001May 18th, 2026. And I call to order this regular meeting of the Richfield School Board. Attending this evening's board meeting live and in the boardroom are board members Haley Tomkins, Ken Liss, Kirk Spencer, and I'm board chair Eric Carter. We're joined by our student rep, one of our student representatives, Vanessa Rosa Miguel. Also at the table we have Steve superintendent, sorry, Steve Yunowski and assistant to the superintendent Cassandra Guam. Other members of the district leadership team are in attendance and will be participating throughout the meeting as well. Richfield Public School's mission is to is to inspire and empower each individual to learn, grow, and excel. And we aim to keep that focus at the heart of our discussions this evening. Thanks to all of you joining us here live and in the boardroom, all two
002of you. And we also want to thank those viewers during the meeting or watching it after the fact via YouTube. We appreciate where people bear witness to our meetings where we conduct the necessary official business of the district. Our first item of business this evening is to approve the agenda before us. As approve of the agenda is a routine business item. I'll briefly pause to see if there are any comments or questions related to the agenda. >> Hearing and seeing none, is there anybody prepared to move the agenda as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> We have a motion by Director Liss and a second by Director Hopkins. Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. I. >> I. >> All post say nay. The chair votes I. And the agenda is approved. We
003now move into the information proposals not action item section of the agenda. This evening we have an opportunity for public comment. Although no one signed up tonight, I ask that you remember that we have that we have public comment on the second meeting of each month. Uh which will the next one will be on June 22nd and instructions on how to sign up can be found on the Richfield schools website under menu about schoolboard public comments. Now over to superintendent Yaneski for the superintendent update. >> All right, two items tonight in the superintendent update. Second part, we will present the first draft of our strategic plan or the work that has occurred thus far. But before we get to that, Director Steel for IT is going to present about our technology department. So take it
004away, sir. >> All right. Uh good evening to the board, uh board chair Carter, Superintendent Yowski, and members of the community as well as our student representative. I'm Justin Seal, the director of technology, and my goal tonight is to provide a snapshot of the state of our district's technology department, as well as provide updates on some multi-year projects and look towards the future of the department and our work. Uh so tonight, we'll explore staffing, uh devices, and ticketing by the numbers. Um and in this image, you'll see some students using our class VR system at REM. Our SEM leading the way with with some of these really cool initiatives. Uh we'll also explore some survey results with uh praise from the staff as well as uh growth opportunities and then look at our 26 27
005priorities which are educ and then intentionality of use. All right. So uh the staff by the numbers um I just want to state um very lucky with the team that I have. They're amazing. Um but uh our staff include two part-time repair technicians. one of whom was actually a summer intern last year um who's been able to continue with us uh while he continues his schooling. So, he's with us as a casual employee doing a wonderful job. We have uh two full-time tier one technicians, two tier 2 technicians, and two tier three technicians. And we have one administrative assistant uh that helps keep hold us all together. Um we have eight stipended uh tech reps at our school sites um two of whom share responsibility. So, it's a split stipen position there. And we have
006four part-time interns that we're hiring for uh for this summer. Uh so that job posting is uh up. So if you know anybody that would love to work with us over the summer, we'd love to have them come come visit and hang out. Uh so I want to talk about our interns very quickly. So last year was a very busy year for them. Um we assist they assisted with device preparation, ring central phone distribution and they we instituted something called swarm days uh which was new for this year where a few days before workshop week our interns visit every classroom to check the essential technology that was left over the summer. So they verify uh cords are plugged into the right outlets uh phones have a dial tone and the projector or smartboard works as
007expected and then they conclude their time with us by taking a certification exam on Chromebook repair. Right. And then moving to our uh devices by the numbers largely unchanged from last year with a few uh shifts here and there on our Chrome devices. Um one thing I want to highlight is last year when I presented to the board we discussed um some of our aging smartboards and utilizing something called an open pluggable specification PC module or ops module. um which basically allows us to it goes to the back of the device back to the Smartboard and allows for firmware and software upgrades where devices that would no longer be eligible which thereby extends the life of those devices. And so now after one full year of implementation of that we've been very satisfied with what
008we're seeing. Um our smartboards are are working just as well now as they were four years ago and we hope to get another four years out of them. uh our ticket efficiency. Uh so looking at the overall numbers um obviously in in our line of work uh customer service, customer satisfaction is one of our number one goals and aims. Um so with 2464 uh tickets were uh created or opened since September 2nd, so the start of the school year this year. Uh 2258 of them were closed or resolved with 20 on long-term hold or parts on order. And then any remaining tickets uh were marked as in progress at the time of the creation of this presentation. But I want to highlight that uh 91% closure rate was our efficiency this year. Um and then
009reiterate that 85% closure or resolution rate is the industry standard in IT work. So our technicians have been working very hard this year. And then continuing uh on the topic of uh staff satisfaction. So at the end of uh once we've resolved your ticket uh our staff get a quick little email and it's a it's one question with two icons that you can click on. Were you satisfied or not dissatisfied with the service you received? Um, and of the 2500 tickets that we had, roughly 2500 tickets we had, 685 folks clicked a button. Um, and you can see of the 685, only three were dissatisfied. So, it was pretty pretty strong indication of the type of work that our team is doing. So, again, very lucky to have them. Very talented individuals on the team.
010And moving onward, next we have our budget breakdown. Uh so one of the items I maintained awareness of coming into this school year was potential increases due to uh tariffs during the last fiscal year. And something I am preparing for this year uh is potential chip shortages uh that could impact our purchasing. So last year we accounted for the 2% increase due to tariffs. Uh and then this year with the AI boom leading to a shortage of semiconductors, uh we were proactive and we were able to lock in a current year pricing for a portion of our student devices thereby ensuring savings. Uh and then the remaining devices will be purchased after the fiscal rollover in 2627. So we've tried to be very uh good stewards of the uh money that we received from the
011community and taking care taking advantage of good pricing when we can so we can have the best devices for our students and staff. Right. Moving into survey results. So, I'll just highlight a couple of these. Um, yeah. So, a couple of the quotes that we pulled out there. Um, I've been very happy with the responsiveness of the IT department. They are helpful and kind. It has been an absolute joy to work with. They have found creative solutions to every tech issue I've had. Tech is great about acknowledging the complexity and fluid nature of tech and education. It is treated as an ongoing conversation and we're all learning together. I appreciate the balance between leveraging technology to our students advantage and safeguarding ourselves against the detriments of it. So very uh very thoughtful and considerate feedback
012that we received from staff. Um everything is an opportunity to learn. So I'm glad to hear that we are meeting their needs that they that they have. Um and again one more uh shout out to, you know, we have George back there running the sound, but also all everybody else on the team. Aaron, Lisa, uh Nick, Jose, I'll name them all. Erin, um Erand, uh Kent, George, uh Doug. Yeah. And then I want to leave out my tech reps, but be mindful of time. stuff. Uh and then let's move on to yeah the growth opportunities. So uh again we treat everything as an opportunity to learn. So looking at our growth opportunities um we can break that into three larger categories. So service to staff, hardware and training. Um and based on the feedback that
013we've received this year, I've taken that and modeled it into some personal goals for myself. So and you'll see that reflected um in our in the um the road map for the upcoming work. Uh so as a for instance one of the call outs uh would be uh I would appreciate more conversation about replacement devices and what teachers actually need. So this year we've in implemented a survey for our elementary teachers who are receiving new devices to see what um what what would meet their needs. Um another uh call out would be better and more communication from technology. So I've started a tech update section in the staff newsletter uh called tech bites and I've already mapped out the majority of categories and topics for next year that I'll collaborate with our communications department on.
014And then for training, um, this one's difficult. It's hard to duplicate yourself. Um, there's there's so many needs around the district and we want to be mindful of that, but also highlight the things that are, you know, uh, most day-to-day specific. So, we've added additional trainings this year for workshop week around classroom technology essentials, and there will be training on AI as well as our new data warehouse, Edgeclimber. And then I'm going to work with our tech reps to embed seasonally relevant uh, trainings um, during each PD day. So as the fall hits, as the spring hits, the kind of trainings that they know teachers need, they'll be empowered to create those trainings and and use the technology there. And then on the horizon, so some summer projects as I mentioned, um upgrading our elementary
015staff laptops as part of our renewal cycle and then preparing new devices for students in first, fifth, and nth grade. And then for the upcoming year, roll out of Edge Climber, our new data warehouse, which I'll speak on in a little bit, beginning with our building leadership team during PrepFest in June. We also have the restructuring of cabinet which will shift the SIS team or student information system team to now be housed under IT. Uh coordination again of seasonally appropriate trainings during PD days with our tech reps. An expansion of ondemand video library of trainings so that we can again duplicate ourselves as much as we can across the district. Uh as I mentioned regular rhythm of tech updates in the staff newsletter. Uh AI best practices policy and then intentionality of usage either recommendations
016or policy or both is upcoming as well. All right. Now, yeah. So, uh, who knew it? I I chuckle. Um, so, who knew it, it's actually it's now officially called analytics and insights by our vendor partner. Um, but within RPS, we still call it who knew it. Uh, so you can see some of the feedback that we received on Who knew it this year on the slide in front of you. I won't take the time to read all of those, but um, feel free. Uh so during my uh first year I knew coming into the role that there was work to be done and the team and I were able to make significant progress around the cleanliness and streamlining of imports uh and who knew its accuracy in the reporting. Uh but there were still
017some lingering issues. So coupled with the fact that at the beginning of the year tickets with our vendor partner were taking months to get resolved. This led to further data inaccuracies and less reliability on the platform. Uh around November we realized who knew it could no longer be our data warehouse. Super Yowski tasked me with finding an alternative. Over the following months, I met with directors, principals, instructional coaches, and department leads, both SPED and ELLL, to find out what they would like a data warehouse to be. We previewed potential solutions. In February, we landed on Edgic Climber, and feedback so so far has been much more favorable. Uh, so the district will officially move to Edgic Climber on July 1st. Um, since February 1, I want to highlight the work that we've done. We've ingested
018all required data that would be all of our assessment data around not only gradebooks but fastbridge MCAs were available. Our access testing uh for our ELLL students um we have sped form uh data in there. So everything that's that that we need or rely on as a district has now been ingested into that platform. Also met with various stakeholders um throughout the progression of that uh so that we can make adjustments on the fly instead of getting everything in there and then trying to fix it on the tail end. Um and then we'll have a first full district training for instructional leadership teams on June 9th. I just want to highlight a couple of a quick things that make Edgie Climber better for the IT department. Um is we uh first thing um is it's
019again narrowed the number of bridges we have to build. So Edgic Climber is owned by Renaissance which runs our fast bridge screeners and progress monitoring. So all of our progress monitoring can now be done uh pretty much natively within that that uh data warehouse. So they'll students will take their progress monitoring and fastbridge. It imports natively into edgy climber very easily. Uh we also have the ability to perform our own data validations and make those corrections on our own instead of having to fill out a support ticket with the vendor which speeds that up as well. Um and then we can import our own data sets using Google Sheets. So I've been building alongside our academics team building um pertinent uh uh visualizations around our own data sets using Google Sheets for PrepFest. So we
020a lot of really strong benefits to edgy climber versus who knew it. And then moving on. Yeah. So uh I know chair Carter asked me about AI last year. So I spent the whole year working on this presentation. Just this slide actually. Uh make sure it's ready. Uh so we have um I just want to kind of walk through the current state as well as guidance for our teachers and kind of the road ahead. So we have a recommended platform uh using Google Gemini. uh and I've shared guidelines on this and over the next year we'll gather voice um as we do as a district which is one of the things I love about RPS is we we really place value on the voice we hear from our staff and from the community we'll get
021voice on what the recommended policy should be and bring that to the board by the end of the 2627 school year. Uh so the current state um so every uh at the beginning of the school year our students sign a responsible use policy that uh explicitly ties um academic integrity to the use of artificial intelligence. So ensuring that students are aware that use of AI within schoolwork could be considered uh academic uh an academic integrity violation or plagiarism. Uh I held multiple PD sessions um highlighting that AI should be utilized as a creative collaborator versus you know being the thought leader should be a thought partner. U beginning October of 2025 uh it had a presence at the RHS AI best practices committee and the general consensus among teachers for now was that it's a
022no until it's a yes. So as you're working with your students, the answer is it's a no until I explicitly say yes, we can use AI for this particular platform or project or or or item of work. In our current landscape, uh Google Gemini is available and preferred because it doesn't utilize our prompts to train its own model because it's within the uh because we pay for um an enhanced version of the Google apps for education suite. uh Google Gemini is does not collect our data and then utilize then it's not utilized to train its own models and students in grades 8 through 12 have access to something called notebook LM and that's to provide them a walled garden experience to AI so they can essent essentially create their own large language model where they
023upload their own uh sources of resources and then utilize notebook LM uh for prompt engineering on those own resources and doesn't go out to the the other web so outer web uh and then the guidance for teachers This is what I've I've taught with teachers as I've worked through AI with them. Um, so the first one is use AI as your students would. So if you're concerned with plagiarism, familiarize yourself with the types of output that you could see. Um, those of you that have used AI frequently know that there's there's some telltale signs most often. That doesn't mean it's not getting better and it's not changing. That's why I would encourage teachers to use it so that they're familiar with with what kind of output they would see. Also, be critical of the AI
024results. uh generative AI content is created with both explicit and implicit biases. So as these large language models are built, they for lack of a better description scrape the web, all of the web and then utilize that to to create their own models, which means negative um um you know runs the gamut of of things you don't want to see on the internet is also being utilized to train these models. Um, so I always encourage teachers whatever you um do in AI and encourage your students to do, make sure that they're aware of those biases and how they could be presented in AI. And then lastly, um, using AI as a creative collaborator, not a thought leader. I include the slide from an old IBM manual. I'm sure everybody's probably heard or seen uh, this,
025but a computer can never be held accountable. Therefore, a computer must never make a management decision. So for our teachers, I say that you ultimately are the person that's going to be held accountable for grades or for anything else regarding a student. So don't leave that to AI. You should be the you should be the person that's making those decisions and and doing that work. All right. And then the road ahead. Um so yeah, as I mentioned in 2627, we'll draft a policy to be brought uh to the board for approval be feedback gathering sessions uh with the DTAC district technology advisory committee as well as visitation and discussion with principles, school staff and students. And in this policy, uh, I'll seek to address teachers concerns around plagiarism, equity, and environmental stewardship, as well as
026user users rights to privacy or not allowing LLMs to train off our data. And then language that is adop adaptable to the frequently changing landscape of AI tools, but is focused on RPS's priorities. And then the last item for tonight, um, kind of a biggie as well. Uh, I want to talk about intentionality of technology use. Um, so, uh, there's a phrase that I think Bill Clinton coined called the digital divide. Um, and up until about 10 years ago, uh, the digital divide was considered to be access and cost versus knowledge and use. Um, and in my history gathering and in conversations with other tech leaders, I know that Minnesota was very proactive in around 2015 2016, Richfield as well in building out more robust infrastructures for our students. A lot of districts began moving
027to onetoone models at that time. Um and it was a time when you know everybody wanted to have a cell phone. Everybody wanted um wanted to have access always be connected. Um and so around you know 2015 2016 RPS had begun the work of moving across that digital divide of access and cost. Um then co obviously the covid pandemic accelerated a lot of that. Um and so that's in this postco world that's where a lot of the perspectives have now shifted. So, you know, people are more concerned now with unplugging have more contact personto person. Um, and schools that quickly adopted onetoone have since realized those limitations and how they can provide students information. So, one of the things that fell by the wayside is, you know, we handed students all these devices, but we
028didn't provide a lot of the training on how to be good, you know, netisonens or citizens of the internet, for lack of a better word, and then allow them to to practice that regulation that would come with more monitored usage. Uh so regarding our intentionality of use so um we're finding that you know sometimes there can be too much screen time and so we're focused on finding a balance for our students. So over the course of 2627 in addition to coming to a census on a policy for AI we'll be working on uh something similar whether it's recommended practices or board policy. Um, we want to be sure that our students feel supported and safe um, with the devices they're using and that our families uh, feel that the students are also supported and safe.
029Um, we'll go to the community to find out what the community thinks the policy should be here at RPS. And I'll highlight just a couple of quick things on this slide u before we move into questions. So, regarding our responsible and intentionality of use in our K5 environments, we just have classroom carts. Students don't bring those devices home unless it's a a weather impact day. Um late nighttime restrictions are in place at RMS. Uh this is something that was a holdover from pre-COVID I believe. Um and the there was a question I believe about why not other sites or how is this impacted in other sites. RMS and RHS being the two sites where devices go home. Um we know that in REP as well. We know that our students at RHS and REP, several
030of them, many of them have after school jobs and so time is frequently of the essence for them to work on additional um things they have at school. So those restrictions have been chosen not to be implemented there. Uh that's not to say that couldn't be revisited. That decision couldn't be revisited. Um we also have linewise filtering to remove distractions during school time as well as a supplemental parental tool called custodial that's available to parents at no cost. We didn't broadly advertise this because we wanted to ensure that the product worked and that it did what we needed it to do and we're prepared to roll that out fully uh this coming year to parents. And then subscriptions to studentf facing platforms also were done with assurance and alignment to curricular goals and encourage engagement
031for our students. So that's where we sit right now with intentionality use. But again, there's work to be done and and we we intend to do that. So with that, I will stop speaking and pause for questions. >> Shoot that was very fast. Thank you. questions from the board. >> I have a couple of questions and comments. First, when I saw that quote about uh computers can never be held accountable, I just thought of how in 2001 of Space Odyssey, he tried, >> didn't work. >> The three dissatisfied um surveys, were they the same? Were they dealing with the same thing or was it random? I so I I'll be honest. I didn't dive that deep, but I will. Um I know that we had some concerns around the timeliness that was presented in our
032growth opportunities. >> I'd imagine that's where it was and we had the conversation last year as well um around the timeliness. A lot of the times I'm I'm the hold out. I'm the reason why those scores are impacted. It's because a lot of the tickets that are escalated to me require me to get additional approval or some sort of collaboration across departments. So, if I had to guess just based on the feedback we received and what's there, I'd imagine it's related to timeliness. >> Okay. Then just one quick clear um clarification. The fifth grade computers go to middle school with the kids. >> Yes. So, as as they're assigned, so they'll have the device from fourth grade through fifth grade. >> I'm sorry. >> No, they get new ones in fifth grade. >> They get
033new ones in fifth grade. Yes. And then those will then follow them through 8ighth grade and then in nth grade they get a new device. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Then finally, a comment. I was working at the University of Minnesota in admissions when we switched to people soft and it was quite the adventure. So hopefully 20 years later or 20 I won't say 20 and change later Edge of Climber is going to be a nice smooth transition and not a people soft transition. >> Oh I hope so. I hope so. It's been it's been going well so far though. >> Good. >> Thank you. >> That's all. >> I've got a question first. Thanks for your presentation. >> Um, so much cool stuff. And, uh, my question is about the, um, intentionality of technology
034use. Super interesting. Like that's that's exciting. What, um, so you mentioned kind of talking to school folks, talking to the community. Are there any other kind of tools, research, things that you'll be using just off top uh, to develop that policy or anything that I Yeah, I'm just curious. >> Sure. So, I'm one of the the primary drivers is going to be our communication with the community and and and um Richfield. Um and I'll also be having conversations with other other tech leaders around the state. Um it's a great uh support network that we have established here, but ultimately it's going to be what what the community here decides. So, um through the concerns they bring, I'll be happy to further research and and bring other items to conversation. >> Awesome. Thank you. first. >>
035First thing maybe can you share a little more about custodial and what kind of uh tool that is for parents? Like one of the things I'm I'm curious about is um does that give reports to parents of like how kids are using the laptops like during school hours or >> Yes. So that that's essentially what it is. So our our former solution had something very similar. Um GoG Guardian has something just like that. U the reason we held off on custodia again is just to ensure that the product was going to work. Um so we have some um of our folks on staff that are parents RPS parents and they volunteered to see and so far they've been happy with it. So now that we know it works, it's essentially yes, we'll see what the
036students are doing during the daytime. They can get reports, usage reports. Um they also have the ability to set off hours restrictions. So that could be part of the further conversation around intentionality abuse is once this platform is rolled out and made more widely known, we can roll that into a conversation around allowing and empowering parents to make those kinds of decisions as well. >> Yeah. Good. Thank you. >> Okay. Since we're on the topic of technology, is there a reason we switched to Yahoo instead of Google on school Chromebooks? >> We we did not. We did not switch to Yahoo. >> Really? >> We did not. >> Oh. When I was on the school Chromebook, it only appears as Yahoo now. And I'm like, >> "No. Um, feel free to bring it by." >>
037Okay. I guess that's just my school Chromebook. Okay. >> No, it should it should still be Google. So, feel free to bring it by. >> Oh, okay. Thank you. >> Of course. Of course. >> Log ticket is what I heard. >> Yeah. Right. >> Um, I've got a couple questions. Um, and this is probably a bit maybe towards you or other people as well, but Do we think the 2026 20 the 20 having a policy ready by the end of the 2020 2027 school year is sufficient? I say that because like when I think of everything that's going on like we're moving at the speed of light and and in that seems like forever and like I guess like I look at it in the note I wrote down was I'm like why not iterate
038right? Right. I mean, this is an important enough policy where let's get one in place. >> Maybe it's not perfect and then next year we revise it. >> I I'll be honest, I'm not as familiar with the rotation of policy updates. Um, >> so we do have a set of guidelines um for the best practice usages for staff and for students. Um, and then formalizing that into policy takes a little bit more time. Um, and so, uh, we we do have, and I'm not sure maybe, uh, Justin can help, when we sent out, I think it was early in this year, we sent out guidelines for the best practice usage, um, for when to use, when not to use, and how to use. Um, and then we'll be looking at what that formal policy is
039um, as we move forward. >> And there's nothing from the um, MSBA for a template >> there. There is a template, but from the MSBA? Um it's been discussed um within the tech circles. Um to my knowledge, everyone that's shared that has not acted as of now. They're all kind of in the same space that we are. Um so but I will take the question to them uh and see. And then also to Dr. Yossk's point, the best practices is updated yearly. Um, we added some additional insights into there was a request I can't I can't say from where I know it was an official governing body around um, uh, approved applications and so we have a list of approved applications that's now part of that as well. So that that could then be iterated
040upon and added too but um, well for as far as formal policy I guess we have take our time. >> Okay. I was just curious. I mean when I hear that and again we're thinking AI it just seems >> yeah we just felt like and we certainly can take different direction for the board. We thought that was important to take our time with safe and supportive schools, get voice in regard to that moving forward and then using the guidelines in the meanwhile. Um, >> okay. Um, I think this kind of similar to Kirk's question, but what type of reporting are we providing parents on the use of devices? And maybe it's kind of your middle school comment is more targeted towards that range. Um, but are, you know, thinking that not all parents are technical,
041>> how do you kind of share information of like FYI, your kids using it when you think they're asleep, you know? >> Um, so we yeah, we we we don't necessarily want to be the the police in that regard, right? Um, >> we do. So, as far as the the just to use the middle school as an example, I know that um there was a reminder that went out to parents about the policy to turn the device off at 11, I think in December. Um I remember uh principal Barlo and I chatted about that. Um no, we're I mean we're happy to partner with parents. Uh so when we do roll out a custodial um we'll ensure that there's additional um uh nec like a handout of some sort that goes with that. And then
042I typically have a presence at least at the high school for conference nights. Um so their families are welcome to come chat with me there. Um and we can make and I think Jose also uh has a presence during the middle school conference nights. So there's opportunity for uh parents to come and chat with us and we can provide those kind of details to them. Um at present I think I've only received two or three requests from parents regarding student usage. Um, but again, I wanted to be proactive in that and bring that to the board and say it's something that we want to be focused on and working on because it's it's it's a growing sentiment for sure. >> Well, I guess and part of it too is again kind of to my comment
043of like what what level of technical expertise do we expect our parents to have and if we assume that they don't, right? How do we help them? Right? So I guess I would say if if you're going to the high school like if you want to make sure that there is somebody going to the middle school or even show up at the middle school as well for the pres for the conferences. I think that does help like and maybe parents will ask why you're there, maybe they won't, right? But it's, you know, we're trying to help our families out, right? It's like it's and it's more it's the community, right, at a whole because I think about your comment too about kind of the disparity and um just equity when it comes to technology. Um
044we can help across the board, right? And we do and I think that's a big thing that we I like to hear when we kind of toot our own horns about that. >> Absolutely. And we we um we've received tickets from parents. Um they they've I to be honest, I'm still not sure how they did it. Um but we've received tickets from parents in our in our um ticketing system. And then we've also received requests through the website. So um and 6050 is open to anybody. So feel free to call 612798-60. So if communities have questions, we've received several of those around uh parent view in particular. >> Feel free to call us and we'll walk you through it. >> Okay. Thank you. Any more questions or comments? >> Thank you for your time. >>
045Yeah. >> Can we personalize those? Like if our family were to request, oh, like can we turn off this device by like 10 p.m. Are they able to do that or No, you would have to do that. >> There there there is a way to do it. Um, currently the way we have it, I'm probably giving you more information than you asked for. Um we have our um Google admin pol uh admin console that manages all of our Chromebooks set up in OUS by grade school and then by grade. Um so to do it individually would then create a separate U or organizational unit for those specific rules. So if I had a student that I wanted to be sure that their device turned off at 9, we would set up an U device off
046at 9, move that student there and then apply those rules there. So it is possible. Um it's quite a bit of work but it is possible. Okay. Interesting. Thank you. >> Okay. Sure. >> And it would be just as easier or easier for a parent to just collect that at 9:00. >> Yeah. >> Yes, I would agree. >> Yeah. So, >> fair enough. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. >> All right. So, moving from technology into our strategic plan. Um, and so we are closing in on draft with a draft being presented today. So just as a reminder, we started way back in October with a study session, did phase one community survey, phase two community survey, initial drafting. Uh we are now in phase three um where we are presenting it here for community
047survey or presenting it here prior to sending it back out again um and then planning to bring it ideally on August 3rd um for a final approval. Uh just as a reminder of those phase feedbacks, um in phase one, we had 68 responses to our open-ended questions. Uh phase two, we had 62 responses to group or individual feedback on our current language. Um to come with a wide range of different responses. what you will be seeing in our draft. We are remaining with five strategic plan areas, but we are suggesting um some retitles and we are also suggesting splitting academics. Um and so academics would split into goals for academic programming um and goals for equitable academic outcome. And so we would be making sure that we are showing what we're doing from a programming
048perspective and measuring it um but also then measuring the outcomes. Each of ours received significant input on retitling. Student activities and community engagement used to be activities. Climate well-being and inclusion used to be climate and culture. Staff and resource management was business and operations and community and marketing turned into communication, community trust and enrollment. And so we got a significant amount of input in regard to language. Uh within our packet you will see um a wide range of things. And so um within our packet you will see um we have our mission statement, we have our revised belief statements, we have an action statement connected to that. This is not in the PowerPoint. If you are Yeah. Um then you'll see each area. So academics has a vision and belief statement and a set of
049goals. Um you can then look down a vision, a belief statement and a set of goals are in each of those areas. And so we are presenting this to the board tonight um with a whole set of goals and then in the larger packet sent to you uh we have a set of suggested measures and so that was sent through that other communication. Um I know that it would be a lot to gather input today and the board has had this in advance. Um but we are certainly open to feedback today but more importantly it is May uh we are sending this out and so we are asking board members to take some time uh read and review each of the vision belief statements and goal statements um and um think about specifically from a
050board perspective because we get a lot of board feedback on this suggested measures. Each of these areas have a wide range of measure options um which Cassandra has shared with you and will share with you again this week um and so you'll see these repeatedly. We are looking for input um from board members on our five areas um specific to vision, belief and goals and really looking at what is important for you in how we measure each of these areas. Um and and so again in the communication you will see those and we are sending this out um later this week to begin um gathering input but also really focusing on if you remember um we want to make sure that we are really gathering marginalized and um or marginalized by our system or traditionally
051marginalized voices um and really making sure that our representation is that of our district population. So with that um I will um just remind you once approved um which is looking forward in August this will guide our work for the next five years um and you'll receive regular updates through our vision cards. So with that I will pause stop and turn things over to board members for any questions comments or further information. questions, comments reiterated. >> Yeah. Can you um walk us through what that the next set of feedback is going to look like? What what are the community events or what how are we reaching out to the community to review and solicit that feedback? >> Um so our plan is to both send it out electronically um but then we are also planning
052to task social workers and outreach workers to do specific outreach. um if you think about the input that we've gotten um and if you send it out we will get a certain set of feedback and input um and then we're going to be deliberate in specific calls to voices we have not heard um and specifically those of additional diverse voices um which have been slightly out under reppresented in our early feedback and so that'll happen both between now and the end of the school year uh but then also into June and early summer school as we work on gathering that through May and June. Okay. And then um the one maybe a bit of feedback as we look at the goals on here, maybe just a a suggestion, especially when we've got goals that are
053easier to measure than others. >> Um to shy away from words of always improve or improve more or continue to improve versus like we want to be top quartortile in the state, we want to be top decile in the state. we want to compared to our 10 peer districts. >> Um because I think that there are some things that we do really really well and if the language for the next five years says continue to improve >> we might be putting more effort into something that might be taking from putting effort into other things that might be falling behind. Right? So once you get to the top decile >> in the state or the metro or however we measure that >> um then the goal kind of becomes how do we maintain that? >> Okay.
054Thank you. We will look at that. >> Another thought I had too is as you and this maybe is already something folks are already thinking about, but thinking about families who would go to Richfield schools but choose to go somewhere else. >> Um whether that be charters or private schools, whatever. Um, but that might be an interesting group of people to try to connect with as well to see what their thoughts are just especially as we think about building community trust, expanding enrollment, things like that. Might be an interesting question. >> Got it. Thank you. >> Anything else? Thank you for that. That moves us on to commendations. >> All right. Um, RPS would like to commend the high school adaptive bowling team in recognition of qualifying to compete at the state adaptive bowling tournament.
055Congratulating Nancy Tolman, Henry Vong, Lewis Vong, Philip Toven, and Ava Weiderhold for representing Richfield High School with determination and Spartan pride. We would also like to expend extra special recognition to Henry and Lewis for earning the adaptive bowling doubles state championship. siblings and state champions together. Super cool. These student athletes have made our school and community proud through their hard work and success. So, congratulations to those amazing bowlers. A couple of appreciation days. Uh May 18th, National Speech Pathologist Day. So, dedicated speech language pathologists are a bridge between connecting students to the world around them. They ensure that students have the tools they need to express their brilliance and build meaningful connections. So, thank you to the speech pathologists. May 18th to 22nd is National Educational Bosses Week. Uh we are grateful for their leadership.
056Um they do a great job of leading our community, leading our schools, and leading our system. So, thanks those educational bosses. And finally, tomorrow, May 19th, is National Accounting Day. Behind every classroom success is strong financial and fiscal integrity built by the finance department. their stewardship of resources ensures that our dollars are maximized providing stability and transparency. So, thank you to our finance team members. So, thank you to all those employees uh which we acknowledge every day but especially on appreciation days and weeks. Thank you to all of them. The next item is approval of the consent agenda which contains a collection of routine or fairly routine business items that we consent to pass in bulk without individual discussion. I'll pause for a moment just to see if there's any questions or requests before we
057proceed hearing. And seeing none, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Have a motion by Director Spencer and a second by Director Tomkins. Any discussion? Bring to vote. All in favor, please say I. I. >> I. All post, please say nay. The chair votes I and we have an approved consent agenda. On to all business. Their policies before us for continued review and possible action. Our first item is school board meeting dates for 2026 2027. Second read passage. >> All right. Yes, we are recommending for passage. We did gather that input. Just a couple of components. Second Monday in December falls on a no school day. Based on feedback, we decided to go for three in November, meaning a November 30th and a December 14th.
058So that shifts us slightly. That means December is on the second December of the month. Um, and so looking at that calendar, Monday, August 13, 3rd, and 17th. Uh, we do have the Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. Uh, that will be, as a reminder, not the first day of school. Uh, school starts on August 31st and September 1st. So, just as a reminder, that's a little bit different. Mondays typical in October. Um, Monday 1st and 3rd in November and the fifth Monday of November, switching to that second Monday in December. Uh, special meetings on the Tuesday after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and on President's Day in February. Then we go back to 1st and third for March, April, May, and June with one meeting set for Monday, July 12th of 2027. So
059with that, uh those explanations are at the bottom of the board calendar, but we are asking you for passage of board meeting dates for tonight. >> Bless you, sir. >> Don't get us sick. >> I'm not getting sick. I move that we approve the RPS school board meeting dates of 26 to 27. >> Second. >> We have a motion by director listen and a second by director Tomkins. Any discussion? >> Waiting for discussion or you >> No, I I was going to ask a tough question. I was like >> a tough question. >> I know. I was like, do we do did the 2027 Spartan Foundation golf event date get picked? Um, it did not and we can shift but I would assume it would be on the 14th based on the end school just
060like this year is the 15th. >> Check. Thank you. Important dates we had a participant in the kind of board participation in the golf event. Bless you. Good gravy. Allergic to work over here. >> I'm a serial. >> Any more discussion other than my one question? Bring to a vote. All in favor please say I. >> I. All post please say nay. The chair votes I. And we have an approved school board meeting dates for 2026 2027. On to policy 614, animals in school and classrooms and administrative guidelines 614.1. A second read. >> All right. Second read. So we did review this with principles safe and supportive schools. Uh parent guardian high school REP and RMS with changes introduced. Also the board asked if there are pets. So there are a couple of classrooms with
061classroom pets. I believe there is a lizard and or a fish in a couple of locations. Uh we do have therapeutic uh read to a dog raptor center programs. They have followed the process. Um and administrators have provided an opt out option. So this is something that does have that. I will admit I had not heard of therapeutic horses. Mr. Liss and I are both thinking about getting a small little pony for not necessarily therapy reasons, but they last longer than dogs. And gosh darn those cute little ponies are adorable. Um so there are the updates to the policy in a couple of places. You'll see some language taking out that is no longer um necessary. Uh you'll see some addition to the therapeutic purposes, gentle reading companion, stress relief sessions to explain that. um
062also changing um and changing and updating the language around um people with disability who with a disability who do need a service analing and supporting that in an appropriate and equitable way. So with that, um, you have the changes for a second read and an update. Um, and, um, not looking for passage tonight, just for review in case there are questions and comments. Otherwise, we will bring it back again for a third reading, hopefully final read. Thank you for that. Any questions? If not, moves on to new business. Tonight we have a few items for us. versus authorization to proceed with RHS stadium storage building construction project. >> Correct. And so Mr. Holy has the next two items. Take it away, sir. >> Good evening. Thank you very much. Um this board item is a
063request to authorize the administration to proceed with the planning, development, and approvals uh for the uh construction of the Richfield High School stadium storage building construction project um and contract with Solid Ro Solid Rock Construction specifically to provide these services. The um estimated amount is $398,000 and this contract is being secured through a joint purchasing agreement. So it does not require the formal bid process. Um this has been a long project in the making. Um it will be constructing a um storage building uh at the stadium that will house both athletic supplies as well as um some facilities equipment as well. Um we are continuing to work with the city and do some review of the site for some to make sure that it's fully compliant with the city code requirements and um fully appropriately
064engineered. Um one note before approval is we do anticipate that there will be another about $50 to $60,000 as a part of this project. One of the things that just recently came through today was the area out there needs excavation and fill because of the land that's there needs to be more solidified. Um, and so there's a um estimated about $43,000 more that will be coming through as a change order for future board approval. Um, and then perhaps some additional fees because of the redevelopment of this project from where it started a couple years ago. Uh, so with that, we continue to work with W Architect and Solid Rock who have been great partners with this. W has done um all of our construction with the remodeling after the 2017 area and is supervising or
065providing con um consulting into this work as well. questions. >> Just can you explain the the whole non- bid again? >> Yep. So, um we have two different options for construction projects or really large purchases. One is through the formal bid process for anything that's over $175,000. Um what's actually encouraged also is to do things through joint purchasing agreements or state bids. So, for example, Solid Rock um bid in to be a provider in a joint purchasing agreement and met many of the standards for that construction project. So, they bid based on the work that's being done um as a whole for a here's the fee for service for these different areas. And so, it's done through a bid or purchasing agreement through a coalition or consortium. >> Okay. So, it's one of the two
066large um purchasing options that school districts or government entities have to work through. >> Thank you. >> Um we've done a lot of that work also in our roofing projects and our checkpointing >> um where it's not a formal bid process to do the work, but it's a through a joint purchasing agreement. >> Okay. Other questions or of course a motion sit here for a long time look at each other >> twice and one night. Um, I will move that we approve the authorization to proceed with RHS stadium storage building project. >> I'll second that. >> Since there are so many people who want to step forward with the motion, I'm assuming there's not any discussion. Bring it to vote. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All please say nay. The chair
067votes I. And the authorization to proceed with the RHS stadium storage building construction project is approved. Brings us to the 2027 LTFM budget and planning reallocation revision. Very good. Thank you very much. Uh we are asking that the board formally revise the fiscal year 2027 long-term facilities maintenance plan and budget to reallocate $700,000 from building envelope to roofing systems for final budget approval and adoption is attached. Uh last summer the board approved the fisc year 27 long-term facilities maintenance plan and budget as part of the levy. Um earlier this spring we um as a district had made the recommendation to instead of doing tuck pointing or building envelope work in the amount of about $700,000 to rep prioritize that money for roofing project that the board previously approved for the Sheridan Hills project. Um this
068formalizes that long-term facilities maintenance budget revision and plan revision so that that revision can be submitted to the state. Um we will be coming again this summer to request approval for the fiscical year 28 LTFM um plan and budget um for that following year out. So the Sheridan Hills project um has been previously approved. This formalizes that long-term facilities plan so it can be submitted to the state. Um it shows just how much they track board approvals um to make sure the board is well informed of what those projects are that are prioritized in the LTFM plan. Thank you. Questions. >> So, if I remember correctly, what we approved before was a partial roof replacement. Is this >> It's the same. It's the same. >> Okay. So, it's just reallocating the funds roof that needs
069to be redone. >> Yeah. And if you look at um just for reference here, if you take a look at the budget that's on the next sheet of that, the highlighted areas in yellow um lines finance code 368 and 383, we had the $730,000 up in the first one that's now empty. That just got moved down to the bottom where it's in um line 383, which is ripping project specifically. So that's the only change that occurred on that budget sheet. I had to take your word for it because that font is really small. Yeah. Sorry. That's all right. >> Okay. I mean because we'll always take uh >> the fiscal year budget reallocation revision for Sher Hills Elementary roofing project expenditure authorization >> and my mic was off a third time. >> You're on fire
070today. >> Three times three strikes I'm out. >> We have a motion by Director Spencer. I'm not sure fact she said it last time and we have a second by >> second. Second. Oh, go ahead. >> Director Liss, you're on fire tonight. Man, >> all in favor please say I. >> I. I. >> All please say nay. Chair votes I. And the 2027 LTFM budget and plan reallocation revision is approved. Brings us to policy 616 school sponsored student publications. >> All right. So 616 um is based um very closely on the MSBA policy um protecting rights of free speech and for publications. And so it sets out the rules that are necessary under which um school sponsored publications are to occur and are protected. And so we have that with you along with the model
071policy for review. And we will have it for you at our next meeting for reading two with changes. And so this is as usual just to refamiliarize us. questions, comments brings us to policy 742 student transportation services and administrative guidelines 742.1. >> All right. And so this is to clarify who is responsible for transportation. Also talks about training behavior and expectations on buses. Um and so this is um one of those policies that we review and take a look at. does talk about where the bus boundaries are. It talks about where hazardous crossings are. Um we are also working on and we'll be bringing to the board at our next meeting a draft of some updated pay to ride guidelines um that go alongside of this or are indirectly directly connected to it. Um and
072so uh this is just to be able to clarify what all of those transportation rules are and there are a lot of pages of it. So lot of opportunity to review and reflect. Uh can take input now or obviously in the coming weeks because it will be back in June a couple of times. >> Um this is a policy that has um some feelings in the community I guess I could say. Um and so just some clarification around this. So, as I understood it, the 2m radius is actually a radius versus like drive by instructions or is it like >> correct? It's like a circle going out to two miles. Correct. >> So, I was playing around with a tool on the internet and like if you draw a circle from the high school, you
073encapsulate the entire city in a two- mile radius. And so that made me think maybe there are some corners that are that are counted. But I know that if you're two miles at a diagonal, that's more like three miles if you're, you know, walking west, south, west, south, west, south, west, south till you get to the high school. >> Okay. >> Um which which can be a long time especially in in January. And so I' um I guess I'd like to better understand um is that the best distance? Is there bus stops that could happen closer in but people have to walk three blocks to get to a bus stop instead of right in front of their house or the closest corner? I'm just wondering if there's a I don't want to pretend to understand
074the software that they use to come up with these, but I I think that there's an opportunity right now to just kind of challenge that a little bit. >> Absolutely. So, we will um gather some input. We might have um Jeff Keller from transportation or Dr. Clarkson who is overseeing come by to talk that through at our next meeting um so that we can understand. One of the largest components in regard to transportation really is our bus capacity overall. Yep. Um and so we certainly can and absolutely can look at distance and distance boundaries, how they're calculated, how we do that um in the most effective way. The other thing that we are looking at um in regard to connection to this, which also includes pay to ride, is um having students opt in or
075opt out of transportation. So currently we have not followed that model. And so you might have noticed some of our buses um don't have very many students on it necessarily because there are students with a legal right to transportation. Um and so the practice previously has been holding spots for them because if they exercise that right at any point we are required to transport them. Um, as we look to our pay to ride, we're going to be looking at some ways that that wouldn't be immediately enacted if somebody didn't use the ridership and would want that again in the future so that we can get more kids on the buses. Um, that is aligned with the feedback if we can figure out um, which could even possibly, probably not at this time, but could certainly
076have us looking at changing some of those distances on the bus boundaries if we can find ways to get more capacity on the buses. I know that part of the issues that that comes with this whole conversation is what I might say is the craziness at all the buildings for kids being dropped off by their parents. And that's another issue that comes up significantly. And I'd be curious to go out to parents that are choosing to drive their kids into school on a daily basis and see if it's because they felt like that two-mile radius or one mile for the elementary schools was too large and therefore we've got 200 cars trying to drop their kids off instead of 50 cars or zero cars trying to drop their kids off. >> Right. We can certainly
077check into that to the greatest extent possible. >> Yep. Thank you. >> More questions or comments? Just a comment. Yeah, I completely agree with that. I remember um me and or well my mom had a carpool two other students with us every day from 9th grade all the way to all the way to now. But yeah, that's it. So, >> great suggestion. >> One more bus driver we have. >> Okay, sounds like we'll see this one again. Uh last, we have donations. >> All right, we have two donations. RPS Community Ed received a donation of $200 from Michael and Sue Sandal for the marching band program. So, thank you to that generous donation to the Sand Dolls from the Sandals to Community Ed and R SEM Elementary School received a donation of $1,000 from the
078RT STEM PTO for field trips. So, thank you to the generous donation from R SEM PTO. >> I don't think they can hear the thunder on the mic. >> Yeah. I move that we accept these donations with the utmost gratitude. >> I second that. We have a motion to approve these donations with the utmost gratitude. >> All in favor, please say I. >> I. All post, please say nay. The chair votes I. And we have approved these donations with the utmost gratitude. Next brings us to the legislative update. You know, the worst part about the legislature with a holding harmless that gives us $87,000 that I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth is that word out of the legislature is some excitement at $10 million to cover compensatory education hold. Now,
079just as a reminder, we will still be down $2 million um due to the impact of changing how compensatory education is calculated um as a direct result of free meals for all. Now, I am an advocate of feeding every child. And I just want to be very clear that prior to free meals for all, people who qualified for free lunch got a free lunch. People who qualified for a reduced lunch got a reduced lunch. So, the only people that are being fed by Free Lunch for All are those who did not qualify or did not fill out the forms. Richfield Schools receives $400,000 a year to feed those particular children. $400,000 after a hold harmless of $87,000 at the legislature. We are down $2 million to serve in academics, uh, students in poverty. And so
080to feed for $400,000, we have lost services of $2 million. Um I find it frustrating, but on the positive note, we did take that into account in our budget. We have been planning as such. Um and um as we have talked about winding down services and staffing and supports, we are looking in our revised budget and our budget updates for next year at deficit spending somewhere around $2 million um which we will slowly get down to a balanced budget over the next few years. Um as we have saved money to to retain those sustainable programs. But I don't often express my overall frustration with the legislative process on the microphone. And I just thought today as we received official word of again $87,000 and congratulating oneself about all of that work, still losing $2 million
081in compensatory education. It has been a disappointing legislative session. Thank you for the update. Questions or comments on that? Not for public comment information and questions from the board. I'll bring one up. I know, right? Well, I just, you know what? I'm just going to put it out there with having gone to state for basketball and now we have state champions, right? >> When are we going to see banners? I'm looking at Craig because you're the one well one of two administrators in the room who I can direct that to and I can turn to Cassander to go ahead and say put that down as an action on followup. Bam on the mic because I think at some level it's like we need to be proud of our schools like how do we make time
082for this or make money for it or like figure it out. So I'm going to push the issue. So question just out of my own curiosity because we have not achieved multiple banner level things in my time I and I can laugh at me for even asking how does one get banners? Are they issued by the state? Do we purchase them? Do we do boosters purchase them? How does that occur? >> I think you go to your Yahoo search and you look it up. >> Let's not stress out director steel about technology. Yes. But no, how do school districts do we >> I always thought that they were magic and that they were given to us from the Minnesota State High School League. I >> I can tell you had we received banners >> that
083we would have done something with them. But >> well, I I can speak to that because we have had banners. They were taken down during construction is my understanding and they're stored someplace have not been put back up. or they are possibly some of the things that were damaged during some of the flooding and would might have to be something that was repurchased >> possibly. >> I don't believe I have seen coming from the state banners that are issued to us. So that is >> I will tell you what I will for our next meeting have more information on banners how we get them um and information or questions from the board. we can have that dialogue and we will figure out what to do, celebrate and acknowledge the achievements >> because we're going to
084give them commendations and we want to make that plaque. And you know what? As we talk about it though, I do think having been to a number of schools that there are some type of sponsor like the school pays for because they're putting like some of them have like a almost like slide in slots to show information for the like this team won or this is the year they won. So, it's probably >> I just asked our friend Google Gemini who says that the high school pays for it so you can match your aesthetic. >> Yeah. >> And that the However, Minnesota State High School League does provide one. If your team wins a state championship and the entire team maintains a collective GPA of 3.0 or higher, you get a special spotlight on scholarship
085banner. >> Nice. Okay. exciting. >> That's That's what Gemini says. >> Back to Haley and our friend and her good friend Gemini. >> That's awesome. >> Back to the AI policy as our board uses it real time. Suggested and future agenda items, which brings us next to future meeting dates. Uh June 1st will be it's June 1st, 7 p.m. will be our next regular board meeting. And then June 22nd uh at 7 p.m. will be their next opportunity for public comment along with our normal board meeting. The final item for business in the agenda is to adjourn. Tonight we have close session to discuss labor negotiations. As such would now consider a motion to move into close session as law by 13 DO3 for labor negotiation strategy. I move that we adjourn so we can
086go to a close session as allowed by Minnesota statute 13 delta tag 03 for labor negotiations strategy. >> I'll second that. >> I'll tweak your motion just a hair because we're not actually adjourning. We're just moving to close session by director list and a second by director Tomkins. All in favor please say I. >> I. All post please say nay. Chair Wai will now be moving to close session. After a brief recess, the board will begin in close session in a private room. We'll return to this meeting to officially adjourn upon completion of the closed session, but there'll be no further business other than to adjourn the meeting. For those of you following the live stream, this will be the end of the session. Thank you for attending.