Public Meeting Minutes: July 15, 2024 at 7:00 PM - School Board Meeting'

1. Call To Order

2. The Cedar Mountain School District respectfully acknowledges that the areas in which our schools are located are the ancestral homelands of the Dakota people. We pay our respects to these stewards both past and present.

3. Public Comments

4. Approval Of Agenda

5. Reports

5.a. Superintendent's Report

Description:

The MSBA 2024 Summer Seminar will be August 5 in Brooklyn Park. Please let me know if you would like to attend.
I met with representatives of the Lower Sioux Indian Community on July 10. It was a nice opportunity to get acquainted with Jesse Kodet, Education Coordinator and Kristi Schoen, Treasurer.
The update for our website is under way. Thanks to Joe Hafner and Tyler Krehbiel for moving this forward.
The facilities committee (Joe, Jeff, Brycen) and I are meeting with APEX on July 24 to discuss facility needs.

5.b. Principals' Reports

5.c. Activities Director/Comm Ed Report

5.d. Board Committee Reports

6. Consent Agenda

Description: The superintendent recommends approving the consent agenda.

6.a. Approve Minutes

6.b. Approve checks in the amount of $118,369.27 and wire transfers in the amount of $273,760.36

6.c. Accept Donations

6.d. Approve Personnel Items

7. Approve Annual LTFM Plan

Description:

MS 123B.595 requires the school board to approve a ten-year facility plan each year. The plan is required for the district to receive Long-Term Facilities Maintenance (LTFM) Revenue. The revenues and expenses shown would be applicable to the FY 26 budgets.

Major facilities projects are individually approved by the school board. The plan includes placeholder budget items in anticipation of possible projects in the years ahead. The superintendent recommends approving the FY 26 Long-term Facilities Maintenance Application.

8. Modify 24-25 Calendar To Accommodate Staff Training Required By The Minnesota READ Act.

Description:

The superintendent recommends approving modifications to the 24-25 Calander as presented. The calendar includes 15 early dismissals. In comparison to the calendar approved last February there is one less student contact day because March 20 is a teacher in-service day with no classes for students.

Background: The Minnesota Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act became law in May of 2023. The goal of this legislation is to have every Minnesota child reading at or above grade level every year, beginning in kindergarten, and to support multilingual learner and students receiving special education services in achieving their individualized reading goals. The READ Act replaces Read Well by Third Grade (RWBTG).

Beginning July 1, 2024, each school district must provide teachers and instructional support staff with responsibility for teaching reading with training on evidence-based reading instruction that is approved by the Department of Education. Cedar Mountain will provide the LETRS: (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) professional development to meet this requirement.

LETRS consists of 8 units, which are completed using a textbook and online resources. The first 4 units will be completed by August of 2025. Units 5-8 will be completed during the 2025-26 school year. The estimated time to complete each unit is 18 hours. The completion time of 18 hours includes about 12 hours of self-paced instruction and 6 hours of in-person debriefing. A certified MDE LETRS instructor (Julia Garms) must lead the in-person debriefing.

Our Compliance Plan for the Read Act was recently developed by the administration. The plan uses a combination of existing teacher prep time, early dismissals days, and in-service days to create the necessary time for LETRS Training. (The alternative to building the training into the calendar with early dismissals is to pay teachers for the time beyond contracted days at a cost of about $65,000. We will receive $30,000 in additional staff development revenue this year for READ Act implementation and spend $15,000 for 31 staff members to attend FastBridge [a screening protocol, required by the READ Act] training on August 13 and 15.)

The following schedule facilitates the LETRS training for Cedar Mountain:

UNIT 1: Sept, Oct, Nov	Wednesdays 7:35-8:05 am	Hours	Early Dismissals	Hours	Inservice Day	Hours
	10	5	Sept 11	2.5	Nov 1	3
			Sept 25	2.5
			Oct 9	2.5
			Oct 23	2.5
			Nov 13	2.5
		5		12.5		3
Total Hours	20.5

UNIT 2: Dec, Jan, Feb	Wednesdays 7:35-8:05 am	Hours	Early Dismissals	Hours	Inservice Day	Hours
	11	5.5	Dec 11	2.5	Jan 17	3
			Jan 8	2.5
			Jan 22	2.5
			Feb 12	2.5
			Feb 19	2.5
		5.5		12.5		3
Total Hours	21

UNIT 3: Mar, Apr, May	Wednesdays 7:35-8:05 am	Hours	Early Dismissals	Hours	Inservice Day	Hours
	12	6	Mar 12	2.5	Mar 20	3
			Mar 26	2.5
			Apr 9	2.5
			Apr 23	2.5
			May 14	2.5
		6		12.5		3
Total Hours	21.5

9. Resolution Relating To The Election Of School Board Members And Calling The School District General Election

Description:

The superintendent recommends approving the Resolution Relating To The Election Of School Board Members And Calling The School District General Election.

10. Appoint School District Election Clerk

11. School Board Meeting Schedule

Description:

Changing regular school board meetings to Wednesdays would provide continuity for the superintendents’ schedule. The superintendent is in the district on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The superintendent could schedule Monday and Tuesdays in the district for the week of school board meetings. However, leaving the superintendent’s schedule on Wednesday/Thursday would provide more consistency for the staff and public. The current schedule is attached.

12. Closed Session

Description:

The superintendent recommends closing the meeting to discuss Labor Negotiation Strategy pursuant to Minn. Stat. 13D.03.

13. Approve Non-Certified, Non-Union Salary Increases

14. Next Meeting Date

15. Adjourn

July 15, 2024 at 7:00 PM - School Board Meeting'

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