001[Music] so [Music] good evening and to the school board meeting for district 196 it is monday september 27 2021. welcome and rise and join us with the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all good evening the first order of business is the approval of the agenda on board before you tonight there's a revised agenda it's the addition of a clinical school counseling experience agreement with winona state university so i would ask for approval of the agenda as amended move to approve second we have a motion by sachin as second by cory all in favor of the agenda indicate by saying aye aye opposed thank you that passes on
002a 5-0 vote art and craig could not be with us this evening so we are short too we'll move on to the recognitions we've got recognitions by the superintendent we'll turn it over to superintendent krieger thank you congratulations to the 49 district 196 seniors who are receiving special recognition this fall in the national merit scholarship program students are recognized as semi-finalists and commended students based on scores they achieved on a national standardized test they took last year as juniors we will officially recognize these students at our next regular school board meeting on monday october 11th and congratulations to our award-winning rosemont high school marching band and hosting the school's 31st annual marching band festival last saturday in the high school stadium the event featured performances from 14 high school marching bands rosemont and eastview will
003be competing in the youth and music marching band championship on saturday october 9th at u.s bank stadium and lastly i want to recognize our outstanding principles and assistant principles later on in this meeting the school board will be asked to approve a resolution designating the week of october 4th through the 8th as principals and assistant principals appreciation week in district 196 our principals and assistant principals are talented dedicated and caring professionals who provide leadership for their schools and staff guidance for students and support for families thank you for the important work you do for our school communities at this time i would like to invite any principals and assistant principals who are with us this evening to stand and be recognized and we've got lots of i know [Applause] thank you next on the agenda
004is the special communication request people who would like to speak during a special communication request must submit a form at least five days in advance of the meeting ten speakers receive up to four minutes to share comments if there are more than ten speakers a lottery is conducted determined to determine those 10 speakers speakers may not allow their time to others and we use a timer for public comments and will remind speakers when they have 30 seconds remaining we expect speakers to finish their remarks when their time expires or they will speakers are also reminded not to share complaints about specific employees or make inappropriate comments opinions shared during the public comment portion of the meeting do not necessarily represent the views of the school board or the district audience the audience is expected to
005remain calm and civil and not to disrupt speakers from being heard speakers when you come to the podium would you please state your name and your connection to the school district next up in our speakers this evening is jeff gorman thank you taxpayer of 196. okay i'm ready to go all right tonight i'd like to openly express my support to educators regarding critical race theory but let me be clear i'm speaking about the many educators who addressed their concerns against crt in an open letter to the district superintendent not only did they express opposition to this marxist ideology they're sick and tired of the intimidation the bully tactics and threats of being fired for merely expressing their opinions crt was not conceived as a program that fosters a child's education it clearly teaches division instead
006of diversity and separates instead of unifies using buzzwords like oppression the oppressor privilege whiteness white fragility microaggressions and so on it doesn't stop this is not education it is indoctrination the nea and the district superintendent make it clear to educators the feeling is shut up in color or else there seems to be two standards for intimidation and bullying several months ago a board member said this in his media posting hillary clinton was right they are deplorables and you know who you are close quote using this kind of language is divisive inflammatory intimidating of behavior that's unbecoming of an elected school board member and he pawns himself off as a community collaborator in the local newspapers claiming to accept all viewpoints and opinions really come on as a retired air force commander i would never use
007that type of language on social media and if any of my squadron commanders express this type of hatred on or off duty they'd be fired and if i didn't hold them accountable i'd be fired as well the air force commanders lived by a strict code of ethics and speaking of ethics it appears that this school board member violated the ethical standards for school board members in district 196 article 1 states as a member of the school board i will item 3.3 make no disparaging remarks in or out of school board meetings it's clear to the it's clear that the only opinions this school board member accepts are only those that he agrees with in his ideology and again in a school board meeting back in august a speaker advocated the masked mandate policy based on
008his own viewpoints after his speech the same board member could be heard saying i'm voting for the bat for the mass mandate again another violation of the school board ethics item 3.4 keep an open mind about how i will vote on any proposition until the board has fully met and discussed the issue why would he do this i believe his outburst was designed to further harass and intimidate the parents that were in the audience that night and how can you not agree after reading his divisive rhetoric on social media in my opinion this is more of a violation of its integrity which is far more serious and reflects poorly on the entire board it's overwhelmingly clear this member is more concerned with this ideology than a sincere concern for our children and madam chairperson you
009were aware of his behavior yet it appears that you did nothing and we need to understand where is your leadership on these issues the appearance of your actions are loud and clear we could break the rules and you can't hold us accountable tonight i'm asking that that board member and you know who you are he may not be here and i can't say his name or i'll be penalized i'm asking him to resign by the end of the week based on his violation of school board policy but the more serious issue with his integrity and madam chairperson again because you failed to hold these members accountable i'm calling for your resignation as well thank you jeff [Applause] our next speaker is michelle blanche do you guys have the data sheet yes yes we have the
010handoff okay good evening my name is michelle and i have five children four currently attending schools within district 196 i would like to ask you tonight to reconsider expanding the mass mandate criteria for district 196 to consider not only case transmission but also hospitalizations death rates and disease severity of covid19 as it pertains to the age demographics we are mandating mass namely our children let's look at minnesota department of health data for children so far in minnesota there have been roughly 115 thousand cases in 950 hospitalizations of covid for school-aged children that is 0.82 hospitalized this percent would be even smaller if we factored in the asymptomatic cases that didn't get tested even more so there have been only two deaths from the child age group for the entire pandemic that is point zero zero
011one percent of school-age children with covid have died in minnesota and none since april of 2021 less than one percent hospitalized and a thousandth of a percent death rate for school-age children in minnesota the cdc data shows a nationwide survival rate for school-age children having covered to be 99.99 percent even without a vaccine for those under 12. hospitalizations in children since july have slightly increased and interpreting this into a percent it now stands at here this point zero zero zero four percent hospitalization rate per 100 000 population for school-aged children and this rate has decreased since its peak on september third if this rate translated over to our school systems of 700 children attending district 196 it could be compared to not even one child being hospitalized from coven even with a higher transmission rate
012in our county the daily death count for dakota county remained consistent all summer and has not increased past four daily distance may of 2021. hospitalization rates for our county are not indicating an increase in disease severity as these rates are still paralleling with case transmissions the overall survival rate for our county since july has been 99.52 percent again this percent would be even higher if we factored in asymptomatic cases looking at this data must we wait until there is a moderate transmission which translates to a rate of 0.05 per 100 000 population to make mass become recommended again children are in the least susceptible age demographic for serious illness from covin the cdc claims that covet cases for children are mostly mild or asymptomatic even with the delta variant long covet is raring in about
013four percent of child covenant cases yes the children could possibly transmit kovid from school to home but we now have vaccines and therapeutics to combat this virus all those vulnerable to serious illness and immunocompromise must take caution and i fully support them to wear the protection they need but i would like to ask you today based on this expanded data to please allow me to choose how i protect my family from coven and furthermore make mass recommended for our district my kids can now have a birthday party play contact sports go to a concert attend the state fair shop at mall of america eat at a restaurant pack out a stadium all without masking but the place they're required to perceive there to be a danger for them or others to get sick and spread
014it is at school so they need to mask up this is just not a consistent message hundreds of schools across the country even within our own state have respected the rights of the families to decide the best course of action for the safety and health of their children concerning mass even while our entire country is in high transmission we all live with risk every day what level of risk are we willing to find acceptable 100th of a percent a thousandth of a percent school board i firmly believe based on these cdc statistics that my child will be safe at school with or without a mask and appeal to you to please consider reviewing policy for mass to be recommended and not mandated thank you for your time [Applause] our last speaker tonight is pamela coyler
015my name is pam coyler can you hear me okay i wear hearing aids so i can't the feedback i'm not sure okay thank you ready okay everyone is entitled to their own personal opinion without criticism or censorship please know i speak from facts and my american values hoping people will be informed of the current corruption in our schools and government i'm certain that most of the school board members are old enough to remember russia's leader nikita khrushchev in a speech by ronald reagan he stated the following three months before khrushchev left last visit to this country khrushchev said we cannot expect the american people to jump from capitalism to communism but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of socialism until they awake one day to find they have communism it's
016been over 60 years since khrushchev delivered his numerous predictions many of you were not even alive here are a few your children's children will live under communism no you won't accept communism outright but we will keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you finally wake up and find you already have communism the democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not remember parents and taxpayers this agenda is pushed daily by small and large doses of cse and crt indoctrination examples recall the fact of the eloquently speaking now former sophomore student of rosemont high at a board meeting who shared the alarming facts of rosemont hive's teachings and a high school teacher bragging a black lives matter's posters in his classroom
017this is in 196. there are eight levels of control to create socialism leading to communism many of these are coming true health care control health care and you control the people example demanding mass for children in school even knowing the side effects an increase of pneumonia tuberculosis infections etc the list goes on and on with horror reports two poverty increase the poverty level people are easy to control and will not fight back if you provide everything three debt increase the debt to an unsustainable level you're able to increase taxes and produce more poverty four gun control remove the ability to defend themselves from the government that way you are able to create a police state five welfare take control of every aspect food housing income of lives because that will make them fully dependent on
018the government six education take control of what people read watch listen to and take control of what children learn in school 196 is pushing cse and crt into our children's lives and academics across the board from math to social studies to history etc plus allowing changes of historical facts and shaming students if they don't go along with for example the mask agenda seven religion remove the belief in god from the government and schools because the people need to believe in only the government knowing best lastly class warfare divide the people into the wealthy and the poor eliminate the middle class this will cause more discontent khrushchev also said we'll bury you where do you stand elected electing new school board members to protect our children or the same old agenda of no answers to the
019numerous questions asked over and over to the same decade-old repeat members of this school board refusing answers we need changes to protect our children the push of socialism or whatever you wish to call this evil be very very careful of who you vote for in november there is no election integrity the judges are not from the open community they are union-backed staff be very vigilant of candidates running for example one woman has an open police file due to harassment is on the ballot the ones running from the school board are definitely not solid choices for children and families that we have seen demonstrated this past year remember freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction [Applause] thank you next on our agenda this evening is our consent agenda under consent we have the
020minutes of the september 13th 2021 special school board meeting we have the minutes of the september 13 2021 regular school board meeting we have the minutes of the september 21 2021 special school board meeting we have gifts quarterly gifts grants quarterly advertising revenue we have the treasurer's report for july 2021 we have a schedule of investments for august 2021 we have personnel exhibits we have pay rates for substitute temporary and part-time employees we have a student intern agreement we have a clinical school counseling experience with winona state university and we have appointment of student election judge trainees with that board i would ask if there's any items on the consent agenda that you would like to pull this evening seeing none i would ask the wish of the board of approval second we have a
021motion by joel in a second by mike to approve the consent agenda as outlined all in favor the consent agenda by saying aye aye opposed that passes on a 5-0 vote thank you very much this evening there are no items a report there are no items of old business and there are no items of new business we have one other action item this evening or two other action items this evening the first one is a 2021 payable 2022 property tax levy limitations we'll call it mark stats and board members you can follow along in board docs good evening chair magnuson superintendent krieger members of the board this is an annual event where the school district administration requests that the board approve the preliminary levy for payable and since our fiscal year does not fall on
022a calendar year it's for our 22 23 school year or fiscal year just a little background the board's required to certify a preliminary levy prior to september 30th of every year from there it goes to the county who assembles the information and then truth and taxation statements go out to member property owners in the district usually late november they receive those so that they're able to see what the proposed increase or decrease or maintaining the current existing levy is for the upcoming year then the district is required to hold a truth and taxation hearing that is scheduled for december 13th and we'll cover the proposed levy as well as the budget and take any public input at that at that point and then ultimately the board is asked to approve the final levy for the
023year 2022. um tonight i'm coming with the preliminary levy at 100 and let's see 124 million thousand eight 898 and sixty four dollars this is a two point eight three percent increase over uh the current year's levy and again the board will be asked to certify the maximum tonight the only way that number can increase is if we were to hold a operating or a bond referendum in november and it was successful we're doing neither of those so it shouldn't increase due to that but also any corrections that the minnesota department of education makes may be reflected and may reflect an increase to this proposed levy otherwise the levy the board cannot arbitrarily decide to raise that levy it's all established by legislative formulas and um again we're requesting that the the board approved the
024maximum amount this evening thank you this is another action item this evening with that i'll ask for a motion in a second before we move into the discussion second a motion by mike and a second by joel with that i'll ask if there are any questions or comments from the audience specifically relating to the property tax levy limitations seeing none no questions from the com from the audience we'll move to board questions or comments board on the levy before us this is the start and it just keeps going from here it does and you know it's kind of interesting because right now we're actually working in three fiscal years we're um hopefully getting close to the end of the audit for the 2021 year uh obviously we're in the current year budget um so 21-22
025and then this is the first step in establishing the budget for the 22-23 fiscal year so exactly with that before us we've got the 2021 payable 2022 property tax levy limitations as outlined we have a motion by mike in a second by joel all in favor of the motion indicate by saying i i opposed thank you that passes on a 5-0 vote thank you the last other action item this evening is the principles and assistance principles appreciation week october 4th through the 8th and we'll turn it over to superintendent krieger so tonight i ask your approval of the resolution declaring district 196 principles and assistant principles appreciation week october 4th through october 8th there's 2021 few more action item this evening so before we move into conversation i'll ask for a motion in a second
026move to approve second section motion and second by cory are there any questions or comments from the audience on our principles and assistant principles appreciation week other than maybe a round of applause [Applause] with that we've got a motion by any board members with items they'd like to go ahead joel just want to say thank you to all our principals and assistant principals this has been uh um a trying past 18 months for sure and they've done a great job leading our buildings through it and did a great job in getting our schools open again this fall so i really appreciate them and all their work and people who really epitomized district 196 and the words and assignments as other other assignments as necessary who would have thought you would have been having to worry
027about what's on tick tock and or what's going on in the world as far as health and they've done a tremendous job so i thank all of our principals and assistant principals for their work with students and families with that we've got a motion and a second before us to approve the appreciation week for principals and assistant principals all in favor and decay by saying aye aye opposed thank you that passes on a 5-0 vote we'll come to the end of our agenda we've got ask for um board members with items that they'd like to report this evening no we'll turn it over to the superintendent okay we have a few updates um each year the minnesota department of education makes available financial data for all public school districts in the state the data for
028fiscal year 2020 shows that district 196 spent less per pupil than the averages for school districts statewide in the metro area and the state's 10 largest districts but spent a higher percentage of total operating expenditures on regular classroom instruction we know that our teachers in the classroom make the biggest difference in the quality of education our students receive and that is reflected in how we spend our precious resources if you would like to review those spending comparisons in detail go to the front page of the district website at district196.org and we have a very important school board election coming up and this fall the league of women voters of dakota county will be hosting a virtual candidate forum on september 29th the forum will be recorded and available to view afterward on the district 196
029youtube channel district 196 tv and several other community social media and cable access channels please be informed and vote absentee voting for the school board election opened earlier this month voters do not need a reason to vote by absentee ballot absentee ballots can be completed by mail or in person at the district office in rosemont or at one of the dakota county government centers in apple valley hastings and west saint paul eligible voters can also cast their ballot during early in-person voting the week before the election and at their school district precinct on election day on tuesday november 2nd lastly i do want to reassure all district 196 residents that school district elections are conducted with utmost integrity deputy general counsel janie lewing oversees our elections we follow all minnesota election laws and work in
030cooperation with election officials from dakota county and the cities in our district we hire election judges and head judges who receive training that is conducted by dakota county absentee ballots are secured at all times and are administered by an absentee ballot board of experienced election judges all electronic voting systems are tested at least twice before each election to ensure each machine correctly tabulates votes on the test ballots the voting machines are owned by the city of egan and we're able to use them for school district elections these are a few examples of the many rules and laws that we must follow to ensure the integrity of school district elections thank you with that we've come to the end of our agenda this evening our next regularly scheduled board meeting is monday october 11th with that
031i'll ask for a motion to adjourn second a motion by joel a second by corey all in favor of adjourning indicate by saying aye aye opposed thank you we're adjourned [Music] you