Good evening. I would like to call to order the Anoka Henipin School Board work session for today, September 14th, 2026. At this time, our first order of business is to approve the board agenda. Is there a motion to approve the board agenda as presented? Thank you, Director Adet. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, director. Co-chair Hulkman. With a second from co-chair Hulkman. Any discussion hearing? None. The acting clerk for this evening is director Adet. Will you please take the roll call? And we have virtually Director Duchaine. Director Dashaine

I. Aette votes I. Pokeman I. Director Langfeld I. With four in favor and zero opposed. The agenda is approved. Moving now to the consent agenda. Members just to remind you the next agenda item. As normal you can remove items for separate consideration and discussion if that's your desire. Is there a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented? So moved. Thank you, Cochair Hulkman. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Director Adet. Hearing any discussion

Hearing? None. I'm going to ask acting clerk Adet to please take the roll call. Director Dashaine I. Aette votes I. Director Hulman I. Dr. Langenfeld I. With four in favor and zero opposed, our consent agenda is approved. Moving forward, our next agenda item as we move forward is an item in our work session and we will begin with literacy implementation update. At this time, I'd like to welcome Sarah Hunter, chief academic officer, and please introduce your team. We're looking forward to this discussion this evening. As you as you know, literacy is such a top priority for every single board member and we've made some really great investments and we are looking forward to hearing how things are going. So, welcome all of you. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Hulkman, uh members of the board, Superintendent Cole. Um thank you for inviting us to provide an update on literacy. Um, and I'd love to introduce my team and then we'll jump right in. So, Candace Riley is our K5 uh, learning and achievement coordinator for literacy. And I'm gonna go all the way over to my right. Michelle Pinkham is our 612 um, literacy coordinator. And then Marty Kelly um, is our local literacy lead and she and I will sort of tag team the presentation this evening.

So, as um Director Langenfeld shared, um reading is one of the the district's priorities, our board's priorities, and we really appreciate the focus on this um as it is um I think everybody who sits here at the table um would consider it a right of all students uh in order to leave our system being able to read to learn as opposed to learn to read. So we'll give a brief update and then um we'll be happy to have questions and or discussion amongst the board. So I'll start with um we have an update on science of reading training. Um we're going to share some of our CAPY data from last year and then give you a heads up when we will have new data available for this year and then um some of the instructional next steps that we already took last year in addition to those that we have in place for this school year already.

Um, and then some updates on our ongoing implementation of the new K5 literacy curricula that we implemented for the first time last year. All right. Well, we'll start with our redact update where we're going to share with you the training that has occurred for our science of reading and what we are currently in the process of training for this year as well. So up till this point we have about 900 elementary teachers who have already been trained and so we're continuing that work. This summer uh as a district we decided to train all our secondary administrators in the science of reading so that they would be strong um instructional leaders in their building. And to follow that training we started our first annual instructional leadership institute where they took their learning and we provided strategies that um could be used in classrooms and then we also trained our staff in those strategies as well. So we wanted to have it in front of leaders first so that they would be able to support that implementation in the classroom.

This year we are training 163 ELA teachers at the secondary level in OLA training and then we're continuing our training in the elementary with we have a cohort of letters that are finishing up this year and some that will continue next year and then there is also a handful of teachers who are going through OLA um who are new to our district and haven't been trained yet. So and then this year also we are training 8 140 paras across our district um in the science of reading as well. So that's going to take place over two specific district PD days and then there'll also be one asynchronous session for them to do on another day. As a reminder, we shared this visual last year. The CAP read basics is scored on a scale between 190 and 310. All subtest, all of the six subtests are scored the same way, which is really helpful when reading the data.

Um, as you can see here, the weak and low average are yellow and red on this graph, but the next slide will show them in purple colors. Um, but just to remember, those are the scores we're going to be focusing on the next graph. So, you can see here, this is a summary of our CAPY data from last year. So it was our baseline data the first time students had had a chance to access this assessment. Each subtest is scored along the bottom. So you can see the word recognition, vocabulary, morphology, sentence processing, reading efficiency, and reading comprehension. So these scores show the low average and the weak combined. So if we look specifically at word recognition and decoding, you'll see that in fourth grade about 60% of students were still struggling or were struggling with their read word recognition and decoding and then by eighth grade it was down to about 30%. Um we often see a spike in fourth and fifth grade we have because of the multi-elabic words they're encountering in their reading at this point.

Uh we hope that with our new functional morphology curriculum that we will start to see a dip in some of these needs with students. Um but overall the the trend here is that we are making progress as students move from fourth grade to eighth grade. And then in response to the CAPY data last year we focused a lot on multilavic word instruction. And so to continue with that work this year, we are also adding in a focus of fluency and vocabulary instruction strategies. So like I said prior, we frontloaded that with our administrators this summer and our institutes and then offered it as our during our professional development this fall. And with the work or the help of our literacy specialists, we'll be continuing that work throughout the school year. and in across content areas. So, they'll be able to use those fluency or vocabulary routines in science or social studies and other subjects across.

All right. So, in order to provide intervention um and in targeted instruction to all of our students K12, we need to have appropriate resources. Right? So, in elementary school in grades K through three, our foundational skills curriculum is bridge to read. that's used for all students in the classroom um based on their needs. And then uh similarly, functional morphology is the foundational skills curriculum for fourth and fifth grade. Um as Marty just mentioned, we are hopeful that now that we have been using functional morphology, this is our second year that those scores will start to fall in terms of the number of students who needed that. Last year was their first real opportunity to have that um across the whole system. In middle school, we have uh middle school reading teachers who use both UFly as a explicit um phonics instruction curricula. And then for students who need um the sort of next step which multi-elabic word reading, uh we pair that with rewards.

Um at the high school level, this was a gap area for us in terms of high quality um instructional materials. In the past, we're using an adaptive literacy invention called PowerUp. It's a Lexia um science of reading aligned product um that our reading foundations teachers have access to. Our um ML staff who provide reading interventions um for our ML students and then special education um educators have access to that as well. And then of course through all of these um interventions we are providing progress monitoring um throughout the school year so that we know whether students have moved out of a particular intervention um and or are not making progress and then we need to be able to respond to that. So some of our professional learning for our um literacy specialists and teachers will be around like right what do we do um when we are at a point where students either aren't making enough progress to exit and or are not making progress and we need to make an instructional shift.

We also wanted to provide a brief update um that was sort of summitative at the end of last school year and then what are the responses that we took to our three elementary curricula. So, at the end of last school year, um we did a survey of our elementary teachers to get their feedback on what worked well and what challenges they were having with the curricula. Um because we know the scope of being um faced with teaching two brand new curricula um and new standards was was a lot. So, what we heard from our teachers loud and clear and we shared this with you um with the board after our week in classrooms for CKLA that the background knowledge and vocabulary that's being built is um a huge positive. That's something that we see sort of across the board and that showed up in our teacher survey as well. There were some needs to adjust pacing um and to adjust the length of some of our lessons for our youngest learners.

So over the course of the summer um led by the learning and achievement team, we had literacy specialists and teachers um in to help us with making those adjusted adjustments to the pacing schedule, shorten those lessons up, and then um align our units so that when we are taking the state test, we're at like a good point in the year in terms of um scope and sequence. We also heard some really positive things about Bridge to Read. So it um you know loud and clear folks were saying it's it's a really strong structured phonics instructional tool for our students in K3. Um and we needed to take a look at how the sort of scope and sequence of the CKA skills components um we sort of built sort of a bridge between the two. Right? There are students who need extension um students who need um more you know repetition. Um so there was some work done again with um folks from across the system this summer to build that out um with sort of a cross reference right between the benchmarks and those two curricula uh in order to make it a little easier for teachers to to um manage.

And then for functional morphology also um really strong effective decoding instruction for those upper elementary students and uh our teachers need access to the print workbooks. that's not something that's um provided with functional morphology. So, we actually chose to print those in-house ourselves so that that um eliminates the need for teachers to print um and all of the prep time that a teacher would need to take. Um we just took that sort of off of their plate so that they didn't have to do that work. I want to say at this point like a huge thank you to the folks in our school communities who were a part of that work this summer. We couldn't have done it without our our teachers and our coaches.

So, some of what we wanted to share um with you all is when in the year we will have access to um just in time data. Partly for for the board and the public um but I think more importantly to share some of the ways in which we plan to use this data to inform um adjustments to instruction right away. Um so you'll see uh the top half of the screen is our universal screening windows that tends to be our fastbridge um assessments. So, um, we are in the middle of or the at the beginning of our fall screening window right now. We'll close on October 9th. Um, and we've scheduled a, um, coaching collaboration day for that day. Um, so there is have all of our coaches together that, um, on the 9th. We also have our our department leader meetings for both reading and ELA teachers in at the high school level and middle school level meeting right at the end of that window. um because we are then going to be able to train them on how to go back to their buildings with a data dive, a meaningful data dive to then work through with both their um their colleagues um and then um at the coaching level in order for all all grade bands um coaches to go back and make meaning from this data.

So that's the sort of the fall window. also offer another date that's really convenient for us as a system um is that October 26th is a elementary PD day where so that's just about two weeks after the window is closed. We can dig in with our teachers uh to answer any questions they have about how to make meaning from that data um and immediately follow it. You'll see in the bottom half capy which is the sort of next step um that Marty talked about the data um that window is just a little bit longer right so that we can be sure that students who need um we need more information from we can get that um and both of those um all of those windows are set so that we can respond three times over the course of the school year to our our students needs as opposed to um you sort of you could hope and wait, right for MCAs and we we can't do that.

It wouldn't be responsible for so we we are intentionally providing some really um clear professional development following our windows throughout the year. I think I'll offer one other layer that I didn't mention in terms of um professional learning. So in partnership with our assistant superintendent um we are planning to lead data dives with their whole principal groups following these windows so that at the principal level and then at the coach level and then that um then our coaches will bring um the data to their their colleagues um so that we've sort of hit all levels of our instructional leaders. um and a new structure that we've put in place this year that I know Superintendent Cole has shared about. Um and some of his updates is our district instructional leadership team. We're actually doing a data dive tomorrow um with our on math data for our ILT at the district level. And then next Tuesday, so a week from tomorrow, um we're doing a literacy data dive so that all of our instructional leaders at the district level um have a the sort of same understanding of where we sit in terms of student achievement and where our growth areas are.

Thank you. And I'll hand it back for questions. At this time, because this is a work session, we really want to dive deep. And I know the board has been thinking about questions that they would like to pose to you. Um, and you gave us some more food for thought as I'm sitting here writing and I can see co-chair Hulkman is the same and so is the superintendent. So, we'd like to open it up for comments. And director Duchaine is virtual. I don't want to forget you. So, I'm a very audio learner. So, if you see her hand up and I'm missing it, could somebody please tell me thank you because I don't I'm sure we want to hear from everyone tonight. So, I'm not sure who wishes to start.

All right. Thank you, Director Adet. Thank you. Thanks for uh sharing the update. That was great. Um I'd like to just dig into some parts of the I guess the the plan or the strategy a little bit more. I'm wondering if you might be able to tell us maybe two or three things that we're doing this year intentionally that you you think have a lot of promise or you know give us a lot of reason to to think okay that that could be really beneficial to try to drive some improvement and maybe just share what it is and what does it really look like in the classroom or wherever it gets applied. I think that the vocabulary focus at the high school level is huge. They they're very excited about it across the district. They have taken building goals around vocabulary because it's something that can cross all the content areas. Yep. They can all participate in it.

And um do you want to speak a little bit to it? You want to? No. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So um there uh there was sessions on it this fall and um I know Melissa Cath the new MTSS coordinator has been visiting buildings and leading PD with them on it as well so that it's something that's um part of not just the reading class but in all classrooms and some of our reading teachers have also gone above and beyond to create like visuals of multi-elabic word reading routines that they've had printed for all their classrooms. So, that is a piece of the vocabulary. Um, when they're learning the definition of it, they're also able to practice that skill of how to decode that word because they're usually longer and um tying in that morphological meaning to help them remember the meanings of the word. So, yeah, it's it's exciting to see them excited about it. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And at the elementary level, I think something like we've been implementing bridge tree now. this is kind of was a slow roll out um and functional morphology which hit those foundational literacy skills and some of the things as we've hear how do we know it's working and I think it's really important to highlight are accuracy which we know when you look at the data that accuracy is the first thing you see it to improve for word recognition and in our grades and so our first year like our pilot of bridge to read and functional morphology in 2425 we saw a 19% increase in grades one through three. And then when we the following year when we added the functional morphology, we saw another 8% increase of our um our accuracy. But students are reading those words correctly. So then they can make meaning with the strategies as they get older and apply that.

And a big part of that work is the literacy specialists that we have in each building who are expected to be in the classrooms to offer ongoing coaching and support. Um, and then building that literacy specialist model all the way up to the secondary level to continue to um, make an impact in all the content areas has been a a really really positive thing that we haven't gotten a lot of time to really show the impact of how that's happening and we have continued professional development. Um we had it on September 1st and 2nd to support like we said the multilabic the fluency and vocabulary and we are building out like 2.0 like you've done this now the next part this is the professional development we'll offer on October 26 and then again in February 16th. Um so it's been some pretty exciting changes we're seeing. um and all of our kids are making huge improvements there.

So, it's been exciting. Thank you. I think another layer that I would add as a um former school leader is um often we don't so at right like as you sort of move up in positions in the system, you get less access to professional development um because you are then providing it. And so I think one of the changes this year was um implementing that instructional leadership day where we launched the school year with really centering our focus on um instruction and achievement and growth with all of our school leaders. Um and our our feedback from our school leaders was overwhelmingly positive about that that day. And I think one of the things that um Annette and Chris and I and the rest of the district um instructional leadership team are committed to is continuing that focus throughout the school year. Right. So, as we build as we bring our school leaders together, um focusing as much of our attention as is possible on and what does instruction look like in your building and then us providing some um tools and strategies for what they should be looking for, which was some of the work that um we've we've described this evening um that began in that on that first day in August.

Very good. Um, director Erogo, thank you for I know you were tied up in traffic, so thanks for getting here. We are in the middle of the work session around literacy and we're asking board members to and the superintendent to weigh in with comments and questions. They've been very informative and please jump in. Um, and I know we have director Daine joining us virtually, so just kind of catch up here. So, next question. I have many. I'm just waiting. So, Go ahead, direct co-chair open. Thank you. Uh, yeah, this was great. It's so exciting to see us moving forward. Um, we know for years is just almost confusing to everyone in the education world as to why the scores were trending downwards. But now with the science of reading, it's like, oh, this this makes sense. We had all these um wonderful elementary school educators getting trained and they were excited to jump into the K CK12 I'm sorry CKLA information and uh it's really exciting and good to see that we've got some changes trending in a positive direction.

Uh because as you opened with um we want kids to be able to read to learn but we do still have to focus right now on learning to read so that they can get to that point. Which brings me then to um just thinking about some of that data that was presented and where the kids are at and um how we're going to help them because it we have a lot of structures in place for elementary school right now which I do actually want to come back to and and thinking of how we can help even more there but what where I mean you listed out let's see you listed youly and rewards and power up are those based on the science of reading yes perfect and when when did those go in place. Oh, rewards. So, rewards has been with the system for a while, but we are getting some updated materials for them.

UFly was purchased last year, but they received training this summer or at this PD day and that will be ongoing training throughout this year. Um, and then PowerUp is brand new. We're very excited about it and they had training on the second and with that training is come they are providing us like once a month check-ins with our data and how are we using it like they are very committed to having us see some growth here so we're excited about it as well excellent that's what I was going to ask who is Oh you gonna ask who is they who's getting the training it's tool yes so the people from letters lexia y oh reading teachers reading teachers secondary reading Literacy specialist. Literacy specialist. Sorry. And to clarify, it's specific for secondary for adolescent learners, which we have really robust support for the elementary. Now we have something specific for adolescent learners in those foundational literacy skills.

We it's really not a lot of systems available. And so it's been exciting to have this opportunity to support them using something like letters, which we as a district have invested a lot in to support. And the teachers were really excited after they went through the training this summer like they so

Something for a long time. Yes. Yeah. I would say our reading teachers are very talented and they have done a lot of the work on their own. Yes. Right. Because like Candace said there hasn't been a lot that's out there for adolescent learners for reading interventions. This feels like a huge win for them. Finally. That's great. what um not only who it is but we had some numbers for the size of um number of people getting trained at the elementary level what how many teachers approximately and um support staff literacy specialists would have gone through that training the power up training it was I think 25 something good roughly does that sound right and then that's for reading sections of middle school and high school kids about how many sections per school are would we have of those courses. I know that's a really specific question. So yeah, I will write that down and we can follow up with both sections and number of students served just so that the board has that data. because I know we had looked at some of those numbers for last year and um there was some different modeling and things and I just very supportive because as you were talking about you know tier one instruction and doing what you can to add in multi-elabic vocabulary fluency things like those um at tier one level I mean it looks like from this data we really need to target in with a lot more kids.

So I guess as this board member looks at these numbers and seeing that decoding for seventh and eighth grade for low average and weak we're at 40ish% and then for vocabulary again for those two groups if we just average them in again 40% kind of across the board and that's a hopefully we can have many many sections of those classes and I guess question for just thoughts. Board members, open-ended question, not that any of you would answer right now, but what can we do to facilitate getting um more students into that really needed um targeted lessons so that they can learn to read so they're ready to read to learn? I don't know if anyone has answers right now, but that's a that's a big question that I have. I think one of the things that I would mention there is that it's also our obligation to share annually with families how their students are are doing and I think that might be one of the places where we could leverage um particularly at the middle school level um as we have fall conferences with families and we're sharing their students this year's data right so it is hot off the press as they come into conferences um then the conversation feels a little different if we have a really familyfriendly way to share this data and the support that the school can provide.

Um my hope is that more students and families would feel like that that is a good use of their students time over the course of their school day. I know we've talked with the board before. There are students who choose to opt out of their their intervention courses at the secondary level and um it's our job to make sure we provide intervention to all students regardless of where that fits in their schedule. So I think part of that you've sort of spoken to um director Hulman which is the like embedding it in core classes. It's like the and right. So I think we need to look at as both across our core our core content areas and um targeted intervention is more than the few minutes that you might take to teach explicit vocabulary in a science class. Go ahead. I think it's important to acknowledge this is the first time those upper grades have been screened for foundational reading skills.

So it's like new information and the ELA teachers are all in Ola right now. So we were able to capture these reading in specialists because they completed it during phase one. So they have the PED time to really hone in on it. And then when they finish the following year after they finish, they will also then continue to have look to support in that way. But we also offer those vocabulary courses to other content areas that wanted to come. it wasn't just somebody who teaches reading to support reading in all courses and we want to continue to build on that. Well, I I actually really I love that idea. I love that thought that we would share this information with families. Um and I wonder if there's not a way more than just at conferences, but is there I don't know what kind what that would look like um to make certain that all families know whether they come to conferences or not. you know, here's where your student is.

And then you mentioned that we we allow students to opt out. Students who are um not meeting maybe grade level goals, we allow we let them choose. So this at the particularly at the high school level, it's a balance between credits, right? So then they would be opting out of potentially the continuing to get credits towards graduation. Um yes, sort of the short answer to that question. So I guess One, I'll do one final thing and then I'll let other people jump in. That that to me sounds concerning and I wonder if the board can find some alternate things to do because um opting out of reading so that you can get credits to graduate seems like a a real conflict. Um how what can we do to prioritize that reading? um then perhaps their success in those other courses might I would imagine would probably increase. So I have that I have that down as one thing that I hope that we can discuss.

I'm thinking as as a followup as we've been having this discussion, I I think about um what is in the universal, you know, what is what does every child get and could there be um a course developed that would afford some of the things that the current high school students may not have had in and I think it's vitally important um And I think there's a possibility, I'm sure, that that can be addressed in a way that that is meaningful through an ELA class. That's why I was wondering if UFly was something all English teachers were were um having an opportunity to have because there are schools that do that. I know that, you know, they use UFly. So, just consideration as well. and maybe further discussion, maybe not tonight about what uh co-chair Horn brought up, but it is something very concerning to hear. I think we're I'm seeing nods all the way around the table and I'm probably probably seeing one up there.

I can't tell, but virtually um to make sure that we're all we're all in that space. Um and I'm going to um jump on what um Director Hulman is saying about parents and guardians. Can you speak to how you've been thinking about the little littles, you know, all the way up to the high school students that we're talking about? We say on our school website that we believe that our parents are our primary teachers. Um, and they play a key role in the education of their children. How can we bring parents and families into this conversation much more deeply? because quite frankly there's a there's a lot that families can do and I know you've been thinking about it. So maybe share a few things one or two things that you've been thinking about would be helpful.

Yeah. So I think a part of that conversation that a teacher can have at conferences with a with a family, you know, it's sort of it's it's going to depend on the age of the child, what amount of involvement a parent is going to have sitting next to a child. Um but certainly in the early elementary years and in our pre-K programming, a part of that conversation is about reading at home. Um and reading at home in any language, right? Words are additive, right? And we are we want our students um to be hearing both seeing things in print, right? And and also hearing um all of the different vocabulary that they would then be building. Um part of what we uh and this is a um it will be a new document that will go out for fall conferences this year because we want to make sure one um it frames the data in a um student centered manner.

So that um we're being really clear that it's our responsibility and families responsibility to support the students and that there's nothing inherently wrong with a child who comes in having some academic need, right? that that's the the job of the institution and of um in partnership with family. Um so I think as a part of the document that we provide to teachers, it can include some of those strategies around reading x number of minutes at home in the evening, access to books at the library both at school and and in our public library systems. Um the ways in which you can practice vocabulary words with your students. Um, and I think, you know, and that builds all the way up to high school, but often at the high school level, we're talking with the child and you're having a conversation about the strategies that they might um practice um and perhaps a trusted adult both at home and at school.

Um, as students who struggle to read um and and make it to high school in our system without um reading at grade level, one of the things that we notice in classrooms is they develop a lot of coping strategies. And sometimes those coping strategies allow it to look like they can read. Um, and some of them end up showing up as a behavior, right? Because it's easier to um show up with um an engagement concern than it is to acknowledge that we're not able to read. So, I think some of our our uh work with our secondary literacy specialists is to think about how do we support students in um addressing those coping skills that they are using and uh replacing them with um a reading strategy as we think about it. Superintendent. So, I want to add to that. I will I I will say that we've done a lot of thinking about this.

I personally feel very strongly that we as a school district need to do everything we can not just to help our existing parents with information about what they can be looking for what what do certain things mean. So for example just um when you look at the CAPD uh read basics uh strands right so so what would that data tell me as a parent helping parents with the language right so that they can they can intervene I think we also have an obligation to find ways to reach out to people who may not even be parents yet or they're planning to be parents soon or they are young parents they have small children at this time to um not only explain to them that reading is really important, reading to their children, but the reasons why, right? Very specifically, it's not just about helping them gain confidence when they show up and and and really have a much wider and broader vocabulary when they step in the door.

But the other benefits, which is when you're reading and you're listening to reading or somebody else reading, right, the ability to perspective take, the ability to put yourself in somebody else's shoes. And students who tend to have that that breadth or or development of understanding um do much better in tough situations or when they are under stress or strain or maybe they have a conflict with another student. They have a broader sort of set of tools to deal with those things. And I don't know that that parents always think about that because parents are thinking about a lot of things, right? They're oftentimes they're just trying to, you know, make things work in the day. So, it's it it's helping them understand that this is a really important thing that you can do and and here's the reasons behind it. And and I'll just add one more thing. There are parents maybe because of language reasons or their own disability or struggles with reading who may not feel confident reading themselves.

There are other tools. there are podcasts or um there there are app apps free apps where you can get library books online and you know you can sit with your child and the app is reading the book to the child. So that's just one of many examples where I think we could make that information available to our residents in our communities and uh and provide those resources. I'm just giving you some quick examples of things we think are really important not just for our existing families but our families to be thank you for that. Um I couldn't agree more and I saw a lot of nods. I think we were all concurring with that as well. Um looking forward to that. Director Duchaine

I don't leave you out there. Thank you, Cochair Langenfeld, and thank you all for uh accepting me virtually uh for this meeting tonight. Uh Greg, you shared something that that really stuck out to me, and I think um I'd love to kind of get thoughts from other board members. You know, we have a really robust ECF, like early childhood program, all the way up to adult basic education to AB. So, we could be really a district that's leading at all ages for improving literacy. we could um partner with our community ed team for the bookends and then of course Sarah and the team that are there in front of us today um are covering kind of K through 12 in those skills. Um just anecdotally I want to share after the first week of school my two high schoolers both came home um independent from one another and as they're giving me updates about their week they are are they shared everyone's really focused on reading they seriously at our pepfests and in the daily announcements and all our teachers are talking about reading and um my oldest shared that you know she's like oh maybe I'll get some more like independent book reading time in class now.

So like that there's something happening in the culture at our at our high schools already um that I think is really exciting and pairs well with the information Sarah that you and your team shared about the professional development that you've done the excitement that our uh admin and teachers are feeling about being supported in that way. Um I think I I really like all of the data. Um, I like what I've heard from from other board members about sharing that data out with parents, making sure they can have an easy way to understand, well, what is this telling me? What does it mean? Um I know uh Superintendent Cole when we've spoken about this I had shared that it might be helpful for us if if we are committed to this putting out information about like Lexile reading levels like what does it mean? What does it sound like? What are the words on the page for a third grade reading level or or giving some benchmarks so people can kind of see what it actually looks like?

Um, and then I would ask if in addition to all of that what I'll call hard data, if there's a way for us to get at any other softer data to give give us insight into that like building level culture of reading library book checkouts increasing, uh, the difficulty of library book checkouts across grade levels as the year progresses. Um I I you know I'd love for us to share or brainstorm some ideas on that if we have a way that where that's already collected that we could get that and share to the board along with the hard the hard numbers. I think that would give us a bigger uh more fuller picture and thank you for the presentation. Thank you director. You're you're good for this moment. Okay. I'd like to just hang out with you guys for about a week. We could talk about so many good things. This is just um not only fascinating um the changes in the science of reading and how we understand how kids learn um but just how can we use that information to make a significant difference because we know that this isn't just about us wanting to, you know, see some scores change so that we can feel good about it.

We know that this is meaningful to people in their lives that you're going to have more job opportunities. You're going to have everything in life is going to be better from like you said dealing with situations because you have the confidence and the understanding in reading. Um there's so much that's here. So, thank you so much for working on this and and answering our questions tonight. Um thoughts with that then is um where are we with training secondary teachers because it's fantastic. I'm so excited that everyone across the district is focusing on this. But there's a difference between being excited and putting the skills as a an educator that you have to work. That's a little different than having the science of reading knowledge. So where where are we at with secondary teachers? This is this year is the beginning of phase two. So it's the first year we've had the opportunity to have our secondary ELA ELA teachers trained. um so they are all in um training for this year at the close of this school year.

Then that ideally would mean that all of our ELA teachers are trained. So then next year, one of the things Candace was mentioning is we've we've capitalized on the fact that our reading teachers are already trained because they were a part of phase one um as folks who directly teach reading courses. Um next fall will be when um we'll we'll have done the vast majority of the largecale training. Um, so we'll have our ELA teachers back and available to us during our PD days. The a challenge that we run into is that um because of the hours that our educators use in order to complete their OLA training, they aren't available to us on professional development days. Um, however, our strategy in order to support folks um even when they aren't in PD PD days is those secondary literacy specialists. So, they are the ones who will be supporting our ELA teachers. Um, there isn't a um those are the folks at the secondary level who get science of reading trained.

So then it's our responsibility to make sure across all the other content areas there are um tangible strategies that can be used which is why we we took that and ran with it at the beginning of the school year and a part of why when Marty mentioned we chose to train our secondary leaders so that they are then sort of the lead learner in their buildings. So principles and assistant principles took that training over the summer at the secondary level which was not that was not required. We chose to do that. Um and our our secondary administrators are now much more able to support their teams. Two things with that. Thanks. That's good insight. Just um as a teacher myself, I I only started digging into the science of reading I don't know maybe five years ago. When I learned about morphology, like my mind was blown like it changed everything about how I wanted to present information in class.

So, I see value for all teachers in learning at least parts of these things. Um, I don't know if, you know, all content areas need an entirety of the science of reading because they're more specialized. Uh, but I just really see a lot of value here. So, I support that. Um, in addition then, can can you explain more of how the secondary literacy specialists are being used to facilitate because these are giant buildings with thousands and thousands of students and we've got one literacy specialist and how how is that going to help? I mean, I'm I'm hopeful. I'm really excited, but it's hard for me to wrap my head around this.

Go ahead, Michelle. She was one of them. So I was one of them. Um so some of the things that we do as literacy specialists in the buildings is that we leverage that flex PD. So when um teachers have this available time where they can flex a day and then they can they can learn in the building and so that becomes very focused professional development professional learning for teachers so that they are able to like those literacy specialists are going to focus on the science of reading with with those opportunities right so not only are teachers getting that PD on our district PD days but within the buildings then as they're coming to we'll call it prep PD Right. Stu teachers can give up an hour of their prep time, come in, do some learning around vocabulary instruction for example. And the literacy specialists as well are choosing really high leverage strategies, things that all teachers in all content areas care about.

Teachers care that students have access to vocabulary because access to vocabulary is what helps them understand their content area, right? And so teachers get very excited to have that kind of learning where they can then leverage the science of reading to support students across the disciplines. Um and then of course literacy specialists can go into any classroom as as teachers need help in modeling. So they may learn something from their OLA training this year and want to have a literacy specialist come in and model. What does that actually look like with my students in my classroom? And can you help me see what that looks like? And that's the kind of learning we know from the science of learning, right? That it can't just be we can't just deliver PD and then have teachers expect that teachers are going to do the thing. They just like students need they need to see that learning modeled to them, right?

That teaching modeled to them, those strategies modeled to them. Um and they need to have someone support them in then practicing those strategies, right? and that they need to see how those strategies impact the learning that their students are doing. Okay, pardon me. I'm sure you have some thoughts. I do. I've been biting my tongue. I'm so to share. Anyway, so I want to talk about data and evidence-based best practice and how do you know? And um for me if we are going to ensure that every child we serve develops those foundational skills to read to write speak critically etc and make meaning how do we know we've got test scores and so but you I think what you just shared is really important are the literacy specialists the people that we're going to count on to make sure that things are being implemented with fidelity is that talk to us about that and what you are doing at the ILT, you know, the team here at the district level.

How does that look? What should we expect? Yeah, I think that's a great question and I think I I'll I'm going to answer in two layers. So, I would say really the folks who should be ensuring that teachers are um implementing any given strategy with fidelity is the principal, right? So, principles and assistant principles are who we would lean on. um than coaches, right? So, I would say the the coach should more be providing the support to the teacher, sitting alongside them, right? And perhaps like like um we've described modeling a lesson um but not necessarily being the accountability person. I would I would want that to be a school leader so that the coach can really be seen as a support um for the teacher. I think um providing training and then on the job support and um professional development.

Yes. Right. As a as a literacy specialist, but part of why um the district ILT is thinking around at each time we're implementing something that we need to see if it's working. You've got to work through that with PR at the ILT with principles and then coaches and teachers. Right? So there's sort of three levels of needing to make sure that um a new practice gets gets pushed out through the system. Um so I would say first we would go to a principal right and I think one of the things that isn't necessarily obvious is so then what is a principal looking for so that's then our job to make sure that we are supporting our leaders like what are the how would this look in a classroom right what does it look like in a secondary classroom to effectively um build in science of reading aligned strategies into a science or a social studies classroom etc um and then what does it not look like.

So it doesn't just look like a word wall that we never refer to, right? That students don't understand like they haven't been been asked to use the vocabulary that's present, but it does look like explicit systematic instruction. Um and I think some of what we will do as a district ILT is those checks, right? How do we know? Um it's part of why we're doing a data dive now right at the start of the school year so that we have a sense of where are the places where we should be learning from really positive um changes in student achievement and then where are the places where we need to take what clearly worked and bring it um to another school. Can I add one layer to that too? I just want to add that we also have the layer of department leads and our grade level teacher leads because we have to develop all the leaders that we can in the in the district.

So our our ML leads and our sped leads all of them are a part of this too. And are there are there aspirational goals? Are there growth goals in the plans? Talk to us about that account those accountability measures as well. What are you what are you looking for in terms of growth? Are you do you have expected growth? And talk about that because I I'm very interested in that as well. Yeah, that's a great question and I'm gonna I'm gonna couch it in two ways. So, we are in the process of building a three-year uh both literacy plan and math plan that will include what do we expect to see um as a result of the initiatives that we're implementing in year one which would be this year. what would we expect to see next year and the following year and our hope is to be able to present a draft of those plans um with the khacker presentation in October so that you're both hearing big big system level data and um you're hearing from us as a team and from the math team and what are we going to do right because you'll you'll see data that in some places looks like progress and it's ne it's not enough um so I would say hold on the what are the goals we're looking at because we want to present them to you um having had some meaningful time to dig in as a team.

Um, but the a sort of short answer to answering for each student. So based on our fast brass brbridge data, every child is given a growth target for winter. And what we will be looking at is what percent of our students meet or exceed that growth target midyear. And then that's part of what we'll present to you all after that second window is closed. uh because we know that before we start to see change uh in terms of proficiency levels, we should see growth. Um and if we're not seeing growth first, it's going to be a really long time before we start to see re real systematic shifts in proficiency. Um so, and I would also mention students who are already proficient. Um often in systems, they are the students who aren't making a year's growth um because we aren't necessarily pushing them to to meet their growth targets as well. So we'll be looking at all students um regardless of where they start in each of those windows.

Um so our plan to present to you um in paired with the ker presentation is you know sort of explicit goals that we are aiming toward both in terms of um what do we expect to see in classrooms? That's that more like um tangible just in time. what what what's the what are the adult behaviors that we should start to see change that then sorry translate um to student achievement change and growth comes before proficiency correct anyway thank you for that um I know that you can probably come back another time maybe um because we could keep you all night but I I do want to just make sure and I I'm speaking for myself but I think others would agree we want to make sure you have what you need. Um, in terms of resource and support, this is our conversations we really want to support because we want to accelerate the learning for our kids and ensure that they have the very best education that we can possibly provide them.

So, as we go along in this process and and I appreciate Superintendent Cole being very involved in the process as well. I think that's vitally important. um and as well as our building leaders um that really want to you know it takes it's everybody together. You go into schools and and everyone can play a role no matter what their their position is in a school too to lift up literacy in schools. So, um, just looking forward to more information. And I think one of the pieces that I I don't want to leave off the radar that I think we all want to hear back from you on is ensuring that if a child needs more time that we make sure they have those that time to build those foundational skills in some way, shape or form. Um, I think that's a huge priority. And then um one more question. The MCAs aren't out yet, but when they come, you'll talk to us because I know they even changed the levels.

Yeah. And so we're we're in for kind of some new new learning for all of us. So I want to make sure we have that as well. So go ahead. Yes. Director Coch. Yeah. Thank you for all the hard work that has gone into this already in, you know, trying to help our kids get where they need to be so they can be at grade level, they can be successful and have that great future. Um, just thinking about some of these numbers as this one board member, I I really support um, Superintendent Cole coming up with big bold ideas that we can do to make changes because if I was crunching numbers just quickly and randomly here, if there were 25ish um, people who went through training as secondary intervention teachers, if I think I heard that right, and [snorts] we think about the number of students that we have in the school, let's say five high schools have um 3,000 kids and that's only the secondary kids.

We'd be looking at something like each one of those people having to serve like 500 kids if they've got 40%. So we just what do we need to do to support the system to get those just in time interventions to think about how we can support parents because I mean a thought that I was like if a parent gets information about where their student is and they call the school the next day like what can we do to support them to say okay yes you can do these things at home but we're also going to help your kid in this way at school with these directed interventions. So like what I'm hearing um really want to push this forward and make certain that um literacy literacy as in you know the the reading the writing the comprehension pieces um because there's literacy of you know media literacy or I mean we want to make certain that we're targeted on this this successful piece that we can put in kids hands so they can have a great future.

I'll offer related to sort of what both of you just shared, a part of the three-year plan that we're building is um a section that's just called resources. So, um we we will be um sort of listing the things we will need in order to make our goals possible. So, I we intend to include that in our presentation. Um and I think the timing um feels good that it's it's in, you know, about a month from now. uh because that is before decisions about next year's budget are right present in terms of you know what are we focusing on as a system etc and um I've found it helpful to name up front like and sometimes a resource is time right so time and time with who um so know that that is a part of our team's plan as we've started to draft what this looks like it's here are the things we want to happen for children and here are the things we need in order to make it happen um so we'd be happy to share that with you and thank you director Adette for a future update.

I [clears throat] would love to hear about how the the building administrative structure uh how how do their goals for things like reading get set uh what do we provide to them in terms of um their progress so they can see it and then u any accountability mechanisms for I assume it's the principal ultimately um for their results as well specific to reading would be Thank you. Other comments? Yes, Superintendent Cole. Yeah. So, thank you for that. Um it was a nice tea up for me. Um so, we I think that's a great thing for us to to provide. I will tell you I I think there's there's some things um that are happening now that I I just want to kind of preview and I think we could provide more information about. Um superintendent, associate superintendent Ziggler and um Forest have um really started a shift in their uh principal meetings away fromformational uh meeting. there there's information that they need to get at some of these meetings, but they're really shifting toward professional development.

And what I mean by that specifically, right, would be kind of to your point, it's fine to get uh co-chair Hokman, you mentioned, you know, it's great to get excited about something, but then when you actually have to implement it, right, that's a whole another thing. So, for example, you know, um for our our building leaders, and I would say this is true for our teachers and for our parents is when I'm looking at these these uh strands and you see scores in sentence processing, reading efficiency, and reading comprehension, I as a building leader should be able to articulate specifically what the differences, what what does does each of those things mean for a child? What does it mean for our building? if I you know we're sort of struggling in one of theirs like what is this actually what are the distinctions between those things and a parent would actually be able to know that um so that they can now elevate their conversation maybe with the school not and I don't mean this to say it's on the parents you're just sort of increasing the number of people who get this stuff and they know what it means and so that they know that hey my child is doing or my student is doing pretty well or my school if I'm a building leader we're doing pretty well here.

It seems like the strategies that we're using are effective, but we're struggling over here in vocabulary. So, what are some strategies that we should be focusing on as a school to to address that deficit? Or if I'm a teacher or a parent, well, what does it mean that my child did poorly in vocabulary? And and what is it that we should be talking about here with that? So I think the more that we define these things and we have a common understanding and then I think the hardest part is then like what do you do about it at that point. So I think those are some of the things I also want to point out that many of our buildings are increas and you can all share with this increasing what are called instructional rounds. So historically as some of us have been in teaching you know somebody might come in and observe you. It's sort of a scary thing where they're coming in to observe you and sort of pick apart, you know, how you could be better.

Instructional rounds are really flipped. I'm going around and I'm just observing people. I'm actually giving them feedback on the great things that are doing. But it gives teachers partic any teacher but particularly young teachers an opportunity to see their peers and I can just tell you from my experiences whether it's anything you pick stuff up that's like oh that works really well I should try that and see and see how it might work. So those are quick examples we need to formalize that a little bit. And the last thing that I'll share that's a challenge, but I think we can figure out is, you know, getting more teachers the professional development they need in in in other um disciplines, I think, is really important. Um it's a heavy lift because there's so many of them. The other thing is we have two to 300 new teachers every year. So you have new people coming into the system and so we have to have and I know they're already thinking about and they've been working on it, but a system in place to kind of bring them up to speed and bring them along, right?

So you're you're elevating everybody, but at the same time, you got to bring the people in and help them, you know, uh advance and be able to meet students needs. So I just wanted to give everybody those thoughts and what I would characterize is just plain language. Um I think about the time when my kids first took the ACT and the ACT is kind of nice because it's broken down into different areas and you can see where your own uh child excelled and where they need to do some work and then you feel like you have a strategy if they're going to take it again. Well, if you don't worry about this stuff, you focus on this stuff, you might be able to improve your score. I see it. Maybe it's a little oversimplified, but you know, to give people that, I think, is very um empowering, right, to everybody to help our kids. So, I just wanted to make those comments.

Very good. Um I I can't tell if director, did you have any other parting thoughts before we wrap here? I can't see if she her hand is up or not. Okay, she's good. Okay, I want to thank you for the presentation. Uh, thank you for all of the hard hard hard work. It's transformational work. The lift is heavy, but already I know that schools are seeing results. I had the privilege to watch some of the CKLA training or not testing assessments. They're assessing every little little all over the place. Um, which is pretty great. Um just I appreciated the comments from director Duchaine about community community ed but don't forget other parts of the community too in terms of what can we do to support grandparents are out there and there are a lot of people who want to help and there are people in the community at very different levels and organizations too that could possibly help us.

This is big and it could be we'd like to lead the way. I think uh we started with the training. Let's keep it going and feel really grateful to be on this board who is all in and I think our superintendent clearly is all in. So I think we're at a really good place and I just think we have the right people in the right seats to move this. So excited about the future. So thank you.

Have a great evening too. Thanks a lot. Okay. Bye. Okay. As we move forward, we're going on to the next item and it is retaining online learners in Anoka Henipin. I'd like to welcome Dr. Ned Ziggler, our assistant superintendent for secondary schools and I see principal Jess Lee from STEP. So, we're going to hear from both of them. Welcome. And Sorry. Good evening again, Sarah Hunter. I think I will jump in. So, um go to the first slide. So, we um are here this evening to have

A conversation with the board about um some flexibility that our students and our families are already um engaging in. So, I think I would just start with that. Um our what we have heard from students and families at the and this is um we're speaking in this presentation about at the high school level. um they value flexibility. Um and we uh we want to talk this evening about um whether or not we want to increase our ability to provide online options in inside of an noa henopin as opposed to losing students to external providers. So there's al there's a statute that aligns with this. We and and we implement the statute um each trimester. So districts are required in the first 15 days of each trimester to allow for students to register for up to 50% of their student schedule in those first 15 days of every trimester in online courses. Historically, as you'll hear through the rest of the presentation, a lot of that um registration in Anoka Henipin has been external providers.

Uh so our our conversation with you all this evening is about the potential opportunity to offer that more internally and and sort of the r behind that from a student perspective, from a student experience perspective. So, so we have sorry tag teaming two presentations. I'm trying to keep my my brain straight. So, um we we want our students um to stay connected with their home schools. So, we wanted to align um this work to of course our district priorities. So, um, students being continuing to be more engaged with their home high schools and the other staff that support them, um, is something that we would like to continue. Uh, we also know that we control, um, the professional learning and the hiring of our own Anoka Henipin teachers. So, we would love to be able to keep our students learning um, in inside of our our system. And um as a sort of alignment to effective organizational support, we do lose revenue with each student who leaves us for each course. Um so bringing that those dollars back um in house would be another part of what we would like to do as a result of this work.

Um here you can see that there's been obviously a growth of you're seeing 150% um of external online provider registrations over the course of those two school years from the 2022 23 school year to 2425 um excuse me three school years those what's important to note there and that I want to call attention to is when we say external providers we have an noah Henipin online providing some of courses within our school district. But then this external provider, when we say that, that's different than um an openen enrolled student attending a totally different district and going online. An external provider, when we refer it to that, it's um a supplemental provider where our students are usually taking a couple of courses with another school district or another provider and then still maintaining part-time enrollment with us. So what you're seeing here is that this 150% um growth over a couple of years um is really showing us that the parent and the family demand is um also increasing and this number has been um it's been increasing more and more obviously every year as you'll see through some of our next couple of slides that this demand for flexible um learning and different choices for a variety of reasons why families might choose this um this demand and is only continuing to increase.

Um, in this number here, the 5,718, this is the number of online course registrations when you combine an NOA Henipin online with those external providers with that external supplemental provider. So, it's still students that are staying in our system part-time. Um, but they are taking over the course of that school year 5,718. Um, and so this is what we're seeing is it's it's a whole lot of variety of students. It's um it's a lot of students choosing it for whatever their educational experience may be. Um, it could be a variety of things. It could be one course, two, three courses. Um, it just depends on the student. Um we believe that we've got a strategic um or a we've got an opportunity to definitely expand on what we're doing and what we're providing. Um of those 5,718 last school year, 2,680 of them are from the external provider. So to illustrate that um what we pay or what we don't um get in in revenue from those is $600 per course. So that 2,680 So to further go, I think what's really important here is that um what you're seeing is this external provider is a a

Fall and a spring enrollment time frame. So you're seeing um over the course of these school years that every year from fall to spring, normally you're going to see a large increase from fall enrollment to spring enrollment. It's sort of the nature of how um kids register for online classes. The fall enrollment usually starts off a little smaller. Even in our own school district, you'll see that fall to winter to spring trimester um to the third trimester. There's usually a huge growth. What you're seeing here in 2526 is that we increased the courses that we were able to offer. So then our external providers offered way less. And now you're seeing our fall start with our external provider to be even smaller for this 2627 school year. And then you're seeing now the growth of Anoka Henipin online. And so um that light blue represents that first trimester. And so um where we started and then um where we started this is for courses right and so the fall trimester of 242 school year was a certain number and then it grew a little bit the next year for fall and now we jumped very large this fall.

Um, and it's still growing because we're required to take students for the first 15 days. And so even over the last two days, I think we're we're sitting with another 150 kids that are requested it. So, um, from the weekend on and so that number just keeps growing. What you're seeing here is, um, if if I could look over the last however many years in doing this, that 2425 school year is pretty indicative that there's usually a jump and a jump and a jump. that 25 26 school year is a huge jump um from the dark blue to the orange and that's really significant because we started to offer more courses within our own system. If you look at if that's the and then the biggest thing here that I would suggest to people is that knowing that that fall trimester enrollment um only increases from there if you would project it out our spring trimester our third trimester is um looking to be much larger than it ever has been.

So going into why it matters for our students. Um this is one of the things that we are not we are not advertising online courses. This is something that our students and families are opting into and asking for. So when they do that though and they take something outside of an oa henipin they lose those connections that are very important inside of our buildings to support them like our homeschool community the peers their trusted counselors and staff school activities and experiences. King Wayne and their educators, their trusted teacher. So this is really we see it as a flexible opportunity that students and families want and we want to keep them connected to Anoka Henipin. The next slide will go into why it matters for the district. Um external online enrollment will it proves a challenge for our financial stewardship. Uh general education is revenue is lost to those outside providers. Um it increases our administrative burden with our counselors.

So, our counselors will register our students not just in like January of the year before, but then as students come in every single trimester, during those first 15 days, they will have to drop ad reregister them that articulate the credit coming back and determine if they had met the requirements for graduation. We also have to look at courses even if courses change and we have to uh line them up with either, you know, the external provider or within our our own. And so there's a lot of different pieces that come into play with a lot of administrative tasks being asked of our counselors instead of doing the jobs that we would really prefer them to do. In the next slide, um what we'd like to say is again like proposing that we are able to move this forward in 2728 school year. We'd like to expand those online credit opportunities within those traditional high schools during the school day because our students would then remain enrolled in an Oka Henipin.

We could register in advance for courses. We could keep them connected to high school and their activities. They'd be supported by our teachers and staff. And our credits are going to be earned right through an Oka Henipin. And so that's our consistent commitment to our students and to our families within our district. In the next slide, it just kind of reiterates that our we can guarantee and look at that academic quality. The courses that the external provider are teaching are courses that we already have access to through an Oka Henipin online is actually the exact same um curriculum and we can look at that and determine everything that we do with our students. we can keep that connection with them so they're closely tied to their school activities, their support staff. And I think what's important is it's really offering our families and students the flexibility that they're demonstrating that they would like um by having this opportunity and looking at that in a deeper level.

And our next slide is to talk about how this would work. Um we wanted to show this to you from like the parent lens and the student loan uh lens would work. So moving forward, if this is um approved, we would select our online courses during standard registration. This would have our students then learn with our noah Henipin educators. They would then earn credit directly through the district fully integrated into their graduation plan. And the result would be that they would have their flexible learning and strong student connections with their district support instruction offering the flexibility that they desire without leaving our district. So, the proposed timeline is that we would be looking at um tonight the board update, a strategic alignment review, finalization of licensing parameters and things and needs. If approved, we would move into the fall with course integration into the traditional high school registration guide because that would allow everyone to plan for these courses. And in the winter, we would utilize those data trends to construct accurate master schedules. And in the fall, we would launch those in-house online credit options in the high school

And gear then open for Oh, Superintendent Cole to make a comment. Superintendent Cole, I just want to add a few things just to clarify. Um the first thing I want to say is that our goal here is not to increase online learning. That's not what we're trying to do because we think it's the best thing. Um what's happening is because the statute allows it and our families are pursuing it, they are the the the problem that we're having is they're going elsewhere for learning um outside of our system in a way that is having an impact on our system to the point where our own staff are essentially subsidizing these external programs by providing counseling and credit in some cases tutoring because the students are remaining with us. So this is really a proposal for board, you know, just to get your feedback on. Um the reason for it though is because we see this growing problem.

We're losing students to other places um for part of their day and we feel like we would provide a better service. um keep our our students and um I think have just ensure that our staff when they're putting work and time in it is benefiting our schools and our students, not another external provider. So, I just want to be clear about this is this is not because we're all excited about having our kids increasingly become online learners because I think we would all agree we believe inerson learning is best for our kids. but it's in try to address this growing problem that we face. Thank you. Thanks for the clarification. Questions, board members. Yes, director Adette. Uh yeah, I think related to that, I'm I'm wondering about the the external um like what what are they what are they typically and and do we have anything that we can do to I'm going to use the word combat the administrative work that's forced on us as a result of people having the ability to use them.

Go ahead. Um I think that that's what we started to combat last year. Um when we um I to be clear postcoid we really wanted to get we knew people the kids needed to be back in the build be in buildings and so um at the time then it was decided to um make sure that students were at least part-time in our buildings. Well what we found is they're still seeking else other opportunities. So if we didn't offer the courses then they were finding it. And so that's when we um we decided to really allow kids to register for whatever if that was what their family really wanted. That's when we um did that. And so you're starting to see that decrease where we limit where we um ask them to take a class with an Okanapan online first. Um because what was happening is is that our counselors are touching every single one of those things all the time and bringing the kids and doing the credit conversions and doing those things.

And so um we last spring told the all the counselors and worked with everybody to say okay first let's look at an accountant online to make sure but that also requires us to be able to find the teachers and and there are some courses that we don't offer because we just don't have it in our system. Um those are not the ones that we're worried about. We're worried about some of those higher impact enrollments that then kids need. They're they're coming to us for tutoring. They're coming to us for supports. They're still in our buildings. So, we're gonna that's why we were trying to increase that enrollment and decrease theirs. Yeah. I'm thinking about like u a fee if you use an external and the fee is an administrative fee and it's real because you just told us that there there really is a cost to it. So, you know, your option is yep, you can use an external provider, but there will be a x $100 fee for that or you can use internal no charge.

I don't know. I don't know what the limits are. That's what I'm kind of wondering about. Yeah, that would be it's a great idea. I don't think we can legally do it. Um, we can check into it though, but I'm I'm looking at our CFO who's saying she doesn't think that's allowable. Um, I but I think any I mean we have had that conversation because it's very frustrating. I think the main thing where we fall is because the students are remaining with us. There are students for a portion of their day. Yeah, there are students. So we we try to take care of everything. It's just by default you end up what I these are my words subsidizing another external program through through our own supports which is pretty frustrating. Yeah. Is it another school district or is it somebody totally different? There are pro providers I mean there are some that are more prevalent than others I think if that if I'm being accurate here. um that is a one in particular is most commonly pursued by students and so I think that that's that's an area where we think that we can compete easily and we can keep our kids and even though it's it's sort of frustrating that you are succumbing to a type of education that we don't think is the best for our kids but at the same time we think that this is a better alternative than losing them to someone else.

Yep. That makes sense. Thank you. Casey, director Duchaine, thank you. Um, and thank you for the presentation and for thinking about ways that we can serve all students and all families in our district. You know, I think that's the piece for me that's really meaningful and making this worthy of further consideration and taking it very seriously that the parents, our our families have a demand for this. Um, and I think uh, Superintendent Cole, the messaging you shared, where it's like our preferred way, right, is is to have students in our buildings and in person with us. um if that's not the choice that parents want for their student right now and we are able to offer a path that serves that student well um I I think it's it's wise for us to continue looking at how we can do that. Thank you. I have a I have a question or wonderment. Do you have any data that would demonstrate um the success of a student who takes an online course in an OKA Henipin versus a student who is out on their own?

Do you have any insights into that or what you're seeing to compare it? I have an OKA Henipin data um an Henipin online data but I don't have the comparison to the external provider. my I couldn't tell you um we made some deliberate changes in how we uh run an OKAP online um and how we take attendance and how we notify parents when a student hasn't logged on and we noticed an immediate uptick right in kids completing the work it was night and day difference um prior to that we had done a different way of taking attendance and so we take daily attendance now and we notify parents the second didn't log in the previous day. So, I know that that has helped us. I But to compare it to another the external provider, I don't have that. I'm sorry, but I could look it up. I'm sure we can find it. Well, I I just think that my sense is that the the service that you are providing may well get you hear often about students who take online and quite frankly, it's not for every student to begin with.

Um and equally as important many students don't complete courses or require we saw that during co too um a lot of the online just in-house but I appreciate that you're doing a very rigorous approach to the students who are online and giving them those that support because that's very important because how else does a parent even know you know so I think that certainly that that alone tells me that if I'm a parent considering all options I would I would want to know that what that third party provider was also providing to support my student and making sure would they be calling me as a parent as well. So thanks for that just doing that already. So other questions? Yes, go ahead cochair. Um just thinking about it and kind of continuing with the thoughts we had from our last discussion is um regardless of how this moves forward, how can what can we do to help parents be better informed about this?

Um because it is it's something that parents are seeking and I can think of many reasons why they might look for this as an option. But is there a way that we can help parents know um more clearly? I think it kind of comes to your data question in a little bit um that they're the experience in the classroom that's provided by our teachers is going to be they're going to have a lot better results. It'd be nice if we had some data to support that and then provide that to parents as well because um it's good to give parents the options. That's what I think that's very important for parents to make the best choice for their families, but it also is important for them to be aware of the opportunities that we have in building in our classrooms and and how that students can benefit from those.

Any other thoughts or questions? Well, we appreciate this discussion and thank you for supporting students, you know, and and seeing that this issue is is has many tentacles out there that that need to be addressed as well and bringing parents into the conversation. So they really that so what the proposal would be just to clarify would be to put it into the registration guide which would generate conversation and you could put a lot of information in there and make that a bigger conversation with families. Would that be accurate? Yes. Go ahead, Superintendent. Yeah, I think so. I think we're on a little bit of a you'll have to talk to about the timeline, but I think that um to co-chair Hokman Hookman's point, I think that um increasing awareness in terms of um the the type of choice that that parents and their children are making with regard to this would be important. Um because I think that there's a lot of reasons this came up.

There's a lot of reasons why people make this choice. I I I think some of those reasons are related to outside activities or pursuits that students have. Um but sometimes those choices could be for reasons that maybe aren't aren't as important and it could turn out to be a pretty bad decision in the long run. Um, so I think that, you know, there may be more that we could do to communicate that um whether it's in a guide or um other mechanisms that we have in the school district to talk about that if that helps. Thank you. Could I just ask what our hope is if you want to kind of convey that um information with regard to the timelines that we're facing? Yeah, the timeline is is um pretty important as to coming to you right now because um the registration guide is something that we work on and get things together, you know, usually in October and then it's kind of published in November, December and kids register in January.

Um so our principles this last year I've had them dig into the data what courses what are we looking at um you know what schools are looking at which courses and and the planning and preparation then to get our teachers prepared to teach these courses and also then um you know to inform families of good decisions and how what maybe how that student would be successful in a course that's online versus um in person or not. And so we really want to have that discussion and things like that with families too. Go ahead, Superintendent Nicole. So just to clarify, you know, we're giving you the timeline. We also want to be sure though that board members have time to ask questions or think about this and and provide feedback if there are aspects of this to that, you know, it gets to the point where for a particular board member or board members, this is a non-starter. it's not of interest, you know, for a variety of reasons, but we want you to have time to process, be able to ask us questions to determine whether or not it's something you could be supportive of um in the future.

So, I wanted to have the timeline, but I also don't want to apply unnecessary pressure to board members. And just just one more point, Dr. Ziggler, I think you said that it's the exact same courses. Yes, it is the exact same courses, same content, same courses. Okay. And then just one more thing as I'm thinking about it. Would it it would not preclude a student who is pursuing another course to to go to a third party that we don't offer. Is that correct? Is that what you're thinking? Or we would offer all the courses online within our own within our own teachers, our own teaching staff. Y So, okay. But if there's a course that that isn't in there and they want to pursue it, is a student able to do that? Um, I think that they still can do that. I think we'd have to counsel as to um what and why they would want to take a course outside of um the courses that we offer.

So, those are things I think we have to look into a little bit more clearly because of course we want to um offer the courses that are of high interest and high intent and to put them on the graduation pathway. Sure. Okay, that makes sense. But you might have some exceptions. There might be some exceptions of one. Yeah, that's what I wonder. Any other questions? Just a note of gratitude. Thank you for your work on this and your thoughtfulness and sharing that. And I assume that if board members have any other questions, comments or concerns, we can go through our superintendent and we can move that forward. So that conversation. So thank you so much. Do it. Okay. Very good. I want to make sure. All right. Thank you again. Our next item is the strategy for health insurance fund stabilization and risk management. I'd like to welcome our chief financial officer, Michelle Vargas, Dr.

Jennifer Cherry, our chief human resources officer, and Todd Mensik, director of labor relations and benefits. Welcome. Good evening, co-chair Langenfelds and Co-chair Hookman, members of the board, Superintendent Cole. This evening we are here to uh talk about our health insurance fund. Um this is a um a very important part of our strategic priority um regarding improving the employment employee recruitment and retention. When we look at our total compensation package for our employees um that is made up of not only their salary but also a very comprehensive benefits package. Um what we're here to talk about tonight is our health insurance program. Um uh specifically uh some background information about the district's health insurance program. We are a self-insured program and what that means is that um we administer that program. We um set our premiums uh our rates that we charge for health insurance at a level that um will cover the claims or the expenses um that our uh employees are incurring when they uh seek uh health care.

Our plan year runs September 1 through August 31st of each year. it aligns with our school district calendar uh and um our school year only staff um when they come on. So, um when we think about coming um before you and the decisions that the board is making on a year-to-year basis, we typically come to you in the spring and talk about our health insurance rates. Um the board makes uh those final decisions in setting the the rates or the premiums for yeartoear. uh we set those in the spring and then um the uh plan is implemented in the beginning of the school year and runs uh for that year. We have four different health plans uh within our health insurance program. We have one co-pay plan and new this year we have three high deductible health plans. If you recall, um that was a switch that we made from last year to this year um to try to take advantage of some savings uh within this plan is to offer those high deductible health care plans.

And in alignment with that, um, we have HR and HSAs, um, that help supplement, um, uh, our health, uh, high deductible health plans in making, um, uh, good, um, decisions about our health insurance program. We utilize an insurance advisory committee. It's made up of uh, members from all of our employee groups. And um in order to administer this plan, we use medical as our third-party administrator. And then we also utilize the services of AON as our insurance consultant help us um make those uh financial analysis um and um really our our actuarials um that that give us some really detailed um guidance around um the work that we need to do here. Uh all of this is related to uh fund 20 or internal service fund uh which is a piece of our overall budget. Um when we look at uh salaries and benefits for our employees um our benefits make up 21% of our overall budget.

So this is a a big big piece of our overall budget. Um, with that, the fiscal year for our internal service fund is the same as as all of our budgets within the school district, that July 1 to June 30th fiscal year. So, those dates, the differences between the July 1 through June 30th, um, and the September 1 through the August 31 plan year. Uh, those pieces are important as we move into some additional background information we're going to give you in the current status of our internal service fund. So, next, um, I'm going to hand it over to Todd Menync, our director of labor relations and benefits. Uh, he's going to give an overview of of the current financial status, um, and what's um, kind of brought us here in in the position that we're here today. Right. On this slide, you're going to see financial data uh, from the last two fiscal years as well as the first two months of this fiscal year uh, which closed out the uh, 2526 plan year.

Um, looking at fiscal year 25, the beginning fund balance, that would be the July 1st balance was 8.3 million. Uh, when we set rates, uh, for that plan year, we'd set them with a 7 and 12% increase. Uh, and we really saw claims starting to increase at the end of fiscal year 24. And so that that fund balance actually came in lower than we were anticipating it when we set rates uh, just just two or three months earlier. Um, but it was still a healthy fund balance that was in the range of that uh 10% that I'm 15% contingency re reserve we were looking at. Um, in that uh fiscal year 25 uh we had a extremely uh hard year uh for insurance. Our revenue was 74.3 million and our expenditures were 87.4 million. Um so that you know that that led to this $ 13.1 million uh operating deficit and at the end of fiscal year 20 um 25 um the internal service fund was $4.8 million in the whole um we talked to the board about this last year and agreed that we would wait till the end of fisc fiscal year 26 um to see how everything turns out um before making uh decisions about next steps.

Uh so we started this last fiscal year with a 4.8 8 million deficit. Um the the revenue we brought in was 74.6 million. You'll notice that's almost identical to the revenue of the previous year even though we increased rates 22%. Um what happened is we had large migration off of our plans and large migration from family coverage uh to single coverage and from our more expensive plans to our less expensive plans. Um, so despite that 22% revenue increase, um, we only we really didn't that the the 22% rate increase, we really didn't see a revenue increase. Um, our expenditures, you'll notice, did go down in fiscal year 26 com compared to 25. Uh, but they still um exceeded revenues. Um, so we continued to see high claims uh, which resulted in a $6.7 million deficit uh, at the end of the year. And that brought our our ending funded balance to 11 a.5 million. Now for next plan year we have increased rates uh by 13.7% again and we made uh changes to the plans design as Dr.

Cherry mentioned uh to try and um you know prevent the cost from um increasing too much. Uh but uh regardless you can see our beginning fund balance was 11 a.5 million. uh now that most of our employees are on high deductible health plans and last year they weren't technically high deductible but they were still plans with 1500 deductibles and $3,000 out-of- pocket maximums for singles. Um you tend to see more of the claims coming in later in the year. Early in the year people are are spending down their their deductibles. Um later in the year everyone's paid off their deductible. The plan is now paying for the coverage. Um, and a lot of people have even hit that out-of- pocket maximum. Um, so in these two months, we we we had $12 million of revenue carried forward um for July and August based on um the the premiums people had paid um during fiscal year uh 26.

Uh and we had $17 million in expenditures. So with that additional $5 million deficit, uh our our uh internal service fund budget is currently about $16.5 million in the negative. Uh I will note there there if you look at it um on the ledger there's there's several million about $10 million of uh incurred but not paid expenses. Um, so the balance might show just under six billion, you know, six million under, but really it's 16 million because we have these expenses that we know we've incurred um but not yet paid. Um, all right, we move to the next page. Uh, I'll talk about how we got here. Uh, so first is severe inflationary pressures. Uh historically uh insurance has uh increased about 7% a year. Uh the trend that's being used now is closer to 9% a year. And so in addition to that, um our claims have obviously exceeded what uh is is typical.

Um but even at typical increases, they're they're higher than would have previously been expected. Um catastrophic claims is really the largest reason for this. Um we've just been particularly unlucky with a high number of catastrophic claims um in the last couple years um that have um led to this, you know, situation where we've had really um two consecutive um almost unprecedented years of increase. Um the high premium increases resulted employees dropping and reducing coverages. So I I I mentioned that that that's resulted in a reduction in revenue. Uh and then we we continue to pay runout expenses from prior years. Uh so that is something that um did cause us um some pain is that we were continuing to pay off the claims uh from the previous year's the the previous year's claims even though we now had 10% fewer people paying those runout claims um in in the current year. Um and then finally that deferred revenue um collected uh in the summer months was less than our expenses.

So that led to that last uh $5 million um just over the last two months. Uh moving on uh to a little talk about plan utilization. So this really goes to that cat catastrophic claims point on the previous slide. Uh in the fiscal year in the in the plan this should be plan year 25. um utilization. We found 3.82% of our claimants accounted for 53.75% of all claims. Um so again this is a unusually high concentration of people with high claims. Um we also had 13 claimants generating over $13 million in claims averaging over a million each. Um and so you know these are obviously reflecting non-discretionary malical medical concerns that um that that couldn't be avoided. Um our standard usage 96% of our members use less than 50,000 in services and that 96% uh average $5,38 per person. Uh if we if we were to look at our um average single plan, it it costs $12,000, more than 12,000 a year, more than a thousand a month.

Um so you can see the vast majority of people have claims that are less than half of what premiums are. Um but it's this this small portion with really high claims that have um hit us very hard in the last couple years. Uh the next slide uh just talks about enrollment, which I've mentioned already. Um enrollment in district insurance decreased by 11 half 11 and a half% in 2526. Um so again that was uh 5001 fewer members than we had uh that that we had at the end of the year than we had at the beginning. Um and employees dropping coverage and migrating to less expensive plans resulted in a reduction uh it actually resulted in a reduction of in premium revenue of about 14 million. Uh the six million on the slide is really just referring to the um reduction in the employer contributions. So um if you look at all of our revenue, about 3% of it comes from quarterly bills for retired employees and the other 97% comes from uh employee and employer contributions.

Uh and so we we saw about $14 million less revenue than we'd expected. six million of that was due to lower thanex expected employee contributions and about 8 million was due to lower than expected employee contributions. Um so as as employees leave the plan or move from family to single it it has savings for both employer and employee. uh but particularly when employees move to less expensive plans um that that savings tends to go to the employee so that there's uh more loss in revenue from the employee than the employer contributions. Um now this reduction in revenue combined with continued high claims growth and the roundout of claims from the previous plan years resulted in a continued operating deficit um despite like I said two years of record premium increases. Um it just so you know this plan year our enrollment data shows um uh for for this upcoming year indicates enrollment levels have stabilized and so while some employees are have shifted to lowerc cost plans um the projected savings and claims costs um should offset any minor reduction in premium revenue for those uh uh for those individuals.

Um but overall we we're looking at a a similar number of people on our plan um as opposed to a year ago where we we were seeing a lot less pe a lot more people opting out of district coverage. With that I'll uh pass it on to Director Vargas to talk about um fund alignment. [clears throat] for our fund alignment. Um the problem that we have with this is that what we're presenting um a negative fund balance. We had a negative fund balance at the end of last year. We spoke with our auditors about it and what that would mean coming up for future years because um an internal service fund is not an operating fund. The expenditures and revenues are expected to be um the revenues are expected to cover the expenditures. Those expenditures come from our operating funds and which is primarily the general fund. majority of our staff that are into in the insurance fund are in the general fund.

So that negative fund balance is really a liability for our general fund that needs to come within compliance at some point. There needs to either need to be a transfer or a corrective action plan which basically is um setting of premiums high enough to fund it back. But um there will need to be something within our reporting this year to identify how we are going to rectify it. Um, also just in submitting it to the state, we'll probably get a question from MDE as to the negative balance if we don't have a transfer um that goes back to June 30th or something just to show we'll have to explain it. Um, in addition to that, in order to be transparent in our our financial statements, um, just like with the general fund, how we have a 10% fund balance as a target, the industry standard for an internal service fund in order to ride the waves of the ups and downs is 15 to 18%.

So these are the items that are considered um when we are looking at the options for transfers and rate setting in the future years. And so with that, um, we are, um, putting forward three different options for your consideration. Um, as Michelle had just mentioned, the corrective action plan is is one of those options. Uh, uh, the three though that we are presenting to you do include uh, fund transfer. Um, as you recall, when we set rates for this year, when we were setting those rates in the spring, we did not increase uh the amount of those rates to have um any kind of cushion in them. We set rates at the amount that we anticipated our claims would be coming in. So, um we we chose not to increase um our rates more than than um that. Um if you recall, we did in the prior year set our rates about 4% higher than what we anticipated our claims to be um in anticipation that we would begin to build the the um the fund balance back in our internal service fund. um as you can see here that um did not come to fruition.

So um what we are um uh putting forward as considerations at this time uh do involve a general fund transfer. Uh the first option we are um putting forward is a one-time general fund transfer of 27 million. What this would include is a 16.5 million uh dollars um that would account for the current deficit in our internal service fund and also an immediate plan to rebuild the internal service funds reserve balance at that amount that is the um industry standard. It's 15% of our expected paid claims. Um, which equates to the $10.5 million and that's where it uh equals the $27 million. The second option um we are um bringing forward for consideration is a one-time general fund transfer of 16.5 million and then also um considering a plan for assigning 10 a.5 million for future internal service fund contingencies. So what this does is it it assigns those funds from the general fund um to a a new um assigned uh account.

This again resolves that current um uh deficit in our internal service fund and then it would earmark $10.5 million um as a dedicated safety net for um our uh internal internal service fund. Uh this would stabilize the fund without imposing excessive premium hikes on staff if future claims were to spike. Um and a note about this is with those assigned funds, they could be reserved or returned back to the unassigned general fund, if plan performance improves or at a time um where um the board would uh see fit for that to reassign those funds. The third option for consideration is really a hybrid approach uh between what we currently have in place and also resolving the current deficit. This is a a consideration for a one-time general fund transfer of $16.5 million as well as um continuing with our old plan, our existing plan to continue to rebuild the reserves and our internal service fund gradually.

This would be a multi-year plan where we would continue to look at setting our premium rates above the standard baseline needs each year. Um it would be recommended that it would be at least 4%. Um but again that would be something that the board would um um consider um in the spring uh when we do have more information about our plan performance. In this instance, if our medical inflation remains high, this would require significant ongoing rate increases for both the district and for our employees.

Um, with um both option two and option three, it does buy us a little bit of time um to make more informed decisions uh in the future. Our next steps is on uh the next business meeting on September 28th. We will bringing uh bring forward a recommendation. Uh we would love uh some input from the board, some direction from the board, but what we anticipate we would bring forward is a proposed resolution um identifying that. Members, what comments or questions do you have? There's a green light. Is that She's on. Director Dasha,

Thank you. Um, two questions and then maybe just a restating of what I heard you you say. Um, is I I know that we carry insurance to help pay for those like catastrophic claims that are above a certain amount. Have we investigated if it's possible to increase our coverage in that space and like what the cost benefit of that would look like as a part of this analysis? Stop. Uh we have we have two forms of stop-loss insurance. It's called stop-loss because it's supposed to stop the losses. Um so the first uh um covers any claims for any individual over $500,000 um in a given year. Uh, and so those those 13 that group of 13 I mentioned are all 13 are are above that 500,000. We do also have a couple um due to ongoing high claims over the years that that have a higher stop loss loss amount than that. um when we've negotiated um our contracts, uh Medicica has not and and other providers too when we were going out for uh RFPs either wanted to completely laser those individuals or or insist on a higher stop-loss amount for them.

Um and then we also have a uh aggregate stop-loss which is something um people rarely collect which is when claims are 25% higher than expected. um we uh that that will pay out. And so that's after we've already paid out on anyone over 500,000. Um and I would note that in that plan year 2425 um there our claims were about $2.7 million over that 25% over what was expected. Um so if you look at the chart that we showed um that had 87.4 4 million in expenditures in 25 and 81.3 in in 26. Part of the reason for that difference is we received a $2.7 million reimbursement in fiscal year 26 for claims in fiscal year 25. Um so it makes 26 look a little better than it actually was. Um and 25 looks a little bit worse. Um that is something we've looked at in the as as far as um looking at upping that coverage.

Uh we have looked at that in the past. Currently we we spend about 2.3 to$2.4 million a year um on that insurance. So it's about a little over 3% of the total internal service fund. Uh when I started in my role eight years ago, we were paying under a million dollars. Um because of these high claims, um the cost of that insurance uh has gone up. We we have stayed at $500,000 as our deductible. Um we we do get uh our our actuaries do look at that every time. We've looked at potentially lowering it to $450 or increasing it to 550,000 um or other sorts of structures. Um but our actuaries say for a group our size um based on cost and risk that 500,000 is where they've suggested we be at the last several RFPs. Um, but but it is something we'll look at in future RFPs to see if it would be worth it to pay more for a lower deductible or or even the opposite, potentially reduce that premium um and and increase the deductible higher than 500,000.

Thank you. That that's helpful and and I'm glad to hear that we're continuing to look at all of the options that might help uh contain this this type of a cost. And that leads into my second question. Uh if we were to consider the first option, right, we we do the full fund transfer. It gets rid of the deficit and it builds back that 15% um amount in the internal service fund. How long do we think we would go until we would have to begin again looking at increasing premium rates at a higher percentage rate again? you know, because I think we've seen a trend now, right, that the costs are just continuing to rise and and we haven't been able to recoup that without um incredibly difficult and and hard premium increases on our staff. Have you looked at a projection for what like how much time would that buy? It it's really hard to say.

Um I the last time we had big a big rate increase like this it was followed by a 0% increase and and just in general the trend is 9%. That's how much insurance is supposed to go up but it goes up because some groups like us had 22% increases and some other groups had two or 3% increases. Um so I I guess I just am not comfortable and I'm not sure I could even answer how many years that would be. Um, if that's helpful, that's fair. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's fair. And I just I I'm I'm thinking about it because I want to and this is where I want to maybe restate something that you have all already said just in my own words what it sounds like to me and and the way I understand these options that are before us. Um this transfer would be or could be and should be viewed as an investment by the district for our employees benefit. without this uh infusion into the internal service fund, premiums would be going up by much higher amounts.

Um, and that's because we're self-insured, which means we have to pay for all of the medical claims that come out of our pool of employees in our plan. Is that stated accurately? I I would say though um we do as because we're self in insured, we pay for all our claims, but if we had if we weren't fully insured, I would anticipate we would have seen even larger increases because the insurer um would have need to to pay back their losses and and they would want to set rates high enough to ensure that they're going to make a profit in the future. Thank you. Yeah, a fair addition. Um that's all uh co-chair Langenfeld. Thank you, director. Did you Okay, Dr. Cherry. Uh yes, thank you. Uh just to elaborate a little bit to um like Todd, I I wouldn't imagine um that I could um have a crystal ball and predict uh the future and answer your question directly of how many years is this going to buy us.

However, I do want to just remember remind everyone about the timeline. We do set rates every year. So every year we have an opportunity to um anticipate what the next year will bring and increase the rates a proportional amount. Um so each year we do have an opportunity to uh go above what our projected claims are. Um, so that point in time, it's it's just really hard to anticipate how many years in advance we would have to increase the rates above and beyond what our projected claims would be. I I just have one um and just want to make sure that I understand this accurately that if we do not transfer 16.5 million address that deficit when the auditors come in. We have to do something. Is that there's going to be some in order to be in compliance because basically by not showing that liability, we're masking a deficit for the general fund fund balance isn't accurate.

We're overstating it because it needs to be shorted up. So, we will need to address it either in the notes to the financials um that there is something that we're going to be doing. If nothing is done, it would be then future rate increases is the way. But even with that, what we've had the last two years has shown that we've not been able to do it with rate increases. So that would be my worry. Um if if that was the plan was just rate increases that it may not be accepted. Um but our financial statements will need to show something that we are addressing it.

I think that's having sat on that insurance committee too this year. It really it doesn't seem to be um going away. We'll put it that way. Um what I would offer is that um fellow board members if you have more questions, comments or concerns to direct them toward our superintendent um like every every topic tonight I would say and then also um you know follow up and make sure that we have accurate understanding of this and what we're being asked what we'll be asked to do through a resolution. Correct. Correct. up in the future. But again, tonight was the discussion to have it on the table so that we can get this information. Yes. Go ahead, Superintendent Cole. Yeah. And I would just like to clarify that our our interest would be in um knowing for the next board meeting if there is an option that uh the the majority of board members can support.

That's really what we're looking for. um or some variation um if that if that's a better way to go. So, but certainly reach out and ask questions and uh if if we need to engage in conversation individually, then we would certainly be happy to do that. Following up on that, within the board briefing, the administrative recommendation is option two, the fund balance transfer just to get to the negative to zero out the negative and then the assigned amount that leaves that amount in the general fund. Um, we had also discussed that the resolution of a transfer could specify that at any time that the internal service fund had a fund balance um at 15% or more that that amount would be transferred back automatically to the general fund. That can be stipulated in um a resolution. But the the option of putting an amount into an assign it kind of along aligns to your fund balance policy that when we are over 10% in our um unassigned fund balance that you will make strategic investments.

So it would be set up in the um assign similar that you've done with other strategic investments and set aside for future um stabilization of the internal service fund. give the board time during the fiscal year to see how the changes to our plan as expenses are starting to come in um and see uh where we are riding through the year before the next rate setting comes through. So, it gives you flexibility versus um just putting all of it in and then waiting to see what happens at the end of next year and whether or not we're transferring back. It just gives that flexibility, but it does put the amount aside if we still need to um make a transfer in addition to the 16.5. That just gets us back to zero. Any other comments or questions? So, this move we'll move on then to the next item. And I want to thank you for all of your hard work and reflection on our current reality. Thank you for sharing that and your recommendation as well. Appreciate that very much.

As we move forward, we're nearing our last item. It's board correspondence and communication. And this is our opportunity members to share happenings in our community, report on committee assignments or other items of interest. Who would like to start? Does anyone have Okay, I see a green light. I finally figured out her hand isn't going up. A green light shows up on the screen. Anyway, Director Duchaine, go ahead. Thank you. I'll just uh go quickly. It was really a joy to be uh at Dayton Elementary for their dismissal and see how wonderfully efficient and organized all of our school staff is and how happy all the children were heading um home from one of those first days of school. It was very fun to see. Um also all of our fall sports are underway. It was exciting to be in the stands with the the Rebels versus Huskies football game on Friday and see the dance line, the marching band.

Um, everybody just overjoyed to be back in in school and supporting the teams. Thank you. Thank you, Casey. Others, I have some I've been busy. Um, just as you talked about the joy of watching kids come to school as well. um had a privilege and some of us I think were out with our fellow administrators um greeting and meeting students along the way. It was a very delightful way to kick off the air and I applaud our superintendent. I think you went to how many schools so far? He's not done yet and neither is his cabinet team who were also in schools. I made it to 21. Just 21. Anyway, thank you for that. I think it set a really big tone and one of the things that you could see during dismissal that I really appreciated saw a lot of kids coming but also a lot of kids leaving and the relationships and the passion for teaching and ensuring every child has what they need is so apparent with our educators um in every role in our school district that I was able to see.

And that was that was one of those things where you watch the care as the you know and it didn't matter the age of the child. It did not matter the age of the child. You saw that same care and compassion and support and excitement for this school year. So wanted to share that as well. I I went to 12. I'm still behind though. Um I have a couple left that I have to do. But I on a on a different note um I attended the uh along with with our director of communications, Mrs. Scully. We were at the and and you were virtual. I know. I saw you. Um the Association of Metropolitan School Districts. Um if you didn't have a chance, you should have gotten that email. It has two links in it that I want to draw your attention to. One of them is the Morris Leatherman public opinion survey that I think is very interesting that everyone can take a peek at.

And then the other uh item that was part of the presentation um was a presentation on student involvement um and raising student voice um not only on school boards but amplifying them and this and they're having a summit in Chesca and there was information on that as well and you can watch that if you choose. So there are links to that. So that's one update for you. I know that um Minnesota Schoolboard Association has a couple of things coming up very quickly. Um obviously the delegate assembly is right around the corner and Zach Arco will be present as one of the delegates. He was elected last year and um I'll be joining him. And then another thing is they kicked off the the Minnesota Kids Rise launch at the state fair and thousands of people stopped by. It was probably how to stay at the fair and I got to be there with everyone else and um celebrating public schools.

But I think what was very apparent um as people came and visited they they were asked whether adult or child to talk about their school experience and why they what they loved about it, why was it so important to them. And in addition to academics and success for the future, we heard things like the importance of theater, athletics, music programs, all of these different programs, field trips, talked about experiences. Some wrote about them, children do pictures about them as well. And then for many it talked about that personal growth and that inspirational teacher or inspirational person. So it was a great opportunity. that this whole effort will continue and the goal is to really showcase the incredible things that are happening in our schools. We always have work to do. That's absolutely true. But there's a lot of exciting things going on each and every day in every single classroom and the contributions of our educators whether their whatever their role everyone in the school is educating children and I I always looked at that and and appreciated that.

So those are the important things. And then I also wanted to give a shout out to Director Simon who represents the school board for the education foundation. They had their big golf outing and uh our superintendent. You could pay to have him use one of one of his um swings, one of his um te's tea offs um for the first hole. So many many contributed. Um, it was about a 50/50 from what I saw. I was at the first hole. Um, and it probably got much better as the day went on. Yes, you were better than 5050. Sometimes it did get better. Use your drive. I don't know that I want to go into more detail. Okay. I have I did okay. You did okay. It was It was a really great way to kick off the year and for him for our superintendent to meet so many people. So, I thought it was really great.

But uh Jeff Simon was really um involved in this planning and preparation and I think it was one of the biggest ones they've ever held too. So really great for our kids. It was for the kids. So that's what I have. Those are my updates. So we are moving to the last item and we can take one more roll call vote um to adjourn. So at this time do I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Very good. Thank you. Co-chair Hulman. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Director Adet. So, we would like the acting clerk, Director Adet, to call the role, please. Director Duchaine, I. Aette votes I. Director Hookman

I. Director Langenfeld. I. With four in favor and zero opposed, we are adjourned. And the current time is 7:47. Thank you all.