001okay Ian we're ready to go good evening everyone and welcome we are the Owatonna School Board it is Monday it's the 25th of September school is well underway it's 5 30 p.m recall this meeting to order Eric our attendance perfect attendance by everyone well here let's start with the pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all tonight we will start with an approval of the agenda we'll entertain a motion you have a motion and a second have anybody have anything to change any reason we need to pull anything out hearing none all in favor with an aye aye aye any opposed that motion carries we have Mission moment as item number four and
002Mr elstad I'm going to turn it over to you thank you Mr chair members of the board tonight's Mission moment is based on high quality teaching and learning and I wanted to uh we are lifting up Carter Hansen uh this month Carter is a senior at Owatonna high school and is a National Merit semi-finalists Carter is the son of Chad and Stephanie Hansen and has been named a semifinalist in the 2024 competition for National Merit Scholarships Carter was among over 1.3 million students to take the PSAT in the fall of 2022 his score was one of the top few in the state of Minnesota with only 16 000 semi-finalists from throughout the country at Owatonna High School Carter has been involved in symphony orchestra concert choir dinner Ensemble marching band jazz band pep band winter
003Drumline NHS robotics Mock Trail YOLO youth oriented leadership organization knowledgeable and speech very and very involved students he is a pseo student at the University of Minnesota where he is currently taking German and multi-variable calculus unfortunately Carter is unable to be with us tonight because he has class at the University of Minnesota on Monday evenings but I would like to lift up and give a round of applause to Carter for this accomplishment and putting Owatonna High School on the map for X academic that is very nice we don't have anybody here made a tough choice but he said he had a class with one of his multivariable calculus courses tonight he said I cannot miss a lecture someday um sounds like you're inventing the mission to Mars or something yeah okay item number five is
004uh public forum uh sir do we have any cards just want to double check and make sure if anybody came in wanted to all right we're gonna move on item six is the reports uh once again item a under this is the learn and earn I'm going to turn it back over to the superintendent thank you Mr chair members of the board so I've been talking about our learn and earn initiative and this is a collaboration between the Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce as well as Riverland Community College and the Owatonna Public Schools the document that you see on your screen tonight is just simply A visual representation of the way that we are structuring the learn and earn initiative if you recall last legislative session Senator josinski and representative Petersburg were instrumental in lifting
005up legislation to give us about one million dollars uh worth of deed funding to help us with this initiative about nine hundred thousand dollars of that goes into our career advisory program namely the the mechatronics lab and equipment for that lab so I'm going to just walk you and excuse me step you through this document so that you're clear on kind of what these mean so there is a very small steering committee meaning that myself elf and Brad Meyer from the Chamber of Commerce as well as Barb M Baker who's the vice president for academic affairs from Riverland are leading the steering committee and again our focus is to Simply provide resources to support learn and earn but also General oversight and communication if you go a little further down about one hundred thousand dollars
006of that one million dollars that was granted to us is seed money for what we're calling the Owatonna opportunity scholarship fund uh what this and I think I lifted this up to you before this is an initiative to take all Financial barriers away from our students that are interested in attaining a grieve from Riverland Community College meaning that every graduate and we're actually starting it we believe with the class of 2024 and Beyond we'll have an opportunity to to attend and attain their associate's degree at Riverland uh tuition free uh we recognize that as this was all coming into play um the North Star promise that has now been put into place by the legislature uh really addresses families that have a family income of less than eighty thousand dollars can attend tuition free but
007one of the other barriers to that scholarship is it does not add any dollars for uh things like putting gas in your car living expenses and sometimes those become barriers for students being able to attend could be daycare expenses in there as well so the only time opportunity scholarship Advisory Group is really comprised of chamber board members some School District administration and counseling namely from the high school that are helping to facilitate the filling out of the FAFSA and all of the pieces that are necessary for that as well as Riverland Community College administration mostly working in their financial office there to help with this this is all considered what they call a last dollar scholarship so what this covers is is as students are applying and filling out the FAFSA if they are eligible
008for some sort of financial aid within that if something is not covered by financial aid excuse me this is where that Owatonna opportunity scholarship kicks in so it's really taking all barriers away which eventually will help as we start to further align career Pathways and utilizing Riverland as our post-secondary partner the next piece over where you see career Pathways advisory Council this really is looking at how do we continue to align what is industry or what industry needs the programming and Pathways creation to create job opportunities for our students locally again this is an initiative that hopefully keeps students local not that we're not saying students can't go elsewhere in work but we'd sure like to keep them here because our employers need them here and so the membership within that are chamber Representatives again
009a school district admin as well as Riverland admin and mostly uh when we talk about Administration Riverland it's really the dean of the separate program so the dean of the nursing program Chris wolf was significantly involved with that but now we're evolving into our Advanced manufacturing pathway which will include I think it's Kate Nelson that's the admin for that program but anyway we're really looking at how do we align with industry to continue to not only look at what Pathways have been created but what will be necessary going into the future as those sort of job opportunities come up then lastly as sort of a subsidiary if you will of that career pathos advisory Council are two critical groups of practitioners so the secondary program advisories are really including our English Manufacturing tech and AG
010staff along with health science and all of those sort of courses of study if you will that are present in high school right right now and then tying that together with the post-secondary program advisories and again these will be the folks from Riverland within though also other Regional industry experts coming in to really provide sort of the critical nuts and bolts for um the curricula as it's prepared for students to make sure that it's industry standard to make sure that they're doing the right safety trainings and so on so it's all interconnected we have been like I said the chamber and river that have been great supporters of this initiative moving forward and at our last meeting I shared with you that I would be highlighting the progress that we've made I feel really strongly
011that this is really going to be um a model for other school districts across the state to use as we continue to kind of walk down this path of best preparing our students so at this point I would entertain any questions or certifications that I might for the board what do you need from us uh this is just a briefing for you so I just want to make sure you are aware there's nothing there's no ask I maybe I'll say yet there's there's no ask with this but this is just to keep you kind of in tune as to what I am working on with our community as well as members of our staff thank you for this work yeah specifically the opportunity scholarship that has positive generational impact on our kids and their families
012it's amazing yeah I think so too it's that vision of pre-K 14 school with because 12 is great and we want kids to get their high school diploma but we know now that the workforce and or other skills are necessary and when we can start that in high school and continue that Journey that's the goal thank you so Jeff would it be fair to say I heard you say last dollar scholarship so what I infer from that is in a sense this also compels students to engage right in other resources that are available already absolutely they would not have considered or wouldn't have pursued and with these additional resources in the FAFSA and grants and so on it might be that this scholarship is just a small portion of the total but in fact they're
013they're pushed right right to to look for other avenues first yes but we don't want them to get to the end of that being a barrier to say well I just couldn't get the finances across the Finish Line I might add with this and I think I had shared with the board earlier kind of the tenets of the Owatonna opportunity there is the students will have skin in the game they have to put in 40 volunteer hours in the community and we're working with the United United Way of Steel County to use volunteers United to help students track their hours but they also have to be a student in good standing meaning that their attendance has been good didn't say GPA but that their attendance is good and that they're a student of good standing
014and that they had in their High School career that they were able to go to classes and do their very best work so anybody else very not good luck and we look forward to more thanks yes we do uh item seven tonight is just the general information as part of your packet you had the enrollment report anybody have any questions with regard to what was made available maybe just a comment I mean we've talked about this topic being one of our objectives but when you look at the Lincoln yeah the elementary school enrollment I mean it's quite clear that we're we're out of balance um and I know Mr Alstead knows that so we got more to come on that yeah which obviously at our last meeting you know we're continuing to study uh and
015do the groundwork for looking at our in elementary boundaries um you know Elementary and Wilson if you look at the two I think there's over 160 students difference between the two buildings and we do our very best to balance them it isn't always you know but what we're running into now is um space issues and then having space in your building that isn't unused and we're not seeing a huge rise in elementary students moving in the district but we're seeing movement within our community which impacts uh the resources that are available each of those sites so questions anybody okay hearing none item eight tonight no action required the first would be Ford Forum Jolene do you mind if I start down on your or I'm sorry Deborah Saturday was awesome I think our event was
016very well attended I had a number of people who came up and commented about how wonderful things were and how big everything was and some people had some questions but it was good I Echo the exact same thing great day yeah again what else can you say I I don't know how many people went through that building but yeah it was a lot I you know I'm going to Echo it the sentiments that you have shared um three people Lori bugler Sarah Hoffman Corey Kath I thought that the three of you just did spectacular work to make it um a day that just really flowed as I read the agenda for the day I thought boy this is aggressive I don't know how we're gonna get all this stuff done but it got done it
017was terrific and thanks all three if I may I had one hospital administrator say to me whose idea ID was it to stagger these ribbon cuttings and I said well I think that was really beautiful and she said she is a genius she was a and I know agreed well I didn't want to pile on I'm looking forward to next week in the homecoming and all the things that go along with that right fabulous Saturday Homecoming coming up it's been a great week great week to come yeah I'm just a lot of fun absolutely and I just want to recognize that um I think I am enjoying the fruits of the labor of all of you and that went before and I felt honored and privileged to be there with the ribbon cuttings and just
018because I got to come on in the fun part and he all did all the hard work with that um I would also just like to read a quick two and a half minute statement um that I wrote up not asking for any discussion tonight but just a statement um I've been on the school board for about nine months during this time we've we've reviewed several policies the policies are updated by the policy committee to reflect changes in laws and then we as a board read them and approve them most if not all of our policies are copied from the Minnesota School Board Association model policies guide I've been taught that the school board works on District governance and not District management the board's work is in policy and I've been told that policies are
019meant to solve problems I've also been taught that policies need to be carefully Chosen and worded first to follow federal and state laws and second so that we do not open the door for any unfair or unjust perceptions or treatment in addition to solving problems policy can serve as guidance and boundaries one of the positive outcomes of having boundaries is prevention of problems it is proactive I've been told that our current board has never created new policy and at this point I'm not sure that we need a new policy but I do believe that we need to discuss topics that our community is concerned about and out of those discussions we can determine if new policy is needed or current policy needs amending Simply Having me or any one person present an idea to the
020policy committee for consideration really does not allow the full board to work collectively as it was meant to do also I believe just a few board members having a discussion about a topic is not fully utilizing the board the way it was created to work we are a collective Group of Seven board members with different perspective perspectives and each of us representing constituents we have more than five thousand students and adults walking through our school doors and hallways each one of them with a personal perspective belief system political view and moral Foundation we are allowed and should have these differences as a public school district it's our duty to welcome everyone into a safe environment and one of our strategic goals is to have a safe and caring environment the only way that all can
021feel welcome and safe is by remaining neutral in areas of ideologies and political views with this in mind I have concerns that our district may not have guidelines for the speech and displays within our schools I've been told that our teachers can display things like Signs and flags in the classroom as long as the teaching itself is not biased one way or another and all aspects of a topic are taught the constitutional right to free speech allows us As Americans to speak speak and display what we want in our personal spaces such as our homes and vehicles and even on our children however when working for a public entity that is funded by taxpayers and government it is of utmost importance that we remain neutral this neutrality needs to be reflected in speech displays and
022clothing while working as an Owatonna Public School employee and using the physical property of Owatonna Public Schools requiring our staff teachers physical buildings to remain neutral in areas of ideology's political views religion and personal beliefs including sexuality does not violate the First Amendment freedom of speech rights other districts in Minnesota have taken a Viewpoint neutral stance and I would like to see Owatonna Public Schools do the same I simply request that the board have this this discussion at a future school board meeting thank you anything else thank you Aaron uh switching notes uh robotics did pack out today which was super fun in the pouring rain uh which was a little complex with a bunch of electrical equipment also being transported um student council has been working super hard to try and uh get Homecoming
023on the on the parade route so I'm excited to see that all come together um and as well mentioned I also saw cheer practicing the day in the lunchroom when I was doing robotic stuff so a lot of stuff in full swing right now cool thank you I had an incredible opportunity to speak to community members and these officials who had a variety of questions on the 23rd the open house uh sought hundreds of people seeking to understand the building in the space so I thought that was an incredible opportunity for me to speak to others I'm excited for homecoming week and with the homecoming week magnet is in full force so our student newspaper is going to be releasing ours our student new at least releasing our homecoming coverage our new teachers coverage and
024so that's going to be our first um run in a sense it's going to be the first batch of stories and so I'm excited as an Editor to see how the stories are perceived Chase nice work on Saturday thank you uh Mr elstad anything to add oh no no I'm sorry uh we'll come to you in just one second policy revisions is the next item number one policy revisions this is the first reading um Lori are you going to speak about the overview of this sure um if you see the first attachment you'll see the primary changes again nothing um particularly noteworthy I guess I would just um you know call out that again the policy committee functions as prescribed as we you know move through all of these things so this is the first
025reading for folks um interestingly and good for them I had a constituent um through Jolene reach out to me with a proposed change or edit and I thought it was appropriate so I will be making that it's not particularly significant it was actually a um an oversight I think by the committee so that sits in the electronic Technologies acceptable use policy and there's a phrase in there if you go through the edits we were referring to cell phones and other electronic devices and in one instance we failed to identify cell phones as part of that phrase so I'll make that edit and we'll get that published for the next reading but other than that I don't have any other comments on this I don't either I just think the um Community member approached me on
026Saturday at the open house and said so I was reviewing the policies and I said thank you for reviewing the policies thank you for paying attention and reviewing the policies and this is just the semantics that I found and so people are watching the community they're looking they're paying attention so that's as they should so it's awesome anybody have any questions with regard to anything that you saw this first reading okay hearing none Mr elstadt administrative report uh yeah the administrative report uh this month there's a few different items like to comment on uh first of which said last week we met with city and county officials to get a roundabout update on the roundabout of Bixby Road and 18th Street uh we're still on target for early November completion there um things seem to
027be kind of going along as scheduled right now which was really great so that's kind of still our plan I believe that um the roundabout the three legs so the one coming from the north on Bixby and the one leaving upon Bixby that one plus 18th Street those three legs will be completed there is a fourth leg um that right now the railroad is still um having some issues with but nonetheless that road doesn't have a whole lot of traffic on it and I think they're working with constituents that might be living or need access to that road somehow some way but what I will state is that the three most prominent legs will be available by early November according to the current plan uh old uh Owatonna High School auction October 4th is the
028last auction day which I think is next Tuesday I believe or Wednesday um and that will be the last day um I will just tell you that as of October so October 8th then will be the last day for folks that have purchased things have picked them up October 9th that site will be transitioning to a full construction site so there will be a perimeter fencing going up uh they're starting to uh a BPS bestows at that time on the site and so that will become a closed site to the public as we work through that asbestos abatement as well as the rest of the project uh number three is this uh this morning we were alerted by the Minnesota Department of Education that the proposed K-12 standards for Social Studies have started their 30-day
029comment as of today and we will be communicating that to our parents and through our connections to our staff there is a link if you wanted to review the social studies standards as well as provide commentary the department is taking commentary and actually it's the office of administrative hearings uh is the one that takes the comment in and then those are provided to the committee comprised by the Department of Education to discuss the K-12 social study standards that came from our last legislative session uh next item uh October 10th at our work session will be an operational Plan update so myself and the other cabinet members will be here to provide you updates in their respective areas and then lastly um I agree that it was a very successful open house I'm going to guess
030we had somewhere between four and five thousand people come through on Saturday uh and I think that um it was just a great event for our community and there were some non-community members that came as well that wanted to see the space including some that are hopeful that they would pass a bond referendum in their Community they wanted to see um what it looks like when it's good to be on the other side of that event that concludes my report tonight thank you thank you very much any questions for Mr Elston just a comment I appreciate that on the next work session that's a Tuesday yes it's a Tuesday not a Monday we talked about that at our last work session call that out yep thank you thank you uh we're moving on item nine
031tonight is the consent agenda again we are approving the minutes from August 28th and September 11 the disbursement Personnel report anybody have any reason to pull any of these items out hearing none will entertain a motion to approve I move that the board approved the consent agenda second we have Motion in a second I'll ask Eric to do the Roll Call Elizabeth aye Deborah aye Jolene aye Lori aye Mark aye Tim hi and I'm myself and I set an old patch motion curious thank you very much item 10 and we're now into the area where board action is required item a would be the Steele County Children's Mental Health collaborative Mr elstad if you would please yeah and I'm going to quickly turn this over to Dr Knutson she is our as you have met
032her doc our new director of special services and uh is working with this particular area so if you'd like to come up to the table if you would Sarah and give us a little background as to this agreement just really on the spot I'm learning this as we go so I might need help here right um so this is um the collaborative agreement and there are lots of layers to this but this is just the um the you know working service agreement so um it you know to me nothing stood out here we um are uh this grant is about 65 000 and it covers cost of social workers across the district so if you want or need any more details the only other comment I would make is that we have um been part
033of this collaborative before and have been for many years um this is just something that as we continue to look at uh those agreements coming forward this isn't just an operation of the board because it does require board signatures on the agreements so that's why it's being lifted up to you for your consideration any questions I have one go ahead sorry um can you so is money flowing to us or away from us to West oh it is a grant okay I misunderstood I think when I read it and the nature of an agreement made me think we were filing Services it sort of reads like we're paying that but in fact it's a grant correct oh yeah I didn't read it that way because I knew that it wasn't that way but yes okay
034yeah great so yeah money in is good and yeah social services are good so yeah that was my primary we need a question want to be be kind enough to introduce this motion I move the board approve the agreement with the Steele County Children's Mental Health collaborative second Motion in a second any further discussion all in favor with an i i any opposed that motion carries uh Item B policy revisions this is the second reading and consideration for approval we do have all three of our representatives to the policy committee here do any of you have any questions with regard to the policies as presented yes Deborah um I don't general statement of policy e Deborah which policy are your policy number what two um the one about uh education the 102. yeah you probably
035call it that related numbers it's two on the thing general statement of policy equal education equal education opportunity yes yeah and going down to e with the paragraphs that were added number one whether the opportunity for all genders to participate in the athletic program reflects the demonstrated interest of Athletics in the student body of the educational Institution I really want something in there that says that those who are biologically male will be participating in athletics with biological males and females with females foreign policy committee folks you can write some insight the question is uh how do we change that to read that way I don't want and I'm not the only one that does not want transgender women girls competing against biological girls I wonder um well I appreciate you raising the question this is
036the first we've heard of it so this is probably not the best time to to vet the whole issue nonetheless I think we do certainly have Minnesota State High School league rules that apply to us and we'd have to do a little further clarification about but I believe that's the source of the majority of this would you agree Mr elstead do you have any insights it was actually out of Title IX which is a federal law and these are adjustments that were made to Title IX by the federal government and that's why policy on our policies have to align with state and federal law so I don't want boys on those girl teams those girls work so hard to get their numbers up and to become very good in their Sports they don't need to
037have male bodies which are stronger faster the muscle the skeletal development of those people is different and it puts a terrible crushing disability against girls and women but again Deborah I think the issue here is that whether any of us agree with you disagree with you the point is in our role as as a governing board if we don't approve and we take opposite positions to this kind of language we're going to lose Federal funding we're going to not be participating in Minnesota State High School league there's all kinds of ramifications to imposing our personal opinions and preferences on federal law into policy for this organization so so I don't know what else we do with that so what are you gonna do what am I going to do what is this board going to
038do follow the law it's wrong so okay is wrong I can't help that I think you're in the wrong place then Deborah I think you need to go up to Saint Paul and start you know sharing your opinions there we're a school board maybe one of the questions we could ask iski's office is just what is what is the what is our protocol in Owatonna School District what do we do if a student comes and says I would like to play on this other sport if I may there's a prescribed process in Minnesota State High School league users for that um it isn't just sort of uh there is a process that's designed to make sure that that decision is just not made a hasty decision isn't made but there is Title IX is a
039non-discriminatory law non-discriminatory that's the line it doesn't protect women in sports like it was intention many years ago it just doesn't Deborah this is a federal law I understand what you're saying and you have an opportunity to vote right now Mr Sebring I would call the question any further discussion nobody has introduced the motion yet so I will ask somebody to please introduce the motion board approved the revisions to the policies as presented second we have a motion in a second all in favor with an eye all right any opposed nay duly noted item C is the ratification of the tentative agreement with local 147 Mr elstad I would ask Chris Pica if she's available for any questions we did reach a tentative settlement with our custodial employee Representatives uh and I would actually with
040uh Lori Bowles as well if there were any questions that you might have regarding the tentative agreement I would have you pose the questions to our two directors that facilitated the negotiation process hearing no questions would one of you be kind enough to introduce this motion I moved at the board approved the 2023-2025 agreement with local 147 asks me AFL-CIO custodial employees and authorized the chair and clerk to execute the agreement on behalf of the School Board second Motion in a second all in favor with an i i any opposed motion carries item D would be the preliminary tax levy certification we do have Lori Vols here to explain this Mr elstad if you would I'm just going to introduce Lori she has prepared uh the tax levy certification for you and again this is
041a preliminary knowing that the truth and Taxation hearing uh will take place in December so Lori is here to present preliminary information so I'll turn it over to you Lori all right chairman members members of the board superintendent ilstad for your consideration is the proposed Levy for the 2023 payable 2024 uh Levy and at this stage is it is a proposed Levy that the Board needs to approve and um and then when we get to the final Levy in December it will be formerly finalized with an approval uh so I want to start out with some good news this is very good news with our Levy this year on the fact that the increase is very small it's only a 1.64 increase and um just to kind of come and in the introduction I had
042some a variety of Statistics we'll I'll go over that in a second uh but one thing I want to point out that um there are different categories in the levy uh we start out with the general fund and uh that's the category that we saw some uh increase there and that is driven by an improved student count which is good news when our enrollment goes up then we get better Financial monies State AIDS from the state of Minnesota but there's also a tie because we have an operating referendum and we also have a tie to part of the Gen Ed formula called local operational Revenue and since our enrollment did go up compared to last year's Levy document the student council increased about a hundred and so that is really good news so really the
043increase in a nutshell the small increase we have in the levy is driven basically by the student count increase and then also there was a decrease in the category uh prior period Levy adjustments in the category ltfm so those two things together with the increased student count but then the decrease in the long-term facility maintenance Levy category from prior period adjustment basically in a nutshell those are the main things of why the levy had an increase at all so again that that is really good news as good for the taxpayers and it's just a nice positive message that we could keep our Levy soil stable and at a very slight increase this is comparing to other Owatonna Area Public entities the City of Owatonna apparently is increasing their Levy by approximately nine percent in steel
044County property taxes were increasing by about a little over five percent so that's also good news that our school district is at a very small increase well that'll certainly you know help the taxpayers that we're at very small level of an increase um also it's good news as far as um the district has been fortunate over many a many year period to keep their Levy relatively stable and with small increases and I did a little research on that um that it the school levy has increased or decreased less than two percent in nine of the last 17 Cycles so you know that's been a nice steady statistic for the school district overall over time and um another piece I wanted to emphasize is that with this proposed Levy I'm recommending that the board approve it
045what's called at maximum and what that means is um if mde finds some slight adjustment they need to put through and if that is it might be a very slight let's say prior period Levy adjustment it could be a small amount um you know technically they still review things up through September 30th at September 30th they lock in the amount so most districts do utilize the option to approve their proposed Levy at this time in this month at maximum that way if there is some correction it could even come to our benefit maybe they find a correction that's a negative and it'll help reduce this it could go either way most most likely any straggler adjustments will be very slight very small um so that's I just hit the highlights um just kind of circling
046back to the fact that enrollment has improved from the a year ago the projection then and we see it even now with our even with the enrollment update today that um Missy Walter ran for me we have some really good news uh continue to have good news even better news um for for the future throughout the school year our online program is up 120 compared to May 30th we have our vvk program and has gone up by 29 27 27 due to an expanding we had approved expanding of seats there's some really good pieces of information and of course some of the the online programs Improvement in enrollment has to do with that tuition agreement with Northfield and Albert Lee um but it's good news so that is my summary questions from anybody all right
047I go I'm sorry I got one um I'll quit apologize I just have one uh so when you say well two things we we do this I think every year about this time I know you fairly new to our district but isn't that the Cadence that we're doing this kind of preliminary yes all school districts too about this time of year and then yeah and so when we say approve at Max is it the percent change we're really approving or where is the maximum reflected or how so what that means we're using the word at maximum so like right now with the Run it um is this 19 million 308 556. so we're not approving this dollar amount or percentage technically we're presenting it with the phrase at maximum in case there are any straggular
048adjustments that's what that means so that we're able to Encompass incorporate any any adjustments so in my experience only rarely has my district approved a dollar amount rather than at maximum and that is if we were under levying on a line item um that's quite rare but once in a while a district might under Levy an ltfm if they didn't have much repairs needed um which is I mean districts need the funding because they need to repair their buildings and keep them up but uh that in my experience is just a very rare situation but if it is it might be something like that where you're under levying on a line item then you have to indicate a dollar amount thank you yep it's your question anybody else would one of you be kind enough
049reduce this motion for us I moved at the board certified a preliminary Levy excuse me in the maximum amount provided by law second we have Motion in a second all in favor with an i i any opposed motion carries item e Assurance of the compliance report this is something we do every year Mr elstad would you explain yeah so this is an annual as you mentioned this is an annual piece that you're asked to considering approval of the Assurance of compliance report basically states that there as you know um if you've been around school Finance for a certain only certain ways we are dedicated to spend dollar amounts and so what this recognizes is that any federal or state financial assistance that has been provided to the school district that we have in good faith
050put them all into the different buckets representations by Minnesota statute but you have any questions somebody introduce a motion for us I move that the board approved the Assurance of compliance report and that the superintendent or his designee sign and submit it on behalf of the district second motion and a second all in favor with an eye any opposed he carries duly noted uh item G I'm sorry item F the middle school has a close-up trip scheduled for Washington DC yeah this is an extended trip request this actually is coming beyond the school year so it'll be in June of 2024. um Aaron klecker is the representative from the middle school that is requesting your approval to take a group of our middle school students to both Washington DC and Philadelphia which is part of
051the close-up program that we've been involved with before so that students get to see government as well as different sorts of historical pieces in both Washington DC and in Philadelphia do you have any questions I just want to mention that these opportunities are super cool uh the first I have been on a plane four total times in my life each of those times was for a school trip one to Houston and one to Disney World so I just want to say that's super awesome that other people get these opportunities I want to say it as a student that went to the Owatonna Middle School I'm incredibly envious I had a future as a future history major I'm even more envious I went to a Twins game I didn't get to see nation's capital in Philadelphia
052I'm jealous Jace if we could let you do it I'd ask you to introduce them I want to be kind enough to introduce this motion yeah I moved that the board approved the extended trip request to Washington DC in Philadelphia second motion and seconded all in favor with an i i any opposed that motion carries there's also another trip this with the FFA to Indianapolis Mr elstad yes the FFA uh Club in Owatonna typically goes to this convention they take their officers to the convention and so once again it's in Indianapolis and they're requesting I think the dates are October 31st through November 4th this was a great opportunity 100th year of FFA that's awesome very cool okay any questions with regard to that Deborah do you have it up could you do the motion
053for us the board approved the extended trip is this in Washington as well it's item G on your agenda I move that the board approved the extended trip request to the National FFA convention second we have a motion in a second all in favor with an i hi any opposed motion carries item H we have Bob Olson here tonight um and you saw or you heard from Mr elstad about the asbestos abatement in the old high school Bob is here any further introductions no I will let him introduce this topic what you're what we're seeking your consideration of approval tonight would be to approve this contractor a bid but all that I may bring Jace up to introduce this one how would that be really exciting stuff well anyway as you know we are looking
054at remodeling the old high school and tearing a portion of it down you've already okayed that well what we had to do was okay the abatement of the asbestos which is always really exciting to get asbestos out of out of our old buildings and um just want to take a look but we had a bed opening um just the other day and Enviro bait came in as the low bit of 588 500 dollars and I had a smile from ear to ear when when that number came up because it is uh it's a great price and it actually made me a little nervous until we made the phone calls and vetted them out and they are 100 good with their bid so um the next closest bid was over 107 000 over that and the
055spread between the low bid and the high bid was uh four hundred thousand five hundred dollars so we're very excited to get this number from envirobait so I ask that you would approve this anybody have any questions were they out of do you have any other questions we had uh I don't remember I don't remember their location S I don't know that I can look it up for you but we did at one two three four five six seven bids which was awesome we were kind of anticipating about three or four and we had seven come in so I will check on that for you are based out of Minneapolis well thank you very much Google appreciate perfect your comments about vetting them too because you know when you see this price differential you start
056to wonder okay what's great and we have used this company in the past you know they did the Wilson gym floor abatement when we took the uh 9x9 asbestos tiles out of there and they did a great job for us so we're pretty happy with what we got any further questions Elizabeth do you have this One queued up could you do the motion for us sure do I move that the board award envirovate the contract for asbestos removal for a total award amount of 588 500. second Motion in a second all in favor with an i i any opposed motion carries lastly gifts to the district Mr elstead yeah as you can see from the report this evening there are a number of gifts for homecoming I think I did just some real brief totaling
057here I think we have over three thousand dollars in support coming for homecoming this goes towards float decoration all of the other events that happen around homecoming it's a real Community feel so uh just very grateful for again a philanthropic community that leans into our school district and supports our students huh Eric do you have it queued up yep I move that the board approved the resolution of acceptance of gifts as presented second we have Motion in a second Eric if you would roll call Elizabeth aye Deborah aye Jolene aye Lori aye Mark hi Tim hi and I myself Sinai several passage curious thank you very much good meeting tonight folks uh item 11 is to adjourn I'll make the motion that we adjourn second in a second all in favor with an eye all
058right any opposed I'm curious have a good night everybody