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Faribault Public School District board meeting, Aug 17, 2026

1 h 35 min

Reading and test scores ▶ 47:56Safety, weapons and police ▶ 24:23

This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 1 h 35 min.

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What happened

What happened at this meeting

Faribault board approves superintendent goals after rejecting amendment to drop READ Act reference 1:18:46

  • District staff presented an overview of summer building projects, including a remodel of the McKinley Building for the ALC. 15:29
  • The board approved 5⁠-⁠1 a partnership agreement between Faribault Adult Education and Somali Community Resettlement Services after Linda Moore asked where the funding comes from. 1:17:37
  • The board approved the superintendent goals 5⁠-⁠1 after an amendment by Linda Moore to delete language from the first bullet under the goals' action steps failed 1⁠-⁠5. 1:33:55

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Item by item (13)
  1. Opening and agenda approval 8:39
    • John Bellingham called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance. 8:39
    • The board approved the agenda. ~9:44
  2. Lunch balance donation recognition 9:44
    • A speaker presented a check for $600 to the district to support students and families facing food insecurity and said the donation would pay off the district's negative lunch balance. 10:09
    • Board members thanked the speaker, and Chad Wolff noted it was the speaker's 5th year. 12:17
  3. Summer construction project overview 13:21
    • A district staff member said the McKinley Building remodel for the ALC included new boilers, replaced HVAC units, a science room, an art room and a remodeled kitchen so students can get hot meals. 15:29
    • The staff member also described work at the Roosevelt Early Learning Center, a special education classroom at Jefferson Elementary, a high school welcome center and a clinic in the high school. 15:29
    • Linda Moore said doing the parking lot work instead of contracting it out saved $6,000, and John Bellingham said the ALC ribbon cutting would be August 26th at 3:30. 23:16
  4. Permanent School Fund presentation 25:59
    • A district staff member said a proposed change would raise the fund's distribution rate from roughly 2% to 2.5% to 4.5% and raise per pupil funding from roughly $68 to roughly $95. 27:08
    • The staff member said the estimated annual increase for Faribault Public Schools would be about $90,000, added to the $235,000 the district currently receives. 30:58
    • Linda Moore asked whether the $90,000 would change over time, and the staff member said the amount depends on pupil count and is not restricted to a specific program. 34:26
  5. Board and superintendent information items 36:43
    • One board member said they had recommended removing the reference to the READ Act from the superintendent goals. 39:10
    • The superintendent said the district is partnering with the Faribault Area Chamber of Commerce and the Community Action Center to provide school supplies for every pre-K through 8th grade student. 41:40
    • The superintendent also announced Tahir Incorporated as the new food service partner for the '26-'27 school year. 41:40
  6. Public comment and consent agenda 45:33
    • John Bellingham said no one had signed up for public comment. ~45:33
    • The consent agenda included minutes from the July 20th, 2026 and August 3rd, 2026 meetings, employment, payments, transfers, investments and retirements. 45:33
    • The board approved the consent agenda. 46:16
  7. Policy committee report and first readings 46:16
    • Casie Steeves said the Policy Committee will move to meeting every other month and that the policies discussed were statutory mandatory updates. 46:40
    • John Bellingham read a list of policy revisions for first reading, including Policy 423 on employee and volunteer relationships with students and Policy 613 on graduation requirements. 47:56
    • Linda Moore asked whether the district would publicize a Policy 613 change allowing veterans to receive a diploma, and a staff member said that had not been discussed but could be. 49:10
  8. Finance and facilities committee reports 52:01
    • Lynda Boudreau reported preliminary kindergarten enrollment of 208 and investments at $16.5 million, with expenses at 3% of budget. 52:54
    • Linda Moore reported that the ALC remodel and high school welcome center remodel were complete and that dead ash trees were removed this summer. 55:13
  9. School resource officer agreement 56:10
    • A district staff member said the agreement with the City of Faribault is about a 3% increase from fiscal year '26 and that services have not changed. 56:40
    • Chad Wolff asked whether the same officers would return, and the staff member said they would. 57:34
    • The board approved the 2026⁠-⁠2027 school resource officer agreement. 58:07
  10. Riverbend Nature Center contract 58:24
    • A district staff member said the contract covers pre-K through 6th grade services and high school programming at the same cost as last year. 58:51
    • John Bellingham said the activities are aligned with the science standards in the Minnesota State Standards. 1:00:16
    • The board approved the Riverbend Nature Center contract for fiscal year 2026⁠-⁠2027. 1:01:08
  11. Adult education partnership agreement 1:01:25
    • A district staff member said the contract would provide satellite adult education classes at the Town Square building and that the adult education program served close to 950 people last year. 1:01:59
    • One board member asked whether any money comes from the general fund, and the staff member said it is all state ABE funds; another board member said they were very concerned about the tax burden on people. 1:04:40
    • Candance Knudson asked about costs and Spanish speakers, and the staff member said the district pays $55,884 and that Spanish speakers are welcome to attend. ~1:13:50
    • The board approved the SCRS/ABE partnership agreement contract 5⁠-⁠1. 1:17:37
  12. Superintendent goals and rubric 1:17:42
    • Linda Moore moved to amend the goals by deleting a reference to the science of reading, READ Act expectations and district curriculum, saying the READ Act contradicts itself. 1:18:46
    • One board member said they were comfortable including the READ Act in the superintendent goals. 1:22:50
    • The superintendent asked whether removing the READ Act from the goals meant removing it from the district, which the superintendent said would violate state law, and one board member said they would vote against the amendment. 1:24:33
    • The amendment failed 1⁠-⁠5, and the board then approved the superintendent goals 5⁠-⁠1. 1:30:16
  13. Upcoming dates and closed session 1:33:56
    • John Bellingham listed upcoming meetings, including a regular business meeting on September 28th at 5:30 PM. 1:33:56
    • The motion was to move to a closed session under Minnesota Statute 13D.05 to discuss crisis management procedure. 1:34:38
    • The board approved the motion and went into closed session. 1:35:08

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

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Video: posted by the district as “Regular Board Meeting - August 17, 2026”