[1:17] The time is 6 PM and it is Wednesday,
[1:19] September 23rd, 2026.
[1:22] And I am calling our regular board
[1:24] meeting to order. I'd like to make a
[1:26] couple of notes here. Um, first, HCTV is
[1:29] having some inter intermittent
[1:31] connectivity issues, so we are audio
[1:33] recording the meeting tonight in case
[1:35] they uh go down or have other issues.
[1:37] And then I'm going to just apologize. My
[1:39] computer crashed yesterday, so I am
[1:41] going old school with papers in front of
[1:42] me, so it might be a little rough. So,
[1:45] we will get moving here. Uh, clerk
[1:47] Milner, could you please um take
[1:49] attendance?
[1:50] >> Director Beer Meyer
[1:52] >> here.
[1:53] >> Director Michael Moulder
[1:54] >> here.
[1:55] >> Director Zuzac
[1:57] >> here.
[1:57] >> Vice Chair Dresley
[1:59] >> here.
[1:59] >> Chair Tate
[2:00] >> here.
[2:01] >> Director Bruns
[2:02] >> here.
[2:02] >> And director Milner here.
[2:05] >> Thank you. Also in attendance this
[2:06] evening, we have currently two of our
[2:08] student representatives sitting at the
[2:09] table. We will welcome our two new
[2:11] students later and we also have our
[2:13] superintendent or camp Herman.
[2:15] >> All right, if I could please ask
[2:16] everyone who is able to please stand and
[2:18] remove your headwear for the pledge of
[2:19] allegiance.
[2:22] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[2:24] United States of America and to the
[2:27] republic for which it stands, one nation
[2:30] under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[2:32] justice for all.
[2:36] Thank you. Could I please get a motion
[2:39] to approve the agenda? Michael Moulder
[2:41] moves to approve the agenda.
[2:43] >> My second.
[2:44] >> Oh, Beer Myer seconds.
[2:46] >> Thank you. Any discussion?
[2:48] >> All right, seeing none, all those in
[2:49] favor of approving the agenda say I.
[2:51] >> I.
[2:52] All those opposed say nay. Motion
[2:54] passes unanimously to approve the
[2:55] agenda. And next, I am excited to invite
[2:59] our two new students uh student
[3:01] representatives up to the board table
[3:03] here. If you would please just take a a
[3:06] stand in front of the desk here for us.
[3:08] We have uh Leighton Morgan and Samantha
[3:11] Seaman joining us this evening. And I'm
[3:13] going to ask you to raise your right
[3:15] hand and repeat after me, please.
[3:18] I swear that I will support
[3:20] >> I swear that I will support
[3:22] >> the Constitution of the United States.
[3:27] >> and the Constitution of the State of
[3:29] Minnesota
[3:29] >> and the Constitution of the State of
[3:31] Minnesota
[3:32] >> and will faithfully discharge
[3:34] >> and faithfully discharge
[3:36] >> the duties of student school board
[3:38] representative
[3:39] >> the duties of student school board
[3:42] representative
[3:43] >> serving independent school district 200
[3:48] >> to the best of my judgment and ability.
[3:54] All right, welcome. Have a seat.
[3:56] >> Congratulations.
[3:59] [applause]
[4:02] » So, next month we will start restart
[4:04] with our student reports from the
[4:05] buildings. So, excited to have you girls
[4:08] join us.
[4:09] >> Awesome.
[4:11] And next up, we have um sorry uh I said
[4:15] it was going to be [clears throat] a
[4:15] little rough. Uh welcome to all of our
[4:17] visitors in the room and everyone who
[4:19] may be viewing online both now and in
[4:21] the future. We appreciate your
[4:22] engagement in Hastings Public Schools.
[4:26] Next up, we have our Raider Spotlight.
[4:28] >> So, I'd like to invite Principal Doranov
[4:30] to introduce our recipient.
[4:36] So, I'm lucky enough to have the actual
[4:38] track coach here to do those honors,
[4:41] Jason Cook.
[4:48] Um, so this is Austin Elias. Austin was
[4:52] um
[4:54] awarded the state assistant track coach
[4:57] of the year for um class AAA. He is the
[5:01] 3A representative. Um and this is his
[5:05] eighth year being in the district. We
[5:08] kind of had the COVID year where he
[5:09] didn't get to coach, but his seventh
[5:10] year coaching for us. He's made an
[5:13] unbelievable difference in our program.
[5:15] Um I know that for some of you, you
[5:17] know, we had a lot of success on the
[5:19] track and in the state meet this past
[5:21] year and um he is a big reason for that.
[5:24] So a welldeserving um individual just
[5:27] puts a lot of heart and soul into just
[5:30] the track program and then this
[5:32] community as a whole. I mean he lives in
[5:33] the community. His he's a teacher here
[5:35] at the middle school and um just an
[5:38] unbelievable human being and a super big
[5:40] asset to our program and to our
[5:42] community.
[5:45] Thank you.
[5:46] >> Thank you.
[5:47] >> Would you like to say a few words?
[5:49] >> Yeah. Yeah, sure. Well, thank you for
[5:51] recognizing me tonight. Um, it's
[5:53] awesome. Um, just kind of a first little
[5:55] shout out and recognition of Coach Cook
[5:57] as well. Um, I think he should be next
[5:59] to me right now as this head coach of
[6:02] the year as well. Um, but um, just huge,
[6:05] we have a huge passion for track and
[6:06] field and in this community. I think we
[6:09] have um, kind of showed that through our
[6:11] success on the track. Um, and then shout
[6:13] out to our athletes as well. Um, we had
[6:16] a lot of success last year, um, setting
[6:18] state records, um, state titles, and
[6:20] then the boys and girls both getting
[6:22] third at the state meet, and that
[6:23] wouldn't be, um, that's due to the
[6:25] athletes that put the work in, uh,
[6:27] especially in the offseason. So, um,
[6:29] kudos to them as well.
[6:32] >> Well, thank you and congrats. Um, thank
[6:34] you for all the efforts that you put
[6:35] into making this program amazing. Like,
[6:37] it's really fun to watch.
[6:39] >> So, appreciate that. Anybody have any
[6:41] comments? Absolutely. Dr. Brunson,
[6:44] >> uh,
[6:44] >> I know that it's not always about the result at the end. Sometimes it's
[6:48] about the time we spend with the folks
[6:51] in our programs. Can you speak a little
[6:52] bit to the work that Trent Hansen and
[6:55] the entirety of the coaching staff put
[6:57] into like that intentional connection
[6:58] and what we hope to really get out of
[7:00] athletics for our students?
[7:02] >> Yeah.
[7:03] >> Can we both answer?
[7:04] >> Yeah.
[7:05] >> Oh, gosh. Yeah. [laughter]
[7:06] >> Yeah. You want to go for it?
[7:07] >> Yeah. Uh I mean Trent has done an
[7:09] unbelievable job. Obviously he has been
[7:12] gotten some awards of his own but he has
[7:15] changed our athletic program um for the
[7:18] better and he has put in like our um
[7:22] coaching stuff that we do with making
[7:25] sure that you know it's all about making
[7:28] a difference for these kids as we move
[7:30] forward. Um obviously he says it like
[7:32] this. Our goal is to win, but our
[7:34] purpose is to to help these kids turn
[7:38] into, you know, awesome human beings,
[7:41] community members, things like that. And
[7:43] you can definitely see a difference with
[7:45] the initiatives that he's made and the
[7:46] things that we've done as like a
[7:48] coaching staff and then as our sports
[7:50] programs and just how those things
[7:52] affect the kids and making them or
[7:54] helping them be quality human beings.
[7:56] And I mean, you can see it. I'm going to
[7:58] speak specifically about our track kids.
[8:00] We had numerous kids last year that were
[8:03] on the podium and there were athletic
[8:05] directors from around the state that
[8:07] help with like state events and things
[8:08] like that and they made comments to
[8:10] Trent and myself just about how good our
[8:12] kids were and I think obviously um the
[8:15] work that he's put in is the big reason for it and then
[8:20] transferring that to each and every one
[8:22] of the different sports programs is has
[8:25] made a huge difference. So I think a lot
[8:27] of kids would also say that you know the initiatives and the things that
[8:31] we've done have made a huge difference
[8:32] in their lives and for our our school
[8:34] and our programs as well. So
[8:36] >> absolutely nothing else to add.
[8:38] Absolutely.
[8:40] >> Yeah.
[8:40] Thank you.
[8:43] So, I made sorry I made this comment
[8:44] before, but I I work out at the YMCA and
[8:47] there's a ton of track guys that work
[8:49] out with me and I hear them talk about
[8:50] the two of you really often and I love
[8:52] hearing good motivating things come out
[8:55] of high school boys mouth. So, you're
[8:57] doing it right. [laughter]
[9:00] » I too want to thank you for your work
[9:02] and congratulations on this honor. Um,
[9:05] it's really important that we educate
[9:06] the whole child and the work that you do
[9:08] after school matters in that. And so I
[9:11] just really want to personally thank you
[9:12] and I have something from the district.
[9:20] » Just a small tool, but we really want
[9:23] >> to say thank you for all that.
[9:25] Congratulations. [applause]
[9:26] >> Thank you.
[9:32] » Congratulations. [laughter]
[9:34] Thanks for being with us tonight.
[9:36] >> Yes, thank you.
[9:36] >> If you could shut that mic off, that'd
[9:38] be awesome. Thank you.
[9:41] >> All right. Uh, next would be public
[9:43] comment. Uh, but we didn't have anyone
[9:44] sign up for public comment this evening.
[9:47] So, uh, next up we have our
[9:49] superintendent report.
[9:53] >> Yeah, it's okay.
[9:55] Sorry.
[9:59] » Okay. Thank you. Um, first of all, I
[10:02] would like to say we've had an awesome
[10:04] start to our school year. Um, we had a
[10:07] wonderful welcome back week for our
[10:08] teachers and all of our kids got in
[10:11] pretty well. You know, there's always
[10:12] some glitches with busing, but I think
[10:14] we worked through that pretty well. Um,
[10:16] I also am excited to announce that this
[10:18] week is homecoming week, so hoping to
[10:21] see everyone at all the activities. Um,
[10:23] we had the flag football opportunity for
[10:25] girls Monday night. We have obviously um
[10:28] home games for volleyball and soccer and
[10:30] so please take time to come out and see
[10:32] everyone and then of course the football
[10:33] game on Friday with the dance on
[10:35] Saturday. So just want to remind all of
[10:38] our alums too to come out and share in
[10:40] the wealth of celebrating our kids and
[10:42] what they do. I also want to say um
[10:44] September 15th was National IT
[10:46] Professional Day and I want to thank all
[10:49] of our IT staff. you know, those are the
[10:51] folks that are behind the scenes that
[10:53] you don't regularly see. And um but they
[10:57] work so hard and without them, we all
[10:59] know the importance of technology,
[11:01] especially when you don't have it. And
[11:03] so I want to thank them for all the work
[11:05] that they do because we generally have
[11:07] pretty smooth running uh technology use
[11:09] in our schools. And so I want to just
[11:11] say congratulations to them and a shout
[11:13] out um and to Tim Buchanan as the
[11:15] director. He's been with us now almost a
[11:17] year and he's really doing a great job
[11:20] in that leadership role. And then I
[11:22] would also like to say that uh the month
[11:25] of September is school board member
[11:27] appreciation month. And so um I just
[11:31] want to thank all the board members for
[11:33] their time that you put in to serve our
[11:35] school district and our community. Um, I
[11:38] appreciate the thoughtfulness that you
[11:40] put into our meetings and to asking good
[11:43] questions and to giving opportunities
[11:46] and ideas for improvement. Um, it's been
[11:49] really wonderful and I know that again
[11:51] it's a lot of hours. You certainly
[11:53] aren't getting paid what one might think
[11:56] for the amount of hours that you're
[11:57] putting in, but you do it anyway. And I
[11:58] just that is true service to our
[12:00] community. And so I appreciate that. And
[12:01] I want to thank the student members as
[12:03] well. and I'm excited to have you at our
[12:06] meetings for the full time this year.
[12:08] And so in thanks from us, I have
[12:10] certificates to hand out. So and I have the medallions
[12:18] and medallions or pins.
[12:22] Here's this. Thank you.
[12:32] Huh?
[12:35] » Thank you.
[12:47] » [snorts]
[12:49] >> Thank you.
[12:58] [clears throat]
[13:04] » Yeah.
[13:06] >> I just want to say it's it's a joy
[13:09] working with Dr. Wamp Herman. Um,
[13:13] and I really think and I want to thank
[13:17] the staff, the administration. Um, I
[13:20] think this partnership is building and
[13:22] it's been uh pretty enjoyable. The last
[13:25] work session we had was was great and I
[13:28] think we're building on good things and
[13:31] thank you Dr. Workamp Herman.
[13:58] So again, I'd like to thank you and just
[14:00] know that um we all appreciate all the
[14:03] work and we do function as a team and
[14:05] that includes the board. And so you can
[14:07] see many of our team members are out
[14:09] here ready to present tonight and they
[14:11] work really hard for our kids and I
[14:14] really feel confident that everyone all
[14:16] of you really have the best interest of
[14:18] kids at heart and that's that's what
[14:20] matters. So thank you.
[14:22] >> Thank you.
[14:28] » So now I'm going to give an update on
[14:30] our data dashboard and vision card and
[14:34] I'm going to kind of talk through. So
[14:35] this is new for us and you want to show
[14:37] bring up um the vision card first. So as
[14:43] you know this we finally pulled together
[14:47] by the end of last year and then as with
[14:51] something new you have to figure out how
[14:54] to keep up with things and who's going
[14:56] to do what and when do you do it and so
[14:59] actually I apologize before we do that
[15:01] can we show the calendar? So, just based
[15:04] on um learning when data comes in and
[15:09] how to best time it for updating and
[15:11] who's going to do that work, we've put
[15:13] together this calendar and we're going
[15:15] to hope that it works. And so, um the
[15:19] data will be updated for the 2627 school
[15:22] year based on this information. So, in
[15:24] the month of October, we'll update we'll
[15:27] get information on staffing um from our
[15:30] human resources department and we'll
[15:32] have ongoing professional development
[15:34] data updated as well. As we have a
[15:35] professional development day, we'll then
[15:37] update that data. So, that could change
[15:39] from year to year if our calendar
[15:41] changes. Um we'll also be able to update
[15:44] and by the end of October, and this is
[15:45] all by the end of the month, the MCA
[15:47] data from the prior year because it's
[15:50] still embargoed to this day right now
[15:51] from last year. we don't have that fall
[15:54] fast bridge data consistent attendance
[15:56] um that's a two-year leg student
[15:59] conferences from the fall and then
[16:02] administrator teacher ratios etc. So you
[16:04] can see that and then in January we'll
[16:07] update data from December. We can't
[16:09] update financial information right now.
[16:11] The audit isn't complete. So you still
[16:12] have last year's audit. Once we get that
[16:15] secured, we'll update it. Then you know
[16:18] it's interesting about finance right
[16:19] now. Jen's living in three fiscal years.
[16:23] So [laughter]
[16:23] it's complicated, but we'll we have it
[16:25] on here to update based on once that
[16:28] audit is complete and presented to the
[16:30] board. And then we'll have the
[16:31] perception data. Um, we're going to plan
[16:35] to send that out if board approves and
[16:37] all of that. The the calendar would be
[16:39] November. So, by the time we get that
[16:40] data back, likely won't input in uh
[16:43] update or upload that to the vision card
[16:45] until January. Um, March, we'll talk
[16:48] about the winter data from FastBridge um
[16:51] along with student conferences that have
[16:53] taken place. Again, professional de
[16:54] development data as the dates occur. And
[16:57] then in June, we'll update the final
[16:59] from May and then all of the final data
[17:02] that we have from activity uh
[17:06] participation, spring testing data,
[17:09] support service data, and then
[17:12] communications data. So Carrie will be
[17:14] presenting later in the year um a whole
[17:17] communications plan. She's got
[17:20] You're going to love it. I'm just going
[17:21] to say that.
[17:22] >> I'm gonna leave it there.
[17:23] >> So now if you want to just I'll just
[17:25] bring this. We won't go through
[17:26] everything on the data dashboard, but
[17:28] we'll start with the vision card. You
[17:30] can see here that we have the data that
[17:33] we have is updated. The data that we're
[17:35] waiting on will be updated according to
[17:37] the calendar. Um, and so remember this
[17:40] is on our website for anyone to see. So
[17:42] the dashboard right here um if you want
[17:45] to pull that down is just a big summary
[17:47] of aggregate data and that you can look
[17:50] at from different uh trends around ACT,
[17:53] graduation, college and career
[17:54] readiness, other testing whether it be
[17:56] MCA, Fastbridge and then we have those
[18:00] highlighted survey data that tell us
[18:02] about equity and belonging. Now remember
[18:04] these are all aligned to our core
[18:05] pillars and so this is where you get
[18:08] safe and supportive engaging
[18:09] environments from the uh the survey
[18:12] data. Then along with empowerment and
[18:14] retention comes from HR and then the
[18:16] effectiveness of our operations meaning
[18:18] your finance as well as some HR data. So
[18:21] um I just wanted to show this to you. Um
[18:24] you can look at that data on your own.
[18:26] If you ever have questions feel free to
[18:27] you know reach out and ask. Um, you can
[18:30] see from the bottom of this, we do still
[18:32] have definitions listed. So, if as we
[18:34] know there's a lot of education speak
[18:37] that if you're not in the field of
[18:38] education, you may not know what these
[18:40] terms or acronyms mean. I think there's
[18:42] more acronyms in education than any
[18:44] other field. Somebody will argue with
[18:46] me, but there's a lot. And so, we have
[18:48] all of our um definitions there for
[18:50] anybody who may wonder. And then this
[18:53] data, this aggregate data is pulled up
[18:55] from the dashboard. And then the
[18:57] dashboard data gets into more of the
[18:59] disagregate data where you're going to
[19:02] be able to see trends by grades. Um more
[19:05] days the data around who's opting out,
[19:07] how many are opting out of MCAs. Um
[19:10] you're going to look at trend data
[19:12] across five years. So all of that data
[19:15] lives on the dashboard. And so you can
[19:17] peruse that at your will. Now remember
[19:20] some of this data we don't have yet. Um,
[19:23] again, MCA data, we don't get that until
[19:25] another couple weeks. So, actually, I
[19:27] think it's unembargoed next week, I
[19:29] think. So, yeah. So, any questions about
[19:34] that?
[19:36] I think it looks really great and I
[19:38] think it's a huge asset for the
[19:39] community to have a quick click through
[19:41] that they can they can see the data
[19:44] firsthand. So, thank you so much for
[19:47] putting that together.
[19:48] >> Yeah, I think I you know, and it's not
[19:50] only the community, right? We've never
[19:51] had anything like this before. So, it's
[19:53] fantastic for the board, for
[19:54] administrators, for for, you know,
[19:56] teachers, everybody to kind of see,
[19:58] okay, where where are we doing? Awesome.
[20:00] What do we need to keep doing? And where
[20:01] do we need to shore things up a bit?
[20:03] >> Yeah, it is.
[20:04] >> Is it on the agenda to um push it out
[20:06] with the with the uh communications to
[20:11] the community as well, just to make it
[20:13] to reinforce?
[20:14] >> No, that's a great input. We we can do
[20:16] that. Thank you. Yeah, perfect. Didn't
[20:18] think about that. That's good. We can
[20:20] even add that to the Raider update as
[20:21] well, periodically,
[20:23] >> like every time we make an update or
[20:24] something.
[20:25] >> Fantastic.
[20:26] >> Yeah, that's a great idea.
[20:27] >> Yeah.
[20:28] >> So, I just want to bring that to your
[20:29] attention. That's where we're at. And I
[20:30] want to thank Lindy and Andrew and Tim
[20:33] for doing a ton of work to put this
[20:35] together um behind the scenes and making
[20:38] sure the data is accurate. And Andrew's
[20:40] team um there, Bri and Ma, uh well,
[20:43] Mattiey's gone now, but she last spring
[20:45] would help pull together all that
[20:47] testing data. It's important. Um Kelsey
[20:49] will take that over now this year. And
[20:51] so I just want to thank them because
[20:52] that's a it's time that they're putting
[20:54] in to make sure that we're transparent
[20:57] with our information.
[20:59] >> Yeah. Thank you.
[21:00] >> Nice job.
[21:02] >> All right. Anything else? Good.
[21:05] >> All right. Uh next up we have a
[21:07] presentation about uh moving to a block
[21:10] schedule at the high school. Uh for full
[21:12] transparency, the board got this
[21:13] presentation at our work session. And I
[21:15] want to say we had a lot of questions
[21:18] and answers and great discussion. It was
[21:19] about an hour and a half, so this would
[21:21] be the abbreviated version here.
[21:24] >> Welcome.
[21:25] >> Sorry to interrupt. Is this something
[21:26] that the new members needed to sign?
[21:30] >> Okay.
[21:38] » [laughter]
[21:40] >> We want them to be official.
[21:44] There we go. Oh,
[22:05] Andrew is going to grab a new another
[22:07] mic here for us.
[22:10] So, uh, Chair Tate, members of the
[22:12] board, Dr. War Campamp Herman and school
[22:15] student school board reps. Uh thanks for
[22:17] having us again. We're here to have a
[22:19] conversation again repeat uh what we've
[22:21] talked about at work session a little
[22:23] bit of policy meeting but [snorts] again
[22:25] we're going to go through this fairly
[22:26] quickly and absolutely have questions
[22:29] for us at the end um or interrupt us in
[22:31] the middle that's fine too. So, um just
[22:34] a little bit of history,
[22:37] we had
[22:40] a um directive five, six years ago that
[22:43] said, "Hey, we need to look at secondary
[22:45] programming. Uh where can we do better?"
[22:48] Basically, um you know, we have
[22:50] declining enrollment. What are we doing
[22:51] to attract and maintain the student
[22:52] enrollment that we have and really
[22:54] provide a better experience for our
[22:56] kids? So, we we spent a few years
[22:58] looking at multiple models. there's a
[23:00] few of us that have had uh multiple
[23:03] years of experience in pathway work. So,
[23:05] we went down that that road and have
[23:07] really launched a really really nice set
[23:09] of courses uh designing new courses. So,
[23:11] all of that work is in in progress. What
[23:14] came out of that and continues to come
[23:15] out of that is how can we do that work
[23:19] better and more effectively and
[23:20] efficiently with kids and we're finding
[23:22] that we need more time per class. We
[23:24] need to be able to get out of the
[23:25] classroom, break down those four walls,
[23:27] and get out into the community. This is
[23:30] a type of schedule that allows us to do
[23:32] that. Um, again, we've had a number of
[23:34] staff members in the building who have
[23:35] come from districts on a block. I was an
[23:37] administrator on a block schedule. It's
[23:39] not perfect. Um, there are, you know,
[23:42] you can make any schedule work, but for
[23:44] the work that we're doing with the, uh,
[23:45] pathways, business connections, uh,
[23:47] internship opportunities, things like
[23:49] that. It really allows us to, um, do
[23:52] more work with the time that we have.
[23:57] Again, these are the things that we're
[23:58] working on within that pathway work.
[24:00] I'll turn it over to Chris here to talk
[24:02] a little bit about the skills for
[24:03] success that we're focusing on.
[24:06] >> Thank you. I'm Chris Moore, assistant
[24:08] principal at the high school. And the
[24:09] pieces that we have really been working
[24:11] on with our business partners are the
[24:12] skills that the soft skills that kids
[24:15] need better.
[24:18] Okay. Uh the soft skills that the kids
[24:20] need uh once they graduate from high
[24:21] school, making sure that they're ready
[24:23] for employment. We can teach them the
[24:25] content and do all of that, but our
[24:27] business partners are saying we need to
[24:28] make sure that they're dependable
[24:29] people. They're on time. They're able to
[24:31] communicate with their their managers.
[24:33] They're able to communicate with the
[24:34] public, vendors, clients, whoever it
[24:36] might be. Um, and that they they're ready for the the job and that's
[24:42] the pieces that they've really been
[24:43] pushing with us. So, the pathway
[24:45] development by us getting out and into
[24:48] the community with our students help us
[24:50] build those soft skills with the kids.
[24:53] also help us uh have that opportunity
[24:56] for kids to do some job shadow
[24:57] experiences so that they can see what a
[24:59] career as an electrician or a cook or um
[25:03] engineer might be like to see is it
[25:05] something that they really want to
[25:06] pursue by the time they get into college
[25:08] and go down [snorts] that path. So
[25:09] they're not spending two to three years
[25:11] realize they it's not the job they
[25:13] thought it was and now they're shifting
[25:15] and and have spent all that time and
[25:16] money to to look at a different program.
[25:18] So, that's the piece that we're really
[25:20] excited about with the the schedule
[25:22] change and the pathway development.
[25:25] As we look at this, we know that there
[25:27] are courses that don't fit well on a
[25:30] block schedule. For example, music. We
[25:32] have a very strong music program in
[25:34] Hastings. And we don't want to to to
[25:36] hurt that program. So, one way to do
[25:39] that is to really look at skinny
[25:41] courses, breaking the a block into two
[25:43] different components so that they can
[25:45] have a course all year long and it's not
[25:49] uh giving up 25% of their schedule to do
[25:51] that under a traditional block uh
[25:53] schedule. So, we're able to do that and
[25:55] then working with our our staff and the students looking at what courses
[26:00] also pair nicely with that that skinny.
[26:02] It could be a world language course, it
[26:04] could be a math course, could be health
[26:06] and PE. It's really looking at where
[26:07] does it fit best for those kids in those
[26:10] classes to to skinny with that so that
[26:12] they're having a a nice cohesive
[26:14] experience all the way through their
[26:15] time here. And then for those that don't
[26:17] [clears throat]
[26:18] take uh music, they can take that full
[26:21] block schedule. So it's we're running uh
[26:24] two schedules at times with the skinnies
[26:26] and with a traditional block for those
[26:27] kids to meet all the needs that we have
[26:29] for our students.
[26:32] So this would be the example of the with
[26:34] the skinny uh in music.
[26:37] So you can see the depending on the
[26:39] music whether it's band, choir or
[26:41] orchestra, it would be the first block
[26:43] or second block within that and then the
[26:45] other one would be an offset block. Uh
[26:47] the skinny also allows us to continue to
[26:50] have kids to take two music. So if they
[26:51] wanted to do band and choir, it also
[26:53] allows them to do that without uh
[26:55] without hurting the program.
[26:57] >> And again, the ways to skinny those
[26:59] together as well. So this is another
[27:01] view of what a block could look like and
[27:04] the different electives or the different
[27:06] uh components that way uh on a four
[27:08] period day with the skinny in 9th, 10th
[27:10] and 11th and 12th grade. So breaks it
[27:12] down to more of those elective
[27:14] opportunities that the kids would have
[27:15] as they progress as well. So uh like Mr.
[27:18] Dorne was saying as our kids expand into
[27:21] those more intermediate and advanced
[27:23] courses, the block schedule also opens
[27:25] up those elective opportunities for them
[27:27] to to [snorts] dive deeper into some of
[27:29] that content.
[27:30] >> One of the benefits to I think we'll get
[27:32] to it in a little executive summary. um
[27:36] not quite there yet is uh really the
[27:40] ability to right now we well I'll get to
[27:43] in the executive summary just about our
[27:44] staffing and our FTE and how how many
[27:46] more courses we can teach during the
[27:47] school year but if you take a look at
[27:49] the the difference between a seven
[27:50] period schedule where we've got six
[27:53] classes at 46 minutes again one at 50
[27:55] [sighs and gasps] uh 326 minutes of
[27:57] instruction per day and then uh 360
[27:59] minutes of instruction per day on a four
[28:02] period block. Uh that's kind of how the
[28:04] breaks down. It's a more time per
[28:06] course. Uh we reduce a lot of those
[28:08] transitions between classes. You know,
[28:10] three passing times instead of six that
[28:12] we have now. Uh it makes a difference.
[28:16] >> And Chris was going to talk a little bit
[28:18] about the comparisons here.
[28:19] >> So, as we worked with our Pathways team
[28:21] last year, we started looking at missed
[28:23] opportunities with kids, too. So, if you
[28:25] take a look at the left side of the
[28:27] screen, the number of kids taking study
[28:29] hall, student aid, senior release times,
[28:32] uh we're missing opportunities with kids
[28:34] to dive deeper into that that content
[28:36] and and take courses that may better
[28:38] help them uh prepare for their future
[28:40] and and explore some of those things
[28:41] they may like. So the nice thing about
[28:44] the block schedule is it gives them the
[28:46] opportunity to take more electives, more
[28:48] courses, dive deeper into that content
[28:51] and not feel the the stress of having to
[28:54] concentrate on seven courses. They're
[28:55] concentrating on four, maybe five
[28:57] courses at a time. So it it frees them
[28:59] up a little bit to to reduce some of
[29:03] that stress that they're experiencing uh
[29:04] and some of the reasons that they're
[29:06] looking for that study hall during the
[29:07] school day. Um, and so we're we're able
[29:10] to capture more opportunities with kids
[29:12] by switching to the block schedule. And
[29:15] also, if we look at the class time, the
[29:18] bell-to-bell time, if we look at the
[29:21] four period day, on average there are 90
[29:23] minutes. So the there's 3,780 minutes
[29:27] per class per semester. Uh if we take a
[29:30] look at a seven period day, the uh
[29:33] comparison goes from 46 minute classes
[29:36] so 3864 minutes per class. So pretty
[29:39] comparable. But when you break down the
[29:42] actual instruction time and you get rid
[29:43] of those managerial skill things that
[29:45] happen at the beginning, handing out the
[29:47] uh the papers, taking attendance, making
[29:49] some quick announcements, uh and you
[29:51] subtract those those five minutes of
[29:52] administrative practices at the
[29:54] beginning of each hour, uh the four
[29:56] period or block schedule actually
[29:59] increases the minutes because you're gaining more time that way. So
[30:03] when you reduce those managerial tasks,
[30:06] the uh instructional time is roughly
[30:08] 3570 minutes compared to the 34 44
[30:12] minutes.
[30:13] >> And it might not seem like a big deal,
[30:15] but that that's it's a lot of time.
[30:17] That's a really that's a big advantage.
[30:22] » So Lindy, if you can open up that
[30:23] executive summary. So this is really
[30:25] breaks it down. Um when we talk about
[30:28] you know um finance and FTE and all of
[30:30] the the benefits right now with a 7
[30:33] period day where our staff are working
[30:35] 71.4% of their day is with kids. So you
[30:38] think about that efficiency a block you
[30:41] teach three out of four blocks per day
[30:43] that would be 12 out of 16 per year uh
[30:45] gets you at the 75% efficient level. So
[30:49] really what that does it break if you
[30:51] break it down mathematically that allows
[30:52] us to have 2.6 6 2.7 FTE
[30:56] more efficient. So I want to be very
[30:59] clear with the board I think we I was
[31:01] last time as well that we're not looking
[31:03] to utilize this scheduling as a staff
[31:05] reduction and a cost savings. Again
[31:07] we've talked many times about the
[31:09] financial um stability of the district
[31:12] when we're talking about moving to our
[31:14] really uh intermediate and advanced
[31:16] level courses in the pathways. Those are
[31:18] going to be a lot of ads. We're going to
[31:20] be coming to the board with a lot of
[31:21] requests for new course approval with
[31:24] Andrew's help um development by the
[31:26] teachers. Basically, we're able to move
[31:28] from about 550 classes taught per year
[31:32] to 660. So, an increase of 110 options
[31:36] for kids in one year over the last. Um
[31:40] it does help again spreading out a
[31:42] little bit of the class size um piece,
[31:44] but it it's really the the main focus is
[31:46] that we're able to offer more at the
[31:48] same staffing level.
[31:52] And then with the efficiencies that this
[31:54] does offer, we know that as we expand
[31:56] our programming, we may uh need to run
[31:59] some classes at a smaller number. So
[32:01] that that class size is an average. uh
[32:03] but with those efficiencies that we can
[32:04] do, we may say in order to help this
[32:06] program grow, we may offer a course at
[32:08] 15 to 20 kids knowing that we have that
[32:11] opportunity to do that. So the class
[32:13] size isn't average. It just helps us
[32:14] with some of the efficiencies uh to be
[32:16] able to offer more courses for kids. And
[32:19] I know we've talked about this before,
[32:20] but with the increase in college level
[32:22] courses that we have, the class size
[32:24] maximums that University of Minnesota
[32:26] gives us soon to be uh Southwest State,
[32:29] they're going to have those course
[32:31] limits that's able to be absorbed. Um
[32:34] instead of raising another class to 39
[32:35] or 40 to get that 25 from the University
[32:38] of Minnesota maximum, we're able to do
[32:40] that and still maintain healthy class
[32:41] sizes.
[32:50] Hi, I'm Mindy Tavern, assistant
[32:52] principal at the high school as well.
[32:54] I'm just going to talk a little bit
[32:55] about um overall in general, what
[32:58] potential student outcomes can come from
[33:01] this and our and staffing benefits as
[33:03] well. So, we [snorts] talk a lot about
[33:04] our failures and we're hoping that the
[33:07] more time in class they get help. So,
[33:08] Mr. Moore talked about those study
[33:10] halls. We will be able to have time with
[33:12] the specific teacher that can help them
[33:14] with the content within that same day of
[33:17] the content. So, it's not like we won't
[33:19] have the time for kids to work on their
[33:21] work. We would have it within the class
[33:23] with that teacher. Also, discipline. We
[33:26] talked a little bit um Mr. Dorne about
[33:28] the passing times. Less times in the
[33:30] hallways, more times in class, hoping
[33:32] for less discipline. [snorts] Um, one of
[33:35] our survey results was really of the
[33:37] importance of teacher student
[33:38] relationships. This provides more time
[33:41] with students with their teachers, less
[33:43] teachers. And on the flip side, I'll
[33:45] talk about in a minute, but teachers
[33:47] also have less students to build those
[33:49] relationships with within that um
[33:52] semester. Also, we talked about that we
[33:55] want to get out in the community. This
[33:56] gives us that time to do that. um like
[33:59] the 45minute class getting out in the
[34:01] community getting back it's you don't
[34:03] have time while you're there. So this
[34:04] provides that for us. Uh and increased
[34:07] opportunities to take classes. We talked
[34:08] about all the different types of classes
[34:10] we can once you start to get um interest
[34:13] in a field. You can start to take more
[34:15] of that in one year um just to test out
[34:18] see if you want to do that. Uh the
[34:20] potential improved teacher retention we
[34:22] talked about like in our strategic plan
[34:24] the pillars an important thing is to
[34:25] keep our teachers here. [snorts] Um,
[34:27] this allows teachers to get to know
[34:29] them, give more time, um, fewer classers
[34:32] to plan, um, be more intentional with
[34:35] the classes that they're teaching. Uh,
[34:37] and then the big thing here we've been
[34:39] talking about lately is the
[34:40] collaboration time within the school day
[34:42] for our teachers. We have lots of
[34:44] teachers that work with kids before
[34:46] school, clubs, activities, sports that
[34:48] it's really hard before and after school
[34:49] to get together. This provides our time
[34:51] for our teachers to collaborate within
[34:53] the school day.
[34:56] One other additional benefit because I'm
[34:57] always thinking about the student
[34:59] experience as you think about managing
[35:00] seven courses right now. You look around
[35:03] the room with the schoolboard members
[35:04] here, new and older. Um the course loads
[35:08] that they take, managing seven courses
[35:11] and then having, you know, an hour to
[35:12] two hours of homework on every on top of
[35:14] each one of those courses. Now, to break
[35:16] that down to three to four, a senior
[35:18] might be able to work in a study hall,
[35:19] but basically four classes instead of
[35:21] seven. And again, you're with the
[35:23] teacher getting that help. the homework
[35:25] assignments and quantity goes down on a
[35:28] block as well. Behaviors go down,
[35:30] homework goes down. Uh you do more in
[35:32] class.
[35:37] Also, there's challenges with any
[35:39] schedule that you have. Um so we've been
[35:41] thinking about that problem solving. Um
[35:44] taking a lot of questions about how we
[35:46] can get better with this too within the
[35:48] schedule. Um a couple of the things up
[35:50] listed here, AP courses. we need to work
[35:52] with our EP teachers and talk how we can
[35:54] make that work, what's best for kids
[35:56] within the schedule. So an example, we
[35:58] had said maybe they have three quarters
[36:01] um within that class rather than just
[36:03] the two. Uh again, the the gap if a
[36:06] student has something first semester and
[36:08] then doesn't have something second
[36:10] semester, what are we going to do to
[36:11] help support that? That's something that
[36:13] we need to problem solve. We do have um
[36:16] in that same vein that if they take a
[36:18] class and they're interested they can
[36:20] take another one for example math you
[36:23] can take one and keep going higher level
[36:25] and get to more math if you're in that
[36:27] interested in that. So um both sides of
[36:29] that shared staff we need to think about
[36:31] that we share a lot of staff between the
[36:33] high school and middle school. So being
[36:36] creative within our scheduling we do
[36:37] that already with this schedule. So um
[36:40] just another way to look at it with a
[36:41] block period in the middle school. Uh
[36:44] again, this happens with any schedule,
[36:46] any school, uh even within our own
[36:48] district when kids move from
[36:50] elementaryaries. It it doesn't always
[36:52] align perfectly when you move in. So, we
[36:53] will need to be aware of how to help
[36:56] support students when that um when they
[36:58] move to our district. Another big
[37:00] barrier for us is that transportation.
[37:02] We really find that this schedule will
[37:04] allow for our students to get out and
[37:06] experience more. The question is, how
[37:08] can we get the transportation to do
[37:10] that?
[37:12] >> Yeah. wanting to eliminate the barriers
[37:13] for all students.
[37:17] So, when we talk about um kind of the board's work and we again we met in policy committee a month or so ago,
[37:24] really the there's a a few things within
[37:27] policy that would need to be addressed
[37:29] if the recommendation goes through to
[37:30] move to a block. Working with the
[37:33] counselors, I know I've talked about the
[37:35] um 56 versus 58 credits. Those are
[37:39] required out of the 64 block classes a
[37:42] student can take. We we have two
[37:44] examples here where districts are at
[37:47] that 58. The recommendation that we most
[37:50] likely will move forward with is that
[37:52] 56. Kids aren't necessarily taking every
[37:56] single course we're asking them to or we
[37:58] have offered to them. But this provides
[38:00] us with that room for those students who
[38:02] might struggle, who might um have a life
[38:04] event where it's just that hard, that
[38:07] much harder to overcome to reach that
[38:10] total to graduate. Again, with this
[38:12] number, we have not an infinite amount,
[38:15] but the number of electives that
[38:17] students are able to take is going to be
[38:18] expanded so broadly that we feel very
[38:21] confident that a 56 out of the 64 is
[38:23] definitely um attainable. 58 is on that
[38:27] border of uh for some students to be a
[38:30] little a little trickier. Uh might might
[38:32] impact graduation. So, we're uh just
[38:35] moving forward more than likely 56 would
[38:37] be the conversation. Um teacher
[38:39] contract, again, won't get into it too
[38:41] much here, but there are minimal
[38:42] language pieces in there that um would
[38:45] need to be addressed. Um and then the
[38:47] communication timelines. This is uh
[38:49] pretty important for us moving forward.
[38:52] You think about a six-year plan. So
[38:55] starting now, this is like the decision
[38:57] year whether we're going to do this or
[38:59] not. Move forward. If we decide to, next
[39:01] year would be a full year of staff PD.
[39:04] You can't roll out a block and have
[39:06] teachers assuming I can just cram two
[39:08] lessons together and teach the same way
[39:10] I've always taught. Those experiences
[39:12] get a little muddled and and kind of
[39:14] faded out if you do it that way. So lots
[39:16] of PD professional development for our
[39:18] staff [gasps] on how to teach on a
[39:20] block. It's just it's a different look.
[39:22] it's more impactful for students and
[39:24] that would be an entire year's worth of
[39:26] RPD time and then rolling that the first
[39:29] uh year of block would be the 28 29
[39:31] school year so graduated a year and a
[39:33] half and the year after you guys are
[39:36] probably done right sorry um but the
[39:39] communication between now uh we're
[39:41] obviously meeting with the board again
[39:43] uh but our teachers having continued
[39:45] conversations with them about how that
[39:47] would impact what they do in their
[39:48] course uh some of the uh skinny pieces
[39:50] we need to work out and then our
[39:52] students and community. We've had
[39:54] conversations, not in a formal way, but
[39:56] um gaining some traction. We just have
[39:58] to formalize that conversation and allow
[40:01] opportunity for our our parents, our
[40:03] students, community members to to weigh
[40:05] in on You look like you wanted to say
[40:06] something.
[40:07] >> Yeah. I just want to point one thing out
[40:09] with the graduation requirements. It
[40:11] would be phasing in over time. So, those
[40:14] students who are like sophomores now,
[40:16] right, because they'll be seniors then.
[40:18] Um it wouldn't be like, "All right, got
[40:20] a rough senior year ahead of you." Um
[40:22] it's more about like phasing those in
[40:24] over time.
[40:24] >> That's the Yeah, sorry I didn't get to
[40:26] that. That's the the last four years. So
[40:28] the I think it's the class of 2032 would
[40:31] be the first class to have all four
[40:32] years of the block. And again, the
[40:34] credits would start at 44 like they are
[40:36] now, move to um 47, 50, 53, and then
[40:40] eventually 56. So each class would have
[40:42] a three uh credit increase over those
[40:44] four years. Yeah. Thank you.
[40:51] We've talked a lot. What questions and
[40:53] students as well, if that's okay, can I
[40:55] offer it up to them? Oh, thank you.
[40:57] Yeah. What can we help answer?
[40:59] >> Actually, I'd love to hear from our
[41:01] students first. Yep. I want to hear your
[41:02] impressions. Good timing for you to be
[41:04] here.
[41:07] I um as a senior I was in like all seven
[41:11] classes and what four of them were
[41:13] college and it kind of like with
[41:15] everything going on it got to be a lot.
[41:17] So I did take a study hall and I think
[41:21] if we allowed students to only have four
[41:23] classes and they were longer with like
[41:26] teacher help and then time for homework
[41:28] as well. I really like that idea because
[41:30] it takes a lot of stress off of students
[41:33] and allows them to do more outside of
[41:35] school and especially for those seniors
[41:37] that aren't going to be here ever again
[41:39] and they want to enjoy their senior year
[41:41] but don't want to fall behind in school.
[41:43] I think this is just like a really good
[41:45] helpful way to just support students and
[41:47] also like the career readiness that
[41:49] comes along with it and especially like
[41:51] for colleges. I know a lot of colleges
[41:53] do scheduling like this. You don't have
[41:55] seven classes in one semester. So this
[41:57] is just truly like a good way to prepare
[42:00] students for the future.
[42:02] >> Thank you for that. One other comment is
[42:04] just I I neglected to mention last time
[42:07] as well. So you think about right now we
[42:08] have semesters that are 18 weeks long.
[42:11] You think about a student who struggles
[42:13] 18 weeks is you've you've hit the cliff
[42:15] about week five and then it's just
[42:17] there's if you're not on a trajectory to
[42:19] really absorb that help and and build
[42:22] those skills and get to week 18, it can
[42:24] be a a long haul. So nineweek courses,
[42:27] you're in, you're out, you've got a
[42:29] really intense experience, and then
[42:31] you're able to hit the reset button
[42:33] every nine weeks.
[42:35] >> Um, I really agree with what
[42:37] Representative or student representative
[42:38] Henson was saying. I think personally in
[42:41] my experience, junior junior year was my
[42:44] hardest just given the amount of rigor
[42:47] that was in the classes that I was
[42:48] taking. I was taking all AP and college
[42:50] courses and having, you know, a couple
[42:53] APs and five college courses that I'm
[42:58] taking got to be a lot of homework and a
[43:01] lot of time spent at home up late
[43:04] working on school work, you know, after
[43:07] extracurriculars. So, I think this would
[43:09] be a great time or a great thing for
[43:12] students to be able to work with their
[43:15] teachers and not having to, you know,
[43:17] communicate over emails or spend late
[43:20] nights doing homework and then get up
[43:21] early in the morning to go in before
[43:23] school to be working with their teachers
[43:25] on topics they might be struggling with
[43:27] or, you know, asking for extensions with
[43:30] homework. So, I think this is just a
[43:33] really great way of giving students the
[43:36] opportunity to stay caught up with all
[43:38] of their schoolwork. So, thank you.
[43:44] » Um, I agree with everything. I think I
[43:47] must have missed it. When would this
[43:49] take place?
[43:51] >> So, the fall of 2028 would be the first
[43:55] year that the school would be on an all
[43:57] grades would be on a block. The credits
[43:59] would be phased in. So if you're a
[44:01] senior that year, obviously you don't
[44:02] have to earn, you know, you have to take
[44:04] 11 courses at a time to catch up with
[44:07] the credits. So we'll phase it in
[44:09] creditwise over four years, but the
[44:11] school would go to a block a year and a
[44:14] half from now.
[44:15] >> So we barely miss it.
[44:18] [laughter]
[44:18] >> That's why I had to apologize to you.
[44:23] >> Well, one thing too, we do um offer
[44:25] these type of experience on a limited
[44:26] basis with our Raider Connect time that
[44:28] we do. Now, those classes are broken
[44:29] down into um fairly close to the
[44:32] schedule that we have here, 90-minute uh
[44:33] blocks over a two-day period. We do that
[44:35] six times a year. And what we're seeing
[44:37] is a number of teachers really starting
[44:39] to take advantage of those days, get
[44:41] their [snorts] kids out of the building,
[44:42] uh do some experiential pieces with
[44:44] culinary, hospitality, tourism, uh child
[44:47] care, uh opportunities, um trips to, um
[44:50] you know, engineering, manufacturing
[44:52] places. So, we're seeing a lot of people
[44:53] take advantage of the extra time.
[44:59] Where would advisory take place in this?
[45:02] >> Advisory would be absorbed into one of
[45:04] the classes in terms of announcements.
[45:06] We would not have an everyday advisory.
[45:08] We would have special events and some
[45:10] pepfest type schedules and things, but
[45:11] it wouldn't be an everyday event.
[45:15] >> Good question.
[45:17] Um, I think so. It's this year's seventh
[45:20] graders who would have the full block
[45:22] their entire experience and this year's
[45:24] 10th graders who would have their senior
[45:26] year, but they would have a block. Um, I
[45:28] just want to comment. So, one of my
[45:30] biggest concerns that we talked about at
[45:31] the work session was the like the math
[45:34] and the and the the languages, right?
[45:36] And it sounds like you guys are kind of
[45:38] considering moving those to be skinnies.
[45:40] um biggest concern is
[45:43] with math especially and with languages
[45:45] you lose it if you don't take it
[45:47] sequentially and so we we had talked
[45:49] about before having those be part of
[45:51] blocks but missing things so it sounds
[45:53] like you're definitely considering
[45:54] moving those over into skinnies so it's
[45:56] music math
[45:58] PE it looked like health class
[46:00] >> yep sorry to interrupt but u one thing
[46:03] we have to be careful of is not
[46:04] overkinning ourselves and then we turn
[46:06] into an eight period day however you're
[46:07] absolutely correct that there are are
[46:10] conversations happening about what fits
[46:12] best and there are times of the year you
[46:14] can have a skinned uh Spanish and then
[46:16] you could also have a regular Spanish on
[46:19] a block as well. So and again like Mr.
[46:21] Tavanir said if you have a student who's
[46:23] interested in math and engineering and that kind of a track physics you
[46:27] don't have to wait until the next year
[46:29] to take that well I might you can't take
[46:31] physics until junior year. Oh, you are
[46:33] taking that second semester of that
[46:34] sophomore year and then your advanced
[46:36] level uh opportunities open up your the
[46:38] last couple years for you.
[46:40] >> Also, if a student doesn't pass a class,
[46:43] they also can start it right away that
[46:45] next semester instead of waiting for the
[46:46] whole next year.
[46:48] >> So, the thing I'd like to remind the
[46:51] board of on this is why why I'm drawn
[46:55] one of the reasons I'm drawn to this is
[46:56] the the why we're doing this. We are not
[46:59] doing this as a budget reduction because
[47:01] we're not we're we're maintaining our
[47:04] same number of FTE. So that provides us
[47:07] flexibility. So if we go through this
[47:10] idea of block schedule for a few years
[47:12] and we find that this just isn't working
[47:14] out what's best for Hastings, then we
[47:16] can do something different because we
[47:18] didn't do it because of money. We did it
[47:20] because we think this is the best
[47:22] opportunity for our kids and to really
[47:24] grow our pathway work. [clears throat]
[47:26] really in a way to grow our pathway work
[47:28] without having to put so much additional
[47:30] resource into it. Whereas if we try to
[47:32] maintain our current schedule and add
[47:35] additional coursework that would add
[47:38] FTE. So I think the rationale behind
[47:41] this is good because it's flexibility.
[47:43] This isn't something that has to be
[47:44] forever. Nothing ever is. So I just want
[47:47] to just [clears throat] keep reminding
[47:48] the board of that.
[47:53] I'm a big time person and um the
[47:56] efficiency of the time
[47:59] to me is one of the exciting things
[48:01] here. Um more time isn't always better,
[48:05] but what's being done in that time is to
[48:07] me. Um and I really think this this
[48:11] lifts kids of all demographics and all
[48:13] learning levels. I really think this is
[48:16] I think it kind of brings kids
[48:19] up. I think it's easier to bring the
[48:22] kids up who are having struggles. So I
[48:25] this is exciting to me. I'm just I think
[48:27] this is going to be a great thing. So
[48:29] thank you very much and thank the staff.
[48:31] Everybody's done a great job.
[48:35] >> All right. Anything else? Question.
[48:37] Director Bruns. I think I only have a
[48:40] couple, but one of them on a slide it
[48:42] says with the graduation policy
[48:44] accepting 56 out of 64 credits as
[48:46] opposed to 58 out of 64. Some folks
[48:49] without background or knowledge of where
[48:50] we currently are might say that that's
[48:52] choosing the lower standard, but can you
[48:55] speak to how this actually lifts the
[48:57] standard that we're setting for our
[48:58] students right now?
[49:00] >> Yeah, I'll have the team correct me if
[49:01] I'm wrong, but I think with our seventh
[49:03] period day where we're asking kids to uh
[49:08] minimum to graduate would be 44 out of
[49:11] the 56 that we offer. I think what's 81%
[49:13] or no 70
[49:14] >> 78
[49:15] >> 78% is what we're is the ask. So we're
[49:18] basically allowing kids almost uh 25% of
[49:21] the courses that we have to offer them.
[49:23] Ah we don't need those. We don't need to
[49:25] grow in our academic, you know. So it's
[49:28] u the efficiency it's I mean it's it's
[49:31] pretty impressive. Yeah.
[49:38] un unrelated because it's probably too
[49:40] early in the process, but thinking about
[49:42] collaboration with the special education
[49:43] or special services department and some
[49:45] of the unintended awesome positives that
[49:47] come with work-based learning and those
[49:49] experiences that can be done in support
[49:50] with community partners. Uh but then the
[49:53] complexity or dynamic ability to think
[49:56] about service provision, but it might be
[49:58] so early in the process that we're not
[50:00] totally sure what that looks like.
[50:02] >> I would agree with you. We're not
[50:03] totally sure. However, the system that I
[50:05] came from, my last district, the we we
[50:08] also utilize the skinnies for our
[50:10] special needs uh students that had
[50:11] resource classrooms, [sighs and gasps]
[50:13] 90 minutes can be again a drag and
[50:15] that's, you know, that that's a long
[50:18] time. So, to be able to uh be creative
[50:19] with the schedule and break that up so
[50:21] they're receiving multiple services in
[50:23] different formats, different rooms,
[50:24] transition breaks, movement breaks. Um
[50:26] it it can be built into the schedule as
[50:28] well. I was gonna just with that um it's
[50:32] also beneficial for our EL services. Um
[50:35] our Bana Deetsz does an amazing job at
[50:37] the high school. Um she has kids from
[50:40] 9th grade to 12th grade ranging in
[50:43] newcomer to the country through like so
[50:45] close to like being um per how we rate
[50:49] it the proficient in in English and all
[50:52] the levels. And so she is balancing that
[50:54] right now on a seven period day where
[50:57] she is bouncing around a whole lot to do
[51:00] it. And it's I'm not saying it's not
[51:01] good work cuz it is. But this could make
[51:03] it better because if you think of her
[51:05] work in skinnies across five days where
[51:09] some kids right now at high school only
[51:11] need two days of service. They don't
[51:13] need five days of 25 to 45 minutes of
[51:16] service. It allows more flexibility to
[51:19] do that where then they're not missing
[51:22] an AP US history class they want to be
[51:24] in or they're not missing um healthcare
[51:26] professions they want to be in because
[51:28] those classes are only offered here and
[51:30] here you know so it allows us a little
[51:31] more flexibility with meeting needs like
[51:33] that.
[51:36] » Um just I I want to affirm that that
[51:39] from my experience I think that 56 out
[51:42] of 64 is really close to the sweet spot.
[51:44] You know, remember that for those
[51:46] high-flying students that want to get
[51:48] the most out of school,
[51:51] that's the minimum standard. I mean, if
[51:53] you're taking 64 courses, you're fully
[51:55] booked for the entire uh year year for
[51:58] all four years. So, 56 out of 64 allows
[52:03] an amount of grace that I think is
[52:05] critical. And then secondly, I just want
[52:08] the board to understand and the
[52:09] community to understand that transitions
[52:11] like these are overwhelmingly complex. I
[52:15] just they're so,
[52:19] you know, there's a there's a lot of
[52:20] human decisions to be made, but there's
[52:23] so many mathy things. Like just as as a
[52:25] sidebar, if you take the 835 study halls
[52:30] that kids are sitting in right now in
[52:32] any given year and you try to calculate
[52:37] how many butts and seats that would be,
[52:40] it would be 119
[52:42] students in a semester course because is
[52:45] that that a semester it would be a
[52:47] semester study hall. Correct.
[52:49] >> Correct.
[52:50] >> Okay. So that that's still
[52:53] 60
[52:56] ADMs or average daily memberships or FTE
[53:01] uh full-time students. That that that
[53:03] would be that would equate to 60
[53:05] full-time students. And I didn't do
[53:06] anything with student aids and I didn't
[53:09] do anything with early release or late
[53:12] starts.
[53:15] At the same time, if you move to eight
[53:19] periods, you've got teachers teaching
[53:21] six of eight periods. So, the the adult
[53:28] in front of student portion of the day
[53:30] increases considerably. Those numbers
[53:33] are it's it's going to be fun to watch
[53:36] it work out and it will work out. But I just want us to recognize how hard
[53:42] this is for the team to do this and the
[53:45] community to recognize how hard it is to
[53:48] think like this. It's it's a great deal
[53:50] of fun if you like that stuff. But um
[53:54] but but I I just I appreciate what
[53:56] you're going into.
[53:58] Mindy did get a a really cool new
[54:00] scheduling board to help out with this.
[54:02] And I did tell her this this move
[54:04] equates from doing like a year of
[54:06] scheduling at a time to like two years
[54:09] of scheduling at a time.
[54:11] >> That's right.
[54:11] >> So, she's super pumped.
[54:13] >> But but it's only it's really like doing
[54:15] two four period days instead of one
[54:17] seven period day. So,
[54:18] >> and again, back to the basics. What
[54:20] we're talking about is having you know,
[54:21] now we get a semester credit over those
[54:23] 18 weeks. Now you get a still the same
[54:25] semester credit for nineweek because you
[54:28] there are twice as much time in the
[54:29] classroom. So every co quarter is a
[54:31] semester's worth of that those 56
[54:33] credits.
[54:34] >> And I do want to quote student
[54:36] representative Leightton over here. Uh I
[54:38] don't know if you all heard it. She said
[54:39] I wish we had that.
[54:43] » I just want to say thank you. It's
[54:45] really awesome. It's a strategic
[54:46] investment in our student outcomes. So I
[54:49] really appreciate that and I really
[54:50] appreciate all the work you guys did on
[54:51] this. Thank you.
[54:53] And I just want to highlight one thing.
[54:55] You you did mention it, but I just want
[54:56] to really highlight it. This gives us
[54:58] the opportunity to expand our pathways
[55:00] programs with kids having opportunities
[55:02] for internships because you think about
[55:03] it today, right? We've got 46-inute
[55:05] classes and there's no way for a student
[55:08] to effectively get to a job site where
[55:10] they're going to do an internship and
[55:11] come back and get anything out of it
[55:13] really, right? And thinking about the shed that they built at Tilden, too.
[55:17] I mean, I can't imagine how difficult
[55:18] that was even to accomplish that with the current kind of schedule.
[55:22] So just really looking forward to the
[55:25] possibilities that our students are
[55:26] going to have through this. So
[55:27] appreciate the work and the effort.
[55:28] Thank you.
[55:31] >> Nicely done.
[55:32] >> Thank you.
[55:37] » Right. Next on our agenda, we have an
[55:39] ice arena discussion with Miss Suber.
[55:43] Welcome.
[55:53] Thank you. Uh thank you, Chair Tate,
[55:55] directors of the board, superintendent
[55:57] work camp Herman. Um tonight I am going
[55:59] to provide an update on the ice arena
[56:02] discussion. So we've had this at a work
[56:04] session and now we are just bringing it
[56:07] forward here.
[56:09] Okay. So, as we work with our joint
[56:12] powers committee and the city of
[56:14] Hastings, an additional contract has
[56:17] been brought forward related to the
[56:19] locker room at the ice arena. So, we
[56:22] currently have exclusive use of that
[56:24] locker room. And there's an agreement
[56:26] that goes back to 2001 that defines kind
[56:30] of the terms of it. It's all linked into
[56:33] this document. And I'm going to show
[56:34] some screenshots of the um relevant
[56:38] information. There's also some
[56:40] supplementary emails and memos that go
[56:42] back to about that same time period that
[56:45] they're all linked in here if people are
[56:47] interested, but those are not like
[56:50] contracts or anything formal. They're
[56:52] just some additional emails and memos.
[56:55] So, within that um locker room
[56:57] agreement, the first kind of area that's
[57:00] important to understand is the payment
[57:03] terms. So within that, it basically says
[57:06] that the school district is going to pay
[57:08] $8.50
[57:10] per hour that we rent the ice um for
[57:14] that locker room agreement. And then it
[57:17] also states that there would be an
[57:18] automatic increase each year of 2.5%.
[57:23] Um I have linked in here a rate history
[57:26] and while if you'll scroll down a little
[57:29] bit, Lindy, thank you. there hadn't
[57:31] always been those 2 and 12% increases.
[57:35] Um, however, we are now caught up to
[57:37] what that rate would be had those 2 and
[57:40] 12% increases happened each year. So,
[57:44] for 2526,
[57:47] um, we're at $15.76
[57:50] an hour that we pay for the locker room.
[57:56] Um the next piece in that agreement is
[57:58] the city responsibilities.
[58:00] So in consideration for the hourly
[58:03] payment, the city agrees to do the
[58:05] following things and it's basically that
[58:07] they provide the weekly maintenance for
[58:09] those locker rooms including the
[58:11] cleaning of them. Um heat and
[58:13] electricity to those locker rooms and
[58:15] then cleaning supplies and equipment.
[58:18] As far as the school district
[58:20] responsibilities, um we kind of clean up
[58:23] the room after use. So, sweeping it,
[58:25] just keeping it orderly. Um, we secure
[58:28] it during our practices. And then if
[58:31] there were ever damage or repair needed
[58:34] associated with negligence or vandalism,
[58:37] we would be responsible for that. And
[58:39] then we also provide insurance on the
[58:42] property in there as well as workers
[58:44] comp on our personnel.
[58:47] The kind of ending of that agreement
[58:50] talks about a donation. So the school
[58:53] district acknowledges that it has no
[58:55] ownership interest in the locker rooms
[58:56] at the Hastings Civic Arena and the
[58:59] school district's only interest in these
[59:01] locker rooms is the interest created by
[59:03] this agreement. So there were donations
[59:07] um kind of funneled through a booster
[59:08] club at the time that paid for these
[59:12] locker rooms. But it's important to
[59:15] understand that we have no ownership
[59:17] interest in these locker rooms at all.
[59:21] So from there, um, we've been having
[59:24] discussions with the city about some
[59:26] upcoming projects related to the civic
[59:29] arena. And these are kind of rough, um,
[59:32] timelines as well as dollar amounts. The
[59:34] dollar amounts, this is what they had
[59:36] provided us at the time, but they are
[59:39] um, a year to two years old. So they're
[59:42] just intended to be ballpark amounts.
[59:44] But the varsity locker room area needs a
[59:47] new roof. Um the estimated cost that the
[59:50] city was looking for the district to um
[59:53] participate or to provide is
[59:55] approximately 215,000.
[59:59] And then for the HVAC is about 30,000.
[1:00:03] And then they also talked about a east
[1:00:05] rink board replacement project that at
[1:00:08] this point we haven't seen a cost on.
[1:00:11] And then just out of transparency, we're
[1:00:13] sharing that back in 2022, the district
[1:00:16] did help contribute to a scoreboard. Um
[1:00:20] the city provided a contribution, the
[1:00:23] booster club, the hockey booster club
[1:00:24] provided a contribution and then the
[1:00:26] school district also provided a
[1:00:28] contribution.
[1:00:31] So, we have been working with our legal
[1:00:33] counsel on the um whether it's legally
[1:00:38] advisable or allowed for us to
[1:00:42] provide funds to pay for these
[1:00:44] improvements.
[1:00:45] And I provided the legal opinion here
[1:00:48] and I'll just kind of quickly summarize
[1:00:50] it. But the agreement is silent on which
[1:00:53] party is responsible for replacement or
[1:00:55] repair of structural parts of the
[1:00:57] property andor replacements
[1:01:00] um that are capital expenditures. So
[1:01:02] like the roof. And then in the
[1:01:05] agreement, the city is responsible for
[1:01:06] heat and electricity to the locker
[1:01:08] rooms. So there's an argument that that
[1:01:10] would include a functioning HVAC system.
[1:01:13] And then as far as the roof, um the
[1:01:15] agreement makes it clear that the city
[1:01:17] owns the locker rooms. So all rights and
[1:01:20] responsibilities of ownership are with
[1:01:22] the city including costs associated with
[1:01:25] repair and replacement of components of
[1:01:28] the structure.
[1:01:30] So in addition to that um school
[1:01:34] districts have have school districts
[1:01:36] have to follow public purpose meaning
[1:01:38] that the funds that we receive from
[1:01:40] taxpayers need to benefit the public and
[1:01:44] with this facility the city owns it. Um
[1:01:47] the district has no ownership interest
[1:01:49] or maintenance responsibility for it.
[1:01:52] And essentially funding a roof
[1:01:54] replacement would be improving another
[1:01:56] entity's capital asset. So if we think
[1:01:59] about, you know, if by chance the ice
[1:02:01] arena were sold or something and we
[1:02:03] invested in it, there would really be be
[1:02:06] no way for the district to get any of
[1:02:08] those funds back. In addition, we re we
[1:02:11] lease the ice time that we use just like
[1:02:14] any other um person that rents ice time
[1:02:18] at the arena. So we're paying that.
[1:02:22] So looking at our current rate
[1:02:24] structure, so these are the 25 26 rates.
[1:02:27] We don't have the 26 27 rates yet, but
[1:02:30] we would anticipate for the October
[1:02:33] board meeting that we would have those.
[1:02:36] So, the prime rate that the district is
[1:02:38] charged is $270 per hour. Non-prime,
[1:02:43] which typically doesn't happen, but
[1:02:45] that's $180 an hour. And then the
[1:02:48] district is charged a premium of $55 per
[1:02:52] hour, which to our knowledge, we're the
[1:02:55] only entity that is charged that
[1:02:57] premium. It is specific just to the
[1:02:59] school district. And then the locker
[1:03:01] room usage that we talked about kind of
[1:03:03] in the beginning, the $15.76
[1:03:06] per hour. And then for any games that
[1:03:09] are hosted there, there's an additional
[1:03:11] fee of $225 per event. and that is for
[1:03:15] providing cleaning and personnel. And
[1:03:18] you can kind of see all the additional
[1:03:21] things that are included in that. So
[1:03:23] then as we look at a few examples, the
[1:03:26] practice costs for like a boy's practice
[1:03:29] that goes from 315 to 430. Um, by the
[1:03:32] time you do the prime plus the premium
[1:03:35] plus the locker room usage, it's $425.95
[1:03:40] for that block of time.
[1:03:42] >> [snorts]
[1:03:42] >> Um, some of our practices r a little
[1:03:46] different in time. So like a 440 to 550
[1:03:48] that's strictly in hours 396.
[1:03:52] And then a game by the time you do the
[1:03:55] prime, the premium, the locker room
[1:03:58] usage plus the 225, you get to 99171.
[1:04:04] And then you can see the same example
[1:04:06] for the girls.
[1:04:09] As we look at our annual costs over
[1:04:11] time, um you know, 2122 we were at
[1:04:14] 74,000.
[1:04:16] Um by the time you get to 2425, we were
[1:04:20] at 82,000
[1:04:22] approximately. 2526 was 111,000.
[1:04:26] And for 2627, we're estimating 116,000.
[1:04:32] That is using just a straight 5%
[1:04:35] increase. Um, like I said, we don't know
[1:04:38] yet what those rates are for 2627, but
[1:04:41] that's what we currently have estimated.
[1:04:45] And then just to do some comparison, um,
[1:04:48] we did look at other ranks just to see
[1:04:51] what the rates are that they're
[1:04:52] charging. So, TRIO was one that was
[1:04:55] readily available. Um, you can see those
[1:04:58] dates are November of 26 through 27, so
[1:05:01] a year after the rates we were looking
[1:05:03] at. And then the premium rate is 265
[1:05:08] an hour. So if you kind of think about
[1:05:11] how that compares back to our prime of
[1:05:14] 270, but then we have a premium on top
[1:05:17] of that and the locker room usage on top
[1:05:19] of that. So that's one example. Um we
[1:05:23] also provided some additional examples
[1:05:25] in here. Um again, if this is 2026, if
[1:05:31] we look at the 2027,
[1:05:34] um you can see the the highest one on
[1:05:36] there is Apple Valley at 295 and that
[1:05:40] again is for prime ice time.
[1:05:44] So, at this point, we can just open it
[1:05:46] up for discussion. Um, but all just kind
[1:05:50] of in the anticipation of next month's
[1:05:53] board meeting hopefully with the new
[1:05:56] rates in hand just so we're kind of
[1:05:58] aware of what's coming and if anybody
[1:06:01] wants to comment.
[1:06:05] Um, one thing that was discussed during
[1:06:07] the work session that I I would say
[1:06:09] would be valuable to bring up was we
[1:06:11] discussed um
[1:06:14] with Trent as well talking to the
[1:06:16] different families about how this this
[1:06:18] situation might increase fees for hockey
[1:06:21] players and how it would be super
[1:06:24] valuable for him to get in front of that
[1:06:27] conversation. And part of that
[1:06:29] conversation was also recognizing that
[1:06:31] we want to be equitable to our sports
[1:06:33] and realizing we want the opportunities
[1:06:35] there. But with these [clears throat]
[1:06:37] outlier costs, um there's not much
[1:06:40] there. I mean, it warrants a a different
[1:06:43] discussion about fees. I don't know if
[1:06:45] anybody else wants to comment on that,
[1:06:47] but I just [laughter] wanted to get that
[1:06:49] before the public.
[1:06:52] Yeah, I guess along with that if if we
[1:06:54] were to increase uh student fees for
[1:06:59] this when what is the timing on that?
[1:07:01] Like what
[1:07:02] >> I don't we wouldn't we'd likely have to
[1:07:04] do that for next year.
[1:07:04] >> For next year this year we would they've
[1:07:07] already
[1:07:07] >> they've already and collected.
[1:07:09] >> Yeah. And also it's published
[1:07:10] everywhere.
[1:07:11] >> Right. Right.
[1:07:13] >> Okay. So, I mean, and honestly, you
[1:07:15] you're estimating a 5% increase, but if
[1:07:17] they truly expect us to invest in
[1:07:21] their roof through our fees, it'll
[1:07:23] probably be higher than that. So, we'll
[1:07:25] see it when we see it. Um, okay.
[1:07:30] Any uh Director Beer Meer?
[1:07:34] >> I think at the work session, didn't you
[1:07:36] tabulate like the Could you go back to
[1:07:40] the 21
[1:07:42] right there?
[1:07:43] Didn't you tabulate it was like 57%
[1:07:46] increase since this whole
[1:07:50] series of years have come about? That's
[1:07:53] a pretty big increase. Um
[1:07:58] I've said it, this has been kind of a
[1:08:00] painful conversation because we're kind
[1:08:02] of at an impass with the city on it, but
[1:08:04] I really feel we're
[1:08:07] we are doing everything contractually
[1:08:10] that we're obligated to right now. and I just I think we're doing enough
[1:08:15] now. I think this increase is going to
[1:08:18] be interesting and but we'll know soon
[1:08:21] and um but I I don't think any more
[1:08:24] monies should be put into this than what
[1:08:27] we already
[1:08:29] are obligated to do and and it has been
[1:08:33] a tough conversation. It has. We did
[1:08:35] have a meeting with uh the men's uh
[1:08:39] varsity coach Dustin and then we did we
[1:08:41] also talked to uh the uh the youth
[1:08:46] one of the youth directors from the from
[1:08:48] the youth programs. Um we would like to
[1:08:51] talk to the girls program. Um haven't
[1:08:53] heard back on that yet, but hopefully
[1:08:54] we'll hear something. Um they did get
[1:08:57] the information. Um, so I don't know
[1:08:59] what they've done with it. And I I did
[1:09:02] put a request in, hey, do you want to
[1:09:04] meet with us or not? He uh had TJ hasn't
[1:09:07] responded yet. And uh like I said to
[1:09:10] him, that's totally fine. But
[1:09:12] [clears throat] uh we would kind of like
[1:09:13] to have that conversation with them
[1:09:15] also. But uh we're just trying to be
[1:09:18] transparent here in in what's going on
[1:09:20] and we are on the right side of this.
[1:09:24] >> Dr. Zusa,
[1:09:26] >> unfair question to ask. So I for the
[1:09:29] time being I just want this to be um
[1:09:32] theoretical and rhetorical and I don't
[1:09:35] expect an answer but you know one of the
[1:09:37] hurdles that we have is that by law we
[1:09:40] can't spend money on something that we
[1:09:41] don't own. Um so that that's just the
[1:09:44] way it is. And so it looks like the only
[1:09:48] way that they can get money out of us is
[1:09:51] by increasing the lease rate or the
[1:09:54] rental rate or some special fee rate and
[1:09:58] put it in that rate structure. And I
[1:10:01] understand that at this time we have no
[1:10:03] owner interest,
[1:10:05] but rhetorically
[1:10:08] I just wonder if maybe we don't have an
[1:10:10] interest in ownership
[1:10:13] of the locker room. If indeed the locker
[1:10:16] room we're the only tenant that ever
[1:10:18] opens the door, ever walks into that
[1:10:21] room, is there a way that it makes sense
[1:10:24] that we own the locker room? And it's
[1:10:28] rhetorical right now. I don't want the
[1:10:29] answer. Sorry. I I think it's better if
[1:10:32] we wait.
[1:10:35] >> I'll let the [clears throat] board
[1:10:36] ponder that and I want you to think
[1:10:37] about the joint maintenance facility.
[1:10:41] >> Mhm.
[1:10:42] >> Situation
[1:10:43] >> and it's just I I do believe this. Um
[1:10:47] it's just how life goes. I think it's
[1:10:49] challenging for two public entities to
[1:10:52] try to share an ownership of property. I
[1:10:54] just think it's really challenging
[1:10:55] because you we don't we're not at
[1:10:57] liberty to do things like the private
[1:10:59] sector. Um the state is very clear what
[1:11:02] we can and can't do with our funds and
[1:11:05] it's not always the same requirements
[1:11:07] for public entities that meaning they're
[1:11:10] not always equal in their ability to do
[1:11:12] things. So I just really don't feel
[1:11:15] comfortable um well you don't want my
[1:11:17] answer so I'll just let leave it at
[1:11:19] that. I can infer.
[1:11:22] >> Okay, [laughter]
[1:11:23] >> just just for context, uh the city and
[1:11:25] the the district co-own a maintenance
[1:11:28] facility here. We own 45%, city owns
[1:11:30] 55%. So there is a joint partnership
[1:11:32] there. So for folks who aren't aware of
[1:11:34] that, that's the reference. All right.
[1:11:37] Any other comments, questions, anything?
[1:11:40] Director Bren also Oh. Oh, I was just
[1:11:43] going to say uh there, you know, there
[1:11:45] was discussion we we will be charged
[1:11:48] this. Um so we did have discussion about
[1:11:52] what what would other opportunities and
[1:11:54] options be and obviously they're they're
[1:11:56] more easily ruled out because we have a
[1:11:59] beautiful arena that everybody loves
[1:12:01] going to.
[1:12:02] >> So this isn't to say that we're trying
[1:12:03] to get rid of that. are just trying to
[1:12:04] find other options to still make the
[1:12:08] payment that they're requiring for us to
[1:12:10] make.
[1:12:13] >> One second on that because that was
[1:12:15] discussed and uh the varsity coach said
[1:12:21] very adamantly that we're staying at
[1:12:23] they want to stay at the arena. So that
[1:12:26] was discussed at uh our meeting with the
[1:12:29] hockey program.
[1:12:32] » And then in the work session, we kind of
[1:12:34] highlighted some of the ability of the
[1:12:37] city to to maintain the facility on
[1:12:40] their own. We think about the ability to
[1:12:41] raise taxes and treat it like a public
[1:12:43] parks resource that they truly own and maintain that at the same level that
[1:12:49] it would be CPA Adams Park or anything
[1:12:51] um of that nature. And given the
[1:12:54] timeline that we're aware of for the
[1:12:57] roof replacement and some other pieces
[1:12:59] that there were even opportunities maybe
[1:13:02] to lobby uh for bonding monies from the
[1:13:06] state through the um advocacy work of
[1:13:08] the house rep or state senator. So there
[1:13:11] are some levers that can be pulled and
[1:13:14] some of them aren't a guarantee. Bond
[1:13:15] dollars are not anything that's going to
[1:13:17] be prescribed to you um as a guarantee.
[1:13:19] But the power to raise tax is something
[1:13:21] we don't have. So, we know that this is
[1:13:22] going to come from a pool that's
[1:13:24] relatively fixed for us, and it just
[1:13:26] squeezes it even tighter. Kind of makes
[1:13:29] it a lot harder for us to manage that
[1:13:31] over time.
[1:13:34] >> All right. Anything else?
[1:13:37] >> All right. Thank you. Uh, next up, we
[1:13:40] have our building construction fund
[1:13:41] update.
[1:13:43] Okay. We continue to work to close out
[1:13:46] these projects. So, we currently have
[1:13:48] just two projects in process. It's the
[1:13:50] high school concession stand and the
[1:13:53] district-wide security project for
[1:13:55] exterior door hardware. Um we have
[1:13:58] 337,000
[1:14:00] approximately in this fund that at one
[1:14:03] point was approximately 49 million. Um
[1:14:06] and we do know we have an arbitrage
[1:14:08] payment. So we'll be using some of those
[1:14:10] funds for that. But no major updates
[1:14:13] since last month as far as projects.
[1:14:16] >> Thank you.
[1:14:18] Uh, next up we have the legal uh data
[1:14:21] request update.
[1:14:22] >> All right, that one's me, too. So,
[1:14:24] private citizens, uh, we had four new
[1:14:28] requests since our last board meeting,
[1:14:30] and we currently have six total open.
[1:14:33] And then from commercial and financial,
[1:14:35] uh, we had two new ones since our last
[1:14:38] board meeting, and we currently have
[1:14:39] four open. As far as legal bills, there
[1:14:42] were no legal bills paid in this last
[1:14:45] month related to data requests.
[1:14:48] >> Thank you.
[1:14:50] Uh next up, we have our uh schoolboard
[1:14:53] representative and committee updates.
[1:14:55] We'll start with ISD 917 with Director
[1:14:58] Zusk.
[1:15:01] » You'll see a bunch of hires. Uh this is not surprising. ISD 917 ran into
[1:15:07] the same dilemma that we ran into with
[1:15:09] our uh we call ours paraprofessionals or
[1:15:12] PSAs. They referred to them as ESPs. Um
[1:15:18] and and the same thing happened at the
[1:15:20] end of the year. They knew that they
[1:15:21] were going to have a number of people
[1:15:24] leave and uh surprise us with their
[1:15:27] departure. And so they they backfilled
[1:15:30] behind a lot of vacancies just as the
[1:15:33] new school year starts. And th this is
[1:15:36] kind of an interesting thing. As you
[1:15:38] know, we have students on a wait list
[1:15:40] for 917. And that's problematic for
[1:15:43] Hastings. It's problematic for any
[1:15:45] school district that has um a number of
[1:15:48] students on the case on on the wait
[1:15:50] list. And so what's going to happen is
[1:15:53] throughout the year, they've got a model
[1:15:55] in place where every month kids can be
[1:15:58] joining at a faster rate. And that
[1:16:01] requires hiring more pair of
[1:16:03] professionals, hiring more teachers. I
[1:16:05] think the plan will work. Um it won't
[1:16:07] work perfectly, but it will work better.
[1:16:09] So I think that the weight list will be
[1:16:11] reduced. I'm real proud of what they're
[1:16:12] doing right now.
[1:16:15] >> All right. Thank you. Uh next up, we got
[1:16:17] AMSD again with Director Zusk.
[1:16:20] >> Yep. If uh Miss Humble, if you can
[1:16:23] please open up that first document, the
[1:16:24] election guide. And there's just three
[1:16:27] pages I want to point to. Um, you'll see
[1:16:29] the pages come up as you as you uh
[1:16:32] scroll down, but please go to page 13.
[1:16:41] This shows data from all of the areas of
[1:16:46] the state by operations areas and it
[1:16:51] talks about the teacher shortage.
[1:16:54] The metro area somewhat
[1:16:57] counterintuitively
[1:16:58] has less of a problem hiring teachers
[1:17:02] right now than outstate. If you look at
[1:17:05] the very bottom, that's the educational
[1:17:08] district 8 in southwest Minnesota.
[1:17:12] They're 25%
[1:17:14] higher in the number of of hires that
[1:17:18] they have as compared to the metro. that
[1:17:21] the challenge of them filling classrooms
[1:17:23] with licensed teachers is overwhelmingly
[1:17:27] hard and they've got more teachers
[1:17:29] teaching out of out of placement
[1:17:32] lensures and on on um tier three tier 4
[1:17:37] licenses because of it. So then if
[1:17:40] you'll jump to the next slide please.
[1:17:41] >> Can I ask a question?
[1:17:42] >> Yeah.
[1:17:44] So, can we infer from that that um
[1:17:47] staffing and retention might be a
[1:17:50] Minnesota statewide problem?
[1:17:54] >> No, we should infer that it's a
[1:17:56] nationwide problem.
[1:17:56] >> Okay.
[1:17:57] >> And and it it goes lure group by lure
[1:18:00] group, meaning um on the next slide
[1:18:02] we'll look at how challenging it is for
[1:18:04] ESL, but that that map really tells us
[1:18:07] that hiring teachers is hard. And right
[1:18:10] now, like we've had a good hiring cycle
[1:18:12] in Hastings. We filled early. We filled
[1:18:15] smart. And thanks to the leadership team
[1:18:18] in HR. I mean, it it went very well. The
[1:18:21] principles in HR did a great job. But I
[1:18:24] don't want people to think that there's
[1:18:26] not a teacher shortage. There is still a
[1:18:27] teacher shortage. In particular, um high achieving math and science classes.
[1:18:35] Think physics, think calculus. Very hard
[1:18:37] to hire a calculus teacher, a physics
[1:18:39] teacher. It's very hard to hire um
[1:18:42] teched teachers. It's very hard to hire
[1:18:44] fax teachers. Um special ed teachers or
[1:18:48] not just special ed teachers but uh
[1:18:50] occupational therapists, physical
[1:18:52] therapists, uh speech language
[1:18:55] therapists. Those are those are really challenging. So we it it is a
[1:19:00] national problem teacher shortage and
[1:19:03] it's it's a much more it's much more
[1:19:06] exasperated out in outstate than it is
[1:19:08] in metro. Mhm. Thank you.
[1:19:09] >> Yeah. Thanks. Th this this is worth a
[1:19:13] read. I I won't read it to you, but um
[1:19:16] look at page four uh 14 in this booklet.
[1:19:19] It talks about the the resources for
[1:19:22] English language learners and how really
[1:19:25] it's uh it's very challenging right now
[1:19:29] for um for our ESL students because we
[1:19:33] can't find enough ESL teachers. And then
[1:19:35] just the last page I want you to to look
[1:19:38] at is the next page. And this chart
[1:19:41] specifically,
[1:19:43] this chart shows the enrollment
[1:19:46] throughout the state. And it talks about
[1:19:49] [clears throat] the um
[1:19:53] the different risk categories. So free
[1:19:56] and reduced lunch students. uh what is
[1:20:00] it throughout the state this year going
[1:20:02] into uh or pardon me last year 20 202526
[1:20:07] the number for the state is if I'm
[1:20:09] reading it correctly 39% and at in the
[1:20:13] 7count metro area it's 52%. So we have
[1:20:17] more than half of the students that
[1:20:19] would qualify for free and reduced lunch
[1:20:21] although every student is getting free
[1:20:22] lunch right now.
[1:20:24] English language learners, again a
[1:20:27] discrepancy. When you look uh statewide,
[1:20:30] it's 10%. If you look throughout the
[1:20:32] metro area, it's 63%. Special ed, the
[1:20:35] discrepancy isn't quite as great, but
[1:20:37] those numbers are still high. And
[1:20:39] homelessness is is just a remarkable. Uh
[1:20:42] it's a tale of it's a tale of two
[1:20:44] realities. If you look at it uh at
[1:20:47] percent statewide 1.1% but if you look
[1:20:50] at it for the 7count metro area the AMSD
[1:20:54] uh school systems 69.9%.
[1:20:57] I mean that's a lot of homelessness.
[1:21:00] >> Um 69.9%.
[1:21:03] 65. Pardon me. Couldn't see it from
[1:21:04] here. But so I just I we sometimes we
[1:21:10] because we're looking just at our
[1:21:12] district, I think it's it's a good idea
[1:21:14] to look a little broader.
[1:21:17] >> I'd also like to comment that the free
[1:21:18] and reduced price lunch percentage is
[1:21:20] likely low or lower than what it's
[1:21:23] actually at because we truly never
[1:21:25] capture that in reality. So just keep
[1:21:29] that in mind, too.
[1:21:32] Uh, Chair Tate sent out the next slide,
[1:21:34] the next slideshow, please. Their slide
[1:21:36] deck is um in that. Thanks. Uh, Chair
[1:21:41] Tate talked about this in her note to
[1:21:43] us. If anybody's available to go to this
[1:21:46] amplifying student voice, this is what
[1:21:48] used to be the student schoolboard
[1:21:51] representative forum in instead it's
[1:21:54] about amplifying student voice. And the
[1:21:55] reason that they did that is they found
[1:21:57] out that there's a lot of school
[1:21:58] districts that have different schemas
[1:22:01] for amplifying student voice instead of
[1:22:03] having uh student schoolboard reps. So I
[1:22:06] hope that all four of our student reps
[1:22:08] can go on October 28th. Um I I really do
[1:22:13] and um I I hope that we have board
[1:22:15] members that can go. If nobody else can,
[1:22:17] I will. But um it's in Chaza if
[1:22:21] anybody's interested. Um, but so as we
[1:22:24] get closer, we'll figure out how to do
[1:22:26] that. But what we would do for the
[1:22:27] students is we would have a van. We'd
[1:22:29] leave from the middle school parking lot
[1:22:31] where you guys parked over on that side
[1:22:33] of the building and we'd drive up
[1:22:35] together and we'd be back. And if you're
[1:22:36] in an after school activity, you'd be
[1:22:38] back almost in time because the
[1:22:40] conference ends at 1:30 in Chaza. So
[1:22:42] we'd be back 2:45ish.
[1:22:45] So Yep. Excellent. Excellent. Great.
[1:22:50] Bye.
[1:22:51] All right. And then just the last one,
[1:22:56] we're not even going to open it up in
[1:22:57] the interest of time, but look at slides
[1:23:00] 20
[1:23:02] to 29. They're about school perceptions
[1:23:06] and data about schools.
[1:23:09] And then if you
[1:23:13] I was going to make a joke, so I'll make
[1:23:15] the joke. But if you're into Kelshi and
[1:23:17] you want to make a bet on the on who's
[1:23:20] going to win what races statewide, the
[1:23:23] last third of this is about what it
[1:23:26] looks like as of last Friday or pardon
[1:23:30] me, a week ago, Friday.
[1:23:32] But anyhow, so what slide are you on
[1:23:36] now, Miss Humble?
[1:23:39] >> Oh, okay. Okay.
[1:23:41] >> Number
[1:23:42] >> Okay. Yeah. But but look at uh yeah when you get to this look look at slides
[1:23:49] 20 through slide 29 and it's all about
[1:23:53] schools.
[1:23:56] » Okay. Thank you.
[1:23:58] >> Thank you. Any questions?
[1:24:02] All right. Thank you for that. Uh next
[1:24:04] up we have community collaboration
[1:24:05] committee update.
[1:24:07] >> Yeah we actually did meet today before
[1:24:09] this meeting. I'll prepare a summary for
[1:24:12] next meeting to include in the report.
[1:24:14] But uh just some highlights. We
[1:24:16] determined that we'll plan an event
[1:24:19] after uh we receive this perception
[1:24:22] surveys back. Um I think that will get
[1:24:24] us a lot of ammo um for what we're
[1:24:26] looking to accomplish within the
[1:24:28] community collaboration events. Um
[1:24:31] [clears throat] we're hoping to gain
[1:24:32] some clarity from the more focused
[1:24:34] questions that we'll be offering this
[1:24:36] time around. Um and given the timing in
[1:24:39] late later in November, um we're just
[1:24:43] going to go ahead and move the event out
[1:24:44] that we had talked about before. Um but
[1:24:46] as a followup to previous
[1:24:49] uh feedback we received from the
[1:24:51] community and um action items that we
[1:24:53] discussed at our last meeting um that I
[1:24:56] brought before the board. Um we it's our
[1:24:58] intent to um continue to find times for
[1:25:03] all of us to get into the schools. Um
[1:25:06] and uh Lindy is assisting with that
[1:25:10] calendar. Um, and then two, uh, we
[1:25:13] talked with Carrie Gore about making
[1:25:15] sure we get little Facebook briefings
[1:25:16] out on, um, board topics and board
[1:25:19] snippets of what we discussed, um, just
[1:25:21] for for just for a little snippet for
[1:25:23] the community to see, um, what we're
[1:25:26] talking about on top of, uh, the
[1:25:29] published meeting minutes. Um, and then
[1:25:32] also we discussed the um, uh, putting
[1:25:35] out emails to staff about board agendas
[1:25:38] um, policies um, and just making sure
[1:25:40] that they're perpetually aware of what
[1:25:43] we're going to be discussing um,
[1:25:45] policies that we're going to be working
[1:25:46] through um, to give them ample time to
[1:25:49] give feedback on those. Thank you.
[1:25:52] >> Thank you.
[1:25:54] All right. Uh, next up, facility or
[1:25:56] finance and facilities committee.
[1:25:58] >> Yep. There was there's not been a
[1:26:00] facilities meeting um in the last uh
[1:26:03] since our last meeting and we don't have
[1:26:05] one on the books right now. We need to
[1:26:07] get get one on the books now that I
[1:26:09] think about it. But [snorts] uh the the
[1:26:11] finance report is going to be really
[1:26:13] brief because we will hear from Director
[1:26:16] Subert later in this meeting about the
[1:26:18] two things that um I that I've noted.
[1:26:22] One [snorts] is a presentation about
[1:26:24] four uh three different vendors for the
[1:26:27] perception survey and another one is um
[1:26:31] a way of investing money that the
[1:26:34] district will be that we have a
[1:26:36] recommendation for you to consider.
[1:26:40] >> Thank you. All right. Any uh any
[1:26:43] questions? Okay. Next up, we've got
[1:26:45] Joint Powers Committee update. Director
[1:26:48] Milner.
[1:26:50] >> Yeah. So, I don't have a whole lot to
[1:26:51] add other than Director Suber's
[1:26:54] presentation we went through with the
[1:26:56] Hastings hockey boosters and um I think
[1:26:59] they were surprised at some of the
[1:27:01] additional costs that we have been
[1:27:02] paying. I don't think they realized that
[1:27:05] we already are being charged that $55
[1:27:08] premium on top of the rates. Um and so,
[1:27:13] you know, just knowing that we probably
[1:27:14] face another large jump was surprising
[1:27:17] to them. But I like having the open
[1:27:20] lines of communication. I think that
[1:27:21] piece of it is really important so that
[1:27:23] there's no surprises and if we do end up
[1:27:26] having to increase fees for our hockey
[1:27:28] families, um that that's going to be
[1:27:30] communicated well and and why this is
[1:27:33] happening. So if anybody's really
[1:27:35] interested, our next meeting with the
[1:27:37] city is next Wednesday morning at 7:30
[1:27:40] in the morning at Tilden. Um and those
[1:27:42] are open meetings. So, if anybody wants
[1:27:45] to be there to see what the city's
[1:27:47] decision is going to be for our
[1:27:49] district, you know, and what what those
[1:27:51] fees will be, they're already different
[1:27:53] than all of the other users that use
[1:27:56] that civic arena. And uh it's going to
[1:27:59] be interesting to see what the city
[1:28:01] presents to us and what the discussion
[1:28:03] will be. So, join us next Wednesday for
[1:28:05] our next meeting if you'd like to.
[1:28:07] That's it.
[1:28:10] >> Any questions? All right. Next up, we
[1:28:13] have NEPAC the NAPAC committee update
[1:28:15] with director Bruns.
[1:28:16] >> Yeah, the things I'll draw your
[1:28:17] attention to u the intentional work
[1:28:19] around reposting our language and
[1:28:22] cultural positions. They they're
[1:28:24] integral to achieving kind of the first
[1:28:27] vote of concurrence we've had in in a
[1:28:29] really long time. And it's not for a
[1:28:31] lack of trying. Um the positions are
[1:28:33] posted all all the monies whether that
[1:28:35] was coming from the grant which we got
[1:28:37] so that's awesome or from the general
[1:28:39] fund they were going to exist. So, it's
[1:28:40] just about finding the people starting
[1:28:42] with one and hopefully two to be able to
[1:28:45] fulfill those roles. So, there's also a
[1:28:46] connection with John Johnson down um at
[1:28:48] Prairie Island and try and leverage
[1:28:51] contacts there.
[1:28:54] » Put it out to his people. So, I I did
[1:28:56] reach out. we've got. So, I'm hoping.
[1:28:58] >> Excellent.
[1:28:59] >> Hoping
[1:29:00] >> and and it's it's exciting to see what's
[1:29:03] coming out of teaching and learning to
[1:29:04] support learners because when director
[1:29:05] Hajes brings that data, it is
[1:29:07] disseminated by students identified as
[1:29:09] Native American and we can see that
[1:29:10] growth and we're finally seeing that and
[1:29:13] we see what it's doing for all learners.
[1:29:14] The literacy work that's been done and then the commitment to math like we
[1:29:18] are seeing students grow and in
[1:29:20] particular those that are targeted for
[1:29:21] interventions and they happen to be
[1:29:23] Native American are excelling. Um the
[1:29:26] I'll draw your attention to to events
[1:29:28] that are hosted by NAPAC that are
[1:29:30] hopefully upcoming. They are open to
[1:29:33] everyone. So it's not that you have to
[1:29:34] be a member of anything. They are open
[1:29:37] to the public. It's cultural education.
[1:29:39] It's also participation because it's
[1:29:41] super rad. And this impacts over 100
[1:29:44] students in our district and it's a
[1:29:45] connection to them and also for them to
[1:29:47] connect to history and tradition. Uh but
[1:29:50] moxin making October 3rd through the 4th
[1:29:52] 9 to 3 p.m. each day uh at the
[1:29:54] curriculum center ribbon skirts and
[1:29:56] ribbon shirts. What's cool about this is
[1:29:58] that it can have that connection to what
[1:29:59] students wear at the graduation ceremony
[1:30:01] in May. So it'll be February 20th to the
[1:30:04] 21st again 9 to 3 p.m. each day at the
[1:30:06] curriculum center. And then there's some
[1:30:08] work being done around professional
[1:30:10] development and planning for Indigenous
[1:30:11] People's Day uh in October.
[1:30:15] Next meeting is October 1st at the
[1:30:17] curriculum center. Any questions about
[1:30:21] Oh, I I should add that one thing that
[1:30:23] they were we've been working on is h
[1:30:25] just like the tribal nations flags are
[1:30:27] hanging in the commons area of the high
[1:30:29] school, they have been purchased and are
[1:30:31] awaiting where they will be situated in
[1:30:34] buildings across the district. So, they
[1:30:36] have been ordered. They are on campuses
[1:30:38] and in a walkth through last spring, the guiding principles to have them in
[1:30:42] the cafeteria. that seems to make the
[1:30:44] most sense in some of those other
[1:30:45] spaces, but they are that process is
[1:30:49] happening and the trying to develop how
[1:30:52] to then honor that when those go.
[1:30:56] >> All right, thank you.
[1:30:59] Next [clears throat] up, uh, student
[1:31:00] schoolboard committee update with again
[1:31:02] director Bruns.
[1:31:04] >> The only thing I was going to share, we
[1:31:05] have not met, but was to share the
[1:31:06] opportunity about student voice. So,
[1:31:08] follow the link currently is busted, but
[1:31:10] just let Lindy know and then we'll get
[1:31:11] it all taken care of.
[1:31:13] All right, thank you. Uh, then we have
[1:31:16] our school perception survey ad hoc
[1:31:18] committee update from Director Zuzac.
[1:31:21] >> Yeah, much thanks to Chair Tate and
[1:31:24] Director Beerm for for their good work
[1:31:26] on this. Um, we basically looked at all
[1:31:29] three of the surveys, spent I more than
[1:31:32] half the time on the staff survey, and
[1:31:34] part of what happened was as we would
[1:31:35] make changes on the staff survey,
[1:31:37] similar uh changes would trickle down to
[1:31:40] the parent survey and to the student
[1:31:42] survey. So, it was it, you know, we
[1:31:45] started with the one that we thought
[1:31:46] would be most challenging. Um and just
[1:31:49] the the precepts that that went into it
[1:31:52] um that are worth noting. One is that we
[1:31:54] really wanted to get data that was
[1:31:57] useful and so we looked at questions
[1:32:00] that were providing useful data and if
[1:32:03] it wasn't useful data then we were
[1:32:05] trying to change some of the questions
[1:32:09] uh in order to get the data to be
[1:32:11] useful. I'll talk more about that in a
[1:32:12] moment. The second thing is whenever
[1:32:15] there's an open-ended question like when
[1:32:18] we asked for comments, we talked about
[1:32:20] how it's important that that they don't
[1:32:22] target a person or a position, but
[1:32:24] instead uh talk about processes
[1:32:26] throughout the district so that we
[1:32:28] really can change what needs to happen,
[1:32:30] but people people aren't targeted. Um
[1:32:33] because we we felt like like that that
[1:32:35] was more fair and reasonable for staff.
[1:32:38] And then
[1:32:40] we we did a a a big aha came up and and
[1:32:46] it's this one of the things is that many
[1:32:50] of the questions made great sense but
[1:32:53] weren't providing good data because we
[1:32:55] didn't know why. And so what we said was
[1:32:59] if you say disagree or strongly disagree
[1:33:02] in your answer when you're filling it
[1:33:04] out, whether you're a student or you're
[1:33:06] a staff member or you're a a parent,
[1:33:09] we're asking that you go then after that
[1:33:12] category of questions. You know, there's
[1:33:14] 10 to 12 questions in a category. Then
[1:33:17] you go down below and when it says, do
[1:33:20] you have any comments? Please tell us
[1:33:22] why you said disagree or why you said
[1:33:24] strongly disagree. just so that the data
[1:33:27] is useful. That that's really the goal.
[1:33:29] And basically, we got through the whole
[1:33:30] thing in two meetings, which was
[1:33:32] terrific. We sent the the data out to
[1:33:34] Darren. We got more information back
[1:33:36] today.
[1:33:39] It's a little messy. Do you mind if I
[1:33:41] comment on it? The gist of it is this.
[1:33:45] Um, if you have a student at Pinerest,
[1:33:47] the middle school, and the high school,
[1:33:50] and you complete the survey, and you've
[1:33:52] said that you have a student at
[1:33:54] Pinerest, at the middle school, and at
[1:33:55] the high school, and you make a comment
[1:33:58] that, well, maybe it's a very, very
[1:34:01] affirming comment, or maybe it's a very
[1:34:04] delletterious comment.
[1:34:06] How do we know which school you're
[1:34:09] really proud of or which school you're
[1:34:10] really struggling with? And so we asked
[1:34:12] Darren if there's some way to clean up
[1:34:14] that and it it doesn't seem like it's
[1:34:16] easy. So we have a little bit more
[1:34:19] talking to do about it.
[1:34:21] >> I'd like to add just a little bit of
[1:34:22] context. Thank you so today and as a
[1:34:24] parent with students in multiple schools
[1:34:27] you go today it's framed that first you
[1:34:29] go through every single question for say
[1:34:31] example Pinerest and then you have to go
[1:34:34] through all of the questions again for
[1:34:36] the middle school. So it seems like
[1:34:38] you're answering the same qu you're
[1:34:39] reading the same question over and over
[1:34:42] again. And so we had asked and and this
[1:34:45] is where I think there there was a
[1:34:46] disconnect between what was in my brain
[1:34:48] and what we discussed at the table. But
[1:34:50] we need to go back to Darren again
[1:34:52] because I suggested or I'd like to
[1:34:54] suggest that we say, "Okay, for example,
[1:34:57] my child feels safe at school and then
[1:34:59] have boxes set up for Pinerest and boxes
[1:35:02] set up for the middle school so that you can you can say which school it's
[1:35:06] in, but you're only reading the question
[1:35:08] once and responding once instead of
[1:35:11] reading twice, responding twice." Um, so
[1:35:14] yeah, so we're seeing if we can just
[1:35:15] change the structure of the survey to
[1:35:17] make it quicker for parents with the
[1:35:18] hopes of it being faster. Um, and then I
[1:35:22] had a I had an idea and I thought, you
[1:35:23] know, we had 14% of parents respond this
[1:35:26] time. What if we sent out a a first uh
[1:35:31] survey and it says, I'm happy with
[1:35:33] everything. I don't want to respond to a
[1:35:35] survey. Yes. [laughter]
[1:35:38] Right. Like that would be helpful
[1:35:40] information. or I just don't have time
[1:35:41] to respond to us. I don't know
[1:35:43] something. But uh yeah, we just we want
[1:35:45] to get the parent responses up, right?
[1:35:47] So do any I even suggested gift cards
[1:35:50] for provided by board members,
[1:35:52] [laughter]
[1:35:53] >> right?
[1:35:54] >> Not the district.
[1:35:55] >> Board member will chip in on gift cards.
[1:35:57] But anyway, that was a good
[1:35:59] conversation. We'll go more into the
[1:36:00] questions and the survey proposal in our
[1:36:03] October work session.
[1:36:04] >> Thanks.
[1:36:04] >> So, anything else you had to add?
[1:36:06] >> I didn't.
[1:36:07] >> Sorry.
[1:36:07] >> No, thank you.
[1:36:07] >> Kind of jumped on your jumped on you
[1:36:09] there.
[1:36:10] Um, all right. Next up, we have policy
[1:36:12] or I should say, anybody else have
[1:36:14] questions? Okay. Uh, next up we have
[1:36:17] policy committee update.
[1:36:19] So, this month we went over policy 506,
[1:36:23] student discipline. This was an annual
[1:36:25] review policy. So, the changes that you
[1:36:27] that you'll see below, I'm not going to
[1:36:29] read through every single section
[1:36:30] change, but um they're all referenced in
[1:36:33] statute or they're to provide clearer
[1:36:35] language in the policy. Um, we're
[1:36:37] recommending first reading for this
[1:36:38] policy tonight. Okay. Policy 806, crisis
[1:36:42] management, is also an annual review
[1:36:44] policy. There are some changes that we
[1:36:47] made to this one that were hasting
[1:36:49] specific that weren't in the model
[1:36:50] policy or statute um like that for
[1:36:54] section 4A after dialing 911, they would
[1:36:59] then um contact the superintendent for
[1:37:02] our crisis response. So yeah, you call
[1:37:05] the cops first and then you call the
[1:37:06] superintendent, not the other way
[1:37:08] around. So those those kind of language,
[1:37:10] it's just mostly about our processes.
[1:37:13] And then
[1:37:14] um 806.1PR,
[1:37:16] cardiac emergency response plan. That is
[1:37:19] something that was dictated by statute
[1:37:21] this year. Um establishing a new
[1:37:23] requirement for school districts to
[1:37:24] develop a cardiac emergency response
[1:37:26] plan and have it in writing. This plan
[1:37:28] does not have to be
[1:37:30] adopted every year, but it does have to
[1:37:32] be reviewed every year. So this review
[1:37:34] will come through when we um do our
[1:37:36] annual review of 806 and it'll just be
[1:37:40] go through that just it'll go through
[1:37:42] like that. This um 806.1 PR is a
[1:37:45] administrative procedure so it does not
[1:37:47] need to go through multiple meetings. It
[1:37:48] can be adopted tonight in a single
[1:37:50] meeting. Any questions about any of that
[1:37:52] or did Christine did you want to say
[1:37:54] anything about the emergency? Okay.
[1:37:56] >> Okay. Yep. All right. Thank you.
[1:38:00] >> All right. Any questions, comments?
[1:38:04] Yep.
[1:38:05] >> Our next meeting is October 1st and at
[1:38:07] 12 p.m. in the district office,
[1:38:09] conference room A.
[1:38:11] >> Thank you. Anyone is welcome to come and
[1:38:14] enjoy policy fund with us. Um, all
[1:38:17] right. Next up, we have our action
[1:38:18] items. Could I please get a motion on
[1:38:21] the consent agenda?
[1:38:25] » Motion to approve the consent agenda.
[1:38:27] Zuzac.
[1:38:27] >> Michael Moulder seconds.
[1:38:29] >> Any discussion? Right. Seeing none, all
[1:38:31] those in favor of approving the consent
[1:38:33] agenda say I.
[1:38:34] >> I. All those oppos say nay. Motion
[1:38:36] passes unanimously to approve the
[1:38:38] consent agenda. Now we move into our
[1:38:40] individual action items. And first up I
[1:38:42] have a max levy limitation. Could I
[1:38:44] please get a motion on this?
[1:38:53] Michael Moulder moves to approve the max
[1:38:56] levy limitation and wave the reading.
[1:39:00] Is that
[1:39:00] >> it's not a
[1:39:04] » dressley seconds. Any discussion?
[1:39:07] All right. All those in favor of
[1:39:08] approving the max levy limitations say
[1:39:11] I.
[1:39:11] >> I.
[1:39:12] >> All those say oppose say nay. Motion
[1:39:14] passes unanimously. All right. Next up
[1:39:17] we have our school perceptions survey
[1:39:20] vote to administer the survey. So first
[1:39:23] up we have a presentation I believe. No
[1:39:26] >> no not for this.
[1:39:27] >> Not for this one.
[1:39:27] >> This is the next one. Michael Moulder
[1:39:30] moves to approve to administer the
[1:39:34] school perception survey.
[1:39:36] >> Zuzac seconds.
[1:39:37] >> All right. Any discussion?
[1:39:39] >> All right. Seeing none, all those uh in
[1:39:41] favor of approving the administration of
[1:39:43] the school perception survey say I.
[1:39:46] >> I.
[1:39:46] >> All those oppos say nay. Motion passes
[1:39:48] unanimously to administer the survey.
[1:39:51] All right. And then we have a
[1:39:52] presentation uh regarding the
[1:39:57] uh referendum survey consultant.
[1:40:01] >> So I'm going to start this off here for
[1:40:04] us and I have Carrie and Jen with me um
[1:40:07] to answer questions as well. The three
[1:40:09] of us worked um at uh finding a
[1:40:13] consultant uh to enter into this um idea
[1:40:16] of surveying. So, this is what we're
[1:40:18] talking about here is utilizing a survey
[1:40:20] company to go out and ask our community
[1:40:24] members what they think about if we were
[1:40:26] to go out for a referendum to revoke and
[1:40:29] replace our two current operating levies
[1:40:33] into one and then potentially is there
[1:40:36] support for increasing those? We are not
[1:40:38] currently at the max and we could
[1:40:41] depending on tax tolerance of our
[1:40:43] community members potentially go to the
[1:40:44] max. So what we did is we talked with
[1:40:47] three companies. Morris Leatherman uh
[1:40:50] well-known uh company across the that
[1:40:53] works with uh Minnesota doing surveys
[1:40:55] for AMSD one you just saw there. They
[1:40:58] conducted it. Donovan Group also very
[1:41:00] well known. They are contracted with
[1:41:02] NASA to do communication survey uh
[1:41:04] communication services uh for member
[1:41:06] districts like us. If we were to need
[1:41:08] their support, they can do that for us
[1:41:09] for free. And then we have the school
[1:41:11] perceptions company which we use right
[1:41:13] now for that school perception survey.
[1:41:15] So three companies that are well known
[1:41:17] that we uh both uh we interviewed all of
[1:41:20] them and then they also provided us
[1:41:22] documentation. So we can go to the next
[1:41:23] slide.
[1:41:27] So just quickly our purpose is to
[1:41:29] understand the level of support from our
[1:41:31] community if we were to go for
[1:41:33] additional operational funding. Um our
[1:41:36] goal is to get reliable feedback while
[1:41:38] also helping residents understand what
[1:41:40] our needs are. And so we wouldn't just
[1:41:42] go out for a survey without telling them
[1:41:44] what the money would be used for. And
[1:41:46] then we would select the survey approach
[1:41:49] tonight. The board is going to decide
[1:41:50] whether you want to do this. Um and if
[1:41:53] so, uh who would you choose to survey?
[1:41:57] And so they would we design the survey,
[1:41:59] we'd gather feedback, we'd review the
[1:42:00] results, and we'd share the findings. So
[1:42:02] once we go out for the survey, you get
[1:42:03] the results, then we make the
[1:42:05] determination, is this something we want
[1:42:06] to do? Do we want to go out for a
[1:42:08] referendum uh at the next November, not
[1:42:11] this coming the following November.
[1:42:15] So we looked at these three companies
[1:42:17] and we looked at the approach, the
[1:42:19] target audience, the strengths,
[1:42:20] considerations, and then their fees. And
[1:42:22] so you can see here that Morris
[1:42:24] Leatherman does a random telephone
[1:42:27] survey. They've been doing that for
[1:42:28] years. They continue to do so. They have
[1:42:30] 400 randomly selected district
[1:42:32] households. Um, which is statistically s
[1:42:35] uh significant for the work that they
[1:42:37] do. Um, just a consideration, it's a
[1:42:39] smaller number of people that
[1:42:40] participate. Their fee is $25,000.
[1:42:44] Um, the Donovan Group does an online
[1:42:47] survey and that dependent who gets that
[1:42:51] survey is going to require work from us
[1:42:53] to find all of the community members to
[1:42:56] get the email so that they can send out
[1:42:57] the survey. to our parents would be
[1:42:59] easy. We have those. Um but for other
[1:43:01] community members that don't have kids
[1:43:03] in school, we would have to do some leg
[1:43:04] work. Um they have very strong
[1:43:06] communication support and their quick
[1:43:09] turnaround time with reporting. The
[1:43:12] success I guess would depend
[1:43:14] consideration is do we get a broad mix
[1:43:16] of residents? That would really depend.
[1:43:18] For example, can you get the elderly? We
[1:43:20] would probably go to the senior center
[1:43:22] get you know that way. But how do we get
[1:43:24] other constituents that don't attend
[1:43:26] that for example? Their base fee is
[1:43:29] 10,000. So other uh services that they
[1:43:31] would provide like communication support
[1:43:33] etc would be at additional cost. And
[1:43:36] then school perceptions now they do it
[1:43:38] with they mail a a survey to every
[1:43:43] resident in our district and on that so
[1:43:46] you can either fill it out on paper or
[1:43:48] there's a QR code so you can actually do
[1:43:50] it on from your phone if you chose to as
[1:43:52] well. So you have two options, but it
[1:43:54] goes to every district household. So it
[1:43:56] does have a very broad reach. Um, and it
[1:43:59] has a really strong paper access, which
[1:44:01] the other two don't. Um, however,
[1:44:03] printing and postage increase the total
[1:44:06] cost. So their base cost is $11,000.
[1:44:11] Um, some things that stood out with
[1:44:14] Morris Leatherman, um, they have a very
[1:44:16] traditional scientific polling model. um
[1:44:19] and they give us a final report, major
[1:44:21] findings, and they've been doing this
[1:44:22] for years. It's a strong reputation.
[1:44:25] The next group, the Donovan group, um
[1:44:28] they combine um an online survey with
[1:44:30] communication material support. So,
[1:44:32] they'd be willing to conduct focus
[1:44:33] groups with you, that kind of thing. Um
[1:44:36] their online survey, their introduction
[1:44:38] letter, etc., social media, um is
[1:44:41] included in that basic uh survey cost.
[1:44:44] that original cost of I think was 10,000
[1:44:46] or 11,000. Uh school perception every
[1:44:49] district this is a little different is
[1:44:51] every district household receives an
[1:44:53] invitation to participate in the survey
[1:44:55] and they have an opportunity to do it
[1:44:57] both ways online or by paper. Um also
[1:45:01] include strategy development. So they'll
[1:45:03] help us formulate the conversation first
[1:45:05] like here's how you're going to uh to
[1:45:07] start the survey out. If we were to
[1:45:09] approve this uh agree with this we would
[1:45:12] use the dollars for such and such. we
[1:45:13] would give context and they would help
[1:45:15] us in writing that context. Um, again,
[1:45:19] there would be a unique access code. So,
[1:45:21] when they do that QR code, you can only
[1:45:23] use it once. So, you can't have multiple
[1:45:25] people. You can't have one person using
[1:45:27] that QR code seven times to give you, know what I mean? It's so that's
[1:45:32] nice. And then, um, they also can, um,
[1:45:35] give us a virtual presentation. They
[1:45:37] don't have to be on site if we don't
[1:45:38] need them to be.
[1:45:40] Um when we added in the costs for with
[1:45:45] the postage to the school perceptions it
[1:45:47] does increase the overall cost to 20
[1:45:50] anywhere between 20,300 to 23,700.
[1:45:54] So you can see it's far more in line to
[1:45:56] Morris Leatherman with Donovan Group
[1:45:58] being the least costly.
[1:46:01] Um, here's some [clears throat] of the
[1:46:03] details of how it works with an
[1:46:04] eight-page booklet versus a four-page
[1:46:06] folded with envelope and just how the
[1:46:08] costs work. And then it shows the
[1:46:10] different organizations that we've
[1:46:12] reached out to um that would could
[1:46:14] support this and what their costs would
[1:46:16] be. I just want to have you note graphic
[1:46:18] design would be local.
[1:46:21] >> So here's some pros and cons. So Morris
[1:46:24] Leman traditional scientific is a pro
[1:46:26] clear independent polling methodology
[1:46:28] written report. It is the highest base
[1:46:31] cost is a con. Um only 400 households
[1:46:36] participate. It's a phone only model. So
[1:46:39] cons wonder wondering about other
[1:46:40] audience members who probably aren't
[1:46:42] going to pick up the phone maybe. Um we
[1:46:45] don't also have we have less built-in
[1:46:47] communication support. And then you look
[1:46:49] at Donovan Group lowest base fee at
[1:46:52] 10,000 communication materials are
[1:46:54] included and that's a a strength of
[1:46:55] theirs. Weighted reporting by voter
[1:46:57] group. Um, and then the cons,
[1:46:59] participation depends on outreach.
[1:47:01] District would need a strong, we would
[1:47:03] have to figure out a way to really get
[1:47:04] to the people that aren't just parents
[1:47:06] with the emails we already have. And um,
[1:47:09] if we were, they do have another full
[1:47:11] engagement package you could purchase,
[1:47:14] which would increase it. Um, that would
[1:47:16] include um, a lot of different um,
[1:47:18] communication services that includes
[1:47:20] focus groups, all of that kind of thing.
[1:47:23] Um the school perceptions pros every
[1:47:26] household has an opportunity to
[1:47:27] participate in the entire district. Um
[1:47:31] best access for residents who prefer
[1:47:33] paper and then um the unique access code
[1:47:37] reduces that duplicate issue that you
[1:47:39] might think could be a concern. And then
[1:47:41] the cons, printing and postage add to
[1:47:43] that overall cost putting it much closer
[1:47:45] to the Morris Leman cost. Um and paper
[1:47:49] entry comment analysis may add cost if
[1:47:52] we were to ask them to do some you know
[1:47:54] summaries of comments could potentially
[1:47:56] add some costs and then um we just have
[1:47:59] to do a little coordination with post
[1:48:00] office on our part.
[1:48:04] So um I leave it open to questions
[1:48:07] discussion.
[1:48:08] >> What's your recommendation?
[1:48:10] Well, based on this, we've talked a
[1:48:12] great deal and we really like the idea
[1:48:15] of every household having an opportunity
[1:48:18] to participate and also hearing what
[1:48:21] this means, the real truth. Um, and so
[1:48:26] for example, they would know what
[1:48:28] dollars are used for, um, potential
[1:48:32] impact to their taxes because people
[1:48:34] could make a lot of assumptions around
[1:48:37] what this means, but we're actually
[1:48:39] going to have different examples that
[1:48:41] Ellers would provide us to show what it
[1:48:43] would mean. And we can even look at
[1:48:45] different levels of of asks and get
[1:48:48] their perception on their feedback on
[1:48:50] different levels. So you could ask the
[1:48:52] question of going to the max or or going
[1:48:54] up by an additional 50%. Or you know we
[1:48:57] can stagger that and get their responses
[1:48:59] and then help us inform our decisions.
[1:49:01] So I really do recommend school
[1:49:04] perceptions I feel that even though that
[1:49:07] cost is higher than Donovan I think by
[1:49:10] ensuring that we've given the
[1:49:12] opportunity to respond. We don't know
[1:49:14] who all will of course but we've at
[1:49:16] least provided the opportunity. I I feel
[1:49:19] strongly about that as a as a positive
[1:49:22] enough to make a school with them. M
[1:49:25] >> that stood out to me as well and I'm in
[1:49:27] agreement with that.
[1:49:30] >> I I would comment that I I like school
[1:49:33] perceptions and there's two reasons. one
[1:49:37] is it it gets to every every home and
[1:49:43] I think that we would have well over 400
[1:49:46] households responding if you consider
[1:49:48] that there's I think 14,000 homes just
[1:49:51] in the community of Hastings. So
[1:49:55] yeah. Yeah. So
[1:49:57] >> hey, can you put that on?
[1:49:59] >> And the benefit is to get out to the
[1:50:01] townships as well.
[1:50:02] >> Yep. And then the second thing which is
[1:50:04] actually bigger in my mind is that if we
[1:50:07] decide to move forward in the fall of
[1:50:09] 2027 with a levy referendum, it's
[1:50:13] critical that we start educating the
[1:50:16] public. And that educational piece, I'm
[1:50:19] sure, is going to be very well done
[1:50:22] because we'll be we'll have our eyes on
[1:50:24] it and we'll we'll be approving it
[1:50:26] before it goes out. So, I think that
[1:50:29] that's a first big step to seeking
[1:50:33] support is, you know, informing, right?
[1:50:36] We got to get everybody to first base.
[1:50:44] » And I'll just say I really like the idea
[1:50:46] of getting it out to every household. I
[1:50:48] know um when we did this last time that
[1:50:50] was a really big concern because it only
[1:50:52] went out to certain demographics of um
[1:50:56] residents that didn't have students in
[1:50:58] the school district and so it was like
[1:51:00] why are we getting only feedback from
[1:51:03] them? I mean that might not have been an
[1:51:04] intent but that's what we got back for
[1:51:06] people who were at home answering the
[1:51:08] phones during the day. So,
[1:51:11] >> yeah, I think I like school perceptions
[1:51:13] and and yes, the cost is is higher, but
[1:51:15] I think it's worthwhile because when
[1:51:16] you're talking about actually having a
[1:51:18] separate election, these the the
[1:51:20] elections are expensive in themselves.
[1:51:22] And so, I think it's worth doing the due
[1:51:25] diligence and and spending the the money
[1:51:26] up front to get the feedback to know
[1:51:29] that we're confident in what we're going
[1:51:30] after on the ballot to spend the money
[1:51:32] on the election.
[1:51:40] students have anything any thoughts on
[1:51:42] this?
[1:51:44] I like the idea of getting out to
[1:51:47] everybody because I know in sociology we
[1:51:49] talked a lot about like biases and like
[1:51:52] if you don't get out to everyone it can
[1:51:54] kind of create that thing like someone
[1:51:56] said like only the people are answering
[1:51:59] like when they're at home and like
[1:52:00] obviously they're like most of those
[1:52:02] people aren't like they're usually
[1:52:03] retired so
[1:52:05] they're obviously going to have like
[1:52:07] certain biases towards stuff. So if we
[1:52:08] get out to everybody and I think the
[1:52:10] concept of being able to have like paper
[1:52:13] and online allows more people to do it.
[1:52:15] So like like the more elderly people who
[1:52:18] don't have like the online stuff can do
[1:52:21] the paper and then the people that just
[1:52:23] don't feel like sending in a piece of
[1:52:25] paper can do the um online stuff to do
[1:52:28] that.
[1:52:31] >> I really agree with student
[1:52:32] representative Henson. I'm also in the
[1:52:35] sociology class that we offer at HHS.
[1:52:39] And one of the things that we talked
[1:52:40] about in that class was a book. And
[1:52:43] there was a sociologist who sent out a
[1:52:45] survey to 14,000 people, but the survey
[1:52:48] response was 2 to five pages and only
[1:52:52] 400 people responded because those were
[1:52:55] the people that really had something to
[1:52:57] say. So I think being able to make this
[1:53:00] very easily accessible to more people
[1:53:03] would be much more helpful to get a
[1:53:05] larger sample response.
[1:53:10] All right. Anything else?
[1:53:13] Okay. Thank you. All right. Uh moving.
[1:53:16] Did you guys have anything else you want
[1:53:17] to contribute? Okay. Sorry. Forgot to
[1:53:19] look that direction. Um all right. With
[1:53:21] that, could I please get a motion on
[1:53:22] this item? Michael Moulder moves to
[1:53:25] approve moving forward with the school
[1:53:28] perceptions
[1:53:30] survey.
[1:53:35] I'm trying to think of the name.
[1:53:37] >> Yeah, the for the levy referendum.
[1:53:39] Dressley seconds. All right. Any
[1:53:42] discussion? All right. All those in
[1:53:44] favor of approving school perceptions
[1:53:46] for the survey say I.
[1:53:48] >> I. All those opposed say nay. Motion
[1:53:50] passes unanimously to approve school
[1:53:51] perceptions. All right. Next up, we have
[1:53:54] a presentation regarding an investment
[1:53:56] recommendation, Miss Subbert.
[1:53:58] >> All right. Thank you. So, this had
[1:54:00] previously gone to the finance committee
[1:54:03] um and we worked through some questions
[1:54:04] and discussion there and now we're
[1:54:06] bringing it to the full board. Um so,
[1:54:08] I'm going to share a little bit of
[1:54:09] information about our current investment
[1:54:11] strategy. So, we invest our funds
[1:54:14] through Mislaf, which is the Minnesota
[1:54:16] School District Liquid Asset Fund. So,
[1:54:18] it's a a banking structure that's
[1:54:21] available just to school districts. Um,
[1:54:24] and right now we have our funds in three
[1:54:26] different categories. So, we have the
[1:54:28] liquid class and the uh interest rate as
[1:54:32] of oc or I'm sorry, as of August 31st
[1:54:35] was 3.54%
[1:54:38] and then we have the max class which
[1:54:40] requires a 14-day investment period. Um,
[1:54:44] so that has a little bit higher interest
[1:54:46] rate of a 3.64%. 64%
[1:54:49] and then we also utilize the term
[1:54:51] program um and I've listed the weighted
[1:54:54] average yield there which is a 3.81%
[1:54:57] and then we strategically have those
[1:55:00] maturity rates uh kind of laded from
[1:55:02] October 2026 through March of 2027
[1:55:07] um with individual rates ranging from
[1:55:09] 3.62 to 3.93%.
[1:55:14] Um, a longer term opportunity that we
[1:55:18] want to talk about tonight is doing a
[1:55:20] proposed investment of $5 million that
[1:55:22] we would designate um to put into
[1:55:25] Mislaf's certificate of deposit program.
[1:55:29] And you can see on there the current
[1:55:31] 730day
[1:55:33] certificate of deposit rate is 4.25.
[1:55:37] Um, again, that was as of August 31st.
[1:55:40] So that's the yield. And then one
[1:55:43] important thing is just making sure that
[1:55:45] we are in compliance with the FDIC
[1:55:48] insurance. So that would require that we
[1:55:50] only purchase each bank in quantities of
[1:55:54] $250,000
[1:55:56] so that we're sure we still have that
[1:55:58] insurance available to us. So, as we
[1:56:01] kind of look at the rate uncertainty,
[1:56:04] um, because nobody knows in two years
[1:56:07] from now what interest rates are going
[1:56:09] to be, um, if the interest rates
[1:56:11] decrease, locking in at the 4.25%
[1:56:15] will benefit the district. Um, and if
[1:56:18] interest rates increase, we will have
[1:56:20] given up some potential earnings. Um but
[1:56:24] the idea would be that you know like
[1:56:26] just staggering this out over time would
[1:56:29] give us another uh investment
[1:56:31] opportunity.
[1:56:34] So the recommendation is that we
[1:56:36] designate up to $5 million for
[1:56:38] longerterm investment. They would the
[1:56:41] funds would be invested in certificates
[1:56:43] of deposit available through mislaf with
[1:56:46] maturities of up to two years.
[1:56:49] investments would be generally staggered
[1:56:51] at approximately six-month intervals.
[1:56:53] So, we would look to see what's
[1:56:54] available every six months. And then
[1:56:57] this would also allow the district to
[1:56:59] respond to changing interest rates uh
[1:57:02] diver diversify the maturity rates and
[1:57:04] maintain periodic access to the invested
[1:57:07] funds. And then we would continue to
[1:57:11] consider safety or the preservation of
[1:57:14] the the principal liquidity and the rate
[1:57:17] of return.
[1:57:19] So I would just open it up to questions
[1:57:21] and discussion.
[1:57:27] » Sounds great. I was just going to say I
[1:57:29] love that you're always looking forward
[1:57:30] for looking out forward for us in our
[1:57:32] financing and it it's great. I love it.
[1:57:34] Thank you. Well, this one was brought by
[1:57:36] Director Zuzi through another district,
[1:57:38] but it's a good opportunity. So, yes, we
[1:57:40] want to look at it also.
[1:57:43] >> Yeah. Uh, Director Subert mentioned
[1:57:46] yield and liquidity and security.
[1:57:49] is number one. Whatever we do
[1:57:51] has to have security uh statutoily has
[1:57:54] to have a high security rate. And so
[1:57:57] we're not losing anything in security
[1:57:59] because at the moment that you buy a CD,
[1:58:02] you know what the maturation rate is
[1:58:04] going to be. So there's not a risk
[1:58:06] involved in that. If the markets turn
[1:58:09] and the interest rates over a long long
[1:58:14] interval like two years goes down, we
[1:58:17] just don't have to buy at the time. If
[1:58:19] the markets are such that it's not
[1:58:20] appropriate to buy it, we wouldn't buy
[1:58:22] it. But buying this in that laddered way
[1:58:26] also gets us the liquidity that we mean.
[1:58:28] Liquidity means that the money is
[1:58:30] available when we need it. And every six
[1:58:32] months, given this concept, every six
[1:58:35] months some of the money is is
[1:58:37] available. And then the the last one is
[1:58:40] yield. And you can see that the yield is
[1:58:42] considerably higher. uh for the public
[1:58:45] to know and for our students to know,
[1:58:47] this comes from, there's a there's a
[1:58:50] part of the district's budget that is
[1:58:52] called a fund reserve. And it's the
[1:58:54] money that we have in the bank to uh
[1:58:57] safeguard for a rainy day. And it is
[1:59:01] that fund balance that we'd be portions
[1:59:04] of that fund balance that would be
[1:59:05] invested in this structure.
[1:59:09] >> And to be clear, this is a percentage of
[1:59:11] the fund balance. This is not the
[1:59:13] entirety.
[1:59:13] >> No.
[1:59:15] >> Yeah. No.
[1:59:16] >> All right. Anything else?
[1:59:18] All right. Thank you. Uh, next I'm
[1:59:21] looking for a motion on this item.
[1:59:24] >> Zuzac makes a motion to move forward
[1:59:26] with this proposal.
[1:59:28] >> Mike Moulder seconds.
[1:59:29] >> Any discussion? All right. All those in
[1:59:32] favor of moving forward with the
[1:59:34] investment proposal say I.
[1:59:36] >> I. All those opposed say nay. Motion
[1:59:38] passes unanimously.
[1:59:40] Next up, we have a field trip approval
[1:59:42] for every eighth graders's favorite,
[1:59:44] Eagle Bluff. Could I please get a motion
[1:59:46] on this item?
[1:59:48] >> Milner moves to approve the field trip
[1:59:50] to Eagle Bluff.
[1:59:51] >> Michael Moulder second.
[1:59:52] >> All right, any discussion?
[1:59:54] >> All right, seeing none, uh, all those in
[1:59:56] favor of approving the Eagle Bluff field
[1:59:58] trip say I.
[1:59:59] >> I.
[2:00:00] >> All those opposed say nay. Motion passes
[2:00:02] unanimously.
[2:00:04] All right. Next up, we have another
[2:00:05] field trip approval for the high school
[2:00:08] band jazz festival in Appleton,
[2:00:10] Wisconsin. Could I please get a motion
[2:00:12] on this?
[2:00:13] >> Michael Moulder approves or moves to
[2:00:15] approve the field trip for the high
[2:00:18] Hastings High School band to the Jazz
[2:00:20] Festival in Appleton, Wisconsin.
[2:00:23] >> Milner seconds.
[2:00:24] >> Any discussion? All right. All those in
[2:00:26] favor of the Appleton, Wisconsin Jazz
[2:00:28] Festival trip, say I. All those oppos
[2:00:32] say nay. Motion passes unanimously.
[2:00:35] All right. And then finally this evening
[2:00:37] we have a donations acceptance
[2:00:39] resolution. Could I get a motion on this
[2:00:41] item, please? Michael Moulder moves to
[2:00:44] receive the donations
[2:00:47] and wave the resolution. Wave the
[2:00:50] reading of the resolution.
[2:00:55] » Dressley second.
[2:00:56] >> All right. Any discussion? All right.
[2:00:58] Once again, I just want to thank our
[2:01:00] community for their generosity uh as
[2:01:02] every month we do this and it just
[2:01:03] astounds me how much uh we take in from
[2:01:06] donations from our community. So, thank
[2:01:08] you again. [gasps]
[2:01:09] All right, with that uh could we please
[2:01:11] do a roll call vote on this resolution,
[2:01:15] >> Director Beer?
[2:01:17] >> I.
[2:01:18] >> Director Michael Moulder,
[2:01:20] >> I.
[2:01:20] >> Director Zuzac,
[2:01:22] >> I.
[2:01:22] >> Vice Chair Dresley,
[2:01:23] >> I.
[2:01:24] >> Chair Tate,
[2:01:25] >> I.
[2:01:25] >> Director Bruns,
[2:01:26] >> I. Director Milner, I
[2:01:29] >> thank you. All right. Uh, next up, our
[2:01:32] future meetings. We have a, as was
[2:01:35] mentioned earlier this evening, we have
[2:01:36] a joint powers committee meeting at 7:30
[2:01:39] a.m. in Tilden in the Tilden Building.
[2:01:42] October 1st, as was also mentioned, we
[2:01:45] have a noon meeting, noon policy meeting
[2:01:47] at the district office conference room.
[2:01:49] October 7th, we have a work session at 6
[2:01:52] PM right here in the middle school media
[2:01:53] center. And at that meeting ten, this is
[2:01:56] the tenative agenda. We'll be discussing
[2:01:58] the black heritage trail request. Uh we
[2:02:00] have an outside presenter coming in to
[2:02:02] give that presentation. We have the
[2:02:04] principal reports that we get on roughly
[2:02:06] a quarterly basis. We have the Minnesota
[2:02:08] State High School discussion. Um this
[2:02:11] has to do with possibly making a change
[2:02:14] to the Minnesota State High School
[2:02:15] League uh rules. Uh more to come on
[2:02:18] that. We're kind of I think we're
[2:02:19] waiting for information from the
[2:02:20] Minnesota State High School League on
[2:02:21] that. And then we will be as mentioned
[2:02:24] already also the discussing the school
[2:02:27] perceptions survey uh questions
[2:02:29] specifically. All right. And then moving
[2:02:32] on to the regular board meeting will be
[2:02:35] October 21st at 6 p.m. again right here
[2:02:37] in the middle school media center. And
[2:02:40] on that agenda tentatively at this point
[2:02:42] we have the a pathways update from Chris
[2:02:45] Moore and Scott Dorne. We have the
[2:02:48] impact teacher feature. This is going to
[2:02:50] be a new thing that we've added to our
[2:02:51] board meetings this year where we have
[2:02:52] teachers come in and tell us about all
[2:02:54] the cool things that they have going on
[2:02:55] in their classrooms. Uh and then we'll
[2:02:58] be talking hopefully we'll have the
[2:02:59] ITime rental agreement as was discussed
[2:03:01] earlier and reviewing or possibly
[2:03:05] approving the Black Heritage Trail
[2:03:07] approval um that we'll be getting again
[2:03:09] the presentation on at the work session
[2:03:11] approving those survey questions and
[2:03:13] then um looking at a referendum survey
[2:03:17] vote. So, uh, that is what we have going
[2:03:21] on for the next month.
[2:03:22] >> Quick question.
[2:03:22] >> Yes.
[2:03:24] >> So, we were going to talk about the 2026
[2:03:26] state of the county if people are going
[2:03:28] for Dakota County if anybody is
[2:03:30] available to go. I know all board
[2:03:32] members got that invitation, but I
[2:03:34] >> I didn't know if anybody's available to
[2:03:36] go.
[2:03:36] >> Do you have the date and time in front
[2:03:38] of you?
[2:03:38] >> It is September 29th at 7 or Wait,
[2:03:42] >> 2:30.
[2:03:43] Yep.
[2:03:44] >> Yeah.
[2:03:44] >> 29th.
[2:03:45] >> Yep. There's a tour of the Vikings
[2:03:47] facility after it.
[2:03:48] >> Y,
[2:03:49] >> but you have to RSVP by the 25th. So,
[2:03:53] >> thank you for bringing us up.
[2:03:54] >> All right. Do we have board members who
[2:03:56] are available and willing to attend?
[2:03:59] >> I intend to go.
[2:04:00] >> Okay. Thank you.
[2:04:02] >> Excellent. Excellent.
[2:04:03] >> All right. We have three board members.
[2:04:04] I think that's good. We don't need to
[2:04:06] send a quorum.
[2:04:06] >> No.
[2:04:07] >> All right. So, we have directors beer,
[2:04:08] Meer, Zuzi, and Dresley. Thank you.
[2:04:12] Okay. Anything else before we adjourn
[2:04:14] here?
[2:04:16] >> Okay. Uh, thank you student school board
[2:04:18] reps for coming back and for joining us.
[2:04:21] I hope I hope this is enlightening and a
[2:04:23] whole lot of fun for you. Um, [laughter]
[2:04:25] look looking forward to getting your
[2:04:27] reports again next month. All right,
[2:04:29] with that, could I get a motion to
[2:04:30] adjurnn, please?
[2:04:31] >> Motion to adjurnn.
[2:04:33] >> Michael Moulder seconds.
[2:04:36] >> Any discussion? Seeing none, all those
[2:04:39] in favor of adjournment say I.
[2:04:40] >> I. I. All those opposed say nay.