Meeting: September 18, 2012
Minutes from ECFE & SR Advisory Council Meeting: November 17, 2015
The meeting was called to order by Co-chairs Chris and Emily at 6:18 p.m.
Members present: Nicole Arness, Heather Blair, Alex Cook, Michelle Doepke, Michael Doubrava,
Josh Gaffke, Emily Heinis, Penny Kastner, Caroline Koerner, Heidi Krech, Deena Laugen, Molly
Lorenzen, Melissa Nielsen, Christopher Polikowsky, Melissa Rogan, Lori Rogers, Wendy Sawyer,
David Wermerskirchen, and Lori Wondra.
Staff present: Karen Heaton
The minutes from the October meeting were approved.
Karen gave the program updates.
 The Advisory Council/ECFS Foundation holiday gathering will be hosted by Chris and Laura
Polikowsky at their home on Tuesday, December 15 at 6:00 p.m. There will be NO childcare
for this event. Please sign up to bring a dish to share. An optional $10 wrapped, unmarked
gift will be used during a game we play.
 The Apple Valley mid-winter fest will be held on February 6, 2016 at the Apple Valley
Community Center. Mike and Michelle have consented to help out at this event. Thank you
both!
 Nicole Arness and Chris Knight volunteer to share duties on the Legislative District
Advisory Council.
Square 1 ART fundraiser – Lori Rogers
 We have had many orders so far and will earn 33% of the proceeds. We are still awaiting a
final total because some families ordered online. Lori Rogers has volunteered to chair this
fundraiser next year. Lori is looking for help delivering the product once it arrives around
December 2.
Run for Hope 5K (May 14, 2016) – Emily Heinis
 The date of the run has been changed from May 7 to May 14 because of Mother’s Day.
 We will have a table at the Children’s Concert in February so participants can sign up for
the Run for Hope.
 The sponsorship letter was reviewed and slight changes were made.
 We saw a mock-up of what the Valley Natural Foods race shirt will look like.
 Some suggestions were made regarding the pictures on the Run for Hope flyer.
ECFS By-laws – Chris Polikowsky
 The by-laws were reviewed and changes were made. Chris is handling the revisions and we
will vote on them at the next regular meeting on January 19, 2016.
Staff Appreciation – Emily Heinis
 Decisions regarding this special event will be shared by the committee once they have been
decided.
 Some members asked questions as to why the Staff Appreciation luncheon is in January.
We will check with Jenna to see if it can be changed.
Funding
 The council voted to send the following list of possible items to the ECFS Foundation for
their funding consideration. The Foundation will decide which items to include in their
budget.
o Food/snacks
o Sound proof panels for the DVLC lobby
o Trash cans for the front/back entrance of DVLC
o Playground equipment
o CVLC is in need of new outdoor equipment
o Classroom libraries
Children’s Concert – Alex Cook
 DJ Matt Nielsen is confirmed for our children’s concert on Saturday, February 13, 2016 at
Valley Middle School from 9:30-11:30 a.m. DJ Matt will provide music in the lunchroom
area.
Parent Leader – Deena Laugen was absent but sent these Parent Leader highlights.
1. Bond
 14% voter turnout for the bond on November 3.
 District had conceptual designs for cost estimates before the vote. Now moving forward
with detailed designs and bids (meeting tomorrow).
 Working with architectural/engineering firm and construction management firm that have
done several projects in our district and others. Construction will take place year round.
Both of these firms are excellent at working around the operational needs of the schools.
 Phase One includes doing security improvements that do not need infrastructure changes
(cameras, locks, etc).
 Also includes designs for the new elementary school and magnet expansions. Both are
projected for fall 2017 completion.
 New elementary school will be located in the SE portion of the district. They are deciding
between 5 parcels of land.
 Technology piece is $5M per year. $1M of this will be for tech support.
2. District is completing the enrollment projections for next year. Accuracy is very important
as these numbers dictate our district's budget for the year.
3. MyStop
 New technology that allows parents to track their child's bus. It will be beta tested soon
and hopefully rolled out district wide next year.
 The documents about MyStop will be emailed to Chris so he can post them on google docs.
If anyone wants more information they can look there.
4. School start times
 There is a committee reading research and putting together information to be shared with
the site councils. We are supposed to discuss this information between 12/19 and 1/18, so
we share our findings at the 1/19 parent leader meeting. Unfortunately, we don't have a
meeting during that time. Our meeting is 1/19, so I'll need an agenda item that night and
will add our information late. All information will be summarized and presented at a special
school board meeting on 1/25.
The next Advisory Council meeting will be on Tuesday, December 15 at 6:00 p.m. at Chris
Polikowsky’s home in Rosemount. There is no childcare for this meeting. Please see map for driving
directions.
Emily adjourned the meeting at 8:16 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Wendy Sawyer