001in the state. Are there any further nominations of board clerking? >> Okay, I'll nominate myself, Nicole Desarie. Okay. Are there any further nominations of board clerk? None. All nominations are closed. Okay. All those in favor of Tina raise their hand, please. >> Smug didn't work. I >> think so. Everyone still hates me. >> Those campaign. >> Yeah. >> All my leadership training gone down my drain. >> Election of board treasure. >> I nominate Nicole. >> Who nominate? >> I nominate Rob McCain. >> We have one nomination for Nicole and one for >> Sorry, Rob. >> That's okay. Are there any further nominations for treasure? Are there any further nominations for board treasure? Hearing none, we'll vote. All those in favor of Nicole, raise a hand, please. Tom, all in favor of Rob. Get three votes.
002>> Okay. Set dates and times for regular board meetings. >> Sunday mornings after church. >> We just keep the same times. I mean, it just seem to be working for everybody. One o'clock on Wednesday. Wednesday. >> You heard Maggie. Sunshine. >> You heard what Maggie said. Sunshine law. >> Yeah. >> During the daytime, sunlight. >> Yeah. >> A motion for 1:00 on the third Wednesday. >> Second. >> Okay. A motion by second by Diana 1:00 p.m. on the 3rd Wednesday. >> Okay, we'll take a vote. All in favor say I. >> I do. >> Uh 100 p.m. on Wednesday. I >> oppose. >> You oppose? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, 61. >> Yeah. >> You don't like that? >> No. >> Morning Sunday mornings. >> Doesn't fit with work or you know what I mean?
003I got to take away from work even today. >> Yeah. >> But that's all I mean. You know what I mean? still be here. Okay. Board member competition current rate 18,000 a year each plus benefit for policy to accept further discussion. All in favor say I. I post designation district legal council Kennedy legal council. Okay. A motion by Chris. >> Second by Rob to approve the contract. Thank you. Council further discussion hearing none. All in favor say I. I post seven there. Designation of corporate certificate of authority for certificate authority with him >> and Rob for transaction with minister full district liquid asset fund and first national bank of a motion to keep it the same. Okay. A motion by Tom. Second by Chris. Further discussion hearing. None. All those in say I. I. I
004hold the number. Designation of depositories. Minnesota school district liquid asset fund first national bank is an old national bank for electronics. >> Which one of the old national bank is that? >> Yeah. Old >> is that bank? >> Oh wers. Bremer >> said wires >> whiter wires >> where is it then? Where is old national bank? took the place of the Bremer anyway. Huh? Is that clear? >> No. Bremer. >> I don't even know what Bremer is. >> It's a bank chain, a national bank, but and I believe they in it. >> Can we ask Will? >> Yeah. >> In the meantime, >> where it is. In the meantime, do you want to jump ahead to the next one for Jay? And we can do that. >> Okay. Okay. The designate of official newspaper pioneer
005official news publication Red Lake School District. >> Okay. Motion by second. thinking >> the old national and they have location lakes and bar. >> So that is who does all wires for the school district but they do not commerce or old or something like that. Yeah. >> So, is this name on here? Is this a >> I thought we had the one we had Bremer >> Grimmer no longer does it. But it's a old national is the new one. So, it has to be just >> So, what happened to the one in >> Oh, no. That one took it off a couple years ago. >> The one in Clear Brook? >> That was a couple years ago. They said they took it off. Mhm. >> Yeah. >> The last time I seen that was just
006asking cuz I didn't stuff I didn't even know I said last year >> down here. >> Well, at least now I know. >> Where are those two locations at? >> I think it's Fargo and Detroit Lakes. At least those are the offices we deal with. >> Okay. We're we're at the Pioneer here now here. So any voting on that? All in favor say I. >> I >> no >> one >> me and >> going back to designation of depositories. Do we have a motion on that? >> No. No motion for it. >> Okay. A motion by Tom. I second. >> Yeah. >> To designate board application bank old national. Further discussion none. All those in favor say I. I. Seven. Here we are. J board committee alignment. One of the ways to handle this is
007often times the most efficient way is you guys are happy with your assignments which >> to just stick with that but if anybody wants to make a specific change trade >> or in addition or to get off of the committee but uh >> and if you need a list of what committees you're on as a reminder has that list Um what is >> like curriculum and stuff? That's the one I want. What is that? >> Um >> no that's different. There is a curriculum actually. I think that one >> I believe that one is no longer >> I think PD does cover some glass but uh >> I think I'm doing too much work I need to take take me off all of them I'm doing so much Okay, Shar, you want to make a
008note of that? And u I don't have do you have an extra list? >> Need to see more from my colleagues. >> So take you off OLC integration. We already have Chris and Jack on that. So we have representation. We don't need necessarily a third person professional development. Move you from that and from the IPAC meeting. So that leaves Tina for on the as the only one in IPAC and Chris is the only one on professional development. We can stick with one, but if you would like a professional development, >> okay, >> do back. >> Okay. >> Well, actually, is that the American Indian parent? >> Yeah, >> I did sign up for MIA this year. >> So, I'll finish that. >> I think people should be more work, right? Get chosen as a chair
009every time. And you do less less and less each year. I I don't understand it guys. >> Precious management health safety is down to one person now. That's Rob. That's generally um we have meetings about every other month in the room next door. Talk about OSHA issues. can stick with one or we can add one more person >> that crisis management and health and safety >> third one down every other on that one Mike >> take a look Nicole is also on two bottom ones here staff and student nutrition wellness and negotiations Um, and actually, >> well, I'm going to say on the negotiations that has to do with the teachers and principles. >> And actually, we will not be negotiating this coming year anyway, but >> Okay. >> But so it'll be kind of
010a dormant committee. Probably address it again next year. Staff and student wellness, we can take you off that if you'd like. Um, left is the only one there. If anybody else wants to join that, otherwise we can leave it. just, you know, >> and state high school league. >> I'd like to be added to that. >> You're already on that one. You want to stay on it? >> But isn't that a conflict of interest in micromanagement for her though? >> Because your husband started out as a coach. >> I have to do anything. Well, that's micromanaging because in one of the meetings you said you did did his um scheduling and stuff. I don't do any scheduling for him. >> Well, I I think it's a Well, I think >> um doesn't necessarily cross over
011because it doesn't have anything to do with with coaching or approving of coaches or hiring or evaluating or hiring or evaluating our AD. It's just dealing with keeping on top of the rules and regulations associated with the high school league and its rules. And actually, I'm not sure if it's met by, but um we'll just trust that Kristen Dove can keep a handle on on anything. >> What about legislative? >> Yep. You're the alternate. Do you want to be removed from that or stay as an alternate? >> Do it. No, because I always go to these and why I get less recognized always these other people are. >> Yeah. So, >> I'll be remote. >> You want to be off that? Okay. >> Pull off the legislator. >> Does anybody want to be the new
012alternate for that? Put Jack Dejari have nothing to do with legislature and don't believe in what's going on nowadays. You know, you don't even know if you got a government from one day to the next. >> You don't know if they're going to be riding in the streets here in the next week or whatever. much things that are going on that >> Yeah. It's not a good time to go down to the cities, is it? >> But I cancelled the trip down there last week of that. >> Aside from all of that, is it our role members to start telling people what you think they should be doing? >> But I they should be doing more. >> But is it our my job to tell you should be doing this, you should be doing that,
013you should be doing that. >> Is it? >> I don't know if it's yours. >> Is it a board member? Anybody? >> Yeah, at this point this particular process is, you know, voluntary. So, I'll ask again who would like is anybody interested in being the alternate? We don't need an alternate. If for some reason there's something going on and you can't make it, um, Tom, we could then ask another board member to go down. But, uh, if anybody wants to be the alternate, now's the time to let us know. you'd be the first choice after Tom >> negotiations for the Nami Insta. Is that this year? >> Nope. They're uh >> they're all for the same year. >> Generally, we have different people for each unit. three board members, teachers, certified principles, and then we
014have three for not certified. >> You could add me to uh if nobody else wants to staff and student nutrition and wellness. >> Okay, I think that pretty much rounds out our committees. Just need a second. >> I'll do that today. >> Oh, thank you. Um you want Chris is the alternate for legislative latest and student. >> Yeah. Okay. So, >> we got a motion. >> We'll need a motion. >> A motion on the presented in here, right? >> Yep. Okay. Robert. >> Motion by >> second by Jack to approve 2026 board committee assignments to include up to three members. Further discussion. All those in favor say I. >> I. I opposed rule of agenda. I have this so late. No, >> I'll move to approve >> because now we're done with the organizational and
015move on to the regular. >> Okay. I'll just I'll just move by who? Okay. to approve the agenda as presented. Further discussion on the agenda. Any additions or anything? >> Okay. Hear none. All those f say. >> I public comments. >> Nobody here. Okay. Migu Jesus. Oh my gingaw. Oh. ODA I'll translate I said uh I'm happy to be here to give the report on what's happening in the month of January she monies in Red Lake School District and I asked if anybody understood what I was saying maybe it was my accent right there. >> Yep. And then I asked if anybody could translate. >> Um, more and more I'm trying to do more with the language. So I've set the tone, set the example, and I've had a good teacher and Dr. Denuke. He's
016taught me quite a bit. So we have quite a few things to cover with our report. Um, the first one perhaps to not keep him waiting, we have uh Dr. Dr. Hinckley who would like to share some information with us and then when he's finished we can take a a report on our audit and then we can move on to the policy piece of everybody. I just have two minutes of your time today to ask for your blessing for a research project that will be done over at our early childhood center. Dr. Nim White out of the state university education department is partnering with the international professors from Europe to do a study on what fouryear-olds find humorous. And so what she is asking is to be able to access our four-year-old teachers who would
017then have participants in their four-year-old classrooms draw pictures of what they think is funny and then those pictures would be submitted back to her for the research project. It's a really simple research project. It doesn't actually involve the researchers coming on site. It just involves our four-year-olds drawing pictures of things that they find depress. with any sort of research that we do, we make sure that the board is involved and okay with us moving forward. And so I just wanted to provide that a quick overview and ask if you have any questions about it or if we can go ahead and move forward. I do have the abstract if anybody want it. It explains the the process and project in more detail. What institution is conducting the the study? Biji state university which department school
018of education because it seems like on research stuff there's always some questions about right the tribe involved. So have you reached out to them? have not reached out to the tribe. >> Just something we want to reach out to them. You know, I know we're we're our own governing body here. But I do know when it comes to research just from being around tribal politics and then other people approaching me and then you know I know that I couldn't make I went for my director I know anything comes in research I want to try or wants to know about it sounds simple and it's there's ways in the past that people have done things like that got us to this point Yeah, historically American Indian populations have not been treated well by researchers. So I
019fully understand that we might want to bring it to the tribal council as well. >> Flip side of that, it is good to have us represented and even something like this, you know, >> right? Part of part of the conversation is how do we get more American Indian representation in the research studies, right? So that's the other side of that discussion for sure. I think the research will understand Indian humor >> and that that may be something that comes out of because she won't be collect >> she won't be collecting any specific data about which students she'll know that they're four-year-olds and if they're male or female and if they're American. So that's the only there won't be any identifiable information in the research project. >> I mean for me the fact that it's BSU
020and not some like federal government entity off who everywhere where makes me feel a little better about the I guess um >> intent behind it, you know, >> but they got international people on board too. >> We I was just having a discussion about that before. Yeah, they're a little bit more open-minded about things >> and they also supply us with some of our teachers. So maybe what they learn they can pass on to future teachers. >> I mean I'm for it. >> There anyone who has concerns that I can try and address? Um, not not concerned, but I guess just to follow up on Chris's comment about, you know, taking it to a tribal level, maybe this is something Tim could present when he does the superintendent report at the next council meeting. You
021know, that way it doesn't have to be like a thing where we got to get that kind of like, you know, green light. >> Yeah. >> I feel like I was right here to make that decision. But >> just a suggestion, too. It doesn't have to touch base and let them just happen. Great. And we'll let Dr. White know that we can move forward and notify. >> Thank you, Dustin. >> Okay, since we're still on reports, I will now let you know that we have joining us for our meeting um Brian Upel who is going to give us our audit report. So, Brian, are you uh there and can you hear me? Okay. >> Yes, I can hear you. Great. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Sure. >> Can Thank you. >> Okay. >> Well,
022good afternoon everybody. Um the uh idea today, I guess, is to go through some highlights of the auto report. >> I will uh share my screen um if you don't have a book in front of you, but I'll also refer back to the page numbers um as well. A couple things before I get started. Uh we had no difficulties performing the audit. We had no disagreements with management. We really do help or appreciate, excuse me, all the help and and support that we get from your staff. Um they do a great job of responding to us in a timely manner that helps um get the audit done as as quickly as possible. So we appreciate that. Um there is one new standard that was adopted during the year related to compensated absences. Um, I'm not
023going to get into too much detail on it because it's really what I'd call an accounting exercise. It doesn't cost the district any money. Um, the change is historically if you had, let's just say, PTO or vacation sick leave that got paid out upon termination, we would set that up as a liability because that's some extra cost that the district owes at some point. The change is anything that doesn't get paid out, we have to kind of figure out what might get used out of that bucket and we set up a little bit of a liability on the books for that, too. So, once again, it doesn't it's just replacing the salary that you would normally pay out. So, it's really not that big of an issue, but it did require a bunch of extra
024work um with with the staff, etc. So, um, the other thing I guess be, uh, before I get into the audit reported specifically is, uh, kind of my soapbox item, and I might have brought this up last year, but I'll repeat it if I did. Um, we've had a few vict uh audites fall victim to some some cyber frauds via some email um tactics, fishing scams, and what's happened is anybody that's getting paid electronically, so let's just say a contractor, some vendors, um even staff with direct deposit, if they ever request to change their routing number or account number, please be sure you have very good practices and policies to make sure that that's followed up with a phone call at least. Um, the email is is kind of what's being compromised. So, responding to
025that email is not great. We've even had an instance where somebody stole like an internal form that was supposed to be used, so it looked legit when you came through the email, but it wasn't. Um, so like I said, for now, follow that up with a phone call. Just helps prevent a bunch of hassle because it's very hard to get that money back. Um, now I'm going to try to share my screen and see here. Can somebody give me a thumbs up if you can see the audit report up there now? Okay, awesome. Um, so the the page that I have up there is page two. This is the independent auditor's report. We have issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements which is considered a good or a clean opinion on the financial statements.
026Um it is management's responsibility for the numbers, the financial statements, the footnotes within these and then it's our responsibility as auditors to ensure that they're reasonably stated and that's what our opinion is stating is that we believe that they are. Um the next section of the audit starts on page five. This is known as manage or uh management discussion and analysis. And what this section is designed to do is to provide you with some uh highlights of the year that uh took place. It does have some comparative information that you can see on the screen right now. Um, it's maybe the easiest read because there's a lot of pages and sometimes it gets it's easy to get lost in the auto report. Uh, but the page I have up there right now, page 10, does
027show you some comparative information for your general fund revenues uh, from this year to last year. Same thing with your expenditures. Um, so even though this is kind of condensed, it does help maybe generate a question or two as to maybe why something went up or down. and if so, we can certainly dig into the details if anybody would have any questions later on. Uh the first audited financial statement is on pages 14 and 15. I'm not going to go into much detail on this page because I feel like it's hard to read. Um it's related to your full acrruel financial statement. So, it includes your capital assets, um some of your long-term debt, leases, those kind of things, as well as your pension information. And so, uh, a few years back, they required you
028to put your piece of the pie for the state unfunded pensions on your books, and it's made this financial statement kind of distorted. Um, once again, no no changes as far as what you owe, but it is something that uh, makes this financial statement hard to read, I believe. If you look at the next page, page 16, you're going to see at the bottom of the page about four or five lines to the bottom, the overall change was a positive 2 million $130,87. And uh the the line that you see a couple below that, that Gazsby 101 adjustment, that is that compensated absence uh item that I discussed when we first started that new policy that you're required to have. Um then we get into the balance sheet for your governmental funds. And this I
029feel like is a little bit easier to read and follow. Uh the first column of numbers there is your general fund. Uh you can see at the top about 34.8 or about 9 $34.9 million of cash and investments at year end. Um if you look at the bottom two lines from the bottom, you can see the overall fund balance in the general fund is a positive $32,986,318. Um the number that you see right above that that unassigned portion that's basically unearmarked funds 25 million82789. So those are the dollars that you'd have available to spend that are not restricted for a certain category. Um worthy of noting too the line uh the next line with numbers above that that restricted for impact aid about 5.9 million. Generally speaking those dollars are are being able to use
030for anything school related as well. So I want to bring that to your attention. Uh one of the things that we do is we take a num uh your unassigned fund balance divided by your general fund expenditures and just making sure that you have plenty uh of reserves. Um we like to see anything over 20% is healthy and I think you're at like 50%. Um so definitely a healthy fund balance for the general fund. No red flags as far as that's concerned. Um the second column of numbers is your non- major funds. We have those broken out in the back of the financial statements. um food service, community service, building. Uh those are some of the funds that are broken out. We can get into those here in a second. Uh flipping the page then
031to page uh seven or 19, excuse me. Uh three lines to the bottom, you can see the overall change for the general fund was a positive $3,739,7. Uh the combination of your non- majors was basically a break even down about $30,000 from the prior year. Uh then the next section is really the footnotes to the financials and I don't plan to go into much detail here. If you're looking for your accounting policies, changes within capital assets, etc., you're going to find that in that section. Um we'll quickly take a look at page 42 here. Um this shows like some of the the long-term liabilities that you have. So you do have some capital loans and a lease um that that are out there. um you can kind of see the maturity dates and and um
032how those uh loans work as far as um when they become due or and or if you even have to pay them back. Um next page I'm going to go through is page uh 45. Page 45 is your budgetary comparison schedule for the general fund. And the column that you see all the way on the right there is going to be the difference between the final budget and actual. And so you can see at for revenues at the top of the page, you're about $1.1 million less than expected. Um this can happen for a variety of reasons. Student counts, um impact aid is very difficult to budget. So there's a couple reasons there. Um certainly we can dig into more details if you're if you're wondering other items. And then about halfway down the page,
033the expenditures were also under budget about $638 uh,000. So the number that you see in the bottom right corner there um was the difference between what you'd anticipated on a final budget and actual uh about $374,000 less than than what you'd expected um when you did the bud final budget. Um pages 51 and 52. This breaks down, like I said, all of those other funds that we didn't have broken out in the front of the financials. So, if you're looking for your activity in food service, community service, building fund, debt redemption fund, you're going to find that here. Page 53. This is a nice little summary of the different what I'll call buckets of money that you have in each one of these funds and and some of the restricted codes. And so, the numbers
034that we see all the way on the right are going to be the uh EUARS balances that get reported to the state. We like to look for anything that's maybe a negative standpoint or or a deficit and you don't have any of that at your end. Uh so no red flags as far as uh your your fund balances are concerned with any of these categories. And then we get into the compliance section of the auto report. So page 54 shows the Minnesota legal compliance letter. The state provides us with uh a guide for like conflicts of interest, bid work, uh pledge collateral. This is a clean report so we don't have any issues when we did that testing. The next two pages is related to what we call the government auditing standards report and this
035is a high-level overview of your internal control structure. So we have one repeat finding which virtually all districts have and that's just the fact that the auditors prepare the financial statements. Uh common practice we have all the the bells and whistles to do that. But there is a risk I guess that uh we want to make sure that somebody is reviewing and approving these financial statements after we draft them up and that process is being done. So uh like I said bring that to your attention but we do think that you have compensating controls in there. And then lastly is the what we call the single audit report on pages 57 through 59. Um this year due to the single audit we ended up testing the title one and impact a programs and both programs
036had clean reports no issues no findings when we did any of that uh testing. So uh overall a very clean report. Um I'd be happy to to circle back or answer any questions anybody might have. Thanks for the good news. You probably couldn't hear that, Brian, but there was just a question about one line item on the budget, but yeah, >> nobody seems to have any questions about the audit before. >> Okay. Well, I appreciate the opportunity here today, and if there's any questions at a later time, I'm always available. So, uh, feel free to fire them my way. You may do that. Thank you very much. >> Yep. Thank you. Have a good day. >> Byebye. >> Okay, we're still on the report section. The next part of my report is I have the
037distinct honor of handing out two awards today from MSBA to one of our colleagues here on the board. Um, one of them is uh the director's award which could have gotten to her last year. So, it is one year behind. So, we're giving it to her with interest. But this is the 2025 maybe a month and we do that. 2025 director's award is successfully earning 100 points or more from MSBA sponsored sessions. testimony back down. I'm going to participate. This is how it looks, guys. >> They got her name spelled >> back. How it looks? >> And this one looks, I think, just as nice. MSBA leadership development certificate presented to Nicole Dearly for completion of the Minnesota School Boards Association phases one, two, three, and four. All four >> and five. They didn't know
038that. Think we'll get one next year for congratulations. >> Next one is a president. >> Thank you for >> representing the district. >> You do be in those tables that other schools are >> and that's what we do. >> Yep. >> Okay. The next one is a discussion on policy 531 531A. And for that I would refer you to uh page 12 note nine on your board book. And uh I want to point out a couple things here. Let's see the first thing is that you will notice if you one thing when you look at policy it's always good to look at the bottom left side of the first page usually and in this case you can see that this particular policy was initially adopted about 23 years ago 2003 and it was affirmed basically
039re-uped in February just two years ago or 23 months ago. So I believe everybody who's on the board now was here and I checked the minutes you were all here. So all of you reaffirmed this two months, two years ago. Um, but it's always a good practice to look at policies and that's usually what the policy committee does on a rotational basis and we affirm about 1/4 of our policies every year I believe or so. So, it's a kind of a cyclical thing. And it's also also good to look at usually the purpose when you discuss policy. The school board recognizes the need to display an appropriate United States flag, Red Lake Nation flag, and to provide instruction to students in the proper etiquette, display, and respect of the flag. purpose is to provide for
040recitation of the pledge of allegiance, the inishabi pledge of allegiance and instruction in school to help further that and one of the board members here Tom had asked us to bring this to the board to have a discussion and I had mentioned as a reminder that the general process is policies go to the policy committee on a regular type of schedule. But the board as a group at any time can have a discussion about any policy and if they wish to they can refer it to the subcommittee called policy for changes for um reaffirming or to remove it if necessary. So I bring this to you today for a discussion. see what your thoughts are and uh do we want to continue with this policy as is or do we want to eliminate the practice
041the pledge or do we want to modify something? >> I have a something I wrote like here in regard to this policy. Isn't this our pledge that the students? Because this is what my girls say. >> The 531 both of them do it. 31 US 31A is the pledge. >> Yeah. I thought our >> they actually do both vote. >> Oh, they do. >> They do. Okay. Bear with me for a couple minutes, too. Bringing this forward to the Red Lake School Board to address practices within our district that require immediate correction and alignment with who we serve as a nation and as a school system. The Red Lake School District serves predominantly Ojiway children on sovereign life. Our policies, daily practices, and school culture must reflect that reality. The continued use of the pledge
042of allegiance in our school does not. The pledge of allegiance is a ritual of allegiance to the United States government. That government has documented history of violence against indigenous people including the Ojiway. These are not abstract or distant harms. These include land theft, treaty violations, force removal, starvation policies, criminalization of culture, and the boarding school system. The boarding school era was not just an educational failure. It was a deliberate project of assimilation. Oji Ojiway children were forced to abandon their language, spirituality, and identity under the threat of punishment. Christianity was imposed as a tool of control. The trauma from that era is intergenerational and remains present in our families and communities today. The pledge includes the phrase under God. embedding Christian dominance into a public school setting within a native nation that is actively working
043to decolonize education and reclaim cultural identity. This directly contradicts our values and responsibility to create culturally safe learning environments. The phrase justice for all is not true for indigenous people is not true historically nor is it true today. Native communities continue to experience disproportionate rates of child removal, incarceration, poverty, and state violence. Our children live with the the reality of overpolicing, immigration raids affecting brown communities, and the United States's involvement in ongoing global violence against indigenous and brown people. Asking our students to affirm a statement that denies their lived reality is harmful. This board must be clear that requiring participation in the pledge of allegiance is not neutral. It is colonial programming. Of serious concern are reports that students have been faced with consequences for not participating, including removal to calm rooms and reports of
044physical coercion where a child's hand was placed on and held over their heart. This behavior mirrors the boarding school error control and causes real psychological harm. Forced bodily compliance teaches children that refusal to refusal is unsafe and that their bodies are not their own. That is trauma. No student in this district should ever be punished, isolated, restrained, or touched for refusing to participate in a patriotic ritual. As a board, we have a responsibility to set clear direction. I am calling for the removal of the pledge of allegiance from the Red Lake School District. In its place, we should simply use the inishav pledge that reflects a pledge that reflects our language, values, sovereignty, and responsibilities to one another. This is not about removing meaning. It is about replacing colonial practices within cultural grounded ones that
045affirm who our children are. Additionally, we need to examine practices as school sponsored events. The playing of the national anthem as sports events serves the same function as pledge. It is a ritual of national allegiance that does not reflect the lived experience or history of the students we serve. I am proposing that we discontin the national anthem at district sporting events and replace it with the initab flag song. The flag song honors our people, our veterans, our resilience, and our sovereignty. It belongs here. It is appropriate. It is pounding rather than harmful. This shift is not anti- studentent, anti- staff or anti- community. It is pro-ch child. It is pro- healing and pro- sovereignty. Non-indigenous staff in community members must understand that working within a native nation requires humility, unlearning and respect. Allyship does not
046mean maintaining harmful harmful traditions or comfort. It means stepping aside when indigenous leadership names harm and sets boundaries. This board had the authority and responsibility to ensure our schools are a place of safety, truth, and cultural respect. I'm asking the board to act that we within this discussion ask that our policy committee uh move to remove the pledge of allegiance from our school district. >> Totally agree with you know I'm a veteran and stuff. I do not believe in worship or even image which is your flag. Not the red lake flag but the flag of the United States and all that it represents. I'm not a traitor not set a veteran. We got three four veterans in this room here. I believe they probably think the same way. This is much needed. I believe in
047keeping a jibway pledge pledge. But I say we get rid of that worshipping of a grave and image. Tim Lewis let me know that we have to have a discussion and I don't know if it's like a some formal uh if there's anything we got to do to direct the policy committee to I guess uh initiate the change. If we have a a a vote, a majority vote here to do that, we can send it to the policy committee which then can meet within the next month or so I believe and uh both you Tom and Doug or Jack are on that policy committee along with Mike. So we can convene the committee and take action as a subcommittee and bring it back to the board. Um at MSBA we start everything with that. I
048just wanted to share >> what happened. Um I I want to get on the record that after I heard from you Tom I reached out to the principles and none of them is aware it doesn't happen but none of them is aware of anybody being forced do the pledge or forced on their hand their heart or sent to a calm room may have been that it was due to another behavior but the child thought it was the pledge or it may actually have happened but they are not aware of it. Oh, so you're saying something this happened in our school. >> Is that what you were saying, Tom? I think >> the report I got. >> Yep. So, and I'm not refuting that report. I'm just saying principles are aware of it that our practice
049is and it's cited in the policy. You can see it that it is optional that students do not need to do it or if they wish they can do it but leave out under God. But um and I'm not saying this to promote one decision or the other saying policy as it exists does option give the option but if the board decides I told Tom earlier either whatever the board decides to do we will honor this >> we have to motion and vote to uh uh yes to the policy commology committee first doesn't it >> y would We'd have a motion or a second and a vote to send this to the policy >> or action policy. I don't think there needs to be a legality. Yeah, >> it's in state stature that so it
050is like it says here um uh student school district show sign you know one or more times each week but a school board has the option to vote to remove it but they have to do it every school year too so you know if if I'm not around on the school board next you know school year starts I'd hope that the school board would keep it where the pledge of alleg it's national in our school >> every year. >> That's the way I read it. >> I think that is the case. We can research that and double check it. But >> so it's a state. This is a federal state. >> Yep. The Minnesota statute 121A funding. No, because I believe this would be a expression of person. >> Yep. opponent of ra >> but
051I know it's on YouTube >> when I was >> earlier and I'd come over to watch my daughter play volleyball or basketball whenever the flag song drum was played I found that to be very powerful very moving good message for everybody Thank God having that and we get that good thing. So if you go to a school that practices all it is, you have to follow what you're playing the national anthem and everything. You're supposed to meet up and salute and stand on your feet and hold your hand on your heart and everything. We got to look at that. Mhm. >> Oh, you're unpatriotic. >> Well, look at all the ones that claim to be patriotic, not how crooked all of that is. You know, hiding behind patriotism. >> Yeah. They don't have a claim
052to patriotism, do they? They shouldn't, but they do. They love and serve our country in many ways. Um yeah. >> Yep. >> Mike need a vote. Whenever Ashley had set up a policy. >> Yep. >> Oh, it's Tom, Mike, and myself. >> Mhm. And then there are maybe what half a dozen seven or eight other members teachers paras driver on the committee >> or or you you could put it on the next agenda. I mean change the policy. I suppose you can do it that way too. >> I mean on this policy already people they have the option not participate or not. They don't have to, you know, >> for me it's that they play it over the intercom every morning and they're indoctrinating our indigenous kids with the >> Yeah. the students and the
053people that are receiving this not know that they have that option of >> they don't know that they brainwashed into thinking it's got to be done. >> Yeah. I've been against it most of my life, but even though I'm a victim, you know, I have I had to go through a lot of stuff like that. I've always been against that because of the separation of church and state of God and their the oil and the you want to add an L maybe after the one nation under gold. Right. >> Yeah. So, does it have to be consensus on that policy committee before, you know what I mean? Could it die there if they the six other people say? >> No, it can't be ruined unless the other people that are are are involved. Besides who's
054on the policy, >> I think it is good to follow the typical procedure that includes discussion and first and second reading and involve people in advice and consent discussion then bring the recommendation back to the board. board >> can take the recommendation or not >> but at least we've gone through the process where people will feel heard >> all schools it's only at the elementary this >> yes >> it's not happen here >> it happens here but more in the class individually not over my inner >> every person I've asked at the high school my son's gone to school here for four years he's never once heard the pledge um every staff that I went talked to said they've never heard over the intercom Um, and so according to this, it was adopted in 2003.
055I went to high school here 2003 to 2007. Never once did we play the pledge of allegiance. It wasn't it was never when I went to school here. I went head start the senior year in Red Lake. We never did the pledge. My son goes to kindergarten and I was dropping him off one day and started playing outside. I was like, "Wow." You know, I got kids. kids. I go to Bumiji school and I've already had that struggle of I had to meet with teachers and principles cuz one time a kid removed my my daughter from the room tell her you don't got to stand for the pledge that doesn't represent us did that and that teacher removed her from the room. So that's not the only instance where I had to deal with staff
056in Bumiji. So I thought here at home I was safe from situations like that and I heard the pledge being played at the elementary I'm like man I wonder when they started doing that. Yeah. 21 years. >> Yeah. We've been doing at the elementary, but they were doing both. >> When I was there, I >> not when I was there, but when my kids >> when I worked at the head start, they just did the Inishab pledge. I worked there as a Marore in 2019 and every morning they just do the Inishab pledge. And the principal let me know that they combine their intercom system. And so now it runs through the whole school. >> Yeah. >> I was thinking she would do it every morning when I was working on it. Oh yeah, she
057would do both. >> Well, should we have a vote then? >> I don't know if we do. We vote on it or do we send it back to the policy committee and then bring it forward? >> That's what I'm suggesting. That's we vote. Should we take a vote to send it back to the policy? That was what I meant to say. >> This will be on their agenda for the next policy committee meeting. >> Yep. >> They'll make a decision the policy change and it'll come back to us. >> Yep. >> February or March. It depends on how that's when we can get it together. >> Yeah. I found it on that day here. Yeah, >> I know we asked for it here years ago. The shave pledge at least, but >> that didn't happen.
058I think that's why I ended up in the policy and they still didn't do it. >> Yeah. So all you do is just let Ashley know that you know that this is a a policy the board wants to look at or you know want to change and that should be one of >> y >> priorities. >> One of the priorities >> you don't need a vote now >> or we need to vote to send policy committee. No, you don't. You don't need a vote. >> I haven't directed yet to send it to the policy committee until you vote on it. >> I think you all I think you're all the majority come through, but we need to have the vote because the board needs to act on >> first >> is I cannot change policy
059myself. I can't just say the policy person. It has to be an action of the board. That's all I'm saying. >> Put that at the B back then. >> Um, we could do it right now. We can call it um since we're on a roll and are talking about it, we can call it action item C, but we can take action on it now. 10 C 10. Yep. We didn't even get the eight yet. >> Nope. But we can since this is part of the report and we're deciding we can do it now. >> The uh motion >> motion by >> Tom and a second by Jack to send policy >> to the policy committee for review and consideration. He didn't. Yep. All you have to do is Okay, let's do this. So, we have
060a motion by Tom. Yes. Second by Jack. to send policy 531 to the policy committee for action. >> Okay. Motion by Tom by D send policy 531 to a policy committee for review. Further discussion all those in favor say I. I thank you. Okay. >> Done with the report. Oh no. Next item, this is a compliments of Stephanie who uh principal Stephanie Amber. You recall when she was presenting we had questions about uh the Remind app and so this is information she is sharing that uh you can sign up for and you also do the same thing for the prek and second grade. These are instructions and how you can go about if you haven't done so yet signing up on a smartphone to get push notifications about items you would like. And if you
061have any trouble doing that, just give a call. Think we've had in chat here. Yep. I anticipate Ashley Nelson is listening in. She said, "Understood. I will set up a special policy meeting to prioritize policy 531 and get a calendar invite sent out right away. Process has started. I want to thank you all. It's a good uh discussion." Okay. Um just a couple more items under reports. Um, the next item is the monthly enrollment enrollment report. I would refer you to page 11. And uh, good news there is we're up 10 students. Anytime we're right at 1500, we're close. I am happy with that. We had a little bit of a dip in December. There's always going to be, you know, slight roller coaster. things happen with families or students, but we are up and
062we're at an even 1500 as of January 13. So that that's a good sign. We're holding strong there. Um the next item is also I believe on very next page refer you to page 12 the outstanding indebtedness report and this is basically having to do with our bonded indebtedness. We uh have an outstanding bond initially of $219,781. We made a payment during 2024 bonds outstanding now are 213,130 and if you look down to the bottom of the page you will see that we have a debt service fund balance of 95786 so we're paying out about 5,600 every generally speaking out of a pot that's holding steady at 95,000. So we're solid there. We have a good fund balance to continue to take care of our indebtedness. Finally, the finance report. We probably don't need to
063go over that. We just got done with our audit report. But I do want to point out that our starting balance was 25.4 million and change. Our ending balance is almost exactly 2 million less. 22.4. Um, we're still waiting for impact a and eventually we hope it will come in the next month or so, but we and I are keeping a close eye on our fund balance and any opportunity we have where we can reach costs that are not necessary, we will take that on because uh normally our fund balance is in the 30 you know, 2020. So, we're still fine with that when we have opportunities like we do with kindergarten classroom closure to do such a thing. And it also served our purposes for helping out with subbing. We hatch. So >> over
064there. >> Yep. >> I could pay. >> I enjoy visiting kindergarten, but I also appreciate that I can leave after uh my daughter-in-law kindergarten. He's a saint person. >> Yep. >> I've ever hired have some background. >> Not at all. >> We have many good teachers. They don't all have to start out in kindergarten, but sometimes I wish everybody started out. There's some very special things that need to be done with assessment and relationships. Okay, that wraps up the reports. Thank you. >> Okay. Consent agenda for January 21st. >> A motion to approve motion. All second by to approve the consent agenda as presented. Further discussion hear none. All in favor say I. I. I close session trouble action items. Thank you. I'll be refer you to page 152 in the board book for a
065list of bills and checks and wires 4 million 36,000 and455 to approve by taken by appro 36,4 million 4 million. I thought we supposed to be going down. >> Yeah, that's what I thought. >> But I know now in there though there was a payment for >> that. No, the the new construction that building >> the storage >> So I was like >> I don't I do not like Yeah. I feel high >> especially when >> million isn't two million. >> Yeah. I mean it's going up. >> Oh yeah. >> But same time it's an investment in protecting some >> indoors. So I mean I get it but I don't get it because my name on the field like oh So quick question though. So when we did that oh god snow day Monday the
066paid holiday pay for that holiday >> we don't is because it's a part of the teachers contract. Right. >> Right. >> Okay. >> That's what I was worried about. So I was like to give them that extra day of pay for the 29th since it was a federal holiday. But okay, sounds good to me. >> On the bills then f >> I accept 202425 financial audit report. >> Motion to approve. Chairman >> by Nicole. >> Second. >> Yep. Second by Tom 25. >> Okay. I >> no miscellane yesterday where they got no heat from the major part of the garage. >> Yep. They're working on it >> in the in the machine and the heater comes on and 10 seconds later it goes off. >> Didn't we just talk about this? We have to talk
067about these kind of things before the meeting. >> If there's anything >> and it's >> no require any action. We're not talking about personnel, but yep, I'm just letting you know that. Thank you for bringing that up. It it is uh we're aware of that. And with that in mind, is there anything else coming up that you want to celebrate or remind us of or any other celebrations? Sorry to bring anything up my mind for many years. April >> go along with everything that going on award the MBA award and I Sorry. >> Nothing else. >> I just uh question. Have you guys there? >> I don't know. I had a question for >> Is there someone that I don't know >> because they don't know what it is? >> No. I think we can
068go ahead and >> Okay. Tom. >> Tom, there's a motion. We'll have a second. >> Okay, thank you everybody. I didn't serve.