4-1-2026 Board of Education Meeting Part 2

001Educate, prepared, and power all learners in partnership with their surrounding community to be successful in today's and tomorrow's society. Heather, can you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance Thank you, and then can you please call roll? The following board members are present at the district administration office. Gina Acevedo. Here. Scott Andresen. Here. Natalie Copeland. Here. Zac Dorholt. Here. Diana Fenton. >> Here. Shannon Has. Here. Heather Weems. The following cabinet members Oh, here. The following cabinet members and staff are present at the district administration office. Superintendent Dr. Lori Putnam, assistant superintendent of secondary education Dr. Jason Harris, executive director of community education and community partnerships Shannon Evenson, executive director of finance and business services Amy Skalicky, executive director of innovation and technology services Kitty Herbold, executive director of operations Matthew Boucher,

002executive director of special education Danny Meyer, director of community engagement and communications Tammy Deland. Media technicians are Paul Novak and Gordy Scott, and the custodian on site is Emerson Beemer. Thank you. Then I'm looking for a motion to approve approve tonight's Board of Education meeting and work session agenda. So move. Second. I have a motion by Scott and a second by Natalie. Heather, can you call vote? Heather Weems, yes. Shannon Has. Yes. Diana Fenton. Yes. Zac Dorholt. Yes. Natalie Copeland. Yes. Scott Andresen. Yes. Gina Acevedo. Yes. Thank you. Then we have the consent agenda. The consent agenda consists of non-controversial items the board adopts routinely without debate. Any a single member may remove an item from the consent agenda by requesting removal at the time the consent agenda is moved for adoption. On tonight's consent

003agenda, item A, approval of personnel staff changes. Item B, approval of monthly financial report for February 2026. Item C, approval of monthly treasurer's report for February 2026. Item D, approval for proposed revised board policy 208 development, adoption, and implementation of policies third reading. Item E, resolution establishing dates for filing affidavits of candidacy. And item F, contingent resolution relating to choosing nominees for election to the school board and calling the school district primary election. At this time, does any board member wish to remove an item from the consent agenda? Okay. I'm seeing no removals. Looking for a motion to approve the consent agenda as read. So move. I have a motion by Scott, a second by Natalie. Heather, can you call vote on that? Zack Dorholt. Yes. Natalie Copeland. Yes. Diana Fenton. Yes. Scott Andresen. Yes.

004Gina Acevedo. Yes. Shannon Haas. Yes. Heather Williams. Yes. Okay. We have one information item tonight. We have technology and information systems future systems transitions update. Presenting Katie Herbolt, executive director of innovations and technology services. Good evening, Chair Haas, Superintendent Putnam, and members of the board. I was going to have an info systems member here today, but she had a last-minute uh child care thing come up and couldn't make it, so you're stuck with me. Um I'll try to be as good as she would have been. Um last time I was here, I was here talking about cybersecurity, and I have another really exciting topic for you tonight, which is our future systems transitions. We're going to be in for some changes in the next about year and a half. So, first off, why do we

005want to change some systems? We want to look at our operational efficiency and the integrity of our data. We want to get some more modern user interfaces for our staff and our families so that they're looking at modern products and really intuitive user experiences. We're able to then streamline support because we're able to reduce some of the amounts of products we're using, which also reduces confusion. So, our goal and my goal over this next year and a half is to create a more integrated, intuitive, and sustainable technology and system ecosystem. So, the first one we're going to talk about tonight is a When I talk about systems tonight, I'll talk a lot about what system we're going to do and what we can eliminate in order to streamline. This one we can't eliminate anything. This

006is a straight system for system. So, this is the ERP migration. Our current Skyward SMS or Skyward Finance system will be transitioning to another Skyward product called Cumulative. Just so you know, ERP is enterprise resource planning, which are the tools that we use for HR, payroll, finance, and asset management in one integrated system. We're making this change because Skyward developed Cumulative as a web-native SQL-based platform to replace their aging SMS architecture. So, if you have been in Skyward Finance recently, you can tell the user interface looks older, it's a little bit outdated. Cumulative brings that user interface up, makes it more modern, and then how it's programmed is a little more modern and secure than what we have now. So, it's a better reporting, a more modern look and feel, and more powerful automation. So,

007where are we in this process? Right now, our HR and finance teams are in the the cleanup phase. They've been looking at the data in our current system, cleaning it up and getting it ready to move into the new system. We have what's called a knowledge hub. So, we have staff in our in our district office that are going to be engaging in these asynchronous learning to build foundational skills. And then I give you a little screenshot of what my web interface in the knowledge hub looks like. You can see I've completed one course, but that's okay. I've got till July 28th to do the other three that are listed there. So, I am ahead of schedule. Uh, but and then there are different due dates for each set that's coming through. Um, I have

008a few. Amy has a thousand. Amy's got a lot of courses she's got to go through. She's really excited about it. It's going to be great. Um, so here's our timeline. Our live data, um, that Amy's team, uh, and Tracy's team have been looking at and making sure is ready to go is going to be loaded into a training database or what we would call a sandbox, a place where we can make changes and and see how things are going to work on April 27th, 2026. Our staff were going to interact with that system where they can start building custom forms and refining those processes. Unfortunately, the custom forms we have in SMS do not transfer to the new one. So, we have to rebuild and by we, I mean Amy, has to rebuild all

009of those custom forms and things within the new uh, product. Um, it gives us an opportunity to streamline some things, but it is going to be a process. Um, we are then going to be creating resources for district staff in a how to access the part that they need, which is, you know, the the um, the various employment records and things that they might need. Um, we are going to be live on February 8th. Meaning on February 8th, when you log in, you will log in to cumulative. That being said, we need a week where our system is down where we'll be putting in all of the new information and making sure everything is ready to go. Now, that week is February 1st, 2027, so next February. We know that's around tax time, but we

010as a district, a few users will have access to our old system. So, if someone needs a tax document or something happens, we're still going to have access to get those. It's just staff will not have access to that online system over that week, and we'll make sure we're communicating that out, so everybody can get their tax documentation, everything they need, but if something happens, we'll still be able to get it. I think we're also planning on just downloading everybody's stuff, so we have backups on backups, and we can get all that for everybody. And this is just kind of a general outlook of what the new user So, that our old user face is on the left, what the new user face will look like, um, is on the right. So, you can see

011a nice, more cleaned up, easier navigation, um, in that system. Okay. Now, we have another migration. This is a I mean, that one's a pretty big one. This one is also a very big one. So, we have SIS, which is student information system. We're going to be transitioning from, again, Skyward SMS, the old version of Skyward. Um, we are not going to Skyward again. We are moving to Infinite Campus. Um, this was a really big process to identify what system we were going to go to. Um, no single system really is a perfect fit for everybody. We included a lot of different user groups and a lot of different perspectives through from throughout the district before we came to this uh, conclusion. So, we looked for a system that would opera- optimize efficiency and value

012for the district. Um, this was a consultative decision-making model, meaning we brought in as many, um, points of view as we could. We talked it through. We gave a recommendation, but ultimately this went to the executive team to make the final decision. But, the executive team picked what the recommendation was. So, that worked out really nice. Um we did a selection process. We reviewed four industry leading vendors. We had input teams and vendor demonstrations. Um the vendors provided walk-through videos, which were sent to all district staff. Everybody had the opportunity to watch those walk-through videos and provide feedback on them. We then had a task force where they analyzed the request for proposal documents and the survey data we collected to provide that recommendation. That task force was uh made up of teachers, counselors, clerical,

013nursing, and administrators, um and info systems. And then in our final decision, the executive team utilized a rubric um and the task force recommendations to select Infinite Campus. This is what that rubric looked like. The main categories we looked at, and you can see how they were weighed, but price and cost-effectiveness, core functional requirements, system interoperability, and then security, technical infrastructure, and support. And Infinite Campus um scored the highest um both by by most groups. So, one thing that's really nice about Infinite Campus um is on average districts that move to it can eliminate four third-party systems. That's four less systems that we're having to click on um and go into different places. So, we're going to be able to go into Infinite Campus and do everything that's listed on those bullet points in that

014platform. So, we can access gradebook, online registration, scheduling, food service, school messenger, which is where we send out voicemails, we send out messages to families, uh pay a secure payment portal, um analytics suite, learning suite, data suite, workflow suite, and then a report translation module. Everywhere you see an asterisk is a uh system we will replace with Infinite Campus. So, you can see we're going to eliminate four systems just and or four third-parties. We're still going to have the functionality. It's just all going to be kept within the one area. So, it's going to be easier to find and easier to interact with. That being said, anytime we change it's hard, but we'll get there. So, here's where we are for that. We had our kickoff call with our dedicated project manager from Infinite Campus.

015Um this project manager has recently done two Skyward SMS migrations to Infinite Campus um from fairly local school districts. Um there is one school district that went from uh the Skyward SMS to Skyward Cumulative and is now transitioning to Infinite Campus. So, they're doing two um in the matter of about 3 years because they wanted to go to Infinite Campus. So, we're in the very early stages of this one, but our go live um will be in the summer of 2027. So, students will register um in our old system, we'll then be moving all of those things into the new system, all the schedules, um and then we'll be starting the year off in 27-28 um in Infinite Campus. Okay. There's another one. I know, there seems like a lot, right? I'm sorry. Uh so,

016the next one is uh we're moving to become a more Google-friendly district. So, right now we are in a dual environment. We run both Google and Microsoft. Staff members have Gmail and Outlook email. Um we're looking to reduce those systems and reduce that confusion by moving to what most of the rest of the school districts in the state of Minnesota are on, which is an all Google environment. The big part of this is going to be taking staff from Microsoft Outlook and moving them into Gmail. Um this will help us reduce confusion. Right now, if you share a document in Google, that notification goes to your Gmail, which very few people check, and so there might be missing notifications by not being able to go or not knowing to go into Gmail. So, we're going

017to have everything move into one email. Um it also helps us use our district funds responsibly because right now we're paying for two subscriptions, both Google and Microsoft. We'll be able to eliminate the Microsoft subscription um, and we can then just pay our uh, enterprise Google. Now, one of the things that scares people is, oh, I'm not going to have access to any of my files. We're managing this by retaining what's called an A1 license. These are free licenses and they include OneDrive, the web-based versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. So, everybody's files are still openable and still usable. Um, departments and schools can purchase on their own the upgraded license for specific users who need the downloaded applications, which we would call the desktop application suite. So, if they need it downloaded to their

018computer for a certain workflow that they do, that's still available. We're just not purchasing that for everybody in the district anymore. Um, people worried about their emails cuz for whatever reason, there might be people who have thousands of emails in their Outlook inbox. Um, we're going to move them all to their Gmail accounts. So, that'll be fun. Um, so, you're not going to lose any of your emails. You'll still have them all there. They're just going to be you're going to look at them a little bit differently. Um, and then staff also retain access to Microsoft OneDrive. So, if they have files saved online in the cloud in OneDrive, still available. Um, so, nothing really like we're not making anybody's files unusable. This is the last one, I promise. Um, so, next thing we're going

019to talk about is talking about changing a little bit of how we do professional growth and this is with ProServa. So, it's a centralized platform that can bring multiple processes under one roof. So, our professional learning management, our CEU tracking, our employee goal setting, evaluations and observations, and mentorship tracking. So, again, with this one program, we can eliminate three. Um this includes a teacher relicensure component to replace the current and mostly manual process. So, we actually add um functionality that we didn't have a system for before. It's a one-stop shop for the entire professional life cycle. Um our next steps with this one, we're very early phases, but we're reviewing with internal teams. Um and then if we are starting to move forward, we will begin the migration process in June. So, while we're in

020early stages of that one, it's actually the first one that we're that will undertake. And you can kind of see a uh a screenshot there of of what that looks like. So, you can see some mentorship forms. There's a little bit about feedback and observations. It just provides more data for people doing those. Um and then more data on various parts of uh relicensure. So, the big question here is, are we actually streamlining our systems? We are. Based on what I talked about today, I talked about 10 current systems. And after all the migrations that I just told you about, we'll be down to four. So, less places for people to click, less confusion to cause, easier to find what you need. Um here's a big timeline. So, it starts with our training base coming

021in April and ending in the summer of 2027 with transitioning to Infinite Campus. So, we got a lot of work ahead of us. Um but we have it mapped out and we're feeling pretty good about making sure it all gets done. But again, anytime we change, there's difficulties, so we'll provide as many resources as possible. We'll support people as much as possible, but knowing that um when you're asked to do something different, it's harder. Um until it doesn't feel hard anymore, until you get used to the new processes. So, we'll continue to work through those. Okay, I went fast. Any questions? Anybody have any questions at all? Heather? This This overwhelming for some. of them Sorry. Do you have like in each building do you have call it an expert who will help from a

022training and development process I obviously so much has changed to just learning in different um online um and platforms is not the word that I'm looking for but I can't think of it right now. But will there be people on the ground on a daily basis so that for people who are not as native they they can have a human who helps them? Yes, the big one is going to be the student information system on that one. So looking at training people in each building um media specialists often help us with this a lot and just like getting that training before school starts. Um that one the training's going to have to happen in phases, right? Because you can't train about what someone needs to do for the entire year all at one time. So

023it'll be like here's how you enter assignments into the gradebook. Now here's how you finalize grades. And then here's how you move So it'll be like as the year goes we'll have to have little checkpoints of training. But yes, and then I also have um just a brilliant innovation coach um who goes building to building when people need help and she catches on to things really fast and helps people not only with some of the process programs like this but also innovative teaching practices and other programs too. So we do have people doing that um but yeah it it's it's uh it's overwhelming um but we will have support. Keep going. Just one other um Maybe I wasn't listening closely. You you talked a lot about staff, parents, and support for families as they transition

024particularly off of Skyward into other platforms. Yes, actually I didn't mention parents so that's great. Yeah, we will have to provide like the same thing we do with Skyward right now where we have videos available, we have um tables at our connection conferences or at back to school events or just generally at conferences or other times where parents are coming around with information. We often right now help parents get their accounts created. We will have to do all of that plus a little bit more, especially as we're starting a new system, cuz it won't just be our new parents coming in, it will be all parents starting on a new system. I know, it's not overwhelming at all. It's fine. Okay, any other questions? Thank you, Katie. I think you're have more tonight or is

025it Was that it? That's it for you. Okay. Yep. Okay, moving on to discussion action items. First up, we have Amy Skalicky, Executive Director of Finance and Business Services, joining us for to present the 2026 to 2027 compensatory revenue plan, and this one is an action item. Okay. Good evening, Chair Haas, Superintendent Putnam, members of the school board. Uh this is an action item, as you said. This is an annual required action item. Um and so, this is part of our uh every year budget process um related to compensatory revenue. So, a little background, our compensatory revenue um is a significant portion of our budget derived based on percent of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch um by statute, you can hold back 20% of the compensatory revenue to allocate on a district-wide

026basis. Otherwise, statute requires that the um revenue that's generated by site must be spent on the site. Um but we know we have some discrepancies across the district in terms of what free and reduced um percents are and in order to provide consistent supports, particularly um when we look at math and literacy and um chemical dependence um counselors and those sorts of positions, we know we have needs in buildings that may not generate the revenue to fund them otherwise. And so we've been doing this 20% um holdback, which is the maximum by statute, for a number of years. The statute does require that if you're going to hold back 20% on a district-wide basis, that the board has to approve that plan. Um and so what we have, what you see on the screen, shows

027what our compensatory allocation is for next year. Uh right now, our allocation um is at about 24.2 million. However, um you'll see a a second line there that says um there's a subtraction for a hold harmless reserve. Uh so right now, under current law, um we would be seeing an increase of about $4 million in compensatory revenue um next year. However, we are one of few districts that don't see um pretty significant decreases under current law. Um and so uh as we were moving into the staffing process, um we anticipated that there's a high likelihood that a hold harmless bill will be presented um by the legislature, which is the same thing that happened last year. Um hold harmless, in theory, should mean hold harmless. Um however, we ended up about a half a million

028dollars on the losing end um of that hold harmless calculation last year. Uh and so we suspect that there's a high likelihood that a hold harmless bill will be approved this year. There's already been a number of bills introduced. Um nothing specific in the governor's proposal yet. Um but they're still kind of sorting through what that might look like. And so, we know that we can always add staff and spend money um later. It's really hard to staff uh and pull that money back after the fact. Um, and so, we talked about this at Board Finance. Uh it was briefly um gone over in the Finance Committee uh summary at the last meeting. Um, but what we've landed on is um sort of meeting in the middle uh and taking 2 million of the 4

029million off. Um, if there's a a absolute worst-case scenario where we don't see any increase, um we'll have spent about 1.8 million to 2 million um more than our current funding. Uh and that's about what we have in a reserve fund balance for uh basic skills compensatory revenue. Um, and so, the plan would be if we don't see any sort of increase that we would spend down um that reserve fund balance. That doesn't impact our unreserved fund balance. It doesn't change um what that percent is that's in board policy that we target um because that is a dedicated reserve fund balance that can only be spent for compensatory allowable items. Um, we do expect that we'll see some level of increase cuz we have increased enrollment this year. So, I wouldn't expect that we we

030wouldn't have any sort of increase. And we may end up with the the 4 million dollars if no hold harmless um comes through. But again, if that's the case, um everyone will get to celebrate the summer and post and hire for a whole bunch of added uh intervention and support positions. Um, but right now we know we always take the conservative approach to say worst-case scenario um kind of what's the the bare minimum, um but also balancing uh having some funding available uh for staffing to support students. Um, so what that looks like then is about 22.2 million um is the the net compensatory adjusted um amount that we're using. The 20% holdback of that is 4,454,000. Um, and that funds um uh uh, 43 FTE. And so, the what we're spending those funds on

031is very, um, comparable to the previous year. Um, and so, I'll briefly go over, we're not going to read all of the narratives. It's attached to the board packet. And again, same things that we've spent on, um, previous years. Um, but we have elementary, uh, instructional coach intervention positions. Um, those are a little bit of a of a reimagined position this year. Um, we've are phasing out the grade level leads and moving to more building specific positions. So, those, um, in some of our buildings are coming out of the compensatory set-aside. Um, secondary math and literacy support is not a new item. We've had secondary math and literacy specialists for a number of years. Um, the one piece that is new, uh, is dedicating some of our compensatory, uh, funds specifically for secondary literacy intervention

032positions to be able to actually do, um, that direct literacy, uh, work with students who are below grade level, um, for their reading. And then, on the math side, uh, we also have, um, dedicated and, uh, assigned an assistant principal role next year to work directly with, um, math specialists and data in working with math teachers, um, to identify, uh, how to better differentiate instruction to meet the needs of of learners. So, those are, um, not a new item in the plan, but a a little bit of a of a change in some of, um, how the funds are used. And then, chemical health counselors, um, EL staff, thing early childhood. Uh, these are all, um, the supporting of the CAP program. These are all very much, uh, in line. It's the same FTEs that

033we've funded in the past. Um, and then, also special education. So, last year special education was new, um, to using compensatory as a priority. Um, and you'll see there the numbers we had about a 9% increase last year. Um, we didn't have as big of an increase this year. About 3.2% increase in special education students, um but definitely continues to be a need, um particularly as the state is working through budget, um and the one area that we continue to see proposals for reduction in funding is in special education, unfortunately. Um so we've made sure that we have prioritized within our compensatory plan, um to fund the additional FTEs that we need, um to make sure that we can continue to support those even if we see reductions in special education funding. Um so again,

034not new, um but just um continuing to be a need, um at the state level. So that is the items that we spend that on. Um again, 43 F uh an increase of about four from last year, um with the the about $2 million increase in revenue. Any questions on the compensatory plan? Scott? Um what is a hold harmless reserve? Yep, so that's where we don't we don't know if there's going to be a hold harmless bill. It's highly likely that we won't get a $4 million increase cuz they'll use some sort of modified formula that shifts the money in terms of who who gets what. It redistributes that. Um and so under the current law, we would see a $4 million increase. Last year when we had the hold harmless bill, we ended up

035with about 500 some thousand dollars less than we would have gotten under current law. Um but the swings weren't quite as big last year. They're actually bigger uh this year. Um and so to to be conservative, we're we're trying to meet in the middle of saying if we had a situation where we really got no or minimal increase, how can we still protect ourselves that we're not spending our unreserved fund balance. And so, we It's basically how we we get to a point where we can safely spend money that we absolutely know we have, either in continuing funds or in one-time money. And what's dedicated versus undedicated? Um so, the unreserved fund balance is basically the available for anything, right? It's um it's what ties to our board policy on a minimum fund balance percent

036that that target that we're always looking at. We need to keep a minimum. Um there's other certain uh sources of funding, um gifted and talented funds, operating capital, uh safe schools revenue. There's there's different pieces of revenue that come in, um revenue for alternative programming, that can't be spent on just anything. If you generate more in revenue than you spend in particular programs, it has to stay dedicated for that specific um item. The uh basic skills, which is what ties to compensatory um fund balance, originated from a number of years ago. I think we're probably going back 7 or 8 years. Um but there was a point in time where the state uh had it written in statute that a certain percent of your compensatory revenue every year had to be spent on extended time

037programming. So, either extended school day, um summer programming, Saturday programming, uh and there's just only so much that schools can do in terms of staff being willing to teach, um students actually committing to coming. And so, during those years when that requirement was in place, um we simply couldn't spend that on extended time programming to anywhere close to the amount that the reserve requirement was. Um and so, that's where that reserve requirement came from. There's no longer a requirement to spend it on extended time programming. That was repealed um just based on the reality that no one was was actually able to accomplish that. Um and so, now that instead of being reserved specifically for extended time programming, it just went to being reserved for basic skills, which is the statute um, term for compensatory.

038Yeah. Um, you mentioned a CAP program. What's a CAP program? Yeah, so the CAP program is an alternative to suspension program. So, if there's um, students that have um, a behavior incident that um, that warrants removal from the building, um, we can send them there where they're still actually able to be with licensed staff and we've got mental health supports and counseling supports, um, which is a much better instructional dis- less disruption to their educational experience than doing a one or a two-day suspension. And that is not a new program. That program is housed at Roosevelt. Um, and we've been using compensatory funds for a number of years um, to help support the staffing model there, particularly with being able to add in mental health advocates and those those non- um, core teacher supports that

039were added with ESSER funds that we wouldn't have been able to continue if not for the compensatory. Yeah. That's good. Natalie. I'm interested in learning a little bit more about um, the special education issue at uh, with the state's budget um, saying here that they are looking to cut it even more and we already have a high enough cross subsidy. So, my two questions are, what are you seeing on the um, coming down uh, from the state on that and then two, if we didn't have a cross subsidy, would we have to spend compensatory money on special education? Uh, no, if we didn't have a cross subsidy, we wouldn't be spending any of this on special education and we'd have millions of dollars to to reallocate uh, to other purposes in addition to that. Um,

040so there's really two pieces. There was already some reductions to special education transportation that phased in partially this year, partially next year. So, we're already set to lose a couple hundred thousand dollars on the transportation reimbursement. It used to be 100%. It went to 95% this year and to 90% next year. That was written into law last session. And then also last session was a requirement to um to have MDE develop what they call the Blue Ribbon Working Group, which is aimed to identify areas to cut statewide in special education. So far, from what I've heard, there aren't great solutions coming out of the Blue Ribbon Working Group because our special education services are mandated, right? I mean, we they're they're required services. And so, the solution, if there's no kind of aha moment, is

041to reduce the cross-subsidy reduction aid, which was added a number of years ago. So, you know, kind of backsliding and then further increasing districts' cross-subsidies. So, that's not necessarily intended to take place next year. Those Blue Ribbon Group or any reductions would be the following year. However, we have to make maintenance of effort for special education. And so, if we know we have to add positions and we're going to cut funding, we need to set ourselves up into a a situation that's sustainable to maintain those positions that need to be added in the event that there are significant reductions to special education in 2027-2028, which right now it's looking like is more likely than not, unfortunately. So. Thanks, Amy. Okay, any other questions? So, this is an action item and administration recommends that we approve

042the 2026-2027 compensatory revenue plan. Do I have a motion for that? So move. And a second? Second. I have a motion by Scott, a second by Zach. Heather, can you call vote? Shannon Haas. Yes. Scott Anderson. Yes. Zach Dorholt. Yes. Heather Weems, yes. Diana Fenton. Yes. Gina Acevedo. Yes. Natalie Copeland. Yes. Okay. Amy is staying with us. Next um is a discussion item. She has the 2026 to 2027 FTE uh projections based on enrollment and registrations. Okay. Um so, this is going to tie in nicely to our compensatory revenue presentation cuz you'll see as we go through that in total we are increasing FTE. Um and again, that directly correlates to the fact that we have an increase in um our compensatory revenue that we're expecting to receive, the 2 million that we just talked

043about. Um and our compensatory revenue um at least for our district is exclusively spent on staffing. We take all of that and and spend that on um on staffing and positions. Um so, I did pass out a copy so you have it in front of you. Um and then it's also up on the screen. Um at the elementary uh level, we have um an increase of two kindergarten sections, three sections uh combined from grades 1 through 5, um and then an additional assist um or intervention position. And then uh you see the changes for um our elementary um allies um that we have we have art going down slightly, um but we have music uh and fad going up slightly. And a lot of that just has to do with um the boundary shifts and

044what made sense in terms of um where to add and how to fill those. Um the biggest factor in that was the shift of the immersion program to Kennedy. Uh and really having a commitment to getting um a choir program established there. It's been hard to to staff that choir program um because there's really no other secondary to share that with um and so the decision was uh was made to add music there which could be a split music and choir um versus adding art which is usually where we would um add. So we reduced art in a different building as those boundaries shifted um but we added music at Kennedy um so that we can really get a commitment uh to regrowing that choir program. Um and it you'll see down below that choir

045is going up um when we get to the secondary portion. Um slight slight increase in FYED uh and then um a little bit of increase in um some STEM and enrichment programming uh that buildings allocate to and so in total we're looking at being up seven at the elementary level. Uh when we get to secondary, I'm not going to go through um every area. Uh I'll draw attention to um just point out a couple kind of key themes. If we look at the language arts line, uh you'll see that's going up 4.2 and that language arts is where um that language arts intervention that we talked about as a priority um for adding intervention positions at the secondary level out of that compensatory FTE. Um that is really was identified as as one of the

046highest priorities um when we looked at at district staffing um needs in terms of addressing that that literacy uh gap. So you see that going up 4.2. Um you do see increases in some other areas like math where we maybe had FTE prioritized to math intervention before but have shifted those funds to literacy um with that really being what's identified as as kind of the biggest um the biggest driving need. You'll also notice a common theme as we look at our CTE areas, um business, family computer sciences, health sciences, we see increases across the board um really in a lot of those areas as we're as we're continuing to grow and expand programs um and and increase the um the interest in in those areas. So uh then the other thing I'll note um that

047is new which uh you might recall from the middle level course um new course presentation is the addition of the theater uh option at middle level. And so, you'll see um that that has um just over an FTE across those three middle level um schools. Uh and there's some decreases in some of those other um areas um that offset that because now people have a choice um as part of that C4 uh band orchestra general music rotation. Um and so, some of that is just shifting um FTE from one area to another, but that is that is a new program um and there's good registration numbers um for that and some excitement around that. Uh so, in total uh secondary FTE um just about a 5.9% increase. Um we have a small increase in um

048in EL 0.2, um but very consistent uh numbers. Nursing, we don't expect any significant staffing change. And then special education, right now we're anticipating an increase of five FTE. Um we're still finalizing uh you know, in what areas and what that looks like. It's very early in the staffing process for that department, uh but we do know with the increase in students this year that we need to add um staff um to some extent for next year. And so, that's our preliminary projection there. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions on that, Scott? Um for the people at home, could you define an FTE? Yes, so an FTE um stands for full-time equivalent. And so, um in you'll see you'll see some of these we have um really strange numbers, right? It's going up 0.07.

049Um so, a 1.0 means a teacher is teaching every section all year. Um if a teacher teaches one class all year, that's a 0.2. Um and if a teacher teaches one class one trimester, that's how we get to a 0.07. So, it it looks a little bit strange in terms of um that doesn't mean we have you know, actual teachers who will only work um that. It's just how they how their allocation of their schedule works out um across areas and the number of sections that we need. Um but 1.0 is a full-time um contract teacher. Thank you. Um I've been thinking about computer science for for a long time. We were short on students taking computer science. And we're finally starting to rev it up. And now into artificial intelligence is coming in and

050it's kind of knocking it back down. Um I'm not sure where we should be in our curriculum on that. Should we be pushing computer computer science or not? You We the way we characterize it is data sciences. Um so, some of that does involve you know, computer coding. Um I think if you talk to our coding teachers, they will tell you that it is um in some ways, right? If it's a career that you want to have, that there are some basics that you need to understand, right? Uh it's just like you know, I might use chat GPT to to write an email for me, but I know how to write, right? Already. And so, it's really that human AI human model um that we would want anyone doing coding or other computing sciences to

051to be able to use, which means that our students still need that. They also need to know about um algorithmic thinking, right? Which is part of the computer science conversation. They need to understand data. Um so, all of that is really wrapped into the to one conversation. So, we basically still need computer science? For now, yes. For now. We'll talk again in 6 months. Who knows? And the computer science, those are um really encompassed within the business in terms of how it's classified on here. And so, you do see that there's an increase there. Um and some of that is increases in computer science courses. We also are um running the new AI literacy course um that was in the course catalog in the new course proposal. Um and so, there's um there's definitely still

052students interested in enrolling in those courses as well. Natalie? Uh so, the questions I have are um two things. The art in the elementary going down and then band in the secondary. Um I know you said the reasons for both of those band was theater, I think you said that there's some kids that that maybe will take that instead of going there. >> some shifts in the in that middle level. Um there was also a slight reduction um at tech in terms of and I don't know if that's just a large class going out. You know, I I don't have all the details. Um but that's really being driven um a little bit at each middle level as kids are shifting to theater and we need three sections instead of four or whatever that might

053be. And then a slight reduction at tech. Um so, that's what's driving the secondary band. Um that elementary um is really because of the boundary shifts. Um we had a a a reduction in um FTE for prep at certain, you know, in some sites where we have to shift because if you're if you're losing 150 kids, you may not need as many um of those um those uh math or sorry, music, art, and fine arts teachers to cover um that teacher prep rotation. Uh and so, it really um just comes down to what works best with the schedule for each individual school. Um and Kennedy was one of the the areas where we um we really needed to add um in those areas to cover the addition of all of the immersion sections coming in.

054Um and so, normally we would try to say, "Let's shift art from one to the other." Um and kind of keep keep that as a district wide, um, make that more of a level shift, but with trying to prioritize covering the choir at Kennedy, uh, it really just didn't make sense to do that. Mhm. So, there's no band or art access that's being lessened for any kids, it's just right-sizing for the shifts. Right. And really I'd say we've we've probably been, um, at the secondary level, you know, not providing an equitable, um, option for choir at Kennedy because we haven't been able to. We haven't been able to staff that. We haven't had, um, somebody who's interested in a part-time position, and we know those music teachers are hard to hard to come by, um,

055and so we really need to have full-time positions to be able to post, um, and and offer to people in those areas. Trying to have a part-time position just really doesn't work because it's such a competitive market. Well, with a child in the Apollo choir, yes, please bring back the Kennedy choir. Thanks, Amy. Okay, anybody else? Okay, thank you, Amy. Uh, next step, we have, uh, Tammy DeLand, Director of Community Engagement and Communications, presenting an action item. It is the approval of date for District 742 retiree recognition. Good evening. Nope. How about this? Okay. I guess I haven't been here in a while. Can you hear me okay? No. Okay, there we go. All right, um, hello, and it's um, good to be here. Uh, Chair Haas, Superintendent Putnam, members of the board, it is

056my privilege to name the recognition for retirees this year. It's still not working? Yep, just get it nice and close to you. Okay. Sorry. You Okay, there we go. Usually me not being heard is not a problem. It's not usually what people complain about. So, I am here to um, very much celebrate retiree recognition for this year. It is going to be May 20th, and we are going to have that ahead of the board meeting. We started that last year, and it was very popular. It'll be 5:45 before the board uh, meeting begins at 6:30, right here at the district administration office. Yeah, that sounds great. I thought that worked out well last year, so. Um, will we get an invite so that gets on my calendar so I won't forget? Thank you. >> We

057We do send out invites for it, and the retirees get them in the mail. Okay. All right, any questions at all? Okay, and I think you're staying right there. Oh, this is an action item. Um, so I'm looking for a motion to approve the date for the District 742 retiree recognition, which is again May 20th, and the time is 5:45 p.m. So moved. Second. I have a motion by Natalie, a second by Scott. Heather, can you call vote? Scott Anderson. Yes. Gina Acevedo. Yes. Natalie Copeland Yes. Diana Fenton >> Yes. Heather Weems Yes. Shannon Haws Yes. Zack Dorholt Yes. All right. And then Tammy DeLand is also presenting a discussion item communications update for us. Yes, and again, thank you and good evening. It's great to be here. I'm going to give an update tonight

058on communication and marketing for St. Cloud Area Schools. And I thought it might be worth taking time just to reacquaint you with the communications team. I think you're all familiar with me and my role as director of community engagement and communications, but I wanted to point out to you the rest of the team. On the left there is Chrissa Hopkins-Hool. She is our communications coordinator and her primary responsibilities are content creator and that doesn't matter if it's website or social media or a publication or a video script. She is our main creator of that content. She also is a great assistant for video production and she is in charge of our social media management. So all district branded accounts are she is the administrator for those. On the right hand side is Carla Hilton. She's

059our marketing and outreach coordinator and Carla's main responsibilities are publications, graphics, design. She also does website work and she's in charge of our district branding. And then in the middle there is the youngest and newest member of our team. She is Elizabeth Hanan and a supremely talented visual communication specialist. She does all photography, all videography for the district, the editing and video production. We keep her busy. And I thought Oh, I sorry, I'm jumped ahead here. I wanted to talk about what the team does. Um Over the years, I've found that sometimes people have no idea what we do or sometimes they think it's all about the fun sunglasses and the branded cool pens and that's true. That's us. We are about the bling. But the scope of who we are and what we do

060and why we do it is actually much broader and and deeper than that. First and foremost, um the communication team ensures public awareness and uh ensures trust and support in St. Cloud area schools. That is the mission of the communication team. We um obviously support the district mission and we align to all of the strategic priorities in all of the work that we do. Our audiences, whether that is our families or our staff or our community, they depend on us to deliver important, timely, and accurate information. They come to us to know that that information is accurate. In addition, we operate strategically and collaboratively to engage our families, our staff, our community partners in the work of our schools. So, that's two-way communication. We are also the storytellers of the district. It's our job to

061make sure the positive stories are being told of our families, of our students, of our programs and that those are being distributed widely, so that everyone knows who we are, what we stand for, what we're about. Uh it's our job also to create the marketing plans and communication plans that promote and ensure that awareness about the district and the schools that I spoke of earlier. And finally, it's also our job to support other staff in their communication efforts, whether that's district staff, departments, uh schools themselves, it's our job to help them with their communication needs. Each summer we plan. So, we get together as a team, and we take a look at what we have done during the school year. Um I'm going to talk about analytics in just a little bit, and we we

062say we look at our goals from the previous year, and we say, "How did we do?" And then from those conclusions, we make decisions, and we draw up our goals for the next school year, and that's when I update the communication plan. These are our communication channels, and you can see they are vast and varied. I want to point out to you both audiences. Of course, we are always communicating to our families and our students and our community, but please note that we also have 2,000 staff. That is our internal audience, and we are communicating and committed to them on a daily basis as well. I want to draw your attention quickly to just two of the channels. One is the website. This is the number one place that families go to for that accurate

063information that I mentioned to you. When we're gathering analytics or when we take a communication survey, what comes up uh, time and again, uh, can you guess the feature on the website that families turn to most often? Any guesses? Yes, it is the calendar. That is where that timely, accurate information lives, and our families depend on us for that. And so, that seems simple, but they depend on that, and they they consistently tell us that's where they go. Of course, the website is also where we house important resources. It's also where we house very timely information. So, when we have, you remember just a short while ago, when we have a referendum, that becomes its own information source right there on the website. Also, going back to audiences, we have this is the public-facing side

064of the the website, but we also have an intranet called Staff Net that is staff access, and and those are their resources. This is just a quick, uh, image of our social media challenge channels. This is a very engaging and very, believe it or not, positive, all right, way that we uh, communicate with our families and with our community. In the on the left-hand side, you'll see branded district Facebook and Instagram posts. On the right-hand lower corner, you'll see targeted Facebook, um, accounts. Those are our Somali and our Spanish Facebook pages. Those are translated and they're administered by native speakers. That colorful image right there, that's one of our newest accounts, and that is ISD 742 Careers. And we have two people in in, um, Human Resources who are doing a heck of a job

065of posting to that Facebook account to bring in potential employees to the district. So, these are all channels that we use for positive engagement. Oops. And then, I want to spend some time talking about our marketing campaigns. Most of the people around the table have been here long enough to recognize these marketing campaigns. Yeah, they've been around, right? Uh when I came to the district, which Tracy and I argue about, she's not here. I think I've been here 12 years, she says 11, but potato potato. Um 742 Proud was the first marketing campaign when when I started, and that was so successful that we carried that over into the first uh referendum. If you remember, they became our signs because it didn't tell people how to vote, but it did tell people that we're 742

066proud of this district. These are all campaigns that have been successful over the years. Usually, they run about 2 years, and then we start a new one. 742 Together was right after the pandemic when we were getting back in the schools, and we wanted to physically celebrate that we were together again as a school community. Right now, we are uh running the We Are 742 campaign celebrating what makes us unique, what makes us special, what makes um us the district where people want to be. And I'm going to run through real quickly um specific marketing campaigns. I referred to the referendum earlier. This, again, you'll probably recognize. It was just April 8th, a year ago. You'll probably recognize there's our logo for the referendum. Uh these were uh posts, and on the right-hand side, you'll

067see the website page, the video, the renderings. These were all assets that we used as part of the marketing campaign for the referendum. And of course, uh the superintendent and prin- principal Skylar wrote took that show on the road and did a beautiful job with it. This is the Ready, Set, School campaign. This is a marketing campaign that we ran in collaboration with community partners and donors, St. Cloud Rotaract, which is the young um Sorry, St. Cloud Rotary, but it's the younger arm of St. Cloud Rotary. They were our highlight sponsors along with private donors, Tom and Janet Kronas. They provided enough funds to launch this initiative for providing school supplies for all preschoolers in District 742 and all of Talahi. We will be um launching fundraising for Ready, Set, School for the next school

068year and hoping to widen that scope. We have marketing campaigns when specific needs arise. This was a recent enrollment campaign uh to increase enrollment and improve parent awareness of where to go and how to enroll. I just want to point out two of those pieces are translated. So, we're reaching all of our all of our um families. This is a new marketing campaign this year. I point this one out because obviously it's a lovely campaign, but this marketing campaign came out of a parent advisory committee meeting. We sat with them, listened to what their needs were for immersion, what their fears were, what their dreams were, and we created a very robust marketing campaign this year that's been very successful. You'll see testimonial post down there. You'll see top five reasons to choose. Uh we

069did that for Spanish as well as Chinese. In the upper right-hand corner, you'll see their revamped web page, and then the little screenshot there of the video is part of a three-part Y immersion video series. Uh the third part is going to be dropping April 15th. Also new this year are school spotlights. And this marketing campaign came as a direct result of our leadership telling us what they needed for their schools, what they wanted for promotion. So, we took a very targeted campaign of looking at what makes your school different, what makes your school um the DNA, the thumbprint if you will of your school. And so, if you have not seen one of the little mic check videos, I encourage you to go home tonight and go to our YouTube channel because they are

070adorable. It's a spontaneous setting up of the microphone in the school media center and uh Chrissa and Elizabeth ask a simple question like uh what made you smile today? And kids just randomly, like one after another, come up, usually shyly, to the microphone, and then they just blurt out. And they're the mic checks are really great. We also have inside the art room all of this campaign came directly out of a survey of our principals. We also have marketing campaigns, I should say communication plans, uh due to very specific needs like our immunizations this year. That's been robust, it's still going on. We're talking about families, the need to be immunized, and if they're non-compliant, the follow-up communications there. And of course, we had boundary redesign. Big deal. We needed to get that information out.

071It needed to be accurate. We needed to invite people to join those focus groups and be a part of the process. And then of course, follow the process along the way. And all of that information is on the website right now for people to be able to access. And finally, just like in the summer, we get ready for the next school year by setting those goals, we're ending up as soon as graduation's over, we we're going to end up the school year evaluating and taking a look at our analytics and deciding what worked and what we want to keep going with. On the left-hand side, I just want to point out those school spotlights that I that I mentioned, that report that is a single analytics report on one school. That's Apollo's spotlight. And Carissa

072put these reports together for every single school. By the way, those are still going on cuz the school year's not over, but every single school that's had a spotlight week, they have their own report, so they know how they're doing with that promotion. I've got a survey out to principals right now, so I don't have the answer for you tonight, but but I'm asking principals how this went for you and your school and I have a feeling it it's going to be thumbs up. I have a feeling we'll be doing um spotlights again next year. It's not hyperbole for me to say that we track our analytics daily. We do. Um we use a media tracking uh tool called Meltwater. And it takes into account all kinds of factors that we track um and and

073some of them are more useful than others. The one in the middle of the page is sentiment. We we follow that quite quite religiously. That is how many times our name shows up anywhere in the media and whether that sentiment is positive or negative or neutral. And believe it or not, obviously, we want positive, right? That we want that positive buzz, but honestly, right down the middle of the road neutral sentiment is a really good place to be. We we like we like what that chart tells us. What I'm going to point out briefly is the top one and I know this is small and you can't see it very well, but um that top one and sorry Lauren because this this addresses traditional media. The top one tells us where we're showing up the

074most often and I bring it up because I've been before you before when that chart was St. Cloud Times, right? That chart was more traditional newspapers and look at what's happened. Radio's on top now. And that's not because I spend radio advertising dollars. I don't. It's expensive. And also, who listens to radio in their car anymore? I don't know. Everybody has their own playlist, right? But what that is telling us is when radio does an interview or radio does a news story, they post it to their online source. That's what's showing up. Right now, where we are showing up is KNSI and WJON. So when I say this helps us form decisions, that's what we'll be taking a look at this summer. Sorry Lauren. Um this I'm not going to spend a lot of time

075on. I just want to show you this is how we track. We take a look at all of the analytics for social week media as a whole and then we take a look at our individual accounts. We have goals set for each of these accounts every summer and almost without fail we meet or exceed those goals and if you spent time with this chart you'd see that's true for um everything but YouTube this year. Um we will spend time analyzing that a little bit. I can tell you that probably the decision to not do school videos is contributing to our YouTube um, views going down. On on the flip side, if you look at the lower um, data point, the view duration of the videos we do have on YouTube has gone up 14%. And

076that's a good data point because what it says is people aren't clicking through, they're actually spending time with the video. And finally tonight, I would just want to give you a treat. This is one of our We Are 742 videos from this year and it is um, highlighting what's unique and um, this is a really unique story out of South Junior High. It's called South Hidden Treasures and I'm going to let Becky Estrada tell the story. It's very brief, but you can love it. Hi, I'm Becky Estrada, principal at South Junior High and welcome to our makeshift time capsule. Well, for the summer we had the fortune of having a construction manager named Bubba who was pulling apart our building to make it into the beautiful thing that it is right now. During that process,

077Bubba pulled lots of different memorabilia, pictures, and different items that might have come from an existing teachers lounge that was remodeled or our lockers or bathrooms. And as he was pulling these things, he started to see that there was almost a theme like the history of the building. To us, as we saw the history of our building and the history of people that passed through our walls, we found that middle school in 1970 and middle school in 1980 is not so different than it is in middle school in 2025. So, we saw friendships. We saw letters letters of love and love letters of dislike. We found, you know, school pictures being traded and we found lunch money that never made it to the office. You name it, it's it's in this little time capsule. As

078we were collecting these items, we thought, "Why not put it on display?" So, our students now can see how rich our history was and who we are as a larger middle school community. We are 742 South. And with that, I'll entertain any questions you may have. Does anybody have any questions or comments? Scott? Are you a speech writer? Am I a speech writer? I think that Willie Jet used to have you do some writing on his speeches. Sometimes that was true. I am a writer. Zack? I just want to mention how continuously impressed I am by these efforts in this team. Cuz we'll go peek at other districts and or just other entities. Um and not to call out the city of St. Cloud, but they don't even have a communication department, right? Can you

079imagine how much better or easier things would be if they did? So, maybe you guys can like a lease yourselves out or something. Revenue generator not that you would but just it's it really is amazing the constant communication and how easy it is to to find things cuz I said calendar earlier because I go to that often. So there's just yeah, it's really cool and great job and Thank you. Yeah. It seems to have made a really positive impact too. I think the tone and the the comments and everything are very supportive and it's it's shifted. So great work to you and your team. Thank you. That was the plan. So thank you. Natalie Yeah, always impressed with your work and your team is a beautiful team as well. Um I just want to say

080the website is so much easier to use than it used to be and I know you've worked really hard on that and your team and a bunch of other folks. So when I go there as a parent especially it's so much easier to find where I need to be and so thanks for that. And then the mic check is bringing together generations cuz Milo and I watch it every time it comes out we watch it after dinner. So and we even like the middle school ones even almost better than the elementary ones which was amazing. So really great job on that. >> to hear. Thank you Tammy. Anybody else? Lori? Well, I know that this won't be the last time we see Tammy but it is the last time you might see her present here

081at the board meeting because she is announced her retirement which the board approved sadly last last time we met and so I just want to say a deep appreciation for the incredible leadership you've given. Don't make me cry. Um I think you know one of the things that I know I've learned from you is is and that you've taught this team is who is the audience right? It'll always who is your audience? I will always play in my head long after you've gone, right? And and it that is such a it's such a valuable question to ask and it's you know it's it's just one of the tiny right it sounds so small but it's one of the tiny gifts that you've given us and and I agree with this team you know from when

082we didn't have a communications department like you have built this from scratch and you have built something that will last forever um the legacy right of of the of this district and the pride that our community feels and so I just can't thank you enough for all that you've given and we still have a couple months left. So it's not goodbye yet. Thank you. Okay, next up we have Ion Homer executive or excuse me equity services director. She is presenting the Native American Parent Advisory Committee NAPAC board response letter. All right. Perfect. Good evening Chair Haase, Superintendent and members of the school board. Following our February 18th NAPAC vote of non-concurrence and presentation of American Indian Education update the school board has 60 days to respond in writing to NAPAC's recommendation. The board's response must

083be received, validated and submitted both to NAPAC and MDE office of American Indian Education. As noted in the response letter, the school board values its relationship with NAPAC and thanks NAPAC members for their collaborative input and ongoing partnership. Together we continue working toward our shared goals increasing academic achievement and attendance for American Indian students improving access to American Indian education for all students and staff, and enhancing support for the unique needs of our American Indian students. Thank you for your diligence, focus, and commitment to our American Indian education program. Thank you, and then I'll pass around the NAPEIC letter. The signatures are on two different pages. If you don't see your name on the first one, it's probably on the second one then. Any questions at all? Okay. Thank you very much. We Where are

084we Who are we giving that to? Okay. All right, then we have the Board of Education Standing Committee Reports, and I believe we just have one, but correct me if I'm missing you. We have Board Development Policy Governance Committee Chair Zach Dorholt. The Board Development Policy and Governance Committee met on March 25th to review updates of several district policies. The committee recommended all three reviewed policies, uh 599 in district transfers, 533 wellness, and policy 510 school activities for first reading at the April 1st board meeting. Thank you. Okay. Uh then we have future agenda items. The April 15th board meeting topics will include the Local Education and Activities Foundation LEAF update, summer projects update, resolution proposing named staff for non-renewal or placement on unrequested leave of absence, approval of tentative agreements if any, remuneration for

085board members tabled from the January 5th, 2026 reorganization meeting, assessment plan update, and policy readings. At this time, does any board member wish to suggest a future agenda item? Okay. Um then, I am looking for a motion to adjourn our board meeting so we can open up the work session. I have a motion by Scott, a second by Natalie. All in favor to adjourn the board meeting, say I. Opposed? Okay, meeting is adjourned at 7:46 p.m. and at that same time, we are opening up the Board of Education work session. We have four items up tonight. First up is the transportation protocol update. We have Shannon Evenson, Executive Director of Community Education and Community Partnerships, as well as Matthew Boucher, Executive Director of Operations. Good evening to our house, Superintendent Putnam and members of the

086board. Um I want to acknowledge that first, um I did offer to defer my time to my dear colleague Tammy DeLand. Not out of any selfish intent, but she turned me down. So, you don't get her back. Um maybe at another meeting. Uh good evening. We're excited to to come tonight and talk about a shift in our transportation bus assignment protocol, bus stop assignment protocol. Uh but first, some fun facts. Each day, approximately 9,000 students are transported by a District 742, uh traveling over 1.6 million miles per year through more than 100 different bus routes. District transportation ensures the arrival and departure of students to and from school each day. With that data in mind, as we prepare for next year, our department is moving toward a more structured framework for assigning AM and PM

087bus stops. This is built on three core pillars, safety, predictability, and consistency. Currently, our system allows variable schedules, which creates significant challenges for our drivers, particularly substitute drivers. Variable and inconsistent schedules increase the risk of error, such as a student not being dropped off at the right place, um which is clearly a problem, or missing a bus. Uh To eliminate the risk, we are moving toward a standardized 5-day consistency rule. Uh for reference, what this means is we want I'm sorry, for reference, most districts in the state of Minnesota have a very similar practice. We had not for the last several years, um but what this means is starting next year, each family will have one designated AM and one designated PM spot, Monday drop-off Monday through Friday. Their AM and PM may be different

088Monday through Friday, but they will remain the same Monday through Friday. Um what is going away is the opportunity to have split in the AM or PM. So, for instance, um my kid gets dropped off at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but elsewhere, maybe daycare on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Um but we still will allow differences between AM and PM, just not during the week, Monday through Friday. Um this was going to require consistency that that we think is healthy and best for all involved. Um and we can just no longer support the the pretty intense inconsistency that is created by all of those splits. With this new protocol, we recognize that some of our families navigate court-ordered split custodial arrangements. And to support them, we are introducing a new split custody transportation waiver process.

089Families may apply for a waiver to allow for two different stop locations provided they meet the following criteria. We must receive a copy of the court-ordered parenting plan. Both addresses must fall within the student's assigned school attendance boundary. For example, if the student's school is Clearview, both parents must live in the Clearview attendance area. And then also, the bus must already travel past that requested second location. We will not be rerouting buses or adding new stops to accommodate the second location. Even with an approved waiver, the schedule must remain predictable such as a consistent week on and week off. Um To ensure Oh, for reference, I do want to share that currently we have fewer than 50 families who will be impacted by this. And that's across the entire district. These are families whose current

090schedules will need to be adjusted to fit the new safety protocol unless of course they meet that waiver requirement. To support these families through the transition, we would send a direct letter to each of the impacted households within the next week or so. And this correspondence will explain how the new protocol specifically affects their current routing and will provide them with the necessary steps to align with the new standards for the upcoming school year. Also, to ensure that everybody has the information they need, we've updated version and this is a draft version right now of our web page. This page details the protocol. It provides clear visual examples you can see on the right side of approved schedules. And also, if we scroll down here, I'll show you. It also has examples of not approved

091schedules. Um, so we want to be really clear for our parents. We also updated our FAQ section. Um, and then to avoid any confusion, this would go live at the same time as those letters go out to the impacted families so that they can reference this right away. And it would have that waiver available at the same time. Uh, so again with over 9,000 students being transferred, receiving transportation daily across over 100 routes, we feel this is an important shift for us to make at this time. And the new protocol will provide essential consistency needed to manage this scale safely. And by eliminating the risk of daily schedule changes, we ensure that our drivers, staff, and families have absolute clarity on where their child belongs at dismissal and at each drop AM and PM. Ultimately,

092these standards allow us to manage the complexity of our district while never losing focus on our top priority, the safety of those we transport every day. Um, so with that, we want to open up for questions. Does anybody have any questions on that? Scott? Yeah, I was thinking back to many years ago. Uh, we used to have a bus come by our house. Some days I'd take the kids to school and some days they'd ride the bus. And the bus would stop for maybe 30 seconds in front of our house before moving on. Is that still going on these days or has that changed? Uh, so the question is can a parent self-transport some days and still have the bus showing up at the house or at their designated stop? Yes. Okay. Natalie? So how

093do you navigate for split custody cases? How will you How do you navigate if the mom's house is in the school boundary and then the dad's house is in her, vice versa, is that Um we would not approve that particular case. It would have to be >> Yep, even with the waiver, they would have to meet all of the conditions listed. Okay, thank you. Mhm. So technically then therefore they wouldn't qualify for the waiver because it doesn't meet the conditions. Okay, any other questions? All right, thank you. Moving on to our next work session item. Moving we're into board policies. So we have proposed revised board policy 533. It's a first reading of wellness and we have Matthew Boucher staying with us, executive director of operations, and Sarah Model joining us, nutritional services supervisor. Thank

094you for joining us, Sarah. Uh Yes, thank you for joining us, too. Um Sarah's going to just walk us through briefly. This is a policy change that we do look at and update and there's not a lot of change, but she will walk us through what change there is to this policy. All right. So yeah, like we said, very minimal changes. We looked at the updated model policy from MSBA and MAS MASA. And the probably one of one of the first change is just the purpose statement and it's just making it consistent with USDA regulations. So our original statement said um school meals and other food and beverages sold and otherwise made available on the school campus between the student start and dismissal hours are consistent with the standards. But per USDA, it has to

095be during the all of the items available during the school day, which USDA defines as midnight the night before to 30 minutes after the last bell, needs to be consistent with those standards. And so, just updating that language to say the school day versus that student start and dismissal time. And then the next changes are a little bit farther down and so, updating anywhere where it said parents, updating that to be parents/guardians to be consistent with our other policies and our other language that we use. And then, okay, so then this is the other part where there's I know a little bit more changes. Other foods and beverages made available to students. So, to be consistent with all of our parent and student handbooks that we have, we changed what originally was that the district

096would provide parents a list of suggested foods and beverages to that they could bring to classrooms, but again, to be consistent with all of our parent and student handbooks, this is the exact language we have in there, which is due to the safety and allergies of individuals, students or families may not bring homemade or commercial food or drinks for distribution, example birthday celebrations, during the school day. So, that is the exact same language in our handbooks, so keeping that consistent in our board policy as well in the handbooks. And yeah, and that's about it. Okay, any questions at all on that one? First read? Excellent. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> Moving on to our next first reading, we have Shannon Avis and executive director of community education and community partnerships joining us back and

097doing a first reading for proposed revised board policy 510, which is school activities. Good evening. Yes, there we go. Also some pretty minor changes to this policy as well. You'll note that the areas that are highlighted in blue for you are just areas that show where our our language in our policy varies from the MSBA policy. You'll note that the first difference between our policy and the MSBA policy is we have a we have a belief statement about the importance of activities. We also have a section B around students while participating in school activities will be supervised. So we provide an adequate supervision notice there as well. And our board committee decided or is making a recommendation to keep those those pieces in. As we scroll down, we just have a couple of minor different

098language changes. It's just really formatting and we'll we would propose to keep ours the way our policy currently reads. However, when we get down to letter G, we are proposing that we would add the language. You'll note that it says the school board will ensure that any funds raised for extracurricular activities are accurately accounted for in accordance with the state statute and are expended in a manner consistent with the purpose for which they were raised. We are proposing adding that language because our language is was a little bit different than the MSBA language and we felt that this just made it more congruent with that language and with the intent of the law. So we're just recommending adding that piece and then additionally you'll just note there's a couple of formatting changes with the with

099the statutes below as well. Any questions? Okay. And one more. Shannon has the proposed revised board policy 599 first reading, which is in-district transfer policy. Wonderful. And this is a policy that there is not an MSBA model policy, but several districts have also share in in-district transfer policy. You'll note that the first change up here just highlights that instead of using the term geographical residence, we changed it to primary resident address because that is what was used throughout the document and in the definitions below as well. Just to match that language. And moving down, you'll see part A there. This is just again a language formatting change to make it much more clear to our audience what we are saying, that our decisions are based on the school's capacity and the listed guidelines. Updating a

100link there for you. And then additionally going into resident enrollment options. The change here is just it says in-district transfer transfer requests for the upcoming school year will be considered. It used to say from May 1st through Friday of the first week of the school year. We are changing it to say will it be it will be considered after May 1st. And the reason for that is we do take in-district transfer requests throughout the year. So we wanted it to be consistent with our practice. Moving down. We did remove immersion programming as one of the indicators on here. And that's simply because immersion programming does not require an in-district transfer request. So it it did not make sense to keep that in here. And then number three, we did update that language quite significantly. The

101previous language, which I won't read, Um, it was more of a practice that we do um, and and it's not entirely accurate of the current practice. Um, but what we do in in is within our in-district transfer request form and we wanted to match the language on our form is that transfers are school specific and reset during transition years. Transition years are kindergarten, sixth grade, and ninth grades. At these levels, students return to their home attendance area unless a new transfer is requested and approved. Sixth graders at Kennedy kindergarten through eighth grade students, um, sorry, sixth graders at Kennedy, which is a kindergarten through eighth grade student school, are exempt from this requirement. Then number four, um, again, this is just updating language, um, just to make it more clear. Um, transportation will not be

102provided for students with approved in-district transfers. Transportation is the responsibility of the parent or legal guardian. And then another, um, one more link update. And that is it for this particular policy. Natalie. Yeah. It's interesting in that same part where you were reading, that's kind of weird wording. It is. >> But I read it I read it like five times. I'm like, "What does that mean?" Oh, so maybe just that needs to be a little clearer. But >> make update update that again. Thank you. >> Yeah, you're welcome. Hey, anything else? All right. Thank you for those first readings. So, that was everything on our work session agenda. Looking for a motion to adjourn our work session. And over a second. I have a motion by Natalie, a second by Scott. All in favor, say

103aye. Opposed. Uh, work session is adjourned. It is 8:03 p.m. Have a good night and thanks for watching.