Hopkins School Board Meeting April 21st, 2026

001And welcome to this workshop of the Hopkins School Board. Most of us commented as we took our seats that we feel like we never left. So welcome back to all my board colleagues. Thank you for being here. It is 6.02 PM on April 21st. And we will get started with our agenda. The first item is the weighted grades policy update. And I will turn it over to Vice Chair Roper. Hello. So we will be receiving some weighted grade conversation. We'll be having a weighted grade conversation tonight and discussing some of the things that we shared over in the monitoring committee. And so I will allow Dr. Lightfoot to take over and then look forward to engaging in a thoughtful discussion with my colleagues. Thank you. And just a little bit of context for our community

002and board members, we did have a presentation on this topic. Was it two, three weeks ago? It all blurs together. Yeah. From one of our student board reps who's hoping to join virtually to be part of this discussion. And two of our staff members at the high school where they shared information. And then the board sent the policy monitoring committee off to talk more about this issue of including weighted grades in our policy. We don't have to have weighted grades, but it is a discussion that we're having at the high school and so wanted to do an update. The monitoring committee, when we met and discussed it, felt that we needed more data to make a decision on this. And so what's included here for board members to look at is that additional data that

003was requested. Yeah, it's really the follow up from the conversation. There were some additional questions that came forward from monitoring committee members. And thanks and appreciation to high school staff who were able to pull the information together so that the monitoring committee could look at some additional components related to free and reduced lunch, looking at honors, looking at students who participated, and looking at the overall impact and analysis. So part of that discussion has really led to the monitoring committee's recommendation to bring it forward in a workshop for the full board to really analyze and look at what options are available for us and for the community. Before we draft anything in particular for a specific set of policy language, knowing that there was some additional information and additional monitoring committee dialogue, the feeling was

004that bringing it forward to a full board before a specific language is drafted, put into policy, and then as has been the practice of the monitoring committee on policies that do have large impacts and change, significant change, we try to see if we can also get a community engagement element built in. And so we're on deck with that, but wanted to make sure that before we start to do that work that we received this conversation in more detail with you all. So that kind of sets it up. I believe if monitoring committee members may want to speak to some of the individual components, that was the next step that we put forward. Yes, just a second. Excuse me. So could we first go through maybe the data that we received on the weighted grades before

005we engage in the discussion? Yeah, I mean, I'd reflect that back to the monitoring committee for what specific information was really requested and how that's been helpful to them as they've been looking at answering some of those additional questions. Yeah, so one of the, so just for further context, the conversation that we had at the monitoring committee has been between our various options, and we have several. We can, one, leave our policy as is, and grades will not be weighted. We can weight AP in honors and have that start from the date of the policy being adopted. We could have, we could decide to do weighted grades and have AP in honors classes weighted and have that be retroactive, or we could have AP honors and then include CIS and PSCO classes in that weighted

006class and have that be retroactive or not have that be retroactive. So there's lots of different options that we can go through. So when we were looking at this, I think that the discussion from my perspective was the reason, the why, and the clear why that was shared from, is it director Cool? Doctor. Doctor Cool and our student board rep Manuel is that our students are experiencing a disadvantage in getting merit-based scholarships because the high school does not weight their grades. So that felt like, especially in the current environment around how you fund post-secondary education, a compelling why for, at least for me, I'll speak for myself. And so then it became a question of, if we're going forward with this decision to weight grades, it became, well, should we do it retroactively? And then

007for me, the question became, what are we weighting? And for me, that became a question of equitable access. And I feel like the high school has made a lot of progress. We are not done yet, but has made progress in having our AP and honors classes accessible to all students. It's not 100%. I know that there are a lot of kids who do not see themselves in that space and that it can be a significant barrier to imagine that you could be successful in an AP class if it's never been recommended to you or that's never been your experience. So we still have work to do around that. But at the end of the day, it is accessible in the sense that you don't have to be admitted by a higher ed institution. You don't

008have to have transportation. I know that some are available virtually, but virtual education doesn't work for all students. So there's just varying levels of accessibility for our students when we're talking about PSEO and CIS. And so what I wanted to do was, if our why is that we really want to give our students who may be struggling to afford college access to scholarships, then I really wanted to look at the data behind, are we going to have the most impact for those students if we include PSEO and CIS? And that is why I requested this data. We did get initially in the presentation the gender data and also the racial data, which I think is important for everyone to review to make sure that there is equitable access. But we did not have this socioeconomic

009data. So I requested that. And you see it here before us. And I felt that the conversation we had around it, and then also just being able to look at the numbers to see who is this impacting, is this truly equitable, would a change of this magnitude be advantaging the students that need it? And so I wanted to share the data because I thought it was compelling. Chair Andreessen? Yes. Thank you. As another member of the monitoring committee, I'd just like to give my own follow up with that. And just to name, first of all, again, gratitude and to echo that to Dr. Kuhl and to Manuel and to all those who have been involved in really wrestling with this and seeing an equity issue and concern related to affordability of college. And as we

010know, college is increasingly expensive. The landscape of federal Pell grants is under threat and uncertain as we look to the future. And so this profound work of advocacy on behalf of our students is something that we as a board and as a monitoring committee absolutely we take. I just echo exactly what you were saying, Chair Andreessen, about how seriously we take that. And just to say then, too, in the process, I think initially there was a sense that this could be a high school based decision. It's at the board because it is a policy that we need to take into consideration. And as part of our own conversation at the monitoring committee, was wanting to really honor both what's been communicated to parents and families and community members and students and teachers as all of

011these. This is a big undertaking. And so we wanted to take this up and to take it seriously. That's why we're bringing it tonight, because we don't want to forestall any work on this. And then also wanted to take seriously what we're hearing from our community as we were seeking to make policy recommendations in view of what you've named precisely about what we're seeing also in our data. And just with that, that's where you see in the policy 620 as we're doing an initial first read recommendation is a shift from what was originally presented to the board, which reflects I think both what we were hearing from our community and from our students and staff related to having to be retroactive and go across for all of our students. So if we're really concerned about

012scholarships and finances, that's like, can we impact that for this next year? And then the second piece, just to name, that we had some, and we're not done with dialogue. This is in first draft, but we've had some intentional conversation related to equity. And what does that look like as it relates to the PSEO CIS? Some of you know that candidly, I've been on the just, I started in the place of decidedly, hey, if this is an equity concern and finances is the real why behind this, why would we not want this to go to everyone? I think in the current read, as you'll see, it does not include the PSEO CIS courses in the weighted grade scale. And I think the rationale that was compelling is not only the data that's represented to you

013related to what are our students and who is enrolling in what, but the couple additional things, the one which you had already named, Chair Andreessen, which is the access and the fact that to get into PSEO, and because we have to put PSEO and CIS together, if we could separate them out, that would be different. But to have them together, PSEO requires its own application, its own considerations for if you even can get into PSEO. And then I think the other thing that was compelling to me as a board member who's also tasked with thinking about budget and those realities for our district is that as a district, we pay for PSEO coursework and for the students. And on that front, if a student is already receiving credit, that is a financial incentive and positive

014for them to be taking the PSEO credit on that hand, but wanting both from a culture, can you stay in the schools, but then also the funds that are then retained at the high school itself. That was compelling and wanted to at least bring that forward for us to have more conversation and do more work and listening as we consider it. So in our current draft, it does not include PSEO, CIS in the draft proposal. So just to name a little bit, because we've been wrestling with this, and I want our community to know that we've been wanting to wrestle seriously with what they've said, what we've been hearing, what the data is showing from, and just these considerations. So thank you. And I think we need to be clear that we do not have

015any draft language currently. We held off on creating anything because we The talked about draft language. I really apologize. Everyone's like, what are you talking about, Sarah? Please footnote to see my comments being struck from the record because they're incorrect. So I guess, and I know that that actually was a change from where we left off in the meeting. And we did not have our fearless leader there at the end. And so I think that for a number of reasons, there just isn't any draft language. Because I do think that there is some appetite for perhaps pausing and looking at this deeper. And I turn it over to Vice Chair Roper to talk about that. Yeah, so weighted grades is something that I definitely support. And I believe that it will be impactful in our

016district. And one of the things that I did propose have been connecting with some of my colleagues about in the monitoring committee is, are we able to slow this down a bit and be more intentional about adopting a policy that works for everyone? Because right now, I'm listening to Vice Chair Roper, I'm listening to Chair Andresen and then Clerk WG with the other members. There's too many uncertainties and too many different options for us to just make an urgent decision about a policy that may have unintended consequences. And so with our new principal coming on, I thought it would be really great to pull her into this conversation because she has significant experience with high school grading and to get her perspective. I just didn't want us to take on too much at once and

017then make rushed decisions. Because at the end of the day, a student group is not going to be served. And I want us to figure out how can all students be served with this policy. And so it just didn't feel intentional to me that we are considering something that has so many different levels of consideration. And just wanted to understand and see how does the board feel about slowing down a bit with this. Not saying no, but just slowing down and then gathering some more sturdy insight into this weighted grade policy. Because we want to get it right. I mean, we know what it feels like to make a fast policy decision and it backfires, right? So how can we be more intentional with the weighted grades? And also, how can we collect more feedback

018from our parents, have more people involved in the process, so then everyone feels like they have a voice? Because I don't think all parents or families know about this, even at the high school. So what can we do to bring this in a more broader, to make this more visible for everyone to be involved? Thank you. And I do see Manuel is part of the discussion. I know that you're at track. So just start talking. Interrupt us if you want to chime in. Your perspective is really important because you are one of those students that's going to be directly impacted by this. And just where you're positioned in your time at the high school, I think, makes this probably more urgent for you than most. So please do chime in. Sure, yes. Can you hear

019me? Sorry. Yes, we can. Yeah, so I think really great things that we're talking about here today. And yeah, I do think, though, that we do need to be really intentional about it. And because there could be things that we haven't considered that could happen. But I think that in terms of, I don't know how Dr. Kuhl feels, I guess, but Dr. Kuhl and myself, we feel like we have gone through a lot of the steps at school level to get that feedback and inform the community. And yeah, I do think it is important to maybe take a step back and look and slow things down. But every cycle that we delay it or postpone it, it is kids losing money, I guess. I will be a senior next year, so I can speak for

020my class specifically. But for example, if we did not implement it for next year, then we would not have a weighted grade when we are applying to colleges, applying for those merit scholarships. So I think that is another consideration when we're considering a timeline fix. And Manuel, give me a sense, because you think I would know, because I have a senior this year, but I can't remember. When do early decision applications start going out? Yeah, so early decision and early action are usually due November 1 or beginning of November. And then regular decision is usually by end of December to early January. And then you can start filling out those applications, though, pretty early, right? Like August, September? Yeah, some schools that have their own applications even open in June. But yes, I believe the

021Common App opens in August. Yeah, so that's significant timing-wise. Thank you. Chair Andresen? Yes. That's an ongoing question from my seat is, in order for us to effectively implement the administration and oversight without causing harm to our staff and ensuring we actually could allow our students who are seniors, incoming seniors, to be able to have their grades weighted, what is the time frame in which the board needs to move on implementation of a policy? Yeah, I can speak in general. Part of the work that we've also been doing is looking at what needs to be true within Infinite Campus for us to be able to utilize the system in such a way that it will produce what we need. Is it possible? Absolutely. Does it take time? Absolutely. And it takes dedicated time over the

022course of the summer when, typically, that is the time that most staff are most unavailable. And so part of the conversation is looking at what do we truly have capacity to achieve in a way that is accurate? Because part of the way that we have to look at, if we are considering, at least as I understand from the brief conversation so far, is that within the system, if we were looking at, for example, PSEO and those courses, those are not readily identified in such a way that a systematic report would be generated such that would make it more readily convenient for individuals to go through and make sure that they had everything. Part of what we've looked at is, does this really almost require that manual review? And everything has indicated that it does, which

023means that if we were to get this accurate and correct, that review of transcripts would need to be done on that level. And we would need to be thinking about the time that it would take to deliver that if we were to go that route. Because part of the work would be the determination of the policy, the determination then of the courses, the determination then of which courses to which it would apply, and then that application would need to occur on those courses. That would need to be identified. And then the manual adjustments would need to occur. So that's what we've been exploring in a little bit more detail, as the system requirements are something that truly are an operational element that we have to be mindful of in looking at how quickly and how

024accurately we can make sure that we can do this. Dr. Lightfoot, so with two things. So one, would that mean that we would need to train all teachers on weighted grades? Are most teachers already familiar with how to weight grades in their grading system? Well, I think that's part of the whole design if you look at policies that are specific in the way that they have identified what those weights are. It's usually the policy that drives that. And then, of course, yes, that training component would be an element that would be essential in the transition, which I think is part of the dialogue that you have to have about what does that mean for the most solid implementation? And what does that mean for the data that we have so far about what it delivers

025when we make those changes? And I think that has been part of the report information that was in front of you and presented at the table about some of the concerns about what it means to be looking retroactively versus starting at any given point in time. In different spaces, there is no consistent way that it has been done. Different districts have implemented it differently with all of those options we just stated. And so what would be, do you know, maybe like a projected cost site if we needed to have teachers or educators here over the summer to do any form of work within the weighted grades system and operationalize it? Like, do we have a cost of what that may be? We have not gotten to that space where we have developed any particular training

026plan. Or at this point, to your question, what might that look like if we think about the time and intensity involved in moving that direction? I think those have been part of the considerations up front. But a lot of that is truly dependent on which of these four options. And to your point, what does the board need in order to feel better informed about the quality of each of these as an option and what the likely outcomes will be and what we can readily put forth and promise to the community and then deliver on? Chair, any reason? Yeah, hi, Dr. Leifert. About operations, so it sounds like the teacher needs to go in and actually do the weight. Aren't you just configuring the class to be, OK, here's AP Calc. It's now weighted. And it

027does the calculation on the back. It's actually the teacher needs to go in and? Well, remember the nuance. If it's a Hopkins course, yes. But it does take the configuration of the system in order to do that. So yes, we would have to go back and rebuild those course constructions in ways for past years that they were not built. So that also has to be part of the dynamic of looking at how to implement this when we think about what that means for a retroactive application and thinking about what that looks like and what we would be asking staff to do at. And remember, in most of our operational spaces, summer is the most active time because they are literally building everything to launch the next school year. And if at that same time we

028are also asking them to go back and undo the same elements that they had spent time doing before, while that may have great value, it also has a time element that we have to make sure that we feel we can confidently deliver on. So from an effort perspective, doing nothing is obviously easiest. And then retroactive would be second easiest. No, sorry. Going forward, next year we wait would be second easiest. And then third would be retroactive. Yeah, and I think that that's the dialogue that we would need to have with those individuals who would be doing the work directly so that we could bring that information to you. And that's why this dialogue is really important, because then we can go back with those key questions and gather the additional information and do that diligence,

029especially with that set of information. That does really have that overall contribution that needs to occur so that we can provide individuals with what they need in that timely fashion. Dr. Light, you can go. OK, may I ask a question in the spirit of there's no dumb questions? When we say retroactive, do you mean that current seniors, Manuel, for example, you would go back, or he's a junior, but next year, if we're implementing this next year, he needs to be a senior, would go back and adjust his transcript from senior or from his junior and 10th and maybe even ninth grade AP classes and honors classes, but not graduates. So a graduate who has left the system would not receive a new. And full transparency, I don't know if that has been discussed or not.

030I mean, certainly, those could be. I'm not suggesting that we do. I just wanted to be clear about that. My interest piqued. And how far back do we go? OK, thank you. I just was wondering about the. Chair, I just wanted to ask a question. So thinking about the first day of school nuances, right? We're already talking about transportation. We're talking about all of the core work that goes into ensuring a smooth start of the school year. What risk would this put the first day of school operations, if there's any? With them building a new system, what will slow down if we were to build a system over the summer? Yeah, I don't know if I can speak specifically to what would slow down, because we haven't done that level of analysis. I think in

031part, knowing that any time that we ask of a system something that has not been there before, and we do so without dedicated resource, there is a risk. And we just need to acknowledge that and look at what we're looking to deliver and how we can make sure that we can deliver on it. Because our goal would never be to over promise and under deliver. We want to make sure that we built strategically the structures that can get done what we know we need to have done. And that's, again, information that we want to make sure we get directly from the individuals who would be doing it, because they're going to be your best source of the truth. I want to make sure that while we have Manuel on the meeting, that you are done

032giving us your input. I am actually interested in what is your recommendation? Because I know that you did deep research in specifically talking to colleges and universities about scholarship access. So just wondering if you had anything else you wanted to add to the conversation. Yes. Can you hear me? Sorry. Yes. OK. Yeah, so I guess in my opinion, I think that after talking to colleges, I guess I kind of realized that especially for our local universities that a lot of kids are applying to, it is becoming increasingly common that merit-based scholarships based on your weighted or unweighted GPA are becoming more common. So I do think that it is a pretty urgent issue. I'm thinking specifically for my class, because we will be applying to college in the fall. And I do think that at

033this point, just the implementation of AP classes, AP and honors classes is a lot safer from an unintended consequences standpoint as well as an implementation standpoint just logistically. I know I didn't read super deep into an email, but I did read an email from Dr. Cool. She did talk to the specialists who would be doing the infinite campus changes. And they did think that in AP and honors course implementation for weighted grades would be possible over the summer. PSCO would be a little harder to gauge, because it is not our data that we keep. But AP and honors courses, because we do take them at the high school, they are in our databases. So it was a lot more manageable. So yeah, I guess that would be my recommendation. I think AP and honors, weighting

034AP and honors retroactively is doable over the summer. And it is the safer option at this point, because we can always add to the policy in the future. If we do more research and determine that PSCO and CIS, being weighted would be equitable. But I think at this point, we do have good information on AP and honors courses specifically. Thank you. Thank you for that. I really appreciate your input. Chair Andreessen? Yes, yeah. I think I echo the Manuel. Thanks for your just deep body of work and advocacy related to this matter and all the time that you've invested. We're really grateful for that. And I think from my seat, I want to both honor and hold intention that we don't want to get out ahead of something or make unintended consequences and these sorts

035of things. I think what I'm feeling aware of my own, I will say, communal anxiety is, is that we've been communicating with families and with students and with staff at the high school that this is something that was like, hey, this is under consideration. Here's a draft policy. Hey, we're probably going to have this done by April. There are different dates that have been communicated. And I just think about as a person who has first gen college student myself at a time when I actually got Pell Grant to go to school and I'm still paying for my student loans from my undergrad and then double graduate work. I just think about what this means to our students and to families. I mean, what college costs right now is astronomical and mind blowing. And so that's

036where my own anxiety in this is that I want us to be thoughtful. And so that's partially why I've thought if we can put forward a draft policy that's, hey, here's for this year. And we can review our policies and do deeper discernment work around if we want to expand that. But I think that's where from my seat, both from what we've promised to the community already this whole last year and then as it relates to actually setting up our students just both to be able to succeed in accessing the most money they can, those two things make me feel anxious about wanting to move on this and in a way that is retroactive around implementation of a way to grade policy. Chair Andresen. Yes. From my seat, I just don't feel like I have

037enough information generally about how the community feels. I think the feedback that was obtained in listening sessions or meetings, I think if I remember the slides correctly, it was like 40 caretakers submitted their feedback or like less than 100. I don't remember. It was a small amount and I would just prefer to, well, I appreciate urgency and hear the anxiety around potentially affecting this next graduating class with respect to AP and honors classes. They've taken those classes at this point, knowing that those are unweighted. And so what I also heard during the presentation was that there's some coherence issues across AP classes and the difficulty and the teacher style. And I think there's just more to unpack here before making a decision. And so I would be for my seat open to sort of, I

038don't wanna say parking lotting it because I think we shouldn't do that, but exploring deeper what it would look like before hastily taking policy action. Chair Andresen. So advocating for a pause while we get more information. Yeah, I think we should get more information before looking at any policy language. Chair Andresen. Yeah. And I just wanna be, and thank you so much, Director Hyman for naming that. I just wanna be very clear that I'm all on board for weighted grades. I think that I do understand the urgency in the sense of urgency as a former college student who's a former Maverick, hey, and go for, okay. Like I understand I'm in so much debt with financial aid. So I get it. I just wanna make sure that we have a, that we are not feeling

039rushed to make a decision without having all of the, without having everything considered in this decision because the board is where we're bought stuff and then we're, I would say a little bit pressured to make a decision urgently. And then if it doesn't, like, then if it doesn't, let me see, like if one group of students is impacted negatively, then we're responding to that. And then if one group of students isn't, then we're responding to that. So I just feel like we're in this space of like responding to urgent. And I wanna respond, I wanna respond effectively. And I wanna make sure that this works for everyone. And I wanna make sure that we have enough information to implement a huge policy, a huge undertaking, because we gotta think about it. We have West, we

040have Western North, like kids who are coming to college, I mean, coming to our high school, like have we heard from their parents? You know, so these are things that I'm thinking about. And I wanna also be honored, I also wanna honor community and what they have received already. Because as we heard last night, broken trust is something that our district is trying to rebuild. So I also wanna build, I wanna rebuild trust with our community to say what we're going to do. But I wanna do that responsibly though. So that's just where I am with it. I'm all on board and I wanna thank like Manuel and everyone, Dr. Kuhl, like who put their hard work into the research. And I also wanna just make sure that we implement this in a way that

041honors the work that you have done without doing it irresponsibly. Chair Andreessen. Yeah. Yeah, to me, it's somewhat of a simple question, right? And I think at the root, you know, we're talking a lot about operations and what impact, but to me, it's do we want to encourage our students to take rigorous hard classes, right, with AP? And I think I don't need a survey to tell me, yes, I want our kids to take the hardest classes and to stretch and, you know, achieve and earn college credit, right? Like I think at my root, I think I believe that. And so I'm just trying to struggle to understand like what research we would need or what data points would we need to get to be like, oh yeah, we should wait or not wait, right?

042And so I just struggle with that, right? Cause I mean, if we could just push this out years and years and years with more study. And I think we are not serving our students as well as we could in that regard. I appreciate that cause I was just going to kind of level set everyone by reminding us that one of our values as a board is that we are student centered in all our work. And actually we center student voice in all our work, which takes it even a step further, which is why I keep bringing it back to Manuel. I would love to hear from our student board rep here in the room as well, because I keep getting compelled, even though I'm the one who keeps asking for more data, I keep getting

043compelled by the reframing from talking about things like operations and how do teachers feel while all of that is important and necessary and our job, I get compelled by the very real positive impact this change could have on our students. While at the same time, I agree with vice chair Roper in that I do not want to inflict unintended harm on other groups of students. So yes, we want our students to be challenged. And yet we do know there are students who do not feel welcome, comfortable or supported in those spaces. So are we advantaging yet again, students that already have the resources to feel welcome in AP classes per se? And the flip side is, and I'm not saying this is gonna happen, but if everybody decides to sign up for AP, we can't

044even administer that many AP classes, like that's just a logistic. So anyway, I'm sorry, I went way off topic. I just feel like compelled by sentry and student voice in this. So I'll leave it at that. Chair Andreessen. I think one of the data points I would be interested in is like what schools are our students applying to and who's been impacted by this and what the scholarship opportunities are, like how real is it? And that is actually data that Manuel worked really hard on already supplying to the board. We already have that data of our top. Can you remind us Manuel, how many of the top universities where Hopkins High School students go to, did we do the deep dive? Like you actually contacted them and spoke to them. I don't know that I

045ever saw that. Yes, sorry, can you hear me? Yes. Okay, yes. So actually it wasn't me that put together the data, so I won't take credit, but it was Dr. Cool. And yes, there is a list, she has a list of kind of the schools that kids are applying to and then also their policy on merit scholarships. I'm trying to look for it right now, but I will get back to you once I find it and I'll let you know. Thank you. I found that spreadsheet and I can share it with the board, but it's a list that includes 11 colleges or universities including University of Minnesota, Madison, Duluth, Augsburg, University of Kansas, Winona State, Minnesota State University, University of St. Thomas, St. Olaf, Iowa State, and Ohio State, and then a column whether they

046use weighted grades in admissions and scholarships with a combination of yes and nos and some recalculate the GPA. And then the third column, which only has two notes. Well, it's just a notes column. So I can share that right now if that would be helpful. Thank you. Chair Anderson, just a point of clarification. So I just wanna confirm, I've been under the understanding that there had been communication sent out to high school families this year that this would be something that, and that had been communicated at the high school with teachers, that this is something that would be, there would be action and movement on this spring. Is that the case? Because if that's not the case, I feel I might have my own remaining thoughts about wanting to help students access scholarship opportunities. But

047the secondary piece, which is promises made to our community, that's, if that's not true, then I don't feel that way because we didn't promise that. I just, I don't want to fail on a promise because we didn't do a process in a way that would have allowed us to fulfill our promise, right? I agree. I agree. I agree. Chair Andreessen. Yes. Yeah, so just to answer the question, there was no like promise that this was going to happen, but yes, it was told to the high school community that a decision would be made, whether that decision was yes or no. That we would know, I guess at this point, the dates have changed in terms of when we'd know, but yes, there was pretty clear communication that we would know by whether it was, whether

048the decision was yes or no by a certain point. And that's just a challenging part for me. It's just that I wish I would have had that more clearly stated, like at least communicated to us, because I think I'm just feeling the pressure of rushing a timeline. And I'm not feeling really clear on like what was communicated to families I can honor. Because I feel like I don't want to take, I do not want to like undo any work, but I also want to just be very responsible with policy from the board perspective and level set some of the rushing of policy making that takes, this is an incredible and a very significant change for our high school. I don't want to just make an irresponsible decision. Chair Andreson? Yes. Yeah, so the reason I

049guess that we gave those dates and like weren't super, like didn't give the board like a super clear picture is because that was when we were still under the impression that it was a school level decision. So that's why we were going through the process under the assumption it was a school level decision. And then when it was raised to the board, then it became kind of a different timeline. So that's why. Yeah, thanks for that context. And I think that that is something we need to be clear about with our community is that unfortunately when things get raised to a board level, we do necessarily move slower. Because there's seven of us, there's committees, there's processes that we have to go through. And I also think that it is normal and certainly understandable when

050there are misunderstandings about what level a decision gets made at because yeah, the statutes around all of this stuff are not anyone's area of genius except Terry Morrow at MSBA. So certainly understandable that that was made and also that our community, at least those that responded to the survey and showed up to the things are expecting to hear something, we do wanna close that loop. We're also running out of time tonight. Chair Peterson. Yes. I did find a couple of family communications. So one is dated February 24, just saying Hopkins High School is considering moving to a weighted grading option starting fall of 2026. There will be a presentation and Q&A time. Please consider attending virtual meetings, et cetera. Great, thank you. So what I'm wondering is, is there collective direction from the board to

051the monitoring committee about our next steps? What we've talked about is following a timeline on this. If we do choose to move forward of having draft policy language before the board at our next meeting, then following our past practice on policies that are significant to the community of hosting a board engagement session in the week in between. So what we're gonna do is we're going to have so what is it, the 12th, May 12th would be the engagement session and then we would have the policy in final read at our next meeting. That is one proposal that the board could direct the monitoring committee to go back. Our thoughts were we could do AP honors weighted, have it retroactive. The other option is to pause and bring this up later, get more data. Just wondering

052if we have a sense from the board of a direction you would like the monitoring committee to go on this one. And we could just do a quick round. Chair and Jason, can I just ask real quick what the reasoning behind weighting just AP but not the PSEO CIS is? Yeah, the data that we got is that it's not equitable. Like some kids have access to it, some don't. The thought is all our students have access to AP and honors and also there's different levels. And so we ran the data of who is accessing AP and PSEO and what we found actually was really compelling is that the kids who are accessing PSEO are largely kids who have accessed AP honors. So they would be getting the benefit of weighted grades and essentially the PSEO

053weight is just a little bit more. Like it wouldn't have much of an impact. Thank you. Yes, you're welcome. Are we okay going around just quickly? Do you wanna start Treasurer Heartland? Sure, my leaning is to start with AP and honors, retroactive and then do more investigation later into this PSEO CIS to see how long that will take and what kind of runway we really need. I'm leaning the same way. Yeah. I would like us to continue to work on this and bring back policy and I think to really flesh out the body of work that has been done so that that way everyone has a sense of what are we talking about in the end then we can make decisions from there. And do you want me to say? Not sure what that means.

054Do you want us to do draft language along what? Yes. Okay, yeah. Awesome. I am leaning towards weighting AP and honors retroactively but I would ask that all the data and research be shared with our community in a transparent way and ensure that we've explained thoroughly the decision and articulated why we've made the decision we've made. So there's no confusion with respect to what we're doing and that we are going to continue looking at PSEO and CIS. Yes. For me, I think either weighted and retroactive or weighted going forward, I think would be for me if there's critical mass for retroactive that I'd be in that camp. I would agree with Director Zau and Director Hyman. Okay, great. So the monitoring committee will address this. We'll have draft language that we can share with the

055board for a policy and first read. And duly noted, yes, I think that within our board packet, we will have the data that went into this decision making process available as part of that board packet. And then we can have further discussion at that meeting at our next meeting. And we will have the board engagement session as well. So put that on your calendars. If you have tuned in, we will be sure to share that with everyone. So thank you, everybody. I appreciated this conversation a lot. And thank you, Manuel, for taking time out of Thank you, Manuel. your activities to talk with us. Go around real fast. Yep. Thank you. We appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. And just quickly, so we have a few minutes of a break. A superintendent search update. I

056think more people than are tuning in now tuned into the deliberations that we had last night. We have hired a new superintendent, Dr. Michael Thomas, who is the current superintendent for Prior Lake Savage. We are thrilled that he has accepted the offer and we are now in negotiations. And I wanted to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to our current superintendent, who is absolutely amazing in every possible way. And I'm not gonna say anything more because I'll just start crying. So that's it. Does anyone else have anything they wanna include in the update? Chair, can I just ask, do we know how long the negotiations are expected to take? I'll keep you updated. We've done the initial reach out. And once we connect further with Dr. Thomas, I'll make sure that I keep

057the HR committee updated and update you all with what that progress is. So hopefully soon. Thank you. All right, let's take a few minutes. Meet back here in five. Thank you all. Welcome everybody. I would like to call this meeting of the Hopkins School Board to order on Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 at 7.05 PM. Thank you all for being here. And we will go ahead and get started with our open agenda, which is where we invite our community to come and make public comment because we believe that hearing from our community members is crucial for implementing Vision 2031. If you do wish to contact the board via email instead of publicly commenting at a meeting, please use schoolboard at hopkinschools.org. There's a form on our website. We have a school board page. You can access

058it that way as well. Public comment will be received in person and through voicemail. Did we get any voicemail comments? And we do not have anybody here joining us to make public comment this evening. So please do consider coming and making public comment. We do enjoy hearing from our community. So that takes us then to our reports section, which I would like to invite our student board reps to give their reports. Hi, I'm Adina and I'm a freshman representative on the student board. I'm gonna start with my teacher spotlight, Champ, my geometry teacher. He is really helpful and ensures that all of his students understand the work that we're doing because geometry can be very touchy sometimes. In class, he makes sure to ask everyone questions so that everyone is involved and active. Right now,

059we are currently working on our sixth unit and we just took our unit six tests today. So very exciting. Next, I wanna talk about the capital event that took place on April 13th, where student board reps, including myself, had the option to go with the LAC committee to spend a full day at the capital. We had several meetings with representatives and we talked to them about resources for student mental health and an increase in our school levy from $36 to $100 per student. We joined both the House and Senate floor sessions. The whole day was such a great experience. Being able to join the House and Senate floor sessions in person was so cool. And being a part of the meetings with the representatives was very exciting. Next, I'm gonna talk about the class meetings

060that we just had. Last Wednesday was the freshman and sophomore class meetings and today was the junior and senior class meetings. In our class meetings, they go over the basic goals and rules of the schools that they want everyone to follow along with ending the school year amazingly. Also, the class president candidates came up and they gave a quick speech introducing themselves and talking about what their goals are for the class. Lastly is the spring musical and pro star opening night dinner for year in town, which is the spring musical coming up on Friday, April 24th. There's gonna be a three course dinner held where people can come and have a great time and give some donations to the theater and pro start department. There is a reservation, a reservation QR code and for the

061first 50 people that fill out the form, you will have a first receipt. The QR code can be found on the last week's newsletter. So yeah. Fantastic. I'm still waiting to hear if I got a spot for that amazing dinner. I'm excited about it. And I just had a quick question because we were not able to be there on Monday at the LAC day in the capital because we were doing our interviews here. So I'm wondering the floor sessions, can you tell me like where, well one, was everybody respectful? Yeah, for sure. We sat in the gallery and we got to watch over them voting on bills and just seeing everyone talking to each other. It was just like really exciting to see it like all happening in person. That's really cool. I'm glad you

062got to see that. Thanks for being there. Yeah, of course. It was really fun. Any other questions or comments? I had one change reason. When you mentioned the, it was students running for their class presidents. Yeah. And they were talking about some of their goals, like did any of those goals you heard stand out? A lot of them were just like events, like ensuring that next year's homecoming and class events were gonna be like really exciting and engaging for everyone. And along with just like making sure everyone is like engaged and like hype for the school year. Cool, thank you. Nobody was calling for better food in the cafeteria. No, I did not hear that. They didn't want Chick-fil-A in the, thank you. Any other? That's great. Well then, thank you for the report and

063Dr. Mary Pirie Reed, the superintendent's report. Thank you, Chair Andresen. Champ, I can see his face. What is his last name actually? Nelson. Oh, Mr. Nelson, yeah, okay. I love how the kids call him Champ. Well, I just wanted to begin by congratulating our school board on selecting the next superintendent and congratulations to Dr. Michael Thomas who will begin his role on July 1st. I'm personally very excited that you hired an amazing person and leader. I also wanna express my personal gratitude to Andy Beaton and Rebecca Brodeur for advancing all the way to the finalist stage. I've known Dr. Thomas for a while now and one special fun fact is that he and I serve as executive coaches this year for the MASA aspiring superintendents. So we've been able to see each other frequently and

064he shows up really powerfully as both a leader and a mentor and I'm just really excited for the next chapter of Hopkins Public Schools. I also wanted to congratulate Hind Abdi who is one of our two amazing associate principals at North. Last week she was surprised with the awarding of the Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year from the MASSP Hennepin Division and during that time at a staff meeting the staff showered her with love and accolades and talked about how she provides structure and high expectations and accountability for students and that staff really lean on her tremendously and really support her. So congratulations to Ms. Abdi for that fantastic award. And as Adina mentioned, Hopkins LAC had another successful day at the Capitol. So as Adina mentioned, we met with seven of nine legislators

065and participated in briefings, observed the legislative proceedings and hopefully our students gained valuable insight into how complex and fast paced that environment is. We talked with our legislators about increasing the Safe Schools Levy from 36 to $100 per pupil, modernizing LTFM to allow funding to pay for things like technology and cybersecurity and repealing the $250 million cut to the special education cross subsidy that was passed last session. So those were a few of the many issues that we discussed with our legislators. I wanted to share with our board and community that our district has been awarded a two year $500,000 native language revitalization grant from MDE. This was a huge effort to apply for this grant and we're so excited to be able to offer Ojibwe language learning to our students. So the grant will

066support a coordinated district wide program, including a new high school Ojibwe language course, as well as community opportunities for parents, staff and all of our students. The work will be implemented by our current American Indian education team and will strengthen belonging and cultural connection for students. Planning will start next year with implementation the year after. I also want to congratulate a few of our high school seniors. So 14 Hopkins high school seniors were recently celebrated on signing day. And so these are student athletes who are committed to continuing their academics and athletic careers at the collegiate level. And I think what's really great about all of these students is that they really are fantastic academically motivated and achieving students, as well as wonderful athletes on the field. So congratulations to these 14 students. Addie, Daniel,

067Baylor, Leah, Nolan, Caleb, Josiah, Xavier, Braden, Lucy, Skylar, Marissa, Ignacio and Livia. Really great day for those students and their families. So another big thing that happened at our high school is that nearly 400 juniors took the ACT exam, which as you know is a test that measures college readiness. So this is a three hour test that tends to produce for our district a collective average score that is higher than the state average. And we know that strong scores include 20s to 30s and earning a perfect score is something that fewer than 1% of test takers achieve. So it's really hard to get a perfect score. And I won't tell you who, but somebody that we know closely received a very high score, not quite perfect, but I'll let that young person tell you. And

068I think what's really important about this ACT exam is number one, there's free ACT prep on Maya learning. So that's available to all of our juniors. Number two, every year we're increasing the number of students who opt in to take this exam. I personally think we need to move toward requiring it of all juniors, but that number is very strong for this year and we know that it plays an important role in scholarships and strengthening a student's application. So good job juniors. Okay, so North and West middle schools recently held parent information sessions for their rising sixth graders. And I heard really wonderful things about both of these events from families. And so I wanted to share one email from a staff member who is also a parent of a rising sixth grader. So I'll

069just let you read that. And what you can see is that the school, West, was very intentional about showing up, how they would show up for families and students on that evening. And we heard similar things from the North experience. So I'll just let you read that for just a moment. So thanks to our middle school leaders and staff for helping to ease the anxieties that some of our families have about middle school, especially if your oldest is going to be in sixth grade next year and you've never experienced middle school before. Okay, so the next few slides is just want to give our school board and community an update about our exploration of the career academy model at the high school. So back in 2018, we had nine strategic task forces and one of

070them was a career and college readiness task force. And the team provided recommendations around implementing a college readiness program, as well as more cohesive and integrated career connectedness in high school courses. And so since that time, our college specialist, Dr. Kuhl, and counselors and staff have definitely strengthened college readiness programming and support, for example, through the direct admissions program, Maya learning, SAT prep, offering a college admissions course and lots of other things. So the big why around our current exploration of a career academy model is to strengthen our value proposition at our high school so that 100% of our students are truly prepared for college career and life. And as our vision and strategic plan indicates, we want every graduate to be well matched with a college career or high value post-secondary experience. And obviously

071this is not just a state or district expectation, but really it's a moral imperative because we know that there's a cost to our state and national economies and also a cost to civic engagement and the quality of society when we release students into the world, excuse me, who are not ready with a plan and not prepared to have a job that offers a competitive wage. So just some more data points around our why. So yes, we do an excellent job of preparing our students for four year colleges and there's an opportunity to expand more meaningful career connected learning. And there's quite a bit of national data that shows that many graduates are struggling to find jobs in their fields and feel unprepared for the workforce and our own data reflects a similar gap between students'

072post-secondary intentions and actual enrollment and completion rates. So we know how many of our graduating seniors are intending to go to two and four year colleges. But then if you look at the SLEDS data, then you'll see that the number of the percent of students completing college within four or six years does lower. And so this work really is around closing readiness gaps, increasing engagement. You've seen the panorama data showing lower levels of engagement for students at the higher grade levels. And then of course, ensuring that every kid is graduating with real world skill-based readiness. So then what you'll see here is I just wanna remind folks of what the Academy model offers. Now this is the structure that is offered by our current partner and facilitator, Ford NGL. And it's the structure that they

073have implemented in other high schools. And it's really important for all of us to know that there are multiple ways of strengthening and building career connectedness and career readiness at a high school, right? So this is one of many ways. And it does offer proof points because it's been done before, but it's not the only way to do it. So this model offers a freshman Academy experience. And during the freshman year, then students would have some quality exposure to multiple careers. And then the 10th through 12th graders would be structured into three or four broadly scoped academies. And then during those three years, students would take a minimum of one course per year, and these three courses are vertically stacked, thematically connected, vertically stacked such that you can go from exposure to skill building to

074potentially some kind of industry credential that offers value. Another feature is obviously if we're dividing 10th through 12th graders into broadly scoped academies, then there's the opportunity for students to feel part of a smaller learning community. And within these career lined courses, but also across other courses, we wanna build career connectedness, for example, build skills, offer experiences around interviewing, putting together a business plan, other technical skills that might be specific to various industries. And sometimes there are shadowing and micro internship opportunities. So we wanna be thoughtful about all the ways that we can partner with folks in the career and industry spaces so that our students, as they matriculate from 9th to 10th to 11th to 12th grade, they are not only getting strong college readiness opportunities, they are receiving meaningful career aligned opportunities. And

075then this model also requires and offers professional development for teachers. Okay, so one thing that I've been doing the last four weeks is calling many of the parents who wrote. So our school board received a few emails from parents. And so I did my best to have a number of conversations with parents because I wanted to have a really nuanced understanding of what some parents' concerns or anxieties or fears might be. So a couple things, I think one thing that parents are worried about is the structure or the model being too rigid, right? For example, there's only three academies, what if they're too narrowly defined and what if my kid doesn't like the initial experience he or she or they are having in that academy, is there a way, is there an off-ramp? Is there

076a way to transition to another academy? Also, there are some concerns that building this structure would somehow interfere with or perhaps dilute the strong college preparatory experiences that we currently offer, right? And so I think one thing that we really have to think about as a system, and obviously we'll be transitioning to a new superintendent, new principal, but like number one, Ford and Yale is not our boss, right? Like Hopkins Public Schools, we are the boss. The school board, you are the governing body for this district. And so we need to remind ourselves that we have control over the design of what this might look like, right? And so what would be the design principles that would tell our master schedule, this is how you're gonna schedule courses, right? Like we create those rules and

077we can also create the design principles that would inform the overarching structure. We also would be able to decide after working with our industry partners, well, what are the industries that have high demand right now? So for example, we use that research, industry demand, to build our CNA program at the high school and it's been very, very successful, right? So we have the control and it's really important that we remember that and that we remind parents that like nobody is telling us what we have to do. This is up to the school board, leaders, staff, with parent and community input. So I think we want to really think about what's important to us. We would never want to dilute or reduce the number of advanced placement offerings at our high school because honestly, those are

078really fantastic. In fact, we're adding AP Computer Science next year, which is a CTE aligned and rigorous AP course, right? So we get to decide. You can go to the next one. Okay, so then I just want to be thoughtful about putting together some predicted costs as well as a potential timeline. So we know that phase one was around 40K, which was last year. We know phase two for this year is about $116,000. And that has been mostly paid by professional development dollars as we sort of identify additional grant opportunities to supplement that funding. And then for phases three, four, and five, because our current partner in this work, Ford NGL, they approximate and they give a range for what it might cost depending on district size. So we think it's going to be around

079100K per year, plus or minus. And then there's of course professional development time. Now whether or not that also costs actual dollars might depend on what model of PD we employ. So if we do like a train the trainer model, we send someone out to get trained and this is a person who works for us and then they train the staff, that's obviously cheaper than bringing folks in every time teachers are getting trained. So there are different approaches to that. And then if the board and community decide, okay, let's move toward some kind of implementation, then there would be a need for a full-time academy coach at the high school as well as a district lead. Full-time is recommended, it depends on how we are leveraging the skill sets of the leaders and staff who

080are in place. And then just a timeline. So prior to last year, we had staff visiting a number of schools, mostly schools that were doing innovative career-embedded learning, knowing that our college-going programming is already quite strong. So for example, staff visited a place called Kettle Moraine in a neighboring state, I think Iowa, Wisconsin. Is it Wisconsin? Oh, thank you. How did all of you know that? Been listening. Okay, great. And then of course we did phase one last year. Phase two is happening now. And then in response to community feedback, also a little bit of board feedback, we thought it was important to slow down, okay? So we are like officially extending phase two into the summer and the fall, knowing that we do need to give time for the new superintendent, for the new

081principal to build their knowledge and awareness, to build their desire, their curiosity, and to align the important priorities within our organization. So extending or slowing down and extending phase two we thought was the right response. There had been too much planning going into the April stakeholder learning event. So Ford NGL partners are here this week. They have spent a lot of time at our high school today and through tomorrow and Thursday to deepen staff learning, to provide additional master schedule training. And I think the important thing about that is in order to make a decision about whether this is a good fit and whether this aligns with our vision for who we wanna be in Hopkins, how we wanna serve our students, and also what it would require of us, we do have to plan

082for it. We have to vet it. We have to put together a scope and sequence of what it would require of us. And that's the proper way that you prepare for making a decision. And so that continued learning this week was important. And then if the community decides, okay, let's keep moving forward, then one thing that we have decided about a year ago is that we were not ready to launch Freshman Academy for this coming school year. So then Freshman Academy could be launched then for the 27-28 school year. And that feels like the right time. So it's a really slow sort of exploration and learning process really designed to help a district determine fit. Natalia? Okay, I think hopefully this is the last slide. Sorry, this is so long. So then I just wanted

083to articulate some of the work that I believe is ahead of us as a system. And that includes just onboarding our new high school principal and superintendent, Dr. Palmer will be at the stakeholder learning event on Friday as will three board members and a number of community members and specifically chosen industry leaders, because it's important that we start to build the relationships and those relationships are helpful whether we have an academy model or not, quite frankly. And then continuing to build the knowledge and desire of high school staff, building parent knowledge, identifying what those collaborative structures could be so that we can work through this together and really have an intentional plan for that, identifying industry needs that would inform potential pathways or academy structures, obviously scoping a potential implementation plan, which is part of

084the vetting process, being clear on a budget. There are readiness indicators at the end of every phase. So we need additional time to address the phase two readiness indicators. And so the summer and into the fall can be helpful with that. And then of course, bringing maybe a more comprehensive report to the board whenever folks feel is the right time this fall so that this system can perhaps make a specific decision around a direction. And then I think obviously there's that important work of answering the question if an academy model structure fits in with the next iteration of the school district strategic plan. So just a reminder, this is kind of the five phase map and we're in phase two. And I shouldn't say February 11 on the bottom of the screen. Is there another

085slide or no? Okay, and then we just wanna show a quick video that we're including in a more expanded FAQ and also on the district webpage so that we can continue having people have tools to deepen their learning. Hopkins High School is exploring a career academies model. Career academies help embed career connections within high school courses, which in turn help students understand their strengths, build their skills and graduate with clearer purpose and direction, whether they are going to a four year college, two year technical or community school, or straight to the workforce or military. We aren't adding a million things or taking anything away. The cool part is it takes our comprehensive high school of 250 plus courses, including required classes, elective classes, and just puts some structure in alignment to those. And it still

086allows a flexibility for all those things to still be part of every kid's schedule and to pick and choose what they want. So for example, if I really like the language arts curriculum, not only do I take the required classes in that, but I also can take more electives in that area. Same with music, if I love that area of the building, those classes are still going to be there. So Chocopee is one example of an academies program in the state of Minnesota. The nice thing is that we get to customize the academies model in Hopkins for a model that would suit our community, our students. My experiences my senior year of high school with Propell and Deco were really influential and really amazing. If those opportunities could have started earlier, I think that would

087have only been beneficial. A lot of the stuff gave me the opportunity to be a little bit ahead of people in my classes at UW Madison. This is an opportunity for all of our students across the entire system to be college, career, and life ready. So I'll take questions if there are any. Thank you for listening. Thank you. I appreciate that, especially since I know there's been a lot of community interest in this and the response to community feedback that we've gotten. I appreciate that being communicated and having an update. So any comments or questions? Chair Andresen? Yes. Well, thanks for giving us an update on kind of where we're at here. I think my main question is, in the phase two contract that we approve February 10th or 11th or something, it said through

088April 30th. And so now that we are extending, are we amending the contract? Do we have to pay them more? What are we gonna be doing from May 1st through the rest of phase two? That's a good question. So our current thinking is that it's up to us. We believe that we can extend our learning and exploration of this academy model, perhaps without an additional contract or amending the contract. We think that we have benefited from partnering with our facilitators from Fort NGL and they have helped us build our foundational knowledge for what would be needed if we continued to move forward. But I think there's a lot of additional learning that we can do on our own and we probably need to do on their own. Now, what I think needs to happen is

089after we, so we're gonna go through this week and then we're going to go through our readiness indicators and debriefings and then we'll meet to say, okay, well, what would the work for this summer include and the second to the last slide had a few of those things that I think need to be done. But there's a big question mark around whether or not we would need an extended contract for that because we think that it's internal work that needs to be done. Am I answering that question? Yeah, I think so. To your liking. So as you would see it, the phase two contract would wrap on April 30th per the contract and then the work that we would be doing in almost call it phase two in quotes because we're not in phase two

090anymore, it would be kind of on our own exploring, continuing this envision phase of learning about, thinking about career academies, but just not necessarily paying forward to help us anymore in sort of that interim period. Correct, correct. And if that changes, then we can bring that information and the why to you, but in our preliminary conversations about what that would look like, what you stated is aligned with what we think needs to happen. Okay, and so just to be clear, no phase three contract has been presented, has been entered into. Correct, correct. So if Hopkins Public Schools decided to transition to phase three with an actual contract and partnership with the facilitator, Ford NGL, then you would make that decision after the summer's over sometime in the fall and that would, I guess, depend on

091what the superintendent and principal and staff feel like would be the right timing for a board conversation followed by that vote and transition to phase three. Chair Andresen? Yes. Were you done, Director Thompson? Do you have a follow-up question? No, I'm good, thank you. Oh, sorry, yeah, sorry. Yeah, one comment and maybe an anecdote is, I've been a hiring manager for 15, 20 years in cybersecurity and I think the readiness aspect is so important. I think even college graduates coming out, they are in a lot of ways very unprepared for the realities of what work is right now, especially with AI and it's just a very different world than traditional schooling and even colleges. A lot of these folks are unprepared and so I think, as I understand it, Ford NGL leans very heavily on

092the industrial partnership and partnership with thought leaders in the area and I think that is a very unique aspect, I think, and actually puts us ahead of some college programs as well because I talked to some candidates that apply for jobs and they don't know the difference between NMAP and Wireshark and it's like, what are we even doing here? So that's a very interesting and I think innovative connection point and I think if it's Ford NGL or not Ford NGL, I think that strengthening that relationship with thought leaders would be very apt for us to do. And then my quick anecdote as well, I think back to when I was a high school student and I just didn't know anything, right? I thought I'd probably be a finance guy working at a bank or like

093a investment bank or something like that and I'm in cybersecurity, it's still a knowledge thing, just like understanding that and having an opportunity to actually see, okay, this is what finance looks like, okay, you're in a spreadsheet looking at a formula, like, okay, and then, oh, here's an IT or information security thing and like, oh, that's a lot more interesting and I just wonder, right, would I have saved myself some heartache in college and I think I've become pretty successful anyways but I just wonder, what would have happened if I could have fast-tracked a few years and where would I be now? And it's just an interesting question and I think I really want our students to be able to be like, yes, I experienced what it's like to be a finance dude and it

094was not for me and the security is, or whatever, nursing or being a doctor or a teacher, it doesn't really matter, what does that look like and how cool would it be to jumpstart our kids' understanding about what it's actually to be like. So I appreciate that about Fort NGL and the work of the district, even if there's some questions and challenges still, that's okay. Agreed. Thank you. Chair Andresa. Yes, Director Hyman. I just have a clarifying question and then I wanna follow up on what Director Zao mentioned. So just to clarify what Director Thompson was asking, the contract with Fort NGL expires April 30th. Is that right? So is our relationship with them, then we're no longer in a contractual relationship with Fort NGL as of April 30th? Correct. So we're not really extending

095or continuing exploration of Fort NGL, we're just continuing and exploring what pathways or career opportunities or CTE programming, what that could potentially look like for Hopkins public schools. I see, I understand the question better now. It's specific to Fort NGL. Yeah, I think the concern is, and I'm just gonna say it, and I want to start by saying that I do value the, I understand and truly appreciate the value proposition behind career readiness and pathways. I actually think it's something that I would have loved to do in high school, even though I went to college and then college again and then worked really, didn't start working until much later. And I think helping students, especially those who don't necessarily have access to real world learning opportunities and to explore careers is incredibly important in the

096work we continue to do. But I don't, openness to the idea is not the same as readiness for this. And so I just wanna be very clear that, and I'm not trying to come off, I just wanna be very clear that whatever we decide to do, this will be a community decision and a board decision, and it will be brought up to the board and by the next superintendent and whomever, when there is buy-in and readiness indicators that this is something that we want to be doing. Correct. And if I may add one thing, just like strong literacy instruction is not just good for struggling readers, it's good for all students. Career-embedded learning is good for all students, even those who may have a four-year liberal arts college plan. Career-embedded, career-aligned, real world learning is

097great for all students. Yeah, and I'll just add, I've done a lot of research on what other districts and other schools do other than Ford NGL, and I've been very impressed and inspired by other programs. Our high school is right around here, where a lot of our neighbors go have great programs as well. And I do believe our community is interested in that. I do believe that our community wants to see progress and wants the school district to be on that edge of innovation. I don't think they want to do it right now. And so I think that to me was the question about, is extending just this like, we're gonna kick the can down the road and hope people forget that Ford NGL was ever a thing and then try again? Or if it's

098like, really, we're not doing Ford NGL and whatever decision comes next will be up to the superintendent and the board. I agree, and I think what we didn't communicate clearly is that with implement with our, let's say that we had decided to continue bringing a comprehensive report to the board this spring to make a decision to transition to phase three, we still wouldn't have implemented a true freshman academy experience until the 27, 28 school year. So we were never really doing anything right now. It's been a long learning ramp that would have continued, but I think we did not help, we did not make it clear to our community that there will be a long healthy road of learning to raise everyone's awareness and desire and knowledge before making a decision to implement. Does that

099make sense? Yep, thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Chair Andreson. Yes. Yeah, I echo the thanks for bringing us an update and for sharing and then engaging also with the questions that my colleagues have named. You know, I think from my seat and as we continue this exploration and conversation, I think the couple pieces that just for me continue to come up, you know, and hearing from more than, I think I had over 50 emails from folks in the community who could stick here and they're invested in what happens at our high school and with our students. I think that the big couple pieces for me to continue to steward well, the one is around what is the change management look like in a collaborative community centric way? Because a lot of the anxiety that I

100know you've heard that we've heard from folks is around, is this already inevitable? Is this a for sure, you know, and I appreciated you naming, hey, we have to actually model it out to act as if, as we're trying to discern if this is an option. But I think then that question around, so what are the levers around how we, who's the community who decides if we're moving forward? How do we discern that? What are the potential off-ramps or on-ramps, you know, to deepen this work? And so I think that's as a community and board member of just how do we continue to steward that and think collectively around where are our educators at, where are our parents and community members at as we look at this and continue to consider it. I think those,

101the questions around the costs and I appreciate you bringing those before us in a clear way as well to be able to name that and just wanting to make sure that we're being really clairvoyant and honest about that. Cause it is, I mean, as even was named back last fall, this isn't a small decision, it is a big deal. And I think I want our community to, if we come to a yes, it's a deep yes for the majority of us. And then as a board member, whatever I personally, you know, my own things or questions as a like deep liberal arts kid who has my own anxieties about stuff, who like, I don't really care about that as long as as a community, there's a deep sense that we've done this discernment work in

102a way that can bring as many of us to a yes or a yes to something else, you know? And so I appreciate that. And I think it's just important that you brought it here and for us to continue open conversation with our community. Chair Andreessen. Yes, Vice Chair Roper. I would just say thank you so much Dr. Mary Perry-Ree for bringing this up. One of the more common voices that I have been seeing or hearing from is elementary parents. And so wondering how are we bringing and providing them with information? Cause some of the anxieties that I'm hearing is that it's just gonna be like a permanent thing when my kid gets in high school. And that's been a question that's kind of been, I've been really stuck at a crossroad with answering. So

103just wondering how are we communicating Ford NGO to elementary parents where they feel confident about this road ahead of them? Cause like I'm hearing from second grade parents and I'm like, oh, okay, you have like, you know, about six or seven years before, you know, you're in high school with, you know, your kids are in high school. And so that's really the voice that was like, hmm, Timmy, like if we're hearing, I know it's a high school thing for NGO, but also I understand how are we drawing in the elementary parents? And I just wanna quick make sure that we as a board are talking about the same things. So as Director Hyman clarified, the contract with Ford NGO ends on April 30th. And what we're discussing in the district in a much bigger sense

104is the concept of an Academy model which Ford NGO was our partner in that work. And so I just, I know that the two things have become very conflated in the community and there's a lot of consternation around Ford NGO. So I want us as a board to be really mindful about what we're talking about when, and just so that we aren't bringing baggage from a, and I'll just say it, mismanaged contract, not the contract itself, but how it was presented to the board, that that isn't coloring the possibility of an Academy model at the high school. So just wanted to level set that in. Sorry, Dr. Mary Puri from for interrupting you. Thank you, Chair Andreessen, that's a great distinction. So we have Ford NGO as a partner to help us learn and when

105we're not in contract with them, there's still a lot of learning that we need to do amongst ourselves to deepen our awareness and knowledge around the concept of an Academy model structure and what career embedded learning, career pathways look like and offer at our high school. And then Vice Chair Roper, you ask an excellent question. And one thing that school districts are picking up if they haven't already picking up very, very quickly is just like parents are researching where to send their child for kindergarten and elementary school, maybe even before the child is born. We also have elementary parents who want a clear vision for what middle school and high school offers in within the district where they've selected their elementary school. And so one thing that I think an aha moment for me was

106when I was at a Meadowbrook PTO, I think it was at Meadowbrook, I've been to a few of the elementary PTOs and parents, it was clear that parents didn't really know what the high school experience or high school course offerings would be like for their child. And so when I explained that, for example, at our high school right now, we have 55 career and technical education courses. We offer culinary and ceramics and business classes and engineering and construction, right? And so the eyes got sort of wider and wider and wider. And so one of our responsibilities as a system is to help our parents who maybe their oldest child is still in elementary school, understand and have a specific vision for what the middle school experience is and offers and what the high school experience

107is and offers. And I think if we can provide a good description or maybe some video showcasing experiences or multiple ways of sort of telling the high school story, the middle school story, that'll provide a context or a framework within which parents could entertain an academy model concept or structure a little bit more easily. Because right now there's many of our elementary parents don't even have like a schematic for what that is. Yes. When you say an academies model, I wanna be specific this just for the community to be very clear. Ford NGL, the way they proposed it's set up is that there's a freshmen academy and then, or a freshmen, what do they call it? A freshmen academy. Freshman academy. Yeah, a freshmen academy and then you join a career academy. Correct. So, and

108that is mandatory. That's like, if we implement the, Ford NGL's proposal and plan requires every student to opt in to an academies model. To select one of the available academy structures. Right. And so when we're talking about an academies model, is that something that, because I think that's where the hang up is for a lot of people too is, when we're talking about an academies model, are we going to ask freshmen to make a decision at the end of their freshman year to pick a pathway? Or are we going to add some coherence and structure around the 55 amazing classes we already have to work with what we have and build some structure and building upon and coherence within our current setup, I'll say. Is that what this summer is for to talk about or?

109That those discoveries have to be part of the process. So if we move in the direction of this particular concept, the career academy structure that Ford NGL has been implementing in high schools, then it's both of those things. It's looking at the courses you already have and using those to create the foundation or identify what exists and would work well within an academy model system and what would need to be added or adjusted. And students would select into one of those academies during registration for 10th grade if we went in that direction. Yeah, could I just respond a little bit about that? I think to one, what I keep hearing when I go to any presentation on this and I even heard it tonight is that we get to design this. So we don't have

110to make that a requirement unless it works for our students. And my understanding when I was at Chocopee and I spoke to students who are in this is that even if you do choose an academy, you are not locked into that academy. Like I was talking to one of the students there and she is on her second academy and she takes classes in other academies. Like it is a very fluid situation. So I know that, and I don't know, I'm Gen X, so maybe nobody else is having this experience. But whenever I hear that idea of kids having to choose their chosen career path, like the Russian boogeyman looms and like, oh, you don't have any freedom of choice and you're decided you're gonna be a ballerina at the age of four and that's all

111you ever get to be. That's not how the academy model is set up. And I wanna remind everybody that we currently have that in our high school. You can't take multivariable calculus if you haven't taken algebra. This already exists in education. We have tracks, we have pathways. This is just making it codified and accessible to more students and linking them to industry people who are helping them along and giving much more, I think, interesting and engaging classes. So I think we need to just be really clear and it's the same thing in language. You can't take Spanish four without taking Spanish one, two, and three. So I just wanna be clear about what we're actually talking about and where that kind of fear is coming from. This already exists in education. And in the spirit

112of being clear about what we're talking about, so there's Ford and Yale, which is a kind of very specific CTE academy model, and then there's academy models. And then possibly even over that is CTE in general. And so are we investigating the summer and into the fall academy models? Or are we investigating CTE and career aligned courses? And if we might just, I say that in quotes, like that's easy or whatever, but just expanding because we have CTE at our high school. Well, both, because if we move in the direction of a career academy model, the smartest way to build it is by identifying which CTE courses we already offer and whether they currently are sequenced in a vertically stacked way, right? And so just by doing that work alone, that could prepare us for

113a, okay, for a few years, let's just strengthen our career pathways, right? And if we were to move in the direction of a more pure career academy structure, then that work helps us build that structure. It helps us identify what components of a potential structure we already have and what we would need to build or adjust. Okay, that makes sense. I'm hearing you saying we're not investigating which career academy program we're going to work on. We're expanding the ways in which we can deepen CTE in our schools. And some of that work for, again, just deepening or expanding or clarifying our CTEs could lend itself to the work of adding an academy model, if that is what the community decides. Not to get too tedious, but when you said which academy, do you mean like

114what the themes would be? No, sometimes I've heard you say we're exploring CTE this summer. And sometimes I've heard you say we're exploring an academy model. I see. So to do this particular work, we're doing both because the academy model is a career academy model. Yes. Chair Andresen. Yes, can this be the last? Cause we're already an hour into the meeting. And this might be a good one to wrap up is, and I saw communications, I think from the district sent out Dr. Thomas's interview from last night. And I draw the community to that. And in his presentation at the beginning, his three priorities for coming on, number one, listening, learning and building community. Number two, grounding in data and reality. So, I just think this dovetails nicely that, there will be listening occurring as

115Dr. Thomas comes on. And so, we're exploring this over the summer, there's listening as he's coming on, hopefully we get the community understanding, what do we want to do? Yes, based on our hopes and desires and goals for student outcomes, based on our Hopkins achievement and post high school data, and also based on some regional and national data. Yes. Great. Thank you all so much. I think it was a great discussion. And unfortunately, we have more topics in our meetings, so we will move on. I appreciate the update. I also appreciate the clarification around the contract. And so, with that, oh, and I do have to say that there is, before we approve tonight's agenda, that an item will be removed from the agenda. It is our first order of new business, the language access

116plan. Unfortunately, in our packet, we did not have a copy of the plan attached. So board members were unable to review it and therefore not able to approve something we haven't been able to review. So I am, I guess I would look for a motion that we move the item, language, item A, a new business language access plan to old business at the next meeting agenda. So moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Chair Anderson? Yes. We'd get to, so for old business, we would still get to have discussion time and- Oh yes, yep. It would be just like a new business item, just in old business. Okay, thank you. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye.

117Any opposed? The chair votes aye and language access plan has been removed from tonight's agenda and will be placed on the agenda as the first item in old business. Thank you all for that. And I again, apologize for that oversight in the board packet. So with that, I would look for a motion to approve tonight's agenda. So moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. The chair, oh, any opposed? The chair votes aye and tonight's agenda is approved. And we are considering now the consent agenda, consent calendar. These items provide the board with information considered to be more routine in nature. If the board deems an item to be necessary for additional discussion, a

118motion will be made to move the item to new business. I would look for a motion that the board approves the consent calendar. So moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Yes. Dr. Hyman. One question about the bus depot parking lot improvements contract. I strike that I do not have a question about the bus depot parking lot improvement contracts. Okay. No discussion for me. Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The chair votes aye and the consent calendar is approved. And that takes us to the treasurer's report. Treasurer Heartland. Thank you. I will try to be somewhat succinct here. I mentioned to you during our last meeting that fewer than normal invoices were submitted and approved for that

119period due to ongoing accounts payable training. And that training was to ensure that heads of departments and all invoice submitters across the district were following the exact same new procedure of submitting invoices to a central inbox so that the larger business office department has access to it and that both increases transparency and ensures continuity if like a single contact in our business office got ill or was on vacation. That training is now done. And per our conversation yesterday, mine with the business services offices, that went well and people across the district seem to be up to speed and therefore during this period, you will see a greater than normal number of invoices processed as the department's caught up. And we do actually, I did submit a request to correct this. The actual message on the

120agenda says the dollar amount of $966,000. And that is the old number that got carried over. So I have submitted a request to get that updated. As we'll discuss, the real number is 3,376,100. $11.74. You will see throughout this report, there are a lot of invoice descriptions that state uniform reimbursement spring. That's a contracted benefit available to our nutrition staff. So they get reimbursed for a new uniform in the fall and the spring. And you can see that those expenses come out of fund to the food services fund. We paid $24,000, $3.75 to the Hopkins Pavilion, which is that facility on Excelsior for ice time for our hockey teams. To Kelly Services, the source of most of our substitute teachers. We paid $43,026.16. We paid $104,973.03 to Intermediate District 287 for our share of expenses

121incurred for the services provided to Hopkins students that received their education there. We paid $184,822.83 for our district-wide subscription to M365, to Microsoft. We paid $1,795.93 for the Ford NGL community convening. And that was to the non-profit Children First. And so that was paid for out of fund 19, which is our local grants fund. We paid $22,350 to World Savvy, which is a local Minnesota non-profit that goes into schools on an ongoing basis throughout the school year to work with educators and provide professional development for them to add global competency and updated relevancy to curriculum and this kind of global perspective and creating global citizens is their hallmark. And that expense actually comes from the previous 24, 25 school year, so that is coded correctly to be a 24, 25 expense. We paid $135,293.78 to

122Connect Energy Group for natural gas for the month of January alone. And we pay a lot more for the high school, $101,000 of that goes to the high school compared to $7,600 for the next most expensive site. And I did check December and February's bills and all of them are in that neighborhood for the price, both in total and in the proportion of the expenditure that's generated from the high school. And then actually the majority of the expenditures on this check register worked to just two vendors. One is to Metropolitan Transportation Network for the months of January and February. We paid them $901,316.11. That is just one of our bus vendors and per Assistant Director, Naisha Williams, we do still utilize MTN for many of our special ed vehicles and our type three vehicles. And

123I don't know what type three vehicles are. They're small, says Dr. RMR. So that's in addition to Lake Country, who is our kind of standard provider. And then we paid $1,020,978 to SiteLogic for project management fees associated with eight different referendum projects scattered across the districts from safety and security to athletics, to the bus garage, to Gatewood North Middle School and more. And with that, I move that we approve total disbursements in the amount of $3,376,111.74 for the period of March 1st to March 15th, 2026. I have a motion, is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second, any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The chair votes aye. And the treasurer's report is accepted. Thank you, Treasurer Heartland, as always. An excellent and comprehensive

124report. That takes us to our next item of business, which is the permanent fund transfer. I would invite Assistant Superintendent Lightfoot and Jessica Olson up to the table and turn it over to Dr. Mary Pirie Reed. Thank you, Chair Andreessen. So the purpose of this agenda item is to request the school board's approval of an $11.8 million fund transfer from the LTFM fund to the construction fund to support already approved facility projects. And this transfer will have no net impact on our fund balance, and then we will ensure that expenses are accounted for correctly and in compliance with state requirements, which is a very important thing to note. So I'll turn it over to Ms. Olson and Dr. Lightfoot for additional explanation. Thank you. So this is part of the FY25 audit work that's being

125done. So in FY25, all of the construction work for the LTFM 10-year plan is being able to be funded through LTFM dollars. So in order to do that, we want to move the LTFM dollars from fund five to fund six, which is all covered under state statute that we're allowed to do with those funds. We just need board approval to do a permanent fund transfer from fund five to fund six. And that's done through a resolution. Chair Andreessen? Yes. What is the either benefit, or possibly that's not even the right word, but kind of the why behind doing this? What's the relationship between LTFM versus the construction? And why is it better to have? So the construction fund is for any project that's over $2 million, so that's still considered LTFM work that's being done

126within it. So you're able to use those funds. The school district did not bond for LTFM bonds in FY25, and all of the LTFM dollars can cover those construction costs, so we just want to move those funds. I just have a quick follow-up question to that. Was that something that the board should have done, this bond for it in 25? Originally the bond was supposed to be scheduled for 25, which was done this past board meeting was approved for the LTFM portion of it. Okay, thank you. Any other questions or comments? Nope, well, I will go ahead and read the resolution. Transfer, okay, I would look for a motion to approve the resolution, transfer of long-term facilities maintenance funds to construction fund. Whereas independent school district number 270 maintains long-term facilities maintenance revenue in accordance

127with Minnesota statute 123B.595 to support approved facility maintenance, health and safety, and capital improvement projects. And whereas the district has identified eligible facility projects that meet the criteria for LTFM funding and are appropriately accounted for within the construction fund. And whereas the transfer of LTFM funds to the construction fund supports proper financial tracking, project accounting, and alignment with uniform financial accounting and reporting standards. And whereas the district is required to ensure that all fund transfers comply with applicable Minnesota statutes and maintain proper segregation and use of restricted funds. Now, therefore be it resolved that the school board of independent school district number 270 Hopkins public schools approves the transfer of $11,823,700 from the long-term facilities maintenance account within the general fund to the construction fund for the purpose of funding eligible facility projects. So I

128would then call for the roll. So Shannon and- I need a motion. Oh, we need a motion, sorry. Yes. So moved. I have a motion, is there a second? I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, clerk call the roll. Great, thank you. I would like to call roll also Shannon Andreessen. Aye. Rachel Heartland. Aye. Johanna Hyman. Aye. Brooke Roper. Aye. Kai Thompson. Aye. Sarah Wilhelm-Garbers. Aye. Ximing Zhao. Aye. The above and foregoing resolution had all in voting in favor, Chair Andreessen. Thank you, clerk. The resolution is accepted. Thank you so much for being up here with us for that. And I believe you get to stay with us as we move to our next agenda item, which is the fiscal year 26 revised budget update. I will turn it over

129to Dr. Mary Pirie Reed. Okay, thank you, Chair Andreessen. So this next item is to provide information to our school board about our revised FY26 budget. Through our audit prep work, we are bringing in more revenue than expected from state, federal and local sources and also have slightly higher expenses, however, resulting in a positive difference. So hopefully through this update, you will have a clearer picture of where we are financially. And I would welcome Ms. Olson and Dr. Lightfoot to provide more detail. So we'll start out with the mid-year considerations. So we talked about this in the work session, just wanted to go through it again with you and what it all entails in the revised budget. So the first thing is we look at enrollment updates, making sure the projections are similar or higher

130or lower depending on what those may be for the year. State and federal funding, staffing, so any contract settlements, staff placements or employee benefit changes. Detailed look at the account activities, so what has happened this year and what do we believe is gonna happen. And then the prior year results. Next one is just for the enrollment. So this is a trend that we have been looking at for year over year and what's being projected. From FY25 to FY26, there is a slight decline in enrollment and then it flattens out going forward. So the next one we'll look at is the general fund. So this is the main fund for the district. The original adopted budget was the same for revenue and expenditures at $130,575,130. For the revised, our revenue is coming in at $145,431,470, so

131that's a change of $14,856,340. And then for expenditures, they're coming in at $144,035,983 with a difference of $13,468,353. Overall, the district from the general fund is seeing a surplus of $1.3 million. So going through the revenue adjustments, so where did that $14 million come from? So for the state aid, for the general education came in higher at $4.9 million. Other state revenue, so this also includes special education funding at a $4.5 million. Federal funds, title, special education, $1.5 million. Athletics, gifts, donations, Royal Athletic Center, $926,000. The main driver there is just a reallocation of the revenue budget, so it was understated. Third party medical billing assistance, $975,000. Interest revenue, $850,000, and then rental income, $1 million, makes up the total of $14 million. Next, we'll look at the expenditure side. So from the expenditure side,

132between staffing, supplies, utilities, and transportation, it was an increase of $3.4 million. State Categorial funded programs is $4.9 million. Federal programs had a decrease of $191,000, and then local levy funded programs, $5.2, for a total of $13.4 million. Next, we'll look at food and nutrition services. So there was an increase in their revenue from the original of $839,000. That's mainly driven by state and federal meal reimbursements. And then the expenditures increased by $426,000, and that was due to staffing increases and food increase costs. Next we have is the Community Service Fund. So there was an increase in revenue of $503,000. This is mainly due to non-public aid. That was not included on the original budget. We included it on the revised budget. And then from the expenditures, it increased by $867,000. That is also the

133corresponding expenses that went along with it, and some staffing costs that were increased. For the Construction Fund, there's no change in revenue. Expenditures did decrease by 5.2 million. That is LTFM dollars that we're gonna use to fund the construction project. So similar to what we did with the resolution before this, it'd be the same thing that we're looking to do for this year. Next is Debt Service. So the increase in revenue that has to be related to our interest earnings. And then expenditures is just correcting where the expenditures are coming in for the bond payments. And then the last section is the Trust and Internal Service Fund. So originally there was no budget here, and we did add a revised budget. The revenues come in from the health insurance premiums. So what the district collects

134from employees, and also what the district puts in for their health insurance premiums. It also includes interest for OPEB and the severance account, and then the district set aside for severance. From the expenditure side, it's looking at the claims history and projecting out where we believe that's gonna be coming in for the end of the year, the severance that is projected to be paid out, and then also any investment fees for the OPEB account. So that is the revised budget overview. And if you guys have questions, I'm happy to answer any of them that you may have. Thank you so much. Appreciate this. Any questions or comments from board members? Chair Andresen? Yes, thank you. Thank you for your presentation and the revised budget numbers. One question I had is related to appendix B enrollment

135projections. Just wondering as we look forward, how do we make those projections? Sure, you mean just the general, what's the strategy that we look toward those enrollment projections? What are we looking at that's helping us to make those projections? So we utilize multiple strategies. Generally, I think the easiest way is to look at what we do with the modeling that we've developed over time, which is cohort advancement. We look at, as a grade level moves, what are the general over a four or five year period of time increase or decrease that would happen as that grade level moves. And then we look at applying that to the number that is presently there and doing so in a formulaic way. And then we also look at birth rates because the formula is incredibly and almost eerily

136accurate in the sense that we really do get to 98, 99, 99.95% in most of the cases when we use and have used those cohort advancement models over time. Part of the deeper set of challenges is when you have birth rates that ebb and flow within the county because that generally helps us get a picture of what we may be looking at when we consider kindergarten because that entry point can vary greatly depending on where we sit with birth rates. And that's an entry point that once we have that number, we can then move it forward with a better level of certainty and predictability overall. But we generally look toward that number and utilize a conservative approach so we aren't overestimating and then having to manage that number future years when the funding catches up

137where we may have been overfunded but the enrollment hasn't caught yet. So we try to be mindful of that in the overall projection. So those are the two biggest sets of indicators that we look toward when we model for that overall number. Thank you. Chair Andresen. Yes. Yes, hi. So I have a comment and a question. So first of all, thank you, Jessica and Dr. Lightfoot. This is great news, very, very happy about this, especially in light of surrounding districts. I worry a lot about how our fund balances and the flow. I'm gonna add you to my holiday card list, Jessica, so congratulations. It's probably the first of a school finance leader. So it brings me to my second question though is, so having a swing positive is great, but as our controls get better,

138should we expect next year that we kind of get closer to projections? I kind of wanna spend at a level that is optimal, right? And so if we had money on the table that we could have spent on our students, maybe we could have done that. So I'm a warrior, I guess I worry about that aspect too. Yeah, so the goal is to have your budget as close to what you believe it's gonna be for your adopted budget in June. One thing is you don't know what you know this time of year back in June. So there's always fluctuations. Do we like to see as big a swings of this? No, we typically like to see them smaller because you're predicting more clearly from the beginning of the year, but you do know more at

139this time so that you do sometimes see the bigger swings. Thank you. And I think our hope is to through better and more frequent communication with the board through the report structure that we've been working to build with CISO and generating part of our forward facing goal is to keep the board updated as frequently as we can about how close we are to those actual predictions. When we look at budget to actual, how can we get that information on more of a monthly basis and kind of a cadence so that when it comes forward to you, you know where we are and at different points in time, there may be different aspects of expenditures that might happen traditionally later in the year that of course we have to plan for and we know we have

140a big salary payment in June that always kind of gets factored in, but we should be able through the reports that we're doing be able to give you those kinds of sets of details with more frequency so that we can there again be partners in that monitoring as you see that and we're more tied to the detail of the expenditure and when they're happening and under which accounts they're happening so that we can be more clear also. And even building a monthly meeting for school leaders and district leaders to review budget to actual so that we have multiple eyes on school-based spending as well. Chair Andresen. Yes, Treasurer Heartland and then Director Thompson. Sure, we saw kind of across your report that staffing contributed to increases in expenses and that doesn't mean just literal FTE

141is correct, it also means new FMLA laws and new unemployment insurance laws and kind of all of this legislature that we get some reimbursement for and continues to be uncertain for us how we'll bear that expense. Yes, and even just looking as the state does its work on the implementation of paid family medical leave, looking at where the anticipated budget components were coming in in January at its implementation, where it sits right now as they're thinking about rate increases for next year and they're looking at the overall utilization rates throughout the state, I think the piece that is critical for us is that not only does that come with increased premium and payment, but for us in the critical work that we do as we think about individuals who are with our students, it also

142does increase our substitute costs when we think about having to be more planful for increased expenditures and being mindful of how then that impacts the overall budget. Another example of something that we didn't know in December, but now we see some of those changes here when we're with you in April. Chair Andreessen. Yes. Thanks, just two quick questions on slide four. So where it says fund balance adopted zero and then revised is 1.39 million. So that meant that when we originally adopted, we weren't gonna contribute anything into fund balance, but now we're able to contribute 1.39, right? Correct. Okay, thanks. And then on slide five, I know you've explained it a number of times, but just one more time, as far as like those first two lines, how those were able to go up as

143much as they did. So it was based on the state aid funding. So it's taking a calculation of the enrollment and then what we're getting for state aid along with special education funding. So special education funding over the last few years have drastically increased more than what a lot of districts originally planned for. So a lot of districts are seeing a larger special ed coming in. So it was about 3 million alone in special ed. And that would have contributed to the other state revenue line, line two. So based on the enrollment trend, that's where that's coming in from. So the original budget, the enrollment was less than what the actuals is coming in at from the projection. Any other questions or comments? I would like to echo Director Rochelle's sentiments of this is good

144news. And I'm incredibly grateful for the thoroughness in looking over past years, rectifying things that needed to be adapted and accounted for in particular. I appreciate the attention to the trust and internal services funds. I think that that's an important thing. So thank you very much and always appreciate these clear presentations that you present for us. So thank you and also to you, Assistant Superintendent Lightfoot. And with that, I would look for a motion to approve the fiscal year 26 revised budget. So moved. I have a motion, is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The chair votes aye. And the fiscal year 26 revised budget is approved. Thank you for being with us this evening.

145Thank you for the good work. And I feel really good about what time it is. It is 8.40 p.m., well done all. Let us go around the table and give your report, introduce yourself. I feel like it's been a while since we've had a little space to do that, so if you're so moved, please do so. Director Thompson, would you like to start us off? Sure, thank you. Hello, Kai Thompson. I'm in my third year on the board. I have three kids in the district between fifth and 10th grade. I gotta say, having been here till 11 last night, my brain is not quite working well enough for a board report, but very appreciative of the deliberative process that we went through to select the next superintendent. The word I used last night, I felt

146like, was excitement, and I'll just echo that again today is how I've felt all day, so appreciate it. Thank you. Clerk Wilhelm Garbers. I'm Sarah Wilhelm Garbers, she, they, and first year on the board, and I have a four-year-old human. And just the, I will echo what you did on lots of levels, and then I just want to add two things I wanna name, which is we're meeting tonight, sandwich in between. On the positive side, tomorrow is Earth Day, which is just a lovely moment to remember. Shout out to Vice Chair Roper for your ongoing advocacy for environmental justice and stewardship. But also yesterday is the anniversary of Columbine, and the shooting that occurred that has just, I think, ongoing gun violence in our country and in our schools and how it marks us, and

147just that ongoing reminder of the commitment that we want to deepen and continue for safety and well-being of all of our students, and I'm grateful for the advocacy of those who continue to say that this should not happen again, and I hope that that will someday soon be the case. Thank you. My name is Johanna Hyman. This is my first year on the board. I have two children at Meadowbrook Elementary, a kindergartner and a third grader, who are both counting down the days until school is over. We hear every day, 30 more days, 29 more days. My third grader also shared with me that his teacher is also counting down the days with them, and I am not surprised. I think we're all ready for a little summer breather. Reflecting back on last night, I'm

148just so proud collectively of the work we did together and getting to a unanimous decision and feel really positive about the future and where we're going, and I'm very excited about what's to come. And other than that, I don't have much else to add tonight. Thank you. Hello, this is Jim Mingjiao. I'm on my third year on the board, and I've got two kids in the district in the Xing Xing Immersion Program over here in Eisenhower, fifth grade and second grade. And I think two things I wanted to talk briefly about is our American Indian Education, our Hopkins native group had participated in a powwow on April 12th that I had a chance to attend with my family, and it was lovely. I think the community and the kind of heritage and the callbacks to

149various monumental events in their experience was really moving to see, and I was so very glad to hear about our grant. I hope we can sustain that, and I was very excited to hear about that. So we have a great group of American Indian Education folks here, and the community is just awesome, so that's great. And then the other thing is I attended the Eisenhower PTO actually on the day of our first round interview. It was a long day, but one of the things I wanted to talk about and kind of just say that, yes, I'm very excited for our new superintendent, but that I have a lot of gratitude to you, Dr. Mary Peer Reid. You made space to have conversations, I think with a lot of the PTOs about what the district is

150doing well and what we can improve on. And I think Eisenhower PTO is very vocal about it, but in reflecting on it, it was just struck that me that like, you didn't have to do this, right? You're a superintendent that's, you're not renewing your contract. You don't have to try to figure out what's making people tick, and you don't have to give the next superintendent such a leg up even, and so I'm very excited to be here today and I'm just very grateful to the engagement that you still have in putting the superintendent, the next superintendent on his good foot. And I think you got us through some very difficult times with COVID and all the challenges, and I think you made some investments that were starting to pay off. And so I really appreciate

151that. I do sometimes think about a quote paraphrased is that, society becomes great when the elders plant trees in which the shade they will never sit in. And I think about that in the context of your leadership, and I really appreciate that, and I see that and I love it, and just thank you so much for all you've done. So. Thank you so much. Can I say minus the elder part? Yeah, the original quote is- Are an elder. The original quote is old men, so I wasn't like, eh, so I thought elder was a little- It's already been. So if you wanna fact check the quote, it's old men. Thank you. Yeah, but I appreciate you, thank you. My name is Brooke Roper. I am serving my third year in the board. I have two

152incredible children in the district who I found like watches our meetings every Tuesday and they watched it last night. So thank you kids, I love you. I told you I would tell you that if you're watching and Corey, my husband, thank you, hi. I would just like to say just two quick, well, a few just quick things. One, I was able to, oh my God, I lost my train of thought. Okay, sorry. I am going to be hosting a panel this Thursday on Zoom just with a few other school board members from St. Paul, Erica, Valiant, the vice chair and with Helen Bassett, we're gonna be in. Vanessa Gill, she's not a school board member, but she does family engagement in Osceo and we're gonna be talking about the importance and the power of black

153caregiver engagement as we're trying to increase the voices of, we're trying to increase diverse voices in our public school system and so that will be held on Zoom. I wanna put more information on my page soon about it and I do want to say thank you so much to all of the candidates last night who came through and just gave wonderful, incredible and challenging interviews for us to pick from. It was a very tough decision, but I am very proud that we chose Dr. Thomas. I'm very confident that he will lead our district as well I was confident that the others could as well. So just kudos to everyone including Dr. Nolan and Dr. Lemon for your incredible interviews that you had as well. I would say that tomorrow I am gonna be doing the

154Gatewood Earth Day cleanup. So I'm excited about that and it is Earth Day and just to mention that there is currently a hunger strike going on right now in Minneapolis around the Herc. As you know, a lot of our kids travel from Minneapolis over to our school district who live in an area where there are very high asthma disparities. And so I encourage you just to look into the hunger strike and what they're fighting for because the Herc has been poisoning the North Minneapolis community for a very long time and we are just trying to make sure that the air is safe for everyone hence all of my advocacy around electric school buses and just health equity in general. And I do plan to go to the Spring Fest with Resource West that's coming up

155next Friday. So I hope that you all got your tickets and that you all will be there to support Resource West and all that they do in the community. I will be attending my son's first basketball game with Gatewood. I think they're playing Meadowbrook or they're playing another elementary school but it is a league. Is your kids in there too? Oh, are we playing you? Okay, I think we're gonna be playing each other on Friday probably. Watch the quorum rules. That's funny. That's really cute. Yeah. It's really. Is it? Oh yeah. Okay. I forgot to mention it in my report but it was, yeah. I'll just say I went Friday to my third graders basketball game and for people that don't know, they've started this year an elementary athletic program where each elementary school has

156their own basketball team and each elementary school will play all the other elementary schools and then have a end of the season tournament. And so this is kind of like a pilot they're trying out and so far it seems to be going really well. And we played Alice Smith last Friday. Big win. Meadowbrook had a big win but Alice Smith, you did a great job. The sportsmanship amongst third to fifth graders was amazing to see and how everyone was respectful and came together and was excited to be in each other's spaces and kudos to the community ed coaches that are taking their time to do this and putting our kids on a bus after school. They think it's really cool. They get to go on a bus from Meadowbrook to the school they're playing, like

157big kids go on a bus and it really was exceptional and the amount of people that showed up to watch a bunch of little kids play basketball was quite impressive. So I'll see you there, Brooke. Okay, well that makes me even more excited to go because right after we're driving to Kansas for his AAU. So I'm just, you know, I'm in full sports mom mode. So I'm excited. Thank you for that. Yes, if you all have not been there or just learn about the program, we wanna get your kids in it, it's really cool. And then I do wanna just say that in spirit of what clerk WG had shared just about like the Columbine shooting, I do wanna just hold space for the juvenile that was shot in our community a few days ago.

158And we don't know if it's a Hopkins student or not, but I still wanna just hold space because it is a young person and just to condemn gun violence that, I mean, we know that the summer break is coming up and just to make sure that we are doing everything that we can collectively to ensure that we are protecting our young folks and just providing them with positive opportunities to engage in this summer. And so if you do know of anything, just please share resources so we can just get them out to our kids, pass them out by the parks. Let's just make sure that we're keeping our kids close because there's a lot of influence out here and we all know that gun violence unfortunately rises in the summertime. And so I'm praying for

159that young man's family. We don't know what the cause was. I don't wanna cause any, give out any misinformation, but I just wanna hold space to say, I hope you recover well, young person and that we are thinking of you in this moment. So thank you. Thank you for that, Vice Chair Roper. I've been thinking a lot about that individual and his family as well. Oh, sorry, one more thing. Dr. Mary Prairie, I'm so sorry. Last night, the theme that we heard was that Dr. Thomas was gonna be a huge loss to Prairie, I mean to Prairie, to Pryor Lake. And I wanna just say, I hope that same sentiment about you. You are gonna be a loss to our community and I appreciate you. One of the things that I shared was that the

160reason why I came to Hopkins was because you met me for coffee in the community. I don't know if you remember that, but we met at Munkabeans. And that just showed like your humility as a person. And I appreciate all that you have done. And like, I mean, directors, I'll say, you have led through very challenging times, but you've also done a lot of great things for our community and our district. And I also wanna leave with a quote, my favorite quote from Toni Morrison is that you are not the work that you do, you are the person that you are. And so I believe that you are an amazing person. A Southern Bill, you're not from the South, I don't think, but you just give vibes of a Southern Bill. I've always wanted to

161be. Okay. She's an elder from the South. She's not an elder. She's sitting under a shade tree. Yes, well thank you for all the work that you do, we appreciate you. Thank you, I also echo those sentiments. I think one of the things that struck me the first time I met you, it wasn't at a board meeting, it was at Alice Smith, our kids were in the same class. And the care with which you have undertaken this role and the individual care you display for each and every student and family in this district is evident and felt. And I thank you so much for that. It takes a great person and a great leader to show up that way in every space and all the time. So thank you. Thank you. And I'll save the

162tears for later. And my, hi, my name is Shannon Andreessen. I have a senior at the high school and a graduate of Hopkins Public Schools in my life. And I also am going to say hi to Brooke's kids because I will see them tomorrow at Gatewood Elementary and where I get to work as a paraprofessional with some great kids. And my report is going to be to reiterate the invitation to Resource West Spring Fest. It is the biggest fundraiser for that organization for the year and one of the things that people may not know anymore but is true still that Resource West origins of that organization came from Hopkins School District and the connection is deep and the ways in which that organization supports our families are very widespread. They include scholarships for our early

163childhood programming as well as a school supply drive every fall, a warm winter gear drive in the winter and continued and agile support for families who find themselves struggling in unexpected ways. And we all know that that has increased in our communities lately. So please show up. It's a fun night. You get to be around really cool people who are supporting our neighbors all the time. It is on May 1st and you can still get tickets. So it's resourcewest.org. I'll run all one word and hope to see you there. Also, You're in Town is the musical. Opening night is Friday. There's show Saturday, Sunday matinee and then there is a show on May 1st and then a matinee and evening show on Saturday, May 2nd. And that's my report. Well, good evening, everyone. I'm Rhoda

164Mary Perry Reed, Superintendent and I have already provided a board report but I did want to remind board members in the community and my colleagues in the audience that the Minnesota Teacher of the Year banquet is on Sunday, May 3. So that'll be right before our next board meeting. So I just wanted to shout that out. It begins at 1 p.m. at the River Center in St. Paul. And reminder, we're celebrating two finalists. So Amy Fung and Cher Onroof-Reason are our two of 11 Minnesota Teacher of the Year finalists. So hopefully one of them will win and if any board members would like to attend, just let Natalia and me know. Okay, thank you. Good evening. I am Rachel Heartland, currently serving as treasurer and it is my fifth year on the board. And I

165use she, her pronouns and have three children in our district. I have a sixth, eighth and 10th grader and it is kind of crazy to me that soon I'll have a ninth and an 11th grader, two high schoolers, seems big. Though I missed the day at the Capitol on April 13th due to the board's semi-finalist interviews, I am still a member of the LAC and we are in the phase of the session where we kind of observe the legislative happenings and prepare to do a lot. Some meetings we don't actually have action items because sometimes a bill that was, we thought maybe was going to get a hearing or then potentially passed so we'd have more information on it gets delayed and that was kind of the case the last week. And I was okay

166with that because we had a lot of prep to do over the weekend coming into our finalist interviews. But one legislative happening that may impact us is a movement to pass a constitutional amendment that would allow schools to draw more funds from our state's permanent school fund. And that's a somewhat esoteric but highly impactful fund that's actually established by our state's constitution. It's this perpetual trust fund made up of like 2.5 million acres of land that is leased for various purposes and it generates this kind of perpetual, at least it's a portion of our state's fund. And it's something that's kind of interesting is that our federal government's constitution does not reference education. Our state's constitutions do that and Minnesota is somewhat unique in this land trust. And so this movement, likely the LAC and

167then kind of broader districts would ask to people vote yes to that amendment. It would allow us to access more of those funds every year. I also am continuing some work on the fiscal year 27 budget when needed and I'm tracking the audit progress and I'm proud of the work that we've done. And at the risk of being repetitive, I also want to say that I am proud of this board and our community and our staff and family members for all of the work that went into the superintendent search. I mean, yesterday we referenced that we had almost 20 applicants, five semi-finalists, three finalists. We did hours of resume review and research and reference checks. We did 30 plus hours each of live board table time. Over 1,000 community members participated in the survey, almost

16850 participated in candidate site tours yesterday and provided us feedback and I am so grateful for that. Thank you to all of our candidates and especially Dr. Thomas. We are so excited to work with you and I also wanted to extend my gratitude to you, Dr. Mary Peery-Reed. I have deeply respected your leadership and echo all of my colleagues' words and want to recognize the hard, hard work that you've done and also to recognize that a lot of it was at the expense of your own family and your own personal life and your own hobbies. Like as we worked all weekend and then sat here, worked all day and then sat all night, it's kind of your life, I think. For public education, you have, you've chosen to really invest and enrich in your chosen

169community and we are all better for it. Thank you. I was gonna say, don't scare Dr. Thomas away. I think he knows. He already knows. He already knows. I was gonna say, I don't think that's gonna be a surprise. Kids are already in college and beyond. Okay, all right. Well, thank you everyone. I appreciated those updates. And with that, I would look for a motion to adjourn. So moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. The motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The chair votes aye. And this meeting of the Hopkins School Board is adjourned at 9.02 p.m. Yay.