001all right George we ready yep we're ready thank you all right every everybody ready good evening welcome to the regular meeting of the Richfield Board of Education today's Monday December 4th 2023 it is 7 p.m. and uh we welcome everyone uh calling toward this meeting uh in our office there we are joined by director paace director tensin director bracky director CER superintendent yanowski board secretary Cassandra Guam H student Representatives hero castan Lopez and chimo deua and I'm Paula Co we're also joined by uh our new uh incoming elected school board members uh members of our of our staff and um we just begin with review uh um an approval of the agenda are there any motions I'll second our agenda uh put for approval by director brai and a second by director police all in
002favor please say I I any opposed CH votes I and our agenda is approved uh we move to information and proposals non-action items uh with superintendent owski in his up day all right very exciting we have two presentations today um we have the Sheridan Hills Elementary School presentation so principal statel will be here uh but to be proceeded by the exciting Craig Holi and the truth in taxation conversation talking about levies finances and overall budget so with that Mr hogi take it away very good uh good evening uh this presentation is part of the Minnesota state requirement to ensure governmental budget transparency and opportunities for public comment much of the information shared is required by State Statute but also provides an opportunity to share with our community our financial status and operations following this presentation
003the board is able to act on the final Levy for continue for coming calendar and fiscal years this slide highlights the Minnesota state law requirements specifically this meeting must occur between November 25th and December 28th at a 6 p.m. or later board meeting um it may be part of a regularly scheduled board meeting and it must allow for public comments at the end um the board may also adopt the final Levy at the same meeting and it must include a a presentation of the current year budget as well as the proposed property tax levy looking at tonight's hearing we will share information about the background of school funding go over the current year budget present the proposed tax levy for taxes payable in 2024 and then provide the opportunity for public comments uh it is
004important to note that the Minnesota state constitution actually requires the legislature to provide for funding for a um for a thorough and efficient system of public schools uh throughout the state local taxes are one opportunity along with other funding that comes through the state and the US the Minnesota Constitution is one of the uh constitutions that specifically calls this out uh school funding is highly regulated and any taxing Authority the school board must be within guidelines identified by the state most of our revenue is specified on a per pupil or per student basis uh the state authorizes a maximum Levy each School District can Levy while local boards can authorize less than this amount they are not able to authorize more school boards are also um authorized to submit referendums for operating and capital needs
005but those also must be within state required limits one of richfield's largest funding sources is through State allocated formula for general education Revenue this is State funding generated on a per pupil basis for the 2023 uh 2024 school year this formula allowance is $7,150 per student which was a 4% increase from our previous year of $686 the level of State funding for 2024 2025 is set at $728 which is a 2% increase from 2324 and the next slide will illustrate how the state funding has not kept up with inflation since 20022 2003 and it would take an 18.6 6% increase or $1,356 more per student per year to make up that difference and this slide just illustrates that it was put together by our financial planners Ellers to showcase the blue line is that um
006inflationary increase that would be um required and the dotted line or dash line is the actual State funding formula per student next as we look at special education this is another area that has seen increased costs for specific programs serving students with identified needs while programming in this area is specialized and often within certain required services to make sure all students are served this programming comes with additional costs that are not fully covered by the funding specified for these Services as such districts are required to bridge this Gap with other funding sources such as local revenue or general education funding it is important to note that even with the recent improvements in funding from the legislature for special education cross subsidy um this um by fiscal schol year 2027 special education is projected to still
007be underfunded by $48 million Statewide because school funding is complex a change in the tax levy does not always correlate directly with the dollar for- dooll increase in the school budget tax levies are based on many different formulas and some increases in tax levies are offset by reductions in state aid an expenditure budget is impacted by overall changes in state formulas voter approved levies and the use of fund balance or Reserve dollars uh one of the things that's interesting to schools is uh the different Levy cycles and this slide highlights the advanced planning that's required for school funding which is a little different from cities and other municipalities our budget year begins on July 1 and coincides with the school year the taxes authorized by the levy being presented this evening will be collected from
008Property Owners between January 1 and December 31st 2024 but will be used to fund the school district from July 1 2024 to June 30th 2025 our prepar preparation for this Levy actually began this past summer July of 2023 with a preliminary Levy authorized in September so property owners could receive information from the county about their proposed taxes in November tonight we will also be sharing information about our current 2324 budget because the budget funded by the proposed Levy is still being developed and will not go into effect until J July 1 2024 School District budgets are broken up into multiple funds with the general fund being the one that provides most of our regular education programming each year the budget is authorized by the school board in June for the budget year beginning July 1
009the next slide shows an overview of the fiscal year 23 and fiscal year 24 budgets it highlights the revenues and expenditures for each of the funds as well as the fund balance overall our fund balance is declining primarily because of our building construction project which was funded initially through bonds the general or restricted fund is funding that can only be used for specific purposes with our general operating programs you'll notice that most funds are relatively stable with revenues and expenditures over the past few years we have seen an increase in our general fund Reserve associated with additional federal funds and contained expenditures but now that those funds are going away we're seeing this start to flatten out with a slight decline in the coming years if you were wondering why the revenues and expenditures are
010shaded for the internal service fund the is because these funds come in and out of other funds in our budget and Reporting those funds in this format would inflate the overall revenues and expenditures in our district uh next examining our Revenue sources our general fund accounts for 83.6% of our overall revenue of just over 96 million our debt service which accounts for the funding associated with our construction program and other post employment benefits is the next highest category food service and Community Education each rep represent about 2 to 4% of our overall revenue and then focusing on the general fund 66.8% of the revenue in this area comes from the state 22.9% comes from local property taxes and 7.8% comes from the federal government next looking at our general fund expenditures because we are a
011highly human capital based organization 76.3% of our expenditures go to pay for salaries and benefits for staff 14% of our budget go to purchase services for things like specialized transportation and fees to other schools uh when we look at our expenditures by program 41.6% or 33.2% is spent on regular instruction 18.8% is spent on special education instruction 13.6% is spent on pupil support services such as transportation and counseling 10.3% is spent on sites and buildings 7.2% on instructional support such as techn technology media curriculum and staff development and just under 4% each is spent in each or is spent each on licensed Administration and support services uh next we will review the property tax levy process proposed levies and the impact on tax fairs each owner of taxable property taxes um or of taxable property
012pays taxes to various municipalities each jurisdiction sets its own tax levy within the limits set by the State and this Levy is fa facilitated by the county which sends the tax statements collects the funds and distributes them to appropriate jurisdiction in November of each year Property Owners received a notice of proposed taxes from the county Hanahan county is responsible for Distributing these statements to Richfield School District residents it's good to note that because of the expiration of the technology referendum the two funding questions approved by voters in November were not included in the calculation on the the proposed tax statements because they had not yet been authorized by the voters uh this exclusion is determined by the state statute uh next as we look at as identified earlier school levies are very complex and are
013calculated by the Minnesota Department of Ed education the levy is based on various categories and limited by state law and voter approval the next slide highlights the steps in the process um only one of these steps is controlled by the school district the city or county determines the estimated Market values the legislature sets formulas for how various properties are taxed residential versus uh commercial for example the county auditor calculates the tax capacity for each parcel based on these formulas the legislature sets maximum Levy limits for school districts the Minnesota Department of Education calculates the detailed Levy limits the school board adopts proposed and final levies and the county auditor then takes the final Levy information to finalize the tax for the individual properties the next slide articulates the process that results in the levy being
014recommended this evening and you can see the timelines associated with that looking at the proposed Levy for this evening there is a proposed increase of 15.5% in the local Revenue uh we will illustrate the reasons for the major changes in the levy and the impact on property owners the next slide illustrates some of the various aspects of the levy in the various funds in the general fund you will note increases in the voter approved operating referendum capital projects or technology referendum operating Capital as well as prior year adjustments based on actual versus projected student enrollment there are also decreases in the equity and voter approved Debt Service categories uh the next slide is highlights the change associated with the voter approved referendum there is a increase of $4,495 659 and this is primarily the result
015of the successful operating referendum approved by voters in November of 2023 the next slide highlights the voter approved capital projects or technology Levy there is an increase of $477,500 and finally in The Debt Service fund there is a decrease of$ 27229 this is primarily the result of coordinated capital and debt levies that allow the district to maintain a Debt Service tax rate lower than taxes payable in 2023 so we move on to the next slide there are many factors that result in a change in taxpayers school taxes including changes in value of an individual property changes in all property values in the district and changes in Levy amounts due to formula changes or voter approved referendums a pi is a good illustration or a way to of for how property values can impact school taxes
016because much of our Levy is driven by student enrollment if all properties increase in value at the same rate taxes would remain relatively flat but if a property has a lower market value increase than the other prop or increase the other properties or the districtwide market their share of the pi would be smaller similarly if an individual property value increases more than the broad Market that property would see more of an increase uh this slide uh the next two slides further illustrate this uh in this slide if two properties each have the same valuation they would each pay the same amount of Levy and you can see $200,000 homes um estimating at $250 Levy um however in the next slide we can see if one of the properties increases more than the other the home
017with a higher increase in value will pay more than they did the previous year and the home that increased um would be playing less than they did the previous year uh moving on the following slides um show examples of changes in the school district portion of property taxes from 2021 to 2024 they are looking only at our school district taxes and we'll um illustrate the impact with no change in property valuation as well as a 16.2% Inc increasing property value over this four-year period of time actual changes will vary from parcel to parcel with estimates having been prepared by Ellers the district's Municipal adviser uh the next slide has a lot of small numbers and a lot of details but it provides an overview of various property values in Richfield school district for residential commercial
018and and apartments it illustrates the tax impact on various property values holding the value constant from 2021 despite the overall increase in revenue from the proposed Levy there was a net reduction in the impact to the average property owner in all areas from 22 to 23 but this increased from 23 to 24 because of the voter approved operating referendum you notice that the $300,000 home had an increase of $149 Which is less than what earlier calculations prior to the referendum predicted and only $12 more than what a $300,000 home paid in school taxes in 2021 the next slide shows the average single family residential property in Richfield is about $300,000 uh this slide shows the year-over-year school tax change of a couple of property valuations in this range uh note the dark bar on the
019graph includes both the technology renewal as well as the increasing the operating referendum so prior to the voter renewal of the capital projects as well as the operating referendum uh it would have been at 8:30 but then that was at the 388 uh for the $300,000 home uh similarly the next slide illustrates the net changes to Commercial and apartment properties over the same period of time inclusive of typical market value changes the next slide um shows the year-over-year school tax change for residential Homestead Property when the increase in market value is included here you can see the relatively flat school taxes paid by homeowners the past three years even with the average increase in home values and similarly the next slide shows the impact for commercial and apartment property types with the increas in in
020values factored in moving on finally we wanted to highlight a couple of tax savings opportunities for property owners the first is a homestead credit refund or circuit breaker program that is available to Homestead Property Owners or renters within income guidelines generally about $135,900 or less uh this refund requires completion of the m1pr state tax form there's also a specialty property tax refund for Homestead Property Owners with higher gross tax increases this also requires completion of the m1pr tax form and finally there's a senior citizen property tax deferral that allows people age 65 and over with income less than $96,000 to defer a portion of their property taxes until the home is sold or the homeowner dies next steps the board will accept any public comments this evening on the proposed Levy and we're also requesting
021that the board certify the proposed Levy later this evening during the action items on the board agenda uh so with that I turn it over to any board questions or any public comments thank you so much Mr Holi uh the graphic Z day so useful as uh thank you for that comments uh from any one in the community I don't see anyone registered uh for public comments so comments from board [Music] members I have a question and it is on the very last Slide the senior citizen property tax deferral who is responsible and hopefully the answer multiple parties but for communicating that option and how do we make that well known um because I think one of the things that we do most frequently hear concerns about as it relates to the in the increase
022in property taxes is from people who are on a fixed income and so like my mind immediately goes to how do we make that a headline and something that is very clearly known and accessible for members of our community um I so we obviously included in this presentation I have to verify whether or not that was included in some of the information on our website um but we can certainly add that to the website for additional information especially along the referendum section of it um I would for it to be in very large font yeah and in all three of those areas uh the state legislature actually made some improvements in some of those areas so some of the property tax refunds and the homestead credits um actually have um higher market value that are
023now included in those options and so there were a number of changes that were associated with connecting that um I don't know if any of that information was in any of the notifications that went out from henpen County as well so I would need to verify that just seems like a massive opportunity and yes I I agree that the other two are also important but I think um you know my my eyes and my mind goes right to that last one given things that that we hear directly from taxpayer so thank you yep I have a question which is um I should proud of know the answer to and it is really just nitpicky and in the weeds and um but I just it's just more of a curiosity so looking at our expenditures by
024program the one question that I had where I was wasn't where I was wondering where a certain uh set of programs would fit is where would we be what what section of the P would um our athletic programs act Student Activities um extracurriculars what section of the P would those fall under um for the progam we're looking at fund expenditures by program so would that fall under regular instruction pupil support that just curious um I I will need to verify I believe it's either under regular instruction or pupil support sure um would be the two areas that would be most connected um but I will need to verify yeah no no worries it's um just kind of a curiosity question I mean these members of the public are certainly welcome to look at prior yours
025but the reality is is that these pies are very stable over time um and so but yeah I just a similar question back to to the the pie charts when we talk about the source of the funding in state federal local and other the levies we are talking about here they are strictly the local is that correct I'm say that again we have the PT uh revenues Revenue all funds general fund Revenue state federal local and other our the sources 22 and the so the levies we are talking about now of course we're not talking about Federal Levy we're not this is all the the levies fall within the local section of that sorry thank you otherwise this this is I've been to a number of these and this one's either I've gotten a little
026bit smarter which is probably not it it's that this is as clear as it's ever been for me so thank you yeah the house Graphics were were really helpful I like an orange I like it I like the orange the house Graphics are the the orange and blue houses were new yeah I've been that was what I was thinking about when I oh the graphics yes the house right I had yeah and I love the pie but anyway all right thank you Mr holdi for a scintillating presentation um now to recenter ourselves and bring us back together after the excitement of Truth and Taxation um conscious dis displine and some social emotional learning work um in the presentation from uh principal statel from Sheridan Hill so welcome principal stanel okay hello everybody I won't have
027you do deep breathing even though you may need it at this point in time um I just you know when we talk at our school for every one of these meetings where we host I always take it back to my staff and say what is something that we should highlight about shared and Hills and so conscious discipline was one of the things that staff mentioned that we should highlight so um I've got some examples that I want to show you and you'll have the opportunity to hear from some of our kiddos and see some of our kiddos in action um I started at Sheridan Hills in the 2016 2017 school year and um in 20178 then started to bring conscious discipline into play with what we were doing there um since that time we've gradually
028added every every year and so for the last couple of years these are the ways that we've embedded conscious discipline into our school practices so for example we use conscious discipline Powers there's seven Powers um we use those for our staff meeting Norms there's a weekly bulletin that I send out to staff and it's got reminders of conscious discipline practices and strategies um we've got a main hallway bulletin board that features our school family and many of our classrooms refer to their Community as their a family um I end every morning announcement with I wish you well so we are constantly wishing each other well um I'm sure you have all experienced the brain Smart Starts so we have brain Smart Starts in our staff meetings a different group each month leads our brain Smart
029Start and many uh classes do brain Smart Starts obviously throughout the day and then we've got our safe spaces established in all classrooms the other thing that I think we've done very well is we've connected those with other practice practices like second step and the zones of Regulation so that's kind of the big ways that we've embedded it if you want to go ahead and hit it so I've got the example of the staff meaning Norms so these are our staff meaning Norms so rather than have things like we will arrive on time and everybody will have done their pre-work beforehand our Norms are that whatever we focus on we get more of so we can choose to focus on the negative or we can choose to focus on the positive when we look at
030the power of perception you're recognizing that if you get mad or upset you got to take responsibility um for your own upset because it's your choice recognizing that we need to always assume positive intent if we're going to assume an intention let's assume positive intent that we're all in it together um and the power of acceptance is a really powerful one for me I was at a conscious discipline training a number of years ago and Jill Molly is one of their top trainers and Jill talked about the fact that she had been doing conscious discipline for years and it finally hit her one day that until she gave Grace to herself she was not going to be able to actually give it to her children her students and so we focus on giving Grace rather
031than judgment a lot and that means if something doesn't go right if the first thing you say in your head is God I'm stupid you're not giving yourself Grace and if you can't give yourself Grace you're going to struggle to do it with the students sitting in front of you or with your colleagues and so that's one that we really focus on the other thing we do with our weekly bulletin we there's a couple different messages sometimes it it's things like this where it's actually strategies to use with kids and it's things like giving teachers sentence stems you wanted and describe what the child wanted instead of saying no or stop because that commitment to doing that helps us to teach rather rather than punish so sometimes those weekly bulletin reminders are specific sentence stems
032specific skills to use sometimes Cassandra if you would sometimes it's for us this one is all about calming selft talk and how do we address our triggers what are the strategies that we can use for ourselves when we get triggered so those are examples of what our staff weekly bulletin some of that stuff what that looks like and then we highlight our school family so this is our Sheridan Hills School family bulletin board it's in the front and it's our staff pictures of our staff which I have to update again because we hired new pair of professionals um and getting all that done but what we're going to do is fill it in now teachers will fill in with pictures of kids from their classroom so it's every team of teachers with their class picture
033of their kiddos and so we'll gradually add to it so that should that board should end up just being a huge celebration of our school family we also then many of our classrooms um use the word family in their agreements We are family um we are safe stars who are smart safe responsible listen we are grateful kind and amazing people we are a family and then if you go to the next one in this classroom we are a family we enter our room we care about each other in our classroom we show kindness and respect so that peace about that idea that we're a family whether it's the broader School family or that classroom family is an important part of what we do and then when we look at our um examples of some of
034the conscious discipline practices and how that looks in the classrooms most of my teachers have their um on their Smartboard their slides are already set up for their day of instruction and so this is an example of a first grade teachers's morning meeting slide and you will see this in many classrooms but you'll see see if you think about brain Smart Start you'll see that greetings around the world that connecting that relaxation that de-stress review of the classroom agreement and committing and then that brain break well wishes we wish each other well and that brain break enjoying in in connecting with one another so those are examples of what we do with our morning meeting this is that classroom um breathing during that grade one morning meeting so to show you an example and then
035the next next slide um talking about how we integrate the other seal practices into conscious disciplines so you've got a fourth grade classroom on the left you can see the zones of Regulation up on the Smartboard so she is either teaching that or reviewing that with students and then you go to the safe space in that teachers classroom and you'll see the zones of Regulation you'll also see the Second Step posters on ways to calm yourself and then of course safe space Chase they change right so the one on the left is a prek classroom the next two over are kindergarten classrooms uh if you want to then we've got these are a couple first grade classrooms these teachers have even embedded um the school the idea of a school family with putting houses um
036for their safe space you know we've got again you'll see the practices embedded in what we do the breathing ball that we do with second step we're also doing in our safe spaces if you want to hit the next one oh it's not but the other thing that we do is obviously safe spaces so that's a um third grade classroom on your left this is other spaces so that's an elll space on the left and that's the art room on the right and again you'll see this is now when we get into 4 fourth and fifth grade it starts to look a little different right and even the language on what is posted is a little different but once again you'll see the other practices are integrated with what we do so this is in
037a fourth and fifth grade classroom this is what's posted what are you feeling you've got to be able to identify your feelings do something that will calm you and what's that internal selft talk what are those positive messages that you're giving yourself remember back when I talked about with staff what are the positive messages you're giving with your staff it's the same thing with kids what are the positive messages you're giving to yourself and then we've this one is kind of fun it's affirmation board and that's actually on a magnetic board so kids can move it around that's right in a safe space too and then I asked my staff for some Reflections on conscious discipline um and just then talking about what our Focus for this year is um these are quotes Direct ly
038from my staff I use conscious discipline in my classroom every day I am constantly using and modeling breathing techniques to get myself to stop take a moment and get in the right area of my brain so that I am responding instead of reacting the techniques and strategies that I have learned benefit me both in the classroom and outside of the classroom and then from another teacher on challenging days with students keeping be a star in my mind is often a lifesaver another great story I had an elll teacher that shared with me she was teaching a small group of kindergarten English Learners recently and the group was really struggling to settle down a student who was new to the country in English this year she said must have recognized my stress and the group's disregulation
039because he said to the group quite loudly we can take a breath so we all stopped took some deep breaths together and moved on with our lesson it was such a good reminder of the power of breathing and what it can do for both the children and adults at school and then what we're working on for this year one of the final Powers um for conscious discipline is the power of intention we live in a very punishment-based society and so moving out of that is difficult and so um it's really the last power that you really go to deal with in depth so we are really addressing student behavior and we have really moved to identifying and addressing the underdeveloped executive skills so we've changed our Behavior reporting form um we do direct teaching for
040staff on Executive skills and strategies to teach and reinforce their development and then we're going to use staff meetings to develop teaching plans for students so then I can show you the form on the left is our new Behavior reporting form and you'll see that it's got what was the observed behavior and it was safety connection or problem solving and then what is the underdeveloped executive skill and then the form on the right we will have teachers be able to come together in staff meetings bring a child kind of a case study to connect with each other and kind of talk through what would be some of the things that I should look to do and we've provided to teachers um libraries of executive function skills and um specific strategies you can do to teach
041and address those and then finally I thought it would be best if I ended with you listening to our kiddos rather than me so I've got a kindergartener um talking with you and explaining how is how do you use a safe space and then for you to see some breathing exercises place so you use a safe place when you have strong feeling and what do you do as soon as you get there when you get there you just pick the feeling that you have can you show us how that would work so if I was little so if I was sad I could just put a sad one up here and [Music] then grab the timer and then you flip it over it it's a 5 minute timer and you once in a while sometimes
042look at it and you can look what feeling you have to try to turn around could look at waterers that sometimes makees you feel better and you could give you could just hold the bear for a little bit and you could kind of hug it or squeeze it and you could just grab these stars and you could just do that and you take deep breaths let's do slowly and there's a couple fidgets and you could read a book A Feeling book to see if you know the [Music] feeling sometimes I go to the safe space because I feel like my an my anxiet is acting up and I don't understand something in the schoolwork that I have to do and it often helps me because I have a lot of active feelings and I like
043having that time to be able to just sit down be alone and have time to myself without people really bothering me and just having a good time and after I use the safe space it makes me feel a lot better and and everything just often times works out in the end even if it takes a little bit of working the safe space helps me a lot okay sometimes I use safe space because I feel stressed nervous or my friends do things that I told them to not do and safe space helps me when like something like weird happens in my family and I just need to like think for a few seconds after I use safe space I'm normally okay and not mad cuz I get mad very [Music] easily turn our TS on and
044breathe out and off and off and on I mean on let the water go let the air out and off any questions thanks very much for the presentation um it builds really nicely off of the social emotional learning presentation that we had recently and shows great alignment and that was one of the questions we had asked or I had asked with that presentation is you know um after hearing about all the great stuff you know that that stuff that was happening you know how are these practices using and and I can see you know clearly that theme is very consistent so appreciate that um my question for you is really around um how you integrate conscious discipline or or other approaches discipline with discipline with um digital uh the presence of digital I mean you're
045in an elementary school obviously so you're interaction with digital you know social media cell phones obviously you know and whatnot may be different than it is in our other buildings but I just wondered if there's if conscious discipline interacts in that space and with helping our students learn how to regulate their interaction with um the digital world you know it's it's safety for so we talk with kids about being safe and being kind but um it's a safety issue the other piece I'm going to say is my expectation of my parents is when your child is home with you you are responsible for overseeing their media social media use so um when it comes to dealing with the Fallout of anything we we really haven't had as much lately we had one year where we
046had a bit more and um my Outreach to parents was to say I will happily connect you all together so that you can work together to teach your children appropriate social emotion or appropriate social media usage um and it dropped off very quickly from that I I just think think there is a piece of what can we can be responsible for and what we can't and luckily and I know I'm lucky at the elementary level we don't have it like they do at the high school and the middle school um so it's a very very different world in terms of the digital stuff from that but in terms of conscious discipline it's about how are we being safe and are are we providing a safe space to our classmates to the members of our family
047if we are do in if we are doing those kinds of behaviors thanks I I don't have questions I just really appreciated the students explaining how they used the quiet uh the safe space and they were kind of all related but they were a little bit different right someone talked about their feelings and their you know how they get worked up around the school setting and someone was honest and said you know some of some of the stuff they bring with them from home and that's that's reality too right there're we don't just leave a bag at the door when we walk in a good reminder I think think that's the importance of the safe space because I think sometimes we fail to realize um we can have a really engaging classroom and a lot
048going on but there is always downtime in school and if you've got stuff going on at home it's hard not to have that creep into your mind or perseverate a little on that so giving students a space within the classroom to just be able to go reset is so important and I I was so struck and this is not a new realization but how much more self-aware students are than what I remember being as far as being able to I mean I struggle to articulate my feelings right now the way that some of our elementary school students were sharing their their feelings it's really impressive and I think that speaks to how well integrated it is and the other thing I wanted to just say is how much I appreciate that it feels as though
049there's some efforts to make this not just feel like something we're doing with or to students but that it's actually a collective so what you shared about you know this is how we approach our staff meetings um really resonated and I I would just love to to know even more ways that that's integrated in the staff to staff experience because having worked in a school there's a whole lot of stuff that can sometimes come up in the staffto staff relationship and this feels like a helpful way to actually use common language um across the entire building so I really loved the window know into that too you'll hear staff say it is what it is you know we've just been doing it long enough that it's like a it is what it is okay what
050are we gonna do now yeah yeah great I just wanted to say like thank you and I appreciate everything like you've done for this uh that's cool because that's honestly like a really cool concept that I've never really heard of like everything about the safe spaces and stuff and I feel like you guys are doing it like really well and especially with like the idea of family I love that idea I don't know I love the idea of like the kids feeling connected and actually like supported by each other like family it's supposed to be and also I feel like it teaches like family values like what are supposed to be family values because not everyone necessarily gets that but I had a question is like the second and third grade like safe spaces look
051all like cozy and comfy and like I really want to be in there and like you know and then the the fifth and fourth graders are just a chair and then like a like a ball it was just like like a question like maybe there's like a really good reason behind or something I don't know you know and there's one of the fourth grade safe spes where it's a bean bag under a desk with a taller desk I I think really what the teachers do is they kind of respond to who their class is and and what they need there because even the where it was the prek and the K the one with a chair was a kindergarten class but it was a rocking chair so you know I think it's just the teachers
052kind of look at their kiddos and what do they need and and what do they appreciate but yeah cuzz sometimes our older kids to want to crawl under something yeah right so nice to do that yeah I'll do sometimes I was just say I was just curious about that that one part thank you um I don't have any questions um I just want to say thank you um I feel like a lot of the times parents and all of us are thinking okay our students learning how to do math how to do science how to do English but I feel like they're doing all of that and also learning how to be kind human beings how to be conscious human beings and just how to be human beings and it's okay to be like a
053human being and I feel like that's something that students don't really get to learn especially at such a young age and I feel like Consciousness at this age is something that's going to set them apart from their peers later on so I really appreciate that thank you thank you for the presentation on I I think it's super cool I um the one question I have is um what are we doing to help the parents out and I I I think I've asked this before it's like this is so cool I'm like as a parent I look and go how can I do a better job right I'm like and or how can I help support the school by reinforcing what you're doing during the day at night um actually before covid I did with our
054PTO I did a presentation for parents um and since coming back from Co I haven't restarted that up but that's a really good point about going back to that and because our parents really appreciated it they really liked it and found it really helpful and there's so much I think one of the hard things for me is for the adult portion of it if you're really because a conscious discipline is adult first you know it's it's being Mindful and it's we all screw up let's be clear nobody lives in this part of their brain it would be wonderful if we did we all lose it and then we have to get ourselves back um and so trying to do it more with parents where maybe would be a multi session instead of just cuz I
055did a big overview with them but it would be nice to do um smaller sessions too and conscious discipline has some great videos that they do too that are directed towards parents and some of that yeah I mean it maybe it doesn't even necessarily need to have sessions but like send out flyers or what not it's um because I also look I go so your school's doing it what about the other schools I'm like this is so cool it's like again how do we share that knowledge and like it takes a village right so just thank you well the other schools are doing it we we just we've been doing it longer so I think that's I'm looking over at Mary that's that's the difference is we've been doing it longer so we're able to
056have it more embedded in everything we do because we've been doing it longer it is what it is right exactly well and to be fair that's principal statel uh analysis she's very proud of her school yes all of the schools are doing it but uh they chose to share their practices with the board and so that's one of the things that Sharon Hills wanted to share and be proud of so good work thank you um Mr Carter brought up a good question and I was thinking um do you guys bring this up like let's say like if a student is having behavioral issues do you bring this up during conferences or like during one-on-one meetings yeah um but it's it's done it's done through the lens of um of teaching like like if you like
057if if you're constantly blurting out I'm going to say you're underdeveloped executive skill is probably the impulse control so here are the things that I need to do here are the things that you can help out at home to help your child develop that executive skill so that's it's and that's where conscious we live in such a punishment based society and conscious discipline isn't punishment based it's logical consequences and it's looking at what are the underdeveloped executive skills that need to be taught and the idea that all behavior is communication it's we have to know what we're listening for I had one last question other last thing that sort of um came into my mind um obviously there are some circumstances where you know because one of the things you had talked about is you
058know modeling um saying no or saying stop but asking a question um and that makes sense to me obviously there are some circumstances where saying no or saying stop is appropriate um is that something that conscious discipline gets into very much so they'll talk about using the assertive voice and my line with teachers always is if it's not a question don't ask it that way so don't ever say to a student will you please sit down because what you've just said given them the right to do is say no and you've now set up a power struggle if you want them to sit down the language is sit down the language is go to the carpet with your materials in your lap put your marker to the side and be facing the board paint a
059very clear picture of what the expectation is so yeah no assertive voice and assertiveness and being really clear with expectations is a huge part of conscious discipline yeah clear as kind is a phrase that one of my friends taught me and it made so much sense to me when I heard it that way and I feel like that's exactly at the heart of what you're saying right right yep thank you um what I I could see is uh how mainstream conscious discipline is a cheran uh students are able to explain the process why they do it uh like crystal said the the language that they're using is is just also like an example of the use of sentence stems and like um my my k it's on the Spectrum and and this was very important
060to teach him like instead of acting now this is what you say instead uh so all of this uh really resonated with me and I I have to say I learned some things for myself uh that I look forward to putting into practice I definitely forget to breathe uh very often and to name the emotions as uh so thank you so much for for all of that ous to to you and your team uh I also see you modeling with the adults uh and not just telling them what to do uh so it's it's is really um a it show to how how much everyone just got it and how you leave through those values uh thank you thank you principal statel we appreciate it thank you now we uh next step in our agenda
061is our consent agenda uh a place in our meeting where we approve a group of things in invol without separate discussion however any board member um is welcome to take any particular thing out of it um in absence of that is there anyone who ask questions or willing to move the consent agenda for approval I'll move the consent agenda as presented a second have a motion by Mr poce and a second by miss bracky all in favor please say I any your post Che and our consent agenda is approved uh and now we are into all business studing with policy 501 about early entrance to kindergarten and administrative guidelines all right so we have for you a third read recommended for passage um early entrance to kindergarten and administrative guidelines um we did go back
062as the board had requested or I reported at the last meeting um that there's 46 requests of this on approximate yearly basis uh they've been reviewed by teaching and learning health Services Department to make sure that they align to our practices we did make changes updated based on branding um you will notice on the guidelines um we still have old branding material so as soon as we do finalize we will update that to our new branding and place it into that particular format uh but there are no changes since our last meeting so with that we have it for recommended passage tonight any questions from more members so just one change the logo correct yeah that is just in formatting as we finalize making sure if we're approving it yeah yeah yes we're not really
063approving it as it is we're approving with change so we have to make it with a logo change you don't have to is that a motion Mr Carter how's that sure the question is is does the motion need to say with the logo change no it's actually a guideline and so that that's actually just a form to to help yep then I move to approve said guideline policy and guideline I'll second have a motion by Mr CER and a second by Mr tensen all in favor please say I I and you opposed Che vot I and policy 501 is approved and now we're up to policy 801 all right and administrative guidelines student use of secondary school facility um and accompanying guidelines third read um as you recall we clarified what a meeting is just
064to be sure that we were understanding there are meetings that occur outside of the school day um in this uh guideline along with policy um identify how those spaces um are requested and also how those spaces are used um and again not for those official activities uh but additional opportunities for students uh not those specifically like School uh School athletics or concerts or things of that nature so with that uh third read we have this recommended passage tonight questions said apparently okay Ju Just real quick um in the policy is there a requirement that staff be present for these after hours student events um not at every single one no so that is not a specific requirement but in the building or uh yes we wouldn't have the building open or unlocked um without people
065to support any request to this nature the reason why I asked is I just happened to know something that I talked about saying that um it wouldn't require staff members to attend if they didn't agree with what the event what was going on with the event correct so then I was just curious of like if we needed a step and President right and so similarly as as we rent our buildings an example on a different note we rent our buildings sometimes over the weekend there isn't a specific staff person but there are custodians who are there monitoring Safety and Security of the building and and the general vicinity thank you any other questions is the third read correct that is I'll move the the policy as presented I will second we have a motion by
066Mr poce and a second by Mr tensin all in favor please say I I I and you oppos CH votes I and policy 801 about student use of secondary school facilities and administrative guideline is approved now we go on on policy 545 all right attendance and administrative guideline uh 545 and 5451 uh describing our expectation for attendance and how we handle it if there are any questions or concerns uh we did already gather input from the safe and supportive Schools parent and student committees both in the high school and our launched group Within the middle school so we did add some suggested changes you'll know those starting on page one our previous statement uh stated that all students should re receive Equitable opportunity and treatment we added that we respect cultural and racial considerations that
067may affect student attendance um and so honoring our Equity um lens that we are working to work through our policy you'll also see we are clarifying teacher responsibility because we do have Administration responsibility student responsibility family responsibility and so we just want to make sure that we are as we look across sharing out clearly the responsibility of everybody in supporting um attendance and in that participation um and then within the guidelines um clarifying some of the questions about how many hours count um for a part day or for a full day um how we communicate about absences and methods by which we can use that um so again we have that for a second read it has gone through a couple of groups um we aren't presenting that for passage but for second review of
068the updates and we'll take comments tonight or over the next couple of weeks before we bring it back on the 18th so I can very easily Envision what would be a cultural consideration that would affect student attendance I can't see what a racial consideration would be that would affect student attendance Dr Clarkson sorry so the question was um So within safe and supportive schools um a cultural consideration that could impact attendance what might be a racial consideration um if you that convers using the word is is the word actually accurate Focus cultural so we'll go back and gather the context of that and we'll double check that before the second read for before the third read um I had the same same question okay yeah all right so looking at specifically that language input that
069was given by students or parents um and double-checking what that might be I'll sure I think one of the the questions I had was like would ethnic also then be appropriate to add because I think there are times where it could be racial and or ethnic considerations so I think just to add that to the conversation um I would I guess that my my but would cultural broad enough to Encompass correct that would that would be my personal opinion is that cult we'll specifically examine multiple permutations culture related to a lot of different things right be culture is actually more a more inclusive term religious celebration things like that yeah I both get that and I appreciate I think the point that the superintendent made which is like we're trying to be clear about our
070commitment to racial Equity um and so I wonder if that was some of the intention behind it but I think getting getting more clarity and figure out how to word it so that it is appropriately reflected makes tons of sense we we'll check on that and actually we'll make sure we point that out in our next meeting um what we what we worked out or figured out thank you thank you I had one very very small language change um I appreciate the addition of the teachers responsibility and the minor change is that it's it's just not consistent in phrasing with the student and parent and or Guardian like there's a phrase it is the students's responsibility to and the teachers one is teachers have the responsibility to so I would just make sure that the
071language matches across all we will look for pattern matching of linguistics consistency anything else tonight or of course as you all know we can take anything over the next couple of weeks and we'll bring it back any other questions suggestions all right that concludes old business and now we move on to new business if craigi and truth and Taxation was not enough we're bringing the guy back for Levy certification as promised Mr Holi very good as promised it is tonight's final Levy certification uh 23 payable 24 um it's recommended that the board approve a resolution tonight um specifically a resolution uh authorizing the levy certification at 32,990 26945 cents um and that the clerk of the school board is authorized to certify the proposed Levy to the county auditor of Anin County uh primary changes
072from the proposed Levy from September as we talked about were the inclusion of the voter approved renewal of the capital projects Levy as well as the additional authorization for the voter approved operating referendum um we had the chance in the truth and Taxation hearing to hear details about the U the current budget as well as the proposed Levy um included in the materials there are two other um documents one provides a um category based Levy summary that shows all of the different factors and types of Levy authorization that exists um primarily we're seeing increases in the operating Capital uh the referendum technology um as well as the referendum as was presented in the earlier um presentation as well um we also see an increase in the Reemployment Insurance specifically as another category um that basically
073is a reimbursable for Reemployment Insurance um and then finally is the levy certification report that is submitted to the state um for submission into the county so with that we ask for your authorization for that Levy certification at$ 3299 3, 26945 any questions I'm only gonna get to do this one more time so I'm GNA take the advantage to move the levy certification as presented I will second scarcity of [Laughter] opportunity we have a motion by Mr tensing and a second by uh Miss bracky and this is a resolution correct so got to go oneon-one voting here uh Mr poce hi Mr teni hi Miss brai hi Mr CER hi and chair bothai and this resolution is approved and thank you Mr Holi uh next thing here uh authorization for Energy savings uh performance contract
074yes and I know I know Craig's excited but I mean we're joined by the delightful Andy Falkner who was here for much of our building upgrades and so we just have to acknowledge that Andy has returned y welcome back Andy back and so Craig is going to talk about creative ways by which we are able to fund improvements um through long-term savings so Mr hoi take it away so I did tell Andy that the board was disappointed when I proposed the fact that IC may be working on this project um and so we are um here we have um Andy who's the president of IC now um and we're very fortunate to have him continuing to represent us um he's been continuing to guide us on our construction projects even in his new role um
075and he tells us that he really likes getting out of the office and coming onto School sites like Richfield um and participating with our work too so um with that um we are requesting authorization uh for the administration to enter into an agreement with ics for Energy savings performance contract an Associated performance bond to improve Energy Efficiency in the Richfield schools for LED light installation replacing the remaining light um fluorescent light fixtures as well as improvements in the Richfield High School and Richfield Middle School auditoriums to improve Energy Efficiency and safety um we did present a significant portion of this information a couple meetings ago when we um requested requested authorization to move into that RFP process um we did post for request for proposals um IC was the only company that um presented a
076proposal and we are pleased with their work with us historically in the district and believe they will continue to operate in our benefit as well um as we've looked at this just kind of um one of the reasons why we're engaging this is it provides um the opportunity to um bonding or financing associated with future um Energy savings as well as capital expenditures um through through that process um and we have also been looking at this globally of how do we maximize our different funding resources um we are looking at um blending about four different um areas of funding specifically with this work um we have a construction budget um specifically with that 2017 issue um that will be funding primarily Auditorium supports um we're also in the auditorium using about $800,000 of the Energy
077Efficiency bonding um as well as some technology expenditures there um we we also are um using construction funds for signs um signs and bathrooms um as well as Stadium storage and some Central doors and hardware and then we have about $1.7 million of lighting improvements as part of this um authorization tonight for the Energy savings performance contract so we've been looking at how do we use our remaining funds with construction um the opportunity with this Energy savings performance contract as well as our technology referendum um to blend these different components and get the projects completed uh so with that um there is a lot of materials um there are about 30 pages of contract that were all the documents that um we left out of the board agenda so that you could make sure that
078you get to the end at some point this evening um that detail each one of the fixtures that are included in the proposals as well um but we would stand for any questions you may have or um otherwise seek your approval question for Mr h I'm scrolling through the very impressive berer that's in the packet um and while I'm scrolling I will just say I I think you have raised the comments and concerns about the auditorium in the past right so I'm very excited to see that um that is reflected as a significant part of this project because we've heard directly from students that it is a big area of need um and just for a little perspective we are looking at fairly significant investments in The Lighting and Sound specifically with that so all
079the technology sides um and we're working to align the middle school with the um high school so that there's a good Continuum moving from development at the middle school level um advancing the technology a little bit more at the high school um we've been partnering with a Puro design in our construction review and their recommendations uh they work on large scale Productions like C toay around the world um and we're fortunate to have Tom Neville who um is one of the neighbors um to Richfield who has helped us kind of design that work and has a passion for um technology and stages in schools and kind of build on that um framework so some great opportunities and a lot of input that have been provided for um those staff who are specifically working in those
080spaces and accessing his um expertise it's been really fun if I haven't told you this already to see him come in and start to explore the space and he ends up digging in and fixing our fixtures um with our teams to kind of teach them how to better use our service um better maintain our um current infrastructure as well any questions otherwise we're looking for authorization to enter into a authorizing the administration to enter into into an agreement with IC performance contract I move that we authorize the administration to enter into an agreement with IC I'll second have a motion by Miss brai and a second by Mr police we okay no more questions all in favor please say I I I any opposed vot I and been granted authorization to enter into this agreement
081and speaking of authorization we have one ask here for purchase of a maintenance vehicle I'm going to invite our director of facilities and transportation Dan cretsinger up to um make this presentation um he is going to highlight kind of uh the specific need for this um vehicle purchase as well as um the decision- making that came into this recommendation thank you welcome yeah good evening thank you for your time tonight um I'm requesting authorization to purchase a new uh District Maintenance van our current van is a 2008 Chevrolet with 51,000 miles on it and it has 2167 hours this vehicle rarely leaves the district but it is used extensively and on a daily basis the mileage of the vehicle shows how small or S square mile District footprint is and so this V this is
082this vehicle is our really mobile workshop and it holds all of our tools it holds Parts it holds a compressor and a welder and it's a crucial tool that our team uses to quickly respond to emergencies that come up in maintenance um throughout the seven schools in an organized fashion our current vehicle is actually on its third engine and and unfortunately um third engine fifth body seven battery right for set of tires same car right and in this environment um salt isn't friendly to Steel so the body and the frame are rusting and it will need extensive and costly repairs in the in the near future but first I I really want to share with you how proud I am of our maintenance team and as you can see from some of the documents in
083your board packet damag is meticulous um with our vehicle service and his service records he documents everything down to the dollar and so anyway with that um do you have any questions I'll add one note that this vehicle was planned for in the capital budget for the current year um so it isn't um something that we were not anticipating but um they've gone through the review at this point and um s out uh appropriate competitive BS this inspires me to try and keep better records by which I mean any records for my own car um and this feels like a really timely request that is very well Justified do we have concerns that that someone identified strongly that the old vehicle was a Chevrolet and the new one is a Ford proposed new one is
084that that going to cause cause challenges with the staff it could but I think they're they're going to be okay they're Pros they get paid to get over it okay that's right does this uh funding include branding of the vehicle um yes we have we do have branding um as well available for it so we had actually budgeted 990,000 um for this vehicle and being that um they had it available in stock and it's ready to go we were able to get it down to um 72,000 for it so um we do have extra money budgeted for it good job was was that you negotiating then is it we thank you we were working on it together yes absolutely good job thank you okay well I was just going to make a motion that we
085approve the purchase of the new maintenance vehicle second have a motion by Mr tensin and a second by Mr carer all in favor please State i i i any opposed CH votes and the authorization for purchase uh of a maintenance vehicle is approved thank you great thank you very much thank you um now move to policy 547 student dress in appearance all right unique request here today so a group of middle schoolers got together um looked at our dress policy and decided they didn't like something um we have this weird anomaly that occurred that when this um dress policy was chosen um there were some folk that really dug in on what hats were and headgear were and so we ended up with a policy that did not allow for um the use of build
086hats or baseball hats for example um every other type of headgear was allowed at that time and it was a very significant Push Pull between people uh since then um there have been movements um and disagreements over that um it is not something that is any longer consistently followed um and so people are not receiving conse quences necessarily for wearing hats with bills um but there was voice gathered from students there was voice gathered from staff and there was pretty clear support um in the request to change this policy um and so we're not asking for this as a regular policy read um and three reads that actually comes next year um we're actually just looking for a modification of this policy based on student request and we did gather input um and then as
087you all know when we change a policy significantly often we wait for the next year to implementation we wouldn't plan to do that we' be planning to implement this um essentially right away or begin to communicate this out um and so if you look at what we are posing in the student and dress policy you'll notice a sentence that said hats are defined as headgear with a brim uh that was what was not allowed previously we have stricken that from the record um taken out everything referring to with a brim um I would not need to re review anything with a brim not that I have um and then again that those are not allowed to be worn during the school day is also stricken from this um and so again reminding you this came
088from the voices of our students voice was gathered across the system um and pretty clear support for this um and so we're asking the board to move on this today um and thus allow this policy and practice to be changed um Ohad no just a quick question um on the last page uh page 208 um it talks about uniform dress and it says the administration May recommend a form of dress addess considered appropriate or something um so for like recommending like for rec like if an Administration wants to recommend like what to wear like is there a specific like oh as an Administration may use this type of language to recommend this or may use this type of language to recommend that because recommending can mean a lot of things it can mean okay I
089hate your outfit or oh like can you like wear something else and like give like a like valid reason um I think is so you're looking at uniform dress okay um in that section I think we're looking for specific events that might require a specific type of dress so if we were all going to a formal event um we may recommend that um people dress um up so to speak or we might support people in that um an example of recommendation at graduation we wear gowns and recommend gowns um did you have other ideas okay um it also covers like rdls right with within it right which is a school that has a uniform thank you thank you it's good flag and I think a good thing if if you're feeling like there should be
090additional information or additional Clarity to talk about that when the full policy is reviewed what what did you say sometime next year okay passing the torch uh what I was going to say is I was I was involved in the original changes to this policy so remember well the discussions about headgear versus brims versus not so I appreciate that in just four years time we have come around to saying a hat is a hat and we're okay with that and I didn't mean to rhyme but I did um so I just wanted to say that I am excited I will gladly move passage of the updated policy 504 and and 547 thank you I don't know where the zero came from um 547 this would go into effect immediately you said uh yeah we'll communicate
091that out um after the meeting okay thank you then yes mve I'll second I have a motion by Miss bracky and a second by Mr P please all in favor please say I I I I any opposed chair votes I in policy 547 uh is approved uh we now have a resolution designating polling places for 2024 all right so oddly enough even though we do not have a school district based election uh we are required to designate polling places in case there were a reason for a special election um and so uh this is is a resolution and this is um just in case there was a scenario that we had um a school board election which we don't anticipate please let's not have one any questions this one's for Action uh there any questions
092or comments or motions this is for next fall none of these are taking place in school sites and I do not recall the calendar it because it is a federal election as well as a big state election we do have school on Election Day next year is that correct um I believe so Mr holdy do we have school on Election Day ah we have not finalized the calendar committee so we will be working on the calendar in the spring I think we have a draft of it but I don't think it is official okay I think I was recalling a few years ago we did not have school on Election Day so that's where the at the time I think we had we had voting places for at at various school buildings correct so I'm
093just wondering are we back to school because none of these are School poing places in order to maybe more direct about where the question came from it has been a consideration and now um that is not the same consideration but we don't know for sure is anyone ready to make this move this resolution I will move the resolution designating polling places for 2024 I'll second have a motion by Miss Brack and a second by Mr tensen um I pull the board on my left uh for votes Miss brai hi Mr CER hi Mr tenson hi Mr police hi and uh ch I and uh the resolution designating polling places for 2024 is approved uh this concludes our uh business items and we now move on to Advanced planning with a legislative update anything to update
094super briefly some of our partners have um completed their legislative platforms for the upcoming session um and so we will Begin work on drafting the uh legislative platform for this group um for the upcoming session and so we'll be beginning conversations about that soon I don't believe the session begins until March because it's a non-budget here so you can expect us to try to hold our study session with elected officials in February um the one thing I would add amsd is one of those Partners in particular the the um platform was passed at our meeting this past Friday and the presentation at that meeting was from one of the Minnesota state Dem graphers um and so if you like me enjoy geeking out on all sorts of data about the population of Minnesota and where
095people are coming from and where they are going to and how old are we and what are our racial demographics it's super interesting I really enjoyed it um but one thing that I thought was particularly interesting is there was a slide about um youth population in the metro area and it was represented um in graphics of places where the youth population is going up or going down in more notable ways and Richfield was a a significant circle of decrease in youth participation so not participation um youth population thank you and so I thought it was just an interesting dubil with some of the conversations that we have here about um our population and as we're looking at enrollment projections um to see that in the state demographers presentation I thought was helpful in just making
096some of those connections um and that Pres presentation is available if you would like to view it I believe you can do so on the amsd website we will include the uh legislative platform and then we'll also add that uh presentation as as attachments or links in the Friday letter so as an update to the board similarly last Friday and Saturday the Minnesota School Board Association assembly uh occurred there were 23 proposed resolutions for votes uh about there were three that didn't get any motions to go forward uh I was say very uh interesting debate uh um I noticed this big change from the funding uh probably as a result of the last legislative session and how funding uh was allocated but definitely a lot more about uh very issues very close to society and
097changes uh [Music] so they were very clear about these are not things that we that the msba is going to be necessarily advocating for but mostly about what their position is about these issues if any one of those comes up uh for a policy year next legislative session so am I had to interpret that as more what msba would be against as opposed to what it would be for both it's more like you know how do you feel about so there was there was one about banning books for example that didn't get up uh you know got voted down uh there's some things related to gender uh and so it's it's good that there's already that you know those positions stated so that should these things come forward then we we know where the msba
098will stand um in relation to those okay um move to information and questions from board members one thing I was going to share is that I had um I had some friends who attended the kindergarten kickoff this past Saturday which was held at stem but was to get information about all of our uh programs prek and uh kindergarten and uh I just I heard great things about it that it was incredibly informative that it was really helpful for people who are trying to make decisions and um really figure out what's best for their kids and for their families and so I just wanted to publicly appreciate that and all of the work that goes into making that possible I know it's been an area of focus in recent years and so it was great to
099hear such good things about it yeah we were excited and we'll we'll be talking about them at some point in the upcoming uh we had 93 families attend uh we had 265 individuals attend and so it was an all-time high and so we're really proud and impressed with our Outreach group and our enrollment group great to hear all right any suggested or future agenda items don't see anyone uh let me move to Future meeting dates uh we will be meeting next on December 18th at 7:00 for a regular board meeting with public comment and Incredibly the next meeting after that is 2024 January 88th uh and that will we will be hosting then our W organizational meeting with that information we'll now be moving to close session as Allowed by Minnesota statute 13 D3 for
100labor negotiation strategy following the uh close session we'll probably move to reopen the meeting just to adjourn so uh all business uh for this meeting uh have you know publicly have concluded uh with that so we need a motion to move to close session I will move that we move to close session pursuant to statute 13 d03 second have a motion by Mr tenson and a second by Mr CER all in favor please say I I any your post Che I and we are now into close session at that