Duluth Public Schools - November 26, 2024 at 6:30 PM - Regular School Board Meeting

001e e e so good evening and welcome to isd709 duth Public Schools this is our regular Schoolboard meeting it is Tuesday November 26th it is 6:35 and again welcome to the the um monthly duth Public Schools Schoolboard meeting um our clerk zidow will take role member banks here member Derk eer pres member laugher Kemp here member loal here member Mel here I'm here member Williams here superintendent maggus present assistant superintendent bonds president Deputy clerk zunich here board secretary pette here um student rap Miller from Denfeld present and student rep Patronis from East here perfect thank you we'll rise if able for the Pledge of Allegiance and our flag is in the front board members you've had the agenda in your packet um for a while I'm looking for a motion to approve the agenda so

002moved Mike S approves is there a second second is there any discussion or any additions to tonight's agenda seeing none all those in favor of accepting the agenda in our packet and in the board book say I I opposed motion carries we're on now number five our school and Community recognition I turn the mic over to assistant superintendent bonds for our monthly communication recognition thank you thank you and good evening everyone it is [Music] members of the board tonight I am honored to recognize four exceptional Educators all from Myers Wilkins Elementary School these individuals demonstrated extraordinary courage and quick thinking in a critical situation Brean freshman Cory hko wait Melissa bolander and Sarah Weller she's here not here well we appreciate her as well too though uh on Friday September 13th at Myers Wilkins these

003four individuals found themselves faced with an unexpected scenario when an SUV crashed into the wall of the school's gymnasium without hesitation they sprang into action responding immediately to assist the feely injured passenger and Driver their Swift response calm to in the face of this emergency was truly admirable and commendable breand Cory Melissa and Sarah provided critical assistance and comfort to the injured individuals until the emergency Personnel arrived on the scene they demonstrated exceptional bravery compassion and a presence of Mind under an extremely extremely stressful situation I was there and it was truly it was a sight to see I was so I was moved by what I observed that day we are immensely proud of the heroic actions their response went far beyond what is expected of them and Des and they deserve our deepest

004gratitude and recognition for the courage and selflessness please join me in congratulating and thanking them as they embody the values of care responsibility and community that we strive to instill in our schools thank you and before I um ask the board to come um with the board like to share any feedback or if anyone of you want like to share any feedback and of course the board is always going to come and shake your hands it's up to you come [Laughter] on um a lot lately yeah yes absolutely The Bravery of these guys um I happened to be here um as the accident happened and got the news here and quickly got back down there um but then heard of the heroics um when I got there to find out um somebody who watched the

005entire thing happen it was the first call um to these other staff members that got there and really did that first aid right away um and also to the emergency room dog walker that happened to be passing by at that time and the staff member that took those dogs and she went down um we were really lucky to have um just that Miracle kind of happen um in that moment um and also the neighbors that were there as well that you know people were really quick was as they started to take pictures to say please please don't do anything yet we have to let our families know that everybody is okay first um so the community really pulled together around that um as well so thank you I I just want to say thanks to

006uh each of you as well I was there uh early that day and and um well the accident was still on scene and it was it was a it was a very itic event and I know that that you didn't think of yourselves first you put your put the the needs of others first and you jumped in and you helped and it was very very impressive and I'd also like to say thanks to you as principal for the work that you did to to lead there as well it was a team effort by many many people and you uh three and the fourth that's not here really exemplified the best of that effort and just want to say thank you now we just want to shake your hand to and and I think they'll want

007to get a picture as well but again thank you so much and assistant superintendent buns um your your words were eloquent and warm and and very moving as well so thanks for the recognition e e continuing on with our agenda we are on agenda item number six it's the report of the superintendent and under this is um 6A and it's reports from our student Schoolboard repres Representatives then it is our superintendent's report and then it's just a brief reminder of our schedule of events coming up up as board members so um returning now to superintendent magas sure thank you and um we really appreciate representative Miller and uh representative petronis for the work that they're doing in showing leadership this is um the last Schoolboard meeting that they're no second to last it's only November

008it feels like December we're almost there um but we really want to appre appreciate uh the leadership that you've shown the student reports always are a great example of things going on in our schools they exemplify strong leadership and I've really had a pleasure of working with both of you who would like to go first tonight great um all right I'll start off this evening's Report with some special highlights East has sent multiple teams to State competitions this past month including girls soccer girls swimming as well as boys and girls cross country for each team we've had a state sendoff ceremony which includes a dog run where students step out of class to cheer on the teams as they run through the hallways already our teams have made major accomplishments this school year we're so

009excited for more to come as the hockey basketball ski and dance seasons have recently begun climate Club has been working harder than ever this school year they hold weekly meetings host local guest speakers and even recently got to meet with climate activists Louisa no bomber and Helena Marshall two of the most prominent climate activists from Germany tonight countless East students showed up to the listening session to show their support for the solar project climate Club has been working on I think this is a perfect example of the students and how driven and passionate they are in this District the members of climate club and the community are excited to see what the rest of the year has in store for climate action in The District East has now had three pause days this school year

010as mentioned previously at these meetings the opportunity days allow for students to catch up on schoolwork make up tests or meet with clubs initially on paus dayss teachers were told to not give any new instruction and the entire day was open for students to fulfill their needs however in October East began a policy where teachers were alled the first 15 minutes of class to teach some took advantage of this and gave lessons and held quizzes ultimately many students have felt that the 15 minutes of instruction counters the idea that these days are supposed to be a replacement of the daily win period we once had with the removal of win and less time for opportunity on pause dayss students are feeling the burden of the extra workload of 7 period day East Student Government recently

011welcomes superintendent megus to join us for a discussion on the school district's Budget on behalf of student government we thank Mr Magus for meeting with us and we would like to continue to embrace further meetings and discussions with the district as you mentioned earlier my term as student representative is nearing its end therefore East has begun the process of electing a new student to be the 2025 representative that application is now open to Juniors the career center at e High School is organizing their annual Giving Tree Project where students and community members have the opportunity to buy for a gift for a local child this year volunteers have come together to buy holiday gifts for over 250 children and that is all that I have this month thank you for listening thank you and representative

012Miller I know we had an opportunity to meet as well and we are working on the uh meeting for the Denfeld student group yes I'm very excited for that to have more student involvement in those decisions too um first I have the cultural aspects that's happening at Denfeld right now so for BSA we organized a volleyball event during opportunity day I thought that was very exciting there was a lot of students that participated and there's also prizes I was giving from BSA um Multicultural room has been used I guess more so um compared to the beginning of the school year we have some more decorations in there to make it more cozy and it's going well in there too it's going to be more so when a adult is inside the room to make sure

013a little bit more um I guess secure rather than the old BSA room I would say and I think it's going like a great process for that um the indigenous rock your mock week happened the assembly was on November 15th there's activities including drumming performances and dancers uh something that everyone realized that there was a lot more resp from the students while watching this performance since it was a lot about culture um especially a lot of people can be ignorant I mean arrogant at these things so it's important to have that respect and we realized that DF felt that was a good thing that we saw from the outcome of that as being the first one so hopefully there's many more to come and then upcoming events November 25th the Fondulac band of obj flag

014in install wait okay OJ B flag um was installed at the girls first home basketball game at 700 p.m. yesterday it was very nice it was very eventful and everyone the community had showed up for it December 2nd is the speech informational meeting at 3:30 in room 2312 so exciting speech is starting up um and then December 4th is the fast fun night at the career center 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. this is something that's exciting for I guess students and seniors to go to and bring their parents with this is something that identified holds holds every night um we also had senior scholarship night the week before last week anyhow and there's a lot of information being put out to make sure the equity for everyone to get the same information uh me and the

015principal has discussed a safety Denfeld form for an ominous um I would say an ominous reporting for students we're working on getting this done um Mr tuskin officially has like the whole form out and it's all ready to go we're going to start hanging up the flyers for it and getting it known that students can report things I think that I wanted to bring this up to have a reporting system at Denfeld because it's nerve-wracking to bring things up to the adults and I think it's something that we should already have had um and then the email gets sent to the faculty and then they respond to it for theater U the Evil Dead musical performance was very good I went and watched it it was very uh lost different Emoji throughout it uh yeah

016it's it's amazing how they got to even like have that show in general and then a lot of people had fun with like the splattering of like the fake blood and then have the also exra shirts for that and then the drama club is also fundraising for the New York City trip um and then there's October Fest volunteering so if you want to sign up for that contact key um the school board rep is we're coming coming to an end I would say so we're trying to find some more Juniors to get involved in this uh last year I would definitely say that a lot of people didn't really know about it and it wasn't really known at all so me kind of going to it how to find it so this year I kind

017of wanted to make sure it was more aware by the students so we're going to put posters up already I'm going to make a poster for it and then also like they can contact me for more information and then and also in the newsletters and everything uh the career center lots of activities has been very engaging seniors in the room to help with applications uh sometimes I go in there of Lauren she's amazing and there's just at least like 10 15 students in there just working on applications to get it done the hunter's license obviously that's always been a concept at Denfeld so there's the fall ball so that's one of the dances to have the hunter's license at the last with the new hunter's license the absences does not apply at all so that

018definitely increased a lot of attendance at the dance which is good I would say a lot of students like that but has also showed increase in grades for the population of sophomore class after implementing this new hunter license and also I feel like with having Focus only on grades it helps them improve a better chance to go so it kind of gives them more motivation to even go to the dance and then just some more information um what I've heard a lot is the trust between the students and the school board because of the 7-Day period um I would say that the school board kind of went to the school and asked if we should do it and like some in like feedback on it and the students feel like their voice wasn't really heard

019with that since still kind of affecting them and then also like what MIA said about how assignments are still being made in those classrooms which I think should be more clarified um I think we're doing the 15minute thing too now and and like from my brother and all of like the BSA people that they've said that it's affecting them getting the stuff done especially with tests and quizzes um and then Denfeld right now me and the principal kind of had a pretty good discussion about figuring out absences at the school what the structure and the system and why people aren't going to class since it's pretty um bad at dun Feld right now for the absences so we're trying to figure out instead of forcing people to go to class for like hundred license what's

020the structure and why is it like that from the students and then lastly I have information about the budget cuts um these Cuts will impact our daily lives but is crucial to prioritize and continue focusing on equity in the district even as we make these Cuts we must recognize the historically disadvantage between our between communities within thect district and ensure that we don't move backwards in terms of equity it's important to maintain progress and not lose the progress we've made towards inclusive inclusive ity and fairness I think with Gathering feedback from the schools it'd be very helpful to give facts and numbers to the students where the money is going towards right now to actually G real like information from the students how they can actually have a voice in um and then also so

021like the students aren't saying things blindly and hoping that their thoughts are going to be allocated and that's all I have today and I also have to leave soon um I have an event for student Senate so thank you thank you both we appreciate the reports and uh just wanted to say one um one other thing that we we've been exploring a concept of of um looking at something and this is just a draft name but but uh an intra City student council where we would have representatives from all of our our um high schools several Representatives so it wasn't just one person representing but multiple where we could meet and serve as an advisory panel that that we could listen to uh the the concerns that students have we could we could bring forward

022proposals that we have and seek input so that we' rather than creating because right now it feels like we're kind of creating something from nothing to try and try and get input on the budget and uh I I think we we are all seeking to to uh have more voice for our students uh you are very important your desired daily experiences are are critical for us and we we are we are here for you right I think a lot of times that's one thing in education that's sometimes strangely forgotten that really we are all here for the students first as opposed to just assuming people are just going to go through the the motions and go to classes with that in mind we want to make sure that we're listening to you that we're taking

023your input and that we have mechanisms for leadership I think student leadership is probably the theme of tonight it's it was very well represented and uh you two both exemplify that very well uh for sake of time I'm we've gone through our mission vision and core values uh many times before but they are in my report and they are shared many places in the district our topics we had our student reports I'll be talking a little bit about budget reduction realignment talk a little bit about solar projects as I mentioned previously uh talk a little bit about some advancing Equity updates that we have partly related to the American Indian education work we're doing uh talk about our professional learning updates that we have related to uh PD day tomorrow and then some things with

024the legislative update so our budget reduction and re realignment this is similar to a slide I presented last time but it has some updates on it and um some things that we were looking to do we've actually accomplished and checked them off the list we met with each of our labor Partners we held follow-up meetings with their leaders uh we also held um part two of our duth Federation of uh teachers quality budget leadership team the qlt for for Budget we had that second meeting uh that was really um very very important input for us we also met with our principles uh by level twice so we met met with all of our elementary principles got their input on on uh potential reductions and reallocations at the elementary level as a reminder we have a

025target of about a million dollars at Elementary uh met with secondary where the Target is about 1.3 million and then we are uh also meeting with uh special education and uh have had meetings with our our um our district Services team here as well we also completed all individual site budget meetings so we've been to every single school every single location uh to meet with staff to share about the um guiding change document we have and to to answer any questions and we Simone has been with me uh along the way on all of it and has been excellent and um we always try and start when we get to the questions by modeling asking some some tough questions because we want to make sure that people feel comfortable asking any of the questions that

026they might have on their minds uh and I think it's been well received I think that that that investment in time and trust and transparency is important for us uh as I mentioned we're engaging in some student input opportunities I met with the East students and we're coordinating for the Denfeld meeting and I'd be glad to meet again uh oops we also uh published and are utilizing that web-based input piece that that Adele was talking about before so we have we have a a trans budget transparency website uh linked right on the top of our page that that breaks down a lot of information and there's also a place for frequently asked questions and ability for people to submit their own ideas and input off that page and then I would say that we are

027on track to share our proposed budget reductions at our December school board meeting so what I'd like to make sure that we have an opportunity to do is set up uh a series of smaller group uh meetings with board members where we can go over in a little more detail about uh what those what those reductions look like exactly uh because we don't want to um we have to be very careful about the way that we share things at the Schoolboard meeting because some things are more personally identifiable um related to you know if there's only one person in a position and we say we're reducing this type of position that that would be unfair to the individuals involved in those so we want to make sure that we inform you so you know what

028you're voting on uh but then when we have the the vote it will be more more based on a number of certified and non-certified individuals moving forward we will share more uh as well at the committee the whole meeting prior to the the December meeting uh and and hope to have those meetings set up I'll ask um um executive assistant pcket to set up those meetings for the next round if they're not set up already backwards solar projects nobody's waiting for that are they so uh what I shared with with our students today is that we're we're really uh continuing our work on two different possible solar projects and I I I do want to say I I heard a lot of enthusiasm and I share that enthusiasm uh and what I shared in the

029update was it did still say continue work on possible projects it didn't say we're definitely doing two projects it said that these are two that we're working towards we are uh continuing and I I shared some details on the information the first is is really uh in my mind it's it's it may be even the most exciting one it's the biggest opportunity and it will cost the district nothing uh and this would be a project with Lincoln Park Middle School and the City of duth partnering with Minnesota Power uh to put in a rather large uh solar array on some of the Lincoln Park land uh which would be basically our contribution to the project would be the in-kind lease of the land to put the array there and then we would get uh some

030we would get a portion of the power and the city would get a portion of the power as well so that would be an opportunity that the solar Club is really really excited about and I I I am too um the other project is is a uh solar in school solar for Schools project and looking at Stow Elementary and there would be some UPC upfront cost for the project but between the Grant and federal uh costs it could cover most of the cost for that project so we're we're looking at that uh we're also having a structural engineer conduct a review of the roof plans to ensure it would be able to handle the weight of the panels because uh we're finding some things out about the sto Stow School roof um and it basically

031has to do with the type of it's a long story but the type of insulation we have in the roof we uh what was previous to code uh we have to upgrade that so the the insulation will be heavier and so we need to make sure that the roof structurally can maintain both the new insulation and the solar panels so that's a factor in in uh the Stow roof project we also are um wanting to make sure that we are are clear about the the IRA funding because I think that's something that that has been we've we've talked about it a lot here and um Brett Pence has worked with us quite a bit uh on the solar funding and uh basically some of the things he shared about the um the um irf Ira

032funding is that uh and I'm just going to read from the email that basically it works like this isd709 can claim tax credits from the IRS for the solar array uh that we install even uh though we don't pay taxes so we're not a taxpaying entity but we can get tax credits for the uh solar arrays then we get a percentage back off the project cost and in the case of ISD we could get 30 to 50% back probably more likely 40 as we talked about um and that an additional 10% could be gained by using domestic content in our project so if we're investing in in americanmade solar panels and things of that nature so basically uh the tax credits are something that that we're exploring with our financial uh advisers and and making

033sure that they are as good as they seem because it does it would potentially mean that we would have to take out a loan for those and part of the reason why I'm um I don't want to overpromise and underd deliver on the sto project piece is also as the students noted we we are in a budget reduction phase and so if we're if we're talking about every $100,000 we invest in a project is going to be basically the equivalent of of a full-time teacher and so we have to be really careful about that uh I do agree with the students that we can also look at this as an investment towards um better financial status in the future so so it could put us on more solid Financial ground down the road so even

034if if there was an expenditure today that might be able to to help us in the future have a better Financial footing uh so there there's that as well so those are the two main projects that we're looking at but I I really uh want to say that I appreciate the the students and what they put into uh their their work on this it's very very obvious uh their passion I also really appreciate it being able to meet with the East uh East solar project or this the uh climate um I'm sorry it's been a long today and I I I uh didn't get a lot of sleep last night the climate club and it was really really a great experience enjoyed the time great great leadership I would also say the board has been

035leading in this area as well exploring we have had the um solar funding on our legislative platform for many years uh we've done a lot of lobbying I've talked to I've talked to uh Senators I've talked to uh representatives from the area uh from outside of the area as well I've um I I we even talked with the governor's office about it so we are advocating too and we want to we want to see this happen and it's a difficult time right now financially so uh we are going to continue to explore bravely and hopefully one of the two projects um will be some something that we're able to move forward with uh that Lincoln Park project if if it if if both were available I would I think the L par project would be

036in the best interest of the district potentially over the Stow project um but we will see what comes to fruition Stow also I know I'm spending a lot of time on this but we've we've been talking about it and receiving a lot of emails and it's also a big part of the student uh student experience this Stow Elementary used to be a um Environmental Education magnet school and we actually have a cohort of about eight teachers who have uh gone through additional studying recently on Environmental Education and outdoor education and so uh we are kind of looking to reinvigorate if not create a magnet school there to at least reinvigorate some of that Spirit of Environmental Education and we think that a a uh solar project that would be a great great spot for it

037uh and finally we already do have a solar project at L Elementary so that is something that we have already done as a district but I think it's important to continue exploring so uh regarding advancing equity and some of the things that we've been talking about related to American Indian education uh I just want to reiterate this and this is this is something that is the core of our our strategic plan it's um really the core of the work that that our leadership team thinking about our senior leaders uh in particular Mr bonds who is the assistant superintendent of teaching learning and myself because we are focused on the educational aspects but also Simone zunich who is focused on the finances there's a huge Equity piece there as well as with human resources we are

038dedicated to advancing Equity as one of our top priorities that's one of our top three priorities we have supporting every student advancing equity and improving systems um and really it's been the Hallmark of of the careers that we've had you know we've always we've always been deeply dedicated in that area uh but we engaged in just some of the things we've been doing lately we engaged in tribal consultation with the fondel band on November 17th that was our first uh tribal consultation actually the first one we had scheduled was for the um September 13th when we had that accident at at uh Myers Wilkins and we had to to reschedule the um tribal council is also new they had new elections and so they were kind of getting settled uh early in the early or

039later in the summer and and uh so that's part of the reason why it was it was now that we had that first uh tribal consultation but we've talked about having multiple consultations we're we're more than willing and I want to thank uh member banks and uh chair lold for attending uh the last tribal consultation it's it's really important to have board membership and greatly appreciated also our American Indian cohort at Denfeld launched this fall and is going really well uh we're hearing really great things it's been just a welcoming environment and you heard from some of our speakers too that that's something we don't want to uh cut and and um also I would say when it when it we sometimes hear people think that we're going to cut or reduce from American Indian

040education the the programs that have specific um restrictions restricted funds like American Indian education it is illegal for us to to to transfer those funds and use them differently I if I wanted to hire a new a new principal and just have a a principal paid for out of American Indian education funds I couldn't do that if I wanted to hire a general education teacher out of American Indians uh education funds I couldn't do that so we are not only morally and uh professionally obligated not to use misuse those funds but we're also legally required to use those funds properly and that's that's our every intent uh and also I would say that throughout all of our conversations on budget one of the things that that Simone and I have talked about is that uh

041the red when we're looking at reductions we are looking at reductions from the general fund the general fund is where the reductions comes from it doesn't come from the restricted funds just like American Indian education we can't take money out of food service to U purchase that teacher or purchase that principle either we those are are uh designated funds that need to be used in that area some other things that have been going on we had our uh Denfeld flag uh dedication at the gym last night it was really great a lot of folks were there uh thank you for for everybody who was able to attend and it was just a it was a very touching experience um culturally and linguistically and it was just a really really great opportunity and it was interesting

042it happened after the JV game and actually the the junior varsity game went into double overtime and Tide so everybody was waiting there uh waiting there for the event but also biting their nails just watching this this killer uh junior varsity game at the same time with Carlton so it was it was it was quite a night uh the district is also working in partnership with the American Indian advisory uh group or the American Indian parent advisory group APAC uh to develop the American Indian education plan and and Mr bonds uh basic basally has he's been supervising uh the American Indian education program for the past uh this would be your seventh day of because it basically last week and and two days now uh and that we it wasn't completed prior to um our

043change in administration and so you've been uh working you've worked to get an extension you've worked to uh you're working tomorrow with that group to complete the plan it's important and it's a legal requirement that we do so with that group uh and so just want to say thanks for serving as interim uh coordinator until the leadership of those efforts is finalized that's what we're trying to do we're we're pausing for just a moment and saying this is important leadership it's something that we value it's something that we're legally obligated to It's Something That We're morally obligated to uh but we want to make sure that it's structured in a way that is best for the district and best for American Indian education that's something we've committed to every time there's a position that opens

044we have taken a look at it and we've paused and we've sometimes we've Rewritten things sometimes we've up upgraded things sometimes we've realigned things and that's that's what we're trying to do in this in this scenario but our commitment is unwavered uh towards this and just as a piece of trivia I my my first seven years in education on in the topish school district was on the aimation and I also completed my teaching certificate at Heritage University uh and my Master's Degree at Heritage University which was a tribal College of the acan nation so I'm not saying that I'm just saying it's been something that I've been committed to for a long time and we want to make sure that we continue to advance Equity moving forward professional learning tomorrow it's not a day off

045I was I was asked recently if if if everybody was off uh and uh our our students are off you're going to be having fun tomorrow probably right with a 5-day weekend can uh but your teachers will be hard at work your St many other staff members too sharpening the saw of knowledge working with our staff and really uh gaining additional skills and they can't wait not they're they're looking forward to it as well uh and it it's just really something that we've dedicated ourselves to we uh and I'm looking back and looking at people who are part of our QSC and qlt who have asked for and wanted more professional learning time we negotiated that we have that and we're putting it to good use use well and that our legislative update uh I

046just want actually I just skipped a slide uh just a reminder of my goals for this year that was a slide from from before but uh making sure that we're focusing on information for decisionmaking that's why we're focusing on uh really making sure that you have the information you need for our budgeting decisionmaking it's also asset protection and continuing our school Improvement and then finally as far as our legislative updates our lobbyist Jeff Anderson is analyzing the board member feedback that was produced in the survey uh and we're setting a final meeting through U Miss pette to finalize our platform and then also meet with our local Representatives we also plan to participate in robust lobbying including at the duth St County days uh and in meeting with uh the chamber today one of the

047initiatives related to CTE that we're working on as a as a broader project and I'll share hopefully more on that uh in the the coming week weeks uh that PL they plan to have that as one of the central themes of what they're focusing on so it's it's an initiative of higher education an initiative of the city but especially of high of uh the duth public schools to strengthen our CTE work um we even met today with with Cirus to talk about how we can expand our our Aviation work there with CTE funding so student funding Career and Technical education and other priorities um will be addressed in our platform any questions or comments member eer um can I just had another quick question when we were looking at the two possible projects for the

048solar project the second one that we talked a little bit about was the federal tax credits and I know that you touched on this but since we're an entity that doesn't pay taxes what does that money coming back to the district look like it's green it folds no just kidding sorry uh no it's so basically uh sorry executive director my helpline now um let me phone a friend yeah phone a friend actually let me pull the email back up um so basically they say we don't need to remove any grants received from the project cost uh thus if the ISD bids out a million doll so solar project if we receive 50% which would be 500,000 and I'm getting to the the part about what it looks like uh from the Minnesota State uh schools

049grant that we apply for we get 50% back from the IRS so it would be uh we would be doing a filing for direct pay so it's a direct pay filing and it comes back to us as uh money from the federal uh from the federal government and it comes in the form of a direct deposit from the federal government so it's kind of like if trying to Envision like from a personal perspective like if you had a child say you didn't have to pay income tax but you have a child tax credit and you get money back from the federal government as a as a tax return even though you're not paying as a as an employee that's kind of what it would look like for us as a as a direct deposit from

050the federal government John can I add please please do um John is correct in what he said it's a direct payback to us um I met with our financial advisers they made it very clear we would have to hire a CPA firm to file the credits for us um because they have to be done in in such a way and um it would take 18 they they think it will take 18 to 36 months to get see a return on our money so we have to fund the project up front um I'm hearing that it wouldn't be that long it would be up to 18 months and um it's very specific in that Grant as well who we hire it has to be prevailing wage it has to be americanmade um materials and supplies so

051we'd have to follow a very strict protocol which I'm proud to say I I believe we already do um with all of that so um it would be funding the project up fun up front and in hopefully two years we would see we'd get a check so if it's a so let's just say I'm thinking numbers wise so if it's a million dollars to do the St project and we're just pulling that or whatever project right and then we get the solar for school grant for 500,000 and then we have an eligibility for these federal tax credits up to 50% or for 50% up to 40% so we would have to fund the 10% so we would fund the 100,000 yes okay all right thank you you're welcome and just for a little additional detail

052the Stow project would cost about 1.4 million and the uh the solar for schools Grant would would pay for 500,000 and we would have the possibility of about uh $710,000 in possible IRA funds so that would still be a district cost of about $200,000 thank you member banks thank you chair lold I have a couple clarification questions for I believe the superintendent and possibly our financial uh representative under bullet three could you go back to that so let's see the cohort this is about the cohort at Danfield oh under advancing Equity advancing Equity thank you so uh first question what is the cost to run the cohort annually has that uh is that available and then secondly um in your report do we have assurances as board members that this prog program is going to

053continue I'm not hearing that so um you can tell us what the cost is and whether or not that would continue so our I'll let Mr Bonds address the the cost piece based on the number of people serving the program because I think we could estimate based on the number of teachers and peras and others that um yeah or or uh executive director zunich could could estimate that perhaps with your help uh but as far as whether or not it continues Our intention is for it to continue we want it to continue we plan for it to continue um I think it's also anytime you start something as a pilot and check it out you want to make sure it works if it's if it's you know it's we're we're only a couple months in

054if it is a complete disaster and and everybody's dropping out of it and and it's not you know producing the results that we we think it will then we would have to consider whether or not we were continuing with it but as of th thus far it seems to be uh functioning quite well and I would also say um we have to be really thoughtful about making sure that it is truly supportive of our students which I believe it is because the nature of the the program and the people working in it but it could be perceived as segregating our students too if we're not careful so there's that aspect of really seeing how things go uh we wanted to be Innovative we wanted to take the input of our American Indian advisory uh group

055and that's kind of where we're going Mr bonds do you want to continue I guess I would like to add um I think this is an important conversation that I would uh actually like to have on a cow agenda just an overview of the cohort as well as the partnership that we have that will do an assessment of the cohort and I would like to um offer the board an opportunity to do that uh next month instead of just guesstimating right now in the moment of the expenditures but we can make sure we have at that point in time the expenditures and we can give a give you an example of U share information related to what students are experiencing in a cohort and have teachers and um staff here to share some insights thank

056you I would appreciate that if we were able to do that because it it's really good as we say we have Equity as one of our number one uh priorities I I just want to see how that works and the impact that it's potentially going to make especially at denfield high school and for the audience as well as uh the people who are listening uh and for others when I make the point about what could go wrong it's only for it was only because you said do we does the board have assurances that we definitely will continue it uh and I was just trying to think of in what cases would we potentially not continue it Our intention is to continue it I was just saying you know are we promising 100% nothing is 100%

057because it's the first time we're doing it we want to make sure it works and is in the best interest of kids but we plan to continue it and I wanted to make sure I I'm not uh putting you on the spot that was not my intention thank you I I I got that but I also for the audience I didn't want them to think that we were looking at it as something that was failing already that students were dropping out and nobody was liking it or anything like that we we see positive uh positive Beginnings to it and we hope it's a promising practice we've got Williams um member Williams um next and then we have member ller Kemp and then I I see Miss member Mike Cel so that's the order right now

058thank you um I actually was going to ask about uh that cohort as well so thank you uh for uh mentioning having them present for us because I did want more details in general but along with that it would be great to hear from students in the cohort if they could give their feedback on how they think things have been going um and that's all I wanted to ask about I appreciate that thank you and I I just want to check with our technology are we losing um the feed or just the board oh no that was a operator error on the part of the superintendent who was trying to cast and accidentally shut it down when you sh let just making sure we were still live streaming and recording okay I do have one

059more question though sorry uh how many how many students are in the cohort do we know that 12 thank you is member larva GNA come up no okay okay I I would um also because of timing we just completed our agenda setting for the cow meeting so if if the board would um can it be either December or January as a call agenda item would that be sufficient or would you like to hear about it sooner you want to hear more about the Cort on or you just want to know the budget no I was going to have the card come and give an overview of the the um the program and what students are experiencing and we could have the budget information I just know in terms of timing we just completed the board

060yeah and it is and so I'm just realizing that timing is yeah we're not going to do it next week yeah yeah so January or February January thank you give it some more time offer didn't I realize I just said an agenda it's a little too late for that January wayler km then member of Mike cell thank you uh great report superintendent I I just wanted to um talk a little bit about the solar and the schools Grant and again you know I'm I'm really excited uh that we uh re we put the work in and I I really thank our staff I know there are many staff involved in uh getting that Grant to where it's at can you just clarify just cuz I there are a lot of numbers that were thrown around

061up tonight and I I want to make sure we all have a common understanding of that $500,000 set aside and what that means for where we're at with that right now with the grants so just just so everyone's hearing the same thing because there's a lot out there on that that that's a good question uh and actually uh executive director zunich and I were were trying to figure out what what was meant by the 500,000 and and we didn't recall a particular number being set other than when we talk about the uh Stow project that would you know that would mean that we had about 500,000 from the solar for Schools project I think a number we've been talking about internally is you know we you know a couple hundred, might be something that we'd

062consider half a million right now during budget reduction is outside of the scope of what we uh were talking about so um I'm not I would want to hear more about where that figure of f $500,000 was coming from because that would be uh that would be a a pretty large number considering we're cutting $5 million that would add another 10% to what we have to reduce by so I I can seek more information from our our solar club uh after our meeting so to clarify as a district we have not received notification that we are getting $500,000 for a solar Grant just to to just to make sure because again I think that's floating around out there and I just want to yeah we've applied we've done the preliminary we we applied and we

063received acceptance for the preliminary work and so now we're putting together the more detailed work related to it and and we haven't heard yet uh also with the the Lincoln Park project that's not a guarantee either we have to wait till the funds are released but in talking with uh the um talking with the city and talking with others I think we would have a very very very solid shot for that that project uh based on what I'm what I'm hearing um and again I I try not to overpromise but I'm hearing that that would that would be looked at very favorably by Minnesota Power and and the uh and the city great thank you for clarifying I just you know I've in a part of Grants uh before and written them and and waited

064anxiously for them myself and uh and and have followed this pretty closely so I I just want to make sure any information that's getting out there by anybody it's clear on and and I I get really nervous when I'm reading that some people think we already have in the bank $500,000 or there's might be a perception of that so I just wanted to clarify that that's all thank you member Mike SEL yes and then member lold thank you um I appreciate trying to get everyone on the same page um those things um as we talk about solo for schools and the different um projects that we're considering um I'm hearing uh talk of the different the the grants the IRA and then what would have to come out of um the school district's um budget

065um I know that we have a lot of different stakeholders and community members um you know who are able to help and have given their expertise I'm so appreciative to all of them and all their advocacy um one thing that I know is has been heard um a number of times is um the possibility of a low interest interest loans and not I haven't um had an opportunity to be updated if that's something that has been looked into um by us as a district and if that's something that's being considered I don't need Super details just understanding that that's something that we're following up on we are uh explor we are researching it um there are positives and negatives of it but I think we need to um we need to learn more definitely not

066saying no but but not saying yes yet as well also uh the percentage of the IRA funds is actually based on the poverty rates for the school so as an example uh we we talked about 40% as a number that we've we've talked about Stow because of their uh larger free and reduced lunch rate would actually be a 50% uh return with a with Ira fund so that that is a factor when it comes to the IR IRA funds but the um the banking piece we're and I'm not sure if you have want to say anything about your your your thoughts on taking a loan because that's sometimes not not advised for school districts to take take loans it it would not be my recommendation to do a bank loan uh we have bonds that

067we purchase um for projects for capital projects uh refinancing bonds um but we'd have to be you know with everything said and with all of our budget reductions um you know it'd have to be a group after eort to really look at to see if that's something as a school board we'd want to do that but at this time I would not recommend it with that said I know that one of my goals as superintendent as I mentioned a few minutes ago is making sure that the board is provided with as much information as possible for decision-making so uh if we were moving forward with a loan we would want to maybe even have a guest speaker or somebody that could could share more information so that you would be well informed and we but

068we We are continuing to look into it but um it's something that that there is caution around so I have a few questions to along that same line um one of them would be does the fund no no matter what monies we as a district have to put forward does that come from general fund or ltfm or other other funding screams and it looks like Simone is on her mic right I'm on the mic um so so it would we'd have to our general fund is tight um so we'd have to pull it out of our assigned fund balance and we do have um projects and um uses for that money at this time so I think as collectively as a group if we wanted to go with an amount um we would just have

069to build that in into whatever we decide to do but it would come from the assigned fund ballots and then with our students some of them still here funding is obviously you can see that we've got some big decisions to make about where this money could possibly go and it's still up in the air whether we get the grant or not or where where our um Ira funding is that what it's called um so then my question to all of the community that was here tonight and our students is that there must be other partners like if we're partnering or potentially partnering with the Minnesota Power and the city why aren't we looking for partners for the sto project to to then find to to fund that sliver that we have to fund is is

070that a possibility to make to get the project over the finish line is if the grant is approved for 500,000 um and we have some Assurance or we get some Assurance of Ira could that or even without the Assurance of Ira could you be tapping the community for more partnership ideas I I think we could uh I think that we we've been doing a lot of work with partnership uh on on a variety of other fronts today I was meeting with Cirus talking about partnership for Aviation programming and we're talking with uh asentia about some some partnering for healthc care and I think that um generally we're trying when we're asking big asks we're trying to make sure that it's also tied to something that is in the uh um that is closer to the

071core interests of the entity for which we're asking it for it from rather than just asking for a like a gift and I think that's where Minnesota power comes in as a as a potential partner for this big project and that's why that's a great opportunity but I think it's it would could be hard for us to and and thinking about the fundraising we did for Unity in our community I think that was that was a good example uh we worked really really hard for for months and and raised maybe 40 $40,000 um but I think that there are other things that we've asked for from the community and we've sought partnership for things like the DTA bus passes and things like that where we've had some limited interest but it hasn't come to fruition

072I'm not saying that we couldn't um and I I guess with with all due respect and love for for the solar project we have to decide how much of the core work we want solar project projects to be for the school district too because we are we are spending a we've we are spending a lot of time on solar and solar is very important but you know if do you want do you want me and my Administration to spend we're probably spending 10% of our time now on solar maybe somewhere around there do you want us to spend more time to seek in additional partners that that would be my concern just because there's a limit of of time as a resource as well I and I'm just trying to be upfront about things um

073because I don't I don't want to overpromise and underd deliver either and that push again comes back with um and again this is I I agree too we're spending a whole lot of time I'm spending a whole lot on time on solar as well and I want to spend more time digging into you know our our equity and our monies going to where we need to and following the funding stream but I still would say that there is a large community out there that have always offered their service and so maybe the workload shouldn't be here it should be there and they will seek out the partners and when I look at the possibility of sto some of our board members were just at sto this week at a with a building tour with their

074principal and they still they are still doing the recycling they still have the worm farm they have 20 acres of land around that school and with their history of um this some environmental things I I just see that that Stow is is just ripe for partnering with and even with the um Gary nle Luth and the the the T kind of energy that that Community is producing with the skate park and their their um Community Center and their partnership there but I I know so I'll just get off you know that's because my other question would be too I'm a little skeptical sometimes when we look at the Lincoln Park project with the city and with Minnesota Power when we're allowing the land to be used that we have up there but then in your

075word choice you said portion we'll get a portion well I want to know what that portion is as a partner I mean they should be then the whole Lincoln School should be part of they should reap the benefits of that array on their Pro on the property there and that if that's our portion well then I can accept that and until I don't know I don't know we're not I know that we're not close to that project so I'll I'll let that simmer just a little bit although you have a response no I I I would say I guess I asked for direction from the board and maybe this is something to to think about and come come back with a reflection of uh we we are prioritizing solar and we want to prioritize solar

076and to what degree does the board direct the administration to uh to continue to go I I guess what I'm I guess what I'm saying is I I need more direction from the board as far as what you want with solar if you want it to be a top priority for the district I think that's that's that's great we can do that I can I we can do anything but we can't do everything and so uh I want to do solar we're exploring solar we're spending a lot of time in solar um I also hear the concerns about the American Indian graduation rates and and thinking about our our students of color in the graduation rates both are are really important when I think about where does solar fit with our three priorities of supporting

077student advancing equity and improving systems I'd probably say it fits somewhere under improving systems um and our our results our academic results are not where they need to be and our results for our our historically underserved students are uh very much in need of attention and so I would want to know to what what continued what increase in in effort and resource do we want to put towards solar projects and at what expense to other things because there is a finite amount of of time and there's a finite amount of money and so we are exploring it we're exploring it very seriously um and if we want to raise that as a priority over over other things then then we need to consider that but I we're we're working really hard on solar um I

078don't I I I I want to make sure that I know where it fits in the scope of of interest of the board member eer um I appreciate the opportunity that the state government and that the federal government has given school districts to try to um shift towards more clean and renewable energy which is a priority and I understand that um my skepticism and my hesitancy comes to is that the focus of a district in my opinion is to be focused on the education of the entirety of its students and I'm not sure where I see where energy generation in terms of solar comes into play to that um we have some exceedingly difficult decisions to make coming up in the next little bit when it comes to budget reductions and we're talking about $5

079million this year and I don't know what it's going to look like next year I don't know what those budget reductions are going to keep doing because they're not going to go away they're going to continue um and I know the prior of the board and the administration really is to to cut or to reallocate budgets as far away from students as we can so that the student facing experience we try to keep that experience intact to the best that we can but we have some hard decisions so um I appreciate the urgency and the hesitant the urgency and the importance when we think about climate change and how it is going to affect especially the Northland and then I'm trying to balance that with the needs of our students especially our historically underst served

080students um my children go to the Westside schools pedmont Denfeld Lincoln Park um where we see a lot of those historically underserved students go to school and my priority is going to be um making sure that we have a budget and a direction that is focused there and I and I I would be hesitant um to support too much more time and attention and energy towards solar just because I really want our Focus to be that student experience and working on those um academic outcomes for our students that is my first priority so that's a little bit where I sit but I'm of course um am one of many members of this board and will always support the decision and the direction of us as a as a whole but I just wanted to offer

081up my piece of um or my thought process in this thank you members zelski um I'm very curious to see um what's going to be what's going to happen with the city Grant with Lincoln Park um because if from what I'm understanding is that a Maj like 100% of that is going to be covered for that project except for the in-kind use of lease of our land so they would lease our land and I had another um I appreciate you bringing that up member Lal and and I think another perspective is that we're a part of this community um our kids go to our schools but they also live in our city and our city is prioritizing um you know reduction and climate um gases that affect our global warming that's going on and so

082um just just me one person but I would definitely appreci um support using our land um to better our community better our the lives of our students at Lincoln Park and then all across the city um I think another as aspect of this is that our students are carrying um the weight of of climate grief shaa Weaver a local author visited the climate Club um and shared that I see that my own kids who are isd709 students are carrying that weight I see that these students are are exemplifying everything that we we want to see in our students and I've said that before um but I think we saw it here again their leaders um they're advocating they're researching um and they're really just exemplifying everything that we want to see um our students to

083have um and we've been talking about this a long time um so I really do appreciate the work that we're putting into solar I would really like to see a solar project happen um within the district member banks thank you and I just want to be excuse me very clear with what I'm saying here um um our city hasn't valued Equity very well uh our district is uh attempting to do that uh and so for me equity in academics culture within the school district socially are vitally important and and as a board member for me that would be the number one priority uh again I'm not going to rehash what has already been said about the uh test scores and the graduation rates of kids of color native and African Heritage in particular but we've

084got to do something in that area and we cannot let it continue because it's uh it's been an issue far be uh far before John and Anthony came to our district it was an issue and we cannot let it continue so my prior is the equity piece in making sure that every kid of color gets everything they need uh to be successful when they walk out that door member zarowski yeah I just appreciate your comments member banks I couldn't agree more um I'd also like just to add to that um climate issues are I think disproportionately affecting um people who are um from Minority communities across our country and in our on our globe so I think it's connected but I really appreciate you bringing that up about the equity piece good conversation really good

085I I love what member eer says to about clear priorities but going to come back to superintendent megas and and there's a honestly I will say I don't like being pushed personally about two really important topics and I feel like we are trying you know I I want to you so you want direction from us as to what the priority and I I'm having a hard time understanding why we can't do a little bit of of both and so we're not pitting these two issues which are important to all of us and I don't think we're doing it I don't and I don't think that was your intention with that comment either but you also I mean I think you lay it at the board table where you should and we are a smart and

086and a good communication board but so to my point with that is um you know there's a lot of steps in our Solar and and and then we have to also understand as board members that we have some significant vacancies in leadership right now so they're all doing triple their job because of where we're at just in this moment but so my question would be like when is the when is the grant due that would um open up the door to that 500,000 uh the grant is due uh and you told me earlier didn't it December 20th yes so and I I want to be really clear I know we are still very interested in solar if if we want to see the Grant come together if we can we want to we want to

087do the Lincoln Park piece I'm just saying when we start talking about like uh seeking out you know potentially multi-million dollar Partners I I feel like um or I don't feel like I I know that in my conversations with our leadership team and our cabinet that that they're feeling uh taxed and that that there is um there isn't an abundance of extra extra additional time we're we're putting in like I said probably 10% of of my time and time of many people on my team has has been spent on solar and exploring solar because we have prioritized it because we have listened to our students and we want it to happen we have listened to the board and we want it to happen I'm just saying if you want it to be more of a

088priority that would cause me to have to shift away from some other priorities um and so all I'm saying is we're we're kind of at our Max right now and uh with with the budget reductions and also the work we're trying to do uh on on the other strategic plan element so if we're if we're going to seek out other additional things beyond the scope of what we're we have on the table that would be um that would require me to to shift resources away from other things which I can I can do I we serve at the pleasure of the board uh but I don't think that's really what you're asking I I I think I'm a little uh a little tired uh and I apologize uh but I I just I just we

089we want to make sure that we are not over promising and underd delivering on the Solar projects yeah I don't want to say that we can invest a million dollars in solar because that that would I would not recommend it I would not recommend a million dollars or 500,00 right now I could see a couple hundred, and maybe maybe a little more uh but I that's that's with some of the the funding coming back but it would not be my recommendation to um go far beyond that that's why I want I want to really explore that Lincoln Park project because that that was exciting like our students were just like yeah don't cut teachers do the Lincoln Park project and so if that can if that can happen which I believe is very uh I

090don't want to be overly optimistic but I think it's got a real good shot um I think that that would be something to consider and I you know when I look back and I I see uh M knar there who also serves on our some of our work with with looking at at uh at budget reduction I know it would be it' be hard pressed for me to come back to the teacher team that's been working on budget reduction and say hey let's find five more teachers or 10 uh peras to reduce to to put half a million dollars towards the solar project right now um so that's that's where the pull comes for for all of us because we want to do both but I think we can I think we can move forward

091very likely with the with the solar project with both of these in the in the scope of what we're doing I'm I'm optimistic I just want to make sure that we're not over promising and getting people's hopes up to dash them because you've been working so hard on this I don't want to overpromise and fail you member I don't know if it's laugher Kemp or Mike cell first was okay sah member Mikell and then member laugher Kemp U I appreciate the frankness um of our conversation um and to follow up on some things that chair Lal mentioned um I don't feel that this needs to be an either or um we're a very um talented District uh that is able to handle many things all at once recognizing that um we have needs that need

092to be addressed first and foremost but um the advocacy and the work of our students the work of our stakeholders and Community groups around this issue the all of the work that has gone into it like the spreadsheets and that we've been receiving and all the analysis um needs to have been for something um and so recognizing that we have two um very um you know good proposals that we're currently uh looking at right now and choosing one or both to to move forward on I think is a reasonable thing to do at this time um thank you laugher Kemp yeah I I couldn't agree more and I really appreciate this discussion couldn't agree more uh with member Michael Cella about we do have two good proposals here uh and um you know I I

093think many of us sitting around the table know advocacy takes a long time right member banks a long time uh and and and and projects sometimes take a long time um uh and that can be a good thing because then they're going to be good projects that make sense in our case for the district for the city for our future um and um you know I I know as a district we've been working on uh the idea of solar in our schools long before superintendent Magnus was here uh it was uh under our former superintendent as well and so uh I know there's is a commitment for it and uh uh and a lot of time has been spent and I I I I wasn't when I brought up the 5 million dollar asking um

094us to put more into it I just want a clarification because there's again been a lot of numbers thrown out there that I think it gets confusing on what we actually have in the have in the project and what we don't and and I don't want to overpromise our students or anybody either I want to make sure we can do a project that or projects that that makes sense um and and so I I I do think we still focus on it that that is my hope um for many reasons but um I uh and if that Lincoln Park project can work out I mean that really does seem pretty ideal initially uh for us to focus on love to see Stow when I came here 30 years ago Stow was the Environmental Magnet School

095lots of great things were happening so if we can do something again uh with um and and maybe the community out there that's listening will be hearing our call for uh being a partner in some ways um uh to to help uh and and maybe they will have heard the students speak tonight and and maybe um you know um but those are all Mayes uh just like this grant is a maybe uh and that's just what I just want to I guess make sure that any information getting out there like superintendent Mega said is that we're not over promising we're following a process that is good for these potential projects but um we're we're we're working through the grant system um knowing that it it it might not give us everything we need to to

096do it um to do everything um so uh I I I I I would like to Second uh the couple board members that want it to continue but you know continuing to be thoughtful continuing to look at the money is it coming in or not and making sure the community and and and the community groups um uh or or our students know what you know what we really have to work with and what we don't you know so so to syn syn synthesize everything I've heard tonight I still think there's a major question to be either voted on or Converse on in a way and that I mean and I feel bad because I would really like to talk a little bit more about um your report on the American Indian education piece of this

097too but so are we saying as a board that this grant is due December 20th how much how much bandwidth do you have energy-wise with your staff to to to share with the board that you could go forward with that Grant you could make you could apply for the grant but yet if we apply for the grant we're applying then that we are giving permission for some kind of lots of next steps either I I would think the message before the board is do you want to make a motion to have the district pursue the 500,000 Grant to finish that Grant before December 20th knowing that if we get it it also puts us in a precarious position of over promising and underserving because now we've got the grant but the other pieces aren't quite

098following so and there's probably a deadline and all kinds of things you guys are are better at grant writing than an experience with it than I am so if we go for the grant that puts us on a trial a a a trajectory of making this more of a priority than maybe we can do we say tonight that we are are going to support not going through with this Grant and put your effort into making a better connection with the city to make the Lincoln Park array happen because I don't know if you really wanted to go forward if we apply for the grant we are more or less saying that even though we say we know that the priority is um in budget and in making sure we have teachers are you following this

099I'll shut my mic off and see what you got are you following I don't know member Sadowski or I I was next but I guess can I do you mind if I just jump not all I I I don't know what if that's the question we should be asking chair loel because I think we already gave the uh the the support to move forward with this grant process like we we did that already yeah yeah yeah and can you do that December 20 yeah so Our intention is to to move forward with the Grant and I think there are certain things if we find out the Stow roof can't support the the solar panels then there wouldn't be much point in continuing with that particular grant for that particular piece we could we could uh

100reconfigure and look for for another project are basically what I'm saying what I was trying to say in my slide and I didn't know it would cause such uh such great dialogue which which has been uh very interesting um we okay quot um what am I trying to say is that we're we're planning to move forward with with uh the grant if if it works out and if it doesn't work out we won't do the grant uh so so I don't I guess I don't really need direction on on that uh we do plan on moving forward with uh exploring the Lincoln Park piece I think there's great promise there if that can happen that's that's wonderful so I don't know that there's really a need for a board decision on this at this point

101and and I guess all I was saying is we were starting to maybe go down a road of of like uh putting more time and resource into finding Community Partners to fund the other part and and I'm I'm and I I was just saying like right right now we're putting as much bandwidth towards solar as we can and if the board wants us to put more bandwidth towards it we can but it would be at the shift of the of finite resource from something else so like and I would suggest if we were doing that we would add solar you know to our guiding change on budget that you know we have supporting every student advancing Equity improving systems and solar or something like or and I don't think that we're ready to do that

102or or we're suggest jesting that so I I think that my direction is clear you're saying do solar try and make solar happen and do your best at it given what you've got so far and partner with our students and um you're getting to see the inside of the of how decision- making happens sometimes um but you're also seeing the reason the reason why this is a tough choice is because in in all of this whether it's money or time or the environment there there there are finite resources and we need to to be very prudent in in how we're we're making these decisions but I I feel like I have enough information for the board to move forward members at hki um I was just going to thank everyone for the great conversation and

103um just acknowledge that we we have been very short staffed um in the district in many different positions especially um administratively um so just appreciate the thoughtfulness that um both of you and our staff are putting into this um not just solar but a lot of the other initiatives um assistant superintendent bonds you've taken on a lot of extra responsibilities um um as we learned about two in the superintendent report so thank you for K yeah and and I'll just uh wrap up uh this piece anyways with the solar project um I mean I'm hoping that uh and I I know our legislative agenda was briefly talked about in your report so I can throw it in here uh that that that we have something like we have the last few years about um uh

104supporting solar in our schools further funding in our legislative agenda to show that we are continuing to advocate for more funding for schools so I know we're going to be discussing that at a later date but that's another way we can Advocate um for our future and for our students uh is through our legislative agenda thank you I I do have some some questions on the um advancing Equity under the American Indian um information you share and um I appreciate member banks and I were at the last tribal consultation and you referred to that and that has been a really um wonderful opportunity over my last four years and it's really the responsibility of a board chair to um be present at those tribal consultations it's a sign of respect and it's a sign of

105Honor so um as we look at board chairs and their responsibilities um the American tribal consultation usually happens once a year but we've been really more present with them to build relationships so it's been three to four times a year so I really but I do like um the relationship that our leadership has has has continued to pursue with our American Indian um tribal leadership but also um I really want to say that coh Hearts like we've got at Denfeld take time there's going to be some mistakes and there's going to be some shuffling this year so I I know that new programs take a little time so you refer to that that we'll you certainly are are keeping um tabs on that and I appreciate that and also I think when we look at

106our staffing and our leadership and of the American Indian um District leader here in this facility is that I have watched you um over the many four or five years you've been here hiring significant people in our district that you've taken the time to to really know what that position needs and you've even posted it and then reposted it if the candidates aren't you're you're looking for the best of the best so I really appreciate that thoughtfulness that you've put in and I expect to see that same kind of professionalism and dedication because it it's the mid year so posting it now is going to not maybe but you know I know that you will and then if you don't see the candidate in the pool you've got you're going to um continue to to

107work to make sure that candidate is the best candidate um and then I just want to say to the legislative platform update that um I'm honored that um we as a district and more PR specifically as Schoolboard members we we put out um three um legislative platform positions to the Minnesota Schoolboard Association we put one on special education funding we put one on technology funding and the last one that we put on was for career and Tech education and the um the Minnesota Schoolboard Association selected our um career in tech ed resolution and Bill to potentially go forward now the delegate assembly will vote vote um that that happens next weekend there will be a vote of school boards across the state to support um there's like 124 potential resolutions of which career and tech

108ed the one that we put forward as our district is the only one on career and teched so the Minnesota Schoolboard Association has already approved their support of create of making that one of their legislative platform mandates as well so we're going to get a lot more um advocacy on our career and tech ed funding it's going to um ask the legislation to push their funding from 35% to 50% and I know it's been a long night tonight with lots of other um important information but I really wanted to salute you as a school board for stepping up and and being present as a delegate and um then also going down for ADV advocacy on the part of our our district and our school so I appreciate that any other questions about the superintendent report

109or concluding remarks you want to say or member yeah I'm I'm sorry to be labor this but I'm going to anyway um Equity is so very important in isd709 and I want to see major investments in our Equity Community our kids our Native American and African-American kids deserve more from our district and uh that's all I'll say that concludes the superintendent's report and so the next thing on the on the agenda is just a reminder of our schedule of meetings and events and so if you look at that and again Patty puts that out to us every Friday and that's awesome and so I just want to call your attention to the fact that you know we are right back at it at a community of the whole you know next week because of just

110the the way the elections and the dates fell so you know just get that in your calendar um we also have our work session next week of which we um put out a a tentative agenda and you know I hope you got a chance to look at that and um we'll we'll be together again and then if you look at December 9th through the 13th I just want to highlight because um we will be looking at committees that's part of our Workshop agenda just just a review of the Committees that we are appointed to that we get in January but but you have a lot of those committee meetings um coming up the week of December 9th we have the um education Equity advisory committee meeting on December 12th and so I just want to

111um put that on your radar if you are a community if you if if you are the school board rep on that committee and the other one is we have a on the same night we have the special education parent advisor Council right here at the district service at 4:15 and we also have um board members assigned to that committee um and again I'm really looking at your feedback for the Committees you have represented us on that that's really great and and they love having us there because we're going to kind of look at those assignments that that's going to come up for reappointment in January so at the workshop we're just going to do a quick 20 minute review of those committees because there's also a request from American Indian parent advisory committee the

112ipac they would they would like a a Schoolboard rep on their Council someone who would only though probably come four times a year like quarterly it's not like we have to be at every one of their parent advisory but that they would like a a board member present so we'll consider that at our our Workshop so again um it's EAC and it is the special education parent advisory Council and the Reg ones that were on Title 9 committee is that uh is that Federal is that the federal programs with um Darren no Patty the American Indian education department has now divided their parent committees into three separate committees so that is um one of theirs they're all on the same night and the the one follows the next thank you and it's title sakes okay

113not Title Nine Roman numerals yeah title six yeah next on our agenda is our reports of our various committees right standing committees so I'll turn it over to assistant superintendent bonds for our report of our latest call meeting which was just last week it was and I'll be brief um we had uh several presentations uh provided um by various individuals um the first one was provided by Annie shillin she's our professional development coordinator she provided some insight to the professional development day that took place on October the 14th which was um now I'm having a Brin fart it was our professional development day but it was also indigenous people that's what I'm saying not now I'm having a brief right it's a moment um indigenous people's day um and the topics for the day focus

114on indigenous people talked um there were a lot of professional development professional development related to uh culture history and Annie did a great job of um sharing that information so Mrs shering did an awesome job for that presentation the supporting under supporting every student Sheila Oak she's the supervisor for Child Nutrition program she provided some some rals audit uh results Brenda sparts our director of Elementary education and principles were here and all of our School principles um shared uh and walked through their school Improvement plans just some highlights on their key efforts and strategies that they are employing to improve outcomes in the building uh there was a budget update provided by uh superintendent maggus and Simone zunich and we also had a resolution for um not just information but also for voting um and

115that's related to the Minnesota high school league Foundation as well as the designation of identified official for Authority for Head Start so those were uh there were two resolutions provided that day thank you and just some input before we go on to our next board meeting is that there's minutes because we did take action at the committee of the whole meeting on the consent agenda are the minutes from that reflecting that vote so that's all thank you going on to our next right any oh any questions so going on to our next report it is the report of our um HR and business and chair um of that committee is chair eer thank you we met on um November 12th at 4:35 and we had no guest presentations for that meeting we moved on to

116our departmental reports we started out with human resources you can find um the more detailed summary located in the agenda I'm just going to hit some highlights here again as we see um for Staffing updates for HR during the month of October we did see um more new hires um for both our certified and non-certified staff then we did see retirements resignations and leave of absences so that's very important um we are making sure that we are staffed properly to serve our students family and families um in the month of October HR along with Finance has been doing their Site Staffing and budget review meetings um and as of that what what did I say the date of the 12th they only had three site remainings our HR team has been attending the Minnesota Association

117of school Personnel administrators the masba fall conference and this was very important for them because they were educated on the latest legal updates regarding the earned safe and sick time and the Minnesota unemployment law and I would just um make some notes of that as these are um additional um costs that are going to be Associated for the district once those one-time funding allocations from the legis um from the state legislature run out we will um depending on whether the legislature um continues to fund those programs or if those costs are going to come back on the district so that's something to think about in the future they're also getting um education as paid family medical leave will begin in 2026 we also had some HR staff attend professional development training at Denfeld to look

118at cultural competency and inclusion again focusing on on making sure that equity and inclusion are up in this District staff attended and learned about such topics as cultural definitions and behaviors inclusion Mobility Museum ojibway faces and stories connections between ableism and equity in special education ojibway language a conversation with isd709 families and the community outreach Specialists we've also um on November 13th our H excuse me November 14th our HR staff attended the duth Chamber of Commerce diversity equity and inclusion workshop and this um was a workshop that offered guidance to our business Community as how they can support and up and uplift indigenous-led organizations and provide valuable insight into our local indigenous culture we had some updates on benefits as open enrollment ran the 4th through the 15th and we are beginning to do the

119work with our district to host three sessions for our retired employees who are members um of let me start over the end of October our district hosted three sessions for our retired employees who are members of the Medicare plans that the District offers um there were some other um offerings to our employees for education for calm and other things um the last thing I want to update us on is our contract negotiations we have one unit left to um finalize our negotiations with and that is the districtwide inst structural administrative administrators Association and they're working on to get that next um meeting finalized that concluded our HR monthly Staffing uh departmental report moving on to business services we start out with enrollment currently for the um month of November no this was our October our

120octo John you got me I'm just can't typ right now either um currently our enrollment report we have 8,168 23 students and our budget to date is at 8,068 So currently we are um have more students than what we have budgeted for that's always great to see we will see those numbers drop off as we see students graduate um at the semester next our Child Nutrition departmental report I'm going to kind of go through some of this stuff um we have an after school meal program at Denfeld that was started in October and that matches the after school Dash program the average number of students grabbing a bite to eat is around 75 per afternoon so we're offering After School meals for for our students at Denfeld we also have um a farm to school

121month the in support of our Farms to school month in Minnesota we purchased and featured honey crisp honey crisp apples developed at the University of Minnesota local lettuce and roma mixes acorn squash local tomatoes and other fresh produce they took part in the Great Lakes apple crunch on October 10th and anyone that wants to can crunch into an Apple at lunchtime they had a special guest that was Johnny app apple seed and the Child Nutrition equipment technician Ken wit dressed up and spread coloring book pages and stickers at a few of the elementary schools over meal time there's a great picture of Johnny apple seed and a bunch of um of our nutrition staff at pedmont um he was asked for his autograph so I want to make sure that that is out in the

122public record um the fresh fruit and vegetable program this grant program was again awarded to Myers Wilkins and was started in October the students are going to get a great exposure to all sorts of different fruits and vegetables that they might not get at home as well as part of their midday snack and this grant works with the community school collaborative to be able to provide this nutrition service to students there was an update from um as to what sorts of meals our ALC and our AEO students can access so because of some changes in um administrative language and rules with the USD a or one of the health department State Health Department um ALC is no longer um no longer available to serve hot meals so we will be serving cold meals there students

123of course can go to any other high school to get those hot meals but we do realize that this is an additional barrier to our students that we acknowledge um but this is sort of one of these things that um we don't really have the capacity to do much for we don't have the proper um equipment that we need in order to serve hot meals so we are serving continuing to serve our students meals at both the alc and AO and we're serving about 30 to 40 meals there a day moving on to our facilities Department report they continue to do great work we know that Meers Wilkins the scope of work has been established and bids have been received by ICS and we are hoping to begin the gym repair we've had some dead

124trees removed at East by Rick Tree Service we're also working on Chiller replacement quotes for Myers Wilkins we also have boiler inspections that were completed by Liberty Mutual and we're waiting on Minnesota power to inspect power poles for some replacement at hcof um we do want to just um take a minute to acknowledge that we have open positions two open positions at Denfeld and ordine a second shift engineer position open at Myers Wilkins and two custodian positions open at Denfeld and L and I continue to see some great commercials on the Fox 21 Morning Show looking for those um advertising for I d79 to come work for us for both bus drivers and um custodial Services moving on to our technology department report um what I want to bring what I want to bring everybody's

125attention to is some e- rate and RFP bids We There is a USAC rate cyber security pilot program um that we have um submitted some stuff to I can't think of the words right now the federal government has $200 million that they've put towards this and they've received $3.7 billion of Grant asks with over 2700 schools around the United States asking for this help so um I just want to take a note of that I also want to lift up our technology department they had a huge effort where they um essentially moved the ark um in Volta data center move they got that completed they did that work um very diligently and that work started Thursday through Saturday I believe was that mea weekend I believe so yeah so our technology staff working hard that

126Thursday through Saturday to get all that data moved so I just want to lift them up and if you see Bart or any of our technology staff tell them thank you um as we look on our transportation report um we are as usual short of drivers and helpers um hopefully we we had an interview for a van driver hopefully that worked out and we're going to be also posting for another full-time bus driver position um and continuing to work on routes and our student to to make our students experience better those were a business services we have three recommended resolutions that are coming forward acceptance of donations authorized Bank signer and acceptance of Grant Awards to the duth public schools on the consent agenda you'll find the HR Staffing report our financial report any bids

127rfps and quotes contract leases and change orders and then lastly we have um listed at the end of this um agenda expenditure contracts no cost contracts and my favorite Revenue contracts so um any details can be found in our agenda packet and I'm open to H answering any questions you all want to meet Johnny apple seed don't you I can if there's no questions that concludes the report just but I I do have just a few um just you know looking at our um I love that our budget is on our website but under the um the the FN Q section there isn't anything yet um it's not live yet I mean the the headline is there but there isn't anything there correct um okay Adele's the one that's building that we're col okay we

128just haven't gotten there yet cool um and I agree that keeping our website keeping that on our website um I understand taking down the the the current budget thing um the first week in December so we can you know re work on what we're going to present in the month of December but keeping that up um is a good idea um I think that was I think that's my only question any others member ller Kemp just a comment if you could pass on to our bus drivers to just uh thank them for getting through yesterday and uh uh we uh support them as we move into the winter months so thank you and I I love the robust um lunch lunch um options and all the emphasis on the fruit and the vegetables because if

129you look in the duth News Tribune today we have one of our students that you know still feels like you know we need more more food and that's that's high school life and I I do like you know um I don't know do do both do middle schools and high schools have the after school quick snack or is that just um a Denfeld Community School option I think that's a Denfeld thing as of right now and I think it's through the Community Schools yeah yeah okay so last is our policy report and member I'm ller km who's the chair of of that committee will give our report as well I'll jump in uh Tuesday November 19th was our policy meeting uh we had uh policies for first reading policy 621 which is literacy in the

130read act and uh all of you I am sure remember when legislation was passed in 2023 uh on the read act so this is a new policy it's a model from nsba uh thank uh Brenda sparts and Jackie Otway for uh reading through it and and working on it uh the purpose of this policy is to align with the Minnesota law established in the read act and on other topics related to reading and uh they uh uh really kept all of the model policy except um under five under intervention or six excuse me under intervention uh they took out f um and uh B basically it's because we already have um a process in place for screening tools and they didn't feel this was as clear as what we we already have in place uh

131and uh then the other thing um that was brought up is under the legal references um Minnesota statute the first one should read um 120b 1119 not 118 so that just would be changed again this is a first reading um of this new policy um so we align with the read act uh there were no policies for second reading and then we did have a couple policies for review um policy 707 which is transportation of public school students and uh the purpose of this policy is to provide for the transportation of students consistent with the requirements of the law and a lot of um kind of legislative and language changes um were made in here um you can see our updates are in red um there's a a number of statutes that were at the

132end of each paragraph that we didn't need uh were were taken out uh and then I would highlight in eligibility under uh that section uh we updated the language to our updated distance so that's uh really Delo specific to work that we did to um uh uh to advance Equity as well and so uh that is um let's see uh the major changes there were some changes under uh legislative changes under seven uh with speal special education students with a disability and students with uh temporary disabilities there was some language changes uh under Section B of that as well and then um under Section uh five six S8 um there under homeless students um we changed B to um use um uh rather than calling it homeless education leaz on it's families and transition coordinator

133which is what our title is and uh then again the legal references are noted and we adopted this policy um last time in 2016 so those um were the changes in uh the review this is a review uh and then uh 725 request for proposals again some language changes um 725 the purpose of this policy is the district's Administration is authorized to enter into a joint purchasing agreement with the state of Minnesota to allow the district to purchase goods and services listed on the state's contract index at the prices and terms available to the state the district is not required to obtain bids and quotations for purchases made from the state's contract indexed furthermore Administration is authorized to purchase goods and or services from other governmental or School District Cooperative or joint purchasing Ventures established

134through a competitive competitive bidding process and um uh you might remember when we reviewed that um we renumbered it earlier this spring uh in March of 2024 uh and uh part of bringing that up was because in the um the um regulation we had some language changes so we wanted to bring that up uh and then let me see here um um let's see uh so then then the two informational regulations were 707r which is transportation of public school students and there was really some Cleanup in uh language uh you'll see highlighted under uh H um turning um language from a handicap to disabilities and then um under two there there are a couple other language changes and then and again some statute changes uh there and then um with the regulation for uh bids

135quotes and request uh again some language changes um there was uh some corrections to on the um under the process that we we we we don't use um um in about the fourth paragraph uh so um those were the informational items and again we just have one policy for first reading and these will all be in our uh consent agenda thank you questions just just wander to us kind like what is it so um I really do I mean thank you and I the policy continues to you know be important as our as our responsibility as board members I I think I was you know trying to answer some questions um that community members had and it's not my first thought it has to be reminded by sometimes a board member that tells me to

136go to the policy that governs that that question and sure enough if you if you look at the policy it will tell you so thank you to the policy committee I know it's kind of tedious work sometimes when it's just a language change or a language update but you always are really thorough in that so listening to that and I also listened when um the Pres presentation from Jackie atwe and who who and Brenda about just the um the the conundrum we have when the state legislator make policy themselves that we're supposed to follow and they contradict within their own legislation and so I know that as we go to Advocate with legislators they've got to do the same thing they've got to take suggestions from us and clean up their language because there's some

137things that say you they strongly encourage and then within a few lines down it's a must and so that leaves the policy committee that you guys work so hard for and then the leadership of our district in a conundrum and so you know those are little things but those sometimes those are the things that the legislators really like us to bring to them because it's so quick it's like okay we just have to change these languages it makes sense to us it's not asking for money it's not asking you know for other things but it's it's it's important for us to make sure they clean that up because it helps us and then I I really appreciate the the 707 Transportation policy too with um just the updates with the with what particular to our

138district and then I think it's I thought it was the 707 policy but it's not I really appreciate um your attention as policy committee members to language changes that are Equitable and um necessary in time like when you're when you're looking to um phrase something the um handicapped is not the word you use anymore and you guys are good at making sure we're changing it to the most appreciative and respectful um use of word of language so that's all I have remember Sadowski see I knew somebody would come up with some questions if I talk long enough um well along those lines I don't know if I'm looking at the right one and I apologize I did not have the capacity to watch the policy committee meeting this month but on um the policy 407

139so the transportation under Section 8 um I'm looking where it says homeless students was that language changed at all because um in the work that I do uh in the community um I think maybe a more I'm just thinking maybe there's more of a person- centered way to phrase that um you know uh students who are experiencing homelessness or um unhoused is another phrase that I hear a lot in my circles so not a huge deal but I just I noticed that and it stood out to me just because of the language that um that I use and it came up but because its state statute was the way we we needed to keep it but I think that would be a good thing to Advocate on with our local legislators um so on the

140language change yeah yeah yeah yeah correct because m laer kimp is right um we discussed it yeah but we knew by state definition we stay with it y yeah and if there's no other questions I would just again uh as chair of the committee thank the committee members for uh their uh input but also again thank EX itive assistant uh Patty pette for particularly uh all of the legislative changes and keeping us on track with those um in a timely way and and taking our feedback uh so and making those changes so again a huge thank you uh as we continue to move forward um with our new polic or with with our policies so moving on on our agenda if I don't see any lights it is um our number eight is General board

141committee updates so in this time since our last um monthly meeting have we attended any of our committee um meetings anybody want to member mic s uh earlier this week I attended the staff um development advisory committee and there's an amazing group of over 30 um staff attendees from across the district um who were present there working under our new professional development director um coming up with creative ways to engage staff and to um get good professional development for to benefit all of our students um so us using a lot of data driven and a lot of input from um the stakeholders that you know will be learning as um it seems like it's going to be a really good group and they um have a lot of good energy and motivation uh to do

142good work for our students member Sadowski um I I attended the Head Start policy council meeting this last month and they have a um great group of engaged parents um a few of them are um seasoned they were on the committee the last year or two and then a few of them are new um and so they spent their meeting kind of learning um learning about what it means to be on the Head Start policy Council the responsibilities where their work intersects with our work um and so that was that meeting I will just throw out that the Eek meeting was cancelled this month because of some things that came up um in the community and then uh I was unable to attend the uh parks and wreck because of the amsd am yeah amsd

143okay so seeing no other lights on thank you thank you for those reports and I look forward to the opportunity to hear more because you know we we had this kind of lull in meetings and and and Schoolboard stuff so next month we'll go there again so um I'm looking for a motion to accept our consent agenda and our um chair of policy and shair of HR business did a really good job of reminding us what's on that consent agenda as well it's been in our in our um board book so do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda is there a second is there any discussion all those in favor of the consent agenda acceptance say I I opposed consent agenda passes that moves us to um that moves us to our

144resolutions and so I'll look first to our um resolution by member zelski on our donations I'm going to move um resolution B-1 11-24 d466 um I'll do a second and then you can come back to it no okay yep is there a second okay and then MERS you're seconding all righty then and then a brief background on those donations yep I wasn't going to read the whole thing but um this is just a resolution to accept the donations to our public schools and we have a nice long list here um donations two pages um several to Stow pedmont I see some to ler Park Myers Wilkins homecraft Laura MacArthur Denfeld and yeah so a lot of different grants or different um donations rather to our public schools and I kind of jumped the gun too

145did you want to read those wouse Clauses or can we just vote on it no we don't need to we can just um I move that resolution so all those in favor of the resolution say I I I opposed motion carries resolution carries um our next resolution is um 10B it's um authorized Bank signer and that is um member um I move resolution for the authorized bank account signer um resolution b-11 d244 67 to allow for Sarah gullen um and removing Cameron joki from our community ed authorized bank account signature is there is there a second is there any questions all those in favor of moving this resolution say I I opposed motion carries moving on to our last resolution member Mike cell I move resolution B- 11-24 d468 the acceptance of Grant Awards to

146D Public Schools is there a second second is there any discussion or question member ller have a quick question and I'm just curious um the the Legacy and McMillan Grant that uh Cal Harris has received for Laura MacArthur uh it's for student transportation to the state capital and the malac indan museum and Trading Post that's wonderful is it coming up isn't something that's coming up this this opportunity for um is it Laura McArthur students they are Laura MacArthur students the actual date of it I don't have it in my head let's be honest wonderful opportunity it great thank you but I always like to clarify at this point with grants as they've been applied for they haven't found out if they've received it so they always have to go through the grant um accept the

147grant process that is laid out in our school district and on the website um so we want to celebrate the the fact that these um wonderful leaders in our district applied for these grants and I think I've asked this before I would love to hear if we get them if they re receive them and to further this this question is um before the board two months ago um uh Rachel Lal the music teacher at Denfeld applied for an $88,000 instrument um music um Grant and she found out this week that they received it so right now the the music and it's it's for music and instrumental lessons um for $8,000 to provide um instrumental and voice lessons for Denfeld students so I encourage us to continue continue to figure out if we've got those actual

148ones so the resolution has been moved and seconded all those in favor say I I I opposed motion carries that moves us to number 11 um special resolutions and action items and we have none right okay and then number 12 it's questions and other and I know it's late I'm but I predict at 8:30 so we're not too bad but I just would like to take this place in the in the agenda because I don't know where else to place this but it's a celebration and the celebration is that the Minnesota School Board Association has selected Our member Rosie laugher Kemp as the state Allstate school board and so um she'll be honored at the convention in January but um I just want to take this public opport it's going to be rolled out by

149the Minnesota Schoolboard Association as well that will roll out in their December kind of public um messaging in their Facebook so look for that but congratulations Rosie for 12 years I had to inquire from um Greg Abbott from the Minnesota School Board Association because part of the application process ask for like how many like points does um member Camp have for attending things and he was shocked to pull up her record to find that she has probably the most points of many school board members she has 589 points accumulated in her service for the for the Workshops the delegate assemblies the um summer attendance the phase one through four multiple times um and just the many other things she does so I've I'm sure that the um Minnesota School Board Association When selecting their All

150State there's seven of them that are selected um and she's one of seven and she'll be honored but I'm sure it was an easy choice I would think congratulations I'm proud I'm proud to be on the board with you I know it's it's always hard to accept you know like recognition and awards but it's good for us too so thank you congratulations I'm looking for a motion Jour or does any do you do you want to comment yeah superintendent yeah you a big part of this that was actually why I had my light on too and I'm glad that we were both on the same page thinking that that this was something that we wanted to comment on and we were actually we we we had you in mind and we were actually uh when

151we uh moved forward with the msba they were very very interested in having you as part of that it was you a shoe in and um I think that you exemplify really strong board leadership you've been uh a great guide to me ever since I first came here as superintendent and you're helping uh shape and guide The District in in many ways uh looking at the number of points and things that you've received from all the trainings it's just it's staggering um I also want to say thanks to uh member Sadowski you're you're being recognized at the at the meeting too as a uh one of the the director's um recognition pieces during the launch as far as having complete many of the the trainings so you'll be part of the the lunch recognition but

152being on the allstar School Board I've I've always said this is the best board I've ever worked with uh all of the iterations we've had I don't want to insult any of previous members either uh but I but I just want to say thank you for your leadership I'm looking for a motion to adjourn member Williams is there a second member of Mike C seconds all those in favor of a German say I