- Members absent: Jenny Nelson
- Agenda approved
- No public comments
- Announcements:
- Recognition of winter sports, boys swim and dive, girls wrestling, state orchestra
- 221 Juniors took ACT test
- Raider Image (mascot) Proposal: NHS Student Representatives spoke
- Image in relationship to the school’s strategic plan
- Reasoning: visual representation of Northfield’s identity, values and connection
- Process: Letters to Dr. Hillman and Mr. Mahal (student activities director), all student meeting, student submissions, focus group developed, primary, secondary and final review meetings
- Guidelines for review included: free of violence, racism, representative to Northfield as a whole, unique from Big 9 schools, merchandising potential
- Feedback was collected from other NHS students
- Images selected: a horse and a cow in Northfield’s colors
- Member comments:
- Superintendent Hillman spoke to students’ leadership and dedication
- Question from Jeff Quinnell (only NHS alumni on the board): “I don’t see a raider in a horse and I don’t see a raider in a cow”
- Maggie Epstein voiced preference for horse – translation of Defeat of Jesse James Days’ notoriety to the high school
- Question from Amy Goerwitz: Concern about cows being female (not gender neutral) and potential insult of being called a cow “what would it be like if people started calling you cows?” Admiration for less connection to the “raid” aspect of the James Gang raid.
- Corey Butler voiced preference for horse- intelligence as well as strength- applies to all activities and people. Did not like one of the logo options (horse with an N in its neck)
- Ben Miller asked about next steps for feedback and input
- Question turned back to city council- put out for community response? District response?
- Superintendent Hillman planned to ask the school board to make the final decision as community and student feedback has already been taken into account. Final images will be published in district updates newsletter and discussed on KYMN
- Decision to be made April 27th
- READ Act update and Item Review
- Alisha Clarey (District Literacy Specialist) presents on the READ Act to update the board
- District strategic plan: all students at grade level in reading and math at the end 3rd and 6th grades
- READ Act plan – All students at grade level readings EVERY YEAR
- Winter benchmarking just completed
- Data Days and Diagnostic Assessments
- Data days = Looking at the data collected and coming up with actionable items to help each student depending on their assessment scores
- Professional development
- Staff training in science of reading
- Next steps:
- Piloting knowledge building curriculum
- Continue to build professional learning and data coaching into PLC structure
- Support Diagnostic assessments (k-12) and create systems of support within current building and district MTSS systems
- Questions and Discussion:
- Amy Goerwitz: Risk level (READ Act) vs grade level (district)
- Risk level for meeting end of year grade level
- Amy Goerwitz: District benchmark says 3rd and 6th grades but those are the best scores based on the READ Act.
- Kids in these grades are getting more attention and therefore have better scores
- Trying to be predictive before end of year testing. Trying to get ahead of the reading difficulties
- Nonsense word fluency: kids memorize words. This slows them down so they have to use phonics. Measures how well kids can actually read
- Building construction fund proposed budget
- What are they going to do with the money they received and how will they track it?
- Building construction fund
- Has to be separate and restricted
- Selling bonds based on what voters approve, any interest earned stays in private account and used for project cost
- What did voters authorize?
- 120000 sq ft, multi story classroom addition, demolition of existing building (about 77 million for construction and 95 million for construction plus demolition)
- Expanded gymnasium (15 mil for construction, 18 mil total)
- Timeline
- Design started in march 2025, have in design development since October
- Bids are now out, bid opening is March 26th
- Construction will start in June 2026 and go all summer
- The presenter showcased a bunch of pictures and encouraged board members to check out website for more pictures
- Total estimated funding from both bond funding and donations is somewhere around 126 million (4 mil over original projected amount)
- Everything happens on a monthly billing cycle
- Invoiced for 39 mil but the actual money going out is around 37 mil
- Carleton gave 2 mil in donations
- They are projecting to sell their next bond in May of 2027
- Questions
- Financial Forecast Follow Up + Board Renewal of Operating Levy
- Dr. Hillmann wants to make sure that the levy renewal is being spread to taxpayers through yellow postcards that will be sent to their houses to remind them that there is a meeting and other information about this topic
- MN Statue permits locally elected school boards to renew existing operating levies one time under the same conditions originally approved by the voters.
- Levy expires at the end of fiscal ‘28 and represents around 13% of revenue
- Superintendent Search Update- Maggie Epstein
- Special meeting held Friday, March 6th
- Vacancy brochure finalized which describes schools and community, names salary
- Applications due April 7th, Board Hearing April 16th
- Interviews begin April 24th-25th
- Final interviews April 29th
- Interviews are open to the public
- Stakeholder survey designed and will be put out
- District Committees Report – Superintendent Matt Hillmann
- Members of the community can come to committee meetings and ask questions, join the discussion
- Varied attendance throughout the committees
- Encouraging board to consider the current committee structure
- Sees opportunity for growth and feedback
- How do we recruit people to be on the committees?
- Is this the right way to get feedback
- Comments:
- Maggie commends Northfield community for their engaged involvement on the committees
- Later school start times process
- April 2nd board meeting and community input to discuss this
- There are hidden costs to the labor of outreach, getting people informed
- High school reimagine meetings, community forums, superintendent search and regular meetings all take valuable money- meetings take resources, and Claudia Gonzalez-George wanted to point out how many meetings we have coming up
- Also wanted to gauge level of commitment
- Claudia opened up for comments
- Maggie comments that she saw an article about teens and sleep and thinks it is okay to delay some of these meetings to the summer, and give time for families to prepare
- Aligning new start time with new high school
- Doesn’t wanna push it back too far
- Ben comments that the new superintendent should have input in start time debates, this is a very touchy issue and there is already a lot of work underway
- Everyone is aware of the costs and benefits
- “Riding the rollercoaster” “no easy way on or off we just have to ride it”
- Jeff Quinell says that a large contributing factor is the transportation costs, still hasn’t changed his mind
- “What does half an hour even do”
- Doesn’t see the problem as urgent, but if people want to make a decision he’s willing to make a decision
- Corey Butler things that delaying this decision into the fall allows people plenty of time to make changes, prepare for changing schedules
- “Science shows that pushing back can benefit everyone”
- There is value in having the new superintendent hold a voice in this ● There is a lot of staff work that will have to go into this, it’s not necessarily just up to the board
- Amy Goerwitz thinks that we should push ahead and make the decision, not delay it at all
- Thinks that it’s important to make the decision while Dr. Hillmann is still here, because people trust him
- Other principals who are leaving have good insight and it would be a shame to not hear their knowledge
- Unfair to give it to a brand-new superintendent
- Laptop Sale Update
- 4th time in 8 years this process has been enacted
- Check bounced- $142,000
- Received $50,000 to date, continuing to miss deadlines
- Police report filed, in consult with attorney and filing with state auditor
- Questions from board:
- Hillman: Ask to adopt a policy change to prevent things like this in the future, may influence number of bids in the future, but stakeholder transparency is important
- Jeff Quinnell: What kind of crime is this?
- Misappropriation of public funds, per attorney (as of now)
- Consent Agenda passed
- No individual action items
- Enrollment Report- Monthly updates of enrollment
- Variation in class sizes
- Enrollment down by a few students at the high school, increase at the ALC (Area Learning Center)
- Questions: (Answers from Dr. Hillman)
- Corey Butler: Where do the new students come from?
- Credit recovery – in the wake of a failed course. Currently in high school + ALC classes
- Maggie Epstein: Enrollment after kindergarten open houses
- Unknown at this point in the year
- Projections estimate a smaller kindergarten class
- Amy Goerwitz: Upper grades of elementary have class sizes of high 20s, how is this decision to increase class sizes by the board playing out?
- It depends on the makeup of the class. Sizes are not especially different from surrounding districts/areas. It has been difficult for some teachers but they are adapting well. The decision was made as a cost-saving effort to preserve programs. A challenge the board will continue to face.
- Construction Updates
- No comments/discussion as was thoroughly discussed earlier in the meeting
- Future meetings
- Thursday, March 19, 2026, 6:00-8:00 p.m., Operating Levy Renewal Public Hearing, Northfield DO Gymnasium b. Thursday, April 2, 2026, 5:15 p.m., Board Work Session, Northfield DO Boardroom (Topic: Later School Start Times) c. Monday, April 6, 2026, 5:15 p.m., Special Board Meeting to approve the bids for the NHS Reimagine project, Northfield DO Boardroom d. Monday, April 13, 2026, 6:00 p.m., Regular Board Meeting, Northfield DO Boardroom e. Monday, April 27, 2026, 6:00 p.m., Regular Board Meeting, Northfield DO Boardroom
