February 10, 2026 Regular Board Meeting

001order and we'll start with >> here [clears throat] >> Spear >> here. >> John Ward >> here. >> All present. >> Thank you. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> Oh my gosh. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under Godis and justice for all. [clears throat] >> Okay, enough of this computer, I guess. >> All right. This meeting of the Brainer School Board is being conducted in accordance with Minnesota statutes 13D.02. This meeting is being recorded. Access to the recording is available on the school district's YouTube channel. And we've got several um changes to the agenda before we look for approval. Uh under old business, we'll be striking the nominations for the election of officers. under new business

002striking the resolution for dissolution and withdrawal from PBEC and also the approval to pursue pursue a legislative bill for money transfer and we'll also be adding under new business approval for recommendation >> an offer contract offer that was overlooked. Madam chair. >> Yes. >> Can we take uh the deletes one by one with a motion and discussion please? >> Um what we can do is make a motion to approve the agenda and then have discussion about it with the deletions. >> Um okay. We'll try that and I'll see if it works and if it doesn't I'll come back with something else. [laughter] >> All right, >> I'll make a motion to approve it. >> I'll second. All right, we got a motion by Director Edman and a second by Director Breen, >> Madam Chair. >>

003Yes. >> So, on the Paul Bunnian Education Co-op, um I don't even know why we need to do I want it on the agenda. I don't care if it's tonight or next month or when it is. Um I won't I won't vote for that. >> Okay. And then you'll have to vote. >> What's that? >> Then you'll be able to vote. So and you're going to vote no, I guess. >> Um my point is this, Madam Chair, if I if I can uh continue, please. Um you know, why why do we have to move it to a different night? Why can't we why can't we keep it on the agenda, discuss it tonight, and vote on it tonight? Same thing with the million-dollar legislation. We're same thing with the construction million-doll. Um that's that's legislation

004that can help our revenue. And uh as I understand it, the delegation has said that they uh would would sponsor that and support that as long as the school board supports it. Uh this again is an opportunity for us to uh recover $1 million in our general fund. Um but the the legislation the the legislature is in short session. So that means that any delay is critical in getting um significant legislation passed. Um so that that should be on the agenda tonight. Also um the officers that's fine for delay because I think we were going to wait until after the superintendent was se was um um all okayed which hasn't been done yet. Um and I have no problem with the ad. So, um, having said that, uh, I So, you're going to vote, we're

005going to vote on it, right? That can't we do that individually and and and say, uh, you know, who in other words, I'd make a motion to, uh, not remove the Paul Bunny Education Co-op uh, agenda item. >> Um, John, I would like to learn more about the Paul Bunan Education Co-op, and we're supposed to do that on Monday. I I think that was the purpose of removing it was I I think there was not enough information for the board to make a good decision. Um and and so I want to honor that. >> I want to make sure the board understands that a meeting Monday will not change. You're g you're talking about ramifications for a school district for years and years and years and you're talking about ramifications for a student uh for

006students with special needs. You're talking about ramification uh for staff for special education. The most districts that have done this have have taken a two to threeyear process and that's what I want to do. I want to take a two to threeear process. Plus, the other thing is the reason that I was in support of talking about the Paul Bunny Education Co-op in cuts was not to cut it. It was to generate more revenue. And we've heard from some of our um contestants for our superintendent that there's two ways that we can generate more revenue from the co-op. Raise the uh fiscal agent fee or RA and or raise the rent. So that's that that is uh giving it till Monday is is ridiculous because we're not you're not going to learn enough by Monday

007to make a sound decision. The new superintendent should be involved in this process if not totally uh you know involved in the planning for the future. Uh the million-doll uh construction loan thing needs to happen now in order to make it possible. Um you know we're talking about cuts versus revenue. Um there's a lot of There's lots of reasons why we should have uh those three at least those two items on. I don't care about the officers uh those two items on tonight for sure. Um that's very very important for all of my colleague my board colleagues to understand. There's a tiny thing with the million-doll construction uh uh transfer into the general fund. there's a there's a significant significant learning curve to talk about the Paul Bunnyan Educational Co-op and and and it isn't

008going to happen between now and and Monday quite frankly. Um so you go ahead and go to the vote, you know, I I'll vote obviously it'll be a voice vote and I'll come back and make some my own motions and see what happens. >> Okay. Um, [clears throat] so let's proceed. We've got a motion on the table right now for the approval of the agenda as amended. And any further discussion? >> Yes. >> I have a board. >> Yes, [clears throat] >> John. I agree with you. Uh, to a certain extent, I what I what I would like to accomplish is learning a little bit more about the finances. Do I there's no one on this board that wants to get rid of u educational opportunities for special ed students that have disabilities. That's furthest

009from our at least from for me and I would just like to know a little bit more about it so I could at least uh make an informed decision. Um, we talked about [clears throat] the committee meeting changing that to a workshop. We have I don't think it's been finalized yet, but that was a that was a a point of discussion. I support Paul Bunnan Education Cooperative from the standpoint of let's talk about it. Let's find out what's working, what's not working. Can the finances change? Uh, you know, uh, are there any grants out there? I mean, is there any any other money? We know we're getting shorted from the state, uh, etc. So, uh, the reason I think we wanted to pull it is to be able to talk about it more at a

010workshop and get input from people to I mean, you almost have to hire a forensic auditor from MIT to figure out how these co-ops are financed. I mean, it's crazy. And and that's just where I that's just where I stand. I'm I'm with you on more [clears throat] discussion u, etc. and and I think we can accomplish a little bit of it before March 1st because that's kind of our deadline and uh that's kind of where I'm at. But I'm I'm I'm with you from the standpoint of, you know, it's very important and we don't want to eliminate educational opportunities for these children who have disabilities. That's absolutely insane to even think that. So, I'm not in that camp. So, that's all I can speak to, John. Director Heidman, thank you for that comment and

011I appreciate and respect it. Um, my point is, um, when you do the research on it, when all of you board members do the research on it and you look at other districts that have done this, um, uh, in the state of Minnesota, they have found two different things out. Number one, they've had to hire more staff than um, they thought they were going to, so there wasn't the cost savings. and especially for the what's called low incident staff. Uh those kind of special kids that have special real special needs and there's just not available staff for those those people. And the second thing is they thought that they you know they that uh they they put a two to threeyear plan together before they did anything like this. We were given we were given

012this notice five days ago. Five days ago. and a and a uh movement like this and a suggestion like this is I'm appalled that our me that our uh administration team has asked us to do this kind of uh thinking and process in 5 days when there are so many kids and staff and families going to be negatively impacted by this without some kind of a futuristic wellthoughtout plan and we heard that from our superintendent candidates as well. So Randy, I I I appreciate and respect that. Um uh and and and you know, obviously um I'm going to I've got five pages of notes and I'll read every one of them when we have this work session if that if that's what it comes down to to to to educate you guys. I spent 20

013o over 20 years of my career of 34 years in special education. I understand it. I know it. I've worked with co-ops throughout the state. I understand them. I know them. I'm the board delegate for the co-op and I didn't know a thing about this. I knew that we were doing a fiscal analysis. I didn't know this was going to be an agenda item until the rest just like the rest of you until 5 days ago. That's appalling from our administrative staff. Period. And am I upset? You're dang right I'm upset because it's going to impact our kids that have special needs. And why should they be disproportionately affected negatively by um uh lack of communication from our administration, our administrative staff and and the candidate? You heard that call the question. >> You heard

014No, don't DJ. Don't interrupt me. Don't interrupt me. I'm not interrupting you. >> This is my meeting too, John. >> Yeah, I know that DJ and you'll get you're not even on that. >> Don't interrupt interrupting me, DJ. Let's take here for a second. Uh we're still on the first motion of this meeting and we've got a ways to go and I know we're really passionate about this topic and I'm I'm glad that we are. That's it. It it feels good that we're thinking about kids and talking about kids and um being passionate about kids. And um we've got a motion on the table and John, thank you for sharing what's been on your mind. Appreciate that. And I think let's move on with the meeting and um come back to this as we need

015to. All right. So, we've got a motion on the table to approve the agenda. Uh we'll do a roll call vote, please. >> Randy Hiden, [clears throat] >> yes. >> Sarah Spear, >> yes. >> John Ward, >> no. >> Chel Breen, >> yes. >> DJ Dlinger, >> yes. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Thanks, Kelly. All right, we've got >> Madam Chair, I'd like Madame Chair. >> Yes, John. >> I'd like to move that the Paul Bunning Education Cooperative agenda item stay on the agenda. >> There's a motion to keep the PBEC on the agenda. Is there a second? [clears throat] >> Motion dies for lack of a second. >> You have to ask three times. >> My apologies. Is there a second? >> Is there a time to discuss this? >> Yeah, on Monday

016at the workshop. >> Yeah, that's what I'm saying. >> Yeah. [clears throat] >> So, John, can I just say that I totally hear what you're saying. Um, I 100% agree with your position. I do think because it's so complicated and we we have not even seen the audit that we we are we do our due diligence to look at the audit and then and have some discussion. It doesn't mean um your opinion is going to change, but at least all of us will have a better understanding of where we're sitting. >> Thank you, Director Breen. And I I did send all of you board members the audit and other information about the Paul Bungan co-op previously to this meeting. So I hope that you will look at it. >> I did look at it. I

017didn't really understand it. >> That's the problem. >> Yeah. [cough] [clears throat] >> Well, it's not like this is dying a death. I mean, that's my point is that we're going to talk about it Monday. So in a workshop and we can ask questions and we'll have >> help and >> we can get back to it. John, I'm not you. Yeah, I agree with that. >> We hear your passion, sir. >> Yes, for sure. Thank you for that. [clears throat] >> All right. So, um, moving in. >> So, did we vote on Did we vote on my motion, Madam Chair? >> I'm sorry. It died from >> You haven't asked three times yet. >> Oh, I apologize. How many times did I ask? Two. >> Uh, is there a second? Motion dies for lack of

018a second. >> We'll move on. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. We'll move on to recognitions. And I'll read these if you guys are okay with that. [cough] >> We've got um the Excel Award, excellence in community education and leadership. its unique recognition program designed exclusively for Minnesota high school juniors who are active in school activities leaders in their schools and who demonstrate a strong commitment to community service would like to say congratulations to this year's excel award recipients Mattaline Ball and Brady Davidson and then the AAA award which is given out every year the academics arts and athletics award commonly known as a tripleA award honors high school seniors throughout the state who have a 3.0 higher or higher grade point average and who participate in Minnesota State High School League sponsored athletic and

019fine arts activities. And congratulations to this year's recipients, Gabriella Bratney and Austin Nichols. All four of those students welld deserving. Congratulations to Mary Eklan Talis for being selected as the 2026 Minnesota Association Alternative Program Staff Person of the Year. I saw pictures of that posted the other day and it looked like an awesome celebration. So, congratulations to her and congratulations to the legendary women uh um hall of fame class of 2026, Dr. Tori Bar, Judy Balka, Teresa Thasing Goal, Cheryl Wentwork Mat, and Shayla Paradise. The celebration and honoring of those folks will happen on March 30th. So, congratulations to them. Oh, and one more uh hot off the press from Kelly uh that came directly from the the meet. Congratulations to Piper Gillow and CC Rzinski. They competed in the Minnesota State High School League

020state Alpine meet today and Piper Gillow took third place. So >> awesome. >> Very awesome. >> Yeah. >> See Handyman in the paper. >> Next up, we've [clears throat] got public input. A member of the public can address the board during this time. Comments will be limited to three minutes. Complaints or allegations against students or employees may not be discussed due to privata privacy. Complaints or allegations must be submitted in writing to Superintendent Grant. The board of education uh superintendent will not converse with guests to address the topics discussed at that time. And we do have two folks for public input tonight. Karen Johnson, we'll start with you, please. Thank you. Um, as you said, Sarah, my name is Karen Johnson. Been lucky enough to have two girls graduate from this school system. One went

021on to become a CPA in town and one is a nurse practitioner. So, I had to reach out to them to make sure I had all the schools. They attended LOL School. They were walkers. And then they also attended um Mississippi Horizons. I think I've got that name right. Franklin, one graduate from Brainer High School and one from AEC. And one um played ball with with Director Ward's daughter. My daughter played uh softball. So they had a a great education. I'm reaching out more or less to say thank you. I also worked at the orthopedic clinic for many years. And one thing when we recruited physicians, well, number one, they probably asked about living on the lake and our quality of life. But then the second thing always was school systems. They reached out frequently

022to the superintendent of schools. They did their homework. They looked to see the quality of our schools and I can tell you that they selected our area uh frequently as a result of our schools. So hats off for many years. I've been here over 45 years. Um I also want to mention that since I retired, I've been lucky enough to volunteer over at Garfield School. I have two grands there, two granddaughters there. Um, today I got to to be Grandma Karen in the kindergarten class. Brings me nothing but pure joy. Um, I've helped since I've retired uh with reading, with site words, and I can tell you firsthand, which I think you all know. Uh, the work that is done by our schools is phenomenal. from the moment you walk into the schools. And hats

023off to every school having the same blue entrance because you you come into a school and you don't know where to go. In our school system, you know where to go. Every school is marked that way. But I I can't overstate from teachers to ancillary staff, the cafeteria, the janitorial staff. It's phenomenal. And my oldest granddaughter really struggled with reading. So they developed a IE plan, IEP, IE I like medical, a lot of uh different abbreviations, but I can tell you she's now a fourth grader and likes to read. And since it's I love to read month, shout out because um if you don't learn how to read and don't have those skills, we all know that that really can be detrimental. High school diploma means so much. So, um, I want to give a

024shout out to a couple former teachers. I reached out to my girls. One said Miss Marone, Chuck Marone, who taught for years at Lel. And then my other daughter said, Mrs. Sweeney, who taught at AEC, and she learned to quilt with the love of math. So, I want to give a shout out to our teachers, our staff. Um, I think we do a phenomenal job. And if I hear anybody complain or um talk about a school, I'll say, "When was the last time you entered a school system?" Because I think you need to get there and see what happens firsthand. So, thank you all, too. >> Thank you. >> Next up, we have Daryl Peterson, please. >> Thank you very much for the opportunity to uh say a word tonight. Um, thank you as very

025much for being schoolboard members and superintendent and all the staff members. I would agree with Karen, amazing school district. My own kids benefited greatly by being here. And I just have a little story to share with you. Uh, Dr. Jim Roloffs from Brainard um just published a book called Buddy, subtitle, a love story of overcoming cerebral pausy, abandonment, and poverty. I'm just going to read one little paragraph at the back here. Some are born with every advantage. Buddy Brown was born with every obstacle. Cerebral palsy was present at birth and he was abandoned by his mother by age two. He persevered through poverty and family turmoil. Here's the little story. Um by he'd have had multiple parents, multiple states he lived in, etc. By the time he got to third grade, uh moved to this

026area, uh went to school on the first day of school, the uh principal took him on a tour of the building. And little buddy wondered what that was all about. He never had that happen before. While the principal was touring him around the building, the teacher for the third grade class let her students know what Buddy's circumstances were, the tough things he'd faced in his life. He lunged when he walked. He couldn't speak very well. One arm didn't work. And she said, "We are going to do things differently." And she proceeded to tell him, "No bullying, no teasing. You be supportive. You help this little guy to be successful." And um lo and behold, miracles happened. They did. And it happened. It continued in the years following. people sticking up and and helping and encouraging

027him. And this book is the story of his successful life. So my little word as I'm meeting with you today is thanks to you. Thanks to all these teachers who were here last night, thanks to all the other members of the school district who help people who have challenges to be successful, who help all the students in this district to be successful. Uh blessings on your work as you move forward into the future. Thank you. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Right. We'll move on to agenda item number seven. The approval of the minutes. And we've got one, two, three, four, five. Um, >> you got to do them one at a time or >> we can we can do them all at once. >> All right. >> Yes. >> I make a motion we approve

028all of the minutes from January 12th to February 2nd. >> I'll second it. >> You're here. All right. We've got a motion from Director Breen, a second from Director Edman. We'll do a roll call vote, please. >> Sarah Spear, >> yes. >> John Ward, >> yes. >> Breen, >> yes. >> DJ Doninger, >> yes. >> Sarah Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Randy, >> uh, yes. [clears throat] >> Thanks, Kelly. Uh, and we'll take a look at the consent calendar. >> Uh, chairman. >> Yes. >> Uh, [snorts] I'd like to pull those curtains and the boiler update. I just I think I know where I I think I understand it. Um what's going on, but I just it's a lot of money. It's a million bucks. So, no one said where the where how we're paying

029for it. You know, it just seems a little odd that it's in the consent calendar to me. Does that make sense? Does anybody else feel like that? >> I felt like it and it seemed like they only got one proposal on it from Sourcewell. When you go out and get bids, don't you think you should get I only saw one bid. >> Sourcewell gets the bids. >> Oh, they get all the bids. But these guys have seen the bids is what the deal that's what Sourcewell does for us is they >> Okay. >> Is that right, Peter? >> Yes. >> So, they go out and they got four bids and then we're only seeing the one that they want to take. >> Okay. >> Does anyone else have any questions on these expenditures or am

030I the only one? >> I thought it was a lot of money to spend on curtains, the gyms. I mean, >> it's a million bucks. >> I know. Do they really how long and how long do the curtains last? Do they really need them? >> Well, first of all, [laughter] they have to meet criteria of being fire retardant. >> Okay. >> And um the average length of of a lifetime of curtains is probably 15 years. 20 is pushing it. So, it's an investment that um is expensive, but you just This isn't like curtains in your house. Let me put it that way. >> Yeah. They're the ones [clears throat] that divide the gym, aren't they? >> They're the ones that go up and down. >> And then >> they're pretty heavy. >> Yes, >> very

031heavy. >> And I take it we need new basketball hoops. >> Pardon? >> We need new basketball hoops, too, cuz that's 185,000. >> That's why I thought maybe we could just go through this. >> Oh, we can. >> Let's I'd appreciate that if someone >> I don't I don't I don't have a problem with that. So we'll pull off >> I mean we just >> curtain replacement proposal both of those and the boiler upgrades and make that its own motion. >> Sure. >> All right. We'll move that to action items number two. Kelly >> Madam Chair. >> Yes. Director W. Um, also I want to point out that uh the donate donation and grant uh line uh the church has really stepped up this month and uh donated a lot of money to a lot

032of organizations within our schools and I just want to point that out that uh our faith community is uh really really doing well for us and we so much appreciate it. So and there's others too but um this this month it seemed like it was um I don't know if they took up special collections or what if they're Catholics they probably took up special collections. I'll tell you that. But uh anyhow, thank you to the faith faith community. >> Yep, I saw that, John. >> Thanks for pointing that out. >> All right, we'll take a motion to um approve the consent calendar with the removal of those three items. >> Motion. >> I'll second. Got a motion by Director Donninger, a second by Director Breen. Any further discussion? If not, we'll do a roll call

033vote, please. >> John Ward, >> yes. >> Dunling, >> yes. >> Edman, >> yes. >> Heman, >> yes. >> Spear, >> yes. [clears throat] >> All right, moving on to presentations. We have with us a special guest tonight, Hazel Reinhardt, who is going to she put together a study on our long range enrollment and is bringing us some results on that tonight. And Peter, I'll let you if you want to do an introduction. >> So for those of you in attendance, um, Hazel Reinhardt is a state demographer. She's been doing this, I don't know, Hazel, 50 years. >> Yeah. Yes. Yes. Not not quite >> not quite but um she is really the most uh valued expert in the state of Minnesota when it comes for demography studies. Um I worked with her when I

034was at Aatana. Um just about every school district in the state that has had some type of a demography study, they go to Hazel. Um, I want to compare her to Peter Leman and the Morrison group when they do uh a study for the district about whether or not you should do a levy or a bond and so forth. They know all the data without even thinking about it. Hazel's identical. Um, those numbers are rolling in her head all the time and she can recite probably every school district that's gone through uh an enrollment study. Um, we asked her to do this because of the fact that as we prepare for some significant budget reductions. I think it was important for us to know how do those reductions impact our planning and our programming, but

035more importantly, what do the next five to seven years look like for our student population? And um, the only thing I can say is in her opening statement, she said it was quite a somber data collection. So, I'm going to let Hazel walk us through the results of her study and uh what we should anticipate between now and about 30 32 33 and what the ramifications can be for this district. [clears throat] >> Well, thank you very much, Peter, for that very generous introduction. I have been doing specifically school enrollment projections since 1991. I've done other population projections. Really started in this field in the 70s. Um, and I've worked in well over 200 school districts in about six states. Um, and obviously because I live in Minnesota. Um most of the districts are in

036Minnesota but as far away as Colorado. I have a number of clients in Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, South Dakota. So quite a range of experience and I'm going to ask uh you to project it. I always think that uh we will reduce te technical problems if somebody else shares the screen at the location. Uh so I hope that's true this evening. So who's going to advance bring up the presentation? The presentation that I'm going to show you is um uh kind of a summary of the larger report. Uh the report can uh be very heavy in numbers and I find that I have more enthusiasm for these numbers than um many of my uh audience members. So, I've tried to put more things in visuals and the like. So, the first thing we want to

037do is we want to look back a bit, take a quick look at that. And um I think we're ahead of ourselves here. Uh and to say to you, the the uh past does matter. Trends don't just pop up. Uh they usually been around for a while. And so, we want to see what looking back tells us. And if we look back at the past 10 years, we can go to the next slide now. Um, we see a couple of things. One thing is that the district's resident school age population has decreased. that simp by that I mean that there are fewer school age kids residing in the district in 2025 26 than there were in 2015 uh 16 and the resident enrollment in the Brin Briner public schools decreased by 893 students or about

03815% in those 10 years total enrollment interestingly decreased only by three more students 896 or shy of 14%. So what we know from this is that the decline in overall enrollment is almost totally a result of the decline in resident enrollment and non-residents account for 6.6% of your total enrollment in 2526 which is um not a small percentage but it's by no means a large percentage uh that uh that we often see in some other districts. Next slide. Here we're looking at K12 enrollment in the uh Brainery public schools. And what I'd like to really have you focus on is that from 201516 through 201920 pre- pandemic the numbers moved around a little bit. But then as you can see in 2021 the pandemic year enrollment dropped. No surprise there. No surprise. But then what

039you will notice here is that it enrollment never recovered. It kept on declining and we will uh see some of the reasons for that in the next slides. So what we can see is a very definite trend post pandemic. Now, uh, we aren't able to, um, find data for non-public and homeschool prior to 2122, but I'll have you take a look at that first line, which is an open enrollment out. And in the 10 years, it went from now to the most recent year of 735. So we see the loss of resident students to other school districts in the uh small sort of greenish line there uh charters. We started out with 90 and we're at 85. During the uh pandemic the number was up a little bit but that is not a a major

040reason for the decline uh in enrollment. Then if you look at that dark blue line represents non-public schools and the first data year I have is 2122 it was 498 it's now at 666 that has become a major factor in in uh reducing your enrollment and then homeschool has gone from 390 something to uh um um What's the number here? 335 from from u 290 to 335. So we've also had the loss to homechools but it's really the non-publiclix three new non-publiclix in the last post pandemic and then the open enrollment out. So it's that competition. These are residents of the district that are not attending the Briner public schools. Next slide. Then I'm looking at the percent education choices and comparing uh uh your percentages to the state of Minnesota as a whole. And

041this is for 2425, which is the most recent year that there's statewide data. And as you can see, what I call non-public settings, a higher percentage of your residents are in non-public sanics than statewide. It's higher in both the traditional break it brick brick and mortar schools and also in home schools. That 4.6% is is a pretty robust percentage. Then 9.5% of all enrolled uh K12 students in Minnesota open enroll and and uh you can see that for yours uh out should not our out at 10.2% 2% of of the school age population and 24 25 uh 6.2% in. So you're running a little higher there. And then as you can see, you have nowhere near the loss to charter schools as statewide. Your capture rate 7 73.7% of the available total compared to the

042statewide of 71.2. So you can get a sense of of of where competition is having its largest effect. Okay, next slide. Now, another very very key finding is that births have declined. And the term here resident birth has a very specific meaning. It means the mother has on the birth certificate listed an address that can be coded to the state of Minnesota to Crowing County whatever without regard to where the child is born. And as we can see, we've had a significant decline in births in Minnesota. Uh 12.2% from 2009 to 24, which is the years we're really looking at and will take us to about 20 uh 2930. And in Crowing County, the decline in resident births is almost 24%. So it's almost double the decline uh in the state. and and what we

043know and we'll see some numbers that the correlation between kindergarten students and resident burst is a very close one in Crowing County. Next slide, please. And here I'm showing you the resident live burst for Crowing County starting out in 2009 at 784 and in 24 at 597. So, uh, you can see that that decline, uh, and it's had, you know, moved around a little bit, but fairly consistent decline over time. Okay. In the next slide, uh, school age population, school population, we want to treat it as we would treat any other population and understand what underlies the change. So what this table does is on the uh leftmost columns I have the year-to-year change and uh then the percentage of the change year-to-year and as you can see that 896 student decline. Then we have

044the two right columns. the first natural increase decrease and as it says that is the measure between the size of the incoming kindergarten and the previous year's grade 12. And so when it's a negative number it means the incoming kindergarten is smaller than the previous year's grade 12. Or in other words, you're taking in fewer students than you graduated out. And if you look at that over the uh 10-year period, you can see that those numbers have been getting larger and that cost the enrollment if you will, 1,261 students. And then net migration uh measures the number of students who move in or out of the district, make transfers between education options, or drop out of school. And you can see that those numbers have been positive every year except for the year of the

045pandemic which is um what we would expect and that added 365 students and the combination of the natural increase decrease in the net migration is the total change. So what this tells us is that your enrollment decline was being driven by the fact that you had ever smaller numbers of kindergarten students coming in compared to the number of seniors the previous spring. [cough and clears throat] Okay, next slide please. Okay, let's now turn to the future. 2627 to 3536. Okay. Uh first of all, in your case, there are a lot of indications that enrollment will continue to decline. [cough] Excuse me. And one of them is the current enrollment by grade. [cough] And what I've done here is for uh illustration simply taken this number of average number of elementary students, middle school students, and

046high school students. [cough] [snorts] And we can see that as these students age forward, we're aging forward fewer and fewer students. [cough] Excuse me. [laughter] And that really tells us that enrollment is will decline unless kindergarten is substantially larger. And we know that kindergarten decreased 29% in the past 10 years. [cough and clears throat] going from 478 students to 339. >> So number one, current enrollment tells us already that enrollment is going to continue to decline unless there's huge huge increase in kindergarten size. [cough and laughter] Next slide, please. So in 10 years um the model I use shows that the enrollment will continue to decline 575 this year to 4229 to 4399 [cough and clears throat] is a percentage decline of 21 to 24% in 10 years. You can see the decline of 1,176

047to 1,346 students. I have made four projections with different assumptions. There's 170 student difference between the highest and lowest. And those components of change show that net migration will be comparable but slightly less than it was in the past 10 years. And that natural decrease will be slightly less also than it was in the recent past. So we have those trends continuing. And then here you see the two projections uh next to each other. They're very very close [cough and clears throat] um to each other. Next slide please. And then I have taken these projections and uh looked at them from K5 68 and 912. And what's significant here is that if you look even at the highest projection in five years, you have a loss of about uh K5 students and then you'll see

048it's kind of flat in the next uh five years. At the uh middle school, you have a loss of hund and some um and then that number continues to drop. more so really than the K5 and then at 912 we see this decline from 2000 to about700. Um and then it continues to decline. Now what's important about this slide and what it tells us that all of the K5 students in the next five years have already been born. That we're not projecting births. We're only projecting in this the number who will enter school, not the number who will be born. In the uh middle school, the birth projections and kindergarten projections may make no difference on the first five years. Those are only the survival rates. They only affect the projections after 2030. And then

049at high school even in 203536 only one high school grade nine is affected by the kindergarten projections throughout this time period that everything else at the high school is all about those survival rates that is the movement from grade to grade. So we get a sense of of what this uh decline is is likely to be and where it's to uh will happen and when it will happen at the various grade levels. Next slide please. So now let's analyze what's behind these projections the components. uh they're made via the standard way of making population uh projections. A cohort survival method. I describe it as both co simple and complex. It ages each grade by moving it to the next higher grade in the following year. And because mor mortality is so low among school-aged children

050in a district the size of Brainard, uh there we could use the mortality rates and we would not be projecting any deaths. Uh so what we're seeing is really the movement in and out of the district transfers between education options and the like. Uh now this requires that we make kindergarten projections and we're going to use resident birth as the proxy. We've seen there's a close relationship between them and that net migration or survival rates in the gradeto grade projections. Net migration is is the raw number. The survival rate is the percentage. So if every if the number of students in kindergarten appear in grade one, the survival rate would be 1.0000. Okay. Um so let's look at this now. The first thing we want to look at, we know that uh we have the

051resident burst for crowing county. We want to take a look at what percentage of Brainard public schools kindergarten class uh uh attend or are part of that pool or the percentage of the pool attending Brainer public schools. Now notice that I use the word pool. Births are reported on a calendar year and you have to be age five by September 1st to enter kindergarten. So I need to adjust that for the number of births uh of kids that will be turning six and those who will be remain at five for period time and it's about a third. So I create this pool and I then look at the percent of students that the Brainer public schools captured and you can see that until the pandemic you had one higher year but it was around 62%

052somewhere in there. It dropped down to 55% recovered to about 63% dropped again but now the past two years it's been at 52%. And we know that we know the number of students that we can see in the non-public schools uh uh some of the other competitive factors that that have come into to play. Okay, next slide please. So in making the projections the average uh of the past two years was 52.29% 29% and [clears throat] I chose to take 0.71%age points less not as a percent but points less for the low and for the high which put it at 51.58 and then uh for the high I added that so I got to a 53% this results in a difference of 83 students over the 10 years [clears throat] now uh I did not

053I chose not to take a a low below this although it could well uh a high um I don't think 53 is too low I I see it as very difficult for you to get back to 62% without the closing of the some of these non-publiclix and a decline in open enrollment out and and all of these things. So I think that we have in these percentages something that is realistic is likely to happen. And then longer term because now I have to make projections on births between 2030 and 35. I use the projections made by the Minnesota State Demography Center for Crowing County zero year olds. And the advantage of using those numbers is that anytime you project larger populations and have to deal with the whole, uh, you're likely to have a better

054projection than just making an individual county projection. Next slide, please. And so here at this table I show you the kindergarten pool and the bolded numbers uh through 202930 are those based on actual births. And across the top row it's in italics but probably can't uh see that you can see the 339 that were enrolled in 2526. And then simply the projections the low or is that 51.58 multiplied against the pool or the 53. And so you can see that projections uh um [clears throat] how the projections look. Now what what I think is especially noteworthy and want to call your attention to is the decline in the pool is concentrated in the years for which we have births. that if you look at the pool in the projection of bursts, it really holds it

055somewhere at the 606 uh range or maybe even a little higher. So, as we go out into the to the future, uh the pool is being held at its current size. If we go out beyond that, we know the pool will decline. But in this period of time, we're holding it at about where it was. uh as of 2930. But you see the decline that occurs from those actual births. And then we see uh by uh 35 36 a kindergarten class of 316 or 324 somewhere in there compared to the 339. Next slide please. Now why? Okay. [clears throat] Well, one is we are experiencing lower fertility. in fact very low fertility and by that I mean the number of births per woman at the end of her childbearing years and a standard uh u

056measure is that replacement fertility which will hold a population stable is 2.11 children per woman at the end of childbearing Minnesota in 2023 was at 1.73 the US at 1.62 16. We still in the United States have the highest fertility of any developed country. Uh the Chinese it's at one. Uh 1.3 is fairly common in many European countries. So we still have more kids but we are not replacing ourselves. Okay. And then fertility varies by race, ethnicity and urban rural and it's lowest for white non-hispanic women. The other factor driving this is the aging of the population. And this is an entire structural shift. And maybe the best way to think about this is that in 1970 and 1980, if you constructed population by an age sex pyramid, it was indeed a pyramid in shape.

057Now it basically looks like a rectangle standing on end. And so we don't have younger people coming up to uh increase births as we had if you think about uh the well since the second world war especially. Uh so and in fact the number the women of prime child childbearing age which is now 25 to 34 will decrease in number in the next 10 years and generally we will have slower growth. Immigration from abroad has kept Minnesota growing for more than 25 years and that does not appear to be what will be happening in the next few years. Now that said, Crowing County's population is projected to increase, but not the youth population. The county will continue to grow, but not in in kids. Now, when we think of this net migration survival rates, except

058for the pandemic year, which we saw in one of those earlier slides, it's been positive for the past 10 years. And there are three patterns that are noteworthy. One is a very erratic pattern between kindergarten and grade one and it's often negative. That is that kids start out in the kindergarten the number but they the same number declines by the time they enter grade one and sometimes the numbers are very big and then very small. So there's something very erratic there. The other thing that's very noteworthy is that there's a large inflow inflow between grade eight and grade nine the beginning of a high school. uh and that has in fact increased that number has increased in the past four years. Uh this is uh fairly typical for Minnesota public school systems because uh most

059uh uh private schools don't offer uh high schools. So there's a a flow into the public high schools. Then another thing is that you have what appears to be a net in migration between grades 11 and grade 11 and 12. But this most likely reflects uh the alternative learning centers or other special programs where students remain at grade 12 for more than one year often called super seniors or some other term. So that appears in the net migration but it is not really a movement of students. It's just a retention of students. Okay, next slide please. So two migration assumptions, one based on the past two years and I just remind you that the net numbers were 62 and 56 there and the high one is based on the past four years and the net

060numbers were 68, 67, 62 and 56 and survival rates lower between grades eight and nine and 11 and 12 is a case in the high one which just is a quirk. So um when you see the next slide when when I look at at what's the difference I hold the same kindergarten assumption so I can see the effect of these two migration things we basically have uh less than a 100 students difference in total and see what it is at K5 68 and 912. So, what this all tells us, it it really comes down to the size of that kindergarten class. Okay, next slide. Now, what could make these district-wide projections too high or too low? Well, if the projected kindergarten is too high, which can stem from two things, either the pool is too

061large or the capture rate that I decreases or more district residents choose other education options uh or too low that the uh projected kindergarten pool is too small or your capture rate increases or more district residents choose the Brainer uh public schools. Uh [clears throat] my experience across all the states I've worked in is that there that enrollment in non-public schools can go up and down. Uh um homeschooling numbers have tended to go up over time. And I am just not familiar with any school district that has really significantly reduced the number of students leaving through open enrollment. They sometimes are able to increase the number of students entering through open enrollment but very difficult to stop the flow out. So next slide. What about housing? uh will it make a difference in in essence

062can you um have enough development to make a difference and I'm showing you your housing numbers here uh and they are um a little more complicated than they are some places because um the county and they have uh pulled the numbers to correspond to the Briner school district. So, this is uh the Briner School District numbers, not the whole county, is that they separate uh single family units by whether they're homesteaded or not. And uh they numbers aren't final for 2025, but as you can see from this, uh the numbers have not been going up for single family homes. Now, why is this important? because single family detached homes have the highest yield per unit for school age children. Uh apartment units, town homes, uh have much much lower yields. So that that you really

063need single family uh detached units to produce school age children. uh what these numbers [clears throat] uh say, this is nowhere near the level that would be required uh to have a substantial change in the population. And I could show you especially um metro area districts here, they've had, you know, 5,000 new single family homes in a five-year period and still had enrollment. Uh so the factor driving this is the level of utility in this changing shifting age structure to an older population. So with that I would be I say thank you very much. I'd be happy to answer any questions or um yes happy to answer any questions and I'm sorry about all the coughing. Thank you, Hazel. Any questions? >> I just want to say that projecting declines of around 20% uh is

064not unusual. It's a pretty common percentage decline that I'm seeing. >> Hazel. Um Madam Chair. >> Yes. Um, Hazel, you said you just said that you it's seen this in a number of school districts. Have you seen any kind of um project that those school districts have done to try to help with the with the school population? >> Well, yeah, you're you're faced with the same pro uh issue that national governments face. There's been no known effort in the world where national governments have been able to raise fertility with whatever incentives they come up with doesn't work. What we the only thing we know is that the Chinese were very successful at lowering it and now would like to raise it and are unable to do so. >> Okay, thank you. Right. This is I

065was hoping that you had some kind of a magic wand. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> Uh I think I think the the thing and I'm not suggesting it's easy and it may not uh may not be achievable, but to very carefully look at um what's [clears throat] driving this growth in non-public schools, what's driving open enrollment out? because those are the things that you at least have some influence over. I [clears throat] mean, we don't influ we can't influence how many kids people have. I mean, that just doesn't seem to to work, but we have at least some potential to influence those other things. >> Yep. >> There I have a couple things. >> Um, Hazel, thank you for this work. Um just I put down some things I thought were really key points. From 201819

066we had 6,577 students and in eight years we lost a thousand. >> Yeah. And one of the things that Hazel told us about when we met with her um earlier shortly after she supplied this information, she said since 2021, basically after COVID, our biggest problem in our drop in student population is competition. >> And if you remember her numbers, she had non-public, homeschool, and residential births as u being the three things that are hurting us the most. And um when I did some work for Hazel, I had no clue about the the new schools that had propped up since 2020 2022. There's three of them. And um they are capturing our kindergarteners. >> Yeah, exactly. >> And whether and and whether it is because of faith-based, homebased, uh a different type of curriculum, they are

067capturing our kindergarteners. And um what people need to think about that's 13 years of that student, that group of students going through a system that never walk in the front door of our schools. That's a long 13 years. It has a significant impact on how we either are surviving or shrinking. And um she also is showing that in 10 years we're going to be down um potentially another 1300 students. >> Now if you do the math >> 100 a grade >> 100 [clears throat] a year. >> That's 100 a year. If you do the math, if Minnesota public school per student funding stayed flat for the next 10 years, that's $17 million in lost revenue. That's probably uh 170 teachers are not going to have a job in 10 years in our district. So the

068the real battle is what are we going to do to combat one the competition because I think we can figure that out. But what we cannot >> figure out and was one of the things that Hazel brought up that I think is really really critical is the drop in fertility. When you go from 2.11 to 1.73, that is a significant shift in childbearing births. Number of kids being born is dropping significantly. That has a ripple effect for this entire district. That's every year, 13 years in a row, there's less kids in our building. And um we're going to have some really really hard decisions to make because with 2,000 less kids in 20 years, you look at our facilities, you look at the programs, you look at what can we offer that's going to be

069competitive. How are we going to manage that shift? [clears throat] Even even if if half of it is accurate, that's still a 100 kids every other year. And our difficulty is going to be in how to address it. And it's going to take some courage. It's going to take some creativity. And it's going to take some reality because um from my perspective, we have yet to hit the bottom. And when we do, it's going to hurt if we don't do something different. And it's not just about finances, but it's about how do we reconstruct some of our schools that are going to have very, very few kids in it, some of our elementarymentaries. How do we maintain competitive programming and opportunities for kids as the number shrinks? um we will we going to face a

070problem that a lot of school districts are going to face. We just have to figure out what do we want to do about Brainer public schools. what's the best path we can take to combat a very difficult challenge because we can't fabricate kids. You know, we can't we can't fabricate the numbers and it's going to be really difficult um to come up with some creative decisions. And one of the last thing I'll just bring up, she said that the population of Crowing County in our district is actually going to grow, but they've got hair like me. You know, I live in a neighborhood of 27 new homes. Out of the 27 new homes, one of them has two kids. The rest of us are 55 to 75 years old with no kids. That's becoming kind

071of the direction things are going. So, the challenges are there. The knowledge is now here. Question is, what are we going to do about it? [clears throat] Thank you for uh enlisting this study. I mean, it's >> sobering. >> Yeah. >> Eye opening and [clears throat] uh you had some forethought. Let's let's see what's going on. So, >> thank you for doing that, Peter. >> Yes. Thank you. >> It's uh not good numbers. >> The the the sad thing about it is is you heard what Hazel said about apartments and I I read a thing and I I'm think I'm going to screw it up. Um, but I think in the 70s that you uh average people could buy a house and it was a year and a half their salary >> there. >> That's

072what that house cost them. And today's world it's like five and a half. So, you know, I don't want to get into getting crazy, which you know, I have a tendency to do, but there's too many rules. There's too many regulations. It's just gotten so expensive to build anything that these kids can't afford to have these kids in daycare. Minnesota is in the top high like the third highest in the United States in daycare because of all the new regulations that came out like I don't know Peter when was that five six eight years ago >> and so that's all of a sudden you know it's like they almost can't afford to have babies and you know and then of course we got the competition from which I think started with a lot of co

073thought people got disenfranchised with >> schools but we could fix some of this I don't think it's all doom and gloom and I think we just got to get a little more competitive and and make sure we're offering the right stuff that families want to get their kids back at Brainer schools. We've always been the shiny school on the hill and still are. And I think we can just just got to steal them back from these private schools. What are the three new private schools? You got Star A >> Star A um Pinnacle and >> Discovery Grover. >> Oh, they've been around. >> Yeah. >> What's that? >> It was It was >> Yeah, >> it was organic something. It's now some kind of Christian school. >> Yep. Sorry. Changed their name. >> Organic growth

074or something. Yeah. >> So, those just those three schools popped up since 2022. >> And it's not cheap to start a school. I want you to know it's really difficult. They're being successful because they're capturing our kindergarteners. And then, like I said, tough to get them back. >> Really tough to move them. >> Yeah. And we all know St. Francis is tending to expand to a K12 shortly. And so there's another battle and and I personally competition I think is great. [clears throat] Question is are we going to rise to the competition? Are we going to just say well we're good enough we'll just slug along. I think we have to go after it like you know it's fourth down. We got 15 yards to go and punting isn't the answer. We have got to

075get really really creative and and take on the competition and find out what do we do that is going to be better that's more attractive and will keep our students here. >> Thank you Hazel. >> Thank you. Thank you very very much. >> Appreciate your time. >> Thank you again. Sorry about all the coughing. No worries. [laughter] >> Okay, I'm going to sign off. >> CA. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Up next, we've got the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee. We've got the vote of concurrent non-concurrence. And to just give a little bit of background, yes, please grab that, chair. Um we this is an for for the group this is an annual presentation that this group brings and um the district has a partnership with APAC through our coordinator Shayla Budro

076and um they come and present to the board their vote of concurrence or non-concurrence and recommendations for continued partnership with a common goal of supporting indigenous students and families. And there is a rubric that they work from um to help us understand where we're at on and how we're we're doing. >> Was just something that we presented to you guys and what the vote was and then 41. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So welcome Apac group. Thanks for joining us. We're going to make sure this microphone works. >> Yeah, they'll all pick you guys all >> kind this time. [clears throat] >> We're making sure we get everybody up here. >> So, hello everyone. I uh have three children that have graduated from this district and I have a granddaughter that is a first grader

077in Nisa Elementary all a part of Indian education programming. Oshko and Dana. Um, my name is Michelle Burgger. I've addressed you all before. Um, I I also have graduated my children from this district. Um, I also have um brought my nephews up in the school system and we are here to um once again figure out ways to collaborate to bring our our American Indian parent committee um to like to share to share with you uh what our findings are from that rubric. I am a indigenous parents within the district and also a special education teacher at elementary. I've been lucky enough to join the AP pack and how we can do better for all of our indigenous students. I am the proud parent of a Brainard High School graduate. Um, he is currently in his

078third year doing well at the University of Minnesota. Um, I am a grandmotherthered in uh Apac member and uh I'm really proud to be here and I'm very grateful for your listening ears today and uh thank you for your time and um the energy that you return to us as you listen. >> Hello, my name is Pam Bolio. I am not indigenous. However, I was married to a man for 43 years before he passed who was, which means our three children and 10 grandchildren are enrolled in two different tribes, one over in blacks and the other nine up in Red Lake. Um, which is why I get to be part of this great organization. Um, currently I have five grandchildren in the district. So, I have a very much invested interest in what happens here.

079Thank you. >> My name is Cameo Ellis. I am also not Native American, but my other half is, and so are our two daughters that we share. I have one nine-year-old who is a fourth grader at Harrison and one three-year-old who will be going to Harrison most likely when she hits that age. >> Quishnikas Meazam. Um I'm actually uh a community member. I retired from Max. Um I used to teach at Nashing and there's lots of our students that have come over here and so I'm a community member that is looking out for um being indigenous myself like I count all of them as my children and so um yeah I'm a part of Apac because I want to help make a difference for um the children that I had and the children that are

080all coming up which >> ges indigenous. Uh my name is Summer Find. I am a mom to a 10th grader here in the district and I'm also a social worker um working with many of our indigenous students within the district. Um my daughter receives um Indian ed services and supports and special ed services within the district as well. for me. >> Okay. Um, we are starting with things that are that we are thankful for in the district and offering of a SEMA. The APAC acknowledges our district for their achievements and accomplishments in the building of relationships, community partnerships and growth. This year we would like to uh share these seven nwitches. Migwatch to our Indian education staff, Shayla Chastity and their supervisor Jessica. They con I'm sorry, consistently go beyond expectations to center community voices,

081build strong relationships, and advocate for our indigenous students and families. Additionally, Jessica shows up to our meetings without any assignment to our committee other than her willingness to listen, to learn, and to connect. Migwatch, we recognize that the district has increase their training and targeted time surrounding indigenous indigenous people's day. Migwatch to our dreamcatcher team for continuing district-wide implementation and to our elementary schools for their partnership. We are especially grateful to our elementary school psych psychologists for bridging school preparedness and family support through their relationships with indigenous education staff. >> Migwitch, we recognize the efforts of our elementary schools to work in partnership with the indigenous staff education staff to support indigenous students while creating spaces that offer both windows and mirrors. We hear from indigenous families how supported they feel within our elementary schools.

082Miglitch to the Brainer Learning Center for implementing meaningful restorative practices by engaging students in community shared understanding and respectful communication. These efforts strengthen students minds and support their growth as whole people. Witch we were excited to see that a over four years the GIZ the only Ojiway named building our community has finally received its signage. Migwitch to our indigenous education high school student liaison for embracing their leadership role and working collaboratively with pair peers to bring forward meaningful input that guides our program identifies gaps within our system and entrusts us to uplift their voices. We understand that when we start off in this way of first offering the SAMA that elevates our conversations and that what we ask for in this good way is to be heard and in partnership support positive growth in the

083district. This is the way that we have begun every year for the past eight years. In that time, this request has extended beyond this boardroom calling in families to join in this work. As you can see the growth of even this uh families that have enrolled their children because of the positive dialogue, volunteers and state leaders that have provided immense support to the district and indigenous students. We would like to reiterate that we intentionally try to walk into this room keeping our feet well grounded in our responsibilities walking this earth. Those responsibilities include the teachings of the grandfathers, honesty, love, courage, truth, wisdom, humility, and respect. When we come, we have heard that some view this as contentious or take our honesty and truth as individual criticism. We always try to walk with the courage

084and humility to respect and love each other in this process. We are only sitting opposite you because that is the way the system is designed, not because it is oppositional in our hearts and minds. [clears throat] The Apac exists out of leadership that th of those that came before us to establish the statutory requirements of having collaborative collaboration and advisement from the caregivers of indigenous students in the district. The critical nature of the relationship is reciprocal. Each year, the APAC community is asked to vote on whether the district is following following all of the statutory requirements and meeting the needs of the indigenous students. Through our responsibilities to try to live by the [clears throat] seven teachings we just described, we are compelled to respond with honesty and truth to this vote. We have provided

085the rubric provided by the MDE that we utilize to al evaluate the district. The district does not have to wait for our official a vote to determine where the district lies in this work. This is and always has been the district's responsibility to follow state statutes. We acknowledge that the district leadership has completed the rubric in years past. We have not been informed that the district this district has continued to evaluate their progress independently. We would appreciate being in positive collaboration towards generating the type of education that nourishes bright futures for all student children. We know there are individual efforts and individual apathy. This is fundamentally about systems change that is generated from the roots and supported from the very top of leaves of leadership beyond individuals. How this work is being held up for

086those that want to support children and including an overview of what is being taught to support consistency and shared understanding. Oops. I changed being Oh, I'm sorry. I flipped my page wrong. How is being corrected with those that perpetuate inequities in the system knowingly or unknowingly? We would like to begin by reviewing last year's recommendations, the district's responses, and the impact of any resulting changes. The Apex recommendation and district response will be visually summarized on the slides for the sake of time. We are just going to review the Apex analysis of the district response and impact. >> Recommendation number one, the district has not taken meaningful steps to address the concerns raised. While the response acknowledged the recommendation, it did not identify the initiatives or structures to ensure continued involvement from district leadership or to

087support indigenous education and APAC in having an active role in curriculum development related to indigenous peoples. As a result, the original concern remains unjust. Recommendation two, the district's written response did not reflect the full context of the issue or the work that followed. Last year, a discrepancy of 62 indigenous students was identified in the district's Mars count. Corrective steps were implemented, including establishing an annual data review meeting during reporting periods between indigenous education staff and MARS coordinator, which began this year. The district's response referenced General Mars procedures but did not acknowledge the discrepancies. The collaborative work that occurred or the corrective actions taken. Responses to APAC recommendations should reflect both policy and practice. Recommendation three. We appreciate the in intentional design of inservice days to support staff as curriculum additions are implemented and hopes this

088continues. However, the dismantling of the indigenous people's day committee eliminated a formal structure for collaboration with the indigenous education and apac limiting shared plan and alignment. We also request greater transparency regarding indigenous people's day content across buildings including an over of what's being taught to support the consistency and shared understandings. >> Recommendation four, the district stated that success succession planning and training are occurring. However, our lived experience does not reflect consistent implementation. regular district attendance at Apac APAC meetings and targeted training for HR, the superintendent, school board members, and the executive director of schools on indigenous students and applicable statutes would support sustainable practices. We ask the district district to move beyond and toward full implementation and actualization of the statutes. What we just reviewed were last year's APAC recommendations and district response with the

089APAC's recent analysis. This year, for the eighth consecutive year, Apac has again voted unanimously for non-concurrence. in alignment with the district's 2023 to 2028 strategic plan, which centers student belonging, safety, accountability, and closing opportunity gaps. Apac is bringing forward a new set of recommendations. These recommendations are intended to continue advancing the work and to move the district beyond partial compliance toward full implementation of its responsibility to all students consistent with both the statutory requirements and the district's stated strategic commitments. This year's recommendations. >> Recommendation number one, attendance data. Committee requested attendance data broken down by race, which is indicated on the rubric indicator number 32 as full implementation. We were told this date data can only be pulled by individual buildings and not at the district level. Without district level attendance data broken down by

090race, it is hard to see patterns, understand disparities, or fully meet the intent of this indicator. For this reason, the committee recommends that the district begin putting systems in place to allow district-wide review of attendance data by race. This will support better decision making and help move the district towards vocal compliance. Recommendation number two, [snorts] discipline data. Indicator 31 calls for the regular review of American Indian student discipline data, including suspensions, expulsions, [clears throat] and referrals to law enforcement. While we acknowledge that the district has made efforts to improve discipline data overall, important gaps remain. When the committee requested information regarding law enforcement involvement, we were informed that [snorts] this data is not available within district systems and would need to be requested from local law enforcement because school related arrests and referrals are required

091to be reported to Minnesota Department of Education. This highlights a need to strengthen how this information is tracked, retained, and reviewed at the district level. Uh based on the data provided, the district does not currently have a consistent way to review discipline incidents by race or cultural identity or to examine patterns related to students being harmed or repeatedly targeted. Without this information, it's difficult to identify system level issues or understand how repeated harm may contribute to discipline outcomes for indigenous students. Indigenous families have also raised concerns regarding discipline occurring during school sponsored afterchool activities including sports and extracurricular programs. Because these activities are school sponsored, we want to ensure that the discipline incidents occurring in these settings are consistently documented within the district's systems, including Skyward, and reported as required by the Minnesota State High

092School League in alignment with statutory requirements. Indicator 31 calls for discipline data to be reviewed by race to guide improvement. The district's strategic plan also commits to student belonging, safety, and data informed decision makingaking. To support these goals, the committee recommends that the district continue strengthening its discipline data systems by establishing a centralized consistent process to review law enforcement involvement and strict wide discipline patterns impacting indigenous students. >> [snorts] >> Recommendation three, leadership engagement with indigenous communities. Indicator 22 addresses how district and school leadership engage with indigenous community organizations. While we appreciate the efforts of the IND individual staff who built relationships on their own, this recommendation focuses on the responsibility of the district and school board leadership. The strategic plan highlights belonging trust and collaboration with families and communities. These values require visible and

093consistent leadership presence. Trust in indigenous communities is built over time through showing up, listening, and following through. Indicator 22 makes it clear that community engagement should not depend on an individual choice or availability. When leadership involvement is inconsistent, trust is harder to build and maintain. For this reason, the committee recommends that the district set clear expectation for regular school board and district leadership positions in appropriate spaces, including American Indian parent advisory committee meetings. This supports stronger relationships, accountability, and aligns with district goals. >> Recommendation four. Oh. Oh. I'm on the wrong page. Can I just Okay. Oh, it's different. >> That's a different one. Okay. Indicator 28 connects directly to the district's commitment that all students feel safe, seen, known, and valued, and that decisions are guided by meaningful data. If indigenous student satis satisfaction

094were formally tracked, clear patterns in student experience would become visible without >> Oh, geez. >> I know. >> I'm the oldest member. Uh many indigenous students report that indigenous education is the main place where they feel safe and supported. At the same time, trust in the larger system has been harmed by experiences with racial racial harassment that were not addressed effectively. Collecting student satisi satisfaction data would help show how indigenous education supports positive outcomes such as better attendance, engagement, and graduation rates. Do all >> just okay. Listening to student voices is a widely accepted best practice in education. For this reason, the committee recommends that the district create a formal process to collect student satis satisfaction data with the ability to review results by student group and use this information to guide district level decisions.

095We are also calling for district accountability. Families have clearly expressed fear and concerns related to ICE. And while those concerns have been heard, um there have been no clear or public district response, explaining how students were are being protected at school, on school transportation, or in school sanctioned events, including out of school or after school activities. Silence is not neutral. In the absence of clear communication, fear grows, trust erodess, and families are left to assume the worst. This places an unfair burden on students to carry anxiety while attempting to learn. The district strategic plan commits to the students safety, belonging, and transparent communication during times of concern. This moment requires more than reassurance. It requires clarity. We are asking for a clear documented response that outlines protocol protections and how the district is responding to

096families fears so that students are not expected to simply endure them. [snorts] Before closing, we want to share why these recommendations matter beyond compliance data or process. What follows reflects the lived experience of indigenous students and the conditions under which indigenous education is currently being asked to operate. A forest cannot regenerate while clinging to what is already dead. In nature, renewal requires fire. Old growth must fall, decay, or be cleared so that light can [clears throat] reach the ground and new life can take root. Without that process, the forest becomes crowded, brittle, and in incapable of healthy growth. Indigenous education in this district is being asked to grow while remaining bound to outdated systems that were never built to serve indigenous students. We are expected to produce new outcomes without being allowed to separate from

097old structures, old power dynamics, and old ways of operating. That is not growth. That's continuing. One of our students stated that Indian education is the only place that they feel they can truly ble breathe, belong and be seen. That is not a success story. It's a warning. It [clears throat] means a small clearing exists, but the larger system remains unaccessible and unchanged. New growth will not occur unless there is a willing unless and until there is a willingness to let go of what no longer serves our students. Fire is not destruction for its own sake. It's necessary for renewal. Until this district is willing to separate from systems that perpetuate harm and exclusion, indigenous education will remain confined to the margins, growing despite the forest, not because of it. Much bizendawi. Thank you for listening.

098>> Thank you. >> Any questions from the board? >> Can I just be reminded what the process is after this? >> What to respond? >> The district responds [clears throat] then to the >> Yeah. So what will happen is today we're going to sign just an that acknowledgement that we have made the vote that we have >> and so we'll be signing you'll be signing I think um and that form is here with >> so has the form so I'll have director and then superintendent grants sign it and then our chair will also sign it that will get submitted to the state and then >> uh April 11th is the due date for your guys's response and that's >> you have 60 schools or 60 days >> 60 days >> in which to respond. >>

099Yeah. Okay. >> That's right before your 13th board meeting. I apologize. [laughter] >> Good timing. >> So it's on a Saturday. >> It is on a Saturday. [laughter] >> Okay. >> It's the 13th. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Yes. The only other thing that we wanted to just acknowledge is that you do have these tobacco ties. these same ties and um you can either take them, open them up, put them near a tree on or that kind of thing or you can we could take them back and take care of them for you if that's what you want to do or if you receive them in any other way. >> And what does putting them by a tree signify or mean? It's how we take care of like typically in a fire

100water or putting it near a tree >> places that they're not going to be like trampled on or that kind of thing. >> And so it's just a taking care of it in a good way. >> Okay. So like loving the earth or >> No, >> I mean it's kind of like accepting that gift that was given in a good way. >> Okay. >> Taking like so that you're not just >> got it. like it should never be thrown in the trash or just outside carelessly. Like it's very intentional. >> So honoring this gift that was given to us. >> We appreciate that. >> And so if if you do want us to take it back and take care of that, we can do that. If you want to take care of it in your

101own way, then that's okay, too. We just want you to be aware of that. >> Okay. >> Thank you for bringing this to us tonight. Um, I know we've we've had some fits and starts in in how we've been working together and how this is going and we appreciate your cander and your continued hard work in partnership with Shayla and Chassity. So, thank you. >> Mig in Ojibway. >> Okay. >> Good question. All right. Um, let's see. Moving on. We have nothing for old business but moving into new business. We have first the approval of the administration recommendation to issue a 202526 contract to the following staff member that was missed resulting in the granting of tenure and that person was Sarah Vang and we apologize that we overlooked that but we are adding it

102to the agenda now and I would look for a motion for that. So move >> second >> motion from director Ward second from director Dondelinger. Any further discussion? >> If not we'll do a roll call vote. >> Michelle Breen. >> Yes. >> Dlinger. >> Yes. >> Edman. >> Yes. Andy >> Hidman. He's gone. Sarah Spear. >> Yes. John Ward. >> Yes. Motion carries. >> Thank you. And the second item we have was moved from the consent agenda. The BHS curtain replacement, the Forest View curtain replacement, and the Forest View boiler upgrades. >> So, what are you are you >> I will be [laughter] here. I'll do my best. >> I don't think it's going to be that tough for you. Um, so we're paying for this, I'm assuming, out of the LTFM money, the new

103LTFM money that we're getting, >> correct? >> So, what are we trying to do? Just like get ahead and get as much stuff done as we can before they decide to take that away from us, too. >> Um, so the current equipment is 20 plus years old and failing. And then uh the water heater is the original the FMS and is also failing and we lost one of our water heaters. >> Is it a water heater or is it heat the school? >> He in this he said water heater. >> It's probably a hot water boiler, don't you think? >> That's what it says. It's a boiler. >> Boiler. >> So it' probably heat the school, too. >> Yeah. I think so. I hope so. Million bucks. >> And um as far as like if

104there's concerns about the spending, so we levied those dollars. So if we don't spend it, then there'll be a big adjustment on the levy. So we don't want to undersspend that. >> Always a smart way to do things. >> Marcy, how old again is forest view? >> 22. Okay. Oh my god. My kids were one of the first ones there. >> What? >> My kids were one of the first ones at that school. >> Yeah. Katie and Max. >> Okay. >> So this isn't coming off our general budget or anything like that. Yeah. Right. >> Well, I'll make a motion we approve the um purchases of the BHS curtain, the forest view curtain replacement, and the boiler upgrade. All right, we've got a motion. Is there a second? >> I'll second it. [snorts] >> We've

105got a motion by Director Breen and a second by Director Dondelinger. Any further discussion? Thank you. Um, I'm going to abstain because one of those is a sourceful contract. Um, we'll do a roll call, please. >> Dunlinger. >> Yes. >> Stephanie Edman. >> Yes. >> Randy Hidman. >> I was gone. So, uh, I will uh >> vote not present or whatever. >> I don't know what I'm voting on. It's on those curtains and the boiler at foru and that's coming out of LTFM funds, not our general fund. >> Oh, okay. >> It's LTFM money we have to spend on the buildings. >> Gotcha. Got Nope. Nope. Cool. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Fine. Yes. >> John Ward. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Kelly. Right. We'll move on toformational meetings orformational reports. The first one up is Christina

106Lungren with the winter screening data report. Hey, welcome. All right, I think it's okay. So, uh, we decided just as a note for the public to move the screening data, our fastbridge screening data into theformational section just because this is a quarterly um, report at this point in time. So, we moved it out of the presentation just to the report for the update section. So, uh, with our winter screening, the winter screening window was December 2nd through January 9th this year. Just a note, um we did move the screening date earlier uh this year from last year. Last year it was January 6th through January 27th. Uh that was in part uh last year was our first year with the early reading assessments that we did. And with some of the feedback from the elementary

107sites, they had wanted to try moving it earlier in the year before winter break. Um, so we did uh complete that assessment one month earlier than we did last year. Um, a couple of celebrations that we wanted to call out. Uh, from our fall to winter data, uh, second grade, uh, reading and math proficiencies increased from the fall and our grades 9 and 10 reading proficiencies increased from the fall. So to call out those grade levels. Um also something to celebrate um when we look at the yeartoyear data. So last winter to this winter um looking at the reading grade level cohorts eight out of the 11 grade cohorts um did have an increase in their uh percentage of students proficient from last winter to this winter. So looking at those two data points and

108then looking at the math uh cohort data, six out of 11 of the grade cohorts had an increase in their percentage of proficiency from last winter to this winter. So just to call out a couple of those celebrations. Um our spring screening window will be April 20th through May 18th. So we'll have an update after that window is complete. any any questions? >> I guess I would have just one and that is um what what plans I mean I'm looking at from fall of 25 to winter. Uh are there any plans to uh cuz we're down what is it 4% 62% 58%. And and you know is there anything showing what's happening Christina? I mean is there anything that board can do? Is there anything uh it just seems like it's kind of a is

109it something to do with uh the read act and all the training and all that stuff too? >> Yeah. So I mean I can speak to the fact that you know if we're looking at reading specifically um as we've talked about last year our uh Ksix teachers and special ed teachers and leadership participated in the OLA training around structured literacy. Uh this year is really our first year of implementing those instructional strategies and um it it is a learning curve. We started slow uh so at the elementary level we started looking at the the word study what happens in small group then we've layered in some vocabulary and comprehension as we've moved through the year. Um so we are just in the beginning stages of implementing those strategies. Um the feedback at the at the

110classroom level is that teachers are seeing a change in in what students are are doing in the classroom. um it might not be showing up on our data yet, but there is that um observational data at the classroom level, but that they're seeing they're seeing changes as we're implementing those practices. >> Uh the second layer to that is we're also um in the process of reviewing curriculum resources for K4 literacy. Uh so we had a a steering committee that looked at the list um options provided by MDE and did a very significant review of those resources and uh they've narrowed it down to two options that are now in front of our teachers. So the last few weeks teachers have been looking at those resources and then we'll be reviewing the feedback on that. So

111that would be the next step in the process. So, as we're kind of moving forward, started with implementation of of strategies, looking at resources, and then just continue to do that work as we move into spring and into next year. So, we're hoping that over time, uh, the student data will will show on our on our screening. Um, it's just that the the data piece is the last thing that that we see a change in with that implementation. Besides more funding, is there anything we as a board can help with or uh >> I think it's really um just being champions for the work that our teachers are doing and know that we are learning together. We're trying different strategies. We're having conversations. We're looking at data. We're looking at shifts so that we can

112uh provide better opportunities for our students and and move us forward. So just continue to be champions and ask the questions. >> How how important do you think EA's EA's in the K1 two and three? I mean do you think that there's a significant uh uh benefit? >> I feel like that's a loaded question and I'm not sure [laughter] the best way to answer. >> No, I didn't mean it to be loaded. I'm just wondering Oh, let me let me ask it this way. [laughter] More assistance in the classroom in K through three would be most assuredly welcome. Correct. I I think teachers would say that. Yes. >> Yeah. Um >> yes, I wasn't No, I wasn't trying to [laughter] I wasn't trying to do anything from that. It was just a a question that

113uh more assistance would would be helpful. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Anything else, >> Madam Chair? >> Yes. >> Christina is um I just lost my thought. Um, oh, the the uh the uh curriculum, the reading curriculum, uh that you we've gotten down to two different products now. Are both of those products in increasing uh phonetic awareness and phonetic uh uh techniques? >> Yes. So, both of the options that we're reviewing um they were vetted through the MDE process. Um so, that foundational literacy skills was a component that that was included. So both um both the resources that we're looking at they're a comprehensive uh K4. So they have the foundational skills which is the phonics phmic awareness and then they also have the knowledge building piece of it as well. >> Thank you. And Christina

114the um I heard you say that a number of uh grade levels have increased improve their scores from last year. Um um so anytime any grade level in any uh uh curriculum area increases is is a cause to celebrate and so kudos to those educators that are uh moving uh that that uh target up upward and we appreciate that. And director heman yes to your question. >> Which one John? >> You know which one? [laughter] >> No I know >> teaching assistance in K3. I got you, buddy. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> Um, next up we've got the Briner Public Schools Foundation report out. Director Ederman. >> Okay. The Briner Public Schools Foundation is a non notfor-profit or organization that exists to support the students of the Briner Public Schools. We primarily do this

115through grants, scholarships, and special projects and programs. So far this year, BPSF has awarded nearly 70,000 through our 4A grants program. The 4A grants benefit our students through arts, academic, athletics, and activities. Our final grant cycle for 2025 2026 will close on 317. Educator, educators, staff, and coaches are encouraged to apply for special projects or programs to enhance opportunities for our kids. The BPSF general application for scholarship closes on 317 as well. Last year, BPSF awarded over $220,000 in scholarships. All seniors graduating from Briner public schools are encouraged to apply. The 13th annual big event is coming on 221. Tickets are still available on the PBSF or website. We are still accepting auction donations and sponsorships. The auction goes live on 217 at 10:00 a.m. There's a fantastic variety of experiences, baskets, sports, theater, and

116and museum tickets, gift cards, and much more. Funds raised support BBS and our mission. The big event, I believe, is out at Grand View this year, so go and check on the website. It's always been a great event. always sells out it seems like. >> Yeah. >> And the theme is Olympics. >> Yeah, the Olympics. >> The Olympics. >> Yep. Okay. >> Great. Thank you. All right. Up next, we've got the safe and welcoming schools committee and wellness tasks updates from >> Okay. So, on the safe and welcoming schools committee, we met last week. We worked on and brainstormed how to best you best use data to meet the needs of each student using assetbased thinking which is focusing on strengths and to build academic and social emotional growth. That's safe and welcoming schools. The

117wellness task force meets February 17th. So we have not met since the last schoolboard meeting but we'll be meeting next week. >> Great. Thank you. and the business services report. Superintendent Grant has your name by it. [laughter] >> Director Lord, >> we're going to the >> He was hoping she'd get out of that this [laughter] >> Thanks a lot, Ryan. >> Uh so in your report is the financial report. Um just wanted to note that the building construction fund is um higher than last year by about four or lower than last year by about 5%. And it's just timing of projects. Um then the debt service difference is around it's up 2% and that was due to the refunding that we just did in December. So those are tracking well. And then the enrollment report

118when we look at that uh starting from the beginning of the school year we're down 110 K through 12. the five-year average is 67. So, it is it is high. Um, and it's it's in the higher grades, so 9 through 12. So, just we're going to keep monitoring that. Um, and I'll have better numbers actually with the budget revision, which will be coming up next month. And then, um, the board asked for a budget update. So, I'm just giving a very brief overview. Um some of the changes that were made on there is we're looking at the gen ed revenue kindergarten specifically. Um and then also looking at our FTE currently as well at multiple sites. We'll be able to have um more infinite or not infinite um specific numbers once we know which positions

119which we don't have nailed down yet. So the current projected unassigned deficit for 2627 is about 1.9 million. And you guys are going to see that it's going to keep going up and down as we go through the next couple of months based on the information that we get. It it's constantly we have retirements, resignations, um new information maybe on enrollments. >> It's nice to know though. It's a it's a big improvement. >> Yep, it is. >> What What is the uh the building construction fund? Is that is that the blueprint 181 money? Yes. >> So, we're about out. >> Um, we're at about 2.4 million, I believe. >> So, that's the budget. That's not actually our cash balance. Yep. So, that one is one that um we would >> probably spend the money on

120December. I don't remember voting on these things. >> Uh, a lot of it's uh furniture. Um, trying to think other things that don't require board approval. Um, furniture is the big one. 400,000 >> furniture and I think that there was something at Forest View. I'd have to go back and look. >> Could you email it out to us? >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Thanks, >> Madam Chair. >> Yes, Director Ward. >> Um Marcy, I have just a budget question as well. Yeah. >> Um >> what was our cross subsidy uh last year? >> You're going to put me on the spot like that, John? >> Well, send me I've I've asked for that information. I haven't gotten it yet. Yes. >> So, um, >> so if you could send me, uh, the amount of cross subsidy

121last, and I'm not I'm not trying to put you on the spot, Marcy. I just need that information. >> Um, so, uh, if you could send me the information on cross subsidy last year, and then also, you know, as as it has looked for the last 10, you know, decade or so per year. >> Yeah. Um, Jen and I can touch base on I wasn't exactly sure who was going to respond on that one. So, >> thank you. >> Yeah. Any other questions for Director Lord? >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Mars. >> Thank you. >> All right. And the superintendence report. >> Uh last week I had the enjoyment of going to Baxter Riverside and Nissa as they did their glow run days. Um if you haven't been to one, you need to go to

122one. [laughter] Yeah. I don't know who got pooped up more, the teachers or those who were in blowups. Um, [clears throat] but it it's a great fundraiser. I think um I think Baxter was in the high 40s. Nissa was in the mid to upper 50s and Riverside was in the mid to upper 50s as well in fundraising. Um all that money really is uh driven by PTO actions and the kids have a great time, the teachers have a great time and um the other elementaryaries are global runs will be coming up. So if you want to just come and watch or join, you certainly can. You can walk. You don't have to run, Randy. [laughter] >> Thank you. >> Yeah. And then [clears throat] I think it was last Wednesday, the Wind Symphony did their

123concert at noon because they couldn't uh perform in the cities. Um it it was really phenomenal. They did eight songs and I think they averaged or eight uh pieces. They did um I think they average between three and four minutes each. I mean if you were there and you got a chance to watch Chris orchestrate, I mean afterwards I asked him, "So are you exhausted or are you really stiff?" tired after you get done because he's quite animated in front of his kids, but it was really well done. I mean, those kids were outstanding and um it's really unfortunate they didn't get a chance to perform in the cities, but they were um outstanding. It was really fun to listen to and we had a really good student audience there. So, >> um it was

124quite impressive. >> Yeah. What a cool opportunity too to be chosen [clears throat] to do that. >> Yeah, >> we got some talent. Yes. Thank you. All right. We've got a list of um future meetings there. The one on the list on February 16th, the curriculum instruction and staff development committee meeting. There has been some conversation about um adding the whole group to that >> if that's a possibility. >> It is. This [clears throat and cough] say that meeting is >> Thursday. That's an error. Okay. >> If we want [clears throat] a Monday morning, we can do that. >> Does the 19th work for people? No. >> I, you know, >> because of our student representatives, I would love to keep that separate from the folk >> actual work session. >> Okay. Yep, we can

125do that. >> Is there But are people in office on Monday? Is it is it a holiday? I don't even know. >> Well, Monday is President's Day, >> but I mean for the district Okay. So, if we met on Monday, we could conceivably do that. Okay. >> You guys up for that? >> Meeting on Monday. >> I'm sorry. Are you talking about Are you talking about a work session, Sarah? >> Yeah. Meeting on Monday so that we can garner some more information about the Paul Bunan Educational Co-op. >> Yeah, I'm available. >> So, is that what is that what the whole agenda is going to be? We're we're just discussing that on Monday then or all the other items that were that were removed. >> I mean that's the primary agenda item. It's a work

126session. Conceivably we could add to that. >> Okay. So has it been has the time been set and all that stuff yet or I'm not familiar with what's going on. >> No, we haven't set a time and we're just talking about the date right now. >> Very good. Thank you. >> Yep. So, if that date works, okay, does that work for >> It's fine with me. >> Okay. Um 8:30 just to keep it consistent with what's >> Sure. >> 8:30 to 10:30 >> on the outer edge. >> So, are we going to talk about approving for the administration to pursue a legislative bill to transfer the 1 million? Are we going to talk about that at that meeting? >> We can add that to the agenda. It's a work session >> too. Yes. >> Um

127yes, I would like that. >> Okay. >> Um and if the if anything else comes to mind that we want to add to that time, feel free to >> Yeah. Send it to me or to Kelly. >> So is the curriculum instruction staff development committee meeting going to be moved to what date? >> No, that is the 19th already. That was a typo. >> Yeah, >> it's the 19th. >> Not the 16th. >> At 8:30. Okay. >> Okay. Um, and so the you guys can look over the other dates on the calendar, but those are the ones that I wanted us to get squared away. and we are going to go into close session. But before we do that, I don't know if you wanted to talk a little bit about kind of give a

128synopsis of heading into close session or if you wanted John Edison to do that. >> Well, it depends on what the board wants to know. Um, we've been meeting with uh the teachers union, the EA union. Um, we've been in mediation with both of them. Uh, two long days. uh didn't really gain a lot of ground with the EAS. We are apart on the finances for the most part. Um with the teachers, we have quite a few language tenative agreements, but we are significantly apart on the finances. Um Jason put some data together. Um, in the benefit side of things, you know, we're kind of just a little bit over average, above the 50% side. On the um benefit side, we are significantly higher than the average and thus that is our stumbling block. how

129to stay within the budget constraints we have knowing that um the benefit side of things is and everybody knows this it is out of control and it's never going to change until something significant changes probably legislatively but that is what we want to talk about with you in close session with John our um legal counsel and our head negotiator I don't know Jason do you want to add anything, [clears throat] >> Madam Chair? I just want to I just want to be careful about this that you know, we're not negotiating um at a board meeting. >> No, we're not. >> Noted. >> Just just to amplify or maybe clarify a comment that Peter made when he said salary is about 50 at about 50%. That's actually like in in HR a lot of times you

130uh look at what's called a compa ratio a compensation ratio like how does your how do your wages compare to the market. So if you're like exactly meeting the market you'd be at 100%. If you're you know 10% below the market you'd be at 90%. And so with with our teacher group and just we went online and looked at um comparable data within our athletic department and um neighboring school districts and also enrollmentbased um comparables and and our beginning wage and our top end of the scale. Uh we we're like right around that 100%. So, we're pretty much meeting the market um on that min and the max and we know that different schedules have longevity and how people move through the schedule and things like that. But just from a real objective kind of

131number um to look at that's that's the data that we found um for our and and as Peter mentioned our our benefit numbers are are significantly higher across all groups. we do see with our um hourly support staff the the wage uh component is significantly below market and so that that that benefit and wage um disparity is is really an issue um that we've we've talked about in bargaining but uh it just when you look at all of our data that's that's where we're we're seeing some trends. >> Thank you. We'll look for a motion to move into close session. Motion second. >> Got a motion from a second from Director Hidman. Any further discussion? If >> not, we'll do a roll call vote, please. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Randy Hindman, >> yes.

132>> Sarah Spear, >> yes. >> John Ward, >> yes. >> Joe Breen, >> yes. >> Don, >> yes. Thank you,