And we do have a quorum. So I will call this meeting to order. Uh before we approve our agenda, I wanted to acknowledge that we have a new person sitting up here with us at the dis. I want to welcome Dr. Dr. Daniel Bitman, the board table as our interim
superintendent. And uh this is the start of week three for Dr. Bitman. And so far so good. So far so good, Madam Chair. Thank you so much. Uh we're keeping him very busy and he has jumped right in and embraced all that Edina Public Schools has to offer. A reminder that Dr.
Goodman will serve as our interim superintendent for the remainder of this school year and then the entirety of the 2025 2026 school year. I know he has already enjoyed getting into our schools, meeting our fabulous students and staff and being introduced to the
broader Edina community. So, Dr. Bitman, we are excited you are here and welcome. Thank you so much. Just appreciate the opportunity and trust to serve with you, Cher Chair Gabler, members of the board. Look forward to being involved. So, thank you.
Uh our first order of business is agenda approval. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda for tonight's board meeting? So, move Is there a second? Second. We'll vote to approve our agenda. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed?
Tonight's agenda is approved. Dr. Bitman, will you please review tonight's agenda for us and the community? Madam Chair, we have a number of things on the agenda tonight. We're excited about the Dina give and go. We're going to have presenting uh information and support for our students, families, and
community members. We'll obviously go through the minutes. We'll have personnel recommendations as well as a memorandum of understanding between the Adina public schools and the educa virtual pathways program which you've seen uh moment seen throughout annually.
We have non-renewal of probationary employees that we've seen before and which happens in every school district as well as electronic fund transfers and check requests, things that come typically as routine for our consent agendas. We also have a report tonight on our Q comp or quality compensation
annual report which you've seen before as well as our food service management contract for fiscal year 2026. We also have a letter from the board that I know that the board has talked about in work session thanking our amazing staff for the work that they do. You also see a routine business
around leases as well as an iPad refresh proposal. And I will also have the opportunity to uh share our leadership plan for the next 15 months which we've talked about before but also that we did collaboratively not only with the school board but with the administrative team.
So thank you for that. In addition to that, we'll have a policy review which has already gone through our policy committee, but we'll have some conversations about this evening. And we'll also take action on our K12 social studies curric curriculum adoption, which we've brought before the board
previously and which have been reviewed. Finally, we'll have some information about our long-term facilities maintenance fiscal year share that we do with our other school districts that we partner with, approval of various uh policies that have already been reviewed
by the board, as well as just a brief update on how things are going here at the end of the school year. So, with that, I'd be happy to take any questions. Okay, board members, any questions from Dr. Bman at this time? Okay, thank you for that review.
Uh we're moving on to excellence in action and this month's excellence in action features a new Edina public schools tradition uh via a hornet day and this event was created by the Edina Education Fund to promote school spirit and financial support for education
programming. Kathy Rendleman, executive director of Edina Education Fund, is here with us tonight to present how the idea came about and how we celebrated. Welcome Kathy. Thank you, Madam Chairperson, interim superintendent Dr.
Bitman, schoolboard members, cabinet members, and community members for having me this evening. Just going to walk you through our first ever Be a Hornet Day that actually happened this past Friday. Um, it was a great day um with the tagline, show your pride,
support the hive. It would connect with our strategy E of the Dina public schools strategic plan to engage parents, school and community and to point out that every hornet
should be supported every day. The goals of this day were to partner with the district to promote school spirit. Um it has been stated that um this month that we are in May um is nothing but mayhem. Um and it's a completely
challenging time of year. There's testing be MCAs, finals, AP exams, you name it. There's transitions, whether it be transitions um going from grade to grade, kids leaving one school going to the next school, transitions just in the
seasons. No, let's be honest. It's getting nice outside and it's hard to sit still in those classrooms. So, we became it's a great time of year to kind of ground ourselves and to talk about we're all Hornets. Let's be proud of being Hornets and let's be excited to be part of our school
system. There was a goal of engaging our alumni across the country, across the world, and across our community. As part of our strategic plan in the last planning session, the admin was tapped and asked to be our EDA alumni association. And we're looking to grow
this to find our community members in our community that are alumni part of our 42,000 strong Edina alumni and bring them into our Adana alumni association to show them that they have a place here. Even though they have graduated from our schools, whether they have
graduated from Edina Morningside, Edina High School, Edina West, or Edana East, they are still have a home here in our schools. And to make sure they know that they are a great resource for us, too. Um, we need them for mentorship for our students. We need them as professional
networks for our students and they will always have a place. And then also was a great fundraising opportunity. Now, this um actual campaign came up because many colleges and universities use the same strategy
actually. Um they have students pay especially in our private universities and colleges they have students pay a certain amount on their tuition and then come springtime they say your tuition only paid for you so far. So when you get to the end of March or the beginning of April they say now it's up to
donations to get you through the rest of that school year. That's how a lot of these funding days started. It's not really how we do our budget need on a public schools, but we kind of grabbed on to that idea and said that end of the year when we're all trying to make our
budget at the ed fund, it's a great time to reach out to our community and say this is a great time to give to public education. And to be honest with you, there's 365 days a year that I know it's a great time to give to public education, but why not capitalize on one more day that we can bring everybody
together and do it all at once as a community? Oops. And so we did. We started out with speaking with the city and asking them if the mayor could make a proclamation. So we did that. And there was actually a proclamation by the mayor
and it was May 2nd, 2025. This be a Hornet me. So there's our lovely Hornet holding the mayor proclamation. And pictures far and wide from hornets far and wide. kids getting ready at their houses or maybe kind of like that first day of
school photo which I love. Parents with students, teachers that embrace the day. Hornets far and wide. Even some schoolboard members that weren't in town that snapped a photo of themselves. And what did that do for us?
So, you'll see some numbers here from a social media perspective. We had a huge reach. Um, over the three weeks of posting, we reached 17,000. We had 1,456 interactions with our posts. And
these are just the Adon posts, not the United Public Schools posts. We had 88,000 viewers and 327 clickthroughs. We raised over $12,000. It was quite a day. This is a day to build off of. um this is the
beginning of something new that we'll be doing at the ed front. Some other things to note in those dynamics, our largest impact date that we're looking at, which is also like how do different social media platforms interact. Facebook's largest interaction
day was on April 18th. That was the day that we posted with the alumni. So, our alumni groups love Facebook. They love to see pictures of themselves. Go figure. Our Instagram largest interaction day was actually on
be a hornet day was on May 2nd. That's where people are looking mostly and they want to interact with how the day is going. We tend to be more of an Instagram group. We actually had more following on Instagram, but we need to
keep that interaction up on Facebook because that's where our alumni groups are. And this was by far our largest interactions over and we've learned quite a bit on how um our reels work, how our posts work so that we can use
that in our other events throughout the year and our cooperation with the district is phenomenal on this event. So we'll be utilizing that going forward as well. So that's what you're going to see from here on out. Be a Hornet Day is going to be hopefully an event that we
can keep going with and build off of from year to year. And it was just a great day of pride. I hope that you found yourselves in a building or out somewhere. Saw lots of green and lots of hornets. Thank you. Thank you, Kathy. Uh board members, do
you have any questions or comments? Dr. Barry, I thought it was a great event. I was at one of the elementary schools that day and there were a lot of kids wearing green, staff wearing green. That was really cool. So, thank you for that. Um, if somebody wanted to get more involved with the ED fund, but how would
they go about that? Great question. Thank you, Director Barry. Um, we actually have a number of positions that were looking for volunteers, especially on our committees. Um, one of which our new committee for Be a Hornet Day that they're trying to get started even earlier this year. Um, so if you are
interested, you can reach out directly to me or to one of our board chairs and they'd be happy to um lead you in the right direction. Thank you on behalf of the district. It was a great success and uh we really appreciate your work supporting our students. Thank you and thank you for
having me. All right, we do not have any uh members of the public here to speak to us this evening. So we will move on in our first presentation this evening. Uh we have the honor of hearing a presentation about the work that our other district
mission aligned partners uh at Dana Given Go are doing in supporting our students and families. So I welcome up uh given GI and GoGo's executive directors Stephanie Francis Jones and Claire Damon a student board member uh to talk about their important work and
the impact of Edina Giving Go. welcome and Dr. Amarie Leland. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Gabler, members of the board, and Superintendent Fitman. Thank you for allowing us this
opportunity to share a bit about the work that we're doing with the district giving and go. Um as said Stephanie Francis Jones, executive director of the United Give and Go. This is uh Dr. Anthony Leland
and Claire Damon, one of our student ambassadors. Thank you. Okay. So, the role of Edina give and go is to build an equitable and connected community. Um, we help to ensure that every student in Edina public schools
has a true opportunity to thrive. Um, by leveling the playing field outside of the classroom. Um and we feel strongly that we are delivering on the strategic plan um with this alliance that we have with the Dina public schools and specifically
strategy B to ensure an equitable and inclusive school culture. So we do that by providing equal access for all students to academics, arts and athletics um in our community so that all students
can develop skills to discover their passion, connect with peers, gain a sense of belonging and succeed in and out of the school day. Um so what we do we fund access to
enrichment opportunities for uh students with families are facing financial barriers. We work closely with social workers, cultural liaison, staff members to identify and to support students quickly and
confidentially. We support students in g grades K through 12. And um this is something that you probably know, but maybe not everyone in the the public knows that one in five UDA public school students
qualifies for our scholarships. We are currently reaching about That's okay. We're currently reaching about 30% of the students who qualify. So we will continue to work in collaboration
with those e district personnels to ensure that we can meet more of the need and I'll pass over to Dr. Leland to talk about why we do what we do. Thank you Stephanie. Uh we are going to
talk a little bit and show a video um around the value of enrichment or out of schooltime activities. Um, we just really enjoy the partnership we have with Adina Give and Go. We're so thankful and we're so fortunate to have our students so well supported um in
this area. So, I wanted to just point out a few areas that there's so much research around um three areas that out of school time touches. It's the gaps around achievement, opportunity, and well-being. So those are the three
things that research continues to show that when you have a child that is engaged around anywhere from 44 to 80 hours, so that sweet spot and out of schooltime programming throughout the summer. Um, and then you also go into
the school year that really makes a marked difference in that child's life in terms of that achievement, that learning, the knowledge base, that opportunity. Our students get to do things like um go to parks around the
city or wherever they're going and sometimes that's the first time they've been outside of a dinina, right? So, it's just awesome. And social emotional of course is something we care deeply about. So I'm gonna try this. And I know Evan's back there, but I want to show
you a video. It's just a couple minutes. I don't know how to Evan, would you queue up the video, please? Thank you. We can't hear it. He's working on it. Economic
backgrounds are um without out of school time opportunities have a disadvantage in terms of growth and keeping up with their peers in terms of reading, numeracy, lit. the pieces that we know that move students forward toward
reading at grade level. So the video is awesome and maybe we could show that some other time. It's narrated by Brian Williams. Um but it so his voice is much um more I don't know maleifuous I'll say in terms of mine but I know that's a big
word. Um but that is something that this shows and it continues. Let's look at two children. one from a middle-income family, the other from one of the millions of lowincome American families. As the two kids head off to kindergarten, look what happens. The
middle inome child starts out with a six-month lead. the low income. So that child would be walking forward. So I don't know what's happening to the video. Evan, that's okay. We can send the video out um to
the board members. We will skip forward if we can get back. Thank you, Evan. Wizard of Oz. I liked that it played your voice. I know too, right? So, we are not just funding activities,
but we are connecting families, coaches, and schools. And what we really are wonderful at doing is being a bridge between the families who need support and the community that
wants to provide it. Um we'll talk more later about the annual event, but we recently had a gift girl gala which many of you were able to attend. And um you can just see that
bridge in action of a room of 200 plus people who all want to connect the resources with the the families that are needing that to just help us build this stronger community. Um and we are
powered by community donations, volunteerism, and a collaboration with Edina Public Schools. We are a small but mighty team of three staff. Nope. Okay. And um we have a 23 person
working board and a 13 member student ambassador council. Quite fun. Um so our impact we um became our own independent 501c3 uh 11 years ago and we have provided
over $1.6 6 million in scholarships to nearly 3,000 students. Um, and just last year we unlocked 1,320 opportunities um for public school students. And we're
quite proud of those opportunities, but also the distribution. There's fairly good distribution, fairly even distribution between arts, athletics, and academics. And also, I think importantly, it's
distributed quite equally between elementary, middle, and high school. And a lot of that is the work that um Anie's team is doing to provide more opportunities for middle school students because we used to see a much smaller um
portion of the opportunities that we unlocked in middle school. And so, now that's growing. Um and we'll see that as our um numbers come out in this year too, but it looks like we will continue that trend. Um so looking ahead, we are
honored to continue our ongoing collaboration. Um and so we would well what we really um would love to continue is the board
support that we that we currently enjoy by amplifying the awareness in in the schools um so to ensure that all students are encouraged to participate. Um I had alluded to the gift grow gala that we just had. Um we had
record participation from people in the room and also um we had 59 people um who actively participated virtually in our silent auction. We had over 200 people in the room and we surpassed our goal um
to ra raise 130,000 that night and so we um achieved 130% of that goal thanks to support of the community. Um, another way to continue this commitment is to volunteer with us. Um, we have our
annual gear swap, which the last one that we had in September was a success by all measures and it just continues to grow in um, strength and popularity. We had really success in all measures. So,
we had 90 volunteers. We had over 360 families donate gear. Over 460 families shopped for gear and we raised um $18,000 at event. Um I wanted to share some
testimonials with you. um we are able to read and hear the gratitude from families that were able to serve on a daily basis, but I wanted to share with you um a letter that we received at the end of
last school year, but it's it's um just really speaks to what we do. So, I'll read that to you. Dear supporters of Give and Go, wow, where do I start? First off, thank you for your unbelievable generosity. We can't thank
you all enough for the investment you are making in our children. We have a child thriving in theater thanks to your support. We have a chess guru who has won awards thanks to you. We have an aspiring gymnast thanks to you. And we have a basketball athlete who
experiences community when her disability often isolates her from her peers. Even now as I type this, tears fill my eyes because there is no way I can properly ever thank this community for the care, support, and investment in our
children. But what I will say is their lives are just are different because of your generosity and sacrifice on their behalf with much love and thanks that we receive thank yous like
that on a daily basis. Um, and another um testimony I wanted testimonial I wanted to share with you was a recent interaction that took place um at Adina High School with Geneva Fitz Simmons. um she had asked a student they were going
to participate in an MEA marching band trip and the student said no my parent lost their job because of an illness and so we can't afford it and because of the work that the district does in our
partnership she knew about Edina give and go and connected um that told that student to tell their parents to contact Edina give and And so then the next day the parent came in and I sat down with them for an hour, went
through, you know, heard all about what they needed, went through the application form with them and wrote the check and that student is going will be going to Chicago next MEA break. So that really I think speaks
volumes to this partnership and how important it is that the staff who are there with the students know about the work that we're doing so that they we can be that bridge. Um and I now would like to pass pass over to Claire Demon
who will explain a bit about what she's been doing. Well, there's not much I can add to that. Um, my name is Claire Damon. I'm a sophomore at Edina High School and I am a member of the Dina Giving Go student
board. We are a group of high school students that help advise the Dina Given Go board about what it is like as a student in the Dana School system. I have worked with my fellow student board members throughout this year to
support United Give and Go's mission of helping every student meet to be able to participate in extracurricular activities. As a student, I am busy in many clubs and activities myself. These range from knowledgeable to circus at Circus Jventus to play the euphonium and
band. I bring this up to show the wide variety of interests and activities that just one student can have. I am fortunate that money has never been a consideration or has never
needed to be a consideration when I choose clubs and activities for myself. But for many of my fellow students, this is not the case. I joined United I joined Edida
give and go student board to help those students before this year give and go was something that I only really knew through their annual gear swap give and go's work goes far beyond that though as you have heard they
provide funding for everything from hockey to gymnastics to band to speech and debates to tutoring and they give that money directly to the families that will use that money. My job as a student board member is to support their work
and help the adult give and go board members understand what we students need. This jobs culminated this year in a used book sale at the high school. We took in donated books and sold them at a
very low cost to help students get new books. And especially during the conference time after school, we help district parents get new age appropriate books for their young readers. This has helped spread books hopefully increasing
literacy rates across the district but has also raised funds for you a given go that they will use to continue doing their work. I do love this work. Advocating and assisting in these projects has been
one of the highlights of this year. Next year we are planning on organizing a fund run to raise money and awareness of our works and the book fair which we had this year we hope to continue next year as well. Helping out at the Edina give and
go gala along with this book fair and so many other experiences has helped me make an impact in my community. These projects and fundraising are a vital part of creating a stronger community by helping one student at a time afford to
participate in these activities and sports. Thank you for your continued support. Thank you, Claire. Thank you quite a bit. And
finally, I mean Claire said it best. Thank you for your support. Thank you for what you do every day. It really a huge difference in the lives of public school students. Board members, do you have any questions
or comments for our guests this evening? A quick comment then a question. Um, first of all, thank you for coming and especially thank you. I know it's going to be nerve-wracking. I think it's nerve-wracking. So I always love when students come to talk to us. I think it takes a lot of bravery. So
thank you very much. Very informative. Um um a comment I wanted to make is I appreciate you focusing on or reminding the community of Adina the number of students and families that um live
around the poverty line because I think sometimes people are very surprised by that. Um, and I just want to reiterate that that covers all races, um, all genders, all ages. And I think sometimes people have image in their mind about who lives, um, in poverty in our
community. And, um, it truly is um, a lot of times people that might be your neighbor that you don't know that have short-term poverty issues. Um, a parent lost a job, a parent got sick. Um, so you are doing such amazing work. It's
such a so important and I thank you so much for what you guys do and the mission that you have is critical. Um, quick question I had. I know that you guys focus on mostly extracurricular and you mentioned enrichment. has um eini given go ever thought about um starting
earlier than kindergarten as Brian Williams eloquently stated um that a lot of times kids start behind and so I was just wondering if that's something that you ever thought about is is there any way to offer enrichment opportunities
before kids even start kindergarten? It is something that we're exploring and in collaboration with Dr. Leland and and her team. There are currently programs available through the county, right? And
so then we're looking at how could we offer support to students below the age of kindergarten. Um, but what we want to ensure is that we could sustain fundraising. Um, so
we we provide $500 school year, $500 in the summer. And so we're this year we will continue at that same rate but with a goal to increasing that over
time but ensuring that you would never need to turn a student away. So we're exploring it. I think that that is very important but again we just need to be able to sustain it. There we go. Uh,
thank you, Director Ellen Burke. I'm just wanting to follow up on that just in terms of I think the landscape also in Adina Early Learning Center now with offering summer programming. We certainly offer after school care as well. I think that's been the area where
Adina Gib and Go has been on the fence around um funding, but we do offer summer enrichment camps now and actually quite a a robust amount and very diverse in in content and programming. So,
that's the area that we're exploring. there's less availability in terms of that extra funding and financial support for those students to access those opportunities. During the school year, we have lots of funding for preschool and those kinds of regular day
activities, but in the summer is where we could we could partner. So, thank you for that question. It was important to start very early. Um, I'd also wanted to thank you for coming and speaking to us this evening and Claire, I thought you did a great job of speaking to the importance of
having that student voice at the table. So, thank you for joining tonight because I know it's it's May and that means it's really busy for students too, right? Um, and I had the honor of attending the gala and I have to say if you have not had an opportunity, um, do
it. It is such a great community event. Um there were so many principles and staff members and cabinet members there and it really speaks to the power that we have in this community of people who had a vision and said there's a need.
Let's bring people together to fill that need and I can't thank you enough for the work that give and go does um to support our students. So thank you for being here tonight and thank you for the work that you do. Thank you. All
right, we are moving on to our consent agenda. Is there anything anyone would like to remove from the consent agenda? We'll now vote to approve the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. All those in
favor of approving the consent agenda say I. I. Anyone opposed? The consent agenda has been approved. Thank you. Uh we're moving on to our discussion items. Our first item is our superintendent leadership uh plan and we have uh you're
going to hear from Dr. Daniel Bitman, interim superintendent of Edida Public Schools uh in regards to his plan for his time with us. Madame Chair, members of the board, those in the audience, just thank you for the opportunity and the trust to lead this district with you in
partnership. just excited about the next 15 months. Uh this is the perfect example where I had the opportunity to collaborate with each of the board members as well as our administrative team to really talk about what the needs are over these next 15 months. So while you've seen this before and it is
available online, I will go over some of the highlights and again uh look forward to serving with you. So, as you know, with our mission and vision, we're about each and every student, helping them to discover their possibilities and to thrive. And that's not only for our
students, but it's for our staff, our families, and us as a board. We know that we're strong in our mission and vision, and it's embedded into every single thing that we do. And you see that through each of our reports that we had tonight and our discussions that we have day in and day out. We hear about
the academics, the activities, the opportunities, whether that's through the ed fund or give and go or through the numerous things that we do with our strategic plan, but it takes a village and it takes a community and we're grateful to be able to do that together. There are a number of phases that we
will do collaboratively over these next 15 months recognizing that it's an interesting time for school districts and there's a lot of work to do. We talk about innovation, we talk about engagement, and we talk about transition. So for us as a school
district, we recognize that we're about academic excellence, about innovation, about student centered learning. The words that continue to stand out to me in everything that we do relate to integrity, to compassion, to courage,
commitment, appreciation, and responsibility. We also lean in our portrait of a well-rounded graduate and we see that through our discussions and the work that we do through our metrics and our strategic plan. So in these next 15 months in
collaboration with our board, our district leadership, staff, families, and of course students are at the heart of what we do. We think about making sure that we have a seamless leadership transition. We make sure that we're establishing trust and collaboration not
internally but externally throughout our communities. We're making sure that we're aligning our initiatives with our mission, our vision, and our goals. And finally, we're driving our measurable progress towards student achievement and operational excellence in every single
thing that we do. So immediately, it's an interesting time to come into a school district in April when we're gearing up for the end of the school year uh and through June. But we also want to make sure that we're being intentional about establishing credibility and trust. And that includes
being active in our community. It means being involved in our schools, at our events, etc. It's about gaining a deep understanding of our priorities, our operational challenges, as well as early opportunities for our strategic plan. I'm grateful that the individuals who
spoke tonight that we've had an opportunity together to be both at the ed fund as well as the gala to make sure that we're partnering. And that again is just an example of the work that we're doing together. We've been able to and will continue through June to have one-on-one meetings with our executive
leadership team, our board, and key district personnel. We're listening and being active and intentional with our students, our parents, and our community members already having the opportunity to talk about what programming looks like, the successes that we're having, and the things that we're thinking about in our
strategic plan. I will have been at every school uh and have been at the majority of them already just in classrooms and learning as much as I can from those that are serving as well as really working with you and our team around that strategic plan and what that looks like over the next 15 months May
and June as we wrap up some of the school year initiatives and we send our students on to different avenues throughout the summer. really continuing to work with our city and our community for events and to learn as much as I can as well as identifying some of those things that we can be responsive to the
feedback that we've heard from our staff, from our students, our families, and our community. And again, looking forward to time with our schoolboard as we continue to think about what these next 15 months look like and we look to think about what we can do better and differently as we move forward while
honoring the work that's already been done by Dr. Stanley and our our administrative team. We have some measuring successes around school visits as well as community engagement and initial briefings. Uh but we will continue to update the board as we move
forward on that. The second phase really is from July to December. It's hard to believe we're already talking about July when we have so much h happening, but really thinking about the things that stand out from our strategic plan and what we've heard from the board and community. looking for ways to
communicate better, make sure that our operations are representing excellence and working efficiently, and then continuing to analyze our data and the things that we're doing well and maybe need to think about differently just to continue to make sure that we're doing the very best we can with what we have.
Finally, in July and August, we have a summer leadership plan, retreat plan, uh, already in place as far as the dates, but we're working together and collaboratively to make sure we have a wonderful start to the school year, making sure our student, staff, and our families have the information they have.
And we know that when things go well at the beginning of the year, our kids are and families are just going to have a better school year and be more successful. Also recognizing more than anything Edina's community focus and connection. Just recognizing how how
important that is and knowing that with our partnerships that we can continue to make great things happen for our students and families as this school year starts off really reflecting on our trends, strengths, and areas for growth. One of the things the board has asked me
to do in this collaboration plan is just bring a fresh perspective to take a look at the things that we have. really focusing on the things that have greatness and the things we might want to think about differently. So, I'm really excited about that. And again, some additional opportunities to continue to provide reports and updates,
seek feedback from our stakeholders, as well as just having good collaboration and conversation at the board table. Again, making sure that our students, our families, our staff, and our community have a place at the table. And again, making sure that we're communicating our progress um
continuously and not just occasionally. And then finally, deepening the impact from January to June. Really assessing and refining what those key initiatives are that we've been doing, maintaining that strong community trust, and then ensuring sustainability and strategic
planning implementation. Our things are only as good if we can sustain them, right? So being thoughtful about our implementation, making sure that what we do we do well and right from January to March. Just again going back I pressed the wrong one I
apologize from April to June. Um finally thinking about an evaluation and a transition plan. Recognize that my time here will be limited but making sure that the next person here not only has the evaluation but a plan to set them up for success moving forward. And so
making sure all the key elements in the foundation are laid. Finally, really looking at and having conversations with the community to make sure that their feedback throughout my time here is also embedded in what we do in setting up that foundation along with the initiatives that we want to move
forward. And then again making sure that the things that we have in place that we've committed to that we have set the foundation we've committed resources and we have a plan in place to make sure those things move forward in an excellent manner. And in terms of final
uh success and measuring tools just making sure those things are well planned, well available, communicated, identified and documented. In terms of responsive leadership, again, really making sure that things are in place to be proactive,
adapted, adaptive, and grounded in clear communication, data, and stakeholder input. Again, we talk a lot about trust and making sure that we're all on the same page. We're communicating well, and we're moving things forward for the benefit of our students, families, and
staff. We want to make sure that our communication protocols are timely and transparent as well as consistent. We know that when we do not have a unified message, we know that sometimes people interpret things differently. So really trying to think about and making sure that we're maintaining the excellence we
have while keeping people engaged and informed. Making sure that we're monitoring the work that we're doing to make sure that it is making a difference for students. And after all, that's what we are here for. So again, continuing to modify and adjust, making sure that our
students have what they need to be successful and to meet the goals we've outlined in our strategic plan. We also recognize that we work with humans in our community and that things change. Whether we think about social media, whether we think about
tragedies that happen in our community or the excellent work that happens on a day-to-day basis, we know that we need to build some level of flexibility into our operations and planning. But with that said, we also want to be planful and intentional with the work that we
do, able to modify and shift as we need to. Innovation and planning. So again, our district here in Edina is known for its innovation and the great work that we have uh great opportunities that we have for our students.
In every conversation I've had with students, staff, families, board members, and community, we talk about those amazing opportunities to bring kids where they are to amazing and unlimited opportunities that they have. So, we want to make sure that we continue to be proactive and innovative
as kids want to be in Edina public schools and know that we are going to continue to provide opportunities that are better than than those available in any other place. also recognize the power of leveraging technology and data. And we also know that we can foster
innovation, meeting our kids and our families where they are, and give them opportunities to grow that seed to be successful post EDA. And then finally, really working together on things like uh AI, which we know are going to continue to play an
important role, as well as career readiness. That's something that this district has talked about for a long time. What pathways do we need and should have in place to make sure that our kids have access to things that they might experience or might be interested in moving forward. And finally,
community and family engagement. Something that has the key to everything that we do. We recognize that without community engagement and family engagement, we would be nothing. And so we recognize and want to continue to look for ways to partner. That means
strengthening our relationships between our various groups, increasing parent and student voice and decision- making. And then obviously, as we've talked about, fostering a culture of transparency, we gave a number of activities and ideas of what that might
look like. Again, we heard earlier in a work session the importance of going out, not just being in our offices and in our schools, but really looking for ways in the community that we can do that well. When we think about transition planning, again, maybe really thinking about that
comprehensive evaluation based on our strategic plan, making sure that everybody's successful and really celebrating the work that our teams, our students, our staff and administrators do every day with our community. As uh I approach the end of my time here
in Edina, certainly finding a publishing or sharing a final report with the school board as well as possible recommendations of things we might want to continue to think about. Um and again acknowledging the great work that's happening in each of our buildings. You continue to see the work of our
administrative team, our teachers, our support staff, etc. who work day in and day out to make sure things are successful for our kids. And so really want to make sure that we honor them. And again, making sure that we have some measurable objectives and things in place. A transition guide would be one
of those things. We'll certainly present to the school board so uh folks in our community can hear that. And again, being thoughtful of thanking those who have been part of our journey in this next year. With that, I'm happy to take any questions that you have, but just want to express my sincere gratitude for
again trusting in me and partnering with me as we look forward to these next 15 months. Board members, questions or comments? And as a reminder, Dr. Bman did work with us on this plan, so we have had an opportunity to ask
questions. Um, I I will take a moment to just say that there are several parts of this plan that resonate with me as a board member and as a steward of the schools uh for this community. And it's clear that in your short time here, you have listened, you have made honest
observations, and you're here to work together with us. So, um, I think as our tagline says, we are going to continue to define excellence with you. And I we look forward to that time together. All right. Uh, moving on then. Next up,
we have our 2025 2026 Edina public schools assessment plan. And I welcome up to the dis uh, Greg Guser, teacher and learn teaching and learning data programming analyst and Jody D. Huert our director
of teaching and learning. Uh, thank you for uh, having us here today. Um, one of the things this report all about uh statutory requirements and that we're bound by state statute to uh have
the um uh a published assessment calendar on on our website. And one of the things that I noticed when going through this process was that the current assessment plan was just a modified version of the assessment calendar with a whole bunch of
information crammed onto that calendar. And knowing that there was a lot of stuff that about the assessments that we administer within our system that was missing, I thought let's kind of break this up into two different pieces. And so I broke it up into the narrative
version of the assessment plan which includes the assessment calendar. Now to meet our statutory requirements, we need approval on the assessment calendar. Uh with the approval of having just the assessment windows in there, that meets the requirement. And then as we step
into the summer, we'll continue to refine the assessment calendar as we work with the uh different schools in the timeline for which they would be administering these assessments within that broader window. So we set the tone with that high level and then we kind of
drill into u more down into detail by each building. Um, I think this is a a phenomenal tool for families because, you know, not everybody knows, you know, what the FastBridge early reading assessment is or what the STAR Spanish
assessment is. And this uh report really goes into detail about each of the assessments, uh, its benefits, why we use them, uh, but then also communicates key elements such as when are when am I going to see my results, right? Because
that's something that uh that we aren't always uh we aren't always aware of and uh then well I know when I can see them but how do I see them? Those are also things that are will be included in this report. Now Jody, did you have anything you wanted to add? The the only section
I wanted to um highlight is just noting that our unique um programming for language um is highlighted specifically in the report. And for clarity, I just wanted to note that on the first page that's like an overview page, um there
are two paragraphs that highlight what um will be specifically given in English for both our Spanish programming and our French programming. And I know that um in our last board discussion, we had conversations just around how we're balancing the amount of time that our
students are taking assessments and getting the accurate instructional information that we need to make sure that they're thriving and meeting our metrics. So there's two paragraphs there. I wanted to specifically point out the intentionality of the conversations around the language
programming, both the Spanish and um the French. And when you the rest of the port uh report highlights really what they're going to be doing in that French and Spanish language, but knowing they're also doing some English assessments along the way is important for you as a board and the community to
know that. And then there's the slight um ReadAct um conversations right now. So there is an aster noting that um with ReadAct requirements, it is a requirement for K through three to do three English assessments um per year.
So there is an element of that that's included. Um and some of that conversation if if that's needed in language programs is happening at the legislation level. And so there might be some changes but we'll keep you updated as a board if if there are changes to
that. And with that I think um we'll we're ready to turn over for questions or feedback. Dr. Barry um not a question but just a comment. I wanted to thank you for how in-depth you went in the description of the tests and the tests and who is it for and what it is for all the parents
who have been on the portal and their test results page going what is a reading what is CBM meeting I don't understand this is your cheat sheet for all of that so I hope we can link this description into all of the emails from
principles saying you know testing season is coming this is what it means because this was really helpful so thank Director Ellenburg, um, do you feel that our 2025 2027 assessment plan gives our educators the
information they need to assess our students in order to give them the instruction that they need? Yes, I absolutely do. Okay. And then do you feel that our educators um understand the data? like where do
you feel like we are on that a lot of it's new where do you feel like we are on that scale of learning to really digest the data um and it could depend on grade level it could depend on assessment tool I was just wondering your perspective on that I can certainly
share a perspective and if you want to add anything right you can um I'm feeling really confident in our staff's ability to digest the data and use it instructionally specific to fastbridge um so that is how many years of implementation now we're into. Um it's
probably really only three or four, but um we have a team that has been literally just surveying staff on a like where are you with implementation and it's really good results and really good feedback and we always improve. Um absolutely. But we have things in place
too in order to guide the conversations and the instructional responses specifically with literacy because we've had our comprehensive literacy plan be such a focus that we have our two literacy coaches that are um I know there's only two and six elementaryaries and then we have coaches and leaders at
the middle school and at the high school named so everyone is really or administrators everyone's really digging into that data and using it um at a high level that is really responsive to what our students need. I feel very confident in that. Um we continue then to make
sure that we're triangulating data points right because the the plan is about um MCAs as well and in our language components and some of we we're we're setting up PD. I got an email from Brandy today about setting up PD P E P E P E P E P E P E P E P E P E P ED for the
new um Spanish assessments that we'll be giving. So, we're very conscious of checking in with teachers on that and putting the supports in place knowing you can always improve, but I think we're in a really really good spot. I I think uh I I think that I look at it
from a a more on the ground level in that, you know, when we first rolled FastBridge out into the system, the the different types of questions I got were very elementary in nature, you know, and I'm not I'm not a FastBridge uh expert
by any means, but as we've progressed and gone through uh the full implementation of of the FastBridge uh tool set or assessment set, The level of questioning that I get from teachers, from building administrators, the
requests for data that I get really shows that not only are they using the data, but they're really implementing practices within their buildings around the data results to improve, you know, to improve literacy rates or to, you
know, ultimately at the end of the day live out our our mission of each and every student discovery and possibility to thrive. Thank you. Um, two more questions. Do you feel that this assessment plan is going to give us the information that we need as a leadership team to evaluate
how our students are doing from a systemic perspective with our data metrics plan? Yes, I was going to tie it right into the data metrics plan. All the data here in this assessment plan feeds into the data metrics plan. And um I think um again we can always improve but we're
definitely elevating our time and energy and our um resources to understanding the data metrics plan and making systemwide decisions. So okay and lastly how do you feel that we're doing from a systemic perspective balancing the need
for data with um overesting our students? It's there's always a careful balance with that and every student is different, right? So there are some students I actually coincidentally was um interacting this weekend and um parent was like yeah it's just part of
their day. They're not stressed by it at all and um just sharing their personal experience and then we have others kids that we know are highly stressed by an assessment whether it's a formative in the classroom or not. So, we have to be really aware of that question and it I I
want to be careful not to just generalize um the response. Um but we definitely in creating this actually had graphs and grids of how many minutes of testing is this for our students making sure that we were aware of that as best
as we could. Um some of the assessments were like you know what we don't need to do that one three times a year. Let's let's adjust that one to the winter and this one to the fall. So we are very conscious of putting that in place. Um and we always we want to want to be
aware of the instruction time that's also lost when you're doing assessments. That's a care it's a constant careful balance and I think that's a great question for us to take forward and continue to ask other stakeholders. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and I
would just encourage us as a leadership team to keep that in mind is the assessment work the instructional time um and is a value added and then potentially and I don't know if that I can't remember off the top of our my
head everything we're asking in the panorama data but it could be interesting at some point to ask a question around data because d is only going to become more sophisticated, especially once we start bringing AI in
and all of these things and I can see increased pressure to keep doing more and more testing is to potentially look into which is ironic I know but collecting data on our students um level
of stress with the amount of testing and making sure that we're um hitting that right balance at least from a student perception perspective. There are regulations the legislation too. Um so it is it is good that there that knowledge at the state level that there's guidance and regulations within
there. In fact, we have a new 4 through 12 um read act screener that um we're we're needing to implement next year and we're starting to talk about and Greg right away brought up but but what about testing time you know um so I appreciate that he brought that to the table
because there are regulations but that and important for us as leaders as you noted reflecting on All right, it looks like we have no further questions. So, thank you both. And just a reminder, this uh we did see this at a work session last month, and this will
come up for action at our June meeting. So, thank you. All right. And our last item for discussion this evening is our And then we have action. We're not that close to in case you thought that was the last item. Uh is our policy review. and I
will turn it over to policy chair Eric Allenberg to lead us through this discussion. Oh, yay. To talk again. Um, okay. We have quite a few policies for discussion. Um, I'm not going to go in order because I was trying to have
everyone that will not get up and down at the table. Um, but the first one I have policy 515, which is the protection and privacy of student records, assistant superintendent Nate Swenson. And then is um Nathaniel here tonight? Okay.
Um, this is a very long policy, but there weren't tons of changes in the policy. The main changes were um putting definition um around who district officials were um and education support services data and then clarifications
around what data can and cannot be released to military recruitment officers. Um but um Assistant Superintendent Swinson um I'll turn it over to you to provide any additional clarification. That was a good summary
as usual. The one thing that I would add that has been revised is there was some language within the policy um around securing student records. And what we noticed about the policy was
that um uh we needed to revise the practice to um reflect what we're able to do. And so we have revised the language. Um so the district will
provide a written plan to each each site as it reads before this addition. um it's much more comprehensive and is not reflective of what we do in our system. And so making the recommendation that we
use the revised language. Thank you for bringing that up. I forgot that. And we just as a policy committee, we wanted to reiterate that um because so much of our student data is electronic and this was a little
outdated that um we're not lessening any security, it's making sure that our policy reflects really the times um that are here right now. So, any questions or comments about policy
515? I just have a quick question. I noted that this policy was reviewed about a year ago. Is this was did we just review it again because to get it on cycle or was there Yep. Yeah, just to get it on cycle. Okay. Right. Thank you.
Anything else? Great. Um, we're going to move to policy 503, which is student attendance. And I am not going to try to explain this one other than to say there are a lot of changes to it. And I'll turn it over to Assistant Superintendent Swimson to walk
through this. Sounds great. Thank you. Um, so we took quite a bit of time in reviewing and excuse my voice you all. I'm sorry. uh quite a bit of time uh reviewing this policy and uh I'll just
kind of go through each item at a time that uh we are recommending changing. Um first of all it was reviewed by a lot of different people uh school administrators, student support services, our health services office
enrollment, our attorney, district leaders. Um, one there's one place and uh, Vice Chair Allenberg may have mentioned this, but we're making the recommendation to
move a provision from 503 to policy 605. Kind of thank you. Um, and the provision is a request for modified learning experience. Right now, that at rest in policy 503 and not a perfect
match for policy 605. We believe it fits better there than it does in policy 503. Um uh there was language added to the
policy around or stating that the board delegates responsibility to the administration to implement the policy. Um, in the current MSBA version, uh, there
is interesting language that, uh, would lead us to believe that the school board actually approves absences from individual families and from students. And so, uh, we don't want that in in our policy, but we're but what we do want to
do is make it clear that the board is delegating the implementation of the policy to administration. So, we can do that for you. Um, there were significant revisions done to come into alignment
around excused, unexcused, and exempt absences. So, exempt absences, if you in the policy are now clearly defined to align with their recommended use. One of the things that we discovered when reviewing the policy is that we really
needed to tighten up use of ex exempt absences to more closely align with how the Department of Education would expect us to utilize them. There's still excused absences, but how it's applied is far
narrower than what our current practices. Um, there were also changes made um to more appropriately place parts of the policy into the the body of
the policy rather than the appendixes or I think that that's how you say it. Um, an example of that would be um, tardiness. So, tardiness uh, rested in the appendex and we're recommending moving that up into the body of the of
the policy. And we're also recommending changing the language of tardiness to read. Each secondary site must develop and maintain a sightspecific party plan with clear procedures for implementation
and monitoring. this is a a different language than what is presently in the policy um and more closely aligned with what our practice is right now. And then the last thing I would
highlight is that we are recommending to strike language about the threehour activities provision that is in policy. I learned um some information from our activities director and um uh that that
revision I think during a previous review was added in and it wasn't actually supposed to be added in. And the reason why that's important is that the three-hour activities provision, I don't believe that we have any way of
actually monitoring that. when you think about the volume of coaches that are involved in our activities and their ability to monitor absenteeism um too. So that's a highlight of the
changes that are being recommended to policy 503. Board questions or comments? Director Arum, just a question. I don't know if it's probably it may not fit in this, but I was just curious reading it. Um, for EVP, is there a document that
fits like in the same context as the student attendance piece of it? I mean, obviously there's the physical piece of it there, but do we have a guiding document for those as well? That's separate for EVP. Okay. That No, that I'm just clarifying for separate for not
that I am aware of. Okay. It's my understanding it's the same expectations. Yeah, I was just curious. I mean, there wasn't any reference EVP. So, I just kind of trying to figure out if there's a separate guide for policy for that. Uh, good question. It's a very good
question because most of EVP work is asynchronous. Their attendance is a little bit different. Um, as that changes a little bit, attendance will become more easily reported through PVP.
Okay. Nothing to change question. Um, kind of along that line and it's not necessarily a question, but just as I was reading this, I know that attendance is something that we do hear from um from time to time about just staying on top of that and and enforcing policy.
And it's also something that if you pay attention to the state or national conversation, many school districts, if not all school districts are grappling with that. So, I appreciate the work that was spent on this and bringing all those stakeholders so that our policy
really um but we're intentional about it and that we're putting policy in place that reflects the importance of having our kids in school. Yeah. Thank you to you and the team for working on this. director. Um, I appreciate that the
section on tardiness got moved into the policy from the appendix and it kind of joged my memory to an email that we had gotten from a high school teacher. I think it was at the beginning of this school year just concerned about students chronic tardiness. Um, and it
just made me curious as to if there were um, additional measures that we could take to support the staff in that endeavor or um, will this be enough so that the staff feels supported in developing a plan and following through
with it? I take that that's a really great question and I take that really seriously just myself because of how much I interact with building principles and their teams. I believe that new language around tardiness will be really
helpful because then one of the things that I will do as a means of monitoring it is making sure that each building does have a tardiness plan in place that is known and is being monitored. um
along the way. So I I think that this provides everything that we need. The language this was talked about in our policy committee and the language as read which I'm sure you read it says that tardiness basically the secondary
will be handled by the teacher and the way I read it was that it isn't other than saying it's not to exceed 10 minutes that um it's up to the teacher um to come up with an
intervention and that you could go to econ economics class and the teacher would be like, "Okay, whatever." And you could go to another class and have a completely different um intervention um and that it's not even required by our secondary sites to have a protocol. And
so that's why we changed it because we didn't think first of all it's fair for our educators to be the ones in charge of that, but second of all to put the onus on each of our secondary sites to say you have to have a tardy plan. Um, it's not up to the board to say what your tardy plan is, but you have to have
a plan that's systemwide that our educators can then access and it can be consistent as opposed to just saying it's up to the teacher to decide how it's developed. I don't know what that means and it's not up to me to do it, but that's that's how that language was
derived. Thank you. I appreciate that clarification. Okay, ready to move on? Okay. Um so then policy 605 the only reason um this is the alternative education services policy and the reason this policy is in
here was to take that language around the request for modified learning experiences and to put that in a policy because we felt that that language needed to land somewhere to put um
verbiage around when you cannot can and cannot request a modified learning experience. Um, as assistant superintendent um Swenson alluded to, we don't think it's a perfect fit. Um, but really our only two policies where this
even makes remote sense to land in our student attendance and this alternative education services. And so our recommendate recommendation was to it's the exact same language. It was just pulled out of 503 and put in 605. And so
that's why this this policy is here. Nothing else was changed. Okay. Um 529 is staff notification of violent behavior of students. Um and this is another one I'm going to turn directly. I I take the
simple changes and explain. I turn the complex ones over to you. So um Okay. know policy 529 um was reviewed by principles APS Alex and Trevor and it's the staff notification of violent
behavior of students and um uh within the policy we defined responsible authority and the most important part about the revisions that you will look at is that the policy now
is revised with how we apply it and it's in relation to the assault of a staff member. And so previously uh the previous version of this or the current version um is far far far more
broad and it's not the intent of this policy. This policy was specifically around uh a student uh being violent with a staff member. And so we re we've revised language or recommending revisions to
make sure that the policy is actually reflective of that. Now Chair Gabler, thank you for talking about that because that was where my question was. Um so by removing that
um it gives me pause a little bit. Um because I'm just thinking about our staff members um and their safety. Is there another policy where that is addressed or is this MSBA's recommendation or a legal re
recommendation? Say say more about the staff safety that maybe I'm not understanding it. I'm looking at what are my definitions? Three 3E
um incidents of violence means willful conduct in which a student endangers or causes physical injury to a district employee and everything else is crossed out. And so if a student causes physical injury to
another student, I as a staff member don't will not be notified about that. Correct. So the intent of this policy is specifically the language that is I'm not exactly sure where the language of
the policy as it's been written came from. It was a something that I inquired about um shortly after I started here because of something that had happened and I asked Trevor about interpreting
and what policy 529 was about and it is specific to a student being violent with a staff member. And so the language that we've had in it previously is super
broad. And um one of the challenges with that, not that there's anything wrong with that, one of the challenges with it is being able to um report that information with a degree of um
consistency, too. Um when you think about when you think about all of the different things that within a school. Um, it can be really tricky. Um, but again, my purpose for bringing this to you was just to try to bring it in
alignment with what statute says around it, too. Okay. And my reason in asking that is really making sure that our staff has the information that they need for their
own personal safety. Um, so if it aligns with state statute and what MSBA is recommending, um, and I know that policy and practice can sometimes pra what we do in practice
might not always show up in policy, but that's just I I just want to make sure that our staff members are have the information they need to make sure that they are informed. Fair. And this also doesn't prohibit us
from sharing that information. And that's why I said sometimes practice is different. Yes. But I just want to make sure that I have confirmation about AB. Yes. It's um I can I can take that.
I've been that teacher in a classroom and it's not a great position to be in. Yeah. um in a in a perfect situation when there's conflict with students and it doesn't just have to be violence. It can just be conflict that's going on in
a in a perfect world. teachers will know about that because they play a huge role as you know in trying to um make sure that doesn't happen anymore and watch for signs of whatever the
conflict is. And so in my experience, it's pretty normal for teachers to get a lot of information around different conflicts that might be going on in the school because not just not just so that
they can be protected, but actually so that they can help um uh perhaps stop things from happening again or watch for signs if there's additional conflict that's going on. I appreciate that. And I know that there's also data privacy in
that which this policy does address. Yeah. And I'm not immune to that either. So, okay. Thank you for engaging in that conversation with me. You bet. Do you have Did you want to Are there other questions about this policy?
Okay. Um, next we're going to move on to 531, which is the pledge of allegiance. And this policy had no changes other than formatting changes. See how well I did that one super. Thank you. Well done. Thank you
very much. Any questions about this one? Excellent. Um next is 611 which is um our homeschooling policy. And this is another one that did not have changes other than um formatting updates.
Are there questions about policy 611? Okay. Um, next is policy 610, which is our student homework policy. Um, and this policy um had um a couple of change. Well,
first there was a discussion around why do we have this policy? Because it's not a policy every district has. In fact, it's a unique policy to just a few districts in the state. So, we did have a discussion about do we even need
this policy? And we landed similar to a couple months ago where we had the policy around it was something with athletics. I'll forget what the policy was recruiting. I was like I should have brought up the example that I can't
remember. um that it is not doing any harm and that it could be helpful for um site level administrators um and giving a little framework around homework expectations for parents and students if they have questions
um around too little homework, too much homework, which is our guess as to how this policy actually came into existence. And so that's the why behind the policy. And then um there weren't a lot of changes, but we did want to
clarify that we added some um verbiage at the very end under D um Roman numeral 4 D. Um just to make sure to acknowledge that not all students learn the same way
and we did not want the policy to feel punitive. If you're reading this and you have a student that has a learning disability or barrier to learning that um we're reinforcing that um as a parent and a guardian that you
um that you need to make sure that the policy is working for your individual students. Um and there's some verbiage around that in the appendix. Um and with that I'll turn it over to uh teaching and learning director Jod D. St. Huber. Thank you, Director Alenberg. Um, you
said it well. I don't think there is much to add. Um, beyond that, we um as as you're articulating, we grounded in the purpose, which is um right under three, the definition for homework and the purpose for the policy and why we have homework. So, that's where the ads
came um for parent clarity under D, as Chair Ellenburgg noted. And then also in the appendix, we added a section that really aligns with the same purpose in terms of um clarity for parents that um they're there to support and facilitate the homework at home, but they're always
um that there's always the communication that can occur with the teacher and the principal. We want to make sure that that's an open line of communication as needed. Comments, questions. Thank you. Um and lastly we have policy 609 which is um uh religion
and there were no change to this policy other than um a couple tweaks um but there um was an addition to the appendix and if you'd like to go over that. Absolutely. Thank you. I can. Um, so this did come up um in the fall with
teachers and actually last year as well that they um really appreciate this policy and yet there were not necessarily defined clear um steps for families and students to take if they did want to opt out of an assignment or an activity because of religion. So, we
actually collaborated with the high school staff on this one um starting back in the fall. And that staff included um Principal Pillean who's the head of the science department where this comes up um the most within physical earth science. And
so that was a good partnership. I worked on that with also Mark Carlson who's in um the teaching and learning department. And appendix 2 was added again just to provide clarity for families um if they do want to opt out of an assignment due
to religious reasons. And then that that process ensures um tightness for teachers and what the expectation for them is as well as families. I actually have a question for myself for the policy committee that I I forgot
while we were in policy, but does this policy align with the statute that was passed by the legislature last year regarding reading textbooks and reading texts um and religious exemptions? Does
anyone know what I'm talking about? Yes. And and a limitation because that mostly prohibits certain reasons that um individuals certain materials that individuals can opt out of and I when I
was doing my last read through yes late last night it like I was like does this align with that that is a good wondering I know I did not work on that policy um director man Daly did at the time that we were updating it so I remember taking
a glance but not knowing it as Well, um I can certainly follow up for before we bring it back for action. We'll just double check to make sure that Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I think it looks pretty close to the process within that policy. And Chair
Ellenburg, what is the legislation that you're referring to? Do you know? Okay, no worries. I'll look it up. I would be help legislation or is it the policy? It's legislation that Minnesota passed legislation last year limiting the
reasons that parents can opt out of reading certain things. I think it's our policy 605.5. I can definitely check the policy. So, we'll figure it out. Yep. Thank you. Yes, absolutely. That is all for policy. Thank you
everyone. All right, then we will move on to our action items. Do I have a motion to approve the K12 social studies curriculum adoption? So move. Is there a second? Second. I invite back up uh Jody D. St.
Hubert, our director of teaching and learning, and Bethany Van Oel, our assistant director of teaching and learning. We're actually changing it up a little bit. I'm bringing Jamie Hawinson with me instead. Okay. And Jamie Hawinson, assistant, no dean, assistant,
administrator, administrative dean. I knew it was ED something uh at Creek Valley. So, welcome. Yes, Debbler, members of the board, Dr. Bitman, thanks for having us for action for our social studies um uh board approval for our curriculum. Um we are really excited to
bring this forward for action. I have to first and foremost say that uh none of this would be possible without all of our teachers who have been involved in our committees and it just happens to be teacher appreciation week. So, let's just give them all a shout out. All the teachers that Right. I know. Um it's the
best part of my job is getting to work with these teachers that opt into these curriculum committees and they pour their hearts and souls into this. And so everything that you've read about in this report is because of the dedicated individuals. I think they're listed on page three. So, just duly noted, right,
that we want to give them um all of the credit. Um and Jamie Hawinson here too for helping lead the elementary piece. So, we're coming before you again with this um report and this proposal to adopt our curriculum u proposals for uh
social studies K12. Um you know, we trust that you've read the report. We also know that you have stayed up to date with some of the legislative um pausing on the ethnic studies standards. And so I just want to reiterate again that the proposal we have before you and I even have letters from the curriculum
companies saying that regardless of the state standards, if we stick with uh the 2011 standards or move forward um to the new standards uh regardless the resources that have been recommended here um actually align with both and so
we are not in a situation where we would need to do an overhaul um either way. the ethnic studies standards piece is on pause. We um have a committee that is ready to go forward and capture
stakeholder input and really go through an informative process, but again, we're just kind of waiting um to see how that plays out. Um I also just wanted to um reiterate that the teachers who have been such a key piece in this process
are super eager to get started. They recognize that they need updates. They are eager to get new resources in their hands so that they can have a better aligned curriculum. They can have stronger vertical alignment, horizontal alignment, rigor. Um they they are very
anxious to get started. So with that, um I I don't need to go any further. I don't know if you want to add anything, but we are open for questions. Board members, what questions do you have? Director Perry. Um just one question about the budget and the
timeline for some of the materials in the report. It looked like the for the current reality of fifth grade teachers that they're coming up with their own materials um looking on YouTube etc. But we don't have them scheduled until the 26 27
school year to get materials. Is that going to be a problem or do we Well, here's the good news, right? And and it's really realistic. So you asked questions about some of the um assessment overload on students and we also have to think about the overload of curriculum adoptions on teachers and our
K5 teachers are all uh getting new um reading literacy curriculum next year and so with that they are that curriculum has three units that are aligned to social studies standards. So they're already getting a bit of an update if not more. So, um, we we have
to be sensitive on, um, putting too much on their plates in terms of their capacity for just learning new curriculum. So, I actually think it's super appropriate. That said, we also know the value and we've seen the value of having early implementers go through a curriculum adoption for the first year. And so, we've got Jaime's team who
is poised and ready to work through some of that. Um, really, really helpful in implementation science processes to have a team of early impleers go through it first. So, yes, they will wait a year. I'm not worried about it. I don't think that they're worried about it because they have reading coming on too that
also addresses some of the social studies standards. And one of the nice things about having the ELA year ahead of them is that we do have these early adopters who are going to implement and align what they're
seeing in this resource alongside benchmarks so they can then be leaders in the next year. really express how collaborative these two resources really are and how it won't feel like something else on top of it. It's
going to feel really well meshed. And that's something that this design team, this curriculum review team so excited to see when they found this resource to say, "Wow, this pairs so well with everything that we're learning with
Benchmark Advance." Um because as we know, Benchmark Advance is this amazing big lift and our educators are ready at the K5 level for this adoption. Um and so we're looking forward to to seeing how that
works. It's a great question. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure that our teachers had what they needed to be supported next year. Yeah. Thank you. Um I had two comments. Uh, first of all, thank you for addressing the background and that no matter what is decided, this curriculum aligns with our
next step. So, I appreciate that. And then I I really appreciate the additions to this report, like just the background, the context, the why. Um, I know that was extra work. So, I really appreciate that because it just helps us make the best decision. So, just wanted
to say thank you. Board members, any more questions about this before we vote? All right. Uh, all those in favor? Uh, we will now vote to approve the K12 social studies curriculum adoption. All those in favor
say I. I. Anyone opposed? The K12 social studies curriculum adoption is approved. Congratulations. Appreciate you. Thank you. Do I have a motion to approve the intermediate school district uh 287 long-term facilities ma maintenance
proportionate share for fiscal year 2027? Is there a second? Second. Uh I welcome up director of finance and operations Mert Woodard to walk us through this presentation. Thank you. Good evening madam chair, members of the school
board, uh Dr. Bitman. Minnesota laws allow intermediate school districts and special education cooperatives who don't have their own taxing um jurisdiction or authority to access the tax base of their member school districts um so that they can generate long-term facilities maintenance revenue and keep
their facilities in a state of good repair. um for fiscal year 2027 or taxes payable in 2026. Intermediate 287 is proposing a total long-term facilities revenue of $1,72,120 which will be levied across the various member districts. This
amount was developed um in conjunction with both the 287 administration as well as all the finance directors of the various member districts. The D's proportionate share of this long-term facilities maintenance revenue will be $143,737, which is a 75% increase over
taxes payable in 2025, directly offset by a reduction in lease levy um revenue for the same year. Overall, it's a difference about of about $995 from pay 25 to pay 26. Um if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer those. Otherwise, the recommended action
is before you. board members, any questions for Director War? And I do want to mention that our board member um Michael Bergman is our representative on District 287's board and he mentioned in the work session
that he has had an opportunity to review this and voted um in concurrence to pass this on. So, thank you for that explanation, Director Woodard. Um, so, uh, we will now vote to approve the intermediate school district number
287, long-term facilities maintenance proportionate share for fiscal year 2027. All those in favor say I. I. I. Anyone opposed? Intermediate school district number 287, long-term facilities maintenance proportionate share fiscal year 2027 is approved. Thank
you. All right. And do I have a motion to approve policies 509, 510, 527, 528, 538, and 612? So move. Is there a second? Second. Policy. Chair Alenberg, will you please tell us about any changes to
these policies since we saw them last month? Uh, yes. Um, there are no changes to the policies other than um for policy um for the open enrollment policy. Um
there was an effort to clarify some more clarification around when we can charge for tuition. And so I just wanted to point that out to board members that that there was additional verbiage
added. Um that's at the end of um the open enrollment policy. um we actually took it out of the purpose because it didn't seem to belong in the purpose of the policy. But under Roman numeral 4 at
the very end um we tried to add some language to clarify um the student tuition fees based on some feedback we got at the last um board meeting. Everything else is the same.
Board members, any questions? All right. Then we will now vote to approve policies 509, 510, 527, 528, 538, and 612. All those in favor say I. Anyone opposed? Policies 509, 510, 527,
528, 538, and 612 are approved. Board members, moving on to leadership and committee updates. Uh, any leadership or committee updates? Director Arum. Uh just an update on the legislative action committee uh work. Um
there's we're fast approaching the May 19th um closing of the session. Um there are a lot of education bills that are up for negotiation and um and could have significant impacts the public schools and other public schools around the state. So, we have a call to action to
contact our legislators and Senate um Senate and House uh education finance committees to hopefully preserve some of the uh funding mechanisms um that were involved in the 2023 session and some of the other things in the out years. So, if you're interested in uh contacting
your legislator, please um look to the LAC um page or also uh just work with the uh House and Senate um websites in the state to kind of contact them on behalf of the school. So, every everything helps and we want to preserve everything that we've got going for. So,
thanks. Thank you. Any other committee updates? Great. Then, Dr. Dr. Whitman, I'll turn it over to you for any superintendent update. Madam Chair, members of the board, just a few things. It's a busy time of year in April and May for our students, families, and staff. So, just
honoring the work that they do each and every day, and I'm grateful for the work and the care that they put into it. Um, we also recently you received a certificate of excellence for our financial program from the National Association. Mer just walked out, but uh
want to just honor him and his team for the work, and I'll share that in a a board update coming up. In addition, you might notice some new artwork uh around our room. And this is a collection that actually was in the Southville Mall dating back to 2019. Uh and it was with an organization
called the Art of Edina. And it was the philosophy and mission to promote community art in public spaces. And so they partnered with some of our high school students and some of our other students throughout. And so just want to appreciate and recognize the great work that they do. and we're excited to be
able to display them here in the boardroom. In addition to that, and finally, graduations are coming. And so, just to honor the work of our students, our staff, our families and community, culmination of the great work that happens from E12. And so, just really excited about that. Would welcome
everyone to be part of that great celebration. With that, I'll turn it back to you. Thank you. Do I have a motion to adjurnn our meeting? So moved. Is there a second? Second. We will vote to adjourn the meeting. All those in favor say I.
Any opposed? The motion has passed and the May 5th, 2025 board meeting has adjourned. Thank you.