Yes, I can hear you. Good evening. I would like to call to order the Sinoa Henipin School Board work session for today, August 11th, 2025. Our first order of business is to approve the board agenda. Is there a motion to approve the board agenda as
presented? Thank you, Director Adet. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Director Dashaine. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. Um, will acting clerk Casey Daine call the role, please?
Simon, I. Adet, Hookman, I. Deshaane votes I. Arco I. With five in favor and zero opposed, the agenda is approved. So members, the next item on our agenda
is item three, the consent agenda. As normal, members can remove items for separate consideration and discussion if that's their desire. Is there a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented? So moved. Thank you, Director Duchaine. Um, is
there a second? Thank you, Director Hookman. Um, is there any discussion? Hearing none, will the clerk call the role, please? Simon, I. Aette, I.
Hulkman I. Desaine votes I. Arco I. With five in favor and zero opposed, our consent agenda is approved. Our next agenda item is item four, the work session. And we will begin with item 4A, school safety and security
update. Welcome Greg Cole, chief operations officer and team microphones. Good evening, co-chairs Arco Dashaine, Superintendent McIntyre, members of the school board. I am joined today uh and
I'll just start with my right uh by BJ Is our director of transportation, uh Ben Martinsson, our director of buildings and grounds, and Tim Fornier, manager of security and emergency operations. Um we are here today to provide you with
an annual update with regard to safety and security districtwide. Um typically Tim and I uh present this to you. Um this year we thought that it would be important to kind of expand um
the the understanding and definition of dealing with incidents across our school district just so there's broader awareness about the types of things that we manage and the way in which we manage them from communication to protocols and decision- making uh metrics that we use
in order to try to make the best possible decision we can in a timely fashion with regard to some of the things that happen across Ross the school district. So, we're here to share uh important work regarding safety and security um and some of the improvements
that we've made uh provide a in update on schoolboard investments that we've talked about in the past and we'll give you an update on that. And then also we'd like to continue continue to provide updates on our uh partnerships and collaborations with our law
enforcement partners across the school district. So, first off, from a 30,000 foot view, so to speak, um, some of the things that, uh, contribute most to school safety and security have a lot to do
with what happens within our schools. So, strong leadership and pride and strong school culture and climate. Um, schools with open lines of communications where our students feel safe. uh reporting things that concern
them, whether it be to their peers or to a trusted adult, as long as and if they're doing it with their peers, their peers know to uh and have connections with trusted adults in our buildings. Uh research from a variety of sources nation nationwide. Uh I'd say the most
prominent of which is the Department of Homeland Security talks about one of the best most important safety and security uh antiviolence uh measures a school can have is a strong culture and climate where people feel safe and they feel like they have people they can trust to
share information with when things happen or there's concerns out there. Um awareness and vigilance infrastructure. So that is a piece of this. It's not just the reporting mechanisms or the culture and climate. It is important to have the in
infrastructure in place which this board has been supportive of for some time to that allows us to ensure that our exterior doors are secure. We have a visitor robust visitor management system that we improve our ability to respond to things from an infrastructure
standpoint as well. Um you'll hear a little bit too how training and planning goes into that to constantly be um looking at and thinking about different scenarios in a way that is um respectful of and aware of the age group of the
students that we're working with. Um you know that's a fine balance there in terms of making sure that you prepare. I'd say we really try to focus on preparing our adults who are going to be the people that the kids turn to in situations for direction and guidance. So, we want to be sure that they're they're prepared, but we also want to be
sure that our students have have awareness um to the level that they're able to manage depending on their age and development. how we partner with law enforcement in a variety of different ways and Tim will talk more about there that and then two
things that we try to assess on a regular basis and have our school leaders assess is where they're vulnerable so that they let us know that so we can take steps to try to improve and also reunification reunification can't just look like one thing. It
really depends on the nature of what it is you're dealing with where the kids are at what time of day. um where's transportation at that moment. So reunification can look a little bit different depending on the nature of what you're dealing with and what time it happens. So with that, I'm going to turn it over
to Tim Fornier to talk about what we call wraparound services that occur with certain types of incidents that we manage across the school district. Good evening. I think it's important to remember that we have multiple types of incidents. you know, we, you know, we
have an incident that might affect the site. It might affect uh one of our buildings, and then we have other incidences that affect mental health and affect student uh well-being. And so, we we try to uh deal with these situations as they come up and and and attack them,
if you will, with with a variety of resources uh when it comes to what type of incident is. And I think we have a really robust system for identifying the type of incident and then putting resources on it uh that would help uh you know a alleviate the problem and and
work with how things go forward from there especially when it comes to student uh mental health student services side of it. I think I'm really proud of our student student services group uh the counselors the mental health professionals that we work with. So, it's it's the physical stuff, you
know, building emergencies, the things we we typically see every year nationwide. Um um threats, that kind of thing that come in online. And then we have that other component of it. And the training, the emergency management training that our staff goes through really prepares them for such things.
And identifying what needs to be dealt with quickly and and what fires can be put out fast so we don't have a larger problem. Um, and that also doves into the next bullet, which is that positive school relationship. And that's relationships that we have with our law
enforcement and with our school personnel themselves. Our principles and our APS and our school staff work really well together. Uh, whether it's a grade school talking with a high school because they're across the street. Um, the relationships that we cultivate both internally with the kids and with our
own staff members makes a huge difference. Um, and our systems are in place as as Greg alluded to. We have systems in place to manage incidents. A lot of this is based on homeland security stuff. It's it's straight up emergency management. And we kind of have that version of it for the school
district that how we manage incidents. And it's important too at the end of an incident to go back and look at what worked, what didn't work, where our supports needed going forward. Um, and you know, can we learn something from what we just went through? Um and the
posted incident support is a very is a very important thing. It's like uh you know uh incident post uh incident support for law enforcement, fire, same kind of thing. We we look at that for our students and staff as well. Um so it's that collaboration with student services, law enforcement, and other
districts that really helps keep us on top of things and deal with things as they come up because what happens in our district usually happens to a neighboring district or what happens to a district down in southern Minnesota may affect our district. So, um, I stay in touch with a lot of my counterparts throughout the state, uh, when it comes
to this stuff and we have regular meetings, uh, because we talk with each other all the time. So, I think we've got a really good system in place to deal with this. And just one thing to be aware of, we spend the reason we spend time um collaborating with different departments within our organization and
it's law enforcement is is a prime example is you want to ensure that the people in particular roles are the right people to be deal dealing with a part of a situation. So for example, when we talk about a crisis that occurs and and that potentially could be I'll use an
example of student death um or or some type of awful tragedy like that. Um, on the front end, you may have uh assistant principles sort of looking into something, trying to assess, you know, what it is we're dealing with, but once they feel like they're in a position
where they need to be getting uh deeper into an area where a student needs very specific types of supports, they're going to be handing that off to somebody that has that expertise to be able to to to manage that type of situation. So there's a lot of coordination that goes on to ensure that's where we talk about
the wraparound services because sometimes there's trauma as a result of some pretty tough things that happen. And um you know we want to be sure that we have the right people working with students and families at the right times. Um law enforcement's a prime example. They'll tell you that there are
certain things that are they're really good at. That's what they train to do. and then there are certain things that they're going to hand off to someone else because it's it's it's that other person's expertise is what that individual needs at that particular time. So, we really practice those same
types of protocols uh in our school district and talk a lot about different types of scenarios that that pose those types of challenges to us. Okay. So, moving on to kind of a different way
of uh different type of uh incident management. Um I'm going to turn it over to Ben here to give you an update on our monitoring and locking uh installation across the school district was which was a uh schoolboard strategic priority and
strategic investment. Thanks, Greg. So yeah, I think we started this project probably about two years ago. Kind of just identifying an issue, looking out for vendors, trying to find a solution that could be holistic and be a one-stop shop districtwide. So we weren't dealing with multiple different um platforms that
could have problems when we're trying to initiate any of our protocols. Uh we broke that up into five different bid packs or phases. Uh as of today, we have three, one through three are done. We have 33 out of the 48 sites have been completed. Uh, River Trail will be
finished probably this week and that'll close out bid pack four or phase 4. Phase five we started in June. That's a total of 16 sites. Um, four of them will be done before school starts here in September and the rest will be completed by the end of November. So, we're getting there. It's just a lot lot of
buildings to get through and and manage. So, but we're we're in the home stretch here. So, we're excited to have that done and just have the one one platform to deal with and be feel a lot more comfortable about our our uh access solutions. So, and uh I want to give a shout out to Joe
Borman. Uh there's a lot of coordination with technology that goes on with regard to these systems. Um it's important to know that anytime we have a platform that interfaces with our network. Um there's a a pretty extensive process we need to go go through to ensure that we
don't have vulnerabilities when we're introducing that new software into our system. Um because each time you do that, you have to assess that vulnerability because cyber security is really a big part of security. Um mobile
device application, we've we've mentioned this to you in the past. We needed to ensure that our Genitech uh locking system was in place and we knew the full uh application of of the application that the app that people can have on their phones which essentially
helps certain key individuals within a school lock the facility down faster. You know, really this is about ensuring that we have consistency across the entire school district as well as increasing um or decreasing I should say the amount of time it takes us to
respond to something. One thing we know about incidents is that time is really important. Seconds matters. So, anything and everything we can do to slow somebody down and make it harder um for them to potentially do things they shouldn't be doing, that's that's
potentially a life-saving thing. So, that that's important. We're looking at uh the final phase here is an application that improves our communication um our communication with specific groups. You'll kind of see some communication challenges that we have. Um, we may communicate in a whole number
of different ways. Uh, it could be text. We have a radio system that works throughout the entire school district. So, you can be in one building and if you're if you have the designated channel, you can communicate with somebody across the district in another. Um, but we are also looking at an app
that would um create a different type of communication. Sometimes we have traveling teachers. Um we so we need ways to communicate with people who might not physically be at a site but they're driving to a site and they need to have awareness about something that might be happening there. That's one example. There's many different types of
scenarios. So we're very close uh on on selection of that. Again, we have to work with technology on that because we're introducing potentially something else into our network system. But I hope you hear from this that we remain vigilant about a commitment to
improving our re reaction and response and decreasing our response time so that we're faster and more nimble when we deal with situations. Now I'm going to talk about drills. Um I mentioned that before and I'm going to turn it back over to Tim again to talk
about our protocols for that and what we regularly do on a cycle throughout each year. So, as you know, that the state does mandate we do certain drills and we have five drills that we're, you know, five lockown lockout type drills that we're responsible for. Uh we have five
fire drills we have to do by law and uh those are and then one weather drill every spring we do a a weather awareness drill, tornado warning. There's a whole week to that. Uh and and we take those drills seriously. And in between those drills, each site, depending on their time and and what they what they can fit
into their schedule, they do other drills and they do low-level stuff. A lot of times they'll do tabletop exercises with the crisis team and things like that to keep their their skills up. Sometimes I'll stop by and we'll create a little scenario with some of the office staff and talk through how to handle things. Um, but the the drills
prepare you for what happens for real. You know, you will do in reality what you rehearse and you'll act that way uh in reality how you act when you rehearse. So drills are really respon uh important which is that overall crisis response that we have and each site has its own crisis team and then we have a a
a district level team that kind of is an umbrella team over the rest of the teams that will assist uh and respond when necessary. So uh it's it's very it's very emergency management structured as I said before. Um but there's a reason
for that. It just keeps it simple. uh and it's it allows us to rehearse and allows us to drill uh for what might come. Uh interestingly to note, there'll be another drill starting the 26 27th school year. There'll be a new mandated drill and it's basically a cardiac arrest drill for using our
defibrillators on our sites. So that'll be the next new mandatory drill that'll start next year. Uh Director Desane, thank you. Tim, you mentioned the statemandated drills, the five lockout, lock in and the five fire drills, and then the one weather. Are those all
student engaged drills or are some of them just staff? No, these are all the student engaged drills. So, they they've always been the student engaged drills. They've been around a long time. Uh recently the state legislature decided to limit the type of drill you could do. Uh we never did these kinds of drills as a district.
Most metro districts don't. Some outstate districts had done this where they actually had someone playing a bad guy and they would enter the building and then the school would lock down. that became too realistic and too too traumatic uh for a lot of the students and staff. So the state said, you know
what, if you want to do those kinds of drills, you have to prepare a lot a lot beforehand. You have to let parents know, let kids opt out. So they just put a caveat to those kinds of drills, but the ones you described, those are the mandated ones that we participate in every year and the kids participate with
those. Thanks for clarifying. Sure. Good question. We do encourage our teams too to try to mix things up a little bit. So, um, you know, things go smoothly when it's the middle of a class and everybody's where they're supposed to be, but on a many of
our schools will do at least one or two where it's it's kind of at a chaotic time where, you know, there's a lot of students maybe at passing time or a lunchtime, those kinds of things. Obviously, we try to work with child nutrition because they're not happy when we do those types of things. Um but if
we give them warning ahead of time, you know, um but it's really important to do that so that so that because you know things the bottom line is bad things don't usually happen at a convenient time. They usually happen at a really inconvenient time. So you need to prepare for that as best you possibly
can without disrupting the school day. Um just kind of a how do things work when we talk about a district incident response team. What happens is there's there's a group of 10 people at the at the central office who if any one of
those people gets notified of something that is highly likely to impact, you know, a building in a pretty pretty significant way or have widespread impact, that person makes sure all 10 people on that in that group know. From there, we form a sub team because not
all 10 people may need to be involved. It really depends the n on the nature of what we're dealing with. Um, I don't know that it's great to have 10 people trying to manage something. So, it's kind of the too many cooks in the kitchen idea. You want to identify the key people who need to be in there. The reason for that awareness is we are
intertwined in so many different ways. And I will use early childhood as an example. We have early childhood programs going on throughout the day in about 25 different sites across the school district. They get bust at different times. Uh there are all sorts
of shuttles and so forth and oftentimes that can be a group that's overlooked um with regard to a completely different transportation system. Parents coming in to pick up or drop off uh small children who are not schoolaged yet. They're
preschoolers. Um there's just a lot of different things like that that we have going on. And so um and we have a lot of different programs as well like step uh and compass where you have shuttles moving during the day. And so it's
really important to make sure that you have a large group with awareness so that people are like hey what about this what about that? So that we make sure that we're not missing things or you know missing people who need to to get information very quickly.
All right, I'm going to turn it back over to Tim again to just talk a little more and remind people about our uh the important law enforcement partnerships that we have across our school district. Sure. And as we've gone over this before, but it I think it bears repeating. Uh we do work with our area
police departments very well. Uh we have nine uh 12 school resource officers from nine different agencies uh that service us. Uh the resource officers are are housed in the high school and middle schools. However, they do make appearances at the elementary schools and we have a DARE program in a lot of
our elementary programs. So, uh they're present there as well. Um we meet regularly, Greg and I do and and some of the other key staff with our chiefs and our sheriff department representatives. Uh and we'll have another meeting this fall coming up. Um so, we keep that
communication open. Um 24-hour communication. That is one real big important um uh you know uh advantage we have with working so well with our agencies. If something happens at one of the agency's cities at 2 in the morning
that may or may not affect busing for us, I get a call usually um and then we decide if this is going to affect the next day. We've had some late night meetings where we've had to get on Google Meet uh and you know look at each other in our sleep and wonder how we're going to handle the next day because of
what went on at one of the cities. So I think that works really well. That collaboration is super important. Uh as is our interdist collaborations with our our neighboring districts. Uh I have counterparts in in all of our neighboring districts and if something happens as I said in one district it
usually bleeds into the other districts. And so we work really well with our our uh fellow districts and event security is just an example of that. Uh where we have some intel about some activity that may occur at one of our events, whether it's a homecoming football game or a you
know, you pick the sporting event, we will share resources from other districts in our district and vice versa as far as police and security goes so we can keep people safe and keep the intel coming in. So, uh, that partnership is
something I'm proud of and, um, I I it's it's it's very key to our success and how we handle things when they occur. I think the simplest way to explain some of this is in the in situations where we get information, we don't want to overreact and we don't we don't want to
underreact. Um, that's that's the challenge. Um, and so this information, speedy, timely information is super important to making the best possible decision. Um, because we take these decisions very seriously, right? We have
we have kids in our care. We want to be sure that we're as careful as we possibly can be, but we also want to be sure that, you know, if if things are fine that we're going to be able to run business as usual. Community engagement. Again, there are a lot of different mechanisms um where
communication can happen throughout our district. Uh ways in which people can report things. I want to give a shout out to Jim Skelly and his team um for creating these these different um ways in which people can report things that they see. We want to continue and you
have to continue to encourage people to do that. You can't just say it once and then hope that it happens. And I like to use the airport as a as an example. if you're there, you're going to hear on a fairly regular basis, if you see something that doesn't look like right, please report it. And I think that's
similar type of mentality that we have that that's something you don't want to do it every second, but you want to try to keep that, you know, fairly regular so people can have that at the at their forefront. Um, and and there's other things listed here. We want to be sure we get feedback from community as well.
We do get lots of information from community members who see things that just don't feel right or seem right to them and we act on all of that. We check it out and um very often it's it's it's the reason that we were able to take care of something that was not supposed
to be happening because of a community member who reports something. So we we really appreciate that um because again it allows us to deal with something much faster than otherwise. So we continue to look for ways to be better at um engaging our community with regard to
that. Second part of communications um when when things happen um we we are never able to be faster than social media. So um it is just the way it is.
Um, and so we know that and we um have to regularly remind ourselves that our goal is not to try to pump out information as fast as we possibly can. We want to pump out accurate information as fast as we possibly can. Um, and and
sometimes that might be just something short that kind of gets people like, okay, they're aware, they're dealing with it, and we're going to get back to you as soon as we possibly can with more information. It could be just as simple as that. But whatever it is, we want to communicate. We want to be sure that it's accurate. Um the other thing is
there are situations that we deal with that sometimes uh involve multiple law enforcement agencies or more than one city. Um I think a easy quick example, but there are many is 109th Avenue that separates um Champlain Brooklyn Park
Academy and Oxbow Creek and Champlain Park in Jackson. Those are two cities on either side of 109th. So to the north it's Champlain, to the south it's Brooklyn Park. And so we're working sometimes with multiple agencies um whether it's the cities or the law
enforcement or both. And um it's really important that we coordinate communications because um we do get multiple requests sometimes especially from law enforcement that we're not communicating something that before they do and vice versa. So, a lot of that is
happening um in in kind of bigger types of things in the community and we just want to be sure that we're we're making sure that we're all saying something that we're comfortable with that is accurate and transparent and that helps people get the information they need to kind of move forward and take the next
steps with regard to their own concerns and worries about their kids. Back to Tim. The vigilant mindset, it's it's a phrase. It's a it's a it's a culture of mind. It's you know I' I've lived there for 30 years in a vigilant mindset. 30
plus years now um without dating myself but um it it's important to have that. It's important to have that and we all do in our day-to-day lives. I mean it Greg mentioned the airport. There's a vigilant mindset right there when you go to the airport. Um but for us it's it's
how we make ourselves better and how we become better at being vigilant but in a soft way. Being hypervigilant will wear you out. Uh but being vigilant in in a way that you can carry on with your life, carry on with your your day-to-day things is the way we is is
kind of that sweet spot we try to try to achieve. So that awareness um of our surroundings, the awareness of our technology, of our culture, our school culture, uh our connections, our research into uh different uh ways to
become safer. Uh we have debriefings. Um whenever we have an incident, we debrief and that helps us learn from that incident and that helps us become uh vigilant for the next time that might happen. um this complacency uh complacency is is not good. And so we
try to promote an anti-complacency culture by constantly striving striving for what's better, what is going to what is better for us, what what could we try? Um the idea factory is is kind of a a way of just saying, hey,
we're always going to try to improve, and there's always something out there that's worth trying. Um, and so no idea is a bad idea as far as I'm concerned. Um, and then remaining open and aware of other viewpoints. I think that's that also aids to the vigilant mindset. Just
because you've experienced one thing and it worked out and you're vigilant for it to happen again doesn't mean that another viewpoint can come in and make that next time it might happen even better. Uh, so uh that all goes into being vigilant without being hypervigilant. Uh, which is is a way to
do it dayto-day. So we we strive for that as a as an administrative group and we try to un you know help the principles and the APs and everybody that has to go through this kind of training understand that this is continuously being worked on. It's it's it's just leaving you know the phrase
living breathing um thing. That's what this is. Security is a living breathing thing that just keeps evolving. And I think I'll just piggyback on that. Safety and security certain topics invite more viewpoints than others. That's just the nature of the work that
we do. U but safety and security is certainly one of those. There's a lot of different viewpoints on on how you get there. And so to remain open to that on a regular basis we believe is a very important thing to do. Um because you never know what what might be a better way to handle something.
So we wanted to end with three scenarios of typical things that we try to that that we have to deal with that we would call an incident which may not be what people necessarily think about. Um so I'm going to start with the first one and something that we would characterize it as an incident that impacts us on a
fairly regular basis in Minnesota is weather. And I'm not just talking about icy roads or sleet or something like that. Um, you know, a quick example that we just dealt with that kind of really give us gave us a run for our money was a recent um, uh, tornado watch. All
morning we so any anytime we get a watch, we're monitor we have multiple people monitoring the National Weather Service. The National Weather Service is who we use um for our information and they will do webinars with school districts throughout the day if they believe that there's a weather event
that will in some way, shape or form impact safe travel to and from school or the safety during the school day. So, we had a a tornado watch. Um a watch is not something that we would necessarily close down events or schools for of any type, but we're monitoring that type of
thing. and uh it turned into a warning rapidly and it was moving across the metro at a pretty fast pace. um from the time it hit the southern I would say the southwestern part of our district to the time it exited the northeastern part of
the district um it was about 40 minutes and the challenge that we had during that time we were we were um releasing a lot of schools at that time I think our high schools were starting to release and um what was happening is tornado sirens were going off in parts of our
district but they were not going off in other parts of our district. So we had certain administrators saying what do we do and other administrators would say why is there a problem that that the weather is fine right and we have buses moving from what would be an area where
there's a big concern into a safer area where there isn't necessarily a current and then the reverse was happening right so I I I wanted to bring BJ to just talk about some of the protocols we won't get into the whole story necessarily but the protocols that we use and the
considerations that we have and the communication that goes on with different types of weather events. Sure. Thank you, Greg. Um, yeah, it it's it's one of those events where it's who are we contacting? Who are we always in
communication with? So, like Greg mentioned, uh, the National Weather Service is is really our go-to. Um, they are the forecasting entity and experts, and so we really rely on what they're telling us. Uh we love the briefings
that we get. Um you know, it almost feels like it's every day at least some of some of the days lately where again whether it's the the smoke and the air quality uh or again we're at a higher threat level for severe weather or you have the winter storm potential impacts.
And so that whole entire breath of of anything that's weather related is really coming down uh and being communicated by them. And then like Greg said, they they set up these webinars and so we always have folks attending the webinars. I tend to be one of them.
Um but again, that kind of takes your attention away from the dayto-day just to focus then on the webinar and kind of wait maybe what's coming from, you know, from that point forward if we end up jumping into an actual threat. Um, you
know, for my department specifically, we we really need to kind of take pause. The day-to-day ceases and then we have to jump into action and determine where are we at in that moment in time. And so this example that Greg mentioned, it was right at
high school release time. Uh, I think it had been about 10 years since the district had had anything equivalent at that time of day. So you know something during the school day very different kids are safe in the buildings the staff can take care of that but here we have
students being released one just to go outside two some had already been released and are on buses and part of our system then two encompasses not only just ana henipin schools but it's all of our partnership you know schools and
districts so we had non-public students our private school partners they were already on shuttle buses navigating towards our high schools where they transfer buses. Uh which again is all outside. Uh we had, you know, vehicles that were already in other districts that are outside the,
you know, that are outside our district picking them up to bring them back home. And so, you know, when you have such a wild event happening, again, it's it's to quickly unfold what those details are to determine, okay, what do we have
going on? Because like Greg said, from the time it was in our southwest corner again, sirens going off and people can hear sirens from quite a distance and the National Weather Service has changed some of the, you know, the stats on how they do their their warning issue
issuances and and now it's, you know, it's geographically based. So, it's not county based anymore like it used to be, which was almost too big. So, they've really honed in on that over the last few years and changed that as part of their practice. But that's where, like Greg said, we had schools wondering what
the heck was going on, and we had schools that were truly, you know, at a potential threat for danger. Um, and so again, it's it's finding all of those those things in that process. Who do we have to jump into? And again,
thankfully, I have a great team that again, our coordinators then are jumping on the phone with with those non-public or those private school partners. We've got eight plus contractors uh that are servicing our district. So from buses to vans and everything in between, we've
got to get on the horn with them and they're scattered all over. So again, this isn't one entity where they're just leaving their garage. Uh this isn't just the moment in time where we know where everyone is. They're literally scattered throughout. And so it's it's honing in
on where those locations are and who again is in danger versus who's not. And that's where things can get a little sticky because, you know, is this a we have to call everybody? You know, is it easier for us to push out this warning
and say, "Yep, everybody's got to take shelter." Though, if you're up in Ham Lake, we maybe know that you're not in any sort of danger. But again, we don't have great communication tools to get to every individual vehicle or every indiv
individual bus where again, we're putting that pressure on our contractors to use their dispatching protocols to radio those drivers. Um, but again, they're driving, they're not grabbing their phone, they're not hearing that alert from whatever their weather app
may be. Um, and again, just like Tim mentioned, it's all coordination with our neighboring districts. Uh we're part of Northwest Suburban. So again, we have partnerships there and we're bringing kids outside of our district. So the long and short of it here is it it
becomes a very quick and intensive communication log jam that has to be sorted out. Yeah. And we learned a lot from that. I mean, we've dealt with many situations. I would say um I've dealt with many situations where we had to communicate
the same message out to all our buildings. This was the first one we were do. We had we were communicating with every building in the district, but it wasn't the same message. We had to make unique messages by per building um and give them timely advice on how to
manage this depending on what was happening. So that was a unique circumstance that we learned a lot from. So thanks PJ. Uh the next uh uh scenario that uh is is utility related issues and
um there's a few things that can shut a school down fairly quickly. Oh, go ahead, Superintendent McIntyre. I don't want to miss the opportunity to point out uh the level of coordination that goes into especially in the wintertime when you have 13 different cities with 13
different ways of plowing snow or um you know Brooklyn Center has five school districts that touch that community. So, we are really in constant communication with our neighbors and with everything BJ said, we're on those
early these guys aren't sleeping much. Uh, when those events are sneaking up on us, um, snow events are harder to predict than cold. Cold are pretty reliable. Snow's much more more difficult. And, um, we still do the old
school drive it around and and Greg will call me and tell me there's a lot of snow here, there's not much there. And we, you know, because of our size, you can have just a little bit of snow one part of the district and a lot in another. And so what does that mean for all three tiers of our busing and and
being able to turn that around? So a lot of different variables go in there and and as you can imagine, you know, everyone's kind of an expert on the weather. So um know that the team we watch us and monitor it very closely moving up and things do change and we we know we have to make a decision
uh early so that you can run on time. if we're going to run on time. So, those are always um challenging ones and a lot of um I just wanted you to hear the lot of pieces that go into that work, especially in the wintertime ones because people have strong opinions about them. Yeah, I think people wonder
why we drive around. The reality is because of the size of our district, you can have very different snowfall amounts in different uh parts of the district as well as different snow plow as as um Super McIntyre mentioned, snow plowing
regimens. Um, and sometimes a bus can get through a neighborhood. The problem is the Prius in front of it can't. And so if it gets stuck in, you know, somewhere behind a vehicle um that is stuck and it's got a busload of kids
and, you know, it's it's 10 below zero, that that can potentially be a pretty good big concern for us if if help isn't on the way quickly. So those are the types of things that we're trying to evaluate. We're also looking at, we know we have walkers and so what are the walking conditions? Do we think this is
going to be plowed? Are we going to have kids walking down the middle of a street because the snow is too beat deep on the sides? There's no sidewalks. I mean, those are the types of things that we're trying to evaluate very quickly to be to be able to determine whether it's safe to have school or not. So, I think the criticism comes sometimes when someone
driving a truck says, "I made it to work just fine." And they probably did. Um, and and that's why I'm driving a truck around is to make sure that, you know, I I have that awareness. But, uh, it's it's it's a challenge, but we try to make the the best possible decision we can with the information we have. And,
you know, I think we do okay. We we always get opinions, though, and that's that's okay. We welcome that. And you'll always hear me say, board members, we always want to be in session as long as we can do it safely. But, we want to have school. So, we try to do everything we can to make sure we do that safely. And with 8,000 employees, we have people driving who work here
from around the metro or and beyond. So, making sure that when we do hold school, we have the the the adults present as well and they can get to work to and from safely as well. So, but our goal always is to hold school whenever we can. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Let me jump in.
Sure. All right. So, now we're going to talk a little bit about a different type which is power uh water sewer. Uh, I'll speak about connectivity, but um, these are some of the things that when they work, we don't think about uh, when they don't, you're aware of it pretty
quickly. So, I'll turn it over to Ben. Yeah, thanks, Greg. Um, so much like weather, we have various things that impact me and, you know, my side of the house, so to speak. Uh, one thing we had earlier in the year, uh, May 20th, we had a significant power outage at Hoover. Um, and normally we have we're on firstname base with all our vendor
reps and stuff like that. and we we get the call that powers down. We immediately go to the site, see what that says, and then we'll either call, text, or email our vendor rep because they'll be able to tell us a little bit more than what the website says. The website's pretty good. Most of the power outages that have happened in my time here are 2 hours or less. Um May 20th
was more significant because it could took down transformer and um so we were getting real-time updates, you know, that were a little more um better better, you know, informed than the website was. So, we were able to talk to people on site and you know, Noah and CNP just to talk about food, how are we
doing, what are we doing? Uh, and Greg was lucky enough to take that call and go right to the site because typically what will happen is when we get one of these calls, me or one of my staff, whoever has kind of a little more free availability, we'll go to the site to be that spot, that single point of contact. So, we have somebody on site because they're going to know when their power
comes on even before the vendor rep calls us or whatever. So, at least helps that informed chain of just communication. Hey, we're back on and now we start kind of doing the debrief and making sure all our air handlers are working. So, if it's middle of summer, middle of winter, whatever we have, we have heat, we have, you know, all the things to make sure that we're still
comfortable and we can maintain the safety of and security of the students in the school. Um, another thing was water. You know, we had a significant amount of rain on July 23rd that, you know, showed us a lot of weaknesses in our roof and just we had so much so quick that it overwhelmed our downspouts. So, we saw roof issues. So
again, we all took a different building, went there, see how bad is the the the roof leak or the water infiltration. Can we help support them? What can we do? And that was just a way for us to kind of just divide and conquer to make sure we're supporting our frontline staff, get it cleaned up, address it, and make sure we're not doing any further damage to our infrastructures.
Um those are some of the things that we've kind of gone through from from my lens. We're just always, you know, looking at strategic planning, you know, as far as our roofing systems are in our building envelopes, windows, things that we know are leaking or aging and stuff like that. as far as, you know, kind of getting those up to snuff in our LTFMs. So,
yeah. Yeah. And the power is an issue for sure depending on when it happens. Um, and then we have to engage child nutrition because we have to determine whether or not we're going to have hot lunch or cold lunch because you can't have hot lunch if you don't have power. And so,
those are quick determinations. and then whether or not we're going to be potentially transporting someone at a different time. You got to upend the whole system and kind of retool that. So, and then communicate it out to families because you want to be sure that if you're dropping a student off, for example, and they're young uh at
their house at a different time than the folks are used to. Um that's not a scenario that we can have. So, we want to be sure that when we're dropping them off, we know that there's somebody there uh to meet them. Those are just various examples of things that kind of get triggered when we have power outages and
so forth. Connectivity is up there with regard to the internet. Uh we do rely heavily on that for a variety of different things whether it's um our visitor management system security and some we have backup systems for that. We have backup systems for all sorts of different things. But um you know those
are those are the types of things that we need to address rapidly um because a lot of teaching and learning depends on that um on a regular basis. Student management, attendance, right? A variety of different things like that.
Thank you, coach. This team continues to undersell their skills. uh one of our extreme cold days, I think we had five buildings that had water man breaks because of cold weather and that created flooding in their ability to get that cleaned up and have school the next day.
Uh many would see that, but it's extreme work uh in extreme conditions that can can happen and and this team just kind of rolls up their sleeves and gets it done. So, uh those are the kinds of things that you can't predict. um we try to you know anticipate certain
things but some things you just can't and then you just react with a superefficient process. So um that's the one that comes to my mind when we had that cold weather day and Ben calls and says hey we got five buildings with water main breaks. So those are the kinds of things that can let's not make one day turn into two or
three days out of school. Right. Last scenario. Um, as you know, uh, there are things that happen in our communities that don't have anything to do with our schools. Um, and sometimes those are tragedies, um, or different
types of criminal behavior that occurs and law enforcement is responding to something and it could be in close proximity to our schools. Um, we are very fortunate that they let us know this right away and it gives us the opportunity to again assemble the right
team to try to figure out what we need to do for each particular school and what we need to communicate depending on the nature of what's happening. Um, these things don't, you know, same type of thing occurs with any type of crisis. they don't always unfold in a neat package and so you're trying to
anticipate any and all types of things that we need to make sure that we're letting schools know that they need to do. Um so I'll turn it over to Tim to just kind of finish up on on this and and some of the protocols that we follow in those types of situations.
Sure. You know, I try to live by by work by if it's predictable, it's preventable. I think I mentioned that to to the board before. like the weather. You can predict it all you want, but it you may not be right about it. And these kinds of things happen, too. You cannot predict, if I thought I could predict in
my wildest dreams, some of the things that we've had to deal with as a result of what goes on in our communities during the summer here, tragically, uh, at the end of the last school year, uh, whether we have kids that we need to decide if they can take their ACT tests because of a large community event going
on, large law enforcement event going on, or whether we have to lock down a school. um that that law enforcement event that's completely out of our control becomes something we have to deal with the minute we're informed. And uh we take a pretty quick hard look at
what we're dealing with. We assemble a team, a district level team. We work with the schools directly. Uh I'll go to the site if that's what it calls for and communicate back to the district office. uh we tabletop a lot of these, but you
again, you can't predict some of the things we've had to work with. And whether it's a weekend, whether it's a night before graduation and something happens down in Minneapolis that then directly might affect our graduate graduating ceremonies the next day, uh we communicate. We get our team together. We decide logistically on how
we're going to plan to deal with that event. Uh law enforcement's very good at letting me know, here's what you're dealing with. here's how long this might take us to take care of it and we'll let you know when we're done. Uh and in the meantime, we deal with it internally and we have our team and we work through our
communication department and you know we communicate out externally to parents and families as soon as we can about something. But again, we have to be careful if it's a law enforcement event what we communicate. Uh so working with them uh is key on how our success is
looked at in the end. And I know sometimes u I wish you would have told us that sooner. Well, there's a lot of things we can't say because we have to keep things close to the vest as to what's really going on. In the meantime, we're managing the situation as far as students and staff go. So, uh we do our
best. We can't beat social media. You've said that before. I love police clips, but I hate police clips, right? Uh a lot of people get going online and they hear things. They listen to radio. They listen to police radio uh communications and they probably know more than they
probably should know in most situations and yet we have to deal with the reality of how we keep kids and staff safe uh and work with those law enforcement agencies. So, uh it it's I think it's a a really good team that we have and I think we learn something every time we
go through it. Um but um it is what these bullets say. It's strategic, it's logistical, and uh it's it's very methodical in how we do things. So, I'll just end with another benefit of strong partnerships with law
enforcement uh which is that are built on trust that that we're going to if we have information that we're going to use it wisely uh to try to make sure first and foremost that people are safe. But, uh many of our buildings are used seven
days a week um day and night. And so there's a lot of things going on and uh we're fortunate because of the relationships that we have. Our law a lot of our law enforcement partners know that they know a lot about our schools. They know a lot about our activities and our events. And so as a result of that
they think of things that that so that it's the type of communication or the type of things that they worry about. We kind of catapult ahead you know pretty rapidly because of that information sharing that occurs. So, that's just one of many reasons why we value those partnerships so much. So, with that,
sorry for the long- winded uh presentation here, but a lot of ground to cover. Uh we'd take any questions or comments from board members. Any questions or comments from board members? Director Desa, just really quickly, thank you so much
for not only this presentation, uh, which is a great overview and a recap of all of the important work you do, but thank you for the work you do. Keeping our staff and our students safe is super important and it really matters. So, I'm grateful. Thank you,
director. Uh, just a question. uh and it might be something to answer later, but I'm I'm just curious if if there's a if there's a way uh for you to bring forward additional things that you need. Um you know, we talked about some projects that we had approved and some
of them have been going on for a long time, but I know we we would be interested in since since the situations are always changing and the technology is always changing it. You know, it feels like you get your latest system in place and three years later you're like, "Wow, this whole thing." So,
how do you keep the board and superintendent and others up to speed on things you think you need so that we can make sure we evaluate getting them? How do is there a way today or I I absolutely think we could figure something out where maybe mid year we
bring a set of options and recommendations based on what it is we see and are doing. I mean, I think there's a lot of different ways we could we could do that, but yeah, I think we could do that. Yeah, I mean what I think would be useful is maybe just ideas you have about particular
uh issues you want to try to improve. Um and then how what are some ways you might do it and you know we can evaluate those types of things because there's everinccreasing amounts of all of this stuff out there in the world and um I know we all want to have really
good systems for it. So we do have really good systems for it but it's the point you've all made about continually improving it that I think is is the deal. So, thanks. We could put a list together pretty quickly. I figured you could, but but we should. And you know, you guys know you you manage all the buildings. It's you can't
ever do all of them, but being able to evaluate them, I I think would be good. Sure. Any other questions or comments from board members? Uh, Director Hulman. Yeah, thank you. There there is so much that goes in. And you've pointed out
some really three really big scenarios where you have to respond quickly to these demands and how do we do the right thing for um the children and the families in the situation because of course giving um giving up those sweet children whether those new kids that are going to be getting on the bus soon for
their first time or um kids who are maybe in a parking lot or all these you know wide ranging scenarios that we have the responsibility for these kids. Um there's just so much to look out for. So, thank you for your v vigilance. And with that, um, what you know, you talked
a little bit about some some of the, um, drills and practices that we do. Are there other things that you can think of? And again, not today, not to think of, but um, just that communication piece really becomes so challenging in this spur of the moment as you were talking about. Um, so many different
people. What if that contact person is absent for the day? Um, there's just so much to think of and I appreciate your work and just again that idea of always seeking more answers to make certain our kids are safe.
Yeah. Thank you. Any other Director Langfeld? I just um certainly want to thank you for all your work as well. I think one of the things that um for our public to know is that when a call comes in, if they have concerns, they can reach out,
I'm assuming, to the superintendent and it will go directly to you. Sometimes trying to get you would be more challenging in a crisis or a cons any of those scenarios. Um, and so to call the superintendent's office if a concern,
whether it be one, two, or three or all of the above, I think is really important that people know if they see something, hear something and and or are thinking about something to director Adette's things or know of something to get that information to you because
there's there's always uh people who have those thoughts and and and may not get all the communication they need or or have questions. So, but sometimes people may try to, you know, source you
out at a time when you cannot be sourced out at that time, but you have a concern, they have a concern. So, so if I if I could respond, I would say to schools, the mainline, um there the communications department,
any and all of those we we funnel um there's a multiple of ways that people can communicate those concerns and they will funnel to us. So, I I don't want to feel like there's just one limited number. They they can really reach We just want them to reach out. Exactly.
and our buildings know to to let us know and we get it in the right hands and then we can deploy from there. That sounds great. My other question is really in regard to the support for you for your own things go on nationally and all of those places for professional
development for your work. I would assume you have contacts, associations, and things at a national level and beyond that we don't even talk about much, but you're getting that support and feel that you're you've got maybe it goes to the resources. Do you have everything
you need to be in the know kind of thing? So, yeah, want to make sure there are abundance of resources out there, almost an overabundance. So, you have to kind of vet that pretty carefully and um there's there's always something to sell as well. So there's that evaluation
process that has to go into determining whether it's it it helps um achieve the goals that we have or whether it's practical. But yeah. Yeah. Professional organizations and things out there. Yep. Focus on law enforcement. Anyway, thank you.
Thank you. Well, thank you very much for the presentation and thank you guys for all you do. It's much appreciated. Thank you. All right. The next item on our agenda is item 4B, secondary social studies UBDS. Welcome again, Superintendent
McIntyre, Sarah Hunter, executive director for learning and achievement and team. Thank you, Coacher Arco. So, as our team's coming in, I'll I'll kind of do a little bit of some resetting for us. Uh we've been working at this for for a while with through our process and there's been a lot of work by a lot of
people. So to kind of help ground us a bit, uh if you think back board members to the spring of this past year, the board agreed on a two-step process to help us work through the curriculum adoption materials that we needed uh to tackle that are coming now and and the
ones that are coming in the future. And that was um approval of the materials, think textbooks or those kind of concrete materials and then the actual content that shows up in in our uh UBDs and unit plans. So, at the April 14th
work session, a long work session, we covered a lot of ground. We we move forward um some expectations for a number of courses and there's four social studies courses tonight that we're following up on. So, first of all, US Studies 7, the board directed us to
um purchase the US Studies 7 book, the National Geographic uh US history book. Um and the board approved those May 5th and um they were going to next steps this summer align the text to the 2011 social studies standards. So team did
come together they completed that work. some of them are with you tonight or with us tonight and um really uh that's the second part of the process now is to come forward and bring uh those UBDs forward for your review and discussion ultimately hopefully for future approval
uh so that we can have those ready to go for the school year. So uh that was um that US history the the uh US studies 7th grade. We also had world history 11 very similar process that same night um recommended a purchase of the world
history 11 national geographic book. The board approved those materials May 5th and then again asked that the team work on those UBDs um this summer. That work was done in June and now bringing those forwards for review and discussion for hopefully future uh approval. And then
uh AP psychology a little different with that one um because of the college board requirements but again a similar process in that uh trying to get the updated textbook and then get alignment with the UBDs for board review and discussion and u again future approval that we would
need to continue to offer that course. The one that was a little more uh you know uh unique was the u US history 10 course. So, we've been at this uh process with that course for quite a while. And on the 14th of April, again, the board gave some direction to allow
our teachers to review kind of take a step back and look at what's available to us since we had been piloting for a while. So, there were a number of new opportunities and options available as things develop and develop and um the
team has done some work as well in that area to uh try to keep that on time as well. And so, we got these four courses tonight. We still have 13 social studies courses that need to be in place by the 26 27 school year. So, um we've begun to
share some ideas around a streamlined adoption process that could help us over the course of the future months coming that could help us try to hit those targets, too. And we know we pushed that out in draft form to you about a week or so ago. So tonight we have teachers with us to just be able to talk to you about
that process, answer your questions, and hopefully help us continue to get things moving and in place in time for the start of the school year. So team's settled in and ready to go, it looks like. So I'll I'll turn it over to our team. Thank you. Good evening, uh co-chairs to Shane and Arco, um Superintendent McIntyre, uh
members of the board, and u members of our community both here and online. Um I am Sarah Hunter. I have the privilege of leading uh learning and achievement in an noa henipin as of July 1st. Um so I'm I feel really lucky to have um teachers who have been in this work um longer
than I have been in an noa henipin to talk about their our process. Um we stand ready to answer questions about um the UBDs but I want to make sure that I introduce the team. So um Holly Johnson is here a US studies 7 teacher from Oakview Middle School. Um so when
talking about the US uh studies 7 um UBDS she is here and able to speak to that and then Beth Holgrimson um from Andover High School um is a part of the US 10 team. So um again the hope to um be able to pilot and then adopt in that content area. Um she can speak to some
of that work. And then I have three members of my team uh the learning and achievement team um who are also here as a part of the sort of support structure to make sure we get this work done. Sarah Gomez on that end. Um and Kevin Bruss and Ann Norstead. So I think I
will pause and say um you all I I'll hand the floor back to you for questions and we're ready to respond to questions either about the process of creating of the UVs or um specific questions about about this work. Thank you for having us tonight and thank you for coming. Um so I I
guess I'll start by opening up to any board members. I have plenty of questions myself, but does anybody have any questions they would like to ask? We've all had a chance to view the UBDs. So, director,
maybe first question, could you just give us a summary of uh basically where you think we are? uh what what has been done as far as the UBDs that you're you have shared and you know I think there's
kind of like two sets so in some cases so just where are we where do you think we are and um and what do you think or proposed the next steps could be great thank you for the question director Adette um so we have completed
all of the um UBDs that were um that needed to be ready for this school year so ideally um we would be rolling those out um to teachers as they come back. Um so in the next couple weeks, we'd like to be um onboarding those um content area teams to their UBDs so that they
can start the school year with those materials. Um the direction um was to um write the UBDs to the 2011 standards. Um so we they the team has completed that work um and we're we're ready for your um both your feedback and then ideally
your approval to move forward. So again, all of the content areas that we were to work on this summer are are are ready um and and yes, ready for teachers when they when they come back. And then I think speaking um to the US
history 10 in some ways that feels like a um um they are all important, right? Um but I think from a timing perspective, I know that um Superintendent McIntyre mentioned we have many more courses that need um adoption of new materials by
next fall. So um the proposal for US history 10 for the adoption process and um sort of streamlining our process for adoption would be the first of um quite a few that we need to move through this year with the board's approval. Drag. Thanks. If I could follow up. So uh
thanks. That's helpful. um with respect to the 2011 standards that were prepared for this year, could you just give us an overview of basically what had to be done? What did you what what needed to be done and how did you go about that? Great question. I'm going to start but
then I'll hand it to the team. So um the during the pilot process, the materials um the curriculum writers wrote those um the UBDs to the new standards. Um so that work um they essentially needed to look at our our adopted materials and
write them um to fit with the 2011 standards so that um we we could um instruct to those standards for this school year. So that meant um the additional areas that would have been a part of the the new um standards that go into effect next fall were not included and um the content that is a part of
each of the standards for 2011 um is are now a part of the UBDS. What did I miss? Um, I think I can add that for the two looking at what we had done in the previous 2011 UBDs, what the difference was is looking at what they were and taking out old materials that
we would no longer be using our old textbook. Any of those links, those were no longer going to be resources for us. So, those had to be taken out and then we were basically going through the new textbook and putting in, okay, here's the new material which would fit that exact thing that we were teaching before.
Right. So, was it I I think I got lost in one part part. I thought we would take the old standard and do what you said, fix them, fix the broken links, you know, but you sort of seem to imply that we took the new standards. Sorry. And
that was me backwards. Okay. No, new textbook to the old standards. So, the materials that So, the way that when you look at the dates at the top of the UBDs for this course, you'll see the 2015 date was the first date that those were written. And now the this summer's
date um where the team inserted the correct new materials that teachers will have this fall. Gotcha. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the clar. And director, I think you're picking up on a unique distinction on this particular course. So we did do both at the direction of the board in April. You wanted to see kind of try to pilot
what's that writing look like to the new standards. So they wrote to the old ones and the new ones for the board to decide. That was unique to this seventh grade course, not the others. Yeah. Yeah. So understood. So you might be remembering some of that. Um, so the team did both, right? And you
have access to those electronically as as you've received those. I printed them. Yeah, there they are. Even better, Director Langfeld. Thank you. Just as a followup to that, um, when we're thinking and I know that
you completed that exercise of both the 2011 and and the 20 was it 21 standards? Yeah. So my question is um and especially for for Holly, how do you how do you see that? Did you see significant
difference? I kept looking back and forth at the document and saying, "Okay, where's it different?" You know, it's not like it's redlined. What's new? What's not? So it would be very important I think to to hear from your perspective and as representative of the
teachers what did you see that was significantly different in those standards and and how will that how will that implementation next fall be you know how will that change so um the difference if you're looking
at the the way that the two are written the two 2011 and the 2021s um I think that I would say the major differences is kind of us focus on building skills versus just memorization or or that kind of content. In terms of the content
we're teaching, it's a lot of the same like we're teaching US history. Um so, uh it does get a little bit longer in terms of the years. For example, if we stick to that 20 or 2011 standards, it starts really with the US Constitution
and goes through present day. Well, to present day for 2011. Um, now if looking at the new ones or the 2021s, it does go a little bit further back. Um, it goes back more to colonization, revolutionary war. I think a lot of US history teachers would be like,
we want to teach all of the history. Um, and then to present, which is now, I guess. Um, so I guess if I could be a little bit more succinct, differences, there's actually a little bit more content in terms of the length of years and then the focus is more on skill building. We're still teaching those
same topics, but trying to get kids to be more literate in the area of social studies. We're building the writing and the reading skills and the discussion skills. Okay? Because again, if you start looking at the documents just for, you
know, misunderstandings and and terminology and things very similar and that's what that's very apparent, but it's really looking at what students know and can do when they're completing that work. So, Anyway, thank you.
Any other questions or comments from board members? Like I said, I have quite a few I'll ask, but figured I'd give everybody else a chance. Um, okay. So, what I'm very interested in is the
the US history 7 standards written with minimal compliance and a balanced approach. So first let me just provide context for the public so they understand what exactly I'm getting at. Um to the best of my knowledge if you compare the old standards to the new the
old um social studies standards for US history 7 um adopted in 2011 contain four strands that we have to teach. It's citizenship and government economics geography and history. The 2021 standards contain those four and then
ethnic studies as well. So um just to read right out of an MDE document anyone can download just going to read a couple just two of the standards. So if you look at it's um an ethnic studies strand with code 7.5.23.1
the benchmark states examine the benefits and consequences of power and privilege on issues associated with poverty, income, and the accumulation of wealth. Stated it before. I'll state it again. I don't think Carl Mars could have written that better himself. Another one that's very interesting that
I found um I'll read out loud. So if we go down to again ethnic study strand code 7.5.25.1 if we go to the standard um it says use ethnic and indigenous studies methods
and sources in order to understand the roots of contemporary systems of oppression and apply lessons from the past. Here's the real key. in order to eliminate historical and contemporary injustices. So that's a standard passed by the state of Minnesota. So now if I
hop over to our friend Google and just search what is the definition of social justice activism, it says the practice of working towards a more equitable society by taking direct action to address systemic issues that cause inequality and oppression.
So it's interesting then that if we look at what the standard is calling for that last sentence it says in order to eliminate historical and contemporary injustices the new standards are essentially the state of Minnesota building social justice
activism into the curriculum and this is to to those who don't understand what CRT is this is it right here like it is in writing now you can download it from NBE's website they want your children to learn this so that is why I take the the highly cautious approach to the new curriculum because so far as I'm
concerned, it's just poisoned through and through. And unsurprisingly, it was passed when a single party had total control of the state of Minnesota for two years. There was no bipartisan discussion or agreement on this. It was a it was single party tyranny is what this is. So now I guess all of our kids
have to learn this poison. So my feelings on this are not terribly surprising then. So let me just start with my questions for um how the new standards were written in the balanced approach that minimizes specifically the
the divisive content. So, um, just for the curriculum writing team, which of the social studies standards did you consider to be divisive according to how they have been discussed at board meetings and obviously based on what I've just said as well, but when you were writing them,
what standards did you consider to be divisive in the first place? Because you have to identify them in order to minimize and balance them. I think I could start. um the team was writing to the 2011 standards and the standards that you were referring to um
correct me if I'm wrong, Chair Arco, are from the 2021. So these materials that you see this evening um are not inclusive of the ethnic studies standards um per board direction. Yeah. No, I was so I know we wrote those. I'm I was referring to the the
new standards also written to so sorry the new standards written but in a balanced and minimized way if that makes sense because there there's the two versions Cy had mentioned and I would say that wasn't the work that this team worked on this summer right the what we're bringing to you
this evening is is only the 2011 um UBDS no the team did work on I'm looking at yeah 21 at both 20 21 and 2011 this year somewhere so I I know what you mean you can share what kind of conversations there might have been. You know I think uh director
Arco the challenge here is trying to do what you described this balanced approach with meeting the the intent of the standards that are in statute uh or driven by statute and um what might be determined by un you know
controversial by anyone. So um clearly the board was leaning towards the 2020 2011 standards in our last meeting. So if you want to speak to that. Hi. Um so I was on the 2021 writing team and we did up and they were updated this
summer. The what the going back years how it starts is we start looking at what's the high priority benchmarks medium and low and we prioritize them because there are so many like you read through that it takes a long time. I cannot do all of those justice. And that's a full team effort. That's all
seventh grade teachers looking at all of those documents, going through and prioritizing. And different teachers have different priorities. And also, I'm going to steal your words. We're a little bit creatures of habit. Some of us have been teaching for 20 years. So, I know I still want to teach US history. And I'm going to look at what are some
overlaps. What are some changes? I'm not going to use that language in any seventh grade classroom, nor are any I I think I can be confident that we're not using those words in front of seventh graders. Um, we're going to be using age appropriate and none of us want to touch anything that's super controversial
because that's just not what we're here for. Um, so I I think I'm answering your question and looking at what the high priority for to low priority. Can I remember off the top of my head where that one fits? I have a guess and it's not high. Um, but that's where we
started and then we start looking at where it fits with curriculum that or the content we've done. and then also doing justice to what we've been asked. But we cannot do a whole lesson on all of those standards that would and if I can make
clarification um what you mentioned is a as a benchmark are standards are the skills that the kids have to do. So then all of those benchmarks are assigned to a standard and again there are some of those that we just don't have time for. We don't address depending on what it
says or how it's written. we were like this is just too too ind depth for us to get into so we're not going to assess that standard with that benchmark and that's where some of the high priority benchmarks come in or what are we covering so then it sounds like you can select
which benchmarks you'll use to meet said standard yes that we are supposed to I mean it would still be a low priority so could it be taught I mean to some level but again I trust all my colleagues that they're going to teach it at a seventh grade appropriate level and when we first wrote the standards
We didn't include any ethnic benchmark, ethnic studies benchmarks in any of those 2021 documents. We were directed not to include those. Um I believe last summer we were supposed to split them up and they all went into a different content area. And so the appropriate
content area maybe took an ethnic benchmark study. But um again I think all of our teams I know seventh or 10th grade studies deemed them lower priority than the other content ones that we were covering.
Okay. So then kind of as a followup to that, what does I mean I guess the first question is what does compliance look like? But what does minimal compliance look like? I mean you kind of need one to answer the other. So if if I were to come in say I'm from MDE and I'm like hey did you guys investigate the
struggle for immigration rights and the rights of all immigrants in the United States code 7.5.24.2 like what what would satisfy that? Is it a lesson that is one class long? Doesn't seem like it because we don't there's not enough time you said to kind of go through all these in extraordinary
depth. Is it half of a lesson? Is it five minutes? Is it two minutes? It's an oddly specific question, but to get at the heart of what minimal compliance looks like, that's I guess maybe where you start with it. I don't know if we can define minimal compliance. I don't know. Like would we
be in trouble with the state? Is that what you're asking? Or what is the metric the state or the district or whoseever the ultimate authority, so probably the state uses to determine if these were taught in the way that the state wants them taught.
Maybe we have our own metric. we defend or justify, but like what is what is that metric? I guess I don't think there's a metric there's no established metric. Um I don't Yeah.
Or the state of Minnesota would have to define that. I don't know. Yeah. They've never given any district an actual number. Right. I think what I'm hearing is you've heard the board's direction. Those ones that are most controversial were identified as a low
priority. So you're clearly spending the minimum amount of time on those because you've elevated others as a high priority and medium. Yep. Use your language there. Um so I mean that that was that was the intent.
That's what we were um directed to do in in April. Okay. Sounds like so that's how you approached it in those sessions. And even in previous like even the first time that they were written is going way back for all of the subject levels it was starting by identifying the high, medium
and low. Right. Yeah. Yep. So some of them because I did I got the UBDs originally when they originally written before I was on the board but then kind of in the midst of that adoption process and then I got these new ones. I did a kind of a sideby-side
comparison. There has been a significant improvement in the language of the UBD. So well done. and I appreciate that. Um, I do think I'm not contradicting you in any way, but I I think in some way, I don't know if it was high or medium, but one of the ethnic study strands, I believe, was prioritized in the the way
it was originally written. So, it's good to see that at least changed. Um, so okay, I'm just gonna I don't I don't I guess I don't know exactly what question to ask next, but then it because it sounds to me like
we need to teach every standard, but then some of them just aren't a priority. Like I guess I I don't really understand that I suppose because again I think there's a confusion between the standards there for US history and world history there are five standards. They are skill-based standards about questioning and um
primary and secondary sources and things like that. The way we teach those standards is through the benchmarks and the content. So we need to decide what benchmarks are going to be best to get to that skill. And then in you know in era one we might
teach um standards one and two really well. In era two we might teach standards three and four really well with that content. And like Holly said, we we're looking at the new benchmarks. We're writing them in kid-friendly language so that kids understand what we're talking about, but we also not
don't necessarily veer too far from what we already know. So, we're trying to incorporate a little bit of what we've done with a little bit that's new and help kids with these skills is really what we're trying to focus on. Okay. Oh, I appreciate the explanation.
Director Adette, uh question. Hopefully, you're all aware of all of the debate we've had about this uh this c this these standards. So, you should have a pretty good feel
for where the board is at with it. And you know, it it just gets to the it's the same in society. We're not we're not agreeing on this stuff. Somehow our state found a way to get it mandated into the standards. I think the way that
Mr. Arco explained is the way we all saw it. Huge disagreement about it. And so at least for my own self as an individual board member, I have a problem with what is there. So I'm looking for a way to deal with that. Um,
I think one thing that you've proposed that makes some sense is to talk about high, medium, and low. Um, but I'm curious based on what you've heard, what's the way forward that you see? How how should how do you think we can solve this problem? Because it's
not, by the way, it's not about this board member, that one, that one, that one, that one. We represent people. We represent our families and our communities. Um, believe me, they tell us what they think. And so, um, and I'm in the middle of a campaign personally,
so I'm talking to a lot of people. Believe me, we talk about this issue. So, there's no question that we don't have broad-based support for what this is. So, we have to figure out a way to deal with what has been put in front of
us, in my opinion, irresponsibly, but we still have to deal with it. um in a really big school district that in you know incorporates all the different people and the way to do that is not going to be do it the same way the state
did it which is to stand up and tell everybody you're going to do it um because that's what people object to. So, I'm curious how you think we could move this forward. And it's an opinion. I I mean, if you don't want to share
one, it's okay to, but if anybody does because I'm looking for a way to move it forward. I mean, I think it's really hard. Um, like we were just talking like teaching is such an art and a science because and and I've been fortunate to be able to look at these standards for two years
and try to work through them and how is this going to look and again not fully always really liking it to be honest. There are things where I'm like I how do we teach this to the kids? How do we do this? And the more I work with them, the better I become at them. But I've been
able to do that. Um, so you know, giving teachers time to work through the standards, letting us work together on what does that look like, the high, low, medium. Um, and also there's only so much time. We don't have time to do all these different things. Sadly, they want
us to almost I mean, you know, here's all the content you need to cover and here's the amount of time you get to cover it in. We'd really like a full year of US history. I'll just say that right now. Um, but uh it's it's uh it's an art and a science. So, like we're we're very much trying to figure it out.
I I guess I would really appreciate your trust in that the team that we put together is doing that. We hear what you're saying. We understand. We also don't want this to be like a a huge controversy. We want kids to be able to read and write and understand history.
We want them to be passionate. We want them to have discussions with each other. And we we love your students. We love Ben and Ben and Sam just a lot. And so when they come into our classroom, that's we want them to feel safe and comfortable and we want to do that in a way that is for the state and the
district. And so we're not like we want to bring them together as best as we can. So we do want to do good things. Mhm. I totally would support what Beth said and I um I think I would add we don't have we don't have control over what the
state wrote in the standards, but our teams I'm going to sound arrogant. Our teams are fantastic. Like the teachers who are doing this work, I think if you were in the room with them, I think everybody would be happy with the work that's being done because we do push each other. We'll say, "Hey, I don't
agree with this standard or I don't like how that's written. How is that going to be best for our students in Anoka Henipin and how do we do that that our community will be proud of? Um, and so that would be I I would reiterate, please trust us. Like we're
they're not just me, my the team's amazing. All of them. They're doing such great work. Director Desane, thank you. I think I think it's important to recap too what has led us to this place today
where we're at. Um the district has prioritized having large groups of stakeholders participate in new standard rollouts and adoption of curriculum that suits the needs of those new standards. So I don't
remember the exact date but years ago, multiple years ago when these new social studies standards were went through the whole state process. Like you said, that's not a part of the district. That's the state process. Community feedback, all sorts of things happen.
Then the standards become the standards that we have to react to here inside the district. The groups that work on that include teachers, parents in the community, administrators, district level folks that are focused on
learning and achievement, board members, and those committees uh meet regularly and they discuss and talk about this. At multiple different schoolboard meetings prior to this one, we have had teachers
and the teams that worked on that come before us and tell us very similar things to what we're hearing again tonight. We don't all have the same perspective. There are teachers with differing perspectives that are talking about these standards together and working on it with each other to find a path forward that could work at Anoka
Henipin. Um, you can see the willingness to try to pivot and adjust and meet the needs so that we're not putting our teachers in a position of being two and a half weeks away from students entering the building and trying to figure out
what it is they're going to do in their class. The respect that's being asked for and the trust that's being asked for, I think over and over and over again, has been demonstrated to us in those conversations, in the different teachers
that have come forward saying the same messages, the different district staff that is coming forward. Um, the new the new team is saying the same thing as the old team. The process isn't rushed. It isn't um uh hasty. It's deliberate and
it's intentionally meant to include a variety of perspectives so that questions like that can be dealt with. Um, I don't know if there's I I sort of explained my understanding of what I've heard as a board member in this, but if there's anything else you would add about the length of time that
this has been worked on and the participants and the variety of perspectives that have been shared, um, I think that's important context to the discussion. Any other thoughts or comments from board members? Director Langfeld.
Thank you. Thank you for all of your work. Um I think one of the things that I always look for um and it's a look for is show me where where there are concerns. I I cursory looked. I didn't print them yet, but I I really looked to
see if I could find concerning areas because quite frankly, we all agree. Everyone on this board does. We recognize we serve all children and that's what we do in public education coming. We welcome them joyfully from whatever whatever family
wherever they come to us. And so we recognize that our families come from varied perspectives as well. So I think it's a right now it's an extremely polarizing time historically and I think that what I read and like I said I have
not gone through it with a fine tooth comb but I do believe that um the intention is to provide solid social studies education to our kids to afford them the opportunity to critically
think. You can see it in the documents. You can see it when you look at the goals. You can see it in the terminology. You can see that. I think one of the things that that um is important um to the board would be that
uh a recognition that if there are areas that are really problematic or you're seeing concerns um and you you know where they may lie. I mean, I think um that that's a really important thing to
perhaps address in your teams and get that to us to say this is happening and we're not sure where to go with it kind of thing. I don't think anyone is interested in telling you not to follow any standards or get in trouble. That's not the plan. And I agree that that the
standards um and the the actual learning are are you know how you get there. The road of the art and science of teaching is is just that. Um so I I would offer that as I looked at these standards and I did some crosswalking. That's why I
said how do what do you see as different? I think it's really important that um we put into place some some um ways to to begin this process certainly
and and um look at how how it's working and where where we have a problem. If it matters I don't you know again it goes to perhaps piloting some pieces of it. I don't know. I just think that um if we're not ready to go till fall, if
that's what the board desires to wait until we absolutely have to, that's one thing. But I'm not seeing things that are really alarming me and maybe maybe I'm missing something when I crosswalk
the units that I've looked at in the in the and maybe others are seeing finding things that I'm not seeing. And again, I have not looked at them in deep detail because quite frankly, I I think the people who are behind this and I trust
you and I but I also think we need to trust and verify, you know. So, so that's our job as part of the people who support the community and the taxpayer dollars and all families. So, that's
that would be how do we do that? How do we trust and verify at the same time? And I think the proof will be certainly in what our kids are able to know and demonstrate they can do. So, thank you. Uh, Director Simon,
thank you. Um, and and hopefully you can hear me. If not, someone just uh signal, but I'll try to try to talk here and hopefully it works. But first of all, um, thank you very much for your work. um you know you did pivot um as the board asked you to and I know you put a
lot of work and passion into that and thank you first of all um I just go to the um you know what is the next step what what does the board do how do we proceed and um and maybe I'm maybe I'm not understanding it completely but I
thought we gave that direction is that um that it the UBDs were rewritten for the new materials back for the old standards that don't include the the um items that folks think are
controversial. Right? So, if am I understanding correctly that or next school year we can go forward with that like if the board approves that, right? Obviously, we have a two-step process. Board members can look in depth at those UBDs that you wrote for those standards
and we can have a vote on that not at tonight but sometime. And then for the new UBDs or the new standards if you will, they have to be implemented to to be compliant with state in 2627.
So we still you've written one of them already, right? the the seventh period US7 I think for the new standards minimum compliance however we discuss that and we can do that for other courses right and then
again there is a an approval step in there where the board has that secondary approval for those UBDs so I think that board members can look in depth I mean very detailed exactly at what those UBDs are for 26 27 and bring any specific
concerns forward Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but is that the path we're we're hoping to take or we're we've d I think we've directed to take that. Correct. Superintendent McIntyre. Thank you, Director Simon. And I'll try
to try to add some clarity to that. Um, yeah, for US study 7, you have a choice board members to move forward either the the new materials to the old standards or the new ones, but you asked to try that out. um with world history 11 you know new book to old standards and then
for the AP psych it's really we're a bit bound by the college board requirements to be able to offer that course um with director Simon laid that out really well so my recommendation would be to move those forward in that fashion to the August 25th meeting so we can get those
approved and those courses we have many more courses to come and I just hope um to give that a little added context Um, I I would I would say that Miss Holgrimson did a great job um
trying to capture the the tone of the work that was done this summer. I believe they took the board's direction to heart. They they understand it was given clear direction around this is the areas are controversial. I think director
Audet did a great job explaining the moment we're in right as a district and beyond. So, I I hope you feel and see by them coming here on their time off in the summer that they took that seriously and they did their best to honor that
direction of the the board that you gave in April and really dug into that and I I'm grateful that teachers leaned into that. It's not easy. So, I believe and trust that our teachers did what you asked them to do. Um, is that perfect? I don't I don't know for sure, but they
sure did try and they did their best and they're the ones delivering the instruction. Um, and you saw the changes that were made. I'm glad Director Arrow, you were willing to point out some of you noticed that. Um, and I would also overlay just a technical piece. This board very clearly uh laid out and
expects that we follow 604 604.4 and that's our in our curriculum policy area, the respectful learning environment. We train every staff member starting last year on this policy again. We just reset that and we do it again this year. So, it sends that message
that I think is the common ground amongst the board. And um I I hope you sense and see that the staff that came in this summer to write this really your intent was to do what you asked them to do. You you might have six different opinions on what gradient
that hit. Um, but I also think you agree that we want our teachers working on this to help find those materials and and and the teachers that are here with us tonight did a great job just um kind of explaining the intent and I think it was
clear they they got the direction that was in front of them as far as how to tackle writing these things. So, um I would recommend, you know, to to get these courses in motion for this school year, come back, you know, at least, uh we can decide between now and the 25th, but that would be my
recommendation to get those approved so we can um because we have more to tackle and and we'll keep testing this, you know, feel, you know, stress testing this two-step process. Uh how can we continually refine it, but we're we're in this moment right now. So, I'll just
leave it at that. Director Uh something I'm just thinking about as we're having the discussion is is that I think would be helpful especially as you contemplate trying to write more is uh some sort of a document. I'm going to
call it a policy for lack of a better word. But it's a maybe a framework. But it what it would what it would do is it would it would define maybe uh what we need to try to do is bring some definition to what is object
objective if you will. What we objective objectionable uh in the standards something that we could talk about in here that we could say again we're we're just back to like it or not. These are these are the these are the areas that have problems. this
would somehow help us to define high, medium, and low. Um and it would be based upon direction that the school board in theory could give and say that okay this is this is sort of how we're going to agree to where the problem areas lie and what we should do with
those and the the what we should do to the extent you have to teach the standard is that's where we have this discussion about in some way uh telling the other side of that and we need to talk about that some more in some way because that's being misinterpreted um
by a lot of people they're ascribing uh ideas or value judgments or whatever to what that is. So it stems from by the way this it's sort of a takeover of language. We took over language. We called something anti-racist and then if
you don't like the anti-racist then you must be racist. That was an intentional thing somebody did. It doesn't reflect the reality of what people really think. So if you don't want to teach those principles that doesn't mean you're racist, but that's what is implied. And so we have to figure out how to work
through that. We have to be bigger than the people who created this mess if we're going to try to dig through and solve this for for our schools. And so like that's what I'm trying to think about is a way to bring that out so we can talk in a in a without in a
nonvaluesbased way. It's just these are the problem areas. These are the ones that aren't problems. We can define that based on if anybody in the board has a problem with it, it's a problem area. If we don't, uh, we won't. And I'm imagining that we're going to have a little bit of trouble doing that, but I don't know what else to do other than to try to figure a way through that. If we
could create something like that now, I think you might be able to go forward and do some more writing on these new standards with that in mind. Um, and it would it would it would give direction for the people who are trying to work their way through it. Um, I don't know what that looks like. I don't know
tonight how to do it, but it's what I'm thinking. So, I wanted to put it out. Superintendent McInty. Yeah, thank you. And I think in the spirit of what you're asking for, Director Audet, I'll try to offer um a solution or at least a path forward. So, our team already just they've only been
here a month, but they have created a um an alternate or a new curriculum adoption process. So, maybe it's something we could fold into to that. We gave you a draft to play with. Uh some this was intended to align to the two-step process that the board's
working under right now. And uh you you know in there I maybe there's room for adding in that piece you're asking for uh well it's a framework or a rubric or a yeah I agree with you. It's not really policy. It's just sort of a guidance like a way to get the work done and and
how to find it and see it to those controversial areas that that may exist. So I think that can be this really took our 41step process and really streamline this. And you know, I understand you may not have had time a lot of time to unpack it, but maybe there's potential
room in here to put put that direction. So, I think what you're asking for is clarity, right? Yeah. I mean, clarity that we can talk about so we can agree we have clarity so we would that way we might know it when we see that. Okay. I think I think we found the spot and then the people that
are trying to write it. And another thing I I'll offer, this is my own copy and I was on the committee when we started it X years ago. And I've attempted multiple times to go through and highlight areas I that I think are of concern. And usually I I go to do
that. It's so long. I get I get going and I pretty quickly know remember again that oh yeah, the standards sort of repeat. They just get more complex. So, I normally have stopped highlighting because it's like you get the joke and I get the joke myself, too. And I go, I don't really need to I'm going to waste the whole highlight. I'm willing to offer up my copy of it if the group
wants to evaluate it to try to make sure that we're getting connected on. Yep. Those are the issues. Um because I I only represent one point of view. It's my own, but uh I certainly am trying to find a way to share with you what those are. I mean, and you can take that and
understand because I think part of this is understanding where people are. I would just add this was very helpful for our team to hear um so that you know they potentially can go back and refine this this framework that we're bringing forward and it's up to you board members
if you want to move in a direction of something like this. I think it's something that can move move us through the remaining courses in a different way. Um, so maybe uh through your feedback we can we can make adjustments and changes to some of the new ideas that we've begun to uncover and unpack
that can maybe hit most of those common ground areas. So to quickly answer one of the questions you posed director at a at a high level it's pretty much the ethnic study strand. There's five strands. The overwhelming majority of what would be considered divisive is going to be in
the ethnic study strand. So in that spirit, one of the questions I was going to ask, I think you guys have kind of answered it in and amongst the explanations you gave. So I appreciate that is essentially what is the opposing view? And this is something I would actually like to clarify myself because
I do think there's a lot of confusion out in the community to those let's just say that the divided nature of politics doesn't always allow people to actually understand the other side of the aisle, so to speak. And so since we're dealing with something that was
unfortunately put in place under one party rule um in Minnesota, I'm going to provide a very specific example of what I am referring to when I mean the counterpoint because some people walk away and say, "Oh, it's like you're referring to white supremacy." No, not not in the slightest. That is not the opposing view. So
there's a man by the name of Thomas Soul to give a brief background almost like an introduction to him because I have an example of this here. He was born in North Carolina in 1930, raised in Harlem. Dr. Soul overcame extraordinary obstacles early in life. He was orphaned at a young age. He was adopted and raised during the Great Depression. Despite dropping out of high school and
facing the challenges of poverty and segregation, he went on to serve in the US military. Dr. Soul earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard University, a masters from Columbia University, and a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago, where he studied under Milton Freriedman. Early in his academic life, Soul identified as
a self-declared Marxist. However, his views shifted dramatically after working as an intern at the US Department of Labor, where he witnessed firsthand the unintended consequences of government policy. Funny, it's almost like we're in that same situation. Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Soul has taught at prestigious institutions,
including Cornell, UCLA, Amherst, and has been a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University since 1980. He has authored over 40 books. I've read many of them. His writing is renowned for its clarity, depth, and fearless examination of politically sensitive issues. He has also testified
before US Congress multiple times. He is a recipient of the National Humanities Medal and continues to write books even to this day despite being 95 years old. He is a national treasure and by any metric he is an expert. Tragically, I don't think people are as aware of him as they should be in modern American
society because, as I said, he is he's a national treasure. Oh, because the divisive nature of what we're dealing with is the ethnic studies strand, which essentially purports that I'm going to oversimplify this, but also not really, that all disparities are can really just be boiled down to there's power
differentials and the oppressor group oppressing the the oppressed group. Um, Thomas Hull actually wrote a book right here called Ethnic America. And in said book, he goes through historically um a lot of the different ethnic groups that immigrated to America, when they
immigrated, the challenges they faced, whether or not they overcame them, and why. And he provides rather than reducing everything down to power differentials, he actually provides very specific historically accurate reasons as to why they either succeeded or did not succeed that are more nuanced and don't divide people into oppressor and
oppressed groups, which is what the CRT currently written into the Minnesota curriculum does. So, the reason I bring all of this up is as we go forward in continuing to write more curriculum, um it would be a simple thing to have a book like this, Ethnic America, be a
supplemental material to classes to act as a counterpoint to the ethnic study strands that we have to use. This book is very inexpensive. Um, contains amazing content. I've read it myself. So, I'm just throwing that out there. So now when anyone wonders what exactly we're talking about when we say please
include the counterpoint, this is essentially it. You could pull almost any of his writings, his over 40 books, a lot of the content he's written would do it. I think this captures it particularly well. He's also written a book called discrimination and disparities where he specifically discusses why um
disparities exist that's not necessarily a result of discrimination, which again is the counterpoint to what a lot of this ethnic studies curriculum is. So, I figured I'd throw that out there. That is essentially my final comment, but I really appreciate all the work that you guys have done and the presentation that
you gave. Um, Director Langenfeld has a comment. Yes. Um, uh, Director Arco has talked about this gentleman more than once and I I went out and started looking around and listened to a podcast of his. I think
what he he is a very learned man. He is a man who I believe and correct me if I'm wrong believes in civil discourse and understanding different perspectives and is very open to critical thinking
and dialogue so that people can shape their own opinions. But he is he is as you note um he is uh a person who has evidence-based facts behind what he's writing and talking about. And so I look
at him as an individual that is the kind of person that um would model what our teachers we would hope are doing is affording our kids that same difference. Um that they are able to ensure that our
children can leave the doors engaged in seeking for understanding. um looking at uh making sure it's evidence-based instead of just a misunderstanding or an intentional whatever. Um but keeping
that in mind. So, and I would I would encourage you there he's does some great podcasts. I I haven't read the books, but those are the kinds of of the people out there who who are open to broad thinking and want to engage in those
important conversations and have done their homework. And I think that's why he's such a a well well re, you know, thought out and has taught in these extraordinary um Ivy League colleges and so forth. So anyway, so that's when I
listened to the podcast, I thought, yeah, this is a person who understands how to talk about history and is willing to sit down and have those really important hard conversations. Um, and putting them in a UBD and this
information is to be able to afford that. And then it's really making sure that people have the resources and support they need to be able to have those conversations uh with their students because um this is a man who
has spent his entire life um in these conversations and they're not easy because we all have different varied perspectives. So that's kind of where we are historically right now too is that we may not be open. So I I do want that
document to look at Matt if you wouldn't mind sharing it. And I'm very serious as well. So that's my comment. Director Hulman. Yeah, thank you for these comments. Um and thank you all for all the hard work.
Um I think this just highlights um just the enormous task and responsibility that we have in front of us to make certain that uh students get an excellent opportunity to learn so many perspectives. um but really to be able to come in a classroom and make certain
that it's a safe place to have um discussions that give the quality information um so that they can go into adulthood clearly. So, thank you all for the hard work and what I do appreciate although this process has been so um
drawn out very much longer than we had planned. um and the dedication that you've shown here to to make this a quality process. I really appreciate. But also, I think you spoke to at one point that you've learned a lot or that many teachers in this process can just
learn a lot and make certain that um you know, they just approach it in a very thoughtful way. And I hope that we can as a district allow and afford um the other teachers who haven't been a part of this process to experience that as well because this is a challenge for our
communities for our students and definitely then for the teachers who they've got a new textbook that they have to figure out how to use and now they have to um make certain that they're presenting this information in a thoughtful manner. Um, so thank you for
the time that you've put in and board, I hope that we can take these thoughts tonight and put together something that ensures that um, we're carefully instructing our kids in a thoughtful way. Any other thoughts or comments from
board members? Otherwise, we will move on to the next discussion. I guess I am looking for direction, board members. So, um I don't want to leave not being clear on what's expected of our team. It's a busy next two weeks. You of all our staff coming back. Um I
think I heard two things, but I need your help in correcting me if I'm wrong. So, I hear what can we do for these courses right now? And then what can we do process-wise for the ones that are coming that we still have a little more runway for?
And with that in mind, knowing, you know, just where this board is, where you all land on this and and where can we get um enough votes to get the UBDs in place. I think, you know, what I'm hearing and what I'm recommending is um
for US study 7, take the new book that was written to the old standards, those UBDs, and approve that. So 2011 standards with the new book. The world history 11, same thing. new book to the previous standards.
That's how the UBDs were written and approved those UBDs for the time being. AP psychology, we have college board standards we have to follow to be able to offer the course. This teachers have written our UBDs um to comply with those
so we can continue to offer the AP psychology course. And then um lastly the what I'm suggesting uh for US history 10 is kind of the same same approach where um we're writing to the
previous standards. I know we we took a step back and help me with this one. Go ahead Sarah. Yeah this one is us um we are we are one step before that. Um what we what we are bringing forward is um we are hoping to
be able to pilot. Um so the that course um we need to look um for new materials and then we would be writing UBDs following the board's direction. I think the problem with that is board members what I'm sensing is you don't we don't have agreement on anything being piloted to the new standards
if we're using all the new standards. So, what I'm recommending there then is um the team can go back and look at um a recommendation for adopting one of the previously piloted texts that would align to the 2011 standards. I'm just worried we're continually spinning our
wheels and I'm looking for more direction on that because these are the courses we need to land now versus the ones we have more. There's 13 more coming, but um we have more needs there. So, we we can follow up on that one. That one's a little more complicated, but I'm hearing new materials to old
standards is the theme for now. Yes. And then I would add uh what director described where we start defining what is divisive and then what we're going to do about it. That is the bridge that will lead to adoption of new standards. So that would be the
follow-up piece as well. In my opinion, my best thinking right now is and we can talk more as a team, but that's something I think we fold into this to an adoption process that can get us through the the next set of and we don't only have just 13 courses for social studies. We got elementary and secondary math coming. We have a lot of work to
do. So, we got to really kind of think about those content areas, too. But for now, you know, I I feel like these are the courses. I I'm I'm looking for feedback so we know what to bring back to the board in two weeks. I don't know if we can accomplish what you that last piece in just a handful of days with the next two
weeks all of our staff are coming back and I got to be thoughtful of capacity of our team at this point. I think unless somebody wants to tell me otherwise what you've described sounds correct and then yeah what I what I was asking for that that's not like an expectation for the next week or two that's just like a a next piece to do
forward thinking just a a point of clarity we asked them to write the the the UBDs um in both both for the 21 and the 11 standards correct and
just for seventh grade Yes, I recognize that. And so then the question becomes, what are we doing with that? Are we is this something board work that we need to do where we look at what they've written? I mean, I think we have to acknowledge that work because that was
part of why we asked them to do it and consider it as a pilot. In fact, am I am I sleeping here or did I miss something? Didn't we talk about that? And that's why we asked them so that we could look at what they've written for the new
standards. I was under the assumption that board members have done that. They we've provided I think board members got them at the end of June. Had six to eight weeks to look at them. So I would assume at this point you're you're going to need to give us direction on 2011 or 2021 standards. We
we did try, you know, that pilot kind of concept with seventh grade. We just need a decision from the board on one or the other um for the August 25th meeting. And I'm hearing probably more traction here with the 2011. I I'm sensing we
don't have four votes for the 2021 because you have those UBDs. You can see what they wrote, right? You've had them for a few weeks. True. Director, I'm nodding my head in agreement with what Mr. McIntyre said. I think I think
the discussion tonight brings us further forward into how we might be able to get to a place where we can do something with the new standards, but for now we need we got the school to start. It it's going to make the most sense to we we bought the new books so that they could
get used with the old standards and then we've got more work to do to figure out how to navigate through the mess. But I appreciate to everybody I know is sincere. So, um I think the other it's just a comment. How do we move away from
all these value judgments about how people are thinking and feeling about it? We should try to not do that. We should just stick to the realities and the facts and then because everybody's a everybody in here is good people. So, the the the closer we can get to making
it feel that way, I think might go a little bit of a way toward working on the trust part of it. But that's my opinion. Director Deshaine. Um, just an offering. think that because we have asked the teams to do the work
on the 2021 standards for seventh grade, that would be a really and since we've had weeks to look at those and dive in and maybe find those places where there's still some concern in the standard and in how they that was translated in the UBD, we could use that for the discussion of the curriculum
adoption process, the rubric framework that we're going to talk about for like identifying and thinking about that on the future courses that are coming before us. I mean, the work has been done. We've got that ready to ready to use as an example in that in that
discussion. Yeah, that work's not throwaway. That work moved us closer. It just it's not totally there yet, but so it's it's it don't throw the don't throw the document away. We'll probably change it a little bit more, but yeah.
Any other thoughts or comments from board members? All right. Well, thank you guys very much for the present oh for the discussion and just all the work that you did. It's much appreciated. Um,
the next item on our agenda is item 4C, secondary science and instructional methodology method methodology. Once again, welcome superintendent McIntyre, Sarah Hunter, executive director for learning and achievement and team. All right. Thank you, co-chair Arco. So just I'll do the same here kind of reset
us all um on where we're at. I think it was a great question by director earlier. So I'll try to do that again here. So where we're at with biology I believe um based on the direction of April 14th's work session. We needed that time to do the work. At that point the direction was to not purchase new
materials and update the course documents to reflect the 2019 standards aligning to the biology dynamics of life uh text. So um team has worked on that and completed that work. You have that in front of you to review. We've had
that uh again for a little bit of time this summer. And um similarly um with physics uh I know we're going to get to that too. Um the direction was not to buy new materials, continue with the current book and then have those um UBDs
aligned uh the new alignment of the uh 2025 core structure um to the materials. So u I believe that was also done in June as well. Get a nod there. Okay. So that's that was the direction of the board back in April and that was the
work that's been done. We're bringing th that work back to you and hopefully with um again my hope would be you know at our next regular board meeting to uh if that's satisfactory get those approved so we can get those in place for the start of the uh school year. So with that I'll turn it back over. It looks
like everybody settled in. So thank you. Do any board members have any thoughts or comments or anything to discuss? Director Hoffman. Yeah, thank you for being here tonight um in looking and reviewing the UBDs
that have been written. Thanks everyone for the hard work that went into that and and making certain um that our students have some quality materials provided by the the quality staff that's in front of them. Um, considering things that I've
noticed in here, can you explain or expand upon um what would be done um in the three strands of the of the scientific um proposed scientific inquiry ideas that come with the new um
standards from the state? Um one piece is that inquirybased learning is highlighted. Can you explain how that was addressed in these documents? Uh, I can try, I guess. Um, I suppose it's it's a little thinking back because
we actually wrote a lot of the document over a couple years previous to this last year. And then this last year, a lot of the work we did was just aligning it with the materials we have now versus the materials we expected to be purchasing. Um, but thinking back, I
guess just in how we're thinking about assessing a lot of what students do, uh, we've tried to come up with ways to assess students that are more
skill-based or task based or have them doing something or demonstrating their knowledge rather than just a paper pencil test. So, I think that's one of the biggest changes with these new standards is that we're not necessarily
just doing paper pencil tests at the end of each unit. We're trying to build a set of skills and then have students demonstrate those skills. Within doing that, they're showing their knowledge of concepts, but it's not just can you
answer this question. D, can I ask a clarifying question, Director Hookman? You're you're referencing the three dimensions of the standards. So, you're thinking about the science and engineering practices when you pose that question. Is that accurate? Well, I'm thinking of that, but I'm just thinking of the um approach to science,
which we discussed at length at some of the past um meetings. And I think that was at least for me that's a um a concern is to make certain that we are getting the students the information that they need so that they have a strong foundation in
the knowledge so that they can then apply those pieces um to their learning. Yeah, you you ask a good question and I think with any UBD it starts with the standards and so as you mentioned the the science and engineering practices is
are the it's the doing right and you also want to ensure that the disciplinary core ideas are present right and because they're three-dimensional that's the content the vehicle by which the students are going to be able to explore and do um and then
the cross cutting concepts are the way they're going to think about the concepts So all all of those parts um are are present in in the lessons because they're grounded in the standards. And I think I can maybe add to that. I think what you said is a perfect way of
describing it is we're looking for them to apply that knowledge. So they can't apply that knowledge if they don't have that knowledge. We're assessing their ability to apply it, but in assessing that we're making sure they must have that knowledge to get to that point. So, I think the way we're setting up what
we're trying to assess builds in the fact that we need them to have that knowledge to get to where we want them to get to. Very good. So, thank you for that. That's excellent background. And so, just in thinking of this new process
that we're looking at, the two steps and um thinking about what um curriculum resources will be used and then what the UBDs look like. Um just some things to draw forward. Um, in the first unit for motion and kinematics, it's it's a 9 to
12 day unit. Um, and then likewise in the first unit for biology, um, that one's a 4-week unit. Um yet when you look at, you know, I think this is my my concern that I have with the new standards that the state of Minnesota put forward is that um they may be
overreached um in what students can do in order to get to that point of applying material. How do they attain the knowledge so that they can use it in the way that the state is suggesting that they do? And so then as it follows, as I look at these UBDs, it also does
some of that overreaching and how much um how how we're allowing for the teachers to facilit facilitate the learning to give the students the opportunity to have the foundational knowledge in order to apply it in the way that it's listed in these documents.
Furthermore, a concern that I have here is just the the curriculum that we put forward or that was put forward last year um that was voted down um is in some of these documents.
So, um I guess can anyone address that? I guess I'm not sure what you mean by that last point about the curriculum that was voted down being in the documents. Uh so in the biology document um how will we know um evidence
of learning sample example phenomenon? Why would a marathon runner become disoriented during a race and then go into a coma shortly after running the race? Um and that was the that's the exact unit one curriculum that we
discussed last year. What's that? The first year. Yeah. Um, we don't have a representative from our curriculum writing team. Um, so nobody that's sitting here was present at that. So we can certainly get back to
you um on the specifics of that. Um, but my hunch is that it's the phenomena that they were um exploring. Um, so I I don't know that the are you are you suggesting that the entire unit is exactly what was in the previous resource or just the
scientific phenomena? I I don't know. I guess that's my question. We can we can definitely get clarification on that for you. Um because I you know we you talk about kind of that big that big picture, right? And so what we what the 2019
standards suggest is that students have the opportunity to explore um sensemaking through that wonderment of a phenomena. So regardless of where the phenomena comes from in terms of text, right, it's a real world experience and
that's where we want the kids to um dig deep, right? And so by starting with that wonderment, you provide the content knowledge to give them the thirst to learn um more about the the context for for where it comes from.
Very good. Thank you for that. I guess that's um kind of brings us back to that point where I'm I'm struggling to understand or I want to ensure that we're following evidence-based learning and that it seems or it is suggested through the evidence um
from psychologists that in building concepts and understanding you need to have knowledge first. So this seems to reverse that process once again where we are asking students to come with conclusions and as you point out come up with some sense of wonder about the
concept before they have any background knowledge to assess it. And so I just want to make certain that we again are giving the students the opportunity to have that foundational knowledge through direct instruction that's shown by evidence as that primary learning piece.
And I guess that's my um concern with these documents is that it still seems to somewhat reverse that process from um I guess just putting the cart before the horse. I think the way I've come to understand the process working through writing
these UBDs over several years, looking at these new standards for several years, it's a very iterative process. So we see a phenomenon, we come up with our best explanation of it. Then we learn more about what actually is going on in
parts of that phenomenon. We come up with a better explanation. And so each step along the way, we're learning more. There's absolutely direct instruction happening at various points within the process. And as students learn more and more, their explanations get better and better. But every time we see something,
we try to explain it. If we don't understand it, we come up with our best guess of what's happening. And that's really all we're asking students to do is to start by being curious, to see something and think about, hey, what is this we're seeing? How can we understand this with the things we already do know?
And if we're wrong, how can we correct those things as we learn more? that is definitely a very reasonable way for you know students to build through we would suggest and and come up with further understanding because they come up with a question and then we hone down
that understanding. Um I guess I'm just looking at research and data that suggests that the best way um that that is a way but it is takes a lot of time and that is not as effective as saying let's give students information first.
Let's have some direct instruction. Ensure that we're using the knowledge and skills of our teachers to allow for kids to have the vocabulary, the understanding um and information so that they can then understand the phenomena
around the world um in a very productive way in a way that is more effective and again that's that's just what the evidence-based learning shows. So I guess my big question then to end is are these UBDs still written with
that reverse process or with the approach of giving direct instruction first? The U the UBDs are written in alignment with the 2019 standards. Um so which is the directive, right? Um and so it's it
it's both. I mean I I really want you to know that you're not wrong. there is absolutely a space for the for direct instruction and any various point within within the learning process and there's an opportunity for exploration of of of
scientific phenomena um which is is how the the 2019 standards were written. So they're both very much present. Superintendent McIntyre. Yeah. I think you covered a lot of ground there. So, I want to try to back
up just a bit. Um, I think we have agreement on when you talk about foundational knowledge that clearly our direct instruction sets that foundational piece so that application can happen with with that learning. So, I think of the the text and the UBDs as
that what we're going to teach and then there's the how. And um I've been talking with some of you about the fact that this board, you know, has we've talked a lot about direct instruction and I need to to really say that we agree with you, right? We agree with you in the sense that um it's vital for for
new knowledge. It's going to have to be a critical part of of this physics, the biology, anything else we've talked about tonight. And so how how are we going to roll that forward? And when you think about the clear explicit teaching um components around direct instruction,
you know, when it comes to modeling and explanation and guided practice and and checking for understanding, all those things we know make make it work. Um, we've been, you know, working through and we'll be kind of following up with the board about how do we do a better job of integrating that into an
alignment with the the materials, how we do instruction, and how we evaluate how we're teaching all the way through the teacher evaluation process. So, we're looking at how do we how do we how do we have that alignment through the system. Um, so I sometimes think of
it as that how is uh we're going to have to be really strong on that how for these for as I listen you talk about the standards because they're not going to go well without the foundational pieces. You're I think your point that foundational knowledge has to be at the core. Um
and you know in the in the near future you know we have a plan to how do we better embed that direct instruction com concept as as a core instructional approach that we wrap our other strategies around we have to have that
DI at the at the heart. So, um, I'm hopeful that that that will give the board confidence and how, you know, not only are we talking about it, but we're we're we're integrating that into the whole process throughout all the way into how do we support our teachers, how do we coach them, how do
we give them feedback, how do we evaluate them at the end, and it's explicit. It's observable where we're where those are expectations are clear, right? And not just optional. So maybe that d maybe that instructional methodology piece is the glue here to
the materials and the UBDs. I I don't know. But that's that to me is how we're going to teach it's going to be the bridge between some of the the rub I'm I'm hearing between um what the UBD or what the uh standards are pushing versus
our materials. So I'll I'll let you respond to that, but I know our team has been looking hard at how do we strengthen that direct instruction component? How does that show up in our system? How do we hold, you know, have everyone be accountable for that in a positive, supportive manner? Right.
I'll pause there. I think you you were going to say something. Well, I had the wonderful opportunity of working at the state level on the new science MCA standard setting process this um this summer. And in that process, you know, you talk about
assessment. Um in that process I will guarantee on the new assessments there are very few questions that are what we would consider DOK one and two which is basic recall of knowledge. Um what what really needs to happen is kids need to sense make they have to have the
knowledge for for certain. So no one's suggesting that that should be absent. Um but the other dimensions are present too just like real scientists don't look up um facts and write them down right they they wonder about something and
they make sense of it and and that's the process of learning and and doing and applying and and creating new things in this world or understanding the world in new ways right so I think that I think it's a it's a that I think that's why
the standards have multiple dimensions not to say that one is more important than another. Um it's kind of that brain science, right? We we hook our learners with this sense of wonderment. Then we anchor them in in the direction that they're going to go in terms of um what
do we want to learn here? And then we learn and we grapple with it. And as Mike suggested, you go back and you continue to make sense of it and go deeper with that process. So, um, so I think I think yes, and all of it is part of the the learning process to get us to
be critical thinkers. We need to really walk through all of those phases of the DOK levels. Um, which our state suggests. Yeah. Director Wangfeld. Yeah. As a as a followup, I um when we
began this conversation at the board table, I went out and did my own research. again going back and having taught curriculum and instruction for many years looking at the educational research behind it and I'm looking at a document I actually had shared with uh
the superintendent and our co-chairs around the um it's called let's talk evidence the case of combining inquirybased and direct instruction and it talks about the importance of making sure that that student has the background knowledge and how do you
assess that they have the background knowledge and then you can move forward. And I I actually went to Mike's classroom and watched it in action one day. And uh saw that began with direct instruction and then students engaged in lab work
and then um there was a lot of inquiry before they went into the lab. Went in and did their lab work and worked independently. And he and I was writing down how many minutes. Could you even tell how many minutes I I put that down? He doesn't know I did this. Anyway, but
what I saw then and came back, brought them back, discussed it, and then then um checked for misunderstandings as he was going through the labs, you know, so that there was direct instruction going there. uh depending upon what the student needed. Many were able to just
do their own thing and and get where they needed to go with this lab and then brought them all back together and discussed results and then did more direct instruction as he wrapped up the lesson to prepare him for the next day. So that is a pretty typical way that our
teachers teach and that's the way I always tried to teach. um to make sure though that even prior knowledge making sure I knew what my students already knew and obviously these was this was a senior class and many of these students
you had had. So I I just really think that's a real critical part of making sure that the students have what they need to be successful. Um, and that that sometimes is very hard because the the
expansive students that you serve. You know, I think it used to be you could kind of put your arms around the kids and now you may have them you can't touch both sides of the wall because students have such different backgrounds. But I you can witness this typically happening in every single
classroom. In some classrooms when they're just introducing a concept of course you're going to see a lot of direct instruction and we received the document that talked about had effect size and those things both are instru
it's important to have both and so then the then the important part for us in these documents to director Hokman's point is that we need to make sure that people know, you know, you have classroom teachers who are veterans who
understand, you know, the value and how to do this and the and the rhythm of this and and so forth. Part of the art and science of teaching, but how do we ensure that our stu our new teachers in particular, but all teachers are doing
enough direct instruction? I can tell you the best way I used to say is look at the data. how are the children doing when I when I um give them the exams and that would tell me that I'm not quite hitting the mark with my kids. So anyway, I put that out there, but I
think it is a combination of it isn't an either or as you said. So thanks director. Thanks. Um yeah, I I get the point that it's a combination and it obviously is okay.
But um every time I try to explain my interest in the direct instruction versus these other models, I go to just real world things. So, um my son became a pretty decent piano player and um he
he did it through lessons that we paid for and she uh she was pretty great, but she made him she was a direct instructor, right? She the piano lessons were pretty focused in the beginning on
the fundamentals, how to read music, how to actually do the scales, do all of that stuff. And um I paid a lot of money for that, but over time that developed into something pretty cool. And so the value of the direct instruction is is
just super important. I I'm very confident had they had they had she just said, you know, hey, thanks for paying me. Go ahead and try it out. You know, he could have done that a lot of times and he wouldn't have mastered it. And I think you could say something similar for teaching somebody to drive. You
know, don't just get in the car and try it out. um we need to teach you how to do it first and um and then eventually there's there's a time for that. So, okay, if you apply that back to school, it's pretty obvious, right? It it comes to how much direct instruction are we
talking about? And uh that that what I what I personally am looking for is that our primary method of delivery be that I'm not interested in a primary method of delivery being something different. um because I just don't have confidence
through my own life experience and through the bit of research I can do um so be that right or wrong that that without a significant amount of that type of learning and teaching um the kids are won't be set up to do their
best and so I love the idea of science where you you learn something and you try it out but the learning something is pretty important in science science is also kind of a difficult subject. And so, but I don't just apply that to science. I apply it everywhere. So, I'm
sort of back to thinking about pol This one I think is policy language of some sort that defines what we're looking for so that people don't get too far away from what we're after. And I I think it's policy more policy language in my mind maybe than the last idea I
had. But it's trying to be prescriptive about what's our point of view on it. What are we looking to have done? and how how would we I guess the words regulate it um in order to give I guess uh people like me confidence
that we're incorporating it at a at a level that I think makes sense. So, I don't know if that can be done, but again, I'm trying to find a way to define what a lot of it or pretty good amount of it or uh how how it should
look, whether it's the primary means of delivery or you probably have a better word for that, but um something like that I think could be helpful. So, to kind of chime in here, um it is a balance and I love specifics. So, at
that work session I had asked it was believe Mr. WallHoper had said when I asked on average in our current biology curriculum how much direct instruction is used per class again the key is on average that doesn't mean straight that doesn't mean every day just on average um uh an answer is of 10 minutes was
given I have no reason not to believe that and so if a typical class period is about 60 minutes and about 16th of that and specifically I'm just referring to biology here is direct instruction I think the balance is very lopsided in
It's just very lopsided and I don't think it's serving our students. Um, if you look at the current biology MCA score, it bears it out. 44% of students passed the MCA science score for biology in high school. Um, so over half are failing. So something that we're doing,
whatever it is, I could be totally wrong, maybe this isn't it, but something we're doing is not working. But just again given my experience, given what I do understand about teaching and tutoring and the research I've done, um I direct instruction does seem to be a core component of how
students learn successfully or I would argue the core component. It's not to dismiss the other pieces that are important as well. And if we're only doing spending one sixth on average of the class period engaging in the core component, I I think that's contributing heavily to why we're seeing
unfortunately 56% of our students not pass MCA tests. My my if may if I may I think my mind wonders what we are thinking about when we think about direct instruction. Are we think are we thinking that it's students sitting and receiving or are we
thinking about um like director Langenfeld had shared um in when she was in Mike's class there was some of that but there was also when students were working in groups they were receiving direct instruction at the level that they needed right so I I think that I
think we're all kind of talking about the same thing but I think it can look a lot of different ways so if I have a I was an elementary school teacher if I have class of 30, I have different groups of students that I'm going to need to um instruct at their instructional level so that they can
make sense of it. But Director Audet, your example of of piano lessons, to me that that is like cracking the code, learning to read, right? It's something very ex that needs explicit systematic in instruction, right? Um and and I
think that there is a a a part of instruction that looks like that, but there's an entire sequence of learning and attaining new knowledge. So to quantify um the number of minutes in each lesson or within the course of a
unit, I think that's kind of it's difficult um for a number of reasons because I think it depends on the needs of the students when they come to you. Where are they at? What background knowledge that do they have? If they don't have it, you need to spend more time building it. If they've got it, you
don't want them sitting there bored with it. You want them to take the to take their learning to the next level, right? So really, that's kind of that art of teaching. You've got to know the kids that come to you and you need to respond to them in in a way that makes sense. Um, Director Arco, you said you have a
kindergartener starting, right? You want whoever their teacher is to receive them in a space where they see them, they know them, they know their skills, where they're um they're able to shine, and you don't want them to sit and get information they already have. Right? You said you've got a a a student who's
a really good reader already. You want that child to be met where they are so that they can uh receive their best potential. So I think to look at all classrooms and all UBDs and all content through one structured lens would be a
disservice to the students that we serve. And not to say that it's not important. It is and it is present. It absolutely is part of every learning cycle. I think it just really depends on the flow of where you are within that learning cycle.
Director, I I appreciate that. I I guess though it naturally makes me wonder because when when this all of this first was presented, it was presented that it was going to be this inquiry related methodology. So that was that was sort of the same thing in the other direction. So and that was how it was originally shared, but and some people
were excited about it and some of us weren't. I I I don't I'm not super comfortable with the idea of defining minutes, but I'm hoping we can come up with a way to define the direction in a way that can satisfy people that would say, okay, you know, like our approach is going to be that way. And we've got
it going on other subjects too, math and some other places that I don't think it's I personally do not think it's being successful. So I I'm trying to say something for now and for as as long as I'm here is like that's not the I don't want to go with those methodologies. So,
how can we make it define it in some way that we can at least understand it again? Because I feel like if we have that now, we have something to talk about. Like maybe it's not minutes, but maybe you could come up with another way. We could have a look at that. We could say, "Yep, I think that's it." Or,
"Nope, I don't think that's it." As opposed to just kind of throwing out theories. It would help dial help to dial it in, I think, would be good. And so to follow that up, even if we don't put into like a policy a specific amount of minutes, it's one of those
things where you don't have to rigidly define it, but you know for sure when it's too little, and 10 minutes is definitely too little. You could say like if you did a college style lecture where it was nothing but that would be too much. That be pretty easy to spot that. But I think the same is true in
the reverse where um 10 minutes I mean it's one sixth of the class. Like I said, that the only metric we have that tells us directly how are students doing in biology, it says unfortunately over half of them are failing. So what we're doing isn't working and that's why we need to incorporate more of this. At
least in my opinion, Director Desane, Superintendent McIntyre. Well, I was just going to try to echo what I said earlier. I I think there's a shared commitment here. I think there's a we all agree that with robust direct instruction at its core at the center um
is everything else is possible, right? So, um really what the board is looking for and you've kind of been hungry for, you know, what's evidence of that? How how do we know that's going to happen? Right? Where where can it show up? And I think of it's just back to how do we
develop our our teachers and support them? whether you're a veteran or brand new coming to us this year, we need to, you know, really set some expectations that it's a core part of what we do. So that that's a part of the development, coaching, feedback, evaluation process.
So as we do our our performance evaluation process, we can we can put that in there. So it gets to what Director Adet's saying, there's a a commitment to ensures happens. It's tangible. It's observable. Um it's a requirement in the sense that it's going
to be expected and discussed as part of the instructional piece not the whole time but it's at at its you know at the center or core of what we do. Uh it kind of cuts across content areas. So that's something we've been working on and I think that would give the board members
a more tangible commitment to yes it's what what needs to happen. Now there's you know again that has to be at the center for anything else to back to the piano example I guess in one hand um that's a good example of how it can work. So I think um as we move to the
start of the year, you know, I've talked with some of the board members about how can we make that more explicit in how we support and develop and improve the instruction of our teachers and it's got to be a part of the process we go through in supporting them and ultimately giving feedback and evaluation um at the end that's meant to
be positive. That's meant to be uh improving the skills of our of our staff. So, you know, what I'm saying is we we can and I think it's even more powerful than a policy because if it's a part of each teacher's expectation for improvement as we move through the year,
whether you're again a veteran or newbie, um that's that's real to them uh in their day-to-day work as a as an instructor. And that's the only way to me the the the physics UBDs work. if if we don't have that strong foundation of direct
instruction, the the additional pieces aren't going to um get the results we're looking for. So, you know, we're gonna have a little we I know I've talked to some of you about this here just recently. We'll have a little bit more for you to to look at very soon. And maybe that's the commitment that would help this board feel feel like we mean
it and we're doing something about it in a very tangible way. So, thank you for Sorry, director Dasha. Thanks. I just uh wanted to build on the discussion that's been ongoing and say,
you know, I think it's evident that there's a lot of agreement in the board members around the table, in the administrators, in the learning and achievement team, the the science department that are working on this with us. Um, and I really I like to see that
we're continuing to discuss this. We've got to keep talking about this. You know, it's not going to get anywhere if we don't keep having these discussions. So, I just first want to acknowledge that and say I really appreciate the tone of this conversation and the questions that have been posed um and the responses that we're getting so that
we can continue building upon knowledge and information that we all have have brought to this discussion uh in our review of those UBDs in our understanding of the committee conversations that happened before this um kind of two things I think the document that Corey is referencing and
the integration of sorry the integration of director instruction in teacher evaluation as a a look for as something that is sought out to be seen in the classroom uh is is a really tangible bridge to to get us to the interest of
some board members and the interest uh for accountability, right? And the interest of all of us to have direct instruction be a part of all of the teaching and learning that's happening in our district. I think it's also important to acknowledge that um our
students students that come through our system have exposure to biology concepts and physics concepts in middle school uh as a part of their life science and their physical science classes and then they I think biology is normally 11th grade. Um so you know these are like our
17-year-old students. They've got a lot of other coursework electives that they're taking. You know they're going to come with a variety of background knowledge uh that can be applied and used. And I I think Miss Norstead said it very well. We want our students to be able to get the learning that they need. Um and that is the the respect and the
kind of stature that we should give to our teaching staff in their classrooms. They can do that. They can see that and then they can apply the instructional methods as needed to suit the class that's in front of them. Um I I I really think that bridging between the interest
looking at teacher evaluation and respecting the profession of our teachers um I think we're getting really close to a solution that will be possible and uh will still hold in high regard the professionalism of of all of
our teachers. So uh I just wanted to say thanks to everybody for this discussion and um I think you know UBD's being here is what we will teach and then the how being left to our experts with
observation and commitment in writing to the professional assessment tool. Um I I I feel like we're we're really close to a solution that everybody can get behind. Any other thoughts or comments from board members? And random question is
director Simon still remote. All of a sudden I looked and he Okay, he's back. He's back. Okay. Either way, any other thoughts or comments or questions from board members? All right. hearing none. I believe that
concludes item 4B. Well, thank you guys very much again for the discussion and uh thank you for the work that you've done. Um the next item on our agenda is item 4 C. Oh, wait. My apologies. Um
it's not that one. That's the one we just did. We are nearing our last board agenda. Let's not do it again. We are nearing our last board agenda item. Item five, board correspondence and communication. Members, this is your opportunity to share happenings in your community, report on committee assignments or other items of interest. Does anyone have anything to share?
All right. Well, hearing nothing. Oh, Superintendent Mc, we're just very excited. Our new teachers start next week. All staff are back the 25th. The school year is right around the corner. the buses will be rolling and um we're really excited to get this school year started. So um next
time we see you, we'll be right in the thick of it on August 25th. Director Desane, that just reminds me just really quickly. I just want to acknowledge and thank all of our eighth grade web leaders who are going to be going to their training next week. I won't be able to say that before our next board
meeting. So that leadership and demonstrating that um ability to be there for our younger students really makes a difference. So, thank you to all of those eighth graders. Any other comments from board members? All right. Hearing none. The last item is to adjourn.
Um, is there a motion to adjurnn? I move to adjurnn. I'll second it. Thank you, director. Second from Director Langenfeld. Um, is there any discussion? Hearing none, will the clerk call the role, please? Simon
I Adet I Langenfeld I Hokeman I daine votes I arco I with six in favor and zero opposed we are adjourned the current time is 9:10 Heat. Heat.
Where's that?