12-3-2025 Board of Education Meeting

001p.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 to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. And then can you please call roll? >> The following board members are present at the district administration office. Scott Andre >> here. >> Natalie Copeland >> here. >> Al Dalgrren >> here. >> Zack Dorhold >> here. >> Diana Fenton >> here. >> Shannon Haw >> here. >> Heather Williams here. >> The following cabinet and

002staff are present at the district administration office. Superintendent Dr. Lorie Putnham, assistant superintendent of secondary education Dr. Jason Harris, assistant superintendent of E5 learning Nikki Hansen. Executive Director of Community Education and Community Partnerships, Shannon Abson. Executive Director of Finance and Business Services, Amy Scallarude. Executive Director of Human Resources and General Counsel Tracy Flynbo. Executive Director of Innovation and Technology Services, Katie Herbolt. Executive Director of Operations, Matthew Buchet. Executive Director of Special Education Danny Mayor, Director of Community Engagement and Communications Tammy Dand, Media Technicians Paul Novak and Gordy Scott, and the custodian on site is Emerson Beamer. Thank you. Then I'm looking for a motion to approve tonight's board of education meeting and work session agenda. >> So move. >> I have a motion by Scott, a second by Natalie. Heather, can you call vote? >>

003Zack Doorhalt, >> yes. >> Shannon Hos, >> yes. Heather Williams, yes. Scott Andre, >> yes. >> Al Dalgrren, >> yes. >> Diana Fenton, >> yes. >> Natalie Copeland, >> yes. >> Thank you. And then we have the consent agenda. The consent agenda consists of non-controversial items of ordered hops routinely without debate. Any 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 agenda, item A, approval of personnel staff changes. Item B, approval of proposed revised board policy 899, naming school district facilities, third reading. Item C, approval of new board policy 990, memorials for deceased students and staff, third reading. Item D, approval of proposed revised board policy 610, field trips. Uh, it's a statute formats only change. And item

004E, approval of proposed revised port policy 801, equal access to school facilities and again a statute form only change. Uh at this time, does any board member wish to remove an item from the consent agenda? Okay. 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? Shannon Hos, >> yes. >> Natalie Copeland, >> yes. >> Zack Dhold. >> Al Dawren, >> yes. >> Diana Fenton, >> yes. >> Heather Williams, yes. And Scott Anderson, >> yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, we have oneformational item tonight. We have the summary reports for the 2024 2025 comprehensive achievement and civic readiness and achievement integrogation plans. Uh, welcome Donna Robber, director of research assessment and AI integration, and Ian

005Omar, director of equity services. Glad to have you guys. Welcome. Good evening. >> Good evening, Chair Haw, Superintendent Putnham, members of the board, colleagues, and listening community. Um, thank you for the opportunity to present our annual update on the comprehensive achievement and civic readiness and our achievement and integration plan. Um tonight we're going to share with you the 2-year progress on our ANI plan and highlight some of the new what we're calling CACER requirements around um stakeholder boys um and some of our successes and persistent challenges. Um so to start with before we dive into the results just it's important to understand how these mandates connect. So we have three interconnected sort of planning frameworks if you will. The CACER plan is a state requirement for all Minnesota school districts with five foundational goal areas.

006This does replace the world's best workforce mandate. And of course, the ANI plan, as you know, is a funded strategy specifically for racially isolated districts like ours, focusing on integration and closing opportunity gaps. And so, [snorts] these aren't really separate initiatives. They're sort of nested within one another and they're all um helping us work toward the same ultimate goal which is ensuring that all students in our district have access to excellent educational opportunities. This year um the state added a significant new requirement. Um districts now must systematically gather and report on stakeholder voice. This isn't really new for us. We've been doing that for quite a while. And so, um, I just want to share how we do it. And, um, part of it is we do these surveys three times a year, fall, winter,

007and spring to students, staff, and families. Um, they're available in English, Somalia, and Spanish, although we often don't get a very high response rate from our multilingual families. And so, we recognize that surveys alone don't capture the full picture. Um, in order to supplement that information, we do, um, look at holding affinity group meetings, if you will, focus groups at certain times when we need to. Um, our superintendent has often done that, gone out into the community to hear what they have to say about topics and issues. Um, what we're hearing um, from our surveys that we do do is encouraging. Um, we know that our families that respond are feeling welcomed and confident in school safety, for example. And there's also high trust in teachers and staff. Um, however, you know, it's been noted

008here and it is very apparent in our survey data that the studentto student relationships um is a growth area for us. And so while we, you know, have observed lower rates of what I would say peer kindness, inclusion, and respect, especially at our middle and high school levels, we know this is something um that we want to address. And you know, you will see us actively doing that. Friday is a perfect example. will be holding that changemaker hub and that's one of the things that we're going to be asking the students who attend that to help us better understand. [snorts] Um before I walk through these results, I just want to explain our approach to this reporting cycle. Um as with anything new, we have opportunities to sort of reframe and do things a little

009differently. And so, um, the way that we are going to approach our, um, reporting of our goal areas is we're going to acknowledge that we set both process and product or outcome types of goals. And that what you see here are the assertions that we're making as a district around whether whether or not we've met the goal. Um so um you'll see for example in our all students ready for school we set some pretty um extensive process goals around making sure for example 100% of the families that were on the wait list were receiving um highquality school readiness materials and that was done. Um we set goals around screening and that we made progress in. So, um, in conversations with Director Flynn and with Assistant Superintendent Nikki Hansen, we have a really good, um, focus

010in that early readiness area. And we feel strongly that for for the goals that we set for this metric this year, we are we did meet them and we are on track to continue to make progress in that area. Um, when it comes to closing gaps, we set a pretty um, rigorous process goal, if you will, around making sure that our systems can help us identify who is and who is not on track. And so, um, we also had some other goals around interest surveys, around, um, gathering assets, if you will. Um and that's work in progress. This data collection process around gathering what kids bring in terms of assets to help us understand better um so that the approach to closing learning gaps can be more successful if you will um is a work

011in progress. And so um while we met several of those goals, we didn't meet all of them. We still conclude that we're doing extensive work in closing gaps. And so as a district, we met our annual um work in that area. When it comes to college and career readiness, um we don't have the data yet to uh ascertain whether or not we feel comfortable saying we met our goals for the year. That data will be coming in shortly. I expect that in by the end of Mar um what month are we in? November. expect that by the end of January to see that on the sleds sleds uh website. Um so that one is a little bit because of the goals we set. We're unable to give you a definitive on that one. Um when

012it comes to all students graduating, obviously we've got higher expectations. We aren't satisfied with the rates that we achieved in this uh goal year of 66% for a 4-year rate, 71 for a 7-year rate. So we are asserting not met. And then for the lifelong learners area, we have lots of growth opportunity not only in the goal setting area but just also in the foundational skills area. Um while we had multiple metrics in there, um the one metric that gives us um reason to say we don't want to say we are fully met there is that 51% of our students are meeting targets at foundational reading um levels. And so that is something that we we want to improve. When we um turn to the achievement and integration plan, I want to pass it to

013my colleague to the left here and let her speak to how we did on those. >> Awesome. Thank you. Um for the achievement and integration, uh which targets, as Donna said, specifically our racial groups and focuses on four key goals. We have two achievement goals, one integration goal and one goal that focuses on teacher diversity. uh you could see the data just as with the ker in each of these goals uh goal areas we establish both process and outcome goals uh as well as strategies that we uh put into place to help support to support that goal and our assertions here are based on reviewing evidence both um what you see here reflected the results represent our comprehensive assessment of progress. So for our graduation rate uh for our black, Hispanic, American, Indian, and students

014identifying as two or more races, our target is 85% uh by 2026. And for everyone's awareness, this is the year 2 progress. Uh 2526 will mark the final year of our three-year goal that we set back in 2023. Um current rates range from 40 to 61.2% 2% uh which shows that we are currently not on track. Our second achievement goal focuses on literacy reading proficiency for the same student groups. Uh our target is 50% by 2026. Uh current proficiency rate uh ranges from 25 to 36.4%. Again as you see we are not on track. Um our integration goal focuses on um improving access to high high achieving courses such as um concurrent courses AP um PSO and and the goal we set for by the end of 2026 that um from 11% uh to 25%

015again for those same student groups. Uh this data is currently pending um in state. We're waiting on for a final report. We'll be sure to share that out as soon as it comes out. Um and our final goal that um we are exceeding um is that we will increase our teacher diversity from 8% um to 8.5 and we are currently at 8.5%. I'm sorry 6.38% that's how we're exceeding to 8% and we are currently at 8.5%. Um our racially identifiable school uh currently uh is Lincoln Elementary. Uh and that just means that uh Lincoln has an enrollment of protected class students which are African-American, black, Asian specific um or Latino students or American Indian student exceeds more than the 20% points above the percentage of protected students in the entire district um for the grades

016served by that school. Uh we had three goals for Lincoln. Um the first one being uh literacy. We aim to increase proficiency from 16.7% to 36% by 2026. Uh this year's result shows 17.2%. We're not on track. Uh though we did see some incremental growth at Lincoln that we're we're excited about. Um our integration goal for Lincoln looks at family engagement. um that we're going to commit 100% for every new family that um enrolls at Lincoln would receive a welcome meeting and ongoing social emotional learning team connections. Uh I'm pleased to say that we've met this goal. All new families are connected with staff and are receiving a welcome uh a welcome meeting. And then finally um at Lincoln, we wanted to focus on a teacher diversity goal as well. uh aiming to maintain or

017increase teachers of color at Lincoln. Uh we met this goal uh with a total of four teachers. Um so we're maintaining or exceeding that goal currently and I will return it back to Donna. Thank you. Uh and then this this slide here just because the ANI goals don't tell the whole story, right? and none of this single data point high level data does. However, I did want to share with you um some highlights and celebrations where Lincoln's uh Northstar accountability data did show us some some positives and so consistent attendance was one of them. We were significantly above the state threshold of 61.8%. And this just really reflects strong family engagement and school and student connection to school. Um the other thing is we are seeing reading growth um across multiple groups. Asian students increase

018to 19%, Hispanic students to 19.1. Our white students jumped to 37.8 and from 37.8 they went down actually from 37.8 to 30.2. Um but overall what we what we believe is happening is that the instruction in reading is sticking right. And so we are seeing progress related to reading math um the math progress is also um exceeding the state's threshold for progress. And this isn't beautiful data. I will be absolutely honest. I mean we want this to be better but but we want it to be better everywhere. And so the the fact that our Lincoln students are beating the statewide threshold is really something to celebrate. Um, so just keep that in mind. Um, again, these indicators really show that Lincoln is doing important work. Students are showing up, they're engaged, and they're growing. Proficiency,

019while it's lagging a little, the conditions for learning at Lincoln are strong. So, that's the important thing to remember. Um, I also want to just be, you know, this isn't a new conversation for us here. Um despite our extensive efforts and our community partnerships, our expanded learning supports, all of the things that we are doing focused on professional development and closing learning gaps. These gaps, on these measures, they persist. Okay? Not unique to St. Cloud. Minnesota has seen very limited movement on this metric for over 20 years. And so it is our framing that these gaps reflect structural inequities in resource distribution. It is not a failure of our students. It's not a failure of our families. Nor is it a failure of our educators. So our approach is to focus on what we can

020control and what we can do. And that's highquality instruction for all. Early literacy intervention, equitable learning conditions, and opportunity to learn. um access to opportunities to learn. We want to emphasize improving access, not perpetuating comparisons between student groups. Our goal is to ensure every student has the resources, instruction, and support that they need to thrive. Um finally looking ahead because we are afforded this new area of goal setting in the CACER report um we will be refining our lifelong learner goal framework um to be more comprehensive and more actionable. Here I'm just sharing with you seven potential focus areas um as we go through the next several months working together with stakeholders. For example, on Friday, as we learn more and as we meet with our continuous improvement process teams and our building leadership teams

021around our instructional vision, we will get much more clear on these areas for goal setting and we will start to gather evidence and information to support that we are moving in the right direction with these things. So, I'm really excited to get going on that work because this is this is about the whole child. This is about, you know, creating success for our kids beyond um beyond their stay with us. Um and so again, where does this leave us all? I think it leaves us in a place of we're listening. I think it leaves us um understanding that we're making progress in key areas and we are continuing to commit to the hard work that it takes to do that. Um it leaves us in a place where we're acknowledging we have persistent challenges. Um

022we're not ignoring them. We're going to tackle those headon. Um and that we're refining our goals and making commitments um to being evidence-based in our decision-m um continuing those strong um community partnerships and um just a relentless focus on um removing barriers and increasing those opportunities to learn. And so that's our presentation for tonight. I don't know if anyone would like to have any questions, but um thank you. >> Thank you. Does anybody have any questions or comments? >> Can you please explain to me in clearer terms what structural inequities in resource allocation is because that was what was behind the whole thing. um is so what I would say is that it's more than just what we do in our classrooms that is impacting these persistent gaps. We know from the research that about

02326% of what we do can be attributed to the performance gaps. [snorts] Right? The other 70 nearly 75% is um has been shown in the research that it that there's other factors that are affecting the that that performance >> outside factors. housing. >> Housing or poverty >> poverty is I mean there's there's no secret that poverty is the number one factor that drives inequities in in performance among students and there's no I mean as as the performance of the St. cloud school district because the and I'm not going to say the performance it's so again we still have the same teachers we've ever had or that we've always had teachers aren't getting worse they're getting better every year >> you know on that point do I you know personally I haven't I I am confident

024that the work we are doing in the science of reading is the right work around foundational skills I will tell you the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment does not assess foundational skills. It assesses much higher skill uh development comp. It's it's more complex than that, right? um we should see an improvement on the MCA scores eventually but not if we don't couple our instruction with good comprehensive reading strategies as well. Um, right. So, in other words, we can teach kids to decode, right? But we also have to teach them how to connect things. So, it's the it's a complicated task. Will it bear out positively for us? I'm confident science of reading instruction is going to be positive, but is it going to show up on an MCA test? anytime soon. I don't I don't know how

025soon. >> Okay. Then my last question, if the MCAS is testing a higher level and not just foundational skills, what is the impact of our language immersion programs um because they do believe in language immersion, the long-term uh results of that often demonstrate um that dual language learners have much higher reading and comprehension. um rates over time. That's not always the case in the younger ages because in order to be learning both, you're my assumption is you're probably learning the foundational things really well because you're learning them in two different languages. But if it's testing at a higher level, what does that do? Um h how do our uh immersion students compare? >> Yeah. And and I'm going to say I don't know that we would notice I mean we should see the same pattern.

026It'll be a similar pattern and it's true students who are in our immersion programs and similar to to other districts I've worked in that have immersion programming often times you see a delay in their uh performance until they hit about fourth or fifth grade and then it just kind of goes through the roof. So um I don't expect that there will be a dissimilar pattern than what we currently have. It should it'll continue. >> Is there any place in Minnesota that is showing really positive results in in terms of proficiency gaps? I I mean is there a model out there um that we feel really good and I mean I hate to say it but gives you hope that you know with continued I'm going to say as someone who is currently sitting on a

027committee at the national level right one of the findings that we are coming into is this idea that it's really we need to go after classroom assessment practices and um the standardized tests don't help us understand sort of the uh culturally sustaining assessment practice that is necessary for us to really make big headway in this work. So at the at the measurement level, experts are now saying like they're saying, "Okay, we got to we got to back go backwards a bit and rethink where we where where the lever is." You know, we can look at the standardized scores. We can admire them for another 20 years or we can get busy and really get focused on classroom assessment practice. High quality classroom assessment practice. What's been really exciting to me is every year we have

028teacher diversity on our goal and it's been made very clear that you can bring teachers of color to a district, leaders of color to a district, but the the retention hasn't been there. And then so I think we are a model school district for the way that we um have recruited teachers of color but also have affinity groups. And so thank you Ion and and all for your work on that. Um you know that's one of those things that I think it plays into that teacher student relationship that you know we we're scoring above on that and that's a beautiful thing. Of course, I always hate to see the studentto student issue and we've talked about that for years as well. Um I'm excited to be there on Friday with my daughter. So, um you

029know, just to really figure out what's going on with our students because I don't think they want to be in conflict with each other. But the dysregulation that happens um because of poverty, because of racism, because of the those inequities that we're seeing um comes out with the people sometimes you're closest to. So, I just want to thank you for the work that we're that you're doing. And this isn't an easy presentation to give because we all want it to be different. Um, but what I know about the school district is that we'll keep working. And you know, point four isn't much, but to one child that's everything. To one child who moves from two grades behind to the to on track in one year, that's everything. If it's in third grade, it's really everything.

030Um, so it's tough to look at the whole picture and see those areas where we need to work on still. Um, but thanks for that individual focus as well and that climate that you've brought to our community. >> Thanks, Donna, for your work. I just have a question on on a slide. If you can go back to slide four. Those achievement gaps met. All schools tracking students on track. I just want you to help articulate that for everyone what that means because from the from the view it looks like oh we've closed the achievement gap and that's not yeah that's not what that means and I just want you to articulate that one more time so people understand that a little better. what what I what I want to make sure we're doing in this

031area is that we are appropriately acknowledging the efforts and the work that are being done to try and move the needle on this. So when our teams get together and they set six, seven, eight goals in this area and we have an ANI department that has, you know, strategies and funds to move some of this stuff. There are some that are moving right there. There's definitely successes but often times we have to say nope nope nope. So we are refraraming how we are going to share our story about work on the opportunity gap and I think it needs to really be contextualized to the efforts we're we're I'm not trying to spin it. I don't want you to think that like I I want people to understand lots and lots of work is happening and

032a lot of really great things are happening and we are having successes right but for us to come here year over year over year and say no no no is really deflating right and so I will be 100% on board with not met when we look at the data and I see yeah we didn't do our stuff We probably, you know, but for for going forward, we're going to be really looking at this as are we doing, you know, our best effort. Do we think we did what we committed to doing? And um, you know, we have plenty of ways to acknowledge where we're at on the standardized numbers and we got lots of people out there doing it for us. Okay. Um, next we're moving to our discussion and action items. First up, we

033have a discussion item, the multi-purpose athletic facility project update. Welcoming Ryan Ratimaker with JLG Architects. All right. Evening everyone. How about now? No. Hey everybody. Thanks. All right. As mentioned, I'm Ryan Rodomacher with JLG Architects and uh we're here I'm here to to give you an update on uh the multi-purpose athletic center. Uh I was here back in September and we walked through what was at that time our design development progress and we are now in the construction documents phase and um wanting to share with you the the progress of it as well as um um be available for any questions that you may have uh as we move forward. Um so just to highlight a couple things I'll I'll zoom in here a little bit on the schedule. So, as I mentioned, uh I

034was in uh back in September reviewing this with you. So, we're currently in construction documents and moving towards our bidding phase. Now, you recently uh approved the bid pack one, which was for the u legacy pre-engineered fabric structure. Uh so, the the large envelope for the building and structure. So, now we're moving towards bid pack 2, which would be for the remainder of the project. all of the other parts and pieces that will will make this building exist. So, [clears throat] u we'll be looking to um complete our documents here in the next couple of weeks and and then uh turn over to Bradbury Stam for them to issue out for bid u and once you guys have approval for that. Uh and then looking to start construction in May roughly of 2026. Now, you'll

035notice that um we're we're looking to bid January, February and be early January and February. Uh the idea is that um we also have to uh go through a state review period and in that uh once we submit the documents there's approximately up to a 4-month period of review with them uh hence review and then back and forth and and wouldn't be able to start construction till after that. Any questions on that? Okay, we'll zoom back out. So, this is the site plan and there have been a couple a few updates. Um, we've recently had some comments and feedback um with the team here about um some things around the site plan and so we have made some adjustments to it. Uh we'll have roughly 169 parking stalls which is slightly under the code requested.

036Um, however, we have a designated area uh should there be need to be additional parking required um that we have that will then meet that requirement and that's what's dashed in over on the right hand side of the screen here. Um, can you guys see my cursor as I'm Yep. Okay, great. So on the north end of the building here, uh we have also included an extension to the parking on the west side and that was also an area previously that was designated as future expansion. But uh upon further conversations with uh with board members and and design committee, we determined that uh it made sense to go ahead and and fill that space in now uh for the added uh parking. Uh and it just allows for a nice flow of circulation. So people

037would arrive here. We understand most people will will want to park close to the building and then circulate throughout. Uh the entry is actually in the northwest corner right here. And so uh I'll move uh move on and show you that in in a subsequent slide. One other change from design development is that we had uh the door for large overhead door for u moving equipment in and out and things like that on the south side but that posed challenges from an access standpoint especially with this trail along the south side. So we've moved that over to the east side of the building and put that in this location here. Um, and so it's a safer and and better access location for it. And then we have another a large uh area that will be

038great for um snow uh stacking and and things of that nature uh during the winter. >> Stop signs. >> Oh yes. Um so there are some stop signs also that were added here. Um so we do have stop signs at uh this location here. Um so that coming uh as traffic is moving out from this area as well as coming in here that that you you do have to pause and stop before moving circulating through [snorts] >> on the island >> and on the island right here. Okay. So the uh another thing that wasn't yet fully developed during the design development and this is kind of a roof plan looking down at the building site itself rotated. So north is actually to the right hand side of the page. So we have the sidewalks that

039um circulate all the way around the perimeter to accommodate for as parking anywhere. Um and there are there's a large buffer zone in between because this is a huge roof with a lot of snow. So, uh, we've created these zones that will be fenced off, uh, and then filled in with a large rip wrap, um, uh, rock, which is roughly they're about 6 to9 in in diameter. So, they're a large, very low maintenance or no maintenance sort of landscaping that will be in that uh, buffer zone um, around the perimeter of it. The main entry then is in this norththeast, sorry, northwest corner. Uh and you can see there's a little canopy that's outside and and you saw that on the initial image in the in the very beginning uh that I showed. So those

040were a couple of the updates. Um and all of this is a these are a work in progress. So by and large the design that was presented back in September is what we were moving forward with. There's just been some minor modifications and really now it's about brass tax the details of how we communicate with the contractor how to build this. So the most most of what I'm showing and sharing here today is not the pretty pictures. It's just you know some of the details and and I'm sparing you all the details because the set will be 90 to 100 pages of technical details. So [snorts] uh this is the overall floor plan and there's just a ton of information on here and so we break these down into smaller components but this gives you

041a sense of overall floor plan. So, if you were to enter into the building here, like I said, in the north uh west corner, uh there's a vestibule right here. And then you come into the reception, there's a nice lobby area uh just adjacent to that. And so, there's a couple of different access points onto the field. Uh one right here, as well as uh another one right here adjacent to this waiting and lobby area. There's stairs up to the mezzanine level that we discussed before, as well as a limited use, limited access elevator. Um there's [clears throat] an office and then a team room for gathering uh for team meetings. And for the field itself, as we had mentioned before, it is a full-size soccer field with all sorts of activities. And there are

042some other drawings later in the package that highlight different components of that. So breaking down what each uh striping plan is. And there's a hierarchy based off of color for that so that it won't look like this jumbled mess as you're uh um trying to play on the field. Moving through a little bit deeper into the plan. Uh as you go through this lobby space here, we do have the restrooms. And so zooming in a little closer on this block, uh we have a series of um handicap accessible restrooms right near the front. Uh there is a third one here down uh at the bottom end of the the restroom block and um that one has an adult changing station. Um and then there are a series of single stalls uh on the on the

043west side or the what would be the plan southside and the wash basin is here. Uh and that's on one side because each of the restrooms on this side have their own sink in the restroom themselves. Uh there's a large mechanical uh and plumbing room as well as the janitor's closet and then a very uh goodiz storage which is really critical for a large athletics facility to to maintain good storage for all the equipment and then further south is just more of the infrastructure so it closet and electrical room as well as another stair for access. So, another key thing that we have done as an addition um from design development that didn't exist previously is that we've added some daylight to the field area. And in particular here, um there's some glass that is

044adjacent to these uh exiting doors here. Uh but as we move around down around this uh running track, walking track in the corners, we've also added some glass so that you have both views out as well as some daylight coming in. And that happens at each one of the corners which is going to be a really a nice effect for this facility and be great for the users. Any questions here? Okay. So, next up is moving up is to the mezzanine level. And so, as I mentioned, coming off of the lobby, there's the stairs and and a elevator. Uh, right off of the top of that, uh, there'll be some circulation and then the batting cages. So, there'll be two-lane batting cages with a a divider curtain that allows you to open that up into

045one large space. Um, they'll come up right uh adjacent to this storage area here. And the storage area um is a is is really for just this mezzanine level to store equipment like pitching uh lanes and mounds and and things of that nature. Um so we have a double set of doors opening to there. Um just beyond that is then the golf suite and so here we have two golf simulator bays and this area down below would be a putting green and so there'll be um some elevational a little bit of elevational change in that. It'll be uh 2/3 flat, 1/3 sloped. Um for for that area, uh there's a waiting area just outside of the simulator bays. We've got a uh counter height with or sorry, a counter uh with some chairs that uh

046likely will be ADA accessible. Um so we're evaluating that and and some other equipment supporting the the simulators. So these are just uh enlarged plans of those areas that I just walked through. So this is the lobby entry sequence. Uh the next page is the the restroom block. And so this lays out the elevation showing the tiling and tiling patterns and uh things that we have uh in each one of these restroom areas. Um and then u further south of there. So like I said before in that overall enlarged plan uh we break it down into smaller components that you can see uh each one of these zones and then moving on upstairs to the mezzanine level. So on this wall this portion here that actually overlooks the the lobby space and the entrance and

047so we we also need to be able to support the batting cages. And so we have some um some steel columns that are in here that we'll be running wires to support the batting cages and then um providing mesh panels uh that will allow some visibility uh back to the to the lobby below um and back up and uh so that it doesn't feel so enclosed. Um but obviously is then safe and and protects everyone that's up there. And this just enlarged of that golf suite simulator area. These are overall building elevations. Uh so we have this patterning that is happening uh kind of a rising and falling um of uh this line wrapping around the building. The facility the name is still being worked out. So, we've left that um uh somewhat generic here

048and and just calling it 742 athletic facility. And again, that's just as a placeholder. Um that will be changing. You can see that um we're also in the uh main entrance here on uh the side that's facing Apollo High School. Um we'll have that canopy here with a um additional sort of change in fabric. And so these are not decals. these colors, these are going to be integral to the fabric of the exterior of the building. So, it's a a color scheme that we've worked out uh with them. And moving on, this just is some interior elevation looking from the field back at um a section cut actually looking um seeing being able to see the mezzanine levels as well as um this is actually an inverse. So it's kind of cut through um maybe

049[laughter] it's not the one I wanted to show. uh it's not looking back uh at it. I do have a 3D rendering that does show that. So, this is the striping plan for um the field itself. Uh and again, there's a hierarchy of different uh colors. And so, we've got soccer as primary and then a full size secondary for the U10 and and smaller softball as the next in priority, lacrosse, um and then the football. And then the there'll be a perimeter running track which will also have striping and markings for hurdles and layoff uh sorry handoff exchange zones and things of that nature. Oh, back up. So, a couple of other things to note about that is there is a perimeter fence going all the way around the field and that protects um both

050things coming onto the field, but also then as you're playing different sports, if people are utilizing the track on the outside of it, we have a buffer zone that allows basically as a catchment area for that ball flying, whether it be a baseball hit or softball or soccer ball or football, whatever the case may be. And then there's a a center dividing curtain as well that will divide up the entire field so that you can um subdivide and have different activities going on simultaneously. So this is a interior rendering and it's very similar to what was shown during the DD um review that we did back in September. Um again the on the right hand side here is where that entry vestibule is. So you'll walk straight in to the reception desk. From there, you

051can go straight out onto the field or um come up the stairs to the mezzanine level, either through the stairs or through the the elevator lift, which is just to the left there. And there's a waiting area for parents and and things of that nature or or others that are not necessarily using or playing. The surface in this area is basically like a walk-off mat type carpet. So, it's a very durable, resilient carpet that will help during the winter time, especially with um you know, all the people coming in and out from snow and and salt and everything just to be able to dry their feet before uh entering into the player zones. And then this is from the field looking back at that entry area, similar area here. So, we have that team room

052that's here, the reception area, the stairs going up to the mezzanine. Um, and as I mentioned, there's another uh entry onto the field uh from here. And then I think the last one is just a little bit further. There's actually a third entry point at the south end of where the restrooms are um back and forth to the field so that you can directly access the restrooms from the field too. So that's just a a kind of a general overview. Uh the point is is that just wanted to review everything with you. There was not been um by and large we're on track with everything. Uh we're on track with schedule. We're on track with budget. Uh so those are are great things. We've made some minor adjustments which I've outlined here with you guys

053today. Uh and aside from that, I'm I'm here for any questions that anyone has and help address before we move into the final bidding stage. I have the the only question that I have on this is exterior lighting. >> Yes. >> I don't see anything referencing any type of exterior lighting uh either on the building or parking lot. >> Yeah. So, a combination of things. So, we don't have the electrical plan um shown in here, but as I go back to I'll go back to the site plan. That's probably the easiest. So we have um a series of uh light ballards that are going to be all throughout the the entry sequence and and moving around. Um and then we are lighting uplighting the uh building itself on both sides uh specifically um you know

054on this north side as well as then that south side. And then there'll be lighting poles in the the parking area as well. >> Okay. because it'll be used mostly at night. The other thing, and I I know this isn't for this. This is probably jumping the gun on this, but that the batting cage is really visible. You can see you can see what it's for, and if there's if it's being used, you're going to see it. >> Yeah. >> Just like in our CTE areas, we always want to be able to >> kind of showcase what students are doing in those areas. Yet, when it comes to the golf simulator area, and I realize it needs to be somewhat dark in there. >> Yeah. But when it comes to the golf simulator area, that

055looks like a storage closet. And I'm wondering if there's anything that can be done to draw attention to the fact that we there this is up there and that students are able to use it. >> Yeah, we we kind of went back and forth on that whether or not to make that um more visible from the outside. And I think ultimately there's some potential concern of um we we want to have control over that that area in particular. Uh so it does have a high wall which is what probably you're referencing here from this uh facing this from the field side, right? But once you're inside the suite, it's really well done. Um it has a canopy over each one of the golf simulator areas. Um but just outside of that, it's open air. Um,

056and and then with the furniture and the lighting that is in there, it's it's a really it has a premium feel for sure. >> Yeah. And don't get me wrong, I do want it to be locked and secure. Yeah. >> Cuz I know that's expensive equipment and you don't want people just going up there that don't know what they're doing and playing with it. But something to say to a person who's in the field here >> that it's there. So right now what we're working on for similar graphics that are kind of moving around the building and and what you're not seeing here is some of the the graphics and like sporting graphics and logos and those kinds of things. Those are a later stage development that we're sort of currently working on. So along

057both of the the east and the west walls there will be some graphics as well as we're working on sort of a a graphic for just outside of that area. And so that's how we were we were addressing that. Okay. Sorry, I misunderstood to begin with. >> Can you remind me, do the batting cages go up and down? Are they >> They do not. They're static. >> They're static. >> Yeah. So, there is a the there's a center divider curtain that is operable between the two of them, but they would stay um draped around the perimeter of them. Um, and then I know you just mentioned about graphics, um, and those are still in development, but in terms of like restrooms and tiles and that sort of thing. Is it a relatively neutral color palette

058or or >> Yeah, so it's um, basically we've got uh a blue that is not necessarily a color a school specific blue. Um, but we have a couple two different shades of blue and white. Um, that is going for the tiles and the restrooms. And then we also have charcoal. And so it's a sort of a a nice cool and soft color palette. >> And then my last question, um, in terms of users, is there the availability of any secure lockers or will there be a camera system in place? Um, because I would imagine theft is going to be an issue. >> There are not any secure lockers. Um, but yeah, cameras are are at least in the the entry points um, is where I believe that we've discussed, but but not not throughout. No.

059So, I would just recommend that that's something that you all talk about. Um, because students will come in with their bags, they will have their cell phones, they'll have their wallets, they'll have whatever it is. >> Um, and if they just put them around the edges, which is typically what happens, >> um, there are certainly risks and I would just mitigate it on the front end because otherwise you're mitigating it on the back end, >> right? Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. Do you have an inside rendering of what the bathroom structure would look like? It's just hard for me to visualize >> from here like walking in and around that loop. Is it like a continuous loop or just help me understand that a little bit better? >> We can I don't have a rendering

060of that area. So, we can go back to the enlarged plan for it. There should be one up here. Here we go. So, um the lobby area is just outside of it here. And we have some vending on this side and a drinking fountain on this side. And it yes, this is all open in here. So this is a partial height wall. Uh so it's not a full height. It doesn't go up to the ceiling. Um so and then this is a wash basin on on this side, but yeah, you would circulate around and there's an entry onto the field on and off the field right here. And as you would come through, there's another one down on this side. And yes, another set of drinking fountains down here. the the only description like up

061in the little teeny plans up there, male and female, those have a urinal in them >> versus >> Yeah. >> Are they going to be labeled or what is >> this is primarily set up for the state plan review because that's how they want to see it. >> After we get through state plan review, there may be opportunities to label them differently. Okay. Anybody else have any other questions? All right, Ryan, thank you for joining us tonight. We appreciate >> Yes. >> everything you went through for us. >> Um, next up we have our ancient action item, approval of funding for the multi-purpose athletic facility equipment. And joining us then is Amy Scallarude, executive director of finance and business services. Good evening, Chair Hos, Superintendent Putnham, school board members. Um, so perfect leadin after just

062seeing the revised plans, but what we haven't talked about yet is equipment. Um, so there's a lot of um both permanently affixed and kind of movable, portable equipment um that's needed throughout the site to actually use and run the facility um the way we intend to have it. So, um, attached into the agenda and projected on the screen is the information. Um, and these are estimates. These are not final amounts. Um, no final selections have been made about what type of equipment, what brand. Um, this is just really a very preliminary budget. Um, but what we're what we're doing tonight um is requesting funding authority to cost share a portion of the equipment out of the community education fund balance. Uh we know that this building is going to be used for district use for

063our own teams. Um but there is a clear intention to have a significant amount of rental um through community education for the facility. Uh and so the recommendation is to to cost share that equipment. Um we have been kind of sitting on a a relatively large community education fund balance. Um, and we do anticipate that this building is going to generate future revenue um that will ultimately probably replenish the funds that we're requesting the authority um for this evening. So, in total, we're looking at about $700,000 worth of equipment. Um, you can see the majority of that is kind of in that very bottom section um labeled as construction items. Uh that is things that are permanently affixed to the bid and are kind of more of the um part of the construction budget with

064the largest being the perimeter netting that separates the track um from the playing field to protect spectators um or people walking from getting hit by balls when kids are playing. Um and then there's permanently a fixed scoreboards as well as the golf simulators. So, those are are kind of the the big chunk of the budget. That's about uh 500,000 of the 700,000. And then you see the rest of that is various items, um nets, goals, uh portable bleachers, portable scoreboards, furniture and technology, um as well as some maintenance equipment for maintaining both the building and the field itself. Um so again, in total about 700,000. What we're requesting is um the use of an amount not to exceed 350,000 um of that equipment budget. So roughly half from that community education fund balance. And that

065balance as of the most recent audit as of 63025 uh was just over 1.1 million. >> [clears throat] >> just going to say it is a community building and I think it's a good use of what really has been an excess of community education fund balance. It's just been sitting there for the entire time I've been on the board. >> Um so I would move that we approve the use of not exceed what was that the funds not exceeding what was it? 33 >> $350,000 from the community education fund balance for the for this >> second. >> Okay. I have a motion by Al and a second by Scott. Any discussion at all? >> Heather, can you call vote? >> Diana Penton, >> yes. >> Al Dalgrren, >> yes. >> Natalie Copeland, >> yes. >>

066Zack Dhold, >> yes. >> Shannon Hos, >> yes. >> Scott Andreas, >> yes. >> Heather Williams, yes. >> All right. Thanks, Amy. Uh next action item we have the approval of date, time, location of the 2026 board reorganization meeting. And um we are presenting tonight that we would hold the reorg meeting Monday, January 5th, 2026, which is the first Monday in January, at 5:00 p.m., not 6:30, 5:00 p.m. at the district office. Um, so this is an action item. Looking for a motion to approve that date, time, and location for the 2026 board reorganization meeting. >> So move. >> I have a motion by Scott and a second by Natalie. Any discussion at all? Okay, Heather, can you call vote? >> Zack Doorhalt, >> yes. >> Shannon Hos, >> yes. >> Heather Williams, yes. >>

067Natalie Copeland, >> yes. Diana Penton, >> yes. >> Al Dren, >> yes. >> Scott Andre, >> yes. >> Okay. And then we need to another action item here. Approval of the date, time, and location of the first 2026 board of education meeting, which uh presenting tonight would be Wednesday, January 7th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. at the district office. So, I'm looking for a motion to approve the date, time, and location for our first 2026 board of education meeting. >> So, move. >> Have a motion by Scott, a second by Natalie. Any discussion? Heather, can you call vote? >> Shannon Hus, >> yes. >> Heather Williams, yes. Al Dalgrren, >> yes. >> Natalie Copeland, >> yes. >> Zack Dorhold, >> Scott Anderson, >> yes. >> Diana Fenton, >> yes. >> All right. Thank you. Uh then

068we have uh board of education standing committee reports. I believe we have two board development policy governance committee chair Zack Dorhalt. Uh district 742 schoolboard development policy and governance committee met on November 24th. committee determined that well the committee my bif focals are not being friendly tonight. >> The committee determined the third reading of both 990 memorials for deceased students or staff and 899 naming school district facilities would be included in the consent agenda. The committee also reviewed policy 610, field trips, and policy 801, equal access to school facilities, and determined that neither require substantive changes as the updates consisted primarily of minor statute amendments. These two policies were also included in the consent agenda. >> Thank you. And then we have personnel negotiations board committee chair Natalie Copeland. >> Yes, we met on November

06925th. Um, and we talked about a couple of things. Number one was the superintendent evaluation for 2526 which I've sent out to uh board members. Um the committee worked on a tenative schedule for the annual evaluation of the superintendent and on updating the evaluation cycle for continuing superintendent contracts following the first three-year cycle. For the coming of annual evaluation, a tenative schedule was established and it is as follows. In February, there will be a development of a survey um or feedback mechanisms for evaluation. In March, a survey identified uh survey. We will survey identified community partners and the board regarding superintendent performance related specifically to community relations. On May 19th, we will meet as a personnel committee in a work session um to uh review the data and prepare the draft evaluation summary. Um and

070then on June 3rd we'll have a closed board meeting for the evaluation of the superintendent and then following that um in the meeting on June 17th the public meeting report will be given um which is the annual evaluation of the superintendent. The next thing that we talked about was negotiations update. The administration provided an update on negotiations for all the bargaining units of the district. Three of the 11 contracts have been settled and negotiations are continuing with the other groups. The SEIU filed for mediation with the clerical and nutritional services bargaining groups. Also, new school board member that's coming on board, Gina, in July. July, whoa, January. I'm I'm more wanting warmer weather. Um, has been assigned as the board representative for a new group that we have, which is the SCESP bargaining unit, the

071St. cloud education support professionals and that is it. >> I don't have a report. I was just going to say that this this uh Friday evening and Saturday morning is the MSBA delegate assembly in Minneapolis. So both Scott and I will be down there for that and we I will pre be presenting the three uh resolutions that we submitted. All three of them are recommended for approval. So I assume that they will be and I will say that I in watching the tape uh preparing delegates for it. Um Minnesota School Boards Association went out of their way to say that they were very appreciative of the write up that Donna did on the uh resolution concerning data privacy and insurance for artificial intelligence. but she was speaking very highly of the writeup and told the

072delegates that she want didn't want to get into it, but St. Cloud did an exceptional job of writing that one up. So anyway, excellent. Thanks for being there and we are definitely proud. Okay, then we have um future agenda items. The December 17th, 2025 board meeting topics will include immunization policy compliance update, presentation of final 2025 payable 2026 property tax levy certification, opportunity for public input on the final 2025 payable 2026 property tax level certification. Approval of the final >> because I'm Can you hear me now? >> Okay. Uh, approval of the final 2025 payable 2026 property tax levy certification. Approval of naming of ISD 742 multi-purpose athletic facility. Approval of the 2026 2027 high school course catalog. Approval of the 2026 elementary school boundary redesign and approval of tentative agreements if any. At this

073time, does any board member wish to suggest a future agenda item? Okay. So, I'm looking for a motion to adjourn our regular board meeting. >> Move. >> I have a motion by Scott, a second by Natalie. All in favor say I. >> Opposed. um meeting is adjourned at 7:53 p.m. and at that same time the board of education work session is called to order. We have just one item up tonight. We have the 2026 2027 elementary school boundary redesign uh presented by Nikki Hansen, assistant superintendent of E5 learning and Lori Putnham, uh our superintendent. >> Thank you so much, Chair Haw, members of the board. We are uh excited to bring this uh presentation to you. Uh this has been a a long time in the making or it feels like a long time in

074the making. We started in July. Um and so that's uh quite a few months. Um and uh why are we making the changes? You guys have been uh you are well aware of of the need. Um we've been we've reviewed that many times, but um in case anybody is tuning in new, uh we know that we've not reviewed our boundaries since the 1990s. And over those decades, we know that we've seen significant growth in central St. Cloud and it's caused uneven enrollment across the district. Um, we've we've added uh special programs including immersion and newcomer multilingual programs. And uh very key is we've add expanded our early learning programs. Um and while we know we still have a wait list, we are pleased to have um been able to offer access to more of our

075students. Uh the core commitments um are again not new to you um but that our students experiences come first uh to maintain community schools when we can uh to use resources efficiently and stability. Um we know that this is a conversation about change. Um and so all of those things or some of those things come into conflict um depending on the decision that is made. Um but those are the the core commitments that guided our conversations and our recommendations. Um as we think about uh the goals are certainly to make a legacy decision uh since this hasn't been done in three decades. Um we certainly wouldn't want to be doing it any sooner than 10 years. And so we've looked we've taken a 10-year uh look forward and look back uh perspective. Uh Nikki will

076talk about the data um that's used to get us to that 10-year projection um to balance uh facility utilization and then to increase efficiency. uh the process and I am moving quickly so me. Um the we started with a design team um who were administrators and union leadership um to come up with some design solutions. Um that went to an input team and that included any families or staff who expressed interest um in providing feedback. Um people reviewed that information, gave us uh input and and we made changes. We brought that then to uh community input um where again any stakeholders were invited to review the plan. Um we did held those uh those input sessions in English, Somali and Spanish. We took those that feedback, made further revisions um and then uh made a

077from that we made our final recommendation which then uh Nikki and I did meetings with all of our elementary um communities, all eight of them, and included staff and families. Um and now we're here tonight um where we are bringing you the proposal for you to review and then um with a board vote on the 17th. Uh the communication plan this is available on our website um in a much uh much uh more open uh less uh textheavy um design but uh for so apologies for this. It was a lot to put on. Um, but really wanting people to see um the the number and uh kinds of opportunities that we've had to uh communicate um and to gain feedback um and to really do everything we could to reduce uh any barriers to giving

078us feedback or um having their questions, families or staff's questions or concerns answered. Um following the board meeting on the 17th, um we will be communicating uh we press release this conversation. We'll we have members of the press here. we'll press release again um and then we will share that out with all of our families and staff as well. Um and then we'll also be setting up dates um for tours um of every uh elementary school so that any family who is um considering transitioning or um due to an in district transfer or making um the change due to a boundary uh uh redesign um then they'll be able to see the school, meet with the principal, meet with the staff and get any questions uh answered uh prior to uh enrollment kicking off in

079full swing. So I'm going to turn it over to Nikki. And before I start, I just have to say Nikki has done a fabulous job. She has carried the load of of the data and the the remapping. She can tell you exactly how many people are impacted in any neighborhood and um it's it's I cannot um I just need to publicly thank her. Um the amount of work that she has put into this um is astronomical. So thanks Nikki. >> You are welcome. Uh good evening chair H superintendent Putnham, members of the board. Tonight I get to take you through some visuals, some maps, and also some key considerations. Um, we will look at large maps and then we will go into each individual school. Um, this here is just some of the data that

080was included in those that legacy decision that Superintendent Puntnome talked about in that 10-year decision that we were looking to make. And then just a little bit about timing, transportation, and placement. And so these boundaries will go into effect for the 26720 school year should they be approved by you on the 17th. Um students will receive transportation to their new school assignments and immersion sites. Um if students are reassigned but the family do wish them wish for them to stay at their um original school, they can go through that indistrict uh transfer request that policy 599. It was important to our design team to keep that a part of our plan um and to ensure that we were thoughtful in the planning around the space and capacity of schools to still honor that family choice

081um through that IND district transfer process. And then all current in district transfers will be honored and new in district transfer requests will be paused until summer 2026. So, more to come on the exact date that we will be processing through those, but we will need to take an intentional pause to get our community schools settled and staffed before we thoughtfully review those indist. So, here we get started with the visuals. Uh, this here in front of you is going to be our current school boundaries. And I will pause and if I go too fast, just let me know because there are going to be many maps that look very similar to this. So, I'm going to go through the different variations to get to the boundary change. So, these this is current school boundaries

082for the St. Cloud Area School District. These dots on the map now represent a single or multiple students at a particular address or stop. And so, this represents currently 4,149 PK through fifth grade students within our district boundaries within the current boundaries. So, one thing to note as you're looking at this visual is that concentration around central St. Cloud. Um, and that's where we're starting to see some of that capacity and facilities that are being overutilized as compared to some underutilized facilities within our school boundaries. Uh, here the shading that that blue on the bottom is going to show you that south to tech pathway. The yellow shows you north to Apollo and the the red shows you Kennedy to Apollo for high school. And so that just shows our current boundaries with middle level

083programming. This is the proposed boundaries. Here's the middle level programming pathways in the proposed boundaries. One thing to note on this that is an area change that we will talk about more than once here tonight um is that we currently have eight elementary sites. Two of which that had split secondary pathways. Um in our current boundary we have a Discovery North and a Discovery South which means I'm a fifth grader. Some of my friends go to the north side. I may go to the south side. That same reality was at Lincoln which had a Lincoln north and a Lincoln south which in this proposed redesign we have shifted where now the discovery boundary will all attend the north side. The Lincoln boundary will also all attend the north side and we were able to do

084that and that will be more clear why here as we go throughout the other maps. Uh this map is one that we worked with MDE which is actually an interactive online map tool which we'll talk about a little later but it will show you specifically the boundary change areas um within our current boundaries. So the the yellow shade is going to show you the change for 2627. That is the proposal redesign that we are going through tonight. That blue shaded area is going to show you the 2526 boundary redesign proposal change that you approved last January. Uh next this is shows the red was added to the slide for the number of students who are impacted within those areas. So we have utilized our data tool. We have went through and identified each individual student

085who they are, what they need, uh where they live, where they currently attend school so that we are able to program and plan for them. Uh but also to know to communicate and also to be able to see the impact across this this boundary redesign proposal. So those red numbers show the number of change within those boundary uh areas. Now, we're going to get started with each individual school. We have three slides for each school and a few different map versions. So I will do my best to bring my cursor over to tell you where I am describing. Uh this first map here visual with the teal boundary is the proposed boundary area for Kennedy. What you see in the middle highlighted in yellow is the only area of change in that. And so you

086can see this is uh old county road, old highway road north. And what it now comes down for a border line here is Highway 23. And so this area to the west of Highway 23 will now be added to Kennedy. Um, and as you saw in that prior map, it affected one student. Uh, we can also tell you that students already attending Kennedy. So [laughter] we have looked through through some of those layers. Uh some of the key considerations here for the changes to Kennedy are uh taking advantage here of some space growth opportunities that currently exist. Uh we did make a program shift which we will talk about later of our Spanish immersion program for the north side shifting from Westwood to Kennedy in this program proposal. Um and that was really a commitment

087to stability and growth of our immersion programs. We currently have space constraints to allow growth within that immersion program at Westwood. And so we wanted to make that commitment to stability and growth for those immersion learners. And then also it was important to the design team to maintain a PK8 model out at Kennedy. You're also going to see for each site here a projected enrollment. And so what we see are a few things. This black line in the middle is going to be current. Uh to the left side of that is going to be past enrollment and to the right side is going to be your projected enrollment. The blue line that sees you can see more clearly in certain maps than others is going to be future development gains. Uh one of the things

088we are able to do with our tool is to turn on any projects or development that had been filed with the cities and the counties. We were able to capture that. And so making that legacy decision, we were able to see who has opportunity for growth within their communities in single family homes or apartment complexes and where there wasn't as much room for future development and growth. And then that green line there gives you the birth rates and survival cohorts. So likely um the enrollment will land somewhere in the middle, right, is our projection. When we look at Kennedy, you see a steady incline as we go throughout the next future years. That is the growth of that Spanish immersion program at that school. They are on track to grow about 45 students each year,

089which is currently two sections. We are kindergarten through 2 grade at Westwood. We will be kindergarten through third grade if this is approved next year at Kennedy and continue to grow up by two sections each year following until we get to 8th grade. >> Of course. >> Uh what happened to Kennedy? I mean, it was going up up up and then all of a sudden it's just the bottom fell out. Where'd those kids go? >> Yeah. So, this is just the reality of our data right now, Scott. And so, we do see some students going to surrounding school districts or making other choices uh for enrollment. We do see one of the things that we felt confident with the stability and commitment and growth of that immersion program. As you can see in 201620 2017

090um the enrollment at Kennedy was around uh 922 um and with the growth K8 of that program we are going to be back to about that number and so we know it's a beautiful facility that has some space opportunity and will be a wonderful place to house our Spanish immersion program. Uh next up we are going to Westwood. Uh up here again in the teal area, you see the proposed boundary for Westwood. Um here in the purple on the bottom, you're going to see those two areas of change. And then here zoomed in are those two areas of change. Um so this area, this is going to be Third Street North on the the bottom of the picture. This is Highway 15. This is the BNSF Railway over to Cooper Avenue North. The black line

091in the middle is there because currently this little chimney cutout attends Discovery and this little cutout attends Madison. So we are going to take this scoop um for both of these areas to now attend Westwood. Um and that you will see in some of the considerations and also the future enrollment here. So considerations for Westwood space constraints to grow the north side immersion program. there was not room to continue to grow by two sections all the way through fifth grade. We would run out of classrooms and so it was not an option to keep that program there. We also wanted to create stable enrollment for future projections and there was some opportunities to pull in some of the enrollment which is why we were able to capture that uh Discovery and Madison attendance area. Here

092we see the enrollment projections for Westwood. Again, that current line at 549. And you can see future projections very stable in the mid to high 500s. Discovery boundary area is here. This blue teal area is the proposed boundary. Um you're going to see two pictures in the middle here. That's because in this uh top boundary, this is what used to be Discovery North and Discovery South. In the top Discovery North area, this blue line running up is Highway 15. And we are looking and then over to Division on the north end. We are looking to capture some of the new development of apartment complexes that run along the east side of Highway 15 um to go to the Discovery Attendance Area. And then you can see down here in this picture, uh, this lower kind

093of looks like a foot maybe. Uh, this lower yellow picture area is around Luxembourg, uh, south of Interstate 94. Um, and that area is going to get scooped into Oakill. Key considerations for this was space growth opportunities at Discovery, community-based preschool reorganization. Currently, Discovery houses six preschools. Two of which are Discovery students, one of which is a communitybased program because we have some space to do so, and three of which are Oakill's preschools because they are inexisting space constraints. Um, and so part of this is making sure that our preschoolers have that opportunity to attend preschool at their community school location and be able to stay there through fifth grade. Uh the other key consideration for Discovery that was intentional with our design team was to take a look at making Discovery only a north

094side secondary feeder. Um and we will talk about some of those reasons why here on the next slides. Discovery projection. You can see this building has been underutilized in our past history. Um we did take a jump of enrollment this year and that was really due to the additions of those preschool classrooms. Um and we maintain that nice steady line in the low to mid700s for a discovery enrollment over the next 10 years. Madison boundary here on the far picture in the teal boundary is the proposed boundary area. Um here you're going to see a couple areas of change. Again, this first yellow boundary area was a change that did exist in current Madison boundary. Uh this was discovery. So that is not I just couldn't delete it out of the picture because it was

095too close. And then this area here is going to be Division Street to the Mississippi River. This road is Cooper Avenue North. And then again that BNSF railway. And this section is currently Lincoln that will now be attending Madison. Um and so some of the space constraints that we were experiencing at Tilah and Lincoln were able to be shifted up to Madison to balance enrollment there. Key considerations for Madison were to maintain the immersion programming and create some room for growth. We currently have Chinese immersion at Madison with one section in kindergarten through fifth grade and hoping for some opportunities to expand that program as we create some space to do so. Uh the core facility space limitations at Madison address um the uh areas like the media center and the cafeteria which does not

096have the same square footage or footprint as like our Talahi Oakill discovery areas. And so as we get into the 700s, it becomes challenging to have enough cafeteria seats and tables and serving lines and space uh for all of our littles to be able to eat safely in those spaces. And so knowing that we needed we were at capacity and needed to do some reductions there. And then Madison tends to be as we track and monitor those indisted sites uh primarily due to daycare. The reasons why on there is it's a central location. There's a lot of population and a lot of daycarees around that area and near that. Uh so it tends to be one of our more popular sites for indistrict transfers and wanting to create that space for choice for our families.

097Here we see the Madison projected enrollment. Um you can see that they have been anywhere from low 600 to 700s. We have them right now at a pretty stable line in the high 500s. Again, creating that intentional and thoughtful space to try and grow that immersion program. OILL. Um here is the current proposed boundary for Oakhill. You can see we have included that area by Luxembourg. Up here to the north end, you're going to see Pleasant Lake. Um, those students south of 94 will now attend at Oakhill. Um, a large reason for that southside discovery area attending at Oakill was their location and proximity to Tech High School. Um, so if I was attending all the way to Apollo, I would be passing and going quite a distance. And so by doing this, we were

098able to create some transportation efficiencies and also that opportunity to be close for that secondary experience. Um here we see a couple circles because there's a lot going on once you get to the middle of the map. So this is that area that we've already talked about um with Highway 15 to the east side around that new development. This runs up West St. Germaine Main Prairie Road and then 25th AB North. Uh the other area of Oakill for change is over here. Uh this is 22nd Street South. This runs down the Mississippi River to 33rd uh street south. This is right around the St. Cloud Country Club area and then up Roosevelt Road just to give you some proximity of location. This boundary area is currently Tahi and will be shifting to Oakill. Key considerations

099for Oakill was space for projected future development. We went through many phases. uh I think we ended up on model 5 A4-2. So it went through many many variations of mapping. Um but in every variation that we went through, OAIL was the highest amount of projected future development. So lots of already plans that are in place for growth for neighborhoods, apartment complexes that could drive future enrollment. Um, so we knew that they were one of our schools that already have preschool that is taken out because they don't have space and they are a school that has a lot of future development and growth. So we needed to create some intentional room for that future development and growth within that community. Uh, we've talked about those current space constraints including their preschool um along with other

100programming factors and then those community based preschool opportunities. OILIL projected uh enrollment you see that intentional decline. It does drop them from 847 students down to around 707 but then you see that slow gain of that future development and growth line. Um we are very comfortable around that 750 to 800 mark for Oakhill. Um and that will create the space to get preschool back within that building. Lincoln here. You see on the far side that teal line around the uh proposed Lincoln boundaries. You see here that yellow area that we talked about from Division Street to the Mississippi River, the railway and Cooper Avenue North that will now scoop into Madison. And that is the only area of change for Lincoln. Key considerations uh for Lincoln is Lincoln is not only experiencing a slight boundary

101change but also a program change. Um, seven years ago we went through a developmental design where we shifted uh, Talahi and Lincoln as two schools, one community. We had Tilahi serving uh, pre preschool through 2 grade when we opened that and Lincoln serving third through fifth grade. What we noticed three years ago was Lincoln couldn't hold all the third through fifth graders, so we shifted them to Talahi. Um, and they now serve preschool through third grade. Uh, but what has since happened is Talahi couldn't hold all of the preschoolers. So now Lincoln has two sections of preschool and Talahi has two sections of preschool. Um and and one of the unintended consequences that we did not see when we made that decision to do that developmental design split was when you have a cohort of

102students between 150 and 170. Whichever site you put them at is going to tip them over. So, we were not able to really balance facility utilization under that developmental design model, which is why we're looking at a program model change at making both Lincoln and Tahi PK5 sites and really staying focused on our community-based schools. Uh, this will create fewer transitions for students. If I am a preschooler attending preschool at Lincoln, kindergarten through third grade at Talahi, back to four five at Lincoln, it becomes a challenge. Um, as well as our siblings are located at the same sites. We did hear from some families that it was tricky. If I have a second grader and a fourth grader, I want them to ride the bus together. I want them to get home at the same

103time. Um, so those were some considerations that we took into place in making that program model change. We also want to ensure that we have community-based preschool reorganization at both sites. And then another key consideration was uh Lincoln becoming only a north side feeder and getting rid of both that north and southside feeder at that location. Enrollment projections for Lincoln. We know it is a small but mighty space. Um and so we are very comfortable with around the 350 students and we see a great stable line. You will see in this map you don't see that blue line come off and that is really because Lincoln's fairly landlock for future development growth. So you don't see a lot of discrepancy there. Um, this one got very tricky because that uh boundary readjustment from Lincoln to

104Madison had to be made or they sustained over 400 which would put them over capacity. And so that was really intentional to try and keep them in a spot where they could best serve students and create that balance of enrollment at that location. Next we get to Talahi. Up here on the top um outlined in the teal is the proposed boundary area down this is a goofy shape. So down here on the bottom you're going to see two red circles. Those are the areas of change for Tilah. The first one is that area down Roosevelt Road, 22nd Street South, 33rd by the golf course and up the Mississippi River. And again that is going from Tahi to Oill. And then we see the area this is Minnesota V Boulevard boulevard um up by St. Benedict

105Center. And then you see County Road 8 coming down here. This was that change from last school year which is why it's shaded in blue. So we have both impacting a change from that boundary decision from last January as well as a proposal here in December. Key considerations uh here we went through the PK5 model change between Tahi and Lincoln. Also, Tilah is experiencing the current space constraints, which is why they have two preschool classrooms currently being served over at Lincoln and wanting to do some reorganization to get our PK through fifth grade community students in one school for their experience. Tilah projections here have them currently at 728. Um, you see them down in the low to mid600s, but a very stable line for projection over the next 10 years. Next we have Clear

106View. This picture to the left is going to be the proposed boundary for Clear View. The picture in the middle is going to indicate three areas of change. Again, two of those areas are shaded in blue because those were decisions from last school year. Uh we talked about um this area up here to the north that used to be Tilah Tilah and is now scooping into Clear View and also this area here near St. Augusta. Um, this area was also a decision that was made last school year. The boundary decision for this year is again going to be down Roosevelt Road and then south of 33rd. So, this is that 33rd Street South down Roosevelt Road. Um, there are some newer apartment developments there that are and neighborhoods that are going into the Clear View

107area. Key considerations for Clear View is we did have some space growth opportunity at that facility and also to support class section counts and responsible staffing. Uh one of the challenges that we have seen at Clear View is we currently have two Spanish immersion sections in most grades. We do have some three sprinkled within uh depending upon cohorts of students. Uh but we have pretty consistently over the last handful of years had one section of English which presents some challenges as well. And so this may give us the opportunity and likely will give us the opportunity to have more than one English section at Clear View as well. Clear View projections put them up around the mid uh mid500s. You can see that back in 2010 to 2015 that's where they were at. Um so

108we are very comfortable with that projection. And again that also takes into consideration that future development and likely will land somewhere in the middle of those two lines. This gives you just a little bit of a view as we start to go through planning. We wanted to make sure we were intentionally to look at what does this due to secondary pathways and what does this mean for middle levels. We know that overall enrollment is up in 742 which is a great thing but it also presents some challenges or or just differences when we look at facilities and what what space teachers have been used to utilizing. And so you will see in both north on the top graph and south on the bottom graph steady growth over the next four years. Um so Lori the

109superintendent Putnham and I have been very clear as we've been going out that even with these boundary redesigns we are still going to be pinched in certain grades in certain years at certain levels uh because of our enrollment increases and that's just naturally where students are at. Um, the other key considerations for this middle level was knowing that we have current space constraints at South Middle School and Tech High School and we have larger facilities and space opportunities at North Middle School and Apollo High School. This is going to get down to just some data and numbers for you. Um, but just wanted to show kind of the intentionality of looking at each individual student, who it impacts, and how we're communicating this proposal. Um that very first box here is going to show you

110the 2526 boundary redesign decision. Uh currently the area around St. Augusta south of 94, there are 23 students in that area, seven of which are already attending Clear View. Um so some of these students are already attending. Uh the area south of Minnesota Boulevard up that used to be within the Tilah boundary is 121 students, 28 of which are already attending at Clear View. And so from that decision last year, we left that as a decision for families to make with this boundary redesign proposal. This would be their new school boundary that will impact 109 students from last year's boundary decision. In our table for this year's boundary changes, you're going to see um we we can kind of go through line by line. The area west of 23 by Kennedy, we impacted one student.

111Current Discovery South area by Luxembourg impacts 11 students. East of Highway 15 around West St. Germaine impacts 208 students. East of Highway 15 and north of Third Street impacts 83 students. East of 25 Avenue North to Cooper Avenue North and north of Third Street North. Lots of north there, impacted 41 students. East of Cooper Avenue North to the Mississippi River and north of Division impacted 54. And then south of 22nd Street South and east of Roosevelt Road impacted 44 students. and south of 33rd to Interstate 94 impacted 67, rounding out 509 students that will be impacted by this year's boundary redesign proposal if approved and around a 12% change for our student population. um the program. We also wanted to take a look at our program numbers to know how do we support students and

112staff and programming and be intentional as we move through next steps of staffing and support for next school year. For the Talahi Lincoln program model change, we currently have um 111 fourth graders in the Talahi boundary area who are attending Lincoln that will go back to Talah. And we currently have 64 kindergarters, 52 first graders, and 54 second graders that are in the Lincoln area that are currently attending at Talahi, bringing us to 281 students who will be impacted by that program change. And then for our Spanish immersion program, we currently at Westwood have kindergarten through 2 grade running in that Spanish immersion program with 114 students. Um, what we did here was we pulled their home school, so we know it's a north side program. Uh what we have is 35 students with the

113home school of Westwood, 29 with Madison, 25 with Discovery, 11 who are open enrolled, eight who attend at Kennedy, um from Kennedy school area, three from Lincoln and Talahi, and three from Clear View. And you might be going hm three from Clear View, three from Tahi Lincoln. That is due to our indist. So they have opted into an indistrict transfer and are attending immersion at those north side sites. that impacts again 114 students. A couple of the boundary redesign tools that we have made available um on our website. We have kind of posted every step. So, we've tried to really be intentional and responsive to asks as we've been out and gathering input from our community. Um, and been posting those visuals and tools on our website, as well as working with MDE to create

114this online map tool, which is you click on the tool, you punch in your address, and it will tell you where your current boundary is with this boundary redesign. And with that, we will take any questions. [laughter] Uh, does anybody have any questions or comments at all? Al, >> back at the very beginning, you showed a map with a bunch of um dots on it. >> Yeah, I want to see that again. >> That one right there. And that is each one of those represents one student or each one of those represents how many students or is >> one or multiple. It can either it is a stop. Yep. an address. So, it could be uh when I pulled apart these >> are bus stops. >> It it it is a bus Well, it's a

115bus stop. Could be a bus stop. It It could be an apartment stop. So, when I pulled them apart, there are some that have 64 students. There are some that have one student. So, it's one or multiple. >> Okay. I I guess I was just going to say I looked at this and it it kind of shocked me out how much it was concentrated in the immediate St. cloud area and how sparse they are in the outer outlying areas. And um I was wondering if this this whole plan is being built on resident students served. Correct. And how what would it look like based on resident students? Are we losing is we lose 4,000 students a year to open enrollment. are they all coming from the outer the outside of the school district whereas we're

116really maintaining a high percentage of the students within the St. Cloud area. Is that >> the truth? >> So, okay. >> Is there any Did we look So, we had a fairly big increase in enrollment this year. Did we look at where those students came from? Are they Do you um the question is uh with our increase this year um do we have a sense of or do you do you know where they came from >> um >> in the map the geographic area >> not necessarily but anecdotally we had a lot from out of out of district in the state so a lot of transfers in from other school districts in Innesota. Um and we had particularly high transfers in um at sixth and nth grade and a lot of those were attributed to

117um some nonpublic and so I saw that in a particular >> I guess my question is more is it coming from students who had opted out to another school district and they're they're making their mind up to come back to St. Cloud and is that a trend we can expect to continue or is that a do you think a one-time thing? >> I I don't have numbers on that. I will [snorts] tell you like we made those house calls at the beginning of the year um where we went out and visited all new students to district 742 and I I know just in the you know 30 stops that I made that day at least uh five or six of those were students who had offer coming back either they had been nonpublic or they

118had gone to um a different years or because of some of what our high schools offer I I'll just add uh in the sense of the in district transfers as well. Uh we see the kids in fifth grade that are at charters come back in sixth and when they are done at eth with we saw some of the schools close. We're getting them in ninth again. And in my three years in this row I've seen that more and more when we look at our enrollment at the to Shannon's point at the transition years the students are coming back. We've also seen uh some of those outlier uh in the that Kennedy area not go to Ricori or go to Hold it for and they come to Tech, right? We've seen a lot of that happening

119as well just in the in the sense of us when we get those in a district transfers, we're looking of where they're coming from. But to your point, Shannon hit it, those traditional at that transition time, we've been seeing those students come back to us is six and and six and n. So then my question is if that's if that's a con if we think that that would be a continuing trend that we're taking back more students who in the past would have open and rolled out to another district or a charter school. How is that going to impact? You started out saying we don't want to we don't want to change this for 10 years. So we're going to look at the next 10 years. But if we take back 200 students a year

120for the next 10 years, that's 2,000 students. And how is that going to impact this since I would assume just and again this impacted me when you showed this screen. >> I would assume that most of those open enrollies out are coming from the outer portions of the school district. So that would be Kennedy and uh Kennedy and Clear View would be the two most impacted schools. Is that >> And [clears throat] I just asking the question I know you put >> a lot of thought into everything that was done. I'm just wondering if that was part of the equation. >> Yeah. And I think at those transitional points, we have seen that pattern for the last last handful of years. as long as Jason and I have been in this role, we've seen that

121transitional point. And so that was a conversation that we did have with our design team as we looked at those numbers and the facilities usage. The other thing, Al, to your original question, um, which is we we are around 140 students in elementary that are over projection from last year, right? And that was some of that increase that we talked about when we talked about enrollment um earlier this fall. Uh the two schools that we increased teachers late in August was Discovery and OILL and both kindergarten. And so around those two areas are where we place teachers at. But as far as one school being heavier with those 140 over projection, they did sprinkle in and across grade levels relatively nicely until we got to those kindergarten classrooms and had to add two staff members.

122>> Yeah. I and I think you know our answer is yes and no, right? Also to your question, right? The um the capture rates that you saw on there, right? The survival cohorts um versus the max projections um that survival cohort is based on our current capture rate, right? Which increased this year, right? So it used that capture rate which um to project. So yes, we've used what we got this year, but to your point, we don't know, right, if that capture rate is going to stay or if it's going to continue to exponentially increase and where those kids will come from. You know, that we do not know. Um, which makes this a real challenging, right? It's a real challenging thing to do. Um, and we also only know um the growth that's, you

123know, we have a sense of where the growth can be, right? just based on landlockedness, but we also only know what people have filed to this point, which is certainly not, you know, 10 years in the future, right? So the we are working with data that is as accurate as it can be, but not as accurate as we would like because it doesn't exist. Um before we started the meeting there was a question about capacity and enrollment. Are they different? Are they the same? What are we talking about? >> Yeah, they they are different. So enrollment is going to be the numbers of students who are attending. Capacity is going to look at some of that square footage of use of facilities. And I can tell you that that data was intended for our design

124team and we did use it throughout these plans. We also triangulated that data. And what I mean by that is we didn't just solely rely on square footage of a room. We looked at our classroom target class sizes that we want our students to have an experience within. And we also looked at counting in each individual building map how many classrooms exist and tried to triangulate that data as we made this proposal. First of all, wow, that you knew every road. I'm like, this this girl's been looking at this for quite some time. [laughter] Things you maybe never wanted to know about St. Cloud that you now know. Amazing. Um I'm so proud of the move to have preschool at home sites. I think that, you know, we our our desire for belonging within our

125our community schools. Thank you. Um also I know that um Chinese immersion parents have um very clearly said if we want to grow but there's no room to grow. So thank you for making that growth opportunity at Madison. Um I have three questions and they all are regarding um Spanish immersion. A lot of Spanish immersion parents have emailed us with some great questions and so I just want to make sure I have all the answers that I can. Um, [snorts] can you share with us the decision um to put Spanish immersion at Kennedy versus Discovery and kind of what went into that? >> Yeah, I can. Um, as we looked at some of the challenges, we knew that we needed to push a little bit west and we knew that one of our core commitments

126was keeping communities together. And so without taking part of the neighborhood community of Westwood to Kennedy um and and and breaking that community apart, we couldn't move keep Spanish immersion there. Um and without being able to um keep that there was a few proposals and what I'm thinking about is uh there was a proposal of could we keep K2 at Westwood and move 35 to Kennedy, but our core commitment was to keep programs and communities together. And so really the only school that allowed us to do that after reviewing the need for movement was to put it at Kennedy. It also gave us the opportunity to have that commitment to stability and to growth and the opportunity to grow through 8th grade. And so as we looked through all the input that was great input

127and great curiosities, right, as they gave us some ideas to move throughout um that was where we felt the best fit for the the stability and the continued growth of that program would be. >> Thank you. And so just so I make sure I'm clear, um, Spanish immersion moving there next year, K through three, and then that'll go up to 8th grade, and then this is, you know, in that 10 year projection, then they'll go to Apollo, >> correct? They're they're a pathway to Apollo. >> Okay. And then Natalie, may I though I will say because there are some for some of our families, Kennedy is actually uh Tech is actually their home high school, right? because when you look at that Luxembourg area or the Pleasant League, I don't know what like where, but

128that is so right. That's a tech neighborhood. Um, so the nice thing is that we'll have Spanish at both at both high schools. So regardless of your pathway out of Kennedy, you will be able to be served 912. >> So they could even do interest or transfer if they want either one. Okay. >> It got approved. >> Yeah. And and I think what Superintendent Pumand [laughter] >> Yeah. What superintendent Putnham is talking about is we've now taken the layer of starting to look through each individual student and we hit that Luxembourg area which you might remember sir there's 11 current students in that that area around Luxembourg and the first the first seven of them are already attending at Kennedy right and then Lori was like oh that's why I see some at at the

129southside right and so we're really trying to be thoughtful about where that exists and how we continue that great programming >> okay thank you and then my last one is um have you done uh a look at what the travel time changes for students who are current the 114 students I think I'm getting that right that are now at Westwood and Spanish immersion what will their travel time changes be for busing that is on our list of to-dos and so should this boundary redesign get approved we will be working very closely with transportation and our routers to create some of those mockup models of where those neighborhood community stops will be um another question that we've gotten that you may have on your list is if I live in the Westwood um attendance area, I

130attend Spanish immersion at Kennedy, can I have my student attend kids stop at Westwood? And the answer is yes. We will continue that um as a bus stop. >> Okay, that's all I have. Thanks, Nikki. You bet. >> Anybody else? Ask your questions now because this is coming back uh for approval December 17th. Any other thoughts? >> I don't know that I have I have questions, but I I um I do appreciate the process that has been used and I I think there were a couple of times where and I I'll just say this, this is leadership and this is messy work and we talked about that when we went into it that redistricting is hard and it's hard because it's emotional and it touches people and it touches um communities and how they see

131themselves and where they've gone. Um, I appreciate that even though there was a time, call it four or six weeks ago, something like that, where there was kind of a movement towards one direction that was shifted, um, particularly around Spanish immersion. And I just want to say, having been in leadership roles, sometimes you have to revisit and you learn some things and you get some perspectives that maybe you weren't thinking about. That's what I saw. Um, and I personally as as someone who's has um students who have gone through Spanish immersion, the idea of a K through8 I I think is actually pretty incredible. Um, and the ability to build that um, and from a pedigogy perspective really grow um, what they're able to do. And again, just having sat on the board and listened

132to presentations, Kennedy is a special I mean, they do some really cool things that aren't everywhere, um, community gardens and some opportunities outside that I think, um, could really be highlighted. So, while I understand and I empathize that for some people um this doesn't feel good, I'm also very optimistic that given the opportunity and for teachers to be able to um develop those classrooms from K through next year three and onward and upward, I think it will be a really neat opportunity for those students particularly um as they get into sixth, seventh and eighth grade and can integrate um some of their language learning into much greater scopes um with science and um different subjects that you don't see as much in elementary. So I um I I think there's some really great opportunities there.

133Okay, I think that's it. That's all our questions. Thank you so so much for all this work. We appreciate it. Okay. So, that will be back um for approval on the 17th. That was it for our work session tonight. Um so, that's a wrap. Um the work session is adjourned. It is 8:42 p.m. Have a good night and thank you for watching. That's