School Board Meeting Recap - May 26, 2026

001Hello, Bloomington Public Schools community. I'm School Board Chair Tom Bennett. And I'm Superintendent Eric Melbye. And we have some highlights from the May 26th School Board Meeting that we'd like to share with you. That's right. As part of our ongoing facilities planning, the school board endorsed plans to prepare the Southwood Center and Bloomington Stadium sites for sale by demolishing the buildings. This is the best strategy for generating favorable interest and best possible offers. We also approved a memorandum of understanding with the I Love U Guys foundation to adopt Standard Response Protocol framework for emergency responses. The framework will establish common language to guide responses districtwide, which will strengthen consistency, clarity and coordination during any incident. Of course, it goes without saying: the safety of our students and staff is our top priority. For sure. The school board also approved the two-year, 2025-27 contract with Bloomington’s Federation of Paraprofessionals. And finally, on a sentimental note, it was the last school board meeting this school year for our student school board representatives. Kennedy’s Samia Mohamud and Jefferson's Elsa Ackerman were fantastic ambassadors for their high schools this year. I know I can speak for Tom and the rest of the board when I say we really appreciated their contributions to our meetings and hearing their perspectives on what's important to our students. Yes, they're amazing young people and their futures are incredibly bright. So that's all for our May 26th recap. We'll see you again in June.