001Right. It should be >> It's 7 o'clock. I now call this board meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. >> Mr. Rahor, will you please take role? >> Board member Gist is absent. All others are present. Thank you. Is there any new business to bring before the board hearing? None. I would seek a motion for approval of the agenda. >> So moved. >> Sorry. >> I have a motion by Mr. Welch and a second by Mr. Lman. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Motion carries 6. Next item on the agenda is to consider consent agenda items A through
002J. Is there any item any board member would like removed and discussed separately? Okay. Hearing none, I would seek a motion. >> Second. >> I have a motion by Mr. Lowman and a second by Miss Kefir. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Both. Same sign. Motion carries. 6. Next item on the agenda is the recognition of Geotech's donation to the high school robotics program. And we have Katie Morlock here and Carl Clawson. Did I say that right? from Geotech. >> Excellent. >> Okay, come on up. >> Well, I'm excited to have Carl here with us tonight from Geotech. Carl is the director of corporate initiatives for Geotech. Um he reached out to me back in I don't know, Septemberish, maybe early early this fall. Couple months ago. >> Yeah. and asked
003if the high school would be interested in partnering with Geotech um in offering us a donation of sorts. So Carl and I met and brainstormed together some ideas of programming and needs that um we're kind of missing in the high school and um also industry-wise um Geotech's industry what kind of would be a good fit for Geotech and Geotech in our high school and we met together and brainstormed and then I went back to the high school team of teachers and kind of shared what um Carl was hoping that we could partner on and brainstormed with a team of teachers of what they felt our needs were at the high school. And one of the areas that came up as a need was the area of robotics. Um, and this fit right along with what
004Geotech was hoping um industrial technology STEM related field um to partner on. And so we started discussions with the team. Carl came and met with our team of teachers as well. And what does that look like then? What could we do at the high school to get this kind of rolling since we don't have a robotics course or programming at the high school level right now? And so, um, together we came up with offering a robotics course in our registration for this next school year as kind of a step one in the process. So, what we did is created a course offering for next year called uh Foundations of Robotics. And with the 25,944 donation from Geotech, um we are able to have all of the robotics equipment for that course, tools that we need,
005and storage um to be able to get that course um up and running off the ground. So, um, brought Carl here because we are so very thankful for that donation and want to recognize Geotech. Um, Bill Wilty is the, uh, CEO of Geotech and Ken McDonald is the CFO. So along with those two and Carl, we're just so so greatly appreciative of this generous donation um that helps to bring programming to our school that I think is just so relevant to um industry and and what kids um skills that kids kids need to be developing. So we're really really excited about it. >> Yeah, we're uh very happy to partner with the school. Um we've done small things in the past with the school. Uh computers a number of years ago and it was time
006to reup the commitment. So that's what we worked on uh with Katie. The robotics was an easy sell to the geotech team. Um we get uh offer or requests from other schools. Uh robotics is big. So, we're really happy that we can uh kickstart uh the same program in Stewartville and have Stroville represented at the VEX robotics uh tournaments in the area and perhaps one day GE or Stewartville its own robotics uh tournament here. So, uh an easy investment to make in the kids and then I think it'll pay back for the community. um giving the kids this allowing them to you know use their creative and innovative minds to come up with ways to build robots through things. So we're very happy to do it. >> Thank you very much. >> You guys have
007any questions for Carol? No, I guess the one thing I was thinking about is there's been a lot of um talk it maybe not just recently in the last year or a couple years about coll collaborations with entities outside the school in in our community and I think this is a good step >> um a a good partnership to um kind of highlight those opportunities. >> Yeah. >> Um and um you know thank you. I mean it's >> Yeah. Hopefully hopefully if others hear about Geotech doing it, they get other people to jump on. >> We've got some other large uh manufacturers in the city and larger businesses. So hopefully we can uh kind of spur them on to make additional investments as well. >> I think in Stuartville, we've heard about robotics and its
008popularity within the schools not having a program. We don't necessarily see that here, but recently going up to the MSBA conference every year, they have a big um >> display and a lot of action in their corner of of the floor. >> Very jealous of those districts putting all those demos and I'm like, "Oh man, I'd love to be up here." So, it's awesome. It's awesome. >> I think we're seeing a lot of success with the Lego robotics and through community ed. So, sort of building off of that momentum too and getting kids interested and then, you know, hey, we have this moving through our programming at middle school's steam and now at the high school and then, you know, our goal is get kids introduced to it now and into this program and then
009hopefully establish ourselves with a robotics team and get kids interested. So, >> yeah, we're excited. >> Yes. >> Well, we're excited to see it. >> So, thank you for having us. >> Thank you for coming. >> No problem. And as noted, you don't need to stay, but >> Okay, >> I'll take the hint. >> I didn't mention that Carl is a two Steuart Belgrad dad as well. So, >> yeah. >> Thank you. >> Y good luck with the rest of your meeting. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Sydney and Kendall. Thank you. >> Good luck with your meeting. >> Well, after that awesome donation, the next item on the agenda is to consider and adopt the resolution for accepting the donations. And on top of the geotech donation, there's a list of several other donations that
010the district has gotten as well. Mhm. >> So we have uh Zion Lutheran Churches uh donating to the Christmas assistance for Steuartville children. The soccer booster club uh donated for the huddle payment for the boy soccer. Um Kijijana's wanted to make a donation to Bridget Hale. We have an anonymous donator donation to the BCI art supplies as we mentioned. Geotech donation to the senior high robotics and then base the diamond club for baseball and softball and the golf uh booster club for girls and boys golf. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you everyone who donated as well. Um so this is a resolution. So first I is there any questions? Okay. I would take a motion >> moved. >> Second. >> I have a motion by Miss Cook and a second by Mr. Welch and we'll
011go Miss Cook. >> Hi. >> Miss Kefir. >> Hi. >> Mr. Lowman. >> Hi. >> Mr. Ravenhorst. >> Hi. >> Mr. Welch. >> Hi. >> And I for myself. Resolution carries six zero nay and one member absent. Next item on the agenda under high student achievement is the principal and director updates which were attached. So I'll go down to we don't have anything under AIM two. So we'll go to AIM three effective and effective and efficient operations and the first item is our yearly land lease agreement that we have and this was also attached. So I did um talk with Mr. Sher about this again and um it's not for profit. What we are doing is leasing the land um in an amount that covers the property taxes that we have on it. So it's
012a net neutral. Great. Are there any other questions? Okay. I would seek a motion. >> So moved. >> Second. I have a motion by Mr. Welch and a second by Miss Kefir. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Same sign. Motion carries. 6. Next item on the agenda is to consider and adopt the resolution for directing the admin team to make res recommendations regarding reductions or discontinuence of programs for 2627 school year. And this is just to have giving the admin team permission to start the discussion. >> No dollar amounts decided on yet. No actual alignments are decided. It's just them to giving them permission to start the discussion. >> We do this every year. >> Yep. >> Regardless of whatever position the budget is. Yeah. >> Yep. I Yep. >> Are
013there any questions? >> Unfortunately, >> I know. Okay. Hearing none, I would seek a motion. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I have a motion by Mr. Lowman and a second by Miss Kefir. >> Miss Cook. >> Hi. >> Miss Kefir. >> I. >> Mr. Lowman. >> Hi. >> Mr. Ravenhorse. >> Hi. >> Mr. Welch. I >> and I for myself. Resolution carries six zero nay and one member absent. Uh next item on the agenda is to consider and adopt the policy 519 which we received last week to go over. Um and if possible we'd like to adopt this tonight. Are there any questions? >> I'm assuming the red was new language. Yes. >> Yes. Yep. So the red is new um as suggested by Minnesota Schoolboards Association. Um it just includes transportation. Um it
014didn't include transportation prior to but any school vehicle is an extension of the school >> facility facility. Once they're in school transportation, they're considered to be in school. So this just expands that to include that. And then there was just some grammatical kinds of things that were changed in um section C. >> I mean, am I correct in saying this hasn't been updated since 1995? >> No, that was the original. >> The original >> it wasn't. >> Oh, the original was last year. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't catch that thought. >> I was like, wow. >> There was like that huge I don't know if you guys remember, but there was like a whole bunch of policies in the 500s that the it was more just to update it with um statute. So, we did
015like a whole bunch of them last year. >> I missed that. I just looked at the original date and I'm like, "Holy cow, >> that one's got forgotten." Yeah, no kidding. That one would have forgotten. >> One question I had, >> maybe this takes a lawyer, but if somebody has a warrant, >> does that trump this policy? >> It has to be a judicial warrant. >> So, an administrative warrant, it does not meet the threshold of us providing access. So judicial warrant does okay >> and so that's um part of our procedures that we would require identification and then a judicial warrant and then we would verify with our lawyer that the judicial warrant is actually signed by a judge and then we would proceed by notifying the parents and then giving access based on
016the parent response or whether or not they want to be present. There are in some cases when it's a maltreatment issue and so at that time then we're prohibited from contacting the parent because they may be the subject of the investigation. >> Sure. >> But like in the climate of today it seems like that would be even if there was a warranty seems like it would be a fairly slowmoving process. I mean from start to >> Yeah. >> And we have protocols in place on you know how we respond and the questions that we ask. So there's a script that we've gone through with the lawyer to ensure that we're compliant with the law and at the same time making sure that we are protecting students under this policy. >> Okay, next dumb question. >>
017What's the difference between an administrative warrant and a judicial warrant? Because >> a judicial warrant has gone through the process of getting a judge's signature. >> Yeah. >> And so the judge has determined that there's merit to the request. An administrative warrant might just be signed with by a director, >> inter agency warrant or whatever that just Yeah, like an FBI director or whatever. But yeah, >> I wouldn't think administrative warrant would actually carry any weight then. >> Okay. >> It depends um on the situation, what it's for, but in a school to access a student, you need a judicial warrant. >> Sure. >> Good. >> They're under age. >> Not a dumb question. >> Question. >> Very good question. Oh, that was a good question. Is there any other discussion or questions? >> Okay,
018I would seek a motion moved. >> Second. >> I have a motion by Miss Cook and a second by Miss Kefir. And this is a resolution as well. Miss Cook >> I. >> Miss Kefir. >> I. >> Mr. Lman. >> Hi. >> Mr. Ravenhorst. >> Hi. >> Mr. Welch. >> Hi. >> And I for myself. Resolution carries 6 with one member absent. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is D. Review the radon testing results which we have to do every year and Miss Sulers has those. So um applicable levels are 4.0 um PCI per liter. So uh this is for central education center. They did every room and so we are far below the 4.0 in all cases. So we do not have to do any mitigation. Um it's required by law that we
019publish these results and so this is the publication and then it will also be put on our page our website where we publish our lead and water results and our radon results. So >> can you scroll up a little bit? >> Some good results from something at central. >> Can you scroll up a little bit? >> Oh yes. >> Um down >> about right in the middle. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Room 130. >> Yeah. >> Do you have a track record on that one? Is that one holding steady or? >> Yeah, they all are within the statistical range of being >> the variance is normal. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I was just curious if 130 was tracking up with time or if that's just holding steady. >> Yeah. Yeah. And IA, who is
020our environmental consultant, would let us know if there's concerns. They do a really nice job of making sure that we're within limits on what we need to be to help us mitigate if we need to make mitigations andor tracking our results as as time goes on. >> So, all right. Well, we'll take a win for Central. >> And this isn't a vote. This was just a review. Is there any other questions? Anyone? >> Okay, I'll move on. Next item is a superintendent search update. And I just have a little typed up statement to read so that it goes on the record that the board remains committed to conducting a thorough and transparent search to identify the best candidate to lead our district. Over the past several weeks, we have completed many steps in the process.
021We reviewed the SP responses from the public survey which is posted on the website. After a thorough review of all applications, materials, and the Minnesota School Board Association's vetting of 19 candidates, the board selected that we would interview five candidates. The first round of interviews were held last Saturday and we had input from the district leadership team and we have selected three finalists to move forward. In no particular order, Brett, Domrand, Guy Johnson, and Melinda Major. The process is progressing as planned and we will be holding the second round of in interviews on February 2nd at 4:00 in the Bear Cave Intermediate School Media Center. The interviews are open to the public. Our goal is to ensure that the next superintendent reflects the values and priorities of our community while bringing strong leadership and vision
022to our schools. We appreciate the public's continue continued support and patience as we diligently as we work diligently to make sure that this is the best important decision we have as a board. So I just wanted to get that on record that we got that finished up. So the next item on the agenda would be unless anyone has anything to add to that would be Miss Self's superintendent update. Oops. Sorry. There it is. So, enrollment is um holding pretty steady. Uh we have 1,551 resident students, 403 open enrolled. Uh 17 students that are in placements, and so a net enrollment of 1,937. Um at the high school, we're at 620. Middle school is 470, Bear K 441, and Bonner's 406. Uh we're still tracking open enrollment. Uh we do not have any waiting lists at
023this time, but um we do have several grades that are capped and at capacity. So wanted to let you know that we were approved for our solar for schools grant which uh Dan had presented a couple of meetings ago. The entire cost is almost $600,000. The grant is going to provide half of that. And I don't know why I have a decimal point in there, but the 30% tax credit is almost $180,000, not $180. I apologize for that. The district cost will just be under $120,000. This is out of capital outlay. And so this is not from the general fund. This is not money that we could use anywhere else. It has to be used on facilities. And so this will be part of budget planning that the district does for fiscal year 27. So
024it's not going to be this summer's capital outlay. It'll be next summer's capital outlay, which will give us time to make sure that we are setting aside the funds that are needed to pay our portion of the of the project. So um in speaking with Mr. Schroeder a $600,000 project where we're only going to need to put forth 120,000 is really good for the district and there is a return on investment with the um cuts the lowering of our energy costs out of barricade. So >> any questions? >> Do you remember what he said the return time to return was? >> I don't remember that. Two >> was it >> under five years? Yeah, it was under five years. I want to say for some reason 2 years >> is ringing a bell but I
025know it was under five. >> Yeah. >> And then the lifespan was 10 years. >> And then they said that they've seen some of them stretched out to 12, but they usually see replacement around 9 to 10. >> So that was good news. I will fix this so that it's correct on the what we have posted on the web. You're just channeling our European version. >> Yeah, there you go. >> Um, >> and then she's Miss Self is also going to wrap the negotiations up. >> I have a negotiation. Sorry. >> So, you have a copy laying in front of you. >> I'm going to walk through this and actually I'm going to bring my mouse up to the podium so I can point some things up on the screen as I go. So, um,
026we've had a total of 10 negotiation sessions between Steuart United Steuartville United Educators and the board negotiating teams. So, the Stewartville United Educators are the teachers group. As of January 20th, the district filed a petition for mediation with the Bureau of Mediation Services and we have not heard back from them yet. um the tenative agreements for language in the contract that have been agreed to thus far. We have four. Um one was a request from the teachers that they could have a request for their voluntary change in their teaching assignment be moved from April 1st to May 1st. They also requested that PE teachers who are working on an overload schedule be compensated in the semester where the overload occurs. It used to be all overloads are paid at the end of the year no
027matter when you did them. Now they see the funds in the semester in which they're doing the overload. Uh the teachers also requested that we begin a PTO donation program where teachers could donate their unused PTO to a teacher who might have a medical emergency and requiring an extended leave and doesn't have PTO to cover that. And then the last one was this was a joint effort. We've got some things that are in our extracurricular schedule that no longer exist and so to remove those. And then we also added Lego robotics in the hopes that we were going to this was after we knew that Geotech was working with the high school instead of waiting to get a club going until the end of this contract to put it in now. And if we had
028the opportunity to use it, we would do that. So those things are the um language agreements that we've got um that are all tenative at this point. What I'm also including is some data um for the two proposals that are in front of um the groups right now. Um I've got it labeled as district 6B. There was a proposal district 6A that we have removed from the discussion. So 6B is just how it's labeled and then sue number six. So if it's 6B, it's coming from the district and if it's number six, it's coming from the teachers. Okay. So in year one for district 6B, the proposal is to increase $425 on step one BA all the way to step 14 MA30. So if you know about the salary schedule, it starts up with the
029BA and it has steps and then it moves over to MA45 and it has steps and I have examples coming up. Um the second part of that would be to increase 2% on step 15 BA to MA10 and then 2% on step 16 MA20 to MA45. So we're adding a step. Right now it's capped at 15 steps. That would add a step. So we add so we have a total of 16 steps on the schedule instead of 15. In year two it's an increase of a half percent on all cells and then they get to advance two steps on the schedule. So normally a teacher will just advance one. If you're in year three, you go to year four on this proposal in the second year. If they're on year three, they'll go to year
030five. And I'll show you what the impact is on the percentage increase as a result of that. The total package is 6.998% over two years. Uh the board team has made it very clear that the bandwidth we have is up to seven but not over seven. So this stays within that bandwidth range. The increase in cost is just over $973,000 over the two years. And the salary spread is BA starts out at $49,644 at the end of the second year or during the second year. And the MA45 step 15 goes to $90,36. So that's the board's proposal. The teachers proposal is a half percent on BA, step 1 BA to step 14 MA30 and then 2.4% 4% on BA step 15 BA to MA10 and then 2.4 on step 16 MA20 to NA45. So the
031biggest difference on year one is a half% is about $425 on most steps. Okay? Some is a little bit more, others is a little bit less, but the average is about half percent. So the 425 that we're proposing in year one is pretty comparable to the half percent that they're proposing. The difference on year 1 is the district proposed 2% and Sue proposed 2.4. So that's the difference in year one a4%. Year two is the same. It's a half percent on all sales sales and advancing two steps on the schedule. So both proposals match on year two. The total package for Sue uh right now on their last proposal is 7.277% over two years and the increase in cost is just over a million dollars. The salary spread for BA step one is 49643. And
032I want you to compare that to the district's proposal. And MA45 step 16 is at 90,223. And compare that to the district's proposal. Anybody have any questions on page one. We'll go to page two. And this is the salary schedule. I'm going to make this a little bit smaller. Okay. So this is the district's proposal for the salary schedule and as I mentioned um BA step one is this 49644 this is at the end of the second year this is the schedule for the second year so 49644 and the top salary is going to be 90306 and when you're a teacher in this school district what will happen is where you are right now let's say you're at step one you're going to advance a step currently for this school year because you get a
033step, you'll go to step two, and then at the end of the contract, you'll go to step four. So, you're actually going to go three steps in the new contract. Um, the rest of it is that we added step 16. Um, 15 and 16 are the same salary just like they are in the current schedule. 14 and 15 are the same salary until you get to these last three. And the reason for that is we encourage teachers to increase their education by taking professional development credits at the graduate level so that they can get to these cells over here. So in the teacher language is move to the right as quickly as you can. >> Okay. Any questions on that one? >> Because I don't understand this. >> Yeah. >> What does the plus 10
034plus 20 plus 36 is that? >> So those are graduate credits. Yep. So, this is a BA degree and this would be plus 10 graduate credits. And then the master's lane, you need a master's degree. So, if you've taken just nonderee credits and you're at BA36, you'd actually have to start over to get to the master's lane. So, what we encourage people to do is to take master's credits as they're moving over. So, when they get here, they can get a master's degree. Otherwise, you're stuck in the BA36 if you have not taken master's credits. And then after your master's degree, you continue to take credits to it in A45. >> Another question, does the school pay for their education or is this on the teacher on theirs? Yep, they pay the tuition. >> And
035the process is they have to get all of the credits pre-approved. I mean, if you go ahead and take a graduate course and not have it pre-approved, you run the risk of it not being applied to the schedule. So all graduate credits are pre-approved by the superintendent. On the bottom half of this is the Sue's proposal for the second year of the contract. And as I mentioned before, you can look at BA1. It's at 49643. And then way down in the right hand corner, it's 90,223. But it follows a very similar pattern. Any questions on the schedules? Okay. So, um, we always think of these negotiations in terms of two years at a time. And so, this is the amount of an increase that they're going to see in salary from base to year two.
036So, base is last year's contract. Year two is going to be next year's contract. So, this is the increase that they'll see in total salary from base to year two. And so, um, it varies, um, because it's percentage based or money on the cell. This one is not going to have as high increase as somebody over in this area because they have a higher salary. When you take a percentage of a higher salary, you're going to get a bigger increase. Okay? So, that's every cell. And you can notice that it goes from one to four because they're getting three specs instead of just two. If you had step seven, you're going to move to step 10. So this salary here is a BA20 on step 10. You were at step seven last year, you'll be
037at step 10 next year. >> So just just to clarify a point for me because the question that's always maybe rumbled around, uh, for example, um, let's do 12 um on six. I think the the spreadsheet we're looking at there, the line that says 12 to 15 >> MA20. >> Yep. >> In the second year of the contract, the that teacher that's in that cell was making $6,700 more than the previous year >> base. So last year is the base. 2425 is the base. This is after two years. So this would be the second year of the contract. >> So they're making $6,700 more than two years ago, >> right? Okay. >> Yeah. So it's the end of last year's contract to the end of the new contract. Okay. >> That's how we look at
038that that spread. >> Sure. >> Yeah. So this is the raise over two years. >> That's the raise over two years. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Yeah. Um below that is the teachers proposal for the raise over two years and it's similar but it just will show the teachers if they look for where they are now and where they're going to be for the district's proposal and then for Sue's proposal they can see what the difference might be. >> Okay. So is the different if I'm looking at this right if you're in step one to >> the district's proposal is more advantageous to the >> and I'll go through that the next page the the very last page is the intriguing page but we'll wait till we get there. >> Yes, I know I already
039ripped it off because >> I'm on the negotiations team so I >> So the next page is the percent. So some people um like to look at dollars for an increase and others like to consider what's the percentage increase. Now this is from the end of the old contract to the year two of the new contract. So it's the total increase over the two years of the contract. And it varies depending upon what cell you're in. And there's not really a rhyme or reason to the increases for different cells um except at the bottom because these are uniformed from one year to the next. But you can see it ranges um the lowest on the district proposal is just over 2 and a half% and the highest is 10%. So somebody if they're in this
040cell is going to get a 10% raise over two years. If they're in this cell, they're going to get just over two and a half percent over two years. So, it depends upon where you are in the schedule. Um, what we like to remember is every teacher who is down here has worked their way through the schedule and gotten these raises over time as well. Um, it would be nice if every cell had the same increase, but it's not designed that way because some years it was a percentage increase on the schedule and other years it was a dollar increase on every cell. So, it gets And also >> what I keep when I was on the team, what I kept hearing from Dan was that the schedule was kind of inherited >> and not
041really known what happened. So and and in order to get everything completely equitable, you just have to blow it all up >> Yeah. And there was at some time probably a consideration of after you retured you got a bigger bump >> but then those things slide around from year to year or um we advanced two steps now that's thrown out the window and yeah so but this is the the increases per cell. It's not the average increase it's the increase per cell. The average increase is 6.998 for >> Yeah, this is Sue's um same um layout. Um and different cells are going to have different values. So because Sue proposed 2.4 down here instead of two, they're about a half or a point4% different than us because we the district proposed 2%. Sue presented 2.4.
0424. Remember the last line on the districts is 2.5. This is 2.9. So it's at point4. That's where you're going to see it. Okay. Any questions? All right. And the reason why the negotiation team denied the 2.4 is because it would have brought them above seven. And >> I'm just updating the board >> because it's just Will and I cuz Troy's not here. But that's what I just want you guys to understand is we're staying >> below seven. >> And I think it's important to remember the state aid is 5.75. And so staying below seven, we're still almost a percent and a quarter above what we're going to get in state. So there's still some deficit spending that will happen by staying below seven. And we did that we did below seven with all the
043other groups. So the next one is a comparison of um 6B to Sue. So what we did is we went through the whole thing and compared the salaries between the two proposals and there are teachers that are going to move from step one to step four in his B lane. There's two of them. These two teachers would make more on the district proposal than they would on Sue's. So if it's green, these teachers will make more money on the district's proposal than on Sue's proposal. And in total, it's 110.67 teachers. You can see it right at the top. So the numbers of teachers that are in green is 110.67. those teachers would have more of an increase on the district's proposal than what's super proposed. The pink ones are the ones that would see slightly
044less a 4% difference because it's that 2% that we proposed and 2.4 that the teachers proposed. And so these teachers here are going to see a 4% difference that's lower than what's super proposed. And the number of teachers that that impacts >> is 34 and a half. >> Okay. Is there any questions on this grid? And on your paper, I have those >> kind of highlighted in a blue. >> I didn't want to spend money on colored copies. So, >> yeah. So, there's just over 145 teachers in the district. >> And this is where the current proposals lie. Um, at this point now, we'll wait for a mediation date and start to work on where we can find areas of common ground. >> Question. >> Do you have any questions for Miss Alpers and the
045negotiation team? >> Were they going to do another survey sue negotiation team and then come back with the reasoning? It was rejected so soundly. >> It was rejected. Well, go ahead. >> Yeah. Um, there was a discussion and I don't know how much detail we want to get into other than the data. Um, I don't want to speak for Sue. Um, so I don't have anything in writing as far as the reasons. >> There was a a verbal conversation, but I don't want to rely on my recollection unless >> No, it it shouldn't it because we didn't get it in writing, but it just seems to be >> staying below seven. So, and if I wish Yeah, I hope this gets shared. >> It just looks to me, >> no, this is just dumb me
046looking at this. 110 teachers are going to be better off taking the district's proposal >> perhaps. >> And I don't know what them, you know, what their perceptions are, but this is what the data would say. And so, um, I'm very d data driven. And so I'm not looking at um perceptions or supposings or anything like that. Um but I wanted you to be aware of what the data was from each side because Go ahead. I you probably can't speak to this. I mean, when we're not, again, I'm not on negotiations, so I don't know. Um, but Sue feels confident with their proposal in terms of I know last time they felt confident their proposal and it wasn't obviously wellreceived. >> You mean the committee in the >> I'm sorry, the negotiators for that. You
047don't know. >> I guess yeah, I I'm confused too just with like >> doing the cells quickly. There's 135ish cells maybe and on the board proposal there's like 135. There's only 13 that are better on the C proposal than ours. But I guess I don't know where the tolerance is. >> And I had looked at that too, but this was more um >> like looking at each each person. I get that. Yeah. I was I didn't know that was there on the end until Nicole told me. So I was cuz I >> she didn't look ahead. So I'm like comparing trying to figure out >> I was like don't do that >> done for you. >> Yeah. >> So this was helpful for me just to understand where everybody was. Um because it does make
048a difference. You know if um if the critical mass is someplace else on this grid that will change yeah you know how people feel about it. But I don't know if this has been shared or not. They have it um I did provide it to Sue um to the team. So I'm not sure if they shared it with their membership shship or not. And that's their decision. Yeah. >> Um, but I wanted you to have the information. Um, as we move into mediation and take a look at what our options are, >> I just want to make sure I I get this right in my head. the green. If you're in green, the proposal that the board negotiation team put together is better for you than taking the Sue proposed. >> You'll make more money.
049The people in green, 110 teachers >> on the salary grid, you are correct. >> 110 teachers would make more money. >> You remember BA1? Yeah, >> was green. Um, the district's increase was 8.134%. And Sue's increase for that cell was 7.798. >> It may not be a huge >> It seems to be pretty minimal across the board. >> Minimal, >> but it's >> it is not the same. Um, that cell that was at 10% is not at 10% on. >> So, it's 10.142. >> Yeah. So, There are nuances to the differences, but um at the same time it's not the same amount. So So what what happens is the board we're going to go to mediation and um for those of you that weren't on the board last year, we go to mediation and then
050whatever is decided at mediation, they still have to vote on. >> So the sue the teachers still have to vote on it. And then after that it's arbitration. >> Yeah. The mediation is not binding and it's also free. Correctly. Correct. It's a free service and it's not binding. So like either side can say not not interested >> and it's a whole and for the negotiation team and Miss Selfers and Dan. It's a whole day worth of work. And so, um, we're just letting the negotiation team and Miss Suffers just wants the board to be aware because now that we're going to mediation, it's just, um, you might be getting emails, you might be getting postcards, you might, um, be getting things like that. So, you just, we just want to make sure that everyone has
051the facts and just work with the facts. >> More volatile. >> So, >> yes, I've done mediation arbitration before. It's not >> I couldn't remember if you were on the board. No, but different >> the only cost at mediation would be um the teachers that are on the team need to submit themselves, right? >> So then the district does provide them with the substitute. >> Um there is a um a provision in the contract for association leave that the district would cover those substitute costs. So that would be the only cost for the district in mediation. Binding arbitration then is a lawyer involved for both sides. And in that situation, the final decision is final and there's no vote. It's binding arbitration. So, >> and last time we went to mediation and it went to
052vote and and it passed. So, um but after 10 meetings, we just we weren't getting anywhere and so that's why mediation is the next step. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um, are there any other questions? >> No. Okay. Um, next item would be board committee updates, uh, facilities and meet and confer. >> Well, I could talk about facilities today. >> Is there anything that you can update us on that? >> Um, a little bit of water >> and pipe burst at the middle school. Um I just we heard from the uh folks who are coming to help us. They worked on 18 of these over the weekend in different businesses and schools. >> Was it spring? >> Uh don't know that information. Um so um because of that we do not have uh fire protection
053and 13 air handling units are out of commission which means we cannot be in the building without air handling units or fire protection. So um they'll get that up and running tonight I hope and then tomorrow we'll just work on the finishing of the cleanup and mitigation for the water. Um where it went is all tile. that did not get to the gym floor. So, they worked really, really hard to make sure that the new middle school gym floor did not get there. >> Thank you. >> Blessings there. >> Um, and we just love Minnesota winter. So, um, we won't be in session tomorrow at the middle school high school. All other buildings will be in session. We're not going to do uh e-learning even though it's our third day. No one's prepared for that.
054And it's a new finals finals. >> Finals got moved from Friday to tomorrow and now we're moving them to Wednesday and it's just >> like what would you do like tomorrow is supposed to be finals for them so >> well not but middle school it's a new quarter she's so for both sides high school and middle school >> so um it'll be a non-school day we do have um expectations for certified staff and hourly staff that have been communicated to them by their building administrators for work completion and task completion for tomorrow so we've got that covered and um I just want to recognize Josh and his crew for their quick response and how hard they work in these kinds of situations. Um, yeah, it's cleaning up someone else's nest and >> was it isolated
055to >> the locker bay in the middle school. >> So, unfortunately, the fire suppression is building wide and >> yeah, >> you just can't be in the building. Fire marshall would not be pleased with us. >> Oh, sure. >> Hard. So, yeah. Um, here, uh, the steam trap issue still needs to be resolved. and shared a photo of >> current conditions. So, we're still working on that. >> Um, the weather does not help us >> just because it's so challenging to work on this. >> Luckily, tomorrow it'll be a little warmer, >> but it's um >> this older system has to be working. >> Yeah. >> And you need to be mitigating while it's working. It's really >> And also, it's like once it goes down, it's like playing catchup is just Yeah. So, um,
056yeah, we'll we'll get things u back online at the middle school high school. We'll be in session on Wednesday and go from there. We're keeping activities for tomorrow night. Um, Kurt has already worked on the schedule for that, so I think we'll be fine. But yeah, >> uh, great. Thank you for that update. Me and Confer. >> There was I think we're good on meet and confer the rest of the year because we have the calendar down. >> Yeah. >> Um, policy. We just did the policy. >> Um, any school board member visits to share since the last? >> I went to the high school on Thursday, December 11th. I went into um I wanted to see math, so I went into geometry and algebra. Both thoroughly taught in-depth lessons. It's really good. Yeah. Good
057visit. Anyone else? >> I went to the elementary school Bonner on 14th. Um, Mr. Mroy and I walked around and poked our head into a few different classrooms and little kids are really excited. What happens, you know? and I had lunch with my daughter and some of her friends and oh my um did not know that was your daughter. Um and yeah, I understand why my daughter says she doesn't like the chicken pot stickers. >> So I I will not say that she has to eat them. I'm like I I choked them down. I mean it was food. It wasn't terrible, but for a little kid, yeah, I can get it. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Um, next, if each board member could give a little brief um, review of one of the classes or
058sessions that they did at MSBA. >> Maybe not. You see, you work the whole time, but you can say a little bit of whatever you want. You can give it a little brief. Go ahead, Erin. >> Got your notebook out. Um, actually Christie can probably help me with this cuz I didn't take very good notes. But >> the one you the one you facilitated, >> you were in the one I facilitated. >> Yes. >> I didn't even see you. >> I was the one asking all the questions, making the kids work. >> The student school board. >> Yes. >> Representatives. >> Yep. Um, I believe it was called Amplifying Student Voice in School Board Business or something along those lines. >> I don't know the title. That's close enough. >> Um, so it was four
059school districts, road districts, I believe, >> and then Tri City United. So >> where are they? >> That's over. >> Yeah, >> like Montgomery Montgomery. >> Montgomery area. >> So three metro schools and then Tri City. Anyway, uh it ranged from I believe Hopkins has eight students as student representatives on sitting at the table for schoolboard meetings. Um they bring the students perspective to some things. They learn how how the school board operates, what's schoolboard business, what's administration business. Um, a couple of the students that were up there, I think, didn't realize that much of what we do isn't day-to-day operations. >> Um, so that was enlightening to them. Um, one young lady uh used an example of one of the things that her school accomplished is they it appears they're a very one of
060the incity schools. Um, very diverse student population. uh reworking some of their school holidays >> to reflect the diversity within the school, not so much the traditional European Christian holidays that everybody uses. Um I asked one question, have you had any experiences about having to deliver bad news back to your schools? And none of them were able to. None of them thankfully had that yet. um where they had an issue that the students wanted changed and the school board said no. Um they thankfully haven't had to experience that. It would be an interesting experiment to try. I'm a little lary of how it would go. >> Well, if you I mean I didn't take the class, so I just have a quick question and maybe Christie if you know too. Um if if you have
061if students want something changed in their building, don't you first go to the principal and then if the principal thinks it's a good idea, then the principal brings it. >> Yes. >> This is more like having them give voice on, you know, policy change or things like that. >> Overall general experience. >> Yeah. Just having them their voice at the table. Not not that they're coming to the table to say we want this changed necessarily, but they get the agendas, they see what's on it. Okay. you know, it it would be the board member saying, you know, like that policy change we just had, like we could say like, hey, any input that they want to have on that. So, it's it's really more teaching them the governance part of it, not like they're coming
062and giving a report or saying we want this change >> and they don't non voting members. There was state legislation >> last year, two years ago, that was trying to get voting, have students as a voting member. Yeah. But that's >> not did not pass. um but they're non- voting members. So just to give feedback and to have a voice at the table and then to use them really the big push of it which I was going to talk about that too since I was in there is to then have them >> bring back to their peers as well too and report out like this is you know they're kind of in the know on why we're making certain decisions and why you know what's happening and how they're reporting it back out to their
063peers too to have that student voice at the table but then also to have that student voice bringing back what's happening at the table to their peers. Sure. >> I think the governance piece of it's a big thing too that they're experiencing what it takes. >> They're learning what what is the role and what is governance and what does it look like. >> From what I've I I think I've attended that class in like one of the previous years I've been up there and I was very interested in trying to get something like that going and after asking around it I think it was tried at some point. I think it was prior to Miss Selfers. Um, but it was just like the attendance piece and and all that was just hard to kind of
064keep going. But I would say that with what we've seen with just let's just throw our student council with what we've seen like their um initiative and their attendance and everything. I mean, if it was something that was like if everybody was interested, I think that now might be the time because they look like they're a group of kids that might be able to get that going. >> Well, my daughter >> necessarily student counsel. No, I'm just I'm just saying that group of kids seem to be like showing the most interest, you know, and uh the most >> gumption, I guess, towards something like that. >> When my daughter was on student council, there was it they were called the school board representative, and she would come with me to meetings and sit and just
065take notes and then take our agenda back to the student council so the student council could share it with the students. I think the difference is yeah just not going to do your presentation but really us seeking their input on some of the decisions we're making an active participant. >> Yep. And saying how you know what do you think about that or how and there there'd be obviously a lot of things on their agenda that >> they maybe wouldn't have any input on but there are plenty of things that they might and so it's just getting their that student voice at the table which I think is important and it's gaining a lot of traction actually. Um, we do a thing every year in the fall and it's getting bigger and bigger and a lot
066a lot more schools are are starting it. So, >> well, yeah, you would definitely need the proper student interest and then um eight kids that would be a lot. But even just having the comm Yeah. And just having the commitment to like you're going to actually go twice a month like just like the governance like you say this is the commitment that we make. >> Y and a lot of times it'll be like a junior and senior. So then like the junior would be on junior and senior year, but then you're not having two brand new people. So >> yeah, >> the the one concern I have about doing it and I was trying to get to that point with them is how do you bring back the information to the student body? >> Yeah.
067>> And that's where >> well like we struggle to get out to the taxpayers, you know, this is what's going on. How are they going to have time in their schedule to go around to every class or every grade level? >> I'm going to use some lingo. We can put a pin in that and then when it comes to me, I might have a >> Do I have an offering to that? >> Wow. >> I'm done. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I'll tell you what. I'm just going to go because I'm going to leap frog right out of that. Okay. So, I went to a class called community engagement like a rockstar and uh basically about just trying to get better ideas of how we can get out there with our messages and and all that.
068Um they had a couple of students that had previously graduated that are wonderful kids, real great ideas and one of the kids that really the biggest takeaway I got is one of the students had started a podcast and they did it quarterly and it was just them getting together and talking about their issues. It was completely student driven. I don't know what kind of advisor oversight there was on it, but um they so for that that could be a great way for them to have a podcast and then they they could invite their student representatives in and say, "Hey, what'd you learn?" And then because I think that students, I think, would digest that well more than like a newsletter or >> or an email. >> Yeah. Or if they're like, you know, at the
069beginning announcements, hey, this is what we learned. You know, I I think a podcast >> students said they were going to start or have some of an Instagram like a student council slash um school board representative put in one Instagram because they're like all the kids are on Instagram. So, they would see that and they're like, "Sorry about all you people in the crowd that are on Facebook, but we don't do that." >> And then like this this superintendent, this Eric Olsen, he said that he was like, "Oh yeah, man. They came to us and he's like, "Of course. With it, do it." Cool. >> And they said, "But what we didn't realize is what a great tool it was because when it came time for referendum, they invited me on to talk about it."
070>> And like that has way more reach. >> Yeah. >> You know what I mean? And it's like these the parents now are invested because the kids are invested. I just I see a lot of upshot to that if we had the right kids that were willing to do it >> doing it that way. Yeah. I could see >> where it could reach you spend 15 minutes in your >> even if it has to be. I mean the like when we talk about >> referendums and just anything we do, the buy in is the most difficult part. And if you have the kids buying in or at least interested, not necessarily buying in, but talking about it, >> I think it's huge. >> I agree. Thank you. Thank you. You're good, too. You were pretty.
071>> That was really the only session I was in. So, >> it's okay. You were working. >> That's all. Um, I would say the main workshop that I got the most out of was um, it was a strategic communication for referendum success with the um, St. Cloud Public School District. >> Um, sounds like I think they had an agency to come in and um, do verbiage with anywhere from their custodians to their food workers to their teachers on talking points for their referendum. So those people could also go out into the community and they passed it. So they consider it a success. >> Awesome. >> Lori Putnham is the superintendent there and she had a strategic plan to teach >> each group >> how to communicate this. >> Um I went to a class. Well,
072what one are you going to do? >> Uh not the one you're going to do. >> Okay. because Miss Will, myself, and Miss Selfers were all in the uh transition to standardsbased grading just because our district's on year four of five of the plan and I believe uh elementary school is going to start next year. Um so I just wanted to go wrap my head around it and um get more information on how it was going in their district. And the one analogy that I took out of it that's still sticking in my head is um they still have some way to convert in the middle school high school level the way from if they're understanding it to a letter grade because some students and parents and families want to have that GPA and that
073letter grade at that level. But for the parent to understand, well, why why does my child have a D in the class? What are they not understanding? And then that's where they break it down in the standardsbased grading. And then the way she even like dumbed it down right at the beginning of the presentation was, you know, if you think about grades in elementary and even at the intermediate level, like why are we giving them extra credit points for bringing in a box of Kleenex? like what does that have to do with what they're learning educationally? >> And so just that's just the way she started the presentation and then just >> went right into it. >> She was hooked at that point. >> She did. She did. She had me hooked when she was
074like, you know, and I'm not saying Kleenex isn't necessary, but it's not necessary for extra credit. So just kind of explaining how that works. And so I did I did ask her for a copy of their PowerPoint and I did forward it to the whole board today. Um, our emails have been kind of flooded with uh other things. So, I wanted to just get it after I talked about it tonight. Make sure you get a copy of it. >> What school district? >> Um, this was >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, this is a print out, but um >> share it with the um entire principal PLC as well. >> Oh, great. Okay, great. So, I have the PDF if anyone else wants it and yeah, so I sent it to all of you. >> Yeah,
075for sure. He's touching things. I put my hand here. >> All right, you're up. Last but not least, >> um >> I think the one um class that I went to that was really interesting was >> um it was called the school improvement game. Uh competing with colleagues to improve student outcomes. It was put on by Kent Pquel and Kathy Nathan from Rochester. So, they developed this. I don't know if um Kent put this together himself or if he did it with the help of Kathy or whatever, they really uh not to go too much into the detail, but they uh developed a game um and I use that phrase loosely um where you have a problem in a school. There was actually three scenarios. So, it's three different scenarios that were coined as a
076problem. um and then maybe a dozen different solutions to help solve this problem. Not and some of the the problems were multiaceted solutions. You need several different things. Um so let's say um there was a scenario with an elementary school and reading scores or whatever. They need to improve their reading. Um and some of the issues that were going on were outlaid in this problem. Maybe there's some attendance issues. Maybe there is um you know like um other other things that might be issues within that school. And then it listed out about 10 or 12 different things that you can do to help tackle this problem. And then it associated with each of those things a point value. >> So let's say attendance is an issue. They then are going to offer attendance um some
077type of attendance um rewards. >> Um but that that'll cost you 10 points and you only got a 100 points >> and there were like 12 different things. Some of them were 10, some of them were 30 like uh but depending on the problem. Um, so then after you have like five minutes to within a group, kind of digest all the solutions, pick which ones you feel best within your 100 point score that you have, 100 points that you have. Uh, and then he had data to show what kind of percentage improvement that actually made. like there was real data that he used like using this um attendance reward made a 1% improvement in the problem you were trying to attack >> whatever it was. Um so then we did that with three different scenarios.
078We had three different tables in our room. Uh so at that point it was kind of competition between the tables see who got the best score and the best percentage. Um, so it was really interesting though to see what perceived solution didn't necessarily have the impact that you thought it might have. >> Y >> uh and oddly enough, we had three groups and each group beca was successfully the highest point >> percentage within that competition. So it was it was fascinating uh to experience or to look at the different scenarios and then look at the different problems and see what kind of impact the solutions actually had and some of them were not as much as you think but the things that had the biggest impact were the most points. >> Sure. >> So you
079can't do all the big things. >> Sure. >> You can maybe only do one big thing and a few little things >> y >> to attack a problem >> because the big thing is going to be costly. the little things aren't, but they're not going to have as much of an impact. But you put the package together, >> maybe you're going to have some real success. >> So, >> well, they had data to show >> and then he had, you know, real data to show what percentage impact those different things had. >> That's awesome. >> So, and he cited where he got all this from, but I should have gone to that one. >> It was pretty interesting. >> I had a co-orker that went to that one and he was like, "That was fantast."
080Yeah, he said it was really good and really interesting and also like really good to hear the conversations because >> that's so much what we have to do is have those conversations at the table. What you know >> what the heck are we going to do? >> What are you going to pick and choose? You can't do it all type of thing. >> You can't do this. You can't do that. >> Yeah. >> We don't have money for that. >> Yep. So, >> I'm glad you went to that because he's like that was fabulous. Like, I wish I would have been there. Maybe. >> Yeah. That it also highlighted the challenges. >> Oh, sure. Yeah. the where um you have all these things that you could do but you just can't, right? >> You don't
081have the means to do it all. >> When you could hire more teachers, more directors, um more resources, >> um you know, just flood the problem with money, but that's not possible. >> So, it's gums versus butter economic problem from Econ 101. What was that? >> Guns versus butter. >> You have X amount of dollars to spend and you you can spend it on guns. You can spend it on butter. Well, you need butter to feed the people, but you need guns to protect yourself. >> Econ 101 from River Falls. >> That one. >> Well, great. Thank you everyone. We all had a great time. It >> was a lot of fun, a lot of learning. >> Thank you, MSBA. >> Yes. Great event. >> Yes. >> I want to acknowledge the um board that
082all the members participated. It's really valuable that you're each willing to go and expand your knowledge and expertise and take a learning approach to the role you have. It just speaks volumes. Especially when I had uh colleagues that were there by themselves and no board members for >> second year in a row. >> I was say it's not the norm, >> right? >> To have the whole board go. It's not the norm at all. So >> it's the norm for us. >> I try. I try. I try. >> It's powerful >> to encourage the whole board to go if you can. >> We still count you as going. >> Thank you. >> Of course. Oh, for sure. No. Yeah, you for sure did. Yes. You just went You did way more work than we all
083did. >> Okay. Um the next item on the agenda is adjournment. I would seek a motion. So >> second. >> I have a motion by Mr. Lman and a second by Miss Keeper. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Close. Same sign. Motion carry. Meeting is adjourned at 8:09 p.m. Thank you everyone. >> Thank you. >> We'll see you Wednesday. >> Yes, we'll see you Wednesday.