Hearing Re_ The Proposed Closing ofCrosswinds Arts _ Science School,

Public

1/9/2013

Prepared on:Thursday, January 17, 2013

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8 ------------------------------------------------------------

9 P U B L I C H E A R I N G R E: T H E

10 P R O P O S E D C L O S I N G O F

11 C R O S S W I N D S A R T S & S C I E N C E S C H O O L

------------------------------------------------------------

12

13

14

15

16

17

18 JANUARY 9, 2013

19 6:30 P.M.

20

21

22

23

24

25

Page 1

1 The following is the transcript of proceedings from

2 the public hearing re: the Proposed Closing of Crosswinds

3 Arts & Science School, taken before Jennifer L. Sharp, Court

4 Reporter, Notary Public, at Crosswinds Arts & Science

5 School, 600 Weir Drive, Woodbury, Minnesota.

6

7 A P E A R A N C E S

8

9 EMID JOINT POWERS BOARD:

10 George Hoeppner - Chair

11 Marilyn Forsberg - Vice Chair

12 Jim Gelbmann

13 Karen Morehead

14 Byron Schwab

15 Kitty Gogins

16 Cindy Nordstrom

17 John Brodrick

18 Lori Swanson

19

20 ALSO PRESENT:

21 Janet Mohr - Superintendent

22 Shari Thompson - Business Manager

23 Mary - Administrative Assistant

24

25

Page 2

1 I N D E X

2 PAGE

3 Call to Order 4

4 Roll Call 4

5 Approval of Agenda 5

6 Presentation by Shari Thompson 6

7 Presentation by Janet Mohr 17

8 Public Testimony 20

9 Administration's Proposed Findings for School Closings 87

10 Adjournment 91

11

12 * * * *

13

14 E X H I B I T S

15 NO. DESCRIPTION PAGE

16 1 PowerPoint Presentation 91

17 2 Findings, Conclusions, and Decision 91

18

19

20 * * * *

21

22

23

24

25

Page 3

1 P R O C E E D I N G S

2 (Whereupon, the public hearing re: the Proposed

3 Closing of Crosswinds Arts & Science School was commenced at

4 6:30 p.m. as follows):

5 MR. HOEPPNER: We'll call the Special

6 Meeting of the East Metro Integration District Board to

7 order, please.

8 Mary, would you please call the roll.

9 MS. OJILE: Amy Williams?

10 (No response.)

11 MS. OJILE: Marilyn Forsberg?

12 MS. FORSBERG: Here.

13 MS. OJILE: Byron Schwab?

14 MR. SCHWAB: Here.

15 MS. OJILE: Cindy Nordstrom?

16 MS. NORDSTROM: Here.

17 MS. OJILE: Kitty Gogins?

18 MS. GOGINS: Here.

19 MS. OJILE: Lori Swanson?

20 MS. SWANSON: Here.

21 MS. OJILE: John Brodrick?

22 MR. BRODRICK: Here.

23 MS. OJILE: Karen Morehead?

24 MS. MOREHEAD: Here.

25 MS. OJILE: Jim Gelbmann?

Page 4

1 MR. GELBMANN: Here.

2 MS. OJILE: George Hoeppner?

3 MR. HOEPPNER: Here.

4 Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?

5 MS. MOREHEAD: So moved.

6 MR. HOEPPNER: Karen moved, Marilyn

7 seconded.

8 All those in favor please signify by saying

9 "Aye."

10 (Response.)

11 MR. HOEPPNER: Opposed?

12 (No response.)

13 MR. HOEPPNER: The purpose for our public

14 hearing this evening is for the Board to receive public

15 input regarding the Proposed Closing of Crosswinds Arts &

16 Science School located at 600 Weir Drive, Woodbury,

17 Minnesota.

18 The ground rules for this evening's

19 meeting: The meeting is being transcribed. There will be

20 an opportunity for public input. Those wishing to speak

21 should sign up in the foyer. Speakers are to approach the

22 microphone in the center of the room and speak into the

23 microphone. There is a timekeeper. Each speaker will be

24 allowed up to five minutes to make a presentation to the

25 Board. Speakers should return to the seating area after

Page 5

1 speaking, rather than remaining at the microphone. And at

2 this time, we will have a presentation by Superintendent

3 Mohr and Business Manager Shari Thompson.

4 MS. THOMPSON: Good evening. I just would

5 like to start the presentation off by talking a little about

6 the finances, some of the background information, enrollment

7 starting, you know, back over the last ten years and moving

8 forward to where we are today, and some of the challenges

9 that we have faced and continue to face.

10 Beginning with the enrollment, the

11 enrollment at both of the buildings. Harambee, our

12 elementary school, was started in -- the '97-'98 school year

13 was the first year they were located at that building and

14 enrollment at that time was about 350 students. And if you

15 look, you will see that enrollment for Harambee has gone up

16 about -- to about 420, 430 students and that enrollment has

17 primarily stayed consistent over the years.

18 Crosswinds began in the '98-'99 school

19 year -- or actually '99-2000 school year, so that's why you

20 see it at zero in those first couple of years. In '99-2000,

21 it was located at Washington Technology Magnet -- or at that

22 time it was called "Arlington." It opened with about 100

23 students. Once Crosswinds moved into the current facility,

24 enrollment went up to about 200 students and it continued to

25 increase in -- over the next few years. Enrollment peaked

Page 6

1 at about 545 students in the '06-'07 year and also in

2 '07-'08.

3 Since that time, we have seen a decline in

4 the enrollment and the enrollment has continued to decline

5 each year. And right now we're at about 350 students.

6 Obviously one of the factors in recent years with the -- as

7 far as the decline in enrollment -- is some of the

8 discussions we have had regarding the future of the schools.

9 Obviously that has contributed -- or the uncertainty has

10 contributed to that decline as well.

11 Our school demographics. How does our

12 school compare with the state average? Fifty percent of our

13 students are students of color compared with the state

14 average of 26 percent. Twenty-three percent of our students

15 receive special ed services compared with the state average

16 of 15 percent. Forty-nine percent of our students qualify

17 for free/reduced lunches compared with the state average of

18 37 percent. And 12 percent of our students receive ELL

19 services and that compares with the state average of

20 8 percent. Again, these are demographics exclusive to this

21 building, not the EMID district as a whole. We also see

22 higher-than-average numbers. And, again, it's the state

23 average, not the metro average -- at Harambee as well -- and

24 this is based on our final data that we reported to the

25 state from last year. We've seen these numbers increase

Page 7

1 slightly again a little bit this year as well.

2 Our fund balance. Our fund balance. Our

3 general unappropriated fund. Fund balance is basically the

4 reserves that we have on hand after -- you know, it's after

5 we meet our obligations. It's kind of like your savings

6 account at home. What do we have at the end of the year, at

7 the end of the day? What do we have as far as -- to offset

8 future deficits? It's the same thing, again, as your budget

9 at home -- the dollars we have set aside for a rainy day

10 fund. Or when you're in the school business, when some of

11 that funding doesn't always keep up. The state funding

12 doesn't always keep up with the expenditures.

13 If we go back to the FY02, at the beginning

14 there was about $300,000 in our reserves at the end of the

15 year. We were in a deficit at the end of FY03, fiscal year

16 '03, so that's June 30th, 2003, we were in a deficit. Over

17 the years we continued to build those reserves and we built

18 those reserves intentionally, not only looking at -- for

19 changes in programming or challenges that we may face from

20 the State -- with the State, but also we need to keep

21 dollars in reserve in order to meet our obligations, our

22 cash flow obligations. This isn't all cash. The State

23 doesn't send us money equally every month. It's not like a

24 paycheck. Those payments are metered. When we bill out our

25 tuition to our member districts, those also come at

Page 8

1 different times. We have to keep additional dollars in

2 reserve so that we can cover our obligations, payroll, our

3 vendors. We need to cover our expenses.

4 So our fund balance topped out -- in fiscal

5 year '09, it topped out at $5 million. Since that time,

6 we're starting to see that fund balance come down and there

7 are a few reasons for that. We've had some changes in our

8 revenue stream, in the dollars that come in. There have

9 been some changes in what comes to us in integration

10 revenue, and also some changes as far as our tuition. I'll

11 touch base on that as well and get a little bit more

12 specific.

13 Here are the major changes to our funding.

14 It's not in the small font intentionally so that you can't

15 read it. Going back to -- well, first of all, the majority

16 of our funding either comes in tuition, and tuition is

17 generated by the students that attend our schools, that's

18 really the biggest chunk of our funding. The other major

19 piece of our funding is that integration revenue. And all

20 of our member districts receive integration revenue for all

21 of the students that they serve in their districts and that

22 amount varies based on state law. But all of those

23 districts receive dollars and they forward a portion of

24 those dollars to us. And going back to July 1 of 2003, for

25 instance, for integration revenue, all of our districts sent

Page 9

1 us $46 per pupil unit, so they sent us $46. Most of

2 them, our suburban districts anyway, received a total of $92

3 per pupil. And, again, they received that for all of the

4 students that they served in their district. So that $46

5 per pupil generated $3.6 million for EMID for the

6 collaborative. That $3.6 million helped to fund the

7 schools. It also helped to fund programs that we offer to

8 all of our member services, professional development in all

9 of our districts, student programming. So that was

10 $3.6 million in July of '03.

11 Five years later there was some discussion,

12 and then some strategic planning had been done. And there

13 was talk amongst the members to change that. Part of the

14 reason for the change is some of our districts -- and a lot

15 of it is based on geographic location -- some of our

16 districts were sending a larger percentage of their students

17 to our schools. At that time North St. Paul was part of the

18 collaborative. So, for instance, both of our schools are

19 conveniently located to District 622. There's probably a

20 lot of 622 folks that are still here. So there was a

21 discussion because some of our outlying districts, for

22 instance, that were further away, didn't send a large number

23 of students to our schools or families didn't choose to come

24 to our schools. In order to balance that out, it was

25 determined that one of the major components of our tuition

Page 10

1 revenue at that time included operating levy. The operating

2 levy that was generated by those students in their resident

3 district, that money used to follow those students.

4 In order to offset things and kind of

5 equalize things a little bit, it was decided that the

6 operating levy was to stay in the home district and that

7 resulted -- for us, it was a decrease of about $800,000 in

8 revenue. But at the same time in order to offset that --

9 and, again, we're kind of building this fund balance -- it

10 was determined that rather than $46 per pupil, per resident

11 pupil coming to us in integration revenue, that would be

12 increased to $52 and that generated $400,000. So we were

13 still short about $400,000; but, again, it was done as a

14 matter of equity amongst the members. So that was a factor

15 for us in fiscal year '09, which started on July 1, 2008.

16 A year later, you know, regardless of the

17 change, North St. Paul opted to leave the collaborative, so

18 they left July 1st of 2009, and that resulted in a reduction

19 for us of about $400,000 of integration revenue once they

20 left. A year later on July -- well, and Spring Lake Park

21 came in at that time as well. They became a full member.

22 They had been a partial prior to that. So the net of that

23 was about a $400,000 reduction in our revenues. On

24 July 1st, 2010, Forest Lake joined the collaborative. And

25 one thing I just realized in looking at this, what also

Page 11

1 happened at that time is Mahtomedi left the collaborative as

2 well. So if anyone lives in Mahtomedi, I didn't mean to

3 overlook Mahtomedi. But that -- the net of that change was

4 about another additional $400,000 to the collaborative. So

5 kind of with all of these changes as we progressed, you

6 know, the net of that was about a $400,000 loss.

7 So we -- fast-forward then two years.

8 Effective with our current fiscal year, it was decided for

9 various reasons, changing demographics in our member

10 districts -- so with increased diversity in the member

11 districts, the lack of funding, school funding keeping up,

12 it was decided that operating levy would be taken -- would

13 not come back into the formula, and then also integration

14 revenue would be reduced, as far as the integration revenue

15 that came to the collaborative. And, again, if you look

16 over a ten-year period, many of the demographics in the

17 resident districts have changed. So there were two key

18 components of the adjustments in the integration revenue.

19 Rather than sending $52 per pupil to the collaborative, that

20 amount was reduced to $30, so that was a loss to us of

21 $1.6 million annually.

22 Further, it was determined that none of

23 that integration revenue that was coming to the

24 collaborative would be used to operate the magnet schools.

25 The focus has shifted from focusing on the, you know, 800

Page 12

1 kids that come to the magnet schools to try to better

2 support the larger collaborative, and there's 115,000

3 students that attend schools throughout the member

4 districts. This was a result of discussion that began back

5 in 2011, our strategic planning process that started then

6 and that process is ongoing. So again, the dollars -- it

7 was determined that we should be supporting the larger --

8 the larger population due to increased needs and limited

9 resources.

10 So focusing a little bit more on the

11 schools, how do we fund the schools? So basically the

12 schools are funded using general education dollars, what we

13 refer to as "backpack" dollars. It's general formula

14 dollars. We also receive some certain categorical aids that

15 are spent on certain -- that are targeted as our special ed

16 aid, our federal Title dollars, and compensatory. So some

17 of these things are -- these categorical aids are used to

18 fund programs that are mandated within our schools.

19 Funds are generated by a student's

20 attendance at the EMID schools. Again, the dollars actually

21 go to our member districts, and then they forward those

22 dollars to us, but it's all based on enrollment. We receive

23 X amount of dollars per student. EMID, in turn, bills each

24 of the member districts for the students that attend our

25 schools. We do directly -- we receive directly from the

Page 13

1 State special education dollars and then federal Title

2 dollars. The average tuition amount, referring to those

3 "backpack" dollars, is about $5,400 per pupil.

4 This is our current-year budget. Looking

5 at our fiscal '13 budget, we began the year with about

6 $4.4 million in our reserves. Our revenues -- and again,

7 this is just pertaining to the schools, not to our other

8 member services programs. Our revenues are just under

9 $7 million. Looking at our expenditures -- and one thing I

10 also want to point out -- and many of you were involved a

11 year ago when we began building this budget, we actually cut

12 $1.5 million out of this budget going into the current year

13 out of our programs. So our districtwide programs,

14 administration -- that would include our business office,

15 superintendent, communications -- is about $550,000. The

16 elementary school is almost $3.7 million. The cost of

17 operating Crosswinds is $4.1 million, and then we have some

18 federal programs and some student activities. So our

19 expenses are almost $8.6 million. We are deficit spending.

20 We are spending down those reserves by $1.6 million this

21 year; and, again, that's after cutting one and a half

22 million dollars in expenses. So we see now that fund

23 balance will decline and it will decline just like your

24 savings account at home. It will decline much more rapidly

25 than it increases, so we will -- we're projecting -- or

Page 14

1 starting the year at $4.4 million, ending the year at

2 $2.7 million.

3 So some of the challenges obviously that

4 come with that, you know, we can't just increase our prices

5 as far as our revenues go. We don't have local revenue

6 authority. Most of the districts in the state have local

7 levy authority. They get excess operating levies that's

8 voter-approved, and the average on that throughout the state

9 right now is over -- it's about $1,030. We do not have that

10 authority to go to our taxpayers and levy.

11 As I mentioned earlier, we're challenged

12 with enrollment, especially at the secondary level at this

13 building. We would need to increase our student count by

14 about 100 students in addition to operating levy in order

15 for the programs to remain viable both from a programming

16 standpoint and a financial standpoint.

17 We are a "choice" school. Both of our

18 buildings are "choice" schools. Everyone that comes here

19 has taken an extra step to get here. Sometimes it's hard to

20 get out there as far as visibility and let people know we

21 are here because we are not a neighborhood school. No one

22 comes here by default. And especially at this site where we

23 sit, no one lives across the street. So the concerns with

24 these factors is our sustainability, our sustainability into

25 the future, what kind of programing we can offer, how long

Page 15

1 we can offer the programing, and how that either benefits or

2 disadvantages students because we can continue to cut. But

3 at some point our reserves will be gone regardless and the

4 concern is the justice or injustice that we're doing as far

5 as students go.

6 In fiscal year '13, as I mentioned earlier,

7 we did reduce our operating budget by $1.5 million, most of

8 that impacting the schools. One of the challenges, you

9 know, kind of related to the schools -- when we look at our

10 expenditures, also is the fact that because we are small,

11 our administration costs are higher. So it's not even just

12 the cost of the school, you know, the business office, our

13 office, the superintendency, communications. We're not

14 spreading that across several buildings. We still need to

15 provide the same services. We need to do the same reporting

16 as some of our larger districts do, but we're only spreading

17 it across two buildings, so our administrative costs become

18 higher.

19 So why do we need to close the school? As

20 I said earlier, change in our demographics, in our member

21 districts, have driven an increase in demand for services to

22 the 115,000 students and also a demand for those resources

23 in integration dollars.

24 Member districts. Demographics have

25 changed. They are more integrated and many of our members

Page 16

1 feel better equipped to serve students looking for an

2 integrated learning environment. The ongoing strategic

3 planning is focusing on the 115,000 students and how

4 everyone can better serve kids within the districts, again,

5 tying into the mission and realigning those resources. The

6 realignment of integration revenue reduced our resources for

7 our schools in the current year by $1.6 million. We have no

8 local levy authority, as I mentioned earlier. We have

9 challenges as far as enrollment, specifically within this

10 building, and the fact that it's hard for us to market the

11 program and get the word out because we are -- we are a

12 "choice" school. We don't have that traditional community.

13 Our community. Thankfully, we have seen

14 many faces that have stayed with us from Harambee through

15 Crosswinds over the years, but our community does tend to

16 turn over because, you know, we don't have that traditional

17 residential area. This all leads us to concerns about

18 sustainability and to the future.

19 And I will turn it over to -- I will be

20 your clicker.

21 DR. MOHR: Welcome to Crosswinds. Thank

22 you very much for attending this evening. I'm

23 Superintendent Janet Mohr. We appreciate the opportunity to

24 provide this information to you, and we are going to

25 appreciate hearing from you. Thank you very much for

Page 17

1 attending.

2 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Janet, could you use a

3 microphone?

4 DR. MOHR: Oh, yeah. Sorry.

5 Can you hear me now? Great.

6 I want to talk with you a little bit about

7 how this will affect the students that are currently

8 attending Crosswinds School. And as Shari already touched

9 on, and Shari, thank you very much for the presentation on

10 the financial overview and historical perspective of

11 Crosswinds and EMID.

12 But students currently attending Crosswinds

13 have an option of returning to their school district of

14 residence or they can select another school under the

15 Minnesota Choice Program, and there is a website here,

16 that's a Minnesota Department of Education website, that

17 explains all of the options for students quite clearly. But

18 sometimes things get quite complicated and so we just want

19 you to know that in this difficult time for you and for us

20 that we will provide families with support, and students

21 with support, for the programs, educational programs, that

22 they desire to select that will best support their needs.

23 Transportation has been talked about quite

24 a bit. As you know, transportation at the present time is

25 funded under integration funding and students are

Page 18

1 transported to both Crosswinds and Harambee, but students

2 will be provided transportation should they go to their

3 resident district. It will be decided upon under the

4 requirements of law and the school district policy from the

5 school in which they choose to attend, how transportation

6 will work for them. But as you all well know, that

7 transportation is provided within a certain mileage radius

8 from the school districts of -- for the student of

9 residence.

10 For special education students. At

11 Crosswinds we have about 28 percent of our students --

12 23 percent of our students are special education students.

13 They would be students that have Individual Educational

14 Plans. And students who have IEPs are protected under the

15 Individuals with Disabilities Act called IDEA. So that IEP

16 they have is a legal document and it would -- the IDEA

17 governs how states and public agencies, including schools,

18 provide special education and related services to youth with

19 disabilities. We also have students that are on 504 Plans.

20 They are also accommodated in accordance with the law. EMID

21 staff will also be supportive of families and students as we

22 explain and assist with the next steps for you contingent

23 upon the school of choice you decide for your child to

24 attend in the future.

25 How will the closing of schools affect the

Page 19

1 educational opportunities for students? Well, again, the

2 students may return to their resident districts. We have

3 asked resident districts to reach out to the students who

4 have attended Crosswinds so they know who the point of

5 contact is within those schools and they can provide that

6 level of assistance as well. And then EMID is the other

7 resource.

8 What will happen to employees working in

9 the buildings? Well, as you know, we have employment laws

10 that govern this process in addition to our Minnesota

11 Statute 123A. We have selected bargaining agreements as

12 well. But just to let you know that upon closing of the

13 schools, there will be terminations and layoffs.

14 The intent of this slide -- this slide is:

15 How will the buildings be used if the schools are closed?

16 The intent is for the EMID Board of Education to convey the

17 building to another political subdivision for the intent of

18 an educational program that would be delivered here.

19 And also, we have had three proposals that

20 have been considered and they have been under review by our

21 Board of Education. And those three proposals are South

22 Washington County, that is District 833 in which this

23 building is within the boundaries of 833; and we also have

24 The Perpich Center for the Arts; and Northeast Metro

25 Intermediate 916 that's also presented proposals to our

Page 20

1 Board of Education.

2 At this point in time, I'm going to turn it

3 back to our Chair, George Hoeppner, and there will be

4 opportunities for public testimony.

5 MR. HOEPPNER: Just a reminder, if you wish

6 to speak and you haven't signed up, the sign-up sheet is out

7 in the foyer. We ask you to limit your comments to five

8 minutes and I'll apologize in advance for mispronunciations

9 of any of the names.

10 The first speaker is Dan Larson.

11 MR. LARSON: I would first like to thank

12 you, the Board, for this opportunity to speak.

13 You can't hear me?

14 As a parent of both Crosswinds and Perpich

15 students, I'm here to endorse the option to relinquish

16 governance of Crosswinds to Perpich Center for the Arts.

17 For the past year and a half, parents, students, and staff

18 at Crosswinds have been unwavering in our support of this

19 unique arts and science program and the welcoming atmosphere

20 created for our children. For many of us, it has been

21 life-altering as I detailed at your last school board

22 meeting. That testimony was from my lens of a very grateful

23 father for a school that saved my son.

24 Tonight I would like to speak to you from

25 the lens of a teacher. When most of us think of the loss of

Page 21

1 integration, we think, first and foremost, in terms of

2 racial or social economic integration. Through my teaching

3 lens, I also think of integration in terms of learning and

4 curriculum. I'm a teacher at North High School in

5 North St. Paul, which is a former member of EMID. While our

6 high school has become balanced economically and racially,

7 we are -- our instruction is like most metro high schools.

8 We have our primary content areas of English, science,

9 social studies, math, and world languages, but our

10 curriculum in teaching is isolated. There is very little

11 collaboration or innovation across departments and I believe

12 it is to the detriment of our students and their learning.

13 We have three levels of committees that any

14 innovative curriculum ideas must go through. This is not

15 the case in this smaller school. The staff and curriculum

16 at Crosswinds have created integrated curriculum that allow

17 students with creative learning styles to make connections

18 between disciplines. This, in turn, allows them to develop

19 skills that go beyond learning. As a teacher, I believe

20 this innovative approach is the true value of Crosswinds.

21 This type of cross-discipline collaboration is virtually

22 impossible at the mega schools in most of our districts.

23 As a result I believe the innovative

24 teaching and curriculum that occurs in this building would

25 be lost. With this in mind, two of the three proposals for

Page 22

1 transfer of governance would squelch this educational

2 innovation. There is only one option that will continue

3 this innovation. There is only one option that will

4 continue the unique arts focus. Only one option that will

5 continue the integration of students from the suburbs and

6 the city. And only one option that will have the ability to

7 welcome creative students, like my sons, and make them

8 thrive.

9 For these reasons I beg you to transfer

10 governance to The Perpich Center for the Arts. It's the

11 best option for the Crosswinds community and its

12 programming. Most importantly, it's the best option for

13 kids. Thank you.

14 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

15 Reed LeBlanc? Did I say it wrong?

16 Oh, Fred.

17 Mr. LEBLANC: My name is Fred LeBlanc.

18 I've spoken at several of these forums and I want to thank

19 the Board for listening to all of us parents. I have two

20 children; one at Harambee and one at Crosswinds. Both are

21 thriving, and as I've said before, both are wonderful

22 schools.

23 I want to go back to last September when

24 the Board proposed three choices before us parents: One

25 being continue operating under current guidelines; the

Page 23

1 second choice was to find new governance, if you could; and

2 the third would be if the first two weren't able to be

3 obtained, then to close the schools.

4 Through a lot of hard work and a lot of

5 grassroots operation, a lot of communication, we've found a

6 suitor for the school. We've found an organization that is

7 going to continue what this building is all about, what

8 happens in these walls. What I want to precede to the Board

9 is, I want you to hold true to what you told us last

10 September: If we found governance for this school, these

11 schools would continue. Harambee looks like it's going to

12 be taken care of by Roseville. Now, I'm asking you to take

13 a hard look at the governance that's being proposed at

14 Crosswinds. The governance for Perpich Center for the Arts

15 is a perfect fit. It works. I accept the closing of

16 Crosswinds with the acceptance of The Perpich Center for the

17 Arts taking over.

18 I want to just ask that you take a look at

19 yourselves, take a look what you told us last September and

20 decide that that is the choice. That is the one option and

21 really the only option that this school will survive. The

22 kids thrive here. It's a great way to hand off.

23 So I thank you for the time and I thank you

24 for giving us the guidance and I'm hoping you hold up to

25 your word as we've held up to ours and accept The Perpich

Page 24

1 Center for the Arts.

2 MR. HOEPPNER: Abby LeBlanc followed by Kim

3 Zaiman.

4 MS. LEBLANC: Hello. My name is Abby

5 LeBlanc. I'm a current 9th grader here at Crosswinds. I

6 stand before you hoping that the spirit of the school will

7 live through the option of new governance for Perpich Center

8 for the Arts.

9 EMID has been a part of my education ever

10 since kindergarten, where I happened to meet my current best

11 friend, who will also be testifying tonight. I believe that

12 both Harambee and Crosswinds have prepared me for life after

13 high school and beyond. All of my extremely talented

14 teachers have taught me so many life lessons, both academic

15 and everyday, that I know I will take with me throughout the

16 rest of my life. At Crosswinds I've gotten to experience

17 and participate in so many different activities. I have

18 been in almost every single play that we've put on here and

19 I helped direct two. I'm also in the advanced orchestra at

20 Crosswinds and within this orchestra I've been able to

21 experience competitions, out-of-state music festivals, and

22 so much more. And I know that there is a large percentage

23 of students that are involved in all of these art programs

24 that I know for a fact would not have ever considered being

25 involved in such activities if not for Crosswinds.

Page 25

1 Through all of my experience at Crosswinds,

2 I have grown a lot. I know that nobody but the staff here

3 could have prepared me and helped me through my education

4 better. I see all the 10th graders working on their

5 IB personal projects and talking about how fun and

6 challenging they are. I want to be that someday. I really

7 want nothing more than to graduate from Crosswinds and

8 complete my EMID experience. This school is my second home.

9 I want as many people to go to this school and share my

10 experience.

11 The only hope for this school to live would

12 to be if Perpich Center for the Arts assumed governance for

13 the Crosswinds. I know it's a long shot, but simply closing

14 the school and walking away is a no-shot. It feels weird to

15 say that we have to close the school, but to realize we must

16 separate from EMID and open under new leadership, it's a

17 risk we're willing to take. We're an IB school and one of

18 the IB profiles is risktaker. Why not take a chance? Thank

19 you.

20 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you. Kim Zaiman

21 followed by Kathy Romero.

22 MS. ZAIMAN: Chairman Hoeppner, Board

23 members, Superintendent Mohr, EMID staff, students, alumni,

24 parents, friends, and members of the press: I'm not certain

25 that words can adequately express my feelings about the

Page 26

1 necessity of this hearing that is now taking place. I

2 address you now with a mix of profound sadness, extreme

3 frustration and outright anger, as well as excitement and

4 hope. How did we arrive at this point? My daughter's first

5 day of school at Harambee, I waited with other parents

6 picking up their children. I saw her around the corner and

7 coming down the hallway. She had an enormous smile on her

8 face and she was holding the hand of a girl wearing a hijab.

9 She was thrilled to tell me about her new friend and at that

10 moment it was confirmed that our family's selection of

11 Harambee was the right one.

12 In our post 9/11 world, there's so much

13 fear and anxiety about people that are different from us.

14 It has always been in my belief that firsthand experience

15 and knowledge are what leads us to understanding and

16 compassion for others. Here were these two girls:

17 Christian and Muslim, Native American and Somali; grinning

18 and giggling. None of that mattered to them. They're just

19 two people who were new friends, and it was beautiful.

20 Amazing things happen every day in these learning

21 communities, which they truly are. They are not simply

22 schools. All of it is done with great intention and a focus

23 on preparing students to be global citizens.

24 EMID's mission is to provide and promote

25 integrated opportunities for students, families, and staff

Page 27

1 that expand cultural understanding and support academic

2 achievement. EMID's vision is to create integrated

3 communities in which all learners have knowledge, skills,

4 and attitudes necessary for success in an increasingly

5 diverse and interdependent world. This is not just about my

6 daughter and her friends. It is about the ongoing vision

7 and mission of EMID schools. I feel EMID is of immeasurable

8 value to the current and future community at large and that

9 it is essential that Harambee and Crosswinds continue.

10 Please let me be absolutely clear: It is

11 time for EMID to withdraw from governance of Harambee

12 Community Cultures and Environmental Science School and

13 Crosswinds East Metro Arts & Science School. I implore you

14 to relinquish governance of Harambee to Roseville District

15 623 and the governance of Crosswinds to The Perpich Center

16 for Arts Education. Both of these entities have very

17 clearly expressed their intent to continue the vision and

18 mission with which these schools were formed. Peace.

19 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

20 Kathy Romero. And Jonah/Dalton after that.

21 MS. ROMERO: Thank you, EMID Board of

22 Directors, Superintendent Mohr, and friends and families for

23 being here this evening.

24 My name is Kathy Romero. I'm a language

25 arts teacher here at Crosswinds. This is my sixth year of

Page 28

1 teaching at Crosswinds and it's my sixth year of teaching.

2 After a 25-year career in investment banking and stock

3 brokerage and stock brokerage management, I got a college

4 degree when I was 53 years old and I student taught here,

5 and I've been here ever since. My degree is urban education

6 and language arts. It's my dream job. And I'm going to get

7 emotional and I apologize in advance.

8 In my reflective state of grief over your

9 decision to dissolve EMID, I'm left to ponder the decades

10 that span the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling

11 relevant to desegregation. This ruling declared separate

12 educational facilities are inherently unequal, and yet

13 across our nation, the majority of our urban schools

14 continue to operate in a separate and unequal manner. The

15 statistics associated with our urban education systems are

16 staggering with dropout rates exceeding double digits in

17 many large cities. Students particularly at risk of

18 dropping out are students living in high poverty areas.

19 According to the Institute of Education

20 Sciences, quote, "Among public school students in 2009-10,

21 higher percentages of Hispanic (37 percent), Black

22 (37 percent), and American Indian/Alaska native students

23 (29 percent) attended high-poverty schools than did

24 Asian/Pacific Islander (12 percent) and White students

25 (6 percent)."

Page 29

1 Over the past decade, the focus has shifted

2 from inherently unequal to the achievement gap. But how can

3 we hope to close the achievement gap when we can't keep kids

4 in school and we can't keep schools open for kids? It's an

5 unfair fight for freedom. The EMID schools got it right.

6 We brought students together from multiple cultures,

7 perspectives, learning behaviors, and socioeconomic

8 backgrounds. As Mary [sic] stated earlier, our population

9 has consistently included 50 percent students of color,

10 23 -- for some of us here in our classrooms, up to

11 30 percent of special ed students, and 50 percent

12 free/reduced priced lunch families. We've successfully

13 created equality and made vastly significant headway in

14 closing the achievement gap as evidenced by our 9th- and

15 10th-grade grad results. We've successfully created an

16 inclusive community, a community our students could not find

17 in their home districts. With all this success, I am left

18 to conclude that the decision made by the EMID board is

19 another example of the politically and economically

20 motivated acts of war against our youth.

21 So we are left to grieve. Grieve for our

22 at-risk youth who have thrived in this environment. Grieve

23 for our youth committed to social justice who have thrived

24 in this environment. Grieve for the lost opportunity to do

25 the right thing by our youth, our community, and our nation.

Page 30

1 The recognized seven stages of grief tell us we have a long

2 road ahead of us. As a result of the Board's systematic

3 dissolution of our school, for most shock and denial have

4 weaned. Pain and guilt, however, continue to haunt. I ask

5 myself daily what more could I have done? I have had to put

6 aside my anger in order to continue to do my work with the

7 students and I'm left with the depressing sense of

8 loneliness as I reflect on the abandonment of our own Board.

9 Hope for me lies in your civic commitment,

10 your civic duty, to now do the right thing. With the

11 economics soon behind you, you now have the opportunity to

12 speak and act from your heart. We have an opportunity to

13 continue the good works for our 6th- through 10th-grade

14 students. The right thing is to transfer governance to

15 Perpich Center for the Arts.

16 MR. HOEPPNER: Jonah/Dalton followed by

17 Leslye Taylor.

18 JONAH: Hello, I'm Jonah.

19 MR. THOMAS: And I'm Dalton Thomas.

20 JONAH: I've been -- I've been in the EMID

21 program ever since I was in kindergarten and I'm in the 11th

22 grade now. I went to Crosswinds from 6th grade through 10th

23 grade and it was like -- I go to a different school now and

24 it doesn't feel the same, like, at Crosswinds. Here

25 everybody was like family and everybody knew each other and

Page 31

1 had a relationship with the teachers and everything. And at

2 other schools, it just doesn't feel the same. Like, the

3 teachers are just there doing their jobs, like, they don't

4 kind of care about any of the students and it would be a

5 shame to close the school. So if you have an opportunity to

6 keep it open, I think you should take it so other younger

7 kids can experience what I got to experience throughout my

8 life and school and everything.

9 MR. THOMAS: And pretty much the same

10 thing. I've been going through EMID since 4th grade to 10th

11 grade. I left -- last year was my last year. I'm now in

12 11th attending AFSA with Jonah here. And nothing's wrong

13 with AFSA; it's a good school, but it does not compare to

14 the life experience and memories that Crosswinds gave us and

15 all of EMID. The people we've met -- it's -- I don't even

16 call them teachers anymore. I call them friends. I've

17 never met a single enemy at Crosswinds or Harambee. They're

18 all friends and I enjoy to call them that. It's an amazing

19 school and it would be, as he said, a shame to close it. If

20 there's any type of way to keeping it open to have others

21 experience this as well, you should take it. It's the best

22 option. I don't know. It seems the best way.

23 JONAH: Another thing, like, at other

24 schools, like, if you get behind on your work or anything

25 they're like -- like, yeah, you should keep up with your

Page 32

1 work by yourself, but if you get behind and you ask for

2 help, like, they don't really give you the kind of help that

3 you might be needing. And here at Crosswinds if you get

4 behind on your work, they give you the attention and the

5 help and the resources that you need to get caught back up

6 to where you're supposed to be. And, like, it's pretty hard

7 to fail here because, like, they -- the teaching environment

8 is so open and you have so many, like, teachers around you

9 to help you with your work if you need it. And it's like --

10 like, if it stayed open, when I have kids, I would

11 definitely send them here because I love the school. I love

12 the people and the teachers.

13 MR. THOMAS: Same with me. I would -- I

14 could stay here till 12th grade, throughout my whole high

15 school -- my whole school years or lifetime, I would, but I

16 had to move on. And I would tell anybody, if they are

17 looking for a school, go to Crosswinds, go to Harambee.

18 It's the best option. It teaches you not only in education,

19 but life experiences. It teaches you how to be a better

20 person. Just how everybody is so positive. You would never

21 meet anybody here that would just say, "Oh, you failed.

22 That's on you. That's your fault." They will go out of

23 their way to help you. They will step in and do what they

24 can to make you not fail. They want you to succeed. That's

25 what Crosswinds and the whole EMID program is about. It's

Page 33

1 about the kids. They only are here to help the kids. Thank

2 you.

3 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you. Leslye Taylor

4 followed by Laurel LeBlanc.

5 MS. TAYLOR: Good evening. Our Board

6 members, community members: These are great acts to follow.

7 This is my community of teachers, of students, of parents.

8 We have come together with a concern for our children, that

9 there would be the greatest educational opportunity for our

10 children that would perhaps not excel in mainstream schools.

11 I want to thank you all over the years for

12 what you have provided, for what you have stewarded -- from

13 Anne Andersen's vision and others -- so that we could have

14 schools like Crosswinds that we're speaking of this evening

15 for our children so they could learn to succeed with

16 whatever learning abilities or disabilities that they

17 embrace. And they embrace it because we embrace it with

18 them and we work together. And in your stewardship over

19 these years, I feel that the best decision now would be to

20 release the school from your governance and let the school

21 continue with the one option that has been offered to us

22 that honors and respects what we need to continue in the

23 finest education for our children and that is Perpich Center

24 for the Arts.

25 This has been revealed through the proposal

Page 34

1 that was thought through very well so that we could, in

2 fact, continue to have an education that would not be

3 disrupted where our children have come to find a place to

4 learn in the way that they can succeed. This has been

5 demonstrated where on Monday Perpich School for the Arts is

6 coming here to meet with our staff, our teachers. And

7 they're coming here to meet with us as parents to learn more

8 about the community that they're interested in governing, to

9 learn more of how they can assist and play a successful part

10 in this amazing program that has been developed that --

11 there is nothing available of this nature in the Twin

12 Cities, where we have the pleasure of living.

13 And so I would ask you to strongly release

14 the governance of these schools. You've done a wonderful

15 job. It's time to move on and let someone who can come in

16 and do the next job for us that can continue the program of

17 Crosswinds. It crosses every wind because it includes every

18 ethnicity, every level of learning, every kind of education,

19 so that every child can succeed with every kind of community

20 member, every kind of parent working together as one team.

21 I thank you very much for considering this very carefully.

22 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

23 Laurel LeBlanc followed by Ihsan Ingersoll.

24 MS. LEBLANC: Hi. Parents, students, and

25 teachers have been fighting to keep this school open under

Page 35

1 EMID. We now know that closing the schools, meaning

2 separating from EMID, is necessary if the school's programs

3 are to survive under new and supportive governance.

4 Well, why do we need a school like this?

5 Why do we need this option? All students should experience

6 the challenge and wonder of science, but more importantly,

7 they need to see how it relates to their lives and their

8 world. Our IB program does that. Not all students are

9 interested in being an athlete or attending sporting events,

10 although I am a big Twins fan. Some clearly prefer music,

11 visual arts, drama. There's plenty of students that value

12 learning communication skills, expressing their opinion,

13 thinking for themselves, becoming a responsible citizen,

14 more than fitting in with the crowd. Respecting and working

15 alongside different options, different cultures, and

16 different abilities should be important in any school

17 especially as students learn to navigate an increasingly

18 global economy. Nowhere have I seen this done more

19 successfully than in the EMID schools do to the consistent,

20 intentional message that differences are good, that everyone

21 has gifts, and working together for a common purpose. Using

22 everyone's gifts is vital. These are values that might be

23 lost if this program is just allowed to simply die.

24 Students whose needs may not be met in a traditional school

25 environment are those who will be especially harmed by the

Page 36

1 loss of this school.

2 Crosswinds and Harambee could have been

3 used as a model to help other districts solve problems of

4 conflict and acceptance as diversity increases and other

5 districts move from trying to simply achieve equity among

6 students towards achieving actual integration. Roseville

7 has made a commitment to keep the programs at Harambee alive

8 for its students and for the students who are there now.

9 There's only one proposal that would

10 continue the values and opportunities offered here at

11 Crosswinds and share them as they were always meant to be

12 shared with students all over the state of Minnesota and

13 that's Perpich Center for the Arts. We know the Perpich

14 proposal faces many hurdles and it might be a long shot at

15 best, but please give them the opportunity to try. I want

16 my 4th-grade son to be able to attend middle school where

17 he's accepted for who he is and where he can find and

18 develop his unique gifts. The Crosswinds program doesn't

19 deserve to be simply abandoned. The other proposals will

20 simply leave the building empty next year and that would be

21 a big waste. Thank you.

22 MR. HOEPPNER: Ihsan Ingersoll followed by

23 Holly Ingersoll.

24 MR. INGERSOLL: I'm Ihsan, which you really

25 just said, and I'm a new student here at Crosswinds, 6th

Page 37

1 grade and -- yeah.

2 This is my first time that in four to five

3 years that I felt challenged. Crosswinds met my

4 expectations which were pretty high, so --

5 I chose this school over the Montessori

6 Minnesota Charter School, which I was going to Montessori

7 before here. The problem is that the other public school

8 that I went to was not as educational as Crosswinds. I hope

9 that you will keep Crosswinds alive for as long as possible

10 by transferring governance to Perpich. And that's really

11 it.

12 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

13 Holly Ingersoll followed by Dave Bishop.

14 MS. INGERSOLL: Hi. Thank you for taking

15 the time to hear from the community that my son and I have

16 recently chosen to become a part of. Ihsan started

17 Crosswinds this September. A licensed psychologist, who has

18 worked with him for six years, whom we both respect,

19 recommended we look into Crosswinds for him when I told her

20 that I was going to look for a new school for him. It was

21 clear that he was losing interest in learning and got lost

22 in the K through 6 program that he had been attending since

23 kindergarten. He was smart; not a problem, but had some

24 areas that needed attention. This was a public Montessori

25 with a good reputation, but Ihsan was not inspired as I

Page 38

1 expected he would be. When asked about the school -- when

2 asked about school when I picked him up, he'd say, "I don't

3 know." Or he'd often say, "It's just a repeat from the year

4 before."

5 After a tour and coming to see the play

6 "Hairspray" in the summer, we wanted to check out Crosswinds

7 in action. We looked at two charter schools and one private

8 school. Crosswinds is the school that Ihsan chose, hands

9 down. He and I researched all the schools. He compared the

10 pros and cons, as did I. We had different kinds of lists.

11 We toured some. We agreed to end his enrollment one year

12 early and take a chance at Crosswinds and the chance has

13 paid off already. He just started in September. I really

14 hope that governance does transfer to Perpich, who may

15 forward a proposal and I hope that they do.

16 Ihsan has auditioned for the play as a 6th

17 grader; he did it without me knowing. And he enrolled in

18 yearbook after-school workgroup. He would like to do much

19 more and seems to have an unending energy for his

20 schoolwork, including his trombone and after-school

21 activities. I've never seen him so engaged in his

22 education. They have helped my son grow in ways that have

23 already started to make a huge difference in his attitude

24 toward education, school, and learning.

25 And I have experienced it myself. I was an

Page 39

1 uninspired student for many years and decided -- had an

2 opportunity to go to a very special school when I was 16 and

3 start college and it changed my life. I probably would have

4 been a high school dropout had it not been for Simon's Rock

5 Early College that's a part of Bard College. Crosswinds

6 kind of feels the same to me, so it's a lifesaver.

7 When he was in the other school in

8 St. Paul, I found myself paying for drawing classes and

9 running after work to pick him up to get him to drawing

10 class and it was crazy for me, and I was just ripping my

11 hair out trying to make sure that I could provide the

12 opportunities for him that the school that he was going to

13 really couldn't.

14 I want to say that Crosswinds has created

15 an environment where making friends is easy, which has been

16 a challenge for him in the past, and there is never a

17 mention of bullying or any negativity. He enrolled in inner

18 session, the first one, and can't wait to have another

19 chance to experience this unique learning opportunity. I

20 work full time and have found the year-round school to not

21 only seem best for Ihsan, but is far more manageable for me.

22 As I said, I toured many schools and

23 ultimately agreed with Ihsan to leave his school one year

24 early and enroll at Crosswinds. They have delivered what

25 they promised and more. He's finally challenged

Page 40

1 academically at a very high level, and they meet his needs

2 in the few areas that are still challenging for him. They

3 teach the whole person: my child. All K through 6 St. Paul

4 schools will be changing to a K through 5 program next year.

5 Ihsan had been in a 4- through 6th-grade classroom and is

6 still friends with the children who will be looking for a

7 good school in 2013 and 2014 for 6th and 7th grade.

8 We have shared with his friends and their

9 parents the excellent education that Ihsan is receiving at

10 Crosswinds. They've asked us to keep them posted as they

11 look for 6th and 7th grade for their own children who are

12 leaving J.J. Hill.

13 We hope we can continue to encourage them

14 to consider Crosswinds with the knowledge that this school

15 will be here for children, as they search for an exceptional

16 program, with our hope that you'll consider transferring

17 governance to Perpich, who seems equipped to actually keep

18 the program intact. Thank you.

19 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

20 Dave Bishop followed by Jeff Barker.

21 MR. BISHOP: I'm saddened by the thought

22 that the Crosswinds program may not continue. Crosswinds

23 took the mission of integration seriously and the staff

24 understood that integration is not just having a

25 certain percentage of nonwhite students. And I'm speaking

Page 41

1 of this because this is something that very much affected my

2 boys.

3 Integration is teaching students to be

4 accepting of others, understanding that their point of view

5 isn't the only or right way to see the world. I'm sure many

6 of you may have heard about the incident at a Wisconsin

7 school where a noose was given to an African-American

8 student and the staff were still trying to figure out what

9 to do but don't believe there is a wider problem. But this

10 wasn't the first time that that student had experienced

11 problems. On the off chance that something like that would

12 occur here, not only would the staff know how to handle it,

13 but most of the students would too, and it would be handled

14 immediately.

15 There was an incident in my eldest son's

16 first year where he was being teased for wearing sweatpants

17 all the time. I found out about it at the first review we

18 had where they'd already taken care of it, and, you know,

19 taught the boy that was having the -- that was doing the

20 teasing and my son how to deal with it, and it was a

21 nonissue by the time I found out about it.

22 But with the Wisconsin story, my younger

23 son who's -- who's very well-read. He read the story,

24 looked at me with a very puzzled look with one comment,

25 Seriously? He just couldn't understand how that could

Page 42

1 happen anywhere.

2 But if you must close the school without

3 saving this program, I think each of your districts should

4 reserve spaces for the teachers and staff that are part of

5 this school. Make use of their integration knowledge and

6 training because placing these staff into the surrounding

7 schools would be the only positive outcome of closing this

8 program.

9 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

10 Jeff Parker followed by Bev Sellie.

11 MR. PARKER: Good evening. My name is Jeff

12 Parker and I come to you tonight as a person who's been in

13 education for 25 years. With the exception of being a

14 superintendent, I've held just about every other role that

15 there is and so I have some sense of what goes on out here

16 and I have some sense of what goes on over there, and I do

17 not envy you at all.

18 I'm not here to change your mind, but I am

19 going to push on your mind-set. Everybody says change is

20 inevitable. We all know that. I think a wise person

21 recognizes a point when it's not wise to spend energy

22 fighting the change anymore, but it is wise to spend that

23 energy shaping that change in a way that benefits us -- me,

24 in particular -- and all those people who depend on me.

25 And I think every single teacher in this

Page 43

1 building would tell you the same thing. We're concerned

2 about our responsibility. Our responsibility as teachers,

3 and by extension your responsibility as a district, is to

4 align students, families, and employees with an educational

5 program that clearly honors the experiences, the

6 perspectives, and the values of those people who are

7 invested in this place.

8 I don't believe that school closure is a

9 term that I want to use anymore. I'd rather not hear it

10 anymore. It's a term that for me conjures up a mind-set, a

11 mind-set of ending, a mind-set of decay. I'm going to

12 challenge us to shift our mind-set from that closure

13 mind-set into a more preservation mind-set. I want to shift

14 away from closing and turn toward preserving a program, a

15 program that pushes toward equity, a program that

16 continually evolves its understanding of diversity, a

17 program that authentically serves its students and families.

18 I don't care what name the program has. I like Crosswinds

19 because I came up with it, but it doesn't need to stay that

20 way.

21 Having said that, after reviewing the

22 proposals that we've had and really taking to heart my

23 responsibility of making sure that this change is best for

24 all of those folks who depend on me, I want to ask this

25 Board to -- not seriously consider -- I want you to transfer

Page 44

1 governance. Transfer governance to Perpich by the end of

2 July of this year. And more than that, I'd like for us to

3 commit the available time and the available resources, and

4 that includes all the money that we have, to the creation of

5 a plan to transfer governance in a way that preserves the

6 current program in a way that really honors the

7 contributions and the values of the people who are invested

8 here.

9 I don't believe that this is the end. It

10 doesn't need to be the end. I need the Board's help to

11 figure out what the next chapter is going to look like, and

12 I need the Board to hear what all those folks who depend on

13 me think the next chapter should look like. If you will

14 help us do that, I will write good things about you in my

15 journal, which someday may be published. That's all I have.

16 I appreciate your time.

17 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

18 Bev Sellie followed by Kayleigh Schlenker.

19 MS. SELLIE: Thank you. Good evening. I

20 wish to speak on behalf of our beloved Crosswinds. My

21 husband and I are the parents of two sons, a 12th-grade

22 alumni of Crosswinds, Zander; and a current 8th grader,

23 Daniel. Zander started at Crosswinds in 7th grade and

24 Daniel as a 6th grader. Both of our boys attended Battle

25 Creek Elementary School in St. Paul prior to that. While we

Page 45

1 were satisfied with Battle Creek Elementary in our home

2 district of 625, we didn't find Battle Creek Middle School

3 to be a good fit for our family. We found Crosswinds

4 provided a rich, multicultural experience, smaller school

5 setting, year-round calendar, a strong environmental focus

6 and arts focus, and an emphasis on individual attention and

7 teaching tailored to each child.

8 Crosswinds has had a huge impact on our

9 lives. One of the reasons is the dedicated teachers who go

10 above and beyond to engage the students and encourage them

11 to challenge themselves, working with each child to bring

12 out their best and helping them to become successful and

13 confident young adults.

14 Our 12th grader, Zander, feels that the

15 four years at Crosswinds were the best years of his life.

16 He has a hard time letting go of Crosswinds. He made

17 lifelong friendships not only among his peers, but with some

18 of his teachers and parents who continue to be a strong

19 support system for him during his hard transition to another

20 school.

21 Our 8th grader, Daniel, loves his school

22 and all it offers. He's grown in leaps and bounds since

23 he's been here. He's in his second year of AVID and has

24 been very involved in the theater program. The arts focus

25 of the school provides an opportunity for the students to

Page 46

1 grow in confidence and wisdom. It has been wonderful to see

2 these multicultural kids with various abilities,

3 backgrounds, and disabilities work together and share the

4 joy of being a part of something wonderful.

5 We believe that the only way to keep this

6 school alive and intact is by transferring governance to

7 The Perpich Center for Arts Education, which intends to

8 follow and support the existing programs, teachers, and

9 philosophy of Crosswinds Arts & Science School. We support

10 EMID withdrawing from governance at the end of this school

11 year and ask the Board to work with Perpich on a smooth

12 transition to new management. It sounds like a winning

13 proposition to us and I thank you.

14 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

15 Kayleigh Schlenker and -- followed by Tim

16 Stepan.

17 MS. SCHLENKER: Hello. My name is Kayleigh

18 Schlenker and I really encourage you to support the option

19 that will keep the arts going here.

20 My sister, brother, and I have been at EMID

21 since kindergarten. And I'm proud to say I've experienced

22 the wonderful things Harambee had to offer, and I am now

23 currently a very proud 9th grader. My brother is a 10th

24 grader and my sister graduated from here last year, and

25 needless to say, we have all been very aware of how lucky we

Page 47

1 are to have been involved in the arts here at Crosswinds.

2 I was in band for a few years and then I

3 took up theater. I've acted in numerous plays held here at

4 Crosswinds and I'm currently student directing one. The

5 arts have helped me so much to grow as a person socially,

6 academically, and on. And being involved in the arts has

7 helped me and a lot of others, like, come out of our shells.

8 My sister was in band and orchestra and my

9 brother is currently in band, and they have both had the

10 opportunities to travel to places such as New York and

11 Chicago. We all agreed that the arts program is an

12 essential part of Crosswinds. I know for a fact that my

13 peers who are involved in the arts have been genuinely

14 affected positively and I speak on behalf of everyone that

15 has benefited from not only the arts programs at Crosswinds,

16 but the academics, wonderful teachers, and the supportive

17 environment.

18 Being involved in the arts program has

19 personally helped me find myself and build long-lasting

20 friendships, such as the one I've had with Abby LeBlanc

21 and she mentioned me sort of in her speech -- whatever. I

22 just wanted to say that recently in language arts class we

23 learned about an African belief called the sancopa

24 (phonetic). It basically means that you don't ignore your

25 past and forget about it, but it encourages you to take your

Page 48

1 past with you to benefit you in future. Your past makes you

2 who you are.

3 I must say I will take my experience at

4 Harambee and Crosswinds with me into the future, and I hope

5 that more kids will be able to say the same. These schools

6 are my sancopa. I really encourage you to support the

7 option that will closely preserve the spirit of Crosswinds

8 we know today for future students. Thank you.

9 MR. HOEPPNER: Tim Stepan followed by Dan

10 Stein.

11 MR. STEPAN: Good evening. I'm Tim Stepan

12 and I teach at Harambee School. I'd just like to say that

13 it's great to see so many of my former students speaking so

14 eloquently at the meeting tonight.

15 But I'm here tonight speaking as the

16 president of the United Educators 6067, which is our local

17 teachers' union. I just want to read part of the letter

18 that I sent to all of the board members on behalf of the

19 teachers at Harambee and Crosswinds.

20 "We've heard you state that you want the

21 least amount of disruption to students, families, and staff

22 when making decisions about the future of our schools. We

23 appreciate and share that goal. The United Educators would

24 like to urge you to withdraw students from both EMID schools

25 at the same time at the end of this school year. This would

Page 49

1 create the least amount of disruption for the teaching staff

2 in whichever proposal you choose to transfer governance to.

3 When we put aside the emotions of losing

4 two schools that we love and believe in, we realize the best

5 thing for everyone involved would be for EMID to withdraw

6 their students and hopefully transition them to another

7 entity. The ramifications of keeping Crosswinds open as an

8 EMID school are huge for our students, families, and

9 teachers.

10 First, Minnesota Statute 123A.33 provides

11 some statutory rights to teachers who choose to serve

12 cooperative districts, such as EMID, which are by nature

13 less stable and more prone to change than regular districts.

14 If EMID withdraws students from both Harambee and Crosswinds

15 at the end of this school year, all of our continuing

16 contract teachers will have rights to available positions in

17 member districts.

18 Keeping Crosswinds open for another year as

19 an EMID school delays these rights for some of our members

20 and creates significant complications in implementing the

21 statutory rights. Withdrawing students from both Harambee

22 and Crosswinds at the same time would allow us -- all

23 continuing contract teachers to access the rights of the

24 statute together. This would eliminate messy staffing

25 situations, which would not be good for students, staff, or

Page 50

1 families of EMID.

2 As painful as the closure of Harambee and

3 Crosswinds would be for us on an emotional level, please

4 remember that we are facing losing our jobs and not knowing

5 what the future looks like. We ask you to give us the best

6 chance in our member districts by withdrawing from both

7 schools at the same time. We understand that many people

8 want Crosswinds to transfer governance to Perpich Center for

9 the Arts at the end of the school year with the hope they

10 will obtain the legislative authority and financing to make

11 Crosswinds a six ten arts and science campus next year.

12 We would urge you to consider whether this

13 is realistic and have a viable backup plan that does not

14 include EMID running Crosswinds next year. If the timing

15 works out for Crosswinds to withdraw from EMID and become

16 part of Perpich Center for the Arts, we could support that

17 goal.

18 However, under current legislation, staff

19 of a public school district would have no legal right to

20 jobs at a school that is part of a state agency and not a

21 public school district. But if EMID withdraws its students

22 and transfers governance to Perpich, then EMID's continuing

23 contract teachers would be able to access the rights to open

24 positions in member districts.

25 We hope you that you will consider our

Page 51

1 position. As a group we are as invested in these two

2 schools as anyone. Thank you."

3 MR. HOEPPNER: Dan Stein followed by Josh

4 Kenow.

5 MR. KENOW: I'm speaking on behalf of the

6 Crosswinds program remaining intact underneath Perpich

7 Center.

8 I'm a 10th grader at Crosswinds. I've been

9 here since 6th grade and will move on as an alumni. I'm

10 hoping to go Perpich Center, actually. So although next

11 year I won't be attending Crosswinds, my two younger sisters

12 will be, that is, if it stays open. One of them is a 6th

13 grader; the other is a 4th grader at Harambee. And so this

14 will probably be the only year we'll all share the same

15 schedule, but --

16 Anyways, my experience at Crosswinds has

17 brought me nothing but academic success. Teachers here are

18 some of the most flexible and patient people I've ever met.

19 While I was here, they wanted to help me succeed and not

20 just me, but everyone. They don't give up on even the most

21 stubborn kids -- and there's some pretty dang stubborn kids

22 out there.

23 It's also a very supportive place as well.

24 It's not only rich in environmental studies, but has had, of

25 what I've seen, exactly no bullying whatsoever and what

Page 52

1 seems to be the greatest population of openly gay students.

2 It's also a hugely integrated school with kids of different

3 races, creeds, and even from other countries.

4 But another thing about Crosswinds that's

5 very important to me, as well as probably everybody else, is

6 the arts program. We have a music program. Orchestra and

7 band has won several awards for their performance, a visual

8 arts program whose best current works you can see in the

9 open display cases in front of you, as well as basically all

10 around the school. The theater program, which has put on

11 fantastic shows like "The Wiz," "Murder at Crooked House,"

12 and "Hairspray," just to name our three most recent ones.

13 Luckily for me, I've had the privilege of dabbling myself in

14 each of these programs over the years. Theater program

15 actually is what made me realize I'm somewhat of a decent

16 speaker and that's why I'm here.

17 I want the Crosswinds program to continue

18 under the governing of Perpich, and I hope that the other

19 kids may have the rewarding experience that I've had. Thank

20 you.

21 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

22 Josh Kenow followed by Jill Markovich.

23 MR. KENOW: All of my thoughts have

24 essentially been conveyed, so that's all I have to say.

25 Thank you.

Page 53

1 MR. HOEPPNER: Jill Markovich followed by

2 Casey Markovich.

3 MS. MARKOVICH: Casey is going to go first.

4 MR. MARKOVICH: "Dear Crosswinds School

5 Board and Staff members: My name is Casey and I am a 7th

6 grader at Crosswinds. I really like Crosswinds because it

7 has theater, orchestra, art and the resource room. I'm in

8 theater class right now, and I'm in a play called, "Trials:

9 The Life of Joan of Arc." I like being in theater with Mr.

10 Rish because he teaches me a lot of things about acting.

11 Theater is cool.

12 I want Crosswinds to stay just the way it

13 is. I want to try music and art too. I get to try things I

14 have never had a chance to do before at Crosswinds.

15 If you want more students to come to

16 Crosswinds, maybe you could try to get more deaf and

17 hard-of-hearing students to come. I really get all of the

18 help I need at this school and I get to be a part of the

19 play. I feel like it is a once-in-a-lifetime chance that

20 other D/HH students should have too.

21 Please try to find a way to keep Crosswinds

22 the way it is. I want to stay there until 10th grade or

23 even 12th grade. Sincerely, Casey Markovich."

24 MS. MARKOVICH: "Dear Crosswinds School

25 Board and Staff members: Our son, Casey, started at

Page 54

1 Crosswinds this fall and is doing great despite many

2 challenges. He is hearing-impaired and has a processing

3 problem that makes him slow to learn. Casey is fully

4 integrated in all classes and activities in Crosswinds.

5 This is something we think is unique to this school and its

6 program. He has a full schedule covering all academic areas

7 and gets all the support he needs through the fantastic

8 staff at Crosswinds and sign language interpreter.

9 Casey is excited about being involved in

10 the theater program. He actually has a speaking part. This

11 not only helps him work on his reading skills but also work

12 on his speech pronunciation. His self-esteem and confidence

13 get a huge boost too. Theater has given Casey a sense of

14 belonging. He is on a team working towards a common goal.

15 He is learning self-discipline, organization, personal

16 responsibility, commitment to a cause, and teamwork. You

17 can't test for this type of learning, but it is just as

18 important as anything else he can learn. I don't know of

19 anywhere else Casey would be given so many opportunities.

20 He said he would like to try music too.

21 We are hoping and praying that however the

22 transition takes place, that the program can stay intact. I

23 actually cry at the thought of Casey losing this

24 opportunity. We hope this letter will support Crosswinds

25 and its programs. Sincerely, Thomas and Jill Markovich."

Page 55

1 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

2 Zander Danielson Sellie is up next and

3 Cornelius Rish is on deck.

4 MR. DANIELSON SEILLE: I urge you to

5 actually -- I know this is called a "hearing," but I urge

6 you to actually listen. There's a difference. Very much

7 difference.

8 In the words -- in the words of Atticus

9 Finch, "Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's

10 knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway

11 and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win,

12 sometimes you do."

13 I feel that quote particularly applies to

14 this situation we're in right now -- for parents, for staff,

15 for alumni, like me who are in their senior year of high

16 school and they were here for four years and they're still

17 fighting the fight because we see the good that this school

18 has and we know what's right. And we realize that what's

19 important is not the fact that Crosswinds just has an AVID

20 program, because that's all in your member districts, that

21 there's a theater department or that there's an orchestra or

22 that there's responsive classroom or that there's the IB

23 World School or that there's dedicated teachers, because I'm

24 sure there are some of those in your own districts. It's

25 the collaboration of all of them, and the integration of all

Page 56

1 those components and the arts and science, and everything I

2 just listed, that makes this place a lab school, which was

3 -- its original intention back in 1998 was to be a lab

4 school. 833's proposal and 916's proposal, I don't see the

5 lab school continuing. You're giving up on what this school

6 was meant to do and you have people here waiting and willing

7 to help that vision of this building continue -- and this

8 staff. But it can't continue without everyone's support or

9 at least most of us. So that would be the ten of you.

10 Also, there's another quote that says,

11 "There's nothing more powerful than a community discovering

12 what it cares about," by Margaret Wheatley. I feel like in

13 the last year since I've learned basically everything there

14 is to learn about EMID governance and the joint powers

15 agreement -- I have seven versions of it on my iPad and all

16 112 pages of board packets -- that's what we learned. What

17 I learned is we really don't -- EMID over the last two years

18 is not what makes Crosswinds, Crosswinds. What makes

19 Crosswinds, Crosswinds is the dedicated teachers, dedicated

20 administration, dedicated staff, students, and everyone

21 that's here seeing this fight out until the end. There are

22 a lot of us that say we will go down with the ship and we

23 will make sure -- if that's what it comes to.

24 I don't see you guys on the same page as

25 the rest of us. I get you guys are going through, Our

Page 57

1 superintendent tells us this," and, you know, The rest of

2 our board and our financial decisions -- great. But

3 Crosswinds teaches you to stand up for what's right, not

4 what other people are telling you to do. This is a decision

5 that directly impacts a large minority group. A large group

6 of students who have graduated here probably would not have

7 actually graduated high school had they not come here, and

8 high school test scores are not all that bad.

9 Also, you're impacting directly students

10 and all of that, and at the end of the day, there are kids

11 that will come out of this school and they will do great

12 things. I guarantee it. I've seen it happen in some cases.

13 And something with a community like that, isn't necessarily

14 beneficial to the rest of you in the long run. Because with

15 everything that's happened over the last two years, half the

16 names that I see on that table are daily discussions on

17 Facebook or -- or meeting updates that get posted and other

18 things. So, you know, one day you may be making a decision

19 and you'll run into more and more people related to EMID

20 that will go, "Why did you do that?"

21 Yes, it is a huge gamble, so that is why

22 I'm telling you to take the chance and be a risktaker.

23 Embrace the IB learner profiles, embrace what this school

24 teaches their students, be an example for students in this

25 building and turn over governance and help the turnover

Page 58

1 happen. Turn over governance of Crosswinds School located

2 at 600 Weir Drive, 55125, to Perpich Arts -- Perpich Center

3 for the Arts Education, July 1st, 2013.

4 MR. HOEPPNER: Cornelius Rish followed by

5 Savannah Taylor.

6 MR. RISH: Good evening. My name is

7 Cornelius Rish and I stand here as both a proud theater arts

8 teacher and director at Crosswinds Arts & Science School as

9 well as a member of the United Educators 6067. I support

10 the United Educators' position to transfer governance of

11 both Crosswinds and Harambee at the end of the school year

12 to help preserve the seniority and bidding rights of our

13 teachers within EMID member districts. At the same time, I

14 support the transfer of governance of Crosswinds to Perpich

15 Center for the Arts, starting at the 2013-2014 school year.

16 I feel doing both would be a win-win

17 situation for our teachers, staff, and current Crosswinds

18 families. A transfer of governance to Perpich during the

19 2013-2014 school year would allow teachers that would like

20 to be part and staff that would like to be a part of this

21 change to remain here at Crosswinds, while still allowing

22 EMID teachers and tenured teachers bidding rights in member

23 districts.

24 In addition, current Crosswinds families

25 can then decide to continue in an arts-focused education,

Page 59

1 which is already part of Crosswinds academic programming or

2 look elsewhere for their child's education. The key

3 component to what I'm proposing is choice. If Perpich takes

4 over operation of the school, current tenured teachers can

5 choose to be part of this opportunity, even if they have to

6 reapply for their jobs, or they can choose to exercise their

7 rights to secure a teaching job in our member districts.

8 Current Crosswinds families can choose to either remain in

9 an arts-focused education, as mentioned before, or they can

10 choose to send their children to attend school elsewhere.

11 Crosswinds office staff, custodians, EAs, and

12 administrators, which are often lost in this conversation

13 but are essential to Crosswinds' success, they too may have

14 the opportunity to continue employment here or to look for

15 other opportunities. Please let's not forget about them.

16 In conclusion, I support the transfer of

17 governance to Perpich because research shows that an arts

18 education helps build students' self-esteem, presentation

19 skills, academic skills, and social skills, while leading

20 them through a process of self-discovery. I would like to

21 quote Arne Duncan, the former U.S. Secretary of Education,

22 "The arts can significantly boost student achievement,

23 reduce discipline problems, and increase the odds that

24 students will go on to graduate from college." As First

25 Lady Michelle Obama sums up, both she and the President

Page 60

1 believe strongly that arts education is essential for

2 building innovative thinkers who will be our nation's

3 leaders for tomorrow.

4 So in conclusion, I hope you vote for the

5 transfer of governance of Crosswinds to Perpich Center so

6 that the work of this building, the work of building

7 innovative thinkers who will be our nation's leaders for

8 tomorrow, can continue. Thank you.

9 MR. HOEPPNER: Savannah Taylor is up.

10 Kelly DeBrine is next.

11 MS. TAYLOR: Hello. My name is Savy

12 Taylor. I saw my first play when I was about three years

13 old. It was "A Christmas Story." We went -- me and my mom

14 went on to see plays every year since then, and my mom would

15 tell me I would always say, "I want to do that someday."

16 I took some theater classes in the

17 community, but my first real experience was the Crosswinds

18 theater program. I started last year in 6th grade when we

19 did "Murder at Crooked House" and I helped with the tech.

20 In the summer we did the musical "Hairspray" and I got to be

21 on stage. I never would have thought that I would be able

22 to get up in front of family, friends, and complete

23 strangers and sing and dance.

24 Not only has this theater experience given

25 me the courage to speak in front of people, but it has also

Page 61

1 given me the power to stand up for myself and others. I

2 have also made some new friends. If I didn't do the

3 Crosswinds theater program, than I wouldn't be who I am

4 today. I'm disappointed there is a chance there will be no

5 Crosswinds like we know it today. I think that the best

6 decision would be to transfer to Perpich. That will give a

7 chance for students in the future to have a spectacular

8 experience like me. And not only has the theater experience

9 changed me, but so have the teachers. They're so loving and

10 caring about you. Like, my neighbors tell me about their

11 teachers and they don't sound nearly as loving as our

12 teachers do to us and it's just amazing. Thank you for your

13 time.

14 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

15 Kelly DeBrine followed by Eric Celeste.

16 MS. DEBRINE: Thank you. I share

17 everybody's comments this evening. I do want to emphasize

18 one point which is the integration ethic that began this

19 district.

20 Minnesota has not had a process of

21 requiring integration across the districts. Cities haven't

22 required students to go to school together, and neighborhood

23 schools don't often offer the opportunity for integration.

24 We have a lot of discussions about -- we have a lot of

25 confusing definitions, mixing up the word "diversity" with

Page 62

1 "integration." And I understand that lots of districts are

2 becoming more diverse, but integration is the tool for

3 helping that become a welcoming community and doing it right

4 is what Crosswinds and Harambee do.

5 And as a lab school that they started out

6 as, throwing that away is a loss of knowledge, a loss of --

7 it's just a huge loss. And it's not just a loss for the

8 students who have thrived and for those who've graduated and

9 gone on. It's a loss for kids who won't have the

10 opportunity to have teachers learn from this experience and

11 bring it back to their districts. It's a great loss. I

12 think that the transfer of governance to a board or a group

13 that is allowed to invest in the mission of integration is

14 one of the most important things we can do. For the last

15 15 or 20 years, Minnesota has been struggling with "What are

16 we going to do when we become more diverse?" Well, we're

17 doing it here. We're demonstrating how to do it properly.

18 Perpich is one of the unique opportunities

19 where, as a state agency outside of a district competing

20 with your home districts, it can offer an experience to

21 demonstrate to the rest of the state the importance of why

22 we need to do it right and opportunities for expanding

23 integration in your districts by doing innovative things to

24 bring students together, not just to offer programming that

25 is about diversity.

Page 63

1 There are too many synergies with this

2 opportunity to walk away from, so I urge you to consider the

3 Perpich option as the best one for the community, for the

4 future, for the past, and for preservation of all that we've

5 learned and that we can continue to learn. Thank you.

6 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

7 Eric Celeste followed Mike Boguszewski.

8 MR. CELESTE: Hello, again. Eric Celeste.

9 My son is here at Crosswinds. And I would like to point out

10 that we have a wonderful chance to give Atticus Finch his

11 win-win today. We can both allow EMID to move on and

12 withdraw governance and allow Crosswinds to grow and thrive.

13 I would like to address the Board's claim in the

14 presentation earlier about the basis for closure being

15 declining enrollment and funding issues. I'd point out for

16 a number of years now since we got a new superintendent who

17 started making noises about making Crosswinds K through

18 8 -- and I remember conversations with this Board where we

19 had a very hard time settling that issue so that parents

20 would feel comfortable, to then a year where this Board

21 outright tried to close the schools, to this year which has

22 been tremendously unstable in terms of a sense of the

23 future. We have been scaring families away from this school

24 for many, many years. It is no surprise there's a decline

25 in enrollment. It is self-inflicted.

Page 64

1 Even the level of funding is a

2 self-inflicted problem. We all agreed to work together a

3 year ago October to find a sustainable funding model. The

4 Board understood what it was doing when it removed all

5 integration funding from these schools, that it was putting

6 Crosswinds in an untenable position. It understood it

7 needed to do something about that and nothing was done, so

8 the funding crisis is also self-manufactured. Declining

9 enrollment is not a reason for closing Crosswinds. In

10 reality, declining enrollment is the result of years of

11 threats of severe changes. We scared people away and we did

12 this funding crisis for ourselves.

13 While I contest your rationale for closing

14 Crosswinds, I do not oppose the action. I think this Board

15 has demonstrated that it has no interest in building on the

16 success of this school. New management is needed and EMID

17 should withdraw governance in order to transition to that

18 new management.

19 Luckily, there is now a strong expression

20 of interest -- I don't think that was me, right?

21 MS. FORSBERG: (Shakes head.)

22 MR. CELESTE: Thanks.

23 Luckily, there is now a strong expression

24 of interest from The Perpich Center for Arts Education. And

25 I've heard from other educators around the state, who I've

Page 65

1 been in contact this month, that they feel like Perpich and

2 Crosswinds is a "match made in heaven," to quote one.

3 Perpich intends to keep the program of

4 year-round education, arts and science magnet, IB programs,

5 and diverse student body intact. Perpich values our

6 strengths. Perpich wants to take Crosswinds over at the end

7 of this school year because it respects the schedule that

8 this Board set forth earlier, and Perpich knows that the

9 programs offered here are exciting enough to fill this

10 magnificent building with activity.

11 You'll recall at the December board meeting

12 when pressed again and again, how would they raise

13 enrollment at Crosswinds? The Perpich representatives'

14 response was magnificently simple. They said, "We will tell

15 people Crosswinds is here." They will market Crosswinds to

16 parents and teachers like those who you see in this room

17 tonight. Luckily, this is both -- a both/and and a win-win

18 situation. You can and should take the action you're

19 contemplating at this hearing: Withdraw EMID governance at

20 the end of this school year. Give teachers the right to

21 pursue positions at the member districts and allow the

22 choices that Mr. Rish so aptly described. But at the same

23 time, we ask you to do everything in your power -- and you

24 are a terrifically powerful board from across the east metro

25 -- everything in your power to facilitate a smooth

Page 66

1 transition to Perpich management. This way everyone can

2 win.

3 Let me say a bit about the Perpich

4 proposal. As I said, they plan to continue the programs.

5 They also plan to offer positions to teachers at the same

6 level of seniority that they enjoy now. But as you know,

7 this isn't a simple deal. Perpich is a state agency. It

8 has to work through the legislature this session to acquire

9 the authority and funding that it needs. It is a

10 legislative process that won't be done until May or June.

11 It includes challenges, like figuring out what to do about

12 transportation, which is so important to families here.

13 Should Perpich succeed in getting this

14 authority and funding that it requires from the legislature,

15 we will know that in May or June. If Perpich should fail,

16 the other two proposals you have before you could still go

17 forward, neither of which carry on the program of Crosswinds

18 as we know it, but at least they would leave the buildings

19 intact serving some other educational purpose. But let us

20 work together for a future of this school. We let go of

21 EMID as a chapter in this school's history with great

22 sadness.

23 As Kelly just mentioned, the loss of the

24 focus on integration is devastating, but we're also excited

25 about building an extraordinary model for the whole state

Page 67

1 and we want your help in that.

2 MR. HOEPPNER: Mike Boguszewski followed by

3 Leah Bourg.

4 MR. BOGUSZEWSKI: Hello, again. Mike

5 Boguszewski.

6 Our daughter, who's here tonight, is an

7 alumnus of -- or alumna of Harambee and is currently in 10th

8 grade here at Crosswinds; and our son is an alumnus of

9 Crosswinds and also an alumnus of Perpich. So as with a

10 surprisingly high percentage of parents of kids who have

11 come through EMID, we share both schools in our own family

12 history. I don't need to add on to a lot of the stuff that

13 you've heard already or for the last 20 meetings or for the

14 last couple of years. The uniqueness of the programs and

15 your desire, I think, to continue those is applauded for

16 that, so we thank you for that.

17 I'll just point out a couple things. As

18 you have said repeatedly, the mission of EMID is to serve

19 115,000 kids throughout the east metro district. It does

20 this largely through outreach or programs where teachers

21 teach the teachers, so to speak, or you talk about

22 integration or innovation kind of programming for the kids.

23 And those schools within member districts who want to

24 utilize that, can utilize that, and so the mission is served

25 more broadly.

Page 68

1 But the schools aren't for those 115,000

2 kids. The schools are really for the -- for the tail end of

3 that curve where your passion isn't hockey. If your passion

4 is hockey, you don't come to Crosswinds because you don't

5 need to come to Crosswinds. You come to Crosswinds because

6 you and your family have figured out that there's

7 something, maybe it's your culture, your language, your

8 color, your passion itself that sets you apart. And for

9 some reason, those things are not barriers here in this

10 environment. It has to do with the diversity thing we

11 talked about earlier that somebody mentioned. So the

12 schools are, in particular, for that small, small subset of

13 the 115,000 and to really nuture and help them thrive in a

14 way they couldn't in the neighborhood schools through no

15 fault of their own. It's the law of the majority. There's

16 not always funding to do it, et cetera.

17 Perpich. The mission of Perpich is to

18 serve the 900,000 students in the state of Minnesota. It

19 does so largely through outreach and programs where they

20 teach the teachers, where they go out or have facilities

21 where the teachers can learn how to integrate arts into the

22 educational environment in the educational day to help with

23 the success of kids. If your passion is hockey, you don't

24 go to Perpich, because you don't need to go to Perpich. But

25 if your passion is theater -- or if you wake up one day in

Page 69

1 Cloquet or Red Wood Falls or god-knows-where in remote

2 Minnesota and discover that you really want to have purple

3 hair and paint for the rest of your life, Perpich may be for

4 you. And I only say that because, again, experiencing both

5 schools firsthand and recognizing how both have a larger

6 mission as a broader organization to help the population of

7 either the East Side or the state of Minnesota. The schools

8 are a part of that and can serve as a learning lab and can

9 serve as a place where that's put into action. So what I

10 take away from that is that this model, this framework,

11 Perpich knows how to do this. The leadership of Perpich,

12 the historical leaders of Perpich, the current

13 administration of Perpich, they can work with this

14 framework. They can work with this model. They know how to

15 put it together and make it work. So that's one of the

16 reasons, along with many of the others here you've heard

17 tonight, that I also support the action where you would

18 relinquish from EMID and transfer it to Perpich if it can be

19 worked out.

20 The last comment I'll make -- I think it

21 just piggybacks on what Eric Celeste said. I'll call you

22 out by name: Jim Gelbmann, you know, a history in DFL

23 politics. If you're going to make some calls to legislators

24 to -- you know, and say, "Hey, you know what? Let's help

25 Sue Mackert get this done," now's the time to do it.

Page 70

1 Mr. Brodrick, John: You have a not

2 insignificant number of years with political connections

3 that you've built up and I'm sure some of them are over at

4 the State House. Now's the time to work those. The rest of

5 you guys, I don't know so much what you've got, but you know

6 some people over there. And I think we implore you -- not

7 that Sue may even need the help, because I think she's

8 demonstrated in the past she's been able to rally the

9 support that she needs to keep Perpich going and thriving

10 and growing over the years -- but if you're going to do

11 anything kind of as an end-game and pull any of those

12 strings, some of your last acts as an EMID board that has

13 operational control of the schools, now's the time to make

14 those calls and pull those strings, so I'll ask you to do

15 that too. Thank you very much.

16 MR. HOEPPNER: Leah Bourg followed by

17 Amanda Hoffman and Madison Linke.

18 MS. BOURG: Hello. My name is Leah Bourg

19 and through the years I have taught 6th through 8th grade

20 social studies here at Crosswinds. I currently teach 7th

21 and 8th grade social studies and co-teach a 7th- and

22 8th-grade section with our ELL specialist.

23 I started here 11 years ago and I've

24 actually taught more years in this building than I've ever

25 lived in any one house. I have had the joy and opportunity

Page 71

1 to start my teaching career here and I'm grateful from the

2 bottom of my heart for the Crosswinds students, staff,

3 parents and families who have helped me get experience and

4 shape my teaching career.

5 Tonight I'm speaking for three reasons:

6 First, for the first time in 11 years, I want a new employer

7 for the fall. EMID has failed to convince the public that

8 Crosswinds has a viable program for the future. They have

9 threatened closure and produced uncertainty that has driven

10 down enrollment. We have a great product, but EMID has

11 failed to sell it. I work hard and provide great

12 experiences for students. I want to work with a district

13 that will recruit as many students as possible because the

14 education I provide is worth recruiting for.

15 The second reason for speaking: Crosswinds

16 is full of great teachers with great training and

17 experience. We provide an outstanding education, and as the

18 budget has been slashed and the local climate for our school

19 has turned dark, our teachers show up every day and provide

20 great instruction. As you have heard, our teachers with

21 continuing contracts do have rights in member districts, but

22 there are so many teachers here that do not have continuing

23 contracts and therefore no rights in member districts. I

24 need to tell you that these teachers also deserve to be

25 employed in the fall not just because they are good

Page 72

1 teachers, but because they have taken full advantage of the

2 EMID training and EMID experience. All EMID teachers are

3 valuable. Go back to your principals and your building

4 leaders and make sure all EMID's valuable human resources

5 are used so that our kids don't miss a day without these

6 experienced teachers in their classrooms.

7 Finally, I want to address my students and

8 their parents: I want you to know that even though I just

9 asked for a new employer, I will continue to work to the

10 best of my ability for you this school year. I, and all of

11 the teachers at Crosswinds, have dedicated ourselves to

12 making this year the best that we can. We are asking for a

13 new employer, not new students. Like us, you have chosen

14 integration and we are kindred spirits in our efforts to

15 find a better way to work with people from all walks of

16 life. The teachers in this building will not give up on

17 this school year or you. We will continue to do good work,

18 but we ask that EMID no longer govern how we do this work.

19 Thank you.

20 MR. HOEPPNER: Amanda Hoffman and Madison

21 Linke followed by Susan Larson.

22 MS. HOFFMAN: Hello. My name is Amanda

23 Hoffman and this is Madison Linke. We are both 7th graders

24 currently attending Crosswinds. I'm taking the advanced

25 theater program, and Madison is in the advanced orchestra

Page 73

1 program. We are here today to convey to you about the

2 importance of arts in Crosswinds, which we believe should be

3 continued through Perpich Center for Education.

4 I'm a dancer and I would like to pursue the

5 performing arts as a career. I feel the theater program has

6 really encouraged me to take more steps to make my dream a

7 reality. Since starting the program this year, I've

8 auditioned for two shows and have gotten wonderful parts in

9 both productions. The theater program really helped me to

10 improve my dancing. I've gotten many comments from my

11 teachers complimenting on my ability to connect to the

12 music. I've learned how to tell a story or portray an

13 emotion by only using expressions and movements.

14 MS. LINKE: Unlike Amanda, I'm not a dancer

15 and I hadn't performed comfortably on any stage before

16 coming to this school. The orchestra program has given me

17 the courage to perform in front of audiences. This has

18 taught me how to express myself through music.

19 MS. HOFFMAN: Without the arts, many people

20 would be unable to express themselves; so many people

21 already feel like they don't have a voice. It's so

22 important that kids are able to express themselves through

23 art, theater, or performing with an instrument.

24 MS. LINKE: So many kids are terrified of

25 trying new things and I can empathize with them, but I truly

Page 74

1 feel that the arts help people become more outgoing and

2 adventurous by giving them confidence. But if the arts

3 weren't here, this confidence might never exist.

4 MS. HOFFMAN: Taking away the arts takes

5 away so many opportunities for students. Many kids don't

6 realize the amazing talent they have or how much they like

7 to perform before they start taking an arts class.

8 MS. LINKE: Most people at Crosswinds are

9 extremely interested in the arts. Most want to pursue it

10 into high school and some want to make it a career. School

11 programs are often the only opportunities kids might have to

12 get started and perform.

13 MS. HOFFMAN: Our school enrollment is

14 already low. If the school were to stop offering arts

15 classes, I predict that many would choose to leave the

16 school. Both of us have already decided that we would like

17 to pursue arts as a career, so if this school wasn't going

18 to help us on our path, we would need to find somewhere that

19 would.

20 MS. LINKE: Crosswinds excels at the arts.

21 We've won awards in orchestra and band. Our after-school

22 theater program had the highest attendance of all

23 after-school programs. In theater production, students are

24 involved throughout the entire process. The tech crew is

25 almost entirely student run, while our student directors run

Page 75

1 a great deal of the show. This teaches them how to take

2 charge and prepares them for real-life situations, whether

3 they pursue a career in the arts or choose a different path.

4 MS. HOFFMAN: Crosswinds is an arts school.

5 If arts were taken away, it would be like any other school

6 and that's not what our students and staff need. And with

7 this, we believe that it is the obvious -- the only choice

8 is Perpich Center for the Arts Education. Thank you.

9 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

10 Susan Larson followed by LeeAnn Fugaban.

11 MS. LARSON: My name is Susan Larson, and

12 for the past seven years, I've actually had the privilege

13 of, I guess, wearing the title of Crosswinds mom. During

14 those years, I've watched my two sons go from kind of goofy,

15 gawky insecure preteens to really I think fine young men who

16 are out exploring the world and preparing for college. And

17 who they have become is formed by what has happened within

18 these walls.

19 Your districts came together many years ago

20 to form this collaborative, and in doing so, they did a

21 really, really good thing. And now, for a lot of reasons,

22 Harambee and Crosswinds are clearly no longer consistent

23 with the mission of your districts. So it's time to do what

24 we're doing, relinquish governance and move on.

25 Like all the other speakers here, I just

Page 76

1 really want to ask you to support the option with Perpich.

2 We know that Perpich has to go through many steps to make

3 this successful, but the first step is with the Board. So

4 you have the power to actually stop it and not let them go

5 through to the next step. So what I ask you is to approve

6 Perpich, allow them to go through all the next steps. If

7 for some reason it doesn't succeed, the bricks and mortar

8 are still going to be standing here.

9 No matter what you do, on August 1st of

10 this year, I no longer get to be -- I don't know why I'm

11 emotional. Kathy Romero. That's why. But I don't get to

12 be a Crosswinds mom anymore because my youngest son will

13 finish his sophomore year and then he'll move on.

14 The reason I care, the reason I'm working

15 so hard in trying to make sure we have a future, is for the

16 other moms with preteen sons who are just hoping for the

17 best possible adolescent years. Thank you.

18 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

19 LeeAnn Fugaban followed by Denise Dzik.

20 Maybe I'm really messing up this name.

21 LeeAnn lives at 6188 Upper Afton.

22 AUDIENCE MEMBER: I think she left.

23 MR. HOEPPNER: Denise followed by Rae [sic]

24 Vang.

25 MS. DZIK: Good evening. I was thinking I

Page 77

1 must be close to the last person.

2 As a kindergarten teacher, I know that my

3 students' attention span is five to seven minutes at the

4 most and I don't think anyone here is old enough to have

5 sustained what your attention span is. They say it's a

6 minute per year, so as a kindergarten teacher, I kind of

7 feel like I should do a little song and dance to get you,

8 you know, moving, but I will keep this brief.

9 I want to comment that -- how I've been at

10 EMID fifteen years at Harambee. So to see former students

11 and families here, it just -- it warms my heart. Jonah was

12 in my kindergarten class as was his brother and his sister.

13 We have a very high retention rate at both Crosswinds and

14 Harambee. That's usually a bad word, but what it really

15 means is that families really like what they're getting and

16 come year after year and stay there.

17 I am here to just briefly discuss what's

18 been presented to you. One point I want to bring up is that

19 when the -- when Roseville came forward with their proposal,

20 the comments that were made by you were like, "Wow. They're

21 preserving this program. They're keeping this intact.

22 They've done all this work. This is really important."

23 At that time you had a discussion as to

24 whether to open up other -- from other proposals. And you

25 were presented with the question, "Well, what more do you

Page 78

1 want from South Washington County?" because they came up

2 with a very basic proposal. And it's not probably verbatim,

3 but I remember you saying what you wanted was similar to

4 what Roseville had presented for Harambee, which was

5 preserving as much of the programming as possible. That

6 being said, the three proposals before you, the only one,

7 the only one that shows any preservation and respect for the

8 program that has been happening at Crosswinds is The Perpich

9 Center for the Arts. So I would highly encourage you, as

10 others have, to go back and look at what you asked for, what

11 you asked for in getting other proposals and do those other

12 two meet that criteria at all. I don't believe they do, and

13 I think if you looked back, you would see the same thing.

14 As it's been mentioned, there are

15 roadblocks to turning it over to Crosswinds and I'm going to

16 let other people deal with those. I would like to speak,

17 though, about the governance, the continued governance, of

18 EMID schools by this Board. There was talk. South

19 Washington County -- maybe you need another year because you

20 want to do a thorough study to see what you could provide.

21 The same question was proposed to Perpich. Perpich said,

22 "We can go next year. We're ready to go."

23 As it was said before, and I've been to

24 many of these meetings and a lot of people -- it is time to

25 cut ties. It is time to move on. This has been stressful.

Page 79

1 As the Crosswinds teachers have mentioned, I will say, too,

2 every day teachers show up to teach and take care of

3 students. And for me personally, when those little people

4 walk through those doors, that's all I can think about is

5 them and what I need to provide them. That's what has

6 gotten me through this stressful time. There has been

7 commotion. There has been chaos. There has been agony.

8 There has been a feeling of defeat. And so I beg of you,

9 whichever proposal you decide or what you decide to move

10 forward with, I beg of you to end your governance, to close

11 both schools, as Tim said, at the same time. I believe this

12 gives the greatest population the chance to move on, to have

13 time to grieve. Grieving is a long process. Some people

14 are just starting it. But to give people time to grieve and

15 to move forward so they have the greatest chance of success.

16 Thank you for your time tonight.

17 MR. HOEPPNER: Rae Vang followed by Anna

18 Barker.

19 MS. VANG: Hi. I'm Rose and I've been a

20 student of EMID since 2003. I just want to say that even

21 though I'm saddened by the closing of the school, I have

22 learned much. The environment of this school is so

23 welcoming and caring. The teachers and students welcome

24 students who are different and accept them for who they are.

25 Being able to be different and be you is one of the many

Page 80

1 things that makes the school who it is. I've made friends

2 with people I've never thought I'd be friends with and they

3 mean so much to me.

4 One program available here especially

5 important to me is orchestra. Ever since I've joined the

6 orchestra, I've been open and social with other people.

7 I've learned so much over the past few years. Some of the

8 things I've learned in orchestra are life lessons. I'm in

9 the advanced orchestra. It took me two years to get into

10 the advanced. The music area was hard and challenging, but

11 more than anything, it was fun. The community and orchestra

12 was built through long, hard rehearsals and everyone

13 supports one another to make our ensemble even better. And

14 based on these facts, I believe it has made me who I am

15 today and I'm so grateful to be part of a community that is

16 accepting me for who I am and who I will become in the

17 future, which is an open-minded and hardworking individual.

18 Thank you for your time.

19 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

20 Anna Barker followed by Shannon Hannigan.

21 MS. BARKER: Good evening. Thank you all

22 for listening and your note-taking.

23 I have a take-along for you. This is a

24 copy of a letter that I sent to you Jim and Karen and

25 George, Marilyn, Kitty, Cindy -- good to see you when we're

Page 81

1 not in the testing room -- and John -- the letter that I

2 sent you almost a year ago that deals with many of the same

3 issues that we address tonight: survival and carrying on

4 the legacy of this civil rights movement in ways that do, as

5 my friend and colleague -- I don't know if he's still here

6 -- Jeff Parker --he and I are one of two original staff

7 that have been here since before this building was. And do

8 as he said: to shape and honor the legacy that we have here

9 in EMID, that we have especially here on this special site.

10 As we move into our next chapter together

11 and face the reality of survival, I ask respectfully that

12 all of you work together to fund a thoughtful and effective

13 transition as you give up governance and that we do what our

14 beloved community is requesting: transfer governance to The

15 Perpich Center.

16 My plea tonight is that you reflect upon

17 the words of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., from the

18 year of his death in 1963. I am famous for wearing

19 appropriate clothing. I'm wearing black. I'm wearing my

20 vest with worry dolls on it and I'm wearing my lifetime

21 membership in NAME, National Association of Multicultural

22 Education. We have a death and we need to face reality.

23 And the year Martin Luther King, Jr., died he was imprisoned

24 in the Birmingham, Alabama, jail and he wrote then the

25 famous words that we not be judged and we not have our

Page 82

1 children, our sons, who will follow us, our daughters, who

2 are here tonight, be judged by the color of their skin, but

3 the content of their character. It is the character of this

4 school that we ask, this beloved community asks, you to

5 continue to fight for.

6 With the new representative on the 833

7 Board, help her understand, John. All of the people in

8 St. Paul, all of the legislators, help them understand that

9 we need to continue the effort that EMID was created to do.

10 We need to do all that we can to keep the dream alive. From

11 my old journal tonight, I wrote this morning that this is

12 not goodbye. Tonight is not goodbye. You have two more

13 meetings coming up, you have decisions to make. We need to

14 bid farewell and we need to do much together in the future.

15 I'm sorry that more wasn't done under your tenure.

16 Please reread my letter. Follow the links

17 that I've got there for you and help us continue the fight

18 to keep the dream alive. Thank you.

19 MR. HOEPPNER: Shannon Hannigan followed by

20 our last speaker, Tami Bayne -- sorry about the --

21 MS. HANNIGAN: I'm Shannon Hannigan. Some

22 of you have heard me speak before. I am the mother of a

23 10th grader at Crosswinds. He's been here for five years,

24 and I've taught at The Perpich Center for Arts Education for

25 a whole lot longer. I've worked there for 22 years.

Page 83

1 And I remember so clearly when I first

2 started getting Crosswinds kids in my literary arts class.

3 We get kids from all over the state of Minnesota and you

4 might have heard this story before. It's my favorite one.

5 The year I got Crosswinds kids, I gave a classic prompt,

6 writing prompt, one day which was to write about middle

7 school lunch. I teach memoir. I ask them to write their

8 own stories and that's always been a good prompt because

9 there's so many nasty stories about middle school lunch in

10 Minnesota. Except for those darn Crosswinds kids. They

11 screwed it up. And honestly, they are the only ones ever

12 who have nice things to say about middle school lunch and

13 they always do. Even the food. But it's mostly about the

14 community because they love middle school, and kids don't

15 much like middle school. So that's how special this place

16 is. I don't know that you folks really realize that. I

17 don't know that you really, really realize that. But after

18 22 years of working at a school that brings kids from all

19 over the state of Minnesota, this is still always

20 everybody's favorite. I had the tremendous privilege to

21 send my son here. I wish I had known about Harambee. He

22 would have gone there and therefore not have been bullied in

23 all those schools that he went to before this one.

24 So please, please, please, allow us -- let

25 us go so Perpich can take over and we can be the sister

Page 84

1 schools that we always were anyway. And I can't tell you --

2 I don't know how many Crosswinds teachers are still in this

3 room, but I'm so excited to be your colleague someday.

4 Thank you.

5 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

6 Tami is up. And we just had a speaker

7 added. Yolana Rivera will be our last one.

8 MS. KUCZMARSKI: Hi. I'm Tami

9 Bayne-Kuczmarski. My family resides in the southeast part

10 of St. Paul. And just historically, the first seven years

11 of my life I experienced military education and then we

12 moved here to St. Paul. I'm from the first graduating class

13 of Highwood Hills. It wasn't a diverse school. We moved

14 here in the late '70s. There were two minorities. I was

15 one of the two. I then went to two other East Side schools

16 where the diversity consisted of people being bused in and

17 busing is not the way you do diversity. Crosswinds is the

18 way you do culture diversity and make it work.

19 Even though minorities were bused in, I had

20 a hard time on both sides, but I made it through. I'm a

21 strong person. I made it through there, and I went to an

22 educational institution where I was told by my parents,

23 "Well, they're not very friendly and you're a minority."

24 And I said, "If I can make it through my elementary school,

25 my junior high and my high school, I can make it through

Page 85

1 this institution." And I flourished there too.

2 What I wanted -- my desire for my children

3 has always been for them to be able to attend a school in an

4 environment that they can flourish in and work towards their

5 greatest potential by being who they are and feel safe and

6 confident. This has been a pain for my daughter Megan.

7 This will be her last year. She's in 10th grade, but she's

8 been here since 7th grade.

9 Megan faced school choice through the

10 lottery system of St. Paul School District. She was placed

11 in Murray High School and that was during a time when

12 St. Paul was looking at substantial cutting measures and

13 possible reconfiguration, meaning busing cuts, so maybe

14 she'd go there a year and then maybe we'd have to figure out

15 what to do for busing.

16 As part of the discussions concerning the

17 St. Paul School District brainstorming, I decided to place

18 an application for Crosswinds. My daughter attended a tour

19 at Crosswinds. She was accepted at Murray. I let her

20 decide. She made the right decision. I'm very happy with

21 how she's flourished. It is a cultural diversity. It has

22 it; the feeling of belonging and the academic style, which

23 has made her time at Crosswinds really important. She's

24 also flourished in the year-round concept. I wasn't sure

25 whether she would like that or not, the later starting time.

Page 86

1 All of these have been positive and I've watched her evolve

2 and it's been amazing. That's what any parent should be

3 able to hope for their child.

4 Because they were talking about the

5 possible closing of Crosswinds, in the 2011-2012 school year

6 Megan was enrolled to attend SPCPA. She did go there. She

7 is a dancer and she does like to act here at Crosswinds.

8 It's not the same community. My daughter was very

9 depressed, and with a phone call, I was able to get back

10 into Crosswinds and she is happy to be here. It's a nice,

11 diverse community. I'm asking that -- it's important for

12 other students to be able to experience this type of school

13 and it's not there on the East Side. East Side is talking

14 about doing other things with their budget cuts and keeping

15 things in that community. So I, as a parent, that is

16 concerned for other students in asking that they have the

17 opportunity -- I'm asking that EMID relinquish the

18 governance of this school and let Perpich have it and let

19 them take over so other people have that opportunity to grow

20 and flourish. It's only fair. Thank you.

21 MR. HOEPPNER: Our final speaker, Yolanda

22 Rivera.

23 MS. RIVERA: Hello, my name is Yolanda

24 Rivera. I'm a current 10th grader here at Crosswinds and I

25 have been here since 6th grade, so five years now. And

Page 87

1 the hearing of this school's possible closing has been

2 extremely devastating to me and my fellow 10th graders.

3 There is a saying I've heard many times,

4 "All good things must come to an end." But does it really?

5 To close our schools would be like taking your homes and

6 your jobs away from you without any warning. Just give our

7 school the chance and you'll see many kids' dreams come

8 true. Let Perpich take leadership and everybody would be

9 happy. That's all everybody really wants. And for you guys

10 to sit there and take away our hopes, our dreams is the

11 worst thing you could do to a kid. And all these teachers

12 who care about us more than anything in the world, so please

13 give us the chance and let Perpich take over. Thank you.

14 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

15 At this time there is a presentation of

16 Proposed Findings and Conclusions from the administration.

17 DR. MOHR: What the Board is receiving at

18 this time, as part of the statutory requirements for school

19 closure, is the administration's Proposed Findings for

20 school closing. The Findings have been provided to you this

21 evening through a PowerPoint presentation. The hearing of

22 the Proposed Closing of Crosswinds for the East Metro

23 Integration District was held, as you know, tonight at

24 6:30 p.m. The hearing was conducted pursuant of Minnesota

25 Statute 123B.51, subdivision 5. The hearing was

Page 88

1 transcribed. Exhibits are being offered. One is the

2 PowerPoint and one is the Findings and Conclusions offered

3 by administration and they will be kept as a part of the

4 record of this hearing. All individuals wishing to speak

5 and offer evidence in favor of or in opposition of the

6 closing were given the opportunity to testify during the

7 hearing.

8 Within this Findings and Conclusions

9 document, there is a summary of each slide that you were

10 presented with and the information you were presented this

11 evening. I won't go through all of those components. If

12 you would like to see a review of this document, you are

13 more than welcome to do so.

14 Under the Conclusions, the Findings that

15 were presented this evening suggested that closure of

16 Crosswinds Arts & Science School is necessary and

17 practicable. EMID has complied with the procedural

18 requirements of Minnesota Statute 123B.51, subdivision 5,

19 for the purpose of closing the Crosswinds Arts & Science

20 School. For the reasons that you have heard tonight,

21 including the reduction of financial resources for the

22 schools, declining enrollment at the secondary level,

23 increased programming costs, expanded member services and

24 the increased local needs for our member districts and the

25 administration, the administration of the East Metro

Page 89

1 Integration District recommends the closing of Crosswinds

2 effective at the end of the 2013 school year. Signed by

3 Janet L. Mohr, Superintendent.

4 MR. HOEPPNER: At this time I would also,

5 if there are any additional findings from the public, accept

6 those.

7 Seeing none, our next steps related to this

8 evening's hearing will be a meeting held at Harambee on

9 January 16th to review the hearing and findings and consider

10 proposals for the conveyance of the building. That's

11 January 16th at 6:00 at Harambee.

12 And then a week later, on January 23rd at

13 the regular board meeting, 5:30 at Harambee, the Board will

14 take formal action on the closing of each of the EMID's

15 magnet schools. And I might call your attention also,

16 tomorrow evening is the public hearing for the Harambee

17 school closing at 6:30 at Harambee.

18 And with that, I would entertain a motion

19 to adjourn.

20 MR. BRODRICK: So moved.

21 MR. HOEPPNER: John. A second?

22 MS. NORDSTROM: Second.

23 MR. HOEPPNER: Thank you.

24 All those in favor please signify by saying

25 "Aye."

Page 90

1 (Response.)

2 MR. HOEPPNER: Opposed?

3 (No response.)

4 (The public hearing ended at 9:00 p.m.)

5 (Exhibits 1 and 2 were marked for

6 identification.)

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

Page 91

1 STATE OF MINNESOTA )

)SS: CERTIFICATE

2 COUNTY OF HENNEPIN )

3

4 I, JENNIFER L. SHARP, Court Reporter, a Notary

Public in and for the County of Hennepin, State of

5 Minnesota, certify that the following is a true record of

the transcript of proceedings from the public hearing on the

6 Proposed Closing of Crosswinds Arts & Science School, taken

on JANUARY 9, 2013, at 600 Weir Drive, Woodbury, Minnesota,

7 in my presence and reduced to writing in accordance with my

stenographic notes made at said time and place;

8

I further certify that I am not a relative or

9 employee or attorney or counsel of any of the parties or a

relative or employee of such attorney or counsel;

10

That I am not financially interested in the

11 action and have no contract with the parties, attorneys, or

persons with an interest in the action that affects or has a

12 substantial tendency to affect my impartiality;

13

14 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand

and affixed by seal of office at Minneapolis, Minnesota this

15 16th day of January, 2013.

16

17

18 ________________________________

Jennifer L. Sharp

19 Court Reporter

Notary Public

20 Hennepin County, Minnesota

21

22

23

24

25

Page 92