001All right, we're at 6:00. Call this meeting to order. Please rise and join us in the pledgece to the flag of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right, let the roll call show all board members are present except for Eric Mates. And we are going to go right to the students showcase all the art presentations. Yeah. You know, one of our very favorite things to do every year is to showcase our great artists. And it's a tradition that the board started many years ago prior to me uh starting. And I think we've been doing lots of showcases of art art because last month we had the middle school play come and uh give us a presentation of their play. Today we get to
002see some of your great pieces of art which uh uh we will proudly display the art in our district offices over the course of the next year if of course you've given us permission to do so artists. and uh then uh then they're yours to keep, I think, right? If you if you'd like to get them back. Um but if not, we'll just continue to display those over the years. So, what we'll do is It's great to see everyone, by the way. Thank you for coming out um for this special event and we'll turn it over to our great art department to take it from here. You like to come up here, Henry? Okay. So, um well, this is the this is the picture that Henry drew. It's pencil is what it is. And uh
003so what I do every year pretty much is I teach about architecture. And one of the reasons I like teaching about architecture is because students can um they can see that math and art can be combined to uh for a job for a career when they get older. And so we learn about Frank Lloyd Wright and we learn about Frank Lloyd Wright. Thank you. Yes. And um um this year what we did is after we learned about Franklidd Wright and we looked at the Falling Waterhouse, what we did then is we looked at some of Dr. Seuss's houses and just looking at the imagination that Dr. Seuss had. And um so what the students had to do is they had to make a scribble line on their paper and then they had to make things
004that make you wonder. they had to draw on there and just be as uh wild and imaginative as they could. What would make people wonder? And so when I'd walk around and the kids were working, I'd look at it and I'd say, "Okay, if they didn't know what to do, what would make me wonder about that?" So it caused them to just think in their imagination. And Henry, instead of using colored pencils because students could use colored pencils as well, he chose just to use his pencil and to create shading and and um with his pencil and some different values in there with the dark and the light. And he has different things on there that you'll have to just get a closer look at. And one thing I loved about it that really made
005me wonder is Henry, he loves to make pigs. Everything's about pigs. And I said, "Well, Henry, I'm wondering where is the pig?" And he didn't put a pig in his picture this time. So, so he he just did a great job. And um would you like to say anything about your picture, Henry? [Music] Uh Henry, can you just tell us a little bit about yourself? What grade you're in, things you like to do? I am in second grade and uh most of the stuff I do is about pigs. Okay. And uh in uh in December um my mom bought some onions from uh the grocery store and there were you know like plain onions and one of them was sprouting and she said she was just going to use it quicker but instead I stole
006it from the thing and planted it. Super cool. We got any other questions for Henry. Very nice work. Let's give him a hand. Uh once we've completed this, we'll take a short break so people can take pictures and we'll get one big picture with the group and everything, too. So, we're good. First of all, my name is Tom Jumper. I'm the specialist in art over at the uh uh intermediate school. And this is one of my students, Aya Ai. And uh I selected her. It was a tough decision, by the way. It always is. I'm sure the rest of the art department knows that. It's a it's a difficult decision to try and figure out what we want to bring and and display. And I thought she did an awesome job because mainly um she
007you know I gave her the idea. I gave the whole class the idea. She uh worked through some of the different things she wanted to do. Um they were given basically it's it's a mass project. I'll show you right now what it is and it's based on African African design and what they do is they sketch out an idea. They go online. They take a few ideas from online. Should we smile? Thank you. You're welcome. And what they do once they have that taken care of is they start sketching out their ideas, um they are allowed to come up with their own ideas as long as it's African based. And so we're looking at lines and shapes and colors and different things like that. And u she came up with an really an outstanding design
008and she was able to convert it into a threedimensional mask which was amazing. Um so what uh we do after that is we display them on the display cases. Um, she also had um had a picture of it uh in my in my area so I can go through and evaluate them. And as I was going through and evaluating the different masks, hers just really stood out. So, it was kind of a a no-brainer. It was really good. There were a lot of close ones, but I I was really very impressed with this one. Um, so anyway, uh, we got a frame for you and we're going to have it stick around here. And do you have some words to say for everybody else? First of all, thank you. No problem. Thank you for working
009so hard. Appreciate it. And it was really fun to paint and do the different designs. I noticed that you were you were pretty intense in class. It was really good to see you. You were visiting a little bit, but it's like, okay, I'm got my game face on. I'm working on my mask. So So it was really good. So thank you again. Really enjoyed having you in class this year. And also I have a certificate for you, too. Just let you know how much I appreciate your work this year that you can take home and frame it up and pay to that. and you know check back in a couple years and see if they are going to let you take it back but work that exp work that special they may not you might
010have a tough time getting it back but I'm sure you'll get it but anyway audi did a really nice job so thank you so much I'm Julie Dusma, the art specialist at the middle school, and I want to introduce to you one of the coolest kids in the whole seventh grade. This is Madison. Madison and Kyle. Madison, let me get a picture of you. Madison dewar Madison is one of the most hardworking students that an art teacher comes along and is like I just want you to keep creating and keep painting but I want to share a little story about her sculpture. We studied Mexican folk art of the Alabri and the goal was to create a project that was made out of newspaper, paperiermâché and a wire. They have very limited supplies and the
011goal was to make it as lightweight as possible. And then we went around with plaster repair strips and talked about pattern and we looked at many different patterns. And Madison, you just amazed me because she's like, "Can I take it home? I just need a little more time. I need you to take it home." And so I said, "Okay." and she brought it back and I was so impressed with your fine fine detail, all of your patterns. Just a fun colorful piece um that she titled the huntress and Madison had designed this after your cat. That right, Madison? Yeah. Do you want to talk about that a little bit more? Well, the stripes on the tail I thought were pretty cool because that's what my cat has. And you have other different patterns and designs
012and a lot of dots which is really really big in the Alibaba sculptures. So Madison, I just want to thank you for being a great student and thank you for donating this. I will leave it here and then you are going to be able to pick that back up in a year. Thank you Madison. And thank you to your parents. Thank you for supporting and allowing and letting her be creative. All right. I am Mitch Gray. I teach pottery and jewelry at the high school. This is Alison. You want to like set it there and or hold it actually. I I didn't tell her she was doing any of it. So, and uh I think I'm going to talk more about her than the piece because it's kind of cool that it's going to be
013on display here. But I think what it on display here represents is like she's one of the kids that make like this job really really special. And they're all they're all a reason to make it special. But there's some that that stand out and kind of make your day. I even told her one day I was like days are less than when you don't walk through the door in this classroom. I had I've had her in advisory for two years now and she took or she got best in show at the Mississippi 8 um art conference. She's a painter by trade typically, but I'm getting her into some some 3D work. And so I had her in pottery at try two and then this try is an independent study between Enright and I and she
014kind of floats between the two of them. And so the class that I have in there is pottery one. Um and she'll come in and kind of actually like bounce around almost like there's two of me and help kids on the wheel and kind of help them with some of the stuff they're working on. So, um, it's really, really cool to see her in that in that setting and just kind of making the pottery studio a better place and she keeps me in check a little bit. There was this one time I'm at the point where I'm when my artwork I get a little bit too hung up on quality control and when things come out of the kiln, it's it's like it's not predictable. Not, you know, glazes don't behave the way that you
015always want them to. So, there was one that I did that came out of the kiln that I wasn't super proud of my signature being on the bottom. So I I ended its existence. We'll put we'll call it that way. And she said, "You can't preach process over product and then you don't hold on to your mistakes to use as what you called a think piece, right?" So I kept one of the little pieces of shrapnel of the piece and it's on display on the board. But then take two on lobster slab pot didn't end well for her either. And she said, "I really want to smash it. I know what you mean now. I really want to break it." So she broke hers and we have two little thing piece shrapnel of like when
016things don't go well they're they're on display in the art room of of grow process over product sometimes product is important too but also oh man I'll talk I'll talk a little bit about manta but yes well we need to hear from her too oh will you show us she's like I don't have to talk do I okay so the b it's all clay so the bottom isn't a rock it's actually um painted to look like one which was u my favorite part about this one, which is why I picked it. So your nails match the art. You planned it the whole time. It was actually completely finished once and then she's like, I don't like it. Brought it home and it's completely different color and texture than it was last time. So there's there's
017a few layers of paint underneath. Oh yeah, the title. Do you want to show the title? Everybody loves Rayman. We struggled with that one for like an hour today. Um, so it is titled now. It is not an untitled piece, but yeah. So it's all it's all clay handbuilt and well I mean that that is a really big deal to be acknowledged at the Mississippi Art Festival. I mean that is no joke. So best in show out of all of them all the entries last year as a sophomore. Yeah. So she's a junior. So luckily one judges. Yeah. you know more about it than I do. But yeah, so so yeah, the five judges each pick one. One of the judges picked at least all the entries. So congratulations. Hello. Hello. Um okay, I'm going
018to start by saying my my uh student isn't here. High school, they have life and so they got called um to go to work and it wasn't feasible. Um, so she was very bummed, but I I plan to take this and get a picture of her and add it to the the little uh social media post if that's okay. And so we'll we will wait to post until you get us that picture, but try and get it to us. Yeah, right away. Very efficient. Yes. Thank you. Um, so thank you. Number uh number two, I don't know where I'm at. Um, I want everyone to know this is a way I keep track of how long I've been teaching here in Princeton. I started in the fall of 94. And this is the 31st year
019that Julie Mc well Jude Bugsman and I um have done this. The school board had started it that very first year in the spring of uh 95 and uh I am just so thrilled that you guys continue this and you celebrate and it's a chance that we really get to celebrate the artists. We have an amazing job. So Haley McConna is a senior. Um I am going to share this is a watercolor. I have her for painting too. Um Haley McConna is someone who will take a drawing and a painting and she works incredibly detailed. She's very impeccable. um to the very tiniest little small increments of detail that she adds is it's just insane, insanely amazing to watch. The resilience that she has, uh the tenacity and um this was a challenge for her,
020believe it or not, because she had to go large scale. The challenge was to do a macro and zoom in with our camera lens and and to paint this larger scale piece. It was a challenge for her. So, talking about the throwing and smashing the pieces, this was one where she was ready to be done. Um, but it was a sense of growth, um, a huge, uh, um, sign of her resilience and, uh, she's grown to love it, um, just as I have, and I hope that you, uh, love it as well. Um, so I'm really proud of her. Also, uh, Kaylee has a piece, if you go to social media, you'll see the Mississippi 8. I'm going to do one more plug for the high school. Um but it's a product of K through
02112. Um we had our Mississippi competition. We had 11 superiors. We have 18 18 pieces we can show. 11 were superior rating. We had six that were um excellent. Excellent. And then two of the five judges selected two of our students work as their their best. So check it out. Um so proud of the work that our kids do. So proud of the heart they put in our art. am so proud to be a Princeton Tiger and that you all support. There's my speech. Go Tigers. So, that is a great like mic drop end to that. I think what we'll do is um board members, if you'd be so kind to come out in front like we always have you do and all of our recipients of our art honors tonight, if you'd maybe grab
022your piece of art and stand in front of the board and we'll get a picture of you. And then teachers too, it would be great to have you in the picture as well. just to get a good pick. Go ahead. We'll have the board members, the adults stand more in the back. Please do. this way. All right, I can Are we scooched enough? Here, I'll just kneel. I'll be one of the kids. [Music] [Laughter] Yeah. Okay. You good? We good there? Good. All right. So, um, Chair M, if you'd allow us just a few minutes for us to take a break. So, if parents want to take pictures with the teacher and this the student and just kind of a little bit of time for pictures and then of course it's an open board. Maybe
023you can stay all night or you're free to go after. Okay. So, yeah, let's get some pickles. [Laughter] riveting onions that I know for Aren't they here for everyone to give him If she'll be a lot of arts, I just lack talent. Yeah. probably. I was like abstract like I was kind of hoping the pig was camoufl Let me see if I can find when he comes here next year. I'm not kidding. Yes, exactly. I'll take a little pic. I don't know the other day. There you go. And then they'll find a place to hang it up and next year's kids up there. Nice. So again, right But yeah, I go from I keep the same for some kind the best checking out Oh yeah. There it is. Have a good night. New York are
024comments. We have none tonight. Um, so we will move on to board member committee reports. Who wants to start? Eric stream. Sure. Um, see, I was at the superintendent interviews, the last round of them. Um, I missed my finance meeting. Thankfully, I had some nice replacement people, at least one. Yeah, that's it. Scott. Um, I'll just take a half second to say it's teacher appreciation week. So, um, I'm a teacher in a neighboring district. So, I want to say it's a pleasure to be in a club with all of you teachers here in Princeton. Um, I think there's a little shared camaraderie there. So, thank you for the work that you do. Uh, as far as my committee superintendent interviews and I was also part of the negotiations process and on the community task force.
025All right. Uh Melissa, I also had superintendent interviews. Um did we had all kinds of superintendent stuff. Um and then we had a couple of Tiger Care meetings, Tiger Connections at the high school. And that was the one that we meet with the businesses and the teaching side of the bit of the teaching side of CTE. The CTE. Yeah. Teaching. And that was really good. It went really well. Um, it's always fun to get that whole group together. I did staff appreciation lunch today. Um, we did mock interviews. The spring concert was last night and it was so good. If you have, you got to go back and watch just the last like song they did. It was so good. And it's my daughter's senior year and I may or may not have a tear.
026It was fine. Um, I was probably the good one Eric was talking about filling in for finance. Yeah. And for our student reps are not here today. So I do want to say that the blood drive that we usually try to get to sign up for is full which is the first time that's happened in a while. So we won't be able to sign up for that. But that's great. And then I'm pretty sure there was something else I was supposed to say but that's what you get when you're at track I guess. All right. Um so I had the privilege of participating in the superintendent hiring process as well. um attended the maybe the last public engagement meeting. Oh yeah. Yeah. Very much. Maybe. Um I feel like that went really well. Um the
027Tiger Connections. This is my first time through on a lot of these meetings, so it was great to see that collaboration um that morning. So that was awesome. Um I got to help with the staff appreciation lunch and I got to do one mock interview on Monday over my lunch. So thank you. Cool. Fun. Yeah. All right. Um I also participated in all of the superintendent um things over the last three weeks. Um I did go to uh we had a tiger care meeting, Tiger Connections. Um and it is it is a really fun meeting. We meet twice a year with um all of the CTE staff at the high school and the businesses together. So um so that's always a good um time. I also uh staff I had an executive board meeting for
028that. Um they are they are um struggling with some things as far as trying to target um their focus. They need to they need to get a focus. And um uh used to be it used to be C um schools for equity and education. No, it's schools for affordable or fair funding. Fair. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Um I had agenda planning last Friday. I uh was at the special person lunch and Michelle and I were lunch ladies. Um I got to serve um chicken patty sandwiches. You guys rock it or what? Absolutely. I caught up. I mean never fell behind. Michelle, we did. All right, we did all behind. We couldn't keep up. My uh my days of working at McDonald's when I was 16 years old. I totally get lunch lady vibes. Yeah, you
029guys nailed it. Oh, yeah, we did. And uh ended with finance before this meeting. So, uh we have no student council tonight. So, Ben, superintendent report. the uh boy that that special friends day is an welloiled machine though. They've done it for so many years and it's such a great turnout that we get such a special day for everybody. Want to acknowledge that uh Pat Divine is in the audience. It's great to see you Pat. Um as as we begin the process to pass the torch on to him. It's uh an exciting time um you know the transition period. Pat and I had a had a chance to visit a couple times over phone and and uh he visited today and we'll we'll uh plan some future uh times together as well um as he
030begins that process and learns the lay of the land and and those kinds of things. So that's that's great and thank you for coming tonight. Um just uh you know I think that we've had a meeting since our legislative breakfast u haven't we? But that was that was pretty that was pretty incredible event that we pulled off uh for for the first time. Yes. And uh you know I bring I bring that up just because you know of course we're coming to hopefully the end of the legislative uh process. I feel like this year um more so maybe than other years that I I feel like there's so many more unknowns than than in the past. you somewhat kind of think where you might be going and uh I don't think we have a clue
031what that's going to end up to look like. Um and there could be some positives that would impact our projections for for next year or there could be some negatives. So the jury is still out on that. Just want to say I should have said it during my piece too, but just a thank you public thank you to all the kids that spoke at the legislative breakfast because they did such a great job. It was really fun. Yeah, I think that's a real point of pride for the board that you should be real proud of just in the last couple of years in the creation of the legislative platform. Um, bringing delegations to the capital, the Princeton delegation, the legislative uh breakfast. I mean, that's a that's a class act and you should be proud
032of that. So, thank you for that. um want to just put on your radar uh that every year we're invited to give kind of state of the union or state of the state of the district if you will at the chamber of commerce event. We share that agenda with the city and that meeting is going to be I believe next on a Tuesday next Tuesdayish. Um I'd imagine you know Chloe that uh you're invited to that if you'd like to come but that's at the middle school and that starts I think at noon. So um we'll give kind of a a state of the district. Um and then the city will as well. I'll probably do more you know speaking from the heart just on on things that are happening from the district. I won't
033probably put a a dog and pony show together in a presentation. I'll just share uh quite a bit and I'll talk a lot about our uh task force. Our task force. I think that's going to be a big component of just kind of sharing um you know where we're at in our district. You know, frame it, but then talk about you know the future a little bit too. Um so that's going to be next Tuesday. Of course, you're all welcome if you'd like to come. Um, so there's that. Let's see here. Uh, as you mentioned, uh, we've done the team member appreciation. That's a a nice tradition that we have. I was at the primary and the intermediate today. Um, it was a great visiting with team members. And then I think we have a
034couple more that will be next week as well. So, that was good. uh tomorrow night, big night for all of you. Uh school schoolboard scholar event. Um so that is an exciting evening and we have a great speaker to be our keynote tomorrow. So we're excited about that as well. Great. The the comm the community task force I think we had a strong last meeting. I've met with the uh chairs of that committee in terms of putting a presentation together and they've shared that out with there's I think about a half a dozen other people volunteered to present with them to the board. That presentation will be uh at the next schoolboard meeting. So that will probably be a big bulk share. Now, I want you to be thinking about that because um we will
035have after that meeting, then we're going to have to do some homework because as you'll see on the agenda tonight, we'll have we need to set we believe another meeting in June to specifically have a work session just to talk about that recommendation. Okay. But I think that in preparation for your meeting, you know, after the recommendation, you're going to want to have some us do some homework with gold and ICS. Okay. In terms of like what are some of the options that you're intrigued with um you know, and then we'll invite uh W and ICS to come to that meeting and you know, we'll bring in all the the players. We have elders too then. Yeah. which um well now I'm thinking about it is you know we're going to be setting the date
036for us to have this additional meeting in June to talk about this um and you know I think that your schedule is the most important when you can all get together but why can't it just be at a regular meeting? We only have one. Sounds great. I think we're up against the timeline though for when it has to be submitted to the Department of Education. We wanted to do it more early June than let's move our meeting to the first the second weekend or second Tuesday and just do that meeting and not do that. Well, you know what? There's an agenda item to discuss that topic that's coming up. So, why don't I'll just finish with my my report, which I don't even know if I have much more. The last thing I guess I'd
037just share is that I did allude a couple of times um throughout the year that uh special education was was an area that was you know really uh we were having more issues with and and the reality is and the board just needs to know this is that we currently have 21% and growing 21% of our student body have an IEP has an IEP, which means they have a diagnosed assessed disability. Okay. Um that has grown from when I first started, you know, more like the 167s, right? So that I mean that's significant. And our schools and the systems as we're organized was really not necessarily um built to have that percentage of students qualify for IEP. and it has really strained our system quite a bit and we're trying to identify and assess all
038the areas that we need to improve in and refine and modify to become more relevant with the changing world that we live in. Right? So, uh we've finished that audit. I did send that audit out to all of our team members and there's a list of lowhanging fruit that we're going to try and take care of sooner rather than later. and uh and then we'll just keep, you know, moving forward with that. But, you know, I I would talk to some of you about this. I do think that the issue that we're facing here with a high percentage of students with IEPs is a common thread across the state of Minnesota. And I think that that is also a contributing factor to some of the deficits that they're projecting at the state level because in
039the last uh last legislative session they did commit to uh taking care of a percentage of the crop subsidy for special education. So then when the when the numbers of spread increase um significantly across the state of Minnesota and they've committed a percentage to that that's that's going to strain that system as well. So it's just an ongoing um need and uh you know we're honored to have the opportunity to serve every child. Um but it's something that we're going to have to just continue to evolve. So, just wanted to put that on your radar. So, with that, um, I'm open for questions. Otherwise, my remarks are over. Does anybody have any questions to Ben? All right, we will move on to item number seven, uh, approve the agenda. Is there a motion to approve
040the agenda as presented? So, moved, Melissa. Motion made by Melissa. Is there a second? Second. Second by Scott. Any comments or questions on the agenda? All in favor say I. I. Oppose. All right. Agenda is approved. Item number eight, discuss and act on previous board meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve those minutes as presented? So moved. Motion's been made by Don. Is there a second? Second. Second by Jen. Um, any comments or questions on the minutes? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. All right. Minutes are approved. Consent agenda. Is there a motion to um approve the consent agenda as presented? So moved. Motion's been made by Scott. Is there a second? Second. Second by Melissa. Any comments or questions on the consent? All right. Hearing none, all in favor say
041I. I opposed. Uh, consent agenda is approved. We are on to um this is worded a little differently than what we meant here, but was what Ben was alluding to as far as um thinking about having a meeting and earlier earlier in June adding a second meeting was our first intention. So, yeah. So, I mean, so here's here's the reality is we feel like there's going to be some steps that happen here. The the first step that the board is going to have to, I guess, vote on, if you will, would be to vote for us to submit a review and comment to the state on a proposed project. Okay? That does not necessarily mean that you voted to go up for referendum, right? Okay? You can do that at a future meeting, right? Which
042you're not going to have a lot of time, but you probably can do that in Julyish, right? And that's where we're going to get the lawyers involved in terms of how you have to word things on a ballot and um you know so we would consult. We have a different set of lawyers that we use for that kind of law. Okay. So that would be a second vote that you would vote. We're going to go out to for this question on the ballot in let's say November. Now that vote can happen. That's like the official vote. um that could be I think in July, but we'll get that tied down. It could be in that first meeting in August, but it's going to have to be that. But the review and comment piece, that's where
043we have less wiggle room where we need to get something submitted earlier, which we believe would be we hope by like the end of June. And that's why we were just wondering if Okay, so of course you could do it in one meeting meeting and wait, but you're somewhat rolling the dice assuming that you're going to be able to have everything that you need and all of your questions asked and you're going to feel good about the project that you present that you put in front because they're going to have to have a pretty tight. That doesn't mean they can't modify as we go, but they need to have a their plan that they submit. And I'm going to for most of you, you've participated in some of those task force meetings and you will
044know that the committee, the task force will give a strong recommendation. Um, but there's going to be some decisions that the board is going to have to make to refine and modify and kind of put some final pieces to the puzzle together. And that committee all along has been told many times that it's the they give a recommendation, right? And then the board's going to have to do the the real detail work, right? So, you know, there might be I'm going to give you an example on a building project, for example. and I say, "Okay, the committee feels like um that that we could do a $40 million project." and they will say well based upon the committee's uh priorities these four items which would likely be like CTE would be mechanicals and you know
045long-term facility maintenance kinds of things would be some classroom size pieces and some circulation in the building. Well, that project's going to be, you know, 35 million. And then you have five more million. And then you have these 10 other things that that are kind of a those next pieces on the list that of course you'd love to do them all, but you can't. So, which things are you going to pair down here? These other discussions on boy, do we want to do something with the the locker rooms in the dungeon at the high school to get some more um you know, locker room spaces in square footage of in proximity of of the gymnasiums at the high school. And you know, maybe you can throw in a concession stand that will be compliant with
046the health department while you're at it. Okay. or you know and then you or do you you talk about the intermediate school issues related to special ed space or do you you know these are the discussions that you're going to have to have to kind of refine it to get it to where you want it to be and I guess it really comes down to how much time does the board feel like they need to have and knowing that we're going to have to rely on our architects and engineers to do some homework work and maybe bring some things back to you is so that's why we were wondering if maybe we needed to set us another meeting but of course you're the board and you decide and that first one would be a workshop
047so it would just be a a working a work session it would be we'd invite you know I don't know if we need elders in to be honest because I mean the numbers are the numbers you you see the numbers you have all the numbers um you know and then you're going to you're going to need W and IC but what what will be a lot better is after when you get that recommendation on the 20th I mean if you take this really serious and you all like write down all the questions and the things that you want me to send to the architects and engineers so that they can have that week or two to prep and plan so that when they come to you on that work session they have it all for
048like they have what your questions are, what your thoughts are and those kinds of things because I think that we can't just wait for that meeting that they come and then then say, "Well, can you get us all this information? It's going to take it takes some time to do that." I think this I mean for the amount of things that we may be have questions on and to have them come back with answers or something I think it would make the most sense in my mind to do like I think it was the third is that first Tuesday and then we can do your work the work session come up with whatever they might have ready for us and then have our list of can you come back with this and then that way
049on the 20th we would be able or whatever the next one is 20th 17th that's exactly what I meant. Um, then we would be able to come back at that meeting, have the answers, have have the discussion at that time and then be able to say this is what we want to do. But I think I appreciate when we're able to get together and then have our discussion because then I can go and think and then okay, well maybe this came up or maybe this came up. I I think I would find value in having the meeting at the beginning of June and then follow up with the one on the 17th. The 17th. What is the date that we have to have the vote done by? Is that the 17th of June? Do we
050have to take the vote that night? Well, I I can get an exact number. You know, when they feel like they need to get a re review and comment sent out. I mean, if you remember when the last time that we were going to go out for I mean, this review and comments are 100page document. So, they I mean, that takes them a little while to put that stuff together, too. It was 115 days before election, right? That we have to have a review and comment approved. And Jody said we should submit it at least a month before that because DOE will be inundated with applications. Yeah, I think Ryan kind of walked it backwards and said no later than July. Yeah, I mean I'm thinking if we do the June then if if we're
051able to have the two meetings then I feel like probably the June meeting we would have our answer I mean or not answer our decision right yeah because in July we're not meeting till the 15th right so I don't know I don't know if we can wait till the 15th I think the vote if I remember from that night I think elders one of them I thought said the vote had to be in June By counting it out, it looks like it would be June. Yeah, we we'll want to have this review and comment decision made so that we're going by before the end of June for sure. Yeah. Um, you know, one one thing I could do as well is I could invite W and I to come to the 20th. I mean, when
052when they're re given the recommendation, I mean, they could be here to help answer questions that you might have then as well. Eric, you had a question. Scott's so 115 days before November 5th is technically July 13th and you said a month is the time that we want to have to look at that. So yeah. Yeah. So would be the June 17th. they'd have to happen. Well, I think that if we have the meeting and the recommendation on May 20th, we if we have questions, I think that we need to do to give W and IC and whoever a little bit of respect being a a holiday and whatnot. I think we need to come up with our questions to them by like the 23rd. So, it' be that Friday afternoon, submit our questions to
053them. They're going to be out of town for the the long weekend. It gives them essentially a whole four to five working days to come up with the answers to that question. We have that meeting June 3rd. Hopefully they'll come with the answers to a bunch of our questions because we're going to end up having more after that meeting. Yeah, we'll have to refine and then they can come back on the 17th and answer our final questions and we can decide yes or no what we're that seems like we'll I think having that second meeting is a good I think that will work and then I also think that that if we do have that early meeting in June and they come to this and if they if they kind of know like a the
054a good idea of 90% of what it's going to be they can get work, right? I mean, they can they can rough most of that stuff out and then just wait for the small details. Well, they have a lot of stuff compile. They'll be able to draw for them. Yes, exactly. I mean, they'll they've already done a lot of work. So, I mean, the task force knows what they're going to present to us on the 20th. Why can't they just give us a little snippet of their presentation and tell us what they're going to present and we can start developing our questions? Well, we we can I can send that to you. I can send that to you now. I have it. I mean, it's it's and the folks, you know, you here's the bottom
055line, Eric, is you know, at the biggest thing that the task force had to wrestle with at the end was what they felt like the tax tolerance of our community potentially would be based upon lots of variables, specifically the surveys that we did with Morris Leatherman and those kinds of folks. and they they basically came up with this idea that um $17 a month uh for an average house, okay, which is we considered a $350,000 house, $17 a month. And they basically are saying that twothirds of that cost should go into a bond which is for building and one-third would go into this tech levy piece the capital levy that would be able to help offset some operating expenditures for the year. And because of how the both loans are structured so differently is, you
056know, onethird for a tech levy would get us maybe $700,000 a year annually. Whereas uh what did I say that right? Onethird of the tech levy would give us about one about $700,000. twothirds go to a bond would get us about a $40 million bond because that stretched out over so many years. And you know, basically, if you remember last spring when we were ready to, you know, kind of pull the trigger on a project before we engaged the community and we looked at some options for a CTE wing and those kinds of things. um that right now what was presented to the board last spring uh pencils out at about 35 million. Okay. So then that provides a little bit of a cushion for us to try and identify, you know, where those next
057priorities are. And that's where I think the task force was somewhat all over the board on and that's where the you as elected officials are going to have to basically, you know, decide what you feel is most important. How many years are the capital levy? Like I know operating is two and 10. 10. Yeah. And then capital is the one that we can just approve. We don't have to go back out for a vote, right? Yes. And I will throw out that that committee also uh may be recommending a second question on the ballot that would be an operating referendum that would be um significant, you know, 1 to2 million annually. And uh you know that's something that you might seriously want to consider because I you know all along as we talked about this
058because of the tax sensitivity and us wanting to be very respectful to our taxpayers and kind of their threshold is that we weren't going to solve any problem like we were going to make things better. 700 or $750,000 annually on our operating budget is not going to solve anything. When you have a $3 million a year structural deficit, it's going to not allow us to bring anything back, per se. It's going to allow us to cut less. And that's just the reality that we have. And uh at the I missed the last task force meeting. at that meeting. Um, was there like did they understand that? Like do you think that they understood that like $750,000? They did. So we could build they they want to build a building but we just can't have people.
059It was it was mostly their hesitation was that tax threshold. That's what was right the conundrum for everybody. So and the operating levy just cost so much more to our taxpayers. I mean you get more bang for your buck with the capital levy but there you don't have the flexibility like you do with an operating there was a lot of discussion around um how to structure the questions and what order um the priority over operating dollars versus the building referendum. Um, and then the concept came up about, well, do we throw out a third question that was even more operating money that would solve our problem and see if they would go for one or the other kind of thing. And so, um, it was a very interesting lot of different strategies. Yes, there were
060several different none of which allow us to do anything but maybe save overall. I mean, it was out of box. Good thing. Yeah. You know, I think uh we'll for sure have Todd uh at Todd Rap will be at this next meeting and probably a future meetings as well. And I think based upon your discussion on like um you know ballot questions and order and those kinds of things, we probably should have elders come because I think they'll have some knowledge on that too. I think it's fantastic that the chairs got six, you know, half dozen additional people to come present because I wouldn't say that we even had that support four years ago when we were putting the big one on the back. Well, you know, I think that the fact that we engaged
061the community for a full year and, you know, had a dozen or more meetings and we were super public about it. I think that, you know, the groundwork is laid. I mean, if there's ever an opportunity for us to pass one, I think we've done all the right things, right, in terms of being transparent and involving people and those kinds of things. Now, that doesn't mean that, you know, anything's slam dunk, you know, passing because we know it's really we're very conservative community. Um but at the but at the same time I mean the reality is communities um if they want to have schools and if they want to have strong schools you have to invest in those schools right and that's just a I guess what our community is going to have to wrestle
062with. So I mean this huge great discussion to talk about are we going to set another meeting? Yes. So, can we do that May 20th and then us as a board try to any questions that we might have from that May 20th presentation by the task force come up with questions for W and IC we can submit those by May 23rd at like noon let's say 3:00 whatever to Ben or to however we get those to IC so they have and W so they have time to work on it the following week do a June 3rd meeting with IC and Walt probably don't need Ellers Yeah, till the June 17th meeting. Then June 17th, we have W ICS and Ellers there answer any final questions that we might have and then the vote and then
063we vote to go to review and comment. Y that's a good plan. Transparency. I'm going to be out of town for most of June, including that first week of June. So I would probably be attending that virtually. Okay. I can fly back if necessary. Are you okay doing that? I'm okay doing that as long as you're okay with me being You don't need to fly back. We'll have put on his sitting on the beach. Okay. On the big screen in his track. Make sure that the big screen. I did email the address that I'd be at. Yep. So, we would be you would be okay with doing that as long as you're okay with me being on the speaker. No, that's fine. So, let's just call it June 3rd at our normal meeting time at
0646. Anybody else have this then? Do theirs. No, because it'd be one of our normal nights that we would have. Oh, so they wouldn't have it before. Oh, we'll have to double check to make sure this room's available. Yes. Yeah, we'll have to d But their meetings are typically on Thursdays. As long as you don't have a planning commission or a special meeting. I would think about Ellers's coming because it would be nice to have we have a really good productive meeting and we're moving through our questions and issues and we get to talking about how to frame the questions. It would maybe be helpful to just or at least have Jod on video going. Yeah. Yeah. She could call in. not gonna get that far. But yeah, I don't I honestly I feel like
065the task force was like brought us to a really good place at the end of the last meeting and um I hope you're pleasantly you're pleased with the amount of information that they bring forward because um I think it'll be great. I just think the whole once people get their hands into wool and I tend to ask a little bit more. detail detailed questions that we don't really need to figure out now that kind of need to happen after everything's approved and the vote is approved and everything like the November vote is approved like sometimes those meetings get into what color carpet are we going to have I kind of envision that jump kind of going down that road with ush I think we all know that we don't I really envision this going that
066way We'll give you a bell that you can read when you get there. Yeah. Well, you can bring this back in because I could easily be that we person. All right. So, all right. So, I just did an invite to all those players for that night and I'll get a hold of them all tomorrow. We just need to make sure we can use this room and All right. Perfect. We can all bring lawn chairs and go out in the parking lot. That would if it's at night like tonight, I'd say let's do a campfire meeting. All right. Our first action item is uh district land sale. We have a purchase agreement. Uh yeah, I sent the I you know, I sent this to the board so you've been able to see this. Um you know,
067I'm sorry that this takes so long. It was almost all out of our control. Um we decided to stay with this developer to work through all of their complexities that they had to work through. Um, we did get something out of it that I alluded to. We we did uh we did retain the $10,000 from that original earnest money that Michelle's put somewhere, I'm guessing. So that's that's that's yours somewhere which which by the way and I'm just going to say this like like uh you the board should have a little bit of discretion on how they want to use that right because that isn't tied to any you know dollars that we've gotten from the government or anything like that. So just know that. Um, and then we did increase the the sale of
068the property by 10,000 as well. Okay. So, not a lot of, you know, but $20,000 in addition to what we were going to receive. So, we're asking just approve this because there's now now like they're really like chomping at the bit to get going and they're waiting on us to give this final approval. So, I'm asking you to vote yes and so I can call in tomorrow and say, get your excavator out there, buddy. Not the word I thought you were going to say there for a second. Okay. All right. Would somebody like to make a motion to approve the purchase agreement? I move to accept the purchase agreement for the sale of district vacant land as presented. All right. Motion's been made by Melissa. Is there a second? Second. Second by Jen. Any comments
069or questions? How is the ENET going to work on this? Well, yeah, I mean they they did allude to that the last time they came kind of how it's going to come out. Um I I think that what what they're what they're looking at and again it in the purchase agreement it still has that language in there that is contingent upon of the easement that's still in the purchase agreement. So they you know they still will have to come and get some finality on that. But the the way that you know they it's funny because I mean it's almost going to end up being exactly what it was going to be back like four years ago when Elden, you know, really uh originally we were working with where it's basically going to come across and
070then it's going to come up. It's not going to cut across any fields or anything and then it's just going to go straight up, you know, down the road road down. Um, yeah. So, that's what they have right now. That's But again, the board will have final. Yeah. This is slated for next summer, correct? Yeah. They're not going to be digging up anything until next summer. you know, they still and they're still, you know, I don't know all the the hoops that they have to jump through to get things approved by the city and those kinds of things, but they're finally to that point where they're they're ready to get this final approval from the city. And then once they get what approval on what's called their final plaque, then they will want to close,
071right? So, if they get approval on their final plat sooner than later, then they'll want to close as soon as they can. Well, I think the there was a closing date in there like October. October October something. Yeah. Okay. All right. Any other comments or questions? Uh, we'll vote by roll call starting with Eric. Yes. Scott, yes. Don, yes. Melissa, yes. Jen, yes. Deb, yes. All right. Land is we got the purchase agreement. Yay. All right. Item number 11. Rum river revised joint powers agreement. Well, I think I put this out in front of you for information last time and you've seen this. Now, it's just, you know, making your final vote. So I can move on to All right. Would somebody like to make a motion to approve uh the resolution for the Rome
072River revised joint powers agreement as presented? I move to accept the resolution relating to the adoptions of the joint powers agreement for construction and maintenance of a cooperative facility and the financing thereof approving parameters for the award of a lease purchase agreement and the sale certificates of participation therein as present second motion been made by Melissa second by Scott any comments or questions on this was too long to read uh we will vote by roll call on Yes. Also starting with Scott. Yes. Don. Yes. Melissa. Yes. Yes. M. Yes. All right. Eric. Oh, Eric. Sorry. That was a test. He passed. Yeah. Good going. All right. Romero facilities joint powers agreement. So now this is different. We have two on here. Yeah. Yeah. Different. This is the facilities. This is with once the facilities is
073constructed, it's who owns what and who keeps the maintenance. Gotcha. I move to accept the joint powers agreement for construction and maintenance cooperative facilities as presented. All right. Motion's made by Eric Strandberg. Is there a second? Second. Second by Jen. Uh any comments or questions on this one? Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. oppose. All right. Approve. Just a just a small commentary there and I just need to reinforce for the board how blessed we are to have the ability and a partnership for a level four setting. Oh my god. Because there are some districts that don't have that option and it is really difficult to function. and the fact that we have that it it is just a necessary um piece and it's a good it's a good partnership that we have
074and they're it'll be really nice once they get a new facility. Yes. That meets their needs. Um all right, item 11D, middle school parking lot bid. Michelle, are you going to walk us through that one? Oh, we received a good number of bids. It was a good bid day and we are recommending the E Midwest um OMG OMG Midwest doing business of Minnesota Paving and Materials. Um we are going to do bait bit alternate one and alternate two and we got unit prices um just in case uh we have money left over to do um we don't have in either of the bid areas the sidewalk that goes out from the bus all the way down to the end of our land although we stop at the parking lot. So we have um asked for
075a unit price just in case uh we get that opportunity and for the most part this will uh well not the most part it will spend out uh the abatement bond and this project's going to be happening this summer. It starts as soon as the bell [Music] rings for the last day of school. So yes, it is supposed to we are scheduled to be done the first part of August. Is this the first year of that high school redesign? No, second year. Second year. Yeah, I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on that and just how it's working. Yeah. It does work much better. It means the kids. Agreed. Anyway, strong work because we struggled on finding a design that's going to work on that. [Music] I'll make a motion to accept a bid from
076OMG Midwest asphalt for the middle school parking lot. All right. Eric Strandberg has made a motion. Is there a second? Second. Second by Don. Any comments or questions on the bid? Uh all in favor say I. Opposed. All right, that is approved. Then we have the milk bid for next year. Yep. We received two bids. Um and we are recommending Kemps who we currently have. All right, that's low bid. Would somebody like to make a motion to accept the milk bid from Kemps as presented? So moved. Motion's been made by Don. Is there a second? Second. Second by Scott. Any comments or questions on the milk bid. All right. All in favor say I. Opposed is approved. Last item. Uh we have a contract before us tonight for Pat Divine to be our new superintendent.
077Is there a motion to approve the contract? Uh so moved. Do you want me to read the whole thing? Go. Yeah. I move to accept the contract naming Patrick Divine as superintendent of Princeton Public Schools as presented. All right. Motion has been made by Scott. Is there a second? Second. Go for it. I was waiting. Second by Jen. Melissa. Melissa. There you go. Any comments or questions on that? We're excited to have you, Pat. Yes. All right. All in favor say I. Oppos. All right. It's official. Congratulations. We have no additions to the agenda. Um just a reminder, tomorrow is the school board scholar banquet. Um it lists 6:30 here, but we usually want board members there by 6. Yeah. Because we're the we're the hosts, so we got Yeah. A little before six might
078be okay too because you know we always get people that come early. We're the we're the host. Yeah. We give them their what is it? Their passage [Music] and Yeah. Be the welcoming committee. I do my best. All right. I'm in St. Paul. Yeah. And it's not I mean we did we just need to have one or two people there. Could have Howard coming. Yeah. have six anyway on it. Did he leave? All right, we have no more items on the agenda. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So move. Second. Motion's made by Don, second by. Uh, all in favor say I. Oppos. All right. You know who was watching the timber wall this morning.