good evening I'd like to call to order tonight's meeting of the ISD 191 Burnsville Egon Savage school board the date is December 12 2019 and the time is 6:30 I'd like to start by welcoming folks in our audience who are here to join us tonight as well as those who are at home I will also call out just a couple of items that might not folks might not have noticed that are included in tonight's agenda and that includes scheduling a meeting we're being asked to schedule a meeting on Thursday December 19th to consider to continue discussing facilities attendance boundaries and the FY 21 budget and since most staff and families are impacted by these discussions I encourage everyone to stay for that to add that to your calendar we're also at the end of our meeting after we adjourn we are adjourned to a workshop committee of the whole to discuss new Perec amend ation for a new policy 509 intra district transfer or a variance enrollment that adjusts as variances for students whose families wish to have them attend a school other than the one in their own neighborhood with that director humid would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance thank you we will now open the truth and taxation hearing portion of the board meeting the purpose of the truth and Taxation hearing is to present the following information the current oh no I'm sorry we need to approve the agenda first sorry I'll take a motion to approve the agenda tonight moved by director shot second seconded by director Hume any discussion hearing none all those in favor of approving the agenda please signify by saying aye aye opposed nay and the motion carries now we will open the truth and Taxation portion of our of our meeting as I said before the purpose of the truth and taxation hearing is to present the following information the current year budget and actual revenue and expenses for the prior year the proposed property tax levy the percentage of change over the prior year specific purposes and reasons for which taxes are being increased and to allow for public comments public comments will be heard after the budget and property tax presentation we will be following the procedures outlined in board policy 207 public hearings anyone wishing to address the board must have signed up prior to the meeting lissa writer executive director of business services is at the podium at the presenters table for the budget and property tax presentation welcome Lisa there are no speakers thank you good evening at an annual basis they hold a truth in taxation hearing for our our general public tonight is that evening for us and this is reflective of our taxes payable in 2020 which will provide revenue for our fiscal year 2020 2021 school year as we begin there are certain things that are our presentation must cover per state law and that is listed on this screen and from that then we have developed this agenda for this evening which we will give a background on some school funding and property tax levies and budgets we will provide information on our current district budget we will also dive in a little bit to the taxes payable for 2020 that are proposed so that we can break it down by the general fund and other funds and have discussion around which ones have larger adjustments up or down and lastly there would be opportunity for public comments and questions should there have been any as we move into this let's first discuss our school funding it's really highly regulated by the state there's very little that school boards actually have ability to adjust when it comes to the school funding the state sets the formulas they set the tax policy for local schools they set the maximum amount that's authorized on the property tax levy what school boards can do is submit referendums for operating and capital needs to voters for approval this is a slide which was used in the past years as well and it helps to just try and understand the formula allowance when you hear formula allowance it's referring to our general fund and it is referring to how many dollars per pupil unit a school district will receive in funding so this goes back to 2003 and shows kind of those there's two lines one is the red line which is adjusted for pupil weight change and inflation so this is if if the annual inflation had been applied since 2003 what that number would look like the green dotted line that you see is a formula allowance for the general fund that is adjusted for the pupil weight change but is what we have actually received in the tax levies that you've seen in the past as well as currently so there is a little bit of a gap between those two lines and as you look at that that little bit that you see actually equates to about five hundred ninety six dollars for fiscal year nineteen the year we just audited and that's nine point four percent difference and that is partly the challenge that we have is the fact that our funding is not necessarily keeping up with that inflationary cost that we have so when you calculate your revenues you're taking this formula and multiplying it by the student students who are serving and that generates the revenue then that is available for schools to function as we move into the next slide this is now starting to talk about our school district is d1 and e1 s budget and in this case the budget as well as the actual audited data that is I'll say fresh off the press and the fact that tonight is also the night you're receiving the audit report and the information that would be available later in the meeting we actually have presented here as well as part of this presentation because it does reflect our ending bounces for fund balances as well as our revenues and expenditures that have been audited for the past school year this page here alone is the general fund and if you're viewing from home or look at that which is on the website you will find that you can zoom in and and find this a little more easily read it does start out with a beginning balance the audited revenues the audited expenditures and then the ending audited balance on the far right this breaks down our fund balance is quite extensively and you'll see a lot of zeroes on the restricted area because we have only two of the very the many possible areas there I shouldn't say too but there's three I guess now for for that we have now that encompass our restricted reserves otherwise we are you typically spending every dollar that is available to us in the restricted areas on those areas taking a look at the the next slide it is the other funds other than the general fund so we have our food service our Community Education our capital projects fund this is similar to our LT FM and our building construction had been bonded previously and remaining funds that we have our debt service our internal service funds which is where our health and our dental self-insured funds along with our open Oh pep stands for other post-employment benefits and then trust funds we'll hear more about these fun these dollars and balances later in the meeting tonight as well we want to now talk a little bit about our current budget our budget at this time is reflective of that which you approved back in June that is the adopted budget for the 19 2019 2020 school year and so we have repeated these slides here for the general public so they can understand what that budget looks like we have not yet revised our budget for the current year that will take place in January and February as we finish that work based on the audited numbers and then from there you will also find us preparing the budget for the 2020 2021 school year here is the adopted revenue budget for the general fund alone and you can see the green which is 57% of the revenue generated and our budget is intended to be coming from general state aid and that's that gen ed formula we talked about earlier being reflected you see a purple slice of the pie there that is the 14% and that's the state categorical aid these are funds that are state driven but they are specific for certain purposes a common example is compensatory funds then you have our federal aid which is 3 percent of our total revenue in the budget for the current school year and our property taxes make up 23% of our current year's budget other local revenue makes up another 3% our next slide talks about our current year's budget expenditures this is broken down by program and when we talk about program we are referring to the type of experimental budgets you might think of right so you have instruction and you have similarly that is at 64 percent and then over on the right you see the purple which is the instructional pupil support which typically goes hand-in-hand with that instruction and so combined you see 64 percent and 12 percent or 76 percent of our budget is in instruction and instructional pupil support operations maintenance is 7 percent our administration is 4 percent district support services is 4 percent fixed costs under 1 our capital facilities 1 percent and our transportation costs are 6 percent with long term facility maintenance being 2 percent that encompasses the current year's budget broken down by program area the next slide takes the same information and breaks it down by how is it exactly used not so much by program but more what types of expenditures are these and so you see salaries and wages alone are 58 percent and the benefits you will find over to the right in the blue there for 22 percent combined that makes up 80 percent of our budget between the salaries wages and benefits the other 20 percent is made up of the purchase services at 14 percent supplies at 2 percent capital expenditures at 3 percent and other expenditures 1 percent that is again the current year's expenditure budget we want to now shift in the presentation to our conversation around our current proposed payable 2020 levy and what you see here is a slide that compares this levy to that which would have been brought before the board a year ago for the pay 19 pay 2019 levy limitation it is broken down by Ford basic areas the general fund the community service the general debt service and open trust service so you can see the comparison by those categories across the years and the increase and decrease by dollar amount with a far right column showing the percent change we will be talking about the significant changes I have pulled out the changes that are over $100,000 on each of the different areas and will will briefly talk about those as we go forward this is a one-page summary it does give you that total amount at the very bottom and in the far right lower corner you will find it this particular the pay 2020 limitation is one point two four percent increase over the previous year these numbers do include the referendum that was recently approved by our voters in November property tax statements that were sent home in November did not include the referendum results at that point in time so these numbers do include that and with those numbers included it is a one point two four percent increase we want to now look at the the property tax levy for taxes payable in 2020 broken down by line items this is a forty page document with a whole lot of formulas that is then summarized on about four pages we're going to break it down here so you can see this as they're grouped together that which is light purple are the accumulation of the line items that refer to our referendum okay over the last few years has been some tax laws or there's been watching there's been changes to the law with regard to how the referendum is broken down and what it's called and so you see four lines that actually make up that total as you compare to payable 2019 to payable 20 and you look at that increase or decrease we're gonna take a look at that total amount in a moment but I want you to know that those four lines can I are going to be taking it together as you look down the rest of the line items you can see by category the title the payable 19th and the payable 20 compared with a dollar amount on the far right long-term facilities maintenance levy is something that is fairly new to the districts across the state in the last few years but we are well engrained in that in the fact that we've been doing all facility projects throughout our district for a number of years they now call it the long term facilities maintenance levy that's available to all schools this is the general fund page in total you can see that our net general levies for the general fund are 13200 $86 increase most of that all of it really is a triple to the referendum and we'll talk about that exact amount as we move forward let's take a look at Community Service Fund next and this is a summary of the entire community service fund you will see there's an increase here of two hundred sixty five thousand two hundred forty seven dollars we'll talk about that reason in a moment the next slide is our general debt service as well as what we call a peb other post-employment benefits we sold bonds back in 2009 and we still have that as part of our debt so it is kept separate and tracked separately on levy in our school finances so you see them broken down here in two different totals you do see significant decreases on that debt we're going to talk about why in a moment these next few slides talk about the reasons for the decreases in increases that you might have seen and so the first thing that we want to discuss is that referendum location opera optional and equity revenue levy this reflects again that November 20 19 votes before Endon and is an increase of 1 million six hundred seven thousand nine hundred and fifteen dollars it also reflects three hundred thirty nine thousand four hundred fifteen dollar increase due to long term facilities maintenance levy this is reflective of the ten-year plan that we have brought to you and the fact that we have increased programs that we are doing in this next payable twenty levy that requires that additional funding of three hundred thirty nine thousand four fifteen the next slide talks about the capital projects referendum levy this is the vote that our voters approved back in 2015 in February when we asked for a capital project referendum these are the dollars that fund our one-to-one solutions we have in our schools as well as our digital learning specialists across the district elementary schools these dollars isn't it show an increase of two 19000 351 if you recall this is not based on the formula is a little bit different than other like operating referendum dollars this is based on a rate and so as your property valuation overall in the district increases so do these dollars okay still talking about the general fund this year is a little bit unique in the fact that we have a very large negative adjustment to our levy adjustments are very common in the levy process what it is is when we do the levies you're doing a lot of estimates upfront you're estimating the enrollment for students across the district for 3 years out and those can be kind of tricky to estimate when you might have fluctuations fluctuations from year to year so what you find happening is that there is a kind of a two-year delay on finding out exactly what the actuals are from a year that has final done audited and submitted to the state for final information so for us there's a number of FY 17 fiscal year 17 and fiscal year 18 final adjustments and as a result of the fact that we had lower enrollments particularly in that fiscal year 18 those dollar amounts are reflecting then a negative adjustment where we're providing those dollars back to the taxpayers because back to years previous they had been levied for a higher estimated number so that make sense as you look at the second bullet this breaks down how much of that negative adjustment is a result of our our changed estimates for fiscal year 20 that's our current school year but when we gave the information for our payable 19 levy a year ago the estimates then were higher than what we're now saying our estimates are and so there's a negative adjustment for that particular process it's a it just kind of overlaps and because the decline in our enrollment has been as it has for the last 2 or 3 years these are kind of doubling up on us a little bit now and yours and you're seeing a larger number that is a negative adjustment okay it all balances itself in the end but it's it is something that is clearly significant this year compared to pastors and finally we have the abatement adjustments which is also a very common adjustment on the levies where that goes up and down depending upon what might be submitted to the county so if a taxpayer does not feel that their property tax statement is accurate they can appeal that and and basically it's abated and then it may be that that's something that through the process is determined they do need to pay or they don't need to pay in those adjustments then come through in the tax levies as they're finalized our next adjustment we want to talk about is in the community service levy fund levy this is also based on our actual information from fiscal year 18 for the school aged care program and this is a reflection of a year in which our actual expenditures were far higher than that which had been previously levied remember our levies are you know that far in advance of a year out and so how much we were anticipating needing to to cover the cost of our school aged care and these are for students who require additional needs that increased significantly to 265 677 in that year alone and it was at that point in time that we increased the levy from 600,000 to 800,000 and that is reflected on an annual basis in our general debt service fund you will find that we have a reduction in the debt schedule this is reflective of the refinancing that we have done over the years and so as we had told taxpayers there was a savings that would be incurred this is where those dollars go back to the taxpayers is through this negative adjustment here the adjustment for the debt excess is returned to taxpayers as well and what that is as a matter of every year you're levying the amount that is your principal and your interest on your payments plus 5% and that protects us from not having enough funds in order to make payments on the principal and interest payments that are we acquired in the event that there might be abatements or other things that caused the dollars not to be necessarily paid into the county in time and so this is protection and yet at the same time it doesn't they the state law does not allow us to accumulate too much and so they do a calculation on an annual basis and this is where those dollars get refunded back to our taxpayers for us we have a unique situation as well we lease one of our buildings are ready to an entity so that particular building happens to have debt remaining so the rental payments that we receive is required to go to the general debt service unless otherwise stated by law and this is also reflecting those rental payments included in that dollar amount that is being refunded to taxpayers in our other post-employment benefit debt service fund there is no notable change to discuss on adjustments our increases or decreases we want to now shift to the portion of the discussion which is about the payable 20/20 taxes and we want to talk a little bit about what is the true tax impact to our taxpayers based on the valuation of their property so what you see here is a lot of numbers this is reflective of 20/20 school year payables excuse me the payable 20/20 levy being compared to the past three years so you can see estimated market values for 2017 taxes 2018 taxes 2019 taxes and then we also have our estimated market value for 2020 taxes you see a column in the yellow that is without the referendum and that which is the approved referendum we show this because taxpayers receive notices that did not include the referendum so they should be able to kind of take a look at what is their estimated valuation on their property tax statement find something close and see if that makes sense for the amount of taxes for us and then they can also see separately how much it might have increased then just due to the referendum because that's the one thing that's missing from their property tax statement we're going to take a look at a few slides here that take this information into a visual and breaks it down by the four different settings we've asked for certainly from home or on the web you can find this information and blow this up so you can read it a little closer but these slides also help us as we look at the slides in in a moment these are the assumptions that are being made there is a base amount of eighteen point three percent cumulative change in three years from 2017 to 2022 that is assumed this is based off from information for the area of Burnsville alone this does not necessarily reflect egan or savage as Burnsville covers most of our district but not all and that is with the main one that we usually show on a comparative basis from year to year for all of the following four examples these are the assumptions that have been made it is reflecting the changes in market value for 17 to 18 a 5% increase a 6% increase from eighteen to twenty nineteen and a six point three percent estimated increase from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty these charts have been made available to us by our financial advisors Ehlers I should take a look at this first slide is a two hundred thousand dollar value residential homestead property and you can see the taxes that are actual in the past three years compared to the 20/20 estimated taxes you also see above the yellow the amount that is in blue and that darker portion of that 2020 bar represents the estimated taxes associated with the operating referendum increase that was approved by our voters on November 5th 2019 as we take a look at the next example this visual shows the same information but now for a $350,000 valued residential homestead property our third slide shows the information for a commercial industrial property valued at two million dollars and our last slide is a visual of an apartment property valued at $750,000 for comparison of those three years we want to make notes for our property tax owners our property owners who when they look at their property tax statement find that they have a significant increase or maybe they're on a limited budget themselves that fixed income if that's the case we do encourage people to please inquire of a tax professional as there are property tax refund programs available and we would like for people to know and understand those so that if they have seen a significant increase they may find also that opportunity for a refund should it be available to them but we advise that they talk with a tax professional for that information and later this evening this is an action item on the agenda for our board to consider and certify the sort of final suit excuse me there is a request for the Board of Education certification of the final levy for payable 2020 which again will fund our school year of 2020 2021 that concludes the presentation thank you very much Lisa and clerk Schatz informs me that we have no speakers signed up for the public hearing and that will conclude the truth and Taxation portion of the meeting thank you thank you turning next to the information portion of our meeting we are staying with Lisa Ryder and we will also invite Dennis Pogo Veen CPA and principal Clifton Larson Allen LLP we are receiving the audit report on fiscal year 19 welcome back Dennis good to see you thank you are you standing it thank you this evening is our opportunity for our auditing firm Clifton Larson Allen to be able to present to you the audit report this is reflective of the 2018-2019 school year our audit has taken place this past fall who have been pickled our Director of Finance is here as well as her team did quite a bit of the work in preparing for the audit Dennis will speak to you about the results of the audit in his PowerPoint that is available on the web as well and we believe you all have your printed copies also tomorrow after assuming this is approved tonight then we would be posting the final copies online as well under the website the materials electronically were also made available within the board packet I'll turn it over to Dennis now thank you for having me we are here to talk about the auto results as Lisa said it's about 180 pages worth of information between the kafir' the district puts together a Kaffir comprehensive annual financial report you wouldn't have to do that certainly not required but you've done it for a number of years bond rating agencies tend to like it lenders anybody that has an interest in school finance loves the fact that you put together a Kaffir there's a lot of great historical statistical data in there transmitter and things like that so it just really is a signal to the public that you're going above and beyond providing financial information to the public and we appreciate it always want to start by thinking they have the people who do the heavy lifting though of the audit I mean this was a very very challenging year I don't know how much that's been communicated to the board but the straddling of Finance systems between two different systems over the whole year turned out to be challenging and I think I've never seen such celebration going on when the audit was done they were very very excited so they are much deserving of calm year in 2020 so I'm hopefully everything calms down and you've got all the pieces in place for it to be you know timely return to more normal schedule I mean it just was a stressful year with the changeover in the in the finance system but they did a fantastic job and I was telling Robin before the meeting what I was intending to tell you is that I mean what I appreciated is the fact that there's stick-to-itiveness you know as stressful as it was and how challenging it was they always kept their heads up and got the work done and they were always very very responsive to our request for information they've developed a really really great working relationship with the auditors and do it just a fantastic job of being responsive and appreciate all of Lisa's involvement as well in terms of the review that you do and the input that you give us and things like that so what we're gonna do tonight if you don't mind is we've extracted from the executive audit summary just some highlights from that to put together into other PowerPoint and I hope if you've had a chance to review the executive audit summary I hope one of the things you take away from that is the fact that we were really trying to be very purposeful and trying to make it more visual what we're finding is not only board members but pub the public as well they don't necessarily want to see a lot of just endless numbers and small numbers and we're trying to make it more graphical and tell a story by making it interesting you know but but easily understandable so hopefully and again I don't want to put words in your mouth but hopefully you found that to be the case as you went through the executive audit summary and we're going to pick up on some of that in the PowerPoint tonight so I'm gonna have Lisa be my navigator and what we're gonna do is just go through the audit results themselves so of course the main thing that you're hiring an auditing firm to do is to give an opinion on the financial statements of first and foremost responsibility is to give that opinion and what we have been able to issue is what's known as a clean or an unmodified audit report so it says good of an audit report as we are able to give any minnesota school district and then by state statute or cardiff all governmental auditing standards and there's two different aspects to that it's an opinion letter called the yellow book letter because it was issued under a yellow cover many many years ago and there's a compliance aspect to that letter and then also an internal control aspect to that letter we had no findings to report on the compliance side of that we had one material weakness that we did report for the proposing of a material audit adjustment and I believe the details of that have been provided to from Lisa to you as board members so to the extent you want to discuss what that'd be great but it's just a you know from our point of view a one-time thing somewhat related to the conversion of the finance system so for that reason we don't feel like it's something that would we would expect to ever be repeated at all and then because you expended more than $750,000 of federal funds we had to do a single audit again and just get on my soapbox briefly but you're gonna see in here what a small percentage of the total general fund funding is federal I think it's like four percent and but it's about 20 percent of the audit efforts so it's very disproportionate so if you ever get the ear of a legislator at the national level make sure you are kind of hinting today you know maybe that should be indexed to be more reasonable there's no real point to having four percent of your funding have bought twenty percent of the audit effort you know and things like that but in terms of single audit we are tested the child nutrition cluster we had two what I consider to be minor technicalities they weren't didn't rise to the level of being a material weakness but they were reported as significant deficiencies but as Lisa again I was shared with the explanation that she provided you know is very thorough and sometimes these are just technicalities you are going through an audit so to the extent we're required to report them even if we feel like they're trivial it doesn't mean things weren't being done it sometimes it comes down to just being able to document it and show prove that you are doing something you know so documentation is a huge thing in audit so and then now we're required to do a Minnesota legal compliance audit based on guidance put together by the office of the state auditor they put together a checklist very thick checklist of different state statutes that we have to test your compliance with we had two findings this year one related to the prompt payment of bills so if you meet monthly as a board you have 35 days basically to pay your bills and if we find one that you didn't pay within that 35 day time frame we have to report that as technically a violation of state statute but again almost in my experience almost never comes down to the business office dropping the ball in any way because an administrator kept it on their desk and didn't get it to the business office in time unfortunately they take the wrath for it but they had don't typically have the responsibility for that and then there was one outstanding check and there's some unclaimed property requirements in terms of turning that over to the state and yet some UPS tank checks that needed to be dealt with the last student activity audit that we're going to be doing for the district you took action I believe in June to bring the Student Activity accounts under board control so for 2020 those are going to be part of the general fund so you won't need a separate standalone Student Activity audit after this particular year we once again reported that he had some inactive Student Activity accounts which are technically not allowed but I think from a practical standpoint I would do the exact same thing if I wasn't confident that the activity wasn't going to resurrect and you know become active again you might as well just leave him open and then there's a standard finding that all Minnesota school districts have because you're following basically a cash basis activity there this is a slide that Lisa used in their truth and Taxation hearing this is just summarizing the activity of the general fund you can see here it's a lot of small numbers and I maybe should have gotten rid of the detail for purposes of the PowerPoint so it wasn't such tiny numbers but in terms of what I really like about this particular summary is it does show where you started the year started the year with a total fund balance of fifteen million eight fifteen total audited revenues were at 131 million 545 and then twelve expenditures at 132 million seventy six thousand we always do two main things with this particular slide and it's really to bring your attention always up to the unassigned category because what a lot of different aspects to the general fund but the unassigned is where you as board members make most of you decisions as far as programmatically what you want to do considering you know things like enrollment declines and things like that it's up to the school board to make the tough decisions as you know as far as how much you want to draw it on fund balance to maintain programming and certainly with some decisions that you're going to be making yet tonight all of those things factored into that so on assign categories is that main area where you have to make those tough decisions the ending fund balance for mm yep between 30 2019 the unassigned category the 7.7 represents about five point eight six million and as Lisa indicated the legislature likes to attach strings to think so everything under the restricted category is what the legislature gives you a dollar but they says tell you how you have to spend it and I always like to point out gifted and talented as one example the way we presented here the legislature gives you one hundred and twenty three thousand dollars to spend on the gifted and talented program but the district has chosen to spend seven hundred thirty eight thousand I gifted and talented so you can see the six hundred fifteen thousand comes from unassign category to invest in the district's gifted and talented program to and then it brings it down to a zero fund balance but again the restricted amounts doesn't really matter if it's started the year four point 1 million or ends at five point five million those dollars have to be expended in the way that the legislature intended using the proper code under you far so the other thing with again is in past years you've gotten very used to the fact that your results are always very close to what the board had approved and I guess in terms of 131 million dollars the difference on total revenues was nine hundred and fifty five thousand or zero point seven three percent very very good on the total expenditures there within eight hundred and eighty eight thousand or 0.67 percent but that's not news to you as board members because that has historically been the case that you're getting very good information you don't have the regret of coulda shoulda woulda done something different had you had different information so again it's been very consistent then the results are very consistent with what the board had envisioned for the district in terms of other funds of the district Lea said pointed I think you might have put these all in one but here it's broken down and did you separate ones the food service program ended with the fund outs of 1 million fourteen thousand you can see there at the revenues were about three hundred sixteen thousand lower than the fine limited budget and I guess I'm gonna go on a limb here and say that I think you know anecdotally think what I've been hearing with other school districts is about 3% in snow days has had a significant impact in terms of you're just not serving the meals on days when kids aren't aren't here necessarily so again the well the revenues and expenditures were lower but the net result was within 50,000 of what the board had approved for the budget so very good there and basically the only thing you can do with fund outs of the food service program is invest in the capital needs of the child nutrition program so as knows he needs rides I think you're the originally budget it's something like three hundred thousand three hundred and sixty seven thousand for Capitol items but you you didn't spend like three hundred thousand so yeah so most of the variance on the expenditure side was just strictly a timing difference as far as when capital needs arose in terms of the community education program started the year with fund outs of four hundred eight thousand you can see it's a very successful program in terms of the revenues coming in higher than what had been budgeted correspondingly if you're gonna have more classes that people are choosing to pay for you're gonna have an increased costs but the net result was with in eighty seven hundred dollars of what the budget had reflected so that's very good just to be an indication of a successful community education program that is offering programming that people are choosing to participate in Lisa went through the capital projects funds the debts or was fun just to kind of draw the connection between the audit and the truth and Taxation as she indicated there's an mechanisms in place you know that you don't over levy constantly and accumulate too much fund melts and the debts where it's fun that's reflecting the decisions that you've made to refund that and save taxpayer significant dollars in the debt service program it's very proactive of a school board to see the opportunities to do those things internal service funds are functioning as intended to keep you know the rates stable and just nothing there to comment on in terms of other than just saying it's it's a good idea to be using those types of programs to stabilize rates and things like that in terms of the five-year historical trend of the general fund fund balance you can see the unassigned category there went from 13% in 2016 and now it's at five point eight six percent and you're making some decisions - I think not have that go any lower I believe in terms of student enrollment again no surprise there but the only thing I chose this particular site just because it sort of jumps out at you in terms of open enrollment the impact there your open enrollment in has been very consistent at that 558 up to 574 for open enrollment in your open enrollment out the gaps been actually increasing a little bit over these last few years in terms of revenue sources of the general fund what I have found interesting in this particular slide for school districts in 2019 is it's the first time for those of you that have been on the school board for a number of years you realize that this is the first time in a very long period of time Lisa will relate to this that that you have no impact of the tax shift on here the tax shift is a mechanism that the legislature uses to balance the state's budget in times when the economy to head south and they need to withhold aid and do these accounting mechanisms that says attach if they tell you the advance recognized tax revenue but they withhold to aid so they tell you they give you an account entry called the tax shift and it really makes a graph like this really difficult to explain to the public because you get these wide fluctuations in terms of how much was state aid in a given year and how much was taxes this is the first time in a very long period of time that you have five four years of no impact of tax shifts so you're really seeing truly what local tax payers are paying and what the state aid was what I found interesting and I think most people when you said to attack truth in taxation hearing I think when we're paying our individual tax bills we think we're funding you know a hundred percent of the of the cost of funding a school district when in reality it was twenty three point two percent for 2019 71 percent of the cost seventy one point five was with state aid so I think I think there's a misperception there sometimes in terms of what what the local taxpayers are paying terms of total general fund expenditures I like to report out by object series and this is very consistent with what Lisa also reported for 2020 but for 2019 if you added the 57% for salaries and the 23% for employee benefits it's the same 80% that she referenced in her truth and Taxation hearing again just to draw back up to the total their total expenditures on 132 million worth an 888 thousand or 0.67 percent for the year so very good on a net basis terms of meal served we started reporting a few years ago the percentage of total meals served by free reduced and then full price your full price meals have been very consistent at about 35 percent and as we already mentioned partly due to the declining enrollment but also partly due to snow days for 2018 of the meal count went down slightly and that's been true other than one school district I met with this last week where their numbers actually went up somehow everyone has consistently been this this particular result for 2019 where it's going down we're trying to give you some basis of comparisons a lot of time school boards like to know how is our school district doing to the seven-county metro area average and an enrollment of greater than 4,000 students or ATM so that's but this is just simply profiles data trying to imitate it somewhat on four Burnsville eating it for the year 2018 if it's not available yet from the profiles report to published by the Department of Education but again nothing different than what you've been accustomed to you know you've got some areas where your cost per student is higher than the averages and others where it's lower the one I would point out just to just to give some praise to the Community Service Department community service when you have a a mathematical calculation that shows that your cost per student is higher than average it's a really good thing because it's a good indication that you're offering programming that people are choosing to participate in so it's kind of the in for you know reverse of everything else but community you really want that number to be because it's really saying we're offering programming that people are choosing to participate it those were the things I had marked as far as the executive audit summary I would be more than happy to go through any questions if there are such for me we appreciate very much the opportunity to serve the school district and again hopefully you are picking up on the fact that our staff really enjoy working with your staff they've developed a very good working relationship and we know how hard they work to get the job done and the result of that is a good information that we're able to report to you tonight to the extent you do have questions later that we don't get to though my contact information is here so I'd be staying I'd be glad to stand for any questions if someone has one for me okay thank you very much Dennis board members I'll open it up for questions or comments director shots I don't have a comment more than a question so I know I can't say it I got excited about the audit so I won't yeah you know but I will I do want to say thank you to to you and your staff and certainly to our staff I I guess I didn't realize that the shift of course between two different accounting systems you know that we made this year would have posed a significant challenge to the in preparing this so thank you for mentioning that and so commendations to our staff for taking that on and producing again it's I'm not surprised that our numbers are so close to what they - what they projected like you pointed out the point zero six seven you know I mean that's because they do a really good job of telling us where we are in giving us the options makes it easier to make those kinds of decisions for the district so thank you for the audits and thank you to our staff Thank You director shots any other comments or questions I don't think so just so kind of dovetailing on on director shots this question or comments knowing that the systems were kind of coming together and we were going through that transition I understand that we didn't get quite the same amount of time with the auto report that we normally do and I'm assuming next year we'll be back the same room as we typically are okay great thank you very much Dennis always appreciate your presentation and the information that you provide us and I'm sure if anyone else has any other questions after the fact we will be in touch Thanks all right next I would like to invite Amina off to doll director of current of curriculum instruction and assessment to the speaking table we are receiving a report on the world's best workforce and achievement and integration report welcome Amina thank you Gerald members of the board superintendent battle thank you for giving me this opportunity to share our progress too just so that I can make it clear the world's best workforce is aligned to the achievement integration and for the Department of Education we submit one single progress report that includes the information from both programs so that's what you're going to receive tonight the world's best workforce they have across the state these five goals all students are ready for kindergarten students are reading proficient by grade three they wish they have the goal of closing the achievement gap among all groups college and career readiness and all students graduate using these five goals as a framework and we apply those to many different pieces throughout the district they are our overall teaching and learning roadmap that keeps us aligned in all of our programming I'm going to share with you each of the goals that we had for world's best workforce and each of the goals for achievement and integration and share with you what the goal was what our results were and what our targets are for 2020 I also want to make it clear that our goals for 2020 were made three years ago as part of a three year implementation so those targets have already been set and it was very easy to calculate what those targets are because I was able to see them in the three year plan that was that was available here in the district first focusing on our youngest learners noting that all students need to be ready for kindergarten they need to have those basic concepts in place so that they can be very successful in that explosive learning time that kindergarten represents this year we assessed our last year we assess our students using the aimsweb as a letter naming and letter fluency assessment that is an assessment where the children each child is met with one-on-one they are given the idea of the letters and then they get to point to and name those letters we do that for them in the fall to see how well they did when they were coming in and hopefully looking at what that looks like for all of our students if those students are scoring in the 80th percentile or 80th percent or above they are absolutely ready for kindergarten they they may not read yet that's not required for kindergarten but they do have those basic concepts for literacy achievement also to note that this is not the only indicator for kindergarten readiness this is simply a pre literacy indicator there are many other indicators regarding mathematical thinking language concepts social-emotional learning relationships self-regulation and all of those are taken into account when we do our assessments in our pre-k and because they use a comprehensive whole assessment for children for world's best workforce we have selected one of those indicators so knowing that this doesn't represent the whole child so when we looked at our children in the fall of 2017 18 38 percent of our students were able to hit that mark for letter naming and letter fluency in 2018-19 last fall not this year last fall that number grew to forty three point five percent on that so there was an increase as well we continue to look at that data and partner with our pre-k colleagues to indicate the impact that the pre-k curriculum and VPK training a schooling can have to improve our students then in the fall of 2018 we had forty nine point eight percent of our students and so that was very exciting for us to see that increase our goal for 2019 this year and we'll be looking at all of the data we have shifted the instrument that we use but we are still using letter naming letter fluency and our goal is fifty-nine percent we also have a goal for kindergarten readiness in achievement and integration kind of keeping those aligned the purpose of the achievement integration plan is to take one step further it is focused on reducing racial and economic disparities and so all of the goals take one step drill down into the world's best workforce goal world's best workforce really is addressing all students the achievement integration asks us to do a little bit deeper dive and look at those economic and racial disparities so the goal for achievement integration was looking at our racially and economically diverse incoming kindergarteners and what did their scores look like and I will say that the scores are equal for that as well we said the same results for those students so there there really wasn't a gap when they were that young for our preschools coming in so it looked good this is the but when we broke it down and looked at specific groups this was the difference that we had when we looked at our free and reduced lunch we did have a disparity we wanted to increase the results to 37% from 30 the prior year we ended up with 34 percent so it wasn't increased but not quite reaching our goal the percentage of American Indian students and I just want to draw attention to the fact that that is a very small number but looking at that we were looking at four students five students four or five students and we had 0% the prior year and this year we had 25% so it's still not showing tremendous progress and the N number is so small that it's really difficult sometimes to judge that the percentage of our latina students who met and exceeded the benchmark for aimsweb we wanted to increase from the prior years 15% to 17% we didn't get a tremendous increase not substantial but we did hit our goal and exceed that by 18% so we'll continue to set higher goals as we write our new integration plan this year some of the strategies that we've been using we're using more increased screening efforts looking at that VPK and more ways to have our families of experience preschool and including those pre schools at the elementary sites showing so that they can be connected to that kindergarten we will also be moving forward with our pre-k through third grade alignment and we feel as though this is going to be a very important piece making sure that those there's a clear connection between what kindergarten teachers are expecting and seeing as success aligned with the structures of the VPK curriculum we do specific letter naming lessons for kindergarten and that's really that target to make sure that all students at least have those preliminary concepts for our letter naming we look at the next one which is all students reading proficient by grade three the percentage of all of our grade three students demonstrating proficiency on the MCA in the spring we wanted that to increase from 48% 49% to 52% 53% in the spring of 2019 our results were not and I know we discussed this before it was forty four point two percent of our grade three students we did not meet our goal for that particular one the goal for nineteen twenty is quite a stretch goal it's quite ambitious but it is sixty five point eight percent of our students being able to read proficiently by the end of grade three I've included some charts here to show the breakdown for that in by ethnicity and by special population groups just so that you can see there are some groups that are showing a significant dip that would be our Asian students we are seeing some growth with our black students African American students and we really are looking at a very low bar or low achievement rate for our Latino students and those are target areas that will continue to work with our free and reduced lunch and our ell populations continue to have a gap when considering all students and that's a important place to look at we're hoping that our newcomer curriculum will be one of those strategies that will help increase our goals for those a special education is it included here neither American Indians the note there is is that those groups were too small to report so when they are very small it's inappropriate to share that for data privacy the achievement integration looked at that as well the American Indian group was five so I wanted to make that clear and for the in higher grade and so that was twenty percent free and reduced lunch result was just slightly below the target for our Latinas population we did see that small increase and black students again didn't hit our target but we did increase from the prior year so there are some high points and some points of challenge all students reading proficient by grade three we really are focused on our multi-tiered systems of report in our implementation of the win time and the redirection of staffing to structured interventions we use evidence-based interventions for phonics and for comprehension the staff professional development last year they really did focus on defining those MT SS strategies MTS S stands for multi-tiered systems of support and looking at the screening and progress monitoring and those were two really big pieces because they allow for the early intervention and we also did last year the implementation of making meaning curriculum the next goal for world's best workforce is closing the achievement gap the goal for the district was to achieve to reduce that gap by 3.3 percent annually over the last three years that would put us at a target of twenty two point nine in the spring of 2019 in the spring of 2019 we reduced the gap to twenty seven point three percent so we did not hit our target even though we did see a small reduction our goal for nineteen twenty is eighteen point five percent again a challenging goal and one that we need to address world's best workforce I think looking at the gap between the students of color and our white students you see 17 in 2017 it was 29 percent in 2018 is twenty-seven point three and in 2019 it was twenty-seven point two so plateaued a little bit there world's best workforce we had the other goal was was looking at those same gaps in reading our goal was to reach twenty eight point seven the results from last year were 31.4% our goal is 22 point eight for next year when we look at the change in those gaps we see 33 in 2017 34 in 2018 so the gap really did spread and the gap in 2019 was 31 I don't want to celebrate too much that reduction in that gap because it was really looking at the students who earn on free and reduced lunch dipping in performance so we didn't change the gap by increasing for everyone our our student stayed pretty steady and our majority group decreased and so that's not how you're supposed to to do the achievement grab yeah some of the things that we did use we were implementing the multi-tiered systems of support of support we looked at embedding those things into the school improvement plans along with the CP SS our culturally proficient school systems professional development we talked a lot about doing our technology integration with the digital learning specialists as well and we did implement the embedded social and emotional curriculum in our literacy time for our college and career-ready making sure all students were college and career ready we used the indicator of the AC T we had a mean composite score of twenty point three in the prior year last year we had the mean composite average of twenty point nine that doesn't seem like a tremendous amount of growth but it does hit our 2020 target from the prior year and so that target still sits there however we are looking at how what how far are we going to exceed that target recognizing that all of our 11th graders take the AC T not just a select group and that the scores are really a really a good representation the achievement integration asks us to look at the disparities so the mean composite a CT score for our students enrolled in avid avid is the program that we use to support our learners it is representative of our school demographics and we provide college readiness skills for those students and when we look at their AC T scores we would like to see them increase five points each year in 2016 to 2020 they are looking at a score of twenty one point three as their average the mean composite score for our avid students in 1819 was eighteen point five eighteen point five with an inkwell it should say five sorry that's a typo but it no increase to 18.5 but for 1819 it really was an eighteen point one so it increased I think it was supposed to say eighteen point one to nineteen point one so the avid students are securing higher a CT scores they continue to grow with that preparation things that we're doing we're offering those advanced placement courses we're doing we did counselor training last year making sure that the courses we were providing to students had that full range of college readiness we implemented blazed time at our middle schools to do some enrichment and intervention and we did a realignment of our English language arts curriculum as well the world's best workforce also asks us to look at all students graduate the four-year graduation rate for Burnsville high school students was to increase for 1.5 percent from eighty five point five in 2016 to 87 in 2017 the results were in 1718 it was eighty five point three so we did not hit our target of 87% our 2020 goal is 90 percent this is what it looks like in comparison to the between the two high schools knowing that Burnsville alternative high school I know I've shared this with the board before is looking at students who enter that school who are behind and deficient in credits working at individual rate they have a lot of personalized learning opportunities their four-year graduation rate is quite low but they're 5 and 7 year graduation rate is very high this is what it looks like with a breakdown by ethnicity and by special populations when you see that you see that our free and reduced lunch while below the average for the whole group continues to make progress our special ed saw tremendous growth this year in their rates of graduation as did Arielle learners and so those are some things to really celebrate and know that while there is still a gap we are seeing improvement for those groups we saw decline with our Asian students black students remained quite flat and our Hispanic students continued to have the largest gap with our white students overall the achievement and Gration plan asked us to look at those disparities we and the first group that was targeted with our latina 'kz students hoping to increase that graduation rate to sixty five point five percent we only reached the target of 56.7 the goal for 2019 is 72 percent challenging the four-year graduation rate for black students was to increase from 72 to 74 we resulted in seventy one point five which is a decline and did not see any significant growth for them our goal for 2019 is 77 percent some strategies that we used were really making sure that our counselors were working diligently on those college and career counseling with those students we look at pathway development for students and making those connections between all of their courses and their pathway of choice we used Northstar and data analysis Northstar is really looking at the accountability data and it allows us to look at growth and changes for students overall to help us target some specific strategies that might be working and our high schools are part of the support from the Centers of Excellence working on their improvement plans this year so it will be good to see if they have made any significant growth as they implement those and work with those consultants our achievement integration supports our students in multiple ways one is is that we support them with the avid program including the eighth tonight's transition through the avid bridge we use those funds to support students attending college fairs we're doing extensive professional development this year in addition to what we did with avid elective teachers last year we provide tutors in those avid classrooms and it also supports the coordinators who are working and doing case management for students as they move to graduation we continued our cultural proficiency training through the support of achievement integration we support our cultural liaisons and provide interpretation services through this we were doing last year we did a couple of classes of parent education through the fire program which supports a lot of our Latino families in supporting their children for graduation we also support with providing social workers to connect families and students to resources that can help address some external needs so that they can focus on their pathways and we also looked at last year being the first year of putting together they amplify 191 a plan to support our staff of color thank you great thank you very much I'll open it for questions and comments board members dr. Schatz stretch goals indeed yes yeah so I'm assuming that the the slides then were you that you had listed the strategies those are those are the tools in order to reach the stretch goals those were the strategies that we used last year this year we are looking at a couple of different things we did avid school-wide professional development for all students not just the avid elective students so all staff will have those strategies at their hands we structured our new assessment for identifying progress monitoring for our students all of our students are doing weekly progress monitoring if they are not reading at grade level in grades K through 5 we're using some very aligned interventions and that's a great online tool for our teachers to pull those interventions that match exactly to the students and so the system that we put together with the fast assessments not only can does the assessment for the students but it puts together a personalized plan based on their strengths and weaknesses in that assessment so the teachers can group students who have like needs and then can do those small group interventions once a student has been successful in that we look at what other kinds of needs they may have and then they can't make our probably grouped and regrouped to do the next intervention we also this year under Bethany's Det direction are doing a model we call burst of service and that's when we have classrooms that are experiencing high percentages of students with the same kind of deficiency showing up we go in with that burst of service for ten to fifteen minutes a day for an extended time for three weeks perhaps and deliver that intervention to the entire class and that's a research-based strategy out of the University of Minnesota and it has really great success not only for the students who are struggling to reach that benchmark but the students who have reached that benchmark through the work of the class-wide intervention also increase so we see a lot of value with that and so Bethany is working with principals who have classrooms that meet that profile and delivering that burst of service for students in addition to their core instruction and in addition to their 30-minute intervention so that that's for the third elementary essentially yes is that and so and so another stretch goal certainly was the graduation rate that was a big jump for that as well and those those both the high schools are working on that very specific plan they were identified through the systems accountability process from the state of Minnesota based on their graduation data of not meeting that the state requirements or goals for graduation and so they have been provided this is the second year they have been provided with a consultant last year was a planning year this year there is their implementation that consultant meets with them on a regular basis and talks through the strategies that they've identified the high school they're really looking at the early intervention data that they receive to be able to target students even earlier for support in meeting their college and career readiness goals we're also working very closely with our PBIS and our social workers to really help provide the students with the outs and families without outside resources so that when they are struggling with finances or housing or mental health or physical health that they're able to be connected with resources and that can a lot of times help mitigate some of the distraction it can help support a great better attendance and again and better focus when the students are in the classrooms and so I think the social worker working with them or specifically on targeting that we are this year we are working with a Native American tutor to focus on our Native American students at the high school to provide additional support in academics for that particular group and we it's it's a very long list of things but I think as we look at our achievement integration plan looking at what the work that the cultural liaison said are doing we had one graduating class so far of our fire and that was almost exclusively all Latino families looking at how do they support their children all the way through graduation excellent I love big goals and so it sounds like you certainly have the tools to back them up certainly inherited some very challenging goals but I think there's some really great teamwork going on and some nice pieces that we can continue to stretch with that's great well I'm looking forward to next year's report when we you know shoot even higher thank you thank you thank you any other questions or comments director courier yes thank you I just want to crush in our audience that one of the hazards of using MCA data is that it's not the same students we're looking at it's not longitudinal it's a different group of youngsters that we're looking at so it isn't the same so the the group could be completely different so that's the hazards of using MCA data so we could have an extraordinary group and teachers doing wonderful things well teachers do wonderful things anyway but the group could be totally different so the the data would be different so and I really appreciate you sharing that and pointing that out one of the advantages of the North Star reports is looking at where the pockets of growth are and the new reports that came this year MDE is providing us with individualized goals for ell students and target goals for every student on the MCA so we know how much that student needs to increase in the number of points that they achieve so they are addressing the need for organizations to look at their students in terms of growth in a more personalized way and we haven't had that in the past and so that's a real benefit thank you thank you dr. carrier any other comment sir dr. Miller yes thank you again for there's a lot in this report to unpack obviously and and but I do to expand on what director Currie was saying there are just a few measures in here that we're looking at and I think it's important to note that there are many many measures of success in a district of our size and these are just a handful in fact so the the third-grade reading those would be the kids that are fourth grade this year correct and it's just trying to go back to the demographic study we had recently though I believe that and well I know the ones that are third grade this year and I think the ones are fourth grade are is a very small comparatively small class so that might have had some impact on the data set also anyway but again you know just caution note of caution MCA is an especially graduation rates there's Papers written about the problems with those data sets so and the other piece with MCA data really is is that they are an efficient tool to look at systems accountability they are not an efficient tool to look at individual student needs and that is one of the reasons why we look at other local measures making sure that we can do look at data that really helps us plan instruction and support for students as well as enrichment for them so we do have other measures in the district we also need to know that students are more than math and reading and that there are many other measures that measures student success and some of them are about intent attendance and engagement some of them are about their participation in enrichment activities and really looking at that holistic view of how they are performing with their specialists and some of those other opportunities that are provided in our schools thank you any other comments or questions dr. Chester so going with a graduation rates I know that we have an emphasis on four-year graduation rate but I think just even if the student needs extra time to graduate you noted in the alternative high school that the graduation rates at five and six years are much higher are high for graduation rates and so just having a student graduate and had to get their diploma even regardless of the four years as a it's a marketed achievement and I'd really be interested to kind of see what that percentage at five and six out of the alternative high school would be at some point in time and then also interested in the students because I think he said that we had a graduation rate of eighty-five percent out of Burnsville high school and wondering of the 15 percent that didn't make it at four years how many went on to the alternative high school and then finished in five and six because I think that kimochi demonstrates a success rate in terms of student achieving that a high school diploma and I think I think I shared that information with you at our college and career report almost all of them I think we only have probably five percent of students that are unaccounted for those students who don't graduate all the rest of them are identified as continuing on whether they're continuing on in our alternative high school or in some other alternative high school or high school in the state so I think really yep four-year graduation rates are really terrific and matched the needs of many students but giving students a more personalized timeline often times can be very helpful especially for students who may have struggled early in their high school career and it's hard to catch up a whole year of you know difficult circumstances whatever they may be and providing that kind of personalized attention that they can get at the alternative high school is really necessary I'm really proud of the alternative high school to for not just helping students graduate from high school but also embracing the avid college and career readiness and offering college in the school courses there as well so those students not just graduating but graduating with a look forward to their college and career options definitely something to celebrate thank you any other comments or questions I had a couple first really thrilled to hear about the pre-k K alignments working on that with fidelity we've been talking about it for for some time and I'm that it's been in process and so really appreciate hearing that that coming forward one thing that I would be interested you know you mentioned the other indicators and you've only presented you know one it might be interesting for us to see what those other and you know the results for those other indicators are because as you point out a student is more than just math and reading and I know this board appreciates you know the whole child approach as well so that that might be interested interesting to share with us this year with much support and accolades to our early childhood folks Cindy Czech and Jack B Smith working with us on the pre-k to three alignment grant from MDE and part of it will be looking at their measurement instrument of TS gold teaching strategies gold which is a research based instrument as well it does a more portfolio work collection observation method and hitting all of those domains making sure that students are working along those domains developmentally and that's part of the exciting work of matching that up with our kindergarten folks and really taking some time to do that so that's great I appreciate that work and then one comment where can I find it oh the gap students of color I mean you had attributed it to a decrease of the gap but that again was another example of not the right kind of gap closure that is correct right so we're gonna look forward to having different results next year and then we still there still is an anti plan or report yes thank you this is the final year of our 3-year plan so we'll finish it out this year and I'll be bringing to you after the first of the year the next three year plan got it okay or twenty-one great thank you with that thank you very much you very much next we're saying we're staying with Amina and we are receiving a report on pathways k12 and being joined by Bethany welcome I don't know where this presentation so Gerald members of the board superintendent battle I would like to share the introduction with my elementary curriculum coordinator Bethany Van Estelle Elementary coordinator of curriculum instruction assessment and we are just really thrilled to bring this follow-up report to you at the last time we shared this with you we had a rough idea perhaps the nugget of an idea we have really taken some time to put a little bit more meat on that and to think about what that's going to look like in terms of implementation so we start again with with change comes opportunity and gives us this opportunity to reimagine our elementary programming going back to the roadmap thinking about rigorous personalized learning thinking about relevant and engaging instruction and enrichment and I really want to highlight the idea of enrichment thinking about how do we innovate make ourselves attractive and align our academic program pre-k through 12 again we come back to why why would we want to create a pathway school knowing that we really want to take that framework of equity and access for exceptional programming for all students regardless of what neighborhood in which they live that all programming would be available to any student we look at our rigor maintaining those high expectations for all students and really laying out a program that asks them to perform at those levels and supporting them to get there the alignment there is a real powerful thought when you think about those pre-k students they're three and four-year-olds at pre-k knowing that there is a pathway clear for them to be successful graduates and be set up upon the world in order to make their choices about what they want to be when they grow up some of us don't decide for a long time what are we going to do about that how do we how do we do that first of all we need to make commitment to support our advanced learners we need to make sure that our advanced learners regardless of what school in which they attend have the opportunity to have direct services our advanced learners include those high potential students as well as our gifted and talented students aligned with high school pathways making sure that our programming has a clear connection from pre-k Playstations that represent the doctor's office and things related to personal health all the way to students earning their CNA certificate by the time they leave high school there's a connection there I heard loud and clear in all of the parents in community meetings that we had that there really was a deep felt with our staff and with our families for some of the lost programming and services that had happened has happened because of the budget reductions and thinking about what are the avenues the opportunities with the consolidation of schools that we could really leverage to gain some of those back utilizing our assets to innovate there are so many things that are already in our system there's so many unique and outstanding pieces of programming that we just need to remember how do we enhance those strengthen those and make them part of that k12 alignment so I I appreciate very much being invited to this conversation this evening it goes without saying we're in a heavy season in our district and what I really hope that this proposal in this presentation can do is to inspire us to consider maybe shifting our narrative tonight from the possibility of closing two buildings an elementary to the possibility of opening eight and how we might reimagine what that could look like as we are facing some possible facilities realignments consolidations how could we lean into that and look at that as an opportunity to create innovative schools programming that mimics and mirrors what we've already done at the high school and so when I think about what this does for our Elementary's Amina talked about the the pathways that we have at the high school which as we all know have have we've received national recognition for these pathways we have people coming from all over the country to visit these pathways and to see what our high schoolers are doing in terms of these career trajectories and so when we consider this for our youngest kids we're not necessarily thinking about getting them in a career path at this point but rather thinking about how we can give them opportunities to glimpse possibilities and so most of you know that well I've been a coordinator in this district for going into six years now I also I'm a parent of a first grader and a three-year-old who goes downstairs who attend in the district and so I am frequently putting on my parent hat when I think about this and I think about what I really hope and dream for my child and that's to have as a school setting that helps him uncover his potential and helps him find his path and while I would like to be able to direct that I'm learning quickly that I don't have much say in that and his teachers have a lot more influence than I do when he comes home he's often talking about what he did with mr. Guzman and music or what he's learning with mr. is stoan digital learning and while yes we're talking about reading and math you mentioned it before our kids are more than readers and mathematicians they're musicians they are little IT people learning about coding it blows my mind and to this slide we really want them to be given these opportunities and exposure starting in pre-k so that they can start dreaming dreaming big about where they may end up so I mentioned our pathways at the high school and this isn't new for any of us right we know that those of us that have been around a while know that these pathways are a series of classes that kids can get into in the ninth grade more solidly maybe in the 11th grade where they can graduate from high school with a certificate that can allow them to be more marketable for for their next steps we think about those high schoolers kind of reaching their arms up to touch their future well for our little ones when they reach their arms up they touch middle school they touch high school so we want them to start thinking about those opportunities that might be there for them in these pathways so what we did was we took the graphic that we have for the high school pathways and we removed all of the classes and we started thinking about what this might look like at elementary so you're gonna notice that there's gonna be the same icons in the center circle but that the the terminology of the pathways is tweaked just a little bit to make it more elementary like and so we have a health health well-being in social-emotional learning pathway we have a visual and performing arts which also includes communication and that includes our literacy pathway a math design an engineering pathway and then an entrepreneurship pathway and what I love about starting to imagine these Amina has been an amazing thought partner and we've been bouncing ideas and my my team that I get to work with and once you start putting on this lens of pathways for our elementary kids it's amazing what comes to light that we're already doing we already have a really strong social emotional component to our literacy program we really have amazing music programs and amazing experts in our music and arts departments we have a great literacy program in math design and engineering we have pretty incredible maker spaces well we want to start thinking about now as we move into opening the possibility of opening eight buildings with new staff new students and new families is how do we enhance this how do we make this even stronger for our kids and our students our staff and Families entrepreneurship is one that is exciting to think about our kids are already doing this they're already setting up lemonade stands they're already thinking about goals that they want to crush they're already thinking about those how do we now provide them maybe books in their classroom libraries that they can read more about already kid entrepreneurs so the other story to this that I want to highlight is we've used our curriculum review process and we've shared that with you a lot where it's a process of bringing teachers to the table to help make decisions and build programs and recommend change and it's been tried and true with our literacy program where we have representatives typically two from each building along with the support staff so that we have the lens all the lenses that we need to go through a process that looks at what do we currently have what does research say we should have and what do we need to get there and so with that process that's been tried and true that really allows our teachers to be at the heart of these programs this is what we want to do with this idea we want steering committees to be to represent each pathway so that our health well-being and social-emotional learning pathway would have a steering committee that would allow this to be built from the ground up with the people that do it and better than anyone else and that's our teachers and so when we think about the the beauty of this is also we've got people that haven't been a part of that yet because they're not necessarily part of specific literacy work in terms of teaching the classroom core literacy our art teachers our digital learning specialists are fired teachers it's now their turn to come in and help us build this and highlight these programs even more and I've heard that they are more than excited to get involved and start bringing their expertise into these decision recommendations they're the steering is a recommendation committee so with that I provide you with kind of a visual representation of what our pathway schools will look like for pre-k through 12 each of the four pathways you can see on the far end under high school is listed there and what we have done is really look at what that might look like at each of those grades whether we've got math number sense and puzzle and building stations in our pre-k and kindergarten it may look like health career visits or project-based learning for intermediate students all the way through to middle school while this presentation is really focused on our Elementary's there there's a whole connection there and a design for our middle school as well really taking students through all of those pieces what we have here are a broad brush and as Bethany has shared really looking at what that might look like from the teachers who are required to put it together we're talking about moving them on that last that bottom graphic moving them from awareness are we using that academic language for health for Entrepreneurship for coding and engineering are we using that language and helping kids be aware of it too exploration are we giving kids a chance to play with things to try out some different pieces to exploration and experiences so by the time the students are in 5 through 8 they are having some real classroom experiences that allow them to touch those things so that when they're making some choices from eighth grade to ninth grade they have the language they have the concepts they have the experiences and are able to better refine their choices in their exploration and then if they choose to engage fully they will select a pathway and complete the coursework to do that and earn that certificate looking at supporting our advanced learners in very different innovative ways looking at our identification process beginning in second grade to really do some direct service to students in kind of a rotating mat manner based on themes and interests looking at our avid program our middle and high school and thinking about that college and career concepts language and readiness skills to be successful in school in our intermediate grades as well this is a lot of stuff on on the plate there's a lot of things here you can't do all of these things at once this is really kind of a gradual release over the next three years it's also important to note that while we have some of these things in place we have read used some of the services and some of the resources for those in order to move through a three-year timeline we are looking at how do we utilize some of the resources and the savings that we will get from if you decide to move forward with the school consolidations being able to serve to middle schools allows us to think about doing an orchestra and band equally in each of those two middle schools if there are three that will be really impossible to maintain if we are looking at eight sites we know that we'll get savings and reductions in staff travel time being reduced being able to reinstate some of the support for maker spaces looking at alternative funding and seeing if we can find those sustainable pieces that can support our avid in our middle schools already can that be extended to eight Elementary School's having ten elementary schools well that doesn't seem like a big piece kind of moves us into a higher cost differential and so there are some things that will really be able to do with the economy of eight schools and two middle schools that we wouldn't be able to do that we're not able to do right now so there are some really key pieces here there is a timeline that I've proposed in the first year of transition we're really looking at the advanced learning specialists at each site this is the big ask in terms of savings and monetary interest advanced learning specialists we know is going to be more of a cost and it's a dis depending on whether or not we will have enough of a savings to invest in those learning specialists for every student in every elementary school band in Orchestra round-robin experiences again we can use some of the savings and resources that we have in place but the consolidation of being able to make that happen in eight schools is much more possible during the regular school year the digital learning specialists really that's one of those pieces that no matter what we will be able to do that we have those resources we have that staff and we have some development monies that we can use for that particular group however the staffing to support those makerspaces into an great those into the classrooms that again is dependent on us capturing some of that FTE back and then we'll move forward with our math curriculum pilot we already have done phases one and two Bethany has led those folks through that and now she's ready to lead them through phase three year two we would look at theater performing arts using an artist-in-residence model looking at partnering with other organizations to do health and well-being career activities looking at developing project based learning and entrepreneurship understanding that the children who are in our elementary schools are living in an economy that is entrepreneurial that will have been always in their lives and so with globalization with technology being an entrepreneur whether it's for profit or for passion for a non-profit or a foundational interest that they have that is very possible for them and we want to give them the language and the skills to be able to do that and then we'll move on to the full implementation of the math curriculum in year three we will implement those project-based learning opportunities for students looking at our k5 math curriculum implementation for the second year and if the we still have the appropriate funding we'll begin the phase one for our next generation science standards which will then be able to support all of the stem activities that we're doing because the new science standards are very inquiry based and inquiry learning and so that will give us a really nice companion to the digital learning pieces that we're doing already and finally in year three being able to take a look at our avid elementary and making some plans of how that might be implemented and supporting our students in our intermediate grades all of these things are very powerful small bits that are building on the foundation of excellent programming that we already have I think it is really important for us to also then say we have pathway schools these are schools in which we have clearly articulated the pathway and matriculation to those high school college and career that also helps us push and support high expectations for all of our students and really build that rigor for students because they have that destination in mind moving forward we have spent some time collecting feedback from teachers and principals I have used every single teacher group that I can possibly find if they're meeting here I probably have interrupted their meeting and shared this with them and then Bethany has created an opportunity for them to provide feedback to us and she would just take a you know just a minute to just share what the responses have been so we have been meeting with groups throughout and this slide did not get in the slide deck because we just finished meeting with a group this afternoon so we have been meeting with building leadership teams digital learning specialists steering committees blended learning cohorts learning specialists and we have presented this to them and overall the feedback is extremely positive so they've responded to three large questions that I believe the pathways presented would enhance current programming at the elementary level to that 93% of our 54 responders responded favorably to that so 93 percent are in favor at first glance I'm energized by that the idea of the proposal of the pathways 87 percent of people responded favorably and I believe the pathways would energize students and families 96 percent of people that have heard this proposal in the last two weeks responded favorably to that and really quickly I think just a couple of comments that pop out one teacher said the pathways at Elementary School would provide incredible opportunities to tap into students strengths we would be on the cutting edge of innovation and this would be a way to embed lifelong skills into our school day another teacher said I think this is an exciting opportunity for our families to be part of a cohesive program across all grade levels that will prepare our students to be future ready it's a comprehensive approach that addresses the whole child and third a third teacher that I that I thought it would highlight is I see the pathways as an opportunity for students to be celebrated for their unique strengths and talents I also think a program like this would energize staff with that positive feedback and we've made some tweaks and changes along the way that does give us a really good foundation to share with you and then to go forward and share with all staff in the district and then the next piece we'll really be looking at how do we refine that with feedback from our families and so giving opportunities for them to weigh in about what kinds of things do they think are high priorities the timeline is a proposed timeline if prior different priorities pop up then we can adjust pieces in the timeline we are working very closely together with our finance department to think about what our three-year budget would look like for this implementation along with a sustainability plan it is my intention that these things become they're our core pathway schools and that none of these pieces end up on the fringe - two concerns about budget cuts that people can say yep this is our pathway pieces and this is how we're going to sustain them and then putting together the steering groups for planning and implementation so those are our next steps I think it is really important for you to know that we believe in this plan we think it is the best organization and strengths for our students to really support our work with equity and access if there are we don't have see the savings form the school consolidations we will move forward with this plan it will not be able to be completed in three years it will take much longer and we will do one small piece at a time but we will get there and we will do what is best for our students this is very the three-year budget is very much predicated on the idea that there will be some savings through the school consolidations so we're trying to be that silver lining in what we know can can be a difficult time so with that I want to leave you with that graphic in mind knowing that the pathways are radiate from the high school across the middle school and into our Elementary's and our pre-k thank you awesome thank you very much questions or comments from board members director Schatz okay I said it last time and I'll say it again I love this idea and I I guess I want to so thank you for this and for your work on it I'm not surprised by their feedback that you got from the teachers about how exciting this is I'm sure they see the potential and the excitement around this I mean it's that's the kind of learning that students learn best is that that type of project-based and experimental learning and I guess I also want to say that this is a great example of the reason why this is such a great district this kind of thinking for how we serve our students how we develop curriculum how we best help all each of our students become ready for whatever it is that follows them now life after high school but throughout their educational career in the district so thank you for that Thank You director Schatz comments from this side dr. Hume at the risk of being repetitive I think this is fantastic I think it's really exciting potential exciting opportunities I thought it was it's probably intentional on your part that your previous presentation you talked about how students are so much more than mathematicians and readers and here you are talking about the other things that I'm sure that was your plan right that the other things that are also so important to our students education so thank you for all the work that's been done up to this point I think it's fantastic to potentially be giving them all students in the district not just the ones who can maybe afford it the opportunities to maybe have some experiences they wouldn't otherwise be able to have so I get one question I have and it may be premature but what was that round robin experiences for band and orchestra do you have any idea what that looks like as a band parent I'm trying to picture right but round robin band and orchestra might look like I have an idea mm-hmm but I'm not an expert in music and so it would have to be flushed out but one of the concepts that I have is that we have the asset of lots of instruments we don't have instruments that so that we could have a full band program in every single elementary or an orchestra in every single elementary but we do have enough instruments that we could have students do a three or four week opportunity to touch experience both Orchestra stringed instruments and ban instruments so three or four weeks with with band instruments three or four weeks with stringed instruments have them participate in the concerts different kinds of Road shows so that when they do come to that point they they won't have had a whole year of a band but every single student regardless of what elementary school they have they are in at that time will know more about their choices with stringed and band instruments and then we would also through the funding be able to pay to have someone come and fit all of those students in the spring for instruments that they may have chosen and then it won't matter which middle school they go to both middle schools will have the opportunity for them to do Orchestra or band and to see those programs who can grow so it's no longer about if I could just variance into that school I could have Orchestra it is now every student will have those experiences and to have that during their music classroom music time so it's not taking away from any other times that they have and doing that in conjunction with the classroom teacher so to have that round-robin person who's tooling around and we just ship the instruments from one building to the next thank you sounds similar to the chest residency tradition that we have here with fourth graders having that that opportunity other questions or comments dr. Miller Oh Chester thank you this for clarification especially for our audience and then also just for me too is with the like our current model of our of our elementary schools we have some that are sort of like have like a magnet theme the idea now is moving to pathways in terms of all four pathways all four experiences are in every single elementary school so no matter what elementary school that you're in you're going to be having that that same experience with with pathways yes the intention is is that every single one of our schools will offer these different types of experiences for students that's why the round robin would go to every single one of the schools and the artists and resident artists and reticent residents would go to every sing school the entrepreneur interdisciplinary units would happen in every single school advanced learning specialists in every single school so I don't need a variance into another school I have all those opportunities if I variance into another school I have those same opportunities there as well and I think when we look at reimagining those eight schools that are going to open up we want them to open up with those strong structures in place so that every student has that equitable access to that high rigorous and whole child experiences it was followed with that because you know it's thinking money too and and everything that's going on I know that in the workshop that you kind of introduced this to prior to this presentation you had noticed noted ways to fund it so even outside of what may or may not be a savings with the consolidation what are the what are some of the funding opportunities for this so looking at a cheap 'men integration as we are putting forward our next three-year plan to incorporate into year three the exploration for elementary avid because achievement immigration is already supporting that looking at the title four dollars which now will be reoccurring funding to support the music fitting for the instruments and support the the curriculum development for all of that as well as supporting some of costs for the artists and residents for the Performing Arts in year two it will also title four will also help support our students with professional development and resources that can be purchased for the advanced learning specialists to use and also for supplies that maybe are outside of the budget of technology for the maker spaces so there there's a lot of pieces along that way our professional development and our steering committee work can be funded through title two and digital learning specialists work can be funded out of the technology levy so I think there are some very different ways that we can be creative with the funding that we have available and if we can pair that and braid that with savings that come or opportunities that come from the consolidation we will have plenty to go forward and I think making sure that that is a sustainable model as well any other questions or comments director Miller well thank you this is fantastic I think you guys use the rest of the superlatives up so great this is so awesome you're doing this and it's awesome that you're bringing this here tonight you know I want to just go back over something that you touched on and hammer on it a bit this is foundation off of what's going on at the high school has been developed and is in place and is very successful at the high school the pathways program and this is spreading it down into every aspect of our district and it's in our district as you alluded to the pathways program at the high school has garnished national attention we've had visitors from other parts of the country come and see what's going on here and the reason they come here is because it's not at other districts in the twin cities around us and it's not going to be at other elementary schools around us here in the Twin Cities and in districts around us so you know this is this is what sets us apart this coupled with the fact that we have more college and the credits available than any other district around this is a great example thank you this has been fantastic thank you I think that being able to promote us as a district saying we have these innovative programs and we have this k12 pathway to a successful graduate even if you're bringing your three year old to us and let them go to school downstairs that we have that vision for your child and that they'll be able to participate in all of those things from coding to advanced learning specialists to instrumental music all of those pieces any other comments nope okay I had a couple um I concur I I got choked up the first time I heard the presentation I got choked up again tonight because this is what I have been hoping for for all of our kids and it goes back to vision 191 and the fact that we started with getting pathways into the high school and then equitable access to great programming in the middle schools and now we're doing that for our littles and that just that just makes me so happy everything takes time and I know I say that way too much but at the same time three years and and I'm hearing you say you're looking at this being sustainable and I know I've probed a little bit you know in conversation because this is such a great opportunity to I love the phrase opening eight new schools because that's that's what we would be doing and really getting all of that access and great opportunity for all of our kids in each of our Elementary's it's just great not tonight but another you know follow-up question I'm I believe unless it's changed our cultural liaisons and social workers are funded through a and I and I would be interested in understanding where we're going to land with them because they do play a very important role and I know you know that [Music] partnerships I hear you saying that we likely will be leveraging community experts in order to do this I think there are many opportunities to leverage those community experts especially if we're doing some artists and residents kinds of pieces great and I think that does it okay just as my final conclusion I remarked I want to say how important to equity this is and I see this as an amazing opportunity to address our achievement gap yes we can address the needs of students through remediation and intervention but we also need to look at those high rigorous expectations students need to see people that look like them sound like them or have the same life experiences that they have in these different careers in these different settings they need to be able to experiencing them themselves so that it's not I'm struggling in reading so I can never participate in the coding action activities instead that might be where I truly excel and then I do know that I can work on my struggling readers so I just I just feel like getting these kinds of opportunities in the hands of children very young really does build hope it helps interrupt the poverty mindset and it really does give children just that opportunity to see themselves as something besides a struggling reader or a poor math student and I really believe in the whole child and I believe this will be one of those things that has an impact on our achievement gap thank you both very much next we will receive a report from our superintendent dr. battle thank you board chair alt and members of the board there were two wonderful examples of our students showing character over the past few weeks and I want to share them with you and our community now first as we had our Fall Break recently I want to highlight a project sponsored by the Burnsville high school youth service Advisory Council they created a gratitude board at the school giving students and staff the opportunity to give thanks to anyone or anything and our communications team took the opportunity to ask a few Burnsville high school students and staff what they are thankful for so let's take a look now bring fill high school so I'm thank you I'm thankful for my mom because she's been there for me when I and I was having a hard time you know because she gave birth that's what I think I'm right the group of being here how do they life I'm thankful for my teachers and always supporting me I'm thanking for my pets my teachers were always helping me I'm thankful for my family and friends because they're always there supporting me and also my teachers were always helping me out well I'm thankful for my amazing Sullivan family the most looking for my family and my friends in the support of my it's so great to hear students express their thanks for the support of their parents their friends and their teachers and their pets and it's important that our staff and our students hear that they are appreciated so thank you to Burnsville high school Youth Service Advisory Council for putting the project together next the Harriet Bishop elementary community led by the school service club made a statement about their values with the unveiling of a unity mural that depicts a tree with heart-shaped leaves decorated by students here are a few pictures for your viewing positioned right in the school's entryway the mural was created in response to an incident of racist graffiti in the neighborhood earlier this fall it greets students and visitors with the phrase every person welcomed every person included every person valued I am so proud of the determination of our students staff and community members to speak out against racism and in favor of inclusion Harriet Bishop truly is community strong and that ends my superintendents report thank you very much our student representative is not here this evening she had we have it we have a substitute welcome so you appeared forgot to tell you welcome if you would introduce yourself and let us let us hear your report I'm showing here I'm just something today let me pull up the report sorry so today's report is relatively short I want to highlight something that I could a few weeks ago on November 6 the student council and the National Honor Society it went to a South Suburban Student Leadership Conference there we were able to converse with student leaders in other schools and share ideas as well as make connections with other schools one school that we connected with in particular was Lakeville North High School we spoke about diversity in our student bodies which is something that Burnsville thrives in but their school accents so the Lakeville North students asked us for help in embracing diversity and getting more people of color involved in their student council we invited them to join us for snow week in February which is a week of winter events that gets students involved in fun school activities at BHS we wanted to know if we wanted them to see how our student council operates and how inclusive we were in our planning so that they can hopefully use what they learned from our school and their activities that concludes my report great report and my apologies for for not noticing that remembering that you were going to be here and having not having you sitting up here and you're welcome you're welcome to stay next are there any board member reports director Hume so I missed the foundation 191 monthly meeting earlier this week because it was the same night as our workshop but I was asked to remind the board of the upcoming annual gala for foundation 191 it'll be on Thursday February 13th at the Environmental Learning Center in Savage and you can all expect a personal invitation from the Foundation Board soon and that concludes my report fantastic thank you any other board member reports director Miller the legislative committee met on November 19th with Senator Clawson who although has a small piece of our district in his his district he's very attached and involved in the educational issues at the same point in st. Paul at the state level so we had an engaging conversation I think it was illuminating for him to see what was going on in the district and it was a very well received opportunity to open some more doors of conversations so we continue to meet with in the future here with other representatives in our area okay thank you very much any other let's see committee reports let's go to the policy review committee with director courier we met this week and I will give a more complete report at our next meeting sounds great Thank You director shots and chair of the negotiations committee the negotiations committee continues to meet with be EA we had a meeting last night as a matter of fact and we will probably pause now for a winter break and meet convenien in January great thank you legislative we heard from the student performance and achievement Committee of the whole has not met and we will look at our next opportunity to meet in the new year next with any other board appointments or school assignments are there any reports no all right next turning to the business portion of our meeting with the consent agenda although board action is required it is generally unnecessary to hold discussion on these items in the event a board member wishes to discuss an item that item will be moved for separate consideration are there any items that board members would like to separate hearing none I will take a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved by director courier second seconded by a director Miller all those in favor please signify by saying aye opposed nay and the motion carries new business we will turn to receiving a recommendation from dr. battle to approve facilities recommendation dr. battle chair all directors of the board student representative my administration and I are bringing you a recommendation to adopt the resolutions for the closure of one middle school John Metcalf and two elementary schools M W savage elementary and Su Trail Elementary I do not relish bringing this recommendation to you it's not what I want to be doing as an educator and an educational leader at the same time as I've said before this work is essential I know these changes are about more than bricks and mortar they are about history memories emotion and relationships too I also believe that we will come out of this stronger and a better position to serve our students and that gives me hope and excitement about the future of 191 district 191 has experienced the climbing enrollment for about 15 years losing nearly 2,000 students from its peak while reconfiguring great levels and adding pre-kindergarten classes Elementary School's has made use of the space at district schools a comprehensive facility study completed in June 2019 found that six Elementary School's and two middle schools are underutilized in terms of square feet per student compared to state guidelines we hired a neutral third-party consultant to assist with the facilitation of the process to gather feedback and make recommendations about facility usage we engaged our community to make the best decisions for our students and families more than 400 people participated in person at community focus groups another 300 provided input online and middle and high school students were surveyed through this engagement work the community told us they agree that closing schools is the right step the recommendations were based on the criteria developed by the consultant and with public input people who have participated in this process passionately let us know how these changes will impact their families and community and promise to hold us accountable for our decisions they also gave us hope when they share their positive experiences in district 191 additionally they offered help by recognizing the difficult decisions before us offering to walk with us along the way and sharing their high expectations for the future I am grateful to students parents civic leaders and community members who provided feedback and advocacy throughout this process I am appreciative of the 191 staff who has helped who have helped us ensure that the process has been transparent Thoreau and kept the best interests of our students at the forefront one of our four strategic directions tells us to close gaps and raise achievement for all students our students are focused on their learning teachers and other staff are supporting their learning and our families have high expectations and love and support each learner we must provide programs and services to support our learners and give our staff the resources they need to increase achievement for all and to close gaps we are seeing progress with our new literacy program from the collaborative classroom making meeting and being a reader curriculums nine out of ten district 191 Elementary School's equalled or outperform the state average when it comes to student progress on state reading tests in 2019 and on average English learners are bilingual and multilingual students at each elementary school showed greater progress toward English proficiency than the state average we must continue to close the gaps between our white students and our American Indian and students of color right now that gap ranges from 10 to 30 points across our elementary schools another strategic direction tells us that we will maximize resources for optimal student learning facilities realignment which includes possible closing of schools and leveraging our assets such as Diamond Head Education Center cedar school and River Ridge is one part of a comprehensive comprehensive approach to meeting financial challenges and setting us up for success these other pieces include the levy referendum we cannot thank our community enough for giving us those resources another component is financial management we must continue to right-size our budget to match the enrollment we must seek alternative funding such as grants and we must continue to be advocates at the legislature to make sure we receive the funding that each student needs so we also need to advocate through legislative action another piece is to have continued academic and school climate improvements so that's what this is all about making a decision while difficult has to forge a new vision for district 191 while addressing our financial situation with stakeholders continued support to put us in the best situation to serve students families and the community we will successfully navigate whatever decision the board makes I do believe district 191 schools and programs will come out stronger for having taken comprehensive action of all the components that I just shared with you I recognize these changes will cause strong emotions including sadness and even anger I want you to know regardless of what school students attend they will have teachers and staff who care for them and that each school will work hard to build community with families my staff and I will need the resources to support students and families so members of the board you have a solemn task front of you I believe you have approached it with an open mind and like our community members you have asked me and my team challenging and important questions as you try to make the best decision possible you have also shared that you do not want to mothball any and close schools but to find ways to repurpose so they are still a strong part of the community for members whatever decisions you make my team and I will support and implement with that my facilities recommendation to you is that the Board of Education adopts the attached resolutions in the board book closing Metcalf middle school Marion W Savage elementary school and Sioux Trail Elementary School Thank You director battle per statutory requirements we will have clerk Schatz read the resolutions we will start with the resolution to close Metcalf middle school whereas the notice of public hearing on the question of the necessity and practicability of closing sutra elementary school marian Devery savage elementary school and Metcalf middle school was published in the legal newspaper of the school district for two successive weeks on November 22nd and November 29 29 and whereas the Thailand place of the meeting was set forth in the notice and whereas Metcalf middle school was identified in the notice as a school considered for closing and whereas the reasons for the proposed closing were set forth and said notice and whereas numerous opportunities provided for members of depth of the community to be heard were therefore against the question of closing su trail elementary school Mary endeavour W savage elementary school and Metcalf middle school including a December September 23rd 2019 design team meeting through a feedback form community focus group meetings held in October third october 7th october 8th october 9 october 14 in october 15 2019 multiple site meetings for staff at each school held between October 1 and October 8 2019 multiple site meetings held for middle school and high school students between October 8th and Torn October 18 2019 an online feedback forum active from October 1 through October 20 2019 and a meeting with Metcalf families on November 18 2019 and whereas that I'm November 14 2019 the school board heard a presentation and recommendation presented by consultant dr. Roger Warner and whereas a public hearing on said closings was conducted in accordance with Minnesota Statutes 123 B . 5-1 subdivision 5 pursuant to said notice by the school board beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Diamond Head Education Center 200 West Burnsville Parkway Burnsville Minnesota and whereas the school board has considered the following materials July to 2019 Baker Chile organizational analysis study July 8 2019 presentation of organizational analysis study by dr. Roger Warner and dr. K Warner August 8 2019 review of facilities study and recommendations presentation September 12 2019 outline for facilities study process update and facilities review timeline September 17 2019 facilities realignment presentation for dr. Roger Warner October 10 2019 facilities of realignment process update October 24 2019 facilities realignment process update and then of over 24 2019 memorandum and presentation from dr. Roger Warner and whereas testimony and materials were received during the course of the hearing by anyone in favor of or opposed to said closings and the hearing was not deemed closed until everyone who requested to speak had an opportunity to do so and whereas the school board has considered the recommendation of the administration to close suit rail Elementary Marion W Savage Elementary in Metcalf Middle School pursuant to the recommendation of the consultant Warner now therefore be resolved that after considering the materials in the record the testimony presented it said hearing held pursuant to Minnesota Statutes 123 B . 5-1 subdivision 5 and the recommendations of the administration the School Board of Independence district number 191 Burnsville Egon Savage school district hereby determines at Metcalf middle school located at 2 to 5 0 definitely Road Burnsville Minnesota shall be closed effect at the end of 2019 20 school year for the following reasons and based on the following findings of fact 1 in the spring of 2019 the school district Commission Baker chili municipal advisors LLC to perform an organizational analysis study to ascertain the status of the school district and tender conclusions and recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness efficiency and cost effectiveness of the school district Baker Chile contracted with doctors Roger and K Warner to conduct the study to the conclusions of the Baker Tilly study represented the school board in July 2019 the study included analyses of the school districts enrollment enrollment trends finances programs and services staffing facilities the study results in a 57 page report that contained a number of conclusions and recommendations in relevant part the study recommended the district closed to elementary schools in one middle school at the end of the 2019 2020 school year the recommendations were significantly and substantially predicated in the school districts past enrollment decline the school districts future projected enrollment decline results in under utilization in the school districts elementary middle school levels leading to increased cost and ineffectiveness declining general fund balance and past a projected future general fund budget reductions for the school districts enrollment is declining a over the ten-year span of time from 29 2009 to 2010 through 2018 2019 the school district's enrollment declined by 1424 students or 50.5% from 9850 eight students in 29 2009 2010 to eight thousand three hundred thirty four students in 2018 2019 B the enrollment decline was steady with the number of enrolled students declining in ten consecutive years from 2009 2010 through 2018 2019 over the next five years the school districts enrollment is projected to further decline from 833 for students in 2018 2019 to 7500 ninety-eight students in 2020 324 representing a net loss of seven thirty-six students or 8.8% D based in the past and projected future enrollment declines the school district will have last the equivalent of 90 class sections in Slough assuming an average class section size of 25 students per Section over the 15 year span of time from 2009 2010 through 2023 24 II the school districts net loss of students through open enrollment migration during the 2017-2018 school year was 1556 students while an additional 1,200 48 students out migrated from the school district to non-public charter in home school settings 5 the school districts general fund balance is declining a the school district has last significant general fund revenue as a result of declining enrollment and student out migration and is projected to further experience revenue losses as a result of declining enrollment and student out my creations in the future be the school districts general fund balance is declined by seven million six hundred ninety eight thousand six hundred twenty seven dollars or thirty two point seven percent over the five year span of time from two thousand to twenty two thousand twelve twenty 2013 to 2017 2018 six using the state of Minnesota selected guidelines for schools facilities as a guide for applicable square footage of school buildings elementary schools with enrollments of five hundred students are less are constructed to allocate between 125 to 150 square feet first student employing that standard six of the school districts elementary schools are grossly underutilized and two of the district's three middle schools are grossly underutilized seven in light of the school districts current building capacity enrollment closely to elementary schools in one middle school is necessary and practicable to put the school district in the best position to serve its students families and communities underutilized schools produce negative consequences for both finances and academic programming closing these schools will enable the district to more efficiently reliably and cost-effectively offer robust consistent and quality academic programming for all students 8 the school district engaged the services of dr. Roger Warner to service the community engagement meetings facilitator with the assistance of a assistant superintendent brian Gorsuch dr. Warner and assistant superintendent Grich present information from the study at six community focus groups one design team meeting with principals and parent representatives and one meeting with administration during these eight meetings community members and school district faculty provided feedback regarding the recommendation close schools and the choice of which schools schools to close nine dr. Warner presented the administration's recommendations for the sites identified for closure November 14 2019 and provide a memorandum which include the criteria used sites identified and rationale for selection those for selecting those buildings in making its recommendations for its schools are necessary and practicable to close the administration considered following factors a lowest Geographic risk of losing students to a nearby school district by open enrollment B oldest building greatest need for update greatest need for capital improvement C smallest overall capacity D smallest actual current enrollment e least cost effective or economical to operate F least effects flexible for future programming ten based on examination school districts ten elementary schools in light of the factors above for elementary schools were identified as possible candidates for closure Ron Elementary Vista View Elementary Marian W savage elementary and Su Trail Elementary these schools met and multiple the factors listed above the other schools met significantly fewer factors 11 although it is the school districts Vella center elementary school Ron elementary schools returned to be highly vulnerable to Geographic risk of losing students therefore is not recommended that Ron Elementary School be closed 12 Marian W savage elementary schools the oldest least modern and least flexible Elementary School in the district it has a third smallest enrollment as the least cost effective to operate for these reasons it is necessary and practicable that Marian W savage be one of the two elementary schools to close 13 of the remaining two options Vista view and su trail Vista view has a greater capacity a greater enrollment lower utility costs lower utility costs per student and fewest square feet for student su Trail Elementary School has the third smallest capacity second smallest current enrollment and as a third least cost effective to operate for these reasons that is necessary and practicable that su Trail Elementary School will be one of the two elementary schools to close 14 Metcalf middle school is the oldest of the middle schools has the lowest enrollment has the highest utility cost per square foot as a second smallest capacity and has the second highest number of square feet per student alergic middle schools the newest most modern middle school facility Nicollet middle school is the largest middle school facility is the center for the school district after after school food service production and its operation is pivotal pivotal to providing utilities to its site sister Skye osela mentoree school for these reasons it is necessary and practical that Metcalf the middle school will be the middle school to close 15 school district administration should consider all data compiled through its facilities study consultant recommendations and public and staff feedback at various meetings in the public hearing the school district considered alternatives to the closing of the schools but sure when these closures were necessary to effectively solve the identified concerns that have arisen do the inclining enrollment and utterly under utilization of buildings Thank You director shots I will take a motion on this resolution moved by director Miller second seconded by director Hume discussion yes so on page 2 of the resolution the paragraph around the public hearing states the public hearing on said closings was conducted in accordance with Minnesota Statutes yadda-yadda beginning at 6:30 p.m. of the Diamondhead Education Center but it doesn't actually have the date of the hearing in that paragraph this is true i'm so we can amend it i moved to amend the resolution to include the date of the public hearing and that the exact date was November December December 4th the date of December 4th 2019 do I have a motion to approve the amendment so moved moved by director Hume second seconded by director Hall wigger so now the amended version we're not going to read the whole thing again will include the of the actual public hearing December 4 2019 I will open it up for discussion or questions hearing none it is a roll call vote for each of these three recommendations for each of these three resolutions Ms Kenny will you please call the roll aye sir Hey courier by omakr i you i miller high shot I the resolution is adopted now we will move to the resolution closing mariand of it w savage elementary director shots where as a notice of public hearing and the question and the necessity and practicability of closing Sioux Trail Elementary School Marian W savage elementary school and Metcalf middle school was published in the legal newspaper of the school district for two successive weeks on November 22 and November 29 2019 and whereas the time and place of the meeting was set forth in the notice and whereas Marian W savage elementary school was identified in the notice as a school consider for closing and whereas the reasons for the proposed closing were set forth and said notice and whereas numerous opportunities were provided for members of the community to be heard whether for or against the question of closing Sioux Trail Elementary School Marian Deborah savage Elementary School in Metcalf middle school including a September 23 2019 design team meeting through feedback form community focus group meetings held on October 3 October 7 October 8 October 9 October 14 and October 15 2019 multiple site meetings for staff at each school held between October 1 and October 8 2019 multiple site meetings held from middle school and high school students between October 8 and 20 October 18 2019 an online feedback forum active from October 1 through October 20 2019 and a meeting with Marian W Savage families at number 18 2019 and whereas in November 14 2019 the school board heard a presentation recommendation presented by consultant dr. Roger Warner and where as a public hearing on said closings was conducted in accordance with Minnesota Statutes 123 be at five one subdivision five pursuant to said notice by the school board beginning at 6:30 p.m. the Diamondhead Education Center 200 West Burnsville Parkway Burnsville Minnesota and whereas the school board has considered the following materials July to 2019 Baker Chile organizational analysis study july 2019 presentation of organizational analysis study by dr. Roger Warner dr. K Warner August 8 2019 review of facilities study and recommendations presentation September 12 2099 for facilities study process update and facilities review timeline September 17 2019 so these realignment presentation for dr. Roger Warner October 10 2019 facilities realignment process of tape October 24 2019 realignment process update and the November 14 2019 memorandum and presentation from dr. Roger order and whereas testimony materials were received in the course the hearing by anyone in favor of or opposed to said closings and the hearing was not deemed closed until everyone who requested to speak had that Pertti to do so and whereas the school board has considered the recommendation of the administration to close sutra Elementary Marion Deborah savage Elementary and Metcalf Middle School pursuant to the recommendation of the consultant Warner now therefore be it resolved that considering the materials in the record the testimony presented at said hearing held pursuant to Minnesota 123 B . 5-1 subdivision 5 and the recommendations of administration the school board of independent school district number 191 Burnsville Eagan savage school district hereby determines at the Marion W Savage Elementary School located at 4 8 1 9 West 126th Street savage Minnesota shall be closed effective the end of the 2019-20 school year for the following reasons and based on the following findings of fact 1 in the spring of 2019 the school district Commission Baker Tilley municipal advisors LLC to perform an organizational analysis study to determine the status of the school districts entender conclusions and recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness efficiency and cost effectiveness of the school district Baker Tilley contracted with dr. Roger and Kay Warren to conduct the study to the conclusions of the Baker till you study were presented to the school board in july 2019 the study included analyses at the school districts enrollment enrollment trends finances programs and services staffing facilities the study resulted in a 57 page report that contained a number of conclusions recommendations in relevant part the study recommended the district closed to elementary schools in one middle school at the end of the 2019 2020 school year the recommendations were significantly and substantially predicated on the school districts past enrollment decline the school districts future predicted a future projected enrollment decline the results in under utilization of the school districts elementary and middle school levels leading to increased cost and ineffectiveness and declining general fund balance and past or projected general future general fund budget reductions for the school districts enrollment is declining over the ten-year span time from 20 2009 2010 through 2018 2019 the school districts enrollment declined by 1524 students or if 15.5% from 9850 eight students in 20 2009-2010 to eight thousand three hundred thirty four students in 2018-2019 enrollment decline was steady with the number of enrolled student decline was steady with a number of enrolled students declining in ten consecutive years from 2009-2010 through 2018 2019 see over the next five years the school district's enrollment is projected to further decline from eight three three four students in 2018 2019 to 7500 students in 2023 twenty-four representing a net loss of 736 students or eight forty eight percent D based in the past or projected future enrollment declines the school district will have lost equivalent of 90 class sections assuming an average class section size of 25 students per Section over the 15 years spent on time from 2009-2010 through 2023 24e the school districts net loss of students their open enrollment migration during the 2017 28 school year was 1556 students while additional 1248 students out migrated to the school district to non-public charter in home school settings five the school districts general fund balance is declining a the school district has lost significant general fund revenue as a result of declining enrollment and student out migration and as predicted to further experience revenue losses as a result of declining enrollment and student out migrations in the future B the school districts general fund balance is declined by seven million six hundred ninety eight thousand six hundred twenty seven dollars or thirty two point seven percent or the five-year span of time from 2002 through 2012-2013 2017-2018 six you see the state of Minnesota selected guidelines for school facilities as a guide for applicable square footage of school buildings elementary schools with enrollments of five hundred students are less are constructed to allocate between 125 and 150 square feet first student employing that standard six of the school districts elementary schools are grossly underutilized and two of the district's three middle schools are grossly underutilized seven in light of the school districts current capacity building in enrollment closing two elementary schools in one middle school is necessary and practicable with the school district in the best position to serve its students families and communities underutilized schools produce negative consequences for both finances and academic programming these schools will adayla district to more efficiently reliably and cost-effectively for a robust consistent and quality academic programming programming for all students eight the school district engaged the services of dr. Roger order to serve as the community engagement meetings facilitator with the assistance of assistant superintendent Ryan Greer such dr. order assistant superintendent Chris H presenting information from the study of six community focus groups one design team meeting with principals and parent representatives and one meeting with the administration during these eight meetings community members in school district faculty provided feedback regarding the recommendation of close schools and the choice of which schools to close nine doctor order presented the administration's recommend recommendations for the sites identified for closure November 14 2019 and provide a memorandum I which included the criteria used sites identified and rationale for selection selecting those buildings in making its recommendations for schools are necessary and practical to close the administration considered the following factors a lowest geographic risk of losing students to a nearby school district via open enrollment B oldest building greatest need for update greatest need for capital improvement C smallest overall capacity D smallest actual current enrollments D least cost effective or economical to operate less least flexible for future programming 10 based on an examination of the school districts 10 elementary schools in light of the factors above for elementary schools were identified as possible candidates for closure Ron Elementary Vista View Elementary Marian W savage elementary and Su Trail Elementary these schools met multiple factors listed about the other schools met significantly fewer factors 11 although it is the school districts smallest an elementary school rotten elementary schools determined to be highly vulnerable to Geographic risk of losing students therefore is not recommended that Ron Elementary School be closed 12 Marian W savage elementary schools the oldest least modern least flexible Elementary School in the district it is the third smallest enrollment is the least cost effective to operate for these reasons it is necessary and practical that Marian W savage elementary be one of the two elementary schools to close 13 of the remaining two options Vista view and su trail this two view has a greater capacity greater enrollment lower utility costs lower utility cost per student and fewer fewer square feet per student su Trail Elementary School's the third smallest capacity second smalls current enrollment and is the third least cost-effective to operate for these reasons that is necessary and practicable that Sioux Trail Elementary School be one of the two elementary schools to close 14 Metcalf middle school is the oldest of three middle schools it has the lowest enrollment has the highest utility cost per square foot because the second smallest capacity has the second highest number of square feet per student Eagle Ridge Middle School's the newest most modern middle school facility Niccolo middle school is the largest middle school facility is the Center for school district after school food service production and its operation pivotal to providing utilities to its site sister Sky Oaks Elementary School for these reasons it is necessary impractical that Metcalf middle school be the middle school to close fifteen school district administration considered all data compiled through its facilities study consultant recommendations and public and staff feedback at various meetings in the public hearing the school district considered alternatives to closing the schools but determine these closes closures were necessary to effectively solve identified concerns that have arisen due to declining enrollment and under utilization of buildings Thank You director shots I will take a motion to amend page 2 oh yes I'm sorry I'll take a motion to approve the resolution so moved by director Miller second second seconded by director shots sure I would like to move to amend the resolution page two paragraph three to read whereas a public hearing on said closings was conducted in accordance with Minnesota Statutes 123 B . 5-1 subdivision five pursuant to said notice by the school board beginning at 6:30 p.m. December 10th 2019 at the Diamondhead Education Center 200 West Burnsville Parkway Burnsville Minnesota thank you we have a motion to for for the amendment do I have a second second seconded by director Hume all those in favor of approving the amendment please signify by saying aye opposed nay and the amendment passes now I will take discussion on the amended resolution director courier clarification we are voting this resolution to close MW savage MW savage correct are there any questions or discussion hearing none miss Kinney would you please call the roll aye aye career high all wigger aye aye Miller aye aye and the resolution passes unanimously next we will turn to the resolution closing Sioux Trail Elementary School Director shots would you like me to read okay okay whereas a notice of public hearing on the question of the necessity and practicability of closing Sioux Trail Elementary School Marian W Savage elementary school and Metcalf middle school was published in a legal newspaper of the school district for two successive weeks on November 22 and November 29 2019 and whereas the time and place of the meeting was set forth in the notice and wear a suit trail elementary school was identified in the notice as a school considered for closing and whereas the reasons for the proposed closing were set forth and said notice and whereas numerous opportunities were provided for members of the community to be heard whether for or against the question of closing Sioux Trail Elementary School Marian W savage elementary school and McAfee middle school including a September 23 2019 design team meeting through a feedback form community focus group meeting is held in october 3 october 7 october 8 october 9 october 14 in october 15 2019 multiple site meetings for staff at each school held between October 1 and October 8 2019 multiple site meetings held for middle school and high school students between October 8 and October 18 2019 an online feedback form ACTA from October 1 through October 20 2019 and I mean it was to trial families on November 19 2019 and whereas on November 14 2019 the school board heard a presentation and a recommendation presented by consultant dr. Roger Warner and whereas a public hearing on set of closings was conducted in accordance with Minnesota Statutes 123 beat at 5:1 subdivision 5 Pursuit aside noticed by the school board beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Diamond Head Education Center 200 West Burnsville Parkway Burnsville Minnesota and whereas the school board has considered the following materials July to 2019 Baker Tilley organizational analysis study July 8 2019 presentation of organizational analysis study by dr. Roger Warner and dr. K Warner August 8 2019 review of facilities study and recommendations presentation September 12 2019 outline for facilities study process updated facilities review timeline September 17 2019 facilities realignment presentation for dr. Roger Warner October 10 2019 facilities realignment process update October 24 2019 facilities realignment process update in the November 14 2019 memorandum and presentation from dr. Roger Warner and whereas testimony materials were received during the course of the hearing by anyone in favor of or opposed to said closings and the hearing was not deemed closed until everyone who requested to speak had an opportunity to do so and whereas the School Board is considered the recommendation of the administration to closed who Trail Elementary Marion W Savage Elementary McAfee middle school pursuant to the recommendation of the consultant Warner now therefore be it resolved that for considering the materials in the record the testimony presented it said hearing held pursuant to Minnesota Statutes 123 b-tat 5 1 subdivision 5 and the recommendations of the administration the school board of independent school district 1 number 1 911 burns will even Eagan savage School District hereby determines at the Sioux Trail Elementary School located to 8:01 River Hills Drive Burnsville Minnesota shall be closed effect at the end of the 2019 2020 school year for the following reasons and based on the following findings of fact 1 in the spring of 2019 the school district Commission Baker Tilley municipal advisors LLC to perform an organizational analysis study to ascertain the status of the school district and tender conclusions and recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness efficiency in cost the school district faker Tilly contracted with doctors Roger and Kay ordered to conduct the study to the conclusions of the Baker Tilly study were presented to the school board in july 2019 the study included analysis of the school districts enrollment enrollment trends finances programs and services staffing the facilities the study resulted in a 57 page report that contained a number of conclusions and recommendations in relevant part the study recommended the district close to elementary schools in one middle school at the end of the 2019 2020 school year three the recommendations were significantly substantially predicated in the school districts past enrollment decline the school districts future projected enrollment decline the results in under utilization of the school districts elementary and middle school levels leading to increased cost and ineffectiveness the declining general fund balance and passed a projected general future general fund budget reductions for the school districts enrollment is declining a over the ten-year span of time from 2009-2010 through 2018 2019 the school's enrollment declined by 1520 for students or 15.5% from 9800 58 students in 2009-2010 to eight thousand three hundred thirty four students in 2018-2019 be the enrollment decline was steady with the number enrolled students declining in ten consecutive years from 2009 2010 through 2018 2019 see over the next five years the school district's enrollment is projected to further decline from eight thousand three hundred thirty four students in 2018 2019 to 7500 ninety eight students in 2023 twenty-four representing a net loss of 736 students or a pre point eight percent D based on the past and rejected future enrollment declines the school district who've lost the equivalent of 90 class sections assuming an average class section size of 25 students per Section over the 15 years spare time from 2009-2010 through 2023 24e the school districts net loss of students through open enrollment migration during the 2017-2018 school year was 1556 students well additional 1248 students out migrated from the school district to non-public charter in home school settings 5 the school districts general fund balance is declining a the school district has lost significant general fund revenue as a result of declining enrollment and student out migration as projected to further experience revenue loss as a result of declining enrollment and student out migrations in the future the school districts general fund balance is declined by seven million six hundred eighty eight thousand six hundred twenty seven dollars or thirty two point seven percent over the five-year span of time from 2012-2013 to 2017-18 six using the state of Minnesota selected guidelines for school facilities as a guide for applicable square footage of school buildings elementary schools with enrollments of five hundred students are less our concern to allocate between 125 250 square feet for a student employing that standard six of the school districts elementary schools are grossly underutilized in two of the district's three middle schools are grossly underutilized seven in light of the school districts current capacity building building capacity enrollment closing two elementary schools in one middle school is necessary and practicable but the school district the best position to serve its students families and communities underutilized schools produce negative consequences for all the finances and academic programming closing these schools will enable the district or efficiently reliably and cost-effectively offer robust consistent and quality programming for all students eight the school district engaged the services of dr. Roger order just serve as the community engagement meetings facilitator with the assistance of assistant superintendent Brian Kretsch dr. Warner and assistant superintendent research presented information from the study of six community focus groups one design team meeting with principals and parents entities and one meeting with administration during these eight meetings community members and school district faculty provided feedback regarding their recommendation to close schools and the choice of which schools to close nine dr. Warner presented the administration's recommendation for the sites identified for closure November 14 2019 and provide a memoranda which included the criteria used sites identified and rationale for selecting those buildings making its recommendations for which schools are necessary and practical to close the administration consider the following factors a lowest Geographic risk of losing students to a nearby school district by open enrollment B oldest building greatest need for update greatest need for capital improvements C smallest overall capacity D smallest actual current enrollment e least cost effective or economical to operate a flute lease flexible for future programming 10 based on examination the school districts 10 elm tree schools in the light of the factors above for elementary schools were identified as possible candidates for closure run Elementary Vista View Elementary Marian W Savage elementary and Sioux Trail Elementary these schools but multiple of the factors listed above the other schools met significantly fewer factors 11 although it is the school districts mellitus and elementary school Ronal entry school is determined to be highly vulnerable to Geographic risk of losing students therefore it's not recommended that Ron Elementary School be closed 12 Marion W Savage elementary school as the oldest least moderate and least flexible elegy school in the district as a third smallest enrollment is the least cost effective to operate for these reasons it is necessary impractical that Marion W Savage Elementary be one of the tools elementary schools to close 13 of the remaining two options Vista view and su trail Vista view is the greater capacity greater enrollment lower utility costs lower utility costs per student and fewest square feet per student su trail elementary school as a third smallest capacity second smallest current enrollment as the third least cost effective operate for these reasons it is necessary in practical that su Trail Elementary School be one of the two elementary schools to close 14 Metcalf middle schools the oldest of the three middle schools has the lowest enrollment is the highest utility cost per square foot has a second smallest capacity as a second highest number of square feet per student each middle schools the newest most modern middle school facility Nicollet middle school is the largest middle school facility is the Center for school district after school food service production and its operations pivotal to providing utility to its site sister sky elementary school for these reasons it is necessary and practical that Metcalf Mills school will be the middle school to close 15 school district administration considered all data compiled through its facilities study consultant recommendations and public and staff feedback at various meetings in the public hearing the school district considered alternatives to closing the schools but determined these closures were necessary to effectively solve identified concerns that have arisen due to the declining enrollments and under utilization of buildings Thank You director shots I will take a motion to approve the resolution so moved moved by director Miller second seconded by director Hume yes director Miller like to present a motion to for the resolution to modify the resolution read where as sorry page two paragraph three where as a public hearing on said closings was conducted in accordance with Minnesota Statutes 123 B 51 subdivision 5 pursuant to said notice by the school board beginning at 6:30 piece I am December 4th 2019 at the Diamondhead Education Center 200 West Bernal Parkway burns of Minnesota thank you I will take a second second seconded by director Hume is there discussion hearing none all those in favor of approving the amendment please signify by saying aye aye opposed nay and the amendment is passed now we are looking at the amended resolution which now includes the date December 4th 2019 is there discussion hearing none miss Kenny would you please call the roll I courier Nate o wigger I um hi Miller hi yes I the motion passes there there is a procedural correction that we may that we need to make I made an error and we did not vote on the amendment to the first resolution we had a first and a second and so we will redo that to make sure that I'm ver Metcalf the one for Metcalf yes we will not we're gonna back yes we need to back roll it all the way back exactly so I will take a motion to approve the first resolution to close Metcalf middle school so moved actually no I'm sorry I'll take a result a commotion to approve the recommendation to close Metcalf middle school moved by dr. Miller seconded by director Hume and then I moved to amend the resolution to close Metcalf middle school so that reads page two paragraph three where as a public hearing on said closings was conducted in accordance with Minnesota statute 123 B . 5-1 subdivision 5 pursuant to said notice by the school board beginning at 6:30 p.m. December 4 2019 at the Diamondhead Education Center 200 West Burnsville Parkway Burnsville Minnesota thank you I'll take a second seconded by director Hume discussion on the amendment to the resolution hearing none all those in favor of approving the amendment please signify by saying aye opposed nay and the amendment passes now we will go back to considering the amended resolution is there any discussion on this hearing none is can he leave please call the roll well I gesture hi career-high all bigger I you know I know I shot I the resolution passes director yes given that we have a still a significant amount of work in front of us and also given because we have to give amount of work in front of us I move that we recess for five minutes let's take a five-minute break take a five-minute break I'll second that all those in favor five minute well well five-minute recess hi hi okay five minute recess you you you you you you [Music] and again we have another procedural correction because what huh yep oh yeah it was it was on the whole time we are being informed by our attorney that we need to make sure that we reread the entire metcalfe resolution fully and go through the voting process so that the the process around the Metcalfe middle school closure is identical to each of the other two in process so with that one last time director Schatz whereas the notice of public hearing and the question of the necessity and practicability of closing Sioux Trail Elementary School Marian W Savage elementary school and Metcalf middle school was published in a legal newspaper of the school district for two successive weeks on November 22 and November 29 2019 and whereas Tyron place in the meeting was set forth in the notice and whereas Metcalf middle school was identified in the notice as a school consider for closing and whereas the reasons for the proposed closing were set forth and said notice and whereas numerous opportunities are provided for members of the community to be heard whether for or against the question of closing sutural elementary school during w Savage Elementary School in Metcalf middle school including it at some September 23 2019 design team meeting through feedback form community focus group meeting is held on october 3 october 7 october 8 october 9 October 14 at 10:15 2019 multiple site meetings for staff at each school held between October 1 in October 8 2019 multiple site meetings held for middle school and high school students between October 8 October 18 2019 an online feedback forum active from October 1 through October 29 2019 and meeting with Metcalf families on November 18 2019 and whereas on November 14 2019 the school board heard her presentation and recommendation presented by consultant dr. Roger Warner and whereas a public hearing on said closings was conducted in accordance with Minnesota Statutes 123 be at five months of division five pursuant to said notice by the school board beginning at 6:30 p.m. that ayman had education center 200 West Burnsville Parkway Burnsville Minnesota and whereas the school board has considered the following materials July to 2019 Baker Tilly organizational analysis study july 2019 presentation of organizational analysis study but dr. Roger warned dr. kay Warner August 8 2019 review of facilities study and recommendations presentation September 12 2019 outline for a facility study process updated facilities review timeline September 17 2019 facilities realignment presentation for dr. Roger Warner October 10 2019 facilities realignment process update October 24 2019 facilities realignment process update in the November 14 2019 memorandum and presentation for dr. Roger Warner and whereas testimonial materials were received during the course of the hearing by anyone in favor of her opposed to set of closings and the hearing was not deemed closed until everyone who requested to speak had average to do so and whereas the School Board is considered the recommendation of the administration to close sutra Elementary Marion W Savage Elementary and Metcalf Middle School pursuant to the recommendation of the consultant Warner now therefore be it resolved it after considering the materials in the record the testimony presented it said hearing held pursuant to Minnesota Statutes 123 B . 5-1 subdivision 5 and their recommendations of the administration the school board of independent school district number 191 burns burns what you can savage School District hereby determines that Metcalf middle school located at 2 to 5 0 definitely Road Burnsville Minnesota shall be closed effective the end of the 2019 2020 school year for the following reasons and based on the following findings of fact 1 in the spring of 2019 the school district commissioned Baker chili missile Advisors LLC to perform an organizational analysis study to ascertain the status of the school district and tender conclusions and recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness efficiency and cost effectiveness of the school district baker Tilly contracted with doctors Roger and Kate Warner to conduct the study to the conclusions of the Baker Tilly study were presented to the school board in july 2019 i'll study included analyses at the school district enrollment enrollment trends finances programs and services staffing and facilities the study resulted in a 57 page report that contained a number of conclusions and recommendations in relevant part the study recommended the district close to Elementary School's one middle school day at the 2019 2020 school year three of the recommendations were significant significantly and substantially predicated in the school districts past enrollment decline the school districts future projected enrollment decline that resultant under utilization in the school districts elementary middle school levels they need to increase cost and declining general fund balance and past projected future general fund budget reductions for the school districts enrollment is declining a over the ten-year span of time from 2009-2010 through 2018 2019 the school districts enrollment decline by 1524 students are fifteen point five percent from nine eight five eight students in 2009-2010 to eight thousand three hundred thirty four students in 2018 2019 even enrollment decline was steady with a number of Rowland's students declining in ten consecutive years from 2009 2010 through 2018 2019 see over the next five years the school districts enrollment is projected to further decline from eight thousand three hundred thirty four students in 2018 2019 to seven thousand five hundred ninety eight students in twenty twenty three twenty four we're presenting a net loss of 736 students or a twenty percent D based in the past projected future enrollment declines the school district will have lost the equivalent of 90 class sections assuming an average class section size of 25 students per Section over the 15 year span of time from 2009-2010 through 2023 24a the school districts net loss of students through open enrollment migration during the 2017-2018 school year was a 1556 students while an additional 1,000 248 students out migrator from the school district to non-public charter in home school settings five the school district's general fund balance is declining a the school district has lost significant general fund revenues result of declining enrollment and student out migration is projected to further experience two revenue losses as a result of declining aroma and student obligations to the to the in the future be the school district's general fund balances declined by seven million six hundred ninety eight thousand six hundred twenty seven dollars or thirty two point seven percent over the five year span time from 2012-2013 to 2017 2018 six using the state of Minnesota selected guidelines for school facilities as a guide for applicants square footage of school buildings elementary schools with enrollments of five hundred students are less are constructed to allocate between 125 250 square feet for a student employing that standard six of the school districts cool districts Elementary School's are grossly underutilized into the district's three middle schools are grossly underutilized seven in light of the school districts current building capacity enrollment closing to elementary schools in one middle school is necessary impracticable to put the school districts the best position to service students families and communities underutilized schools produce negative consequences for both finances and eque programming closing these schools will enable the district to more effectively reliably and cost-effectively offer robust consistent and quality academic programming for all students eight the school district engaged the services of dr. Roger Warner deserves the community engagement meetings facilitator with the assistance of assistant superintendent Brian Gorsuch dr. Warner and assistant supertanker Satish presented information from the study at six community focus groups one design team meeting with principals and parent representatives in one meeting with the administration during these eight meetings community members and the school district faculty provided feedback regarding the recommendation to close schools and the choice of which schools to close nine dr. Warner presented the administration's recommendations for the sites identified for closure on November 14 2019 provide a memorandum which included the criteria used sites identified and rationale for selecting those buildings making its recommendations for schools are necessary and practical to close the administration consider the following factors a the lowest Geographic risk of losing students to a new high school district via open enrollment the oldest building greatest need for update greatest need for capital improvements see smallest overall capacity D smallest actual concurrent enrollment e least cost effective or economical to operate F least flexible for future programming 10 based under an examination the school districts 10 elementary schools and light of the factors above for elementary schools were identified as possible candidates for closure Ron Elementary Vista View Elementary Marion W Savage elementary and Sioux Trail Elementary these schools meant multiple the factors listed above the other schools met significantly fewer factors 11 although it is the School District smallest Elementary School Ron elementary schools determined to be highly vulnerable to Geographic risk of losing students therefore it's not recommended that Ron Elementary School be closed 12 Marion W Savage elementary school is the oldest least moderately flexible Elementary School in the district as the third smallest enrollments least cost affected to operate for these reasons it is necessary and practical that Marion W Savage elementary be one of the two cool elementary schools to close 13 of the remaining two options Vista view and su trail the studio has a greater capacity greater enrollment lower utility costs lower utility cost for students and fewer square feet per student sutra elementary schools the third smallest capacity second smallest current enrollment is the third least cost effect to operate for these reasons as necessary and practicable that Sioux Trail Elementary School be one of the two elementary schools to close 14 Metcalf Middle School's the oldest of three middle schools is lowest enrollment the highest utility cost per square foot the second smallest capacity and has the second number of square feet per student a large middle school's the newest most modern middle school facility Nicollet Middle School's the largest middle school facilities the center for school district after school food service production and separation is typical in providing utilities to his sister sites Kyoto elementary school for these reasons that is necessary and practicable that Metcalf middle school will be the middle school to close 15 school district administration consider all data compiled through its facility study consultant recommendations and public and staff feedback at various meetings in the public hearing the school district considered alternatives to closing the schools but determine these closures were necessary to effectively solve identified concerns that have arisen due to declining enrollment and under utilization of buildings thank you I will take a motion to approve the resolution moved by dr. Miller second seconded I move to amend the resolution on the table to close the Metcalf middle school so that page two paragraph three reads whereas a public hearing on set closings was conducted in accordance with Minnesota Statutes 123 B 51 subdivision 5 pursuant to said notice by the school board beginning at 6:30 p.m. December 4th at the Diamondhead Education Center 200 West Burnsville Parkway brinjal Minnesota thank you we have a motion is there a second thank you I'm going to modify my to read whereas a public hearing and said closing was conducted in accordance with Minnesota statute 123 B dot 5:1 subdivision 5 pursuant to said notice by the school board beginning at 6:30 p.m. December 4th 2019 at the Diamondhead Education Center 200 West vernal Parkway Burnsville Minnesota thank you we have a motion do I have a second second is there discussion on the amendment hearing none all those in favor of approving the amendment as read please signify by saying aye opposed nay and the amendment carries now going back to the resolution as amend as amended is there discussion hearing none all those in favor of approving well gotta take a roll call I'm sorry yes I thank you and my apologies for the mistake guys I would like to give board members an opportunity before we move on to the next topic if if anyone wants to make a statement of their own I have a statement myself prepared I have been affiliated with ISD 191 for 32 years this timeline gives me a unique background on which to base my decisions regarding our school closures let me share only three sets of the miscellaneous facts and experiences I've acquired and used in my decision-making through the years I'm going to also say by the way this is the last you'll hear about this because the decision has been made and forevermore I was taught by previous board members will I bring it up again fair point Thank You dt1 I have served at Gideon pond the district office BHS Nicollet cedar Bozz and Sioux trail however this means while an employee of 191 I only served in Dakota County Schools but I have served while growing and adding schools and now while we're shrinking in closing schools after retiring as a school administrator second number two as reach after retiring as a school administrator I subsequently worked in a Scott County School District in community education and served on the Scott County Historical Society board it was while working there that I learned that one third of 191 school district that resides in Scott County is not recognized at the Minnesota Department of Education as Scott County Schools because our district is in Dakota County our district office that has effects on County decisions made by MDE and others and we have to be vigilant about that three our school district is very in capital letters wide geographically east-west I put an election sign on a lawn in our district that was nearly in the shadow of BlueCross BlueShield campus of Eagan and in the past six years two experiences made me aware of our west border first the school board had a workshop meeting at a newly acquired Emerson building which was in our district kitty corner from Valley Fair in Shakopee second the city of shechem to the ISD 191 School Board for an approval of their TIF an unusual fact about that is that originally they had gone to the Shakopee school board the land they were tipping was in 191 given this qualitative background I have a mast of which I've just given you a sample I now face the resolutions of closing schools of the consultants priority factors Geographic risk was ranked number one with two East Side schools on the closure list I think Geographic risk is blinking in neon I cannot support closing to East sight schools my sense of fairness kicks in fairness and my thinking says an Eastside a geographic middle and a West Side school should be the recommendation therefore I will not be supporting the closing of suit rail school with regrets but understanding I will be supporting the closing of Metcalf in NW savage schools some final thoughts I mentioned this at our workshop in the heart of the city of Burnsville two major apartment complex is there under construction and will be opening in 2020 another apartment complex will be constructed at the southeast corner of Highway 13 and Nicollet beginning soon I'm optimistic that our school closings are temporary and despite this current closing process our curriculum programs services and most of ours all of our staff especially teachers are proportionately still here for our students and I didn't say it Thank You director carrier thank you for letting me see it after the fact but you won't hear me say it again well I appreciate you sharing thank you anybody else want to make a statement director Chester yep I know all of us have struggled with having to make this decision and it's not an easy one to make and even driving into the driveway I'm driving into the parking lot today I still wasn't sure what I wanted to decide but logic tells me and told me that what is more painful shifting bricks and mortar or having to deal with budget cuts they're going to affect her our students across the board and the cutting essential programming and so that is why I made the decision to move forward and agreeing with the rest of the Borden and the closure of our schools Thank You director Chester anybody else director Miller I'm not going to comment on the the resolutions as they landed except what I want to comment is on I've said this before I am so overwhelming leaf impressed I'll use technical terms I'd like to say heart full of love but impressed with this board you know I know all of us came here with a lot of struggles and a lot of challenges around this decision and and doctor query I totally appreciate your perspective and your take on it and you know I'm overwhelmed with your insistence that you'll move forward with it too so you know I just thank you guys this is you know it's been a tough time but the fact that we're not torn asunder by this that's that's what's most important thank you and I have a statement prepared I want to start by thanking everyone on staff who has supported this process ensured it was transparent and engaged our community I want to thank dr. Warner for providing his expertise both in evaluating our facilities and providing his recommendation I want to thank the members of our staff and 191 community who have made their voices heard it's never been clear how much you care about our community schools lastly I want to thank the other members of this board I'm sure that none of us hoped or even imagined we'd be doing this when we first decided to campaign dr. Warner is a neutral third party experts his recommendations were based on the criteria developed by him and within public input through our community focus groups and online forums the community told us they agree that closing schools is the right step the recommendation reflects the criteria identified by our community age and needed repairs less likely to result in lost enrollment due to geography and smallest capacity or enrollment and/or enrollment because of the shape of our district nearly every school attendance boundary touches the edge where families might be tempted to drive their students to a nearby school in another district it's not right to say that closing schools is a good thing this is a sad day especially for those who have been closely connected to each of the three schools m/w savage Sioux Trail and Metcalf middle school but I believe our community showed it believes this is a necessary thing more than that I believe these changes can and will be a catalyst for district 191 schools I believe in our community including our families and our Turner's I believe in our teachers and principals and educational assistants and support staff I believe in our district leaders and in superintendent battle given the opportunity to reimagine our schools they will imagine and then build a system that serves all students that helps all students find their passions and prepare to succeed in their futures if we do our jobs well enough I believe these closings will be temporary as originally mentioned by director courier and that we'll find a need for them again before too long with that thank you everybody next we are being asked to approve scheduling a special board meeting on December 19th 2019 and I will take a motion let's see let me find the recommendation here we go is it more complicated recommendation is that the Board of Education approved scheduling a special board meeting on Thursday December 19th 2019 at 6:30 p.m. at Diamond Head Education Center 200 West Burnsville Parkway Burnsville the purpose of the meeting is boundaries facilities and the FY 21 budget I will take a motion to approve the recommendation moved by director shot second second second did by director courier discussion hearing none all those in favor of approving the recommendation please signify by saying aye opposed nay and the motion carries next we are being asked to approve the financial audit report for 2018 19 I'd like to welcome Lisa Ryder the executive director of business services back to the speaking table thank you as you have heard the report from our auditing firm earlier this evening the recommendation that is included in the board packet does lay out some of those key facts again I won't repeat them I will read the recommendation that the Board of Education approved the financial audit report for 2018 2019 thank you I will take a motion to approve the recommendations all moved moved by a director Chester second second second it by director Hager discussion hearing none all those in favor of approving the recommendation please signify by saying aye aye opposed nay and the motion carries staying with Lisa we're being asked to approve final certification of property tax levy payable 2020 thank you as we heard earlier in the truth and Taxation hearing the reasons for increase in certain areas the recommendation that is in the board packet does list by category the dollar amounts so if you don't mind I'll read that in full the recommendation that the Board of Education certified the final property tax levy for taxes payable in 2020 as follows the general referendum market value voter approved for fifteen million two hundred two hundred forty seven thousand nine hundred forty eight dollars fifty five cents the general referendum market value other six million four hundred twenty seven thousand eighty four dollars thirty five cents the general net tax capacity voter approved three million one hundred nine thousand three twenty eight and eighty three cents the general net tax capacity other six million seven hundred ten thousand eight hundred eighty dollars sixty seven cents the community service one million eight hundred nine thousand sixty eight dollars six cents the general debt service voter approved three million six hundred twenty six thousand six twelve and forty seven cents the general debt service other five million nine hundred and forty three thousand two hundred twelve and 51 cents the other post-employment benefit pension other 1 million three hundred sixty eight thousand eight hundred sixty three dollars and sixty four cents for some total of forty four million two hundred forty two thousand nine hundred eighty nine dollars and eight cents thank you I will take a motion to approve the recommendation so moved moved by a director career second seconded by director shots questions or discussion hearing none all those in favor of approving the recommendation please signify by saying aye aye opposed nay and the motion carries next again with Lisa we are being asked to adopt a resolution establishing combined precincts the state law changed a couple years back where it now requires that by December 31st of every year we must identify the combined polling places that would be in effect should there be a requirement for a new election that is on a date and a day other than a statewide election therefore what we have done is we've talked with the cities of Burnsville and of age and have clarified you know their their polling places as well and so this is in conjunction with what we know from them as well our locations are not changed from what we have had this past year but we must do this action on an annual basis the resolution that is attached here in the board packet is rather lengthy I'm I can read the beginning portion do you want me to read the full I think we've always read just the recommendation yep that's fine okay so the recommendation that the board adopts a resolution establishing combined polling places for certain multiple precincts in designating hours during which the polling places will remain open for voting for school district elections not held on the day of a statewide election thank you I will take a motion to approve the recommendation moved by director chester ii ii ii did by director hume discussion just point of clarification so the new law states that we need to do this in proceeding the coming year on an annual basis yes and and then we i see looking at the resolution we list the actual polling places there so it can't be changed later i'm just concerned about the possibility of a future board decides to do something and they're gonna hold it in one polling place or something like that every year the board will take action on this it can be changed on an annual basis and should there be some unique circumstances where one of the locations listed here is not possible to be holding an election act then we have mechanisms through the state statute to address that okay thank you just answer the question that i had okay because i noticed that two of the combined polling places are Metcalfe and su trail correct okay thank you yep great questions thank you any other questions hearing none all those in favor of approving the recommendation please signify by saying aye aye opposed nay and the motion carries next last item on the on a regular board agenda mr. hull key principal of the high school I wish I bet you wish you were up at the top of that no no problem thing well thank you chair alt and members of the board and superintendent battle this is always an exciting time of the year as we get ready to prepare for course registration I think it's a reminder of the opportunities that are available to our students in 191 was exciting to be here to hear the pathway presentation for Elementary's minoan vision 191 launched four or five years ago it was always the intent that there would be a cohesive k12 alignment of our of our pathways and and I know the hope was that what started at the high school would eventually come down to the other to the other grade levels with that said the first part of the registration process is really developing a course catalog so we have the reference for our families and our students to use to look at the opportunities so the recommendation that I bring forth this evening is that the Board of Education approves the additions deletions and changes to the 2020 21 secondary course catalog as noted below and then you had received the list of recommendations that specifically highlight the different additions deletions and changes thank you very much I will take a motion to approve the recommendation moved by director shot second second second did by director Hume questions our discussion just a couple quick things in our officers meeting we talked a little bit about history why we do this because we weren't exactly sure because there isn't a policy requirement for this but really it's about celebrating what we're doing at the high school because it's such an awesome course catalog so I just want to touch on a couple of things in here math skills when you're dropping the for life on it but so this is that me my always see on the internet about how we should be teaching kids to balance their checkbook won't nobody has a checkbook anymore but it's that correct I mean it's so the math the math skills classes are actually on courses that are in place to help support our students that have special needs with IEP s and so a lot of times in those courses they're designed to parallel the content that's in the regular courses but oftentimes in a way that provides a bit more relevance and and and and in ways that allow students to maybe better apply the math knowledge I see housing and interior design advanced manufacturing those are possibilities for future but leadership for cybersecurity it's amazing stuff yes all of those at the end were just listed as possibilities for the future another thing that was kind of a cornerstone of the pathway work when it started was to always be looking at opportunities that reflect the needs that are out there in our workforce some opportunities that reflect the needs that our students um express to us and so some of those examples are um cyber security that's a an incredibly growing field that's out there advanced manufacturing there's lots and lots of employment needs for that that's a a sector of the market that is is definitely hot at this moment in time and leadership is one of those courses that has been floated out there is an idea because we have so many of our students at the high school that are just engaging themselves and getting themselves involved in in a variety of different ways to be leaders not only in our school but in our community well as we move the pathways down there the opportunity for leadership there too great good any other comments or questions hearing none all those in favor of approving the secondary course catalog please signify by saying aye those nee and the motion carries thank you next we will be adjourned to a policy committee of the whole to discuss new policy 509 point five intra district transfer or a variance enrollment after that we will adjourn to a closed session as permitted by Minnesota statute thirteen d03 to discuss is d 191 s labor negotiation strategy strategy I will take a motion to adjourn moved by director shot second second second by a director Chester all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye opposed nay and we will just move right into you