March 4 Meeting Highlights

 

Action Item - Approval of the Agenda

The motion carried (6-0).

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Action Item - Approval of Consent Agenda

The motion carried (6-0).

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Listening Session Report
Board member Aune stated that no one attended the Listening Session.

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Recognitions
Superintendent Olson-Skog introduced members of the Two Rivers Lightning Turtles Robotics Team and coach Eric Bergquist. The team finished in first place in the international digital animation competition with their video titled Fix It, Fix It. The students were: Ava Herrera; Zay (Carrington) Smith; Wesley Hendel; Sam Larson; Sean Huset; Amelia Warneke; Sam Taulman; Camille Lamb; Zev Jackman; Gray Gallant; Carly Buzzell; and Gio De Leon. Superintendent Olson-Skog introduced members of the Tech Warriors and their advisors, Bill Larsen and Bill Troolin. The students were: Nathaniel LaValle; Abkem Yalemwork; Leyla Fayoke; Grace Hendricks; Auden Ebner; Brandon Halsey; Elise Moga; Jude Meyer; and Jae Nguyen.

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Student Representative’s Report
Student Representatives LaRae Dodson and Samantha Villa stated that March is a busy month at the elementary schools with PTA meetings, Family Service Nights, musicals, I Love to Read, pancake breakfast, music concerts, and a STEM fair. The Early Learning Center will host preschool conferences. The middle schools will be hosting various events – LGBTQIA+ parent/guardian night; Night at the Ritz which is for students to showcase their musical talents; Open Houses; and Science nights. At the high school, winter sports and activities continue. The musical “Big Fish” finished up and was very successful. The boys swim and dive team had a very successful season, breaking 3 school records. The medley relay record was broken by Jimmy Fredrics, Fin Gustafson, Jack Dahlager, and Nathan Frisch. Senior Fin Gustafson broke the 200 IM record qualifying for the state tournament. He broke the 100-freestyle record at the state meet. Wrestling sent freshman Emiliano Carrillo to the state tournament. Senior Lilly Leitner was selected as the St. Paul Area Athena Award winner - an award that recognizes her academic and athletic achievements throughout her high school career. Band students will host concerts this month. Juniors will take the ACT exam tomorrow. Spring break will be at the end of the month.

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Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent Olson-Skog stated that March is Read Across America Month which is a time to promote reading and encourage the love of reading, especially for the younger learners. Last Friday, nearly 40 Two Rivers students visited Moreland to read to the elementary school students. The high school students connected with the students by sharing why they love reading and what their favorite books were when they were younger. Mendota Elementary hosted a “Dress Up as Your Favorite Character Day,” where students and staff were encouraged to dress like their favorite book character. Each classroom also received a copy of the book "The Right Thing to Do" inspired by Minnesota legend Joe Mauer. Friendly Hills students just wrapped up their school-wide Read-a-Thon where students collectively read more than 250,500 minutes and raised nearly $6,000. Funds raised will go towards buying reading materials for both classroom libraries and the school library. Heritage just wrapped up their annual Battle of the Books competition, where nearly 130 students across all grade levels read books and compete to answer questions about the reading. This year's winners will be the first to have their names engraved on the brand-new Battle of the Books trophy, which will be on display at Heritage.

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General Fund Budget Framework and Update for FY 2024-2025
Jason Stegeman, Director of Finance, presented the proposed FY 24-25 General Fund Budget Framework. The budget framework is used as a guiding document for building the fiscal year 2024-2025 budgets. It consists of the strategic framework focus areas; assumptions for enrollment, funding and expenditures; and parameters that are used to develop and guide the budget process.

The framework is consistent with what was used last year with some adjustments to partially address inflation.
Parameters include:

• No changes to attendance area boundaries
• No changes to transportation fees
• Building allocation amounts for purchased services and supplies will increase by 3%
• Co-curricular allocation amounts for purchased services and supplies will increase by 3%
• Staff allocations for budget development will be based on the February 1, 2024 projected enrollment for 2024-2025
• No changes to staffing ratios

More budget discussions with the board will take place in the spring. This framework will be brought back to
the March 18, 2024 School Board meeting for approval. Overall district budget approval will be in June.

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Action Item – Approval of 2024 School Board Goals
Board member Jon Vaupel presented the proposed 2024 School Board goals for review. The goals were presented to board members in detail at their February 20, 2024 meeting. Based on the achievement of the 2023 goals and the board’s self-evaluation results, the board planning committee has drafted a proposed set of goals for 2024. Changes to the goals are noted below based on feedback from the February 20 meeting:

• Identify resources (e.g., book, podcast, article) that will help the board deepen its knowledge on topics related to the strategic framework or other topics of interest.
• Engage in regular development sessions to better understand district professional development, best practices in board governance, and other topics of interest.
• Update the Planning Committee charge statement to explicitly lay out intended collaboration around political advocacy with partner organizations.
• Create a written document detailing the roles and expectations of board members in their school liaison role.
• Design a 197 t-shirt that helps community members identify Board members and feel welcome and encouraged to engage in conversation.

Board member Steele suggested adding the words “and committee” to the goal, referencing their liaison role.

The motion carried (6-0).

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Adjournment

The motion carried (6-0).