8/8/19 Business Meeting

Agenda & Materials

Minutes

Video

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Meeting Notes

The following is an informal summary of the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, an agenda item was added as a report with possible action to explore the offer of mediation between the board and superintendent as presented to the school board last month by Dianne Polasik, on behalf of the Lee S. and Dorothy N. Whitson fund of the St. Paul Foundation. The board had a discussion about this possibility, and ultimately a motion to explore mediation failed by a vote of 3 to 3, with one board member absent.

Report for Information: District Memberships 2019-2020 
Board members reviewed the list of district memberships, which includes the Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA) for $14,037; the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) for no fee; Association of Metropolitan School Districts (AMSD) for $11,364; and Schools for Equity in Education (SEE) for $9,022.87. The board approved membership in the MSHSL and is expected to vote on the other memberships for the 2019-2020 school year at a future meeting.

Report for Information: Request for Proposal – High Volume Copier and Managed Print Services including Workflow Software Solutions
School board members reviewed the requests for proposal for high volume copiers. The current five-year lease for the district’s copier fleet is ending in September. The new lease terms would provide copiers, finishers, accessories, supplies, and software licensing for the next five years at a total cost of about $400,000. Funds for the lease contracts would come from the district’s capital budget. The board is expected to take action on a lease contract at a future meeting.

Report for Information: Zayo PDN Dark Fiber for 2019-2020 Fiscal Year 
School board members heard a report about the district’s private dedicated network (PDN), point to point fiber optic services, which are provided from Zayo Group, LLC. These fiber services provide network communications between all buildings within the district and are used for Internet service, communication radio services, video surveillance, and management of HVAC control systems. Historically these invoices have been paid monthly in-line with how all telecommunications services are processed. The district is working to move these payments to an annual processing schedule. The annual cost for PDN is $163,000 and is paid for from the district’s general fund.

Action Item: High School Tennis Court Payment 
School board members voted to release the final retainage payment of $77,500 to the Peterson Companies for 2015 referendum work relating to the high school tennis courts. The payment was delayed due to a dispute over the cause of surface cracking. The resurfacing process has not revealed any additional information as to why the premature cracking has occurred.  It was recommended that ISD 834 release the final retainage payment.

Action Item: APEX Learning 
The board approved a contract with APEX Learning, an online learning platform. APEX will be replacing Edgenuity, which has been used in the past to provide special access to online curriculum for some students at the St. Croix Valley Area Learning Center and in our special education programming. The change to APEX will save the district money and was made as part of the budget cuts approved by the school board. The total three year cost for APEX is $64,000 and will be paid for as part of the curriculum budget.

Action Item: Bus Terminal – Approve Legal Counsel 
The board voted to appoint Peter Mikhail of LaVander, Gillen & Miller P.A. to represent the district as it relates to our bus terminal.  In conversation with the City of Lake Elmo, there is a delay by the developer as it relates to the Hudson Boulevard road realignment and the running of water and sewer lines. Our purchase agreement has timelines and expectations of the developer completing the aforementioned. Those timelines will not be met. To be proactive, legal counsel was appointed in the event there is any adverse consequence (financially or otherwise) due to the developer's delay. The City of Lake Elmo is represented by Sarah Sonsalla of Kennedy and Graven. Sarah would typically represent our district as it relates to property.