Thank you. All right, we'll call this meeting to order. And this is a board work session. So, we've got a bit of an agenda in front of us. And I think we'll start with um some of the strategic plan items. Number one, goal number one, student achievement. And we've got a
couple items there. One of them, I think, is an update from Director Lundren. Yeah. So, um, in your in your packet, there's a a one-page document that just does an overview of the progress towards
each of the um action items. Uh, some of them goals that were identified in the strategic plan around uh the student achievement goal. Um the three priorities were increasing student achievement in reading, increasing student achievement
in math and then that 100% of high school students will experience authentic learning experiences aligned to their career and or passion. So in the document um on the left hand side those are the the items that were identified. I did um in a couple of the
buckets. So, for example, under priority one, uh, line four, identify guaranteed and viable curriculum expectations at all levels. I use that as a topic and then pulled a couple of the other identified action items underneath that
because they were all related to that um to that process of curriculum expectations. So, just so you know, that's how I set up that uh far left column. And then in the middle, um, we've either been making progress. So, um, if you
have a color copy, blue is that it was is that item. Uh, gray is that, uh, it's not that item. So, uh, yes and in progress were the two items. There weren't any of the items that we were a no on. [clears throat] We have started
all the items in there in progress. And then in column three, those were just a couple of notes of items that we've done up to this point. So, I'll just take questions. Um, if you have any questions on any of those buckets or any of those, [clears throat]
>> yeah, I thank you for this. Uh, I'm [clears throat] just looking at the document itself, the uh strategic plan. So, um I take it that uh all the professional development phase one has been done uh which was I guess our goal
was to have it done by July of 2025. >> Correct. Yep. So we got uh one, two, three, we got I don't know a bunch from them there and then we have professional development phase two that's in that's in progress, right? >> Yep. So phase one um if you remember
that was our um prek through grade six uh teachers, our classroom teachers, special education teachers, K12 and then all of our um district and building level admin were participants in phase
one. We do have uh new staff this year um also completing the training. So that would be our phase one. So when we're onboarding new staff, they're completing that OLA training. And then the phase two, uh that is for uh classroom teachers that are in grades 7 through 12
that teach uh reading or an English language arts course. And so that training um does begin next fall. So that group, that cohort will be starting their learning in the Ola secondary course um starting in August.
>> Okay. >> So they are registered [clears throat] Um the uh MDE is uh facilitating the registration uh with uh core Ola. Um so our our staff are registered and then that course starts in the fall.
What I'd add to that is we did a um beta test with uh Ola last year uh for phase 2 because um phase 2 teachers need something a little bit different than the phase one teachers need. Uh so we're excited about what OLA has to offer
[clears throat] um in their new phase 2 program. And um it might be important to note too that MDE changed the timeline for when we do phase one and phase two which is why we're at this juncture with phase two.
>> Okay. Okay. And then as far as uh our MTSS structures, uh tier 2, tier three teams, uh universal screener portfolio, fast bridge screener, tier one, tier 2 teams functioning in all schools, special ed progress monitoring. How are
we doing on that area? >> So universal screening um that that has been implemented. >> Okay. >> Um and we're uh that's the data that's being shared uh fall, winter, and spring. the screening data. Uh the tier
2, tier three teams, um those are I would say in progress. Uh K4 uh more fully developed um at this point in time for their tier 2 in particular. Uh the middle school is um I would say
in a year one >> of their tier two. So the time to [clears throat] thrive block during their um in their schedule that they implemented this year, the intent of that was to address tier 2 um needs
across the spectrum. So that is uh really in the beginning stages. Um and I think they're still working on processes for identifying students. We're working on uh what um resources and learning um
will be utilized during that that time. So that is definitely a work in progress. 912 I would say their >> their focus >> dipping their toes. >> Yeah. And their focus has been nth grade. >> Yeah. [clears throat] >> And then we have some things that we are
currently working on with ADS funding to um add some time for reading and math intervention at the high school which we currently have. >> So that would be aligning with tier 2. And I would say BLC is really doing a nice job too with their MTSS framework.
>> It's a little bit different in preK. Um they don't call it MTSS, they call it the pyramid model. Um and they're in the phase where they're coaching staff on that model. >> So the staff seems to be on track >> according to
>> we're making progress. Yeah. >> In progress. Okay. >> How about the kids? How are they doing? >> They're amazing. How are they? How are they? Uh >> they're making >> How are they? Are we on Are we on target >> in terms of >> meeting our goals?
>> The theals the cycles or >> the >> Let's see here once. >> There is a report card. If uh if you look the um at the the uh handouts, there's a report card there for the high
school. Um and and the indications there are pretty solid that they're doing well. Um I am concerned that 26% of the of our students completed a pathway uh and and pathways are becoming more and more
instrumental in um our educational process um community pathway. Um so if I can just interject also who who determined that either um we we are we
completed it yes or or we're in in progress. How is that how is that determined? Um, at this point >> on the strategic plan on the strategic plan I'm talking about now >> I at this point um K Carrie and I just
did a brief overview of the work that we've been doing um just where where we're at. So some of the items in particular were action items that were easy to identify that it is a yes that was completed. Um, I'll be honest, you
know, when I take a look at, um, the, you know, when I look at the priority one and two, for example, um, they're very broad buckets, and it didn't really articulate a specific goal, um, to define that that goal is met. And I
would say those items in general, um, that is really the the work that that we do, um, is around curriculum, instructional um, evaluating our progress, making adjustments. Um, that's part of that continuous improvement
plan. So, to me, these were these will be uh in progress um unless we you know, articulate a specific goal um or an outcome that we're measuring against. Um but you can speak more to that.
>> I would agree uh with everything that Christina just said. It this is our ongoing work. It probably will always be in progress. if there are specific targets and specific uh tasks that are identified um we can be more specific about if that's been done.
>> I would say on the priority three um the first three items those were specific action steps. So it was um those items were completed um which is why that was identified as as a yes. Um again the the
bottom three you know expanding options continuing to grow and identifying those industry recognized credentials those three are always most likely going to be in in progress and evolving as the as the needs um are identified for students
especially with those those pathways that seems like it's a fluid based on interest level of students and what our community um needs are in terms of uh uh workforce needs. Um so those will be fluid. When I look at the strategic
plan, uh the two specific uh goals that were identified for priority one and two were around MCA scores. So it identified a 3% increase um each successive year that was articulated in the strategic
plan. Um so [snorts] that we um I think I I'll actually I'll bring that I've had that in our staff development plan. And I don't know what those numbers are, but know that the reading um MCA that will be moving to the MCA 4 this spring. Um so we'll be
starting with a new baseline because they'll be norming those scores >> because there's so much because [clears throat] of the literacy. >> Yeah. >> Kind of like they did with science >> because of the new standards. So students [clears throat] will be taking their first assessment on the new standards. Um, I might be of pointing
out too, we won't have rain data for MCAs until later in the fall. Not our normal timeline. >> Do we have interim? Do you guys have interim goals? In other words, and this is where I I am going to
put a stake on a hill. [clears throat] Um because if we don't if we don't have smart goals, if we don't know where we're going, how are we going to get there? And the interim goal to me is okay.
Um you want to be 3%. Growth a year. Okay. Well, halfway through the year, I mean, are we on target? I mean, are we are we going to get there? So those would be our winter fastbridge scores >> in our schools in [clears throat] our in
K8. The school the sites meet um quarterly or maybe more than quarterly um to review the progress on their goals and make amendments and changes to instruction as they need to. >> Um I've been to several of those
meetings and they're very productive. They are very specific about what they are looking for. who's making progress, if people are if kids are making progress, what has contributed to that progress, if students are not making progress, then
what do we need to do differently in order for them to reach that goal? Um, I've been very impressed with the data review um those interim goal meetings that staff have been doing this year. >> So, they do have interimm goals. >> Well, they don't necessarily have
interim goals. They have the yearly goals, but they mark progress intermittently. They don't change the goal. They don't have a winter goal. They have a spring goal, but they monitor it ongoing to see if they're on track to meet that goal.
>> Okay. That's what an interim goal is. Okay. So, we might be saying the same thing. I don't know. >> Yeah. Because the the thing is that, you know, >> we can't just sit back and wait till the end of the year and say, "Oh, well, I mean, we need to find out what's and I think you guys are doing that." I'm going to keep pushing. I'm going to keep
pushing. I'm going to do it in a very, very nice way because I think it's important. >> Okay. >> Um because that's what we're here for. >> That is what we're here for. >> We're here to educate kids. >> Yep. >> Absolutely. and and um having and I
think they have to be smart goals. I mean um you know and we we'll talk more about it. But thank you though. This is uh this is good stuff. John, you said something about a report card. >> Yeah. So on the
>> Yeah. On the on the third on another attachment that was sent out this morning, there's a report card there and I I see that 53% of the seniors responded to that. H how how did how did we reach the seniors and um and why did
we only get 53 53% response on that? >> Yeah. So um what John's referring to for the people that are in person um on pri under priority three uh the third goal it says develop a district report card
communicate progress towards the redefining ready college and career readiness indicators. So um on the digital version that is linked um I did share that data at the fall um curriculum
uh committee meeting. Um so there's different components of around um uh grade um their activities that they're in uh career experiences completing a pathway so on and so forth. Uh but John
was referring to uh we did a a survey of our seniors. Um we had questions related to the uh portrait of a graduate. So um whether they feel their um their high school experience or their educational
experience had prepared them to be uh collaborator resilient so on and so forth. So, um, yes, we had 53% of the seniors respond. Um, the communication went out, um, in senior classes,
um, in their senior check and connect, which is like a home room time. Um, it was posted in their, uh, digital communication platform in their hub. Um, I think the challenge was, uh, students that were PSO. um we didn't get a lot of
return from from that group. Um and then you know just I think some students chose not to complete the survey. We um that was last year was the first year we gave that survey. Um we did it again this spring and we're about the same uh
rate of response um in the mid mid50%. Um but um that that's all those different communication channels were attempted to uh gain that feedback from our senior students. >> Okay. >> So the report card is just on priority
three. >> Correct. Yeah. >> That has nothing to do with priority one or two. >> Correct. Yeah. That was specific [clears throat] to um those career pathways and the redefining ready indicators for life, college, and career
readiness. Thank you, Director. Um, in the interest of time, I want to keep us moving here. I do see I don't know if you had a quick update on the Minnesota student survey. Uh, yeah. So, this is um Randy just had asked for results. Um, these were the
only results that were provided um under the two categories of enrichment activities and quality of youth activities at this point in time. So, this was the um a snapshot I would say. It's not the complete uh data analysis
of the Minnesota student survey that students um had the opportunity to participate in last spring. Um Brainard uh grade 11 students were the only cohort that participated. So this is a summary of that data that was provided
by MDE. Um the complete uh data set typically is what was it like two years? the last one. It was two years afterish um when we did that survey. So, >> we do not have that at this time. >> Does this mean that 153 students took
the survey? >> Yes. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Okay. Thank you for that update. >> All right. Um next we'll take on goal three, which is our financial position. We've got a number of things under here. Maybe we'll start with legislative action
and I don't know Peter if you [clears throat] >> we can we can give some um our requests of House File 4306 is not going to go anywhere. >> Okay. >> Um I don't think it's in the Senate at
all. I don't know John if you got any other information. Um >> Yep. >> I talked with Representative Heightsman. um he didn't think that there would be any appetite in the legislative session this year for additional monies for
public schools. I'm not quite sure what that means, but he was pretty confident that um special um opportunities like the one we presented and so did West St. Paul,
neither of those two would go through. >> Well, are you done, Peter? for that. >> Um I've got some information on that. Um um it's disappointing to me. There's three bills that could have helped our
our uh financial crisis and I sent all of you guys that information. I've asked everybody I put a letter in the paper uh with the information. I've gotten some feedback back on that and then some people have followed through. But the disappointing thing is a single
legislator decides that it's going to go or not. That is that's very very disappointing. And it's very really disappointing since it's a our our local representative. Um uh and I have followed through as you know Peter a lot
of with uh Representative Heinesman with Senator Hearnsman with the with the committee chairs the finance education finance committee chairs with the tax chairs. Um, and a bill is never dead until you hear the word siny die. I don't care what the
what people say about the deadlines. The a bill is never dead. You can add an your bill as an amendment, an ominous bill as the session progresses to uh uh to the end of the session. Um, it's really disappointing that uh uh the
seasonal rec the seasonal recck bill has a huge amount of support in the Senate. uh it has support in the House and um and our you know um some of our local legislators aren't even on that bill would to really help us when we talk
about the operating levy. Um the transfer of funds the transfer of funds would would as you guys know as Marcy you know um could help help us significantly with our budget crisis. So, it's really disappointing to me as an elected official for the school board
that one person decides it's not going to go anywhere. As a legislator, as a former legislator, I would have never done that. I would have tried to do everything in my power when somebody from the local district makes an attempt
to um to uh asking an asking request of of of legislation, I I do my research. I'd do my homework. I do all of that and I would uh I would do whatever I could uh to support it. Um no matter no matter what the what what I
felt. Um so Peter, I you know your your your your try on that transfer of funds and Marcy uh was a very good suggestion. The seasonal wreck bill has been on the docket for a while. uh the the employee
educ actually actually it's called the EGIF educational group insurance program right now is still moving you know it's just disappointing that um one person says here's what's going to happen um and I'm hoping that all of my colleagues I'm hoping that all my school
board members um you know reach out to the legisl reach out and the administration and the educators and the community reach out to uh our legislators and and and ask them again to support our requests. So, um I'd be
glad to give the house files and all that stuff, but I think I've done that enough. Um so, I wanted to I wanted to say that I wanted to I'm not going to I'm not done advocating and I hope none of you are because this is really important for our
finances as Marcy um as Marcy knows as well. So, >> so John, I contacted six legislators, [clears throat] three in the Senate, three in the House. outside of excuse me, [clears throat] outside of Representative Heinsman. Um,
none of them responded. >> Yeah, >> I emailed them and I called their assistants in their offices and >> um the it was like crickets. Yeah, I'm I'm sorry to hear that, Peter,
because as I indicated to you, I think Dan Marcy, maybe I did hear back from I even heard back from Representative Davids, who's a co-chair of the tax committee. Um, good guy. I served them. I I've heard back from about four or five of the legislators and obviously um
ones that I had a relationship are going to get back to me or whatever. So, um I'm sorry to hear that that you weren't uh didn't get any feedback. Um but that's not uncommon and that's why we can't give up.
>> John, what are you hearing about the uh that education tax credit uh bill that they're uh they're talking about, but it sounds like uh there's a group of people that don't want it.
I'm not familiar with that one, Randy. Um, is that you mean for uh >> you talk about the >> private schools, you mean? >> Well, it's something to do with you get, you know, you can you can uh fund money and put it into uh >> Yeah.
>> different accounts and it doesn't cost the state a dime, >> right? It's from the Fed and the state has to opt in or opt out. >> Yeah. And we're we're we're opting out right now, >> right? Why? [laughter] Good question. >> Doesn't cost the state any money.
>> Yeah. I >> doesn't cost a dime. >> Yeah. On on that note, Randy, you know, it isn't just it isn't just a state a state legislature problem. It's a it's a it's a political party problem all over the place,
including the promise made in 1975 uh for special education, which has caused every school district in the nation a lot of money in their general fund with a cross subsidy. So, there's all kinds of, you know, we let our federal legislators off too with not
following through with a promise made in 19 uh 19 um 75. So, I hear you, Randy. Agree with you. And um that's why we can't give up. We got to keep fighting for public education. >> All right. Thanks,
>> Madam Chair. Also, you got you guys are you guys going off an agenda? I I don't I never got an agenda or anything. You you said topic one or something and now we're going to topic three or what are you guys I I only got the attachments this morning that were sent out. What are what are you following? I'm I'm not
following what you guys have. John, it's attached to the invite in your invite for the meeting. It should >> and Kelly will share it with you again. >> Thanks for speaking up on that, though. It's hard to follow when you don't have
an agenda. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Well, I went back to my invite and I don't My invite is from uh February 25th. Um, I don't have anything attached to that. So, oh, wait a minute. I'm sorry. I see one attachment. Yep.
>> It might be a new addition. >> It's got to be the weather, John. >> Too nice. Too nice. >> All right. Um, the next thing we had under that goal was John, you had requested a conversation about Wesby as
well in relation to budget. >> Yeah. So, uh, again, we've had a lot of discussion about budget. Um, well, I we've had discussion about budgets and cuts and all that kind of stuff. Um, I I was hoping to talk
about real simply, what would a 10% reduction in Wesby and Peter Peter uh I shared this with Peter already. Um, what what what kind of dollar amount are we talking with a 10% reduction at Wesby? Um, you know, we we've talked about
class sizes, we've talked about staff cutings, we've talked about you, whatever. Um, um, class sizes, everything like that. But we we don't talk a lot about Wesby, quite frankly. And Wesby has been on a Wesby cuts. I know that um, Marcy has
put it on on her uh, spreadsheets. Um, but uh and my my thought is and how I answered Peter when Peter asked me what what that meant, what 10% meant is I'm I it's I'm just proposing a 10% cut at
Wesby and what does that mean in dollar figures, but I'm not that should be up to the uh departments. Uh Marcy in charge of uh uh uh finance, Christina in charge of teaching and learning.
you you those directors should be the ones that are looking at if we come up if we as a board say we would like a 10% cut or we'd like to see what a 10% cut looks like it's up to them to to uh I would rather have them do it than than
uh any board or whatever. So that's what that is all about Sarah. Okay, thanks for clarifying on that. >> Do you want responses from >> Yeah, sure. Say to clarify that, John. Um, you know, we have a number of different staff that are different funds
in WESBY. So, are you are you specifically talking about general fund or are you wanting that from all funds? Because we have food service at Wesby, we have community ed at Wesby. Um, so we have an and we have we have staff that
are coded to grants that are at WEBBY that if we cut 10% of them, you know, it doesn't save us anything. It would just be So are are you just to make sure we're on the same page, are you specifically talking about people who
are coded to the general fund or things? Yeah, I just want clarity. I'm just talking about I'm just talking about Westby in general. I don't care what funds it comes from. Um I want to know what a 10% and I think my colleagues have addressed that as well. Um that's
that's my perception. >> I >> does that help you? >> And I I agree Marcy that that's not a win. If we're we're cutting back on something that's grant funded and um we lose that grant funding for that
position. That's not a win for us or for kids. So I would argue that it's a general fund, something that impacts general fund. Just my take on it. >> I agree with you, Sarah. >> And that's why I say you you the
directors should do it. The the lesb folk should do it, not not us. Stephanie is right and Sarah's right. And you know, um that's why it should come from you guys. But I I would like to see what that means. I'm sorry, Randy, I cut you off.
>> No, you're fine. Um I'm not I'm not opposed to having a discussion about that, but I've never been in favor of it across the board 10% or 5% or 15%. Because [clears throat] there might be some areas that uh we can we can uh
eliminate, we can reduce without affecting the classroom. So to me to go straight across the board 10% out of general revenue I I'm not really in favor I'm in favor of an end goal. Um
but I I think my difference with what you're proposing is how we get there. That's all John. >> Yep. >> I' I'd like to see more targeted. [clears throat] >> So just something that Jeff brought to me this morning. Um, you know, back in
December, we made a decision on reducing trying to reduce our costs for utilities. So, I asked Jeff if he could give me some data. So, I don't know if this fits in Westby or if how you want to count it, but Jeff showed me that in four months we've saved $114,000 in
electricity costs and $57,000 plus in natural gas. So, >> wow, that's good. >> You know, there's I don't know where you want to count that, though. But anyway, so you know, we're at, you know, that's $170,000
>> that we've managed to reduce in seven month or four months. >> And what was the prediction that we would >> we were hoping for,000? >> That's what I thought. >> So >> cool. >> A little bit of effort, we've we've achieved that and we got the rest of the
year to go. >> I think it'd be really nice for staff to get that information. >> Yeah, it'll [snorts] be going now. [laughter] >> Okay, good. not good >> cuz I know the biggest >> because they've been working hard to make sure >> the biggest complaint has been the chilliness of the rooms and so forth. Um
and we vacasillated between should we say anything or should we just reduce it and not say anything and see that anybody makes it notices a difference. >> That probably wouldn't have been a smart thing to do. But, you know, even the little things that we asked them to do other than turning down the heat, you
know, refrigerators and coffee makers and all this stuff and um so, you know, it made a difference. >> And um I don't know if that's something we want to hang on to for, you know, perpetuity, but um some of the classrooms were
chilly. I'll admit that. You know, it's interesting. You go down a hallway in this building and it might be 70° and you go in somebody's office and it's 67. [laughter] So this building's really difficult to heat I think and monitor. But anyway, there's a positive step. So
>> um we are making progress in the reducing our expenditures that we really have some control over but we can't control the cost of natural gas. We can't control the cost of electricity, but we can try to control the consumption of it to try and help with
our budgeting. So, I also think, you know, I I've heard this from a handful of people, uh, you know, why why do schools, and I'm I'm not picking on Brandon. just schools and public schools [clears throat] in general, you know,
why do they always why do they always cut at the classroom level? But a lot of times there's no cut at the administrative level. And I think I think it's a perception, but the reality is, you know, that's the reality. And uh uh
well, it starts really Randy, you know, that's a fair question. [clears throat] Um right now most of the districts that are doing going through budget reductions like we are they also have reducing population of kids. So it goes hand in hand. So you got less kids
you're going to need less people. Well you should. And then the other side of it is that even though there might be less students the services we're providing don't really shrink. >> [snorts] >> you know, you if you look at staff development, um we get allocated so much money from
the state um if we don't continue to train our staff, what do we expect then? >> So, it's a it's a fair question though. Are we um administrative topheavy? Depends on what you're considering.
What's an administrator? Um Marcy Marcy got a piece of data that I thought was interesting. Well, and you [clears throat] you all should have gotten this because this was with your tax statements. Um, it's Crowing County. It's just anformational sheet and on there it says, you know, where the money
goes and administrative services is 14%. And I just I I wanted to share that because we're at three and a half. So, I I know that they're not a district. I I acknowledge that. But 14% versus three
and a half% is a big big difference. >> And and even to put >> Well, here's I'm sorry. >> Here's another difference, Marcy, is they don't have to go to their voters to raise money. >> Um, school districts are the only one
that has to go to their voters to raise money. and uh the con um whatever just let me make that statement as well. All I'm asking for is and and Randy has addressed it. I think all my
colleagues have addressed it is let's look at some let's look if there's some possible cuts at Wesby. I I that's all I wanted. That's that was the whole point of the discussion and that's what I told Peter as well. >> And we're working on that, John.
>> Okay. Thank you. And just to to to kind of piggyback on Marcy's comments and a finer point on our data here, you know, and we pulled that for Stephanie, but you know, 20 24 of our positions that are coded to to
WESBY are fully funded out of general fund. And so last year we had 1635 W TWS that we sent out for employees that we employed at one time or another during the during that uh calendar year.
So you know and seven of those 24 FTE are here in this room. So just I mean I think we we got to what's the old saying? We know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Um, I mean there there's a reality here that it does take a certain amount of bodies to
run an organization this size. Um, and I I totally understand that the the dynamics and and the the perceptions out there and and we're just trying to work on gathering data that help tell the story better.
>> Thank you all. Anything further on that topic? Otherwise, I'm gonna actually I might have us flip-flop these. It might be better for us to have the budget update before we talk about the operating levy. >> Yeah, that's fine. And it's not going to be very long. So, since our last update,
the only changes I shouldn't say only. Um Carrie continues to work on Carrie and Jason continue to work on staffing with principles and directors. It's ever changing. Um we did have a meeting with the co-op yesterday where we got projections for age and sped and there
will be additions unfortunately um there will be no reductions in that area based on our our um populations for next year. So just know that now we are at a projected 3 million for the deficit
3 million >> 42627 >> correct >> and I'll continue to give you guys updates as this numbers. >> Yep. And that's with a freeze still. >> What is our savings account at?
>> 13 mil. >> So the when we ended the year last year, we'll be at about 14 million. >> 14 mil is our savings account. Thank you. >> What percent is that, Mercy? >> Uh it's about
12. >> So that's that's a reserve fund. That's uh undesated reserve fund rate. >> Got it. And you guys will get the audit report on Monday and they'll go they'll go through that in more detail. >> Thank you, Marcy. All right, moving on
to operating levy discussion. Um we haven't had this conversation in a while and we know this is going to be a decision we're going to have to make here coming up shortly. So just wanted to open the table to discussion.
>> Well, the um I'll start then. Um, I guess um I I still understand, appreciate and respect what we as a board have done in the discussion about operating levy. Um, you
know, the discussion of, you know, if if we have if we can eliminate here, eliminate, you know, cuts versus revenue. Um but I think what our our discussion so far um in this work session uh has indicated is that there
is a need for more revenue for this school district. Um no and um sooner than later in my opinion because the the longer we wait um and if it's successful great. If it's not
great, then we need to go back to the drawing board again or whatever. But at least we have to try, in my opinion, at least we have to try to um to to to move it forward. And if we're going to try to move it forward, it has to be sooner than later. I don't know.
Is superintendent rank superintendent elect or future whatever ranking in there or not? >> Yes, >> he's here. So, I mean, he he's been pretty vocal in my opinion about um looking at um a
possibility of a referendum because of our financial crisis. So, I again I just think we need to move on it. >> All right. >> You hear me if I come to this chair? >> Yeah. >> Um well, director word. Uh this is this
is just my thoughts on it. Okay. because I've watched you for the last year, all your online meetings, and I do think that uh May 5th, we do have a border retreat scheduled. And I think that uh the work that Jason and Carrie and Marcy are doing and Peter, no matter what
happens with any referendum, you're not going to see revenues for two years, right? So even if you go to this fall and it gets select, you know, passed, >> they'll they'll start next spring collecting taxes, >> but you really won't see the impact that's going to be changing for, I would
say, two years, two fiscal years. You can start saying you can start looking at it. >> If if we passed in November, we could have it for the following school year, >> right? But you're going to almost have to like live with what you got for the next two budgets. So my my opinion,
director Ward, is this just my opinion. It's going to get worse before it gets better because I mean I mean you could tell me because I've seen your enrollment reports. We're graduating. How many seniors and how many kindergarters? What's the difference? I think it's almost like 90 kids. So like if that's a million dollars. So you
know, you're going to have to find a way to navigate this. And you know, my personal feeling is on May 5th a decision needs to be made. I mean, it's not an action item because we are having a a board retreat. But listen, my goal for picking early May with Kelly is
that's kind of line in the sand. You can't have me come in July 1, come to the board meeting on July, probably the 20th because that's what or July 13th and say, "Hey, we're going to do this." And then turn around and file. Like you got a deadline of is it 78 days before
the election? I think it's something like that or 79 days. So that would make it like early August. But my mine is my thoughts are this just my own personal opinion going through all your finances visiting with Marcy visiting with Peter and then that's why this a this morning I'm going to meet with three board
members at 10. I'm going to need another three board members on Monday. My goal is on May 5th you have to have a decision. My recommendation is you're going to need to go out this fall. My I my my my current school district, we have a local operating referendum at the lowest level that brings $368 worth an
inflationary index that just gets you the maximum. So it's like a 7030 deal. If you can get 30% pass locally, the state's going to fund 70% of it because of lo, you know, equalized aid somewhere in there, right? If I'm wrong, just like
something around there, correct? Well, and that was the question I wanted to ask is if we are going to talk about this at the next work session or retreat. Do you guys want Matthew to come back? Because if you remember last spring, he came from Ellers and did a presentation about referendums and kind
of gave you guys the >> Yeah. So, I met with Matt last week because it's there's a Minowasa thing we're doing, but he also gave me all your numbers on a $5.2 $2 million under levy because Peter would need to all that all of this has my point for coming forward is we could spend three hours
talking about this particular topic. I would encourage you know the chair and the whole board that on May 5th you have to say yes or no because if it's a yes, we need to get staff in a vote yes committee like immediately
before teachers leave for the the the the summer. But most importantly, whatever cuts you're going to make, it's going to get a little bit worse before it gets better. And so, and my personal feeling is you went off for reference. There's three things I'd focus on. What I've heard you all say, none of it will
come to Wesby. It will all be about reading, math, and every kid at the high school getting a career opport an authentic career opportunity. Reinvest in the things that are very successful here. But if you know, I've heard many many times between you and DJ, and I'm I reiterate this, but you want to see
reading scores improve. Reading scores are not going to improve with class sizes of 32 kids. Math scores are not going to increase with class sizes at Forest of 34, 35 kids, especially when you have kids that need this tier 2, tier three intervention.
Correct? And so you can write all the fancy strategic road map, but there's about 35% of kids are going to need to get a double dipping, extra math, extra reading, and get them to grade level. And the readact that every teacher is going through right now is great work, but it's going to take two to three, five years before you're going to see
the fruit votes. And that's if you can maximize class size and probably getting support. And I'm talking mainly K through five, really getting class sizes down and getting kids the support they need. So it' be if you went out there'd be very three and I really rely on you
Peter and Carrie because you lived this for the last three years but if you went down it'd be a very narrow thing reducing class sizes focus on primary grades K through five reading and math and then in the high school or postsecary or 712 every kid getting an
authentic opportunity to to get a real world experience because I have a senior next year um I'm living right now I have a son who's at SDSU he graduates here in six weeks going to be a pharmacist like his mother. He's never been a pharmacist in his life that he'll have $180,000
invested to him. I sure hope he made a good choice, but why not give an opportunity and also to attract some of the talent here in the Briner Lakes area before they all head to the Fargo head, you know, the Twin Cities area. So, I'd be very on those things and I think that we need to have discussion. We need to
get Matt back and I would invite him to the May 5th retreat because I think that's going to have to be the center of your work. The other thing is if this is what's going to happen, it will be 98% of your focus for the about a 100 days will be on this and let everybody else
run the district. You know, and I will too, but you know, I have asked you and my, you know, Michelle and Randy at least, you know, you gave me people we'd want to go talk to. We'd want to get those people on the calendar in June, July, and make sure we're very intentional. But I will tell you just
full transparency, you you need to go out. I visited the state legislature 3 weeks ago. The reality is the the best funding years from for [snorts] public schools was the last two bonding year, you know, the last two bianiums. They're they're looking to cut 300
million. So I think I asked Marcy compensatory, you're you're funding how much out of assess >> for a million. So I guarantee you that that's the first thing I look at is not continuing those because everybody has access. In the old days it was 15%. So there's a million dollars that you're
already doing that you may not have funding. So if you want to keep doing some of those things, you're going to have to come through. But and then for the three people that you know wanted to have efficiencies because I think that's what you really wanted. You want to make sure we're running as efficient as possible. And I think that's where we
have to come back and that's really what you're discussing right now. Is that fair? So, John, I'd be very supportive and on May 5th, we have to make the decisions and I think between now and May 5th, I'd ask Peter and the whole team to say, "Okay, what are what is the two-year outlook?" Basically, what you're doing
right now because I'm understanding maybe 18 positions. I think that's public knowledge you're looking at reducing. What's that going to do to class sizes? You're going to do the same thing next spring because you have to build a budget on what you want. And then, John, you know from doing this in the past, and Peter, you definitely know
this. Schools don't farewell in general elections, so don't assume it's going to pass. And so, like I said, what I started with, I'll finish. It's probably going to get a little worse before it gets better. So, any questions of me? Is that fair?
But I'm I'm John, I'm 100% supportive. It's And you know what? Honestly, you're just allowing the public to have to weigh in on this because you're going to be cutting no matter what. Even with this, you're not at my current school district, we have a local operating reference and we have a
capital project levy. We have a $2 million advantage, you know. So, just by funding at my current school district compared to Briner public schools, we have over $650 per kid, more than Briner has. We have the best test scores in our region. I I do believe there is a
correlation. So, you can't ask for the highest test scores and the highest achievement on the lowest budget. That's just that's aspirational best. Would that be fair, Peter? >> So, it's kind of where I'd be.
>> Lucky I've already signed a contract. You can't fire me. So, [laughter] because I I do think it's important that you understand I don't think you really understand like even the difference between uh Burnsville and Brainer. Just take those two schools. Matt Hammer's calling me
right now. Um, they are honestly at a $3,200 per kid advantage in Brainer public schools. You can't punish kids by where you live. And that's why, John, I do agree. The seasonal wreck thing, you know, you know how this works this
year in the legislature. They're all jockeying for this fall, wondering who's going to get control. That's why there's not an appetite to really do a lot. So, thanks. >> Thanks, Chip. >> Thank you. Thank you.
>> All right. Anything else on operating levy? It sounds like that'll be coming back to us next month. So prepared for that conversation. We'll move on to goal four, student and staff environment and support. We have a couple things under this staff
recruitment and retention. >> Is that a link for something? >> It Yeah, it is. Okay. Yep. I just put some facts and figures together >> cuz I don't have the the digital copy. I just have the >> Is that >> Yes.
>> Oh, is that that should be packet? >> Yep. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I think anyone with a link that has the link should be able to open it. Um but yeah, I mean just wanted to give you some >> I'll let I'll let you know in a minute.
>> All righty. [laughter] >> Yep. Yep. >> So, I just put some data out there. Um, in terms of the school district as an employer, as I mentioned before, in 2025, we issued 1635
W TWS for employees, you know, um, people who worked and it might have even been they got hired and then three days later decided they wanted to quit or whatever. They got some wages and they're out the door. Um, we made 274
hires in overall in 2025. So that's about 16.7% of our W2s. We have 12 work locations. Uh, in our in our March payroll, we paid 93 individuals. Um, I always tell people
it's, you know, 1,200 because we've got, you know, the fall and spring sports, we've got event workers, we've got subs that come in and out. So that that's kind of our our core number, but it definitely you know varies over time and as as we can see on that overall data
was 1,600 W2s there is a lot of you know um differentials that way. So then just kind of a breakdown by um employee group there just to give you a sense of of the bodies the numbers and then um just tried to provide some information about
recruitment. Uh there's myself and and two uh HR professionals uh Travis Strawman and Alexa Altha Roxburg, excuse me. So on uh 900 staff, that's about a 300 to1 staffing ratio when it comes to
that recruiting and hiring and that HR function. Uh I included a link to my professional association some benchmarking where you know they they say oh 50 to1 it should be your ratio. Um and and in my last organization, the private sector, it was it was 70 to1. We
had 200 employees and three FTE. Here we've got uh you know, a,000 and and and four. Um we've got about a $25,000 a year budget that we use for recruitment. 20,000 of that is title one funded. We I Marc we discovered that or I discovered
that a couple months ago. So that was like wow, that's awesome. So we're we're starting to make use of that. Uh we post all of our positions on our district website which is hooked in with Frontline software. Um that feeds to a website called K12 jobsspot. That's like
a frontline product. Um we also use the official website for all school districts. Minnesota schooljob.org. Um and that's required. Uh we also there's a St. Cloud State has an ED post link that used to be the official one.
Now it's still there and people look at it. So, we use that. Um, and then just, you know, put a blast out on our Facebook or our LinkedIn posts. Um, Indeed, we'll use Indeed as applicable. That tends to be more for, you know, non
um, classroom positions, whe you know, accountant or, you know, secretary or things like that. Um, and then we will use professional associations where it makes sense for like a principal position, the school school administrators or secondary school
principles, that sort of thing. I learned that there's a Minnesota Association of Pupil Transportation, so we, you know, put our director of transportation out there as well. Um job fairs are still in place uh for uh
through our my state association the school personnel administrators uh there's four virtual ones uh one has already taken place um that that in that in that process there were 42 individuals who expressed an interest in
working in central Minnesota. Uh there were was not a special ed candidate to be found in that group. Um, we had an in-person job fair March 31st down in Eden Prairie. There were about 500 applicants registered and we, Travis
and I were were betting how many would swing by, you know, and and uh thankfully it was more than we guessed. We were guessing like h maybe 10. We had uh we had 24 people stop by. Um, part of that I think was uh because we we shared with uh one of the professors there that
we we anticipated a social school social studies opening and she let all of her people know. So we saw like 12 social studies candidates uh in that in that morning. Um a couple specialed folks that's really our hard to hard to fill area. special education as you know and
those itinerant positions, school psych, uh speech language pathologist probably the hardest to fill just because of the the the the education and certification requirements. Uh school psych is a close second. OTPT special ed in general and
even get into math and science um you know those are harder to fill positions as well. I mean, just overall, right, we're seeing this. It's been a decades in coming. The applicant pools are shrinking. Used to be, you know, you could get two or 300 applicants for an elementary position. Now you'll get 20,
you know, which is still, you know, it only takes one to make it higher, right? Um, but but that's just kind of our our reality. Um some of the things on the recruitment side that we're doing to try and improve things, we're trying to speed up the process so that when we
have vacancies, we're getting out into the marketplace sooner. Um we uh was part of that frontline package. There's some digital workflow that we've set up so that a principal can request a position, you know, to be reposted. it
goes to us, it gets approved and then once we, you know, make an we now have a digital job offer letter that they can click on and start doing more of that work online to speed up the onboarding and and also candidly given our FTE resources so that we're trying to use
more technology in lie of of FTE. We just don't have the bodies to, you know, physically have a sit down here fill out the forms for 270 people a year. we've got to do that digitally. So, that's been a focus for us. Um, with that Title
One money uh that we we've learned about, we're we've sign we're signing up for a six-month pilot with LinkedIn as part of their recruiter package. Um, that's normally a $20,000 seat um that a company would buy. Um, we're doing a
six-month pilot for five grand. And so, that'll take us from now through September. We're excited about that. The the really cool thing about this um this functionality or this this access is it gives us access to the whole LinkedIn database and now they've incorporated
some AI smart hiring. So you can type in and say looking for a a special ed level three teacher for Brainer Minnesota and then within seconds it starts listing out here are the people who are interested in working in that area. So, that's kind of a head-hunting recruiting
tool that we've never had before that we're going to try and, you know, make some hay with that. Um, you know, in terms of being able to do that long term, I don't know if we're willing to commit, you know, 80% of our recruiting budget to that, but we'll have to see if what kind of traction we get. Um, and
then the other thing we're doing that really doesn't cost us any money except our staff time is trying to to build out our district recruitment page, do a little bit better job of of kind of selling the sizzle. uh more links to community resources and things that are going on. Uh more contact information
for us so people want to know exactly about this that and the other thing putting information about our salary schedules, our employ, you know, our employee benefits. I think I think that's a that's a selling point in the district right now. We need we haven't done I don't think a good enough job of selling that. So those are some of the things we're trying to do from a
recruitment perspective. Um I'll I'll stop for a minute just to see if there's any questions on that. I'm just going to correct title two. >> Title two. >> Title two, not title one. >> So we don't. >> Good catch. >> So we don't get in trouble. >> Yeah. For the record, is this thing on?
>> Monitoring. Monitoring. >> And and then uh just briefly on on teacher retention. Uh as we all know, every organization saw a spike in turnover uh during COVID and the years that followed. And uh I put a link in
there to a study by the Rand uh Rand Corporation. They're pretty well known. I think they were cited by NEA and some of their turnover data. So I mean this is a pretty well-known study. Uh the teacher turnover has decreased since COVID and it was sitting at about 7% in
[clears throat] 2425 and and that's actually where we were at in 2425. Uh we had 13 resignations and 21 retirements. So that on a FTE of 484, you know, uh, FTE, which is full-time
equivalent, the headcount may be more, right? So it's not a true applesto apples turnover. You could have part-time people turning over and they're included within that headcount of full-time, but it it gets us close. And then year-to date so far, we're sitting at about 5.7 uh%. So, you know,
it it's very un it's very common to have turnover people giving notice of their intent to retire between now, you know, and and the end of the school year, June 30th. So, that number will likely will likely go higher. Um, you know, there's
been some state things. There's a a bill, I don't know where that one's at. I I it didn't look like it was moving anywhere, but a couple million dollars um to [snorts] study uh teacher retention. Um and and there's a Sourcewell special education pipeline
grant that's that's already in place and then they're looking to re-up that in fiscal year 27. So we have uh some uh Paris educators who are in that pipeline to become special ed teachers. Then I just listed some of the things that we
do uh in terms of our rec retention efforts with you know new teacher orientation and training um you know some peer coaching uh professional learning comm uh committees things like that and then a new thing that'll be on
the board agenda for Monday is aou with EM regarding uh speech language pathologist hiring for the next uh next year. They they identified some funds in their AC comp budget, some fund balance, and so we're actually able to do a
hiring bonus for SLPs that are get hired. And we're structuring it so it's at $6,000. It'll be $3,000 to be paid at the end of next school year and then another $3,000 at the end of the following year. So kind of building it in as a, you know, you got to stay here.
It's not just a signing bonus. It's a you hire and then stay for a bit. So, that's a quick thumbnail sketch. I'd be happy to answer any questions that people have. >> I have some questions, Madam Chair. >> Yep. Go ahead, John.
>> Thank you. Um, you've done a great job, Jason, of telling us about recruitment. Um, and I appreciate all that uh the HR people are doing for recruitment as well as everybody in the district. I think we all recruit in the district. Um, I know that uh if I know somebody that I think
would be great for this district, I I reach out to them and I I know that a lot of people do that. My biggest concern is not with recruitment, it's with retention. Retention. And I'm just going to I'm going to tell you this. I would still be
in Proctor, Minnesota had had I um had the district worked with me on um a situation that I was getting burnt out and uh and and and was not allowed to uh um get a job that I had applied for. And
so, uh that's why I'm in Brainer. And I think I did a pretty good job in Brainer. Humbly I say that. Um retention is critical. I'm looking at a list that I have developed of 27 people. 27 people
in the last number of years that have left um due to um well not even including retirees, not including retirees that um you know are are getting incentives for leaving um or
have an incentive for leaving um that would maybe like to stay. There's there's a number of people on this list of 27 that uh including speech therapists including we just lost three sight sites and sites are absolutely
terrible to school sites to find. Um Jason, I'm glad you mentioned the uh uh special ed people from the source because you and I and Peter and others have had a discussion about that. We need to address retention. Um, I could
go on I you talk about another three-hour discussion. I could go on a three-hour discussion about retention because we've got a lot of great staff that have left here or are considering leaving because um they're disgruntled. They don't feel appreciated. They don't
feel acknowledged. They don't feel and I get the fact that just like John Ward did. All right. If if you don't appreciate me, I'm leaving. I'm going somewhere else. I think in my opinion, and I'll cut right to the chase, I think we need to have a committee um Madame
Chair and my colleagues um to to address retention and reach out to uh folks that have been impacted by that. Uh it's not all about recruitment. It's a lot more about retention because when you when you're recruiting, you are usually
getting uh newer um educators or sites or speech or special ed or whatever. Retention is about losing experience. Retention is about losing um knowledge in the classroom. Retention is about um knowing how to handle discipline
problems in the classroom. Um although that's a whole another discussion that we need to have at some point in time. So retention to me is critical and when we start losing numbers of 27 30 35 um it's about time and it is a nationwide
problem. Um we the the board members were uh sent out um I think Kelly sent something out to us which I appreciate Kelly. Thank you for that. And um and uh I think Amy sent out something from Pelby about retention. Retention is a topic that is nationwide discussion
right now. I think we need to get on top of it in Brainer and form a committee to uh to look at and it and it it also will also needs to be addressed about staff morale. I know that when you sent Madam Chair, when you sent out the uh um proposed agenda that I was going off of
until I saw the new one this morning, uh you you had down there staff and student well-being. Well, I think it's uh and and morale. I think it's I think we need to at least have a discussion about forming some kind of an ad hoc committee um looking at people in the community to
help us address retention of staff. Um I'm going to leave it at that for now. Um thank [clears throat] you for allowing me to uh to uh discuss this. >> Thank you, John. Um I'm wondering, Jay, yeah, go ahead,
>> John. I'm just I'm gonna uh just ask a question or two here. um what you what you've just talked about falls on the management side of a school district and
at least for me um we could have we could have 15 committees okay but if this is the job of the superintendent and the principles [clears throat and cough] I don't think We need a committee. I don't think the board needs to be
involved with another committee. Uh I think Peter and and u superintendent uh elect Ranken, that's their responsibility. Uh in my this is just my opinion.
Um, so I'm just going to push back just a little bit there and just ask that question that don't you think that that is a more of a management decision than a board decision? I'm glad you're bringing it up. I'm glad you're bringing it up, but don't you think that is a
management decision, >> Randy? Let me just say I I've learned to value your and respect your opinion for sure. And I do believe that um yes, the uh administration uh needs to absolutely needs to be in charge
uh part or whatever of that um of that kind of discussion. I agree with you. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> I mean to Oh, go ahead. >> I just want to say Kelly, could you send um this packet electronically because
there's so many links that I'd like to take a look at. >> Thanks. >> I think to that point, and I think you make a good point, Randy, um our job probably as a board is to set an expectation for what we'd love morale to
look like and and maybe how we might measure that and um leave that to the administration then to figure out how to how to meet that expectation. But I I I agree that that should be on our radar
and it should be and I think it is part of our strategic plan. Um when we talk about student and staff well-being, that should fit squarely in there and it should be part of our focus. >> And Madam Chair, thank you for that. also uh
um work sessions. We I like work sessions because it gives us an opportunity to freely and and and bring up things that um you know that don't need to necessarily be brought up in a in a in a regular board meeting. So um that's why I bring up a number of these
issues uh at a work session. Um I agree with everything that Randy and and you and you madam chair have said um also. So, um I but I I do want to emphasize there's a difference between recruitment and retention and retention in my
opinion uh is much more valuable because of what you lose, not of what you gain. >> And um John, I'd like to continue on that. I do agree. Um a lot of majority of the teachers that I talked to that have retired or took an early
retirement, their big thing is the discipline. They that is one of the biggest things that that they can't handle it anymore and I don't know what to do about it
that something has to be done on that. >> Totally agree Steph and I that's a great point. Um and I've actually sent out I think to Peter you know um that is another discussion we need to have. Absolutely Stephanie. I agree. And I
mean there's some things that you know I I worked uh in emotionally behavior disordered uh 22 years of my 34 year career and um a a lot of times it was necessarily getting parent engagement involved to uh try to and that's not
going to always be true but um we need to have discussion on that Stephan you're absolutely right. >> Yes. All right. So, next steps on that, maybe we um need to revisit what's in our strategic plan as it relates to the
goals around staff retention and um come up with some expectations so that you guys can do your job and in making that happen. Sound good? >> So, Madam Chair, I just want to be clear. Are we okay to bring up things
like this in work sessions and discuss them? >> Yeah, absolutely. I think this is the spot for it. >> Mhm. [clears throat] >> All right. >> Thanks for asking though. Appreciate that. Um the next thing we had under this discussion was Chromebooks and I
know a couple folks had brought this forward so I don't know where we want to dive in on the discussion. >> I was the one who brought it up. >> Okay. I just I just think we need to start looking uh do a little forward thinking here and u
um I'm sure we're going to get some numbers here today as far as how many Chromebooks we have, who has them, uh what they're used for, uh what what do we have as far as curriculum that's loaded onto them, etc., etc., etc. But I I would like us to start looking at
reducing the number of Chromebooks we have, who has them. Uh I mean, I've heard from so many teachers. Uh um I guess more so at at Forest View than other places. Uh, kids come into
the classroom, their Chromebook battery's dead, they broke it, they go down to Monica at the media center, they're out of class for 15 minutes, they come back. Um, I just I mean from what I've read,
which isn't a lot, but it just seems like the digital age, especially for the younger kids, is going to be a thing of the past.
Uh, a lot of school districts, a lot of countries, they're just they're just not using them anymore. We're going back to the old I remember I brought this up at a board meeting. There are some college professors who are not accepting
typewritten thesis anymore. handwriting, you know, and I was encouraged, >> Christina, when with the emerge, these kids are going to be writing and they're going to be, you know,
>> it's we need to, you know, we we we flipped the page and I think what's happening now is the page is somewhat being flipped back. Uh, [snorts] >> you mean a professor is expecting a student to write a 100page thesis
handwritten? >> Some of them are. Yeah. >> Well, that doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. >> Well, >> um, >> term papers, things like that. Maybe not thesis, but term papers, things like this. I mean, even they're starting to,
you know, so all I'm doing is just raising the issue that let's look at because we can't just flip the switch. >> Yeah. we can't just flip the switch and get rid of them because we've got curriculum loaded on them and stuff like this. So, it might be a two-year, it might be a three-year plan.
>> Well, I think I think we need to start planning. >> It might be um good just to level set on how they're actually being used right now and how often and at what grade levels. >> Yeah, that's rather than I don't want to make assumptions that these kids are on devices all day and as our starting
spot, >> we can How about we start with a plan that we already had in place? um before all this assessment came up, it's it's K1 devices this year. We're going to pull back about 50% of them. Um so we'll have one card for every two teachers to three teachers depending on how many uh
sets they have in the the room. So that's our plan for right now. Probably next year again pull back three and four with MCA testing and stuff like that. That's a little [clears throat] kind of may have to stay one to one there because depending on how building
schedule it. We might put them in a bind if we pull back too many for those grade levels because if they want to do MCAs as an entire building on one day, we'd have to make sure we have enough devices for that. But we're already pulling back so to speak to to go right with what
I think you can speak to assessments and curriculum. >> Yeah. I wasn't sure what the the scope of this conversation was going to be. So I I focus uh mostly on elementary um so the document that um you have a copy for
um and and I would say before I I just walk through this document um I appreciate your comment Randy. I think this has been said on several different topics at uh at board meetings of going one way this way and one way this way
and I think finding that middle middle ground because with all things that we do it's not all or nothing. And it's there's a nice middle middle balance and and finding that a balance in what's appropriate to support fellow students as as learners in 2026
um and and beyond and the things that they're going to need to develop skills in to be successful in our community. Um but uh elementary so so what I did um I just did three buckets. Um the first is the minutes of instruction and then the the curriculum resource that that we're
using. So this is our our current minutes of instruction. Um the items that have the the asterisk, so math, literacy block, technology, and science, those would be the areas that there would be a potential for a technology or
device use for that. >> [clears throat] >> Um so math math expressions um students do have a physical workbook that they use and that's the primary uh resource for student practice and engagement with the math concepts but there is a a
digital platform for some of those formative assessment pieces that they might use periodically. Uh for the literacy block, [clears throat] um I I just listed our current uh minutes of instruction um and then our current resources that benchmark literacy, but
as Randy pointed out, next year we're moving to emerge. Um and so the literacy block, the time of instruction will be uh for K1 um 120 minutes and then uh K2 and then three four it's 90 minutes. And
the majority of that again is that uh explicit instruction and student engagement in the physical uh workbook for for writing the boards and things of that nature. The technology component again with that is primarily for
assessments. Uh so some of those checkpoints over the course of the learning a student might read um something into the device. So it records for fluency, how they're decoding words, things of that nature. And then uh the shift with
the literacy block [clears throat] in terms of devices uh up until this year there was a 60 minute uh for small group rotations and so when students were not at the small group table with their teacher they were doing uh station
rotations and one of those stations was a a digital rotation. We have shifted away from that. So this year we're uh down to a 30 minute small group and then when we shift to emerge it's a 20 minute small group. So it is very targeted with
specific skills uh where students might have gaps or extensions beyond that. So in that 20 minute block there is a um option for an independent time uh which is made up of both uh options for physical materials and digital. So they
have some uh missions are called missions where students can do extensions that's in that digital platform but again it's pretty limited. So the majority of that time students would not be on a device during the literacy block. Uh technology um students have a technology block one one
period a week um and those are technology standards. So those international standards for technology education focusing on digital literacy creation collaboration in a digital space and then uh some of those uh
computer science like uh computational skills and things of that nature. So in that space they are on devices uh for that 25 minute block or uh doing something on a device with a connected device. So coding a robot for example an
algorithm for a robot. And then in our science, social studies, art block, um science, they use the fox kits. Those are physical spaces. Uh social studies, they do units of study. I did do an asterisk with that um because some of
the um units that they have, students may do a a research project and do that creation of a document or a slide deck for a presentation. And um moving to number three kind of as a connected piece um as the state has done updates
to standards and benchmarks we don't have specific computer science standards at this time. So they are embedding uh those uh learning outcomes in the different content areas. So, for example, in ELA, um, in all grade
levels, uh, there's, uh, for example, um, creating an individual or shared multimedia work for a specific purpose. And then it's scaffolded as you go from K1, you're using a teacherdirected space or app. Then you have a list to choose
from, maybe in grades two through four. And then as I move into fifth grade and beyond, I'm selecting that as the individual learner. So, there's some of that creation component. Um but again limited. So at the elementary level in terms of uh daily instruction students
are not on devices for the majority of the day. Uh most of their time is in a physical space. Um and then number two uh that was just a note that uh Ryan did mention uh some of the different standardized assessments and screening that we do those are completed on a on a
device. So for fastbridge uh students in grades two through four uh there's a um independent digital space for that. MCA's um CAPD which is uh another uh reading assessment that we are uh starting to use this year and then the
KOAT those are all digital assessments. So that's for that elementary space but I haven't I didn't do anything with that. >> Thank you. I mean, that was a lot more in depth than what I thought we'd be, but that uh that that's good. Uh I guess
my main purpose for bringing it up is um you know, forward thinking here and and what we're going to be doing with Chromebooks in the future because you just can't turn it off. I understand that. But uh >> Director Heidman, >> these kids know how to run a computer more than they probably know better than
most of us adults. [laughter] >> No question. >> And they know how to get around stuff. [laughter] Do you need us to follow up with what? A similar format for 42. >> Say that again. >> Do you need us to follow up with a similar format for 58?
>> Oh, no, no, no, no, no. This is this is good. I I I just wanted to, you know, raise the issue of where we're at and what's going on. And uh >> Okay. I just >> I will tell you, Randy, with the middle school and Ryan and I have talked about
this a couple times, they are horrendous on treating the Chromebooks. Um, I would say you can correct me. I would say 80% of the damage is intentional. >> It's really a fair assessment. >> Intentional.
>> Does that cost us a year? >> A ton. >> I can get you. [clears throat and cough] >> What's the What are we doing for behavior on that and consequences? >> Wait, we have a protocol in place. There's a administrative um Ryan's going to be able to speak more
to this than I am, but we have an administrative process where uh 80% of the what Peter is talking about 80% is done by maybe five or six students >> uh in the building that have um repeats over and over again. And so after one
breakage, there's a consequence, after two uh breakages, there's a consequence. And I think the third breakage, they're off the Chromebook. >> Y >> um we give them alternate pathways to their curriculum and or they can only
use the device in the classroom. They don't get to take it home. So it depends on the situation, but we really kind >> of fluid with the building admin. They have make those decisions. >> We've been more intentional this year. >> Yeah. Y >> but thank you for saying it's five to
six kids have 80% A very small percentage >> breakage. Not 80% of the kids. Okay. >> There's there's a lot of breakage. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And our insurance provider is concerned. >> What?
>> Our insurance provider is concerned. >> Insurance. >> Yeah. Wow. >> Um, sorry I cut you off about the carts going to Forest. >> Well, we know for sure that that's planned. >> Yeah, we think so. Okay, >> that's the plan. >> Okay, so the cards that we take back
from the elementaryaries, we can start establishing that for you to maybe help with some of these >> issues. That's the ten of the plan right now. I guess >> to do a checkout format for some of those classrooms. >> Yep. >> Yeah, >> makes sense. Good. And I do appreciate
that you said this is kind of a on the continuum. We want to be in the sweet spot because we do want our kids to have access to to this. They're going to need it in the real world. And um there is there is a kind of a happy medium to that
>> and not all kids have access to it at home. And so then you create um an equity where there shouldn't be. All right. I know we are running short on time here with about four minutes left. Um the next item on the agenda was the APAC committee. So I want to make sure
we've got a couple minutes to chat. I Well, I didn't know this was going to be on here at all. I mean, am I supposed to give a report? [laughter] I thought I >> We only got four minutes, John. >> Well, let me Yeah, [laughter]
>> I'm sorry, buddy. >> That's all right. >> No, I think um it landed on the agenda just to kind of >> describe where we're at with >> John brought it up with the AIP. Well, let me let me just give you let me give you three comments that I let me give
you three comments that'll take less than four minutes, Randy. >> Okay, perfect. >> Three comments that uh uh that I picked up on in the Apac meeting. Um the first of all, it's a Minnesota State Statute 124D.78 that we have Apac. Okay. Period. Um
also, the response is supposed to be from the board. Um the response on the non-occurrence is supposed to be from the board and not the administration. um when we're supposed to sign off on that or whatever. Um the the Apac people were very disappointed that uh it seemed the
response came from uh the administration and not the board. And then um the and and they're trying to gather data, you know, for for different things for attendance, for discipline, for grades, for all this because when they apply for
a grant, they need that data for for their applications for the grant. So that's why they're um so firm on um getting the data and trying to work together to get get that data. Um and there's a lot more involved in the in the meeting, but that's my less than
four minutes right there. >> Nice job, John. >> Um any next steps come out of that discussion for us to think about as a board? I'd like to give a that same report at the at the board meeting too if possible.
>> Okay. >> Committee report. >> Sounds good. Thank you. Anything else on APAC? Anybody in the last I just think it would be really good if we had a representative on it maybe from the board. I think we do. >> There's two.
>> We do. Okay. >> There's two people. John's on it and Stephanie's on it. >> Oh, >> yep. Right. I was >> didn't Okay. >> Yeah, I was on it for a while. Went to two meetings. >> Yeah, I agree. We have not necessarily been very consistent as a board um and
how we've approached that committee. I think it's ebed and flowed and we we have responded as a board um on some of the past report outs. We've responded in conjunction with administrative help in some
instances. So, I think it has been all over the board. It would probably be better for that group and for us if we could be more consistent. >> Yeah. And I just think it >> I agree >> to make it a priority to develop more
connections >> from with the district and that committee. >> They're doing some great work. They have really in the last couple years uming and yeah they are doing >> and thanks to district support they have um really
>> their programming has has been expanded. I think there's a there's some relationship issues there so be good to focus on that. >> Yeah I agree. Um, in the last 10 seconds we have
[laughter] we also had board officers and there were a couple items uh that didn't make it to the agenda that I just wanted to mention out loud the calendars which are in your packet for 2728 and 2829. And
Kelly Kelly also included if some of you maybe got this if you are in the district um the survey about when windbreak should happen, how they should happen and so you've got that information as well for feedback as you look at those calendars.
We will bring this to the agenda on Monday to um talk. >> Is there a link on that? >> Um >> I think they're included in your email. I Yeah, double check on that, John. Let us know if you don't see him.
>> Okay. >> And the other thing was policy 602. Was that the other thing? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Um >> there's um a blurb. I sent out the board memo. There's a blurb in there >> about policy 602. >> Yep. And just understanding that reach
out before the meeting. We're not comfortable with it on consent. >> Thanks, Kelly. What's the remind me what 602 is again. >> E-learning. >> The e-learning um one that we brought up last time. Gotcha. Wanted to send it
back for language change. So, if you've got questions about Oh, Carrie, go ahead. >> I'm sorry. Um my 10-second um clarification on that is we changed the language and um it's intended to indicate that e-learnings
are an option, not necessarily that they will be used. >> [snorts] >> Um, but given our uh weather patterns in the last few years and having to add additional days at the end of the school year to meet contractual obligations,
we're asking for that flexibility. And the and if um and if it is approved, then we can start planning for giving time to teachers to prepare for a potential e-learning day and collaborate with their colleagues.
so we can have that ready if if needed. >> Okay. So, if you've got questions about that prior to the meeting, um phone them in and let's make sure they get answered >> because right now it's on the consent
agenda. I don't think it it doesn't need to be if we want to have more discussion, but um just bring forward whatever concerns you've got about that. >> Let's pull Can we pull it right now? >> Yeah. and have it as a separate agenda.
>> And what if we're not interested in e-learning, >> then that's a good discussion for us to have. >> Yes, it is. >> Yep. Absolutely. >> Yep. >> I know we were pretty unanimous in our decision
>> not to do it for inclement weather. >> Now, for when the pipes broke at the high school, we didn't have a choice. >> Correct. [clears throat] >> All right. Um I am going to say >> is there anything on the board officers madam chair? Is there anything that we're discussing or finalizing on the
board officers or are we going to do that at the schoolboard meeting? [clears throat] >> I I think that's a schoolboard meeting discussion. Um DJ is not here so I don't want to I think it's an unfair advantage to talk about it when he's not in the room.
>> Okay. >> All right. Um there are some next meetings on there. We do have a meeting at 11:00 today and some of us are meeting with Chip right after