is typically your username. So, we want them to change that immediately. >> You're welcome. This is how blind spots happen. >> It's right there. something. Yum.
We just >> I had no idea what he said he wanted to It was it was really cool. when I was just the judges are so just exciting just excited you know judge
Yeah, that race everybody that's here. All right. Good evening everybody. Welcome for our regular school board meeting for Monday, February 9th at 5:30. We're going to start in order and start with
our roll call. here. Hartman >> here. >> Croc >> here. >> Leathers >> here. >> Mallister >> here. >> Young Zilki >> here. >> Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Motion to approve tonight's agenda. >> I'll make that motion. >> Second.
>> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I pass. Our first agenda item is a presentation by Austin Utilities inbuilt and retrofit with our speaker, executive director of finance and operations.
Good evening. Thank you, Chairperson Dubet, Dr. B, and the rest of the board. We're in front of you tonight just to um go through there's going to be a couple companies coming up behind me. I'm just going to give a quick synopsis of this project and then I'm going to turn it over to them. So in March of 2025, we we
presented to the board a lighting project, LED lighting project along with some D um um fan work and some building envelope work. Part of that project we contracted with inbuild retrofit and awesome electric to do the work
throughout our buildings. That work has now completed. As part of that project was ability to earn rebates from this project due to the lighting. And so what I'm going to do today is turn this over um to give a quick presentation and then let the other parties introduce
themselves and then we'll get to the presentation. Hello, I'm Cody Keapper with Inbuilt. On behalf of Inbuilt, uh the project team, I want to say thank you for the opportunity to partner with Austin Public Schools on this. It was a great project not only for the district uh but
also the taxpayers of the district. We uh got rid of a bunch of deferred maintenance throughout the lighting and electric that the district is facing and and in the meantime also alleviated $177,000 of annual savings for the district. A rebate of $282,000
for the district. Uh we had a great project team working with uh Retrofit Electric, Austin Electric, and Austin Utilities to really streamline this, bring it all together. Everyone was really focused on doing what was right for the district and just wanted to say our appreciation for for the opportunity
to partner, but I'll pass it over to them and let them introduce themselves. >> Hey, I'm Jake with Retro Electric. I just wanted to kind of reiterate how thankful we are to be part of this project. Uh this one was important to me. I actually uh graduated from Austin
High School about 25 years ago. So I grew up in the Austin district and graduated 2001 and uh so this I live in Oana now but this was an important project for me to be a part of and uh you know as with all the projects they all start with a good plan. Um so
working with inbuilt um working with Austin Electric Austin utilities also Todd Joe Brandon the rest of the facilities team just great to work with. We all had a good plan. We got it put together. he executed it. I mean, there wasn't like any project, it's not not always perfect, but I think for the most
part, it went really well. So, but thank you again. Really appreciate the opportunity and really happy how the project turned out. So, I'll bring up Austin Utilities here. The fun part. >> Hi, I'm Melissa Swanson. I'm the communications and energy services
manager at Austin Utilities. And just to kind of connect on um what they said, what a great project, right, to be able to partner with the public utility here to give rebates to our public school district. So, it was a great project to
be a part of. Um we're grateful for the electric savings that um come from this project. I also want to thank Brian Hammerson from Simba, our wholesale provider. he was instrumental in getting rebates processed and taking care of
some of the heavy load as far as the processing when the rebates came in. So, great partnership, great project, and we're looking forward to hopefully having more projects with the school district in the future. >> So, we'll move now back um to get this check. I think we're going to go back
behind the board here. Um Ryan, you ready? Come on up. >> Hi, how are you? Can you grab the lights? You might have >> I'm not sure. I don't need >> Oh, there's some bad >> I pushed the wrong button. It's my
fault. >> One, two, Appcate for the next one. It looks about good. You look great. >> That was fun. >> Thank you to Austin Utilities and Bill
and Retrofit for coming and sharing such great news with us tonight. >> Sure. I I wish I wish uh they were still here, but you know when we pass initiative, we have no way of knowing the exact flourishes and and the end
product. And so that was really nice to see in all these entities coming together, utilities, lots of public schools. And the thing that really struck me and ran with me is uh the amount of money that would save the taxpayers. That's really significant too. So thank you in essentially
everyone who's here. All right, we have a couple student repres presentations coming up next. Uh we're going to start off with a packer pantry update with our CEO facilit facilitator and a couple of students.
Superintendent Paige, chairperson duvet, members of the board, thank you for having us here tonight. Um we are going to share a little bit about the packer pantry and how some of that is evolving. So um and Emily Hublin and have with me Michael Berry and Michaela do pojo and
they're going to be sharing some things as well. So to start off we um have had the P packer pantry up and running for many many years at Austin High School and u Melinda Huntley has done a great job of working with our community and continuing to help grow this. Um however
we have had some challenges over the last couple of years and those you can see those listed there are lack of staffing um inventory inconsistency and then just access for students. So um we were noticing those things happened. Student council stepped in and was
trying to do some support with the um the times before and after school to have it open and available for students to come to. However um you can imagine some of the challenges of we have some very active students in student council. So being able to be at that shift and
also be at sports practice and then probably in the other clubs that they're in, it was it was difficult and challenging and um and sometimes that the staff wouldn't show up because we're relying on on student staff there. Uh so that that limited some of the access and we really wanted to look at how can
we make this more sustainable. Um because each year I would be sitting there trying to like gather volunteers and how are we going to have this pantry open? Um and it it was very cumbersome. So, we looked at it as a time to kind of shift and see what we could do beyond
just student council and student involvement. Uh, and that's where the idea of CEO 2.0 came in. And, um, to do some different work with the hometown food security project last year, that's kind of where this idea came into play. So, we were able to do some research
with the hometown food security um, group uh, of a pantry that was active in Amarella, Texas. It is for a school district there and it doesn't just touch the high school but the entire district and there can be ordering for all the different schools as well as a snack um
they have called their snack shack I think and that is also an ordering process that allowed for an online option for ordering and when I heard that it kind of sparked like a this could be really kind of nice because it would eliminate us needing to have workers and
volunteers would eliminate some of that frustration for our volunteers. when they would be there and maybe have to deal with behaviors which students managing other students behavior is not great. Uh and also um they they would like sort the shelves and everything and then the pantry would open and then they
come to me after look at the pantry like this stuff's all over. I spent hours like Mhm. So we that was very appealing to have on online option and it was way for us to meet the student needs but also hear student voice in it as well. So that is where this kind of grew from.
Uh you can see that the packer pantry top 10 list is something that um we share a lot throughout our community and uh we get a lot of great support but we also have other things in the works that I'm going to have the students share a little bit more with you about as well.
>> Hi I'm going to be just talking to you guys a little bit about the community support. So we have locations do I super fy super body and sweets
Austin high school another way that people can connect with us and donate is also through the Amazon list that we have for people who would rather just give it to us directly and order it and it comes straight to us instead of having to go to the store buy all of the things and
then drive all the way to us in high school from work are already tired. Give it to these kids and go on your day. So, we also do take financial donations as another way that you can give. Um, it's very simple. You give those straight to
Miss Hland. She is the one who does all of our online ordering through Walmart or any other place. And then we need or anyone else who is also the CEO here too. we grab it, we pack it, and that it is there for all of the people who need
it. So, on the implementation side, we're just trying to work more on marketing this out to the community because I think there's a lot of people who are passionate about giving food into the community, but if you don't know about it, it's hard to get to it. Um, so we've been working on increasing social media
presence, online ordery, online ordering, and just getting it out there and doing more food drives. And I think with more hands- on deck this year, that makes that a little easier. This year, we've also had the changes in students can now pick what they want through the online ordering system, which is a
Microsoft form. They order each week. They can add little notes. Um, we pack the bags and then on Thursdays and Fridays, they come and pick them up. Do you guys have any questions about how that system works or how it looks? >> Michael, are you taking advantage of um
Microsoft tools that you are already that you already have available to you or did somebody create an app? >> Um, we're using the tools that are already access to. >> Perfect. Good. Can >> I ask Michael a question?
You talked about um donating and and refurbishing the food pantry. I recall a couple months ago the class of 1965 or 1960 made a significant donation to the
food pantry. Can you walk us through from the time you got the check to the time you get the food on the shelf? How does that work? >> Okay. I can only do the back end of this and Helen can talk you through what happens once we get the check. But once
obviously the check clears and she does all of the ordering for the food that we get. It takes a lot of hands and we have to get all of this food somehow into the building, find a ramp that we can move this cart around on and we have to take
the time. We have to make sure that everything goes in the right place. It takes a lot of organizing to be able to do everything by expiration date. Because one of the main things that are really important to us is making sure that they don't have just like two weeks
to eat whatever it is that they decided to put on the order for. We want to give them time. As much as we know that they need the food, it's also like fundamentally we want to be able to say, "Okay, we gave this to you and whenever you need it, it's going to be there. you
don't have to worry about, oh, the cereal is going to expire in 3 weeks. You get to eat it right now when you're only like a household of three. But basically what we do, we grab everything. We organize and make sure that expiration dates are correct.
And before we do that, I will let this come for the pantry is the United Way. So, all of our checks will be deposited through them when they come in. And then um they send us like monthly uh statements of what our balance looks like for our accounts. They are who I
work with then on that purchasing side that Bea was talking about. So, our students are able to come and like last week I know we're getting low on some things and they came in and they're like, "We need more pasta. We need cereal. We need um chicken breast, we need, you know, it's like here's the
things men's threein-one body wash, shampoo, conditioner flies off the shelves, right?" So, they give us they they'll come come and tell me this is what's low. We need we need refills on this. this year with how we've um changed things, we are able to have the
pantry be more stocked regularly so that we're not um we're not as often saying like, "Oh, we don't have any that we can't put in." Uh so, so that has been um the way that the system has shifted that has seemed to help with our inventory and looking at, okay, what's available? What do people need? Um,
additionally, like Michaela mentioned in that form or or maybe Michael mentioned that in the form that they fill out, they're able to put down um different information that's going to be beneficial for them. Like um they can give suggestions of food that we do not currently have listed available
and then we then I can put in an order for us. So, for example, spicy noodles is a big thing that kids are wanting and um I tell them, tell me exactly what you want me to order because then I know because I don't eat anything spicy. So tell me the names, give me the stuff and
and kids have been great at doing that and getting their needs met. I think in that way um they also we also have I just pulled a couple pieces of feedback from them. We constantly are saying things like this on the forums like it's so easy just to stop and pick up my bag. It's like the
Instacart version of the pantry. Um thanks for your work. This really helps my family. like we know that this is making an impact and it also eliminates that barrier of some students who maybe don't have time for after school to get to the pantry or um you know maybe don't
feel comfortable walking in there and seeing people like having the shop. So there's a lot that's been coming into it and a lot of kids continue to ask like how can I be involved and help uh which which is which is pretty awesome. So, these students have been working very very hard. Uh, and we're we're excited
that they, you know, were interested in learning more about nonprofits and how to work through all of those pieces of it and ultimately helping our student um body and our families have their needs met in ways that might be challenging at times. >> Go ahead, CC.
>> What how many students um what does your data collection look like? And I know probably too in depth or people might not want to come. I'm just like how many kids are benefiting from that?
>> Um, so I would say on like our busy or in kind of normally our average weeks, it might be up to 70 to 80 bags packed, but then there also might be weeks where we're at like 40. It just kind of depends. And sometimes people will be like, "I forgot to put in my order." If they show up and they forgot to put in
their order, I'm not like, "Well, see you next week. Good luck with that." um they take them to the pantry and we fill up a bag and send them on their way so that they have what they need. Um we are continuing like like they mentioned trying to continue to push it out to more and more students like it goes
through um email and stuff to them but and and teachers will give students support and filling it out. Um but we're we're continuing just to try and make sure we're getting as far of a reach as we can. Uh we also adapted our our form earlier this year and put visuals on so
that um we think you know some of our students who may be new newcomers and um you know they see the word beans and what you can um they might not know exactly what they're looking at. So um one of our students uh she speaks multiple languages and she's like you know I'm on that one. I got this. We'll
get that taken care of. So they're they're constantly thinking of the next thing which is really really powerful watching our youth. Emily, I have a one more question. I know for a while it there were a lot
of clothing. There's a lot of clothing involved as well. I'm not hearing anything about clothing in today's presentation. Is clothing still very much a part of the pantry? Um are we still I saw the post about shoes, gym shoes?
>> Um I you know season come up coming up. I'm thinking about that. Is that is the clothing still part of that? >> So much >> with all of the management of the pantry and it was just getting so big. Um we
have moved our clothing portion of the pantry and that is now with Miss Ursad and our um some of our special education students help to um keep that organized and things and that's been a super cool partnership with them. Uh, and then all
toiletries, you know, cleaning supplies, food, all of that is still located in the main area in the library. >> Great. I I noticed in the I think it was the Austin Inspires from their last meeting a couple of the
other pantries around town have had to adjust offer kind of more of a delivery just because of everything going on families. Have you guys had >> requests for that or seen any need for it? >> It's definitely on our radar at this
point. We have not had requests for that, but we're also kind of um working with our success coaches and um you know, if there's teachers who are hearing from students like, "Hey, um we need this, but we maybe aren't in school right now." Uh it's definitely something
that we have right at the forefront and um I've got a little tribe of teachers who are like, "We're ready to go and do the deliveries for you um and help with that because um we want to make sure we're sending um people to their homes that should be
these students never see the names of any student who has a pantry order. It's all based on numbers. So there's no identity revealed and those sorts of things. But it's definitely something that we are ready to do as needed. >> Thank you for all your work with this. I
love this online option. That is phenomenal. Thank you. Thank you so much for this. Thank you. Decided to stick around and do this for um this year. That's great. Thank you.
>> Thank you. All right. Don't go too far. I got to put this guy. Our next agenda item is an invitation from the county CEO. Thank you for having us here today. My name is Lucy.
>> My name is Gracie Greenman. We are a part of the current M County CEO class. We are super excited to share some details of our upcoming class event, the Ultimate CEO Showdown. This event features five interactive games that are inspired by your favorite TV game shows.
This will be taking place on Saturday, February 28th at the newly renovated Paramount Theater. Doors open at 6:30 and the game will start at 7:00. This event is for ages 10 and up and get ready for 2 and 1/2 hours of game show fun.
>> We are super excited to bring this unique experience to Austin and you can get your tickets on the Paramount website. So, make sure you get those tickets today. Questions? Can you tell us what our f five favorite game shows are?
>> They don't have to say those words. >> Yeah. >> Think of the one where you like have to guess how much something costs at a store. >> You know that one. >> Or maybe one where you have to stand across from someone and >> Oh, nice.
>> There's something by you. >> Nice. And maybe one >> there's something that most people think is is the most popular thing. >> Yeah, that one. >> What's the most popular thing to breakfast? >> Yes, that game.
>> That kind of game. >> Jump between those things like they do in that one show every week. >> You think you watch dinner? >> Knock it out. There might be like 60sec challenges. >> You will be happy to know that we
committed as a board this evening to show up and we're hoping that we can be a team at some point. We'll do whatever it takes to win big. All proceeds go to us schools. >> Yeah. So, we're working right now to get
that team thing happening for you guys. We would love to see you there and playing the games. Yes. >> Okay. >> I got my tickets already. It's up to you guys. Bring it on. >> Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to it as we are. >> Yes.
>> Thank you. Appreciate all coming and share that. >> It's going to be a fun night. >> All right. Our next agenda item is our superintendence report with superintendent Joe Beach. Thank you, Chair Deay and members of the board. I
want to begin with gratitude tonight and just some strong news from across our district. Uh first, I want to thank uh Sar Elementary for their invitation last week as I was a mystery reader. We've uh we had another one today and some more this week. So, thank you uh for that
invitation. Um really appreciate it and it's nice to be back in my former elementary school. Uh also just to say thank you and congratulations to Evelyn on their music performance. Uh we were able to attend uh some of us were were present for that too. Uh they really did
a nice job, worked very hard. Um we really appreciate all of them. Uh next week uh we recognize our school bus drivers. It's school bus driver appreciation day on Wednesday uh February 18th. And across the state, drivers uh transport our students um
about for Austin, it's almost uh 3,800 miles a day uh that they're on routes. Uh and so we're so thankful uh for our bus drivers to get our students to and from school uh each and every day. I also just uh you know, we had a presentation early and I just want to say thank you, congratulate the board on
a great example of responsible stewardship for the taxpayers dollars. Uh this districtwide LED lighting project that you heard about is going to deliver um savings and reducing energy and lowering our utility costs and that is really smart planning that benefits
our students, our staff and our taxpayers. So uh thank you for that. Uh on the activity side, I just want to say congratulations all of our winter sports progressing but to the awesome Packer dance team. uh they won the Big Nine uh champions, but even I think even more
exciting is uh that they are back at state for both kick and jazz. Uh and it's a major accomplishment and it reflects so much of their hard work, their discipline, teamwork, uh from the student athletes to the coaches. We're very proud of how they continue to
represent Austin. I also want to just highlight to you an article that was in a paper a few weeks ago about coach Danny Gray and his return to Austin girls hockey uh and stepping back in 2024. The program has shown some real clear improvement. They had a section
win here last week. Uh their record is improving and they're challenging uh each other and through a rebuilding period. So, if you haven't had a chance yet, please check out the article in the Austin Daily Herald, uh, does a really great job of showing the growing interest of girls hockey at younger
levels, uh, which is, I think, a really strong indicator of the future. So, thanks to Coach Bray for his leadership and commitment to our student athletes. Um, everything we do is focused on supporting students, whether that's in the classroom, on the stage, or in the cafeteria. Uh, and so it's great to see
this recognition of our uh, programs. Last week was National School Counselor Week. I just want to recognize our counselors across the district. Uh they support students through challenges, help them plan for future, and advocate for their needs every day. Uh their work isn't always visible, but it has a
lasting impact. I just encourage everyone to take a moment this week to thank their school counselors. We also want to congratulate Crystal. She was named as the Kal Educator Excellent Educator. Uh this recognition uh reflects the dedication and care that she brings to our students every day. Uh
I also want to thank uh Todd Lectenberg and his team. Um they've been working really hard across the district district. One of those is just the recent formal uh stockholders meeting. a lot of planning and preparation um for for that event really is a signal of our
strong partnerships with our local business community and continued support opportunities for our students and staff. And in addition to that work, uh as you know over the last few weeks, we've had some attention uh in our buildings uh with some of the mechanical issues and Todd and his team have done a
really good job with that. So, I just want to uh thank him so much for that. I am really proud to share also that Southgate Elementary was recognized as the 25 26 Minnesota School of Excellence uh with a few other elementary schools
around the state. Uh this honor reflects years of thoughtful work by the staff, strong leadership from principal Derek Gersonen, and really meaningful partnerships with our families and caregivers. So South Kate's focus on relationships, equity, and student
support is clear, and its recognition was well earned. So, congratulations to them. Uh, February is also career and technical education month. So, across our district, CTE programs give students hands-on learning and industry recognized credentials and real
connections to local employers. So, just as important, they build skills connected to our Packer profile, critical thinking, collaborations, communication, and problem solving. It's a real world learning opportunity that our students get to have here, and we have a great program uh for them. I also
want to highlight PR project graduation for 2026. Uh this is built from parents and community members. They're involved. There's going to be anformational meeting on February 25th at Austin Public Library at 5:15. Uh this has been a tradition here since 1989 and provides
a really fun, safe uh opportunity for our seniors at Austin High School, at AOA, ALC, and Pelli. So volunteers are always needed and you don't have to have a senior to help. So, if you're interested, February 25th is the first planning meeting at the Austin Public School Library or Austin Public Library.
Um, and then finally, this uh draw attention to this. The district has been notified uh that the secretarial union has filed a strike notice. And this does not mean that a strike is occurring at this time, but under Minnesota law, filing a strike notice is required.
procedural step in the bargaining process and it initiates a 10-day cooling off period before any strike may occur. During this period, the district operations will continue as normal. Uh the district remains actively engaged in bargaining and working closely with the
Bureau of Mediation Services to reach a negotiated settlement. The district is committed to providing fair and competitive wages for all of its employees while also meeting the responsibilities to manage public resources prudently and sustainably. Maintaining long-term financial
stability is essential to ensuring consistent services and support for our students, our staff, and our families. At this time, there's no changes to our school operations that are planned. And if the district is reviewing uh its contingency plans currently to ensure
that the continuity of learning services um should they become necessary aren't interrupted. Uh the school board will be kept informed that any developments in accordance uh with the governance goals. Overall though I am really proud of the
momentum that we're seeing in the Austin public schools. We have strong programs, engaged students, dedicated staff, and a community that continues to show up for our schools. That's my report. >> Dr. P, you said something early in your
report about your affinity for summer school. I always thought you were a Banfield Eagle. >> No, I was a summer razor back. >> You were a razor back. I thought that >> I don't you were never a guy.
>> No, >> with the Bombers and the Bobcats. >> Yes, >> I stand correct. >> I'm a Banfield grad. >> We were in Bfield. >> Question. Um, next I'm going to invite Don to
speak on behalf of the board with a welcome In recent weeks, events have unfolded in Austin across Minnesota that are highly >> highly concerning. These occurred have had a negative effect on students and
staff at Autumn Public Schools and on members of our remarkable community which we are privileged to serve. The OT school board thus finds it imperative to issue a statement in support of all affected groups to advocate for their
physical and emotional well-being as well as their personal safety and security in these uncertain times. What follows is a welcoming statement unanimously unanimously approved by the Austin school board. It has long been a tradition at Austin
Public Schools to be a welcoming, safe, and accepting place for students, staff, and the families we serve. Students and staff are recognized and celebrated for who they are, given a voice in their prof personal
development, and encouraged to explore avenues and foster academic growth, mental well-being, and self-realization. We hold that everyone who passes through our doors has both value and dignity.
To believe anything less is unacceptable. Recently, some of those cherished ideals have been literally turned upside down. The safe haven of schools, work, and home have become for many places of
tension and at times dread. A sense of unease prevails. Increasing numbers of our students have decided not to attend school. Workers remain sequestered at home, forfeiting crucial paychecks,
and many people find it impossible to engage in the routines of everyday life. Feelings of anxiety and fear have spread among various groups in Austin's community. We, as a school board, are deeply concerned and saddened by this
turn of events. To those of you who may be frightened or feel threatened, each member of the Autumn School Board wants to make it clear to you that we genuinely share your pain. Further, we recognize your
humanity and pledge to do everything in our power to give you the assistance, the assurance that we stand together in this difficult, often chaotic time. We make a promise to you to remain vigilant in promoting your well-being.
Both the community of Austin and his public schools and historically in safe and welcoming environments. It is our intention that they remain as such. Rest assured that we take our role in protecting your safety and security
with the utmost seriousness. Together we are stronger. Sincerely, members of the Austin School Board. >> Thank you. >> Are there any board reports? >> Um, I just wanted to report a little bit
um on the Apex Boston meeting which was last Wednesday. Um, I'm always amazed going to this meeting because I hear presentations about amazing programs that benefit our community. So, one of the presentations
was Wellness on Wheels, which provides free preventative health screenings. Um, then there was a presentation by the parenting resource center programs. Um, update on community response to the
ICE activity. And this is what I really wanted to highlight. Um Carla Miller um she is with NAME the National Alliance on Mental Illness and she
shared a resource called Better Help that provides three months of free online therapy for families in Minnesota. So the Instructions are go to www.ethelp.comoucher
type in Minneapolis support. There's a questionnaire that you answer and then you're matched with a therapist within 48 hours. >> Anybody else? Um, I just wanted to um highlight
uh an event that we talked about as a school board doing. We ended up not outside commitments, but I just wanted to thank um everybody associated in the district for uh their participation in the plunge this last year or this last
week. And uh Austin schools were were very well represented. Uh there were people from the student council or kids from student council, Southgate staff, Derek Dustinson, I think I saw him jumping in the water at one point, uh
kindergarten uh staff, um entire boys basketball team jump. and it was just really inspiring to see uh every all the members of our of our public schools that were participating in that. I'm really hoping to see that growing
further next year. I also wanted to um just really highlight yesterday um or sorry this last weekend uh they also had the solo ensemble contest for our middle schoolers. U we had the chance and I go out see our son play and and a couple
other kids play. Um, and just a great great experience. Uh, kids were walking around. It was just an electric atmosphere. Uh, kids were excited and it's great to see our music and programs thriving our schools. So, anybody else?
Okay. Um, our next agenda item is our student representative reports with Michael Gary and Lydia. Lydia is going to go first today. Superintendent Paige chairperson Dubet and members of the board. I'll be presenting the first half of the report.
Recently, the Havana Quartet performed in this room, giving students music students the opportunity to taste to experience a taste of Cuban music and culture. The performance at last not only connect international music but also by their experiences and seeing how
real professionals play and how much passion they have and watching that performance I can say that I was definitely impacted by their work in our community. There was recently a VEX robotics tournament which brought together students from all over South Minnesota. Even for those who don't know
much about robotics like myself, I was still impressed how to see how passionate and dedicated students were at such a young age. Claiming for culture week is officially underway with student groups meeting and collaborating to prepare for what's
expected to be a busy and eventful eventful week. As a student, the sort of that planning process, it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of early meetings, after school meetings, meetings with Mr. being with the admin. It's pretty hard
work, but I'm excited to see what we pull up this year. Um, in recognition of Black History Month, the African Student Association is working to educate the school and the community by creating posters and posting informational videos highlighting black history and
contributions. So stay tuned for these upcoming upcoming projects on our social media and around our school. In addition, the speech team traveled to Cass Matterville this Saturday, which they actually earned first place in the small schools division at their second competition of the whole season.
This achievement reflects the strong preparation and also like to give time to thank Miss Kendra Ward and Mr. Dan Hansen for their endless work staying after school before school mornings working putting in hard time working and working with students like me and being able to empower people and give students
a voice. Finally, I would also like to congratulate the dance team on their recent successes. They're in first place in fifth and second place in jazz. Their performances demonstrate a huge dedication to Harvard. And the amount of work they put into their sport is just admirable. They not only put in 6 a.m.
practices, they also have to do school work. They have to do AP classes. And I see how much and how hard these athletes to their work. That's concludes my report. Any questions? How did you do? Um What? I did pretty good. I did.
>> Good. Come on. Tell us. You got first. >> Yeah. >> What was the category? >> Um, so I did two categories. So, in my first one, I got first impromptu, which is like basically they give you a prompt and you have like two minutes to create
a speech about it. So, and then in my second event, I got second place, which was pretty nice. It was a dramatic interpretation. Wow. Congratulations. >> Looking forward to hearing more. >> Somebody give her a subject. Come on.
>> What's your What's the title of your dramatic presentation? >> Um, it's called The King of Fire. It's about kind of like It's about gun violence. So, it's a pretty emotional piece, but it's just been pretty nice to see the feedback I get from like the judges and stuff.
>> So, you you practice that and you do that on multiple events, right? >> Yeah. >> Impromptable just whatever comes up for a topic at that particular event. >> Yeah. >> Good. Good for you. >> Thank you. >> Awesome. Thank you. All right.
You're up. Superintendent Page, chair person, and members of the school board. I will be presenting the second half of the student award. In elementary school news, Southgate Elementary was nominated as a 2526 Minnesota school of excellence. This recognition is presented by Minnesota Elementary School
Principal Association and celebrate schools that demonstrate high achievement, strong leadership, and commitment to student success. We congratulate Southgate staff and students on his outstanding accomplishment. Congratulations, Mr. Augustus. As I never went to Southgate,
I have used Gus Bus services before. So, thank you for that. February is also I love to read and first graders at at Summer Elementary are celebrating by welcoming mystery readers into their classrooms. One special guest reader was Austin Public
Schools superintendent Dr. Joey Paige who shared a story feed the cat school shoes. Activity like this helps promote a love of reading and make literacy fun, engaging for students. And I know firsthand from my mom being a reading teacher at the elementary level, hearing
how much it means to the kids and the teachers when people come in to read and make students passionate about reading. Turning to athletics, two packer wrestlers competed at the state tournament in the ninth and under grade division. Earning a spot at the state tournament is a major achievement and reflects the dedication and hard work of
these athletes. Even though it is the ninth and under, this shows great this shows great strength in the youth in our program and I'm excited to see what these athletes can do to come. These two wrestlers were Jackson Learn and Jaden Shahid. Additionally, the girls the girls hockey team had a strong
postseason start winning the first round in sections. This is shows that this shows the progress they have made and how far the team has come. Finally, Austin Public Schools recently took part in the Paintton Town Pink Town Pink in a communitywide event supporting breast
cancer awareness. Students and staff show their support by wearing pink and helping spread awareness throughout the community, demonstrating once again how Austin Public Schools gives back stands together. Thank you to student council and all the businesses that work together to donate and put these events on. This concludes the second half of
the student. Any questions? look like it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for sharing. >> Can I get a motion to approve tonight's consensus and second? Any discussion? >> All those in favor?
>> I. Anybody opposed? Motion passes. We have another exciting studentled presentation coming up next with our Minnesota Youth Institute and Global Youth Institute recap with our AP human geography teacher, Lisa Sanders, and a
couple of her students. Is it going? That's me. >> All right. >> Well, thank you so much for um welcoming us in here tonight, Dr. Paige and Jose White and all of our school members. Um
I'm Lisa Sanders and I teach um AP human geography at Austin High School in human geography and we are looking at um so we're here to talk about the global youth institute which is actually part of an extension at the Minnesota Youth Institute and I know I came and we
spoke last year um about this program and so we were back this year because we had two students who had the opportunity to attend the Minnesota Youth Institute. So, I just want to give you kind of some highlights on on the program. And as we look at this um at this program of the
Global Youth Institute, it fits into our school's strategic plan with our mission of preparing all learners to make a difference in the world because it is about um creating a challenge paper on a research topic about food insecurity in the world. And then it also talks about all of our core values. So, it goes with
all of those um all the core values in our mission statement for the district. And so it provides them with questions to answer and solve and I work with the students on those because they have a voice and they are future leader program
itself. Um so the program started with the Minnesota Youth Institute which um Dr. Baskin introduced us to um about three years ago. We had the opportunity to go to the Minnesota Youth Institute and see this program in action and be out of
that we found it was a good fit for our human geography course and now it is part of not only AP human geography but also human geography and our investigating world problems course. So we have a course called invest uh current world events or current events
and at issue and then that has changed over time to become this course of investigating world problems which is looking at food security problems around the world where students are going to research that. Um at the Minnesota Youth Institute, the students were able to research their country, write a um paper
about their country, a challenge paper is what they were referred to, um about food insecurity in their country, about any different projects or any different issues that go with that. And then they become a Borlark scholar and then have the opportunity to go to the global youth institute in de mo Iowa um which
takes place in October of each year. So in um May we took students to the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus and from there um Ian and Aiden were selected to go to the World Food Prize Institute at um at the Global Youth
Institute at the World Food Prize Foundation. Their topic last year was so soil illutions for security and so it took place at the end of October and the students were um some of the delegates from the state of Minnesota and they worked with students delegates from all
over the United States and all over the world. They got to hear about the um speakers from the Orlock Dialogues and also go to the World Food um prize award ceremony with the Lyates who um are recognized every year for
some activity or some contributions they made in the world of food security. And so this year um so they're looking at um >> no
>> there. >> There we go. So this is a picture of them at the uh the larat ceremony which is or the laurate ceremony which are the um there was one person selected this year for her contributions to the food
security in the world. So this year's um Lauria was Dr. Hungaria from her research in terms of how to come up with um low cost and sustainable approaches to food security and I hopefully she
will talk about that maybe a little bit more um and she works in Sa Paulo um in Brazil on that topic. >> It's not your computer. Oh, >> the remote you need to use. >> Oh, okay. >> Yours isn't. >> All right. And so there's a lot of
different um highlights from their experiences. They present their papers there as well as at the Minnesota Youth Institute. And so Aiden and Ian went to the Youth Institute or the Global Youth Institute and they're going to speak and if I can get this back.
Ian is gonna go. There we go. All right. >> Hello. My name is Ian Johnson. So the country that I picked for my project was Norway. So Norway isn't a very advanced country to where they don't have very much food insecurity. It's more so the people who experience food insecurity.
There are people who have kids and which is an odd thing. You think that if you have kids, you'd be financially stable compared to someone who might not. But more families suffer from food insecurity when they have a kid. So that was one thing that I researched. And another issue is that they rely heavily
on food imports. So like a co situation definitely would have hit them significantly which can hurt their people because 60% of their food comes in via ships and planes. So that leads
to a lot of relying on other countries to bring in the food. So that was what my paper was on. The solution that I found that kind of best fit them would be they are massive on fish farming. So my solution was to use fish waste. So
that would be the waste that they actually produce and also like fish guts, trimmings, anything that when you're kind of cutting a fish up that you would maybe throw away creating that and using that as like a compost to help fertilize the soil to help increase
their food production. So my experience at the global youth institute like Sanders talked about was an extremely like eyeopening thing to where you got to meet people from multiple countries. There's a lot of countries represented, a lot of states represented. So you kind
of got to see kind of different norms of people to where you got to kind of hear how they talked. A lot of people talked in a different way that we might not be used to. Some people had a little bit more of an accent. Some people t sounded exactly as us. So, it was very interesting to kind of meet and talk to
so many people and I met so many amazing people that I would not have otherwise met. This was something that they really pushed. They really wanted us to go out and meet people that you probably wouldn't have met. So, the first day we had a pin training event to where we each kind of brought pins that kind of
represented our state. I brought spam pins and those were a big big hit. A lot of people like those. So, I didn't run into anyone from Hawaii, but I bet they would have probably they might probably fought for those. But yeah, that was a
very fun activity for me to kind of be in and kind of it was a nice icebreaker. So, that was the first night and then you kind of got to know some people. So, you were able to talk to people a little bit easily, more easily when you kind of talked on before. So, that was nice. But
then we went through the next day and we learned a bunch of stuff. We had speakers that would come in. I'm gonna let Aiden talk more about the speakers, but we had a lot of speakers who came and talked to us and that was an amazing opportunity for us to kind of hear different perspectives on things and learn more
about like what's actually happening to where you might have not learned that. So, but but then we also had the opportunity to go to a visit. So, we got to go to a biotech place, a farm, and some other
like experiences. I went to the biotech and we got to tour a lab, which is really interesting. And it was a lab that was actually open and they were actually doing stuff in it. So, you weren't just at some like pre-stage place. I kind of just showed you. It was a real live lab and you got to kind of
see where products are. Like that was where like liquid ID, they have stuff going for that. So you kind of got to actually see stuff that is going into products that you actually might use. >> Yeah, that was my experience and it was an extremely positive experience and I'm
really happy that I was given the opportunity by Mrs. Sanders to write the paper and challenge myself in a new way that I wouldn't have otherwise gotten to do. >> Hi, I'm Aiden Ton. I did my paper on Iceland and how they had issues with
storing food. Um, a lot of people think, "Oh, it's an island in the middle of the ocean. They can't grow food." Well, they figured out how. So, that made my whole research a little more difficult. But I realized that the big issue with them only recently being able to have
the greenhouse technology is that they don't really know how to store it very well. And I found a lot of companies that were based out of Iceland who are really good with making sure that everything's environmentally sustainable um within storing food. So I found like the
perfect place to put it, the perfect like companies to manage it and make sure everything's okay like for the environment, make sure there's no negative impact. Um my experience with the Global Youth Institute was very
good. Um, I was kind of worried going in because I wasn't I haven't really had much experience with like networking, but the way they set it up, it was really cool to be able to meet people from all over. We were split into really cool groups with people who you've never
met before, from all over the globe. I had one person from Mississippi, one person from North Carolina, and some from China. So, we got some very different experiences. And um as I learn a whole lot about all sorts of different
cultures. Um we also got to hear a lot of speakers. Like the first day was pretty much only speeches and like right when we got there. But that was really cool because we got to learn about um the ways that different people go about helping people who are experiencing food
insecurity. We got spoke to by a professional chef who runs the um I think it's called the World Central Kitchen where he goes around and he helps people who are like in war and I think recently they were down south when all the snow storms hit.
>> Um we got we um got to hear from a former um agriculture secretary of the United States. He talked about food deserts and stuff like that and how to overcome those and how to bring food to more people. We also heard from last
year's laurate who talked to us about how they would go through and they would take like landmines out of areas that still had a whole bunch of them and would replace farmland. Um, and he wasn't here for this at the end, but I was able to go to
the actual like Laurate ceremony where she was a where the from this year, the one who had all the stuff about like nitrogen soil. Um, I was able to see her get the prize and that was a really interesting experience. So, we were the first group of students who were able to
see it and um it was a I mean, it's not an experience that you ever get again unless you travel all the way down there and pay a bunch of money and whatever. Um but it was really cool to be able to see all that and um learn about all the different ways that food insecurities
hopefully can get solved. Maybe not fully solved, but we'll hopefully get better through the whole world. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you guys.
>> Do you have any questions for us? >> Ian and Ian, how would you encourage next year's class to to get involved in this? So, I would say that this was something to where it's a nice challenge to where Sanders had it really
easily set up for us to where it wasn't like we weren't getting thrown into the deep end. We were kind of gently pushed in in a nice way to where you had a lot of stuff, but it was manageable. It was something to where you definitely were
struggling a little bit, but it was a controlled struggle. So, it was something where I'd say just go for it and you won't regret it. You'll get the opportunities that you might not have otherwise gotten if you didn't do it. It's something where you really can't
fail at it. You just kind of need to jump in and not be worried because you'll be fine. And when it says, "Oh, it's all about food insecurity." Your paper does not have to be straight up about food. That's something that I found that I
found out with all my research. My if you read my paper, it really doesn't have anything to do with food, but a lot of things like make it able to get food. Like farming's kind of a little different, but um mine's all about like
green energy and um environmental sustainability. That may not sound like it has anything to do with food, but you can find things that you enjoy learning about, you enjoy talking about, and related to food insecurity. Any more questions?
>> Yeah. Has this experience experience um helped you think differently about what you might want to do as you move on in life? >> Actually, yeah. Um so I I've always been
very like scienceoriented person and um on our um on that biotech lab thing I went with him. Um, I was actually able to sit down and talk with one of the biochemists there and I was able to learn about like different types of chemistry and how it's not actually just
a bunch of math like I was worried. Um, but like we were able to learn about all sorts of different jobs that relate to food insecurity that aren't exactly just working in the food industry, which is really interesting. It was something to where when I was
going into it, I have really zero interest in pursuing a career in agriculture to where that's not really what I want to focus on in life. But it was something to where I was actually interested in it and it was something that like I wasn't like sitting there like, oh, why am I here? I was extremely
interested. I was able to learn quite a few things from that that I wouldn't have learned to where you kind of learned that agriculture is not just something that you need to be in agriculture to experience. It's something that you experience in your everyday life to where you learn more about why food
prices might be higher and why certain foods aren't always in the supermarket. You learn more stuff to where you learn about the supply chain and just general stuff that kind of explains more like what you experience, why you experience
the food stuff. >> Why did you guys uh choose the countries that chose Norway and Iceland? Personal connection. Were you guys gently pushed towards it? what uh what made you choose those countries?
>> So, we got like we put in five or three. So, we have to pick three countries that we could potentially research and it was kind of a thing to where you list them. One, two, three. So, I picked Norway because that's actually where I have some heritage from. So, I was like,
"Okay, Norway sounds like a fun thing to do." And I was at a Norwegian museum, I believe, down in Iowa also. So, I kind of was like, "Okay, I kind of actually know a little bit about Norway and kind of history there." And I was like, "I'll
take a look at it." I did not realize how much food security they truly had. I kind of was shocked when I like realized how developed they are because you kind of focus more on like America and stuff like I don't always like look at like the news that's going on in like other
countries and this really like showed me like what all is going on in the world a little bit more and it kind of opened my perspective up to kind of looking at what's going on in other countries and how other countries actually affect America more. That was why
I had a much less cool reason. Um I kind of um I was like, "Well, Iceland might be kind of interesting. It's kind of an island. No one really talks about it a lot." Um and I also like music and there's a lot of like music out there and the other countries that I picked.
And then um I kind of wish I I had like more research more into the food insecurity side beforehand because it took I found my solution after a lot of other people did because because Iceland is so developed that they fixed all the
issues that they really had for a while. Um, but it did give me a really good challenge and that's kind of what I was looking for with picking Iceland because I always liked geography and I was like, "Oh, it's cool. It's an island. It will be something different." Which I ended up getting a very different solution
that I didn't see anyone pick. Nice. >> Very cool. Anybody else have questions? >> Thank you both for coming and sharing your stories and sharing about your your research. And thank you, Mrs. Sanders, for bringing them
for us. >> Thank you. >> Next on the agenda is our um task force updates. We're going to start with our substitutes task force with speaker Justin and Amanda Lee.
School of Excellence Award recipient can't run a computer. >> You can run a computer. You can't keep up with this. >> It's not you. Just going to sell right now.
>> There you go. Superintendent friends, chairperson and members of the board. Um I am here today with um Jill and Amanda Lee and we are talking about our work so far on the substitute task force and just wanted to provide an update um as we hit close to
the end of the year and some possible recommendations for the school board. So, just going back to some of our work and and why it matters. Um, this is an identified issue um and has been going on for many years about um daily daily rates of of being able to cover subs and
open positions in our district and the impact that has on our staff um in terms of morale and instructional minutes, but also with our students. And so um we wanted to to tackle this issue as a as a team with a diverse group of people that could come to the table and talk about
um what the issues were, what we can control and not control and then what we can maybe do about that and make some recommendations to the board. Um the other reason why it matters is that this aligns very closely with our district strategic priorities and providing safe
and supportive and consistent learning environments for um for our students each and every day. So when we started the um task force, one of the big things that we wanted to do was kind of sus out from the people that had volunteered to be in that group
about what the major issues were in terms of subbing at Austin Public Schools. And so we spent um several sessions going through and and finding out what those were and trying to kind of bundle those into big ticket items that we could then really dig into a little bit deeper. So after going
through that process, we came up with three top priorities that we wanted the focus of our substitute task force group to be. And the first is that um we were having our EL and intervention staff were being pulled from their normal teaching positions to separate classroom
positions that were left open. And by far that was the highest priority when we looked at what what was important to the members of that task force. Um, two other issues that that were very clearly pulled out of that work was that we had a limited sub sub pool and that
buildings were frequently undercover. So, every day there were positions in each building that were just difficult to fill and then we had to come up with creative solutions kind of on the fly to make that happen. And then the third priority that we wanted to tackle was that substitute teachers who were part of the task force communicated that
there were times where they either felt undervalued or that they were not prepared to substitute when they showed up in a school to to work. And so that started our our work after identifying clearly what those priorities were.
>> All right. So that kind of gets us up to speed to to now. Um, so with those three priorities, we essentially put the task force to work. We gave them some homework and they went out to seek
information, whether it be literature, whether it be colleagues in other districts, resources, um, to see what we could find and gather that could potentially be strategies to to um, help us um, improve these areas.
So in area of concern number one which is really surrounding our internal coverage um the strategy is obviously to reduce colleague coverage occurrence. And so some of the strategies that we're continuing to explore are expanding internal subpool increasing external
subpool um you know and analyzing the colleague coverage rotation and um the strategy of having building subs. >> All right. So on the bottom we have some questions that we're going to do like our next steps. Um so how can Kelly
services improve this area of concern? Uh if they can find more subs, increase the sub pool and offer training and incentives especially for high need areas or hard to fill positions. Um and we're starting to like get other people
involved. So who do we need to include to determine feasibility? So, district and site leadership and what additional questions or information do we need? Um, like what are the financial and staffing implications in partnering with Kelly services? How might the use of an
external agency impact our ability to honor personal relationships and placement preferences? And you're going to see some of those I hope I'm clicking the right thing. Um, you're going to see those questions continue throughout the areas of
concern. they're kind of our guiding um questions. I will say that we had an opportunity to welcome Kelly Services um to present to our task force as well. So, you're going to find that some of the things that they're um able to offer us do meet some of these concern needs.
Uh area of concern number two, which is that limited subpool buildings undercovered. Um the first area of concern in this one do work together. They overlap some. So you'll see the strategy in this area is we want to increase our external subcool as you as
we noted before we do have outages that are not covered. Um and so there is a strategy of if we can you know increase the external subool we might be able to cover more absences reduce our internal sub coverage. Uh strategies in this area
that were referenced by the task force was increasing subpay by seniority. We're really fortunate. It's a very diverse task force. So, we have some of our very own sub um substitute teachers that that attend these meetings regularly. So, we were able to kind of
solicit some of their voices. Um increase external pay um for for you know to entice market um additional external subs. Increase for um increase pay potentially for high need days or
high need settings. So potentially settings or specific times in the year that we might be more undercovered than others. >> All right. So services will address this area by using um they already have like incentive pay recognition programs
targeted advertising and improved preparation and training for our sub staff. We're going to include district leadership in it. And some questions we need more information on are how does the current Kelly services model differ from our prior experience with teachers
on call? What are the cost benefit considerations of using Kelly services versus developing our own internal solutions? And what has been the experience of other districts using Kelly services? >> All right. Area of concern number three.
substitutes feel undervalued and underprepared. Um this strategy truly um is focusing on providing district and site resources to prepare our substitutes. Um some suggestions through our I'm I'm just calling it homework because why not?
We're in a school setting. Some suggestions based on the homework that our task force completed was potentially having a district subplan template so there's continuity and consistency. um having some resources that are given by the site to our subs when they visit us.
For instance, maybe a site behavior discipline plan, one pager, um potentially an elementary/ secondary tech help sheet. Um substitute appreciation. Some ideas under that were
substitutes get preschool lunch. um or there's a standard protocol where the neighbor teacher next door checks in on that substitute teacher um or other staff check in. Then um other suggestions to the strategy were training for programming for example
potentially substitutes would have an an opportunity to have a overview just briefly regarding like some of maybe the elementary my math curriculum or benchmark advanced curriculum so that when they come into a classroom impromptu there is some familiarity with some of those resources.
All right. And Kelly services will address this area by using incentive paying recognition programs. Kind of the same with our last one, targeted advertising and improved preparation and training for our sub staff. We need to include district leadership, site leadership teams, and substitute
teachers. And some additional questions and information we need is, is there a need for a working group to create a district subplan template? How do we ensure site level information is available in a concise one-page format? Who would provide training on district
curriculum resources and when would that training be offered to substitutes? And how will we measure whether substitutes do feel prepared, supported, and valued? >> Next up, roll back. We're going to obviously there's more
work to do and there's a lot of questions about like how do we figure out if this if um an outside service is feasible. Um there's there's still work to be done and really the the goal of the task force is to identify what those problems are and then come to the school board with possible solutions because you guys get to make a decision on what
we do. Um so we're continuing to to meet monthly and work together for some sort of recommendation for the school board by June. Um, in summary, uh, the the staffing challenges that we have to address are are really important and it's something that's that's been really great work because we know it's impactful again for
um, our staff, for our students, and we want to see if there's a way that we can work together to to make things better. Um, we want consistency across sites, the experience of substitutes to be a positive one. If they have a positive experience, they'll continue to return. Um and the the potential partnerships
and solutions um hope to balance efficiency, relationship building and ensure that again those substitutes feel prepared and valued and we develop um systems internally as well that we can sustain and um support staff, support students and follow the priorities of the school.
>> Questions? >> Thanks Dean for putting this together. Um, as a former Kelly services substitute teacher in Minnesota almost 20 years ago. >> Nice. >> I can say where have you been?
>> I can say >> after the football Super Bowl been a while, >> but I would say that my experience as a substitute on that side was excellent. the technology now looking back was far
more advanced to like get a job as a substitute through their online system and that was 20 years ago. So I have to imagine it's it's evolved and and hopefully gotten better. But it was it was good then. It was really easy to see what school I was going to, how
much the pay was going to be. Do you want to accept the job? Yes. No. I get a phone call that morning at 5:30 in the morning. Accept a job? Yes. No. like one, two, whatever it was, you show up on time, it tells you exactly where to go. So, on that side, it was very positive. Now, I can't speak for the
last 20 years if anything's improved, gotten worse, but at that time, I was very impressed with uh how that worked. >> Yeah, that's great to hear. Like, one thing too that came out of it was we don't have a ton of familiar with Kelly's, you know, familiarity with Kelly's services and how it works and we
want to make sure like if we're going to make an investment, is it going to get the desired result? So that was yeah that's important to hear your feedback. >> There was a county service representing up the uh state schoolboard association meeting in January. Um he was a brother
to one of the Minnesota schoolboard association people that worked through phase three with us and he spoke glowingly. I guess my question where where are the pool of teachers that they draw
from for a place like moving Prairie or Austin or Chhatfield or not Chatfield so much, but this is kind of a an area that probably has some special needs. >> Yeah. and and those questions were asked
and I don't know that in the short amount of time we have with them that they're able to give like some really specifics about their recruitment tools or or how they work but they they're making some um you know based on their data and past practice and experiences that they're able to you know have fill
rates of above 90%. >> And they do devote a person who is local to the area to to market and solicit you know more individuals. So, I mean, I do I do think they did speak to having
someone local devoted to supporting these efforts, you know, whether it be incre I mean truly increasing. I think you're right. They said increasing to 90% coverage. >> How do they reach those people when when we I say we all public schools can't?
>> Yeah, >> that's that's a great question. I think that's something that we have to continue to explore more before we would make any sort of recommendation. I I don't know the specifics yet. Um we would have to ask how do they do it because they're I mean they were they were adamant like we're we're going to
get you those 80 90% fill rates when we have days when we're looking at 60% fill rates. >> So >> that's that's the message I heard up there. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Well, and I can add to that just a little bit. Um so they do a lot more advertising that than what we do. And
the other thing that they do is they go to other school districts around here that use Kelly services already and they ask the subs from there, would you like to also sub for Austin? So if they're not subbing in, say Southland for the day and they want to sub, you know,
that's just a hop, skip, and a jump over here and then they can also sub for us. So they they um they offer that up to the districts around here that also use health services >> and they did speak to other attributes like like incentive like they mentioned
that well today would be a very difficult day usually to fill or because it's following the Super Bowl and so there they would then like include or or market certain incentives. They also spoke about um training and making sure
that people feel very prepared. I mean, we do have certain positions in the district that do require some training um to make sure that you know they're they're ready to serve the students within that setting. And so they did talk a little bit about that. They also talked a little bit about um gathering
information about our current subool as well as obviously onboarding new um substitute teachers regarding their preferences because we have again some substitute teachers that are members on our task force that have been committed dedicated substitute teachers in our
district for quite some time. And so it's nice to hear that they're they're definitely valuing those individuals and and wanting to make sure they know how frequently do you want to work, where do you want to work, um so that they have that information so they can be
strategic, too. So they they did offer a lot of the like they they were hitting quite a few of the of the concern areas that our the task force has come up with, but again, you can see there's still a lot of questions. I mean, we're just kind of gathering all this
information, thinking it through. Um, and then, you know, really the next stage is looking for those answers to some of those questions so that when we come back in June, >> do we come back in June or we come back sooner than June? June, I think, is the next time we come back >> with the recommendation so that
hopefully we're going to be able to provide you, you know, some of that information so you feel good about a potential recommendation if that be the case. But we still have some work to do. We're we you said we're almost to the end of the year. We're got a lot left.
>> Don't go too quick. >> But yeah, it's been really it's been really cool to, you know, gather all the different perspectives. It's a diver, like I said, diverse group of of um staff and so it's been fun to kind of get that information and work through it and and really try to put some things in place that are going to elevate this
area and very important area. Yeah. Can I ask a question? Um, oh, it was just right there. Um, outside of county services and that and that's a potential solution. Uh what
if anything uh have you been able to uh anecdotally or informally implement any adjustments, changes internally to um try to try to um get some some of this the benefit of the work that you are
doing now for our subs and for our staff definitely feel >> I can speak specifically for self only at this time since we don't really have a you know a district process yet but something like a a sub plan template or
um some of the documents that are really important for subs to have when they walk in the door we started working on already. So um at the start of the school year as some of our back to school time we actually set aside time for teams to work to create um a subplan
template that works for their grade and then what we call emergency subplans. Right? Sometimes we know we're going to be gone a few days in advance and we can put together some sub plans. Sometimes we wake up at 7:00 in the morning and we're sick and we're not coming in. We don't have time to go in and create the
sub plan. So the idea was that working together there was some sort of a template that we could use and that there were plans that were ready in those two scenarios at the very least. So already some some things like some nuggets that we can take right now and start to to use in our work. Um
hopefully with maybe some more broader consistency as we move forward into the future. >> Uh in addition I know that certain things have flushed through the group too and things that we've implemented at summer that have paid off for us is you know we every single guest teacher that comes to our building gets a bottle of
water, a thank you and a little chocolate. Um we have our team at Sar. I think everyone contributes to making sure it's a very welcoming environment. Typically, when I speak to subs, which my goal is to connect with them at least once, they're telling me about how
friendly the staff are there. Everyone's trying to help. Um, those are things that come up quite a bit. I'm not going to lie, area one is a tough one. There's times where I'm in the morning calling the available subs to see if I can find anyone to come in and cover absences or
school secretary is got certain people on speed dial text. So we do try to solicit more people to come in you know and encourage sometimes a personal phone call helps. So we've been able to cover some of those absences in that way. Um
but those are things again that I think we are doing kind of sight by sight case by case. Um whereas I think we're hearing you know some more unification would be helpful >> like what Jill's describing is something she does on her own. It's outside my own >> well right but
>> it's it's outside the system of tools that we have you know as part of the system and so we want to broaden that system get more people involved and have ways to make it more efficient and fill more spots. >> What is area one? Area one is reducing
internal so we would we all have and this is consistent an internal sub coverage rotation which typically includes interventionists e teachers um school counselor behavior interventionists instructional coaches I mean it's a it's a rotation
>> and we want to do our very best to limit pulling them for many of them they're losing student instruction we have to pull them so I sometimes call it the armpit of our system um in a loving way, but we try to limit that and we all
track it at our buildings. So, I mean um like right now I can tell you right now we have 2 days or less of individuals needing to be pulled to cover internally, you know, and and we're trying to do our very best to keep that number low so students get the instruction they need.
>> Um so that is and and I should say it's not only just when a teacher is gone for the day. It could be an IEP meeting. I mean, there are other instances. It could be at someone who needs to leave for a doctor's appointment for an hour. I mean, there are situations like that that come up. What's been really
helpful, too, is the district now, you know, you can get paid by hour versus like it had to be a half day. So, that's been helpful because we have gained some subs for only just an hour or two. So, those are things that were, you know, just really ground level that occur that
we're trying to reduce um on some of those concerns. Do you think maybe you haven't got it this far enough yet, but would Kelly Services also be able to do it by the hour if you got that far? >> I think that's that I think that's part of the collaboration that if that were
something that the district and Kelly services, >> right, those little nuance things are working. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Can I ask a question about the area of concern number three where it says substitutes feel undervalued or
underprepared and then on strategy it's got site behavior discipline plan have the substitute teachers have they voice that there's like more behavior
issues when they're a substitute versus when the regular other teacher is in the room. >> I think we've gotten some of that and I think that's, you know, yeah, like when I was teaching, I had a sub, it probably wasn't going to go as well as I were there. Uh, you know,
students are used to your routines, your process. Um, I think more more what that's about is like each building has a slightly different response plan. If there's a student behavior, um we each building has a behavior flowchart about what's a classroom managed behavior,
what's an office managed behavior. And so sometimes that can be, you know, if the sub is working at Banfield one day and I the next and the high school the next, those can be very different systems. So are there ways for us to uh continue to be more consistent or more similar so that that's just one
other thing doesn't have to to worry about or think about. It's like, hey, I'm sub public schools. Here's what I do if I had an issue. Does anybody else have questions? >> Do you have more questions? >> Thank you all for your your updates.
That's that's huge. >> We're just gonna jump right in. >> I'm going to introduce your your team though. Okay. Yes. Rebecca, >> student attendance. >> Yes.
>> Yes. So, I uh before we before we get started with just the where we've been, I just really want to take a moment to to thank uh my partners here uh and our committee and specifically the school board. This is
we're going into root cause and not quick fixes with this. And so we really appreciate the patience, the fortitude of our committee members. And we were thinking this morning just about the strengths that everybody on our committee brings and how those conversations have really opened up to
some really great possible recommendations as we move into to the spring and summer. So just as a reminder uh with our guided change and this started last spring is that how as how can we as a district strengthen support systems and partnerships to increase
student attendance in ways that is equitable, sustainable and student centered. >> All right. I also want to say thank you too for this um this opportunity to be able to work with these two wonderful people and just really learn a lot. Um I
myself and Amanda Lee were kind of part of both just to really learn more about and about the big system. So really when we started our attendance um this was the main piece that we looked at is we really we had five
different groups. We really dove into each separate group infrastructure that supports improvement family and community engagement multi-layer practices and support assessment and databased decision making. So really as our groups met every month, we really
dove into each one of these different sections and decided what do we have now that we're doing good at? What are some things that need some adjustment and what are some things that we really need to prioritize as a district to try to help this? And also understand that this
is more than just a a school system that needs to be fixed. Um, as we asked our group members on our last meeting, we asked for some themes from the group. So, we really tried to come up with just some major themes from each of the five areas that we could
really focus on as part of our attendance committee. So, we wanted to make sure that we are ensuring consistent attendance policies and messages from preK all the way to senior year to really promote um just clarity for our families. We have a lot of
families that have multiple students in different schools. So, just really trying to help on that front. Um, just making really positive learning conditions is making sure our classrooms are engaging and students want to be there in class. Family, community engagement is just
really making sure that our communication with everybody is going both ways. We have to make sure we're getting parents involved with student attendance and that we have shared responsibilities. Cultural awareness and equity and policies should be inclusive and
sensitive um to our diverse needs in this district and I think we are really showing that recently too. And lastly, it's just collaborating with all our partners here in Austin and all our nonprofits um to just help students as we face different attendance issues and
how we can better help at the Austin public school level. >> Right. So the last part of it is taking uh the themes and the work that the group has done over the past several months and coming up with these uh developing the recommendations. So it broke out into these five groups. And so
what we had done over the past several months was break our groups up into these five areas that were comprised of uh members from all over the community and the school district as well. So we had a good voice at each group. And so we broke it down into the infrastructure, family and community
engagement, the multi-layered practices and support assessment and then database decision- making. And then each of these groups came through and what were their action steps? where do they want to focus on creating consistency across the district at each of the levels in these areas. So you can see
the infrastructure of an attendance team embedding attendance into the school improvement plan, PE offered to the staff of what that looks like with the family engagement, you know, that positive communication campaign, host attendance cafes and listening sessions,
building partnerships with the community organizations. And that was a big one that as we delve into the research and of what other communities have done is really finding and how we can leverage that community partnership as we talk to multi-layer practices. What are the tier one universal
strategies that every student gets but then also what are those additional supports that you get if you're struggling with attendance for the tier two and tier three. Then the assessment add the chronic absence to our universal screen that we have monitor the progress
and then review the attendance regularly and then with the data and decision making create an accessible dashboard analyze the patterns bi-weekly and then use the data to allocate resources accordingly to support the kids in
so we have one more meeting in March where we'll go through kind of the final look over if there's things that we missed there's other suggestions that come up um before we bring it back to this Any questions for you?
>> Blake, it says create an attendance team. Are you talking by building or um reps from each building to do some of this work? >> I think both. Um and I can't speak for other buildings but I can say at we have
a tendency it's bi-weekly and then starting on it and one thing that came out uh through this process is hearing how I think each building has some form of reviewing attendance but sometimes the teachers don't even know what's going on behind the scenes and so part of it is is having this plan but also
communicating that out so that they know what is going on with it. >> Yeah. On this slide, Blake, in the previous slide, you talked about building partnerships in a community and with nonprofits. Can you just describe for us one possible partnership with a
nonprofit or community organization that would help benefits of Austin public schools? >> Yeah, I think we talked a lot about Austin Fires. >> Yeah, so we actually have Austin Spires as part of our team and um we have Verin who helps with the community engagement. We also talked about maybe working with
our employers to kind of help us un help them understand the importance of attendance at school probation uh continuing that messaging too. And I think to foundationally we take all this work from the compass guide book which is MDE supported. And so it's been helpful to have that guide book really
driving some of that work. But um as we continue to learn that you know attendance is an ecological concern which means it's not just a school problem. It really impacts our community. So, we're going to try to find ways to bring them into that conversation. >> Anybody else?
Great. Uh, thank you, Jess and for coming and sharing about the attendance work task force. Thank you all of you for all of your work. Please convey our gratitude to
both task forces and all the people who have been volunteering their time and energy. All right. Uh next we've got our approval for our donations director finance and operations.
>> Good evening. It is my honor to be in front of you tonight to read off the donations. We have reviewed these and they need schoolboard policy 706. So I will read them out now. Recharge America $5,000.
A AHS robotics Austin Morning Lions $500 AHS Robotics Fraternal Order of Eagles $1,500 AHS Robotics Crystal Valley $500 FFA program Early
Riser Squadas $250 AHS adaptive board American Legion Post 91 $500 AHS adapt Adaptive bowling the terminal order of eagles $2,000
AHS adaptive bowling freeboard mau electric cooperative $400 ahs boys golf historic home $300 Austinires
Austin BFW $150 I Lisa Lee room the next chapter Sarah sales multilingual Books for families valued at $300. Classrooms throughout the district. Joseph through Minnesota $3047
for the district. Again, we like to thank all these organizations and individuals. >> All right. Can I have a motion to approve this month's donations? Motion by Carol. >> Second. >> Second by Dan. Any discussion? >> All those in favor?
>> Anybody opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Sharon, are there any delegations? Uh, this is a reminder of our school or study session which is scheduled for Monday, February 23rd at 4 p.m. in the district office conference room.
A motion to adjurnn. All those in favor? Thank you.