001Good afternoon and welcome to the August 19th regular school board meeting. I'm calling this meeting to order and I want to call to attention member Laughler Camp will be attending remotely and you can see her on all the screens within the um boardroom. So clerk Mike Cel let's do roll call. Member Banks >> here. >> Chair Durer >> here. >> Member Laughler Kemp. >> She must not hear. Member Laughler Kemp, are you here? >> Can you hear us? >> She cannot hear anything. >> We will go ahead and continue roll call while you guys troubleshoot. Member Loal >> here. >> Can you hear me now? >> Member Maxel is me and I am here. Member Sidowski >> here. >> Member Williams >> here. Superintendent Maggus >> here. >> Assistant Superintendent Bonds >> present. >> Deputy
002Clerk Zunich >> present. >> Executive director of HR and operations severance >> present. >> Board Secretary Pakquette is excused. Executive Assistant Brown. >> And our student representatives are excused. We're going to take just a brief pause here for a minute. >> Member Laughler Camp, can you hear us? >> Yes, I can hear you now. >> Great. Thank you. We will now stand for the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. Now I'm looking for an approval for the agenda. Do we have a motion? >> A motion to approve the agenda. >> Member Loal has um moved for an approval of the agenda. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Member Mike Cell has seconded. Now we will Do we have any discussion? We will now do a roll call vote for the approval of the agenda.
003Member Banks, >> yes. >> Member Derek Eater, >> yes. >> Member Laughler Kemp, >> yes. >> Member Lo, >> yes. >> Member Mike says yes. Member Saddowski, >> yes. >> Member Williams, >> yes. Can I add just for public knowledge that we have to do a roll call vote since member Laughler Kemp is online? >> Thank you. Uh the vote is 70 to approve our agenda. The agenda have been approved. Next, we'll move on to school and community recog recognition. Assistant Superintendent Banks, Assistant Superintendent Bonds, cuz I just looked back. >> It happens. Thank you. >> No, it doesn't. I'm terrified. >> Sir, uh may I come up >> give you a shot call and just shock me every time. >> Members of the board, uh good evening. And uh it is with pleasure that
004I have the distinct honor to recognize a truly outstanding community partner Pez Dilla and N YS with the which is the neighborhood youth services organization. Each year PZ come on up. I know you're here. Each year they demonstrate an incredible commitment to our community through their support of our unity in our community event. The work that they do is a testament to the power of partnership. They provide free backpacks filled with school supplies, free haircuts and hair braiding and delicious food and drinks for the event. This is a huge help to our event and makes them a really truly great partner. It shows what building a respectful partnership with organizations truly look like. Pez and the entire NYS staff and team. We want to thank you for your unwavering support of our students, their families,
005and the community that you serve. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed. It can be felt. It is definitely tangible. And I'm going on a riff right now because I've known Pez now for the last five years. And he and his team have been truly truly a supporter of this community and the students that they serve. And um you know, I just really want to thank him for everything that he's done and that the organizations you work for and now NYS just thank you. And I know PZ, he's not uh someone who is short on words. So I know I'm going to turn it over to PZ to share a little bit about um the work and uh the partnership. And I turn over to you. >> Yeah. Oh, thanks for uh having me here. Um
006sorry, I just got done football practice, so I'm super tired, but and I look a mess, but um you know, it's uh it's been really cool just working with the school district. um not just in this event, but um we go into schools probably five days a week, whether it's Lincoln or Denfeld or Mars Wilkins or Dean East, we're in every school pretty much every day. Um and just being able to help the students and a variety of things, whether that's truency issues, getting kids to school, picking them up if they got appointments, getting them there and then back to school, and then a lot of homework help. And um I know Aaron Jollano is really huge with the work he does in the school. Trust me, if it wasn't for him, a lot of
007these kids probably wouldn't make it through. So huge testament to him. He's been doing this for 30 plus years. Um and I'm just humbled to have the team that we have and uh I enjoy working with the school and the school districts and um always looking for ways to improve. Um I'm also they know I'm not shy with uh different demands or things that we have you know because we want to see these students succeed you know so sometimes we might step on toes but it's only for the betterment of the community. So once again thank you all for having us and you know allowing us to be a partner. So >> thank you picture and then take a quick picture and then u um we'll turn up to board if they would like. Can
008>> I have Beth come up one of our board members? >> Yes absolutely. Come on. [Applause] >> Beth. >> Yeah. >> Yep. This is Beth Ell. She's one of our board members for uh neighborhood youth services. So, >> thank you. >> You would like to say something? >> I'll just I just want to say thank you. Um, I'm honored to be on the board and just to be a part of watching um, this organization flourish and seeing what they're doing in the community and they just keep pressing on and keep on going and they're growing and um, it's just a really delight for me to be able to be here. Thank you. >> Thank you. The Lord will come up and shake hands as well. Yes. Uh I I would say thank you so much
009uh to Neighborhood Youth Services, but also Pez, I've known you for the past few years, and when I think of community partners, you uh are the first person that comes to mind in your organization. you have been a partner and friend to the district and you we we can call each other at 6:00 in the morning or or 9 at night with an issue to to talk about and support one another. And I I uh just want to say that there are very few people who go above and beyond like you do. And last night was a great example of that. And uh yep, your your podcast is great except for the one episode that I was on. Actually, that was a lot of fun, too. But I probably don't want the board to listen
010to it cuz >> Thank you so much. Um and again we just appreciate what you do for kids. So thank you. Um now we have just kind of a lesser followup the report from the superintendent. Huh. It's not going to be as exciting as our school and community recognition. exciting and especially this month because we don't have our student reps yet. So, they'll be rejoining us in our September meeting. Um there's a little bit on this about our um there's a bit Let me just uh I might have to kick you off of cast Rosie. So, you'll be off the screen or member Laughler Kemp. So, you'll be off the screen, but you should be able to steer still here. If that changes, let me know. Can you hear still hear us? Yes. So, she
011can hear. >> Yes. >> Great. And I'm just casting my presentation. So, my superintendent's report for today. Um once again and we start with this every time. Our mission, values and um vision. Every student every day will be empowered but with learning opportunities for growth, creativity and curiosity in preparation for their future in a global community. And our vision is that Duth Public Schools provides an academically engaging, safe and inclusive environment with high expectations and responsible use of resources. And our values are learning, excellence, equity, collaboration, and belonging. And actually, when I think about our event last night, it exemplifies all of those areas. Our topics tonight, uh, on hold, I will put question mark because sometimes we have a a student rep show up and and I just wanted to make sure if they
012if they came, they felt welcome. But they'll be resuming in uh, September. Um, I have an update on our unity and community, an update on our solar project here at the district services center. Uh, an update on CA some cabinet work sessions that we've had, our DUTH leadership team update, our board workshop shop update, and an update on my my superintendent evaluation. And then if there's any other topics that come up through conversation, our unity in the community update. Uh just want to say thank you to the many many board members, the many community members, so many people that are in this room, so many people who are not in this room that were a big part of everything that happened last night. We I think I l looked at the uh radar screen a
013100 times yesterday and and the hourly forecast because we were wishing wishing wishing as hard as we could for the rain to stop and it did. It stopped just in time and and uh the skies cleared and uh we had a great evening. I do think that the uh the weather did impact our our uh involvement a little bit though, just normally we would have probably uh at least twice as many people. Um but with the poor weather, it was it challenged and I think it was um a little hard, but the people that were there were really really excited to be there. There were booths, 76 community partners who who had a booth or district uh departments, but most of them were were other areas outside of the district, other other departments and agencies.
014And it was just so impressive to see so many people gathered to support our students and think about their education. And when we when we hear people say it takes a village to raise a child, I think last night was a a great embodiment of that sentiment. Um it was really really wonderful. We had great performances. We had um so many different so many different things that were just so impressive. And uh again thanks to Neighborhood Youth Services for all that they provided with all the food that our students cooked and then uh with with the backpacks and the haircuts and the supplies and so many other things. Just a wonder wonderful event. our solar project. Uh this was a picture taken two stories above us and there is no third story so it was
015on the roof. Uh we took a picture as they were uh installing our solar panels and this is a group of our climate club students that you many of whom you recognize from previous board meetings and advocacy and lobbying that they've done uh locally and at the state level. Uh these students helped us get the funding for our solar project. And um you see behind them that you can barely see the the little uh stands. Those are what the solar panels go on. And uh we're very excited to have that project up and running. Um I know Benson Electric is doing the the final hookups and it will be generating power for us soon. It'll be generating sustainable electricity and saving the district money that can be put into resources for our students. So just
016really really impressive there. Um so really really thankful for those students and what they they advocated for. And again I think that when we think about um when we think about student leadership I think that they truly exemplified the best characteristics of leadership. persistence, intelligence, uh creativity, thoughtfulness, passion, all of those things that we hope to to uh to uh to foster when we think about the mission, vision, and values of our district. I think they did a great job of exemplifying that. Uh our cabinet work sessions, we've had a several cabinet work sessions uh of our top leadership. Uh we met on the 30th here and a lot of it was working on our vision card um which is really going to be our data dashboard that we'll be sharing with you in one
017of our upcoming meetings. We did uh some lunch and had a building up um a little bit of team building during lunchtime. Um we also had our act action cards and a review of those action cards that we have for this year which are kind of our uh plans within our plan. Then we talked about our progress monitoring and that's part of the reason why we came and met with you all as a as a board during our last committee the whole and we've got a group that's uh going to work on things. There's a survey going out if if uh you remember um so that will be coming up. We're reading a book together called Crucial Conversations. It's basically about how to have uh challenges respectful professional conversations and challenge each other about the
018things that matter most. And the the premise of that book is that all organizations have challenges from time to time and the sooner that you can just have frank conversation about what what you need to work on, the better off you are. So we've been reading that and it provides a lot of tips and tricks and skills. So uh really really nicely done and then we put it uh to uh to use when we were talking about some of our work with our cabinet. Uh we also uh were reviewing our August dates for the different team meetings we have as well as our professional learning for the coming year. So that was the work session that we had on the 30th. We have a group called the DUTH leadership team which is really kind of
019the the all all administration and supports. It's basically the the largest leadership team meeting we have here. uh that was held on the 12th of uh of August which was I believe t Tuesday the 12th. Yep. Uh so we had a agenda review. We had a whole lot of people to introduce u some some of them who are here, some of whom who are uh in buildings in different places. We had some great uh team building. Uh Jen and Brenda and um Dale and and Todd put together some some team building. It was dice of destiny which sounds kind of exciting and it was exciting. It was more but it was about who are we as leaders? What does it mean to us? It was really uh there's a lot that we're putting into things
020related to um building sense of belonging. So some of the activities we're doing with our our leadership teams are meant for replicating with our staff and students. So sort of that cascading of ideas. Uh Anthony shared some some information on some updates with the the teaching, learning and equity uh structures that he has within uh with some of the new um the the modified positions like the director of equity and and uh uh Greg's position as as director of technology and some of the changes there. There was a uh presentation by Jen, Brenda, and Dale on languages of appreciation uh knowing and valuing teams. You've heard about the five love languages. Well, there are also languages of workplace appreciation. Uh, and they're all uh it's it's some some things that are similar just as far
021as different people needing and wanting different things as far as how we show appreciation. How can we do that for our staff and for our students? Then we talked about vision card progress monitoring and we have our calendar of meetings. Uh we have Annie uh Schilling talked about our professional learning theme which is blast off which and blast I'm going to test myself the acronym is belonging literacy attendance safety and teamwork. So that is the acronym for our professional learning for this year. Good good stuff. Then I closed um and we we talked about um again a little more on relationship building. We had some lunch and then we went into an exciting afternoon of vector training for teacher evaluation training for our our leadership and anybody that was supervising our our uh teachers. So
022that was the afternoon. The next day we had kind of a nuts andbolt session with our principles working on things. Uh but this was the whole leadership team and what we did with them on that day. Uh board work sessions as you know we've had some board work sessions. We met last on July 8th and we worked with teamworks on board governance and other topics. And our next meeting is scheduled for September 9th from 5 to 8:00 p.m. And uh thanks to the couple of people who noted in my update that I I talked about it coming up and I didn't didn't add the date because I was rushing off the door because the rain stopped and I was setting up tables for unity in the in the community in our community. Uh we also
023plan to continue that work from the July work session when we meet uh in a in a couple weeks here. Superintendent evaluation as we know the board has several main roles in its governance model. One is policy. The other is is uh thinking about the the budget and another main thing is to uh hire, fire and evaluate the superintendent. So, my evaluation is coming up for my final evaluation for this year, I assume. Hopefully, not my final evaluation ever. I'm just kidding. Uh, but we met, the board and I met in close session on April 8th for my midyear evaluation. We followed the MSBA superintendent evaluation process. So, it's not something that we made up, but we've uh taken their guidance and modified it based on our needs. and the school board will meet next
024in close session uh one week from yesterday for the um 2425 end ofear evaluation. And I was just uh meeting with um Chair Eater and former Chair Lo to go over some of those u uh pieces of information. I hope to get it to you uh tomorrow so that you have plenty of time to look at it before Monday. And just a reminder that my goals were uh under standard one under governance um providing information for decision-making for the board. Standard two was on district finances and it was regarding asset protection which was thinking about how do we uh how are we thoughtful about decision-m on scarce resources. So that was mainly around our budgeting process. uh and then under teaching and learning uh focusing on school improvement and the things we've done to formalize
025school improvement and just a little mini artifact that's here from uh the session that that uh doc that director spartz led this this morning uh our CITs our continuous improvement teams met and that one of their one of their pieces is left here is a is a little artifact talking about uh continuous improvement teams and professional learning communities and what we do uh to make sure that those are are fueling the work of the district. This room was packed with probably 75 uh teacher leaders and principles throughout the whole day really focusing on what were their goals as as elementary schools for the year and how were they going to be u moving forward. So really a lot of work being done by school improvement. That's elementary. Secondary is doing uh equally as much work
026with with their CITs and just really impressed with our new structure with uh what we're doing for um Minnesota multi-tered systems of support and how we've aligned those with our school improvement. So that concludes my superintendent report, but I'll stand for any questions. >> Member Lald. So, I just want to and I'm sure others of us will share that too. Just an appreciation for yesterday's event and just um you know, I I think I was texting just as much as uh um Superintendent Magus was looking at the radar. I'm like, "Okay, is it on? Is it off?" You know, do I need, you know, a poncho? Do I need warm clothing? And um I even I think texted the night before and said, "It'd be great to call it off now when you see this
027weather forecast so we're not all there." But they went with their passion and their guts and their uh they tempted the the weather. But it was good. But I noticed that um that there was so much action at the at the um vendor tables like they were really spending time and you know taking all of the handouts and asking questions. The schoolboard table was busy and it was fun. And so we started that I think just last year. Other years we kind of volunteered at different sites in the in the whole, you know, operation, but we kind of thought last year that it'd be good to have a schoolboard um information table. And I think we've talked a little bit, I've talked a little bit about getting a little table tent um that goes on
028a table that says, you know, meet your schoolboard members or, you know, ask questions of schoolboard and we could have that and we could be at other events and and really open up the opportunity for our community to engage with us because, you know, they were taking the handouts, they took all the candy um and you know, Adele gave us all of that. So, I really appreciate that. And then the other one is that um the solar presentations I was able to get out here as well. I was up on the roof, too. And I can tell you that I'm glad I'm taking a weight training class to climb those stairs that you have to get up to um to get on the roof. And so I was I was pleasantly surprised that I I
029made it up and it was really cool. It was a great view up there, too. So, it was fun. And the kids were there and they were really excited. and they also were very appreciative of of our persistence as well working with them. Um so it was great. So thank you for that sharing that in your superintendent report. >> Member Saddowski. >> Yeah, I was just going to quick echo what member Loel I was going to talk about the solar. I just really appreciate that you invited all of the students. I know that um many of them have been advocating for solar for many years, even before I was on the board, but I distinctly remember my first school board meeting and they were there and they were advocating and they had done a lot
030of research just like we kind of shared and so it was it's been a joy to see it come to fruition for them and and our schools. So, thank you. >> Thank you. And I just want the board to know that that all came together really quickly. Uh it was sort of the the end of the day prior that uh um we started scheduling time with media for interviews and so uh we decided to invite the students and then I I told the board about it soon after I believe the next morning but apologized that that it just came together really quickly and would have liked to have given people more advanced notice but it was figured it was better to invite people when I knew than not. Um, Assistant Superintendent Bonds. >> Thank you.
031And I'll be quick. I would be remiss not to thank uh a couple of individuals who was behind the scenes working really hard on the union, our community event. And that's Sadel Wellins, our PIO, and Shalon Monroe, our family engagement coordinator. They were um working behind the scenes and have been working and doing the planning um and organizing for several months uh to make sure we have all of our community partners there. So, I want to make sure that I thank them publicly as well as everyone who then came out and helped and volunteered to make it a make it a successful event. So, I just want to make sure I acknowledge those uh two individuals. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bonds. Um you forgot one person, though. Uh I I too really want
032to thank uh Adele Wellins and uh Shalon Monroe. both did so much for this, but we wouldn't have had the unity in the community if it wasn't for you uh planting the seed of that idea and getting it started. Uh and there was also a lot of work by Patty that first year and uh just you you you had the idea several years ago of putting this on and and uh quite honestly I thought thought it was crazy and didn't think we'd be able to get it together. Uh but you uh prove proved that the community has uh vision for the district and and I appreciate your leadership on that as well. >> Member Laughler camp. >> Great. Thank you. Uh appreciate all of the thanks uh and agree with all of the things other
033people have said. I just wanted to highlight the solar in the schools grant again and and and do a a big appreciation for our state legislators who helped fund uh that grant and supported that grant. And our our our Duth area legislators were very supportive of it when we were lobbying um them. And I I just wanted to recognize them as partners in the success of us getting the solar panels um um on our buildings and and getting the the grant funding to help us do that. So, thank you. >> Thank you. And seeing no other um commentary for the superintendent, I just want to let the board know that once um superintendent Megas sends us his evidence for the superintendent evaluation, I'll make sure and send an email out to everybody, including the MSBA
034um guidelines around superintendent evaluations, and just take a minute to review that so when we come together on Monday um we can um have a really productive conversation. So, thank you. Moving on. Um, schedule six 6C is a schedule of meetings and events. Now, we'll move on to reports from the standing committee and we'll start with assistant superintendent bonds for the committee of the whole, the monthly committee of the whole that was August 7th. >> Thank you. And it was a short meeting in terms of agenda. uh items, but it was a a wellthoughtout meeting and a lot of details. So, the meeting focused primarily on improving systems. The superintendent and myself shared information related to the progress monitoring calendar and provided an overview of the uh the important meetings that happened during the cow
035meeting uh that are annual in nature as well as some of the meetings we have listed that would be coming to the board over the year during the cow meeting. The second presentation was a conversation with the ward or related to the format of the cow meeting. And so there was a lot of discussion on the uh format for our cow meeting in the future. and just a lot of uh really good dialogue on ways to um be more efficient with time. Making sure that the board is well informed through the presentations that are provided from the teacher learning equity department as well as our operations uh side of the house as well. And I'll stop there because those were the two items. Thank you. Do we have any questions for Assistant Superintendent Bonds? Uh,
036Superintendent Magus. >> Yes. I just have a uh comment or there was a question at that meeting about um I believe it was at that meeting about the schoolboard agenda policy 205 or two I'm sorry 203.5 rather uh as to whether or not the 203.5 applies to regular schoolboard meetings. And so we reached out to uh Terry Morrow from MSBA and basically he said that um it was intended just for regular schoolboard meetings. It's not intended the that particular policy is not intended for committee meetings and it's also based more on um the Robert's rules of order as opposed to state statute. So, thanks to the board member that reminded me of the question and and uh with Patty out uh the past couple weeks here and there, if there's anything that I'm u missing,
037please let me know and I will uh try and make sure that I follow up on it. Seeing no questions, um we can move on to the next committee report. That's the human resources and business services committee. Um Chair Saddowski. Yep. We had our HR business services committee meeting on Monday, August 11th here um in this room here at 4:30. And um as I always say um at this meeting I give kind of the highlights of that meeting but I would encourage everybody to watch our HR business services meetings. We often get 200 pages or more of documents which we read over the weekend prior to the meeting and prepare and we go through everything. But um that's what that meeting's for. This is kind of a highle uh overview here. So, I'm just going
038to give a few quick updates hopefully um on our human resources report. Um I would note that we're wrapping up negotiations with the PAR unit and negotiations are ongoing with food service principles and our director units. Um I also wanted to highlight our bus driver training program which I think is really great. It allows helpers um to have a pathway to becoming a bus driver and we have two folks in that program right now. And as we know um you know sometimes it's been hard to find bus drivers. So we really appreciate all of our bus drivers and the work that's gone into this program. And then I know it was mentioned previously perhaps in the superintendent report somewhere along the line we're moving from frontline to vector for employee evaluations. Um this is going
039to help facilitate a more streamlined process and save money and um really connects to our strategic pillar of um improving systems. Then I'm going to move on to our facilities report. We have many projects in progress. So I would encourage you to take a look at all of those. Um one that stuck out and that we had a little conversation on just because I was very curious about it was the Denfeld clock tower. Um we have a project where we're putting in heating into the clock tower and I just wondered why. It's because um we need to make sure we have fireproofing in the clock tower and um with the heating it then there's a sprinkler system. So that was one of note that I remember cuz it seems like the clock tower is always
040coming up at Denfeld. So we definitely want to have fireproofing. Um, those are the items that I wanted to highlight for the facilities and human resources report. Any questions on those reports? Okay, seeing none, I'll continue with my report then. Um, for transportation report, uh, right now we're obviously getting gearing up for school. So, we are finalizing routes um throughout the city. um doing a lot of vehicle maintenance and doing some back- toschool training for um staff. And then I just wanted to note that last year we drove 1,268,594 miles transporting students around our city, our long, skinny, narrow city with lots of little roads. So, I thought that was a remarkable number. Um, and I really appreciate all the work our transportation department's doing, getting ready for the start of school. It's one of
041those things that I think parents are always wondering, okay, when it what bus is it? Where where is my kid getting picked up? Um, and so all of that planning really goes into making parents and students feel um less nervous on that first day of school. Some resolutions that I wanted to highlight is um we have a resolution for donations to Duth Public Schools and we had a lot of donations for unity in our community which um we've talked a lot about tonight but we really appreciate the support of everyone in our community and um we also have a resolution for the employment of a schoolboard member by the district. So, those will be um some of our resolutions that we're bringing forth. Um we had our financial report. Really, it's a pretty um basic
042report. There were four weeks in, so there wasn't a whole lot on there, but we'll obviously keep an eye on that and there'll be more to talk about in the future months. And um for the consent agenda um besides the financial report under bids, RFPs and quotes, we had a very robust conversation about bid number uh 1340 which was for the duth newest Tribune Education Center buildout. Um we were lucky to have our own Brian Brown there as well as a representative from IC. Um so we will see that we saw that on our um consent agenda. This will need to be approved by MDE um in the coming months soon. >> Actually coming days >> coming days >> hopefully next week we'll hear something. >> So um yeah and so a couple things we
043talked about too besides that. Um so that that was a huge packet. you saw it added on I think on that Monday of our meeting and so it was a lot of different bids to review but I really appreciated um Brian and our ICS rep just being here and kind of sharing more about the bidding process for the district. Um someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I took notes here. Um those RFPs went out on July 9th and then um on July 31st they were extended I think to about August 6th. So there was a long window for people to submit a bid on those RFB RFPs. Um there was 13 contracts and um we've already I think we've done some walkthroughs already and then those projects will start I think the beginning
044of September and go through July. Um, and we also just talked about how um, the district is now going to um, be making sure to put RFPs on the district website. And I was really pleased to hear this. I think that um, it'll allow for, you know, we've already been very transparent in like posting it out in the community, but I think it's just one more spot to add transparency and also make sure that our local contractors can can know that it's on the website. And then another thing I would note is that all of these contracts um were um union. They were union contracts. So just wanted to point that out. Any questions on that? Because I know that was a huge packet. Any more questions or comments on that? Um John? >> Superintendent
045Magus? >> No problem. you know, uh I you were mentioning transportation and I I know we had some issues with routing with transportation a couple of years ago as we switched to a new software and I'm pleased to uh share that as of this morning there were only nine students left to be routed which is really in advance of where we normally are. We tend to get a lot of people coming in at the end, you know, enrolling at the end. So, so we want to make sure we have margin and capacity, but really impressed with the work of our our uh transportation team with uh Jeremy Caspides and then also with uh Simone Zunich leading that work. >> Yeah, I appreciate appreciate all the work that everyone's done on that. So, it's certainly a
046relief to parents and students. U member Laughler Kemp, I see you have your hand raised. I just really appreciated all of the uh background information on the bids that are attached to the remodeling of the um DN building. And so just again really appreciate all of the background information being I don't serve on that committee. Thank you. >> You're very welcome. >> Any other questions? Uh, member Loalt, >> I too will kind of echo um, member Laughler Kemp listening to it on um, our website. I just really appreciated the um, and I I don't know who our ICS uh, building manager's first name is. >> Jason. >> Yeah, Jason where you went through and you know, you didn't do a a deep dive because we didn't need it necessarily. There weren't questions, but you just
047went through all of those. Was it 13 categories that you broke down the the the construction or the the needs in every area um and and spoke to that and and we could see the bids. We could see the um the amounts that were were put out there and and how they were selected. Um I and I I loved, you know, members um highlighted it too. you know, where do where are we putting our um notices out and um Director Brown, you you talked about, you know, it's in the the newspapers, it's in other publications that you have and it's very visible. So, um it the board gets a lot of questions and the more we know the process um and I know that members and the finance committee also know it really well and
048and so I appreciate that. Um, and then with the transportation thing, I just think that I I appreciate that our district is always looking to um to use whatever current more updated technology is, whether it is your future um future uh forecasting for our budget, whether it is a advanced uh system for aligning transportation with students. You know, when we have the right tools in our toolbox to get those those tough um those tough things to get done, then you know, our community is happier, families are happier. They don't know all the ins and outs of how it became smoother or why we understand what what our financial needs are going to be in 5 years. It's because this leadership has seen to it that our departments have what they need as much as we
049can in the budget that we have to make those um systems improving systems work for us. So, thank you. Okay, seeing no other questions or comments at this time, I just have a few other things I'd like to highlight. I would just encourage if if folks haven't um there was quite a few expenditure contracts there which we reviewed and as far as our grant applications um there's one that was submitted for outdoor education at ordin and Lincoln Park Middle School which I was happy to see and then another one from Miss Sabakong uh Ojiway immersion at LUL for curriculum um contracting with elders and then also program materials. So fingers crossed for those grant applications. They both sound like very worthwhile grants. And then I just wanted to note because we had a couple change
050orders. Um and I just wanted to make sure um I'm sure everyone knows this, but that's very normal in construction projects. There will be often be unseen things um and then a change order is done. And so those are there for your review as well, but they all look pretty um pretty normal. So, any questions or last minute comments? Great. Thank you. >> Thank you for that report. Moving on to the policy committee. Um the committee chair is um member Laughler Kemp and I turn it over to you. >> Great. Thank you. I I hope you all can hear me. I'm going to kind of keep this fairly brief, but uh uh and again, all of the information we will be voting on in the consent agenda. Uh we met on Thursday, August 14th. Um
051we had one policy for second reading and there were no changes recommended after the first reading. It's policy 512, school sponsored student publications and activities. The purpose of this policy is to protect student rights to free speech in production of school sponsored media and activities while at the same time balancing the school district's role in supervising student publications and the operation of public schools. This is required by state statute that we have this policy. We all recognize student voice is important. We had some good conversation around that. Uh and uh this will policy um once we adopt the student student journalist policy uh it will be posted on the district website and in the student handbooks. So again uh this is the second reading of that policy. We also had a little bit longer meeting
052this month because we reviewed um a number of policies that fell under the thousand series and we're going to be going through each of those different series. Uh and these are policies that uh we have cross referenced and adopted in new policies already. So we are able to delete the thousand series. And I uh rather than going through each one, I just want to share that we um looked at 21 different old policies. Each one again has been cross referenced uh and are either in a current policy that we have adopted or they might be in our facilities uh handbook or our student handbook. Uh and so of the 21, we went through each one. Uh we reviewed which policies they currently fell under. Uh and had some discussion around that. There were three policies
053that in those thousand series that you all have available that we are holding off on and they will be policy um 1065 which was called the parent teacher association policy. We're going to be bringing back another more broader policy about parent and and community organizations. So um that will not be included in deletion 1065. Also um 1100 the name of that policy was public performances by students. We're just going to look a little bit more at the current regulations we have around this and uh get a little bit more principal input on our our current practices on that one. So that one won't be one we will be voting to delete. And the last One is 11:25 which is a policy um called soliciting of staff and students regarding advertising or promotional ventures during the
054school time and that we just want to um uh uh we'll be including in a different policy. So a lot of good conversation happened a lot of great updates. really want to thank uh particularly Patty Pette again who uh works uh through uh these policies with us. And then also at the end of our policy meeting, we reviewed like we have done every um July or August the policies that we have worked on for the past year during our calendar year which is July 1st 2024 to June 30th of 2025. And during this time uh this past year, thank you as a board we reviewed and um adopted or updated 41 policies this year. I want to thank um the colle my colleagues who served in 2024, Stephanie Williams for your work and then also
055uh currently and uh also in the past Sarah Michael and Joe Lo for for the work on the policy committee. So, that was our August 14th um committee report. Our next meeting is going to be Thursday, uh September 11th at 4:30. We we've changed our meeting time to 4:30. And I'll just say, uh Sarah or uh Jill, if you have any additional things to what I reported on. Um, real quickly, the going through the 1000 series is a big task. Um, and Patty does a lot of the heavy lifting there, but it's going to make our process of policy review so much more streamline because some of those policies were first written in the 1970s and have last reviewed in the 1990s. So, um, going through and making sure that we don't have obsolete policies
056and we have policies that really match what our state statutes are and what our current practices are is, um, I find very invigorating. Um, but it's it's going to do a lot of good work for our district. >> I guess I'll just add that um during the process I'm I'm learning how to be just invigorated by our policy work. Sometimes I'm just like, okay, confused. Um but that MSBA also um did a review if you was it in like 2017 or something. They they went through and did some review of policies we could really you know delete or re So we we had kind of a basis too and Rosie already had that information. Patty added to it and and so it seemed um not as overwhelming to me to figure out why we were
057deleting and stuff but so thank you. But MSBA also really is a guiding um direction for us there too. >> Thank you for the additional comments. Uh colleagues, >> thank you. Seeing no further um questions for chair of the policy committee member Laughler Kemp, we'll move on to number eight on the agenda, which is some general board committee updates. Do we have any general board committee updates that we'd like to share? Oh crap. Seeing none, we'll move on to the consent agenda. Um we are looking for a motion to um to pass the consent agenda. >> So moved. Uh member Saddowski has moved. Member L member Laughler Kemp has seconded. Um, is there any discussion? Seeing no discussion, we will do a roll call vote. Member Banks, >> yes. >> Chair Derk, >> yep. >>
058Member Laughler Kemp, >> yes. >> Member Loal, >> yes. >> Uh, member Mikeell is me and I vote yes. Member Sidowski, >> yes. >> Member Williams, >> yes. and seven to zero. The consent agenda is approved. Bam. Okay. Moving on. Next, we have resolutions from our committee reports. Um, member Williams. I get the best one. Um so I am doing resolution B-8-25-4114 um the resolution of acceptance of donations to Duth public schools whereas Minnesota statute 465.03 3 requires school district to accept donations by resolution expressed in the terms prescribed by the donor in full and whereas acceptance of the donations in accordance with the donor's terms is in the best interest of duth public schools. Now therefore be it resolved that the duth public schools does accept the below described donations from said organizations in
059accordance with the term set forth herein. Be it further resolved that the DUTH public schools wishes to extend its grateful appreciation to these various individuals and organizations. And I would like to highlight just a few of them. Um these are all specifically for um the event that's been mentioned several times this evening. Um unity in the community which happened last night. Um thank you to Chipotle. They did a dine to donate event. um Amsoil, Minnesota Power, um Super One, um yeah, and then individuals as well. Jonah Lewis, Carla Mard, Kimberly Boltz, and hopefully I'm not forgetting any of our individuals, but um yeah, inind donations, cash donations, food donations. So, thank you to everyone for making our event a success. Member Williams has moved resolution B-8-25-4114. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Member
060Banks has seconded. Do we have any discussion? Seeing no discussion, we'll do a roll call vote. Member Banks. >> Yes. >> Member Durker. >> Yep. >> Member Laughler Kemp. >> Yes. >> Member Lol. >> Yes. >> I am member Mel. I vote yes. Member Sidowski. >> Yes. Member Williams. >> Yes. >> Vote is seven to zero. Motion carries. Moving on. Next we have um member Saddowski. I move resolution um HR-8-25-4115. It's a resolution for the employment of a school board member by the district. This resolution is for member Loal um for the time frame of July of 2025 to June of 2026. >> Member Saddowski has moved resolution HR8254115. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Member William Member Williams is seconded. Um do we have any discussion? >> Seeing no discussion, we will
061have a roll call vote. >> Member Banks. >> Yes. Member Durer. >> Yep. >> Member Laughler Kemp. >> Yes. >> Member Loal. >> Abstain. >> I am member Mikeel and I vote yes. Member Saddowski. >> Yes. >> Member Williams. >> Yes. >> The vote is six to zero with one abstension. >> Motion carries. Next we have member Mike Cell. Mike cell. Sure do. I move resolution HR 8-25-4117 uh the executive employees association resolved by the school board of ISC 709 in St. Louisis County that the collective bargaining agreement between ISD 709 and the executive employees association, the summary of which is in the hands of all schoolboard members be approved and adopted for the period of July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2028, inclusive, and that the chairperson and clerk of the school board are
062hereby authorized to execute set agreement on behalf of the school district. Um the motion has been moved by member Mel. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Member Saddowski is seconded. Do we have any discussion? >> I have a quick question, please. >> Oh, yes. Member Banks. >> Thank you. Can you or someone tell me how many um individuals are in this uh association? >> Um Executive Director Severance, >> I can look that up for you. uh but it's roughly 30 but I'll I'll get an exact number in just a minute for you. >> Does is that okay member banks? >> Great. And I do just um want to point out that usually these are two-year contracts and we have secured this contract for three. So thank you to our team. We will now
063move on to a roll call vote. >> Member Banks, >> yes. >> Chair Gator, >> yes. >> Member Laughler Kemp, >> yes. Member Loal. >> Yes. >> I am member Mel. I vote yes. Member Siduski. >> Yes. >> Member Williams. >> Yes. >> The vote is 7 to zero. Uh motion carries. Next. U member Loalt. >> I move resolution B-8-25-4116. A resolution canvasing returns of votes of school district primary election. Be it resolved by the school board of independent school district number 709, state of Minnesota, as follows. Number one, it is hereby found, determined, and declared that the primary election of the voters of the district held on August 12th, 2025 was in all respects duly and legally called and held. Number two, as specified in the attached abstract and return of votes cast, a
064total of 9,190 voters of the district voted at said primary election to choose nominees for election as schoolboard members for four-year terms as follows. Harry Welty, 1477. Lauren Martell,7 Kelly Durk Eer, 2,680. Amber Zadowski 336 and Jane Diane Hoffman 970. Number three, twice the number of individuals to be elected are to be chosen as nominees. Candidates Harry Welty, Lauren Martell, Kelly Durk Eer, and Amber Zidowski, having received the highest number of votes, are nominees for schoolboard office, and their names shall be placed on the school district general election ballot. Number four, the school district clerk is hereby authorized to certify the results of the election to the county auditor of each county in which the school district is located in whole or in part. I move the resolution B-8-25-4116. Member Loel has moved the resolution.
065Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Member Mike Cell has seconded the motion. Do we have any discussion? Seeing no discussion, we'll have a roll call vote. >> Member Banks, >> yes. >> Chair Durker, >> yes. >> Member Laughler, >> yes. >> Member Loel, >> yes. >> I am Member Mel. I vote yes. Member Saddowski, >> yes. >> Member Williams, >> yes. >> The vote is seven to zero. >> Motion carried. Uh, member Banks. >> All right. Thank you very much. I move resolution number 8-25-4118 August 19, 2025 regarding pair of professionals resolved by the school board of independent school district 709 St. Louisis County, Minnesota. That the collective bargaining agreement between Independent School District 709 and PAR professionals, a summary of which is in the hands of all schoolboard members, be approved and
066adopted for the period of July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2028 inclusive, and that the chairperson and clerk of the school board be hereby authorized to execute said agreement on behalf of the school district. Thank you. Member Banks has moved this resolution forward. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Member Laughler has seconded. Do we have any discussion? >> Again, I just did I miss Again, I just like to point out that um this these contracts are usually for two years and we were able to secure secure a three-year contract. So, I want to thank both our team and then the leadership of the pair professional union. Um, we will Did I miss somebody? Oh, sorry, Superintendent Magus. >> No, I was just going to uh mention the three-year contract piece as well. And
067we're grateful for all of our units. Um, all of them are very important. Our principles are coming up next. Uh, having been a principal and a parah, I think they're both very, very important positions. Um, very grateful for the work that's done. I I know that sometimes our our paras are working very hands-on with um you know in in a supportive way with with some of our students have they have the greatest need and they come to the positions with patience and hard work. Member Laughler camp. >> I certainly did not mean for that to go up, but I will say I just appreciated all of the summaries of the changes uh that we got ahead of time as well. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Seeing no other discussion, we will now have a
068roll call vote. >> Member Banks, >> yes. >> Chair Der, >> yep. >> Member Laughler Kemp. >> Yes. Member Lel. >> Yes. >> I'm Sarah Mel. Oh, anyway. I'm member myself. I also vote yes. Thank you, Paris. Uh, member Sidowski. >> Yes. >> Member Williams. >> Yes. >> The vote is 7 to zero. Motion carries. Next, we have resolution HR8-25-4119. This is a resolution for the DUTH Principles Association resolved by the school board of ISD 709 of St. Louisis County that the collective bargaining agreement between ISD79 and the DUTH Principles Association, a summary of which is in the hands of all schoolboard members, be approved and adopted for the period of August 1st, 2025 to July 31st, 2027 inclusive, and that the chairperson, the clerk of the school board, be hereby authorized to execute set
069agreement on behalf of the district. I have moved HR-8-254119. Do we have a second? >> Second. Member Williams second. Do we have any discussion? >> Again, I have just a question as to how many principles are in that unit. Is it 30 or 25? >> Um, there are 24 U members of that unit and there are 18 in the EA unit. >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> Great. Do we have any other discussion? Seeing no other discussion, we'll move on to a roll call vote. >> Member Banks. Yes. >> Chair. >> Yes. >> Member Laughler Kemp. >> Yes. >> Member Loel. >> Yes. >> I am Member Mel. I vote yes. Member Saddowski. >> Yes. >> Member Williams. >> Yes. >> The vote is seven to zero. Motion carries. Great job everybody. Um do we
070have any other questions? Anything anybody would like to bring up at this time? Seeing no questions or anything anybody would like to bring up at this time. Do we have a motion for adjournment? >> Oh, so moved. >> Member Mike has moved for adjournment. Do we have a second? Member Williams is seconded. We can do a roll Oh, do we have any discussion? >> We can do a roll call vote at 7:35. Member Banks. >> Yes. >> Member Derek Ger. Member Lawler Kemp. >> Yes. And thank you. >> Member Lald. >> Yes. >> I'm Member Mike. I vote yes. Member Saddowski. >> Yes. >> Member Williams. >> Yes. >> The vote is seven to zero. Motion carried. We are adjourned. >> Bye, Rosie. to lines.