001- The clerk to please call the roll. - Thompson? - Here. - Arcand? - Here. - Beloyed? - Here. - Chapman? - Here. - Ellison, here. Mullin? - Here. - Newmaster? - Here. - All right. If you all, please rise. Remove your hats and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance, please. - [All] 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. Thank you. We have before us an approve agenda. I would ask for a motion to approve the agenda? - So moved. - A motion by Mr. Chapman, is there a second? - [Jessica] Second. - Any discussion regarding the approval? All those in favor please say aye? - [All]
002Aye. - Opposed, same sign? The ayes have it and the motion passes. We have an approved agenda. We also have before us a consent agenda. These are sundry items that come before the board on a monthly basis. The one thing that we're very thankful for is the generosity of the community in the way of gifts, and so, inside of that consent agenda, there is an acceptance of gifts. So I would ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda? - [Deborah] So moved. - A motion by Ms. Beloyed. Is there a second? - Second. - A second by Dr. Arcand. Any discussion regarding the consent agenda? This will require a roll call vote. I would ask the clerk to please read the roll. - Thompson? - Aye. - Arcand? - Aye. - Beloyed? - Aye.
003- Chapman? - Aye. - Ellison, aye. Mullin? - Aye. - Newmaster? - Aye. - And we have a consent agenda also. It is now time in our meeting for a public forum. We just ask that I read a couple things before we get started with our public forum. Public forum will be open for up to 30 minutes. Three minutes per speaker. No more than three speakers per topic, as a general rule. Those who wish to address the school board should fill out a public forum speaker card and submit it to the school board clerk or other district official at the meeting. School district policy and data practice laws preclude the school board from publicly discussing personnel matters, data, including information, which if discussed in the public meeting could violate law or policy. Complaints or concerns
004regarding individual school district employees should be presented in writing to school administration and signed by the person submitting the complaint or concern. School district policy and data practice laws preclude the school board from publicly discussing student matters or data, including information, which if discussed in public meeting could violate law or policy. An appropriate school district official will be assigned to contact the speaker with answers to their questions and will follow up information. And that speaker this month will be Dr. Wayne Kazmierczak, sitting down there, that will keep the notes and do the follow-ups. A handout of the proposed school board meeting and the meeting process is available at each school board meeting. Citizens may be asked to address the school board on a particular subject during the discussion of that item. The school board chairperson
005will attempt to reasonably honor requests to speak, but shall also exercise discretion in regard to time and constraint, and therefore may limit the number of requests to speak accordingly. Tonight there's a lot of people in the audience, and I want to make sure that we get through as many people as possible. So we're gonna be very, we're gonna make sure that the times are kept right to the line. We've got, Kim Chapman is gonna act as the timekeeper. He's got three cards in front of him. He's got an orange card, after two minutes we'll flash the orange card and let you know that there's one minute left. The yellow card will give you a 30 second move. And then the red card will be, your time is up. I will then tap the gavel to
006let you know that your time is up. So if I've got four cards. So before we get started, I want to make sure if there's anybody else that would like to address the school board that they fill out a card and that they get it here so that we can move through the process. If you can bring it up, please. - [Antonio] Where, you? - Yeah, you can bring it up to me, please. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Going once, going twice, come on, everybody, smile, it's a beautiful day. (audience chuckling) All right, then we will get started. The first one on my list to talk is Carol. And I apologize up front if I chop your name up. I'm just gonna apologize every time, but Carol you're first up. (gavel taps) - Good afternoon.
007Thank you for allowing me to speak. My name is Carol. I am a parent of a recent graduate, Friday night, so we're pretty excited about that. And a soon-to-be 11th grader. I've lived in White Bear Lake for 20 years. I love it here. It's a great community. We live in the older part. I love being close to the lakes. We've made some really good friends here. And you know what? I want this to be a great place for everybody and anybody who chooses to live here. Last month, one of my, sorry, this gets a little emotional for me. One of my sons witnessed his friend being called the N word while they were walking home from North Campus at school. And just last week, my older son looked up in distress, I was trying to
008get us attention, and he said, one of his friends had just been called the N word while at a local retailer. So I ask, I'm asking how are we teaching our students to live in this society that we have today? How are we teaching them to have greater understanding about race and the challenging day-to-day experiences that our children, these are children that this is happening to, how are we preparing them? And I know that you've put a lot of thought into this, and I know that you're thinking about how best to prepare all of our students to be effective citizens of the world, because you've done the equity audit. You've surveyed the community. And you brought many community voices into creating a strong strategic plan. And I commend you for that. And you've started this
009a couple of years ago, at least. You know what the issues are and the concerns are, and not just for the BIPOC community, for the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color community, but you've listened to the entire community. You've taken an initiative. You've asked, and that's such an important step, you've asked our children. You've asked our parents of our district what they need to succeed and to feel like they belong to our schools. We know what we need to do. As Dr. Davis explained to you in his presentation in July of 2020, the equity plan for the White Bear Lake Schools is a realization of a promise of the best education that White Bear Lake can provide. I want the best education for my kids. I want the best education for all of our kids.
010I want racism to end. We can't do that by slinking back into our white comfort zone. I implore you to stand strong and keep moving forward with the equity plan that you've spent so much time developing. The community support is there for you. And I implore you to move forward with this plan. Thank you for your time. - Thank you. (audience applauding) The next one that I have is, is it Marisol? Did I pronounce that right? Thank you. - You did perfect. Good evening, school board members, and everyone in this room, and those listening. (speaking foreign language) White Bear Lake. It's a real pleasure for me to be with all of you. Thank you so much for the time. My name is Marisol Chiclana Ayala. I'm a long time resident of the area. I am
011a parent of a high school student, who identifies herself as a Afro-Latina. Very proud of that, and also as a native of White Bear Lake. I'm really happy to be here in support of the equity plan and the things that are proposed there, because I believe that not only my daughter needs the actions that are in that plan, to improve our capacity to talk about race, to talk about the issues that are impacting all of us, not only people of color, Black, Indigenous people, but all of us in our community. But we have, and also provide opportunities for all our students and staff and administration to work within our school district to make sure that all kids, K to 12, have the same resources to succeed in their career in schools. I'm really proud of
012being part of the White Bear Lake community. I loved moving here many, many years ago. A beautiful community with people that care about others. And because of that, we must do what we know is right, and move this forward. And I know that sometimes it makes us sometimes stop and people that are in opposition makes us think twice, but we know what we need to do for our community, especially for our kids. This is about our students. And we have to do what is right. I want to say that it is because of that that we must work together to move not only this plan, but these action steps forward, the strategic, systemic racism out of our system. But mostly to work strategies that can really help us improve the work that we're trying to
013do as a school district. Continue with the equity focus in our schools, that you have approved as part of the strategic plan, gives me hope that we are moving as a community to a place where I can feel welcome, my kids can feel welcome, we all can feel welcome in our school district, and that everyone in the school district will do their best for all kids to succeed and have a good experience, to address things that are really impacting them. Like Wade Davis said, "The world in which you were born "is just one model of reality", only one model of reality. "Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you," they're not, "they are unique manifestations of the human spirit." Wade Davis. Thank you so much for your time. - Thank you. (audience applauding) The
014next sheet I have is Amanda. - Good evening, everyone. My name is Amanda. I moved to Hugo from White Bear Lake three years ago. I'm speaking tonight in support of the school district's equity work on behalf of the community group, Hugo Diversity Strong. First, I believe it's important to emphasize that the work currently being done is the direct result of countless hours of collaboration, thoughtful research, and reflection among the over 200 staff, students, parents and other community members who developed the White Bear Lake Area Schools' Strategic Plan three years ago. White Bear Lake School District pledges to provide expanding access to a broad range of opportunities for all students, to embrace all cultures with humility and respect, and to ensure the social and economic growth of each student. In no way, shape, or form is
015this the work of critical race theory, which is rarely found even in collegiate settings. It is certainly not a part of the curriculum in our schools. This is equity work, work that everyone in this room should be fighting for. It's important to recognize that equity and equality are not the same and are not interchangeable terms. Equity ensures that each individual student receives what they need in order to survive and thrive. Equality dictates that everyone receives the same, whether they need resources or not. Consider the following example. Students, A, B, and C take the opportunity to read to their second grade class. Student A reads at a fourth grade level. However, student B is not quite at the second grade level. And student C is reading at the kindergarten level. Equality would say that all students
016should receive instruction at the second grade level, which would limit students A's progress, and would also limit the progress of the students B and C. In our work, equity is unique in that it ensures that each student receives what they need to grow and advance as learners without hindering those students that excel on their own. This definition of equity applies to more than just academics. It can be applied when talking about disabilities, whether they're physical or intellectual, mental and physical health, and yes, race. I know the word race may make some of you uncomfortable, but it's reality. And it's also the reality of some students and families in this room today. Equity provides an avenue through which we can address the disparities revealed in the district's equity audit, which was first shared with the community
017July 9th of last year. This work is not new. And this work is not in an attempt to indoctrinate anyone. This work is the White Bear Lake Area Schools being responsive to the individual needs of each student to ensure their success in the challenging and increasing diverse world. It's time for us to come together to celebrate our shared community, while also honoring our individual differences. It's absurd to suggest that we are not aware of the differences between one another. It harms all of us, especially our youth, when we refuse to acknowledge the individual unique identities and contributions of the lives in our communities. Please take the time to visit some of our members, outside in front, and guests that have showed up today in solidarity. Enjoy the music, treats, and maybe challenge yourself to approach
018allies you haven't met and share with them. (gavel taps) Thank you. - Thank you. (audience applauding) Next I have a sheet for Sarah. - Thank you. I will go ahead and read, because I am definitely not a public speaker. So my name is Sarah. I have a daughter going into ninth grade this fall and another going into third grade at Lakeaires. And I have kind of a two-part question, which you can, I can email you all individually, if you'd like to respond to me, as well, at that point, 'cause I understand it's not an actual Q and A. So I just wanted to bring up that it is, we know there's a fair amount of grouped parents in the district that are a little bit concerned with the time change that was elected on and
019put into place. First, we don't really feel that you were fully transparent or forthcoming with this topic and that you have polled parents in the past asking how distance learning would impact them. And so you do have the capacity to send out a large survey and see how this change would hugely impact a fair amount of us. Secondly, while technically you did provide an email to express concerns to, a fair amount of people are finding that their responses are very similar or almost auto-generated, and that their concerns were actually not addressed during meeting time or individually upon returned email. Also, just a quick few concerns is, sleep disruptions, yes, for the younger kids. It will also force some parents to then enroll in after-school care, which would increase possible funding for them. It decreases their
020ability to use the high school students or siblings to then be there with the kiddos for a little while after school. And then also interferes with afterschool programs, sporting, student jobs. And then, also, morning pickups. The youngest kids will potentially be in the dark in the winter by themselves at bus stops at quarter to seven in the morning. So with this information, my first portion of the question, I guess, is I'd like to know if there is anything that we are actually able to do to reverse this or stop this from moving forward? And if so, what does that look like? What do you need to reconsider this? And secondly, now that you do know there is a substantial amount of district parents that are not happy with this decision, sorry, I lost my place,
021if you are not willing to consider any change in plan, can you explain to us as to why you aren't willing to readdress this? So one, thank you very much for your time for listening. I appreciate it. And then two, I just do feel that I have to implore that by completely potentially ignoring some of our concerns and just pushing through with this, it does let a fair amount of us know what we do need to do at the next school board election. So thank you very much. - Thank you, Sarah. (audience applauding) Sarah, if I can just, for one minute, Dr. Kazmierczak took notes and he will be, I'll ask him to follow up with you to make sure that your questions get answered. - [Sarah] I appreciate it, I really do. - Thank
022you. The last one I've got is Antonio. - So, I remember coming to these forums and meetings like that. So if I'm not on par, I apologize. I'm against this race equity thing. My children and, well, my family, my entire family, my close family. We're all different ethnic ethnicities. I'm quite upset that the school board wants to tell my child they're a particular color or teach him a radically changed science. - [Donald] Excuse me, sir, please don't point. You can. - Oh, I'm sorry. - [Donald] You can speak to the board, but I want to make sure that we're being professional and respectful. - Yeah yeah, my bad, my bad. I apologize, I didn't mean to point. But radically change science, radically change history, radically change math, microaggressions, in kindergarten against racism, that's insanity. My
023child comes in different colors. I am a Hispanic Native American. I don't teach my kids that. I teach my kids they're a student or they're American. When they go to school, there as equal as anybody else. Why would you go and try to change that to the children? Four years ago this wasn't an issue. But all sudden, now this blows up. Now everybody's screaming race equity, race equity, race equity. That's insanity. To try to tell children that microaggressions, K through 12, education, on a social standpoint, comes from home. It doesn't come from the school. I don't pay taxes so a school board will tell my children they're a color, their ethnicity or something. I teach them that. I teach them who they are. My child is a student when it comes to you guys. Or
024they're an American citizen. But that's all you guys get. That's what I pay for my taxes for. I think this is absurd that I had to get up here. I think it's absurd them getting to know every one of your names. Four years ago, five years ago, 10 years ago, I didn't have this problem. I was happy. My kids were going through White Bear Lake. Everything was good to go, then all of a sudden, this happens? And now I'm learning your guys' name. I'm the kind of person that if I know their name and you're in charge in government, you're screwing up somehow. I don't know what you guys are doing. Four years ago, our test scores were higher. Five years ago, our test scores were higher. Now you're bringing race and equity coming in,
025and our test scores are going down. They're going down. Why? Because we're separating everybody. We are separating everybody. We're separating students into categories. That's insanity. And it shows in the test scores. I'm quite upset. I'm coming with a couple of different groups, I'm talking to multiple cities. We're gonna try to change this board of education. I don't know what to call you guys, to tell you the truth. You're separating my children, that I pay for you guys. They're not a color, they're not an ethnicity to you guys. They are a student or they are an American citizen. Teach them reading, writing, and arithmetic. You don't need to change science. You don't need to change history. And you don't need to change math. If you guys are curious, last year, July 20th, of 2020, there's a
026YouTube video out. (gavel taps) And they talk all about it. (gavel taps) But my time's over. Thank you. - Thank you. (audience applauding) I do not have any additional cards, Marisa, unless there's any that are out there? Okay. Thank you very much. We will now move into our first informational item, C1, the student recognition. Dr. Kazmierczak. - All right, thank you, Chair Mullin. Tonight's school board student recognition video is a compilation of students being honored for state level activities. Honorees these this month represented areas of academics, athletics, and the arts. Well done, students. And thank you, staff and family members who supported the students along the way. Well, Ms. Vette, we'll get it rolling. - [Marisa] Get it going here. (upbeat music) - Ms. Vette, can you turn it up, please? Or is that it?
027Thank you. (audience applauding) Is that all for? - Mm hm. - All right. We will now move into our superintendent's report. Dr. Kazmierczak. - All right. Thank you, Chair Mullin and members of the board. So congratulations to this year's graduates from the Transition Education Center, Area Learning Center, and White Bear Lake Area High School. Graduation is commendable on its own, but the many twists and turns the Class of 2021 experienced as they finished up their high school career put them in a special place in history. The grace and resilience these students have developed during the experience will help them continue to thrive as they meet and overcome adversity in the future. Thank you to our retirees who represent 1,525 years of service to the district. And this number is probably off, even as of tonight,
028because we have others who have retired since. So this number continues to grow as we continue to hear from colleagues who are retiring. Later this week we'll be honoring our retirees in person with a luncheon on the lawn event, in honor of the 2020 and 2021 retirees. All retirees have also received Bear Awards and certificates to commemorate their time in the district. Thank you all for your service to White Bear Lake Area Schools, and to the community. Thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Nutrition services is able to extend free meal pickup this summer to all children 18 and under. Weekly summer meal pickup begins Wednesday, June 23rd, at locations throughout the district, with both morning and evening pickups available. Complete information is available as a news item on the district website. I want to
029reiterate that this program is open to all children and that you are not taking meals away from someone who needs it more. We have enough food for all who participate. We are excited to welcome students back into our school buildings and on our school grounds for a variety of summer programming opportunities. Whether students are participating in academics, childcare, enrichment, or recreational activities, we enjoy being able to offer year-round learning and fun for students of all ages. The District's Distance Learning Academy continues to accept registrations this summer, so those families who are looking for online learning opportunities for their children are invited to do so. Complete information about the Distance Learning Academy can be found at a shortened web address, www.isd624.org/dla. And we are excited to have the opportunity once again to participate in the fun
030summertime tradition of Marketfest. We hope students, families, and community members will find our tent when the Thursday community event starts up on July 1st. We'll be there for conversations, or to provide a pencil, tattoo, or information about district offerings. And I want to take a moment to express my appreciation and respect to our Bears community. Your strength and perseverance has been commendable during the year that has looked differently than any of us imagined, even after weathering last spring. We found silver linings in the experience, and I continue to be so proud to be a Bear. So thank you all. - Thank you very much, Dr. K. Are there questions for Dr. Kazmierczak? Okay. We will now move into our first discussion item, D1, which is the facility maintenance bonds. Mr. Wald. - Thank you, Chair
031Mullin, members of the board, Dr. Kazmierczak. At the May 10th board meeting, the board approved a resolution to sell up to 31.1 million in long-term facilities maintenance bonds. The tax impact of these bonds were factored into the tax impact analysis of the 2019 Building Our Future bond referendum. The bonds were sold earlier today, and we have good news. And Shelby McQuay from Ehlers, Incorporated, the District's municipal advisors, is on hand tonight to tell us how it went. Shelby. - [Donald] Welcome. - Thank you. Thank for having me back tonight. Greg Crowe was really looking forward to coming here tonight, but he had a conflict with another district, and hopefully you'll issue again, and he'll see you next time. So I will just go quickly through the sell day report. And as Mr. Wald mentioned, you
032have great news tonight. So, I'll just walk quickly through that. So, as you said, this is the issue that was factored into the building project a few years ago. And this particular portion of the issue is to finance long-term facilities maintenance projects. And so that's part of the larger building program, but specifically the long-term facilities maintenance fund, long-term facilities, maintenance program. You received 11 bids this morning. So that was pretty remarkable, and from all across the country. So there was a lot of interest in your debt today. The low bidder was J.P. Morgan out of New York with a low bid of 0.91, which was lower than our anticipated amount of 1.05, which we had in the presale report. But high bid was just over that at 1.06. And the first thing I always look
033to is who won your your big building bond, the $250 million one, and that was Citigroup, and they were the highest bidder here. So I thought that was interesting. They tried, they did not succeed. The summary results is listed there. Because you received a premium that was greater than we were anticipating, we were able to lower the borrowing amount to 27,865,000, from where we'd anticipated at 28,675,000, there's a little bit of a typo in that asterisked footnote there. So 27 million, we're not changing it to 37 million tonight. So that true interest of 0.91 compared to the 1.05 estimate resulted in a total savings on the debt service of about 206,000 over the term of the issue. This was a relatively short issue, and tucked right into the overall plan, and also generating a little
034additional for project costs as well as, of about $40,000. So I'm just going through the bid tabulation there on the next two pages, J.P. Morgan, the winning bidder, they had some syndicates already, so they had already resold your bonds, and having those bonds resold already resulted in that great interest rate. So Wells Fargo, Piper out of Minneapolis, so a local bidder, bid on the bonds today, Hilltop, Jefferies, KeyBank, Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of America, Mesirow, Baird, and Citigroup. The next few pages are the schedules. So the sources and uses is listed there. We'll pay capitalized interest because of the timing issue out of the bond, and you'll also be able to generate some investment earnings on this to go towards the project. This is a very conservative estimate of that. The net debt
035service schedule is shown on the next page. So those are the semi-annual payments, and you can see on the larger debt plan where this is all fitting in, but more importantly or more easily to follow, the pictorial image where you'll see this bond issue. The 2021 facilities maintenance bond previously estimated about 3.5 million, just tucking in there in the overall plan. And as Mr Wald mentioned, it's not meant to increase taxes at all but rather just fitting in with the overall plan going forward. The final report there is, included in the sell day report, is the rating report. And although S & P affirmed your great rating of a AA negative, they did provide a negative outlook. So they have indicated that over the last 10 years you've had a negative fund balance in all
036but one year. So not a downgrade at this point because they recognize the path that you're on and that return to structural balance. But they do provide on page four of that report, page 10 of the sell day, the downside scenario and the return to stable. So the return to stable will come when the district demonstrates a clear path towards structural balance. So you're on that path. They're not concerned to the point that they're gonna provide a downgrade at this point. So good news there on affirming your AA minus category. So I'm happy to answer any questions. Your action item tonight is the resolution to award the sale to J.P. Morgan. - Thank you, Ms. McQuay. Questions for the, Ms. Beloyed. - Why is there any downside scenario at all? I'd never understand this when
037we get these things. And these are all debt service things that we have to do in order for longterm facility maintenance. Every district has to do it. Why do we get any-- - How do you get a rating? - Yeah, like that. - Yeah, so it used to be the case that districts or that investors didn't really need individual ratings because you're all funded right the same way through the state and there's relatively little risk associated with school districts, particularly in Minnesota. And of course, they're seeing that in other issuers throughout the country, different risks. And so you're really providing the investors with your underlying, like a third party analysis of how your district is sitting and the confidence that the investors have that you're gonna pay back those bonds. So of course in Minnesota,
038that underlying rating is buffered by the credit enhancement programs. So the state, in Minnesota specifically, will step in on your behalf if any district were not to be able to pay the bonds and pay the bond holders. So the risk to the bond holders of getting paid is very, very, the risk is very, very minimal. They will get paid either by you or by the state. And so, with that comes the state's AAA credit rating. So when bond holders are looking at investing in your bonds they're first looking at the underlying rating as sort of a third party judgment of how you're sitting, and then of course that AAA rating that comes with the state, it's called the credit enhanced rating. - But it's almost like it's an automatic downgrade whenever you have to issue
039a sizeable bond in order to do maintenance or build a building. - So, when you did issue the $250 million, they did come with a downgrade at that time. And yet we're not seeing a lot of change in your rates as a result of that. So you're getting lots of bids and you're getting a great interest rate. - Thank you. - Yeah. - Other questions, comments? Okay. Thank you very much, Ms. McQuay. - Absolutely. - We'll now move to our next discussion item, D2, which is the first reading of school board policies. Just for the public, the way that this works is policies are reviewed on a yearly basis or a bi-yearly basis. And what we do is we bring them back to the school board for two consecutive readings. Tonight's first policy gives the
040board members the ability to ask questions about the policy, to discuss any changes that are needed, and to work that thing through. So tonight the full and first reading of Policy 410, 416, 495, 514, 608, 729, and 999. With that, I will open it up to board members. If you have a question regarding any of those policies, please state the policy and the page number so that everybody else can follow through our follow-up, excuse me, so that we can all follow along as we work that thing through. So are there any questions regarding any of those policy updates? Ms. Beloyed. - If you know where yours is at, go ahead and go first, so I can find mine. - I just had a question. I don't remember which policy number it is, sorry. It's the
041one on bullying, Policy 514. - 514 - Page... The third page, item D. - [Donald] Can you give us a second to let us all get there. Trying to, hold on. - It's 103 of the packet. - Thank you. - Sorry. - You can just read it. - [Donald] So it's the third page? - Yep. 103, Item D. - [Donald] Go ahead, I'll catch up. - So I was just wondering, in that one, it states retaliation against, and then we removed the word bully. So it says retaliation against, what it used to say, was retaliation against a bully, victim, good faith reporter, or witness of bullying is prohibited. And we red-lined the word bully, which I am not advocating for bullies, obviously, in this, but I would also say that we should not, I just
042wonder why we dis-included the bully themselves from the retaliation, because I would not want the bully to also be retaliated against, 'cause usually that behavior is emanated from learned behavior and can be corrected. There's different ways that we can correct that hopefully. But I feel like, I just wonder why we took that part out? - [Donald] Sorry. Can you tell me where you're looking? 'Cause I don't have a red-line bully in mine. - I'm on page 103, letter D as in dog. - Under general statement of policy. - 514, 3, page three? - I think it's page two. - Is it page-- - Yeah. - Okay. Thank you. Leave that to Dr. Kazmierczak, or who's-- - Yeah, I guess I'm looking through the policy to see if it's addressed elsewhere. I would need some time
043to do that. - Dr. Gillespie is not here? - No, she's not here. - So, if we may, hold on a second. If we may, what we'll probably suggest is just because this is the first reading, it'd probably be better if we just, you just email the board back, right. And that way you can figure those pieces out. - I kind of looked through to see if there was another area where it had been addressed, and I didn't see it, but then again it was quite a large packet with a lot of policies, so I could have missed it. So that was my only question. - Okay. Dr. Newmaster, I'm gonna go to Ms. Beloyed, 'cause she was next and then I'll come over to you. - Okay, so I have a couple of questions.
044Section five. - Of what policy? - Of Policy 514, the bullying prevention policy. - [Donald] Okay, section five. - E says, the parents will be notified of actions to the extent permitted by law. So I guess this is probably a question for Mr. Mons. We say to the extent permitted by law, what is the extent permitted by law in those circumstances? And should we perhaps include that within the policy? - It's gonna depend too greatly on the particular circumstances. - [Deborah] Can you give me an example? - However, generally what that's going to speak to is really the data about your own student. And so, their direct experience. However, for instance, followup regarding another student's experience is generally going to be protected. - Okay. We also have in section two. I have the same question
045you did Angela on section two, D, where there took out the retaliation against bully. I was assuming, rightly or wrongly, and this is why I had the question, that we took that out because that could be looked at as if the person that was bullied retaliates against the bullier, that would be where that would be a problem. So we're not making it completely like a zero tolerance kind of situation. You guys on the Policy Committee, was that kind of the reading on that? - [Jessica] I'm trying to remember if this was an MSBA change. - So I believe that this was an MSBA recommended change. And I think the way that this works pragmatically, essentially, is that it becomes another incident. If that retaliation takes place against a bully, it's essentially an entirely different incident
046there. Thereby that bully becomes the victim and you deal with that as well. So it's not that you wouldn't deal with retaliation, with a dispute that would manifest in the school environment, regardless, of kind of which role you're playing there. But quite frankly, if you have bullied somebody and you are now in turn the victim of inappropriate conduct, we are going to take that you are going to be the victim in that case. It's not to say that inappropriate conduct would be condoned because of that past bullying action. - Well, so I know that in practice, none of this was perfect. But I know that in practice, some of our administrators treat both entities the same in the situation. You have a bully and you have the bullied. The bully does the action and the
047person reacts. And a lot of our administrators treat those two students exactly the same with the punishment for that particular incident. And I think it's important for this policy to hammer that position out, because I think we do a severe disservice to the kids that are the initial bullied when we tell them that you can't stick up for yourself, you can't, you're supposed to take it. And that's, I'm not saying we should have a free for all, but we have a lot of, we had a lot of different bullying programs over the last 20 some years. And I personally, just my personal opinion, don't believe any of them have worked to a great degree. So there's actually quite a few things in this that I wish Alison was here, 'cause I had a few more
048questions for her, 'cause I also want to bring up that we have professional development. I'd like us to know what that actual professional development is. How does that actually happen? How often does it take place? I've gone through this with different administrators, and not everybody is on the same page. And not in five years have the different people that I've spoken to, have any of them been on the same page when it comes to this. So it's either a, they're not reading the policy, or they're not understanding how to implement the policy. And one other thing, I thought the, one of the things with the issues that we've had with racism and reporting those things, we're making that centralized so that we can get to the heart of, if there's a pattern, I would think
049the same thing could apply to this. But if we have, a student or a situation that keeps occurring again and again and again, but other teachers don't know it or it's happening at one school, and then it continues at the next school. That school doesn't necessarily know unless we have a centralized reporting structure for these kinds of things as well. So I was kind of hoping that Alison could maybe answer that question. - So Mr. Mons, I think at this point, I think where we're at with the questions that are being delivered, Dr. Kazmierczak, Mr. Mons, it might be good for us to pull this out of the first reading and do maybe a work study so that we can address all those concerns at a work study session where we can sit and talk
050through it and go through the policy, and then send it back to the Policy Committee, ask for the changes, and then let it come back through the readings, unless there's a timely thing that would suggest otherwise. - No, I think we have time. Do you want to do a work session? That would take quite some, our next work session is August. So that could just be a follow-up conversation with board members, I think. - Okay, then let's say that, and then let's just have a follow-up conversation so that we'll make sure we're addressing all the concerns with it, and then we'll be able to work it through. - Well, I think most of those concerns or conversations have to do with practice more than policy really. And I think we can absolutely get into a
051number of those. I certainly have some thoughts on where some of that's going there. And I think there's some-- - I guess the practice becomes a problem, because if the policy doesn't completely state it, then the practice becomes well, whatever we think works. So this is one of those areas that I think where we really need to be careful and very purposeful in how we set the policy, so that we don't have different people deciding to handle it willy-nilly. Not that anybody handles it willy-nilly, but one person would handle it one way. Another person handles it another. Maybe there's a better way to go about hammering that out. - Yep. No, sounds good. - Thank you - Dr. Newmaster. - I'd agree with the questions and requests for clarification that Angela and Deb said, because
052I know from 20 years at a high school things happen. And how they, when someone reacts to bullying and their button's been pushed for the final time, that's, I think, kind of what you're talking about. - [Deborah] A different scenario. - And that's also when the bully becomes the victim, and then everybody gets treated the same. And how do we get to actually impacting the whole issue? Whether it's restorative practice or we're working on all the social-emotional learning and things like that. And I kind of had the same feeling you did when I read D, taking the bully out, because there's a reason the bully is a bully. And if we're talking about social-emotional learning and looking at things, and then I read further in and looked at F, and all the things that you're
053taking into consideration as you look at, how do you really solve this and stop this and improve relationships? And I kind of think somehow we don't have that, those two pieces connected in here, the practice of the policy and all the new things. They're not really new, but they're really trying it from preschool through high school. So I kinda think all of that maybe could come up with something. - Yeah, I think that it's good conversation. The one thing that I will say, while I have the opportunity, though, is as I've engaged with administrators, which actually happens fairly often, on student discipline issues, I can say that administrators do a really nice job with their teams of taking a really nuanced approach, both appropriately from the level of, be that secondary, the middle level, or
054the elementary level. So, that's just one thing that I would say. I think perfection is rarely achieved when you're dealing with something as nuanced as this. However, I do think that actually, our administrators put a lot of work into that right now. But I think that's all good conversation to have, to really flush that out and understand how that kind of works at each of those levels. - Yeah, I just think it's really important to get this one as well done as we can, because it is such a, a situation where it can be all different kinds of things, but to make sure that we have, because I did go through and read about, I could have asked a lot of questions but I always figure that we can have these conversations outside of the,
055because they can get long and lengthy. - Ms. Beloyed. - So I want to step back into it and say, I don't mean to disparage any of, but I would like to commend one in particular, which is Cathryn Peterson at Central Middle School, who I think has done a really good job with this type of issue in dealing with it. So there's room for everybody to learn. Thank you. - Other questions about any of the policies up for first reading? Okay, hearing or seeing none, it sounds like we'll have a additional conversation regarding Policy 514. And with that, we'll move to our first operational item of the evening, action on a facility maintenance bond sale. Mr. Wald. - Yes. Thank you, Chair Mullin. So you just heard from Shelby McQuay from Ehlers regarding the sale
056of the LTFM bonds earlier in the day. So the recommendation is for the board to approve the resolution for the sale of $27,865,000 in general obligation facilities maintenance bonds, as presented. - Okay, and I know that we have a resolution in our packet that we need to read. So I would ask the clerk to please read the resolution. And then I will ask for a motion. - Resolution awarding the sale of general obligations facilities maintenance bonds, series 2021A, in the original aggregate principle amount of $27,865,000 fixing their form and specifications, directing their execution and delivery, and providing for their payment. - You've heard the resolution. Is there a motion to approve the recommended action? - So moved. - There's been a motion by Mr. Chapman, a second by Dr. Arcand. Any discussion regarding the recommended
057action? Hearing or seeing none, this will require a roll call vote. - Thompson? - Aye. - Arcand? - Aye. - Beloyed? - Aye. - Chapman? - Aye. - Ellison, aye. Mullin? - Aye. - Newmaster? - Aye. - And the motion passes. Thank you. We'll now move into our next operational item, action on the bids for the high school expansion project. Mr. Wald. - Thank you. The bids were open for the high school expansion project on May 20th and in the few weeks that followed, best value interviews occurred. We were concerned going into the bidding process that the increase in materials costs would create some high bid numbers. And we're glad to say that the project comes in within our budgeted amount in the referendum budget. So we feel pretty good moving forward on the high
058school expansion project. Work will begin this week. There are 47 bids in the packet tonight. 38 of them will go to the low bidder. Nine of them were best value packages, and those were the more complex work scopes where we want to make sure that we have confidence in the contractors that bid. The project was presented to the board at the April work session, with many renderings of the project. That's posted on our website, on the Building Our Future page. If anyone wants to see any of the renderings of the high school project, you can find them there. So the recommendation is that the board accept the winning bids for the north campus addition and renovation project as presented in the amount of 148,965,305.08. And I'll point out too that the project manager, AJ Lillesve
059from Kraus-Anderson, is with us tonight. So he's in the back. If there's specific questions, AJ is certainly prepared to answer any questions you might have. - Thank you, Mr. Wald. Well, before we open up to questions, we'll ask for a motion to approve the recommended action. Is there a motion? - So moved. - There's been a motion by Ms. Thompson, is there a second? - Second. - Second by Dr. Newmaster. Any discussion regarding the bids? Mr. Chapman. - Mr. Wald, I know you've mentioned it in the past, but for those that are in the audience and watching too, if you could just briefly explain best value versus the low bid. - Sure. - And exactly what goes into that. - Yeah, yeah. Thanks, that's a great question. So we had a lot of conversation about
060the procurement laws of Minnesota, and there's multiple elements that allow school boards to determine how they do bidding. The least expensive way to bid a project is all lowest value bids. And you're assured that you're gonna get the lowest priced project. Sometimes the lowest priced project can result in additional costs later, if you have a contractor doing a particularly difficult and challenging work scope that they're not prepared to do on the, perhaps the scope, of that project. And so we decided, under the advice of our construction management firm, Kraus-Anderson, that we'd be better off identifying those complex work scopes and going through best value process. So we open bids just as we do for lowest bid. And then the next step is to interview all the companies. You have a scoring process. The value of
061the bid, the dollar amount of the bid, is one of the areas, but you also look at similar projects they've completed, referrals from other customers. And I think I'm missing, is there one other thing, AJ, that we look at besides referrals, and there's an interview, we rate that, score the interview. And so then going through that process, you score them, and then you pick the highest score, wins the project. - [Kim] Thank you. - Other questions or concerns, comments? Ms. Beloyed. - Is there anything that would prevent, say, like Roseville on their construction project, and we had another person bid on the same project. Say if they had a problem with one of their contractors, is there anything that would prevent them from being able to give us that information as we're looking for references?
062Well, my understanding of the procurement laws are that the district needs to have had a problem with a contractor in order to reject that contractor. So contractor A that we hired last year, let's say we hired him on the Matoska project. We were unsatisfied. They weren't able to procure materials at a reasonable time. They held up the project. Now they've bid again for the high school project. We could reject that bid based on previous experience we've had. My understanding is that it can't be another school district's experience or a construction managers experience, that it would be that the school district itself has had a problem with that contractor. - So the references wouldn't tell us that if-- - Well, you don't have references on low bid contracts. If it was a best value, then you
063would work through with the referrals and interview process. You could work through those questions in an interview process. And so then you can score them based on the information that you have. - So then to flip that around, so we have, we're gonna have a lot of people working on all of our projects. If we had a problem with one of the people that we contract with, we wouldn't be able to pass that information on? - I suppose we could pass it on. What another school district would do with it needs to fall within the procurement laws. - Right. - So it wouldn't mean we couldn't pass it on. So, we hire Kraus-Anderson as our construction manager to make sure that the work gets done on time, on budget, and professionally done. And so it's
064up to Kraus-Anderson and AJ and his team to be monitoring the construction site and just making sure things are being done quality and on time. - All right. Thank you. - Other questions - I have one more. - Go ahead, Ms. Beloyed. - Sorry. - It's all good. - Once all these bids are done, what do we have left? Like how big of a scope is the remaining? - Yeah, so we have, I didn't bring a list, but we'll have south campus tonight, phase two. In the fall we'll have Otter Lake, Birch Lake, Lakeaires. Eventually we'll have some work done at, a project at Oneka, a project at Centra Middle School, a project at Hugo Elementary, Sunrise Parks, there's a lot of projects ahead of us yet. - Do you know roughly the dollar amount
065left? After the high school's done? I don't remember off the top of my head what we've, what we already have done, what we have left. - It would be such a guess. I can get you that information. - Mr. Wald, could you, and please excuse me, could you just email it out to the board on kind of some, I know that there's a document that allows for the timelines and the stuff that's left. If you could email it out to everybody, it'd be appreciated. - I can do that, yep. - Thank you, sir. - Other questions? Okay. Hearing or seeing none, this will require a roll call. - Thompson. - Aye. - Arcand? - Aye. - Beloyed? - Aye. - Chapman? - Aye. - Ellison, aye. Mullin? - Aye. - Newmaster? - Aye. - And
066the motion passes. Thank you. - [Tim] All right. - We will now move into our next operational item, E3, which is action on remaining bids for the south campus phase two project. Mr. Wald. - Thank you. The phase two project at south campus includes a classroom and office addition, as well as renovations and creation of flexible learning spaces throughout the building, for when it becomes, when Sunrise Park Middle School students and staff move into that building for the 2024-25 school year. Right now, phase one is the gymnasium project that you've seen being built. When we add classroom space to a building, we need to add storm shelter space as well. And so the gym counts as storm shelter, excuse me, counts as classroom space, as does the addition. And so our agreement with the city
067was that we would build this early on so that we could get the storm shelter built so that the addition of the gym is covered by the storm shelter space in there, in addition to the classroom space. So, that's why we broke it up into phase one and phase two, and why it's being done two years early before the middle school moves into it. Bids were opened on May 6th. At that time, we decided to approve 12 work scopes, and we brought them to you on May 24th. We didn't bring all of them at that time because our hope was that we would evaluate how the high school project came in. And if the high school project came in high at that point we might want to re-look at some scope for our south campus
068phase two project, as well as high school project. So we decided that we would wait, determine whether or not we should be looking at rebidding for the south campus phase two remaining scopes. And we believe that it creates as much risk to rebid them, it might be greater than the potential reward. So you've paid attention and you've seen that materials continue to rise. And so we think by rebidding these now we might shoot ourselves in the foot a little bit. And so maybe it doesn't make sense to do that. So we're bringing the remaining 13 work scopes to you tonight for the south campus project. And our recommendation is that the board approve the south campus phase two construction contracts as presented in the amount of $6,288,009. - [Donald] You've heard the recommended action. Is
069there a motion to approve the recommended action? - [Deborah] So approved. - A motion by Ms. Beloyed, is there a second? - Second. - Second by Ms. Thompson. Any discussion regarding the recommended action? - [Tim] And I'll point out Mark Oelrich from Kraus-Anderson is with us. He's a project manager for that project, so he's happy to answer any questions as well. - Thank you. Questions? Okay. Hearing or seeing none, this will require a roll call vote. - Thompson? - Aye. - Arcand? - Aye. - Beloyed? - Aye. - Chapman? - Aye. - Ellison, aye. Mullin? - Aye. - Newmaster? - Aye. - Thank you very much. Motion passes. We'll now move into our next operational item, E4, action on the fiscal year 2021-22 preliminary budget. Mr. Wald. - Yeah, thank you. We spent a great
070deal of time visiting with the board this year, more so than in previous years, about the preliminary FY 22 budget, that's for the school year 2021-22. At the May 24th work session, we went into the budget at great detail. And the budget we're bringing to you for approval tonight is the exact same, there've been no changes to the budget we reviewed on May 24th. And so we're looking at general fund revenues exceeding expenditures, about $685,000. In part our revenues and expenditures are slightly elevated because there are ESSER or COVID dollars, and expenses that are factored into this budget, that wouldn't normally be in there in a normal year. As far as Nutrition Services goes, it's been a very challenging year for them. As you know they've been changing directions very frequently, and so their budget
071is ending the year with a fund balance of minus $315,000. We expect this to be a good summer for our Nutrition Services program, and think that next year will go well. And we're projecting that they'll be out of the negative fund balance by going into next year, or excuse me, after next year. Community Services, very similar to Nutrition Services, very challenging year under COVID, especially with the first responder childcare programs and services that we provide. And difficult for us to know exactly what our revenue is gonna be in extended day. And so there's some guesswork in this. And so we think we're pretty conservative in our revenue forecast, but still we're projecting the fund balance will decrease by about $111,000 over the next year. And remember in the budget cycle, this is a preliminary budget.
072We call it preliminary for a reason. We don't have all of the inputs yet. One of them is what's happening in the legislature. Special session began today. And while they have revenue or spending targets for K-12 education, we don't know how that's gonna play out yet. So by the end of June we should know what our revenue is gonna be, and we'll be at a better position at that point. So our recommendation is that the board approve the preliminary 2021-2022 budget as presented. - Thank you, Mr. Wald. You've heard the recommended action. Is there a motion to approve the recommended action? - So moved. - A motion by Dr. Arcand. Is there a second? - Second. - Second by Ms. Beloyed. Any questions regarding the budget tonight? And I know that we've discussed it at
073length in our work studies, but Ms. Ellison, did you have a question? - Yeah. Two quick questions. One. As you mentioned Mr. Wald, the special session is going on right now. So as we planned for next year, did we plan for a 0% increase? - Yeah, that was one of our assumptions for next year was 0% revenue increase. - Okay. So that kind of puts us in a position where if the legislature grants 1% or 2% increase, then we're looking at a very different budget position. Okay. And then my second question is really brief. If I have minor edits to the document that you sent us, the fiscal year document. Can I just send those to you? It's things like our enrollment number, we should probably change, and I'm listed as treasurer. - [Tim] Okay.
074Yeah, thank you. - Deb's listed as clerk. So we just-- - How'd I miss that? - Yeah. - [Tim] Do you want to add anything to that, Andi? - So if I can just send those minor edits, is that okay? - [Andi] Send them. - Okay, I'll send them to Andi. Thank you. - [Tim] That's within the operational plan that we provided? - Mm hm, yep. - [Tim] Okay. Yeah. Thank you. - Thank you Dr. Newmaster. - I'm following up on a question we just heard, and I also wonder, and I'm an optimist, when, not if, the legislature is generous with the pre-K-12 funding, and it improves to even a whopping 1.5 or something like that, and we have more funds to work with, what is our procedure or mechanism for looking at things again,
075to say, now we don't have to cut this, or now we can improve this program? 'Cause we should be able to do the best we can for our kids if the money gets better. - Yeah. Well, one, one thing we have to be reminded of is that for the fiscal year '23, the 2022-23 budget, we're projecting cuts. And so I think if we are able to realize additional funding from the state, we want to make sure our revenues and our expenditures are aligned and that we're not decreasing our fund balance. And so I think that would be our focus, is to get within our fund balance policy of 8% , or below that, we're continuing to work toward it and we have a plan to get there. But I think that would be priority number
076one, is to not have to cut programs. Now, if they came in with a whole lot of money, and they took care of those. - Like 4%. - Yeah, let's just say. - Improve the Cross Subsidy plus a 2%. - Yeah, then, I think that's a great question. If we're in that position we can add programming, then I think-- - Because we've cut some pretty painful things. - Yeah, then I think we'd be looking at our strategic plan and letting that guide us to where investments should be. - Thank you, Dr. Newmaster. Mr. Chapman. - Yeah, I'm gonna, Mr. Wald, just kind of key in on this Ehlers report relative to the bond issuance. With S & P saying that we could be potentially downgraded if we're continuing to be below 8%, it looks like
077we're still gonna be next year at 6.7% fund balance. And I don't know if you or Dr. Kazmierczak, just kind of wanting to get your take on that situation. What is the thought process there? Are we looking, it appears to me like we're looking at a likely downgrade. Am I interpreting this correctly or not? Given the fact that we will be under 8% yet. - I think the fact that we're projecting now, like for next year, we're projecting to add to the fund balance. I think that's a key moving forward. - Okay. - So if we're now, we've hit bottom and now we're gonna start adding back to the fund balance, I think that's going to be viewed favorably. - So you don't think that they're gonna hold us to 8%, as long as we're
078making progress? - Yeah, I think they will hold us to that, but I think if we're making progress towards that, I think that'll go a long way, yeah. - [Tim] I think what they identified was they're looking for us not to dip into our fund balance. - Yep. - Mm hm. - And so if we're able to add back, if the legislature does come through and we're able to add back a million dollars to the fund balance instead, that would be a good thing. Yep. - So it's not necessarily a guaranteed downgrade if we don't hit 8% next year, is what you're thinking, the way it sounds, as long as we're making progress back toward that level? - I dunno, are we on track here, Shelby? - [Shelby] Yeah. - Yeah, I think the negative
079outlook, if we're making positive, if at the end of the fiscal year we're making positive gains in our fund balance, we're on the right track. - Yeah, that was the conversation that they had, that they wanted you on the right track. Now, if you kind of did that, if you said, well, let's just lower it to what we can achieve, then they might look at your fund balance policy a little differently. But they, exactly what you have been saying, that you are on the right track. And you're looking to turn it around and not draw any further. But with respect to that hard line of 8% and not being there, that's not a sure downgrade. - [Kim] Okay - So. - [Kim] Good. Okay. Thank you. - Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, hearing or
080seeing none, this will require roll call vote. - Thompson? - Aye. - Arcand? - Aye. - Beloyed? - Aye. - Chapman? - Aye. - Ellison, aye. Mullin? - Aye. - Newmaster? - Aye. - All right. And the preliminary budget passes. Next item is the action on the workers' compensation agreement of 2021 and 2022. Mr. Wald. - Thank you. So our worker's comp insurance saw a significant decrease in premium for next fiscal year of $152,170, a decrease of 25.5%. We usually don't get to bring such good news that prices went down. So, celebrate tonight. And the reasoning behind that, our insurance broker explained, is that our MOD rate went down quite a bit this year, from 1.1 down 0.97. And that happens when there's not as many people in the buildings and there's not as many
081injuries. So we'll celebrate that. And that MOD rate may go up in the future. In fact, you kind of suspect it would. But we're thankful for that. We did an RFP this year to make sure that we were confident that we were getting the best value for the district. We've been working with Risk Administration Services, RAS, for a number of years. They've been a great contractor for us. But, we went out for RFP. They came in as the lowest again. So we're very thankful that we can continue the relationship with RAS. So our recommendation is that the board approve the worker's compensation agreement with Risk Administration Services in the amount of $152,170. - Thank you, Mr. Wald. Did you see the recommended action? - Yes. The amount I have in my minutes is $443,658. -
082[Tim] I think that is our... - [Andi] You read the savings amount. - [Tim] Oh, you're right, right. So the amount is, yeah, I wrote that down here. Read the amount, I wrote the wrong number down here. - $443,658. - [Tim] Thank you. - So the recommendation is, with the amended amount, is to accept the quote of $443,658 from RAS for workers' compensation insurance effective July 1, 2021 through June 30th, 2022. Is there a motion to approve the recommendation? - So moved. - There's been a motion by Mr. Chapman. Is there a second? - Second. Go ahead. - Second by Dr. Newmaster. Any discussion regarding the recommended action? - I just, I mean, it's not really a question or anything. And I don't want to look forward to next year's increase in our workman's comp
083that we have to pay out, but it will be a good sign, because it just means bodies are back in the building, which, us here tonight without masks on is, I didn't think we'd get here. - [Tim] You'll find the silver lining. - Hopefully we can keep it down. - [Tim] Yes, for sure. - Okay. Any other comments, questions? Hearing or seeing none, this will require a roll call vote. - Thompson? - Aye. - Arcand? - Aye. - Beloyed? - Aye. - Chapman? - Aye. - Ellison, aye. Mullin? - Aye. - Newmaster? - Aye. - All right. Thank you very much. - [Tim] Thank you. - And our last operational item of the evening, which is E6, action on the property and liability insurance. Mr. Wald. - Thank you. So the school district is members
084of the Minnesota Insurance Scholastic Trust, MIST. We've been members since '14-'15, and we've experienced really great savings through that membership in MIST. You can see in 2014-15, by switching to MIST that year, we saved 31.5% in our premiums, and really we've enjoyed pretty stable premiums, even saw in '17-'18 a significant decrease. And then if we pay attention to all the natural disasters that seem to have occurred throughout the country, throughout the world, over the last four or five years, those have caught up to the rates. And so, we enjoyed probably lower rates for longer than we should have or would have, if we would not have been MIST members, but they've caught up. So in 2019-20 we saw 13%. In 2021, almost 50% increase in our premium. So we were a little nervous that those
085numbers would continue to increase this year, because it's not been a good year from a natural disaster point of view as well. But, we saw really stable members from MIST. So that's where we're at. We're continuing our membership in MIST, and the recommendation is that the board approve the property and casualty insurance package with the Minnesota Insurance Scholastic Trust in the amount of $486,478.51. And I think I got the number right. - You did. All right. You've heard the recommended action. Is there a motion to approve? - So moved. - There's been a motion by Ms. Thompson. Is there a second? - Second. - Second by Mr. Chapman. Any discussion regarding the recommended action? Mr. Chapman. - I want to say that Mr. Wald, I'm almost afraid for this to get out that you actually
086saw a decrease in this hard market that we're in insurance. I would be afraid for my job, because you might be taking it. We have not seen anything like this in the healthcare system that I'm working in. So great job. Congratulations. MIST is, I agree, it's been just a tremendous asset to have, in our pocket, so to speak, to be a member of that. And this bears it out, because this market is horrendous, this insurance market right now. - [Tim] Yeah, we thought we might see 10 to 12% increase again this year. - At least. - And so we were pretty thrilled to see this. - Yeah. - Other questions, comments? Hearing or seeing none, this will require a roll call vote. - Thompson? - Aye. - Arcand? - Aye. - Beloyed? - Aye. -
087Chapman? - Aye. - Ellison, aye. Mullin? - Aye. - Newmaster? - Aye. - And the motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Wald. It is now time in our board meeting for board forum. And tonight I will start out and I will just say last Friday night, I want to say congratulations again to all our graduates. It was a great evening. I thought the ceremony was very well done, and it was, we kind of didn't know where it was gonna end up, just because of the way things were working. And I thanked everybody at the beginning of the ceremony, but I just wanted to say to my colleagues on the board, I wanted to thank each and every one of you and the staff and everybody else. This has been a very trying year, I know, with
088the pandemic, with everything else going on. And I just wanted to say, from me, I really appreciate everything you do. The long hours that you put in, as board members and as staff, I want to thank everybody for everything they do. So, really appreciate that, and go Bears. Anybody else have anything for board forum? Dr. Arcand? - I just want to add on what you said, the graduation ceremony was wonderful. And to the graduates at that ceremony, I've never been more proud of being an alumni of White Bear Lake Area Schools. Welcome to the alumni group. It was great to see your achievements and your accomplishments moving forward. And no matter where you go or what you do, there's only two words you're gonna need to remember, and that's gonna be, go Bears. - [Donald]
089Thank you, Dr. Arcand. Dr. Newmaster. - I'm just gonna add a couple other graduation facts, that I attended the, and other board members also did, the ALC and the Transitions graduations, were as personalized as only small graduations can be. And again, more graduates who are achieving their personal best and going to a good future. So that was excellent. But I want to do a special shout-out to all of our retirees from last year and this year, who will hopefully gather on the lawn with good weather and a lot of comradery and celebration, because I know a lot of those graduates of our system and they may have been 20, 30, 35 plus years in it. And thanks to all of them, as well as our younger teachers and other educators in the whole system who
090have been supporting our kids and our system for so many years through so many things. So just a shout-out to everybody that's retiring. Thank you. - Thank you, Dr. Newmaster. Ms. Ellison. - And I'll add to that. It's been really hard to be a grownup during this pandemic. But it's, I think, harder in a lot of ways to be a kid. And so I just wanted to thank all of our students for their strength. This once in a lifetime sort of experience that, I can't imagine trying to be a kindergartner, learning how to school in a pandemic, or going into sixth grade or going into ninth grade. And they were amazing. So, thanks to the students. And I hope that this is really a once in a lifetime event, that we can just continue, and
091they can school the way that they need to. - [Donald] Thank you. Ms. Thompson. - I'd just add on, on all of the stuff that was said up here. Really just want to say thank you to all of the families in our community, to the students, to the staff, to everybody who has endured this last year and a half. It has been trying on all of us. And emotions have run high. And as to be expected, we were trying to all learn how to navigate in something we had never been a part of. So I just thank everybody, and thank you. - [Donald] Thank you, Ms. Thompson. Ms. Beloyed. - I just want to say thank you to Dr. Kazmierczak and the rest of the administration and the teachers for all of the work that
092went on behind the scenes that nobody ever sees. I know they put in hundreds of thousands of hours across the district trying to get this year moving along, keep it moving, keep people in the schools, keep everybody safe. And I think, at the end of it all, I think we did a great job. I think you guys did a fantastic job. All the teachers, all the work that they had to put in to teach online and in class at the same time. We expected them to do so much. And they came through with flying colors. Our students just went with it. The kids, you put on your mask, you go to school, and they just went with it. And they, you never heard anything about problems with the students with the whole issue. So thank
093you, students. You're all fabulous. I look forward to next year. And not having another pandemic. (people chuckling) - Anybody else? All right. With that I will entertain a motion to adjourn. - [Scott] Chair Mullin, I move to adjourn. - Is there a second? - Second. - Second by Ms. Beloyed. All those in favor? - [All] Aye. - Opposed? (gavel taps) We are adjourned. Thank you.