School Board Meeting March 10th, 2026

001All right, we're ready. Yep, wonderful. All right, I would like to call to order the March 10th, 2026 regular Columbia Heights Public School School Board meeting. If you're able, please rise and join me 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. All right. Laura, if you would please call roll. That is my job. I completely forgot about that. Mueller? Here. Medeiros? Here. Petway? Here. Granlund? Here. Poole? Palmer? Here. And superintendents? Oh. Anwar? Here. And do we have any other student school board members tonight? No. Okay, thank you. And Superintendent Sendik? Here. Wonderful. Thank you. All right, Columbia Heights Public Schools, our mission is creating worlds of opportunity

002for each and every learner. All belong, all succeed. Our core values are community, excellence, collaboration, integrity, respect, courage, and innovation. All right. First. And foremost, we have a Highlander highlight. So, why don't you come on up. So, as our, no, you get to sit in the chair at the table. Then we'll take your picture in a minute. So, we are here celebrating our high school senior, Shane Whitley, for Allstate Band. And congratulations to CHHS senior, Shane Whitley, who was selected for the Minnesota Music Educators Association's Allstate Band for 2025-2026. She performed on Saturday, February 14th with the other student musicians from around the state. Shane is in the Columbia Heights High School Concert Band and plays the flute. Being selected for Allstate Band is one of the highest recognitions a band student can receive in

003Minnesota. Shane was selected last school year, and was invited to participate in Allstate Band Camp during the summer. She participated in the concert band performance directed by Dr. Daniel Lee, the Director of Bands at North Dakota State University. So, congratulations to Shane. And with her tonight is Band Director, Kaitlyn DiSalvi. So, pass it to you guys. Thank you. I, when I went to camp, it was such a fun experience. I got to meet so many talented musicians all across the state. I got to meet so many talented musicians all across the state. I got to meet so many talented musicians all across the state. I got to meet so many talented musicians all across the state. So, that was really cool. So, that was really cool. And it was really cool coming back in February

004to meet those musicians again and perform the music that we practiced over the summer. Thanks so much for having us tonight, folks. I'm so proud of Shane. As I know you guys all are. Our students always represent us so well at this. But Shane has done such a fantastic job. And in particular, as her teacher, I always think it's worth sharing that this audition process to go through, one is, of course, pretty difficult. But our system that we have here at the high school is set up for group playing. And so, when an individual gets these kinds of recognitions, it's because they have to do a lot of work on their own. So, of course, we support her and we help her and we work a lot. But just so proud of how much work

005Shane had to do on her own to make this happen, which was just really good. We're so proud of her. Wonderful. Board members, does anybody have anything they would like to say? Go ahead. Yes. The band geek is back on the board. Congratulations. As a band mom and a band person myself, I know how hard this was to, the extra work, like Mrs. Salvi said, that you had to put into this. What a great honor, and just so proud of you. And what an incredible experience, and I hope that you continue to think back on that and pursue that. to pursue music even if it's just for fun. But congratulations, it's really great. She's working on it. We've been doing some scholarship auditions and so yeah, hopefully of course we'll continue, we'll continue playing in

006the future. Great kid. I will say, Shane, I always love seeing you at band and it's been really delightful to have watched you grow all of these years from grade school and middle school and we could not be prouder of you. And this is such a, this could not go to a better person. So congratulations. All right. If there's no other questions, then we will go ahead. You get to now take a picture with me. We'll be over here. And then you'll get to shake the members, the rest of the board members' hands. We're gonna go shake hands, Laura? Well yeah, I was just wondering, how do we? We'll swing back this way this time. I think we can turn. No, no, no. Congratulations. Gotta get back in there. Congratulations. I wanna see next week.

007That's true, that's true. Yeah. So, Shane and Ms. DiSalvi, you are welcome to stay for the rest of the evening's meeting. If you don't want to, that is totally acceptable and you can feel free to stay as long as you want or head on out. Yeah, oh yeah, no, sure, for sure. We appreciate the invitation. Thank you for coming. Congrats again. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Moving on to the agenda approval adjustments and announcements. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Thank you, can I get a second? Second. Second by Lorian. All those in favor, or is there any discussion? All right, all those in favor say, I.M. I.M. I.M. I.M. Opposed? Motion carries. Next up, we'll go to announcements. Oh my goodness, it's really small this time.

008It's so exciting. All right, announcements. March 17th, 5.30 p.m., there's a work session here in the community room. March 19th and 20th, so next week, there is no school. And March 24th, we have at 6 p.m., a school board meeting, again, here in the community room. All right. Next up, communication to the board. At this time, any citizen or employee may briefly address the school board. The board will listen to the brief remarks, ask clarifying questions, and if desired, request that the administration follow up. The board will not take action on this meeting, at this meeting, on requests presented at this time. Time will be limited to three minutes per speaker. Is there any citizen or, no? All right, moving along. The consent agenda. The consent agenda includes the personnel report, treasury report, minutes, and

009policy second reading. Can I, I have to, yeah, it's been a minute, guys. Can I get a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented? So moved. Thank you, Laura. Can I get a second? Second by Michelle. Any discussion? I think I would just note that the second policy, the policy second reading includes 522, the policy second reading includes 522, the policy second reading includes 522, Title IX, sex nondiscrimination policy, grievance procedure and process, 103, complaints, 420, students and employees sexually transmitted diseases, 422.1, respect and professionalism in the workplace, 423, employee-student relationships, and 715, post-insurance debt compliance policy, and as always, those can be found on our website. There's no other discussion. We'll move into voting. All those in favor of accepting the consent agenda as presented say aye. Aye, opposed. Motion carries. All right.

010Acknowledgement of contributions. So, sorry, I'm making it, in beginning it. Minnesota statute, 123b.02 permits school boards to quote, receive for the benefit of district, bequest donations, or gifts for any proper purpose, and apply the same purpose, designated on that behalf the board may act as trustee of any trust created for the benefit of the district and for the benefit of peoples thereof and quote therefore the school board of Columbia Heights Public Schools Independent School District number 13 resolves to accept with appreciation the five thousand eight hundred and fifty seven dollars and twenty cents in monetary contributions detailed in the background monetary Cindy Gentry donated $50 Teresa Harrison and Lynn Garrett each donated $100 Winston Vaughn donated $200 Patricia Droney donated $500 to Valley View for school use Heather Stiegel donated $1,000 to Columbia Heights High

011School for school use William Page donated $100 to honor the students of Columbia Heights Public Schools Michelle Hansen donated $200 to Columbia Heights Public Schools to support the students the Columbia Heights athletic blue donated $3,240 to the activities department $240 to support the dance team and $3,000 for the 2026 scholarship fund Just Justin's picks donated $367 and 20 cents to North Park School for innovation for school use value in-kind Lowe's Coon Rapids donated tote storage bins valued at one thousand one hundred and sixty five dollars to Highland Elementary College and design a school district to support the students for their main for school use the total fiscal year for 2025 2026 monetary contributions to date 61 989.26 can i get a motion to accept the resolution so moved thank you laura can i get a

012second second second by jessica discussion i think as always um every time when we get to this part i'm repeatedly blown away at the generosity of our community and how everybody comes out to support our kids literally from the cradle all the way through into the adult education sphere and it especially when things are really hard with inflation and everything else it's really meaningful and impactful to see that people are still able to and still want to contribute to supporting our schools and our students if there's no other discussion uh we will move into a roll call vote as it is a resolution mueller aye adeiras aye petway palmer aye granland aye motion is passed motion is passed thank you very much all right we will move into discussion reports and information items uh and

013we will start with reports from members of the board laurian would you like to start sure i have a really short report because i have been out of town for work um so um just attended the subcommittee on community engagement um prior to this meeting and had several conversations with community members as well wonderful thank you jessica sure so since the last board meeting i attended the pto meeting at columbia academy and it was exciting to see in the report of contributions money starting to come in for the scholarship fund and so that's one thing we've been talking about at columbia academy and i know they're working on a potential new scholarship coming out of there so that's kind of exciting um i also want to give my congratulations to everyone at columbia academy all

014of the teachers and staff who are involved in organizing the mutual aid fundraiser um for students and their families at railworks last weekend um i was blown away by how organized it was and the number of people that came out um i mean if you've been to railworks it's a very large space and it was very packed um and so my understanding is they were able to raise quite a bit of money to support families which is awesome so congratulations to them um and uh i also um i was unable to attend the live amsd meeting but i did watch the recording of that and talking about everything that's going on at the legislature and then i was able to attend with some of you yesterday and m-a-s-a joint day at the capitol where we

015were able to meet with our representatives senator kunesh and representative spice and cagle and talk to them about um not just statewide legislative priorities but the legislative priorities that are specific to columbia heights public schools and so i want to thank the board as a whole but also especially the subcommittee whatever we're calling it now on community engagement becoming the legislative action committee for all of their work in helping to develop sort of speaking points for talking to our lawmakers about the priorities for the district. And so I think it was a really successful day, helped us continue really strong relationships that we already have with our local legislators, and I was glad to be a part of that. I also helped out with providing meals to teachers at CA conferences and helping out with

016information for families at the Highland Pre-K and Kindergarten Open House Night. If you can believe that those are happening around the district already to welcome new Highlanders next fall. And then lastly, I attended the subcommittee on policy prior to this meeting. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you. Laura. Well, I've had a lot of conversations with a lot of constituents and community members the last couple... couple of weeks here. Everybody's got so many questions about, you know, where we're at and where we're going and what they can do. So it's been some really good, healthy conversations there. Last week, I also attended the monthly 9-16 board meeting, and there was also a special call meeting regarding some negotiations. Some of those contracts over there at 9-16 have not been settled yet, but we are making progress. Also,

017I attended the day at the Capitol, as well, yesterday. And it was really wonderful, as Jessica stated, to be able to actually have some of these conversations. And we have a really good relationship with our local representatives. They know our school districts. And we were very well received. So I appreciate... I really appreciate that time to be able to actually have some one-on-one conversations. And if you haven't been to the Capitol, it's definitely a very, very cool place to go. And then before this, I was at the subcommittee on policy. Just part of this. Thank you. Michelle? Yeah. I also caught the recording of the AMSD meeting. I attended day at the Capitol, as well. Biggest takeaway from me is that they want community members there, and they want people involved who want to be

018a part of change and who want to understand, you know, the legislation a little bit better. So I feel like in our legislative action committee, that'll be something that I'm really trying to hone in on and see how we can focus that for our community and see what works for everyone. But I think it was a really, really good start. It was nice to have so many board members there, as well as our student reps. I think we were the only school board that brought our reps. I think so. I don't remember seeing any other students. And so our... Legislators loved to hear from them. They were very interested in hearing their perspective and their experiences and what's going on in the district. So it was really nice to kind of have them along with

019us to show the process. I also attended the chair meeting before this and the legislative action committee slash committee for community engagement. That is a lot, and we will work on that. And, yeah, we kind of just... sum things up with Member Mueller, who wasn't able to make it, and just try to plan for some future things. So thanks. Wonderful. Thank you. I attended a Senate hearing as a... excuse me, as a testifier with Superintendent Stenvik since our last meeting, where we talked about the impact of the metro surge on our student body and our community, and general. We... And then I had the... I had the great fortune to be able to attend the State of the Union Address as a guest of Representative Omar, which was really fantastic, if not a whirlwind. It

020was really wonderful to meet with her and other legislators from across the country, again, talking about the impact of the metro surge as well as the subsequent not passing of the funding for DHS, the additional funding. So it was really wonderful to be able to attend that once in a lifetime sort of a thing. I feel really honored to be able to continue to share the story of our community at such a large level across the country and beyond, just so that people can know that, you know, we're here. We're here. We're here. We're here. We're here. We're here. We're here. We're here. We're here. We're here. We're here. And know that just because they say it's done does not actually mean it's done, and these effects will be long-lasting, and to make sure that

021we are talking about that with stakeholders as well as people who are voting and working on policy. I also was able to attend Representative Omar's IFTAR, where I was able to speak with Hennepin County Commissioner Angela Connolly as well as Mayor... Mayor Terry from Hilltop and Representative Omar, and also with City Council folks from St. Louis Park, where we were able to talk about the impacts, again, on our communities and how there are a lot of similarities and also a lot of differences. But it was very nice to be able to connect with, you know, some more local folks about that, about what we're experiencing. I also spoke on, as part of a panel, with the ICE Out of Community briefing that was done by Unidos, Minnesota. So that was really also a good opportunity

022to speak with hundreds of people about what's going on. As you can see, this is a theme. And then last week I had the pleasure of being able to participate in the MCA Bias Review for... Grade 10 Standards. There were some... It was a really interesting and wonderful opportunity, which I think, you know, it's the second time I've been able to do it. And if you're able to do that, if you get the chance, I highly recommend people to be able to do that. It's really interesting and, you know, these are things that will not affect students for a couple of years, but it's also nice to know where things are headed and to gauge where we're at when curriculum standards and things come up. I also attended the fundraiser. I attended the fundraiser on

023Saturday and the MSBA Day on the Hill, as well as the chair and policy meetings right before this one. And I think I have not left out a thing. So with that, Superintendent Stenvik. Thank you. I agree the day at the Capitol was really productive, and I just want to thank those of you who were able to participate. I continue to be very concerned about the potential significant reduction in our compensatory revenue, and I'm frustrated by the possible increase in our special education cross subsidy. On a positive note, today, Assistant Superintendent Niembwe and I met with the Mexican Consulate. They came here and she shared several educational resources that they offer and took a tour of one of our schools. So it was really a pleasure and an honor to meet with the Mexican government.

024I continue to collaborate with community members, one of whom has secured a matching donation by the Wilson Foundation in the amount of $500,000 that would go to support the Columbia Heights Community Mutual Aid. So our district will be helping to publicize that and get the word out very soon this week. And lastly, just a reminder that the School Board Candidate Forum is next Monday evening in this room. I believe it begins at 530 p.m. and can also be viewed online. We do have two candidates for the School Board vacancy that's coming open in April, and the special election is April. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Student School Board report. Atanan. Hello, everyone. Since the last School Board meeting I attended, I attended the Community Education Advisory Council meeting. It was online because of the

025bomb threat, but it was still a very productive meeting. We talked about community support and we had a presentation on community education. And then I also attended the Speech Tri-Metro Conference. And I was able to attend the speech, which is a conference that we're holding in the community, and we're going to be doing a lot of work on that. And we won. This is the second time in school history that we've won Tri-Metro Conference champions. And it was a really fun experience and to see a lot of novices or first-time speakers do really well. I also attended the day at the Capitol yesterday. And that was a really fun, productive, and very informative day. I really enjoyed the presentations at the beginning of the day and getting to speak with our legislators. I also attended

026the community on... Okay. Long. Yeah. That subcommittee. Yeah. We had a very productive meeting. Yeah. We had a very productive meeting and legislative action. Yeah. Yeah. We had a productive meeting about what happened at the day at the Capitol and ways to engage with the community. Awesome. Thank you so much. All right. Next up, we have Activities Director Jake Henderson to talk about Winter Activities Update. And Tamar has one more thing. Oh, I'm so sorry. Tamar, go ahead. No, I completely forgot. But we also, the speech team also went to Harvard to compete in the National Speech Debate Tournament. So that was a really cool experience to... Go on a plane, go out of state, and get to spend time with a lot of my speech team. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah, we needed that. Yeah.

027That was an important agenda. I was wondering about it, but I'm like, I'm not gonna press you. No, no. I just was like, it slipped my mind. It's been kind of fun. Yeah. I was at the Capitol. I was at Harvard. We had a lot of stuff going on. A typical day. Thank you. All right. Director Henderson, welcome. Thank you, Antonia. You're taking some time. Thank you, Antonia. You're taking some of my winter update there, but that's okay. Chair Granlin, members of the board, Superintendent Stenvik, thank you all for having me. Our mission in Columbia Heights is creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner. All belong and all succeed. Oops. This is an informational meeting, and there will be... Or sorry, informational presentation. And there won't be any governance for this one. And

028I'm sorry. I'm sorry. This is not the first time. We'll have to do that again. And it'll hit on probably all of our core values that we have here in Columbia Heights. So I'm excited to share just a brief winter update with you. We continue to focus on community, building as much community as we can, being as competitive as we can as well, while also creating a positive culture, and then obviously just looking out for the well being of our students. And quite honestly, our staff and our families too. I always like to share our participation numbers with you, so I'll leave the steps in the chat as well. participation numbers with you so I'll leave this up for just a moment but I'll talk over it we looked pretty steady I think over the

029past couple of years for winter activities we've got a couple of new ones that are showing up there towards the bottom the last couple of years and we see those numbers relatively steady too I guess I would highlight maybe boys basketball we get a enormous amount of ninth graders come out this year and really exciting we made no cuts in that sport for quite a long time and so exciting we actually had a fifth level team for the first time at least since I've been around so some good participation numbers we did see in a handful of those sports those dwindled a little bit with ice enforcement and just some of the fears of coming to school so it was really dependent on the sport but some of those numbers did lessen as the winter

030went on there we continue to seek other funding from lots of different places the Minnesota State High School League grants we did receive both Earth Foundation grants we have received those we have a flag football grant both for the middle school and for the high school that we've received and that will be going on for another well next year for the middle school as well and then another two years for the high school those will be partial funding grants and then our robotics team and coaches are really great at applying for grants and they usually receive them and they did again this year to we've got one other grant that I have applied for and it's a USDA grant we've done this we didn't do it last summer but we did at the previous summer

031just in partnership with inner-city tennis trying to provide some summer programming I'm hopeful that we'll find out about that grant soon and then my favorite part at least. is just trying to highlight some of our kids in some pictures and our teams and our activities. So a couple of these things you've already heard about. Shane was here already. Our AAA award winners, again, that's a Minnesota State High School League award in both, or sorry, not both, but all three, arts, academics, and athletics. And so it has to be a Minnesota High School League-sponsored event. And so Yumna Ali and Justin Cajamarca were both our award winners for the AAA award. Newsies, I think it's been a while since I've been here, but in early December we had Newsies, our musical, received several awards and honors,

032and actually we just got those in the mail today, so excited to actually present those. For the first time ever, our cheer team did a stomp and shake battle, and it was really exciting. We got great feedback from all. All the teams that came, and the whole gym was packed. It was loud for a couple hours, super fun, lots of bonding between the teams, so a lot of good feedback, some feedback for how we can change things up, but exciting for the next season, too. Our speech team, Antonin took it, both my highlights, but really exciting. Two out of the last three years, we've won the TriMetro, and the speech team also got to go to Harvard and Vine, which was pretty awesome. Boys. – Let's try to give you a quick shout out, are

033we there? – Two out of the last three years,xy. – place lots of individuals placed in both the section but also the conference meet to our robotics team Another great season as well and even maybe a handful more high schoolers and they're excited to bring that to some summer programming Which I think we'll talk about eventually and excited to just build out that high school portion of the team too and and They also received the design award Which I got to write that down because it's industrial level creative and efficient engineering of their robot So that was at their qualifier event our girls and boys basketball teams just finished up both at CA our boys did and at the high school both had great really good seasons our boys just finished last Saturday and the

034girls Pretty exciting that they were able to bring some of those middle schoolers up as their season ends in the end of February and bring them sorry in the end of December and bring them up to the high school level and get them a little bit of experience to Dance we have a small number, but we're excited to grow that Another great season for them and we've got a couple of alumni that have taken over that program really doing some amazing things with those girls and Then now we're already on to spring so we got all this coming up We encourage you all to come to frozen Junior this weekend Friday Saturday and Sunday, and then we've got a whole host of Spring activities and sports that will be starting both at the middle school

035and at the high school some that have already started Even though you know it doesn't necessarily look like spring anymore And for the first time we'll have flag football at the high school level and we've got several girls that are excited about that So I think that concludes my presentation for the winter update. So, thank you wonderful Alright anyone with questions or comments? I will just say I have a friend who coaches a rival cheer team and She had nothing but wonderful things to say about not only the experience of being here But how gracious and wonderful? everybody was and how one how great it was to to be in our gym and our our space was Was really wonderful too slow. She had nothing but positive things to say Okay, there's a really fun

036event I was thank you for the presentation. I wasn't going to present anything to discussion But I felt like it was important since nobody else was speaking to just to say how much I really Appreciate these presentations and even though we don't have necessarily a lot of questions or discussion I think it's really valuable for us to see a celebration of everything that our kids are doing doing in the district and I look forward to all of these activities updates as a result of that I think at this board table we make a lot of decisions and have a lot of discussions about sometimes really challenging things sometimes things that maybe to others seem maybe a little dry sometimes but to see the results of everything that's being done in the district through the eyes

037of like our kids and their activities and their successes is really exciting so I didn't have much to ask in terms of questions but just wanted to let you know that these are really important updates so thank you agreed thank you thanks I have fun doing them too how do you pick which pictures though like that has to be really I'm gonna be honest with you that one so we have a intern that's working with us and she put together these great slides rather than the slideshow that might not work sometimes you so yeah so anyone else no I think Jessica said it best so um thank you very much for for the update and we look forward to the next one as well and we'll see you at frozen all right this weekend excellent

038all right thank you come you're up your text don't go anywhere next up we have activity co-op with director Henderson Go ahead. All right, y'all, thank you so much. The governance this evening, again, this is on March 10th, is just a presentation of information on activities co-ops, and we will include a proposal to modify how families might pay for those non-host co-ops. And then you'll be asked on March 24th to approve a funding proposal for non-host co-ops. So the proposal, simply put, is to provide some more opportunities to participate in activities that are not currently offered here at Columbia Heights. And to slightly change that funding model for non-host co-ops to make it a little bit more financially responsible and really sustainable. So we say in our mission that we provide worlds of opportunity for

039our students, and we do have a lot of opportunities. This is just our high school flyer, it's similar to the middle school flyer, but we also have a separate one for the middle school. But we do provide a lot of sports and activities for our students here at Columbia Heights. And I know, sitting in this chair, that we also can't provide everything. That's just a reality. And we do have families and we have students every single year, multiple times a year, coming to me, inquiring, coming to Mr. Winn, or down at the middle school, Ms. Shirk, just about opportunities to participate in things that we do. And we do try, and it is a Minnesota State High School League mandate that at least every other year, but we, every single year, do an annual survey

040to our six through 12 students, asking, actually, we only do six through 12, but just asking, hey, what did you participate in, and what would you like to see as something that we might offer in the future? And so we do really use that data to provide information to us for the following year, the years, or future years, so that we can offer things that kids say that they're interested in. And so some examples of that are HOSA, or boys volleyball, or flag football, or cheerleading. Badminton is not a sport that we're offering in the high school league, but it's something that our kids are gonna be involved in in the spring. And so we're trying to respond to those things in a responsible way, and oftentimes they do take some time to actually come

041to fruition, but we're responding to what the students want. And so that brings us to co-ops. And in the Minnesota State High School League, obviously these are only activities that are offered, or sports offered by the Minnesota State High School League, and so I've just given you a little bit of an idea of what is a co-op. We have several co-ops here at Columbia Heights, and usually it's when we just, we don't have enough students to do this thing on our own. And so we find another school to partner with. And there's a process for this in the Minnesota State High School League. First I have to seek it out with another school, then it has to be approved by Superintendent Stenvik, then it needs to be approved by our conference, then it needs to

042be approved by our section, then ultimately by the Minnesota State High School League. So there is quite a long process and a lot of paperwork that goes back and forth and a lot of information going back and forth. And then we have a financial sharing model, so that it also helps in terms of how much that activity might cost. And so generally that's proportional to the number of students that are in the school. And so that's the amount of students that each school has in that program. And so if we don't have a co-op in a Minnesota State High School League sport, a student that goes to our school cannot participate in that Minnesota State High School League sport. They can't, if they go to our school, they can't go over to Fridley and participate

043in boys golf, because we don't have boys golf. We'd have to have a co-op to do something like that. Otherwise they are cut off from doing that, if they go to our school. So on the right here, you'll see the co-ops that we do currently have. The ones on the top are the ones that we host here at Columbia Heights, and the two on the bottom are the ones that we don't host and we send students off to do those activities. And some of these I have, as being the activity director, have, I've sought some of these co-ops and some of these sports and sometimes these are just things that we've had in place for quite a while. So our current practice with non-host co-ops are really that we've got very few participants in these

044things. So if you take boys hockey or girls gymnastics, we don't have many. This year we have one boy hockey player and we have zero gymnastics players. And these are, this is seventh grade through 12th grade. Last year it was the exact opposite. We had one gymnastics and one, or zero boys hockey players. And currently what we do is the family pays the regular activity fee that we've set up, as you can see on the screen, whether you're in middle school or high school, and then the activities department is responsible for paying the host school the remainder of, or the entire amount of what that participation fee would be per participant. And so when those numbers are generated, it's transportation, it's coach stipends, it's reference, it's referees, it's if you're talking hockey, it's renting ice

045or gymnastics facilities, et cetera. And so they're rather high. And so it ends up being $1,500 to $2,000 probably per participant that we would be sending away. And the family does provide transportation to those offsite places. We don't provide them that transportation. So over the years I've had several requests coming through, not a ton every year, but we've got some requests that are coming that have asked about specifically two in the last year for girls hockey, one for boys golf, and I did hear one just literally after I put this presentation together about clay pigeon shooting, which is a Minnesota State High School League sport, which I'm sure many of you didn't know. So we've gotten those requests, and essentially what I have to say is we don't, it's not showing up on our survey

046that a lot of students are interested in this, and we really don't have the funding to seek this out. That's not something that we're able to do. So what I would propose or recommend is that we maybe change that up so that we can have, be a little bit more responsive to our families and our students, offer things that we don't currently offer, but also be financially responsible with what we're doing. So again, I would envision that there's very few participants, that we've actually got to handle. But if we can make sure that the funding is wholesome, in these non-host co-ops, probably five or less, probably one or two, and that the family shares in that financial fee of paying 60% of that participant fee. They wouldn't pay the regular $160,000, $150,000, $25,000. They would

047pay 60% of what that participation fee actually is. And we would determine that the prior year because we've got, and it's going to be close to the current year, but we've got those numbers that we could seek those numbers out from that co-op. And we would give those families an opportunity to fundraise all or part of that fee so that to take away part of that burden. The family would still provide transportation and we'd really look to be doing this the previous year to that participation. Because as I stated before, this takes quality. quite a long time to set up and we need to you know be ready to to pay our portion of that fee as well within our budget I think there's benefits to doing it this way that it allows us a

048family and a student to participate in their choice choice activity again I realize we're not going to be allowed to or able to give every kid every opportunity but I think it allows us to give more opportunities and it keeps that family and that student in the district and that's that would be the reality especially with some of these sports again if we don't offer these sports they are they will not be able to participate and I have been essentially told by families that and that's and I think it's totally reasonable and fair that if we don't offer this then they're going to go to another school that does offer it I would likely do the same thing with my own children if they had a sport that they've played since they were growing up

049and we didn't have that opportunity here and I do think it's a financially responsible and sustainable model that we could plan for and I'd be willing to put in the work to find those co-ops go through all that paperwork to make sure that we do provide some of those opportunities in a responsible way again that this is just an informational session we are going to ask on March 24th that the board approve this funding proposal for non-host co-ops and I thank you for your time and listening wonderful thank you so much for the presentation and all of the legwork that you did to put this together because I know that this was not done quickly or easily you had to gather a lot of data and really think critically about what is best for our

050students and also for our district so thank you for that questions from members of the board go ahead Laura I do have a question now I know with generally I mean obviously with hockey there's there's a lot of expenses with hockey I only had one child go through hockey and it was very glad that they chose that that was not their field of choice because of the expenses just were but as far as the other students that are they're coming in and participating on our sites are we I mean how are the schools compensating for our space and And is that enough to offset these additional costs that we're incurring by offering these opportunities? Because it seems like it can be a very expensive proposal. And in all fairness, we want to make sure that

051every student has these opportunities. And it can be only five students right now. But we need to keep in mind it could be 200 students. And what would we do in that case? I don't want to be picking and choosing. I want to make sure we're equitable. Yeah. So to respond to a couple of your questions, yes, other schools do pay that proportional fee. So essentially we take – we're in a co-op with Fridley Softball right now. And so we take our coaches' fees. We take the officials. We take transportation. We take any equipment that we've purchased. That's pretty much the four categories. We take everything. We take everything that we have spent on that activity. We divide it by the total number of student athletes that play. And then if Fridley has 15 out

052of the 30, then we – you know, it's 50% of whatever the cost of the program to run essentially is. And so we are compensated. It helps us out definitely financially on that side of things where we're not financially burdened by the entire host – for us hosting a co-op. When we send those students away, currently our model is that we – you know, we're offering an opportunity for them to participate in those activities. But we are bearing a significant financial burden when we do those things. And I think in this model, we are still bearing some of that financial burden. And so is the family with an opportunity to fundraise. I want to highlight that. And we have specific things that we can do to knock that cost down. And I think that's going

053to be pretty few and far between. And I do honestly think those families are not going to be in our district. We're not going to be getting funding from that student specifically or an entire family of students because they are choosing to leave our district because we don't offer those activities. So I think financially – it would make sense for us to do this. And again, I think it is a very few number of students and the process is so long that the families really have to be invested in that activity to commit to it, quite honestly. So can I clarify really quick? So if we had more than, so this is for five or less participants, I went back on this slide. So this is really, once we start to get a couple students

054that are interested, then it becomes more viable to reach out and be a part of a co-op with another, like we do with the other, with like Fridley and St. Anthony for adapted soccer, for example, correct? Oops, yep. Yeah, so this is very, very few and far between and it sounds like as people, as something may gain momentum, we'd be able to go back and then reevaluate and then we'd be able to go back and then reevaluate Yeah, what that co-op might look like. And we might host that co-op. If we've got a significant number of students being involved in that, we may host that co-op. And then obviously we would have a financial burden, but we're providing that for a large number of students rather than a one-off or a single person that I

055really, it's hard when we look at the data and we've got these couple of things that, you know, 30 or 40 or 50 kids want to be a part of. We want to put our funding towards that rather than, you know, one student has said that they want to play a specific sport and I don't want to take away that opportunity for that one student, but I think this is a model that allows us to do that and still respond to the big number of kids that are saying they want these new, different activities in our survey. Wonderful, thank you. Lorian. Yeah, so I just wanted to clarify as well. So based on your previous presentation, we had one student in hockey and no student. So in our current non-hosted co-ops, we just have one

056student. So. Correct. Okay, so that currently under the model, that one student is paying $160 to participate in hockey and the district is paying $1,640. Correct. So with your new proposal, that one student would pay $1,080 to participate and the district would pay the whatever. Yeah, the difference. And that mapping. $720. Thank you, $720. Blank there for me. But then that, you would say like if you're going to approve this now, it would be for next year so that that student and their family could fundraise and do, you know, different ways to collect that $1,000 basically. Correct. So they're going to roughly pay about $800 more to participate, but then that also opens up an opportunity for students who want to do an activity other than hockey or gymnastics that then might be able to,

057we might be able to do a co-op with another school for. Like you said golf. Girls hockey or boys golf. Golf. Yep. Yep. So what you're going to be asking the board is to approve the model where the student and their family would pay the 60% instead of the activity fee. Correct. To cover more of the financial burden on that. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you. Go ahead. Jessica. Thank you. Thanks for the presentation. I do have some questions because the co-op model is not something that I have a lot of knowledge about. So I want to fully understand how we're doing things now as we're thinking about how things might change. So right now when we're, when we are choosing or reaching out or developing non-host co-ops, we're doing that at the request

058of students. So we're not doing that as a student, their family, so but what are the criteria that we would use to push that process forward? I assume we're not just, you know, if someone says, I want to do this thing, I mean, are there considerations that we're looking at to make those determinations? Yeah, those are great questions. And actually, I guess I can speak to, I mean, both of those co-ops have been in place historically for quite a while that previous to me even being here. Or not being in the district necessarily, but being in the activities director role. And so when gymnastics, we used to actually host it. And then we did seek out a co-op. I think actually at that point I was in the assistant role. But we sought out a

059co-op because we had very few girls and we were going off-site busing students to an off-site gym that we rented. And that wasn't financially sustainable either. And so typically these are, programs that we have had at our school in the past, at least these two are. And then they have turned into co-ops because our numbers continue to dwindle and we can no longer host those. So that's historically those two. Now in recent years, we've obviously had some families reach out specifically about girls hockey. And then one last year about boys golf. Thank you. So under the proposal, would the considerations for developing co-op sites change? Would the concern? Yeah, I think so, yeah. And we haven't, or I haven't sought those out and I have told families we don't offer those things and we don't

060have the data behind a number, a certain number of students that want to participate in this. And in both of those instances, quite honestly, I don't think, I think we had zeros on our participation data. This past year we now had two for girls and one for boys golf. Because I spoke with those families and they made sure that their kid filled out that survey. But we haven't had the data to support it. And so we haven't looked for those opportunities for kids because it was so expensive essentially. So it sounds like we're moving, we'd be moving from a model that was based on sort of sustainability of like programs that we can no longer host or host design. Not the right word, but that we could no longer have ourselves to a model where

061we would be more responsive to requests. Or at least an opportunity for them to make that request and for me to seek that out and at least find out numbers about how much that might cost us and the family. And essentially, yeah, I think that would be true. Okay. Superintendent Stenvik? Yeah. So boys hockey and girls gymnastics, we have programs that are based on that. So we have programs that are based on that. So we have programs that are based on that. So we have programs that are based on that. So we have programs that are based on that. And we have precedence for that, past precedence, and that's what we're relying on. The other, these newer opportunities, Director Henderson has had to turn away because we don't have the mechanism and we couldn't afford

062it. And so I think that this proposal is offering that mechanism to actually be able to consider girls hockey. We all know it's growing in popularity and that, you know, I think we've gotten a couple of requests, year over year requests for that one. But like I said, Director Henderson's had to turn people away from that one and just said no. Right. would help to allow it. So we don't have recent history of developing a co-op? We just rely on the past precedence of those two, the boys hockey and the girls gymnastics. It's the only ones that we have. Not a non-host co-op. We've developed quite a few that we host or have brought in some others, yeah. And then I guess that's just a general question of how these co-ops are developed. You talk

063about reaching out to potential hosts. For the co-ops that we do host, do, or I'm sorry, for, I guess what I'm saying, I'm trying to get at, do co-op sites ever come to us? Are there ever a couple of school districts that are like, we have onesies or twosies that are interested in these activities, can we get together and form a co-op? Or is it always reaching out to say we have someone who wants to participate? No, oftentimes it's a mutual thing. And in the instance of Girls Swim, Robinsdale Cooper came to us this past year. Two years ago they had three or four students participating and our team was rather small as well. And so they joined our dual meets and made it a tri-meet, quite honestly. And they just swam exhibitions because for

064them to have three or four swimmers and swim against a full team didn't make sense. And so they joined us as a separate team. But so they came to us and asked us about a co-op. Dela Sala has asked us about probably three years ago for Synchro. And again, when it's our small teams, it's great to have some more of those participants come in and share that financial burden for the cost of running a program too. And then I, can I keep going? Go ahead. So moving to the proposal, how would it, I mean, I don't really have anything to compare it to other than what we're currently doing. How, do you know anything about the funding models for co-ops in other districts? Yeah, I have asked. It's very different with public and private. And

065so obviously we're a public school. A school, a private school will often tell their, whatever family might be interested in, we'll try to find you a co-op as best we can. You pay the entire cost of what that's going to cost. It's very different to the cost of what that's going to cost our district. And so that has happened in the past when we've hosted those co-ops. For other schools, it's very dependent, for public schools, it's very dependent on if a parent is loud and continues to advocate for those activities. Oftentimes they might eventually get past or a co-op sought out. And or they might just be told no, if that's not an opportunity. So this model, I did talk with several ADs, they liked it, but I don't know of anybody specifically doing this

066type of a model. I've talked with Fridley, I've talked with Irondale, and I've talked with St. Anthony about, and I have asked specifically, what do you do when people ask for these co-ops? And a lot of it is participation data. And can we build an actual group? And oftentimes it's also like, no, we don't offer that. Thank you. And then you had mentioned a couple of times about possibilities of opportunities for fundraising. Can you talk to us a little bit more about how that might work? I'm thinking especially if you have like one student who wants to fundraise, what does that look like? Yep, so we've got a couple of opportunities. I mean, we sell the gold cards, that's not just a football thing anymore. So we did switch that up. The boosters have the

067raffle calendars that we also sell. And then we've got lots of opportunities for a student and a parent to take over our concession stand throughout the year in lots of different activities that we offer concessions at. And then, so we talked about fundraising. Are we looking at offering scholarships for families that did have need, or are we'll look for those students? I think that, I think it would need to be a fundraising model and a sustainable model to do that. And I'm willing to make it really easy to fundraise. And most of the time I'll be there with them doing that as well. Thank you. I appreciate you answering all of my questions. I know we're not taking action on this today, but I just wanna be really open that I have really, I'm struggling

068with this a little bit and I need to give it some thought about sort of what the balance is and what the right balance for us is as a public school district. So I got some time to think about that between now and the next meeting. I really appreciate getting answers to my questions. I think for me, when I think about the balance, I'm thinking about the balance of ensuring that all of our kids have access to lots of opportunities. That's part of our mission as a district. That's something that we're working on. That's something that's in our strategic plan. And we've really tried to open up more opportunities as part of that strategic planning process. And I don't want students or families to feel like they need to leave the district to have access

069to more opportunities. I think that's the challenge. There's a lot of really great things about being a small district, but that is one of the challenges is exactly as you said, we can't provide everything to everyone. So I'm really sympathetic to that, especially as a parent to kids that have interest in lots of activities that are not something that's offered at school. But I think the balance with that is looking at sort of what is our, again, within our mission as a public school and that we are different from private schools and that we're here as a public asset to serve the public good and to ensure that our students have equitable opportunities. And I do have some discomfort with that. But I also do have a discomfort with a model that would essentially allow

070families who have the means to pay to dictate what activities are available to their kid, knowing that that's already sort of what the structure is outside of public schools. That families who have the means and transportation and opportunities can seek out those things. And I'm concerned about what that means in the context of our public schools as a whole, knowing that activities the things we do within the curriculum. But it does seem to me to kind of be at odds with what we're trying to accomplish in terms of opportunities for all students, that we have a model that would open up more opportunities to students who have the means to pay for them when that's how the world works outside of our district. So I say that knowing that, you know, as I started with

071saying I appreciate the need to provide more opportunities and more choice for students because that really is a balance. I really don't know how I feel about this. But I just wanted to have that be part of the discussion because to me, you know, moving from $165 to $1,000 is not only a huge shift financially, but I also wonder what kind of message that's going to be coming out of that. I think there's a lot of message that sends in terms of expectations, right? Where right now we're not opening up co-ops just based on interest, and there's financial reasons for that. But I don't want, do we set an expectation that if somebody can pay for it, we're going to do it? And I think that I know in hearing you talking about wanting to

072serve all of our students well, that you're willing to go out and seek those co-ops and do that work. But there's a cost to that labor too. And so just as we don't want to shift money from hosting athletics and activities where we have more students interested, I don't want to necessarily shift labor costs to responding to people who want to pay for different activities. So I don't know. That's what I'm just trying to think through and balance out, especially because we've had to approve fee increases to a lot of our programs that do have a cost within community education. And we don't want to shift that. And we, you know, those are pretty small increases for year to year to cover costs. So I just need to give this some thought before the next

073meeting. Thank you. Superintendent . Between now and the next meeting, I'm happy to field any questions and work with Director Henneken or Henderson, excuse me. Typically Director Henneken is here. I will also note that the hockey parents in particular are very frustrated that their child is not allowed to participate in the high school league sports of their choice. And that's part where this is coming from. And I know that Director Henderson has also weighed that really difficult, you know, in coming with this proposal, that really difficult equity aspect of this proposal. And I know that that's always at the forefront of everyone's mind. We've had lots of conversations at the board table about scholarships and fees. So I know that everybody has good intentions to serve all of our families well. And that's just, you

074know, what I'm thinking. And also I asked the question about how we, like, what is our history of seeking out co-ops now, right? Because if there are, if there is sort of a wave of interest in something, are there other options for us to develop co-ops and balance the financial concerns? So I appreciate that and I'll, you know. I will also say before I turn it back to Chair Glerlin, that I did know clay shooting. There you go. Was a high school league sport and a very popular one because we started a clay shooting team at Anoka-Ramsey Cambridge. And we have lots of high schoolers who were sad to know that they're not able to participate in the college team, so. Gotcha. With that, I will yield. We should look at capping member comments to

075three. No, I'm just kidding. No, it was a really good discussion and I appreciate your points quite a bit. And I think it also, you know, it's a really good discussion. And also, there's also an opportunity to tell students, if you're interested in this, if you're really interested in this, this is one way we have it. And also, I think something that we've, that has happened, I think, with dance historically. Like, if you want it, then also get your friends to do it because if there are more people involved than your parents, then we won't have to pay this. So I think some of that, I think, is really, again, an incredibly important discussion and also, it, it's a great discussion. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

076Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It helps our students in some ways to be able to advocate, learn how to advocate and then also encourage their friends to become a part of doing these things. So, go ahead, Laura. Yeah, I think this proposal is very, very interesting. I would love to see some regular updates on it if we so approve this. But I will say that I am extremely concerned that it's going to be, it's going to end up becoming more the potential that it has, you know, that it could become more of an elite thing. Only those that can afford can do this, and that concerns me a lot. Even though the intention is to increase access, I just want to make sure that we're very, very careful that it is still extremely equitable

077and that it's available for all students and it doesn't become just the haves and the have-nots. The haves, yeah. I don't want this to be a haves program. I want all the students to have. Yeah, I appreciate those concerns. Go ahead, Michelle. I have a question. Is switching to this new model for future concerns, or are these two students... Like, if right now we only have the one... I thought that was last year. But even right now for the one student, is it a concern that, yes, we will get more students, but we have sports that we don't have, and then because we have this model that says we will cover all students, we will then have to cover all students? Or, like, could we change that if we get more programs that cause for

078that? I don't know. Did that make sense? Yeah, I mean, I think on the table right now, if I may, it's golf, hockey, both boys and girls, and gymnastics. So that's what we're looking at right now. Shooting. The clay pigeon shooting, sorry. I just heard about that one. No one actually came to me on that one. And then if there were... Is it more than five, or five and more? I put five in there just as we grow. That cost would obviously come down, too. As we get more students involved, those costs would generally come down. And if we have... We've tried to respond in the past to when we have a significant number of students asking for a new program. We've been able to get that into the contract, find funding to do those

079things, maybe eliminate some things that aren't happening anymore to find that funding. And so really as those numbers grow, then we may look at hosting those things. These are really the one-offs that we do not host. And some of these other co-ops that we have, there just hasn't been as many of those students playing those sports within their youth. And so again, continuing to give those opportunities, but find a way for that to be able to happen in numbers and financial sharing has really been the goal. I'm also curious as to how families would feel about it. I know how we as families in the district would feel about it, but we're also at the table. I wonder how the families of people who are in these activities would feel about that being a thing.

080Have you run that by them? Or said, hey, if we move to this, would this still be something that you would want us to plan for you? Yeah. I've spoken with the families. Actually, one of them is golf and hockey is the same family. So I have spoken with that family. And because we didn't have anybody in gymnastics, I obviously haven't spoken with anyone about that. But boys hockey, I've spoken with that family and told them, this is the model that I'm presenting. I don't know if it will pass, but just to prepare you for that jump that might happen next year. And I assured them that fundraising would definitely be an option. And so, yes, I have spoken with them. And were they on board with that? Were they open to it? They were

081okay with it. They were so committed that they were like... Yeah. And the girls' families have been okay with that too. I mean, it would offer them a new opportunity that they don't currently have. And I do believe probably will not go to our school next year if we don't offer it. And I'm not saying that to, you know, like... We have to offer this so that they go to our school. But I think in these one-off activities, these students have played those sports their entire lives. And just as I said, if my student was in the... My own kid was in that same space, you know, it's their passion. And I would want them to be able to go to a space where they could actually play those things. Yeah. So, yeah. Thank you.

082I do actually... Go ahead, Laura. I haven't... Yeah. I didn't realize there was going to be so many questions. But as we're talking about this, more and more things are coming up. I am curious about what the fees are in those particular districts for the students that actually reside in those districts. You know? So, I mean, are we being equitable to what they would be... You know, they would have to feasibly come up with as well? I'm fairly certain... I mean, especially hockey. Hockey is an expensive... Like I said, it's an expensive sport. I can't imagine it would be $160 even if you're in district. I don't know... I could be incorrect. ...off the top of my head what those are, but I could get that information for you. Okay. Yeah, because I'd be very

083curious there as well. You said that we have one student in boys hockey right now. Correct. Could we get information on what the students that are... that are part of the Irondale, St. Anthony, Fridley, what those students are paying... Yeah, I could get you that. Thank you. All right. Go ahead, Atina. Thank you for your presentation. I found it really informative, and I'm sorry if you already touched on this, but just to clarify, if the board does approve this proposal, would you expand the non-host sports based on student interest, or would you just stick with the boys golf and girls hockey? I think that's a possibility. Yeah, I think the idea would be that in the previous year, so this year would be for next year, that we might explore girls hockey in particular, because

084we've got two families that have reached out about that, but they're the only two families that boys golf was the previous year that was reached out. So I think that would be the first avenue, and really, again, it would be the previous year planning for the following year. Awesome. Sorry. Go ahead. No, because I'm really, really deeply thinking about what Member Medeiros was saying, because I didn't think of it that way, right? That's not where my head went. And so in thinking about it, like, okay, I landed on I would prefer, like for me, I would prefer to offer it to parents and families with good intentions rather than take it away because people may have bad intentions, because that kind of like spoke to me. I was just like, wow, that does suck if

085it becomes like this elite thing that people are using to kind of have this moment or like do something that doesn't seem quite Columbia Heights-like, right? And then I thought like if we don't think about it as far as like the families that we're talking about who are actually here and doing it, like I don't know. I feel like we're taking away from people who are actually doing it and want it to happen, and we're providing an opportunity to them rather than, I don't know, and it's always worth revisiting like down the line, too. After we see like how it works, but I don't know. It is very interesting, and I mean, thank you, because I really didn't see that part of it, but I just wanted to say that for myself. Thank you. Chair

086Grandland. I just wanted to. I couldn't say it later. No, no. I just wanted to reiterate that it really is a balance, and I'm just being open about the struggle that I'm having with that, and I think that everybody has good intentions, right? Oh, yeah. We want to provide lots of opportunities to our kids. Families want to support the passions of their kids. You know, we drive our kids all over the place to take them to their activities and the things that they're interested in. So I know that everybody has good intentions in doing that. I just want to think, you know, I want to consider it thoughtfully. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. All right, go. I think I'm staying up here, but I'll switch seats. Thank you all for the discussion and the conversation.

087And the questions. I appreciate it. At least let them move chairs. I'm going to. No, wonderful discussion, and I super appreciate it. Can we just let them move chairs? I just pulled out my. Oh, no. What is. We don't have. Director Henneken is not here to fix our technology. Patrick is here. Patrick is here. Can you shut it down? Now he can't. Can you go ask Patrick to fix it in the back? Yeah. He moved a leg. What did he do? He moved a leg. He moved a leg. He moved a leg. He moved a leg. He moved a leg. He moved a leg. He moved a leg. He moved a leg. He moved a leg. He moved a leg. He moved a leg. What happened? Didn't do the beginning slides without. And then go

088quickly if you want. Wow. . No, I don't like that. Oh, yeah. . Yeah. It's coming. I think. No worries. It's right next to it, which is. . I didn't take up enough of the time, so. So, while he's here, does anybody else have any other questions? Sorry about that. Yeah. That was your microphone. It's all the way. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. No worries. All right. Next up, we have Overnight and Out-of-State Field Trips with Superintendent Stenvik and Director of Teaching and Learning, Tuckrell, Sarah Matusvik. Did I say it? Not a soul. Not a soul. God. Someday. Someday. And Director Henderson. Sorry. Yeah, you did it. It's contagious. And then Ms. Cindy Cariello. Ms. Cindy. Welcome. Thank you for being here. And

089thank you. Good evening, Chair Granlin, members of the board, Superintendent Stenvik. I'm here with a crew, which you just introduced. And we're here tonight to share about out-of-state and overnight field trips, looking at the following school year. So 26, well, the remainder of this school year into next school year. It's a no. In Clubby Heights Public Schools, our mission of creating worlds of opportunity for all of us is to create a world of opportunity for all of us. For each and every learner. All belong. All succeed. And tonight's presentation really does focus on all of the core values, which are also aligned with the Columbia Heights Public Schools Board of Education Equity Statement. We're here tonight to give an informational presentation. And then we'll be returning, seeking approval of the overnight field trips on March

09024th. I'm going to pass it over to Director Matusovic. We're not director. See, now I got stuck. Coordinator Matusovic. We're all mixed up with titles. We are. It's the time change. We're just going to go with that. It was the time change. It's been rough. It's daily. Good evening, Chair Grendlin, members of the board, and Superintendent Stenevik. I'm here to share a little more about field trips. The research on field trips shows that students who have opportunities to participate in culturally rich excursions, do better in class, show positive student outcomes, and expand their view of the future. This is in alignment with Vision 2030, with student relationships. So students will have opportunities to find. And develop their passions and interests to make connections in CHPS, through diverse in-school and extra-curricular activities, And students will have

091access to multiple pathways and relevant learning experiences that support their growth and post-secondary options. We've been working hard to look closely at the instructional experiences in Columbia Heights public schools from Pre-K through 12th grade. These experiences supplement grade level standards and content during the school day. This includes both office and online classes along the way. This includes both office and online classes along the way. off-site and in-house experiences along with guest speakers and college and job fairs we have an approval process for our pre-k 12 teachers and students to approve field trips to support communication with families budgets and school board policies we've been working to create equitable learning experiences for all students by ensuring that students are receiving similar experiences throughout their grade level regardless of the school that they're in and then looking

092at the vertical alignment of field trips to while focusing on alignment with content and standards back again but we have some opportunities for students to take athletic or activity field trips overnight specifically we've done this for multiple years and these groups have taken I think just about every one of these groups presented on the screen have taken these and it's really been an opportunity for students to be together in that environment and I think that's been a really important part of our with their group or their team grow as a team compete sometimes and sometimes to serve others depending on what the group is and I would say we have a student board member here that she hasn't told me this but oftentimes we hear that this is maybe the best experience that they've had

093in their activity and so really just would like to throw out there it is really great opportunity for our teams and our groups so all right chair Granlin members of the board this year we had two really successful overnight field trips with our Native American education program one down to Pipestone culminating with the powwow in Mankato and you know also to Jeffers petroglyphs so that was an incredible excursion for the students both culturally team-building and then also academics this field trip is at no cost to the students because our funding covers that we do not yet have the date for the Mankato powwow for next fall but it would be sometime in the fall so we'll be seeking approval for that field trip at the next board meeting and then also the trip to Mille

094Lacs where students participate in the big drum drum ceremony and is just really incredible that one is coming up which already it's already approved for this year that's coming up in April and we're seeking to do that again next spring again the dates are TBD but a repeat of what we've been able to do in the past additionally working with Missinny Cariello kind of a dream of ours to question will present Missinny Cariello of ours too for this next field trip that Christian will present thank you for theie members of the board I am really excited about this through superintendent stenn wicks connection with friends of the Boundary Waters which is an organizational orientation project and so we know a little bit about around the state and things thatcioused half of our вам have been

095planning for next spring and what are the plans that you've been working on and what impact have you had matter of your title is I think this is an which is an organization that works with youth here in the Twin Cities, but connecting them with the Boundary Waters. We are able to take 13 students this summer to the Boundary Waters in June, right after school ends. And we've been working closely with Friends of the Boundary Waters educators. They've come into science classes a few times already this year. And then they're actually getting us connected with another nonprofit group called Wilderness Inquiry that's able to get us essentially permits into a base camp in the Boundary Waters. So we will be going to Crescent Lake in northern Minnesota. And in June 17th, we're going through the

096application process right now, and we've had a fair amount of interest. So we'll see what we end up with, and then they'll come in and do trainings with the students before we actually head out in June. We wanted to bring this back again, back in 2025, which seems like a while ago. The board has approved the Chicago Arts Experience, for February-March of 2027. So just a reminder about what was approved or what was shared. We're excited to continue that opportunity for our students, working with Leisure Time Tours and inviting juniors and seniors in concert band, concert choir, and AP arts. And they do a lot on that trip, including college visits, professional experiences, collaboration, and performances. They've been, we approved it quite early, or received approval early, early in order for them to support. We've

097been fundraising earlier, so they've been fundraising throughout this year, supporting with local business donations, sales, the booster wagon, coupon books, and other opportunities. And I will be returning on the 24th, seeking approval of the overnight and out-of-state field trips. Thank you. Questions or comments? Go ahead, Atna. I just want to say, Director Henderson is correct. That was the best experience of my life. Thank you. You didn't even plan for that. Thanks. Laura? And this is a perfect example of what we do every day. Thank you so much for being here and sharing those experiences. And thank you for all the hard work of being able to put all of these great experiences together for the students. I am kind of curious as to, could you explain some of the funding mechanism for some of these

098free options that we have in here to kind of explain the funding mechanism for some of these free options that we have in here? And how do you see the fact that this, how this is particular, some of these particular experiences are funded? The Boundary Waters trip is, the costs are all completely offset and covered by the Friends of the Boundary Waters. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So we've been partnering with them and working with them, and they were able to offer this opportunity for free. So we're very excited. And Kristen would be one of the chaperones, and she is highly trained in outdoor survival and whatnot. So, and they would go with an outfitter, so like a licensed outfitter, which is Wilderness Inquiry. For the other field trips that we have on there, the instructional

099field trips that Coordinator Matasovic spoke about, she's impressive at getting a lot of donations or scholarships for many of them, but we also do use other funding, so within the school district, to ensure that our families do not have to pay for the ones that are during the school day as well. So we are trying to eliminate any barriers we can to offer the opportunities. So for our activities... sorry, for our activities overnights or extended trips, there's a lot of fundraising that goes into that, and we try to offer those as free or low cost as possible. We do set those things up for something like the Boston-Harvard trip well in advance, where there are specific dates that students need to pay a specific fee, and they do have, again, opportunities to fundraise for all

100of those things. Some have fundraises for their entire amount. Some have not. And so for many of those trips, a simple overnight for our tennis team in St. James, they do their own fundraising, and most of those kids come away with paying absolutely nothing. Sometimes the boosters will give towards those specific events as well. Thank you. I want to say that my ninth grader came home and was super excited about the opportunity for the Boundary Waters. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My question was, okay, but is it during Jamboree? It is not. Is it the deal breaker in the Grendlin home? What? Is it the deal breaker in the Grendlin home? Kind of, yeah. Jamboree is kind of a big deal in our house. But just to hear

101the excitement from my kiddo about this opportunity, I really feel so blessed that our district has been able to partner with these places to give these kids an opportunity that they won't get because let's face it I am NOT a boundary water sort of a camper I am a I'm a glamper at if I'm gonna do anything so if there's not an air mattress involved I'm not there so you know for you know for kiddos like mine and in other kiddos who would never get this experience I think it is really wonderful to cement this this opportunity in this love of nature and this experience that they wouldn't get especially you know my husband was like all right well we'll have to buy a whole bunch of stuff I said no no no no no

102that's not the way that this works you know people like they have all of that stuff you just show up and so to know that that is it's not even just for the Friends of the Boundary Waters it's for a lot of these other things um and to be able to help and fundraise and do those things I think it's just what an amazing opportunity to provide these kids that they wouldn't get elsewhere so thank you guys for all of your hard work with with this go ahead yeah just a clarifying question so when you're back the 24th and you're seeking approval it would be approval for the two Native American education trips and the the boundary waters trip would be just the three that you're seeking approval on yes in addition to any activity

103overnights and okay yes thank you for clarifying thank you great great clarifying go ahead Atma I would also like to speak on student experience with fundraising or in funding for the st. James trip I also went attended that and it was wonderful because my parents were actually shocked because I told them I was going overnight and they're like okay what do we have to pay and I said nothing and then they were like okay that's great so they covered a lot so I'm very grateful for that and for the speech trip a lot of funding what came from scholarships that came from the actual I don't know what it's called national speed and debate I don't know but I know some members of our team were able to apply for a scholarship to cover the

104trip so I think that was great and I am very appreciative all of these experiences thank you for that that's really important to hear too if there's nothing else we will look forward to seeing you again next week thank you so much next up we have summer programming with assistant superintendent Nian boy director of teaching and learning talk Tara Tara sorry okay I'm look it's everybody it's everybody yeah it's the time change guys it's 730 thank you so much for joining us today we are all glad to be here this evening to talk about the summer programs that we anticipate coming up in a few months our mission creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner all belong all succeed hope we plan that you will hear all of our core values presented in

105today's presentation this is an informational presentation there are no governance questions the goals for summer programming are to provide academic acceleration opportunities to earn high school credits multilingual language learner support opportunities for physical activity services required by individual education plans opportunities for enrichment and high quality child care for community education in our early childhood programs we will be offering screening throughout the summer this is for children that are three years old until they start kindergarten we really aim to get all done before the school year starts. Mini Adventures is a year-round program so of course that continues during the summer and then we'll have park meetups which are very popular in different parks throughout the community on Wednesdays typically. For our school-age programming we have Summer Adventure Club. The registration has opened, Tara, Auntie Tara

106and others. So that is now open that takes place here at the Family Center. We also have driver's education so that our young drivers are safe on the streets. We all appreciate that. We work with the 4-H program and then we also do summer aquatics. Blooming Heights of course is in all its glory during the summer. We will have, we're very excited, we're going to have five assistants and that is through a partnership with the Anoka County Empower program. Just yesterday Melissa Trent our agriculture specialist had an information session and 14 students attended that. So there's robust interest in that and then that pays, that Empower program pays for the students to work during the summer. Of course also Melissa will be working with Summer Encore, Summer Adventure Club, Mini Adventures and Columbia Heights Recreation

107programs. We also, adults are also students during the summer so adult enrichment and senior programs. I know that Emma was just working on the Guthrie trip for this summer to go see Come, not Come Away With Us, but it's the, it's the play where the plane landed in Canada. Come from Away. Come From Away. I had some of the words right. Come from Away. That'll be this summer. That's always a fun field trip. And then also of course our adult and rich, adult basic education programs with Metro North ABE will continue through this summer. Okay. Well that's all I have for you today. I'll see you next time. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

108Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. continue through the summer in person and on Zoom. So this shows some of the fun programs that we offer through community ed and year round. I'll hand it over to Activities and Athletics. Thank you all again. I'll be brief. We continue to add just to our opportunities that we have for the summer. Our coaches are amazing. Our directors are amazing, willing to take these opportunities and just make sure that kids are staying connected. They're building skills and that our teams are just bonding throughout the summer. So you'll see all those on the screen. I'll highlight a couple of robotics is coming back. That's the goal. And really those high school kids were some of the ones that wanted to mentor and help out those middle school kids.

109So that one's really neat. Flag football's relatively new, cheer, et cetera. So thank you. I think I put it in order. Okay. I think I did. Good evening again, Chair Granlund, members of the boards, Lieutenant Stenbeck. We're excited to bring back Summer Encore. We've already had many staff ask, what are the dates or when are we having it? So we're excited that I'll be back in July again because of funding and the targeted services funding we used to support. July is our time to usually do it. Once again, we're focused on the theme base, but including literacy, math, academic skills, art, activities, and it's a lot of fun, a lot of joy happening. And Blooming Heights, we love going there. So for our Summer Encore dates, the school year are listed up there. July 13th

110to July 30th, they'll be for students going into kindergarten through eighth grade. And that's decided upon that piece due to funding and what the funding can cover, the limitations with it. It is Monday through Thursday. So once again, we're following the same schedule as last year. We heard a lot of positive reflection from both staff and families and students about the schedule from last year. And it will be hosted at the high school and at Highland Elementary from 8 to 1 p.m. And staff will have time in June, and we'll be back in June. And then a little time in July to get ready for that. And registration is really based upon staffing capacity. So that'll be starting up when we come back from spring break. We'll start registration for that. We have a lot

111of community partnerships, including a fun one we had last year was the Minnesota Pollution Center. It's pretty amazing how excited the students were to take ticks off of dogs. Oh. It's true. They were fake. They were like, look at the picture. But that was like a highlight. We're like, what did you do? We took the ticks off of the dogs. I was like, okay. But just those little things, right? Going in the Boundary Waters, learning that, it helps them out. Some other exciting opportunities we have. Director Sunkel mentioned about having support in Blooming Heights for students and opportunities for them to work. We also have that in many of our programs through another grant we have, where our students who are currently in the Intro to Education pathway, any of the three courses we have

112at the high school, can apply to work in any of the programs that are mini-adventures, Adventure Club. They can work in Summer Encore. And so those positions will be posted as well. And it's $20 an hour. So it's quite a bit compared to other positions available, but it's an opportunity for our students in the Intro to Ed pathway to have experience. And we heard a lot of positive things about that, both from the staff who had students in their classroom, as well as our high school students there. So we're excited for that opportunity. And with that, I'll pass it to Assistant Superintendent Nyanboy. So continuing with the theme, as you know, we have 48% of our students who are in the Intro to Education pathway. And we have a lot of students who are English

113language learners. And so those students are also going to participate in our summer program. In particular, we're going to do a small division. If you're level one in grade, you know, K and above, we're going to do a pull-up. Basically, it will be isolated so that they can receive more language-intensive instruction. And then those students on level two through level four will be integrated with the rest of the school. And it is our goal, because we know and we're aware of the summer slump, to engage our EL students so that they continue to grow. So we do some heavy recruiting. It's amazing how with age, writing gets small. I used to read on the computer. I can't believe I'm saying this. So you also know that throughout the summer, our high school students, in partnership

114with Metro Heights, we continue to do the credit recovery program, which, every year, it's such a joy to see students coming. The Metro Heights summer school program has different dates. They will start on June 15th, and they'll go through July 23rd. And they will take off the week of June 10th, and then, I mean, the June 10th day, and then that week of July 2nd to the 10th. And they also use a different format, where they go Monday through Friday from 8 to 12 on-site. And then the students go home, and then they do 1245 until the end of the semester. And then they also 245 online, so that they can continue to learn. They found that this program has worked well in that regard for students coming to school and then going home and

115continuing the learning. And then finally, a couple more programs that we run. There is the Advanced Placement Boost. It's also tentative for now, and the goal for that is to engage students during the month of August to prepare them and get ready to take those classes. And then, finally, the Summer Encore. Through our Achievement and Integration Program, we've consistently partnered with St. Anthony New Brighton to bring some of the students to work alongside our students here in Columbia Heights. We have a summer seminar for writing and a summer seminar for math. And the schedule for that is the same as our regular Summer Encore program. And I believe the previous board meeting I presented of some of the activities that we do during Summer Encore. And with that, I will pass it to Director Godfrey.

116Thank you. I'm going to be talking about summer programming for special education, starting with early childhood programming. These services will take place at the Family Center for students qualifying ages three through five, as well as home and community services that will be provided for our birth to three-year-olds. Evaluations will be done throughout the summer, which is nice when students are entering school to have those completed before the school year even starts. Programming at the Family Center will take place throughout the summer for different ages and services and having groups be able to come together and get that peer interaction. And the prep and PD day for that will be in July. And then summer programming within special education, otherwise known as ESY. For students in kindergarten through eighth grade, the dates and times will align

117with Summer Encore, because students receiving special education services are general education students first. So they'll have full access to their peers the whole entire time. Our ninth through twelfth graders will be coming at that time as well. And have... some additional supports and interactions and a lot of fun activities going on, like the ones that you see in the pictures there. So fun. Like I said, those will align with the times where other students are present as well. So that's exciting. We will also provide mental health support during Summer Encore to all students through having social worker support during this time. And we look forward to seeing you this summer. Wonderful. Thank you. Questions or comments from the Board? Go ahead, Jessica. Thank you. I'm just very excited to see such thoughtfully constructed programming for

118the summer across all of your spheres. So thank you for all of your work on that. And I'm really glad that we're still able to offer all of our existing programming and also have some expansion in the activities area. So that's really awesome. So thank you very much. Awesome. Thank you. Any other questions? Oh, I guess one more thing since we're on camera. You had, Director Tuckerville, you had mentioned that registration for Summer Encore will be going out after spring break. So... Yes. Thank you. Registration will be in the elementary schools. They'll be receiving it April 9th. And then it will be for the middle school for students going to 6th through 8th grade. It will be a form that will be sent to them on April 9th. Great. So keep your eyes peeled. Registration

119window is very small. So make sure you look for those things right away. And if you don't, reach out to your school and they'll have those opportunities for you. Great. Thank you so much. Thank you. If only she didn't have her headphones on right now. So I could be like, please make sure you give me that paper as soon as you get home. Two days later, she's like, oh, I have this for you. Any other? No. Yeah. Just thank you all so much for all the work and look forward to the summer programming. Thank you. All right. Next up, it's me. All right. So we have so this is the school board policies first reading. Our policies were the following policies were reviewed at the February 17th, 2026 policy subcommittee meeting. These policies will be

120made available for staff and community input on the district's website. And we will be able to review them on the district web page and brought before the board for second reading approval at a future board meeting. Those include for yearly cycle review 709 student transportation safety. And then the three-year cycle review is 101 legal status of the school district. 301 school district administration. 302 superintendent. 303 superintendent selection. 304 superintendent contract duties and evaluation. 402 policy implementation. 402 disability non-discrimination. 421 gifts to employees. And 427 workload limits with certain special education teachers. As I said before, these can be found online. And again, we will be approving them at the future board meeting. 709. I said 709. I didn't. Yeah. Thank you, though. I appreciate it. I didn't hear 709. Okay. Yep. Any other comments? All

121right. We will move into action items. First up is achievement and integration budget with director or I'm sorry, with assistant superintendent Mianboi. Good evening, Chair Gronman, Superintendent Stanvik, and members of the board. At the last board meeting, I came and presented on the achievement integration budget and gave some examples of how the funding is used. So I am here tonight to request your approval of the achievement integration budget in the amount of $1,194,860.84. That's a big ask. Indeed. All right. Can I move that forward? Yeah. So can I get a motion to accept the achievement integration budget for 20 years? Yes. So that's the achievement integration budget for 2026-2027 school year as was presented. So moved. Thank you. Laura, can I get a second? I'll second. Second by Michelle. Discussion? Go ahead, Jessica. Just to

122note that although this is a quicker agenda item tonight, we had a presentation and substantial discussion and lots of questions at the last board meeting. That's available online. Thank you very much. Any other discussion? If there's no other discussion, we'll move forward to vote. All those in favor of accepting the achievement integration budget for 2026-2027, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Next up we have the election judge resolution. So I will go ahead and read this resolution. This is the resolution for appointing election judges for the school district election to be held in the school district. The election will be held on April 14, 2026. Whereas Columbia Heights Independent School District number 13 will be conducting a special election on April 14, 2026. And whereas pursuant to Minnesota

123statute section 204B.21, election judges for precincts in a school district election must be appointed by the board of that school district. And whereas persons selected to serve meet all requirements of Minnesota statute, and county administrative policy, and have been trained and certified pursuant to law. Now therefore be it resolved by the school board of Columbia Heights Independent School District number 13, state of Minnesota as follows. Number one, the individuals listed on attachment A are hereby appointed to serve as election judges for the school district special election to be held on April 14, 2026. And number two, in the event circumstances require judges to be appointed in addition to the election, the district will be appointed by the board of Columbia Heights Independent School District in addition to the persons named in this resolution. The clerk

124of election is authorized to appoint as necessary, provided that the persons appointed meet all requirements of Minnesota statute and administrative policy. Can I get a motion to accept the resolution for appointing election judges for the school district special election? So moved. Thank you, Jessica. Can I get a second? Second. Thank you, Lorian. Discussion? If there is no discussion. Discussion? We will move forward to a roll call vote, if you would, Laura. Euler? Aye. Medeiros? Aye. Pettway? Aye. Palmer? Aye. Granlund? Aye. That has been approved. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Then we will move into board topics. Anybody have a board topic? I just have kind of a little fun one. I was talking with some of the board members over at 916, and I was discussing some of the resolutions where we read all

125the contributions and stuff. I was basically saying how incredibly generous our community was. I said, but sometimes just reading those names, and one of the board members says, oh, I just assigned somebody else to read it. When I was clerk, I did offer at one point. Yeah. It was like, yeah. Yeah. I said, I don't read them. I just assigned somebody else to do it. What I hear is that I should assign the clerk to do it next time. No, no. I was just going to thank you very much. I want to back air on you. Other districts just basically just put the names up on the board. I like the way that we do things. I just thought that was just kind of a fun one. I didn't realize that you could do things

126other ways when you're talking to these other board members. You're kind of like, oh, that's how you handle it. That's very interesting. Especially, I mean, there were a couple of times I would have said, you know, I think Lorian can do a much better job of this. Because I've seen her do it in the past. She's a pro. All said, any other board topics? Go ahead, Michelle. I mean, I know we've spoken about Frozen probably, I don't know, eight times tonight. Let it go. She got it. You smell it. You smell it. You smell it. You got it. You smell it. So, yeah, I just, I mean, I don't think that we talk specific time or place because it is a middle school play, but it is not at the middle school. It would be

127at the high school performance arts center. And it's Friday at 7 and then Saturday and Sunday at 2. So just letting everyone know when that is and where it is for clarity. And also a community event, Heights Next is having KohaiCon this weekend from 10 to 11. So, yeah, during the day is usually for the kiddos and family time. And, you know, then after what time? I think it's 7 o'clock. I think after 7 it's adult only. It's a place to unwind, sing some karaoke with the mayor possibly. She's been known to kind of be there with other possible electeds. So, yeah, I think that's a good thing. I think that's a good thing. Yeah. Singing and having fun and just enjoying some community time. There's video games, board games, game games, whatever you want

128to do. Crafts. Lots of stuff for the family to be involved in. You can feel free to dress up and do cosplay if you'd like or you can just come in your jammy jams and relax with your community members. But I did just want to put that out there. That is something they've been doing every year and it's a really fun event. Yeah. Thank you for that. And I will add that you can volunteer and get your gift in for free. Absolutely. And also all the funds that are raised go right back into our community, which is also something that this board is passionate about is supporting our community in those ways. So it is a nonprofit, Heights Next, that puts it on. And, yes, it is a lot of fun. And get the lowest

129price on tickets at heightsnext.com. Heightsnext.org, right? I do believe so. It's at heightsnext.org. And, yeah, so it's pretty great. It's a lot of fun. And even if you don't know how to play a game, there are actually people there that will teach you how to play as well. Who are passionate about teaching you how to play. Yes. So it's a really great experience. And, again, we're still trying to get Superintendent Stunvik to come and play Catan. Chair Graham, that reminded me. There is also a craft fair fundraiser for Columbia Heights Mutual Aid on March 19th. And that's going to be a really great event. And I think that's going to be a really great event. And I think that's going to be a really great event. And I think that's going to be a really

130great event. Yeah, on March 19th at Mersion Hall. Yes. Thank you very much for that as well. And just another reminder, the Local 710, it's going to put on the candidate forum, a forum right here in this community room on Monday at 530 p.m. We have two candidates that are running for the special election. Please make sure that you write that on the calendar. April 14th. is the election date. You can come and see the candidates on Monday. Please make sure that you're involved because we really appreciate your input. Thank you. Any other board topics? All right. Can I get a motion to adjourn? So moved. Thank you, Michelle. Second. I knew it. I knew it. All right. So we will adjourn at 7.56.