PCAWLE/Derek Haidle

A couple quick reminders

2008-04-10T10:30:00.001-05:00

First, there will be the reorganization meeting tonight.  Morphing the Save District 279 into District 279 United.  Here is a draft of the purpose:

=====
District 279 United is a group of concerned parents and community members that support enhancing the education available to the children in our community.  We believe that neighborhood schools help create successful students who become good citizens of our community.  The group's main area of focus is to support the following:      

*  Neighborhood schools
*  Fiscal responsibility of district finances
*  Core K – 12 education
*  Community partnership in school district strategy and key decisions
=====

I want to stress that the old  leadership team is trying to jump start the new organization, but really, really wants district wide participation.  ALL leadership positions will be up for nomination tonight.  

Second, just a quick reminder that this PCAWLE email list will be effectively shut down tonight.  Please sign-up for the new list at the following web address:

http://groups.google.com/group/district279united

Thanks!
Derek

New Web Site

2008-04-08T08:21:00.002-05:00

The new web site and branding is up and running. Here it is:

1) Web site: http://www.district279united.com/

2) Blog: http://blog.district279united.com/

3) Email Discussion Group: http://groups.google.com/group/district279united

The hope is the new group will be across the district as a whole and unite the parents and community!

Parent's Meeting

2008-04-03T13:59:00.002-05:00

The parents meeting at Weaver Lake offered a number of surprises. First, I thought attendance was much, much higher than we anticipated. We really do have a terrific group of very committed parents.

Second, I was stunned by the very large number of parents that reached out to the Wayzata School District to request open enrollment and several neighborhoods that will actually be getting bus service to Wayzata. I fear that our own D279 is going to be hurt even more as literally 300+ students or more move out of the district.

More information coming in the next few days. Stay tuned!

Mr. Thomas

2008-03-28T14:54:00.002-05:00

While the parents and community were going through the process of closing schools, it was brought up that the principal of Fair Oaks was fully in support of the plan and was actually voting himself out of a job.

Mr. Thomas, the principal at Fair Oaks, was at the time applying and working his way through the selection process to become the principal at Osseo Junior High. First, he appears to be a very talented individual and we do not want to loose talent from the district. Second, it now becomes very evident that he was more than likely not losing his job. Hmmmmmmmm. Let the conspiracy theories begin! Or is it just a well orchestrated plan? Would you disagree with the plan if you were going for a promotion?

SAGE and KKK

2008-03-22T07:48:00.004-05:00

There is currently a lawsuit between SAGE (Straights And Gays for Equality) and the School District. SAGE claims that their rights were violated when they were not allowed to use bulletin boards, and other school communication devices to announce their activities.

The School District has lost the case several times and continues to appeal it.

In the latest article on the Kare 11 site, the School District actually makes reference to the this lawsuit being important to stop groups like the KKK thereby comparing SAGE to the KKK:

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=502035

Are they similar in that they are both radical groups -- one trying to increase rights and one trying to decrease rights? On the surface, the comparison appears completely ridiculous as does spending taxpayer money to continue to fight it.

Purpose Going Forward

2008-03-20T08:56:00.005-05:00

There is discussion going on concerning the purpose of the Save District 279 group and web sites. Dan brought up a good point yesterday in trying to understand what we are trying to accomplish. I have struggled with that a lot since the decision. In some ways, I believe what we are trying to accomplish is actually a very personal decision surrounding what each of us supports and our values as individuals. One could argue that we need to develop common ground. I would agree that we could publish a statement with multiple values that as a group we support, but each individual will have a different take on those values and the overall purpose.

Here are some of the potential purposes and potential actions/ideas (THESE ARE IDEAS ONLY AND I DO NOT PERSONALLY SUPPORT ALL OF THESE):

* Purpose: Hold the School Board accountable for their actions.
* Ask lots of questions.
* Start a web page that asks a question and the solicits SB feedback and posts their response.
* Actively campaign for or against SB members that are or are not accountable for their actions.

* Purpose: Effectuate the changing of the strategic guidelines and values.
* Make a motion for the SB to evaluate the strategic guidelines by forming a committee that is well balanced with parental participation.
* Form a team within the SD279 group to present and monitor changes.

* Purpose: Change leadership
* Campaign against or for certain SB members.
* Start a campaign to change the administration leadership.

* Purpose: Create an open and rich learning environment for all students going forward.
* Organize and participate in PST and other organizations on a school-by-school basis.
* Organize events that bring students together during times of transition.
* Participate in the Transition Committee.

* Purpose/Idea: Hold the SD responsible if it has broken any laws. (This is very controversial, but something that a portion of the population believes is important and is perceived to be the only way to get the SB's attention.)

* Purpose: Infuse a larger degree of collaboration between the administration and parents. (Make sure parents' voices are heard.)
* Participate in committees going forward.
* Attend School Board meetings.
* Continue to contact SB members and Susan Hintz by writing emails, letters, phone calls and public speeches at SB meetings.
* If the SB still does not appear to take our thoughts into consideration, then more dramatic means may be necessary (these are only ideas and are certainly controversial and are along the lines of Peaceful Protest):
* Sit ins: Literally fill up public places and just sit.
* Drive/Park ins: The farmers in France once protested by simply parking all of their trucks on major interstates -- why not fill up a few parking lots with our vehicles and leave them (ESC anyone?)? Sure, they would be towed, but it is a form of protest (Again, controversial.)
* Silent Protest: Attend SB meetings, but do not say anything - do not even talk amongst ourselves. Silence is deafening.
* Ad: Purchase an advertisement in the local paper to point out issues/concerns.

Results: What do we hope to get out of this in the end?

* Ultimately the best education possible for our children.
* A more collaborative leadership (administration and SB).

Other purposes, ideas or results? Go. Brainstorm!

Savings does not equal Savings

2008-03-19T15:29:00.001-05:00

Here is another observation from last night that I can not wrap my head around logically: They kept talking about how they saved money in regard to medical insurance. In fact, the following is in their handout:

"Saved $1.03 million, also Saved $1.27 million on teacher new plan"

The projected increase for 2008/09 was 18.68%. The actual increase was 10.2% in some cases and 0% increase in other cases. However, there was a net increase.

Wording is interesting here. Since we expected to pay 18.68% more, then there is a savings, when really we are paying more overall -- it appears to be that we beat our own expectation and therefore have a savings (but don't forget that we are paying more). (I'm confused.)

Bottom line: Benefits have gone up steadily over the last 5 years and are projected to continue to grow. I do think they have done a reasonable job keeping the cost of benefits in check. However, continuing to talk about savings when you pay more seems a bit odd to me.

Also, if we saved what appears to be around $2 million dollars, then are we buying more teachers or buildings for that? Or is the savings actually to the participants (teachers/staff/administration) because at the top of the same page outlining medical benefits, it indicates "Addl. District Cost Over Last Year: $10,000".

None of these questions were asked last night and potentially it is just known by those that have been attending longer than I. The handout simply made little sense to me at all.

By the way - do not construe this as being anti-health-insurance-for-teachers. I definitely believe in health insurance for teachers. I just have a hard time discussing it as saving when we are actually paying more and then understanding where that savings is going.

Observation

2008-03-18T21:27:00.002-05:00

The board approved $28 million dollars in benefits tonight in under 5 minutes of discussion with only a single question from Dean. (There was an overview from the person from the administration -- very helpful, but certainly not expected to be comprehensive.)

It took 6 weeks, hours and hours of speeches, meetings, organizing etc........ to cut $16 million.

They approved nearly double that in expenditures in under 5 minutes tonight!!!!!

There has to be discussions going on via email or something. This just blows me away. I must be missing something.

Gifts

2008-03-18T20:34:00.001-05:00

We accpeted gifts to the district of over $150,000.

Motion and second

Everyone in favor.

Announcements

Move to ajorne.

Done in less than 30 minutes!!!!!!!! Wow!

HR item on Agenda

2008-03-18T20:25:00.002-05:00

Approval of new benefits

Speaker - Giving an overview of how we got here today in terms of benefits. We meet on a monthly basis to determine how to provide employee benefits at a reasonable cost. We saved the district around $9.2 million by going out to bid, assessment surveys with employees and so on to contain utilization rates. Limiting the employer contributions and developing plan design changes to increase participation in the plan. We spend $28.8 million - it would have gone up another $2 million if we had not made plan changes.

There is cost shifting to employees. How much will need to be in the future? It depends on which plan they choose in the future. The open enrollment plan now has an increase co-pay and deductibles. [He recapped the three plans.]

Dental - Minimal increases (projected large increases, but were able to negotiate them down). Benefits fair to be held to go over benefits and inform them of new plan design.

Dean - How many are enrolled at the single level?

Speaker - left that folder at my desk, but I believe 2/3rds.

Dean - about 2000?

speaker - that's a bit high -- proably 1800.

Linda - any questions?

Steve - moves to approve the benefits.

Linn - seconds.

Everyone approved benefits package - unanimous.

Consent agenda

2008-03-18T20:23:00.002-05:00

Approval of consent agenda except for 9.17.

Steve - 9.17 - a conveyance of a real estate interest. Excel will not give it back easily.

Susan - I think that is a good idea. I am not prepared to responde to this. This should wait until the next meeting.

Steve - Table it until the next board meeting.

Linn - Seconded.

By the way Linda is NOT here tonight.

Next agenda item

2008-03-18T20:15:00.002-05:00

Susan - [Reviewing previous minutes.] We have 56 community members speak. We tried to address those concerns at the subsequent work session on March 5 and on the web site and meetings.

Superintendent's Report - A new proposal was announced for No Child Left Behind at the national level. They want more flexibility for states with NCLB. I was impressed that they came to MN. We were first state to have charter students, open enrollment, [bunch of others], first state to have online curriculum program. US Secretary of education was here making the announcement for NCLB.

Highest ACT scores, one of the highest graduation rates, in 8th grade math we are highest in the nation.

We are going to do is form United Communities for learning - teachers, support staff, principals and parents. Joint work groups will come out of that steering committee and action teams. For example, in any transition there is logistics which is funded by a different area of the budget. Money for updating the two schools that are closing can be diverted to those that aren't. How are teams of teachers going to be moved, packing labeling etc.... How to create the climate for including and creating a culture of inclusiveness.

Logistics - transporation - how do we make it work so older children are home in time to watch younger children?

[Other teams discussed.]

We found that when we organized the core planning team had a wide variety of perspectives worked very well. {Ooops except for community *grins*]

Union Person

2008-03-18T20:10:00.002-05:00

Congratulating the board. No one is happy about closing buildings or the new reality. We are charged with being good stewarts and doing nothing is not an option.

We have to do more with less.

I am thankful but disappointed but when we are challenged to run this as a business and we do we are.

We are in public service not indentured servants.

James (new person) - Chain of command - the voters elect the SB members. You are supposed to do what me the voters (the district voters) would like you to do.

I attended community cafes - results were posted. How many of you read the Community Cafe Results? (show of hands) [All raised hands.]

Short term negatives were greater by 2.3 than positive. 2.3 times as likely to have shortcomings. Long term negatives were 5.6 to 1 against positives. Nobody at community cafes saw this as positive. Over 190 ideas to keep the schools open.

Nothing in the levy indicated closing schools. If it was there, I believe voters would have approved it.

Teresa

2008-03-18T20:07:00.002-05:00

Teresa Lunt - difficult time over the past 8 weeks.

* The SB is not in sync with the values I share.

* Closing WL had nothing to do with the budget reduction.

* More

Talk the talk, but they don't walk the talk.

* My voice has been heard, but not listened to.

* Accused of coming late -- unfortunately, I had bad faith.

* Accused of wearing a red T-shirt be called a racist, I will do everything I can make sure people

I and many others plan to be involved at the state level.

I will hold you accountable. Not just lip serivice but actionable results.

[I didn't capture all of that well -- you will have to catch the rerun.]

Agenda

2008-03-18T20:02:00.003-05:00

Community comment - if anyone would like to speak fill out the card and bring it up to Linda.

Same rules as usual -- three minutes is allowed since we do not have as many speakers. [We will be safely out of here by midnight. *grins*]

Collette - Thank you for closing buildings and repurposing. Consider options to save as many teachers of possible. What will a classroom look like when a WL classroom goes from 20 to 42+ students? How many students fit in a classroom without having to remove the teachers and tools of teaching?

There is still $600,000 more spent on extra curriculars than there was six years ago.

We used to have 7 hour class days. We went down to 6 hours. We didn't get any teachers and hours back the last time a referrendum passed.

I am afraid we will never go under 35 students.

Class sizes over 35 are detrimental.

How many kids can answer one question in a class? We need to make other choices. Reserve money, mid-year budget surplus, etc. we could cut the number of teachers lost in half.

Susan

2008-03-18T19:55:00.003-05:00

She greeted everyone in the audience -- I am her "little blogger". Ok, it is pretty obvious since I am the only one with a computer.

The room is about half full to me.

Thank goodness there are not as many people -- we have at least 20 pages in handouts!

The ~~union~~ people are sitting down the isle from me and making fun of the lack of attendance. "It's about 30 days and they start running out of gas." Sad.

Call to order.

[Correction: It was not "Union people" that made the comment. It was someone that I thought was in support of the parents.]

More people

2008-03-18T19:50:00.002-05:00

Ok, a few more people, but they will not need the overflow room.

The school board members are obviously much, much, much more relaxed -- joking with each other as they come in the room.

There is a lot less tension in the air tonight.

Rollin'

2008-03-18T19:49:00.001-05:00

People are starting to roll in. There is hardly anyone here so far -- only 8 peopl in the audience so far.

Board Meeting Tonight

2008-03-18T11:55:00.003-05:00

The board meeting is tonight. I hope to see others there as well. I know it will be difficult to return to a School Board that is not in support of the kids, parents, and community but I keep telling myself that I owe it to my kids.

Discussion

2008-03-11T21:34:00.002-05:00

Linda - previously unsure of supporting FO/OV/CI - now is in support.

John - I to do not have any reservations about FO/OV/CI.

Steve - I think it is time to move forward and vote on the whole budget and a path for healing. I ask that we vote on the matter.

Final vote - Full proposal is voted in - Dean and Linda voted no -- all others yes.

That's it.

Discussion (more)

2008-03-11T21:21:00.003-05:00

John - I want to get back to a discussion of the proposed amendement motion. I to am concerned about where the money would come from and the distinct possibility that expenses will increase.

Dean - I hate to belabor this, but the board has not had a problem spending down a $33 million fund balance. We have the opportunity to do the right thing for our neighborhood schools. We now have a problemw ith $1.5 million decision. The whole estended family are here to support the students. If that means that we have to do the right thing and spend the $1.5 million. I am asking to spend money to support the students or the educaiton system.

Linda - we have gone through with spending in the past. Now we are disrupting lives of students and not doing ANYTHING to minimize the disruption to the students. I am comfortable taking from the fund balance to minimize this disruption.

Steve - We are always critisized for doing the same thing. Nobody has had the courage to deal with these issues in the past. 75% of the school district does not have kids in school. Where is our money going? Into keeping classroom sizes down. That helps all students in the district. I can hire more teachers. It keeps the whole class size down. We can not control that expense. Unions have a lot of power. We have to bargain with them in good faith. We can control how many we employ. We can not change the compensation schedule. Talking about 5% additional is wrong. We balance the budget EVERY year. It is really disengenuous. We have built up their reserve funds and kept their class sizes down. I'm not going to go beyond 5%. We are supposed to be talking about doing something different and doing it with the things we control. I don't feel like we can go back to tax payers and indicate that we are not closing school with so much excess capacity.

Linda - I am hearing from the community that they misinterpretted the last levy and the parents are willing to revisit the levy. That is coming from the parents. If that is something the parents and community want then we should consider it.

Dean - 2005-2006 [he is going through how much the deficit was each year - refuting what Steve said about balancing the budget] We have been using a reserve balance and have not been running a balanced budget. The school district ran for a couple years without reducing class sizes at all. When we levied for $13 million we clearly communicated that we were not reducing class sizes. OUr pattern has not be to always help the students by reducing class sizes. I am willing to make that request now.

Kim - we have a motion on the table.

Dean - seconds the motion.

Vote for the motion to pull apart the proposal - 4 against; only Dean and Linda for.

Discussion continues

2008-03-11T21:20:00.000-05:00

Who's out there???

Discussion

2008-03-11T20:56:00.002-05:00

Steve - I just don't understand the motion. I really need to know.

Dean - I will give this one more try. My motion is that this board not close or repurpose any of our schools. Not close or repurpose schools.

[Debating about how to do this.]

Dean - Madam chair point of order.

John - I don't know all of the rules. The chair does have the ability to overrule the motion or you could get more advice from legal cousel.

Legal counsel - the motion must be seconded.

Kim - Out of respect for director Hinkey can we move on? This seems to be the reverse of the previous motion. It seems to me that this is just the reverse.

Dean - It is a modification of the main motion. This modification to the main motion. Either there are or are not four board members that are interested.

Steve - there was no second to the modification. Dean's motion should not pass and we move on.

John - I can pretty much guarantee that an amendment to a motion requires such. You would just get away from a second.

Kim - Legal counsel.

Legal counsel - He read the rules for motoins.

Steve - once it is stated then it requires a new motion and then a second is needed. Regardless we are to a point where nobody is willing to second the motion.

Kim - is there another consideration?

[More discussion about modifications.]

Linda - I have an interest to vote for or against FO/CI closing Ossee, closing edgewood and repurposing WL. I would like to begin with Edgewood Weaver Lake as a new motion. I do not want to vote on this proposal as one.

Kim - the motion is to vote separately to close Edgewood Elementary and repurposing. Three pieces.

John - I believe we need a motion and a second. Then we can discuss it.

Linda - take various components of the proposal and give the board the freedom to vote on what they believe on. I do not want to vote no on the entire proposal.

Kim - separate it into 3 different parts - FO/OF/CI is first component; closing of osseo and Edgewood as second part; the rest of the third.

Steve - I need to know where we are going to get the money for splitting this apart. Before I could vote on it separately, I would need to know where we could get the money. I am not in favor of taking money out of the reserve fund. I owuld be opposed to pulling them out for separate discussion unless we know where we would get the money.

Dean - I would offer that we have a fund balance - unrestricted general fund balance. We have over $2 million in mid-year adjustments to be used.

Kim - board memebers?

Lin - If we put secondary education back...[lots of numbers thrown around. Difficult to summarize.]

Dean - We've spent downa sizable fund balance. With these particular changes these are changes with very, very high impact to students and families. Since we have been willing to spend down fund balance for other sorts of things. These are a very direct impact on neighborhoods, students and parents. I would support using the fund balance. As we go forward we will have to do some belt tightening.

Lin - can I ask for some examples of belt tightening.

Dean - we have a half a dozen contracts coming up that could have belt tightening. I believe we should pursue our belt tightening there.

Lin - those are negotiated contract. What happens when they do not get what they want?

Dean - these people out here are not given the choices they want. I guess if going to our employees and saying this is what we can afford is something we could go for.

Linda - we are required to maintain a 3% fund balance and we are trying to maintain a 5%. Why are we trying to preserve and protect that fund balance? I would ask Ms. Hintz to provide what it would look like if we used additional fund balance.

Susan - at the last work session, I shared what was potentially available for the project fund balance. I do not have the figures available.

Dean - What is on the spreadsheet is 16.3 in budget reducations will result in 6.2% unrestricted fund balance.

Kim - I am comfortable with keeping the 5%+ fund balance. I am challenged. I feel like we can't even begin to negotiate the amount since the special education piece is so high.

[Sorry - no vote yet -- just on these side motions right now.]

Motion to vote separately on closings

2008-03-11T20:45:00.002-05:00

Dean - We have spent a lot of resources on a process where the community has not been involved and merits it's own consideration.

Kim - We need to consider the other areas of the proposal because they are linked together. CI, FO and OV component are linked to the proposal.

[Confusion on the board.]

Steve - what is being modified there.

John - The practical question of including FO/CI/etc because it is separate.

Knutson - My understanding is just to separate this.

Dean - We would vote on this separately.

Knutson - the present motion is to consider it separately, correct?

Dean - My intent is to separate out the school closings and the achieve piece separately.

Linda - I would support a motion to allow the board members to vote on different components. It seems to me that it needs to be broken down into separate components. I can not support the entire proposal. I just want to make sure this motion does not take away that proposal.

Steve - My suggestion is to take it one question at a time. If we are trying to wrap this up in one big long motion it is not going to work.

Dean - My desire is not to do the closing and repurposing.

[More disucssion on how to pull apart this into separate votes.]

Discussion

2008-03-11T20:24:00.002-05:00

Dean - the CPI was 1.76%,.....2.3% current year. State calculated revenues. The dollars are there. We are covering inflation. The dicussion then goes to education defies the laws.

Taxpayers have paid for the increases. State taxes, property taxes.

We have been funded greater than the rate of inflation.

Budget worksheet is what they are projecting - 1% growth in revenue, 5% growth in expenses. With that scenario, withor without a levy, we are going to be looking at reducing an additional 33 to 40 million.

Clearly we are on a path that is not sustainable. Until we come to grips with that this is going to be an ongoing process. Get are arms around this thing.

We can only control to some extent the revenue we take in. We don't know what voters will do or the state will do.

With that said, the expenditure is the piece that is within our direct control. We will go through this process for the next 10 to 12 years.

I would like to modify the motion - divide the school repurposing and closing; not in agreement with walking boundaries being moved out to 2 miles (if we want to have our students walk 2 miles we should to go Osseo Senior high).

Steve - I would ask that it be split into single items.

Dean - I can modify the motion. I can break it inot two pieces.

Steve - I will second the proposal for the transportation to be broken out.

Dean - I want to leave it untouched.

Steve - if that is the motion, I second it.

Linda - is there a discussion about the amendment. We would add 6 busses to the system at a cost of $275,000 and change [some start times.] We would be able to save a little over $400k, but not the full $800k.

Dean - I know one of the things we haven't talked about is our midyear budget reduction. We have roughly $3 million. I would not advocate spending all of it. I would advocate spending some of it. We would have room within the budget to not close schools.

Linda - let's focus on first amendment to the transporation. I am hearing that the dollars should come from the excess special education funding. Is that right?

Dean - we should confirm with administration. Ok, so that is unrestricted general fund dollars.

Speaker - some of it will be designated dollares, but hte majority will be general fund dollars.

John - we should wait until the time that we actually have those dollars. I oppose until we know the final numbers.

Steve - I am in agreement that we should leave the transportation issue. It is an unacceptable change. The midyear adjustment makes it much easier for me. I would not opt for doing anything more than that quite frankly. My concern is that we preserve at least 5% of our budget reserve.

Steve - I hear more rumblings of budget reductions. I would prefer to lower class sizes when we have the money firmly in hand. I would not move for any other cuts.

Lin - I suspect the economy will get worse before it gets better. I would maintain the reserve. I am cocnerned about safety. I will vote in favor of the amendment.

Linda - I agree with the safety of our children. I am a little bit concerned about safety. If they are not safe we will not provide education. We have to do whatever we can do. I would vote in favor.

Kim - there is a trade off - means that the junior high is released at 2 p.m. Some parents have expressed concern. We have to change tier times. I want board members to be aware even though this is a safety concern.

Lin - releasing JH students at 2p.m. is a safety issue as well, but at the same time I would encourage the community and district to put together a comprehensive after school program.

Vote on amendment: All voted yes for ammendment except John.

Dean - My next modification was to separate the school closing and repurposing. I would move to have the school closing and repurposing be separated into it's own motion.

Steve - clarification on what is separated.

Dean - Closing Osseo, Edgewood and repurposing WL.

Steve - what about ECFE movements.

Dean - more specifically for me the school closings - not the other areas. We would not close Osseo elementary and Edgewood. Not repurposing FO, OV, CI or WL from the main budget reduction proposal. We would act on that separately.

Linda - I second.

Kim - a motion and second. Are we ready for discussion?

Discussion - Kim

2008-03-11T20:15:00.002-05:00

I want to say thank you to the community. Once I spoke to on the phone are very polite.

Serve all kids.
Make it about kids.
Kids do better in small small school
Safety concerns.
Neighborhood schools are important.
Kids are flexible.
Kids mimick your parents.

Use your leadership
Be accountable.
Do not listen to admin
Find other solutions.
Not just one proposal.
Bring kids into district.
Know your facts.
What's the long range goal?

[I can't keep up - she's going through a list that summarizes much of what was discussed before.]

[She is going over a summary of last week.]

What challenges me is that you need to keep at least 2 to 3% in our budget. The state had the way to find a way to increase our revenue. The challenge is that if we borrow from that, then we lose the bond rating from the state. As I look at the long range forecast. I want to keep as many teachers in the classrooms as possible.

Osseo - I remember meeting Shaune in 2002 and was a tireless advocate for our levy.

I struggle to keep a school open that we expect the viability of the city to maintain the school

FO/OV/CI - very challenging. I can lean on it because I have completely faith in the leadership of those leaders.

I like the idea that there is opportunity of larger sections with a variety of teaching conventions.

It is a moral imperative to seek the best opportunity for all of my students. We can be the instruments to meet those needs.

It is obvious there is a lot of talent out there.

I believe in the magnet. I understand the emotion of losing your community school. I struggled with this one a lot. This was one of the hardest things for me. I recognize the need to save dollars.

I'm here to tell you that I have been working with district since 2001 -- this administrative team is top knotch. Everyone. Everyone from ELL, administration -- I am proud to say I work with them.

If they come to us with a recommendation, then I am compelled to listen. Hold us accountable.

Thank you.

Discussion

2008-03-11T20:11:00.002-05:00

Linda - FO/OV - Parent left a very disgraceful message on my voicemail because OV parents were being labeled as racist.

After talking with parent, I found out we all wanted the same thing -- what is best for all children. I thought the Teamworks proposal was good, but it lacked sustance and the human element. It is not ok to make decisions based strictly on budget.

How is it going to affect the children we serve?

We need to adjust the budget, but TW does not address the children.

If bussing is the thing of the future, then lets find ways to bus students into Osseo students into OE.

I have to base my decsion on the best interest of children and sometimes I think the decisions we make sound good, but when we look at how they impact students we need to take that into consideration.

Discussion

2008-03-11T20:08:00.002-05:00

Dean - I want to thank everyone that has participated. Your show of support.

I will try to fill in some of the pieces for Steve. A neighborhood school is ddefined as someone who chooses to live in it. It thrives by those that live there and attend the school.

People driving their children to school - some children ride the bus. I have 2 daughters that have attended school in Osseo. As parents, we decided they could walk or ride depending on weather and weight of backpack. We drive them because we have the ability and if they should arrive early, then they would stand out and wait.

Some of those schools have changed. That is why people will drive their children to school and concerned about safety and well being.

Discussion - Steve

2008-03-11T19:44:00.002-05:00

First I thank the entire community and how they behaved. This could have been very, very ugly. I have seen board meetings where people have fought so strongly that police were removing people. We have a wonderful sense of community.

Generally the 1000 emails were very civil. We need to build on that. That is a great thing. If we start with that, we need to move forward in a very positive way.

Why ar people so passionate? They love their teachars. We have an excellent teaching staff.

We support those teachers. We are doing all of the right things to give everything child in this district a great education.

part of the problem is that when you get involved with your school that is your life.

What does it mean as a community?

What is it that makes a neighborhood school? I struggle with that living in a suburb. We drive in the suburbs. It does not mean the school that is nearby. We do not do that in our community. Every house is not a home - every school building is not a neighborhood school.

Our students will be well served in any school.

I start with our administration has given an informed opinion. They have advanced education degrees and have to respect their opinion. They recommended that we cut 166 teachers. That is where it starts. Our district will NOT be the same. The issue is how many teachers do we have to teach in these classrooms.

We have spent little time on the loss of 166 teachers. We have 166 fewer classrooms. We are piling students in. There are lots of reasons in the past.

We did go through a strategic planning process. We committed to doing things differently.

I want you to know that those values are very important to me -- the teachers.

School closure

Closing Osseo breaks my heart. Those aren't the facts. There are only 85 students in Osseo that go to that school. We bus students 45 minutes or more to go to that school.

[Hey charlie!]

What about all those that attend schools not within walking distance.

We are a broader community that just where we can walk. Maybe we need to keep Osseo open for that reason. Osseo has not acted as a magnet. It has not attracted people outside of the district. The costs are high.

I believe we need to close Osseo.

Maybe we could have repurposed it years ago. We still have those opportunities, but I think as a community school it should be closed.

$400,000 is a lot of money.

I find myself agreeing to close Osseo.

FO/OV/CI

From a money point of view it makes sense. We find that we can save several fulltime positions.

FO - we need to do something about FO students. This plan addresses that.

I am troubled about the distance. It is not unworkable. I am convinced it can work.

I am convinced enough to move forward on that plan.

Principals are very effective advocates and have come forward with professional advice on how to help students.

Edgewood - it is an easier decision to close that. The school needs a lot of work. It needs a lot of capital investment. What distresses me is that nobody thought that would really happen. We were anticipating how to increase the space not move it. I think the data demonstrates that if we are to close a school then that is on the top of the list.

The problem is that we have to move it somewhere if that is what happens.

That is a huge stuggle for me personally.

As a resident of BP, I am distressed to see us loss and asset to WL. I would have been thrilled it have it moved to Woodland.

Most of my neighbors would have loved ot have it in our neighborhood.

People across the neighborhood. I struggled with displacing WL. That is a very difficult problem for me. What makes people love WL. Very few about the school itself. It is about the relationships itself.

A good portion of the community could move to Fernbrook. Our community is so active that no matter where we put those students that they would do well.

The struggle is how do we export the success to other schools? Can we replicate WL in other schools that would be ideal. I haven't found a way to do that.

My conclusion is the success of the wL is due to the neighborhood rather than the brick school. We ar enot favoring WL in any other area -- curriculum, programs, etc.. It is the parents.

Can we continue the positive involvement in another location and if not, why not? I have not had a good answer. Nobody has told me why it wouldn't work elsewhere. Very few people have the romantic connection to a school. Poeple do not walk their kids to school.

I struggle with traffic problems. This is not a walking community. This is not that type of romantic community.

And, so I reluctantly find myself in favor of closing Edgewood and repurposing Weaver in part because if not, then I have to cut teachers. I have to elminate other options. When I put that all together. I can not just leave WL alone. It does not make me happy. I do not know a better way.

Overcrowding at Basswood elementary. It is a huge problem. They eat from 11:20 to 1:30 and you couldn't squeeze another student in.

I come down to the last part of the whole debate - the realization is that there are lot of suggestions and plans that make sense.

This was a good and collaborative process. A collaborative process does not mean that everyone has a vote. We engage those that can give us an informed decision. The administraiton has done that. We had 7 weeks for the community to weigh in. I considered every one of those suggestions. For those 7 weeks, I have listened and have not come to a decision until just shortly befor the meeting.

The money is not going to be there in the future. I can not spend money now on a hope and a prayer that something will happen.

I am convinced it is the right hting.

Discussion - Dean

2008-03-11T19:35:00.002-05:00

Board membes and public - I have arrived at my discussion too quickly. I have been involved in this for many, many years. To say that I've come to my decision to quickly is not knowing the depth of my knowledge. I know what I value.

I was not satisfied with what was presented in the proposal, the administration, the parents and my values.

Other board members have mentioned things - during the core planning process what was very different was that there was s diverse perspective from the ocmmunity. During this process there was not.

One of the key interest "The stem magnet could be expanded in the current location." During the administration process it came to mean "move". I would just refule that we've had a collaborative process.

The interpretation that was fed to the consultants did not include the perspective from the parents. Trust was not followed. Better decisions when diverse perspective are included in a collaborative process. We believe that lifelong learning is essential to community." We broke at least 2 of our core principals.

We have not learned as a school board.

We take in 2% additional revenue and spend an additional 4-6%. This is not a healthy model.

I would agree that when emotions run high that parents were disrespectful.

If we are going to look at what community members have said we also need to tkae a look at what our administrators say.

We have expended all of the dollars we take in. We built up a $32 million dollar fund balance. There are a lot of things we can talk about.

Any one of the five elementary schools depending on where you put maintenance any one of the five elementary schools could have been on the list.

I do not support the schools. I do not support repurposing.

We discuss capacity. We cut budget and put more kids in a classroom and now we have excess capacity. If ther eis a desire for programs. Let's take some of the excess capacity and put programs in the schools with excess capacity and give it the support it needs. And, then follow up in a year to see if what we thought does happen.

I do not suppor th eproposal.

Discussion - Linda

2008-03-11T19:26:00.002-05:00

I have struggled for quite some time. The issue of Early Childhood Learning and the FO/OV/CI. I have heard concerns of staff and parents. I have not heard much from OV parents, but have heard some of them. I think they all have legitimate concerns.

We owe it to our parents to have everyone's best interest in mind. The FO/OV is difficult to support. The opportunity for early childhood education is strong.

It will elevate academic achievement for those that have been left behind.

We may not create inequalities that trade the welfare of some for the welfare of others. It has the appearance of some being made better off and I have really struggled with that. Make one group better off while not making other not better off. I'm on the fence for early childhood development, but support it because I believe the staff can make it work.

I would approve it if a neutral party can address the concerns.

I think parents should have a part in this. By not doing anything we are enhancing one group but not another group. However, since we moved forward I would like to see a third party brought in. We need to eliminate the fear parents have for this proposal. Support ECFE. Do not support the way we are doing it.

Then maybe we can come up with a different way.

I am going to support the ECFE.

Osseo - I would much rather look at how we could repurpose Osseo rather than close it. We are at the point where we need to close one. OE is the only school in Osseo. Maybe we should look at another school. I am not in favor of closing OE.

Edgewood elementary - I see it as an interest. I see it as making one group better off and not another. I acknowledge that there are costs in keeping it open. I can't rationalize moving it for that reason. It is an interest - not a necessity. If we leave things the same we will not be doing a disservice to either group.

If moving EW to WL would provide a mximimum benefit to everyone, then i would support it, but it doesn't. I can see sometime in the future finding a different location or building anew school.

Discussion - John

2008-03-11T19:17:00.003-05:00

This was a process that was approved by the board and outlined by the board and hired Teamworks.

The process has been followed in the manner the board members.

Amount of thinking and reading I have done. Categories:

* Concerned with
* Urged board to vote for proposal as written
* Wanted board to do whatever was best.

Most of the 1000+ emails were respectful.

Mean spirited and disrespectful bothered me most when it was toward student and staff members.

You can say what you want in regard to the board.

Thinking about it was all consuming. I went to sleep, woke up, and thought about this every waking minute. We had to endure this process.

It was my belief from the start that we needed to consider closing schools.

One of two board members during last closing cycle that wanted more closings due to excess capacity.

School closings is the right thing to do. $800,000 to save is a lot of money.

Once the decision is made to close schools then the decision concerning which schools to close is very difficult.

After considering the various reasons to close Oseeo Elementary I am in support.

I support Edgewood closing and moving.

I argued extensively to consider Fernbrook instead of Weaver. I was doing this out of concern for the district. However, after consideration, I support moving it to Weaver.

OV/CI reconfiguration. This is supported by the strategic plan. The reconfiguration is going beyond business as usual. The school board administration has done an excellent job of addressing concerns. I have a concern about timing and doing a successful reconfiguration.

I support other relocations as well.

Other budget reducations have not gotten a lot of attention, but I do not see any need for modification.

Recurring theme in emails: remind board members who we represent. I drove by every school in our large district and our other communities that do not have schools. It is my job to do what is best. It is not perfect. Closing buildings and laying off staff members is not perfect.

Whether we fully adopt the proposal or not is tha it is in the best interst of the students.

Discussion - Lin

2008-03-11T19:07:00.004-05:00

Lin - Made a list of the pros and cons. Osseo elementary - I have a long history with Osseo as a city.

Cons (against closing)
Impact on city
First school in district
loss of community and new play ground
Staff and parents are welcoming and adapatable.

Pros
$400,000 savings
reduce # of seats
Most of students will go to Elem Creek

Edgewood - closure and relocation

Cons
Time and cost
may not draw minorities

Pros
(similar as Osseo pros.)

No expecation of it being a neighborhood school.

Repurpose WL.

Cons
Draw fewer students of school
Takes a wonderful school out of brooklyn park

Pros
Larger building
draw more students from out of district.
Like that it is a stem magnet wich the US is behind in.
Students have a hands on experience

Repurposing of CI/FO/OV

CI
- Clearly moves forward strategic plan as we have a lot of childern coming to school that are not ready.
- It filts within 9 key issues and interests.
- It would create additional early childroom classrooms.

Cons
- Concerned that there is not enough planning at this point and I trust the administration.

FO
-Transition concern

OV
- Additional and sustained funding for this program. Not sure exactly where additional funding is needed.
- Concerned about biases around race and poverty.
- Long distance to travel.

Pros
- Start to integrate a Maple Grove School.
- Possibility to create a community in the School District between 3 schools.
- Because of economies of scale we would have some FTE savings.

Cons
- Concerns that we are sending students into hostile territory. It is a pit in my stomach.

Onward

2008-03-11T19:01:00.002-05:00

"Discussion of the proposal"

Lin - acknowledging the passion and commitment by parents. "You have influenced the way I have thought about this proposal." Thanks to Susan and district employees.

Cutting 16.3 million. there is no way to avoid the pain. We must move forward.

She is going through the way the strategic plan was developed.

"what is an equitable education for all students? [More questions that I couldn't capture -- but surrounding the development of the strategic plan.]

The proposal was the result of the board's direction.

What I wish for is that leaders will emerge from the public and that we can resolve the feelings we have.

Quiet....

2008-03-11T18:59:00.001-05:00

It is starting. The cameras are rolling and scanning both the crowd [I'm smilling big -- oh no frowning seriously in deep contemplation.]

"Stand by in about 30 seconds." came over the speakers.

Is there some sort of a count-down? Is someone blasting off or going to start 10-9-8-7-.

Knock, knock, know - kim just called role.

More arrivals

2008-03-11T18:56:00.002-05:00

Susan came in when I wasn't looking and so did John.

Things are getting pretty quiet. A bit of tension/anticipation floating around, then a nervous laugh from some side converation. Then more side conversations. A few more moments to the start...

More movement

2008-03-11T18:52:00.002-05:00

Steve just arrived and took his seat.

Lin just came in.

Another TV station arrived. It would be cool if they would just broadcast live so that you didn't have to read this blog!!!! *grins* Although I can't tell exactly which stations they represent, I would presume 4, 5, 9, 11 and 12. Ik now 9, 12 and 5 for certain because I saw their vans.

Linda just arrived.

There was a huge line to get in -- I wonder if they are sending people to Osseo Senior as an overflow area.

Activity

2008-03-11T18:44:00.002-05:00

Dean just dropped in to chat with the parents. It feels a bit tense in here, but there is standard chatting going on.

There is a lot of anticipation and questions.

This is getting a lot of attention.

All of the SB and administrators are in suits.

Kim Green just entered and is getting prepared.

The room is getting crowded.

They are bringing in additional chairs for more people. I think they overbooked the room.

I'm in

2008-03-11T18:43:00.001-05:00

Lots of people are here. Sea of colors once again. I believe Channel 9, 5, 12 and 4 are here as well -- four news cameras.

The final vote

2008-03-10T22:09:00.001-05:00

The final vote is at 7:00 pm tomorrow at the ESC. I will try to blog the event as usual. By the way, I emailed Susan today and she indicated that the only thing on the agenda is the vote -- there is NO community comment.

Final Vote

2008-03-07T13:06:00.001-06:00

Just to clarify -- they need four votes to pass the proposal. Obviously with six school board members, if three vote no then the proposal fails.

Break Apart Proposal

2008-03-07T08:57:00.004-06:00

One solution that I believe both sides are hinting around at is that the SB could vote to break apart the proposal and then approve different sections. I might be deriving more than I should from Susan's initial comments during the working session, but I believe she indicated that the district would have around $1 million to $2 million dollars in additional funding due to some favorable formula changes mid-year. If this were the case, then we could apply some of that money to the proposal right now and not cut as much. In order to do that, we would need the proposal broken apart by either the administration or the SB.

Just thoughts.

Why do we not hear from Fair Oaks parents?

2008-03-06T06:32:00.006-06:00

A disturbing rumor that a Fair Oaks person passed along is that Fair Oaks parents were basically told during a parents meeting (or it has been going through their informal communication channels) that they need to get on board with the plan. The parents perceived some sort of threat (implied or simply perceived) behind this. Evidently they are scared because a more significant number of them have immigration issues to deal with and do not want their immigration status taken away. (We need to find out how many families have an immigration status other than full citizenship.)

Again, the threat is probably perceived rather than real, but it takes very little to imply a threat with people that are very sensitive to immigration. If it was between moving your child to another school or a perceived deportation, what would you do?

This definitely warrants looking into and appears to provide a portion of the explanation as to why do we not hear from more Fair Oaks parents? There is no doubt in my mind that some are indifferent, some support the plan, and some are against it. The problem is that nobody has a sense of how many are in each category.

There is also some misinformation going around in terms of when the proposal was made available in other languages. I think we need clarification on this point.

Quick Final Observation

2008-03-05T22:24:00.003-06:00

One final observation for the night -- the meeting ended on a weird note about having teachers pay $1 per day for parking. Should our teachers shoulder this burden? It's a different idea, but the idea itself is not the point.

Here's the issue: The School Board wants options. They want a solution that does not close schools and cause havoc. They want creative solution finding. They aren't seeing it. They have one option. One option only. They are being forced into a corner. They are desperate for a solution that works for everyone.

It disappoints me to see the School Board forced into this type of a situation.

Let's work together.

Discussion continuing

2008-03-05T21:12:00.002-06:00

Transportation Router: [He knows his numbers.] There would be no way of cutting $800k if we do not change bell times and we need the 2 mile walk distance to save the $800k.

John: Confirmation on the above.

Transporation Router: That is correct. [I can't begin to type out all of the numbers. They are interesting as I am a numbers person.]

[The discussion from the SB is much better tonight -- great questions. Although, I'm not sure that we are really getting the answers that anyone needs.]

Dean & Linda: If you charge staff $20 per month for parking, you would make up nearly the $16 million. That seems fair.

A $1 per day for parking.

Steve: We could do tiers.

Moderator: Cuts them off -- we've gone beyond the scheduled time.

Speaker: We have teachers paying $100+ per year to buy supplies. It just doesn't make any sense to me. We asked our tax payers to pay $200 more per year and they wouldn't. We have gone to great lengths to cut back on health insurance rates. Every employee has to contribute more to health benefits. I am disturbed by the notion that our employees should put out more money.

Dean: I'm disturbed that you are disturbed. This the problem. We are not allocating our dollars well.

Steve: As attractive as that might be. We are not downtown. Boston Scientific doesn't pay for parking. I have trouble seeing that that is a way to do this.

Moderator: Any other questions? Anything else to answer? Perhaps you would like to close out the meeting.

[The meeting is closing out with little to no discussion about the actual closings. Odd. People are upset.]

9:25 and we are adjourned.

Discussions

2008-03-05T21:02:00.002-06:00

Susan: [She is discussing how they deploy resources and how it affects the ratios in the classrooms.]

Steve: I'm trying to explore what it takes to buy down class size.

Speaker: It takes 30 to 40 teachers to buy down the class size ONE student. [That's a very interesting way of looking at it and I believe starts to gets to Steve's point.]

Speaker: $2 million buys you about 3 dozen teachers -- taking it down around 1.

Steve: One more question about class sizes: I thought there was a sense that below 15 there are not economies in performance. Anything above 35 really affects performance.

Susan: What the research and studies are saying is that...what any of us who have taught know that you can develop better relationships with students...teacher quality is more important than class size. Teacher quality is more significant than classroom sizes. That's why we invest so much in teacher training. We know if we improve their quality we improve our achievement.

John: What is the practical impact to parents on bell times. It may require one Junior High to move to first tier.

Transportaiton: We could adjust our tier 2 and not move North View. We could put fewer busses in tier 2.

More discussion

2008-03-05T20:48:00.002-06:00

[Had to step away for a work phone call.]

[More discussion about ELL students.]

Linda: A test score does not necessary indicate that someone is unsuccessful.

Speaker: We are bound to give certain tests at a state level. The tests are that do make it more level are very expensive to give and even more expensive to score. The state is not interested in these smaller groups. They are concerned about the much broader group.

Moderator: A few minutes until the time is up. Should we extend the time? There really has not been any discussion about the school closings.

Steve: I think we should stay until we get our questions answered. One question is on transportation: What are the savings in having students walking 1 to 2 miles?

Transporation Guy: $200,000 saved by having students walk longer distances.

Steve: Who cares about extra curiculars? I do, but the community wants to know.

Speaker: It is around $2 million for extracurricular activities. $1.6 million because $400,000 is being cut.

Steve: We are talking about cutting a lot of teachers. What would be the class sizes that we would have?

Speaker: If we eliminate all 166, variations of classes, staff at particular goal at class size cap. I don't know specifics for caps.

Steve: I'm trying to get a sense of what that is.

Speaker: 25-28 at elementary; more at high school level.

Steve: If we cut back on teachers, then everyone gets 2 hours of study hall. Are we going to be eliminating electives.

Speaker: Given state requirements. Most of kids time in secondary level is taking requirements given the state requirements. Even at study halls we have teachers that supervise the kids. Most kids need almost every hour to get requirements.

Steve: If we find money, where would buying more teachers go? More teachers at elementary? More high school?

Speaker: On average we would expect class size to go up 4.5. If staff comes back, it would come back unevenly. Principals end up with difficult situations in terms of class enrollment sizes. Averages tell a little bit of the story.

Steve: Would there be a significant difference if we are trading off teachers against other options.

Susan: While we are thinking about that. 22 grades k-1; 26 grades 2-3; 34 grades 4-6. There would be 4.5 more students per classroom.

It is all figured out proportionately.

More discussion

2008-03-05T20:25:00.002-06:00

Dean: We have not involved our parents or community before this. I don't know we are going to have a great referral rate for this. [ sorry about the ambiguity -- lots of clapping.]

Will we have community involvement? Are we just going to have parent involvement? We have lots of disconnects. It sounds like we are making the choices for our community. We are kind of preselecting the choices. Nobody in general -- just my comments. {Laughing and clapping.]

Principal from FO: We aren't deciding specific strategies for transition without parent involvement. If the board move forward with approving the proposal, then clearly we will need to involve the community?

Dean: How will they feel involved if they are involved after the fact?

Linda: I am just very impressed with the parents we have had with us over the last 2 or 3 work sessions. I am very impressed. I am sad we haven't heard from other groups. Maybe apathy that their voice isn't going to be heard or it isn't going to matter otherwise. [Now we are getting into it.] We need to reach out to the other group. Some kind of way we need to hear from them. My biggest concern is that we haven't heard from them.

Met with a hispanic individual. Went to Osseo Senior High. Asked about experience. He had no complaints, felt he was accepted, but he doesn't have children or live in this district anymore. It was nice to hear from a graduate. I wish we could hear more from the different groups we serve. I think it is really important that we do.

[People are very upset that they simply are not answering the questions.]

Laura: [ELL Coordinator] [discussions about her background as an ELL coordinator] Some of the African American mothers felt comfortable in a home setting, but did not like formal meeting settings. They liked having it in a home setting. I would just make that point.

Principals have a lot of involvement with families.

More early childhood discussions

2008-03-05T20:12:00.004-06:00

Kids that leave us -- families leave us PRE-K. We know that we need outreach efforts at the early childhood area. If we can hook families pre-k then we can keep them.

[Are the families most likely to leave the ones that really qualify for early childhood programs? No answer to that one.]

We have a staff member that is going into high needs areas.

[Crowd is wanting them to move on.]

No questions from John or Lynn or Linda. What other questions or comments.

Linda: No doubt that early childhood education is the way to go. Experience kids when she was younger that were much more competent than she was growing up. We have children with very specific needs making a transition from FO to OV. I had difficulty connecting with kids that were much more advanced and became disengagged.

I want to know the details of what we are going to do.

Principal at FO: I don't think we have the details. How do we build the community and support the transition? I believe it is working with the communities. We do not speak on their behalf. I think it is on our radar. [Of course why didn't they bring us in before?]

Linda: We haven't seen or hear a lot from parents in FO. We've had 100s of parents from the west side. It is disappointing to me that we do not see parents from minorities. How are we going to engage them? How are we going to engage parents from OV and FO? How do we make this happen.

Sharon: In school mentoring model. Advocates that do outreach with parents. Work with students that need a relationship from a positive adult. Provide support for teachers and students in responsive classroom model.

[People are getting more upset -- much more than in previous meetings. People are feeling that there are a lot of non-answers. ]

Training for leadership group in area of having courageous conversation. How racism influcences education and create a climate that engages parents?

Linda: Hope that training is around those that do not look like us. Our thoughts, whether positive or negative, are going to lead to making [self fulfilled prophecies]. Appreciate difficult conversations and diversities training [laughs - as she said it a bit sarcastically] we need to go deeper than courageous conversations. In talking with people from community there is a denial that there is even racism in the community. We need to work on our attitudes and be courageous enough to admit that it is there and that bias is there for the sake of the children we serve.

Speaker: The concerns are very valid. We are looking at planning over an extended period of time. There is a possibility of deeper and deeper conversations. The staff is interested in learning about children that live in a culture of poverty. We realize the need for this.

We are committed to being a part of the transition.

Linda: Embracing all of this with compassion. That's my final comment about this.

Lots of people

2008-03-05T19:46:00.002-06:00

There are a lot more people here than I thought would be -- probaby 200-300 at least! Wow, what an awesome show of support.

I would love to be sitting in one of those Areon chairs right now -- these folding chairs are...well...you can imagine. I'm shifting around more freqhently than a bobber in a typhoon.

=================================

They are discussion how dollars will be shifting to support the transition.

Dale (logistics): Questions from community - worked on scenarios to move students in different bus routes. We didn't want to split up the transportation of families in different schools. So, they would drop off students 20 minutes early at OV so that sibblings could ride the same bus. This would accomodate the breakfast program.

The afternoon would be coordinated by bussing siblings separately and try to get them home at the same time. We would like some feedback from the community. Another traffic idea -- put a service road between CI and OV. Access OV without being on Hemlock. [Lots of side discussions.]

Looked at possiblity of changing bell times. We are working with principals to setup some scenarios to get the transportation costs down.

Kim: Who is responsible for the traffic path and cost?

Dale: We are responsible and would cost $125,000 to do. City would have to be involved.

Linda: FO parent - concerned about how she would get to parent teachers conferences. Her husband has 2 jobs and needs their only car and can walk to FO, but could not get to OV. How would we accomodate that? Could we provide a shuttle service? {Lots and lots of maons in the room. People are NOT happy.] Could we have teachers come over to FO to meet with parents.

Dale: We talked about that.

Another speaker: Brought up the suggestion of moving teachers at different sites. We would need the parents very involved with us to make these decisions. [Of course those parents have the most difficult time making it! Odd how that happens.]

Lynn: Believes Early Childhood programs are very important. What needs to happen to encourage families to take advantage of early childhood programs?

Speaker: We have School Readiness, Early Childhood Development, More for Fours (fully funded tuition based program). Funding for School Readiness and ECD is a sliding fee scale and qualification basis.

How do we do outreach? We do outreach at Doctors and clinics, web sites, student advocates, principals, school secretaries, cultural specialists. Constantly field phone calls. At FO did not even know if they would have the space. For open houses for Kindergarteners, they encourage parents with younger kids to apply.

[For those Weaver parents out there -- nothing is being discussed about the movement of the magnet program.]

Back

2008-03-05T19:34:00.000-06:00

You all rock! Thanks for tuning in. We are back on.

Revenue Sources...

2008-03-05T19:32:00.002-06:00

Susan: We would use this framework and efforts for any sort of transition or strategic change.

Kim/Kelly/Don:

Bill: (Logistics)

Teresa: (Surveyed metro area) What worked or not for K-3 programs.

Susan -- it is important to hear your (SB) questions and concerns. What do you want to do now? Is there anything that you want to put off?

They want a break!!!!!! [Laughs and groans.]

[Be back in a few.]

Pre k - 3 questions and reconfiguration

2008-03-05T19:14:00.002-06:00

Nancy: (principal from Oakview) As much as emotions need to be allowed around closing schools. We had to start planning for the transition. We now have a framework for closing. We have been researching how we can do this (closing schools) even better.

pre k-3 research is available. We have been meeting together to discuss a new program. We have had lost of great discussion. Create discussion teams involving parents, involving community.

Gale: A lot of research in early childhood development. There is great economic value in providing early childhood development. For every development invested in early childhood development there are $9 returned. more income potential, less involvement in crime, higher rate of graduation, less remediation necessary, etc....

A pre k-3 model is nothing new. We have documents proof of early child hood and the importance of it. Any kindergarten teacher know the importance of how well the students are prepared socially and emotionally.

Susan: We discussed a way to have early childhood development at every site. As work progressed that did not work out.

Gale: If we use our resources we need to concentrate that. A classroom in isolation does not allow us to schedule our staff to the maximum potential because staff are moving between schools.

Principal at FO: There is an achievement gap at a much earlier time. Many of our families do not have a formal education at FO. Without having the early readiness skills we have a huge difficulty in closing the gap.

[the audience is offering quite a bit of commentary at this point -- although unfortunately not heard.]

Principal at CI: Want to make the transition as smooth as possible. Want students to move into the summer feeling comfortable. Would engage our community and staff to make this work. Bring the students to the new campus so that they can see the physical facility and feel good about going into the summer in the fall. "Who am I pole" to build community [lots of moans and well, I can't repeat] We talked about things like pen pals. There are lots of things we can do. We want the parents involved - ice cream social. [Lots more moans.]

This could cause stressors. We would do our very best to make sure our families feel comfortable. These children feel safe, accepted, and ready to go.

FO Principal: Sense of belong to a community. The number one predictor is the efficacy of the teacher and staff leadership. It is our job to establish and model sense of community. We know if exists currently. [Lots of side conversations.]

Pre-k staff - focus on staff development. How do we manage community? Looking at common curriculum. Vertical opportunities and integration.

Susan: It is 7:30 and we need..first of all thank you for your great contributions...we are really anxious to hear your questions.

More...

2008-03-05T19:07:00.002-06:00

[Toss me an email if you are reading -- just to let me know about how many are reading. Thanks!!!!]

[There is more than one room full of people -- just found out. So there could be quite a few more than 100 people.]

They track a lot of detail in terms of needed maintenance. The do some inspection themselves. They actually have some contractors during the bidding process that analyze the roof with infrared.

Dean: All schools on list will need new roof and boiler repairs. Any of these schools would be looking at $500k+ in repairs. This is very helpful.

Speaker: If we are going to use the building, we will look at putting on 20-25 year roofs. If we are renting or selling, we will use a shorter term roof.

Dean: Capital dollars vs. general operating dollars. If we save dollars it helps with capital dollars -- not saving general funds. If we do the repairs or not it does NOT impact the cuts that we are making today.

2008-03-05T18:47:00.002-06:00

Dean: How is facilities impacted by this change?

Speaker: It is all timed based. Staggered swimming for example. Lower level swimmers are earlier. Tennis we could go split sites. At the older level they can all practice together. We partner between senior and junior high.

Basketball and football would move to leagues for 7th and 8th graders.

Steve: Is the community engagement specialist going to handle facilities coordinating. Coordinating with the local communities would be done by who? What are we doing to make sure facilities are available?

Speaker: They already coordinate house leagues and associations.

Steve: Do we have personnel to make this happen? We do not want to drop that opportunity.

Dean: Just want to add one more thing, since we know there are politics, if the associations pick up 7th and 8th grade. If we turn those over, will there be no monitoring. How are people choosen for the leagues? Is there an A and B group? Does it mimick our current programs?

Speaker: How do we facility our students being in community acitivities? I want to be clear we are eliminating programs. $400,000 worth. We are not making any other promises or any promises to the community of who will or can step in to fill the void. Our athletic leaders have met with other districts to see how this is happening and with park and rec. to see how they could handle it. We will not make promises on their behalf. We have a vehicle of communication to pass out flyers. We do not need more than our 3 activities coordinators.

We do have $ set aside to facility some intramural or house leagues. Part of that was in response to not having enough activities at a critical times. We still do provide coordinators at particular sites.

Adam: To be clear, we are talking about 5 activities. There is a extensive traveling program for the football program. There are opportunities at A, B and sometimes C leagues in each of the acitivities. Traveling programs and house league programs are available. The one flaw is volleyball. They are working on a plan to get opportunities for all programs.

Dean: If a transition to this, would we have the right to say the house leagues would have the prime times that the current grade levels have? I would hate to see these programs not have the field times that they had before. Would we have that communication?

Adam: We would communicate needs of Junior high first and then when the facilities will be open to get the leagues in right away.

Steve: Any opportunity for savings? Can we close some fields, not finish gym floors as often?

Adam: Current facilities will still be maximized up until 10 p.m. at night. The overall use would not go down -- just a different sponsor.

Steve: Is there an opportunity?

Moderator: There is not a facility rental fee. We could revisit that.

Steve: We should look at that during the next budget cycle as an opportunity. [Great to look for oppportunities!]

Dean: How much capital was put into building in last 3 to 5 years for building looking at being closed. If capital projects were deferred, it would be easy to say that some schools have too many repairs because we put it off. Are the capital needs the same or are they still that different?

Dale: [More handouts for SB members. There will be an official binder in each room for all 100 of us to gather around. *grins* They are trying to put it on the overhead.] Susan indicated that Dean had this concern and to be prepared for this.

[We can't read the overhead -- making this part more difficult.]

Boundaries.

2008-03-05T18:25:00.003-06:00

Next item on the budget - strategic plan budget. (Response to community comment next.)

[They are referring to another document that we do not have access to -- a 11 page document on reductions -- maybe we did get this one, but it is difficult to know.]

They are getting into quite a few financial details around the APACK group. I'm not familiar with this. It is at the Junior High level.

Everything else remained pretty much constant.

An addition to the doc of a community engagement specialist -- hoping to improve responses to inquiry from the public in general. [Interesting position.]

Those are really the only changes.

These documents have been in progress since November.

Boundaries areas.

Susan - want to reassure everyone that the documents are now live on the web. The most current document is available. There is an archive link for all previous documents.

Don - Minor adjustment to boundaries. Crestview was overpopulated. They made that adjustment. Wrong map was put up -- the current lines are up --oooops. Now they have the proposed map up with changes to Crestview. Unfortunately, you can't read the map at all on the screen. The whole thing looks like it is one big district.

They changes they made actually shifted students back to the school they currently attend.

It is a better balance now. We have assumed a class size of 25.5. We are obviously going to have larger class sizes next year. We used a strategy of returning students to their original school.

Total number of students moved is actually around 200 less than was proposed. Otherwise everything looks the same.

Dean - So the noncontinuous 3007 and 3008 is going to stay there and be separated by a freeway -- how do we address those to census areas. Clearly this is separated by a freeway -- clarly hanging out there.

Don - there is a direct route over there. It is a reasonable distance. Freeways are what they are. We do have students in other areas that go across a major road. There really are no students in there. Geographically this whole area is touching. It was a tradeoff of taking students out of Basswood.

Susan - we have a lot of parent concern. The only reason there was any change made is becaus ethe action team and Teamworks knew this had to be changed.

It is certainly your right and responsibility to send them back to address your direction. The only reason for this is that Crestview would be over populated.

Kim Green - When was the last time the boundaries around there had been moved?

Don - they have probably belonged to Basswood after Basswood was built.

Susan - we need to find out. The moves happened prior to Basswood being built.

Kim - only 75 students. Raising class size again if we were to include them in Basswood census area.

Don - They would physically fit in Basswood classrooms. We were following the direction from the board of keeping class size low.

Moderator: ny questions from other board members?

Lynn (?): What is a house league?

House league program would resemble an after school program with activities/teams. It could be an assortment of sports that are not available for students -- similar to intramurals.

Moderator: Any other questions?

Steven: We keep closing down athletics for 7th and 8th graders. Is there any 9th grade program being preserved.

Speaker: All of our programs are currently 9-12.

Steven: All athletics are being stripped out.

Speaker: They are being restructured into different levels. There will still be opportunities.

Steven: ARe we providing transportation?

Speaker: Yes, we will leverage the current transportation where we go back and forth after schools. There are late buses that bring the students close to their homes.

Steve: Is there any future coordination we could do for nonathletic activities?

Speaker: The good news is that we have model in place like this. To a large degree this model is in place. In terms of music and fine arts we modified eligibility to provide greater opportunities.l

Steve: Isn't it difficult for a 7th and 8th grader to compete with others. How is it going to affect participation?

Speaker: A mixed bag. A seventh grader, eigth grader have leagues that they compete in even though there is not an organized/school sponsored. Lower levels are "leagues".

Speaker

2008-03-05T18:19:00.002-06:00

Dean - we are building budget with 1% more revenue and 5% growth in expenditure. Education seems to be on the path; we keep running this scenario. Are we spending money to demonstrate that we need more money. Why not build a budget that is a one and one versus one and five.

Another speaker - collective bargaining. An argument could be made that the teachers are underpaid. A one and one is not a reasonable expectation -- collective bargaining is the reason.

Another speaker - we are not building a budget with a 5% increase in expenses. We are going to balance it, but some costs might increase as much as 5%. All of that looks like budget cutting. Some things go up regardless of what we do. This is just what we have to do to balance our budget.

Susan - In 2002 all employees took no enhancements. They still received 3% increase. We have expenses that we can not control.

Kim Green - Over 2001 to 2005 employee salaries increased only 11%, but benefits increased 29% [if I am understanding this correctly].

Dean - The piece that would be beneficial, is understanding the absolute impact.

Levy

2008-03-05T18:12:00.003-06:00

(By the way - Susan is speaking now about this now.)

If the board decides not to have a levy, then the reduction would be higher. This is a risk to do during an election year.

State indicators from Pawlenty are that they will NOT reduce state funding to school districts due to the crisis that all school districts are facing.

Pawlenty will NOT be recommending any additional revenue either.

(It would be really helpful to have the handout that Susan is reading from!)

If we went out for a levy, we would not have to reduce next year. They want to maintain around a 5% buffer.

There are choices. [First time we have heard about the ability to make other choices -- which is great!]

The sheet she is reading from basically runs several scenarios.

This same story is being played out in districts across the states.

It was a hard conversation with the govenor. What are the solutions? He (Pawlenty) believes it will need to be a very serious crisis before people will come to the table.

He believes the school districts are a business that overran their costs, but with greater constraints due to long term contracts, unions, etc...

The responsibility has unfortunately shifted to the local tax payers.

In conclusion, I want to say that we do have options.

We are getting more funding for special education -- again it will be on the web site tomorrow.

Starting

2008-03-05T18:02:00.002-06:00

They have a bunch of guest speakers. They have a TON of people in the working session. It sounds like all principals are there -- all assistant superintendents. Of course all of the SB (School Board). None of the building repurposing could be discussed at the strategic negotiations meeting that was earlier.

Mike Lubby is running it.

3 hours set aside currently. This could be very interesting.

Financial context - (it is in the School Board Room because there is such a large group).

Financial context - anticipating a midyear adjustment at the end of March/beginning of April. Kelly is going to share info concerning midyear adjustment.

Kelly: Budget is approved in June/July timeframe -- adjustments need to be made mid-year. Could not come through in Fall because they did not receive updated formulas. In Jan. a few components of the formula became available. In Feb 15 more became available. They are STILL waiting for the full formula for the late.

SO FAR THERE WILL BE A POSITIVE ADJUSTMENT OF AROUND $3.5 MILLION!!!!!!!!!

Decrease in fuel budget and transportation and teacher contract settlement. Are they positive or negative. On average, the midyear adjustment was +/- 1.2 to 2.4% on average (past five years).

Three of last five years have been positive - two negative. I wonder if this helps us save schools??????

Until the formula comes in from the State, we can not be absolutely positive. They will put this information on web site tomorrow.

Fall levy -- we would NOT have to make any reducation for 2009/10 school year. However, if we do NOT pass a levy, we would have to cut $4+ million next year.

The view

2008-03-05T17:59:00.002-06:00

The sea of parents is here as usual -- a few less considering this is just a working session. I would say that there are about 100, which is pretty good considering we are just here to observe. Red and yellow with an orange accent. All are here in spirit.

The board room isn't open since there is no public comment. We are in the Forum room.

Ready to roll

2008-03-05T17:57:00.000-06:00

I'm ready to roll...let's see what's happening!

Saving Schools does NOT equal Firing Teachers

2008-03-05T13:44:00.003-06:00

One argument that consistently comes up is that "the money has to be cut somewhere" and if schools are not closed, then teachers have to be fired thereby increasing class sizes.

I would argue that firing more teachers is NOT saving any schools.

There are millions of dollars worth of cost-cutting ideas that do not involve cutting additional teachers on the Save District 279 web site. (Some of the ideas do cut teachers, but many, many of them do not.)

The Save District 279 proposal actually asks the School Board to use part of their reserves ($800,000) to keep the schools open and NOT fire anyone -- teacher, administrator, anyone.

By the way, several people in the administration through informal means have indicated that closing Weaver Lake (not necessarily the other schools) is NOT a budget issue at all. If this is truly the case, then keeping Weaver Lake open does not have anything to do with cutting teachers or any other budget item.

Blogging Tonight

2008-03-05T08:29:00.000-06:00

I will attempt to blog at the meeting tonight. I might be getting there a touch late. From my understanding there is no community comment. However, it will be interesting to see how the administration responds to all of the community feedback.

The Right Rally

2008-03-03T14:19:00.004-06:00

There will be a rally at the meeting on Wednesday. The rally will start at 5p.m. Here is the info:

"Join the United Parent Group of District 279 for a Protest at the Educational Service Center on Wednesday, March 5, 2008, at 5:00 pm. We will be protesting in the parking lot prior to the school board’s 6:00 pm public work session. Bring your banners, signs and proudly display your school colors. Have your voice heard!"

So there you have it. The Save District 279 web site also has a link to a flyer for the rally.

Race

2008-03-02T08:39:00.003-06:00

There are some discussions about race currently on the PCAWLE email list and the implications of race. I recently read a book called Blink: The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking that questions whether or not we really know our own minds. One of the experiments discussed at length in the book is the Implicit Association Test run by researchers at Harvard. It is a test that clearly points out that regardless of the test taker's background, there are implicit associations that point to subconscious bias. They have IATs associated with Skin Tone, Candidates (Presidential -- not School Board *grins*), Religion, Gender, Sexuality, Disability, Age, etc... Here is the link: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

Are Minority Opportunities Reduced by the Changes?

2008-03-01T08:12:00.006-06:00

I have a few observations about the magnet enrollment and want to bounce some ideas off of everyone.

First my assumptions:

* There were quite a few applications for the magnet school the day after the initial Teamworks proposal was released. I heard around 150 new applications by someone in the administration -- I believe it was during the first working session after the proposal was announced.

* The majority of the new applicants are primarily from the WL area. Sure, there are probably some others, but I believe it is reasonable to assume that most are from the WL area, because they wanted to attend a school close to them.

* The lottery system for enrollment simply picks randomly from the pool of qualified applicants.

Now, given the above if the applicant pool is 50% minorities before (because we are told minorities are well represented currently) and the waiting list is approximately 150 (a number I heard from the administration) then we could approximate that 75 applicants are minorities.

We know that Weaver Lake families are not typically heavily representative of minorities. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they have a minority rate of 20% (Similar to the number indicated as the percent of minorities currently attending WL -- although we know that more minorities come from open enrollment, but we will give them the benefit of the doubt here.).

If this is the case, then let's say there was a rush of new applicants and we hit 150. Of those 150, minorities would more than likely represent around 20% or 30 students. Let's add them up now:

Minority pool: 75 (previously) + 30 (from WL applicants) = 105
Non-minority pool: 75 (previously) + 120 (from WL applicants) = 195
Total pool of applicants: 300

Before the minority population was 50% of the waiting list -- this may be high, but work with me here. I think it is safe to say that the number of minority applications prior to moving to WL is probably higher. So, after moving the percent of minorities is only 35% (105 minorities divided by 300 total applicants).

So, minorities went from representing 50% of the applicant pool potentially down to 35% in just a few days. Wow. If pulled randomly, the number of minorities will plummet.

Are we not actually reducing opportunities for minorities by moving the magnet program?

If moved, the magnet school will eventually look very similar to WL's current population as more and more neighborhood students apply to go there.

Ok, so this entire line of reasoning is probably flawed in a million ways, but if it is correct, then the School Board and Superintendent are actually taking opportunities away from minorities, which is very sad.

Something similar to this happened in Los Angeles. The magnet schools were put in neighborhoods that really didn't need them. Then, everyone in the neighborhoods applied. Soon, it was considered a private school attended by those that did not need it and funded by the public education system.

Just some thoughts. Go ahead and rip them apart. :)

[Edited: Removed the reference to Pat Brink. I believe the number was shared during the first working session after the proposal announcement.]

Observation

2008-02-29T08:12:00.004-06:00

One idea that came out last night from an official from Osseo was that if we have all of this excess capacity -- why don't we close the ESC building and move the administrators into the excess classroom? A logistics nightmare -- but really no worse than spinning the boundary wheel.

Public Hearing

2008-02-29T08:09:00.005-06:00

A huge thanks to all those that spoke yesterday. We still have a ways to go to come together completely as a community. WL parents have taken a lot of heat, but continue to reach out, keep an open mind, and resist engaging in negative behavior (as do others). I am proud to be a part of a group of parents (WL and others) that wants to make a difference.

Bloggin

2008-02-28T19:16:00.001-06:00

I found a way out. If you are interested:

http://www.savedistrict279.com/blog/

Derek

I'm back

2008-02-28T19:13:00.001-06:00

Hold on.

Internet not available

2008-02-28T19:07:00.001-06:00

They have their network locked down. I could only do this on my blackberry, which would not be fun.

You will need to catch this on channel 21.

Sorry.

Public Hearing on Thursday, February 28

2008-02-28T10:16:00.003-06:00

I will be attending the Public Hearing tonight. Since it is in the Osseo Senior High, I'm not sure that I will have either an Internet connection or enough power in the laptop. However, I will take the laptop and if the opportunity is there, I will blog it.

Outta here

2008-02-19T22:51:00.000-06:00

Thank you for watching the blog!!

Derek

2008-02-19T22:49:00.002-06:00

Speaker - Alan Lee - WL

* Nervous -- $800k for closing schools. Closing schools should be the last reducations.

* A lot of details around closing school. Why close close schools?

* We hope and wish.

* I am angry. Four board members have not even answed a question.

speakers

2008-02-19T22:41:00.002-06:00

WL -

* appreciate how difficult this is for everyone.
* Disappointed with lack of options
* Disappointed with lack of getting community enrolled.
* Why can't magnet school be integrated into a school that has excess capacity.
* We could also keep students where they have been.
* Biggest concern - they are not for the betterment of this community.

Barry Nelson - OV

* Alot of questions answered.
* It's not just a budget issue.
* Is it integration?
* Is it desegregation - again only one school.
* Integrationo of FA and OV.
* Will OV go up or go down?
* Will the scores drop at OV.

[Side note -- some SB members actually look like they might be sleeping.]

* Four board members have not asked questions. I do not have trust for the board.

Next Speaker

* ECE is great to expand.
* Two future magnet school participants.
* Loves the Edgewood opportunity.
* Very popular program.
* Met AYP every year.
* Edgewood has strong parental support.
* Feel strongly that everyone should learn about the magnet.

[Battery and fingers are going. I'm going to shut down shortly.]

Next speaker

* Diversity in decision making is ultimately the goal.
* Deeply collaborative by all stake holders "shared decision making"
* Ultimately collaboration.

Speakers

2008-02-19T22:37:00.002-06:00

Jennifer from OE

[9% battery]

* Every parent believes theirs is the best.
* OE enrollment has increased by 23%. 20% diversity to 30% diversity.
* Model school for district.
* Large diversity changes take time an energy.
* Closing OE is like firing a productive employee.

[Thanks a ton to Charlie for letting me use his laptop!!!!!!!!]

* Incredible opportunities with seniors in the area.
* Osseo students return after many years.
* There is lots of deep history there with multiple generations.
* Families are very deeply rooted there.
* Please look at other ways of balancing their budget.

Zellers & Peppin

2008-02-19T22:32:00.002-06:00

Peppin is addressing the school Board with Zellers (4 minutes).

Thanks us for allowing them to speak. Do appreciate all the work you do.

Some comments about fully funding education at state legislature. Fully funding education is a great catch-phrase. We have to balance a lot. What is "fully funding"? What is the total dollar amount of fully funding?

We have constitutents that want us to fully fund education/transportation/parks/etc..

49% of our state budget is made up of educational spending.

Now is the time to work together between board and legislature. Slow down process and get parents involved.

Zellers - appreciation to all. Request from our constituents - we have heard from everywhere. We do agree that the way we fund education needs to change and share difficulties. It is ultimately our goal. Request to slow down the process and explain why we can't slow it down. We have parents that are some of the best in the field. Doctors, lawyers, managers -- meet them half way and use their expertise.

Speakers

2008-02-19T22:23:00.002-06:00

Stephanie - WL

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Our school is not broke. Our business is incredibly successful. We all love and would stand by our children. Is it really the best thing that you can do? The changes have affect those that have had to change frequently. They never felt like they didn't go into everything that they wanted them to do.

As board members are you really understanding what we are feeling.

Walking to school is an incredible memory.

Shari Durden - CI

[Technical difficulties]

As a CI parent we would like the quality of education our child is receiving is unchanged. Would propose that CI and OV would remain as-is and divide FO between CI and OV.

[Battery has 39 minutes.]

The current plan is not making a positive difference. This proposal does not appear to adequately maintain the current quality.

Shari Marsh - Osseo Area and Oak View Elementary

Funding as related to OV, CI and Osseo. Can not ignore the status of no child left behind. They are a title one school. Will the dollars transfer other? FO currently receive a large $ of compensatory funding from the state that might be lost.

If we lose money, lose special ed teachers. Then this won't be a successful program for all.

Second concern - focus on pre-k to 3rd grade. What about the mobility rate? Kids tend to move in and out (nearly 30% mobility rate on that side of the district).

Steven

2008-02-19T22:20:00.002-06:00

He is giving actually an incredible family story about his parents difficulties in German/Poland/Russia.

Be careful of labels -- labels help organize and analyze -- they have a dark side. Them and us. "They" can't be positive. Labels help you ignore the hopes and dreams of others.

We love the labels attached to their schools. Look beyond "save our school" and look toward working for the school.

break

2008-02-19T22:04:00.000-06:00

A bit of a break.

Moving toward community speakers

2008-02-19T22:03:00.000-06:00

Its a sea of red, yellow, orange and yellow.

Speed

2008-02-19T21:45:00.002-06:00

Kim: Community members are concerned about speed at which we are moving in this process. What are the consequences of not implementing proposal?

Susan: Started planning for reducations. What drove timeline was staffing. Regretfully we are getting rid of over 200 people. This is the reason for the 6 week timeline. Worked backwards from 6 week timeline and started working out ways to respond to the parents.

Feel very responsible to respond to the community-- there may not be agreement, but there needs to be understanding.

Rich: Built the calendar based on legal obligations. There are financial obligations as well.

Dean: One more question: The whole proposal was wrapped as an $800k savings for repurposing schools. In looking at what has been proposed, magnet moving, it feels like there was a desire to put in programs that we did not have and are now expanding during a budget crunch. Does the $800k stand on it's own. Is this just an opportunity to expand on these programs.

Susan: The impotence for closing two schools was the budget reduction. Based on our class sizes we could close 3 schools. Because we said we said that with this budget reduction we want to align the budget with our strategic plan rather than just cutting everything. We are reducing and expanding at the same time to reach our strategic paln. The impotence for the school closing was budget reductions we needed to look at what needed to expand and make better at the same time.

Bold statement: I don't think it should be done for just budget reasons. It is not an important enough reason.

So we should not do this for budget reasons.

Observations

2008-02-19T21:43:00.002-06:00

Lin, John Nelson and Linda have not asked one question -- a bit odd. The other SB members are very actively asking questions. They also did not ask questions in the working session. Just an observation.

Susan

2008-02-19T21:29:00.002-06:00

[This SB meeting has been much more revealing.]

There is an additional $25k potentially needed for adjusting some of the facilities (lower toilets, reconfiguring gyms for larger kids, etc...)

Susan: What other questions are there?

Steven: OV is there an advantage or disadvantage to having more teachers in a concentrated 4-6 area?

Don: It is more efficient use of teachers to smooth out class sizes and you don't go over the cap. Small building constantly struggle with large and small sized classes. Instructional advantage -- you can differentiate instructional programs for a larger class where teachers can be pulled to work with students that have specific needs.

Dean: With smaller schools - there would be some efficiencies in larger school - in a smaller school do we experience any more or less disruption in a class room. Is there a smoother running classroom in a smaller school than in a larger school.

Don: There is no research there.

Susan: They can not show a statistical relationship.

Steven: Enrollment center - some parents perceive it as a secretary sitting there taking applications. What is the EC really about?

Susan: EC is more friendly and customer sensitive. Had parents that had a difficult time going through the system. Idea is to provide a lot more services -- 80 languages in our district -- we have translators. Had children (special ed, not vacinated) who weren't starting school for 3 weeks. We were losing money everyday they were not there. It would cost $400k+ to setup. We would have so many more students start sooner that it would more than pay for it.

Kate: First year - FB calculated the loss of students not attending due to immunication issues was a loss of over $60,000 for first 5 days of school. Many were out longer than 5 days.

Dean: When we closed orchard lane several years ago. How many students elected to go to that charter school?

Transportation

2008-02-19T21:12:00.002-06:00

Are there going to be more costs transporting magnet -- no significant increase because they are already transported.

What is the additional cost of transporting students in the proposed plan? We are aligning routes so that they are more efficient. East and west moves are difficult -- north and south are easier.

Kim: Community has had concerns about the infrastructure handling more busses.

Speaker: There are difficulties in specific corners and volume is difficult to accomodate. Traffic is difficult - moving students through Arbor Lakes area especially in the morning.

Kim: WL increased traffic.

Speaker: it is centrally located and easily accessed. We don't have the congestion that we have with other proposals.

Kim: Our transport costs have increased quite a bit.

Speaker: Special services have caused transportation costs to increase.

Our regular to and from routes have not seen increases.

John: The growth that we are dealing with in terms of special needs is substantial 11 kids cost $35k per child for transportation due to special needs and we are required to provide that transportation.

Dean: Osseo and Weaver there is a certain percentage that are walkers. There are a lot of walkers that will be on a bus. How are the logistics going to work? How can that be cost neutral?

Speaker: Teh nubers show that osseo has 85 walkers; I don't believe it is a substantial number to where we need to add busses but rather change routes. There is going to be an increase in walkers in some areas. We don't know how families will respond.

Dean: We are hoping it is cost neutral, but we do not know for sure.

Speaker: Our commitment is to make the savings. If we were to leave everything as it is today and just change bell times and other items then we would save $800k. The MN transportation envisions even more savings.

We are frustrated with how we can not make a promise that we can get from point A to point B in 30 minutes. We want to get from point A to point B reliably.

Steven: What do the walkers numbers mean?

Speaker: We are not providing transportation.

Steven: Kidstop kids are riding and are not provided transportation as part of your numbers. So they are counted as walkers even though they are not. We spend a couple converations because driveways are clogged up.

Speaker: We do see more and more self drivers. We did several capital improvements to driveways. Another request to change the driveway again and it is an ongoing issue. Rushcreek has a lot of congestion.

Steven: Why are there only 1 or 2 children on a bus? There are disorders that are incompatible among children. Do you have an example? How much overlap is there?

Speaker: We have a small number that we are responsible for that we can not put together because of their handicapping conditions. Unfortunately some of the programs are quite a distance away for their programs.

Steven: Are there any issues that are raised with those students with this proposal?

Speaker: There are some opportunities there to partner with other school districts.

Dean: Are there any district site programs at Weaver or OE where when relocated would create additional transportational issues?

Speaker 2: (Kim S) There are 8 students in the OE program.

Dean: Just confirming that there are no additional transportation needs.

Kim: What can we do for cost containment? Required by law to provide transportation if you are over 2 miles away from school.

Teresa - transition

2008-02-19T21:05:00.002-06:00

Transition -- there is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done from March 6 and beyond. We have convened site leaders to figure out what needs to be done.

Logistics -- develop a schedule and timeline for school closings are repurposing.

Operational needs - what needs to happen to insure successful school operations?

Psychological transition needs - staff, students, parents and communities - how do we relieve the stress?

Communications plan -- how do we communicate changes.

Instructional supplies - what is the plan

Facilities and equipment - how to we plan for the best use of facilities and equipment.

Fnancial impact - What is the financial impact?

Logistics -- consider the movement of furniture, microscopes, books, shelving, etc.... What is the end date that all sites must be ready for school and work backward from there.

Programmatically - insure accuracy of student data and the tracking of such data.

Plan for staff changes.

[coming quickly]

Psychological changes -- we can not underestimate the effect of this. We must have open houses for those making changes.

What do you do with the PTO funds? [A party has been suggested. *grins*]

magnet continued

2008-02-19T20:57:00.002-06:00

Dean: Within the grant application are we mandated to do certain things? A previous superintendent identified that some of the mandates were fictitious. Magnets are a voluntary means of desegregating. The mandate is coming from the grant?

Kate: My understanding - deseg rule -- we are clearly out of compliance. So are other districts around us. We are clearly out of compliance. We are under direction for a number of years We are audited. Everytime we make a move they monitor and we are asked to respond with all evidence to make sure we have not intentionally racially isolated students.

Second mandate is from the federal level. We could have changed boundaries, we could have done nothing, we could do voluntary efforts. It was the method (voluntary) selected in MN.

NW surburban helps get grant funding for Magnet schools so that we can fund magnet schools. It was a dictate of the federal grant that led us to place schools in racially isolated areas. So, they had to select sites that are racially isolated.

Dean: My understanding is that if we do not intentionally move students/boundaries/etc... it does not penalize us if we do nothing. The magnet grant might have its own criteria, but wanted to be clear that we are not under an order to do anything. As long as we do not intentionally deseg.

Magnet

2008-02-19T20:41:00.004-06:00

Dean: The students that will be moving and not meeting AYP with the 4-6 graders moving to OV will we have the resources? Will the title 1 dollars follow to the new site? If they move to the new site there will be the physical change and we don't have the resources how will that chagne?

Principal: Title 1 and compensatory - calculated by student enrollment and would follow students. If the board approves this plan he would hope the SB would respond by making sure monies would follow as resource.

Susan: Other questions - Transition that needs to take place regardless of the proposal accepted. Teresa will respond. Kate will respond to magnet questions. Questions concerning the cost of the proposal.

Kate - magnet schools; themes were around background and history, funding source, why the move? Why move instead of expand?

Background - huge amount of folks that are very interested in programs that provide post secondary opportunities -- for all students. State and national call to prepare students for post-secondary education and is back from significant grant money from state and federal. Math Science and Technology programs. Get significant amounts of grant money in the last 4 to 5 years. Millions of dollars. Increase advance placement programs. All part of the theme to prepare students for rigorous post secondary work.

Because we were deemed racially segregated, we were mandated to pursue some of these programs. It is primarly NWsuburban that focuses on the development of magnet schools and within the six other school districts in our consortium.

Magnet schools are interspersed through all 7 districts. Why district 279? question is a larger state issue. The funding source was the federal magnet grant received 4 years ago for materials and staff development. The first grant expired and are receiving funding from second round of grants. Funding development in other six districts as well. We benefit by receiving funds for our established magnets. Maintaining our investment through State grant. It is NOT an increase in funding. The base programming is the same. All of the common elements betweens schools regardless receive common instruction.

The magnet schools use the grant funding to add on top the extra standards, activities, and equipment to privide the thematic approach in each area and is funded through grants -- not the general fund. All additional items are funded by grants.

Edgewood was a natural selection because of the age of the site. The moving of the program was logical to relocate then. As well as the opportunity to provide unique programming to a new area of our school district.

It was mandated to put it in a racially isolated segregated school. The goal was to reduce the racial isolation. We now have the opportunity to move the magnet and are not bound by any grant to keep it in a racially segregated area.

Susan

2008-02-19T20:30:00.002-06:00

Gave the categories out to teams and made copies of responses.

Board has hard copy of responses. Everything is on the web site.

A lot of times links go deeper and deeper to address more and more.

She appologizes for not anticipating what we would need to know and not know. The board was not asking questions recently because they had asked questions previously.

She is going to invite board to ask questions.

First question: Michael from Fair Oaks -- a key player on the Action Team and feel very passionately. Michael will address the benefits of proposal.

Michael: As I thought about the proposal there were lots of questions. How does this feel? We don't have the tshirts and presence. The community's lack of presence does care deeply for their children. In a community like FO they look towards leaders for guidance. First meeting last Tuesday. Asked families what they thought -- very mixed reviews. Some embraced possibilities and some have concerns about possibilities.

I do look forward to possibilities. This proposal will have that impact. It will move them from their neighborhood school to another school for their 4-6 experience. "How will our students fair for the k-6 split?" Our families that are being proposed to move -- 200 plus students that would be move -- there is a community that is moving.

He believes people will come back to FO. What about parental engagement? Those families that are engaged will stay engaged regardless of physical building. My parents will be engaged regardless.

How will the three principals look at a broader community? I really believe that is what our district is about -- preparing our child for a real world reality. I believe the proposal with k-6 splits provides more opportunities and blending of community. How will students and families respond? Day one has already passed. The time to change is now. Embrace this as a possibility.

This has not gone through officially. My mind set is to best support our community and prepare ourselves for change should change ocur.

More comments

2008-02-19T20:26:00.002-06:00

Wants to face the community and respond to the community rather than the board.

Good evening.

Is going to repeat some of what was said in the working session.

There is a rule that whenever there is elected officials they need to be introduced.

Starts by thanking us and encourages us to keep coming and appreciates the support and wants to learn from each other. We are teachers by profession, but students.

We know that you care deeply about our children and want them to be very accountable and thank you for your emails.

We did record the 51 comments with your names.

They did have a lot of emails. Had 3 people divide them into categories. Capacity, magnet school, k/3/4/etc., desegregation rules, etc...

Susan

2008-02-19T20:19:00.002-06:00

Susan's response to community comment: Focused on children and student learning.

Stopping to take time to thank all of the School Board. Feb 25 - 29 is SB recognition week.

I want to thank you and each of the children and families in this district.

On behalf of the staff, students and community I think you.

Used previous gift money to buy each of the SB members a book. Struggled with right gift to give this time. "A Whole New Mind" is the book she is giving the SB this time.

Share a few things -- for anyone that wants to survive and thrive in this new area. She is giving a book summary now.

Board meeting starting

2008-02-19T20:18:00.000-06:00

Anyone reading this? Email me quick if you are so that I keep it up.

Births

2008-02-19T19:43:00.002-06:00

John: Projects show a flat growth over last 10 years. Projects for next 5 years is that we will stay right under 22,000. John's numbers believes his numbers are very, very accurate.

Susan: we are running out of time and unable to get through questions and comments and would like to have more time. Has a list of questions and concerns. It matters deeply to me. Had a team that took all of the emails that Susan and board members received and team of 3 people organized them into categories. Then split up questions/categories between teams in ESC. The teams developed answers and posted answers on web site. Printed out hard copies of it so that board members could reference it. Those questions that I know were frequent and that we need to address is that in Susan's response is to invite others to respond during community comment. Would like consideration to ver from norm and would like to respond to previous community comment before new community comment.

So, Susan's response to community comment is going to be before the new community comment. Does anyone have an objection -- no objection from anyone.

Susan: Dean, did I hear you right that you are seeing things a little differently than you saw them in November. Did I hear that?

Dean: The piece that was shared...

Susan: In the key issues I am checking for understanding, the key issues have become more. I will be frank because I have learned a lot because my perception has changed and I have not been through this before. What I heard is what I am feeling.

Dean: I am feeling thinks like "must have" verus "consider" and understandings are very different and filters are very different than what I had envisioned.

Susan: I think that is fair. We could not possibly have anticipated all that has happened or all that could happen. It is really important to discern what is the key issue. If your key issues have changed then the right or best proposal would change. That's why we needed to continue to check with you. I appreciate that Dean has shared that his feelings have changed. We need to respect if any people are feeling any differently. We need to continually understand.

Dean: Some are very unhappy and some are elated. People interpretting board input and then the piece that came out in the end.

Susan: The decision has not been made and there is an openness to the board. We are listening and actively participating in good faith. I'm looking forward to board meeting.

2008-02-19T19:30:00.002-06:00

Dean: When Dean took program it was in program.

Dean: We have expanded into pre-k. We might not have the dollars to sustain.

Susan: Proposal is just to sustain. We are going to use the space we have rather than lease.

Susan: There is a real need and we have the data that we will fill these two sites and position us for the future. Is this going to be an unfunded mandate?

Dean: A piece of my struggle is that we are going to close 2 neighborhood schools and we are going to put in a place two additional programs that we may not be able to fund?

Antolak: Any pre-k programs does not adversely affect the funding of any other program.

Dean: We are expanding some programs that are different.

Kim S: We get a formula allowance aid for k-12 special education. It doesn't cost more.

Things are getting murky in terms of how people are asking and answering questions.

Don = guy = dude = they just said his name.

Don: I believe the proposal is the best match to the interest.

Kim: Can you help me with presenting us with the population growth?

John: We get proposals for new housing. When we get housing for more expensive housing, we do not get more children. We are getting hardly any students. Houses are really, really expansive. Built 600 expensive houses and got 10 children.

Got a lot more children for market rate housing -- $250k or less. Rejuvination of market rate housing is yielding tons of kids.

Disperse market rate housing to keep even growth.

And continuing

2008-02-19T19:23:00.002-06:00

We believe we brought a plan that matched boards criteria.

Kim: interested in pre-k development. How fast could we fill sites? Is this a program that could use general funds dollars?

Kim S./Mike: Early childhood programs are at capacity. Fair Oaks. Should be growing based on state statistics. Intervene early and remediate kids so they don't need special ed later. We need space now. [Not a really strong arguement.]

Mike: Funding is from state that is dedicated for ECL and then from parents. So, it does not affect the general budget. All fee based.

Dean: Is there a point in time when those students would reach parity with others? Is it people's obligation to transport?

Transport - it depends.

Dean: Geographically where is the greatest need?

Kim s.: [Basically they do not have an overlay that indicates geographic need.]

Guy: Need is tied to socioeconomic factors.

Mike: ECFE created in MN in 1979 - Osseo was one of the first few. It is really parent education focus. Parent education because parent is most influential factor.

How they chose Weaver

2008-02-19T19:09:00.002-06:00

Want to expand to Magnet.

Dean: Edgewood is not very efficient.

Other dude: It is not a function of students.

Cost of school/students. If magnet has a small population. The physical plant is not efficient.

Dean is questioning how efficient the building is.

Antolak is trying to bring them together.

Dean: A to Z doesn't make sense in terms of their interpretation of words.

Why Weaver?

EB - ripple effect moving students.
PL - up against edge of school district and students would need to move a long way.
FO - up against edge and not alot of space.

Space in three remaining schools:

OV - If you use OV transportation is difficult; In the interest of the board was expansion of early pre-k services. We don't have space in OV area. Both of the old programs are operating at capacity.

WVL - So, WL just doesn't have anything negative evidently -- no good reason but FB and OV didn't look as attractive.

FB - largest school in set; most students; would displace 649 students would need to be displaced to RL or WL. It is a large challenge to move those kids. More of a challenge transportation wise.

Dean: How did we went from "expand" to "move" and "should be considered" to "must have".

Guy: Even if you said consider then if we could do them we did them. If you look at "expand" on a single site and does not make sense to expand. It seems unreasonable.

Guy = Dude (most of the time)

I unfortunately do not know everyone's name and I appologize for the ambiguities.

More discussion about language given to action committee.

I believe the plan we did followed within the criteria.

Now where do you move Edgewood?

2008-02-19T18:58:00.002-06:00

Dean: within some physical upper and lower limit can be created in very different ways. There are numerous ways to calculate efficiencies. Resource inputs for schools - measure of efficiency might include test scores. What is our efficiency based on student test scores and the dollars that go into operating that school. [Wow a solid calculation of overall value -- my opinion.]

Antolak: Are there district programs that are in WL that aren't in other schools?

Other guy: Using achievement data we could use growth, rather than use the MCAs. We could do something like that. That would be a long term analysis that is drawn out and more a function of who is teaching in each school.

Dean: Efficiency of a school can be determined more by achievement divided by cost rather than by cost of building. Efficiency should be what we are producing at one site.

Start explaining

2008-02-19T18:52:00.003-06:00

We start with 19 schools. It does not make sense to close newest schools due to maintenance - takes 9 schools out.

Schools that have a capacity of 600 and have at least 500 students in them.

They are going into the schools that they might close: CF, EW, CC, PB, OE, and ZW. None of them are very large. All are older schools. A couple things that stood out -- EW needs serious capital repair. Students come from all over the district and the transportation is paid for. It then makes sense to move them and expand the STEM magnet.

Schools on east are closer to capacity. It is going to be tough to move students. Osseo school does not have continuous areas -- they are broken. Osseo is our smallest school and makes sense to move the populations into areas that are closer and/or can be split easily.

Now they have CF, CC, PB and ZW left.

When Teamworks ran the numbers they just verified what they wanted by applying the assumptions given above.

PCAWLE/Derek Haidle

A couple quick reminders

New Web Site

Parent's Meeting

Mr. Thomas

SAGE and KKK

Purpose Going Forward

Savings does not equal Savings

Observation

Gifts

HR item on Agenda

Consent agenda

Next agenda item

Union Person

Teresa

Agenda

Susan

More people

Rollin'

Board Meeting Tonight

Discussion

Discussion (more)

Discussion continues

Discussion

Motion to vote separately on closings

Discussion

Discussion - Kim

Discussion

Discussion

Discussion - Steve

Discussion - Dean

Discussion - Linda

Discussion - John

Discussion - Lin

Onward

Quiet....

More arrivals

More movement

Activity

I'm in

The final vote

Final Vote

Break Apart Proposal

Why do we not hear from Fair Oaks parents?

Quick Final Observation

Discussion continuing

Discussions

More discussion

More discussion

More early childhood discussions

More questions from SB

Lots of people

Back

Revenue Sources...

Pre k - 3 questions and reconfiguration

More...

More

Boundaries.

Speaker

Levy

Starting

The view

Ready to roll

Saving Schools does NOT equal Firing Teachers

Blogging Tonight

The Right Rally

Race

Are Minority Opportunities Reduced by the Changes?

Observation

Public Hearing

Bloggin

I'm back

Internet not available

Public Hearing on Thursday, February 28

Outta here

next

speakers

Speakers

Zellers & Peppin

Speakers