Observer Report: fARIBAULT Public Schools, 10.27.25

Faribault District Office

• Call to Order: John Bellingham called the meeting to order. All members are present. Student representatives, Zamara Williams and Essa Alli are also present.  
• Agenda Approval: Chair John Bellingham noted that there will be a closed session at the time of Agenda Item #5 when the Board will relocate temporarily for that sessions.  Motion to approve the agenda – Linda Boudreau, 2^nd by Cassie Steeves; motion passed.
• Recognition, Awards and Presentations
  • Presentation by Ken Hubert about the Falcons Activity Endowment Fund.  He explained that the committee is working to fund the endowment to benefit activities for students in both high school and middle school.  He named the committee members mostly composed of former Faribault athletes.  The endowment is under the umbrella of the Faribault Foundation.  Hubert explain how the endowment works.  Their goals are restoring activity budgets, and to bring back coaching positions that have been cut.  They also want to stabilize and/or lower the activity fees for students.  The 3^rd goal is the ability to cover the entire cost of activities…..a long range goal that will take time.  The Booster Club and the Wrestling club have each donated $10,000.  Hubert is asking for the Board’s support.  Board members thanked Mr. Hubert and the committee for their work.  Each of the first and second goals will require $2 to $3 million with a total of $30 million for all three goals.
• Items of Information
  • Student Board Representatives – Ms. Williams reported that sports and activities have kicked off and are going well.  Attendance, according to student surveys, has improved.  Students also report that they do not always feel “pushed” to do their best by teachers.  District youth council met for the first time last week.  One concern is attention to student mental health.  Essa reported that   Essa reported that DECA exists to develop future leaders in business and entrepreneurship.  The students took an exam with about 100 questions plus some role play opportunities all focused on business administrations and human relations.  Several students did very well.  30 Members attended the event.
  • Motion to move to closed session to discuss a discrimination complaint by Mr. Sonny Wasilowski was made by Candace Knudson;  2^nd by Linda Moore.  The motion passed.
  • Reconvened to the regular session.
  • Linda Boudreau moved to approve the conciliation agreement adoption with release of claims by the Board; 2^nd by Cassie Steeves.  The motion passed.
  • School Board Members – Ms. Moore commented that she believes the Board is not supporting teachers enough and noted that schools elsewhere are adding administrative staff. She stated that administrators are hired to oversee grants but when the grant runs out those positions are retained.  She suggested that when the grant money runs out, grant administrators should be let go and funds put toward improving education.  Chad Wolf reported that he had toured Roosevelt school and was impressed.  Mr. Wolf also commented on Ms. Moore’s comments regarding difficulties with FFA/Ag classes.  He also asked for specific examples of grant administrators being kept on board.  Ms. Moore commented that the number of Coordinators has increased and she noted a salary issue from 2023 and that costs are being rolled into the budget. Mr. Bellingham mentioned attending the music concert and commented how well the students performed.  He also visited Roosevelt and the High School and saw kids good educational practices and student behaviors.
  • Superintendent  Mr. Bente reported that Homecoming was a success from the week’s activities, the parade and the game.  Last week all the schools engaged in a program to counter bullying.  Chef Jeff LaBeau spoke with students about culinary topics.  Also thank you to Target for bringing a book fair to the schools.  FMS had a recognition of students doing well with the SOAR program.  Roosevelt’s Kindergartens visited the Zoo.  More than half of the families of color attended conferences.  He commented on other school activities since the last meeting as well as upcoming activities.
  • No Public Comment
  • Consent Agenda (Consent Agenda Items are approved by one motion unless a board member requests separate action.)  A motion was made to accept the consent agenda (C. Wolf) and 2^nd by (C. Knudson); motion passed.
  • District Advisory Committee – No report
  • Policy Committee
    • Cassie reported that the Committee met on Tuesday, October 7.  Nine policies are being reviewed as required every three years and they had no changes.  Mr. Benty clarified that on the 3 year cycle review, if there are no changes from either the committee or from MSBA, they do not need to go through a first & second reading because the content was already approved by the School Board. Two policies had revisions due to grammatical or statute changes. 
    • The Chair noted that the following policies would be pulled; these are policies 3, 8 and 9 from the list below.
      • Mr. Wolf made a motion to approve the remainder of the policies with a second by Linda Boudreau. Motion passed.
        • Review of Policy 101: Legal Status of the School District
        • Review of Policy 103: Complaints – Students, Employees, Parents, Other Persons
        • Review of Policy 201: Legal Status of the School District
        • Review of Policy 202: School Board Officers
        • Review of Policy 211: Criminal or Civil Action Against the School District, School Board Member, Employee or Student
        • Review of Policy 212: School Board Member Development
        • Review of Policy 214: Travel by School Board Members and Guidelines Governing Travel and Expenses
        • Review of Policy 506: Student Discipline
        • Review of Policy 722: Public Data Requests
        • Revisions to Policy 803.4: Reproduction of Copyrighted Materials (changing to Policy 625)
  • Discussion of Policy 201: Ms. Moore expressed concern about the language that schools should “provide services that promote the health of students” and wants to understand what this means.  Moore is concerned about privacy for youth and parents and issues of confidentiality.  Ms. Moore said that without definitions, she would have to vote NO on the policy.  The Board voted to approve the policy with one no vote.
  • Discussion of Policy 506: Moore noted the same concern with this policy and would like to propose an amendment, stating that she would like to know what services are included in school-linked mental health services noted in the policy.  She proposed the following amendment: “Acknowledge that federal law supersedes state and local laws.  The amendment failed due to the lack of a second.  The motion to approve the policy passed with one “no” vote.
  • Discussion of Policy 722: Motion for approval by Director Robicheau and second by Director Knuson.  Director Moore commented on 3.E which focuses on minors requesting responsible authority to withhold records from the parents.  Motion passed with one “no” vote.
  • New policy 599 Social Media Policy: Wolf made a motion to approve the policy with a second by Director Robicheau. The motion passed 7 to 0.
  • Policy 425: Motion to approve the policy by Director Bellingham; second by Director Steeves.  Director Moore proposed the following amendment regarding 2.8.2.  Ms. Moore put forward amendments to keep the current wording the same as it has been with no changes.  Motion to amend; no second was obtained and the amendment failed.  In reply to a question by Director Boudreau, Mr. Benty checked with MSBA to see why the change was made.  MSBA noted that these committees use the same process as used by other staff committees.  Ms. Moore spoke again about her reasons for voting against the motion.  Motion for approval passed with one “no” vote.
  • Policy 512:  Motion to the revisions of the policy by Director Robicheau; second by Director Boudreau.  Director Moore proposed an amendment that retains the original language for this policy. No second was obtained so the amendment fails.  Ms. Moore spoke about the Board abdicating their responsibilities.  The motion passed with two “no” votes (Boudreau and Moore)
• Other Committees
  • Finance Committee –  Minutes from the October 20 Committee meeting were summarized by the Chair and reviewed by Board members.  See meeting notes on the website for details. 
  • District Wellness Committee – Director Knudsen attended that last meeting where current goals were reviewed and new goals created for this year.
  • Facilities Committee Meeting – Facilities Committee meeting report was made by Ms. Moore reviewing the notes from the meeting including projects from the ALC, Lincoln, McKinley