001is now called to order. It is April 16th, 2025 and the time is 6:31 p.m. Our mission is to provide a safe and caring climate and culture in which we engage, inspire, educate, prepare, and empower all learners in partnership with their surrounding community to be successful in today's and tomorrow's society. Heather, can you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance 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 when you're ready, 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 Dorh Halt here. Diana Fenton here. Shannon Haw here. Heather Williams here.
002The following cabinet members and staff 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. Assistant Superintendent of E12 Educational Services, Shannon Ason. Executive Director of Community Education, Adam Holm. Executive Director of Finance and Business Services, Amy Scallarude. Executive Director of Human Resources and Labor Relations, Tracy Flyno. Executive Director of Operations, Joel Hidamp. Executive Director of Research, Enrollment, and Assessments, Donna Roer. Executive Director of Special Projects Gary Gangi. Director of Community Engagement and Communications Tammy Dand. Media Technicians Paul Novc and Gordy Scott. Custodian on the site is Austin Goodwater. Thank you. Then I'm looking for a motion to approve tonight's board of education meeting agenda. So move. I have a motion by Scott, a second by Natalie. Heather, can
003you call [Music] vote? Al Dalgrren, yes. Zack Dorhold, yes. Diana Fenton, yes. Shannon Hos, yes. Heather Williams, yes. Scott Anderson, yes. Natalie Copeland, yes. Okay. Then we have the consent agenda. The consent agenda consists of non-controversial items. The board adopts routinely without debate. Any 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 minutes from March 12th, 2025, March 19th, 2025, and April 9th, 2025. Item B, approval of bills and other financial transactions in the grand total amount of 3,63,680.31. Item C, approval of personnel staff changes. Item D, acceptance of grant awards and donations. Item E, approval of quarterly expenditures for board members. Item F, approval of monthly financial report for February 2025. Item G,
004approval of monthly treasures report for February 2025. Item H, approve uh proposed revised board policy 525, violence prevention applicable to students and staff, third reading. Item I, approval, approve proposed revised board policy 707, transportation of public school students, third reading. Item J, approve proposed revised board policy 527, student use and parking of motor vehicles, patrols, inspections, and searches. Minor change. Item K, approval. Approve proposed revised board policy 702, accounting reference changes. Item L, approve proposed revised board policy 703, annual audit reference change. Item M approve proposed revised board policy 705 investments reference change. I have one request to remove item D by El Dalgrren which he is recusing himself. Do I have anybody else that would like to Natalie? Same on that. Same on that. So we have two recusing themselves on item D. So
005again, I get um a motion to approve consent items A through M with the exception of item D. I have a motion by Scott, a second by Natalie Heather, can you call vote on that? Yes. Zack Dorhold, yes. Shannon Hos, yes. Scott Andre, yes. Al Dalgrren, yes. Diana Fenton, yes. Heather Williams, yes. Okay. And then um item D, looking for a proposal or a motion to approve item D. So move. And can I have a second? Um I'll give Zach a second. So Heather, can you call vote with the exception of Al and Natalie? Scott Andre, yes. Zack Dorhold, yes. Diana Fenton, yes. Shannon Hos, yes. Heather Williams, yes. Thank you. Okay, moving on to information items. We have two tonight. First up is our community celebrations and joining us is Tammy Dand, director of
006community engagement and communications. Welcome This is there we go. Good evening, Chair Haz, Superintendent Putnham, members of the board. It is my pleasure this evening to announce the Shining Stars community celebration which is going to take place May 17th at Apollo High School from 11 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon. And this is going to be a great day. So I hope you save it on your calendars. This event is an opportunity to celebrate and showcase our district and our community throughout this entire school year. And beginning with recognition of Minnesota Superintendent of the Year, our very own Lori Putnham, who also has just been named presidentelect of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators. Lori, Lori, the commissioner of education, a name I think you're all familiar with, Willie Jet, will be here,
007as well as executive director of NASA, Deb Hinton. They will both be here in person to help celebrate Lori. So, we're very excited. It's also an opportunity for us to showcase our amazing student talent talent including academics, arts, activities, athletics. Uh these students will be demonstrating leadership, creativity and problem solving skills. And many of our students will be on the main stage um demonstrating some of their talent. So that we are looking forward to. It's also a wonderful way to celebrate our fabulous families who are the backbone of this community. They provide unwavering support and dedication to our children's education and create a really strong foundation for student success. We're also here to celebrate our amazing staff and they're the heart of our schools, right? They support and guide and ensure a sense of belonging
008in our students every single day and empower them to become the very best they can be. We also want to roll out the red carpet treatment in appreciation of our community partners, our volunteers and our donors. And please know this is a very short list. Um it represents only a few of the committed partners who will be uh present and celebrating with us on May 17th. And finally, I'm very happy to say that we are going to be able to celebrate the success of the building brighter futures referendum at Apollo High School, which is absolutely perfectly fitting. I want to mention that our shining star celebration is generously sponsored by United Way and these partnering organizations. They're going to help us make this a really, really big day. And we hope to see you there
009on May 17th. It is going to be a great day. That's okay. Any questions? Good to go. Anybody have any questions at all? Yeah. If there are no questions, then I would move that we recess the meeting for a short period of time for community input. Okay. And can I have a second on that? Second. Okay. I have a motion by Al, a second by Natalie. And I just wanted to point out that this is a a very unique situation. We had a um scheduling conflict and we make wanted to make sure that we were accommodating to everybody in this unique situation. So, um all in favor say I. I. Opposed. Okay. Meeting is recessed. Thank you, Tammy. Sorry about that. I was trying to get the right words in there. Um, okay. So, I
010will read. So the meet the meeting is So, we are reopening the meeting. It is now 7:06 p.m. and moving on to our second information item of the night, which is the 2025 summer projects review presented by Joel Hikampamp, executive director of operations. Thank you, Board Chair Haw, Superintendent Putnham, and members of the board. It's my pleasure tonight to share uh a overview and highlight of all the busyiness that will happen in many of our buildings and our sites uh over the course of the 3mon summer, which goes by real fast when we're working on all these different uh projects. So, uh there there are two kind of main themes you're going to hear that a huge chunk of these projects are happening in two spaces. And so, we'll start with North Junior High. I
011provided a few pictures just uh before of the bigger things that are there and maybe some that would be hard to conceptualize without them. So, um at North Junior High, we're going to do uh new flooring throughout the entire main office area. So, that will look new to all of our guests uh as they enter each each day. And then in the back part of that main office where the nurse's office is at, uh Principal Hansen has uh identified a need to reformat and reshape what that nurse's suite looks like. So that will look different uh when students and staff come back next fall. You'll see this at both sites. Uh I did put pictures for both of them though and that is that uh we are moving to single stall restrooms on both the
012first floor and the second floor uh in the main west side of both buildings. Uh and that will be hard to think about um in regards to those those stairs. But if you look at it from the corner, just like you see there uh with the picture on the left, um the staircase will remain, but the single stall restrooms will be an L-shaped area uh around and behind that uh that staircase. And so you can kind of see on the picture on the left, there are some lockers that are there. That whole area will be open um and we'll look inward toward the back side of those stairs. And then on the right side of the picture, uh on the left where the uh drinking fountain is at, that will also be gone looking straight
013in at the other side of that area on the back side of those staircases uh will be the areas where students can wash hands and use paper towels and hand dryers uh and such. And then when you go to the second floor, uh the picture uh on the right hand side, very similar. um right where that staircase is at the single stall restrooms will form an L-shaped area around both sides of that north was of the two buildings the first to get that auxiliary gym and uh in the construction of that many many years ago they did not have a permanent wall and with the utilization of that space now with our high school uh kid kids and uh community rentals uh we've now identified that that that tarp wall just isn't safe in splitting
014up that area. And so, uh, we are going to put a permanent wall there much like we have at South Junior High. Uh, then we're also going to refresh that area with painting of the ceiling and they're going to get new flooring in that space that interlocks. It looks fine just the way you see it in the picture, but when you go there in person, uh, the floor doesn't interlock and it moves around as students are in that space. And then here's a list of all the other things that are happening in uh, North Junior High. We're going to get new hallway flooring wherever there is not the Terzo floor. Uh so all the vinyl flooring will be replaced. Uh we are going to replace the movable wall in the gym between the uh upper
015gym and lower gym. Uh some classroom flooring will be updated. Uh all of the lighting in the building will be upgraded to more efficient LED lighting. We'll do some hallway painting and refreshing uh and some coordination of colors. If you walk either one of our junior high sites, you'll notice that we have a multitude of colors throughout uh as additions were made. And that was kind of the style when those buildings were built in the '60s with the uh the yellow glossy glossy block that we're going to we're going to fix up and make that look nice again. Uh North has some extensive window replacements that will be done. There will be a little bit of room configuration reconfiguration, sorry, due to that restroom remodel. And so the staff lounge will be in a similar
016area shifted over just a little bit uh where the where the restrooms will take that space. And then the wellness room will also uh move from the upstairs location into the staff lounge area for use by staff members. We'll do some updating of electrical panels and then we are also updating and replacing the boiler system fluids to be more efficient at South Junior High. One big thing that you will see is the locker replacement that will be happening. Uh when Dr. Harris and I were together at South Junior High, uh we tried to give them a refresh with some repainting. That's why they're black and orange now. And uh that was a number of years ago and that painting has served its purpose. Uh but those lockers are original to the building and we're finding
017it hard to find the appropriate um tools and the appropriate hardware to fix them as needed. And so uh we will do a locker refresh throughout the entire building. Again, very similar pictures you saw at North Junior High. These are the exact same areas of the buildings. U both first floor and second floor. And those uh single style restrooms will look the exact same at both of those sites. in South's conference room. We'll do an update in flooring. And then when South had gotten the uh remodel in the office area to provide the secure entrance, there was one workroom that didn't get uh touched at all. And so that is still one area within a refreshed larger area of the main office that didn't get touched. And so we will u provide some new finishes,
018some new flooring, and just some updates in that space as well. You'll see a lot of redundancy here. We're we're really coordinating our efforts to to be efficient of both time, effort, and funds. Uh we'll do some hallway flooring throughout. Again, replacing anything that is not the Terzo floor. South will also get a new movable wall. Um the one thing I failed to mention with North is that the one nice thing is that the movable wall uh we're hoping is is now motorized. Uh right now it's about a 15-minute process. It takes about three or four people to open up that wall. This will take two. It only takes two because it'll be a safety measure with one person on each side of the wall so that no one could get hurt um moving it
019on their own uh or get pinched in the in the movement of that wall. It's a safety feature. So, that'll be real nice for our custodial teams. We'll do some classroom flooring updates there as well. Uh some cafeteria uh flooring and repainting. We'll replace a very little bit of LED lighting. South has less to update than North does. hallway painting. Again, coordinating the colors of the building to really uh bring some updates and some um some continuity throughout. Again, because of the addition of those single stall restrooms, we'll have uh the staff lounge shifting in space just a little bit to one side of the of the hallway. And then because of that loss of space in the second floor restrooms, our science storage room will just shift um to a different hallway. We will
020again update electrical panels throughout the building and then also update boiler system fluids at South Junior High as well. Uh other things that you'll see throughout uh I had shared this at the summer wrap-up in September, but we will come back to Apollo and finish up some roofing projects that were not quite completed. Uh we'll start right away here and uh we hope to have this work or we plan to have this work done uh from last summer by the uh 1st of July. Uh we will see the uh south parking lot resurface at Apollo High School. Both Oakill and Kennedy uh their tennis courts will be replaced and then also relined uh for pickle ball which we know is really important to our community. We also have some proposals out there right now for
021the resurfacing um and crack filling of some other of some other sites too. So hopefully we can u make some of those other ones uh look a little nicer. Kennedy and Oakill were of high need um just for overall use and safety for our students. We are adding an Oakhill pre-K fencedin area. Uh that's that will happen right away when the the summer begins. We're finding with the prek students back in our uh school sites that we do have to have a designated safe area for them. And so um we put one in at the end of last summer at Lincoln and we just wrapped up the install of all th those materials. So, if you drive by Lincoln at all in the back corner, you'll see that there we're going to put in something
022similar at Oak Hill. The Tech PA sealing project, which started last fall, will be completed. And we've got multiple playground repairs uh also happening throughout the district. All this work doesn't um doesn't happen without a great team. And so, I just want to provide a quick shout out uh for our custodial and engineering teams who help coordinate much of this work, who may help out another building while their building is down getting worked on. and then everybody coming to a site to really get it ready for school. And so that team really does work hard and takes a lot of pride in those buildings. And so I wanted to shout them out here tonight. And then lastly, when it comes to project funding, we know it takes a lot to make these things happen. And
023there are multiple sources for where these are are coming from. A huge bulk of the projects are being taken care of with our long-term facility maintenance fund. Uh but we do have North Junior High kicking in some building allocations to do the uh uh the nurses suite and the auxiliary drum updates over there. And then uh thanks to again the generosity of the board were able to do a lot of the playground additions and repairs uh with the one-time allocated funding um from all of you. And so with that and all that's going on appreciate the time and I'm be happy to take any questions. Thank you. This is just an information item, so we're not um approving it. Scott, do you have questions? Yeah. The um Apollo South parking lot, is that next to
024the U new building that's going to be put there? It will be. Yes. Um should be be waiting until that building is built before having all that construction equipment run over this new parking lot. I I think it's safe to say that we'll take every precaution needed that that that there's the surfing that's needed is is really needed and we'll take all the precautions necessary to make sure that it doesn't get damaged in the construction process. Okay. Um when I was a kid, I used to go over to North and swim in the pool there. I know it's disappeared, but what's what's on top of it? What replaced that lovely swimming pool? Yeah. So, both pools, both north and south, they got filled with sand um to to keep the uh the walls from caving
025in. And then they did surface on top. Both of them now have an auxiliary gym. Um and then a third of that space is a is a weight room, fitness room area. Thank you. Yeah. Anybody else have any comments? Al, I had a couple of questions for you. just um sure on north for a long time uh we've talked about the fields the the fields areas and not not necessarily reconfiguring the fields but uh there's a bunch of softball/ baseball fields at North and there's no team benches and no bleachers at all and I know that I've talked a lot with Gary I'm sure Gary's familiar with this one uh talked about adding just team adding team benches and and some even portable bleachers that could be dragged around to soccer fields and to uh
026the baseball fields. I'm wondering if there's any plans for anything like that in there. It's absolutely something that uh I can work with activities director Rid Path on that. When I was activities director at South, we partnered with some local groups to to get the um infrastructure that we had at South. So absolutely could work with activities director there on that. Yeah, I'd love to see that done. Uh LED lighting. It's another thing I brought up before, but I know that just recently I was approached uh on lighting and apparently Excel has a ton of money available for cost sharing for in the replacement of uh fixtures within commercial buildings or whatever. Are we utilizing any of that with this or is this all at our expense? Sure. I'll I'm going to defer to Amy
027on the budget side of that. Um, so sometimes those come in the form of rebates or tax incentives that we are obviously not eligible for. Um, but our construction managers always work with Excel. So any rebates that we as a government entity are eligible for, we always do apply for those. Um, same when we did our boiler replacement projects. Um there's a lot of rebates out there that we do still qualify for and so we always make sure that we're um utilizing those uh whenever they're available. Okay. There's supposed to be quite a bit available this year. Um, Apollo. Yeah, I was going to ask the same question about the Apollo lot and not not so much driving the construction equipment across it, but are we going to take into consideration uh that we should
028have a footprint uh blueprint uh of the footprint of the new building and know where it's going by the time that this project would start? Are we taking in that into consideration? And are we considering modifications to that lot so that it can be used utilized by both the school and the fieldhouse? Yeah. Go ahead. So, a lot of the way it's already designed um would be uh there will likely be um at some point and we haven't uh finalized it yet, but a change order to make sure that the drainage system accommodates any additional um paved area because there would likely be um some sort of additional paved area once the building is constructed. um we can't really do the additional paved area now because it would take away field space that we need
029until the whole fields are reconfigured when that building is done. Um so we can't really change the blueprint of what we're paving right now. Um but they are going to make sure that they um make any modifications necessary so that the underlying infrastructure and the drainage system will accommodate those um future changes to the parking lot as it expands out um to to add some additional parking specifically for the building. Yeah. Then my my last question is I know you didn't cover everything in in this, but are we are we leaving some funds available for tree removal uh removal and trimming of dead trees? Yes. Throughout the district and um planters, planters of new trees, some of the like around some of the signs. Oh, we have we have a ton of planters that we
030don't do anything with in the district and I'm just wondering if we could Yep. So, that will come out of our our buildings and grounds fund that gets re renewed in on July 1st. Um, and then we'll we'll allocate funds for those different projects. Okay. Yep. Thanks. Okay. Uh, Heather and then Scott, just with budgets um and increasing costs of things, are you what are you seeing as you um we see summer projects coming about? Yeah, the one nice thing is is that we were able to share with board finance this week that uh because the the bids for both North and South had come back at on such a favor favorable side for us that we were able to actually add a lot of the the pieces. So, when I had this uh presentation
031ready two weeks ago, many of the items that were able to talk about tonight weren't on that list. And so, myself and Amy and other members of the team were able to identify some other highne pieces that could be done. Um, since north and south are already going to be unusable for the entirety of the summer, we're really going to maximize those extra dollars at those sites um and and get the work done when the building's not being used during the summertime. [Music] Minnesota winters can be rather harsh. Um, we're building a new athletic building. We're remodeling Apollo. Is there a tunnel or some sort of out of the weather way to get between the two buildings? Between where Apollo is now and where that new building will be? Yes. That is not in the
032plans. No. Why? I think just to build that amount of infrastructure um isn't feasible. And even though our buildings have tunnels right now, um they're not a they're not a space for for student movement or travel. Those are very mechanical areas and it's just not something that's really feasible to do in this project. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. Moving on to discussion and action items. We have several of these. First up, we have the resolution canvasing returns of votes for school district special election held on April 8th, 2025. I have the results and the numbers. Um, the abstract and return of votes cast again, special election, April 8th, 2025. The total number of persons registered at 7:00 a.m. on this date was 59,875. The total number of new registrations on election day, 73. Total
033number of signatures on the polling place rosters, 4,725. Total number of accepted regular military and overseas absentee ballots 1,740. Uh those two numbers um are the total number of persons voting in the special election which was 6,465. The total number of spoiled ballots in the spoiled ballot envelopes 12 and the total number of defective ballots zero. So, school district ballot question number one. Total number of yes votes 4, 2017. Total number of no votes 2,446. School district ballot question two. Total number of yes votes 3,53 and total number of no votes 2,945. So, um, both questions one and two, yes, received more votes than no did. So, I'm looking a motion, um, to approve the resolution canvasing returns of votes of school district special election held on April 8th, 2025. Move. Second. Have a motion
034by Scott and a second by Natalie. Any discussion at all? Okay, Heather, can you please call vote? Diana Fenton, yes. Heather Williams, yes. Scott Andre, yes. Al Dalgrren, yes. Zack Doorhalt, yes. Natalie Copeland, yes. Shannon Hos, yes. Thank you. Uh, next we have another action item. We have the resolution proposing named staff for non-renewal or placement on unrequested leave of absence presented by Tracy Flimbo, executive director of human resource resources and labor relations. Good evening, Chair Haw, board members, Superintendent Putnham. Uh this is that moment that we've talked about in our staffing um timeline and that happens each year based on the statutory requirements to provide notice to any teachers that will be non-renewed in a timely manner. Uh as you heard uh tonight um some some concerns from the choir community about one of
035the teachers that is on the resolution. Let me just provide a little bit of um preface. uh we have um 11 teachers on this resolution. Very often we have 30 to 40 teachers. We we have 950 teachers in the district and principles have worked diligently to make these decisions. Non-renewal decisions are never made easily. Um, we charge our principles with making a a very clear assessment of teachers over the course of three years before we would grant that permanent tenure, which is which is a really, you know, big decision um for for our principles. I I think as you think about the feedback that you heard tonight and and obviously would would share concern about that as as I do, right? Um, we want to make sure that our choir program is strong and that
036our students feel supported in in their instruction in that course. The choir program is point two of this particular teacher's assignment and so it is not the whole assignment. She crosses across three different schools. So we had multiple principles involved in that decision-m and without saying more about any particular teacher, I just wanted you to have that background. Um, the other piece about the non-renewal resolution is we make this decision at this point, as I've said before, on a preliminary basis. We know that our staffing needs change, that our applicant pools change, that there are lots of changes that happen between now and the end of the school year. And it's with some frequency that teachers that are on this list tonight get rehired in the district. I say that to all of our probationary
037teachers so they know that this isn't a moment, you know, that can't be um undone. um frequently it is because our needs change and and sections change and there are other changes. So any decision that's made tonight by the board as a whole on this nonrenewal resolution does not you know is not a permanent decision for any of the teachers that are on this list. Um there will be um the opportunity to interview candidates for positions that are open and I encourage any of the teachers that are on this list to apply for those positions and to be reconsidered for any open positions throughout the rest of the spring. And so again, I just want you to have that background so it doesn't feel like it's a it's a fat- play tonight as we as
038we make this decision. So, with that, um, the resolution is before you, and I'm looking for a motion to approve the resolution to renew the to non-renew the name teachers. So, moved. Second. I have a motion by Natalie, a second by Heather. Any discussion? Okay, Heather, can you please call vote? Zack Dhold. Al Dogrren, yes. Natalie Copeland, yes. Scott Andreas, yes. Heather Williams, yes. Shannon Haw, yes. Diana Fenton, yes. Thank you. Uh, next we have another action item. It is the approval of the 202526 compensatory revenue plan presented by Amy Scallude, executive director of finance and business services. It's just slow tonight. Okay. Good evening, Chair H, Superintendent Putnham, members of the school board. Uh, this is an annual item that we bring forward every year uh to approve the district uh compensatory revenue plan
039for 2025 uh26. Uh typically compensatory revenue is allocated at the building level. So the building that generates it um is where that those funds get allocated back to. Uh statute does allow for a district to withhold um up to 20% of those funds and do an allocation on a district-wide basis um versus allocating it directly to uh the individual sites. Um so we have uh historically done that. Um actually up until a few years ago that uh threshold was up to 50%. We never did 50%, we had previously been doing 25% um and then have since decreased that to 20% uh when that statute changed. Um, doing the 20% holdback allows us to keep um consistent supports across the district, particularly as we talk about um some of our uh uh academic lead type positions
040where we do have some schools that have low um very low compensatory that otherwise wouldn't get um those same levels of support. Um so what you can see up on the screen uh is the dollar amount um of what the uh holdback um accounts for. And so our total building compensatory allocation for next year is just over 20 million. Um so that 20% hold back is just over four million. Um this is a little bit unique this year and that these numbers aren't um necessarily our final numbers. Uh there is currently uh an established compensatory formula in law. Um but the governor has a um a different proposal in his budget uh plan that would result in uh $485,000 less revenue than what we would get under current law. Um and so these numbers do
041reflect that lower um that lower estimate based on the governor's proposal with that $485,000 reduction. um knowing that we always want to staff and budget conservatively um because if we budget for current law and we end up not getting that revenue um staffing is done and and we don't have a way to go back. Um so that's a little bit unique. Normally these numbers are firm and we don't have that um sort of variation. Um but we are uh we're fortunate that um for us while $485,000 um isn't a small amount of money um based on the total amount of our compensatory um compared to other districts in the state, there are other districts in the state that have a $4 million swing one way or the other between current law and the governor's proposal.
042Um these are districts similar in size to us. Um and so we're fortunate that we don't have really really um vast uh numbers between or differences between the two. Um but again we're we're staffing conservatively and if um depending on what happens with the outcome of the legislative session we end up with more um we certainly would allocate that then back to the schools. Um and we can always add staff and add supports. Um so in terms of what we use the 20% holdback for um that funds 39 FTEES uh for next year and this plan looks very very similar to uh the plan for last year. Um the main things that that funds are our elementary grade level leads, secondary math and literacy specialists, uh chemical health counselors, um support at CAP for our
043alternative to sus suspension program, um EL staffing and early childhood staffing. Um and so those are the things that we've historically used these funds for. In addition, we have one new item um this year. While we don't have more FTE in total to work with because our compensatory is not going up, um we've done some reallocation and and decreasing some of those other items um and rep prioritizing to free up additional money for um special education staff. Uh so we uh when we compare uh last school year to the current school year have seen an increase of 251 special education students receiving service which is about nine just under 9%. Um and so clearly as we have additional students needing service um we need to add staff accordingly. Uh unfortunately we know that there's some
044uncertainty um out there with the state's overall budget um and um what that might look like in terms of long-term funding for special education. Um the governor has some um some components of his budget proposal that actually reduce um special ed funding in some areas. And so uh to make sure that we're able to to provide those supports, we've identified that and added um that in terms um of adding some additional special education staff utilizing uh this compensatory set aside. So that is the summary. Again, that's the only uh one new item and I will open it up if there are questions. Scott There are people watching at home that may not really know what a compensatory is. Could you tell us what it is, what it's based on, how it's allocated? Sure. So, compensatory
045revenue um is a um subcomponent, if you will, of of state aid. Um it's considered a categorical aid. Um and it's really uh driven by the number of students in a building who qualify for free and reduced lunch. Um and then it's um has a concentration factor. So as that percentage goes up, the amount you receive per pupil goes up. Um so it's a little bit different than the normal per pupil funding formula that we hear talked about a lot. Um where it doesn't matter um what district you are or what um what your demographics are, everybody gets the same amount per per pupil. Um compensatory doesn't work that way. So, if you have a school that has a 20% free and reduced lunch um percentage and a school with 80% free and reduced lunch,
046they're not going to get the same amount per pupil. The school with 80% free and reduced lunch will get a higher amount per pupil um based on that formula. And so, it's again directly driven um by those free and reduced counts. Um the change in the statute uh this was the first year that the statute only um takes into account what's considered a direct certification. um enrollment. And so those come in from um files from the county and other indicators where students automatically qualify. It does not include uh any paper applications that that students fill out um at the building level. And so that's part of where um that governor has the proposal. Um it it factors in that. It also factors in some hold harmless um which isn't always accurate because um a hold
047harmless is great if all other things are equal, but we know that sometimes schools have declining enrollment. Um and so a straight hold harmless where they say you're going to get the same amount of revenue you got next year isn't necessarily appropriate if we have 300 less students. Um but that the really the intention is trying to um I think to some extent get at the fact that um a lot of districts have students who don't qualify through direct certification um and have significant gaps in those numbers and and then now aren't getting the compensatory revenue um to service those students. Uh and so that's where um that proposal uh changes. Um and so we will have to wait and see until May or June when the session ends where it lands. Um, and I
048suspect that wherever it lands will be a one-year fix um, with some sort of uh, directive for the legislature um, and MDE to try to figure out a better permanent solution um, that's really equitable to all districts. So basically, it's kind of driven by poverty and the more concentrated poverty you have, the more extra money they're throwing at you. Correct. Yep. It does have that concentration factor. Now we we used to uh before we had free and before we had free lunch we used to track a lot of this. Uh has having free lunch made a difference? Um so that's part of where they wanted to switch. I think that was the intention of switching to a direct certification only was to kind of try to provide that protection um against people not filling out
049the applications um because of the free meal program. The hard part is that that only works if every district in the state has the same kind of gap between their direct certification and the people who would still fill out a paper application and that is not the same because not every district is created equal. Um and so I think there was an intention for this to to kind of hold everyone harmless with the new law. um and to to make it be um fair across all districts and and really try to protect um if free and reduced counts went down because of the free meals. Um I just think it was maybe a little oversimplified in terms of um the the approach because it's not the same at every district. um some districts have significantly
050higher percentages of of families who fall kind of just above that um that threshold or who don't qualify for um some of the the assistance programs that result in direct certification. So um the the intention is to is to be factoring that in. Um it just maybe needs a little work. Thank you. Anybody else have any questions, Natalie, or comments? That's all very interesting. What is the percentage of in our district of those that are above the direct certification but still qualify or do we not? So the hard part is that we we don't know that right because well or I guess maybe we can yeah in the past um and that's a little messy too because the direct certifications last year was the first year that the the third party billing um came in
051um I would say that that percentage at our district and and across the state is definitely less now right because a lot of our families particularly our elementary families where there's not activity fees or other things that are reduced if you qualify they're not feeling out the application because when meals are already free, um there's really not a a a large incentive for our elementary um families to complete that. So, um we don't see uh a huge when we look at the counts, they're they're down um but they're not down 20 30%. Um I don't have the number the exact number but um we do still have relatively high numbers of direct certification um in our district which is part of the reason that we don't see big vast differences between our revenue under current
052law and the governor's proposal because our direct certification numbers are high compared to a lot of other districts in the state. um the districts that you see a lot of those larger swings are more of the districts that have have relatively low um direct certification numbers. So they had really high numbers post pandemic um when you know a lot of um families had different economic circumstances and there's been some hold harmlesses in there for a couple of years. Um and so those are really where you're seeing the bigger shifts in revenue is in the districts with lower direct certification. Thanks Amy. Anybody [Music] else? Okay. Well, this is an action item. I'm looking for a motion to approve the 2025 2026 compensatory revenue plan. So, move. Do I have a second? Second. I have a
053motion by Scott, a second by Zach. Heather, can you call vote? Heather Williams, yes. Shannon Hos, yes. Diana Fenton, yes. Zack Dorhalt, yes. Al Dalgrren, yes. Natalie Copeland, yes. Scott Andre, yes. Okay. Um, then moving on to the 2025 2026 FTE projections based on enrollments and registrations. Uh, back we have Tracy Flynbo, executive director of human resources and labor relations. Joining Amy Scallude, executive director of finance and business services. Okay. Uh so you all have a copy of this in front of you and it's being displayed. Uh these are those annual changes from year to year in FTE in each of the respective areas. In the elementary area, it's largely just enrollments and you'll see changes based on you know big and small classes of kids moving through and enrollment changes um across the elementary
054system. uh at the secondary level. I think it particularly this year what you see is just normal fluctuations based on again enrollment and then registrations for different courses in the secondary area. Uh the biggest change is in the at the bottom of the page with special education very often at this point uh all of those numbers in EL um and nursing and special ed say TBD because we're still working on um establishing the right case loads for all of those um learners. Uh this year we spent some particular time attending to the special education needs with rising numbers of kids and rising case loads that were really impacting our staff. um and creating a lot of stress on our system. And so we worked together as part of our staffing planning overall to make sure
055that we could address those needs and really address what has been a growing number of students that are in those um programs and receiving those services. Yeah. And then the only thing that I would add um is just uh we do see decreases you know in um particular areas particularly at secondary driven by registrations. Um but again we do have that decrease in both elementary and secondary largely driven also by that decline in compensatory revenue. um because we know as we're staffing with that $485,000 reduction um that that is going to result in the buildings being allocated less FTE um for uh which primarily go to teaching positions than what we would have seen um for last year. Any questions? Okay, thank you. Moving on to another discussion item. staying right there. Proposed revised board
056policy 701, first reading, which is establishment and adoption of a school district budget. Um, of course, presented by Amy Scallarude, executive director of finance and business services. All right, thank you. Um, so this looks like there's a lot of sub substantive change here, and there's really not. Um, so, uh, it's just the the original paragraph, um, that talks about the requirement for a budget was a little wordy and so, um, we've just kind of re rewarded it a little bit, but it it started to get messy trying to keep parts of sentences and strike in line and add words. So, um, we just strict the whole paragraph, um, and started over. Um, but really the the main reason for the policy change was a change in MSBA's, um, sample policy. uh and it's really um
057related to um these last two sentences. And so what MSBA added to their policy um was uh and this is in just for some context. This is talking about the board approving um a budget uh and the the legal authority um and requirement for a board to approve a budget. Um, and so their policy has been amended to say if projected expenditures exceed projected revenues, the school board and superintendent may consider using an available fund balance for temporary relief. Um, and so that's always been practice. If clearly you can have a budget in any given year where you approve a deficit and by doing so you're it's been it was somewhat implied previously that that results in you spending fund balance. Um, but they have added that uh explicitly into MSBA's policy. Um and then
058we added um at the recommendation of the committee um however it is understood that such use of the fund balance is not a permanent solution. Um that is not an MSBA's policy but obviously best practice that we don't use um fund balance or onetime money to cover uh permanent um uh to permanently fill a budget hole. Um so that is really the the only change um coming for the policy. Um there are a few other just statute um clarification and references um where they're uh changing an abbreviation abbreviated version to spelling out u Minnesota statutes and then specifying um that it's the Minnesota Department of Education um commissioner. Uh and then there's one uh cross reference that's eliminated at the very end um that's been removed from all of the MSBA uh policies. Um, my
059assumption is that there is no MSBA service manual anymore um because it's been stricken from every policy. So, that's just a technical cleanup. Okay, any questions on that? Uh, Natalie, I don't really have any questions, but I just wanted to say um, thank you for your work because it's there's a lot of questions right now in our community about funding and things of that nature. And um, so if your ears are burning, usually like, well, Amy Scholarude, but just very conservatively, we do not use one-time money, but basically I pair the things you say, so way to go. Well, and I always tell people when people come up and say, "Thank you for everything." I say, "I am one person." And it also takes a superintendent and a school board who are committed to really
060spending within our means and and holding that line. And that's not always the case at every district. And so, um, it is it is a team effort. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Moving on to reports. Uh, first up we have, uh, our superintendent, Lori Putnham with our superintendent report. Thank you so much, Chair Haw, members of the board, listening community, and friends in the room. Uh, it's with deep gratitude and pride that I share this report following the successful passage of both referendum questions, which is a significant milestone uh for St. Cloud Area Schools and a reflection of our community support for public education. Uh thanks to your engagement and advocacy for all of our our community. Uh question one was approved allowing us to move forward with critical safety and security updates at
061Apollo High School and to update our learning environments. Question two is also approved providing funding to construct an indoor multi-purpose activity space at Apollo, which will expand opportunities for student wellness, physical education, and extracurricular engagement while also serving as a valuable space for our broader community. The success was made possible by the shared efforts of many and I want to extend special appreciation uh first and foremost to our board of education uh for your leadership and clear commitment to the safety, well-being and achievement of all students. Uh to our superintendent's advisory committee uh whose thoughtful input and partnership throughout the process helped shape the proposal and build public understanding. uh to the vote yes committee to whose grassroots leadership and commitment helped carry this message across neighborhoods and communities. Our principal staff and district leaders
062uh who communicated clearly and consistently with care. and to the many families, community members, and civic partners who attended presentations, hosted presentations, asked questions, took action uh to support the future of our schools and particularly to vote um in a in a time of of uh often uh um divided uh public conversation and perspective. Um we really uh this board really wanted to make sure there were no barriers uh to people having their voices heard and that's why all of our polls were open. And so we're grateful for the people who exercised, whether they voted yes or no, who exercised that um right that many people have fought and died for. So that's a little dramatic, I know, but it is still a it is part of our democratic process. So I'm grateful for that.
063Um and as always, I just want to remind folks that our work is grounded in safety, belonging, collaboration, and excellence, and in this district's mission. And while uh our s our referendum passed, it is not the end of our journey. In fact, it is just a beginning. And so we are very excited about this next chapter of collaborating with Apollo staff, students, families, with this board and with the greater community uh to build a updated Apollo. And so on behalf of our student, staff and the entire St. Cloud School team, thank you for believing in what's possible when we work together. Thank you. Then we have a board of education standing committee reports. We have several tonight. Uh, first we have achievement integration equity committee chair Diana Fenton. Uh, Superintendent Paw. Ha. Superintendent Paw. Oh,
064I'm getting tired today. Oh, Superintendent Putnham. Chair H. Uh, the achievement integration and equity committee met this morning. Um, that's probably why I'm tired. Uh, was my fire alarm that went off at 4:30. But, uh, this morning we had a presentation by Christa Potter who presented the update on this girl. the summer school model for this summer with some new um changes to have some two-week bursts in our targeted services programs to increase participation and um offering some more sites than last year. And our second presentation was um by Donna Roer who shared some information on the XQ Institute which is um a partner that we're going to be hearing from at the AI Summit this summer on June 16th and 17th. Um and the XQ Institute is a movement towards competency education and we
065are going to continue that discussion in the in our committee meeting next month um to look at this as some potential ideas for our district moving forward with assessment. Thank you. Then we have board development policy and governance committee chair Zack Dorhalt passing notes in class but I'll appreciate this one I had it on my screen too I promise um so a committee met on February 26th uh super uh assistant superintendent Harris and Avenson presented proposed board policies including policy 707 which is for transportation for public school students. 527 regarding student use and parking of motor vehicles, patrols, inspection, and searched um searches of vehicles on school property. Uh proposed board policy 529, including staff notification of violent behavior by students. The three policies were reviewed and recommended to move forward for tonight's board meeting.
066That's our report or our board meeting might have been time. Yeah. Wait. Thank you. Okay. And then we have board finance audit committee chair Heather Williams. Yes. Uh the board finance committee met on April 14th um and had the following report. Uh, executive director Amy Scallerid reviewed proposed changes to board policy 721, which is the uniform grant guidance policy regarding federal re revenue resources and board policy 704, which is the development and maintenance of an inventory of fixed assets. Uh, the reason for these policy changes is due to changes in the federal uniform grant guidance. The most significant change to the policy is to increase the federal definition of equipment from $5,000 to $10,000. Other changes include adding language regarding cyber security and mandatory disclosures and other minor changes. There was also a change to
067the policy related to giving consideration to certain businesses when awarding contracts. The committee discussed whether we want to include this in our policy. Amy and Tracy will look into this further and make any necessary changes before bringing the policy to the board development and governance committee. The only change to policy 704 is to increase the district uh equipment threshold for capital assets from 5,000 to 10,000 to align with federal increase. Uh secondly, we talked about summer projects uh budget update. Um Amy informed the committee that because the bids for the summer work at the north and at North and South came in well under budget, there are additional funds available to be spent for projects this summer. Since North and South are already shut down for construction, it makes sense to spend a significant portion
068of the funds available in these buildings. As a result, there will be a large change order coming to the board for these projects in the future specifically for flooring, painting, and other interior surface replacements. And lastly, uh there's 2526 202526 budget update. Uh executive director uh Scallarude gave an update on the prelim preliminary forecast for the 202526 budget, which included both known items impacting the budget as well as potential impacts based on the governor's budget proposal. As a result of state funding changes, the district will be making reductions for next year and the committee reviewed the list of budget reductions. This information will be presented at the board meeting on May 7th. Thank you. Then we have future agenda items. The May 7th, 2025 board meeting work session topics will include community education, adult basic
069education updates, always a tearjerker, um the NAPAC board response letter, the preliminary 2025 2026 budget review, policy readings, and school updates. At this time, does any board member wish to suggest a future agenda item? Okay, that is everything on our agenda. Looking for a motion to adjourn this morning. So move. I have a motion by Scott, a second by Natalie. All in favor say I. I. Post. Okay. Meeting is adjourned. It is 7:56 p.m. It's still light out. That's exciting. Thanks for watching. We'll be back May 7th. The family summits