001(Jackie) Good evening and welcome to the school board meeting for District 196. It is Monday, May 10, 2021 and we are live and in person this evening. Welcome. First we'll call the meeting to order but would you join us, before we call a meeting to order, would you stand 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. Thank you and welcome. We'll call the meeting to order and with the approval of the agenda there are no auditions or deletions this evening so the agenda stands as outline, and I'll ask for a motion and a second. So moved, second. (Jackie) We had a motion by Mike
002and a second by Craig. All in favor of the motion to approve the agenda indicate by saying aye. (all) aye (Jackie) opposed? Thank you that passes on a 7-0 vote. This evening this is the time that the board enjoys the most and we are so (inaudible) the students we get to recognize this evening. First of all we're going to call up the Class Triple A Minnesota State Dance Champions in jazz and high tech high kick from Eastview High School. Jenny Raiche is going to introduce our state champions the Eastview Dance Team, and we're going to get to hear about these women who have done amazing things and for years and years. Can we get, we've got them? (Jenny) We're good. Yeah we'll just have them keep walking through when we introduce them. Good evening Chairperson Magnuson,
003school board members and Superintendent Kreger. My name is Jenny Raiche and I'm the head coach of the dance team at Eastview High School. I'm honored to be here tonight to recognize this outstanding group of student-athletes who in an adverse, sometimes unwelcome and unique circumstances, work together to remain positive, healthy and dedicated throughout the past year. I am very proud to say we did not have to go into quarantine one time. We did not miss one competition this year because of the diligence of these students. {applause} Led by 15 graduating seniors this year the lightning dance team ended the 2020-21 21 season. Undefeated they placed first all 16 times that they were fortunate enough to compete this season. They earned the title of South Suburban Conference Champions in both high kick and jazz, the Section 1
004AAA champions in both high kick and jazz and then the State Class AAA champions again in both high kick and jazz. This team also received the Team Academic All-State Award for our 19th straight year and three of our seniors received all-state academic with GPA's of over 3.85 as seniors. Yes while dance team is a true team sport I would be amiss to not recognize one individual on our team who also went down in Minnesota Dance Team history this year. Logan Schommer, who is a member of our team, was the first male athlete to ever compete at the Minnesota State Dance Team Tournament and on top of it he was the first male to ever win a State Championship. I am so proud to coach this young man and all these young women in front of
005you tonight. I'd like to introduce them now. So ladies or gentleman, just wave when I say your name. Lauren Anderson, Mia Barnes, Lilli Burke, Trinity Dao, Elizabeth Dobis, Maliyah Fongvongsa-Given, Mia Foster Emma Gannon, Elizabeth Hallum, Claire Hake, Grace Heinen, Megan Knutson, Zoe Kritsas, Chloe Kruger, Maggie Larson, Ariana Navarro, Danielle Nelson, Anna Nguyen, Katie Percival, Sabrina Pilney, Ava Sartori, Logan Schommer, Alexis Stolpa, Kiley Thomas, Mailana Tong, Abby Williams and Mia Wodele. Thank you for having us this evening. {having them walk in front of..inaudible} {applause} (Jackie) It's been fun to watch and it's been years of congratulations for the state honor. So thank you so much for coming and congratulations to all of you. Next up is the Class 4A Minnesota State Championship Girl's Basketball Rosemount High School runner-up team and Chris Orr is going to present the
006ladies of the Irish Basketball Team, and I don't think we've ever had so much fun. Superintendent Kreger and I were texting each other during the end of the game. Like I thought we were going to cry and then so fun. What it was a great game it was. (Coach Orr) Good evening Chairperson Magnuson, members of the school board and Superintendent Kreger. We appreciate you recognizing our team in our program at your meeting tonight. I'm Chris orr and I'm the head girl's basketball coach at Rosemount High School. I would first like to thank anyone and everyone that made it possible for all of us up here, and those few that are unable to attend tonight, an opportunity to have the amazing season that we did and create the lifelong memories we were able to create. A lot
007of people had to make tough decisions and sacrifices and it was very much appreciated. This season, what a ride, what a journey and what a lasting memory we will all have, specifically the state tournament. No one thought we would beat Farmington. We did. No one thought we would beat Centennial. We did and no one thought we would give Chaska a game and we did and some and all the credit goes to this team and their willingness to sacrifice the individual glory and stats for the better of the team. Because of that we were able to live out a dream that almost every basketball player has ever had shooting hoops in a driveway or in a gym growing up and that's to have the ball in their hands with a chance to win a state championship. Not
008much more you can ask for. A huge thank you to our amazing fans, our student body, teachers and administration for their support at Rosemount High School. It was amazing. Even though we could only have a limited number at each game the support was felt. To the local businesses who showed support through signs under buildings, social media postings and free meals for our team, thank you. To our first responders in the police department and the fire department who escorted our bus through town on our parade routes and to those that lined the parade route and to everyone that was fortunate enough to get a ticket or watch from their living rooms, thank you for the support. We could feel it. We could see it, and we could hear you. At this time I would like to
009acknowledge my assistants, our managers and our players that were responsible for all the memories that we created not only for ourselves but our community in a time when we all needed it most. If we could wait until the end to hold the applause it would be greatly appreciated. Assistant coaches Maggie Shaffer and Kirstee Fong, managers Jenna Pothen and Paige Nelson. We have a couple players that are unable to make it that are at a softball game and those are sophomore Macy Fry and junior Lexie Wilson. Now for our freshmen, Emma Ebeling, Avery Sheedy, Maddy Staley, Ayelishka Teko-Folly, Ava Thompson, Anna Zimmer. Our sophomores Lauren Modrynski, Nicole O'neil, Pearla Teko-Folly, and our juniors Tayah Leenderts, Alexa Ratzlaff, Anna Tower and last but not least our seniors, Ivory Findley, Zoey Jacobson, Abby McNeil and Helen Staley. I
010would also, at this time, like to thank and recognize one of the other group and that's these girls parents and amazing support they showed these girls through our entire season, night in and night out not many were able to be in attendance due to restrictions except for this group and they brought the support and energy that we needed. So if the parents were in attendance please stand. I know we have a few of them here. Thank you again Chairperson Magnuson, members of the school board and Superintendent Kreger. Go Irish! {clapping} Congratulations to you all! {clapping} Good job. Very nice. Good job Coach. (Jackie M) They had to have the best, the best backup bench of all time. Those girls were having so much fun. What, what a, what a pride. Congratulations Rosemount High School. Next
011we have the 2021 Minnesota State Bar Association Mock Trial from Apple Valley High School and Eric Strauss is going to introduce our students of recognition this evening from Apple Valley High School. Good evening Chairperson Magnuson, school of school board members and Superint, Superintendent Kreger. Thank you for recognizing us today. My name is Eric Strauss, and I am the head mock trial coach at Apple Valley High School. For those of you who don't know what mock trial is it's basically a simulation of a court case. We have students portray attorneys and witnesses. They do direct examinations, cross examinations, openings, closings and on top of all that they have to learn the federal rules of evidence and make and argue objections. This year's case was about a breach of contract resulting from the Covid 19 pandemic, and
012students really got to explore a brand new area of law, and they were kind of on the cutting edge of the law. In March we placed second at the state tournament. This is the third year in the row that we made the state championship and we've placed in the top three in five of the past six years. We now have the honor of competing at two national tournaments. We will be competing at the Tournament of the Champions and The Empire Mock Trial Tournaments next week. So we've been hard at work at those and now I just want to take a moment to identify the members of our state runner-up team. So we have Maya Gort, Taylor Garrison and Julia Congdon as our attorneys and Julia was selected as All-State We had Jacob Dereje, Adam Hahn, Jordan
013Quintin and Emily Bauer as our witnesses with Emily as selected All-State and Alexis Buresh was our time keeper. Thank you. (Jackie) Thank you {applause} Good job! Amazing! Good luck! You'll let us know how that works. We'll probably have you back. Congratulations. Thank you for coming this evening. Thank you Apple Valley High School we wish you well in your next, if your next round. Congratulations to our State Mock Trial students. Next in the legacy of District 196 we have the Class AA State Speech top finalist. First up this evening will be Apple Valley High School and Luke Ostrander will be presenting our students from Apple Valley High School. Good evening board members, Chairperson Magnuson, Superintendent Kreger. My name is Luke Ostrander and i am the Director of Speech at Apple Valley High School. To give a little
014context in the past we competed at tournaments all across the country, in different high schools, but because of the pandemic we have switched to online platforms. So similar to zoom meetings these students have been competing all year over different platforms similar to zoom, live from their assigned classrooms, distanced, so they could still share messages and stories and these are almost all of our students that placed in the top three at the state tournament this year. So iIwould love to introduce them to you. One student who's not here is Lydia Voss. Lydia is a sophomore and daughter of Scott and Tzitel Voss who both teach at Apple Valley and Lydia is the state champion in original oratory as a sophomore, and she's also competing in the NSDA National Tournament in June in POI, and she took
015fourth place in oratory this past weekend at the NYTOC National Tournament, but she's at work tonight. My second person tonight is sophomore Sophie Todaro, and Sophie is the daughter of Erin Schwab who directed our fabulous musical Newsies this last weekend and Michael Todaro. Sophie is the state champion as a novice sophomore in Humorous Interpretation and Sophie also is going to compete this summer at the NSDA National Tournament after she took first place at the qualifier. Our next brilliant speaker is Ms Cecilia Voss who is the eldest daughter of Scott and Tzitel Voss and Cece is the, or she took second place in informative at the State Speech Tournament this year, and Cece's speech career started as an eighth grader. So this is her fifth year on our team and this year she was the national
016champion in informative at the Tournament of Champions and this past weekend she was the national champion in Informative and Duo and won the top individual award at the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions. So she literally is a champion, and she'll compete at NSDA this summer and we hope that it will be the third consecutive year that she makes the final round of Informative. Then we have our senior, two more seniors Jonah Johnson and Frank Kinnear, and Jonah is the son of Joshua and Tammy Johnson, and Frank is the son of Lisa Reuter and Tom, Tom, Thomas Kinnear {laughter} and they also started as eighth graders with Cecilia. They took second in duo at state and they will both be competing at nationals again in Duo Interpretation. Their first national final rounds were as eighth
017graders at the Middle School Nationals Tournament, {wow} and last but not least is sophomore Jihan Abdi. Jihan is daughter of Yousef Bashir and Wata Hassan. She took third at state this year in oratory and at the Tournament of Champions she became the national champion in Original Oratory, and this past weekend she took third place at NIETOC in oratory as well so we expect to see her here again for the next couple of years. um Everyone at Apple Valley is so proud of these students and it wouldn't be possible to do what we do without the support of all of you, Apple Valley's amazing administration and their parents. So thank you so much for welcoming us. I'm so happy to add Sophie and Lydia's names to our State Champion plaque as the 90th and 91st state
018champions, which is the record for state champions, and we officially have the lead, still in how many state medalists we have with 419 in the history of MSHSL speech. So thank you for welcoming us tonight. {Wow} (Jackie M) Congratulations {applause} That's awesome. Congratulations. Thank you so much and can you top that? Congratulations students from Apple Valley High School. Right behind them is the state speech finalists from Eastview High School and Ryan Roseen will be presenting our students from Eastview. Well good evening superintendent, chairperson, board. My name is Ryan Roseen and I have the honor of serving as the head speech coach at Eastview. Tonight we are here to recognize the accomplishments of six students who finished first or second at the Minnesota State High School League Speech Tournament. To begin the recognition I am going
019to start with our top two finishers in the category of extemporaneous speaking. First of all I want to introduce Vikash Giritharan. At the state tournament Vikash finished second in the category of Extemporaneous Speaking. In this category students choose a question about a current event and they have 30 minutes to put together a seven-minute speech. As a senior we are going to miss Vikash as his career has been filled with success. He has qualified for nationals three times, been a national finalist in 2020, the national finalist at the Tournament of Champions this year and in addition to his second place finish at state, he finished in the top eight, finished in the top eight times in our invitational season. Congratulations Vikash. Now I want to introduce Allison Hering the state champion in extemporaneous speaking. Ali is
020a senior on our team and is going to be missed as she has been part of our team since her eighth grade year. It didn't take long for her to become one of the best extemporaneous speakers in the nation. As a sophomore Ali qualified for nationals and placed as a quarter finalist as a junior. Ali qualified for nationals and placed 10th in the nation and as a senior Ali has continued to improve earning her way to another trip to nationals and most recently a state champion. During the speech season she took home first place trophies at five different invitational speech tournaments. The next student I want to recognize is Thor Reimann, state champion in the category of Creative Expression. In this category students write a 10-minute creative piece that can be funny, serious or a
021mix of both. Thor's piece he wrote was called The Memory Project. This has been an incredible year for Thor. His creative was one of the most successful pieces in any category in Minnesota, winning seven out of eight invitationals he competed at. Thor accomplished this while also competing in two other categories. Yes, he participated in three categories, Creative, Duo and Program of Oral Interpretation. Even though the state season is done Thor is not finished. He will compete at the national tournament in the category of Duo. The next state champion I'd like to recognize is Olivia Beach. Over the last four years on the team Olivia has competed in the category of extemporaneous reading. In this category students need to be familiar with over 50 stories. At a tournament students are given a selection from one of
022those to read and they have 30 minutes to prep. Yes many would say that this is a daunting task but it shows that Olivia has a determination. Her teammates describe her as kind and positive. Congratulations to Olivia Beach for her state championship. Next I wanted to introduce Hannah Olson. Hannah is also a senior that has a very decorated speech career. This year Hannah performed the piece "Girls and Boys" and earned second at the MINI at The Minnesota State High School Speech Tournament. However it isn't just the state tournament where Hannah excelled. During the invitation season Hannah finished in the top six at seven tournaments and besides her success in drama it was also triple entered, meaning she competes in three categories. Due to all of her success Hannah ended the season with the most single
023points, of NSDA points, in Eastview history. Currently ranked second in Minnesota and 37th in the nation in drama, she ranks third in Minnesota and 12th in the nation in Duo and is ranked as one of the top 100 competitors in the nation. Unfortunately our fourth state champion Ella Erdahl was not able to be here today but Ella won a state championship in the category of Storytelling so we wanted to recognize her. As a result of these team members as well as their other competitors that competed the state tournament Eastview now places sixth in all-time gold member medals at the state tournament and remember Eastview has only been around since the late 1990s. Help me in congratulating the Eastview first and second place finishers at the Minnesota State High School League Speech Tournament. {applause} {Thank you
024for coming tonight.} {Congratulations} {Congratulations} {Good luck at your upcoming competitions} {Thank you} {Continued applause} (Jackie) Coach Roseen you might have to stay there a while to get, to keep on competing with Apple Valley. Congratulations Eastview state speech students. Nice to have you here to this evening. Moving on in state speech top finalists Eagan High School Ross Eichele will introduce our speakers from Eagan. Superintendent, members of the board, Thanks for having us tonight. My name is Ross Eichele. I have the privilege and honor of coaching the, being the head coach at Eagan High School. As a side note I've taught in multiple districts and in multiple States. I just can't keep a job, no, kidding! um no, I've had the privilege of working with great kids everywhere and what stands out about this district is its support
025of the fine arts. I think that's what truly sets it apart and helps students in, in their academics. I have four, five students to present in four different categories. Two of them unfortunately are unable to be here. They're representing our school and our district and other activities, and they're competing as we speak, and they are two students Kai Wilson who took third place in Poetry. She's coached by a teacher at Eagan Aaron Murphy, uh Trinh Nguyen who placed second in Prose. She's coached by Maria Ferreira Wagner who is a parent in this district and has coached for a long time, and then with us this evening we have three students in two different categories in Storytelling which you heard a little bit about earlier. We had James Eiden take third place so James would you step forward?
026Congrats, way to go, and then we had two other students here who ended up taking first place in Duo Interpretation and that's Alice Huffington and Colin Roberts, so if they would step forward and well I think people know it's probably you, you're the only two left after James but um and all of them have had outstanding seasons and will continue to represent the school and district at Nationals this summer. So thank you all for your support. It's a privilege to work in this district and to be able to work with the students and to be able to coach these kids as well. Thanks and have a wonderful evening. (Jackie M) Thank you so much! {applause} {good job} {Nice job} (Jackie M) Thank you. Thank you so much. Congratulations Eagan High School State Speech top finalists
027and as you know we've congratulated students but along the way we've also congratulated all the coaches that have touched their lives. So congratulations to everyone. We'll next move on to superintendent's recognitions of students and staff. (Mary K) Okay thank you. Congratulations to Apple Valley High School senior Sophia Kickhofel who is a semifinalist to be named a US Presidential Scholar in the Arts. The US Department of Education program recognizes up to 161 of our nation's most distinguished graduating high school seniors. Sophia is one of 10 semifinalists from Minnesota. The announcement of Presidential Scholars is expected yet this month. Sophia has been sharing her exceptional talents with us throughout her years in our district starting with fifth grade band at Echo Park Elementary then Valley Middle School and Apple Valley High School the last four years. In
0282019 Sophia was one of only two alto saxophone players selected for the 22-member National Youth Orchestra. That summer, between her sophomore and junior year, Sophia participated in a residency at Carnegie Hall in New York City and performed with the National Youth Orchestra on a tour of Asia. Sophia will graduate from Apple Valley in June. She would be an exceptional selection as a US Presidential Scholar and congratulations to the 12 District 196 teachers and other staff at schools located in Eagan who were nominated by their principal and recognized by the Eagan Rotary during an online celebration last week. The District 196 teachers and other employees who are recognized include Erica Pontrelli of Blackhawk Middle School, Jason Schuldt of Dakota Hills Middle School, Alex Feeney of Deerwood Elementary School, Rob Graham of Eagan High School, Stephanie Foley
029of Glacier Hills Elementary School of Arts and Science, Lisa Martin of Northview Elementary School, Carol Wekesser of Oak Ridge Elementary School of Leadership, Environmental and Health Sciences, Angela Mitchell of Pinewood Community Elementary School, Danna Steffen of Red Pine Elementary School, Jason Elias of Thomas Lake Elementary School and Denise Nelson and Deanna Rotty of Woodland Elementary School. Thank you to the Eagan Rotary for recognizing these outstanding employees. It's always fun to see our teachers being recognized by the community and this is a great event. So that's it. (Jackie M) Thank you. We'll move on with the agenda this evening. Coming up next is our special communication request and open forum, and welcome to our visitors this evening. There are three ways that members of the public can comment at regular school board meetings, as part of
030an item that's on the meeting's agenda, under open forum, or as a special communication request. People who want to speak to an item not on the agenda can sign up for open forum or special communication request. The sign up for open forum is available right out in the hallway right before every meeting. If you want to and up to seven people can sign up and each person can speak for two minutes. People who want to speak as part of a special communication request must sign up five days in advance of the meeting and are given up to five minutes to make their comments. People are reminded not to share complaints about specific employees while making comments during open forum or the special communication requests. Opinions shared during the public comment portion of the meeting do
031not necessarily represent the views of the school board or the school district. Any question posed during the public comment portion of the meetings will be responded to in the days following the meeting but not during the meeting this evening. So thank you. We'll move on to the special communication request. Our first special communication request this evening is Janine Hudson. (Janine Hudson) Good evening. This evening we're going to talk about a couple of shepherds and how they cared for their sheep. The first one you may all know it's Little Bo Peep. Now Little Bo Peep lost her sheep and can't tell where to find them and District 196 would tell her to leave them alone, they might come home, bringing their tails behind them. They might get eaten by the big bad wolf. They might fall
032and never be able to get up. She was pretty irresponsible. Then we have a second famous story it's about a shepherd who cared for his sheep. This story is told by a man named Jesus. Jesus lived about two thousand years ago some think he was a prophet, some think he was the son of God, others just think he was a dude in a dress. However you think of Jesus, that man could tell a story and in the book of Luke Jesus told a story about a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One day the shepherd was in the field teaching his sheep. He was teaching them reading, writing, arithmetic. He also included phonics in his lessons. At night he was tired from a long day in the field. He laid down on his Serta mattress
033and started to count sheep. As the sheep go by he counted one, two, three, four, and he noticed sheep number 13 was missing and sheep number 13 according to Serta is Mr Bad Luck. I didn't know that until I googled it and found it today. He was so concerned about number 13 that he left his other 99 sheep and he went looking for that sheep. He did not try to send that sheep to another field or another school. He did not say who cares about this one sheep, I have 99 more. My stats will still look good. I get an A at 99 percent. The shepherd searches and searches and searches until he finds his sheep. When he finds his sheep he picks him up and he carries that sheep back to the other 99,
034and he makes sure that that sheep knows phonics too just like all the other sheep. I would like District 196 who is graduating, from the stats that I got from the last school board meeting, approximately 120 to 150 students who cannot read at grade level. Now I wasn't able to get the exact statistics because they don't provide that. I'm assuming the figures I get only include the students that took a test not those who are unable to do so. What does District 196 do with all of those students? And that I've never been told. They tell their parents to send their students to another school district. They told their students we don't have a curriculum to teach you. They don't seem to care about all their sheep or all their students. I want district 196
035to be more like the shepherd and care about their flock than Little Bo Peep who just let them go away. Thank you (Jackie M) Thank you Mrs Hudson. The next speaker this evening is Pamela, and I should mention that Corey is is timekeeping for us, so Pamela. {I'm sorry, did you say Pam?} Yeah, sorry. (Pamela) First of all, before I even start, it was awesome to see the dance line because my daughter was on a dance line in another district so it was really cool, positive. Districts should be focusing on training open-minded leaders and students but unfortunately race lingual words appear to have become a never-ending topic with the school board as well as a woman, and I won't mention her name, who had the audacity to find my address and mail me a race book with
036a note that said I would benefit from it. I took that as a personal threat as anyone would when someone does this behavior, fake behavior, stating that they were following me and my commentary from a school board meeting and doesn't know the slightest about me. That's called harassment or stalking. She projected assumptions of who I am. I come from a biracial family. I have a biracial family. See how easy it is to brand someone as a racist when you know nothing about them. I could write a chapter in that book that she sent from my own experiences of discrimination and white hate towards me living in New Mexico as a teenager. I did go to the police. A report was written up with the assigned case number but moving on from that people are now
037questioning this quasi-marxist Critical Race Theory, CRT as it's called, which has been until recently missed as it is usually addressed or disguised as equity and inclusion, anti-racism, or as culturally responsive initiatives. It is an industry that pays speakers, trainers and consultants with taxpayer money to diagnose the district as systemically racist and then once again gets paid even more money to prescribe remedies, called CRT based initiatives, and again gets paid to implement with curriculum. Once people become aware of that CRT and what it's about, they strongly disagree with the concepts because it categorizes students by race to determine the quality of education each student will receive which is unacceptable. Public schools are being turned into indoctrination centers. If the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer then everything else starts looking like a
038nail. If all you concentrate on is racial injustice then that is all you see wherever you look and that, people, is true racial injustice. If you truly back equity and inclusion you would be discussing tolerance of all regardless of intellectual, physical ability, or skin color and would foster open freedom of opinions and thoughts versus teaching that there are two classes in America, oppressors and victims in adopting CRT. You're advocating the sorrid views that blacks and people of color cannot succeed without government programs and should be regarded as helpless victims incapable of succeeding regardless of their ability, skills, talents, and hard work. Anyone who professes to the rhetoric 'No justice, no peace', 'White silence is violence', and 'Stop killing black people' have very real personal racism issues. The Black Lives Matter organization is a violent organization
039that does nothing to foster helping families or teach fathers to be present from pre-birth onward. You choose to dismiss the many, many, many black, intact families in your assumptions. What makes you think that there is no diversity of thought in the black community as it is not a monolithic thinking group of people. Perhaps you need to look at various black leaders, writers and speakers such as Dr Ben Carson, Thomas Sowell, Heather McDonald, Candace Owens, Larry Elder to name just a few, that have different views than you. These are people of color as you seem to like to separate people by their race. Please learn from them. Kids do not comprehend the concepts of hating themselves for being black or white in all the CRT rhetoric. If you understood child development you would know that kids
040brains are not developed to the point of comprehending these fluid concepts. As a social worker I know that this is a form of teaching propaganda and misinformation to further the agenda of radical leftists who refuse to hear anything but their own chatter to silence different viewpoints also known as censorship. So parents, stand up use your parental rights as you stand up as you are better fighting than on your knees bowing to tyranny. Remember that Hitler closed what he considered unessential, destroyed families with hate and fear and led them to death. Are we allowing history to repeat itself? Do not let these racial, excuse me, critical racial theory equity lingual words confuse you. Remember in your fight that you are strong with the armor of God protecting you. Stay the fight. Speak up. Protect your children
041from these extremists bent on their goal of destroying families in America as we know it. In closing, America cannot survive a generations of students taught to hate our country, fear our law enforcements, and despise our history versus learning from the good, bad and ugly, and there is good, bad and ugly. I pray God always hears the prayers of warriors fighting the pure hate of the radical unchristian socialist globalists and their agendas to destroy our nation. (Jackie) Thank you. That was Pamela {applause and cheering} That was Pamela. Next we have tTffany Taylor. Good evening. My name is Tiffany Taylor. I have three children in District 196 schools. Last Thursday the district finally decided to allow kids to take off their masks during recess. While this is the right decision my response is simple. Not good enough,
042not soon enough. The fact is District 196 forced students to wear masks during outside recess for the majority of the school year when it was not required by the state. Many parents might be surprised to know that the Minnesota Mask Mandate did not require students to wear mass during outside recess or phy ed. Masking during outside recess is also not included in the current Minnesota Safe Learning Plan. So why didn't our kids get a mask break at recess? Let's talk about other Minnesota school districts located not far from 196. 719, 194, 833, and 11. What do they have in common? They have not required their students to wear masks at recess or outdoors. Why does this matter? The point is the district excessively masked our kids without a mandate or science to back it up.
043The current Covid survival rate in Minnesota for kids 19 and younger is almost 100 percent. Research has shown children are at extremely low risk for Covid 19 complications and transmission. Multiple reviews and contact tracing studies have also failed to find frequent instances of children infecting teachers. Students in District 186 masks all day. The only breaks they receive are one, if they get a drink of water and two, during lunch where in many schools including my children's they are forced to eat in a darkened classroom while watching a movie. Why? To keep them from speaking to each other while they eat. Kids are being discouraged from talking to friends during lunch time. This is cruel and unnecessary. So to summarize, students wear a mask on the bus, in the classroom and can't talk during lunch. Students
044wear masks at phy ed and until just recently at recess, at recess. They wear a mask on the bus ride home. Students wear a mask for six plus hours a day. This is not 2020 when we were still learning about Covid. We are halfway through 2021 the lack of updated safety procedures at the expense of our kids is despicable. The following incidents were shared with me from parents across 196 who are also concerned regarding the toxic mass culture at our schools. For the sake of time I will only include a few. Student disciplined by two separate teachers for not wearing masks above the nose. Parent was sent email stating she needed to handle her son in regards to the mask. Student has had two asthma attacks since mask wearing was required at school. He had
045previously had none. Student threatened by teacher to be taken out of phy ed class and placed in the hallway, not able to participate, when the mask continued to slip past his nose while he was running in class activities. When the parent called the teacher to question this punishment the teacher replied those are the rules. Clerks continuously yelling at kids during outside recess get that mask up, don't you want to stay in school? Student punished by bus driver by being made to sit alone at the front of the bus because her mask slipped down past her nose. Multiple accounts of students of all ages being harassed by other students regarding correct mask usage. This ranged from repeated tattling to clerks and teachers to cursing and abusive language at the higher levels. Multiple accounts of students of
046all ages repeatedly sent to the office, out of class and instructional time, because they pull their masks down or out, not off, to breathe often after phy ed or those struggling with asthma and allergy issues. None of these scenarios above included willful disobedience on the part of the student . I've spoken with many staff at other schools around the metro. When I describe the mask policies happening in District 196 they are shocked and appalled. I'm not blaming teachers or school staff for enforcing the masks. They're simply following the rules that the district has set. I have spoken to many teachers who hate telling kids to pull their mask up. One teacher, upon learning that kids could take their masks off at recess, told me she almost cried with happiness. Governor Walz has stated he will lift
047the state mask mandate no later than July 1st. Parents deserve to know if District 196 will follow suit and stop requiring masking for the fall of 2021. The purpose of District 196 is to help the schools meet educational objectives. We need you to educate our kids in a positive environment. You are not medical professionals. We don't need your help to keep our kids safe from a virus with a proven 99.9 recovery rate. We don't need you to keep students, parents, or grandparents safe. We are more than capable of assessing Covid risk for our own families. We don't need you to act as our co-parent. When the state mask mandate ends on July 1st I urge you to get rid of the mask requirement in our schools. Let parents decide whether a mask is appropriate for
048their children. Thank you {applause and cheering} (Jackie M) Thank you That was Tiffany Taylor. Next we have Joanne. Hi, I'm Joanne. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a speaker here this evening. I'd like to start by saying that I appreciate what our teachers do. My children have mentioned many wonderful teachers that they have respected in our district and enjoyed having as teachers. As a retired army family my children have attended schools in Alaska, California, Michigan and Minnesota. They have attended private school, home schooled, attended a charter school, and public school. When our family first moved here to Minnesota we knew very little about the area. So when we searched for homes in the area the first thing we would look at on realty websites was the school rating, please see the rating
049handout that I gave to each of the board members, and when we arrived Rosemount High School was rated a 10 which is really awesome, and today the same website that I used to help find our home listing um Rosemount High School is listed as a seven yet with the recent levy increase everyone's taxes were increased, supposedly to improve the quality of our education in our district. Our superintendent's salary is currently more than the salary of the highest paid governor in the United States and it's set to increase 2.5 percent each year for the next two years. So with the increase in levy and a salary more than our nation's highest paid governor who gets paid to run the state of New York why the decrease in rating? Private schools are currently experiencing growth that is
050off the charts with waiting lists to get in, more people are considering homeschooling their children, many people are considering moving to other states due to the current leadership in Minnesota. According to an article published in January of this year District 196 enrollment was down by five percent or more than fourteen hundred students. So will this enrollment continue to decrease? Our students now have less freedom and are prevented from receiving the same form of education that our generation of parents were able to receive. Examples would be breathing freely without a mask on our face all day, interacting with other students, traveling for school events and just having a prom like every other american student has been able to experience over the years. So why also is our school district at a point where we know what our
051teachers and our superintendent's political leanings are. When I attended school I never knew outright what any educators political leanings were and now it seems there are posters, t-shirts, class discussion, assignments and questions that allude to personal political beliefs and possible indoctrination of our students. Our property tax payments go towards paying educators salaries yet we seem to be receiving less for more tax dollars. As for our school's curriculum why is the State of Minnesota wanting to remove the teaching of what communism and socialism are? As someone who has traveled to Russia when it was the Soviet Union, I can attest that this is something that Americans need to be aware of as a form of government. Our children need to know and understand this, to know why our freedom is so important. Why would the Pledge
052of Allegiance to the flag be removed in the proposed new state history curriculum? Why are we omitting patriotism of our country? Why would the american flag be removed from classrooms? As the wife of a retired US soldier deployed to war four times this is heartbreaking to see that the school system system that we chose to relocate to, send our children to, and to pay for will no longer find it important to teach about patriotism and would instead be choosing to adopt a curriculum which would preach shame to our students. If the state decides to go with their proposed history curriculum, it even goes as far as admitting World War I and the Civil War. There are parts of our history and other nation's histories that we may not like to hear but we can't erase
053history. Soldiers and first responders and firefighters and police are putting their lives on the line daily, and they are also community members and parents of many of our students. Yet through removal of the flag and removal of the teaching of patriotism our school district would not be respecting this large segment of our community, and I am speaking today in favor of our school district and the State of Minnesota to keep these teachings in our schools and omitting indications of an educator's personal political leanings being present in any school environment or activity, and I'm also asking for more transparency to the public in regard to the salaries of employees and their scheduled increases. Thank you. (Jackie M) Our next speaker is, our next speaker is Peggy Thompson and Marcia Lewis. My name is Peggy Thompson. My
054daughters graduated from Apple Valley High School in the classes of 2018 and 2019, and tonight I'm here to talk with you about transportation, health and finances and how all of these are involved as we plan for a future that can include electric school buses as a means to transport our students. One example; if we purchase one diesel school bus today to carry a group of five-year-old children to kindergarten then that same bus will likely be in service in 2034 when those children receive their high school diploma. 344 trips they would take on a bus before they enter the first grade. Each will experience the noise, the fumes and the rumble of that ride each time. Before, um before they graduate the kindergarten boys and girls will have had over 4,400 rides to get to school
055and home. Another point; from 1991 through 1996 I lived in Fairfax County, Vrginia which really means nothing to you except for at this time, inside the beltway, there's legislation happening related to our environment and bus transportation. President Biden has an explicit goal to ensure that all new buses are zero emission, 100 percent electric, American-made by 2030. Congress is proposing 25 billion dollars to support transition to electric school buses prioritizing schools that serve mostly non-white and poorer communities. This year locally the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will be awarding school districts three million dollars in grants to purchase electric school buses. In Minnesota legislation is being proposed for more funding in future years as part of the American Jobs Plan. Another point, the state of Virginia, where I lived, are moving their students off of diesel-powered school
056buses and onto electric buses. They found a creative solution that's already being implemented. An October 2020 article describes a collaboration that they made between Dominion Energy and a bus company in the state of Virginia. The first stage of the program 50 electric school buses are delivered to Virginia school districts at the same price that those schools would pay for a diesel powered bus. With Dominion Energy offset the additional cost for buses and the associated infrastructure to charge those buses, the electric buses give students a greener means and a quieter means, a cleaner means to get to school. Aside from the environmental benefits, each of the electric buses can be used to offset energy needs when demands are high. The the batteries inside of those electric buses can actually serve as a mobile power station in times
057when there's a power outage or emergency. With state approval phase two of their program will deploy at least a thousand additional electric school buses by 2025 with the goal of phase three to have fifty percent of all diesel bus replacements to be electric by 2025 and 100 percent by 2030. Now financial resources impact decisions we make at home and in schools and busing is no exception. The cost of an electric school bus is more than the purchase of a diesel school bus. Now is the perfect time to be adding electric buses to our transportation plan with national and state level initiatives being rolled out. We know that the financial and other benefits will be available to school districts who are poised at this time to move ahead with bringing electric transportation to their students. Our school
058district is uniquely positioned because we own our own bus fleet. I understand that we're in need of new bus storage garage so what a perfect time to be thinking ahead to find a facility that will accommodate electric busing and the infrastructure. I'm basically a frugal person. I drive a 100% electric vehicle myself. The primary motivators for me were reduced maintenance cost over the and the total lifetime cost of my vehicle and less reliance on the unpredictable cost of fuel. I was unprepared for the side benefits of such a quiet ride and no smell and ease of charging right in my garage. I just want to add that this is the maintenance manual for my vehicle. This here. It does not look like this. Thank you. (Jackie M) Thank you. Next up this evening is David
059Hahn. My name is David Hahn and I live in Apple Valley on 157th Street West off Cedar Avenue, and I'm a part of the group that's addressing the school bus, electric school bus issue, and I'm going to add something here. Even though the the study that I'm looking at doesn't relate directly to the school bus it's, it's a project that's happened in the city of Boulder, colorado in which they are taking old diesel uh bus and taking the um the power train for the diesel bus out and inserting a new electric powertrain battery in its place, and then they're taking the interior and refurbishing it and what you're getting in the end is um um it's about one-third of the cost of a new electric bus. This is a city bus now but you could take
060and apply that to to a school bus. We've got these diesel buses that are starting to get old and maybe we can start looking at replacing that um that, that um diesel powertrain with a electric uh battery, and, and again it would save money, it saves about this bus that, that's been retrofitted you would say uh would save 300, $3,500 per month on fuel and maintenance costs, and this, this, this particular example is done, it was repowered and refurbished in six months. It's clean and quiet for riders and for communities, and this model they're continuing to work on, and I thought this is one way we could start working on getting some of these electric vehicles on the road. The economic advantages that have been shared I think I don't need to go over that again,
061but I think I'm going to refer to the Virginia Study now here that says that they made one point that the air quality inside a diesel bus is about five times worse than outside the bus. So you're having these kids riding in a bus morning and afternoon maybe 30 to 60 minutes you know a day, every day, five days a week I should say, and we know that kids have, some kids have asthma problems and things like that. We have to be considering how their diesel uh is, is affecting them, and that's a big concern for me. I don't have children myself but I, I , I support families and children. I have lots of nieces and nephews and their kids are coming up, and I'm concerned uh if they're riding in buses. um You
062know also it's very, very noisy you know in a diesel bus and it's hard for the driver to communicate with the students, and the the electric bus is much quieter, and I thought that was great, and we know that transportation is the number one source of carbon emissions in the US today. So we need to do something about it. We need to start now because things are creeping up on us and and, and we've got solar power, we've got wind energy, we have to start utilizing some of this. As I said starting with maybe uh retrofitting an old bus with an electric battery and seeing how that works, and I just hope that you'll consider working toward a goal of replacing some of these buses by 2030. It would sort of help the environment. It
063would help our kids. It would help the the workers uh that are waiting at these buses while they're idling and generating all this, this diesel fumes you know, and kids in the buses and we know that that women who are pregnant can be affected a lot by this diesel uh fumes. I mean if they're exposed to it regularly for a long period of time. So we have all these health uh concerns. So um I just want to present a little, I'm starting to learn about it. I'm passionate about it. So I thought there are ways we can be economical and get it going and work toward a goal, and we, in this group that came, are really passionate about helping to create something here, and we're here to be a resource and thanks for listening.
064I hope I presented something that you can use. I did have some handouts but I see there are too many people here to hand out. {laughter} I made four copies. So if you you're interested, and also I have this interesting um article on what is a power grid and how does it work. You know I'm not sure if everybody's familiar with that. I thought it was very informative if you would like to. (Jackie M) Why don't you just give one of the copies to Mr Roseen, and we can get them copied for the rest of us. (Mr Hahn) Yep and here's the study and with the buses, (Jackie M) Perfect (Mr Hahn) and you know, did I give you, you can take this I guess. (Mike R) okay (JackieM) Thank you so much (Mr Hahn)
065 Virginia, you're welcome. (Jackie M) Thank you very much. That was David Hahn. Our next speaker is Andrea Stenger. Audrey, I'm sorry I butchered your first name, but I was more looking at saying your second name or your last name right. Audrey, Thank you. Hi, my name is Audrey Stenger, and I'm currently a senior at Rosemount High School so I can tell, {inaudible} what? Oh sorry, um Hi my name is Audrey Stenger, and I'm currently a senior at Rosemount High School so I can tell you first hand that our school's sex and drug education curriculums are inadequate. They're lacking in substance and detail and include a lot of misinformation at times. I remember my freshman year being told that condoms are only 85 percent effective, if when in fact the number is closer to 98%. This may
066seem like an incredibly minor error but the numbers say otherwise. In Dakota County STD rates have been increasing throughout the years Gonorrhea rates increased 186 percent from 2008 to 2017 and a lot of these increases are being seen in our younger populations, the populations that we can reach through our school system. 63 percent of chlamydia cases in 2017 were from the 15 to 24 age range and 49 of the gonorrhea cases were from that age range as well. It's also a disproportionate rate of STDs in people of color. This shows that this is not only an issue with public health and education but also with racial inequity in health care. Even more alarmingly Dakota County is number three for the highest HIV incidence rates in the state. As of 2019 this can be prevented or
067at least these numbers can be lowered if we provide adequate info about condoms and other ways to prevent STDs such as pro-exposure prophylaxis and post-exposure prophylaxis. There are also other important issues that our sex education curriculums are lacking including information about consent, LGBTQ specific sexual education and access to medical care for teenagers. There are also significant issues in the way our community handles drug education. In, from 2018 to 2019 drug overdose increased 67 percent in Dakota County. This is incredibly alarming especially considering these numbers will be up significantly next year due to the fact that there was a statewide increase of 27 percent in overdoses due to Covid 19. This is very unusual and out of, um it's a great increase and yet we still do not teach high school students about narcan and naloxone
068drugs which they are legally allowed to access in order to reduce overdoses. Even if our drug education prevents all teenagers in our district from ever using illegal drugs we cannot do the same things for their families, their neighbors, the people they work with, and the people they will meet once they're done with high school. Many teenagers don't even know about these drugs and in fact 48% of pharmacists don't even know that people under the age of 18 are legally allowed to access them. We need to teach our students to advocate for themselves in these sorts of situations. No child deserves to lose a parent to an overdose and through our district's education we can help prevent this from happening. It may be nice to think that teenagers don't engage in risky behavior but the numbers
069show that they do. We can't stop this from happening completely but what we can do is give our teenagers adequate safety information to prevent them from needing unnecessary doctor's appointments from having children before they're ready and from losing parents and other family and community members to diseases and to overdoses. Education is a vital public health tool to help save lives, and we can't keep shutting our eyes to the issues that we know are there. Which is why it's important for our school district to include these issues. Things like consent education, STD prevention, other overdose prevention methods such as drug, fentanyl drug testing and needle swaps. These sorts of things that will prevent HIV from even increasing in our community as it has been throughout the years. These things that will prevent overdoses from increasing as
070they have been throughout the years, and this will help not only our students but their families and our community at large. Which is why i think it's a necessary change for us to make. {applause} (Jackie M) Thank you Audrey. Next up we have open forum. Speakers that signed up for open forum just before the meeting are allowed two minutes to speak and we have Megan Fennig (Megan) Hello everyone. I'm speaking on as a concerned parent and community member but also as a graduate of Eagan High School. In school we learned about our civic duty. We studied the French Revolution, tyranny, civil war, the influence of propaganda and that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I was lucky enough to learn history from Mr Rohr. He supported critical thinking and
071that is so needed when you're analyzing history and applying it to current times. Teachers are in powerful positions to influence us, and we parents entrust you with their minds. We trust that you won't do any harm. Public schools should be a safe place for kids to focus on learning. They should offer stability during chaotic times. It could be the only stable place that they see. It should remain politically neutral, and that's why I'm alarmed that teachers in our district are promoting their own political ideology on our children. It sounds righteous. I know where you're coming from. It sounds like a good thing to do but unpacked these critical theories specifically critical race theory is reinforcing these harmful stereotypes. It categorizes people perceive, on perceived privileges, and it emphasizes a group identity over individualism. This reduces
072our kids to either roles of a victim or an oppressor and i don't see how that can help them reach their full potential because they view their entire world through this lens. It's not a healthy world view. It's true we can all agree that reconciliation and healing is needed in our society , but as a nurse I can tell you if you continue to pick at a wound it will not heal, and it can get infected, and it can kill you. Healing manifests on a spiritual level and we need that. How do we address that? I don't think it's by imposing collective guilt. (Jackie M) (Jackie M) Thank you Megan (Megan) I don't want our children to internalize a message that I am bad because they are inherently good. (Jackie M) Thank you (Megan) I don't want
073them to learn {inaudible} because this imposes shame and shame is a root of violence, addiction and mental illness. (Jackie) Thank you Megan, your time is up. {Consider the consequences. My message to the school board don't want them to learn this your time is up (Jackie) Thank you, your time is up. {Please make a commitment to us to use evidence based socio-emotional {inaudble) and I'd like to know where the evidence is that shame is an effective learning tool.} (Jackie) Thank you, your time is up. {applause and cheering} (Jackie M) We'll move on to the items in the consent agenda. This evening under consent agenda we have the minutes of the March 8, 2021 special school board meeting. We have the minutes of the April 12, 2021 regular school board meeting. We have the minutes of the
074April 26, 2021 special school board meeting. We have grants, gifts, summary of claims for March, 2021, schedule of investments for March, 2021, Revenues and Expenditures Report for March, 2021. We have the Treasurer's Report for March, 2021. We have a personnel exhibit. We have workers comp insurance, compensation insurance. We have a clinical experience agreement. We have termination and non-renewal of probationary teachers, long-term substitutes, and re-employment of retired teachers. We have employment agreements. We have an agreement with the Eagan YMCA and the Burnsville YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities for summer 2021 school-age child care programs, and we have pay rates for substitute, temporary. and part-time community ed employees. With that are there any items that board would like to pull this evening for consideration? Seeing none iId ask for a motion and a second to approve
075the consent agenda. So approved. Second. (Jackie M) We have a motion by Art, the second by Cory to improve the consent agenda as outlined. All in favor indicate by saying aye. (board members) Aye. Opposed? Thank you. That passes on a 7-0 vote. This evening we'll move into reports. This evening we have the report on summer programming. We've got Paul Olson and Marisa Schroht and they're going to walk through our summer programming. Good evening Superintendent Kreger, Chairperson Magnuson and members of the school board. um I'm here with Marisa Schroht from Community Ed and I'm one of our district's. my name is Paul Olson, I'm one of our district's Teaching and Learning Coordinators. We're here tonight to share information about our summer programming options offered by District 196 and Community Education. As an education system we have
076experienced a lot of change with the effects of Covid throughout the year. In response to a school year full of challenges Superintendent Kreger has charged district learning leaders with thinking creatively and flexibly about how to extend learning and social emotional support to our students and families over the summer months. Additional funding has allowed us to provide opportunities for our students to continue learning through new summer programming as well as expanding existing programs looking to provide options for all of our students. Our programs are designed through a multi-tiered systems of support with both academic supports and embedded social emotional learning strategies including increased access to social workers and counselors. Universal programming options are open to all students while targeted intent, intensive programs are based on attendance and academic, academic data. All of these programs will provide
077additional supports providing a jump start into our next school year. Along with our universal programming for all of our learners targeted programming has been developed using academic and attendance added to identify students for these additional support options. Programs within these three tiers include less formal, less structured to more intensive options for both new and existing programs. Highlighting some of our new summer programming, instructional materials will be sent in game format will be sent home with students with emerging grade level skills and offer the opportunities for families to engage in the learning process. Students will have expanded access to online learning resources, families will have opportunities to participate in book exchanges and partnership with mail sites, and staff check-ins will be set up with students over the summer to make social emotional learning and academic connections
078and, as always, we have existing summer program, programming that will continue this summer. Our Camp Propel, middle school summer academy, credit recovery and freshman academy and extended school year program will continue to provide targeted supports for students. We are working to add additional layers of support to these ongoing programs including adding more teachers to reduce class sizes for co-teaching, interventionists to provide more intentional support to individual students, social, social emotional support through our social workers and cultural family advocates and expanded meals and transportation. Families we, families have already been contacted about some of our targeted programming, and we will continue to share more information between now and the end of the school year. Here to share more information about summer programming options is Marisa. Hello and thanks for having me. um Heightening the wave of
079summer programs comes the expansion of community education programs for District 196 students. With the help of Covid funds we are able to expand specific community education offerings at targeted schools and neighborhoods to make programs more accessible. We're looking forward to offering activities free of charge at varying times and providing meals when possible. Schools with these opportunities will receive more detailed registration information through Friday Folders and emails from community education. In the upcoming weeks we're also very excited to be able to offer greater access to select high quality and engaging programs across the district via expanded scholarship opportunities. Community Education is delighted to be offering over 1,300 classes and activities this summer. As of last week we were are riding a strong wave of enrollment and are just down 8% from 2019. Considering all that we
080have been through the past 14 months we are ecstatic with this response and are grateful to our community for entrusting us with their children while we provide high quality and fun academic, athletic, life skill and enrichment programs in a safe and healthy environment. Students can reinforce and expand their knowledge and academic skills in a variety of academic courses offered through Community Ed. One of those is our popular math and reading correspondence program, Cahoots. Middle school students will keep their math skills sharp through experiential learning activities during the six week preventing brain drain drop in course. 76 sessions of STEM activities are planned for students to explore topics such as coding, engineering, robotics, and video production. Additionally students can explore Chinese and Spanish language and culture through online and in-person beginning level classes. students will also
081have the opportunity to expose themselves to a wide array of enriching activities this summer ranging from exploring a variety of art forms to unleashing their inner chef and mathematician through cooking classes to learning basic life skills of sewing and manners and etiquette at the dinner table. Students will also express themselves through experiential musical theater activities and pre-teens can develop necessary caretaking and safety skills in our babysitting classes and discover opportunities to secure their first babysitting job. Our students will have numerous opportunities to be active and develop and polish their athletic skills this summer with over 60 skyhawk sports classes including volleyball soccer baseball cheerleading and more participants will be sure to discover their interests without a long-term commitment our super tots program for aspiring athletes ages two to three are showing strong registration response. additionally
082all high schools across the district are hosting a variety of sports specific training camps for students to improve and enhance their athletic talents participants can flip, jump and tumble through the many gymnastics classes offered for preschool through advanced level gymnastics. Mountain bike and adventure club race team had 80 prospective new mountain bike inquiries for the May 5th informational meeting for the fall riding season. This season is sure to be a successful one. Many mountain bike camps and clinics are available to students all throughout the summer. Every child deserves a chance to learn to love the water and we provide all types of activities to engage youth and families in our district pools. We are offering swim lessons this summer in the mornings, evenings and on Saturdays and we are eager to bring back some of
083our programs that we have not offered during the pandemic due to reduced capacity levels. These include lessons for ages 6 to 36 months, lessons for teens and adults, adapted lessons for those with special needs, and an introduction to diving lessons. Competitive swimming and diving classes are also offered. Additionally we are seeking to hire lifeguards and swim instructors for the summer and next year's school year sessions. This is a great job opportunity for persons ages 14 and older with great hours and competitive pay. The public can access more information about the program and employment opportunities at the address listed on our slide. We are grateful for the opportunity to provide our array of intensive targeted and universal summer programs with embedded social emotional learning to support our learners and keep them engaged in learning and relationships
084throughout the summer. Be sure to look for information in your child's Friday Folders and school newsletters regarding these and many more programs and the increased scholarship ships offered through District 196 and Community Education this summer. Additional information can be found on our website. Thank you for your time. (Jackie) Thank you. Board do you have any questions? There are a lot of things to do in the summer for community ed so congratulations and thank you so much for going through it. Thank you (Marisa) Thanks for having us. (Jackie) We'll move on to items of old businesses. This evening under old business we have the Overview of Student's Rights and Responsibility Handbook. and Jill Coyle will walk us through this. We walked through this at our last at our last meeting and Jill will update us and
085this will be an action item this evening. Thank you Chairperson Magnuson. um Greetings Kreger. I am before you tonight with a second reading of the district's Overview of Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook for the 21-22 school year. As we discussed back in April this handbook comes to you every year for review after proposed changes are first collected from all of our schools throughout the district. The handbook contains a summary of key district policies and regulations including most notably the district's discipline regulation. It's mailed home to all of our district families in August in advance of the new school year. In April, during new business, we went through all of the proposed changes in detail. I won't repeat those detailed changes tonight other than to say that the proposed changes for 21-22 continue the school district's
086effort to reduce the use of exclusionary practices in school discipline and to emphasize skill building and restorative practices while also maintaining a safe educational environment for all of our students. In April I also mentioned to you that the district is embarking on a two-year process to engage the school community and further conversation about its discipline policy to ensure that it not only keeps our school safe but is also equitable for all learners. Stay tuned for more information on that process in the coming months. So for purposes of this evening the proposed changes to the 2021-22 Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook are ready for your consideration and approval and I'm happy to answer any questions that I can help you with. (Jackie) This is an action item this evening so before we go into discussion I'll
087ask for a motion and a second. We've got a motion by Joel and second by Sachin. Is there any questions or comments from the audience? Although we lost most of our audience, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none questions or comments from board members? Went through it really well. It's really clear. The the changes I look forward to watching the what the two-year process will be to go through the whole Rights and Responsibility Handbook but as everyone knows this is mailed out to everybody in the fall before school starts. So with that we've got a motion by Joel and second by Sachin to approve the Overview of the Rights and Responsibilities Handbook as outlined. All in favor indicate by saying aye. (Board) aye (Jackie) Opposed? Thank you that passes on a
0887-0 vote. Thank you Jill. (Jilly) Thank you (Jackie) Next on the items of old age business tonight we have the administrative regulation 801.5 ar, community use of district facilities and Khia Brown is up. Welcome. Nice to see you. (Khia) You too. Good evening Chairperson Magnuson, members of the board and Superintendent Kreger. This is the second reading of a revision to regulation 801.5 ar, Community Use of District Facilities. The revision includes newly created fees for community use of the district's new turf fields. As you can see in section 9.8 in the regulation fees for community use follow the same class divisions as for other facility rentals and are in a similar range as neighboring and comparable districts. This is old business this evening so I kindly request your approval of these fees, but I'd be happy to
089answer any questions you may have. (Jackie) Perfect, this is a as, as Khia said, this is an act, an action item this evening. so I'll look for a motion and a second. Craig and Art. Thank you. Any questions or comments from the audience? Questions and comments from board members. Seeing none, relatively minor changes and in line with what, what else we're doing. So with that we have a motion by Craig and second by Art to approve the administrative regulations 801.5 ar Community Use of District Facilities. All in favor of that indicate by saying aye. (Board) Aye. Opposed? Thank you that passes on a 7-0 vote. (Khia) Thank you (Jackie) Thank you. Next we'll turn in items of new business and we have the administrative regulations 507.2 ar, Student Fees and Fines. We'll call Jill Coyle.
090(Jill) Once again good evening. Thank you for allowing me to be here tonight. So as Chairperson Magnuson indicated I am before you tonight with the first reading of administrative regulation 507.2 ar, Student Fees and Fines. Tonight for your review are a handful of technical changes to regulation 507.2 ar. There's essentially three categories. First in section 3.3 the description of co-curricular fees for middle school was revised to broaden it to grades six through eight. It was previously limited to grades seven and eight in addition the four sport limitation for middle school was removed to reflect the fact that there are five middle school seasons. Finally the language about no charge activities at the middle level was revised slightly, okay? So that's one pocket of changes. Moving on, in section four regarding band instrument fees. The $20
091Band for All fee was added where previously the regulation was silent about this fee, and then finally in section 10, early childhood programs, the section was revised to update the annual income ranges for federal guidelines and also to delete two course descriptions that no longer apply. These changes are for your review only tonight. They will come back as old business in June and so please let me know if I can answer any questions. (Jackie) Great, are there any questions from the audience? Seeing none questions from board members? Just a quick comment. We're charging twenty dollars a year for students who qualify or who have used a band for all instrument. If you are looking through your closets or if your student decided after they were really excited they're not so much excited anymore you can
092bring your instruments to the district office or to your local school and they are repaired and then recycled to another student who will love them and use them. So if you're going through, you're getting rid of stuff this summer those band for all, you, um we certainly could use more instruments in the Band for All Program. Great program that's supported by our foundation. Any other questions or comments? WE will see you on the 14th of June. (Jill) Thanks very much. (Jackie) Thank you. Next we'll go to other action items and it is Preparing for Kindergarten and a calendar change and this is Khia Brown. (Khia) All right. Once again good evening Chairperson Magnuson, members of the board and Superintendent Kreger. I'm pleased to share with you tonight the plans to revise one of the programs
093that falls under our district's array of pre-kindergarten offerings. We have provided and updated this program over the years to help students and families transition to kindergarten and successfully launch their academic career. First though I'd like to share with you some information about our overall pre-kindergarten offerings. Currently we see, we support as much preschool as we can during the regular school year with the funding and space available to us and continually look to expand preschool experiences as much as possible to try to ensure all students come to kindergarten prepared for school. While we have expanded our preschool opportunities over the years and with the help of our community through the 2015 bond referendum we are still not meeting our district's family's needs for preschool program. We would love to increase our preschool offerings, ideally universal preschool,
094but our biggest barrier to expanding preschool programs is space. A great amount of research has shown the importance of early learning in predicting future success in school and beyond. Overwhelming evidence shows that children who enter kindergarten behind are likely to remain behind through their educational careers and beyond. These gaps in achievement are difficult and expensive to close with K-12 education alone and they can last a lifetime. Wvidence also shows that increased access to high quality, early learning and care programs results in short and long term benefits to individuals and society. In fact some programs have demonstrated that every dollar invested in high quality, early childhood education generates significant returns to society based on improved social and economic outcomes. Research shows that for every dollar invested in early in high quality, early childhood education society gains
095up to seven dollars and thirty cents in economic returns over the long term. In addition to providing long-term benefits to children in society at large access to early childhood education has positive effects for parents as well. Support for early learning increases parents participation in the workforce and contributes to overall economic productivity. Conversely lack of affordable early learning takes a major toll on the economy as working families across the country lose more than 8 billion in wages annually to due to inadequate access. In District 196 we have an array of early learning programs that support parents and their children ages birth through grade 3. Early Childhood Family Education offers parents and children hands-on learning experiences that will nourish a lifetime of teachable moments. Classes are available for students ages birth through grade three. Classes offered are
096age, age specific as well as topic related such as Raising Race Conscious Children, Parenting Children with Special Needs, Parenting during Challenging Times, and Nurturing Resilient Families. Early Childhood Special Education provides a comprehensive program of services for children ages birth through the start of kindergarten. Children ages three to five who have cognitive or physical disabilities or developmental delays are served in a variety of welcoming and nurturing educational settings. Connections Oreschool gives three and four-year-olds an opportunity to interact with other children in fun, engaging activities while learning important skills. The curriculum supports young children in developing skills and creativity in the arts, language and literacy, mathematical and scientific thinking, physical and motor and social and emotional learning. Children in Connections preschool assume increasing personal responsibility and independence as they grow and develop. Preschool screening is provided for
097three and four-year-olds to identify any health or developmental needs prior to school to possibly help reduce the later need for services. This screening is a mandatory requirement for a student to attend our connections preschool program as well as kindergarten or first grade in a public school and kindergarten is the transition, from the programs I've just mentioned, into the elementary school through high school. We know that students come to us with a wide range of experiences. Some students have been in child care or preschool program since birth and others have not had any preschool or pre-car, excuse me pre-kindergarten experiences, but we are ready for any student, at any age when they come to us. Currently we have 533 students enrolled in Connections Preschool. Next year this is less than 15 percent of the total of
098three and four-year-olds in the district. Additionally we have 76 three-year-olds and 58 four-year-olds for a total of 134 students on a waitlist for next school year. This equates to about seven sections of preschool by the end of August. These numbers will, at minimum, double in looking at our projections in five years based on the increase in interest and need in our Connections Preschool Program and our projected district enrollment. We will need a minimum of 22 additional classrooms. For some context this is more classrooms than, than is at the Dakota Valley Learning Center which we opened in January of 2015. During the 2018-19 school year we had over 150 students on the waitlist for Connections Preschool and over 200 in 2019-20 and this year with all the uncertainty of Covid we still have over a hundred
099students on the wait list. Additionally we have a number of families who ask about a preschool option for their child who is already five years old but have chosen not to send them to kindergarten yet. These are all children who may not have a preschool experience prior to kindergarten. This is one of the reasons we are revising our kindergarten transition program. Our district has offered an optional based community education program called Bridge to School as a transition to kindergarten since the early 90s in order to provide a seamless transition to kindergarten for children and their families. The intent has always been to serve children that may not have had a preschool experience or may need time to transition into kindergarten with support as well as to create an opportunity to experience a typical day in
100a kindergarten classroom. How we've done this has changed over time and has been adjusted based on our community needs and updated research around early learning. In 2017 we made an intentional effort to create a more personalized experience and open it to all incoming, incoming kindergartners. We offered at least one classroom at each school, hired current kindergarten teachers, created a curriculum that prioritized building relationships with staff and peers and becoming familiar with the school and classroom routines including riding the bus and using the cafeteria for breakfast and lunch, and we added a parent transition component. Approximately one-third of incoming kindergarten students have participated in the program each year. A couple testimonials from a parent: "Wow this school really cares about my kindergarten child and me as a parent. I learned about our family's role in supporting
101my son's transition to kindergarten." "Great information" and from a kindergarten teacher, "The strongest element of the program was the connection to students and parents in a calm atmosphere creating a positive first exposure to school in kindergarten". In May 2019 we began reviewing the previous model of the Bridge to School program and in May 2020, we knew that we would have to put the program on hold because of the pandemic. Therefore it was a great time for us to deeply review the Bridge to School program. A team of stakeholders including principals, cultural family advocates and teachers met and identified that we were only serving approximately one-third of incoming kindergarten students due to the availability of kindergarten teachers in August and not serving the students that we may need the pro, who may need the program the
102most. That began a process of reimagining an equitable transition into kindergarten that supported all children. The team's vision and goals were to provide equitable access for all kindergarten students with an intentional transition into school, and we would do this by supporting children and parents to successfully transition to kindergarten by building relationships with school staff, providing exposure to the elementary building classroom structures, rituals and routines providing exposure to activities that will prepare children for kindergarten experiences and empowering parents with information and strategies as they transition to parenting a kindergarten child. Kindergarten students show up to school with a wide wide range of experiences. This revision to the program is our next step in providing equitable access by ensuring all students have access and the benefit of this time with their teacher learning about their school and
103daily routines in a calm environment without other students in the building and doing so supports our district SEA Change initiative of safety, equity and achievement. All incoming, all incoming kindergarten students in District 196 will attend two half days at the start of the school year where they will be the only students in their elementary schools. They will be with their teachers and their classmates in their classroom and will have an opportunity to calmly explore their school building, meet school staff, practice daily routines and have breakfast and lunch at school for the first time without the typical hustle and bustle when all students are there. The program will also have a parent education component that will allow parents to learn more about kindergarten and how to support this child. All this will be provided at no
104cost including transportation. Families will receive more information from their building principal this week, but here are the recommended revisions to the kindergarten transition program. August 30 and 31st, kindergarten transition day half day for all kindergarten students. September 1st and 2nd student success and assessment days. September 6th, 7th and 8th, no school for kindergarten students and September 9th, the first full day of kindergarten. We have received positive feedback about this revision from kindergarten teachers and administrators in our elementary schools, and we truly believe this change will provide all of our students with a strong foundation to be successful socially, emotionally and academically as they begin their educational career in 196. So to review again, our recommendation is to make Monday, August 30th and Tuesday, August 31st student instructional days, half days for kindergarteners, make Wednesday, September 8th
105a teacher workshop day for kindergarten teachers. So no school for kindergarteners and make Thursday, September 9th the first full day of school for kindergarten students. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have about this proposal at this time. (Jackie) This is an action item for this evening so before we go into questions I'd ask for a motion and a second. Motion by Sachin, second by Joel. Questions or comments from the audience? Questions comments from board members? It is a good move Joel said. It was a good move I agree. It gives kids a sense of calm. It gives them a chance to be in the buildings and before the hubbub and stuff. I know I did have one parent or somebody who had emailed and said but my kids won't go to the
106school on the same day and I won't be able to have that first day bus picture like you can have a second day. You could take just make it special for your kindergartner that day, and I think that's the great thing about this. I mean we just talked about making, you know, learners successful and that's what we talk about all the time, and this is a great proposal to help make learners successful, get off to a good start. So any other questions or comments? We have a motion by Sachin, a second by Joel for preparing kindergarteners and the calendar changes that go along with that. All in favor of that indicate by saying aye. (board) Aye. Opposed? Thank you. That passes on a 7-0 vote . I look forward to hearing about this and I'm sure
107we'll be watching and come and visit the schools and, and, but I think this is a good change, really smart, nice, good idea. Thank you. We've come to the end of our agenda, and we've come to the part of our agenda where board members and superintendent updates board members with anything they'd like to update us on tonight. Art? (Art) People watching at home or who will be watching this stream later might get the sense from the people who spoke tonight that there's this big change coming to the school district going to take down flags and stop teaching about the civil war. None of that's true and you know this these Fox News talking points about Critical Race Theory, this is just a bunch of malarkey and I really am encouraging Mary, the next meeting, to come
108back and just make a report to the audience about what's really happening. I get frustrated that we can't really interrupt when people are saying things that aren't true. We let the public speak. We don't interrupt them, but I just wanted to let people know at home that what you're hearing is just, it's just not true. So I'll leave it at that. (Jackie) Sachin (Sachin) Thank you, I want to kind of just build on that as well. um I'll speak for myself although I'm sure that many probably subscribe to some of this as well, but I, you know the views that were represented, spoke about today do not represent how I think about our district. We are required to abstain from engaging into any litigation or debate, and I understand the spirit. It's to give people a
109safe space to talk and sometimes we have people who English is their first language or who haven't spoken here before so we want to give them an open space, a comfortable space to feel like they can express their views. I, I can't say this with any more conviction than right now. I want our educators to know, each and every one of you, that I firmly stand with you in your message of unity, equity and inclusion. You are special to our district. You make our district the great district it is, and I share in your abilities and your motivation to making sure that all students get an opportunity to live their fullest potential. So I want you to know that and thank you. (Jackie) With that we'll turn it over to the superintendent. (Mary K) Okay
110thank you. With a month left in this school year that's hard to believe actually I'm happy to report that our Covid 19 positives and quarantine numbers continue to decline along with the case positivity rate in the 14 day average case rate in Dakota County. The cases we are seeing continue to be coming from home, sports and other activities, but not from school. This is the third week since our middle school and high school students switched to four days of in-person learning in April. Also, as of last week, face masks are no longer required for outdoor activities. They are optional but encouraged because we do think those are some of the mitigation efforts that have allowed us to be in person. A quick reminder for families who registered their child for 196 Online for next school
111year have until May 14th to confirm their enrollment. Families who registered initially received an email asking them to confirm their enrollment by the May 14th deadline. District 196 Online is a full-time online learning option the district hopes to begin to offer this fall. It will be similar but different than the 196 digital academy option that we offer to all students this year. Administrators representing our four comprehensive high schools met earlier today and confirmed plans to hold outdoor graduation ceremonies at the Eagan and Rosemount High School stadiums on Saturday, June 5th, weather permitting, or on Sunday, June 6 at the same scheduled times. If weather does not permit on June 6 each of the four high schools would hold the ceremony in their gymnasiums with limited seating. The high schools shared this plan with families last
112Tuesday two days before the governor announced changing restrictions as part of the reopening plans. The high school team met today to review the changes and options and confirm plans to hold outdoor graduation ceremonies at the Eagan and Rosemount High School stadiums on June 5th or 6th depending on the weather. The School of Environmental Studies graduation will be held Thursday, June 3rd at the Minnesota Zoo and some of our other smaller programs will also be having ceremonies around that time and that will be communicated through those programs. I want to end my report by encouraging everyone to take in a high school theater performance. Eagan and Eastview High Schools recorded their annual variety shows, Encore and Bravo, which can be purchased for viewing during specific viewing windows this month. Visit the Eagan and Eastview websites for
113tickets. Last week board chair Magnuson and I had the privilege to attend one of Apple Valley High School's performances of Newsies and on an outside stage in front of the school. It was an amazing performance of talented students being supported by dedicated adults. A little drizzle could not dampen the joy of the performers and the audience and it was a fantastic experience, and I am so grateful for all of our arts, academics, and athletics award winners in this district. So thank you. (Jackie) It was phenomenal. It was phenomenal, and, and the other ones you can still see from the other high schools. If you go online and go to their websites and stuff and I know they're still, that you can an opportunity to still watch them. The reason that we will be having graduations not
114at Apple Valley home and Eastview home is because we're starting the turf fields. So that's why somebody asked me why did Apple Valley have to go someplace else,and that's why. So we've come to the end of our agenda this evening. Our next regularly scheduled board meeting is June 14th right back here at Dakota Ridge, and with that I'll ask for a motion and a second to adjourn. (inaudible) (Jackie) We have a motion by Mike and a second by Joel to adjourn. All in favor and of adjournment indicate by saying aye. (Board) Aye. (Jackie) opposed? Thank you. We're adjourned. {music}