0012026. The time is 6:32 p.m. Our mission is to provide a safe and caring climate and culture in which we engage, inspire, educate, prepare, and empower all learners in partnership with our 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 when you're ready, 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. >> Zack Dorholt. >> Here. >> Diana Fenton. >> Here. >> Shannon Haas. >> Here. >> Heather Weems, 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
002Harris, Assistant Superintendent of E5 Learning Nikki Hansen, Executive Director of Community Education and Community Partnerships Shannon Evenson, Executive Director of Finance and Business Services Amy Skalicky, Executive Director of Human Resources and General Counsel Tracy Flumbeau, Executive Director of Innovation and Technology Services Katie Harbolt, Executive Director of Operations Matthew Boucher, Executive Director of Special Education Danny Meyer, Media Technicians are Paul Novak and Gordie Scott, and the custodian on site is Emerson Beemer. >> Thank you. Then I need a motion to approve tonight's Board of Education meeting and work session agenda. >> So moved. >> I have a motion by Scott, a second by Natalie. Heather, can you call vote? >> Zack Holt >> Shannon Haas >> Yes. >> Heather Weems, yes. Scott Andresen >> Yes. >> Diana Fenton >> Yes. >> Natalie Copeland >> Yes. >>
003Gina Acevedo >> Yes. >> Thank you. Then we have the consent agenda. The consent agenda consists of non-controversial items that the board adopts routinely without debate. Any single member may remove an item from the consent agenda by requesting removal at the time the consent agenda is removed for adoption. On tonight's consent agenda, item A, approval of personnel staff changes. Item B, board policy 203.2, order of the regular school board meeting, reviewed, no change. Item C, proposed revised board policy 203.5, school board meeting agenda, minor statute change. Item D, proposed revised board policy 206, public participation in school board meetings and {slash} complaints about persons at the school board meeting and data privacy consideration. Uh statute change. Item E, approval of proposed revised board policy 209, code of ethics, legal reference title change is item F,
004approval of proposed revised board policy 213, school board committees, minor cross-reference changes. Item G, approval of monthly financial report, January 2026. And item H, approval of monthly treasurer's report, January 2026. At this time, does any board member wish to remove an item from the consent agenda? Okay, seeing no removal, looking for motion to approve tonight's consent agenda as read. >> So moved. >> Have a motion by Scott, a second by Natalie. Heather, can you call vote? >> Diana Fenton >> Yes. >> Scott Andresen >> Yes. >> Shannon Haas >> Yes. >> Zacktor Holt >> Yes. >> Natalie Copeland >> Yes. >> Gina Acevedo >> Yes. >> Heather Weems Yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay, first up we have one information item tonight is the Crush boys volleyball co-op presented by Hillary Johnson, Tech High School
005Activities Director. Welcome, Hillary. >> All right. Thank you, Chair Haas, Superintendent Putnam, and the board. Can you hear Am I on? Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Chair Haas, Superintendent Putnam, and the board, thank you for having me tonight um to discuss the boys volleyball cooperative. Um tonight is a informational um has been signed and sent to the State High School League. And I would like to give you a little bit of history of boys volleyball in Saint Cloud. Uh so 2 years ago in the 23-24 school year, a group of students approached then Tech Activities Director asking to start club boys volleyball. Um they started that year, and as a club there is no financial obligation from the district. We provide um a space for the students to practice, um and I help them
006with some scheduling. Last year in the 24-25 school year statewide, the Minnesota State High School League added boys volleyball as an approved sport. So, our club team then was able to participate in State High School League approved league and then sections and had a chance to go to the state tournament. This year, um what we're asking for or what we are going what we looked at doing, excuse me. Oh, yeah. And then in the last year, you can say the Tech Club team participated um in that State High School League season with 24 registered students. A few of those students were trying it, but we really had about 17 to 18 that showed up regularly. Um in general, when we form crushed cooperatives, the things that we're looking for are what are the participation numbers
007needed to um continue the activity, what is the safety and competitive um ness of each of the teams, and then access and opportunity for all of our district students, and then the goal is to keep our kids at staying in district and not to have to maybe co-op out. So, then for 25-26, um in working with the whole boys volleyball community in the area, we believe it is in the best interest to co-op in boys volleyball with Tech and Apollo this year to make it a crushed team. This would give access to boys volleyball to students at Apollo that last year did not have that opportunity, and then give both schools the stu- the participation numbers in order to um competitively compete in our area with boys volleyball. Um this year again, we will stay
008a club team. Um I have worked with um other athletic directors in the area to get them a schedule. Um and [clears throat] we still though do not pay a coach or pay for the busing. Um the students are fundraising in order to make the rest of that happen. And then our goal this year, these are our expected numbers based off of last year's um, participation at Tech. What we had as um, interest in an interest survey last spring, and then the number of students that have showed up at try it nights or kind of open gym volleyball for boys this fall. Uh, we start next Monday um, and are looking forward to a really um, exciting season. And [clears throat] I am happy to take any questions that you might have. >> Anybody have
009any questions? Hello. I had one, which is the time of year and you said next week. Um, and then I have a couple of others. that are participating, is there within MSHSL, is there varsity, JV, freshman designations? Not necessarily that were there. And then my other question is, um, is it because of numbers that we are electing to stay club or is there another um, reason behind that? >> Um, very good questions. Um, yes, so for the State High School League, many of our kind of metro partners that we could play, some of them have three or even four levels that they're playing a varsity, JV, B, and ninth grade season. Um, right now we'll our goal is to have a varsity and a JV, and that's pretty consistent. Um, our closest competitors right now,
010like really in the um, Central Lakes Conference, it's just us and then next year it'll be us and Bemidji. So, we don't have a conference schedule. So, what I'm doing is working with um, mostly our metro partners in order to get our students a schedule. Um, but many of like the kind of the Northwest Corridor does have teams, so it we're doing okay in order to get um, competitions that are pretty close. Um, and then as far as the team staying a club team, so what we have done is that we have usually asked people for two or three years in order to kind of to kind of show what we call kind of proof of concept. You know, is there numbers? Um, is there a feeder program? And my hope is that we will
011then do some of the considerations this summer to see if they would meet the necessary um, requirements and maybe ask and see if we have the budget to move them to a district funded sport. >> Thanks for bringing this, Hillary. The question I have is around um, uniforms. So, since they were Tech last year and I'm sure they wore some sort of uniform and now we're asking, you know, for the Apollo to come as well and make it Crush. Are we helping at all with uniforms or how will that be done? >> Yeah, thank you. That's a very good question. Um, Carl, who's the Activities Director at Apollo and I both worked it into our um, into our district um, uniform budget to allocate them enough money to get one set of uni- Crush uniforms
012for this year. >> How about girls volleyball? >> Yeah, so actually girls volleyball is incredibly popular in St. Cloud. Um, we have both a team at Tech and Apollo um, and both teams are thriving with numbers and doing really well. Um, I can give a shout out to many of our community members um, that worked really hard this winter to make affordable off-season volleyball for all of our kids. Um, they opened it up to boys and girls. They're playing on Sundays at Whitney and it is just a joy to watch all of our kids have access. >> We've got teams at both schools. >> There are teams at both schools and it really is um, volleyball is the second most played sport in all of Minnesota um, and it is doing really well here in
013St. Cloud. Our our girls really um go out um, and both of our teams are thriving. >> This would be above the club level level then? >> Um, so what for so for the off season was the club level, but for us in the school we sponsor the state high school league with varsity JV B squad. Um, Tech had two ninth grade teams um, and Apollo had one ninth grade team. Yeah. >> Um, >> [clears throat] >> you mentioned that right now we're not paying a coach and the kids are fundraising. Um, so can you share a little bit more about is someone coaching them? Um, are they currently [clears throat] being paid through fundraising if someone is coaching them or mentoring them? And then do you see that changing or how would you see
014that changing um, in the future if the sport grows? >> Yeah, thank you. So right now we are really fortunate. Um, our girl so the Tech JV girls coach um, has just agreed to take over with no funding, no payment of the boys program because he's very passionate about this getting started and really wants to give it a chance um, so that we can show proof of concept. Um, we also have some very dedicated um, parents and community members um, who are helping to coach it and with no payment um, as well at all three levels. So, yeah. >> Is it a big organization? >> It is. Um, >> [clears throat] >> and then the things that they fundraise for are um, some balls, transportation, um, and officials. We know that officials are always a
015large cost um, in order to run the season. But we just met this week um, and we feel really good about being able to stay in budget with the amount of fundraising that they've done this year. Um, and then it is our hope, like I said with getting that um, getting a feeder program going that this is something that we'll be able to, um, continue in St. Cloud. Thank you. Okay, thank you very much for joining us tonight and telling us about that. Thank you. Okay, moving on to, um, discussion and action items tonight. First up, we have the approval of the 2026-2029 achievement and integration plan. Oop, and she's here. Presented by, uh, Ihan Omar, Equity Service Director. And as a reminder, you were here last board meeting presenting this and, um, as a
016discussion item. So, tonight we're back for an action item. Is that correct? That's correct. Uh, let's see, I'm on here. Now I'm on. Okay. Yes, uh, good evening, Chair Hass, Superintendent Putnam, and members of the school board. Uh, I'm seeking approval of the February proposed 2026-2029 achievement integration plan goals and strategies. Uh, developed with significant input from district leadership, uh, the multi-district Collaboration Council, and the Native American Parent Advisory Committee, this comprehensive 3-year roadmap is designed to promote equitable access and academic excellence across our district. The plan sets ambitious targets, uh, including increasing graduation rates, improving third-grade MCA reading outcomes, expanding student participation in dual enrollment courses, and increasing teacher diversity. To achieve these goals, the plan outlines several key strategies including a district-wide language access plan, uh, providing culturally responsive professional development for all
017staff, and strengthening family engagement through dedicated outreach coordinators and bilingual communication support specialists. Uh, we look forward to implementing these critical measures to ensure every student in ISD 742 feels a sense of belonging and is empowered to succeed. Uh, so I respectfully request the board's approval of this plan tonight so that I may formally submit it to MDE by March 15th. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. I'm looking for a motion and a second and then I can open it up if anybody had any questions from last week. >> Okay, I have a motion by Natalie, a second by Diana. Was there any questions or comments that have come up since last meeting? Okay. Heather, looking for a vote. >> Shannon Haas. >> Yes. >> Heather Weems. >> Yes. >> Zach Dorholt. >> Yes. >>
018Diana Fenton. >> Yes. >> Scott Andreasen. >> Yes. >> Gina Acevedo. >> Yes. >> Natalie Copeland. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, then next we're very excited uh, that Tracy Flaherty, Executive Director of Human Resources and General Counsel is bringing forth a lot of um, looking for some approval of some tentative agreements. And everybody has [clears throat] a packet in front of them and we are going to dig in. >> Good evening, Chair Haas, uh, Superintendent Putnam and board members. Happy to have hopped right over to uh, get these to you tonight. Uh, I it is a big night. It's a culmination of lots of work, um, not only by board members and our negotiations team by by all of the bargaining units that have been added since July. So, I'm really appreciative
019of the work that everyone has uh, put in to get us to this point. Um, I you've all got a packet with uh, with the groups that we're going to go through tonight and I will go through those in the order of your packet. The first one is our nutritional services contract. Uh, this group represents about 98 employees. It's about 69 FTE, but there are a number of part-time employees in this group that are our kitchen helpers. So, 98 employees in total. Uh in year one, the settlement provides for steps for all eligible employees, a 2.25% increase in hourly wages on the salary schedule, increases in longevity rates, and you can see and the same nomenclature is in all of these settlements. If you see a bolded number in the longevity rates, that represents a
020change in that level. And so, you see changes, increases at the 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25-year longevity levels there. Uh increase in the district insurance contribution to $640 per month, effective October 1st of this year. Uh as you'll recall, we also created those caps on the EME coverage effective October 1st. Uh on January 1st, the state uh paid family medical leave contributions went into effect at 0.44% of wages, which is part of these contract settlements because it's a required cost. And then, the last item you see in that year one um shows the new starting rates for each of those positions, with our entry-level position starting at 1686 up to our first cook positions at 2184 an hour. Uh in year two, again, we see steps for step eligible employees, a 2% increase in
021the hourly wages um on the on the salary schedules. Um changed the spring break Friday um to a floating holiday for this group. This group has experiences those long breaks during the um you know, the winter breaks and then the midwinter break. And so, by making one of those holidays more flexible, it allows them to to balance some of the income loss during those long holiday breaks. So, that was something that was particularly important to this group. Um we amended the MOA um that we have with this group that also allows them to use some of their discretionary days during those long breaks again to help balance that income loss during the the long weeks when we are out of school. The insurance contributions to the single plans will go to 660 next October 1,
0222026 and the contribution to the family plan will move to 1193 which is a big benchmark because that closes the final gap with all of our employees in the district now earning the same contributions to single and family health insurance plans. And then with those increases our starting rates now for our entry-level position for kitchen helpers goes to 1720 per hour and our highest classification for our first cooks to 2228 per hour. The total 2-year cost of the nutritional services contract settlement is 7.65% and I'm looking for a motion to approve the nutritional services contract. >> Okay, do you have a motion? And do I have a second? Have a motion by Diana, a second by Heather. Was there any questions on this? Okay, Heather, can you call vote, please? >> Diana Fiden? >> Yes.
023>> Scott Andresen? >> Yes. >> Gina Acevedo? >> Yes. >> Natalie Copeland? >> Yes. >> Heather Weems? Yes. Shannon Has? >> Yes. >> Zack Ter Holt? >> Yes. >> Okay, thank you. >> Okay, the next group that we're going to look at is our non-represented hourly employees. We have three non-represented employee groups in the district that are not collective bargaining groups. We typically wait to resolve the wage and benefit packages for these groups until the end of bargaining so that these groups benefit from any of the bargaining that happened through the bargaining process and then we try to mirror any benefits that were bargained to these groups for that equity across all of our groups. So our non-represented hourly employees are in positions across the district in our schools at the district services building. A
024lot of these employees are at the DAO and and there's about 117 employees in this group. For this group you will see in year one a 3% increase in hourly wages for all employees hired prior to January 1st of 25. Again, we see increases in longevity rates. The bolded levels showing where those increases are going. You should notice as you're looking at those longevity levels that one of the things that we've been trying to do as we did with the health insurance is to get our longevity levels equivalent across all of these groups too. So as we have employees that may move from one group to another, their their longevity levels remain the same. So we're made really good progress this time in in getting that that parity across all groups and so you'll see
025numbers that look familiar in those longevity levels. Increase to the district single insurance plan again to $640 per month effective October 1st of this year. The caps on the EME and then the additional cost for the paid family medical leave payroll taxes. In year two we see a 2% increase in hourly wages for all employees hired prior to January 1st of this year. An increase in the single insurance plans to $660 per month effective October 1st 2026 and an increase in the family plan contribution to 1193 per month effective October 1 2026. Total two-year cost of this wage and benefit package is 6.12% and I'm looking for a motion to approve the wage and benefit package for the non-represented hourly employees. >> Okay, looking for a motion. And do I have a second? I have
026a motion by Diana, a second by Natalie. Did anybody have any questions on this one? Scott. >> The institutional family plan is 1193 in year two. And how much was in year one? >> Um it's 109095 currently. So there was no change in year one from last year. The change happens in year two. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Heather, can you call vote? >> Heather Williams, yes. Shannon Haws. >> Yes. >> Dana Fenton. >> Yes. >> Zack Doorholt. >> Yes. >> Natalie Copeland. >> Yes. >> Scott Andreason. >> Yes. >> Gina Acebedo. >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay, the next group again another non-represented group are non-represented exempt employees. On the back side of that summary sheet you see um the position chart. So you can see the positions that are represented in this group. It
027is our EOCs, our deans, our licensed coordinators, um many of the um support positions throughout our business office, HR office and so forth. You see all of those positions listed. Uh for this employee group, it's about 55 employees. And uh in year one uh there's a 3% increase uh for employees hired prior to March 1st, 2025. Um there's also increases in longevity in this group with the 5 to 9-year um longevity level moving to $2,000 per year, 10 to 14 years going to $3,000 a year, and the 15 to 19 years going to $4,000 per year. Increase again in the district single insurance contribution to 640 per month effective October 1, 2025. Caps on this EME coverage starting this year. The paid family and medical leave um contribution. And then there were some realignments to
028market as we reset some of the salary ranges to be competitive with markets. If people were under that range, then there was a market adjustment to get them properly placed within their range. There are some employees that have reached the cap of their range. Uh you see those ranges on the other side. If they're at the cap of their range, they receive a one-time payment in the same percentage. It just doesn't add on to their um base salary. In year two, uh there's a 2.5% salary increase for employees hired prior to March 1st of this year. Um the single insurance contribution goes again to $660 per month on October 1, 2026. The family insurance contribution moving to 1193, and then again those one-time payments for any redlined employees who are at the top of ranges.
029Uh total 2-year cost for this wage and benefit package is 6.37%, and I'm looking for a motion to approve the wage and benefit package for the non-represented exempt employees. >> So moved. >> And do I have a second? Uh motion by Diana, second by Natalie. Any questions at all on this one? Heather, can you call vote? >> Gina Seabrooke. >> Scott Anderson. >> Yes. >> Natalie Copeland. >> Yes. >> Zachary Holt. >> Yes. >> Diana Fenton. >> Yes. >> Shannon Haws. >> Yes. >> Heather Williams. Yes. >> Okay. >> The next uh group is our SEA, St. Cloud Education Association, our teachers contract. I recognize Chris Erickson who's in the room today and led his team through long hours of negotiations at the table with our team. Um and thanks again to that team because
030uh the teachers contract is a complicated contract. It's over 100 pages, and so there's always lots of work to do um as we think about not only wages and benefit changes, but how to um how to shape other aspects of of of teachers um job conditions that help them be really successful with our students. So, uh they are about 900 of our employees, our largest bargaining unit. Uh for year one, there are steps for all eligible teachers. Uh we have a 10-step um salary schedule. Uh uh the salary schedule itself will increase by 2% and as well the high school extracurricular salary schedule. Uh the district insurance contribution again going to 640 per month effective October 1st, 2025. Caps on the EME as with the other groups on October 1st of this year. The paid
031family medical leave statutory contribution um beginning in January 1st of this year. Um increasing the hourly rate the hourly um teaching rate from $40 an hour to $42 an hour effective April 1st of this year. Uh the stipend rate for summer professional development work moves from $160 per day and $80 per half day to $170 per day and $85 per half day. Uh we realigned the our PT positions to be compensated in the MA plus 40 lane change whether they had um credits beyond a master's or not just be able to be competitive to hire those positions that are highly sought after um in the state and hard to um recruit and retain. And then we added a stipend of $250 per trimester for teachers that are participating in the college in the school um
032programs. In year two again we see steps for all eligible teachers. We see a 1.5% increase on the regular salary schedule and on the high school extracurricular curriculum schedule. An increase in longevity from $1,000 to $1,250 for teachers with 12 to 14 years of experience from 3,000 to 3250 for teachers with 15 to 19 years of experience and from 6,000 to 6275 for teachers with 20 plus years of experience. Increase in the um single insurance um contribution to $660 per month. Uh increase in the family plan contribution to 1193 per month effective October 1, 2026. And then there's a um there was an increase in the teacher married to teacher plans. You know, we've talked about the employee married to employee. Um and so this particular benefit will only apply to teachers married to teachers,
033not to other employee groups. But that single contribution will move to $980 per month and the family contribution to 2265 per month. Um total 2-year cost of this contract is 8.82% and I'm looking for a motion to approve our contract with the SCEA. >> So moved. >> Uh again, I have a motion by Diana and a second by Natalie. Any questions on this? Okay, Heather, can you call vote? >> Dr. Holt. >> Yes. >> Natalie Copeland. >> Yes. >> Diana Fenton. >> Yes. >> Scott Andresen. >> Yes. >> Shannon Haws. >> Yes. >> Gina Acevedo. >> Yes. >> Heather Williams. Yes. >> Okay, next group, the St. Cloud Principals Association. Uh the the SCPA represents 29 principals and assistant principals. Year one of this contract provides for steps for eligible principals. Again, the increase in
034the single contribution to 640 per month effective October 1 of 25. Uh caps on the EME effective October 1, 2025. The uh the statutory requirement for the paid family medical leave contributions effective January 1st of 2026. We see an increase in all of the longevity levels with the 5-to-9-year longevity going to $2,000, the 10-to-12-year longevity going to $3,000, 13-to-15-year going to $4,000, and the 16-plus-year remains unchanged. Uh the salary schedule with the um, increases on the salary schedule are listed there because it's not a straight percentage. So, you see, um, for each of the lanes of the principal's contract, uh, what those, um, salary schedule, um, amounts look like. If you I don't we don't have the labels on those, but um, classification A is our high school principals, B is our junior high principals,
035C is our elementary principals, and then D is our, um, high school assistant principals, E our middle school assistant principals, and F is our, um, elementary uh, assistant principals. In year two, again, we see steps for eligible employees. Uh, the district insurance contribution to single plans going to $660 per month. Um, we moved the longevity sub schedule in terms of adjusting the years. The, um, the >> [clears throat] >> the dollar amounts re- remained the same, but we shortened the schedule a bit. So, now you hit that first level from five to seven, the second level from eight to 10, the third level from 11 to 13, and you hit that top level of longevity now at 14 years rather than at 16. And again, you see a copy of what the salary schedule looks
036like with those increases. The total two-year cost of this contract is 5.99%. I'm looking for a motion to approve the contract with the St. Cloud Principals Association. >> So moved. >> And do I have a second? I have a motion by Diana, a second by Natalie. Any questions on that one? Heather, can you call vote? >> Diana Fenton. Gina Acevedo. >> Yes. >> Natalie Copeland. >> Yes. >> Heather Weems. Yes. Scott Anderson. >> Yes. >> Zack Dorholt. >> Yes. >> Shannon Haws. >> Yes. >> Okay, the last one for me to present is the St. Cloud Administrators group. Uh, these are our directors across the district and our special education supervisors. Uh if we there are 19 employees administrators in this group. In year one it provides for a $3,000 salary increase for all eligible
037administrators. The longevity increases that you see mirror what we were doing with the SEPA group. Again, we're trying to provide that parity that equity across those two groups that are similarly situated in the district. And so 5 years at 2,000, 10 to 12 at 3,000, 13 to 15 at 4,000 and the 16 plus remaining at 5,000. We reduced the number of days for the special education supervisors from 225 days per year to 220 days per year because though that number of days was seen as sufficient to manage the responsibilities of that position and it helped us be more competitive in our wages for for really specialized positions. The district insurance contribution of single plans went to $640 on October 1st, 2025. The EME caps went into effect at the same time and we began the
038family leave wage tax at 0.44% on January 1st, 2026. In year two, there's a $2,300 salary increase for all eligible administrators. Like we did with the principals, the amounts remain the same but we shifted the years so people move through that longevity schedule a little bit quicker. And then the district single insurance contribution moving to $660 per month effective October 1, 2026. Total two-year cost of this agreement is 6.84% and I'm looking for a motion to approve the contract with the St. Cloud Administrators Association. >> [laughter] >> Thank you again. I have a motion by Diana and a second by Natalie. Any questions on this one? Okay, Heather, can you I vote? >> Heather Weems. Yes. Diana Fenton. >> Yes. >> Natalie Copeland. >> Yes. >> Gina Acevedo. >> Yes. >> Scott Andreasen. >> Yes.
039>> Zach Dorholt. >> Yes. >> Shannon Haas. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you Tracy very much. We have one more to present. It's executive contracts presented by Superintendent Laurie Putnam. >> Thank you Chair Haas. Tonight I'm glad to bring forward the recommendation from the personnel committee who are recommending approval of the 2026-2027 executive contracts based on my proposal. As this board knows, but for anybody listening, the executive team represents eight employees who do report directly to me including two assistant superintendents and six executive directors. The summary of the economic changes is in your packet, but I'll go through it. The proposal increases a two includes a 2.5% salary increase which is consistent with the second year adjustment provided to the other non-represented exempt employees across the district. It also includes insurance contributions increases aligned
040with other bargaining groups maintaining consistency in how benefits are structured across employee groups. Two adjustments are recommended to keep executive contracts reasonably aligned with a broader market. The 403B match would increase from $5,000 to $6,000 and the district would make a $5,000 annual contribution to the Minnesota State Health Care Savings Plan helping offset higher out-of-pocket health insurance costs for executives as compared to the market. Finally, the severance provision has been clarified so that eligibility reflects executive service requiring eight years of executive service and providing one month of severance for every two years served. These changes maintain alignment with district compensation practices while ensuring clarity and market competitiveness for executive roles. The total package cost is 5.71% and I'm looking for a motion to approve the wage and benefits package for the executive director contracts. >>
041So moved. >> Okay, we have a motion by Diana, a second by Natalie, any questions? Okay, Heather, can you call vote? >> Zack Dorholt? >> Yes. >> Diana Penton? >> Yes. >> Natalie Copeland? >> Yes. >> Scott Andreasen? >> Yes. >> Shannon Haas? >> Yes. >> Gina Acevedo? >> Yes. >> Heather Williams, yes. Okay, and I will be back just one more time. We have a newly organized bargaining unit, the St. Cloud Educational Support Professionals, which is a small group of our mental health professionals, chemical dependency um counselors. Uh that group is recently organized. They and then they most recently um um made their agreement with the with uh the SCEA to be their local representative, so we'll begin bargaining with that group shortly. And uh and be Oh, clerical. Sorry, yes. That's right. Okay,
042two more times. Ten of agreement is in place with the clerical, and so fingers crossed. We'll be back twice. Thank you so much. So many groups. All right, thank you all. >> Yes. Thank [laughter] you. That was amazing. So, thank you all for getting that together. Okay, um finishing up here on the discussion items for tonight, we have a special education update presented by Danni Meyer, Executive Director of Special Education. >> All right, good evening, Chair Haas, Superintendent Putnam, members of the board. I am super excited to be here tonight um to provide some special education programming updates with all of you this evening. I just wanted to start and highlight our amazing team. Um there is a lot of us working here in special education within the school district that support our students starting
043at age birth, um, right when they're little little all the way up through age 22. So, I want to clarify this does not highlight FTE. It is surely the number of staff that support the incredible programming that we do district wide. Um, I particularly want to highlight our special education teacher numbers. Um, part C is our um, students birth up to their third birthday, and then part B is students from their third birthday through age 22. So, we have, um, 230 over 230 teachers that support that work directly, and then by itinerant providers, I just want to clarify those are our incredible providers such as speech pathologist, occupational, um, therapist, physical therapist that support the important work that is on IEPs that does not come through as a licensed teacher. So, very large team that
044we're very proud of. I'm going to start with the littles and kind of work my way up. Um, you had the opportunity last meeting to hear from, uh, Director Flynn, who we partner incredibly closely with in special education, and I just wanted to highlight some additional data specific to special education around our evaluation team. And so, they mentioned, um, Barika and Kate mentioned that already, but I just want to put some actual data out to show you the number of Help Me Grow referrals that we have gotten in the, um, I use 6 months worth of data. That's how we report them. For Help Me Grow referrals, which anyone can do a Help Me Grow referral, um, indicating that they believe there may be a developmental concern. So, it can be a doctor, a community
045member, a parent, a grandparent. Um, they submit a Help Me Grow referral through the platform, and then that is sent over directly to a specific special education email group, um, and then we receive that referral, and then from there the evaluation team determines if we will move forward and evaluate that student, or if we will um close the file, but we do meet with all families when we do that process. So, it's just really high numbers. You can see close to 300 um referrals that our team looks into um within a 6-month period for part C and around 250 for part B. So, our evaluation team is busy busy busy and these are um significant increases over the past couple years that with the number of Help Me Grow referrals that we continue to see
046and receive. And I just want to highlight the incredible work that they do as um for example, now I'm getting a little bit into the weeds, but I get so excited about this stuff. Um we have 45 calendar days to do a um part C evaluation. So, from the day a referral comes in, our team has 45 days counting weekends, counting holidays to completely meet with the family, do the evaluation, finish the entire process. So, that number means they're boom boom boom boom. They need to move quickly in order to meet our deadlines. Um we also have and again, this was highlighted last meeting, our home visitors, our birth to three teachers. Another incredible service delivery model that we offer um for our students who qualify for special education up through their third birthday is
047we provide um coaching to those families. So, our special education teachers, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, they will go into the home or into the daycare um and support and coach the parent or daycare provider to improve skills and hopefully then not need special education services long term and really that early intervention model. Um moving into our 3-year-old and 4-year-old programming that we have again, you heard about our inclusive preschool programming. I just wanted to talk more specifically about our um self-contained preschool. And with that, we have had a significant, as I previously mentioned, um increase in needs. And over the last 3 years at Corry View within special education, we've had to increase our self-contained preschool from two teachers to five teachers. And um the state takes that threshold very seriously cuz we know inclusion
048is incredibly important, especially at that young young developmental level with peer models. And so it just shows the needs in our community are really increasing that we have students that are showing the need for that level of highly structured support. But to acknowledge that, and we know that isn't best, we added a role um this year. We know it's best for some students, but we What I mean by that is we know inclusion is best whenever possible. Um we added a role with a teacher who is kind of um bouncing between supporting students who are who need the self-contained smaller setting, but providing opportunities for them to go into inclusive classrooms. So we're really taking a close look at their day and what are some times that they could still have opportunities with peers and
049be successful to kind of bridge that gap and also help prepare for kindergarten. So that was a new role we were able to add this year. And then we've just increased our um mentorship and lead teacher process within specifically early childhood special education, knowing as our numbers go up um and we have an increase in staff that we need to support these students. Finding qualified teachers that are licensed is sometimes not possible just given the shortages that we experience, and so we have increased um the mentorship and lead teacher time specific to early childhood special education. And then another thing that we are incredibly proud of is our um improved early childhood special education to kindergarten transition process. So we have really worked hard um with our early childhood teams and our kindergarten teams to
050have a seamless transition we where we are monitoring um enrollment, where they are going. Staff are completing information sheets, having um transition meetings for every student on an IEP to kind of talk through how can we set the student up for success when they make that jump from early childhood programming on a shortened school day, right? About 2 and 1/2 hours to a full day of kindergarten, how can we set them up for success? So, those are just a few highlights within um our early childhood special ed programming. Moving into our K-12 um programs, what I have listed on the screen here is just um federal settings, where do we service students? So, federal setting, what that is in special education, it indicates how much time a student spends within special education programming. Um and
051we want to be clear that it is not a place for them, it is just the amount of service that they need to be successful. And so, we have all of our um elementary and secondary buildings provide those setting one, two, and three services. So, students range anywhere from just receiving speech services to they are spending the majority if not the their entire school day in special education, again, very depending on what their needs are. And then we have um our setting four programming. And setting four programming indicates that there are no um general education peers in that programming. It is a program specific to special education. And so, we have several programs and I'm going to highlight them here in a bit. And then we also um service a lot of students um that
052fall within the our hospital programs. So, being that we have so many providers with that fall within the St. Cloud school district, Clara's House, um we have Newport Academy, we have the actual St. Cloud Hospital itself, we provide special education staff at all of those sites to support programming for students based on need. And then we have um two primary setting four programs in the district, uh Journey, which is located at Roosevelt Education Center, and that services students um grades 4 through grade 12, which technically is up through age 22 for any students who need it. And that specifically is supporting our students with more involved needs that often require um two-on-one staffing or have more significant behaviors related to their autism or cognitive disabilities. And then uh Katherine Johnson Education Center um serves students
053grade uh in grades um kindergarten through 12th grade, and that is really more socially emotional programming. And so um we are very proud of of both programs, but we also know again that inclusion is the best possible model. So we have a very detailed referral process that we make sure that we have really looked at all possible steps before we consider a student transitions to either Journey or Katherine Johnson Education Center. Uh we also have two 18 to 22 programs um that we again are very proud of and very long-term well-established. They are considered setting four programs only because they're they're only students with disabilities that attend that programming and have the ability to receive services up through their 22nd birthday, but they specifically are working on those transition life skills, job skills to get
054our young adults ready for life after high school and preparing them for the workforce and what that looks like. And so for some of them, it is more functional skills. Our InStep program is um designed for students that have more functional needs, and so they may be working on daily living, cooking, um and for at both um CO2 and InStep, half of their day is on a job site where they are working on um job skills with a job coach, and then the other half their day is receiving that transition programming on site. All All Then I just wanted to highlight for you, and I'm not going to go through all the different disability areas tonight. In Minnesota, there are 13 ways that you can qualify for special education. And so, I just wanted to
055highlight on this slide our December 1st child count data, which is our required reporting for all students birth through age 22 a number of students. This number, the 2,575, these are students who attend within the St. Cloud School District specifically. So, we know currently we have 2,575 St. Cloud residents that receive programming through the St. Cloud School District. That number does not include any students who are open enrolled and also attend with us. The December 1st data goes based on your resident district. But, I did want to highlight just our three most common disability areas that students receive services. So, the most common disability area, about 23% of students who qualify for services qualify for a specific learning disability. And then, the second most common disability area is autism spectrum disorder, right under 20%, and
056then developmental delay, which is kind of that global area for early intervention that students qualify up through age seven before they switch to a categorical disability. That's right at about 19% as well. A lot of students receiving services with us. One thing I also wanted to highlight in our in this update as well is just our overall autism programming that we have in the district. We know that the autism prevalence rate continues to go up, and we also know that um there is some noise in the community around what that looks like. So, I'm going to highlight that in a little bit, but I want to clarify that specifically within our district we have increasing needs and numbers within the St. Cloud community. So, we have an increasing number of students that qualify educationally for
057autism, but the needs are also quite significant as I kind of highlighted earlier with this number of preschoolers needing that self-contained or the smaller setting for preschool programming. [clears throat] Last spring, I organized an autism summit where we had our district leaders, building administrators, teachers, our autism specialists come together and say, "We know that the needs in Saint Cloud are increasing. We know that our programming within district is going to need to change. What are we going to do? We need to plan, we need to prepare, and we need to talk about what our next steps are." And so, as a result of that, three of our elementary programs are doing a pilot this fall specifically at Talahi, Oak Hill, and Madison where we're trialing a different schedule model to work on um students where
058they will receive support when they go to specials and increasing time out in general education, but a really strict schedule with increased minutes in literacy, increased minutes in math coming out of the special education classroom. And we have three autism specialists who support district level programming. They are incredible. They will coach teachers, they will coach programming, they attend IEP meetings, they support school programs, any kind of program you can you can think of or a student who needs support, they are our go-tos. They are truly, truly incredible and we are very lucky to have their support. They also oversee all of our initial autism evaluations, which is what I'm going to talk through next. So, I just wanted to clarify because there has been so much that has been happening in the community right now
059the difference between a medical autism diagnosis and showing educational eligibility within schools for programming cuz they are two very significantly different things and ways to qualify. Um and so students who have a medical diagnosis that is diagnosed by a medical professional um and they can receive services through the county such as ABA. Um a medical diagnosis does not mean when you come in with a medical diagnosis, it does not mean that you automatically get to receive school services. So if a student um or a family is showing characteristics or of autism, we still will do a school-based evaluation which our autism specialist oversee that along with our school psychologist of course the process to determine that students must have a need in two out of three areas, communication, social interaction, or restrictive repetitive behavior. But
060the key factor is there has to be an educational impact on their day. And so what that looks like is our um autism specialist, our psychologists, our teachers, they're doing one-on-one assessments, observations, interviews, standardized assessment to say, is there a need here at school? So although we know there are lots of things happening in the community right now around autism and fraud and some of those pieces that I I do want to clarify that to the listening public and to the board that is not impacting um our school autism numbers or programming or anything related to that. It is completely separate. Uh this was just a visual um that I shared at our summit last spring from our autism specialist. It's just as the language continues to change, we want to clarify that um previously
061it was kind of always that notion that um autism was you had people who were either less autistic or more autistic and that language is outdated and we really do not view it anymore um kind of in that linear model, and instead we view it more as like a pie. So, what are the different need areas that students might have? Um social differences or interests or executive functioning, emotional regulation, what are the specific skills that they need to be taught instead of viewing it as kind of that more broad language uh less autistic or more autistic. And this is just it's a little hard to see um but I wanted to share this is some data that's coming out of the University of Minnesota um specifically around the autism rates in Minnesota. So, I just
062wanted to share this data with you that is um clarifying right now the overall autism rates and how that looks in different demographic groups right now based on the data. So, this is data compiled um again, the University of Minnesota is working very closely. There's a autism monitoring network um that Minnesota along with nationally is kind of tracking autism numbers, and so it's just showing the different um demographic groups and what those autism rates look like. You'll notice the difference between 4-year-olds and 8-year-olds. You're like, why is that changing? Um again, that's that early intervention. So, we see that when kids are entering kindergarten, first grade, second grade, as they get closer to that 8-year-old age, um we know that more students have school access at that point, and then in turn um the in
063different groups it looks differently based on what that ratio is. Yeah. >> I'm sorry to interrupt. >> Oh, you're good. >> Is that the medical diagnosis or is that the educational diagnosis? >> That's the medical diagnosis. Good clarification. >> [snorts] >> Why is it so high in the Somali community? >> What was that? >> Why is it so high in the Somali community? >> Um I am not sure. There is different research that shows different things. Autism in general is an area that there's still a lot of question marks around, but it does look different right now the rates in different demographic groups. All right. Then I just wanted to talk through um I don't know some exciting things that we have happening in special education. So I talked a little bit about the um
064autism elementary pilot that we have going and look forward to continuing next school year. We uh also have and I talked about this briefly um the fifth to sixth grade transition task force that we have. Again, that group um specifically focusing on students on IEPs. How can we really improve that transition? We have a lot of work to do. That's a huge jump going from fifth to sixth grade and how can we make that transition smoother for families, for students, and set students up for success um that sixth grade year instead of having such a long period to adjust before they're able to get on track. >> [snorts] >> Uh we also have had the opportunity to do a safety task force with staff. Just looking at knowing that as our needs continue to increase,
065we are seeing increased behaviors and how can we ensure that um not only our students are safe, but our staff is staying is staying safe as well. Our paraeducators and our teachers supporting those students. Been working very closely um with Superintendent Hanson on the re-boundaries process and what does that look like for our students on IEPs that are impacted um by the transition ensuring again that they're set up for success with those transitions to their new schools. And then we are well underway preparing for extended school year, which is our summer programming um that we will have in June. And on top of all of that, it's staffing for fall. And so um within special education, the staffing process is so much more complicated. It's not just oh, there's 100 students at Westwood. That means
066we're going to have this many sections of first grade. We run um a workload analysis by what is on every student's IEP, what services do we need, and based on that, what FTE do we need at each site and in each disability area and for each itinerant provider, speech, OT, social work, PT. So, >> [snorts] >> it is a lot a lot of work um but it's important work to ensure that we have the appropriate services and supports in place for all of our students at all of our sites. All right. Um we know that special education is a very hard to hire area and we have worked super hard over the past few years on um addressing this specifically and what we can do to get licensed special educators. So, we have um two
067pathways right now that the district is um supporting. We are working with a group of 11 teachers um with district support who are going through the PELSB portfolio process and so for licensure, so these are our educators who have a license already in a area, elementary education, um general education, early childhood education and they're adding on a special education license. So, we're supporting them showing mastery in different standards um that they are able to be receive their special education license. And then we have a special education uh pipeline grant. It recently transitioned MDE transitioned the name to Pathways Grant. Um and that's a partnership [clears throat] that we got with St. Cloud State a few years ago and we have 16 teachers who are getting their master's degree um in special education through St. Cloud
068State and that is just about fully funded um through the grant that those educators are able to get their tuition paid for. And then fingers crossed, so maybe knock on wood here in the room. I um have submitted for two grants this winter, one as a possibility for paraeducators to work toward um initial licensure in special education and then I also applied for another round of the SPED Pathways grant. So, fingers crossed that we'll be able to continue that work on getting licensed special educators. And then we have a few partnerships that are specific to special education. I I've talked through these either in board updates or in some of the highlights, but I just again want to walk through them a little bit here. We I'm very excited about our partnership with Fraser, which
069is an ABA site here in St. Cloud. We have a pilot with them specific at Quarry View supporting our most involved students in self-contained preschool where we are observing back and forth between sites and ensuring that families don't need to choose between ABA or preschool. We can do both. And so we're working very closely with them. That is the first Fraser pilot in the state and that's a very well-known [clears throat] ABA site. Fraser also only goes up through age seven, which is a positive as well because there's not conflicts with compulsory attendance age. Catherine Johnson Education Center, we have incredible opportunity with Rebalance Youth for Christ where they are running a program for our middle schoolers at Catherine Johnson specifically working on team-building, emotional regulation, and just self-confidence. And so they come and work
070and the students have the opportunity to do that once a week and it's a really, really cool program and they are funding the entire thing just for the students to have the opportunity to do that. And then Sagent or formerly Nystrom, we have a skills worker at Catherine Johnson Education Center as well knowing that our students there need the most social-emotional support. So, um Shannon was able to help us get that added this school year, so we're super excited. And then also at Katherine Johnson um as you are aware, we have uh Laker um our service animal with our school resource officer um Haas. And so I get pictures all the time from um our director and supervisor over there of all the students just loving up on Laker. And then uh other partnerships within
071special education is our community job sites. So again for InStep and CO2, we have tons of community partners that take our young adults for job sites. And then with that, we also have students um through Goodwill and CashWise programs that have the opportunity to work very technically on with the job coaches on job skills and preparing for life after high school. And last but not least, but definitely less exciting, um we are under uh MDE review. So I very luckily got uh not only got one review, got two reviews this year. So we are um under a comprehensive special education finance review, and we are also under a comprehensive programming review, both of which haven't been done in I think close to 10 years. So um lucky lucky us. Uh but it's it's going well.
072So we um are still waiting on data for we've submitted two rounds of data for our special education finance review and have not heard yet back on the third round. And then where we are at with the programming review, which is just overall special education programming, um we it looks specifically at file reviews. So our leadership team and due process coaches had to pull a ton of files and submit that data. Um specifically the focus this year for the MDE review is on progress reports um and progress reporting on how students are doing. And then um we had all of our administrators uh number the state gave us based on the number of staff we have employed. Uh Set number of paraeducators, special educators, general educators, itinerant providers needed to complete a special education programming
073survey to MDE and all of our administrators were required to complete that as well. And then coming up next is finding out any corrective action that we have on those file reviews and then I meet on Friday with our program auditor to determine what's next. But we do know there will be some site visits and follow-up interviews following that. So that is all sorts of fun. But important and I'm hopeful that it can give us some good data because we know we're doing good work but there's always ways to improve. And that is all I have tonight. Any questions? Heather? >> I have a whole bunch of questions but thank you. Really comprehensive, really insightful into the good work that you're doing and definitely hard and um lots of things going on. So um so
074we'll start with kind of the beginning of the presentation. When you do non-school based um special education like in homes what works how does that work with open enrollment? Like do you have to be within district boundaries? I mean obviously if at higher ages when they're coming into school we have students from multiple places who could come here. With with littles if if they're at home how is there an open enrollment? >> Yes. So families can do open enrollment if they have like a daycare center that falls within St. Cloud but they live in Sartell. So we work super closely with our district partners around us to make sure that we're addressing all student needs but we do have students that are open enrolled a good number in early childhood special ed based on our
075programming. >> Okay. Thank you. Um thanks for addressing the numbers and hiring um, and your pathways. I was going to ask um, what kind of strategies you had and you you answered that. Can you talk a little bit about burnout and retention um, and different things that you I mean obviously there's the front end of hiring and then there's the the secondary piece of of trying to retain people and burnout. Can you talk a little bit about strategies that you use there? >> Yeah, great question. So we um, work very closely with the um, teachers union that there's a specific special education memorandum of agreement for special education teachers. So we have um, due process coaches. So we have two teachers on special assignment and their job is to support due process paperwork um, the
076IEP meeting process. So for new staff who are overwhelmed by the paperwork side of special education, they come alongside that I do we do you do model um, to really walk through that paperwork process. Um, we try whenever possible we have um, evening opportunities where teachers can come in and get supported help uh, due process nights where they can come in and work with special education leadership on some of that. Um, we we know that it's hard work in special education and so whenever possible we are checking in um, our leadership model um, with our supervisors directly being in buildings also helps with that to ensure that there is support. So we have a lead teacher and a supervisor assigned to each building and so then they're also checking in and and ensuring that people
077have the support that they need. >> Thank you. >> Um, then I have kind of a simple question. Are there students who qualify for services who just choose not to um, utilize them and what responsibility if that's a choice by a student or a family, what responsibility does the district have to ensure that it's not you don't get in legal trouble or there isn't I I I don't know exactly what I'm asking but can you can you deny those services or just say we're not interested? >> Yes, you can. So, we do um families have to consent to every step of the process. So, families um have to consent to us completing an evaluation. Then, when the evaluation is done, families get the choice again to say, um are you interested in receiving services? We
078go through the results, and then um we propose an IEP, or for our littles, an IFSP, and families, if they do not sign that, they have the ability to to not sign that and accept services, unfortunately. >> Um and then my last uh question or comment, um really just thank you for addressing um the autism spectrum and some of the uh community concerns. I think that that is something that, you know, certainly right now in the state that folks are following. Um I think that, you know, as you addressed it, really providing the clarity between what is the medical diagnosis and the um educational eligibility, cuz most of us probably don't know that. And to understand from a taxpayer perspective that that's a secondary level of um accountability that enables you all to determine what
079the eligibility is and and how we perform that. Um and I think that's a really important note, obviously, for those who are listening, but for those of us in here who didn't necessarily [clears throat] know it. So, thank you for hitting that head on. I again, it's a um it's an important topic right now, and I I I think it speaks to um just the work that you're doing and and the level of accountability within schools. Thank you. Any other questions? >> So, thanks, Danny, first of all, for all the great work you do and your team. Um I have a question about one area that you touched on. Um when uh when you mentioned uh a student meets uh has a medical diagnosis, but they need to um meet two out of three areas
080to receive educational support. Um so what happens if they only meet one for example or zero and they're not able to receive services and then there's some pushback from the family. Kind of how is that navigated? Are they reevaluated? Um if they are reevaluated, do they wait 6 months to a year or how is that a process kind of navigated when a family really feels their child needs support but it's not they don't meet the educational support criteria. >> That's a good question and we do have that come up, right? Because we again the medical diagnosis and that educational eligibility what we're looking for are so different. So we do have students um when they do not meet services it the Department of Education determines what our eligibility is. So if a student does not
081meet that eligibility, they do not meet that eligibility and they can't receive services. So then the team is looking then using those general education supports, is this a student based on any of their needs that could potentially qualify for a 504 or what are some interventions that they could be receiving through the building if there's a need but they don't um show that eligibility. >> So a 504 plan could be an option. Mhm. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> Yes. Yep. >> Thanks. >> Mhm. >> Anybody else? >> Uh on the early childhood side uh which schools do what programs? >> Yeah, that's a great question. So at uh Corey View Education Center is where our birth to three teachers, their offices are, right? We have some families that come in for visits at Corey View
082based on their family needs. Um and then our three-year-old preschool and our self-contained preschool is at Corey View. Otherwise our four-year-old preschool is as much as possible in their home schools. >> Okay. Um back when we were first naming Katherine Johnson um we had gotten in touch the family and I asked permission to use their name. They said, "Oh, yes, happy. We're going to give you some money." What's become the money that the family granted? >> I am not sure. That's not something I could speak to. Amy, do you have any awareness of that? I have no awareness of that. That has not ever come through us. >> Okay. Uh, you mentioned that you have 11 different programs. Or it didn't look like it anyway. You had your your C your B and your C
083programs. Are they similar to the total of I I counted 11 on that circle up there. >> Um, what were you talking about the disability areas here? >> Yeah. >> Yes. So, there are 13 different disability areas that students can qualify for. On this visual, I have three disability areas in one really, really tiny sliver because they're very, very rare disability areas. For example, deaf-blindness is a very rare disability and so to it wouldn't even show up on this graph otherwise. >> So, so 13 programs started all all the different schools and do you divide them up some way or other different programs at different schools? >> Uh, we service all disability all disability areas at all of our schools across the district. Yes. >> Okay. Um Yeah, and and your one graph that was
084struck that the Somalia autism was so much higher than the rest. You said that was medical based diagnosis. How does that compare with the educational based diagnosis? >> That's a good question. That's not something that's like publicly tracked within the district within districts by disability area by demographics. That's not something that's shared. >> Okay. >> At least at the state level, like that report is done through the University of Minnesota, the tracking of that data. And so, the educational data that I'm sharing, like we received this report, the St. Cloud School District receives our child count data specific to us with the individual student names. >> Um in general, why is autism up? >> That's a good question. Um I think if I had the answer to that, I don't know if I'd be working
085for the school district. So, um I there there's a lot of question marks in general around autism and what causes that, and there's a lot of different beliefs and research around it. And so, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. All what I can confidently say though is that our needs are going up in the St. Cloud area. Why? I'm not sure. Um but they are going up. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I've had the wonderful pleasure of hearing this presentation twice. Um and I just wanted to say that I'm super impressed with you. I've never said that to your face. I've said it behind your back many times. >> [laughter] >> But like this is a this is a huge program. And I I've never heard you answer something that says, "I'm not sure. I'll
086get back to you." You know and you know everything except for >> [laughter] >> the cause of autism. And so, like you said But what I really appreciate is your holistic look of everything and even just saying, "Hey y'all, autism is not this. It's this." And the way we're framing that for families and communities and us even, you know, that we can look at it more as, you know, the individual level than some linear thing that really isn't a humanistic view of it. So, thank you. >> Thanks, Natalie. >> Anybody else? >> I feel that was excellent presentation. Thank you so much. It was very interesting. >> Thank you. Okay, then we're moving on to Board of Education Standing Committee reports. I believe we only have one, the Finance Audit Board Committee Chair Heather Reims
087has a report. >> Yes, and it's long. >> [laughter] >> Um, starting with the Apollo project update, Whitney and David from JLG Architects presented an update on the latest plans and drawings. I should start uh met on March 30th or March 3rd, 2026, so um Whitney and David from JLG Architects presented an update on the latest plans and drawings for the Apollo renovations that will be presented to the school board on March 18th. There have not been significant changes since the last presentation, however, additional images were shared and there was a discussion about construction phasing. Uh and then the second item, FY27 budget and compensatory revenue update. Amy gave an update on a number of items that will impact the FY27 budget. First, she noted that federal spending a federal spending bill was approved with
088level spending for federal title and special education programs, which is good news because previous budget proposals contained significant cuts to those funding sources. She also gave an update on the state budget forecast, which has improved significantly since the November forecast. The state is now projecting a $3.7 billion surplus in 26-27. However, this declines to only a $377 million surplus for the 2028 or for the 2028-29 biennium. We're hopeful with that or that with a 26-27 surplus money will be allocated to fully fund summer unemployment again. This is an annual cost of about 1.1 million and there is currently only funding to cover a portion of it for FY27. Information was also provided about compensatory revenue for FY27. Under current law, the district would see an increase in revenue of of about $4.1 million. However, most
089districts are seeing significant decreases in revenue, so it is likely the legislation will be introduced for a hold harmless bill, which would decrease our revenue. We are going to allocate $1.8 million in additional revenue for staffing since we likely won't know the outcome before the staffing process is complete. If we do not receive a large enough increase in compensatory revenue to cover this, then we'll spend the compensatory fund balance, which has a current balance of $1.7 million. Lastly, Amy informed the committee that the FY27 budget will include a deficit in the operating capital fund to account for one-time costs for city special assessments and software conversion costs. These will come from the operating capital reserve fund balance. The special assessments are estimated to be about $100,000 and the software conversion costs are approximately $125,000. >>
090[snorts] >> And then, do we have a board development policy and governance committee report, Chair Zack Dorholt? >> We do. And extra large font, thank you very much. >> [laughter] >> So, at the February 25th, 2026 meeting of the development policy and governance committee, the group completed a review of several policies. The committee recommended the consent agenda for policy 203.5, 206, 209, 213, all of which required some minor statutory reference updates. And 203 was reviewed, 203.2 was reviewed with no changes needed. The committee recommended policy 208 for first read at tonight's meeting as it did include some more needed revisions. That's it. >> All right, thank you. I think that's everybody, correct? Okay. Uh then, we have uh future agenda items. The March 18th, which is next week's board meeting, will include Apollo building project
091update, immersion programming update, approval of tentative contracts if we don't have much left there. Appointment appoint board members to award diplomas at Apollo and Tech graduation commencements, graduation plans update and any policy readings. At this time does any board member wish to suggest a future agenda item? Okay. Moving along here. So I'm looking to adjourn tonight's Board of Education meeting or motion to do that so we can open up the work session. Do I have a motion to adjourn the board meeting? Okay, I have a motion by Heather, a second by Diana. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed, meeting is adjourned at 7:51 p.m. At that same time we are opening up the Board of Education work session and we just have one item on the work session tonight all queued up
092and ready to go. Appreciate that. We have um our first reading for proposed revised board policy 208 208 presented by Shannon Evenson, Executive Director of Community Education and Community Partnerships. >> Good evening, Chair Haase, members of the board, and Dr. Putnam. Um we have just a brief update for you tonight on board policy 208. I've asked Katie to be here cuz if you've heard I keep coughing so if I can't make it through this uh she'll take over for me. Um uh this policy is about the development, adoption, and implementation of policies and it's statutorily defined. So the changes that we have this at this time are pretty minimal and they're in alignment with the MSBA recommended policy changes. Um there are no changes to our sections around general statement of policy, development of policy,
093or adoption of policy. >> [clears throat] >> However, implementation of policy item D, um you'll see that uh the school board shall review policies at least once every 3 years. Uh the superintendent shall be responsible for developing a system of periodic review. Um and we did update this. We said it was in accordance with a Previously, it said it was in accordance with an established policy review cycle and see attached addendum. As a team, we um we said we wanted to remove the addendum because uh we tend to go by a Google document where we are tracking that um and it tends to be more in line with the needs that we have as MSBA policies are updated and then district needs for policies to be updated as well. Um and so we will be
094using that document moving forward. Um so you see that change there. And then the other changes were around MSBA uh recommendations. Um there was previously quite a long list of policies that needed to be reviewed annually that were required. Um and at this time uh they are recommending only policies 506 student discipline, 722 public data requests, and 806 crisis management policy. Those are the only ones that are required to be reviewed annu- annually. So we made that update as well. Um and that is it for changes at this time. Any questions? Thank you. >> Thank you. That And that was it for our work session. So looking for a motion to adjourn Have a motion by Heather, second by Natalie. All in favor, say aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed? Work session is adjourned at 7:54
095p.m. And don't forget, we'll be back next week. >> [sighs] >> How you doing? How you doing?