is what has funded um the Greenville Park Community School and that grant expires on August 31st. So maybe sometime in the next month we will know if we were successful on that grant application. Um but in the meantime, as I mentioned before, we will have 50 people that are attending the national conference coming down for a
154visit to see our site as well, which will be really exciting. So then, oh this slide did not that did not print out very well for you guys to see. I mean okay you got it. Can you see in your packet? Okay. Um so this is just reflects then how many of have attended um one hour plus and 50 hours plus. And so our what our goals are. Um we're well on track to meet them and um it's exciting to have had this many students. I looked at it just today. Now, I can't see the numbers on the bottom of yours, but we've had 249 students attend 50 plus hours as of today. 960 students attend one plus hours. So, I'm not sure how far that is off from what you're seeing, but that is
155where we're at as of today. So, with that, I'll take any questions or comments. Thank you, Erin. Board members, any questions or comments? I do. Thank you, Erin. If we look at slide 10 just on like general community ed fund balance. So I think you said those different pots were sort of been you know you can't mix and match. Y does most of the revenue for the general ed community line come from the local sources? Look at that slide eight. I want to make sure my slides are numbered different because we've got the whole packet. Oh, I'm sorry. So is this the slide you're talking about? Yes. Yep. So are you asking if most of our local sources is driven by the general community ed? Yes. Yes. So for an example if um ECF's val
156might be looking at exactly ECF's over each annual budget is about 250,000 to 300,000. School readiness is about 500,000. Um and screening I want to say is roughly 17 or 18. So yes, most of it comes most of what you're seeing in gen in funding sources. Val's going to tell how well my memory is right now. It was very good. The the total general community ed um revenue for fiscal 25, so the revised budget is uh 32 almost 3.3 million and then three and a half million in expenditures. So the vast majority is in the general community. Okay. So then when we're going negative in that fund balance, that's just the revenue is driven by fees at that point to match the expenditures plus whatever we're spending now in the remaining like 83,000 of the
157fund balance if I read that right. Yeah, the I can I could do some math on like what the actual percentage is, but the vast majority is is local fees. Okay. And amongst those in terms of the local sources that would include things like Kid Ventures plus any of the adult education like it all does it all go kind of in the same pot? Yep. All of them go into the same pot when you really do divide them out. That's where I'm reflecting when you would divide out all the program areas. Early ventures is the one that is is most concerning for the loss. But yes, they they all go into that pot. So the things that I all that were in that pot were the things that I mentioned that were the the community
158education office, driver's education, youth and adult enrichment, youth and adult recreation, kid ventures, early ventures, project ABLE, and youth development. From a revenue and expenditure standpoint, those are kind of all the things that sit in that. They're all the things that sit in the general community pot. That was my question. Thanks. Anyone else question or comment? Okay. A Erin, thank you for the report. I am always impressed with how big your umbrella is. How many programs you oversee, how many employees you have, how many lives you impact. So, a lot going on. Um, my question is about the baby care and the toddler care. Have we considered increasing our prices? Yes. And what would that mean? And you know, could we have scaling prices or what what ideas have you thought about and what are
159you leaning toward? Yeah, that's a that's a great question. So, if you remember um not I don't expect you to remember this but when I was here last year the um state legislature had just released their go their guidance that child care should cost 7% of your household income and at that time so last year roughly the household income um in Northfield was 71 or $73,000 one was it must I think Northfield was $73,000 Rice County was $71,000 And last year an infant uh slot at early ventures cost $16,000. So there there was the math is hard, right? It we couldn't come anywhere near what the state guidance of having um 7% of your income and that would be if you had one child at child care, you know, where we're looking at families who
160often time have more than one child at early ventures. Um, at the same time, the reimbursement rates we saw between Dakota County and Rice County for those families that were accessing county childcare assistance were drastically different, which is a struggle when you're in Northfield and you sit right almost you sit on the county line, right? And so we were looking at what a family would be reimbursed for um living in Dakota County and attending Early Ventures versus what a family that would be reimbured for living in Rice County and attending Early Ventures was dra drastically different. That that hasn't changed in the last year, which does put our economically challenged families in a tough spot. Um so things we have looked at and and is exactly what you're talking about. Do we scale it differently
161based on income? Do we charge what it actually costs? Knowing both of these items could have a large impact on who we are serving. Um, we also know there's a lot of demand out there for infant and toddler chair care. So, we are in the process, Amy, of putting together some of these options and reviewing them with a team of people to get some feedback because I think um when you start talking people's childare, it's a pretty personal thing. And so we want to review this with a a host of people um because it will have an impact. Whichever decision we end up going with will have an impact on people. I wish you the best with that. Thank you, Amy. Thank you. Comment or question. All right. Thank you, Eric. Thank you. Item D
162is our policy committee recommendations and superintendent Hamilton will present the committee's recommendations on policies 413, 421, 222, 427, 512, 704, and 906. These will be items for individual action at our May 27th meeting. Yes. So, what I'll do is I'll uh just I'll let the policy changes stand as in the bulletin or as in the packet and ask if there are questions. This month's policies are a mix of some recommended updates from Minnesota School Boards Association and some of our regular cycle review. Uh this year we're really focusing on the 400s. So I'd be happy to take any questions about any of the proposed budget any of the proposed we're talking a lot about budget any of the proposed policy changes this evening. Thanks. Want to have question? Okay, Jenny. It's Claudia. So I just
163have a question on policy 512. Um the there was so so there was only one change made it looks like. Um can you explain why the the one statement was removed? Yes. So this is one of the uh latest recommendations from the Minnesota School Board Association. This policy was updated last summer after the legislature granted some greater um I would say ownership of stu school sponsored student publications um content if you will. And what they did is when they reviewed how they had wrote the policy initially, they felt that it actually conflicted there was an argument a line of argument that the policy that line in the policy conflicted with the law that was adopted. So part of their regular internal review that they felt that um that statement could create an issue for a
164district if there was some kind of suit that came um about um student content uh editorial oversight. So it's it's mainly just liability district liability reasons. I would argue it's two things. I think number one it would be to make sure that the policy aligns in their best best way that they look at it with the law and secondly to protect districts from any kind of liability issues related to that. Okay. Thank you. I have something on 512 as well while we're there and I'm I think I'm noticing two things. Does it say um item four guidelines and then if you skip down does it say again item four time place manner distribution. You're right. It does. Okay. Good catch. I take care of that. Well, I just noticed that now. Um we'll also let
165Dr. Mororrow know. Okay, good. Um my question has to do with I I guess there's a place where it says administration. Um I'm sorry. Let me let me find it. If somebody else has a question or comment, I could look while you ask your Are you talking about for or what would be time, place, and manner distribution A? Let me see if I can do a search. Okay. Yes. Yes. Item A. So I wanted to know in that policy elsewhere it talks about students are in in grades 6 through 12 and so um my question on that a would be should it say something about site administration or does it mean district administration that the district will decide or will the site administration decide? I'm just looking at the top to see if uh we
166have defined administration which is does not look like that we have done. if you look at G student journalists in grades six through 12 and so since it's um going across three different sites. Yeah. So I I think Claudia that that could mean either right I think it could honestly time place manage it it could be either. So it could be um the site level administration which is likely what would happen here right but it also could be in some districts it could be the district administration as well. So I think it's more of a universal in this case. Are you saying you'd like to make sure that we specify that a little bit more? Uh, I mean, that's something to consider to specify that because there could be a a conflict there if the
167site administration feels one way and the district administration receives it a different way. That language comes from the statute itself. Okay. So, just it says district just for clarification. So, under 121A.80, that's specifically where that language comes from. I don't know if that matters. We typically don't like to mess when with when the statute is quoted in the but I don't think I think it would be reasonable to explore putting something in the definitions about what does administration and I I would say that it could be either right that it might be the site administration in consultation with the district administration. Well, and that's what I'm getting at is, you know, it says administration that could potentially create confusion, but we'll add we'll add I think there's no harm in adding something to the definition
168if that's what board members okay with. Um, any other questions or comments on any of the policies? Um I have a couple of comments um on policy 413 under the procedures uh where we do the definitions we like for 1A we say assault is and then we have one two three underneath of that. I think we need to indicate more clearly that assault is one or more of those and not all of them. Um just to because someone could say, well, sure we did number one, but we didn't do number two or three, so it's not actually assault. Um so if we could just clarify that. Um and then Amy, you'd like to see, you know, something like a comma or at the end of one, a comma or at the end of two. Yes.
169Comma or or at least the first two there. Exactly. And um under harassment as well, I think um putting the ors in. Yeah. Anything where there's a list that any one of the items would meet the definition, you'd like to make sure it's explicit that it's one of the three, not all of the three together. Exactly. That's good. And then also just on number 422, policy 422. Um I just want to remove the word model wherever it appears because model policy refers to the MSB policies and our policies are just policy. So if we could delete all the model in the policies that would be great. Thank you. That's a good catch. Anyone else? Amy on 422. Those items that are stricken. Um, how did that Yeah, these are uh recommendations from the MSBA policy.
170Actually, I believe in this case it's a previous recommendation. When we look through when our um policy committee looks through uh policies that are just up for the regular cycle, we will often go and compare it to the MSBA red line. that's the latest, you know, what does the latest MSBA policy say? And if there are over the years, um, our pol our policies haven't always been in lock step with MSBA, right? There were some that were developed for other reasons. There were some that some super previous superintendents brought from their school districts. So, what we do is we take a look at what is MSBA's current recommendation, even if it's not brand new, and we align it to ours. And in this case, if you really look at this one, the policies incorporated by
171reference are saying that these following policies also apply to employees. And what happened here is there were some of these policies that already apply to employees. It wasn't the reverse of student policy that also applies to employees. So, this is intended to clean it up to get rid of policies that uh in this list that really don't need to be incorporated by reference. So, it was our general housekeeping and looking at across um what the current MSBA red line is and and we don't always recommend to you exactly what's in the MSBA model policy. We have a chance and many of them to to make some choices about what we include and what we don't. Um but in this case, when we look back, we say when we want to clean it up, we're just
172doing some housekeeping. So, as many board members have said on other policies tonight, that it is clear as it possibly can if we have to use it. Thank you. And I I'll take the purpose statement there as an example. It seemed like several of the policies didn't have the purpose tied back to our strategic plan. Are you is the committee still interested in tying those purposes? We are still working on that. And the trick is that the first round of them that we did when you were on the policy committee very apparent, right? There was there's a lot of ability to really tie it in to the district vision. Then there are some that frankly we're doing jumping jacks to be able to figure out how to tie and we want it to be authentic,
173right? We don't want it to be um just oh let's just make something sound good. And so I really think there are some policies that are just very technical and when we're looking I'm saying how do we tie this you know for example Kelly and I have how do we write the sentence to to make it you know this tie to the strategic plan and sometimes it's just it's just not worth it right because it doesn't feel authentic. So we are doing that where we feel that there is the ability to really tie it back and in some cases like this that it's very much a you know this is just really a technical piece we're not doing it. We'll keep trying though because we're we are fairly creative in how we can make sure
174that those things tie together. Anyone else question or comment? Okay then we can move on. Okay, the next item is our consent agenda agenda. As a reminder, there were some personal items in the table file that were added to that consent grouping. Is there anything anyone would like to pull from the consent grouping for separate consideration? Is there a motion to approve the consent grouping? So moved. Thank you. Second by Ben. Thank you. All those in favor say I. I oppose. Motion passes. Item seven, we have two resolutions and so Kelly will do a roll call vote. Um I will take a motion and then we can discuss. Uh motion, a second, we'll discuss and then Kelly can take the votes. The first resolution is resolution for termination and non-renewal of probationary licensed staff. Is
175there a motion to adopt the resolution for termination and non-renewal of probationary license staff listed in the memorandum effective at the close of 2024 2025 school year by Ben? Okay. More. Thank you. There any discussion on this resolution? Any questions or comments? Hey Ben. just you to recognize that this resolution and next are obviously the culmination of many of the difficult conversations that we've had over the last several months and so you just want to recognize that difficult choices respect to those who impact that anyone else comment or question right see none Kelly we'll facilitate a roll call vote Butler. Hi, Epstein. Hi, Thoritz. Hi, Miller. Hi, Nelson. Hi, Grenell. Hi, Gonzalez. George, I motion passes. Next is the resolution proposing to place tenure license staff on unrequested leave of absence. Is there a motion?
176Moved by Corey. Is there a second on this resolution? This motion. Good. Thank you, Ben. Any question or comments from the board members on this resolution? Okay. Seeing none, we will go to a vote. We facilitate. Butler. I. Epstein. Hi. Goritz. I. Miller. Hi. Nelson. Hi. Quinnell. Hi, Gonzalez. George I motion passes. Right. Item eight is our enrollment report. These are items for information and Superintendent Hillman will review the May 2025 enrollment report. You have the May 2025 enrollment report in your packet. Um I will let the report stand and um certainly take any questions people have about it. Good questions, comments. this side. Okay. Item B is our graduation reminder. ALC graduation is scheduled at 6 PM on Friday, May 30th at the middle school auditorium. Our Northfield High School graduation is scheduled for
1772 p.m. on Sunday, June 1st at the Memorial Field. Our future meetings are Tuesday, May 27th, as Monday is Memorial Day. 6 p.m. it's a regular meeting here in this boardroom. Thursday, May 29th, 5 PM is a closed board board session in this boardroom. The meeting will be closed as permitted by Minnesota statute 13D.03 to discuss labor negotiations. We also have a June 9th and a July 14th regular board meeting 6 p.m. in this boardroom. That is all the business that we have tonight. I have a motion to adjurnn. Motion. Thank you, Jeff. Second. Thank you, Maggie. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Great. We are ajourned. Thank you.