001welcome everyone to uh tonight's meeting. Uh it's uh it's an honor as a uh uh MSBA board member to have a a few people here tonight to uh attend our meeting. our executive director Kirk Schneiderend and our current president Christy Peterson and Greg Abbott the uh the best photographer in the world have all come down from St. Peter and Shakipi to uh join us tonight at the meeting and uh I believe they have something they'd like to uh say come on up. Uh Mr. chair and members of the Albert Lee School Board. I want to um thank you for having us here tonight and it's for a special reason. I am the executive director of the Minnesota School Boards Association and I'm here tonight to name Albert Lee student Max Richards as recipient of the
002Minnesota School Boards Association Robert Meek Student School Board Member Scholarship. The $3,000 scholarship is one of only three in the state and is given a as a way to reward, recognize, and encourage students to become involved in their communities through their school board while understanding the important decisions impact our students. School boards are there to support and strengthen the school district and the students they serve. Citizens run for school board for many reasons, and those who are effective focus on the outcomes of student success. There is no better way to get input from a student than to get input from your student school board member. Currently, we show 134 of our 331 public school districts in Minnesota have a student school board member serving on their school board. The Elbertly School District and community should
003feel very proud to have Max working alongside them. I'm gonna turn over to our MSBA president, Christy Peterson. Good evening. Thank you for having us tonight. A committee of five MSBA board of directors selected the three winners from nearly 50 applications and the committee members let me know that it was a really tough choice. Out of all of these high achieving students, Max stood out from the rest. The committee cited Max for his work in school, in extracurriculars, and in community groups. From swimming and track to music and marching band, jazz band, and teaching trumpet lessons to other students. Max has been involved with the students in the local school district. Max also has been a force in the community, participating in community theater, being a blood drive volunteer, and being part of the Minnesota
004Youth Symphonies. Congratulations. [Applause] All right. And then can I get the rest of the board to come up? We'll just get a board shot. And no hiding in the back. Tall people in the back. Okay. All right. Okay. Here we go. One, two, three. I'll take a couple more just in case. Eyes are closed. One, two, three. Thank you. [Applause] You can just stand by it. take care of the first three celebrating our district successes. Uh got a couple employees of the month in December and uh have they Doris have they got their stuff? Are they coming forward or? Yeah. Is Clarissa Miracle here? Come on up. And um Bailey Becker. Well, go ahead. Pam, you're first. And then Bailey, you're next. Okay. Go ahead, Pam. Sorry. I would like to honor Clarissa um with
005the following message. Clarissa is a constant source of positive energy. She does a phenomenal job of collaborating with and supporting the families she works with. You can tell how much she cares about them and her colleagues. All right, Bailey. And it looks like Ashley, come on up. So, please uh welcome Bailey here tonight. So, um, for December 2024, this is what her nominated nominator wrote about Bailey. Bailey is a long-term sub with a great responsibility. She cares for the health needs of students, administers medication, and manages many other tasks. We are so happy to have her here in our district. Thank you, Bailey. Would you like to say anything? Thank you. Congratulations, ladies and thanks for all your hard work. Okay. Um we're going to move on to number five, which is our open forum.
006And we do have some speakers tonight. So, I'll just read off our um forum uh uh presentation uh rules. The open public forum will be placed on the agenda for regular schoolboard meetings. During this part of each regular schoolboard meeting, up to 30 minutes of time will be allowed for district constituents to address the school board. Each person is asked to identify him or herself by name and if he or she represents an organization, the name of the organization. Remarks should be addressed to the board as a whole. Each presentation may have up to two minutes. The school board will not hear complaints about individual school employees or or permit any discussions of such matters in an open meeting. No response, reaction or action shall be necessarily be taken by the board during the open
007forum portion of the meeting and the school board will take no action at a meeting on an issue raised for the first time by the public. And we have a list. So, let's see. Lydia S, come on up first. I initially started asking questions this last fall when I walked into school and saw a young student running through the hallways and staff was positioned throughout shifting as the student ran in circles around them. I was so confused and asked if they needed help. They responded that state policy doesn't allow them to touch the child, so they just have to stand there and make sure the child stays somewhat contain somewhat contained. When I voiced my concern about this, the administrator didn't seem to share the same concern. So, I figured maybe I was just being
008dramatic. I continued to hear stories in my car pools and from other students, parents, and staff similar and worse to what I had witnessed, which is what eventually led me to reach out to the administrator to meet and discuss how student behaviors were being handled. I walked away from this meeting still not feeling like I had any an answers and even feeling more unsettled than I went in. There was no acknowledgement that there was a concern and I was even called out for using the term chaos. So I found it especially ironic that 3 days later there was a student assault police report published in the Albert Lee Tribune that unbeknownst to me at the time occurred 21 minutes before our meeting. And yet there was still no acknowledgement that there was concern even though
009some extreme behaviors that were happening in school were leading to police reports. The administrator challenged the information that I brought to him via my fifth grade student and said that more details would and examples would be needed from her. This fueled my quest to show him that it wasn't me or wasn't just a staff member telling school secrets that this was a full-blown issue. I compiled student feedback over the weekend and presented in an email. This prompted a se second meeting this time with the superintendent present. In this meeting, the administrator continued to deny the validity of these examples that he requested by saying, "Yes, but you say yourself they aren't 100% factual." That is true. I did state right in my email that even though these may not be 100% factual, they are still
010100% student perspective about their school day. And that still is big cause for concern because these student examples were rejected as not valid. An additional anonymous survey was created in an effort to hear from a more widespread adult population. This survey brought in an 159 submissions and more than 40 direct message. Okay. Thanks. Uh Dak, would you like I see Dak S next. Come on out. See you pick up your through there. A number of our survey submissions touched on how their child is now experienced signs of trauma due to the behaviors they are witnessing. So in an effort to be sensitive one child's trauma, trauma is now being formed for another child as they witness other students behavior go unchecked while they destroy rooms, stab teachers with pencils and throw chairs, desk at staffs
011or threaten children. When they finally are removed from the classroom, they return back with a fidget and a fruit snack and Rice Krispie bars, only further confusing our students about what is acceptable behavior. The following parents are sh are sharing their own child's story or a student's parents story that was submitted speaking to some of the behaviors that are not being managed effectively and are creating serious safety concerns. Our third grade son was threatened by another student that was going to hunt him down and kill him. That thing we've heard from administration regarding this incident was that she was just using big words. It was 39 days since the threat was made and we are still not having any response to the emails regarding the incident which has still questioning how the situation was handled.
012Was our child talked to? What role did they play in this if any? Was a school resource officer involved? Was it was this addressed with the other child and parents? How can we have peace in knowing that safety is a top priority if we have no communication and how serious threat is this handled? And I got 30 seconds. I'll continue my thing. When I walk into a school, a door is open. I walked in, sat down, asked for a meeting. The administrator sat down and he listened to my words that I addressed, which were some big words. And if he felt threatened, I got charged with trespassing, which I don't know how that happens, disorderly conduct, man-to-man conversation. He can't take that. That's what we hire him for. And uh he feels threatened, but my
013child, third grade, doesn't feel threatened. All right, Abby M. would be next. Hi everyone. Thanks so much for hearing us out tonight. I am Abby Murray. After Dak and Lydia's story went public, Marissa reached out to share her child's similar story of a threat seemingly shrugged off. Marissa's son was threatened by another student. I'm going to bring a gun to school tomorrow and kill you. While making thrashing gestures at his throat. This is her story. Despite the seriousness of the threat, the school did not notify us, Marissa, for three hours. When we arrived at school, I asked the dean to stay and talk with us. She left. The principal then attempted to shift blame onto Ryder and presented a completely different version of the story than what we had initially been told by the dean.
014It was stated that the student who made the threat would be allowed to return to school the next day with his bag checked only for one day. This was unacceptable to us as parents. During this meeting, we also discovered that the police had never been called and the students bag had never been checked because, according to the principal, it's been a really busy day. Do gun threats not take priority? We were repeatedly told, "We think this was just said out of anger." But isn't that exactly when people act on violent impulses when they're angry? During a two-eek span, our son lost seven pounds due to stress and anxiety from this threat. Learning that a similar in incident occurred just a week or two after riders experienced makes it clear that no real changes have been
015made despite claims that they would, and I quote, do better next time. School safety should always be the number one priority with education following closely behind. It is our understanding that the current philosophy the district is using to address behaviors states that consequences don't work and kids just need more love. But we disagree. Not being exactly. Thanks. Our children deserve better. Thank you. [Applause] Emma H. My name is Emma Hobin. I'm the president of LESO, which is the parent organization at Lake View School, and a former teacher in the district. I have a fourth grader and a fifth grader at Lake View. I also began asking questions after hearing Lydia's story, as well as numerous other disturbing stories my kids would tell me. I met with the school administrator who I worked with frequently with
016LSO and I felt as though he brushed my concerns off as exaggerated and assured me there were no issues. He seemed to dislike my use of the word chaos when describing the current environment at Lake View. My fifth grader comes home almost daily with stories of a bully in his class and who relentlessly teases kids, including sped kids. He disrespects the teacher and makes and he in quotes, as my son would say, he makes the day seem really long because he misbehaves all day and they can't get anything done. There are little to no consequences for this student as he continues to hinder everyone else's learning while also being cruel to other students in the class. I asked the administrator about this and he said, "Well, that is just your child's experience." Again, making me
017feel like it truly wasn't a big deal at all. My fourth grader frequently leaves the classroom with the rest of his class while a student student as the other kids say rages out or as the administrator calls it redecorates the classroom which includes behaviors such as standing on the desk and jumping across the room on them. How is it helpful for everyone else to leave and not the one student causing the distraction and unsafe behavior? I asked my kids why they didn't tell me these stories much before until I asked and they said because it happens every day. A kindergarten friend of ours also shared her experience when her mom um asked her about her day. And the kindergartenner little girl said, "Kids have big emotions and mess up the whole room. They throw really
018heavy things. I don't tell my teacher that I'm scared because I want to get a green day. Sometimes we leave the classroom and don't come back for a long time, like a picnic during phonics. Then another teacher and principal come and watch them when they are throwing the heavy stuff. I'm so scared my teacher is going to get hurt every day." [Applause] Thank you, Emma. Um, Sadie W. Thank you. Uh, my name is Satie Worline. I have a fifth grader at Lake View. She's been at Lake View since kindergarten. Um, several week weeks ago, I was included in a group message from a friend, Lydia, who also has a a Lake View is also a Lake View parent. Her child had obviously experienced a concerning issue at school and she was asking other parents on
019this message if they had similar experiences they'd be willing to share. There were many responses. It was story after story about behavior issues happening at school. And as I read through them, I found myself nodding and noting to myself, "Yep, I've heard this before." Almost every comment sounded like what my child had been telling me regularly for the last two years. It had become so normal that I wasn't even finding it concerning anymore. But reading these comments from other parents was a wake-up call for me that this is not a healthy environment for these kids to be learning in and something needs to be done. My daughter's a good student. She has good behavior. She gets good grades. She helps other students. She still love going to school. She would never miss a day. That
020has changed. Ever since last year, she has anxiety about going to school to the point that it makes her sick. She's missed several days and gone in late several days because of not feeling well because she doesn't want to go to school. She begs me to let her stay home and to homeschool her. Um, not long into the school year last year, she started telling me about these lockdowns at school that would happen. This is her term lockdown where you're not allowed to leave the room. They lock the door and nobody can go out even if they don't feel well or have to go to the bathroom because of something that's happening outside or about classes being in sitting in the hallway and other classes have to walk through. She even told me one time
021during a lockdown lasted several hours and I thought it was an exaggeration. So I said, "Did you get to go to lunch?" And she said, "Yeah, mom, but we had to take a different route. And then when we went by this one spot, we all had to run. As a class, they had to run to get to lunch safely at school. All of this is concerning, but what I'm most concerned about is the day-to-day experiences she talks about in her classroom. The constant disruption with the kids in her classroom to the point that her teacher is regularly in tears, a veteran teacher. There is no consequence for the behavior of these kids and it's highly disruptive to all of the other students in the vote. Thank you, Satie. Uh Betsy S. Hi, my name is
022Betsy Smith and I'm a parent in the district. I have a fourth grader at Lake View. Sorry. My husband and I have had concerns about behaviors in the classroom and school since the 2023 2024 school year. Our son was in third grade and had multiple students in his class that would have emotional disruptive outbursts. Our son would come home from school and say, "We got to have extra recess two times today or three times today." as his class would need to evacuate their room because a student was in the terms of the current administration redecorating the classroom. So, because of one student's actions, 20 plus other students missed out on learning time rather than that one student being removed to calm down before returning to the classroom. Our son has always been a good student
023and happy to go to school, but over the last year and a half, we have seen a shift in his demeanor. He has made comments like, "Please don't send me to school. It's scary sometimes. Why do I have to go? Students should not have to be worried about their safety during the school day or being able to protect their teachers. Our administration needs to take a minute and seriously consider all of the feedback that parents have taken the time to report. As my ninth grade student in the district said when we were discussing this at home after the letter that or after the article that was put in the newspaper about the current curriculum being such a positive success, consequences have been taken away. And with that order, students no longer have consequences when they
024do something wrong. So why would they choose to do something right? It's pretty mind-boggling to me that a 14-year-old understands that consequences are a part of learning and without them we lose all control. Thank you. Thank you, Betsy. Uh Mark H. Uh my name is Mark Hobin. I'm a parent of uh stu two children at Lake View. So, thank you all for taking your time to hear us out. By the turnout tonight, I think we've touched a nerve and I think parents are kind of fed up with what we're dealing with and what we're seeing and experience from our children's perspective. And we want change. Our children deserve better than what we're currently giving them. And I hope um I got a chance to sit down with Mr. Kren here last week and talk about
025a few of the things along with my my wife and Lydia. But I think it comes down to leadership. We need stronger leadership in the schools and to work with these children to give them on the right path to help create an environment where all children can flourish and succeed, not just a certain set group of them. Um, but that strong leadership brings with the possibility of a a poor public perception, too. I mean, right now, the school district had a $2.6 million deficit. And I look at it from my own thoughts and I just perceive that that $2.6 million has to come from somewhere. Is it property taxes? I was uninformed until Mr. Tren kind of informed me. But you look at it from the citizens perspective. Where does that money come from? They're
026look, we're looking at declining student population. districts around us right now are actively recruiting our children to come to Alden uh Hollanddale Christian School, the Catholic school, homeschooling. We need that student population to be able to support this the town and to support our district financially and for the children and for the teachers. Our teachers are leaving in droves. It feels like we're losing a lot a lot of good quality veteran teachers to outside districts that we would love to have them here because those are the strong leaders that we want to be able to teach our children and to be integrated into our community. The liability standpoint is at at what point does the school district get sued because they've turned a blind eye to so many incidents that could have been resolved or
027been held children could have been held accountable. So, thank you. Thanks, Mark. Uh, Casey W. Hello. Hello. Uh, I'm Casey Walters. I am a parent of a fifth grader in the district. Uh, we hear from administration that they are trying to earn back the trust of the staff and the community. To do that, we encourage you to accept honesty and transparency. Our teachers and paras have the most valuable insight. They know their students best. And yet, the feedback we've heard is that they don't feel as though they can freely manage behaviors accordingly or speak up about what they are seeing without retaliation. We cannot continue to silence our staff into submission if their feedback doesn't align with our desired image or results. The Tribune article from the last weekend and the devastating news about a
028fifth grader in our community emphasizes the mental health crisis. While we can't control what happens at home, we can control how we handle behaviors, bullying, threats inside our schools and ensure our students feel safe. We have seen firsthand the countless hours administration and board members have spent trying to write the ship and we want you all to get the credit you deserve for immediate action you're now taking to address the very serious concerns that we have raised these past few months. We are asking you to speak openly about the concerns the community is voicing and then tell us what immediate action you have taken and what discussions are being had to determine the future action. Thank you. Thank you, Casey, and thank you everyone for being here tonight. I just we don't make comments during
029this time, but Lydia, I just had a quick question. Did do you have an opportunity to hand the research? I mean, are you guys going to do that or have you had a chance with Mr. Kren or I mean, what that you received in the survey? Yeah. Yep. You're asking if I had a chance to submit the submissions. Well, as you put the results together, if you've like done a summary and all that, I do have all of the submissions and we thought we would submit to all of you after this meeting. Okay, good. That's I was curious. Thank you very much and again everyone for stopping in and uh uh voicing your concerns. Oh, Dave. Yeah, I'm sorry, Dave. And and she's been sharing that information with me, too. We've met back and forth.
030So, thank you everyone. Thank you. Okay. Um, we're at number six. I'll be looking for an approval of tonight's agenda. So, moved. Uh, motion is made. Second. And seconded. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Oppose the same sign. Okay. Agenda approved. Consent items. You had a chance to uh read through those. Uh I'd look for a motion again to uh uh accept those. Consent as written. So move. Is there a second? Second. And a second. Any discussion on consent? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose the same sign. Okay. Thank you. Okay. On to reports. Um David Kran, superintendent, chair, members of the elderly school board, Austin, elderly community. My report tonight is a little bit more lengthy than it
031normally is. A lot has been going on over the last few weeks. Uh, first of all, I want to start off with Oh, gee, I always forget the don't I think I Thank you everyone. That was my report though. Um, start off by congratulating Max again. That's a great honor. So, be very proud and spend the 3,000. Well, do you have any plans for where you're going to go? Yeah, I'm going to the U of M. Okay. They'll eat up that 3,000 pretty quickly. So, good luck. Thank you. Uh second part, um as you heard tonight, there are concerns by the community and they've shared those concerns with me. I've been meeting uh uh with several of the parents uh throughout the last few weeks to listen to their concerns. Changes have been made uh
032and certain protocols that we have in place and u beginning this week we're going to be providing more support at Lake View also. So, we continue to listen. We continue to address issues. Um, and it's not falling on deaf ears, but we also know that there's a lot of great things that are going on in the in the district, and we need to make sure that everyone is helping out. And we see that we see the support of our principles coming forward to help one another. Um, the successes of our students. Um and we want to continue with that but we don't want to leave anybody out of the process. Uh finally I think or not finally there's one more thing after this. You u you were all notified of a crisis that happened over
033the weekend. Um, and I want to thank our district crisis team, uh, especially Christy Kenneth on her work to meet immediately, address the issues, and again provide support for the family, uh, the families at Sibi and the staff at Sibi. um any anyone that um is harmed within the community needs all of our support and uh we're working very hard to make sure that that support is there as needed. And then finally, something uh again very positive. Uh a group of our senior high, our high school students uh under the direction of Jim Haney will be receiving a an award, an honor this Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. at in the high school auditorium. It's it's from C-SPAN. Um, and it's for the work they've been doing. Uh, the students are Brian Johnston, Ben Scholes, and
034Sam Stay. So, if you get a chance at 10:00 to head over to the high school, that would be a great opportunity u to help support some of our students. That's my report. Any questions? Thank you, sir. All right. Uh let's uh schoolboard reports. Uh oh no, we'll get to you guys in a minute. Kim, go ahead. All right. Thank you, Dave. Um I attended the policy committee meeting. We reviewed 12 policies that we're going to go uh through tonight. Um it's good meeting, very uh planful for those that presented. So I appreciate the details and all of the backup. Um, and then I'm looking forward to participating in um I reviewed some scholarships this year and so I'm looking forward to scholarship night on May 7th. That's all I have. Thank you. I've attended
035several committee meetings since our last uh reports. uh the insurance committee meeting. Um uh Aaron Casper is our consultant there and I'm sure that uh that uh Paul is going to have some things to say about that later on in our agenda. Uh the uh the bottom line there is that uh as most people know we are we have a a a self-insured arrangement which means to a certain extent we are the insurance company and so we are the ones that are that determine the premium rates etc. And at the recommendation of our consultant there in Casper, we will be uh forced to increase that rate by approximately 10% and it is largely a result of the action that has occurred at our clinic. um met with uh Sheila and Superintendent Lens I think it
036was last week concerning some um possible changes in the special ed department and that was in that's ongoing very interesting um finance committee uh is meeting quite regularly lately approximately every two weeks was pointed out as a result of a lot of things not the least of which is declining enrollment We do we are facing some financial challenges and uh uh I will say this I've said it many times we uh like any other institution we have income and we have expenses and uh it's not good when our expenses exceed our income and it's our job to uh make arrangements so that doesn't happen. Uh well, our income is a function of among other things student enrollment and that's going down. Uh I've been in connected with this district for a long time uh as
037a professional in the late60s and at a time when our student population was constantly going up at rather rapid at a rather rapid rate. Uh there have been some times in that long history where the district has faced financial difficulties, but I'm pretty convinced that our current situation with declining enrollment uh it's a bit more severe than it has been in the past. So we need to adjust our expenses which is not easy to do and that is what our finance committee is going to be struggling with uh for the next uh until the end of June when we have to make some decisions final decisions about the budget for next year. One other postcript on that we uh at the at the um as a policy of the board have provided for a 12%
038uh balance uh that is 12% of our annual budget. we have uh stashed away in in our checking account. And that's that's a goal. That's that's that's a policy of the board. And I know as a teacher long ago, and I did not know as much about these things, it it occurred to me that well, we have 12%. Let's spend that. You know, that'll solve all our problems. But it doesn't work that way because we we need that balance in order to meet expenses in case our income is interrupted as as it often times is by the state of Minnesota in their funding. But if but but but more importantly if we if we uh spend 1% more than uh uh than we take in as we did last year, we cannot continue. we cannot
039operate on that basis uh because eventually uh we will have zero balance and then we will go into operating debt and and that's that's an ugly situation. Well, enough about the finance committee. I also met uh with the education foundation. Uh Gary probably will have more to say about that. Um it's an excit It's always an exciting time. I noticed in the consent items that the district received uh $19,000 a $19,000 donation that comes from the St. Paul, Minnesota Foundation. There's an endowed fund that provides Tiger Student Assist and it comes directly to the district. We uh enjoy the the foundation receives lots of checks from the St. Paul Minnesota Foundation to cover scholarships mostly. And last week I it was my happiness to meet with the high school staff where we went over all
040the applications for scholarships and uh uh Max's name came up a few times and that committee had the happy task of allotting those scholarships that are available to the people who applied for them. And that assembly will, I think it's been mentioned, will be on May 7th um at uh 7:00 in the Commons, I believe, at the high school. Um so that's that that's an exciting thing to do. Um oh, was something else, but I can't remember. So that's good. Thank you. All right. Uh two weeks ago I attended the MSBA superintendent contract and evaluation session. It was very good. Um main points uh topics were reviewing the Minnesota state laws in regards to soup contracts and evaluations. Um another topic was looking at the evaluation models and competencies and and goal setting and um
041clear understandings. Um, so that was a great session. Been in district office informational meetings with executive director Durban, um, special ed Sheila Ashley. Um, and you know, I just want to thank publicly Superintendent um, Krens. here was a man who great career 12 years in Austin, many o many experiences before that, but came out of retirement uh to be here. And I I think we've it's I'm going to say we've been blessed that he's here to help through this transition. Um I've been in some of the parent meetings we've been having. I respect all the the people who are uh speaking and yes, there's there's things to address and um just I want to make sure he's acknowledged because he's been doing a lot of work for a man who all he wanted to do
042is retire and he's here. So um thank you Angie. All right. Um, I attended the insurance committee meeting with Neil when we went over the information that we will talk about soon tonight. Um, that was scheduled actually at the same time as a teacher of the year committee meeting, so I missed that. However, I was able to attend the teacher of the year celebration, which was fantastic. Um, otherwise, I've been visiting quite a bit with Superintendent Cran about a variety of issues, including what's been discussed tonight. And um I just want to say I'm very appreciative of everyone, especially Lydia, who has brought light to some very valid concerns so we can address them. And I'm also very grateful for Superintendent Kren's response. Um you truly seem like you're listening and willing to take action.
043It's very appreciated. Gary, yes. also attended the teacher of the year uh events MSBA wise took in a super uh superintendent training session. Um and kind of in conjunction with that I did ask that the work of the sub we had a subcommittee that was involved with putting together a model for superintendent evaluation. So I actually sent that to the subcommittee members. My goal would be as a member of the committee to have a model in place by July 1 so our new superintendent knows what the evaluation tool is, what the cycle is going to be over three years and make that process very uh transparent. also took in a legislative update review last Friday um committee-wise policy uh finance and again that we have challenges uh uh Paul has done a wonderful job pulling
044us together and and educating us. I specifically asked for a report on Tiger Cub just to get an update on the finances and I'm going to ask him to present that to the board before the end of June. I also asked for information on self insurance. What does it look like? what are we what are we paying and it does have a positive impact our on our insurance premiums and I'm going to also ask that he would present that to the board perhaps in a workshop session uh tomorrow is also curriculum committee I believe uh on a personal note but a connection to the school our Lions club is uh working with the city arborist will be distributing uh trees to third graders on Friday uh in all the area schools including outside of Albert
045Lee. Uh Neil, thank you for the education foundation scholarship update. Neil served on the scholarship collection committee. I'm amazed when I see $5,000 and $10,000 scholarships coming out of that foundation. It is impressive. And we have a very engaged committee and we had the pleasure too to have some Dan Dorman smoked pull pork sandwiches. Man, that was really good. I'm editorializing there. Sorry about that. And then also in the Alahasa as a guy who is celebrating his 50th high school reunion this September. I saw on the high school playlist Abba and Daryl Hall and John Oats. You guys know good music when you hear it. Davey. All right. I uh I attended a meeting for the Freeborn County Family Services and Children's Mental Health Collaborative. Long name. Uh we had a couple of fund requests
046for Alden Conger and Glenn Almonds. Um both of them were approved. Um I was also I also attended the announcement of the teacher of the year finalist celebration. It was a great turnout. Uh congratulations to Andrew Gustofson on that one. Um, I attended a meeting uh with Superintendent Kren with Angie uh regarding um administrative procedures. Just had a few questions and uh it was a great meeting. You got all the answers questions answered. Um I it's nice getting to see like talk to you on a side note too. Um and then I also had discussions with um Sheila regarding um some of the special ed changes that are coming up. Um I think that's it. There you go. Thank you. Mhm. Uh just a couple things to add in. Max, first of all, congratulations. Thank
047you for applying. You know, and I say that because every year it's come up and I don't know if anyone else ever has, but it's it's a great it's great news. And uh you know, being part of the MSBA board, I sat back every year and I watch this and I go, gosh, it'd be nice to get something in Alberly. Well, great job and good luck at the U of M, too. And thanks for all you do. I'm sure you're not done doing. So hang in there. Um did uh attend the teacher of the year and that was a great celebration again as everyone else mentioned. Uh had an opportunity to go to the princess and the pee a little uh play production we had here uh recently a couple weeks ago. Um you know
048special ed meetings uh tied up in baseball now and then. If you don't know why you don't know me too well and that's okay. and the finance committee. Just want to kind of tag on to um Gary was there. Tag on to knee a little bit. It's it's hard sometimes to say we've got a savings account, but it's also good sometimes to say we don't need to worry and go immediately to the voters. As Mark had mentioned earlier too, you know, it's not only the decline in enrollment. There's a lot of factors that are happening now in every community in Minnesota and a lot of it tied back to a couple years ago and we're given a whole lot of onetime money and we didn't spend it maybe the way we should have. We spent
049it for the kids but we also spent on something that becomes a little more reoccurring. So we're trying to guard and protect that the best we can. And again, if anyone knows me, I'm always asking the financial questions, but you know, as Neil mentioned also, if we if we drop 1%, and I know that's not a popular thing amongst our policy, but we've got about three months worth of uh operating expenses approximately, Paul, we don't we only know this number once a year, and that's sometime around the end of June. So, it's hard for them to really plan around, but I want to make sure that we do have enough. And I don't expect I can't remember how many years ago I was on a health services board over in Austin where they stopped payments
050from the state of Minnesota. Now, it was for about two weeks and we had a savings account, fund reserve, whatever you want to call it, but it is kind of nice and I think all of us probably feel the same way in our personal situation. So, um, yeah, a lot of work going ahead and but Paul, thanks for your leadership and all the information that we're getting now that we didn't always have all the information and now it's good to be able to talk about it and discuss it. So, all right, enough of me. Teacher David, wait. No, let me go to the students first. So, let's go. Max, I think you were the guy of the night. You start with your student report and Carly, follow up. All right. First off, I just want
051to say thanks to the support of the board, especially Darcy and Kim for the scholarship. Um, they both wrote me recommendation letters. So, yeah, I can't believe I won it, honestly. It's pretty cool. I was not expecting that at all. Um, so last month I was not at the regular board meeting because I was on the choir trip, um, which we went to Nashville and Memphis from March 14th through 16th. And a couple highlights from that for me were going to a Grand Old Opry show, which I'm not even a country music fan, but that was really, really cool. Uh, we got to see the Parthonon replica, uh, go on Honky Talk Highway, and in Beiel, um, in Memphis, we got to go to Beiel Street, which is the home of Blues, and the Civil
052Rights Museum, and then also the Bass Pro Shop Pyramid, which was pretty cool. Um, we also had Tigers War at the high school on March 28th and 29th, which I got to perform in a few acts during that. We had 15 total performances and we had over 50 students participate. So, it was a really good way to showcase the good talent we have. Um, a few highlights include the jazz band, the show choir, the clarinet choir, and a sax quartet. We also had a budget city simulation for seniors at the high school which happened on April 3rd. and this is the first time they've done something like that recently, I believe. Um, and there was a lot of good feedback from it. Um, it ended up being a lot more fun and insightful than I
053was expecting, and I heard other students say that as well. So, hopefully that's something they can continue doing in the future to help prepare us for real world adulting. Um, another good thing coming up in May, the robotics team is heading to Dallas, Texas for the world competition, which I got to go there two years in a row in ninth and 10th. ninth and tth grade. So, I know that's going to be a good experience for them and hopefully they can place well. Um, another thing we have coming up in May is the Big Nine Music Festival, which is always a highlight for our music program. So, the top band, orchestra, and choir will head to Rochester Mayo this year and perform for all the other schools there. And then at night there's a select
054ensemble concert which um students have the ab ability to audition to participate in. So that's always a highlight for me. And then on May 2nd we have the mental health awareness glow run which is happening unfortunately on the same day as big nine. So I can't participate but it's for a good cause. Um we need awareness for mental health. So that's a great thing. And then finally, last thing I have is my CIS Western Humanities class, which seniors have the option to take at the high school. I've got to visit the Minneapolis Institute of Art last Wednesday on the 16th, and it was a really cool experience. Um, if you've never been there, I would definitely suggest checking it out because it's free admission for everyone and we got to see lots of cool artworks
055that we studied in class. So, it was a great way to implement that into the real world. Thanks, guys. Thank you, Carly. Hello. Obviously, the first thing I want to talk about is the Alahasar. Issue seven just came out. And yes, we do have great taste in music. Um, but after this issue, we'll only have one more. It'll be issue eight, and that'll be our senior issue. So, it'll have um a bunch of like senior quotes and senior stuff in it. And then the next thing I want to talk about is the student council is having an Earth Day cleanup. I think that is tomorrow from like 6 through 8th hour. And then prom is on the 26th. Come and see the prominade at 2 Yeah, 2 o'clock. And then the last thing is NHS
056had the leadership their leadership day on March 26th. Um, we had a bunch of presenters um, from the school district and from everywhere else um, come and speak to us about leadership and how to deal with um, things that leadership comes with. So, yeah. Thank you very much, David. Uh let let's you know one thing that we've gotten away from our teacher reps. Give us your name, your school, how long you've been there, a little bit of your background because a lot of us don't know everyone. I don't know everyone in the district and so we'll turn over to our teacher rep. Dave, go ahead. Okay. Um David Enzer. I am currently a fifth grade teacher at Halverson Elementary. um been there for five years teaching in the district close to 10 with the exception
057of a handful of deployments uh overseas in between. Uh so that's me in a nutshell. Uh so thank you for the opportunity, pleasure to be here, chair, other board members, superintendent Kren's uh staff and community members. Just a couple of things tonight from the teachers perspective. Um they're finishing up over the next couple of weeks with administering and students take Thank you very much. Okay, let's see. That should take us down to the effective and efficient operations. Uh, Master Durban on health insurance renewal information. Thank you, Chair Clatt, School Board, Superintendent Kren. Uh, I'm here to discuss our proposed health insurance premium increase for our annual renewal. Uh, and as you can see on our screen here, we have Aaron Casper with NIS, um, which is, uh, our consultant, National Insurance Services, that help us
058guide us on all things insurance. So, I'll just give a brief introduction here of the topic tonight and then I'll pass things over to Aaron um and we can get going on the topic. So, as you know and as it was mentioned earlier, we are self-insured. Um it is my opinion that being a self-insured district has been a very beneficial move for Albertly Schools. um where we see other districts facing much larger swings and uh increases sometimes in the 20 30%s um we have some internal controls that help us uh maintain and continue having stab stable or more stable um insurance increases. Our insurance provider is Blue Cross Blue Shield uh for health insurance and um as noted we work with NIS to help us guide uh or help guide us on all things insurance.
059This year's recommended premium increase um is 10%. And as a board, you have had information provided to you prior to this evening. Um and they that may provide more context, but also we'll have Aaron speak here in a moment to help u the board and public understand the rationale behind that increase. Um a couple highlights that uh Aaron may or may not touch on. Our standard loss and our MLR admin ratios are tracking higher than a healthy range. Um speaking in simple terms, we have a small sample of highcost claims that are creating a heavy impact on our group. Um and as those claims um come in much larger cost um and uh generate um higher expenditures. However, the good news is that our overall claims are tracking well and seem to be down in
060comparison to past years. Um the exception being the high cost claims that are really driving that uh rate increase. So, um, couple highlights, both our well at work clinic, which I think was, um, mentioned earlier, and our, um, mobile option for staff, um, to seek medical care, uh, healthiest you. Both of those partnerships are being utilized well, and they're showing that they're beneficial to our plan. So, they're really helping keep and and I mentioned some of those other aspects that we have controls over, they're helping keep those uh, costs down or relatively down. Um so um as you're aware, we would like to get approval this evening so we can begin our open enrollment processes uh before our employees leave for the summer uh break um and as our school year r winds down. Um
061there will also be some changes for staff with dental and vision. So we would have some work to do to ensure this rolls out appropriately. And so uh a vote of approval or a vote uh this evening would be appreciated. So, at this time, it's my pleasure to welcome Aaron Casper from NIS to the conversation this evening. Aaron, can you hear us? Can you hear me? Yes. Go ahead. Okay. All right. Perfect. Well, thank you very much, Paul. Appreciate the introduction. Uh, Chair Clad, uh, Superintendent, uh, Kren, and, uh, the directors of the board. So, um, just a little bit of information for those of you that may not know, uh, National Insurance Services is a full benefits consulting firm that really specializes in the public sector. So, we work with eight out of 10
062uh, K through2 uh, school districts here in Minnesota in some capacity or another over 120 uh, districts on medical insurance, whether they're self-insured, um, fully insured or in a in a poolled plan. So, just to give you a little background on kind of who National Insurance Services is relative to Albertly Schools and the state of Minnesota, um we've had the pleasure of working with the district for many, many years on not only the medical insurance, but also the um other lines of coverage, both uh uh dental and life and long-term disability insurance. Um specifically, your second largest budget bucket, right, the medical insurance outside of salaries for for your staff. Um uh we're asking the board to approve a 10% increase to um our plan uh tonight on the medical insurance. Um we feel that
063that is going to sustain our plan. Um we've been uh self-insured finishing up our fourth year at a renewal. Um I would agree with Paul this was absolutely a good move for us um to make this transition. We we have had some an uptick in claims and as Paul alluded to um in particular some higher claims and really that's impacted the overall market including Albert Lee schools relative to our stop loss and that's the reinsurance we purchase not only on individual specific claims but also in the aggregate uh protection um for our plan and and regardless of what model funding model we'd be in whether we're self-insured which we are today or fully insured or in a poolled model we would be paying as a portion of our premium equivalence or our risk premium stop-loss
064protection. It's just who are we paying it for right now? We're paying for us, right? Our our plan um at Albert Lee, if we were in a pool plan, we'd be paying for the pool's protection or fully insured, we'd be paying for the carriers protection. So, just to kind of give you kind of a a 101 real quick on the on the medical side, specifically for our plan, um we have just slightly under um 380 um employees that are covered and their dependents, whether they be spouse or children. Um and um what we saw here most recently um over the past year is about a 12% uptick in our overall claims. Um that's that's not too bad um compared to the market. Um because when we think about that medical trend or medical inflation um
065is anywhere from 5% to on the on the low end, four and a half maybe 5% on the low end maybe in the in the seven county metro area um to as high as 12% and arguably even a little bit higher depending on who you talk to and where we are geographically in the state of Minnesota. If you were to take the state of Minnesota and divide it in thirds going east to west, um we fall in the bottom third. And we all know um what that means. We're impacted by Mayo Clinic because not only are we accessing Mayo Clinic for specialty services, it's really we're accessing the clinic um for regular day-to-day services and they are more costly um clinic system to operate in. Um what we've seen in terms of rate increases out
066there in all funding uh mechanisms or models is anywhere from you know the six seven%s on the low side as high as to the mid20s so far for our July renewals. Um and I would repeat what I shared in the insurance committee back in on the 25th of March. Um this really is um a challenging time in the medical um arena. Um we've seen increasing cost trend that are that are going up um as I just alluded to and we've seen an overall increase in claims across the board in all of our clients not only here um here in Minnesota but elsewhere. Um and then what's really happened is that that those larger cost claimants um have impacted that stop-loss. So that stop-loss component which is our protection um has ticked up in terms of
067the average increase from you know 18 to 24 months ago around 15 to 18%. Uh now we're pushing um the upper 20s and low 30s on that stop loss. Now granted that's a smaller component of our overall spend but it's still a large component of our ad administrative expenses. So, um we feel certainly a 10% uh increase is warranted um for our past claims and we've communicated that to the uh insurance committee and we meet on a on a uh typically a quarterly basis or every uh four five months basis um to go ahead and review the claims data with the representative insurance committee. So, um with that information, I know you've had the opportunity to review um the the more detailed information um prior to the meeting tonight. Um, I guess I would just
068open it up to any questions that anyone might have. Any questions for Erin? Go ahead. Erin, during the uh insurance committee meeting, did you mention the possibility of putting together a plan where employees can save dollars both for themselves and for the the fund if they are um going to lowercost providers? I thought maybe you mentioned something about that at towards the end of the meeting but didn't catch a whole lot about it. Yeah, sure. Um Yeah. Um what I'd say there u is is is we did talk about a um a different network option that would exclude Mayo Clinic. Um and we ultimately decided against that um for a couple different reasons. Um, number one, it wouldn't it it wouldn't be to our advantage as a self-insured plan to allow that program to be
069um accessible to all three of our different to the three different plan options that we have in terms of the variable deductible levels. Um, and so we'd only have to we'd only offer that on the highest deductible plan. Um, second of all, um, we would we want to always protect revenue in a self-insured model. So the the largest decrement decrease that we'd be able to offer in that in that model would be around a 10% decrease on that particular plan. So we're probably not going to get a huge bang for our buck um if we were to go ahead and make that transition. And then ultimately um we took a look at kind of where we're um accessing care today or where our members are accessing care. And by doing that, that would that would
070more than likely limit um our folks um the general access to more specialty care in our near-term fac um vicinity. So that would probably lend itself to more travel for those individuals should should some things arise. But um it is something that I know that we've talked about historically. We did look at that. We did bring that back to administration and in talking to administration, we elected um not to to bring that forward to the board tonight. And Aaron, if I can chime in there, that's something we can commit to providing more information on in a board update for the board to continue to review. Certainly. Any other questions for Aaron? All right. Uh seeing none, I would look for a motion to uh accept the uh proposed 10% increase on our insurance health on
071our health insurance premiums this year. So move. Is there a second? Second. And uh open for discussion. Any other discussion? Okay, seeing none. Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Neil. Yeah, I I think it has been pointed out that relative to the out of Mayo network option, our staff has every right to to uh opt for care in any facility they choose. Um, as everyone knows, I think I've been a champion of the out of Mayo option for a long time and um I'm I I still have that dream, but um I'm perfectly uh willing to accept the recommendation of Mr. Casper and Mr. Durban. Any other comments or discussion? We didn't we didn't really talk about it, but this there's also the the well at work clinic that helps us with keeping our premiums down, right?
072Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. There's there's two actually there's two programs that have been um really wellreceived by our members and have had a direct um positive financial impact on our plan. Um that's the TEDoc virtual care healthiest you program as well as our well at work clinic which we actually share um administrative costs um with um Freeborn County. So um we're we're running um right on the screws at capacity um for that clinic. So, it's really nice that we've got the healthiest U option also available. Yeah, we've seen um taking a look back at the data that was presented in the packet, um over $147,000 of claims redirection from our healthiest you virtual clinic alone. So, um both these programs have been uh been extremely wellreceived by our members and are helping keep our cost
073down. Absolutely. And just to chime in and and celebrate those two opportunities for our staff, the weltwork clinic, we're seeing same day appointments and we're getting really strong reviews, uh, positive reviews from our staff. Um, and the healthiest you option. Um, we're seeing staff getting appointments and response within five minutes of logging into the app and setting up appointments. So very strong uh benefits that we can offer our employees that may deter them from having to go to an urgent care or an emergency room uh which may have a higher cost too. So they're nice options. Thank you. Any other uh discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I oppose the same sign. Okay. Motion carries. 70 Aaron, thank you for beaming in this evening. Appreciate it. Yeah,
074my pleasure. Thank you very much. Have a good evening, everyone. And board. Thank you. Okay. Policies. Ashley, you got an hour or two, right? Come on up. So, good evening, board chair Clatt, school board members, Superintendent Kren. Um, as Director Schindler, Director Hoffman, and, uh, Director Nelson mentioned, we did meet as a policy committee meeting on March 17th. Um, we did review 12 policies. Some include revisions from MSBA recommended um uh from their legal team at MSBA, but also just ones that are good for um the policy committee to review and bringing those forward for you to review as well. Um so I will start off uh with policy 104. So under school district mission statement um this is a policy that we would like to align to our strategic plan and our strategic roadmap.
075So really um removing those aims that were listed under the mission statement and providing um our our current mission statement to ensure individual academic, social and emotional growth that leads to engaged citizens and lifelong learners. Um again that is within our strategic roadmap and our strategic plan. Um and again those core values that uh we'll strive for through that plan. So that is the first policy for this evening. Uh second policy 203.7 is the posting place just regarding those uh board agendas um that do need to be posted uh at Brookside Education Center. So, with the move of the boardroom, um just really making it more of an ease for um any committee member or any public um to notice that our posting of the agendas will be right outside the boardroom um right outside
076the door. I believe no longer on a bulletin board um outside of the main office. So, that is a slight change to that policy. Third policy for this evening, district policy 306, um administrator code of ethics. So um then again, this is one for review only. No changes uh to this policy. It really does align to the code of ethics for Minnesota school administrators. Um and also the statute that uh we do ask administrators to follow for code of ethics. So again, no revisions to this policy, but just a review. Moving on to policy 413, harassment and violence. Um, this did update um recently a law expanded under the Minnesota Human Rights Act to include um that definition of disability. And really what it is, I'll bring it up here. Um, under the protected classification,
077that definition now has um, an individual who may have an impairment that is episodic or in remission or would materially limit a major life activity. So that is directly from that expanded law through the Minnesota Human Rights Act. policy 501, school weapons. This is uh one that was ready for um review. And uh what we did find here is adding that definition of dangerous weapons um as well as reporting procedures to the commissioner of education as required by statute. So um policy 501 that now does include dangerous weapons and that definition um includes a device or liquid that is capable of producing death or great bodily harm. So that is now listed under the definition portion of school weapons and then again as that reporting reporting procedure uh through the commissioner of education um every
078by July 31st of every school year. So before I move on to the next slide, any questions on those policies? No. Nope. Go ahead, Ashley. All right. uh policy 512, the school sponsored student publications activities. Um you'll notice we did bring this forward in November of 2024, so just this past fall. Um really regarding that right for student publications um uh and uh freedom of speech for students. Um what we did find in MSBA's recommendation is clarifying under the general statement of policy that it removes some confusion. So um really it's removing the school district may exercise editorial control over the style and content of student expression in school sponsored publications and activities. Um again that request is that we remove that portion um as it's causing some confusion when implementing that law enacted student
079journalism freedom of speech and press. The next few policies I will try my hardest to uh present them for uh Tanya Franks who is unfortunately unable to be here tonight. So um uh please please be with me as I as I present this but um policy 609 um that does include religion and religious and cultural observances. So, um, as we discussed at the policy committee meeting, this does add, um, the, um, accommodations to any student who wishes to be excused from a curricular activity for a religious observance or American Indian cultural practice, observance, or ceremony. Um, so again, this is aligning um, to the statute. And then uh just as a note this was also discussed at the American Indian parent advisory committee um and those members uh through that as well. So that is
080with policy 609 613 graduation requirements. Um this really includes that targeted instruction and intervention uh through the Minnesota Read Act. So that adds a little more revision um little more substance to that language and then also adds uh statutes listed in the policy as well as the social studies that now must include US history, geography, government and citizenship beginning of next school year. So any questions on those three policies? Actually, the provision in the policy that speaks to personal finance, we've been doing that as a district already, right? Yes. Yes, that is correct. And if you do note um there is just a change that it it really talks about um a teacher in that lensure area that must be teaching that class. Yep. Uh Ashley, what kind of lure is that required then that
081you're speaking of? Yep, that would be a business um business lure, but then also it has that out of field permission. Um so that is something that we could get yearly in case um I think it says agricultural education, business, family and consumer science, social studies or math. So that would just be nothing to do with finance, just a general business. Yep. Yes. district policy 614. Um this is a very similar policy um to the student publications. This is one that we had brought forward in November um this past fall just regarding um we had put in there regarding retaliation. So, um prohibiting retaliation against an employee who discloses information to the MDE commissioner um and really uh after uh the committee met and we discussed this, we're okay with leaving it in there. Um
082that is already listed under section 181.932 as it's listed. Um that retaliation is prohibited. So again, that is just for a review for the for the board tonight. Uh policy 620, uh credit for learning. Um this is really regarding that postsecary language. Um I do believe uh Executive Franks had met with the high school administration team as well. Um this really adds um firm dates as far as when students um kind of have deadlines for that post-secary um enrollment. It also adds the language that that post-secondary institution has to let the district know if that student is going to or has withdraw um withdrawn from a class. So those are the revisions under 620 624 online learning options. Uh this includes um enrolling a student having the opportunity to enroll in additional course with online
083learning provider under a separate agreement. Um and then that tuition or course fees that would then be um on the parent or the family of that student. And then lastly we have policy 9006 uh community notification of sex offenders. Um this is just revisions to articles one and two. So rearranging so that they are in alphabetical order. Um and then MSBA's uh policy or recommended to the policy is uh regarding predatory offenders um instead of the language sex offenders. Those are the policies that we have uh recommended for approval tonight. There's any questions? Any uh questions of uh Ashley or any of the committee members? Ashley, it's the first reading. These are um MSBA recommended, so legislative changes. So, one approval for tonight. I'll move to approve the policies as presented. Is there a second?
084I'm still digesting to be honest with you. Thank you to the committee for doing I mean we one thing we have done which I've seen and and heard from the uh MSBA board there's a lot of districts that don't review policies. They may be there since the early 2000s. So thank you for doing that. Um, like I said, there's some things in there that I digest that I might not be exactly uh 100% as I think about them over the weekend, too. But uh again, I appreciate uh taking the guidance that you do. And and that again is one of the things that MSBA does. we have on staff uh legal counsel that has an opportunity to review these and make sure that anything they uh do list out is um you know with all
085within the constitutional guidelines and all that. So, okay, any other discussion? No, I'll just add that when we meet with the staff, they're really good about um ex differentiating between what's what's statute or what's what's citing if sighting is changing or nothing's changing or if if we approved a policy and now something's changed in statute and why that is happening to help us understand that. And I think all of the ones we brought forward were in that in were in that situation. So, but sometimes, you know, we we can have some uh conversation about preference and Yeah. Yeah. And one other question, Ashley. When these when the policies are approved, what's the next step when it comes to staff education about the changes in policy? What what is that process? That's a very good question.
086So, um we do have our policies uh live under our um Google Drive. So, um, thank you to Darcy for all of her work on this as well. It is a lot of work as you can see, um, documenting those revisions. So, um, then moving forward after that approval, getting it onto, um, our master list. Um, and that is something that we include into our, uh, employee guide handbook for the employees to review. Any other questions, comments? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you, Ashley. And that was one vote for all of the uh policies. Chair cla. Yes, sir. It just occurred to me what I forgot during my uh uh report concerning education foundation that Tanya has either sent out an email
087to our teaching staff or will about teacher grants which is always a popular time of the year for teachers. So I encourage them to get out there and apply for a teacher grant. There's always money for that, right, sir? You know it. All right. Um that exhausts the agenda tonight. Thank you for everyone for um making our meeting tonight. Just a reminder, Monday, May 5th, we have a study session. And then again, our next regularly scheduled uh schoolboard meeting for business of the district is Monday, May 19th. Thank you again for hanging around. Meetings adjourned.