001indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right. Thank you everyone uh for attending. Uh we'll go ahead and take a look at the agenda. Are there any changes to the agenda? No changes. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda as presented? So moved. So moved by Schmidt, second by Forsberg. All in favor, please say I. Those opposed. Agenda is approved. Moving to some future events. Please check the district calendar and resource guide or the district website for a complete list of monthly events. Tuesday, May 20th, 2025, retirement reception at 4 p.m. at banquetss of Minnesota. Monday, May 26th, no school for students and staff DSC closed. Tuesday, May 27th, 2025, school board retreat at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 4th, high school graduation at 3:30 p.m. at Maruchi Arena. Thursday, June 5th, transitions
002program graduation at 10:00 a.m. at the DSC. Friday, June 6th, last day of school. Tuesday, June 10th, school board regular meeting at 7 p.m. with communication to the board and administration at 6:45. Moving to consent agenda. Can I get a motion? So moved. So moved by Hennon. Second. Second by Vala to approve the following items of the consent agenda. Minutes of the April 8th, 2025 schoolboard regular meeting and April 29th, 2025 work session. Bills paid for March 2025 in the following amount of $4,183,999. Personnel items and approval of the joint powers agreement between St. Anthony New Brighton District 282 and Spring Lake Park Schools District 16 regarding the marching patriots marching band. All in favor, please say I. Those opposed. Consent agenda passes. Moving on to presentation, special guest and recognition. Introduction of Megan Junkie,
0032025 2026 Spring Lake Park High School principal. Welcome, Megan. Thank you, Tony. Brought my fan club with me today. You did. I'm Megan Junkie. I'm currently serving as the associate principal at Spring Lake Park High School. I've been there for five years. Um, prior to that, I served as the associate principal at Westwood Middle School for five years. Previous to that, um, dean of students in Mountains View and then was a teacher in Mountains as well. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve this community. As I was kind of thinking about what makes this special, I was thinking about moments in time that we get to share with kids. And we just had one the other week um that I just want to briefly share with you. We were sitting in one of our flex
004spaces and it was our school leadership team and there's probably five or six kids sprinkled around us, super quiet, 8:30 in the morning on a Monday. Um nobody's moving too fast and a girl says, "Oh my gosh." and we all kind of panicked and we looked over to her and Janelle Todd, she's one of our instructional coaches, goes, "Is everything okay?" And she points to her iPad and she goes, "I got a 31 on the ACT." And Janelle looks at her and goes, "Oh my gosh, that's really good." And she goes, "I know it's really good." And we all just sat there and congratulated her. And as I was thinking about it, I was like, "This is what makes it so special. She doesn't even know that I brought that moment with me. That I'm
005sharing that moment now with you. That that even made an impact. And as I think about the moments we get to share with kids, sometimes big, sometimes small, sometimes super impactful, sometimes minuscule, that's why I love doing this work every day. And as I think about taking the head principal ship role next year, I'm excited about our vision to know each kid deeply to move forward to get them all ready for post-secondary success with a diploma and the aspirations to go out and change the world. So, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. I'm honored to be here and I don't want to do the work anywhere else but Spring Lake Park. So, I appreciate it. Thank you. I'm really excited about having uh Megan serve in this role. She's done a great job um
006in the associate principal role both high school in Westwood. She's made it a better place and as you can hear as she talks here, she's got a passion for the work. So, we're really excited to have her step into this role and we're interviewing in the next week some people to uh fill her role. So, we had over 100 applicants interested in their position. So, it's good news. So, we'll have a good person stepping into her shoes. They're gonna have to be a really good person. Yeah. Big shoes to fill. So, board, any questions for Megan? I don't have a question. I just want to say, you know, welcome back. Welcome again. How whatever that is. Thank you for sticking with our district for so long. We are obviously very proud of our district and
007it's um it's wonderful to have someone like you who's served our students for so long and are really is so, you know, just here for the kids and it means a lot. So, we're excited. Thank you. Thank you, Amy. And as a mom of a ninth grader and tth grader next year, I look forward to having them in the building with you. And I couldn't have asked for a better replacement for Matthew. So, thank you for all that you do. Thank you. Anyone else? All right, Megan. We look forward to uh the exciting things to come with you in the principal role at the high school. Uh as Jeff said, just in your voice, we can hear the passion. So I I I am thrilled to see that come to light uh even more so
008now that you're the principal and uh the impact that that'll have on the students there. Awesome. Thank you. Thanks you guys. Moving to discussion reports and information items. Engage enthusiastic learners. Align work of adults to continuously improve personalized instruction and represent and responsiveness to meet our students unique and varied needs. Deepen student engagement through career and college readiness update. Dr. Hope Ron, executive director of learning and innovation or or Oh, we're gonna have Melissa Olsson share and sorry to disappoint. No, no disappointment at all. Just uh just wasn't in my notes. Okay. Yes. Okay. And some others from Spring Lake Park High School are joining you. Yeah. Um thank you everyone. Excited to be here. Melissa Olsen um director of learning design and student engagement. I'm going to give you a little bit of update
009but I'm not going to do a lot of talking. You're going to get to hear from students and staff um about our career and college readiness. Okay. So um as you know we have three career and college pathways. We have um technology engineering and design affectionately known as the TED pathway in um our high school. We have business and entrepreneurship and we have health and human services. Currently we have 37 courses. 14 of those have college credit included in them. And we did a lot of work in the development of the pathways of which I was fortunate enough to be a part of actually when I started here in Spring Lake Park schools. Um we did a lot of work with industry trends and industry partners to determine what would be the areas of need
010that our students could enter the workforce and make sure that they were really prepared for what was next. And then as I know many of you already know, but the other goal was to make sure that we were thinking about how are we embedding that college credit so that students don't have to make a choice between college credit and also exploring career options and going deeply with that. So we are very proud to have um 92% of our graduates in our most recent class took at least one pathways course and 81% took more than one. Um, and we've had consistently high numbers since we launched the three pathways. Um, and it's been really fun to see which ones students choose to explore. Um, which ones they tend to um maybe explore across pathways, sometimes going
011deeper in one pathway. And we have um 50 courses in our high school with opportunities for college credit. Um, in the most recent, excuse me, recent graduating class, 74% of our students earned at least one college credit and 41% of them earned 12 or more. Um, which, you know, we have our 12 by 12 program with the goal that students can have the opportunity to earn 12 college credits by the time uh they graduate if they so choose to do so. So, um, a lot of exciting opportunities. you. We want you to hear straight from the mouths of those who are most involved in the program right now. So, I am actually going to turn it over to Lisa Schwitzer who is one of our directors for AVID and one of our uh teachers for
012it and she'll explain a little bit more about that. Good evening. Thank you for having me tonight. I love teaching AVID. Advancement via individual determination is a college and career um readiness program that is designed to empower students. Students learn to advocate for themselves through tutorials, goal setting, and a strong emphasis on leadership and personal growth. Aban doesn't only prepare students for rigorous high school courses. It also helps them to build the skills, the mindset and the confidence for college, career and life. Through AVID, we aim to ensure that all students feel empowered to reach for their full potential. This year, I've also been fortunate to be a teacher facilitator uh for our professional learning for a design for engagement. We are learning to build a common language around what engagement looks for each of
013our students. And we're incorporating opportunities into our designs. Designing around students strengths, interests, needs, and aspirations. One of the units I was able to design for my AVID 10 this year included one-on-one mentoring and individual mock interviews. The power of teacher facilitators is that we are able to personalize for them while they're designing for our students. So, I'm excited to see how this will continue to impact our classrooms. And tonight, I'm very proud to present to you Amaya Archer. She's one of my students and she's going to speak to you about her engagement in AVID. Good evening board members. My name is Maya Archer. I am a junior at the high school. First, I want to say thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share my experience as an AVID student. There
014are many important skills AVID helps to strengthen. One of the biggest skills would be collaboration. In AVID, we collaborate twice each week through tutorials. We are put into small groups with one tutor. Everyone comes up with one problem from their core class that they are struggling with and then presents the problem. Group members don't give the answers. Instead, we ask questions to help the presenter understand the problem they are stuck on. It's important to learn collaboration in high school because there's never not going to be a time where you're not working with somebody. Another important skill is organization. Since AVID, I'm starting to get assignments in on time and keeping them organized. In the beginning of the school year, I didn't have AVID. Chemistry was really difficult for me. I ended with a B in
015the trimester 1, which I wasn't really satisfied with, but in trimester 2, I ended with an A when I did have AVID due to the support system in there. One moment that really showed me the power of AVID was sophomore year when I got to shadow the superintendent of Fidley public schools as part of my career project. This was a major inspiration for me because I've wanted to go into education for as long as I can remember. This has set me up for the future. I learned what superintendents do, the education path they follow, and even the difference that they can make. It has definitely set me up for amazing success in the future. But that's not all AVID has done to help me with my future. We have gone on many college field trips
016to tour campuses. We do a college project every year and this year we compared our top 10 colleges based on wants, needs, and financial support and location. This project helped show how much I'll pay for school, where I can get good scholarships, the grades I would need, and great matches for the major that I want to go into and my personality. A big thank you to the district for supporting AVID because I wouldn't want to imagine what my grades would be without AVID. I am beyond grateful for Miss Whiter and for the opportunities AVID has given me. I hope AB continues to grow and help more students just like me. Thank you for your time and we'll have a chance for you to ask any questions of the students or anyone who speaks um after
017we get a little bit further into this. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with Abbott, both of you. Um so a little bit also we wanted to touch on our three different pathways and and have an opportunity for you to hear from some students who are in the career pathways. Um we while we don't have students here tonight um in from the business and entrepreneurship pathway, we do have an exciting story that was recently published that you can go online and read more about. Um and in that you will see um the three students who are featured here, Max Horn, Brian Perez Cortez, and Katherine Wyn. All of whom were in our business and entrepreneurship pathways. Um they each graduated in 2020. I think some of you um may have even been on
018their Shark Tank judge for when they gave their pitches. And one of the really neat things that we just had an opportunity to do is follow up with these students five years later and see where they are and what they're doing. Um I was still at the high school during this time when these three students were there and we were just getting the business and entrepreneurship pathway really off the ground. And I can have a vivid recollection of um their various pitches that they gave. And I remember also um with Max and his story that one of his goals was always to go into sports marketing. And so he did an internship at the National Sports Center his senior year after doing the business and entrepreneurship his junior year. And so it was really fun
019to reconnect with him and know that he's working for an NFL team and see where he's gone with everything. So all three of them have um really if you read the article, which I encourage you to do, uh shows what a difference having that opportunity and pathways made for those students um what it showed them about where they wanted to go, who they are, and as well what they don't want to do. that's equally important sometimes as you know with our pathways programming. Um so we're really proud of those graduates and really proud of of what they have done and where they are going and I'm sure we'll continue to hear more about them. We do have some students here however um from our health and human services pathway. Um just a couple reminders about
020our health and human services pathway that encompasses um opportunities in emergency care which you have heard from our students and teachers in our OEC program. Um it also includes um our child psychology and child development um our culinary and tonight we're really excited for you to hear from some students who are involved in the teacher education pathway. And so I am actually going to turn it over to these two students who I'll let introduce themselves to tell you a little bit about their experience on the teacher ed pathway. Hello, good evening. My name is Maline Smith. I'm currently a senior this year. Hi, I'm Amelia. I'm also a senior this year. When understanding teaching, it takes a lot to encompass that there's so many things that go into being a good teacher. Before we talk
021about thin impacts that this has personally had on my life, we need to discuss the layout of this classroom setup. This classroom is so collaborative and I'm able to create my own schedule when I teach and even when we meet in class to have discussions about the articles that we're reading or the information that we're going based off of. Normally, I teach I think three days during the week in the morning time at my kindergarten site. And this has allowed me to get over 60 hours with these set of like the set of students over these past few months and make a bigger impact in their life and learn a little bit more about what I want to teach and how I want to teach with understanding the classroom setup in our school. We normally
022meet every three days, I'd say, and we'd go over a few articles that we share, and we do collaborative research together where we teach each other aspects of what it might be to be a good teacher or things in our current education system like the current Department of Education and what's going on with that. So, we do like go off of current events. for my site work. It is so incredibly important that you guys understand how well this has offered me to get a leg up in my career pathway. As a senior that's going to UMD next year to go into special education and in elementary education, this has offered me a perfect insight on how kids act on a day-to-day basis. I have followed them throughout the day. I've gone through recess with them
023with lunch specialists and they're just regular teaching groups. Is it important to understand how students function on a day-to-day basis? Um, uh, also going off of that, we are offered a lot of flexibility with our schedules. And like with me, I'm also in student council with Mia and Allison. And so with student council and any other extracurriculars, it can get really busy and hard to like find ways to, you know, interact with our class and things like that. And Miss Tube does a really, who is our teacher, if you guys do not know, she is our teacher for this class. um she does a really good job at reaching out to her students and you know being like okay like if you if this way that we're doing this project isn't working with you let's
024find other ways that we can do this project and you can show your learning and I also think like the hands-on like uh student teaching that we get to do is a really good experience I've gone I think you have too we've both gone on field trips with our groups which is an experience to go with um kindergarteners and then I do fifth grade um so it's a really unique experience and I think it really helps a lot of our classmates like figure out like what it's like the grunt work that it takes to do be a teacher like I don't know you always hear about how much grading you have to do but goodness it's a lot of grading like I was just like whoa this is a lot of grading and like just
025like little things like that that you learn and I've gotten to sit in um on like uh at the at Westwood in fifth grade they have teams so like 5A 5B and I'm on 5A and they have like times where the teachers all get together while the kids are at specialist or at lunch and they talk about all the things that are going on with students and those teachers seem very um connected with all of the students in all these classes. Um which is hard to keep track of like they know the names of every single student and I'm like I don't know if I could do that. That's a lot of students. But it's really interesting to be able to have like that step forward and learn what these teachers are doing in their
026every like day-to-day process. Um and I just think this like class offers a really unique opportunity for a lot of students. A few more things I'd like to touch base on are the connections and the impact this course has led me to. So for connections wise, my teacher that I teach under apparently she really likes to hype me up and talk to me a lot about the principles of the school. So not only have I had the time to work with five kindergarten teachers now, but I've also talked to the principal of Park Terrace. And that has led me to if I want a job in a few years, I could teach at Park Terrace if that's something I so pleased. Another thing is seeing the genuine impact you have on these children's lives. You
027don't realize it all the time. If even if it's a small commenting, they're like, "Oh, how's your day today?" They take that so to heart. And it is so incredibly important just for those children to have an extra person in the building that they know care about them so much. She's really confident about this. Um, and um, and like with our class and since we do only have it a couple days a week because we need time to go to our sites, um, Miss Tube creates a lot of lessons that have us kind of piggyback off of each other's ideas. So, you kind of get to like understand other people's point of views. So, we go in, we'll be like, "Hey," she'll be like, "Today, read this article." And then we'll come back and we'll
028discuss it tomorrow. And um, it's kind of interesting to see like you'll read the same article, but people will come out with so many different ideas. So, I really like the discussion based um learning we have. We do so much discussions. Like that's pretty much all of our coursework is just discussing with one another what we're learning and the information we are gaining. And I think that's a really good way to help all of the things that I'm learning stay in my brain because I'm listening to what other people are gathering from these um articles and like also what I'm gathering and communicating about it really helps at least me um understand what I'm learning. Um but I think that's all we have. So, thank you so much for letting us speak with you guys
029today. Thank you so much for sharing your passion and your experiences. Um, so just as another piece of insight, the um teacher education course that they are in is um one of the ones that we have for concurrent enrollment through the University of Minnesota too. So as that was an example of when we talk about the career and college pathway in one where students can get college credit as well as explore a pathway. So thank you for working with our little ones too those kindergarteners and fifth graders. Um okay so um we have another pathway that we are going to feature of course our technology engineering and design pathway and as a reminder our technology engineering and design pathway includes um courses related to computer science engineering and then a few years back when we
030added construction trades I'm looking at Mr. Wickland. I believe it came to the surface after you built my deck in the summer and then we had the inspiration for No, I'm kidding. That was part of it though was construction trades. Um so I'm going to invite our instructor um Scott Wickland up and then he will introduce and bring up some of his students. Good evening. It's good to see you guys again. I've seen a lot of you guys in the last couple days. So, um, I I'm Scott. All my students call me Scott, uh, on the job site. That's kind of what we do. And, um, so it feels weird to have people call me Wickland. It's strange now, but no, it's okay. It's okay. Um, uh, the question everybody's been asking me all year
031is when's that darn house going to move? And it is now gone from our parking lot. Um, I went up there last Friday and they put it on the foundation and, um, it is going to be ready as soon as possible for a young woman with child and um the nonprofit we partnered with will will kind of assist her and get her on her feet and get her moving. So um we're really excited that that was part of our our program and it has a lot of meaning and value for our kids. So um so that house is gone which is which is the big kind of showcase but we've also built um somewhere around 40 other structures that our kids have built and also distributed sold to the community. Um, just last week, my
032third shift to students carried a shed into a neighborhood right right down right across the street of a house that our school in 1983 built. Um, our construction trades program built the house. And now my students this year, we built the shed that partnered with the house and we even put the pitch line right so it matched with the house and everything. So, um, they were so appreciative. The neighbors, it was Gary and Linda Wax and they, um, they brought over cookies for all of our kids the following day. So just great great to be a part of. Um the the latest move is the Westwood shed. We've been building a shed for Westwood. Um the PTO president asked us to build a shed and so we partnered with some people and built a really
033beautiful shed that was transported over to Westwood Middle School this morning. So um that's going to be serving the purpose for I believe playground equipment and things like that that they have. So uh that's the most recent one. Um, but uh, we I don't want to talk too long because I've got a great group of kids that are just amazing. I get to work with them every day and it's awesome. But I do need to just point out some of the partnerships we've really grown in this year. If you look at some of the pictures here, that center middle picture, um, that is Jerry Schuler. He's he's my neighbor. He's a professional painter and he brought all those suits for the kids to put on. And what was really funny is one of my students
034came in and he goes, "Wow, this looks like Squid Game. We're all We're all wearing these protective suits and uh but he taught our kids how to how to how to prime and how to spray uh spray a house down and get it ready for paint. Um so that was pretty great. The picture in the upper right is of Sheridan Sheet Metals. They came out and taught our kids how to install gutters on our uh clubhouse out there. So we now have a beautiful black gutters and they were so happy to be a part of our program. Um you'll see in the bottom left picture um Beacon uh building products which is they they're the institution that's filling the Spring Lake Park lumber building there now. Um they donated a bunch of materials that one
035of my students turned into um benches for the tennis team. So that is the tennis team taking a picture thanking Beacon um for donating those materials which is pretty great. And then we did a little cement work. You can see in that lower middle one there with the wheelbarrow. Uh that is Diego mixing up some cement. I want them to get some experience of how difficult that work is. Um, and then the picture in the lower middle, the little bigger one, that is a uh a gentleman, his name is Jesse. He runs hybrid cocking. And we have a number of neighbors that are people in the community that bring us free materials that were going to be in a dumpster and they just saved it from the dumpster and brought it to us. And so
036we have, would you say, about 150 tubes of cocking that are just were just going to be in the dumpster. So, I thought, let's get a pro in here to teach our kids how to really buildings really well. And so, he showed up and just blew our kids' minds, I think, with with how articulate he was and and the I don't even know what the word is, but just the the amount of uh pride he takes in his work. So, really kind of cool to have guest speakers come. And then that that's a picture there in the lower right of us painting the Westwood shed. Um, you can see it's pretty large structure and um I don't know if any data to show this, but I think that's about a $5,000 shed and we were
037able to put it together with transport for about 1,600. So, um, just a huge cost savings and then a great experience for our kids to build and have um, something they can drive by the Westwood Middle School and go, "Hey, I built that. I built that." You know, that's pretty cool. Um, and then I uh I'm gonna I'm gonna pull a note out of my pocket here. This is the type of stuff that I deal with all the time. Um, one of our our custodians, Guyqu, was at the dentist today and he was talking about construction trades and the lady said, "I've got a bunch of tools that I would love to donate to the construction trades program. Can you give Scott my number and I'll connect with them and he can come and get."
038So, there is so much support out there in the community for this program. It is it is just honoring to be a part of how many people are willing to just support us. So, um, I thought it was funny. Guy goes, I got I got a phone number if you call this lady and get some materials. So, um, it was pretty cool, but I want to turn it over to my students here. Um, I get the opportunity to get up every morning and work with these guys. And it is it is pretty cool because I I try to operate our parking lot as an authentic job site where I'm I'm their boss, but I'm not really. I'm their teacher, but um, but I'm still kind of their boss, right? And I give them instructions on
039what to do each day, and typically they just do it and they like it. So, I'm going to turn it over to Kaden. Kayen, come on up and uh tell them what's going on with you. Hello. Um my name is Kayen Sukup. I'm a senior this year and around a week ago, Scott has asked me to come up here and talk to you guys. This isn't what I usually do, but I thought I I thought I'd give it a try. So, the reason why I came up here um today was because I used to go to a noa high school last year, my freshman, sophomore, and junior year. And they gave me a million ideas and pathways on what to do. But this but this construction trade program was never on the list of NOA,
040nor as I know other schools. So, when I first came down here and I was talking to my counselor, he was talking about what I wanted to do. I either wanted to go to college or I wanted to do the trades. So he um what's the word here? He showed me the trade program that Scott's running and I was like let's do it. Let's give it a try. And I just want to come here and talk because it has given me so many just so many ways on what I want to do. Like there's I want to say just a bunch of different jobs that came in from pros coming in teaching us how to do stuff and it just amazes me. So um that's what I just kept telling my dad about it. I
041loved it. I helped my my grandpa actually moved to Aken. He's building his own house. So, I'm super glad that I get to go up there and help him build it because of what Scott has taught me this year. And just everything. I I was just kind of stuck because I in my opinion, I feel like it's uh it's a little crazy that you got to know what you do for the rest of your life when you're 18. So, it's a little it's a little mindblowing for me. So Scott Scott had all these people come in and one of the guys named Jim Militch, he said, "Hey Scott, I want to know I want to know one of your guys that is hardworking." And Scott gave me the opportunity to work with him and get
042some hours in in electrical work. So yeah, that's that was really crazy for me. So that's all that's all I got for you guys. So thank you guys so much. Joseph and I'm part of class and I just got to say this is one of probably my favorite classes ever and I used to I always wanted to be in the trades but I didn't know like how many jobs were in in it until I got in this class and it opened a lot of mindset for me because I learned one thing I liked it I learned another thing. I liked it and I just didn't know what I wanted to do. And right now I continue learning more things and I still don't know what I want to do cuz it just I learn one
043thing and just another pops up. And that's the thing I like cuz and when I first started I would work in roofing with my with my uncle and that was all I wanted to do. But then, like I said, I started Scott's class and then Scott started giving us like work and it was just crazy because I didn't know how to do it, but he taught us and he was good at teaching and he still [Laughter] is. But yeah, I just I gotta thanks God because he just he's still there for me and anytime I got to talk to him, I know if I need to talk to him about anything, he still be there for me and he's always asked me if if I got anything like about jobs, like anything on mine and
044I still don't, but I still got a one year left. So that's a good thing. But yeah, I don't think I have I don't have much to say. A Hi, I'm Avery Larson. I'm a senior graduating from Centennial High School. I've had the privilege to take the construction trades class at Spring Lake Park. My favorite part about the class is all the skills and knowledge I've gained. Before this class, I was scared to use a saw and a framing nailer, and now I can confidently build things on my own. I love getting to design and build my own projects. And in this class, I've learned how to frame a house, do drywall, insulation, some electrical stuff, all use all kinds of tools, and learn the process of building a house. Um, I want to do
045real estate and flip houses in the future. So, this has been the most beneficial high school class I've ever taken. Everything I have learned is also great skills I'll use for the rest of my life. Um, I also enjoy getting to be outside all day every day and learn like cool things about all the different trades and get um get to know what I want to do or what I don't want to do or all that. So, yeah, thank you to all of our students who spoke. Um before I open it up for some questions, just wanted to also share that as we look to the future into next year, we are planning to engage in a review of our current pathways programming to identify potential areas of enhancement and expansion with an eye towards
046um providing more college credit options in our high school. Um it's been unbelievably nine years since we decided on the three pathways and since we implemented AVID. Um we implemented our first Pathways courses in the fall of 2018 and a lot has happened since then. And although we we always engage in a cycle of continuous improvement and review course offerings, we thought it would be good to just take a a deeper look um at everything and make sure that we're really looking at everything through the lens of student engagement as well as um all of the massive changes that have happened in the world around us and industry trends that we might want to consider as we think about what is next for our students. Um our goal is to remain relevant. Um we have
047more than 200 community partners and um that help our pathways program stay current and we're excited to um engage with them as we figure out what the next iteration of our career and college pathways will look like so that we can continue to serve our students. So you'll hear more about that next year. Um and at this time I will just open it up for any questions for anyone that you have heard from board. Any questions? I'm gonna grill you all. No, I'm kidding. Um, I just wanted to say we are always as a board um, excited when we get to hear from the staff, but of course nothing is more exciting than getting to hear from students. So, thank you so much for being here. I know this like stand might be a little
048intimidating, but thank you for being brave enough to come and talk to us. We really, really enjoy you being here. So, thank you. Sam, I I just want to say that uh comment, no questions, but I mean just the ownership that the students are taking in their their their uh their angle, their track is just fantastic. I mean, it's I was over at Mr. Wickland's site and it's just like all the students were just so like happy to be there. I was like, that's not the way school was when I was a kid. So, it's fantastic. And also, the fact that you guys are you're teaching in classes, little kids when you're in high school, it's just oh man, it's just blows my mind. That's awesome. So, very cool. others [Laughter] especially to the construction
049trades people and the gentleman who said I don't know what I want to do. Um I had a son like that and I said well do something so you earn some money until you do figure out what you do and it worked out really well. So if this is a stepping stone for you so much the better. I personally just really appreciate hearing all the individualized learning that's happening with each one of you. It's very Each one I was like, "Oh, that is so cool." And then the next one was so cool. And I really appreciate it. It's It's always a joy for me hearing from kids, too. I love the relationships with the students and and all of that. And just seeing your relationships with your teachers, too, and just what great people that
050we have in those positions teaching these kids, too. So, thanks for sharing, you guys. It's my favorite presentation all year. So there you go. No offense all y'all. I have to agree. It's my favorite presentation as well. Each I never get away with not having a tear rolled on my face for joy and excitement for all that happens in our district. We're so lucky to have what we have. Thank you all for speaking. You all did a wonderful job. Um, it's very obvious that you're passionate about what you're doing, the students and the teachers. So, thank you all. Oh, good. Um, no, I just wanted to say, um, it's hard to believe it's nine years that we started this journey and it's very evident from the testimonies that we're hearing tonight. We made the right
051decision. We're we're doing it right. We're doing something right. We're doing something right. And the opportunity that our students have um as u Melody had mentioned, the relationship has shifted from not only are they teachers, but the teachers are mentors, they're counselors, they're providing guidance and and it the role has evolved to not just sitting in a classroom and and teaching. um this this is our personalized learning at work and that's what I really appreciate and that's what I enjoy seeing. So thank you. And student centered. Yes, student centered. Yeah. Last spring we had a group from uh OAC that was presenting and what I said at that time was that um this was our vision come to life and that's what you guys did tonight. This is our vision coming to life and to
052see your enthusiasm. What I often talk about is there's nothing more important that we do than helping kids discover what their spark and really become agents of their learning, discover who they are as a learner, what they want to do and not do in the future. And huge there's so much enthusiasm, such a spark and uh there could not be better ambassadors for um the work that's happening within the walls of our schools and beyond our schools as you each shared um than what you just shared. And I hope that this uh presentation is one that our community members uh far and wide tune into and watch because um the work that our teachers and staff are doing with you and what how you talked about that makes a difference. So, thank you for being
053here tonight. Thanks for sharing your experience. Thanks to Scott, Lisa, and all the other teachers who are working with you and doing a great job. So, thank you so much. Yes. Thank you. Yeah, I was gonna say you could stick around and see the you stick around and see the rest of our meeting. You don't want the Really? Poor Amy. She's always after. Oh, Amy officially request a change in where I land. Right. So, yeah. Like, I'll watch it later. He's actually the one person that will actually watch this thing. If I recall, I believe there's two presenters that you you always say you don't want to follow. Scott's one of them and Will is Will's the other. Everybody who calls all the kids up here. So, all right. So, tonight we are doing our
054monthly financial report, the same three um pieces that we present each month. So, tonight we are presenting for the month of March. And with that, that first report is our treasures report showing our beginning and ending cash balance as well as cash receipts and dispersements. So with this, you can see it's a um heavier on receipts this month. And with that, almost all of it is related to state aids. March is one of the very few months where we receive zero tax dollars from the county. And so with that, um the Department of Education with their metering schedule, it's we don't get all of our revenue over 12 equal months. it's meed against a little bit how we receive tax payments or tax payments. So with that March really the majority of the revenue in
055this is from state aids. Um on the dispersement side I went back several months and if you take out debt payments we are really landing at right about exactly what an average month would be. on the statement of revenues. Uh one of these on you can see within our general fund again this is our receipts for the month of March year to date and then our budget at this point which was revised in January. So it reflects that the percentage of our budget spent through March and where it was at this time in March the past two years. So our general fund is a little bit ahead of where our budget was. That is mainly due to uh we have not adjusted at the department of education our enrollment change and we did revise our
056budget to reduce the enrollment estimates a little bit. So right now the metered system is still paying us based on a little bit of a higher enrollment than we what we expect to finish the year at. So that's a lot of why the general fund is ahead for food service and community education. We've talked about this um I think most months that we've been up here. Uh with the end of COVID dollars being last year and many of those dollars coming in in the fall, it was more of a here's the money, spend it. Um so the dollars hit up front and so throughout that year, they were always a little higher than what they would be in a typical year. So that's on the revenue side. And then on the expense side, we've been
057running behind all year, so this is not a surprise. Again, we have um a budget item for furniture, which a large item within our budget for the current year. If we were to put that in like at this point in March, we would actually be right at 62%. So, we'd be right in line with where we have been the previous few years. So, that is much of why we are done. You can see with our compensation is kind of where we expected to be. Um, and then the furniture really goes over several items. Uh, the consulting on the furniture falls under purchase services. Some of it falls under equipment, some of it falls under um supplies. So with the rest of that again we're that shows the general fund is really right on par with
058where we would expect it to be. So for food service we are um I think it's a little bit lower than where we have been the previous two years on expenses a combination of fewer meals being served. Again that's enrollment based as well as uh food service or sorry the food prices not being quite as high as we were expecting them to be during the current year as well. So, we always make assumptions of what those will be and how much is going to be ordered. So, fewer um fewer less food being purchased, slightly lower price. And then that ties back in with the fewer meals being served on the revenue side. Um so, on the community education side, that one we are also a little bit behind where we have been the previous two
059years. In the previous two years, or for sure last year, our expense budget was probably a little bit lower than where it should have been in March. And so it looks like it's quite a bit ahead in March of last year. This year we think we're right about on. So we would expect this to be kind of a normal moving forward. So with that, those are the reports for the month of March. If there are any questions, any questions from the board? I do have a couple questions. I always have questions. Yes. Very good. Yes. Thank you. the Amy real quick. The um the expenses for if I recall there was some equipment replaced in the cafeteria. Where did that come out of within the food service budget? Yeah. Yes, it was in the food
060service budget. That is has been paid. I don't care if it was paid in March yet. The payment might have gone out in April. Oh, okay. So, we would see that next month. Um those are within the budget as well, though. So, those were budgeted for. So, we will see that coming. Okay. And then and maybe we talk about later, but the um expense for was it chillers at Park Terrace? We have um or the high school. At the high school, that has not been done yet. Oh, okay. Okay. We'll see more of that over the summer. Okay, cool. Thanks. Okay, moving to superintendent report. Mr. Barber. Dr. Barber. We'll see this come up on the screen. Hopefully, I don't need to talk to you more about the monthly financial report. Wait a moment. There's
061a lot going on around the district that I get to share. Yes, I can click but I cannot pull it up. You want to move to the action items? Sure. Okay, we're going to move to the action items and come back to the superintendent report. Okay. Uh, can I get a motion to approve the resolution relating to termination and non-renewal of probationary teaching contract? So move by Forsber, second by Thank you. Sorry, my mind just to approve the following resolution. Be it resolved by the school board of independent school district 16 that p that pursuant to Minnesota statute 122A.40, 40. The teaching contracts of the following probationary teachers in Independent School District 16 are hereby terminated at the close of the 2024 2025 school year. Be it further resolved that the written notice shall be
062sent to the following teachers regarding termination of pay and fridge benefits as provided by law. And in the resolution, it lists the um names, the building location uh of the teacher and the position. Um and this is something that we do every year. Uh it's required uh by the state due to the licensing requirements. Any discussion? No discussion. Clerk, can you please call RO? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. requested leave of absent for 10ear teaching contracts. So moved. So moved by Hennon. Second. Second by Schmidt to approve the following resolution. Now therefore, be it resolved by the school board of independent school district 16 that a teacher of said district be placed on unrequested leave of absence without pay or French benefits effective at the end of this 2024 2025 school year on June 30th, 2025.
063Pursuant to Minnesota statute 122A.40 and article 14 of the current master agreement between the school district and the executive and the and the exclusive representative be further resolved that written notice shall be sent to the following teachers regarding termination of pay and fringe benefits as provided by law. And also here we have the teacher's name, the building location, and their position. Any discussion? No discussion. Clerk, you please call roll. Kelly, yes. [Music] Yes. And Mr. Easter, yes. Motion. Oh, yeah. Motion passes on a 70. Resolution passes on a 70 vote. I'm like, "Oh, yeah. Moving on." That's okay. It's not quiet. What happened? Right. Thanks. Can I get a motion to approve the resolution approving Northeast Metro 916 Intermediate School District's long-term facility maintenance program budget? So moved. So moved by Vala. Second. Second by
064Mlullen to adopt the following resolution and the resolution is listed here below. It's a lot to read. Uh a lot of it has to do with how that uh is calculated, at least our portion to 916. Um Amy, could you if you don't mind, could you just give us a a quick minute overview of what our our Yes. Thank you. Yeah. So each year as a school district, we present to the school board our long-term facilities maintenance plan and the budget that goes along with that before we submit it to the department of ed to receive funding. Um we are allowed to do that as a district that levies to our residents as a part of our property tax levy. Uh Northeast Metro 916 does not have residents. So their way of um getting revenue
065to do their long-term facilities maintenance projects is to have their member districts levy for them on their behalf. So, we collect the money and then we forward that on to 916. And so, with that, like you said, the the resolution goes into how it's calculated. Um, and when that's done, we are about 6.2% of the total amount that 916 needs to maintain their facilities, which is about 600,000. So, our portion of that, I think, is about 36,000. So we will levy that and then we will repay that as a single invoice to 916 next school year. Thank you. Any questions from the board? Any discussion? Of course, this was discussed at the 916 meeting and it seems to me that and this is this is just recall so it may not be totally accurate, but
066it seems to me that the discussion was that on a $400,000 house it would be about $4 per year. Oh, okay. very ins. Thank you, Marilyn. All right, no other questions or discussion. All right, clerk, can you please call roll? Yes. Mr. Vala, yes. Miss Forsber, yes. Miss Mlen, yes. Mrs. Schmidt, yes. Miss Hennon, yes. Miss Skellyy, yes. And Mr. Easter, yes. Yes. I just read the mystery vote. and and this is resolution has passed on a 70 vote. Thank you. Moving to acknowledgement of gifts. Can I get a motion? So moved. So moved by Mcclullen. Second. Second by Vala to adopt the following resolution. Whereas schoolboard policy 706 establishes guidelines for the acceptance of gifts to the district. And whereas Minnesota statute 465.03 03 states that a school board may accept a gift of
067real or personal property by the adoption of a resolution approved by twothirds of its members. Therefore, be it resolved that the school board of Spring Lake Park Schools acknowledges the acceptance and appre with appreciation of the gifts as shown. Any discussion? Those snack packs looked awesome from Emanuel when they saw them at the teacher appreciation. I thought that was Do they do this every year? For a number of years. Pretty generous. It's very nice. How many years have they been doing that? Emanuel Christian Center, the snack packs for Yeah, they're nice presentation. It's very nice. So, a lot of gifts this time around. this time. Very grateful. Oh yes. And to our community, thank you very much. It is extremely uh generous of you and we just we're very appreciative. Awesome. Clerk, would you please
068call roll? Yes. Miss Forsber? Yes. Mr. Bala? Yes. Miss McClullen? Yes. Miss Hennon? Yes. Miss Schmidt? Yes. Miss Skelly? Yes. And Mr. Easter, yes. The resolution passes on a 70 vote. Thank you. And moving back to superintendent report. See if it works this time. Way to know that because it's in your presentation, isn't it? Way to steal the thunder, right? She's so prepared. All right, here we go. It's fun fun things to share. First off, at Woodrest, you can see um some students explored new exhibits at the science museum and third graders experienced the zoo. So, each one of these I'll leave them up for a moment so you can see the pictures. North Point first graders had a visit from Carol 11 meteorologist John Ziggler. Talked about weather patterns. Um I don't know some
069maybe did our terrace students are in their third round of spark so they get to explore interests like drumming art cooking game sports so it's kind of fun to see all the different things they get to do and experience STEM night at center invite the whole family so they have hands-on activities connections then we also have high school students there. So, we had students from the robotics team at OEC that uh were working with kids as well. And then big thing, fourth grade track and field day. I know that I could hear that from over here when it was going on. So loud throughout the day. I'm sure it's uh not distracting at all to any of the classrooms during the day with high school. So loud there's some pictures from the next couple slides.
070Kids really enjoy this wrong direction. She's running. All right. Then our Westwood conservation crew um research built and installed some birdhouses. Um find some safe nesting spots for native birds on campus. That's pretty cool activity and see what the teachers are coming up with to really engage the kids. Then we have 51 Westwood students who went to St. Cloud to participate in the uh St. Cloud State math competition. So, you've heard about our high school math team. So, this was our Westwood math team. So, kind of cool to see they have going on. Our high school hosted the first women in leadership event for juniors. more than 20 women leaders from government, business, industry, and community organizations working with kids. Were you Was it cool? And then we had seniors shared their college career plans
071for next year on decision day. So, Our class of 2025 kind of become a tradition to get their picture with their yard signs. Sorry. Upside down signing. [Laughter] Yeah. Yeah. More than 20 participants. Enjoy. We had our first bingo night for adults with disabilities. Next up, they'll get to do karaoke. So, And then just upcoming calendar events. Retire retirement reception already is next week. Uh May 26th, no school for students. Commencement as you heard earlier on June 4th. Um last days school for students is June 6th and for teachers on the 9th. Retirement reception again next week 4 to 5:30 pre-program at 5 at Banquist of Minnesota. So you come, you get to hear Tony talk. That's right. That's right. Our uh commencement this year will be at Maruchi Arena will be at 3:30 p.m.
072Um academic award ceremonies on May 14th. Captain G pickup May 20th. So that's it. That's what I have for you. Awesome. Any questions for Jeff? So many. So, so many we don't have that kind of time. That's my bad. Oh, yes. Tower day's period. Yep. Yeah. That's unusual because usually it's before so we'll be rested for commencement which is unusual. Usually, we're practically sunburnt and exhausted. All right, moving on to board forum. Our student reps, how are we doing? Good, good. Yeah. Oh, no. They'll be here next month. Um, yeah. First of all, I just wanted to touch back to the career and college pathways because my friend Ebie is in the OEC program and this past weekend they had the OEC camp. So, they went away for like four days and slept over there
073and stuff. And she was just telling me about the ambulance runs that they did and how they did CPR in the ambulance. And like every time she talks about it, her face just lights up and it makes me smile because she loves it so much. Um, so I also see all of the passion that students have for it. Um, other activities at the school, we had prom on Saturday. 470 tickets were sold and only seven no shows. So, wow, that's good. Very impressive. Um, it was so fun. Uh, just like just so fun to hang out with your friends, you know. Yeah. And the venue was really nice. Where was it? Um, Hollywood Theater. Yeah. Um, also tomorrow we have May development day for Panther Mentors. So our new house leaders were announced like a
074week ago. Um, so yeah, we've been planning May development day to get all of our new mentors together and start to get them to know each other and stuff. So, um I'm a house leader for that and so we've been putting together our little welcome video for all of our mentors and yeah, really excited for that as well. Um and then finally, SLP Theater closed out their Hello Dolly performance recently and that was our last performance of our very very talented senior class of um theater um students. They're just so talented and so it was a good send off for them. I want to start us off strong. So, we have the awards ceremony tomorrow night and I actually had a conversation with Mr. Buchet today. He didn't reveal any specific information, but he did
075share some really shocking um statistics. So, 65 students are receiving a fourth year letter this year, which is the highest number we've had yet. Um and 110 students overall are lettering academically. So they were all will all be honored tomorrow. There are 173 students receiving an award or a scholarship and 147 presidential academic distinction awards being given out which is crazy. And there are $86,000 in scholarship money being awarded this year. Um he did mention how this is one of the most distinguished classes they've seen. just academically based on four years of academic lettering for these students. So that's very impressive and we're looking forward to seeing all those students be awarded and recognized for all their hard work over the past four years. So we also had three wonderful bowlers make strikes at the
076Minnesota High School League adapted state bowling tournament and Naa Hmer Shaw placed fifth overall. So congrats to her. Um, we have we had 18 students and athletes sign with the college on April 30th. So, the Panther gym was full with students signing from D3 to D2 and Jo. Um, so they're going to continue playing their sport in college. So, congrats to the 18 students. And spring sports are now getting into their section time. So, those are winding down. I feel like the last time we were here, we were talking about how they were winding up and now they're now they're ending. Um, and you can follow along in all those achievements for those students on the SLP athletics Instagram page. And really, they post every day with students who are making a new record in
077track or if they won, if the tennis team won their match, and you get to just feel good about what our student athletes are doing by following along with that. Yeah, that's all I have. Awesome. Great updates, man. Yeah, it's hard to believe already. Yeah. Who's counting? All right, we'll open it up to the uh board. Any updates starting? Just to pile on some other great stuff happening at the high school. Uh DECA brought 12 students down to Florida for the international uh DECA leadership and um had a wonderful experience and learning down there. And the girls flag football. Again, have to keep bringing it up. the first flag football club of uh Park is um having a good time and um having gone to the game on Sunday, we had a little bit light
078um roster and so we had seven very hard playing girls and it was kind of like being in up north Minnesota where like you play defense and offense, right? Like so it was uh but it was fun. They had a good time. And then uh I went today, this morning to the Minneapolis School District liquid acid fund board meeting, which I represent Spring Lake Park for, and all of our money is safe and sound in the fund as it should be. So that's it. Great. Um, number one, I was asked to be on the fan booster scholarship committee, which was wild by Mr. Wolf and uh, I was reading through all these different I think it was like 29 applications and it's like I would like to give every one of those kids the scholarship.
079I mean, it's just like I don't think we realize how much music plays such a big role in their life. I mean, it's so impactful. Um, so that was like it was really cool. It was really humbling. Uh, we went to the uh the teacher I got I got to go this year. It was nice the way the schedule worked out for Tuesdays. I was at the high school this morning and last week at Woodcrest for the teacher appreciation events, which is great. And then, of course, I did go to that open house that Dr. Fair that Mr. He had and that was just like I said just being a fly on the wall and watching what was going on there is just for five minutes you know it's it's like controlled chaos there's stuff
080going on at all times was really cool any other updates um a few weeks ago I went attended a Panther Foundation board meeting and they always have lots of good conversations but they also approved several very worthy grants so um happy to be on that committee and or observe that committee and it's always wonderful to see all the great work they're doing. So that's all I thanks and we'll go to this side. I just wanted to comment also on the teacher appreciation breakfast. The two that I went to were um Woodrest and uh Center View. And I just wanted to comment on how their community is really amazing. Their the the noise between the teachers. I just thought that was really impressive. They're just it shows a lot about They're not just sitting by themselves.
081They're they're all interacting. I don't I thought that was kind of neat. Want to share Marilyn? Um I don't know if I said anything about help me grow last month. My computer's been down and as of today it's back up, but I've lost thousands of emails. Oh no. So I don't know if I told you um there the last meeting was to really have discussion as to what future activities should take place and the executive director said they are fully funded for next year. However, it's federal funds that flow through MDE so I was not quite as optimistic as she was. Um I was at Live on 65 last night. I also toured the house prior to it being moved. I saw Hello Dolly which was really really wonderful. Um 916 has a lot of
082graduations coming up and retirements. Uh routine business. There is a new HR director coming in July. And something that may be of interest to you is that we approved an educational services agreement with Spring Lake Park ISD16 and this is providing services at Avanti Center residential treatment facility for girls and we don't get too involved in it but um since that facility is located within the borders of District 16, we need to provide educational services and the contract is with 916 to provide those services. Um, I I I warned Mr. Easter that I had a story which is not exactly a usual board story. at the 9:16 we have retreats or this time the time just didn't allow. So we had a dinner and the lady sitting next to me had uh she graduated. She
083was a nurse. She's been involved in her community and her church. She's been a board member at one of the 916 uh districts and she was on honored on the All State School Board last year by MSBA and now she's the current her person of AMSD and among other things she had her phone and on her phone she had her high school diploma and so she You're showing that to folks. Well, this very successful person is a graduate of Spring Lake Park. And I can't tell you just what year it was, but the signatures were quite interesting. Don Helmsteader and Glenn Martin and Mary Stagy and someone else you might know. I wonder who that could be. So that was quite interesting to the other 916 board members. But I tell you that story because
084it's really nice to see one of our graduates be very successful. Absolutely. It's a great story. Thanks Marilyn. It was very nice to have her as a colleague. Right. Yeah. So yeah, this goes to this goes to show that when you wear Spring Lake Park gear logos or something and you travel, at least for me, it's amazing how many people recognize our logo and and are just very proud to see um someone else who's wearing something in the Spring Park because they can relate to it somehow, whether it's they went to the school or they have a relative that went to the school and and just our culture and values that come with that brand and that logo. It just it goes everywhere. So, it's viewed very positively. So, thank you for that story. It
085was fun. Yeah. All right. Any other updates before we adjourn? All right. So, let's move to adjournment. Can I get a motion? So, move. So, move by Foresburg. Second. Second by Mcclullen to adjourn the meeting. All in favor, please say I. Those opposed. Motion passes. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you everyone.