[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.

ISD 200 Regular School Board Meeting: September 23, 2026

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