E e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e you get to do interesting stuff and you’re kind of your own little kingdom mostly hi everyone welcome to um the Hopkins school board meeting I’m just going to make sure that
We’re ready to go with the streaming portion of the meeting um welcome thank you for being here tonight um I would like to call to order the um Hopkins Public Schools school board meeting for March 26 2024 um we have a full house tonight which is really nice to see and in
Particular I loved seeing that there were books um to start the meeting so we um start off all of our meetings with the Hopkins um at the Hopkins school board with our public comment open Agenda section and um our practice has been in the past few years
To divide that into two sections um I hope most of you heard my comment at um before the meeting began that we will be moving um comments that are running um longer than our 30 minutes at the beginning of the meeting to the end of the meeting to that section and I think
We’re just going to make it so if we’re really good about our timing everyone will have a chance to get heard at this meeting tonight and we do this because we believe that hearing from our community members is crucial for implementing Vision 2031 um there are two ways to contact
The board uh one is through voicemail and we do have some voicemail this evening I believe to be played they will go first um and but because we’ve have so much public comment um for tonight’s meeting we are going to limit the time that we will allow voicemails to be
Played um because we do go on a first come first serve basis and they were obviously first so they could take up the whole time so we will do voicemails and then um our in-person comments that um people filled out a public comment card before the meeting
Began and um you are here this evening and we will make sure that um you get your three minutes to um to come and give your comment so now I have some Logistics to read through before we start our um session at the beginning of the
Meeting um the first um section will be open Agenda agenda that we will hear during um for topics that are on the agenda and it will be for a maximum of 30 minutes long speakers will be heard on a first come first serve basis um and we will each
Speaker will get three minutes to be heard um and oh I’m not sure um we um have some time place and manner um for public comment that I am not finding on here but the guidelines are on the back of your card you may speak for three minutes
There will be a timer um on the screen that you will see counting down when you are up here speaking um members of the school board will not respond directly to public comments that are made at this meeting a District representative may follow up with you after the meeting if
You have written comments we would appreciate having a copy which will improve both our understanding of your concern and our ability to investigate and respond to the issue you raised and personal tax by anyone addressing the school board will not be tolerated persistence in such remarks by an individual or otherwise disrupted
Behavior shall terminate that person’s privilege to address the school board so I would like to um begin the first comment with our voicemails Natalia can are you set up to play those thank you Megan Klein my comment is about the media specialist restructure in Hopkins dear school board members my
Name is Megan kin and I’m I’m I am a special education teacher at Gatewood to say that I was shocked and extremely disappointed to hear the district’s plan to eliminate our media Specialists and restructure the position in Hopkins schools as an understatement I understand that we have different buckets of money that have
Restrictions on how we spend it I understand the need to restructure the position to be in compliance with the fund that our media Specialists are currently paid under that all make sense that keep all of our current media Specialists as the new digital literacy specialist the district clearly does not
Understand understand the immense impact our media Specialists have on our Scholars and their educational success our media Specialists have the training and knowledge to guide students in finding their just right books and encourage them to take risks and to challenge themselves with a new series it is incredible to witness students go
From not wanting to read it all to being excited to go check out their next book because of that guidance and encouragement our media Specialists take the time to get to know our students on a personal level hundreds of Scholars in every building with that knowledge they
Provide the space for kids to build a love of reading and a love of books not having a media Specialist or now known as digital literacy specialists in each building will have a devastating effect on our Scholars I also want to point out that the district said that they made Cuts in
Areas that would least impact the classroom removing a full-time licensed staff in our libraries will directly impact the classroom the classroom teacher will now be responsible for trying to fill the role of media specialist shaping the minds of the future The Village classroom teachers cannot do it alone and the district
Continues to take away vital resources and removing media specialists in every building is just another example I ask the board members to reflect in the negative impact this budget cut will have on Scholars and the increased workload on our Educators thank you at West Middle School I’m call hello
My name is Crystal pulsky and I’m a techn technology integration specialist at West Middle School I am calling to comment on the proposed budget reductions for fiscal year 24 and the update particularly related to the reduction of uh media Specialists and the redesign of that role I work closely
And collaborate daily with our media specialist and media Pera I moved to this District because of the values in programming and I appli to work in the district to support the vision particularly around authentic inclusivity Vigilant equity and optimistic Innovation and budgets are moral documents and this U particular action
In the budget does feel like um very shortsighted in that uh staff in the media specialist staff have been working to recreate their roles for the last two years and this feels like a shift that has is been done to them rather than with them um and takes away from much of
The community that they have built in each of the buildings I watch as our media specialist Works to um fight for Vigilant Equity by and and authentic inclusivity by creating materials and finding materials to make sure that our most uh frequently marginalized groups have access to content that represents
Them in our media center and I worry with this reduction that it will be difficult to be able to have that level of support for students for the types of materials um and that other districts that have taken this similar path have chosen to rehire and I wonder if any of
If if that is a choice that Hopkins makes and that we later work to hire that we will have damaged the relationships um that we’ve worked so hard to create with these staff members um because they will no longer be interested in working for the district it doesn’t seem very Innovative and it
Doesn’t seem necessary to the process um I understand that cuts need to be made I just wonder if we could have done this a little more thoughtfully and with better communication and support with the team that was already working to reinv Vision the role thank you for
Listening hi my name is Tim Williams and I’m talking about the uh Financial cuts to our media Specialists just wanted to say that media Specialists play a pivotal role in promoting literacy facilitating research skills and fostering a love for learning among our students they’re not only stewards of our Library resources but also
Invaluable Partners in curriculum development technology integration and information literacy literacy instruction now I know it may be tempting to view media Specialists as Expendable positions however eliminating or reducing the rool of far-reaching consequences for student achievement in the overall quality of our education in our district media Specialists provide
Essential support to teachers and students alike empowering them to navigate the vast light landscape of information effectively and responsibly the stward of our District’s educational mission is incumbent upon us to prioritize Investments that directly impact student learning and success retaining and supporting our media Specialists is not just a matter of
Fiscal responsibility but a re reaffirmation of our commitment to providing a high quality education for all students in conclusion I urge the school board to carefully consider the invaluable contrib utions of media Specialists and to prioritize their attention and support as we navigate the financial challenges ahead by investing
In our media Specialists we’re investing in the future success of our students and the strength of our educational Community thank you for your attention hello my name is Ellen dishinger I teach kindergarten at Gatewood outdoor immersion Elementary School I’m calling about the budget um agenda items that are going to be
Happening to this evening at the Schoolboard meeting and I would like to ask that the school board um reconsider eliminating the media specialist positions our media Specialists are incredible assets to our buildings they have built amazing programs from scratch they contribute to the entire Community School Community as a whole and are an
Invaluable resource I want to thank you for what you do school board members I know it’s not an easy job please consider amending the budget so that media Specialists can continue to serve our excellent media centers that are the heartbeat of our hin schools thank you
Bye-bye my name is Kate Jared I’m a el teacher at Gatewood and this is in regard to library media Specialists that the media will be about this evening I’m the El teacher at Gatewood I have observed over the years what our media specialist Amy CET means to our students
Particularly to our eel students in the morning before school begins there is a steady stream of teachers going in or students going in and out of the media center returning and selecting a book or two Amy allows them to come first thing in the morning to choose their book of
The moment you should see how excited and proud the students are to tell you all about the good great their most favorite book ever Miss Jared did you know it was so cool when dog man is the best book in the world half the time I don’t even know the kids’s names but
Their passion for reading is a good way to connect for many this is a daily routine it is the best part of their day why because they have over ownership over their choice of what to read and Amy and Janelle always make a solid book recommendation for them as
Media Specialists understand that the way to ensure love for reading is to give students the opportunity to read Amy makes that possible students love the interaction it becomes personal Amy knows her readers and they know that she knows them students leave the media center books in hand practically shoving
Them in my face to tell me their predictions about what the book’s about and when returning them the next day I get to hear all the Fantastic details it is a beautiful sight watching them skip off to class thrilled to have a book to read I wonder if this level of
Interest among students can continue to grow with fewer media Specialists it’ll mean less human interaction due to time frunch uh and also they’ll be spread to th media specialist are special they take a student and grow them into readers thank you hi this is Jordan Johnson Warner I’m
Calling on behalf of a former student to Hopkins and as a community member and as a partner of the leadership program um I have concerns on the way the school district is moving forward on getting rid of librarians and replacing Paras to give them a new name as well as more
Opportunities for the job but the way the media center is being portrayed to be something else which has to do with tech and lab it it’s not a good followup I would personally like to see that Librarians stay because they are a critical part uh for development and growth with people
Like myself growing up knowing that I was able to go to the library and Know My Librarian and as well as I had a Pera in my classroom which I was also fond of that they helped me with my work and that I understood that they are the type of person
To make sure that not only I get my work done and you know get the help that I need because the even if the teacher wasn’t able to do it at least they were because they were the extra help now I have an understanding that they would have to reapply for their
Jobs which I don’t think they should have to do if anything you know if you guys are going to give them more responsibility then it’s it should be a written contract or something not uh being laid off off and then fired or whatever um along with the Librarians you know I
Understand everybody’s trying to go digital and trying to move forward the future and stuff but you know you got to think about it how long is that really going to be and implement it like if if you really look at it are you going to take away people that the kids
Look up to and look to and ask about you know cuz then now you got to put new people in their faces you never know these these people they they may not get along with these kids as well as the people did prior you know you take these
People out of their workplace out of their environment you’re you’re changing up the whole environment and that’s not okay so that’s all for our um public comment through voicemail I would like to invite our first um inperson speaker up to the board table um Randy is it clock cloak
Cloak thank you for being here this evening the right place it is thank you and three minutes are on the clock it will start counting down when you start speaking good evening I’m Randy CL and was a library media specialist for 22 years 15 of them at tanglin I’m currently on the
Hban county library board I want to tell you about some connections I made with students as someone they they knew they could trust as a media specialist I connected with hundreds of students at tanglin even after retiring these connections are evident I have been invited to family events I’ve gone to
Ben Mitzvah and last May I attended a graduation party six years after I had this girl as a student it has been an honor to celebrate these Hopkins students not as a classroom teacher but as a librarian who made a connection with them a licensed library media specialist
Has specific training and expertise in areas that no one else does we are trained to curate a diverse collection of books that is representative engaging and relevant to the staff and students at our school we weed items from the collection that are out of date a licensed media specialist also has
Training that encourages exploration Innovation and creativity in students this includes computer science according to the Minnesota Department of Ed’s computer science strategic plan within the next 5 years every school district in min inota will include a comp computer science learning opportunities for K12 students part of the proposed restructuring of the
Hopkins media program includes increased planning and instruction of the area of computer science eliminating media Specialists Works in direct conflict with this there is no license for teaching computer science but media Specialists are currently authorized by the department of Ed to teach these standards it is clear that the state
Believes having a licensed media specialist is important state legislation is in is prioritizing School libraries the governor and legislators recognized that school library must be staffed by a licensed media specialist and they have backed this leg legislation by providing districts with funding of more than $16 a student that
Can be used towards salaries the recently approved 2023 25 education Bill includes two significant Parts on library media centers the first states that a media center provides equal access to I’m sorry Equitable access to students teachers and administrators it also states that a media center must be
Served by a licensed media Specialist or School librarian this means if a school claims to have a school library or Media Center they must provide a library media specialist to manage the various access aspects eliminating media eliminating media Specialists goes against the progress our state is working toward and jeopardizes the important connections
That our media Specialists offer all students in Hopkins thank you thank you okay hold the [Laughter] Applause I would like to invite Katie tesman up to the board table you’re just adding to my ego you know Katie tessman you’re next thank you welcome the counter will start when you begin
Speaking hi my name is Katie tesman I am the mom of two boys that went to Hopkins schools my youngest is a senior this year for six years I partnered with Amy Cadet the media specialist at Gatewood Elementary and I directed the summer reading program the students who
Participated were hungry to read the books I curated for them books provide mirrors and windows for our students when we have books that have both our differences and our similarities in our libraries we are a society that celebrates those differences and similarities libraries are for the Curious libraries are for our community
Hubs libraries connect people to information and people to people they are spaces for those who don’t fit in the reason why school libraries are safe havens for students is because the school library media specialist made it a welcoming space for students and staff as a school library project
Manager I work with schools all over the country my customers in Florida Arizona and Texas are struggling to get the best books into the hands of their students because districts are failing their families by not having certifi ified media specialists in their schools cutting School library media Specialists is detrimental to any school
District there will be no certified leader to develop the curriculum in all subject areas and all grade levels to effectively integrate Technologies to create a 21st century instructional strategy there will be no certified and licensed professional to teach digital citizenship and media literacy without a licensed media
Specialist there is no one with training to curate a collection of books that are representative and engaging to the staff and students at each skill no one will have the skill to weed out of dat items from the collection and no one will have the training or skill and authority to navigate book
Challenges libraries provide free access to books and information that citizens can use to better themselves and thereby better Society cutting School library media specialist is detrimental to any school district and I am devastated this could happen to Hopkins schools thank you next we’ll hear from Lily’s be Lily are you
Here welcome you can come right up thanks for being here tonight excited to see you whenever you’re ready my name is Lily and I’m in sth grade in North Middle School what I love most about the library is that it’s a fun place to work the Librarians help
Create that experience they know which books are good for kids that love to read and who struggle to read they make reading fun The Librarians love their job and its shows they try to involve kids in projects like putting books back the Librarians know most of the kids in
The school the Librarians should stay because they help connect the kids with books to make sure the kids learn in a safe place the librarians make sure everyone feels like they belong in the library now these are some stories from my friends about the Librarians on the first week of school
Miss EJ asked me if I needed a book recommendation because she thought I didn’t know which book and she was right the books she recommended have all been awesome and she takes the time to talk to me like she wait she takes the time to talk to students like me that book
She recommended to me was the best book I’ve ever read I’ve Loved or wait to all the boys I’ve Loved Before 7th Grade School seventh grade student Ellie now this one’s from Talia Miss EJ is really kind and is really good at helping me pick out good books she’s patient and
Suggests a bunch of books that I ended up liking especially since I am a picky reader there was also a book I wanted to read and it was that wasn’t in the library so miss EJ said that she didn’t look into it for me seventh grade student Talia for she does many
Librarians and I’m one so she makes future Librarians she is super nice person sixth grade student Elise at Glen unlike the Librarians were so nice I didn’t like reading for most of my life but the Librarians helped me find so many books and made me love reading those books were the best books
I’ve ever read Elena 7th grade thank you for taking the time to listen don’t know if anyone wants to follow that but if you do um next comment card is Lisa I think it’s h [Applause] hake welcome thank you for being here thank you so much sorry I got excited I didn’t close
My computer just a second hello my name is Lisa hake and I’m a second grade teacher at Eisenhower Elementary I’m here to speak about the restructuring of our media Specialists I appreciate the consideration given to our current Staffing structure and the importance placed on maintaining the Integrity of our media centers it’s
Evident that Financial sustainability is a key concern for our district and I understand the need to align our expenditures with the CR criteria outlined for Capital project Lev spending while I acknowledge the necessity of adapting to meet funding requirements I’d like to highlight the invaluable role that our media library
Media Specialists play in our schools over the past two years Mr Shepard our media specialist has worked hard to collaborate with us jened teachers and the other teachers in our school and staff to significantly enhance the integration of media center standards into the curriculum particularly in areas of such as research website
Validity and plagiarism awareness this integration has transformed our media centers into Dynamic learning hubs where students not only access resources but also develop essential skills in critical thinking and information literacy as we approach our authorization year in the IB program it’s crucial to recognize the pivotal role that media Specialists play in
Supporting the principles and practices of our IB world their expertise and guidance are instrumental in fostering inquiry based learning and promoting International mindedness among our students while I understand the need for budgetary flexibility I urge careful consideration in redefining the roles within our media centers maintaining dedicated positions
For digital literacy Specialists is a positive step towards aligning with CPL spending criteria but it’s essential to ensure that the core functions of our media centers including literacy support IB unit support and the promotion of inquiry skills remain a priority I share your commitment to prioritizing core instruction that supporting and
Supporting our classroom teachers but I also believe in preserving the expertise of our media professionals is vital for the overall success of our educational program as a classroom teacher I alone cannot take on yet another area of expertise a PA professional supervising the library will not have the depth of
Knowledge or expertise that our current media Specialists provide the new model would require one specialist to serve three schools currently Mr Shepard curates resources for three separate programs in one school hunto Shing Xing and Community School it’s the only District school in the district that has three unique programs running in one
School additionally he provides invaluable guidance in teaching research skills evaluating sources and promoting ethical information use all of which are essential for academic success and lifelong learning asking Mr Shepard to take on two additional schools in addition to the three programs he has already supporting is shortsighted and
Unfair to the students of all five of these programs not to mention he would first have to reinw for a position that he’s done exceptionally for years which is frankly insulting it will negatively impact students learning and growth and it’s crucial to consider how the proposed changes may affect students
Access to high quality literacy resources and support for developing essential essential skills if our goal is to meet the new literacy targets as proposed in the read act and successfully meet IB authorization this negative on our ability to be successful in both of these areas than you I’d like to invite
Ashley Ashley Andrew up and this will be our last commenter for this section of the meeting so thank you for being here okay hi I’m Ashley Andrew I’m a media pair professional at the at Eisenhower Elementary fitting because Lisa just went before me I also am a parent of a second grader
In a kindergarten at Eisenhower Elementary and the PTO president at Eisenhower my view from all these positions is very concerned and in complete opposition to letting the media Specialists go in our schools although I could talk about this for hours about why I do not agree with this
And I do not think this is a correct decision I will try to be concise and offer to talk to any board member who is present and interested to talk at another time as well first let’s speak to the amount of time that will be spent in the new role of digital literacy
Specialist in the actual Library working in the collection and students visiting the library under the new proposal they will be allotted under three hours a week for this particular thing currently at Eisenhower there are 20 classes in in for read alouds and checkouts every single week along with 12 additional
Classes who come in for lessons and checkouts with three hours in the media center the status quo at Eisenhower will not be possible also at Eisenhower we house three unique schools as was just stated and our media specialist takes time to buy books for each of these programs in those three languages and
Cataloges them which a media pair will not be capable of doing other districts specifically Minneapolis public schools decided to cut a large amount of their media Specialists a couple years ago and in May of 2023 they made the decision to hire back a point five media specialist
At each building because they saw the negative impact it had on their students in schools as a parent this will not help the enrollment issues that we are having at Hopkins if families are choosing between Hopkins and surrounding schools and we do not have a media
Specialist at our schools that is one of the highlights that is talked about when when students are walked through potential students are walked through the media center every single time that they come through also I would just like to speak to the fact that the entire Dynamic of
The media center as it is right now will not be able to stay as status quo we will not be able to support staff the way that we do for a hug a piece of candy a quiet calm space to walk through to gather their thoughts to go back to
Their classroom we know that every single staff member that is working in our schools today teachers Paras admin all are struggling and having a hard time it’s a very difficult job and the media center as it is right now is a place where they can regroup they can
Come to find somebody that they know will welcome them with open arms there is absolutely no way as a media pair professional that I will be able to support staff the way I am now trying to also do all of the things a media par a media specialist does as well I not
Qualified for that job I love my job I want to keep my job but I cannot do both jobs and keep the status quo it is impossible please do not continue this decision thank you all for your comments this evening we that concludes our um first portion of public comment and um
We will will then move to our reports section um first I would like to um give everyone an opportunity to introduce themselves around the table um we start with you clerk Thompson thanks um hello everybody my name is Kai Thompson I am the clerk on the board I have um I
Started my first term in January a couple months ago and I have three kids in the district raging in ages from third grade to e8th grade hello everyone my name is Brook roer and this is also my first term on the board and I also have two wonderful students over at Gatewood um
Elementary good evening I’m Roa Marie Peri Reed superintendent and I have a sixth grader at West and a 10th grader at our high school hello welcome everyone my name is Shannon andreon um I I am in my second term on the school board I um get to
Work at Gatewood Elementary and I also have um two students in the district one is a re actually no longer in the district a recent graduate and a um sophomore at the high school good evening everybody my name is Jason Ross I am in my third year my
First term and I have three student or three children that all attend tanglin elementary two fifth graders and one second grader thank you hi everybody I’m jiming gel um I am a parent of uh two kids in The District in the shing shing program over
At Eisenhower uh this is my first term I am Jen West Morland she her I’m in the middle of my second term on the Hopkins school board I am a proud graduate of Hopkins High School I’m an educator for the past 24 years and I have a student at West Middle
School my name is Manuel Wahu I’m the Freshman student board representative and I go to the high school my name is prak canelle um I’m a junior student board representative my name is Mia Osman I’m also a junior representative and that leads us right into the student board Representatives
Reports um do we have any board reps online does is that Grace it sure is can you guys hear me okay yes we can hi Grace so glad you’re joining us virtually yeah glad to be here um so for those who don’t know since I did see you
Have a pretty packed room tonight my name is Grace Riley and I am a senior representative um so the first thing I wanted to touch on is about two weeks ago at this point we had had a skip meeting at the high school for those who are unaware maybe it’s your first time
Hearing about it skip is schools and communities and partnership um I was joined there by Mia and praise and it was just a really great opportunity to kind of get to know people again start um the calendar year but then kind of the second half of the school year sort
Of fresh and getting needs met in that space which was excellent um and then and we also have an update um for Lauren Olen the senior that was in the unfortunate car accident on Highway 7 earlier in the month she is still doing well she is currently stable
And she is expected to make a full recovery so is great news for her um we have also started fundraising for the senior party um earlier in the month and at the very end of February we had um yard signs for purchase in the school spirit shop and all proceeds from
That went to help fund the senior party so it is well underway and should be a great success as it was last year um we also have a homeless help project currently going on for business management in Mr Thor’s class um students can donate to one of the five I
Believe there’s five boxes um covered in yellow paper we are accepting all non- perishable food items and all menstrual care products as well as other basic hygiene um students can do this up until spring break and of course parents you can send things with your kids um you can bring them in and
Leave them at the front office just kind of any way to help them out in that space um and then several seniors have begun to sell their art at the Brothers Coffee Shop in minona the shop in particular is off of Highway 7 and the art ranges from everything from jewelry
To printed art pieces paintings and even some press on nails um the small business seniors that have their art there are Aden lockets Chase sope Sydney palm and Esme Bergie so go support them if and when you can and then since both of our girls and boys basketball season
Is officially over for the year we just want to congratulate Jaden Moore Anthony Smith I third and Liv McGill they also passed their thousand Point Milestone marks in basketball and also congrats to Jaden Moore for his all Metro second team selection and Anthony Smith for his honorable mention Anthony Smith is a
Senior or Anthony Smith is a junior this year he will be going into a senior season next year and Jayden Moore is a sophomore and then another big congrats to Liv Mill who I mentioned earlier for being named the McDonald’s allamerican female athlete of the year um I believe
That is all I have for you guys questions comments concerns thank you Grace any comments or questions from my board colleagues thank you who’s next okay um my name is Mia and I’m the junior representative um so to start this off um so I think it was when Roy speaking was
Happening uh director roer she was there along with Ballard and there was like they were having students basically um write like nice messages uh so we can have it hanged around our school so currently we have inspiring quats just like hanged around our hallway near the
Main office um another thing is that um a lot of clubs have applied for the ATF Grant the Hopkins Education Foundation grants um some of the clubs or not even just clubs but some of the groups that have applied are Hopkins on Wheels uh the counselors um the unified PE group
Uh CNA class the CNA class in prart and then um Saturday we had our spring formal and then during that week which we do for every dance is a spear week and then on that Friday we did the pep Fest where we had our basketball
Game and for once staff lost um kind of disappointed even though I’m a student but um and we have a new my my health uh profess sorry counselor in our building named Miss day um she’s here to promote well-being and health for students um in her office uh students can access things
Like deodorant menal products uh hair ties chapsticks toothbrushes toothpaste snacks Etc um Hopkins partnered with my health which is located the clinic is located in downtown Hopkins um which is amazing because it’s really nice that we’re bringing awareness to mental health especially how there like a lot of high
Schoolers will are like need it um and then we did do this last year but we’re bringing it back again this year and it’s link crew um it’s created to help the underclassman adjust to like the high school cuz it’s I know it’s like nerve-wracking especially how like
They’re 14 and most of the time I mean not most of time we used to be in the junior high so now that they’re getting brought up like espe like it’s really like nerve-wracking for students um Avid they do this uh they gave out Dell scholarships or sorry yeah and um two
The two students I won were cathia Cruz and FIA Hass They will receive $20,000 laptops and $2,000 in school textbooks um and then National Honor Society is looking for applicants the deadline is April 19th and if you do miss that deadline because you don’t have like the
Uh 30 hours of community service that is required there is another round on the flaw and then finally um there’s there’s summer there’s a there’s more information about a summer job uh tomorrow during RS connect it’s located in the old gym so if you want to know
More and get access to a summer job that’s where you need to be sorry I was get I kept stuttering and stuff thank you that was a lot thank you of course any questions or comments oh my God such a nervous wck all right you did great um my name
Is praise I’m a junior student board representative I had mentioned the culinary team at the last board meeting so I’m going to be following up with that in my report today um the HHS culinary team placed top four out of 18 schools at their proart cooking competition the theme they chose was the
Spice Road and the team consisted the team consisting of students Julia Coco Amina Angel and Ariel with support from Miss Bolam Miss brandur Chef Marco together created a three course meal for a panel of Judges the starter SL appetizer included pan seared scallops and a sa saffron barley risotto the
Entree a seared medium well lamb rack honey Harissa glaze Moroccan couscous and a side of carrots with parsnip lastly the dessert designed by my sister Angel and her friend Coco it includ it included pistachio museline with candied oranges and raspberry koola the junges complimented our school on their excellent sanitation sanitation and
Cleaning procedures wonderful coordination communication and teamwork they received praise for defying odds and competing gu an all women’s team special shout out cuz March is also women’s History Month in a traditionally male-dominated competition our our students demonstrated their school’s Pride by clapping and cheering on others and the announcer of the competition
Even Drew connection to their pride in relation to how well our school’s basketball team has been doing showing how inter how interdisciplinary Hopkins High School is the judges mentioned how they how they loved that the dish is tied into one and that it followed along with elements of Northern African
Culture additionally they appreciated how the students were able to be both fun and focused one of the judges even shared that she never actually enjoyed saffron but our students amazing skills caused her to have a turn around and eventually she really ended up enjoying it students and teachers received
Complimentary cutting boards and gift bags filled with aprons a food thermometer and healthy snacks ultimately the judges had zero complaints about the prepared dishes and our culinary team went home truly happy about their experience and performance my name is Manuel Wahu I’m the Freshman student board representative so in the cafeteria the
New lunchroom Cafe has opened the cafe sells a variety of foods and drinks and we currently have nutrition staff working the space but soon high school students who have applied for the cafe Position will be able to work in it I also heard that students will be paid
$15 an hour to work there this last Friday the 52nd annual pops band concert took place the concert was very successful it lasted over two hours and many Hopkins students staff parents and alumni attended every year each Pops concert has a theme this year’s theme was dance each band Ensemble got their
Own guest artists who they have been working with for the past few weeks in order to Showcase their relationship between Dance Movement and music the guest artists are local and specialize in different Arts from different cultur the featured guest artists include included Tao Arts which specializes in Tao a traditional Japanese drumming
Style capoa Minnesota which specializes in capera an AFR Brazilian martial arts form Rush Benson who is an actor dancer teacher musici musician and choreographer Susanna dealma who specializes in flamco a dance originating in India and brought to Spain by the Romani people and also Flipside which is a group specializing in
Jazz while I’m am on the topic of band next week during spring break Juniors and seniors in band and Orchestra are headed to Costa Rica they will be performing and collaborating with the band that came to Minnesota last month the sedus donbosco band also on school trips this June
During summer break current 8th 11th and 12th grade shining Chinese emerg emerging students will be going to China the goals of this trip are for students to practice and improve their Chinese language Ang skills by being immersed in a Chinese speaking environment and also for students to better understand learn
About and experience Chinese culture they will experience the complexity and development of China by visiting three different tier cities which are Beijing the capital of China chungu a second tier provincial capital and tuni a third tier town thank you thank you for that great report and
I was at the Pops concert it was excellent anyone have any questions or comments for our student board reps well I’m incredibly grateful um that you were here tonight gave very comprehensive reports and um I feel like we all need to experience that meal that sounded
Amazing so we will next move on to our superintendent report Dr Mary pury re thank you chair andr um first I’d like to start by just greeting everyone in our audience our in-person audience and also folks with us online um for those of you watching the live stream we do
Have a full house and I want to warmly welcome everyone and thank you for being here um your voice matters and um we are enjoying listening to the open Agenda comments um um I have a few um slides for my traditional superintendent update and then I will be addressing the
Library media specialist proposal before we get into the live agenda so I wanted to just give you a heads up on that and I also want to um thank our students for being here and for giving us a detailed explanation of how you experience our libraries that’s really
Important so March is a very busy month for all of us in the district office and also in schools um we’re sort of on a roller coaster as we head into spring break next week um we’ve had a month full of enrollment and registration activity student showcase and family nights for
Example the Alis Smith imagination fair and variety show at our high school um and these highlights are of course blended with low lights including Marathon budget meetings preparing budget updates and slide decks for staff meetings in the interest of keeping all staff on the same page so um in addition
To this winter storm that descended upon us uh March has been full of uh um giant mixture of things and I know that we’re all welcoming spring break next week oh it’s okay actually it should just say Alis Smith so I don’t think Eisenhower had their
Imagination oh yes same day oh same day okay all right um so Alis Smith and Eisenhower had their imagination fairs and I apologize I don’t have um details to share about the Eisenhower imagination fair but I have attended um many years and it has always been a wonderful event with lots of kids
Participating and a Full House of parents same at Alis Smith Alis Smith had over 250 students presenting their steam projects steam is science technology engineering art and math and at Alis Smith all students are engaged in schoolwide enrichment steam class with Miss Meers leading the charge and
Every child has access to this all year so thank you to the hard work um at Eisenhower and Alice Smith to organize our imagination fairs fifth graders in the rap and songwriting elective and third graders at Eisenhower shing shing and hunos recently welcomed Terell Woods to class
Mr Woods is a Minneapolis based hip hop artist and beatboxing teacher who was able to visit through the mcfa global music initiative teaching artist and residence program students learned that human beatboxing is the art of turning your body into an instrument they practiced basic beatboxing sounds and got to
Witness how Terell can make entire songs with his voice and Looper petal and I didn’t know what a Looper petal was oh I had to look it up a Looper petal is an electronic device that creates instant recordings of a musical performance and plays those recordings back in real time
How many of you knew that am I the only one several students at Glenn Lake are loving a new unit called Mario March Madness for all of March students have been engaged in a Mario game where they reveal new reading materials through a question box every day the Box reveals a
New book or site word students will showcase their comprehension and ability to recall site words on the unit’s final day this Friday for this culminating experience students will be immersed into a Mario World room where they will complete Mario relay games that are skill aligned to comprehension retelling and recalling site
Words Hopkins North Middle brought Annie Jr to packed audiences here at the Eisen power theater students worked very hard during the previous 3 months rehearsing building sets learning the technical elements of theater and also learning about how teamwork and Community play a huge role in successfully putting on a
Musical I was super impressed with the Middle School actors their bravery overcoming stage fright their beautiful voices and how a large cast of students work together to create the performance and I’d like to thank their directors Tim Williams special ed teacher at West and Michael lesty English teacher at our
High school for guiding those students our high school robotics team the technocrats showcased their robot here at the board table a couple of weeks ago they then hosted a very successful openhouse event at the high school as well as visited 140 first and second graders in their multi age
Classrooms at Glenn Lake they helped the little Engineers form teams to build a Lego robot that could knock down another team’s cup Tower we were told it was an intense competition of who could save the Lego figure if you’re in town remember to head to Williams Arena the
Weekend of April 6 and 7 to cheer on the technocrats they will be battling with other robotics teams from across the state pleas please join me in celebrating Sammy Peterson fifth year teacher at West Middle Sammy is being recognized by the National Science teaching Association as a distinguished
Teacher in addition to being a fabulous science teacher Sammy has taken on leadership roles and restorative practices relationship building Collaborative Learning Innovative use of Technology teacher leadership and equity in stem education she is being honored as having made extraordinary contrib tions to the field of Science teaching
In her first 5 years the award provides her with funds to attend nsa’s National Conference on Science Education congratulations Sammy on these next four slides I want to provide highlights and results from our recent CommunityWide survey the survey was sent to All parents all staff as well as 6th through 12th graders it
Was sent via email and in princi princip’s newsletters and remained open for about 3 weeks we had a really high response rate as you can see on the slide nearly 1800 parents nearly 1,400 students and close to 500 staff responding for those of you who responded thank you as you can see on
The slide we sought feedback on a number of items including impact of changed start times impact of the sixth and 9th grade transition digital learning days at our high school investing in safety and other facility upgrades across all schools as well as overall satisfaction with our school
System I am pleased to share that 67% of parents and caregivers reported being satisfied or highly satisfied with our schools overall Additionally the majority of families impacted by starttime and grade level transitions also reported a positive or neutral impact as a system focused on continuous Improvement however we want to consider
Facilitating focus group conversations for parents and caregivers who are less than satisfied to uncover the trends and identify those contributing factors so one question I have is what would have to be true and what’s also within our sphere of control that would move parents from neutral or unsatisfied to a more satisfied
Stance if you are if this is you and you’re listening in we would love to hear your ideas that are implementable and within our sphere of influence and available resources and of course many of you are sharing an an important topic this evening we were particularly thrilled
Also to see a high response rate from our students they weighed in on personal impact of later start and end times and our 9th and 12th grader 9th through 12th grad rated how they experienced or are experiencing monthly digital learning days the majority of students reported
Being impacted by later start times in a positive or neutral way and the vast majority of our high schoolers are reportedly benefiting from digital learning days finally we want to highlight some Trends with staff responses here’s where we see a little bit more variability while Elementary staff have been
Impacted by earlier start and end times in a mostly positive or neutral ways nearly half of our secondary staff respondents shared being negatively impacted by later start and end times so this is one key pattern that we want to understand more deeply as well as identify what can be done to mitigate
Or improve that negative impact it was good to see however that a majority of High School staff reported positive effects of digital learning days on staff collaboration and also on student learning our District’s data scientist is Dr Abby Holm I want to thank her for organizing this survey for
Us and also um doing a thematic analysis she is helping us by preparing an executive summary that we will send to all families and staff as well of our as our students and you’ll be able to learn in more detail um what uh many of the respondents talked about in the open comment
Spaces okay so I shared this detail at a previous board meeting but just for our budget context this evening I I did want to share again that Hopkins participated in a day at the capital to advocate for increased school funding we talked with the chair of the education finance committee representative Cheryl uim
About the need for additional funding to avoid making Cuts we also spoke with Senator Kelly Morrison about mental health supports for students and School staff we also teed up a bill for the next session to fund internally provided transportation for Early Childhood students in the help program at the
Pavilion and students at the high school who have secured off-site internships so I really want to thank members of our Hopkins legislative Action Coalition our school board reps Mia and Manuel were there with us um chair Andres and director roer for participating in this important relationship building
Experience and we also got to know our students a little bit which is fun however um if you may have heard in the news that the governor recently released um a supplemental budget that includes no new money for public education and legislators have recently been overemphasizing that this is a
Legislative session on policy not budget and thus there is no new money so we do remain in this fiscally challenging place and we’ve shared in our staff and family updates that most Minnesota districts are undergoing budget reductions as we uh transition from this school year into next school year just
In the metropolitan area alone districts face an aggregate shortfall of more than $300 million for the 2425 school year so it’s a really challenging place that we’re in and there’s a lot of reasons for that that you’ll be able to hear during our budget update I also want to just explain to
Our community that um one thing that has been very difficult for us and we are hearing this in your feedback this evening is that while our school staff our um our principes our teachers and other school staff are really busy during the work day doing the good work
Of teaching and learning um here at the district office we are having multiple dayong meetings to um really scrutinize our budgets and identify possible efficiencies and areas to reduce that will minimize classroom imp impact and so one thing that’s difficult is to coordinate everyone’s schedule so that
We do have greater um involvement and greater partnership and that’s something that we can um just keep thinking about and um try to be creative around so let’s go to the next slide please Natalia thank you oh what slide were you on can you go
Back okay so um what I’d like to do right now is um talk about our library media specialist proposal we will have a budget update during um the live agenda um but that’s going to be centered more around the numbers and I just want to um really honor everyone’s time and
Engagement this evening by focusing specifically on this at this moment so um I also want to acknowledge the difficulty of budget reductions that do impact our amazing professionals and I want to acknowledge the difficulty of just the the change process in and of itself but change um compounded by budgetary reductions in
A very fast-paced timeline um is has um many challenges I also want to apologize for causing harm to our staff during this budgeting process um it’s really difficult to facilitate unsettling news and the truth is that we we do care very deeply about our staff um and also the
Truth is that we are between a rock and a hard place with needing to reduce our budget while protecting core instruction in classroom teachers so we’re in a um pretty um awful predicament here and um it is it is much worse in other districts and so there are quite a
Few factors here in Hopkins that um that help us um have more of a um mitigating impact overall um you shared in your comments and we’ll we’ll hear also later in your comments you shared that Library liaries and library media Specialists are critical to students you talked about students experiencing media centers as
Safe havens being able to select books that are rich in culturally affirming and being able to build strong connections with library media Specialists that last beyond graduation you also talked about the importance of Book Pro procurement and ensuring sound processes to manage attempts at book Banning and
All of these are super super critical you talked about the read act and supporting literacy and much more and you are absolutely right in all of these areas and we want to find a way to continue these essential services and we we need to move toward a structurally balanced budget so please understand
That there are two main reasons for this proposal um reducing the budget is sort of the technical reason and Transforming Our media spaces is more the the Adaptive reason so on this slide that you’ve been looking at for just a couple minutes here you’ll see that the current you’ll
See the current Staffing model on the left with a few bulleted items that describe the key functions of our current staff and on the right you’ll see the proposal which calls for three changes first a reduction from 10 to four five or six Specialists that would share oversight across
Schools the unfortunate truth is that Hopkins like many other districts will increasingly be unable to afford this model if State funding continues to fall short of what schools need um also by funding our library media specialist through the capital projects Levy over the years we’ve been able to fully
Preserve this Staffing model however we’re worried we have a high level of certainty that this Staffing model cannot continue as evidenced by surrounding districts so we’re one of the few districts that does still have a full-time library media specialist in every Media Center most districts have um engaged in those
Reductions second um we seek to transform the role toward more broadened literacy book procurement and literacy support will continue but we are seeking to increase digital literacy including computer science and coding as referenced by a couple of previous speakers and we want these to be Cornerstone features in addition to our Rich book
Selection um within our ever evolving multimedia spaces within this proposal our current library media Specialists who are licensed and have spef specific passions for expanding digital literacy as well as a desire to learn and evolve as demanded by our external environment are really ideal um candidates for the digital literacy specialist role so
These would be licensed individuals and then third The Proposal calls for each Media Center to be staffed with a higher class media pair professional receiving higher compensation um having more resp responsibility and partnering with the licensed digital literacy Specialists to expand media centers into even more future forward multimedia learning
Spaces so as I mentioned before in addition to the opportunity for transformation the budgetary reason behind this proposal is to better align our media positions with how they are currently funded and you’ve I think you all have demonstrated an understanding that the capital projects Levy currently funds library media Specialists which does draw
Scrutiny because the job description is not explicitly tied to Digital support and so we see a need to create room in the capital projects Levy budget to absorb general fund technology expenditures and then that action would give us the potential to give us relief in the general fund
Which is the budget we need to reduce so that is the proposal and um definitely would welcome questions from our board members and again our truly our aim is not to eliminate vital positions um however we are in a pickle because we do need to uh balance our budget and
I’ve said that several times to this point so I apologize so with this I will close and I would um thank you very much for your listening and your engagement and as difficult as all of this is just you being here really matters um it’s a signal that you care
And we appreciate that thank you thank you Dr Mary per Reid are there any questions from my board colleagues or comments chair andreon yes I I had a question um both about the lure issue and then professional support as well so um on the slide it says four to six licensed
Digital literacy Specialists so those are individuals who are licensed in library science in Media Center like they have the licensure that our current Media Center Specialists have and then they would be taking on of this additional um digital literacy piece am I understanding that correctly theoretically yes and I think
As indicated by several speakers we if there is an opportunity to continue shaping this with our library media professionals then I think that would be really ideal but yes licensed specifically in that area would be super ideal and um what was the second part that you said that second second part is
I’m wondering um what kind of support is being provided to our current media Specialists who would be interested in applying for these roles or transitioning into these four to six roles that’s a good question so we have our um a couple of leaders um our director of it and Information Services
John wet and also our um instructional design futurist Dr Tiffany neelen Winkleman um those are two individuals who who would be partnering with these professionals we also have very high capacity really really talented library media Specialists and to partner with those individuals would also be really
Useful I’m curious to along the lines of of training and professional support what types of what type of training the classic par professionals uh would receive to be able to transition into this role that that sounds different than what our our current Paras are doing in the media
Centers it’s a good question and I’ll have to just admit that we don’t have all of that fully fleshed out um one thing that would be important for us to do would be to learn from other districts who have moved in this direction and to work with um the state
Of Minnesota to identify um trading opportunities great thank you and my last is U more of a comment than a question you can tell I presented academic conferences um so the the the comment is um that many of our our speakers tonight talked about how our media centers are safe spaces um
Especially for students um who may not see themselves in other spaces in our district even though we’re working really hard to ensure that every student can bring their full self to school and I um wanted to to explicitly name um the impact on lgbtq plus youth on queer
Youth in our community um who I know find um find refuge in our media centers and are also um have access to to the type of representation that they need and that that they don’t always find in other spaces in our community true thank you I’m done now no more comments or
Questions anyone else Jaren dreon I do have a question yes director so so I’m a kind of a data guy and uh I’m doing some a lit riew of the academic research and it seems like there’s been some uh studies uh that you know definitely say
Yes LMS or Library folks you know have a student impact right and um but is there a strategic um kind of Focus right so uh the research does suggest that in elementary schools it’s the most pronounced right so um you know having libraries uh in the elementary school
Seems to have the most impact so um I I would suggest or I would think you know like have you given any thought to if we do end up with four to six where you place them it’s a good question we would want all of our media centers to be supported
So I’m not sure if it’s about placement but more around every um media par professional having a partnership with a licensed digital literacy specialist um you know all another thing to note is that while in the elementary schools that relationship and impact of the media center space might um make more of
An impression and indelible impact on our elementary students our secondary schools are larger right we have lots more students so we would just want to make sure um that we’re thinking about all of those things right like at what age is it um developmentally appropriate
To have the most exposure and how do we consider enrollment and school populations as another factor for what that support looks like CH can I ask a question that’s director rer um first a comment I would like to thank all of you all for being here tonight um it really does show
Solidarity and what you all are believing in and the library was a safe space for me as a kid I truly um enjoy it and I enjoy all the media Specialists especially over at Gatewood um where my kids are um and um just again just thank
You all for being here this is not an easy conversation and a very difficult one for most school districts to navigate so um I’m just wondering um two things one is there a way um okay let me ta do the media Specialists have to apply is there a way they can get
Promoted into the digital literacy um um roles or do do we legally have to post that um online it’s a technical question that maybe Nick could answer better I believe if it’s an entirely new um title with entirely new job description link language we have to
Post but I’m I’m actually not sure Nick can you help with this however you know I want to say that um we’re both in a space where so much information about this has gone out to you and our community and ideas have formed around what people like and what they don’t
Like maybe mostly don’t like um and we are in a space where we can continue to shape this um because we do want to partner with our staff and we do know that um our professionals have a lot of great ideas for how we could make this transition if
Our community feels that this transition is is critical for the budget and for the transformation so I think that there’s still enough time and opportunity to shape together but there are also policies and laws that we have to pay attention to a excellent question director roer
It’s really a both end because we want to make sure that people have the opportunity to review to look at to consider this as an option that may be of interest and at the same time we do have contractual obligations along lines of Sen seniority and lure so we would
Need to be looking at both at the same time as we look at the complexity of what that might look like and we would want to make sure that people had as much notice and opportunity to ask questions and engage and look at the position to look and consider that as
Something that would be an option for them if that helps yes that helps a lot and I also want to just give a warm um um comment to the administ is well I know this has been very difficult and it’s not easy to make these decisions
And so I want to just say thank you all for doing this with um confidence and integrity and trying to mitigate this as best way as possible um it’s very important that we stick together as a district um because you know again there are other districts who are have worse
Deficits but I really admire the way that you all are trying to handle this um and then just one more question is there a way that are there any grants we could apply for to to um to retain the media specialist so they won’t be on a capital Levy but they have grant-funded
Positions and then maybe we can continue to build off of that I don’t know it’s and I it’s a good idea and the probably um the most critical drawback is that grants are not a sustainable plan but sometimes they are helpful in an in an interim thank you thank you
Nick thank you director rooper any uh chair and Jason yeah clerk Thompson um yeah I would also Echo what uh director roer had said about appreciating the way you’re carrying on the conversation and um the thought you’re putting behind it um just to uh make sure I understood
When you had said that you know other districts have followed a similar course so it’s it’s not like we’d be an outlier following this is that correct yes we could get you the precise data um but we do know that many other districts maybe not every single District but many other
Districts have been unable to afford a fulltime library media specialist in each school’s Media Center so so we’re we’re actually still we I think we’ve heard from six or seven districts and we’re still collecting the data because we’d like to know you know what it what that Staffing model looks
Like for eight or 10 surrounding but people have moved in this direction and you know I don’t want to make folks upset in our audience I mean that is not a justification for doing this because honestly if we had the resources to afford a full-time library media professional a digital literacy
Professional right if we we were if we were funded the way that districts deserve to be funded then we wouldn’t have to have this conversation so whenever we’re considering well you know like what can we do what’s possible often we look to what other districts have done and
That’s where we you know collect information about what the landscape looks like yeah thank you chair Andre it turns out I do have one more comment I just want to make sure that this this doesn’t get lost in the overall conversation that um the transition to a model where we of course
Are are valuing and focusing on print media and also focusing on digital media which we’re already doing um and AI is critical um you know coming from the higher ed context many of us are scrambling right I do professional development for for faculty um and it’s been a really really
Challenging conversation around AI um ethical uses of AI and so any support we are able to give um Educators in the district and then of course our students about what this this AI landscape means and what it means for their future education um for their careers I mean it’s it’s critical
Yeah chair and Jon just to to pick piggyback on that so director oh sorry so I work in information security in a at a bank and uh you know just to piggyback off what you’re saying um you know people see that you know there hey
There’s going to be more of a focus on digital skills and maybe people think that means that they’re the kids are going to be on iPads you know just uh doing what they normally do um but you know kind of how you use technology is Way Beyond just logging in or just you
Know clicking a few things on on a portal there’s a there’s a certain way that technology people uh need to think and interact with technology to really understand kind of the guts of what’s happening and uh as employers that’s what we’re looking for right as people
That can go beyond just Facebook so just want to make that comment thank you anyone else um I too want to just uh reiterate um gratitude for everyone who’s here tonight um the comments that were shared the perspectives that were shared um and ALS Al um for our student board reps and
For our um superintendent giving excellent reports that put some context around conversations that we’re having um in particular on the um media specialist I just want to um uh reiterate what director rooper said in that I had that experience myself um the library growing up the school library in
Particular growing up was my um Safe Haven um and for us I don’t think it’s like this anymore but where I was growing up we could not have a public library card the only place I could get a library book was um at my school library so it is in some neighborhoods
An essential piece of um any child’s development and we all know that I think deeply if you spend any time in a in a school so we take this very seriously and we’re grateful that we have such amazing staff and administration to partner on decisions like this um for our families
And our students sake so with that we will um move on to approving our agenda um do I have a motion so moved I have a motion is there a second second I have a motion and a second any discussion seeing none all those in favor I I any
Opposed the uh agenda is approved and we will move on to our consent calendar um these items are pro provided by the board with information considered to be more routine in nature um and we are looking for um approval of the consent calendar do I have a
Motion so moved I have a motion is there a second second I have a motion and a second any discussion see none all those in favor I I uh any opposed the consent calendar has been approved which moves us to the treasures report and our Treasurer Rachel Hartland
Is not able to attend since she is out of the country so we will um move that I will um present the um Treasures port in report in Financial dispersements in the amount of 9 million I don’t even know how to say these big word uh monetary amounts 9, 59,000 95
9,864 47 for the period of March 7th 2024 through March 14th 2024 second I have a motion and a second any discussion see none all those in favor I I any opposed the treasur report has been accepted by the board and that takes us to our unfinished business um we have
Some policies to be discussed um and I will invite assistant superintendent Nick Lightfoot to the table while um Vice chair Ross gives us an introduction to the policies we’ll be discussing tonight sure all right good evening yes uh definitely welcoming uh Dr Nick Lightfoot to the table we’re going to be
Going over are discussing amongst the board board colleagues two particular policies policy 514 which is the bullying prohibition and then we’re also going to be uh in discussion and reviewing I’ll pull this up real quick policy 524 the acceptable electronic resources use there was a we
Made a few changes based on some of the discussion we had at the board table last meeting where we uh were discussing some of more of uh making the the policies A Little Bit Stronger in the language and then making it a lot more clear for the community and for students
So I want to hand it over to uh superintendent liot assist super um we’re in process with this we are seeking additional input before we finalize these and bring It Forward in additional reading um part of what we were looking at uh in our discussion last time with 514 was
Looking at the conduct the code of conduct and making sure that we included that language that we were also looking at the input and opportunity of our Scholars so that we would have additional scholar voice and looking at the implementation of our bullying prohibition policy those pieces are in
Process uh still As We Gather that additional information I’m looking for any additional input on 514 that the board might have at this time I just had um a question um so are you working with our student board reps or how are you collecting student input on 514 that’s on our
Agenda to discuss at our next monitoring committee meeting great thanks we still have more homework to do is what’s happening here that’s the update yep great well both of these policies are very complex so it makes sense to me that you’re collecting more input 524 um we had considerable conversation
On the electronic use as we look at the electronic use part of the consideration was we were looking at the use of cell phones and how that would be incorporated within Gathering again some additional information from surrounding districts as well as looking at how we could Implement some of those components
Within that policy um and we are continuing to pull that information in together um any additional comments for 524 CH chair andrion I I do have a quick question um uh superintendent Lightfoot um I noticed that it still says isolated is that uh I think there was a a
Question last time was that supposed to be violated yes it is and that’s the editorial piece well that um the editing that we still need to do with the policy all still in process and we’ll be done before final okay thank you so just to clarify you’re seeking additional board input before
You make any of the final changes correct correct is there any additional input from my board colleagues and then just to clarify process these will these will come back and so the recommendation is that we leave them in unfinished business continue to collect that input and then they’ll come
Back so the board will still have the the opportunity to comment before we do a final approval on them great is there anything in particular um Vice chair Ross that you need from us or the policy monitoring committee that you would like from us at this
Point no I mean if you if any of the colleagues have any points they want to make our comments I mean obviously we’re definitely open but yeah I mean the clarifying point is we’re still doing homework and we’re still doing work on these policies but wanted to at least
Make sure the board knew that this this was still being worked on great well thank you I appreciate the Chason can I just ask one um the process question so when they come back is that the first read or would it come back as the second read um traditionally this is this is
Still a continuation of the first read okay um so when it comes back it would go back in first read under unfinish business um and then hopefully they would then be able to be moved to Second read which traditionally typically goes into our consent agenda for the next meeting got it thank
You any other comments or question questions I move that we keep these two policies in unfinished business until the monitoring committee meets to review and make the recommend recommended revisions and that we bring them back before the board in unfinished business I have a motion oh second clerk
Thompson I have a motion in a second uh all those in favor I I any opposed see none oh was there any discussion before we voted um great we will move on to our new business um which is the first one is the summary of the superintendent review on March 6
2024 um thank you assistant superintendent Li fooot um and we had a um Clos session where we were got where we got an update on um our superintendent progress on her goals um there were a lot of questions um since we have new um board members there was a
Lot of clarification around um what the goals are where they come from um lots of uh really good I I thought just discussion about where we as a board need a little bit more um information and training so that we can um support um our superintendent and administration more robustly um but I
Think it was um a good review things are moving along on very important um areas for uh vision 2031 and we are I think um given the landscape of where we’re at as um a state and a nation um I feel very lucky to have the community that we
Have that is being led by the superintendent that we have um and that there’s a strategic Vision in place that we can continue going back to that organizes goals and um steps forward did I miss anything from my board colleagues anything you’d like to add and this is just uh information for
Our community um and discussion there’s no action required so that moves us on to our fiscal year 24 budget update um I will turn it over to Dr Mary Peri Reid thank you chair andrees and I’ll provide a hopefully quick framing as our director of Business Services tro chap
Anduk approaches the table so I just wanted to um help our audience and community members understand how we got to this point um so the budgeting process begins with District leaders partnering with the Hopkins citizens Financial advisory committee or CAC and that’s a small group of parents who are also Financial
Experts and um District leaders led by um director chap panduka um meet with the CAC committee to analyze enrollment projections State funding increases inflationary and cost of living expenses and the impact of employee contract settlements here and across the state so we kind of look at the landscape and really review all the
Information that is available at that time and CAC also scrutinizes our fund balance I do want to um publicly make it known that CAC praised our director of business services for being prudent enough to not overspend during the last two years um of covid relief um because
This would have put us on a fiscal cliff with even more reductions to make um so Tero you’ve done a great job leading us all through this process and I know we’re in a very challenging space right now but as we keep saying it it really could be um worse
Unfortunately so after a series of these meetings then seac provides budget parameters to our school board and those were provided earlier this year which the board did approve and um I wanted to make a note of something else that I I believe director chap panduka will address later
But initially we identified $3.8 million to reduce and as you see in director chap anda’s slides you’ll see a final amount that is higher and it’s based on the following reasons um one for student support and school safety we believe our middle schools need to be fully equipped with an Associate principle
That they don’t have to fund out of their discretionary so one for West was included in their predictable Staffing model and an additional half of an AP was given to North which is a school almost twice the size of West two Glen Lake has been negatively impacted as a
Low enrollment school also with a low concentration of poverty which impacts their compensatory education funding and so in being responsive to their needs we increase their compet allocation to 100% of those of those dollars following their eligible students um three and Tero you’re going to have to correct me
If I I think I have all of these contributing factors but you’ll you’ll fix it later if this is incorrect um three we are committed to permanently reducing secondary class size which requires more teachers or at a minimum increased discretionary dollars for all three sites four we increased our targeted
Staffing amount from $500 to $700,000 which is the Staffing that we use in late fall for um last minute School enrollments and if you remember we got we got caught this past fall with um lots of late enrollment and not enough Staffing to follow and we don’t want to find ourselves in that
Predicament again so that being said our amount needing to reduce increased because of these critical additions to our schools so when director chanduka shares his slides you will see a total amount of 4.5 million so we always try to be very transparent with our budgeting process
And with where we are with a budget at you know all all points in time and at this time we are not disclosing we did obviously talk about the library media specialist as a um group of individuals but we’re not disclosing individual employee names and we look forward to receiving
Questions from our school board so that um your questions can inform how we proceed with presenting you with the preliminary budget at the April 9 board meeting which does need to be approved so I want to thank um our director of Business Services I want to thank Pam
Carmen and um my team and our principles for um honestly lots of sleepless nights and also a ton of um creativity to help us reach where we are now which is um producing a complex and structurally balanced budget Tero it’s your turn okay uh thank you Dr M perid uh good
Evening chair Anderson uh good evening respective board members and the community uh I think you summed it up well uh Dr mid so I’ll just kind of jump into uh into the details uh uh starting with uh some of the foundational beliefs uh we’ve put
The Forefront when it comes to uh to our budgeting and I know uh it’s been a challenge not just at Hopkins but uh Across the Nation when it comes to funding and uh I’ll try to highlight some of the pressures which have gotten us to this point uh but before I go to
That I just want to kind of reiterate some of the beliefs here in terms of our budgeting uh and this is what we have been uh putting in the Forefront uh for the last couple years when it comes to uh budgeting District resources uh that our budget is a moral document that
Reflects our organization’s values uh what takes place in our classrooms and our schools matters the most as such administration supports principls as instructional leaders so principls can support Educators and Educators can support each and every one of our Scholars um with uh the budgeting process we embark on uh we try to make
Sure that we identify those resources which are directly impacting uh buildings so about 95% of our allocations uh actually allocated to uh to buildings uh either is direct allocations which is about 61% or is uh districtwide allocations which which is about about 34% and the remaining 5% does impact
Um uh District central office which supports buildings uh some of our districtwide uh budgets which are actually going directly into buildings but may be managed at the central level uh include uh Transportation uh our custodians our operations and maintenance uh our utilities uh certain components of our
Budget which are tied to uh special education and then uh the central office budgets which are supporting buildings and um departments include uh for example Human Resources uh the business office we have uh employees who process payroll uh who process uh uh our invoicing accounts payable accounts
Receivable uh we also have uh uh budgets tied to uh to the board uh we have budgets tied to our uh Innovation designing and learning uh the central office uh portion of special education uh so so some of those are some of the examples uh where there are certain
Elements of the budget which are sitting at the central level but the majority is actually directly coming into the buildings uh can you go to the next slide analia uh the next slide actually shows the the timeline I’ll just kind of reiterate what the superintendent said
In terms of when we start the budgeting process uh and this process actually starts after the uh uh current year budget is uh adopted by the board uh but the actual numbers we start shaping them starting in October uh into December when we certify the property tax levy uh
In uh January we actually sent out the first draft of our uh projected enrollments to leadership uh because enrollment drives funding into the district and then in February and uh this past February February 21st uh our citizen financial advisory commit uh came to the board and gave recommendations uh based on uh either
Market conditions or based on uh revenues we are anticipating to receive from the state as well as uh negotiations with our bargaining groups and uh those recommendations do uh lead to us starting to put together the elements of what will be uh the budget for uh for
The following year and then in March uh as I’m doing right now uh we do give the board an update uh which would take us into April where we uh do the preliminary uh budget present ation to the board as well as the revised budget for the current year and then between
May and June we do our first uh budget read and the final adopted budget uh in June uh some of the pressures which we’ve uh actually experienced uh and uh some of these pressures have always been in the system uh but we are seeing more of it uh in this current budget cycle
Which is Led to some of the challenges we are seeing uh Natalia can you go to the next slide uh uh a lot of it and I’m sure most of you have seen this happening in our uh uh in our system in other school district uh declining or
Flat enrollment uh that does have a lot of pressure uh a lot of our funding is actually driven by enrollment uh and uh we have seen some shift uh when we started getting into the pandemic season uh we did see a lot of uh movement uh in terms of uh um uh
Mobility across uh our system uh which we had not seen in the past uh so that Mobility uh started to impact our projections and then uh we went back and revised some of those numbers to where now we are stable uh lucky enough enough at Hopkins our enrollment is flat as we
See it into the future uh if you compare to surrounding School District we have seen quite uh staggering uh changes which are driven by enrollment so uh although uh we we can do better but at least we are not in that space where uh this is impacting uh to a greater extent
Our current terrain uh the other component which we have seen uh is around contract negotiations uh our contract negotiations have been averaging between 10 to 12% across different uh different bargaining groups uh when you start to look at an increase in funding of uh currently 4% and uh into next year
2% uh when you uh take a 6% increase over 2 years and then factor in a 10 to 12% increase in cost of living adjustment uh you can see that the balance is not structured so that does have an impact in terms of um uh in
Terms of uh funding and I mean I want to make sure that everyone understand that we definitely want to make sure that we uh pay our teachers we pay our staff appropriately uh attractively to meet uh Market needs as well as to retain them
In our system so we have to uh put into cons consideration as we develop the budget uh but at the same time it also kind of uh does have an impact and we’ve tried to mitigate some of those impacts with uh the savings we’ have um captured
Over the last couple years uh the other component which I also mentioned earlier on is around funding formulas uh going into next year uh our funding is only 2% and uh when you Vector in uh an average of 5 to 6% in cost of living adjustment and other Consumer Price inflationary increases uh
That leaves a gap and uh that Gap is what we are trying to address as a system uh the other element is around uh those onetime funds we received from the federal government uh starting in fiscal year 2020 uh those funds are drying down and uh we have until September 30th of
2024 to use the remaining funds and we’ have been very intentional uh since the pandemic uh in terms of how we’ve prioritized those funds for long-term sustainability uh but due to the fact that uh they’ve been propping the system they’ve been closing the Gap now we are
Not going to have them so we need to make the necessary adjustments uh can you go to the next slide Natalia uh so it’s uh explained earlier by the superintendent uh the recommendations our citizen financial advisory commit gave to the board uh starting with the uh projected increase
In our allowance for Revenue which was 2% for fiscal a25 as uh uh specified by legislature uh we also factored in a projected enrollment which is flat going into fiscal year 25 and into the foreseeable future uh we also factored in a 5% annual increase in uh fiscal
Year 25 for cost of living adjustments uh which accounts for about 60% of our total expenditures uh FR French benefits uh we kept those uh at a flat of 42% um purchase Services utilities transportation and supplies we fed in an increase of about uh 5% uh just knowing
That we’ve seen a spike in uh Transportation cost across uh across the Metro uh our current uh fund balance as of fiscal year 23 uh was sitting at about TW uh uh 12% uh when we factor in 24 it will be about 11% and then we are also projecting that uh
4.5% um $4.5 million in uh general fund uh uh deficit which we are closing on and we will discuss further on what that looks like uh some of the factors we’ve actually applied in terms of uh trying to structurally balance our budget uh centered around some tools which we are
Using we are using the predictable stuffing model uh which actually is a resource allocation tool and what it does it uh outlines our BAS School stuffing allocations based on a formula or a range and then any remaining dollars will be uh divided across our system based on enrollment as uh discretional
Allocations uh which are used by buildings uh through their builds uh to prioritize resources into uh uh different needs across our system and uh the allocations informed by enrollment uh enrollment projections uh as earlier on mentioned by superintendent we also put some dollars on the side uh in in in
Case when we uh come back in uh July August September when we start to see actual enrollment if we start to see enrollment increasing in certain uh uh buildings we leverage those dollars to be able to uh add additional stuff uh what predictable staff model isn’t it’s
Not a tool uh outside of our control so the formulas uh the ranges we have created in partnership with District leaderships uh and the predictable staffy model is not also a tool which uh dictates how adults within a school should be deployed so those are decisions which are either made at the
Uh districtwide level or made at the building level uh can you go to the next slide uh I just also wanted to put into this space here some of the different funding outside of the formula allowance uh which we we receive as a district uh which are either uh driven through the
Free and reduced application or other collection me mechanisms from the state for different purposes and uh these categorical dollars are supposed to be used to uh additional funding to uh the system based on different needs for example title and uh not every school gets title because of the uh parameters
And the guidance from uh from the federal government or from the state uh we also have compensatory dollars uh we also have ads dollars so we have leveraged those dollars differently uh to be able to uh close the gap we have and also be in intentional and strategic
How we uh continue and standardize the use of these resources uh so one of the things I just mentioned earlier on is around enrollment and enrollment being the driving force on funding and uh resource allocation uh I just put together this slide uh which uh which is cutting across from 2007 to about
2023 and as you can see on the uh top orange line across uh it it is flat uh which kind of speaks of what en rment has been at Hopkins I mean it has fluctuated slightly uh down and above but for the most part uh enrollment has been flat for the for the
System and the next slide kind of speak the same language around uh what we have seen between when we project enrollment and when we actually receive the studio into into our system uh and we’ve been very uh good uh I want to thank Pim C who does our enrollment uh she’s been
Doing this for many years in the district so she really knows where the uh students are coming in and out and uh our enrollment is has just been projected in a very conservative way and we always see uh that the projections and the actual numbers coming into the
System are close because that’s very important when it comes to uh Staffing as well as allocating resources because we are uh we are uh planning our budget based on projections if our projections are off limits uh then we end up either over Staffing or under Staffing so it’s very important that uh we
Actually are very clear and we are very specific to what those projections are so that there’s not a lot of shifting in our system when we start to see the students coming into the district uh the other component again as I mentioned earlier on is around funding
And uh this is something we have to work together as a system uh not just at Hopkins but across across the state uh when it comes to funding and the graph I have on there and I know I’ve shared this before uh just shows the gap between funding going back to
2003 uh projecting it into 2025 uh the top blue solid line uh actually F us in a compounded inflation uh if the state was funding us uh using all the inflationary components uh currently our allowance per student uh for fiscal rate 25 would have been 8,637 uh based on how the state has
Funded us for the most part either a 1% increase or 2% increase and uh I know in fiscal year 23 24 it was about 4% increase which also came with other conditions uh currently our funding pay uh formul allowance is $ 7,281 per average daily membership which
Actually uh lifes a gap of about $1,356 or $18.6 % for us to be fully funded and for our uh budget to structurally balance so that’s a challenge we have uh that Gap is huge uh it might it would take a long time for
Us to to close it uh but as long as we have gaps like that we always have challenges between balancing our revenues and expenditures uh the next element is around uh uh the stimulus Aid which we received and and I know it’s kind of been a challenge in terms of uh
Prioritizing those resources and uh knowing that uh this is not the first time uh school districts have received onetime funding if you go back to 2009 2010 uh School District did receive uh some stimulus funding and uh the ending result uh was D STS across school districts so we’re trying to be very
Intentional Having learned from those lessons on how to uh prioritize resources coming in so that we don’t end up in a in a fiscal cliff so uh some of the resources as they came in initially uh with given resources and we’re trying to PR prioritize around the needs during the
Pandemic and as things stabilized we started to look at long range um projects and uh long range strategies uh which would sustain The District in the future and also shifting resources to be able to uh create some sustainability and those resources have been uh a great saver for for the
District uh the next slide actually just shows where we are with our fund balance and this is critical because uh what we are doing we are also tipping into our fund balance going into fiscal a uh 2425 uh it’s not sustainable so we are trying to do it intentionally as we
Start to uh to restructure our our budgets uh structure and relocate uh the different programs we offer in the district and align them to Vision 2031 and uh I’m not going to deeper into details uh on the next slide it just shows uh initial our projected deficit of $4.5 million uh
Between about $125 million in Revenue factoring in a 2% increase and 129 million in expenditures factoring in the parameters I explained earlier on around the cost of living adjustment and Consumer Price indexes uh and what we have done and I’ll will probably maybe have the superintendent help me with the
Next slide in terms of uh what we a facted in sitting with uh leadership on what cards we are actually implementing and uh uh taking off from both departments as well as some restructuring we’ve done uh with uh categorical dollars uh to sustain uh building uh programs as well as lessen
The impact in classrooms in terms of instruction uh some of the uh Cuts were reductions some of them were reclassification of certain positions which either were funded through uh different funding sources or certain contracts which we are reducing and moving uh those dollars to be able to fund uh positions within
Our system a good example uh so we do receive uh long-term funding dollars from the state uh and those long-term funding dollars are used to uh one maintain our buildings as well as uh if there are any uh defade maintenance or sometimes we go for a bond uh for
Capital projects and in the past the district she has mostly relied on outside contractors for that work uh what we are doing we are moving uh positions which qualify to be funded out of ltfm which have been funded out of general fund in the past into the ltfm
Which kind of freeze up uh those dollars within the general fund so we’ve looked at this across different um uh facets of the system uh to create the spaces to be able to leverage uh the general fund and close that Gap uh some of the cuts are around um uh some restructuring
Uh which is part of the discussion we have we had with the library media Specialists um as well as certain uh proprietary funds for example Community Ed education um in normal circumstances uh we can do a church B to commit education for certain expenditures which uh funded through
General fund uh and when we got into the pandemic there were some challenges with uh Community Education and then we had to uh reorganize and uh and then they ended up organizing the programs and starting to build a health fund balance uh so now we are going back to
Leveraging some of those dollars to either cover for certain positions which are aligned with Community Education or certain expenditures which should be uh paid out of Community Education so those are some at a high level some of the elements we have taken a um uh an undertaking in terms of uh identifying
The cut for the district that being said uh after we factor in uh the $4.5 million uh it structurally balanced our budget but still we need more resources to actually be uh all ated into the buildings so we are taking about $3 million out of our fund balance to be
Able to uh distribute those resources to buildings uh to continue with uh quality programs this system is providing and then we have to come back later on uh and uh take a look cuz this this is a onetime initiative we can continue uh taking dollars out of fund balance so we
Need to find other efficiencies going into 25 uh fiscal year 2526 to be able to structurally balance our budget without relying on any resources coming out of the fund balance that being said that’s all I have uh for this uh we’ll be coming back again to the board uh with uh more
Details uh when we do the preliminary uh budget approval in April I’m not sure Dr M perid if you have anything else to to add I don’t think so I think we should find out if board members have questions and chair Andre I do have a a question
Director Jo yeah uh director chat muga so um as we’ve I think we’ve said uh I really appreciate the leadership that you and the team have provided I know it’s a lot of uh you know it’s kind of the tip of the iceberg there was a lot a
Lot of work that went into this so I really appreciate um all the responsiveness you’ve had um I guess my question here is um around uh you know so so when when this first started we kind of or at least I said hey we don’t want to impact teachers and
Student kind of facing uh outcome type positions and um I think you know everybody in this room is telling us that LMS folks do have a impact on learning so I I guess my question is have we turned over over every Rock and kind of tweaked everything that we
Could possibly find uh to find savings and uh you know I uh when I hear that maybe we’re going to hire some more principles um you know to me the the the the the the the student outcome of that is not as much potentially as our um uh
Uh Librarians and so you know it may be the case that it is truly necessary but I’m skeptical I guess I would say of that so I I guess what what what you know can can you kind of show us or tell us or you know what what what else can
We what other levers can we pull to find money uh okay I’ll give the opportunity the superintendent and I can kind of jump in in terms of uh your question uh director um sure thank you for the question director chel um first I will just share with you and our audience
That um search says that the quality of school leadership actually is if done well um contributes at high level to student learning and so we do need to ensure that our schools are properly staffed with a high quality principal and in our middle schools and high schools have the um proper and um
Effective associate principal support that is absolutely critical and that is feedback that we have heard from our school staff um secondly um we have a I I would say a short list of items and then you can continue further Tero of areas where we want to do
Further Discovery um but we may not have the systems in place to realize a specific um targeted amount to reduce for next year so for example utilities right so we spend a lot of money um paying our utility bills and we think that we can reduce in those areas but we
Actually need to identify well what would be the specific behavioral shifts and new practices that staff would engage in so that we can realize a $200,000 um Savings in utilities as an example at this point we didn’t we didn’t really feel like we had the structures in place to do that but
That’s one area where we could take another look um we also um per your insistence and board members insistence and our staff members in assistance we literally looked at every single non-instructional non-instructional position within our schools and also at the district office to identify and it’s a really hard question right because
It’s very subjective right we have we have staff in our schools who are doing um very very critical work around um student safety and instructional support but they are listed as non-instructional staff right and so how do we identify positions that maybe are not adding as much value as others or we’re
Not seeing the return that we had hoped but we have done that analys is um and we can continue more um we also are spending um I don’t know what the total amount is I believe it’s $3.5 million in time card expenses yeah it’s a combination of
Um uh the sub budgets and time cards for you know an additional extra duties outside of maybe uh a teacher Duty day uh so we do have quite a lot of um uh expenditures in those areas so we’ve been looking at uh a different model uh
In terms of how we are able to sustain uh the system going uh above and beyond what we’ve done in the in the past MH so we had lengthy discussions around well how might we reduce um the amount of money money we spend on time cards
And but that that impacts how staff get paid when they are engaged in curriculum writing or subbing classrooms um engaging in PD after contract hours Etc right so that’s a really hard decision to to make because that further impacts staff but we we do think there’s an opportunity there we
Would just have to be very specific with what kinds of activities we’re we’re not going to um continue compensating for so those are a few examples of areas where we have looked and perhaps we could take another look and I really do appreciate your question um and want you to know
That we we feel that urgency as well to really scrutinize every single budget um and you know they most of the budgets we’ve looked at over and over and over so and we will continue to do that work because we will be here again next year maybe not you know hopefully
Goodness not to the you know the tuna of 4.5 but we will have to identify efficiencies for next year and between now and then I hope that we’ve built the the systems or the um the additional lenses that are needed to to further reduce without impacting core instruction and classroom teachers
I hope that answers your question yeah I I think so and I I think overall I’d like to you know and and I and I know a lot of things are theoretically possible Right like we like there’s scenarios that and I kind of asked this at the
Beginning is like can can we have a scenario where you know there’s not this impact what does it mean for everything else I think I’d like to see that and we can weigh our options and and I know that’s adding a lot of work for you so I
Apologize for that but you know at the end of the day we do need to have the best outcomes for our students and so you know I think I would sleep better at night if we could say hey we have looked at literally everything you know and you
Know there was a scenario where we could keep the LMS folks but you know X Y and Z had to happen and that’s not worth it right at least we can you know uh know that we tried everything so I would appreciate that before the next for the
Before we make a final decision so to clarify if I may are you asking for the administration and in particular Business Services to make public the discussions that they have around budget cuts well so so yeah I know there’s a that sounds like what that is right I
Know there’s a certain level of confidentiality and everything but I I would like to understand what a scenario would look like like if if uh you know we we more limited the LMS like what what what what would the corresponding Cuts in other areas look like right I
Would like to maybe see a scenario of what that would look like just so we could say hey we considered it maybe it’s not worth it okay that’s totally fine I can I can feel better about that but um you know I I think we at least
Need to I need to understand what that scenario might look like so I I don’t know so confidentiality asking for the scenario of us retaining at the current levels are lmss right and what does that mean for the rest everything else the rest everything else meaning like what
What what would we need to cut in other places like non non Ford student facing I’d just like to know okay yep and I would also then like to know um it’s my understanding that we engaged prior in um an approval of the CAC recommendations correct and um I just
Had a follow-up question around um I think that it would be great if we could have some clarification from you director chap Anda around what our fund balance is and why um CAC is recommending that we keep it at the level that it’s at because from what I’ve heard from your
Presentations and all the information that’s come to the board is that that’s kind of we really don’t have any other options um but my mind goes to well what about our fund balance so could you talk more sure So currently our fund balance is sitting at about uh for fiscal uh
Putting into consideration uh some of the adjustments we we have have to make is sitting at about uh 11% which is a little over $4 million uh and fund balance is usually calculated by taking into account the remaining dollars we have in our uh in our what I would probably putting in
Layment terms in savings uh in our savings account uh divided by our total expenditures for uh for operations so when you’re are looking at a uh uh an 11% budget and you take $3 million out of that uh that brings our fund balance to about
8% and the board uh polic is that we keep our fund balance uh not less than 6% and I mean the district does know that the district went into structural operating dat many years ago uh which took many years to get us back uh if we continue going into fund balance within
2 years we will be bankrupt I just want to make sure that the community understands that uh because what we’ve done is if you go back to 2018 2019 our fund balance was hitting close to 6% and then we built it over the last 3 years
To where it is now and to where it actually uh can prop up our general fund uh to be able to sustain the additional costs we’re incurring which are necessary costs uh but at the same time uh we can have a situation going into next year knowing that uh we are already
Hearing that there’s not really any new funding coming in from the legislature to be able to sustain our expenditures so we we are going to have to uh look deeper in terms of restructuring our system so that we don’t have another $3 million which is going to bring our fund
Balance below the bo PO is 6% thank you chair andreon yes Thompson can can I dig into that just a little more because it’s the first I was hearing about that 3 million transfer from the uh fund balance so in slide 14 it it shows here’s the $4.5 million
Deficit that we have to make up and then slide 15 it says here’s how we can can do that um but then slide 16 it says we’re going to do this you know $3 million transfer from the fund balance and then you know it sounds like I had
Heard you say you know we’re going to have to come back here in 25 and and figure out how to pay that back so I I don’t understand where the 3 million fund balance came from when 14 and 15 it it slides made it seem like you know we
We’ve got the potential savings outlined here to get to that 4.5 so the $3 million these are additional resources which we have to give back to the buildings if we are not going to impact instruction uh what’s happening right now is uh if we honestly if we had taken
Uh our projected Revenue which is a 2% and factor in a 5% increase in terms of salaries and purchased services uh that really that’s a 3% Gap we are seeing right there so what the $3 million is doing is is just propping up buildings so that we don’t have cuz we we might
End up having to cut cing up buildings correct so the $3 million is going into buildings we’ have put that as discretionary dollars for buildings to be able to uh buy any additional Services uh which may not be covered under the predictable stuffing model chair chair and dreon I just have a
Clarification there and that’s helping to mitigate the issue that we ran into this year where we had more students than we were anticipating and we didn’t have funds set aside to to staff for that is that part of the transfer that’s not really because for this year we
Didn’t use any fund balance to do that uh what what was happening this say uh it was based first of all it was based on uh the great configuration so when we did the projections and not knowing what the impact would look like when sixth graders go to the middle school and
Ninth graders go to the high school uh since this was the first time uh we had seen that we we didn’t have enough information about uh how many students were going to be able to retain so that actually did impact the class size components uh what we are facing here is
Uh you know a true uh reflection of uh uh limited funding uh we have we have built up a fund balance and that fund balance uh what we are doing is instead of us going back and making more Cuts we are saying well we need time to relook
At our system we are going to take some dollars out of our fund balance to be able to at least continue the level of service we have while we are looking at more deeper cards going into into the future uh which definitely again uh putting our lens and focus on uh
Instruction and uh classrooms uh want to make sure that we are looking at cuts which have minimum impact into uh into classrooms uh as well as into instruction so if we were not making that transfer we would be looking at reducing 7.5 million across the system correct thank
You I don’t know if that uh answers your question Dr that helped me understand it I yeah I mean is it almost to say it’s a loan to ourselves is that a way to think of it or not so the way the way we’ve done it because again this this is longterm so
The structure we are looking at right now is a structure which is impacting us Beyond 2425 so what we’ve done is we went back and said okay for us to at least structural balances we need to get our expenditures to match our revenue and then from there we need to look at what
Else is needed for buildings to be able to continue the quality education and instruction and then we moved $3 million to be able to provide that level of service knowing that we have to come back and relook again uh at our structure uh especially when we start to
Look at what um uh what labor negotiations may look like going into the future chair W more oh sorry I apologize this has been a rough night so if I just to make sure I understand it uh correctly looking at the budget the first thing is that that
That 4.5 million in order for us to balance the budget we need to get to zero to be able to show that the three million is to because how I’m looking at is the general fund is your checking account the fund balance is a saving account and in order to continue those
Operating you need to have some operating funds that shows up hence the reason why we’re doing that $3 million loan is basically robbing Peter to pay Paul to ensure that those buildings are ready to go and if anything there must be some level projection to say we need that $3
Million if anything happens we will have that 3 million to cover those buildings so am I track are you am I tracking from what I’m looking at at at at the slides to a great extent yes uh director Ross uh yes we are moving uh we are moving $3
Million from our savings account to be able to make sure that we sustain our uh our structure of living I’m just like putting it in layment terms but uh we need to come back again cuz we know that uh from a lemon standpoint I mean like
When you when you get your salary and you have your household expenditures and then realize that well my salary is actually not enough for my household expenditures you go trim things uh and then you come to a point where you say you know what my salary and my household
Expenditures are zeroing now but I still have a lot of things which I need to pay for uh I I I’m I’m transferring a few dollars uh at this point in time from my savings account while least I’m looking at a long-term um uh uh strategy on
Sustaining because uh I know for certain that my uh increases in terms of inflationary increases uh may not be sustainable if I’m continuing to get a 2% when my overall expenditures are 4% and that’s that’s that’s kind of where we are coming from but the thing is we
Can’t uh when we take the dollars out of our savings account uh Unfortunately they they can’t just be replenished until we change something and this wasn’t an issue last year so how I’m also looking at is the Esra funds in layman’s terms equals a stimulus payment that the federal government gave out and
Now like the average citizen we’re running out by 2024 the average citizen would have exhausted that stimulus funds that the federal government gave due to covid so then basically you have to say what the uh uh uh average person is going to have to do is say I have to
Reach into my savings account put money into my checking account in order to make sure I need to make my car payment I need to make my house payment so on and so forth cor um the question that I have so thank you for hum me on that I’m
Not as intelligent on the finances as you are so uh the question I have is was there I know that there was a conversation on March 18th regarding uh in the budget listening and engagement session I thought I heard somebody reference an operating referendum Levy
And I believe we were at a cap which translates into we can’t go to the voters until 2025 to raise taxes basically ask the voters to give us more money to be able to add money into the system is that an accurate uh assessment that’s an accurate assessment unfortunately we’ve
Reached our ceiling so even if we wanted to go to the voters and ask for more money uh there’s a cap for the state and we we are one of those school districts uh you know among other surrounding School District where we have where we
Have reached the cap uh the one thing we can do is we can uh ask for a renewal but that doesn’t add any more money it’s just a renewal of what we already getting uh which might uh include some components of uh inflation unless and until the legislature make changes in
Terms of either giving boards flexibility to be able to go out to voters without these caps uh we are in a situation where even if we go back and ask for more money they’ll just give us what we already get director chap du I thank you for
Um your Eagle Eye Vision and the work that you’ve put into present this you know presentation so I appreciate thank you I appreciate thank you uh chair you ask a quick question thank you so much I always appreciate your analyst of the budget it’s very helpful and as I’m learning about
Budgets I appreciate both of you and how articulate you are with it I just have a quick question and you may you may have already and I apologize how much is it to re like if we wanted to retain all um 10 Library Specialists how much like total is
It uh if I’m not mistaken uh if we want to retain the current um group of Library specialist it’s I think it’s about close to $800,000 uh when I check I mean then you have to add in the probably additional uh 5% increase I’m talking about what we
Have for this year uh so that’s about 800 uh $850,000 somewhere there and is that per year or is that just like for this year cuz I’m assuming like is that with like I’m assuming a promotion would need to happen um you know for like salaries right I think people get
Promotions for their salaries so is that like without promotion it’s just like the $850,000 yeah so I’m what I’m talking about is our current structure it might definitely look different I think that’s where the cost saving comes into play when we um uh when we look at that new
Uh new model I’m not sure what that will look like from a compensator standpoint uh what I’m referring to is the current salaries for the number of media uh specialist we have right now without vectoring any any bump or any inflationary increases or any cost of living
Adjustments okay and this is just as another ask a really quick ask um I know for me at home right like I have subscriptions that I don’t use like I just get it taken out of my account I’m like whoa I’m still playing for Netflix
Wow um but is there um it’s true um are there like any subscriptions or anything that we have looked into that’s not really heavily utilized in the school system that we could you know try to have savings there and to retain another um staff member yeah they are and I mean
I can also have uh director waa you know if he can maybe provide and we’ve kind of looked at some of those uh they also fected into some of the cuts we actually have a team looking at every single subscription that we currently um are paying for identifying
Um which ones we can no longer support and you know what that means for a cost savings and identifying which we can renegotiate um so we’re doing a careful analysis of that I don’t know what um how much in total in terms of subscriptions we’ve identified eliminating but it’s a substantial
Amount chair andreon I just have a comment um as I’m looking at SL 15 that has the detailed budget reductions um I wanted to note that uh district office position um reductions and the districtwide reductions so thinking printing Consulting supplies travel all of that is in response to feedback from
Our community that we received during our last budgeting session when we had to reduce you know really asking us to look at efficiencies in those areas and um while we don’t want to lose anyone um and we certainly don’t want to add a greater workload um to people
In those positions um those are the reductions necessary to to keep Cuts far away from the classroom and so I just wanted to to point out um the the large sum there 1.7 million um that falls into that category thank you for that director West Morland
Um and just taking a look at time um I I want to um thank you for this update I think that um in particular this slide about the detailed budget reductions is really helpful for us to see um um that everything really has been scrutinized and I appreciate that and
All the work that went through it also I know that there are lots of meetings that take place in that um site leaders are present at those meetings and are part of these discussions um which I always appreciate um knowing that that input has been taken into account I did
Just have one um question and it’s it’s a practice we engage in uh at District um 287 that I find really helpful when we’re doing budget discussions um for myself as a board member but also I think for um context for our broader Community if um we could
Start getting an idea of how many um of our services staff and programs um are funded by grants I think that that would be really helpful for us to be able to see that that funding while those program services and staff are critical for our students um and for our district as a
Whole that that is not secured sustainable funding um um and I think that it would be really helpful if we could have an idea of what that looks like for our district in particular um and to director roer’s Point are there grants available for this critical service that we know our our students
And our families need and yet we also know that grants are not the ideal way to fund public education thank you one yeah before we close so I just um want to thank the board members for the engagement and the um critical thinking I also want to be
Very clear on what our on what the ask is and um manage our expectations along the way so what I’m hearing is that um the board would like to have us relook at where we can find efficiencies and come up with another option outside of a library media specialist
Reduction and what I would like to state is that um what what we’re going to do is exactly that um however what we’re not going to do is to bring in front of the board and our community um of this versus that in terms of people impacted options we’re
Not going to pit staff against each other because we have looked at well you know can we continue to afford World language in our elementary schools right because we were very clear that the board was asking us to not touch classroom teachers right which we have
Not done so um because we’re not going to pit staff against each other in a very public way then I believe as a Cabinet we will rake a look at our budgets to see if we can identify um nonp position or people impacted reductions that we for some
Reason haven’t seen um to bring those ideas to the board table um so I that’s what I wanted to share and is are there any questions or clarifications about that and which will be incredibly challenging because over 80% of our general budget goes to Staffing corre just want to name that as
Well so because behind you know we we’re not going to pit staff against one another in a public setting but of course behind the scenes we do say well if we reduce more in the district office space that will mean an impact to critical Services right reduce an HR
Then there’s you know people are waiting a long time to get a response from HR reduce in Business Services same thing can’t reduce in transportation we got to make sure that we have a Flawless fall right and so do we do we impact more positions at the district office which
Then impacts services to schools or do we try to find school-based positions that end that we can somehow rest structure reduce without critically impacting instruction it’s a very difficult predicament I do apologize for the for the difficulty but I wanted to just name out loud that we got to be careful
With um how we’re talking about this versus that with people impacted reduction possibilities thank you for that I appreciate that yeah and can I just make a quick comment um thank you you don’t have to apologize they need to be apologizing to us for disinvestment in public education to put us in this
Position in the first place so um thank you for all that you’re doing to really try to make this a very easy process for everyone because it’s not easy so thank you thank you for that director Roper and I think that we can all agree on
That that um this is our future and we should be investing in it um so thank you all for this very robust discussion I appreciate all your input um with that I would like to move on to our next agenda item which is policies
In first read and I will turn it over to uh Vice chair Ross and invite thank you Terrero oh yes thanks Terrero um and invite assistant superintendent uh Lightfoot to the table thank you um we’re going to be going over five different uh polic IES and uh they’re going to all be timely
Because they’re going to be directly related to budget and budgeting policies and what I we’re going to be going over is these particular five and I will hand it over to superintendent or assistant superintendent Lightfoot to be able to walk you guys through uh these particular policies that we’re going to
Be discussing at this moment good evening good to be with you again uh as director director Ross identified the policies that are in front of you that we have uh the monitoring committee has reviewed and looked at are related to the budget uh what you have in front of you uh as far
As documents are the if there are any recommended changes to the Hopkins policies you will see those outlined in addition you have the model policies that are generated from the Minnesota School Board Association with that uh you have five that we’ll be looking at this evening the first of which is the
Establish and Adoption of School District budget the monitoring committee did review this as you will know there were some clerical components that were part of the um editorial adjustments but beyond that no substantial change is recommended from the monitoring committee and if there are questions uh we will entertain those for
701 I don’t see any and typically changes to this set of policies are driven by statutory changes and and we didn’t have any of those over the past session so that’s why you see no changes I want you all to know that we did do our homework on these policies and
Reviewed them very carefully we have no doubt 701 is the modification of School District budget um as outlined here there again no specific changes uh as you will note uh there again just a couple modifications just based on um some cross references but no changes as
Well from any of the model policy uh any questions regarding 71.1 I don’t see any 702 relates to the eup far assist coding component that we have as part of the budget it’s really the structure that we use to report to the state track all of our expenses as you will know um
That is captured here as well no specific changes as well recommended here um just some eneral statutory updates that were done um as part of a clerical component on this as well for 702 but no substantial change questions on 702 shairon dreon clerk Thompson um I’m just curious super assistant
Superintendent lifeo is is would this accounting and Reporting System be what’s moving to Oracle in in Hopkins or is that different yeah excellent question um it is part of the structure and uh director chap Anda can speak specifically to the fiscal components um part of the eup fars
Coding is a Statewide element that really tracks on specific areas that the state has designated we have our own kind of internal coding components that are part of that system but it does ultimately um in a uniform system get to the Department of Education so that there are common track components uh
That really are outlined throughout the state related to the coding structure does that help it does thank you anyone else I think we can move on to 703 thank you annual audit uh 703 as well you will note here uh this is specific to the Hopkins component um
There are no recommended changes as well for 703 no updates uh as part of any model msba work other than just changing some titles to specific statutory reference questions on 703 I don’t see any all right and the last one in the rapid fire round uh 704 development and maintenance of an
Inventory of fixed assets and a fixed accounting system here again it’s really about tracking the property components uh well within the system as well um we are getting some to the question that director Thompson asked earlier looking at some additional tracking components with fixed assets um so that we can
Better track those within uh the new systems that we’re using to make sure that we have that inventory tracked and accounted for uh as we think about uh there again the efficiency of any expenses related to it so with that uh no recommended changes as well for 704
Um would entertain questions there as well I don’t see any questions or comments um so then I would look for a a motion that the board approves the above policies in first read and further the board directs the administration to prepare the policies with no suggested revisions or with the suggested
Revisions for approval in second reading at the next meeting as part of consent so moved I have a motion is there a second second I have a motion and a second any discussion seeing none all those in favor I any opposed the um policies are approved and are going in for a second
Reading thank you thank you thank you thank you Nick and now we will move on to our board member reports anyone want to be Steve I go first are you looking at me because I’m the most senior board member the St is um Ju Just One Quick report today I
Toured the Carpenters Union training facility over in St Paul which was really fantastic fantastic um and we’ve been working on more career Pathways um direct entry for for our students at the high school and so um sent Dr Mary Peri Reid some information about that and how
We can um form a a closer collaboration um with that program anyone else J andreon I have a board report yes uh so I think uh um some me one of the students mentioned that there was a skip meeting and I attended that as well um
And uh it was a it was a big round table with all the um nonprofits and services that kind of wrap around our school Community um and I was just very impressed by uh just how much people care in the uh in the community at large
And so you know I was uh you know I left very energized and like wow you know people are looking after our children uh and uh it was it was a great thing to see thank you chair andreon yes by chair R um one I apologize for calling you
Chair no problem big shoes to fill um so I have two rep quick reports one uh 318 March 18th attended that budget listening and engagement session uh it was great to hear uh feedback and comments from our community in regard to um the budget and obviously the you know
The the the stress that all public school districts are under um and then on March 22nd attended the amsd meeting where we approved the priorities for 2024 and then obviously we got a quick read at the governor’s supplemental um budget Reco which obviously education was uh called out that it was missed and
It was highlighted that was missed multiple times um so I know that was um disappointing to a lot of the uh sta people that were a part of the meeting that’s all I had thank you for that anyone else well I am eagerly awaiting to hear from the rest of our community members
Who who have sat through a very long meeting and I appreciate all of you um so we will now move on to our um second SE section of um public comment hosted by the Hopkins school board and okay now my my iPad is open um so I would like to invite uh
Laura Jensen up to the uh table to address the [Applause] board I’m assuming no one needs a reminder of the the protocols no okay three you have three minutes we did come up with a fundraising idea for yall sell concessions at very well attended board meetings that can be our PD yeah people
Are hungry um hey I turned down free tickets to the Indigo Girls tonight to be here my people the Indigo Girls uh to be here with my other people uh that’s how much I believe in our library media Specialists I’m Laura Jens and I you she her pronouns I have a daughter
Who’s a 12th grader at Hopkins High School I’m a reading teacher at North Middle School part-time lgbtq plus Community liaison co-advisor for the gender and sexuality Alliance at North I could speak from many of these positions we but but we’ll speak about my advocacy and support of queer kids and how media
Special support them which Jen already raised media Specialists are a Lifeline for some of our most vulnerable kids in the district many queer kids are not supported to to the degree they should be at home we are their support media Specialists help all kids but especially queer kids be seen be
Seen and accepted for their true authentic selves to read stories about their people I end almost every 20 minute read in GSA and say keep reading about your people they need to know their history and who came before them whether that’s Elementary School King and King okay
Which was a book I read to my own daughter um as she was growing up or young adult books uh like a love story um about the AIDS epidemic in the 80s that we can learn so much from so our media Specialists are a literal lifeline for our lgbtq plus students who are
Three to four times more likely than their straight peers to engage in selfharm behaviors suicide ideation and suicide attempts according to the Minnesota Department of Education 84% of lgbtq plus students report hearing negative remarks at school at our schools at all schools okay about gender identity and sexual orientation drop out rates are
Disproportionately higher for queer kids I believe having licensed full-time media Specialists to support our most vulnerable vulnerable kids are queered kids is essential many of our surrounding districts do still have media Specialists oio Edina Minneapolis Robinsdale St Louis Park not all 1.0 and this is something that we need
To have in Hopkins we have great pair of professionals an at North is amazing we need licensed media special thank you I’d like to invite Jim ikl I was looking for you Mr Ike Ike welcome thank you good evening thanks for uh having us here to hear our sides um I am commonly
Known as Ike uh I’ve been teaching at Gatewood for 23 years I am a proud dad of a Hopkins grad I’m here to address the library proposal of course it’s my understanding that each Elementary School is supposed to be unique in order to better serve the potential scholars
In our area um I think that’s probably why I have my position as a naturalist at Gatewood uh our Librarians add a lot to that uniqueness the collection and the culture at each me Media Center in each building is not transferable to the other buildings and they use their
Training to help to create that they’re a critical part of our learning they create our learning and reading culture um they participate in extra events such as I love to read month and they put out the great collections that are relevant to what’s going on at that time and uh
If we don’t have the support that we have in the media centers now we have to say goodbye to those things because there isn’t a teacher in the district that is working only their 40 contracted hours and we cannot take on one more thing and that’s just not going to be
Able to continue um if we think that our our uh Paris who are amazing and do wonderful work but if we think that they are capable of picking up all of that with less you know contracted hours working the media center if we think they can do that then we owe them an
Apology and a whole lot of back pay because we’ve already admitted that they’re not earning and doing the same with that um we saw in the slides earlier tonight that our budget is a moral document that is supposed to reflect our values and whittling away at
The media center is not a value that I think we share it’s not what the kids want it’s not what the parents expect it’s not what those of us with boots on the ground think is the right thing to do um it’s our understanding that if we eliminate essentially everybody in the
Media center and then hire back the pairs at a higher um you know higher number and then hire um back four to six uh uh Librarians in a different role our savings is $400,000 and that seems like a small amount um compared to the amount of
Money we’re talking about uh I know this isn’t big money but as the naturalist we could be whittling away at how much we spend on our waste stream we don’t need to spend so much on our electric bill we don’t need to spend so much on our gas
Bill there are areas where we can work together and come up with 400,000 and I appreciate the work that you’ve done and your creativity I encourage you to do so uh because this is something that is vitally important thank you I would like to invite an malie to the Table welcome thank you for being here hey my name is Amoy and I’m the media per over at North Middle School I’m speaking tonight on behalf of all 12 media Paras in our district ours is the role that will allegedly staff the media centers next year and we are dedicated
Individuals who love what we do and the students and staff that we serve we have a unique insight into just what it will look like next year and we are we are Staffing our spaces alone and we are united in our opposition to this proposed elimination of media specialists in every Media Center
Currently the majority of our per time as Paris spent managing the library circulation to allow licensed media Specialists time and support to teach and develop media collections we check in andout books textbooks calculators and more we manage overdue and lost materials help students and staff find materials and reshelf hundreds of books
That circulate daily at each location along with our media Specialists we organize arrange and change book displays to promote literacy and a love of reading as well as Embrace Hopkins celebration of diversity equity and inclusion we already work outside the scope of our purview in addition into circulation management assist with iPad
And Chromebook issues create fun activities to promote reading run Book Fairs and book swaps and manage behaviors of students who visit the libraries throughout the day the middle schools and high schools can have up to 50 students in the library at a time and behavior is a major issue for the staff
And one best handled with a licensed media um staff present in addition to the current full-time work that we do media pairs are being asked to take on additional roles our current media specials are licensed to provide no matter Valiant dedicated and skilled a parah is it will be impossible to get
All of this done we will have to give up the many pieces of what we do to make our spaes so special the district is stressing that literacy instruction and reading will continue to be valued but this is not possible under the current proposal while media paers are being
Asked to take on light instruction per the Minnesota Department of Education this cannot include read alouds which must be given by a licensed staff the current proposal effectively eliminates library read-alouds and instruction other than the time the new potential licensed digital literacy specialist is visiting a building media Specialists
Develop book collections that reflect our students needs they Specialists work one-on-one with students to ignite a passion for reading they collaborate with teachers to support curriculum needs they teach research and digital citizenship the media Specialists bring magic to the library and media Paras support their work to make this happen a
Switch and Par classification does not fill the hole in losing media specialist these proposed changes means that students will not be able able to come check out a book whenever they or a teacher would like them to because there cannot be someone at the desk to check
For them it means that we will be closed for a lunch break and on sick days it means that while a class visits to check out books there is no one out and about to help someone and recommend books because the par is tied to the circulation
Desk we PA a stand to make more money in this change though our positions will be reposted and first we have to reapply but not one of us would want the raise we are heartbroken at the move away from the focus on the importance of literacy
In our schools and we believe that it is a core value of Hopkins we’re very disappointed in this proposition I’d like to invite Jonathan lers leers l u BB e lopers think you left he left okay um then Ann be is up next welcome thank you for being here thank
You for sticking around um good evening my name is Anne be I am the instructional coach at tangin elementary and a letters facilitator for Hopkins Public Schools I am here to address the proposed reductions and reclassifications of our media center staff as we we transition from a media
Center program to a digital literacy program tonight you continue the difficult work of creating a balanced budget that also prioritizes our Scholars our teachers and the programming essential to upholding our vision 2031 a vision of innovation created with the core belief that every student deserves a brilliant future on
March 13th our 10 K12 Hopkins media Specialists were told that their existing positions were being eliminated in their place the district was creating four to six new positions the media speci Specialists were told that they would be required to reapply for these new positions with no guarantee despite continuing contracts or seniority that
They would receive one no articulated job description has been shared with them no clarification until tonight was given about even the position being a licensed position there’s no plan for how to equitably distribute this new role across all 12 sites who serve Scholars ages 4 to 18 and no direct
Updates have been given to the media specialist since the March 13th meeting this proposed 50% reduction of staff is significant in the life of a child who is first learning to read or in the life of a child who’s a sophisticated senior who is researching future cities for a
Personalized project so if these reductions must be done then they must be done with great care my ask this evening is for a pause in this work so that a detailed implementation plan can first be developed with and supported by our most highly trained and knowledgeable Professionals in this area our K12 media
Specialists a seamless transition to a digital literacy program requires their presence at the table and their voice in The implementation process they have yet to receive this invitation take pause carefully consider and require an implementation plan co-developed with our media Specialists so that our students step into a digital
Literacy program that indeed provides them with the skill set to have a brilliant future thank you thank you um I would like to advise Jackie mandano is that correct close enough it’s mandano it’s the like the H oh okay it’s okay sorry um so my name is
Jackie mandano I am a junior at Hopkins High School today I am speaking on behalf of myself and my friend Rosie eert together Rosie and I have been lucky enough to create a book club where we read books by esteemed female authors one of the many wonderful aspects of our
Friendship is their shared love of literature so as Avid readers and Library dwellers this decision deeply upsets us not only will this affect the future of our book club but it will also be detrimental to the student body even though the books will remain the heart
Of the library will be gone our media Specialists are what make libraries what they are without them the library would simply be an empty room with books on shelves in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic our Librarians were faced by unprecedented challenges and adapted to these changes as the world continues to
Evolve and Technology gains TR ction media Specialists have been pushing forward for the sake of students so as I look across this room I see my childhood I see the people who are responsible for my love of books replacing them would be a grave error on the district’s behalf
Rosie and I would like to respectfully ask the board to reconsider this proposal inside with her wonderful larian so thank you for your time and your consideration um I would like to invite Kevin Spencer to the board table welcome hi thank you for being here tonight and for
Waiting my name is Kevin Spencer I currently lead the chasa public library but prior to this I was a Hopkins library media specialist for 16 years and let me just say that I am so touched personally from all the words that I’ve heard here tonight and I imagine my
Colleagues are feeling it so much more than me to be clear Hopkins won’t have libraries or media centers if the media Specialists are cut this comes from definitions set in last year’s education legislation Additionally the legislation brought forward this year which proposes to put major limits on book censorship
Also requires a trained licensed librarian or media Specialists to be choosing the materials placed in the library media center Dr Mary Perry Reid mentioned research that shows principles have an impact on student outcomes I can tell you there is more research proving that school library media Specialists directly positively affect not only
Student learning but also quality of instruction she also Compares Hopkins to other metral schools having a fully staffed media specialist staff as well as Technology support has been a draw to the Hopkins schools both for students and for highquality perspective staff this is also a question of equity
It is from a very privileged perspective to assume or expect students and families to go to the public library where they can find the trained Librarians they need to to uh help them with reading Choice navigating fake news information literacy research connecting to resources or just finding a safe
Place I know that budget cuts are always terrible having worked for many years in Hopkins but living in other communities I feel like I can give an area to reassess and I would personally look at Administration for the size of this District Hopkins is incredibly topheavy it is well known that administrators
Cost more than teachers rather than cutting the people who have direct oneon-one impact on every student staff member in a school think creatively about a leaner cheaper administrative staff thank you I would like to invite Pam deani it’s Dion I was getting too fancy sorry um welcome thank you for being here
Tonight all right let me get this up my glasses on CU I’m old good evening my name is Pam Dion I’m speaking tonight both as a parent a member of the Hopkins school Alliance Community as a parent who’s had four children graduate from Hopkins Public Schools I find the challenges facing our
District deeply concerning we’re currently grappling with two significant issues declining enrollment with budget constraints with the daunting task of trimming Millions from the next year’s budget the district is at a Crossroads the current Exodus of students contributes to our financial strain alarming ly 33% of Hopkins student body chooses to open enroll
Elsewhere excuse me resulting in the net loss of 250 students and millions of dollars in funding the most recent minona enrollment report sheds light on why families are seeking educational options outside of our district with approximately 1400 Hopkins students opting to enroll in minona schools academic rigor is cited as the principal
Primary factor this hits close to home for me I’ve witnessed firsthand the shifts in curriculum from with and instruction within Hopkins from the my oldest to the youngest child graduation I’ve seen departure from fully guided teacher-led instruction towards student centered mythologies associated with vision 2031 unfortunately these changes have
Been coupled with an overreliance on technology and elimination of gifted and talented programs such as accelerated math and Elementary Middle School levels these shifts occurred despite research that indicates an overreliance on student centered learning is not the most effective way to teach subject matter content this is apparent in
Hopkins given the noticeable lack of academic growth postco 19 alongside a widening achievement Gap this take this heartbreaking statistic only 2.9% of black fifth graders in Hopkins were proficient on the MCA math in 2023 far below the state average of 2018 nearly 40% of Hopkins black fifth
Graders were proficient on the math MCA beating the state average the district attributes the decline to shifting student demographics and biased tests however schools in the demographically similar districts that prioritize teacher-led instruction consistently achieve higher MCA scores than those in Hopkins currently families are troubled by The District’s decision to cut the full-time
Equivalent licensed librarian media Specialists the position citing budget constraints as a primary factor perhaps if we retained more indust District families our budget would be stabilized and our licensed librarian media special Li wouldn’t need to be cut the district must address these concerns in order to retain local families and stabilize the
Budget the limitations of vision 2020 2031 aligned approaches are clear and now is the time to F pivot towards methods that have a proven track record thank you fostering students success our students and staff deser deserve it thank you and now I’d like to invite Janelle
Baddie up to the board table to give your comment thank you it’s been so well covered so I’ll pass oh okay that was our Applause well that was our final comment um card that was filled out um thank you you all so much for being here tonight
Um if you want to follow up with um the board or Administration please feel free to do so um and I’m worn out so I am going to I’m going to look for um a motion to adjourn all moved I have a motion and a second any discussion see none all those
In favor I I any opposed the meeting is adjourned at 10:15 p.m.