001Okay, we'll now open the December 2025 regular school board meeting of school district 518. Uh, call to order. Roll call. All board members are present. Recognition of visitors and guests. Uh got a few here again. Thanks for attending tonight's meeting. Uh 1.3 pledge of allegiance. Everyone stand please. >> I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> [snorts] >> 1.4.1 public participation. Uh I don't believe we've had any tonight. 1.4.2 recognition of students, staff, and community. Okay, starting out with recognition. Trojan football. Congratulations to Feno Nueno for being named to all district team. [snorts] Congratulations as well to Isaiah Schrader and Logan Kirkart who earned honorable mention recognition. Well done on
002an outstanding season. Prairie Elementary, the Minnesota VFW Auxiliary Art Contest. Congratulations to our Prairie Elementary students who participated in the Minnesota VFW Auxiliary Art Contest. Several student entries will advance for consideration at the district level. Excellent work and creativity. The WHS coral department honor choirs and m magical. [laughter] Congratulations to our WHS choir members selected for various honor choirs. Reagan Phelps was selected for the ACDA Midwest Regional Honor Choir and will travel to Milwaukee in February to perform. Uh we had a me we had a number of students that were selected for the Minnesota ACDA 9th and tth grade honor choirs traveling to the Twin Cities in February. Job well done to the WHS coral department on a successful byianual performance of the WHS Matt Frigal. The two outstanding performances were enjoyed by appreciative audiences.
003Bravo. WHS art department and WHS art morale. Warthington High School recently welcomed visiting artist Sarah Caso Garcia, a Huxley, Iowa based moralist and community arts leader. His visit provided students with valuable insight into the life of a working artist and highlighted the importance of storytelling, collaboration, and cultural expression through visual arts. The morale will be displayed at the WHS cafeteria with plans for a second morale during Sarah Casso's return visit this spring. Job well done to everyone involved in this impactful project. Celebration chorus and fifth grade orchestra. Congratulations to our celebration chorus, community education, and fifth grade orchestra on two fantastic performances last week, including the orchestra's performance last night. Your music truly helped usher in the spirit of the season and was greatly appreciated. Intermediate School and Worthington Middle School Music Department's Festival of
004Music. Last night's festival of music featured band, choir, and orchestra performances from each grade level. Congratulations to all students and staff involved for a wonderful evening of music and a job well done. Okay, let's moving on. 2.0 approval of agenda. We need to approve the consent agenda and the main agenda with removal of 4.2.5. 2.5 from the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the agendas with removal? >> So moved. >> Motion by Lori. Do I have a second? >> Seconded by Aaron. All those in favor approval of the agenda say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, same sign. >> Motion passes. 3.0. We need approval of minutes. Approval of the November board meeting minutes and the committee meeting minutes as included. Do you need a motion to approve minutes? >> So
005moved. >> Motion by Ann. Do I have a second? >> Seconded by Eric. All those in favor of the approval of the minutes say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. Same sign. Motion passes. Okay. 4.0 the consent agenda. And I need a motion to approve all items under the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Motion by Ann. Do I have a second? >> Seconded by Lori. All those in favor of the items under the consent agenda say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, same sign. Motion passes. Moving on to the main agenda. Monthly financial overview. Carmen. >> Um for the period ending um November 30th. Um you can see that our um revenues and expenditures are are running very close to um the previous year. Um our revenues for total operating funds are
006at 33.85% compared to last [clears throat] year um at 33.96%. Um similar with our expenditures um running 33.57% compared to 35.65%. Um as we have mentioned previously, we are um planning on doing a revised budget. um we will most likely not have that ready for January as we are waiting for the um negotiations with the teacher bargaining group to be completed as that will be a that's a that's a big part of the budget. So we're not going to complete that revision until we get that process so then you guys we can give you a really clearer picture on that. >> Okay, questions for Carmen. >> Okay. Okay. 5.2 approve the final reading of policy 722 public data and data subject requests. >> This is the final reading for policy 722. Uh this came out
007of a recommendation from MSBA. Uh it went through both committee and previous board reading without uh further discussion. Just as a reminder, the addition to this policy is a stipulation that gives us as a district a little bit of latitude when a formal data request is made by an outside entity that requires payment. Um if that request is made and payment is not received, um the the new clause allows us to not fulfill further um requests by the same entity until they um reimburse for the time and material uh from the previous data request. So just as a that's a reminder of what the change was. All other parts of the policy remain. >> Okay. If we agree with the final reading, do I have a motion for policy 722? >> Move to approve final
008reading of policy 722 public data and data subject requests. >> Okay. Motion by Matt. Do I have a second? >> Seconded by an. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor of policy 722 P public data and data subject request say I. >> I. >> All those opposed same sign. Motion passes. Okay. 5.33 approve resolution directing the administration to make recommendations for possible reductions. >> Right. So um this resolution um this district has done this um for quite a few years. What it basically does is it um it directs administration to um review district finances, which is something we do all the time anyway. Evaluate programs and services um access staff levels. So, as we talk about staffing, um which I will be giving a presentation on staffing, what our staffing process is going
009to be this year at the January board meeting. Um if we feel like there's staffing reductions, that would be a conversation. Um, part of it also ensures legal and contractual compliances. Um, what the resolution does not do, it does not immediately cut programs. It does not automatically eliminate positions and it does not identify specific employee layoffs. So, this is really just a you guys just authorizing us to move forward, look at budgets, look at numbers, look at staffing, look at programs. Um, really just evaluate our current systems is what this does. >> We have a motion. >> I move approval of the resolution. Second >> motion by Lori, seconded by Matt. Is there any further discussion? >> Oh, I'm I'm not asking this question opposing, you know, this, but what would happen if the board
010did not authorize you to do this? >> I mean, technically, we still would have to do our job and go through the process. This is just a kind of a formality. I think that um I had kind of asked around today because um a lot of districts use this if they they have experiencing like financial constraints or huge um reduction in in student enrollment which as we had mentioned before we we are seeing a little bit of a decrease there. Um [snorts] it just basically kind of gives the administration like hey we want you to come back to go out do a very thorough um study of our staffing our programs that we're offering. are we offering the right programs and then everything comes back to the board. >> Thank you. >> Further quick question.
011So we went through this last year and there were um nearly every area had some reductions that we approved last year. Can we get an update on what we did there as well? Um not part of this process but again separate. I mean, I'm thinking about things like transportation where we said we were going to reduce the number of charter buses we took. We're going to reduce that [clears throat] by $50,000, I think, is what we said. Is there a way to follow up on what happened last year as well? >> I believe that yeah, we can we can do that. And I think that's so as we get into like the staffing for next year, but also in that that re um revision of the budget when we come to that, I think that's
012when maybe we can address some of that Darlin kind of do that with that process. And then our staffing is kind of a whole separate. Does that make sense? Okay. Thanks. >> Any further discussion? Okay, we have a motion and a second. This is a roll call vote. >> Miss Dudley. >> I. >> Miss Hagard. >> I. >> Miss Shy. >> I. >> Miss Mills. >> I. >> Mr. Bloom. >> I. >> Mr. Parish. >> I. >> Mr. Widboom. >> I. >> Okay. Motion passes. 5.4. consideration approval of the 2025 levy payable for 2026. >> Um [clears throat] so Ryan had presented that to um you guys in the tax the truth taxation hearing. Um the preliminary one was um approved by you guys in September. This is just the final process of that and
013I believe the recommendation is that you approve the max levy. >> What did that end up at, Ryan? It wasn't the original >> 1.67. >> Y that was the increase was 1.67. >> Yeah. Okay. Um we're going to approve it. I need a motion to approve the max levy. >> So moved. >> Motion by an >> Seconded by Eric. Is there any further discussion? [clears throat] All those in favor of the approval of the 25 levy payable and 26 say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, same sign. Motion passes. Okay. 5.5 approved to declare surplus property. All right. We've got a fairly significant batch of uh band uniforms that we're looking to offload now that uh the new uniforms had been uh had been shown and and um revealed at the uh indoor band
014concert. And so um Mike came to um instructional committee and shared we've got a number of band marching tops, marching band pants, the shackos or the hats and the color guard uniforms. um they've looked into um trying to parcel them out and sell them, but in order to do that um we would have to dry clean each one of them um go through each one of them and and really the time and the effort um to parcel them out that way just wasn't conducive with the uh the return. So looking to declare them as surplus and we'll find a uh a different more cost-effective way um to to take those out of our system. >> Okay. Do we have a motion to declare surplus property? So moved. Motion by Eric. >> Second. Seconded by Aaron.
015Is there any further discussion? All those in favor to declare surplus property, say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, same sign. >> Motion passes. 5.6. Approve an out ofstate travel request. Yes, we've got this one as well. Went through our uh instructional committee. We're recommending approval tonight to allow uh four staff members, two teachers, uh Melissa Jensen, our elementary curriculum coordinator, and one of the administrators from Prair Prairie Elementary um to go to the UFly Academy uh 3-day conference in Florida. Um the UFly is a continuation of our commitment um to making sure that our students and our staff uh are progressing through uh the various uh readact and literacy initiatives going on throughout the state. And so, um, this request also went through the district staff development team. Uh, and so it's had
016that approval again as well as the instructional committee approval. >> Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the out ofstate travel request? >> So moved. >> Motion by Eric. Do I have a second? >> Seconded by an is there any further discussion? >> All those in favor of the out ofstate travel request, say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, same sign. Motion passes. 5.7 approve the first reading of policy 606 textbooks and instructional materials. 306 administrator code of ethics. 417 Chemical Use and abuse and 712 video recording other than on buses. >> Thank you. I'm going to break each one of these just apart if that's okay and go through them and then if you'd like to approve them all together, we can do that. But again, each one of these went through
017committee. We're recommending approval. These are all MSBA changes uh with either statute changes or language changes. The um policy 606 was a an addition into the what what constitutes instructional material. I'll just read it quickly because it's short. Uh the addition says all instructional materials including teacher manuals, films, tapes or other supplementary material which will be used in connection with any survey analysis or evaluation as part of an applicable program should be available for inspection by parents or guardians of students. So that is the addition to policy 606. 306 is a complete rewrite of the uh general statement of policy. This is the administrator code of ethics. Um, so I'm not going to read all of those, but again, um, these were all discussed, uh, through this one, I believe, went through operational committee. I'm
018going to skip 417 for a second and go to 712. Um, this is a language change. Much of this is just changing narrative, changing video surveillance to recording. Um given that just in in the days we have video recording happens in lots of different ways not just the cameras in the classroom um or sorry not in the classroom in the hallways or in the public areas but also through devices and so it's updating those different language pieces to to comply with current trends. In regard to 417, uh I had shared with operational committee that uh when we got the suggested changes from the uh from MSBA, um we began looking at mirroring what we had in policy and what was being suggested. And um what we come to came to find is that the um
019policy um had not been updated since 2016. And so there was no way to make the changes for that were suggested match what we already had in policy. And so given it had been 10 years and um it looked like there had been many other revisions over the years, our recommendation as administration is to adopt the current full MSBA policy 417 and kind of start fresh with a brand new in 2025. So those would be the four policies that we're asking for a first read on uh and approval for tonight. Okay. Okay. Do I have a motion for the first reading of policy 606, 306, 417, and 712? >> So moved. >> Motion by Ann. Do we have a second? >> Second by Lori. Is there any further discussion? >> All those in favor of
020the first reading of all the policies listed say I. >> I. I. >> All those opposed, same sign. Motion passes. [clears throat] K. Eight. Approve student teaching agreement with Western Governor's University. >> Yeah, we've got a renewal for an agreement with this university to continue to support our our teachers that are or future teachers that are working their way through um the education process. Um this is an agreement I believe is yearly. Is that correct? Um and so we're looking to renew that relationship. um again continuing to find ways to to support our our future educators um through that student teaching process. And so we're recommending approval. This is a relationship we've had in the past and is again just looking to continue that. Do >> I have a motion for the teaching agreement with
021Western Governor's University? >> So moved. >> Motion by Ann. Do I have a second? >> Seconded by Aaron. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor of the teaching agreement say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, same sign. Motion passes. 5.9 approved. Prairie Elementary phase 2 rough bid. This bid was brought to operational. Uh bids were opened on November 19th. We had four biders that met all criteria. Uh the range of base bid cost uh the highest was almost $2.7 million and the most favorable bid was 2 million uh $83,000 and that would be the one that we recommend going with. Happens to be Jackson and Associates. That's who did the first phase of Prairie Roof. [snorts] Estimated uh start date is May 30th with work days being approximate construction days of 30.
022We think it'll take it a little bit longer, but and operational did recommend approval. And this is listed as phase two, but this would finish Prairie. >> And it come in under bid, right? >> Came in under projection. >> Under a projected bid. Yep. >> Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the Prairie Elementary phase 2 roof bid? >> So moved. >> Motion by Darla. Do I have a second? >> Seconded by Ann. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor of the prelimentary phase 2 roof bid say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, same sign. >> Motion passes. >> 510. Approve employees request for unpaid leave. >> We have a um an employee who has been out on medical. her um paid leave has been exhausted and she's requesting to go
023on to unpaid leave status um through March until she has her next appointment and then we will review it at that point. Um the recommended action is to approve the request. >> Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the request? >> So moved. >> Motion by Lori. Do I have a second? >> Seconded by Aaron. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor of the employees request say I. I. >> All those opposed? Same sign. Motion passes. >> Okay. 5.11. Approve a band trip request. Mike Thompson came to instructional committee uh last week and had shared that uh we are back in rotation now to uh take our marching band students on a uh excurs excursion across the country. um they're looking to um participate in the Sugar Bowl parade in New Orleans,
024Louisiana. That would be next December the 28th through January the 2nd. So, December 26 to January early January uh 27. Um they are going to contract or work through a a travel uh music travel consultant um and uh they'll help organize each student's uh fundraising efforts and and collect their funding for that. Um the couple of pieces that are are being considered here for your approval would be obviously sending uh our whole group uh to New Orleans. Uh but the other piece is to continue with past practice. U Mike has it broken down here that in in the past the school district has contributed money and funds to certain individuals who go on that trip. And so the the district would cover the full contribute or full cost uh of the marching band staff to
025go along. That's three or four uh people. um a district administrator with a group that large is pretty important, a head chaperon, and then also a medical person um with the new laws that are in place um regarding supporting students. We would have to send a nurse along just to um be with any students that maybe have any medical needs. And so I believe, and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong, I believe Mike had shared that a typical cost to the district is between about 10 and $12,000, if that sounds correct, um, to cover the the the contribution there, uh, for those individuals. Um, I think that's what I have. Yeah. >> Any questions? Okay. >> Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the band trip request? So moved. >> Motion by
026Eric, seconded by Matt. Is there any further discussion? >> All those in favor of the band trip request say I. >> I. I. >> All those opposed, same sign. Motion passes. 512 approve petition for street vacation. >> Yeah. So to continue to move forward with our softball field project, um the next piece of that is to vacate Tower Tower Street um between the Old West property and the current Centennial Ball Fields. And so um just for updating um we've continued to have conversation with uh ICS, our contractor partner on that project, as well as the city of Warthingington. uh where Tower Street sits right now, the if you take um the very middle of that road kind of right between Clary Street and I think it's Lake Street to the to the south. I'm not
027sure which road that is. Sorry. Um but that's the road that would be part of the road that would be vacated and then we would put the new concession stand, the restrooms right in the middle of that street and then either side of that will be parking lots. Um, we felt it was important to make sure that no one could drive through. And we liked the fact that we put that um, facility right in the middle so that if you are using the pickle ball fields um, or courts or the basketball courts, it's in close proximity. Or if you're in uh, at one of the ball fields on the other side closer to the park, you'll also have close proximity there. But um as a land owner uh adjacent to that road um I believe
028we can we can help the city move forward and um they need our approval to vacate that road. >> Okay. Do I have a motion [clears throat] to approve the petition? >> So move >> motion by Matt. Do I have a second? >> Seconded by Darla. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor of the street vacate say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. Same sign. Motion passes. Okay. 6.0 reports. Superintendence report. All right. Uh before I share my report, I I want to preface this with I I love all of our kids and all of our buildings, but I did spend 18 years in a middle school. So, when I got asked to um to attend the Renaissance uh award ceremonies there a few weeks ago, um it was great to be there.
029I got to spend a whole day there, basically. And so, I I did want to share my report tonight on on how that event went. So, a couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of participating at that special event at the Morington Middle School, the first quarter Renaissance Academic Awards Celebration. The event was organized to recognize and celebrate students who met established academic standards during the first quarter and it was a privilege to be a part of. We hel they held three separate ceremonies, one for each grade level, allowing every student who earned recognition to be individually called forward and acknowledged for their hard work and dedication. Uh the student pride and energy was evident as we went through each of those grades. Each event was also very well attended with families, friends, and staff
030members coming together to celebrate the accomp accomplishments of our Trojan middle schoolers. And the strong turnout reflected the shared commitment and support that surrounds our students every day. During the ceremonies, I also got the opportunity to share a message with the students that mirrored the message I was able to share with many of the staff members that are here tonight at the start of the year, and that is hard work matters. Uh, but it's also important to have fun along the way. And uh they were able to to to say that with me um at the end of each one of those a little hard work uh hard work uh have fun uh chant at the end was great. Uh the balance between high expectations and and the joy and learning was on display throughout
031that event and I commend the middle school staff for creating such a positive and meaningful experience for students and families. Events like these reinforce the importance of celebrating student success, recognizing growth, and building strong connection between school and home. I'm grateful for the Warington Middle School team for planning and dedic for their planning and dedication and to the families for their continued partnership. And then lastly, on a second note, uh Principal Winnick um shared that uh he would like to extend an invitation to all of our board members uh to attend the annual winter breakfast tomorrow at the learning center. Uh the special event takes place at 700 a.m. and breakfast will be served to students and staff uh by many other district staff. So, we're hope you're able to join. I found out this
032morning from Reena that I'm I'm on egg duty. So, I guess I'm making the eggs. So, that is my uh December superintendent report. >> Are we having fun? >> We're having fun every day. >> Just checking. >> 6.2 instructional committee report. >> Everything's been covered. >> Okay. Operations. >> Believe it was covered. Mr. Chairman 6.4 4 other reports. I don't think we have any. [snorts] 7.0. Other business. I'm going to ask for a negotiations update. All right. And I'll uh encourage any of our other negotiating friends to please jump in if I happen to miss anything, but uh I'll get started with um the overall uh process thus far has been um very cordial, very positive. Um, I think all of us feel like um the experience has has moved us forward and all of
033our conversations have been productive and um student centered and and willing to problem solve. Uh we've met nine times if my calendar is right. Is it is it more than that Carmen? I had nine when I looked back starting in June when I got here. We've got two more on the books um coming forward. Um some things that have been um kind of already hashed out. We've we've done a lot of um agreement of of language. We uh we're we've kind of come to an agreement uh as to a contribution for insurance and uh the last piece that we have left is uh is is salary and we're hopeful that we're close. We're about a 1.1% apart uh on on total salary. So or on total package. So overall, we feel like it's been been
034going well and we're uh hopeful that we can continue to move forward and uh come together soon so that um we can all go back to teaching our kids and feeling good about how it's going. Um yeah, anything I missed from the rest of the group members? Good. >> Mr. Chairman, can I ask specifics on percentages and difference between asking and proposed? >> What would you like to know? >> Whatever you're comfortable in sharing. >> Um, our our total package percentage that that uh the district team was at was at an 8.25 and uh our teacher friends were just a little higher than that at a 9.33. Again, um along with that goes uh an agreement on health insurance contribution. Um that we've had some other pieces that uh have also been agreed upon. We've
035added some uh extracurricular positions uh to support student activities. We've done some increases in in pay for some of those positions knowing that they have a higher um high responsibility with the number of students specifically in our music and band um activities supporting some of those uh those positions. Um we've done some increases in 403 benefit um to meet those needs and um EMW has been good about meeting some of us meeting us partway on some of our other language issues as well. So, like I said, it's been um very cordial, very um productive, and I think both groups can say that it's been a a positive experience. >> One other question, Mr. Chairman, from an insurance perspective, is that can you share much of that uh impact on negotiations >> as far as I
036mean, I know we had talked about the the single family and the the desire to increase the uh family participation. >> Yep. Uh both both the single and the family have what we feel are fairly significant um increases. Um single insurance increasing at a $700 increase uh and uh a family at about 1,700 I believe. >> Are there additional meetings scheduled? >> Our next meeting is January 7th I believe. So technically we're above what the board authorized last month. >> We are we are and and I I know that that there's still some conversation to be had and some justification with each of you on that. Um we know that there are some factors that are out of um both groups control. The inclusion of the Minnesota paid leave um going through that's an additional
037payroll tax that goes into effect on January 1st. The cost of that for both uh an employee and the district is about or it is 0425%. Um we also know that the state has increased the district's um uh contribution to TRA. And while we know that most of that dollar amount is reimbursed back to the district, there's never a guarantee to that. And so, um, knowing that those two pieces added on to a total package cost, um, does create a little bit of a a handcuff to us as a district team, um, to recognize that and to recognize for the teacher group that we we know that that being costed against them does raise the the overall package price. um that as a smaller negotiating team with the three board members that sit on that,
038we did uh decide to go slightly over or go to go over the the uh board allocation or board authorization and uh recognize that that that TRA and that that paid leave are um are an expensive piece to be added to it. So that is why we are doing what we're doing. Um as we know that we need to cost everything for the district um as a district liability knowing that funding could [snorts] always go away. >> So how do we feel that's going to affect the the budget going forward? I know Carmen said we need to revise this when this gets negotiated, but I mean one of our main jobs is financials and budgeting. So how's this going to affect it again? um you know once we do um settle the package we will
039put those salaries back into the budget. Um that is part of our overall staffing thing that we are also working on just to really get a clear picture. So we do have um staffing numbers as well as um cost and then how those costs are funded. Um, one of the things Ryan and I have been working on with um, Joel and Josh is to really reviewing um, what funds those staff things are um, we're st funding them out of. Um, whatever the process was in the past. Um, we we're just trying to maybe improve on that and get a better understanding of that. Right. Um, so as we're going through that, we're looking at some of the other funding sources that maybe weren't used in the past. So I think overall the 8.25 is doable.
040we had um kind of included Ryan on some of those conversations. We feel like that is something that um we could do. Um obviously, as you guys are aware, there's a lot of uncertainty in the state of Minnesota's finances at this point. So um but based on where we are at in with um audit report, we feel like this is something that um and I think that's why we as a group kind of move forward that we thought this was a reasonable offer that we could um afford and still be okay with. Okay. Anybody else? >> Mr. Chairman, a question for Mr. Hecamp and the committee. We had just what's your comfort level on our our first year teacher, our early teacher pays and uh uh are we doing any enough to address that and
041allow us to be competitive and continuously hiring? >> I'll let Carmen jump in in a second. I we we have looked at our starting pay. I think the other important piece is that um we continue to fully fund a single um health insurance um contribution pays for the deductable deductible pays puts a little bit money in their in their HSA. Um knowing that many of our first year teachers are single that's another benefit that we can offer along with a starting salary that keeps us very competitive in the area. >> Yep. And I think just um on a comparison we kind of watched that as we were doing those increases. Um currently I I do believe that we are um higher than most of the surrounding um schools at this point and if if not
042it's very close. >> Anyone else? Nothing. Okay. Future business 8.0. We're gonna have a January 5th board reorganizational meeting at 7:15. So if you want to boot me, boot me and [laughter] I'll go back to the dinner chair. Um, so yeah, we have that at 7:15. If there's anything that anybody wants to do different, that'll be committees. >> Yep. Committee assignments basically. Yeah. >> Okay. I can't think of anything else. Okay. I'll look for a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Motion by hand. Have a second. Seconded by Lori. All those in favor to adjurnn say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. Meeting adjourned.