To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Uh, first order of business,
I would entertain a motion to approve our agenda with the suggested motions and resolutions. Do I have a motion? So moved. Motion by Meiser. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Jones. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. Motion passes. Next
up on our agenda, turn over to Dr. Lewis for her superintendent report. All right. And I'm going to bring some friends up. So Robera, you can come and join me. Next slide, please, Michelle. So, I'm absolutely thrilled to have
Roberta here with me tonight um because we are bringing to the board that we have a ratified master agreement for our parah educators. So, I'm just honored to bring it um forward. our par unit um just brought really amazing proposals,
very reasonable, student centered and I'm just proud of that work and it just took us one pretty quick session. So, um just the spirit of the work and that teamwork, you could just really feel it. So, I'm so proud of the work that you
have led with your team, Roberta. Go ahead. Thank you. I'm Robera Peterson. I've been a parah here for this will be my 24th year as as a parah educator in Fidley. Um and I've got another 13 as a Fidley Tiger as a student. So long and three students, three kids that have
gone through as well. So very much a tiger at heart. And um it's wonderful to work here in the Fidley district. Um I've been on the bargaining team for probably close to 20 years in one form or another. And this was by far the um
smoothest, fastest process that we've ever gone through. And we felt and do feel very um valued and understood by Dr. Lewis and school board and we very much appreciate that. Um recruiting and retaining PAR educators is hard. Um,
it's been difficult over the years, especially with our highly qualified status that is now required, but I think this contract's going to go a long way to doing that. So, and we were uh we ratified it at 100%. So,
yeah, very quick vote. Good. So, thank you for having me. Uh, thank you. Yeah, thank you for the work you do and men and women that you represent. Like certainly the glue of our district, our educators are asked to
do a lot and that certification was no easy task. So certainly appreciate that. And then again, like with a lot of other bargaining units, to have a contract ratified by 100% before the school year starts is certainly unheard of in the the number of years I've been here. It's a
testament to I think the the relationships that are being built and I think I can speak on behalf of the board just really a lot of gratitude for everything that you and your members do. Okay. Thank you chair. I wouldn't mind if you would have it in the agenda. We should make it official
if you don't mind. That makes sense. So I would certainly entertain a motion to uh approve the PAR educators agreement with the school district. Do I have a motion? So move. Motion made by Stark. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Jones. All those in favor,
please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. Just like the contract is unanimous. Thank you very much. Thank you. Whoops. So proud of your work. Thank you. Stephanie ready. All right. I'm so thrilled to welcome
Stephanie. Um we are now going to talk about our nutrition agreement. So so good to see you. Um we had just a wonderful uh negotiation session. Yes. Um so just uh again
a lot of reasonableness that came forward student centered. Um, we really have so many what I would call not full-time positions in the unit and just still coming so that we can have a
livable wage and retain our folks. So, it was just an honor to really negotiate with you. So, it was for us as well. I'll let you um if you want to share anything, go ahead. Um, yeah, I'm Stephanie Champo. I've lived here in Fidley for 18 years. My daughter went to Fidley High School and
since Hayes um and uh I've been at a cook here at the high school se this will be my seventh year and I've been a member of the bargaining team. This will be my second contract.
So yeah and we really really appreciate it. Everybody is very thrilled. It's been so hard to get people and keep people in the kitchens. Yeah. and um we've been short staffed last couple years so I'm hoping that
this will help and we really appreciate it again. So so this is exactly why I talk about student centered is some of the articles that came forward aren't even fiscal. It's about how we work so that we have
our kitchen staffed so that our students have the appropriate nutrition. So that I just really appreciate. Yeah. And most of us just really love our jobs. Yeah. So, you know, that's that's why I'm here. Exactly. Y exactly. Awesome. Thank you, Stephanie. Oh,
there's the mic. It's it's clearly on now. Um, no. Uh, again, on behalf of the board, thank you for the work that you and your union provide. Um, not only for um our students. I I know our staff are in there eating food. Someone once told
me, you keep me honest on this, but the when when we're in operation and you're serving meals, you're the largest restaurant in Fidley. And so that that's that's not an easy task, especially when you're dealing with a lunch that is a half hour hour. Um certainly um
again, I think I can speak for the board, like if kids are not wellfed with good food that they want to eat, um it's going to show in the classroom. So clearly you guys are doing something and I've had a few of your lunches and they're they're pretty good. So really really appreciate you and
hopefully this contract does help um with some more stability and and and keeping people around. But thank you. Thank you. I'll add that in my day job I've been working with some districts across the state. Um and they don't even have
kitchens like they're driving in their food and it's microwaved and there's no kitchen. And so I get to brag buff freely all the time about the fresh ingredients and how much the kids love the food and you know that my son would come home, oh I tried this and I'm like
I would make you that. Why wouldn't you eat that with me? So um I'm really fortunate that I get to brag about how great our nutritional services are. Um when I'm working with these districts across the state. I appreciate hearing that. I'd like to reflect Stephanie's face when you said microwave food.
She was like she was No, not here. Yeah, not good. No, not at all. Awesome. Well, I I sold you. We're waiting again, right? Um yeah, I would certainly entertain a motion to approve
the nutritional services master agreement. I'll move to approve the master service agreement with the nutritional services. So, we have a motion by me. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Jones. All those in favor, please signify by saying I.
I. All those opposed again passes. Thank you very much. Thank you. Congratulations. So proud of you. Thanks so much. I can't wait to see you Monday. Oh yeah, I know. I'm excited. Last year was so much fun. Yay. Um Ford, I'm just going to stay here and address on um contracts before
I call up our summer rise team. So this is the end of our negotiation season. So we um custodial will uh approach the district, I'm pretty sure. uh probably this spring, but they are still under um
contract through June 30th, 2026. So, we have um settled, ratified, and approved all contracts with no back pay with the exception of summer work, which you can't avoid that, right? Because our work is 365. Um so, and I'm just so
proud of the work and it's the support of the board, too, for us to be able to do this. And now we don't have any of this distraction about negotiations and all of these pieces and we can start the year fresh. And for those of you that are able to come to the welcome on Monday, you'll see a little bit of fun
um celebrating all of our bargaining units. Awesome. Thanks, Dr. Lewis. Yeah. Okay, our summer rise friends, if you want to come up and then I'll um do my little intro from over here. Okay, it is so wonderful to have you all
here tonight. We have Greg and Abby will be sharing about our elementary school summer rise program. This is the debut of it um this summer. And then we have Jess that will share about year two with Fidley Middle School. you'll hear our
data results and um it's not going to disappoint. Last year we were very impressed with the middle school results and you're just going to say see um that same pattern and the team is going to talk about what goes into getting those results. So take it away team. So thankful for your work.
Right. Thank you. Hold on one second. Um, David, can you click on the underline where it says summer rise results 2025? And that should open the um slide deck
board. Our apologies. We're not able to project from Max. So, he's doing it from his um PC. Hover just a little lower on summerrise. Um where the Yes. Good. Nope. Perfect. Click on that and it should open to Good
job. Yay. Okay, just put it in full. There's a teacher in here. Yeah, no big deal. We have We have pictures of kids up there. So, David, can you just put it in full present mode for us? If you click on slideshow, right? Always got it.
Thank you. Good work. We appreciate you. Okay, go ahead team. Thank you. Our team's thrilled to share some successes of the 340 students who attended the rise program this summer. U providing access to high quality instruction in the summer is important
for all students in and across the state and it's critically important in Fidley where 80% of our students are students of color. 72% of our students are significantly economically disadvantaged. This is why we're so excited to share with you an overview of
this critical work and increasing achievement here at Fidley. Abby and Jessica will be sharing some data soon that confirms some of these successes. But before this, I'd like to share a quick success story from a rising fourth grade student. Here is a student who um on the left is
the beginning of the summer where he was just not writing. Um by the end of the 23 days of instruction um he was writing and citing text by the end um and accomplished this by experiencing rigorous learning opportunities Monday through Friday for five weeks and having
the cognitive load placed on them to share their voice strategies and their confidence and increasing with writing about learning and showing what they know. Student made progress in grade level standards which will now in turn prepare them as they enter fourth grade.
I also had the pleasure of working with the teacher who was teaching this student um and collaborating with the coach from Lebinia. We learned to together better ways to deep dive into data and to plan for high quality instruction and really coaching to make these moves so quickly. And this
intentionality and focus is really what led to better outcomes for this student and many others. Um and then this teacher is really fired up for the school year to implement these strategies. I was actually just talking to her yesterday and she's like, "Please bring this coaching to the fourth grade team as we um implement the new systems
into classrooms and focus on instructional leadership um at our building to impact achievement for every student. Um so it's just super exciting and fun summer working with students. I'll hand off to Jessica to talk about middle school. So this is a progression for two of our
students in rising seventh grade math. So you can see the pink is the beginning of the summer and the white is at the end. Um, and so you can see that the progression showed over the course of the summer the student gaining skills on being able to showcase their thinking, what strategies they were using, as well
as being able to describe the steps that they were taking. So at the top in the box, you can see how they wrote more around what steps they were taking, um, the strategy they was using. You can see the big one. And then down below, they were asked to describe what math they were doing and what the steps that they
were taking and how they were able to write in more in depth toward the end of the summer. Okay, as Greg mentioned, we are excited to share our student data with you tonight. Embarking on this new journey at the elementary was a welcome adventure knowing the results the middle
school had last summer. So this slide represents our data um academic data and overall increase at the elementary level for reading and math proficiencies. So all rising first and 9th graders took a pretest in week one and a post test in week five. And for our first through
second graders, they were assessed in reading comprehension and foundational skills. Looking at our ELA data, only about five and a half% of our rising first through fourth graders were started the summer performing at the proficient level for
their grade. Well, 61% So that yellow bar over there is showing that um 61% of our students started below basic for their grade level proficiency, which we um know is not okay. And um that 61% is
about 120 students. And so we know we had a lot of work to do this summer. But um in math, we started the summer with about 15% of our students performing at that below basic level and about 31% at that proficient level.
Reflecting on the data, we knew we needed to get to work and provided a high quality programming for our scholars. But our students not only rose to the occasion, but they showed perseverance and dedication to growing their knowledge. and our data reflects their hard work. So if we look now at
the blue at the ELA, our students in the below basic level dropped from 61% down to about 45%. And at that same time, you can see the blue area getting growth, getting bigger in all the areas as we're moving students towards proficiency. So overall
in ELA, our elementary students showed a 13.4% increase in students scoring in that basic or proficient from the pre to post. And in math, um, students performing at that below basic level dropped to 3.4%.
And even more significantly, 69% of our students ended summer performing at the proficient level. Can you say that again? Yeah, I can. 69% of our students ended summer performing at the proficient level. So that's 138 students.
Um, they had a 16.2% increase in students scoring that basic or proficient from pre to post. We were so proud of their hard work and saw a growth in their confidence in solving math problems. While we know there's still work to be done, this data demonstrates that the summer program
successfully close some learning gaps, built confidence, and help students progress along the path toward grade level standards at the elementary level. We are committed to continuing to use what we learned to positively impact student learning this school year. And also not to steal Jessica's thunder, but after seeing the results of the middle
school in year two, we are really thrilled to see what summer can do for the future of our students at FPS. How many weeks was this? Five 23 days. So this is the results of the second year for the middle school. Um and I've been really proud to be part of it for
both years and we saw a really successful summer again. And so you can see um the results up there. But a little background around it is we understood that when we enrolled in this summer, if we followed the RISE program, following the curriculum and fully
participating in the coaching and on in-person coaching that we would have these results. And we also found that when teachers had faith in that that even when students struggled or when they had some doubts, we still would see success. And you can see that here. And
so we found that our results were, drum roll, the second year was something that we were very proud of. And the ELA saw a 37.5% increase in students achieving proficient or basic from the pre to post test. So you can see them moving.
Yep. So 37.5%. In math, we saw a 40.6% increase of students achieving a bas or a basic or a proficient from the pre-to post test. So we walked away feeling again really
really assured that we were sending our students into the school year with a greater sense of confidence for themselves as well as stronger academic preparedness. So we were really really proud of ourselves. We we appreciate this time share about summerrise providing that students
access an opportunity to have that high quality math ea instruction this summer months is such an imperative step to increasing that achievement and I'd be remiss not to mention how amazing our pair professional were about providing access to students with disabilities how amazing our food service was about
providing opportunity access to foods they were trying out foods this summer um and transportation was amazing working with us and getting them there so um just hearing that at the game like yeah it all comes together to really achieve these results.
Chair if I may before you open it up um I just want to acknowledge our team. Um Jess has believed in this from um the very beginning on the work and um Abby and Greg jumped right in and um Michelle
really supported um the teams throughout the onboarding. The reason that this works is because our teachers are getting the professional learning and they're following the curriculum. They're following the coaching that they
are provided. It's actually pretty rigid. And sometimes people get nervous about the word rigid, but it's about sticking to the fidelity of how the curriculum and the instructional delivery is designed. And that's why you
see these results. because of the fidelity of implementation. And I talked to Jess uh just the other day and I said, "Did you tell these two how they're going to see the work of the teachers of the professional learning
and their implementation in the summer? What they're going to expect next school year and how they're going to lead that work. So this is really an example of when we follow as designed and use the materials and the pacing as designed and
take our coaching as designed, the results speak for themselves. Team, proud of you. Very, very proud of you. Thanks for leading it. Yeah, this is um the takeaway and I'd certainly like to hear what everyone else has to say, but the the big takeaway for me is what you've
accomplished and your team has accomplished in five weeks. Right. Exactly. and and that going into the school school year. How many fiveweek chunks do we have an opportunity to make those gains? Math was never my strong suit, but I'm guessing about six maybe in a school year, maybe seven. I don't
know. Ross, help me out here. He's doing the math. I can tell. [Music] But that that's five to seven opportunities to make 20 30% gains for not just a a a 300 group or 350 for the entire school. and and really looking
forward to everyone jumping on board with this because clearly it works. So, thank you for sharing. I don't know if anyone else. I had a quick question. Um, so you said that 69% of students ended at the proficient level that was 69% 138 students. What was that stat for the
middle school? I'm sorry I missed it. Total ending proficient. So, we had for which subject? Uh, for both. So, I know there was a Thank you. Yep. So we had a 37.5% increase of students. So when you look
at it, 30 37.5 moved from either a below basic or approaching into those basic or proficient columns. Jess, do you have the number of students? I don't. It's right there. So the math was 30. Sorry, my eyes are 30. Yep, I see that because for um
elementary it was a 13.4% increase and a 16.2% 2% increase, but at the very end, a a whopping 69% ended at the proficient level. I didn't know if you did the math for that. So, it would be the 33.4% for math. The blue, it's the total on the blue.
Okay. For proficient there, finish the summer at proficient. Proficient and basic is what she's saying. And that's where she's getting the 69, I think for for Yeah. Thank you. Gotcha. And
I would, you know, of all the things that the school works on, the teachers work on, the administration works on, of all the things we do, this is why we do it. We do this to everything so that we can teach these kids. This is some of
the most inspiring and heartwarming data that I've seen on the school board for a long time. Very impressive and I hope it continues. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it. team. We appreciate you. And for those that are presenting,
you're free to leave right after your presentations. You don't have to stay for the duration of the meeting. We appreciate you. Yes. All right. It's my absolute delight to have Ala Sims, our equity and family
engagement coordinator, share about this Saturday's event, the back to school resource fair. Take it away, Ala. Yes. Thank you, superintendent. Yes, this is one of the best family engagement events of the school year. Um, our 13th year of the back to school
resource fair. Um, right now we have tons of backpacks. So, backpacks will be given out until supplies are gone. Um, we have a sign up that you can go onto each school website. You can sign up for your child to receive a backpack.
Students must be enrolled at Frley Public Schools. Um, we'll have resource tables out there. We also have some tables from our community schools. So like we have our nutrition, transportation, um nursing, and then we also have some partner resources that are partnering
with our school throughout the school year. So come on out for that. Um enjoy oursel. We have cheerleaders, football players. So this is a great way to get started, kick off the new school year, enjoy your teachers, your principles. It's always always a great time. and I
have been honored um to um be a part of this event for the past 13 years and it keeps growing each year and it's very very exciting. Um our neighbor partners with our our local churches and um even community um vendors are coming out so
it's a great great time. If you're around and your family is a part of Frley Public Schools, please do not miss this wonderful event. You will have a great time. The times are 10 to 12:00 p.m. Okay. Saturday. Alot, do you still need volunteers?
Yes, I could use volunteers. I could use volunteers to help pack the bags on Thursday at from 11 from You shouldn't have said that. From 11 to 1:30, we are packing bags. Um, we do have enough volunteers for the actual event, but
please come on out and just enjoy enjoy the families, just meet new people. Um if you have new enrollies, this is a great opportunity to come and join um this community event. It will be a lot of staff principles there. So this is a great great family event. Please come on
out. We do have snacks that we give away. So that's always fun. So come on out this Saturday. Freley High School parking lot 10 to noon. Hope to see you guys. Love it. Thank you Ala and for spearheading this. It's kind of like a when this happens like you know it's
about to get real like it's kind of unofficial unofficial start of the school year. So it is but certainly well appreciated and well done. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to put Director Shriner on the spot. We have the same wavelength there. Go ahead. Just a quick question. I know that you said you need volunteers on Thursday to
help pack the bags, but the time went by me real quick. Could you remind me? So it'll be from 11 to 1. 11 to 1 at the high school. Correct. Yep. At the high school. Yep. Yep. Yep. Can you share about the impact of this on your high school? I'd be happy to. So, I volunteered to
pack the bags last year and then I came to the event and I'd never gone to it before. Um, and it didn't exist when I was a kid obviously because that was like, you know, decades. A long time. Anyways, um having been a
teacher because I started teaching in 1991, I've never been to an event like that ever in my teaching career. Um and I was really impressed with the event. I was impressed with the community partners that showed up. I was impressed with the backpacks that were donated, the socks that were donated. Even the um
groups of staff that came there to provide fun tattoos and drinks and water. Um the football team players, some of them volunteered just to be there. You had the cheerleaders there. like I was just blown away by the event and how big it is and how much you supported all of the students um in the
district. And so as an educator, I went back to my principal after that in the fall and I said, you know, Fidley does something that's pretty amazing. I said, if they can do it, why can't we? If you don't know, I teach at Park Center Senior High across the river. So I I think that we're Park Center but on steroids, right? That we're just a little bit bigger, but we're really
similar in in our schools and our populations and everything. And so we took that idea and we are going to do something attached to our orientation. It's tomorrow and it's all because of what you did that it's being expanded a little bit in the metro area. But
kudos for doing this for 13 years. Yes. So it is a phenomenal event. So thank you for sharing that with the community and then letting us steal good ideas cuz I appreciate that. Hey, I got it from someone else and I was like let me come and inspire our community. And when I when I um was
inspired and it we started it 13 years ago. I didn't know how it was all going to happen, but they say once you speak it, it all just opens up and next thing you know, everything just started falling in place. And every year I have people calling to be a part. So, it's
very contagious. It's very inspiring. It's very engaging. And it really fills your cup. It really does fill your cup to watch the kiddos come and pick out their backpacks, what color they want, and having people come out from the from the district to just smile and laugh and shake hands and meet the families. That
is an opportunity where you can meet new enrolly parents and students cuz they come out. Those are the days when they come out. So, it's so many great opportunities in that in this moment and I just want everybody to just come out and get a piece of that. I love it. Thank you. Amazing job. So,
so proud of your work. Um, I am next excited to welcome Principal Engelhart to uh present to us a brief update on Vista. While he's settling in, I'll take us just a little bit on memory lane here. If you recall,
um, we opened Vista last year and it was really from a place of the programming. We were serving many of our students uh in our neighborhood elementaryaries and middle and high school that their IEP called for a setting for and that was
not programming that was giving the student dignity in our neighborhood schools. And it was also um having some culture issues in our uh comprehensive schools because we didn't have the space, the tools, the staffing, etc. to
set our students up for success. As you fast forward now, we see just amazing programming that has been expanded to now two sites, Vista Elementary and Vista Secondary Board. As a reminder, while programming is always first and
foremost for our students, uh, Principal Engelhart will also discuss about our tuition placements that we have of students coming into our district. Uh, as a further reminder, we carry a cross subsidy of about $2.6 million in special
education. That means of the special education services that we are honored to provide and required at both the federal and state level, the district is reimbursed approximately 80 to 88% but that still leaves $2.6 million that comes out of the general fund. We will
uh also see that rising for next year as our subsidy for transportation was reduced. Our reimbursement was reduced by 5% and that wasn't for us. It was reduced um statewide. So our setting for program also helps us with uh that $2.6
million subsidy. So it is a fiscal helper to the general fund, but our primary reason is programming. Take it away. Thank you. Um, first and foremost, uh, good evening everyone. Super excited to be here, uh, presenting. I've been here before, but in my first time in my new
role as principal. So, uh, just feeling really honored to be here. Um, and just really excited to share some quick updates about Vista Education Center. I was speaking with um, Dr. Lewis the other day and she was like, can you come and just share some of the exciting news? So, I have kind of just some bullet points uh, short and sweet, but
just kind of wanted to give you some updates on what's going on. So, first and foremost, staffing. Um, we kicked off new teacher week this week, uh, as a lot of you know, and we just have an amazing group of new teachers coming in. Uh, we have teachers from other
districts that have joined us. We have, um, teachers who were a part of the program last year who are now stepping into teaching roles. uh and we have incredible international talent coming into uh our program as well which I will touch on at the end because I just want to share like a quick blurb about that.
But um we also today I was able to take part in uh some SRO interviews. We are looking to expand that as well to our Vista sites uh and have just amazing candidates. I was uh fortunate to be able to do that with Michelle today um and just really excited about that.
Facilities uh as Dr. Lewis mentioned, uh, we are opening up a second location this year, which is so exciting. Um, we are up in and and cruising at that, right? We are our walls are painted. We have all the furniture that's arrived. We continue to make a plan for how
students are going to be set up in our classrooms, just different ways that we can provide an education to our students. Uh we are waiting for the final step of getting our doors installed um just to meet code um and make sure that we are keeping our building and our students safe. So we're
almost there. Um so to start the school year, our students are going to be starting at Vista Elementary. Uh I'm actually really excited because it brings our whole program together. Um and just all of our staff get to be there together. Uh we have amazing coordinators that we are bringing on as
well. Um and we have just a really awesome plan. we have um a a a divide of our teachers um in the classrooms as well with still small class numbers so we can we don't miss a step. Just because we're waiting for our doors to
be installed at secondary doesn't mean that academic progress slows down. Uh we are able to hit the ground running with this plan that we have in place. Uh just super excited to kick off the year with that. um family engagement. Our open house is next week and it's next
Wednesday. Uh as a lot of you know, I'm very passionate about open houses and they they mean a lot to me. It's such an incredible community event. My goal is always to continue to grow that. And so this year, um we are bringing in all of our families to Vista Elementary and we're providing them with a free meal.
Uh just because we know it's it's all about community. All right. Come eat, come socialize, come meet your staff, and come see the building. We're really excited about that. Next week, uh, from 5 to 6 on the 27th, next Wednesday. Uh,
the other really exciting part that Dr. Lewis touched on is enrollment. We know that enrollment, while it is, uh, fiscally beneficial for our district, it is so good for the kids that we serve, not only here, but in other districts as well. Um there are incredibly long wait
lists uh in a lot of different programs and it means that students are in buildings that they are not getting the appropriate amount of support. Our goal at Vista is to continue to build our program so we can help uh as many students as possible. Just some really amazing numbers. Last year they ended
the program at 11 students. Um this year we have 24 currently enrolled. We have four and I just got two emails um while I was sitting here. Uh so roughly six more students who are interested in
coming to join us. Um there are tuition agreements that uh have to be signed by their home district. But it is amazing. We went um from 11 students at the end. We currently have 24 and we're just going to continue to grow. We know that setting for programs often grow
throughout the school year as well. Um the other thing too Dr. Lewis mentioned tuition agreements. We partner with other uh districts outside of Fidley. So currently we have students coming to us from Centennial, Spring Lake Park, Robinsdale, Forest Lake, obviously
Fidley, and there's a couple potentially coming from Roseville as well. This program allows us to serve so many students, not just Fidley students, but to offer a level of support to students who are in setting 4 that they might not have been able to get elsewhere. Um, as
you know, our goal is to continue to grow this. Um, and we're already in discussion about what a middle school vista site will look like as well. Um, just a really quick touch on it. Um, I think max students you can have in a setting for program is 18 of our size.
Um, so we are quickly approaching that number. Um, which means that we are going to keep growing and it is it's so exciting. Um, our program just keeps growing. One thing that I just it would be remiss to not mention. I talked about this the other day in a meeting with our
admin uh administration team. We talk a lot about international talent here in Fidley and we had a meeting about that the other day and I wanted to just make sure I shared with our fellow administrators, our district, but also with you. Um without this program, Vista
doesn't exist. And I will say that again. Without this program, Vista doesn't exist. My staff is composed almost completely of international talent. They are amazing. They are the most caring, dedicated staff that you will ever find. And I just want to make
sure that we recognize that today in this room that this program, while it helps um you know, our entire district, I personally am especially grateful because it is my program. So, um just some really exciting news for all of you. Um just some real quick bullet
points, but yeah, just want to say uh we're doing really amazing things. Thank you so much. Nice work. Excellent. Uh just a few pieces. We talk about tuition agreements. That's how we um are very similar to uh an intermediate
district. Um so the students while we still um consider them treat them exactly as if they're Fidley resident students the way that um the program is financed is different. So we are not submitting for special ed reimbursement
of the 88% and then adding to our cross subsidy districts all fa pay their fair share through a tuition agreement. Same thing with our two new incoming SRO's. One starting um we believe the first day of school, which is so exciting, and then the second one coming around uh
right when we get back from winter break in January. Those um two positions uh do not touch the general fund either. So, uh just wanted to explain that nuance difference. We're also having um some excitement of tuition agreements as well in our transition program. So, we're
very excited about that as well. Excellent. Awesome. Thanks, Matt. Um, this is like a game changer and, uh, so happy to see you kind of leading this change, right? This is, I think, right in your your wheelhouse. So, it's pretty cool to see you here.
Um, I I do have one question. Um, what what are we what's the capacity like? What's at what point are we going to get where we're we don't have enough room? Um, at this point, I mean, we have room to meet meet the max capacity of 18 per site. Okay.
Um, we, especially at the high school, we have massive classrooms. Um, and the cool thing about it is we can set up those classrooms to meet individual needs. Uh, we have a lot of really awesome like flexible seating, different areas that kids can come in um to the
classroom. We are working on some partitions so students can kind of have their own learning space if they want that. Uh the best part about it is because we are new and I have this conversation with uh families who come and join us is like because we are small and we are new we can change the game
with it. Like I really believe that we can set up our classrooms um and set up our program to meet the needs of like the max capacity and then as we expand to the middle school um we will just kind of keep working on more and more space. Awesome.
Chair will be full by December one. Sounds like it. Yeah, good problem to have. Last year I had told Danielle we'll be full by spring break. The good news is you heard that 11 at the end. That's because our um Frisley Fidley resident students, other um district students
tuition placements, that's where they go to other sites than back. And because we don't want students in setting four for their duration of their K12 experience, um I had told her we'd be full by spring break and we were full by um I believe
Thanksgiving. Sure. Yeah. So, yeah, amazing work. We're so proud of you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks, guys. All right. I'm thrilled to welcome Justin Ree, our activities director, who's going to talk about no activity
fees, of which the Star Tribune is going to do a story on us. So, so excited about that. And then he's also going to share about how he worked through uh Kurunko with the physicals, but we came out better. So, so excited to have you
with us tonight. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Um, first I want to start off um just saying as the activities director for Lee public schools, it's an incredible privilege of witnessing the power of opportunity in action every single day. I say this because we don't
just do it, we believe it by showing it and putting it in place. One of the most impactful changes we have had was removing financial and transportation barriers that may keep students from getting involved. We eliminated participation fees and now provide transportation for summer and fall
activities leading up to the school year. That means that a seventh grader if they want to try something new, we provide the opportunity or is given the opportunity for a senior to finally step outside of their comfort zone. We've also addressed a barrier that Dr. Dr. Lewis just mentioned here where we might
have had a little hiccup on physicals but we did a quick pivot found uh CHAM clinic and urgent care right here in Fridley who we connected with who has a one of the doctors has a child inside the school and helped us do a free physical for 25 student athletes for
free. So, we was able to do this quick pivot all within a 24 48 hour span. Harold, 24 to 48 hour span. We was able to turn turn it around and make it happen for us. So, huge shout out to Champ Planning for making this happen. And not only did
we do that for getting the physicals, but we also provided transportation from our activities office to make sure no child could be left behind. So, it was really cool for us to pull that around last week. Also, I just want to add that at Frley, we don't expect students just
to come here with years of experience or expensive training. But what we do expect is that every choose student have a chance for opportunity, access, and most importantly, belonging. Thank you. Thanks. Awesome. Thanks for sharing, Justin. I
know this is something that we've talked about for a while, taking away the fees. Like, it just it doesn't make sense. Like, you shouldn't have to pay to be active as a child. So, I mean, I think I can speak for all of us, just a huge roadblock to get rid of, but then the other aspect of this I think may go
overlooked is the transportation part of it, right? Like if you if in the last couple years if you spent any time around our schools, you see a lot of kids jumping in Ubers, waiting for rides. I've heard way too many stories of kids saying, "I'd love to do that, but I don't have a ride." Right? So, that that is going to
be a game changer, and I fully anticipate our activities will will benefit because we'll have more kids being involved. So, thanks for pushing that through. Thank you. Appreciate it. So, are you noticing a not a notably higher participation rate? Oh, absolutely. As far as signups,
Kayla, the activities assistant really appreciate it because right now, day one, everyone was already signed up. So, we saw uptick in signups because we're not waiting for a paycheck to pay. They can just sign up right away. Stay tuned because you'll see our
marketing plan come to life. So, um, we have different, uh, reels and sorts of things that are going to be coming out throughout the school year to announce this. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that. Me personally, I've heard from over 17 districts saying, "How'd
you do it? We want in." Um, we want to be a part of that. And I know Justin, you've probably had a huge outreach, probably more than me, about how we're doing that. Um, so my, uh, LinkedIn post, uh, had over I think it was over
7,000, um, impressions on that. So, um, we're again, uh, we think we're the only one in the state. I'm pretty sure that we're the only one in the state. So, but I do not believe we're going to be the only one for long now. Oh, no. A lot of a lot more schools will follow suit.
We just need credit. We learned this from Fredley. We copied you. Just a quick shout out. Yeah. Thanks, Justin. Good work. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. Next, I'm so excited to have Michelle Cox, assistant superintendent, and Harold Scott, senior officer of
operations, talk about all of our construction that's going on. So, hello board chair, board members, Superintendent Lewis, and others in the room. Um, if you're not aware, we had a sinkhole
at the middle school that started small but continued to grow. As a matter of fact, a week before we started the work to rectify that issue, we sank an additional two week two in within one week. So that was going down pretty
quick. And so we contracted out, found some great folks to come in and help us with this. And what we learned is that whomever did the job previously should have added multiple layers of rock, but it was all sand. And so when the water drains off the Fidley Middle School
roof, it goes right into that drain and that's what caused the sinking. So it is solid. Um they told us to wait about a week before anybody drove on it. So we have barriers up. Uh so we're going to keep those up until Thursday. I said we're going to wait the entire week even
though they felt that Monday we could drive on it. No, we want to make sure we get it right and keep it going. So, that's one of the things that I had the privilege to work on um with Michelle landscaping. We are in the midst right
now of McMman's doing um a uh mulch fill at all of our schools, all of our sites. So they've come in, they have a team that's doing some deweeding as well as filling in the mulch so that we look consistent and look good for when school starts. But that's the first part of it.
The second part is I have done some research and have um found some non um well they're chemicals but um that are environmentfriendly, people friendly, pet friendly weed killer chemicals that
we can use um in those areas where the mulch is in particular because that's where most of the weeds are coming up from unfortunately. So we pay money to have this beautiful presentation and then a week later we have weeds in it. So, um, we're trying to combat that problem now with them coming in and
doing the deweeding at the moment. So, we'll do some treatment of that. Make sure that we don't have anything that smells bad or is near an air vent that could cause a problem in the school or anything like that. So, we should be done with that by midweek next week.
As a reminder, Ford, um, all of the mulch is Fidly branded to this beautiful red. Looks really good. So we have a new alarm system. We have moved away from Egan to UHL and the alert service is
Alarm.com. And one of the great features about that is administrators and custodians will be able to arm or disarm their system via an app versus having somebody go in physically. That should cut down on I went around and around
with a guy and said, "Look, when we have false alarms, we have to pay. So unless we can bounce that off of you all, then we need to make sure that we have the assistant a little bit more consistent. So for the past three weeks, I have been the only person on call for the alarms. And I've only had one call and it was
during uh the some construction and the system was off. But we don't want the police showing up or the fire department showing up unnecessarily because then they get a little irritated with us as well. And I get it because that's time and resources. So, I love this feature that we'll be able to control this via
phone. That will make things better for principles. Like there, those of us in operations will be uh fielding those calls so that principles aren't getting called at 2:00 in the morning or 3:00 in the morning and having to get up and come to work um shortly thereafter. So, very excited about that. The the the the
app feature is just great. We had uneven pavement right outside door four which is in the back of the middle or back of Fley High School. And so we had that shaved and then resurfaced and it's actually flat now.
Um so it's not quite a ramp but uh fully but it's also not uneven because that was a tripping hazard. And so we noticed that we um got a hold of contractors. They came out and took care of that for us right away. and I will turn it over to Michelle.
Just know that safety is number one. So, we're looking for things to make sure that we don't have problems before we have a problem. Thank you. Good evening everyone. First of all, I just want to say it has been amazing to work with Harold as he's transitioned
into operations. I'm still working on the new construction, so I will take you on your monthly tour of our different construction sites. Um things are up and running in our baseball fields. If you drive by, you'll see a lot of construction. I heard from Heidi today
that um the concrete people were out today to look at our uh baseball lines and fencing lines. Um, we will have standardized fencing um with concrete underneath them to really make our fields look crisp and sharp out there.
Um, we have new dugouts that are being built, new batting cages, and a new softball scoreboard. So, all this work is is starting and they're moving along at quite a quick pace. So, we're very excited about that project.
Next, we'll head over to the FCC. I think this is my favorite project going on right now. You know, I have an early childhood special ed background. So, um it was very fun to spend time with the staff and team over at the uh Fidley Community SP Center to rethink about
what their surfaces look like and kind of reimagine their play spaces. So, we're going to be adding some different surfaces to promote gross motor um skills for our students. and we're going to be reducing the sand area. If you've ever been there, it's quite a large
amount of sand area. I didn't think we really needed that much. So, we'll be turning in that into an outside dramatic play center as well as the sand. So, we're very excited about that. We're going to really look at what storage looks out there looks like out there so that um it has a cleaner look and they
have a a easier way to to store all of their toys in outside. Um, we'll also be um reducing um area um access to some of the the areas that are what I'll considered mulch and weeds and instead
turn those into areas that are either storage or there's seating available for student and then we'll be refreshing some of the equipment. The equipment is actually in great shape which is great but it's like all that um brand name outdoor equipment that gets a little
faded. So, we're working actually with a company to do a paint refresh of some of those um equipment. So, very fun. This one should be um completed by October. Oops. Um haze flooring. So, haze flooring is almost complete. You'll see
some beautiful pictures here of um new flooring. I think um what's interesting for me is um the Stephvenson project was last year and I came in right in the middle of it. So I had a lot of lessons learns about how I wanted it to look. Um so you'll see it's kind of um what I
call floor to ceiling instead of um we kind of skipped around and kind of maybe left some things not look as finished as they should at Stephvenson. We did rectify that but um we made sure we addressed that right away. We removed asbestous and then we also painted
walls, cabinets and countertops. So if you have ever been to Hayes, it was quite an electric uh color of countertops and cabinets. Um also a lot of the um the staff had chosen to also self paint. So I think we've all got a good refresh that we can work from.
I'm going to grab Hayes Road Construction while Relle gets a drink here. Um, so Hayes Road construction is um several slides in. That's okay. I don't need this slide up, David. But um we are um experiencing some road
construction outside of Haste to say the least. We ended the school year with that. Um we're starting Anoka County um Commissioner Mandy Mesner has been fantastic with us. We did not receive notification on the Hayes road
construction this spring at all. This resulted in pretty significant uh drop off and very significant pickup issues. Um Fidley police were able to stand up some support for us uh
without charging us overtime, but I also didn't want to take advantage of that. We did invite the Anoka County staff uh that works on the road projects or oversees them to come out and they really understood that it was pretty significant and they've worked with
their permitting office now to build in some safeguards so that if there's a school the school district is actually notified about it. This project was supposed to be completed by the start of the school year. I was very doubtful on that and sadly I
was right and I don't want to be right on that one but I am. So now we're working um we had one meeting already, a second one is coming up for Anoka County. Um while their ideas on helping us are good in theory, they're not good
at the implementation stage. We have a lot of walking. Um students that are walkers and their idea was to put down a gravel path with um some tarping and the kids could walk on that. That does not help us at all as far as a mobility situation. They also talked about a
walking school bus, which again is great in theory, but that means every student has to come at the same time out of their home. And then there's like a double crossing situation that we have going on. We've decided to stand up a bus route um over there so that our
students do not uh have any danger that is happening. Um Fidley Police has done a really nice job of responding to this. Essentially, um, there's a 3-hour overtime minimum on an overtime shift,
which is completely understandable. The district would have had to pay 3 hours overtime in the morning, 3 hours overtime in the afternoon for really a 20 minute time frame for the morning and the afternoon, which would have been um $630
per day. and um our SRO unit immediately put their heads together and now um they have a way that they are going to cover at Hayes until the construction is done without um any impact to the school
system. These are just the ideas and the partnerships that we have with Fidley Police that really showcase um how well we were able to do that. I also have worked with Anoka County about um school zones. So, we're beginning to look at
that for um Hayes Vista Elementary and Stevenson. Unfortunately, our um city council can't help us with that because they're all county roads. So, um it's going to be some hardships over at
Hayes. Um but our families were great this spring. many of our families will unders or remember how we did dismissal and arrival and um we'll just train the new families. We're very clear in our communication. It's just a hardship and
again while it's unfortunate that the project is going during the school year, I'm glad that we provisioned with the planning that it wouldn't get done on the original schedule. Enough time for you. Yeah, thank you so much for the water break, superintendent. Appreciate that. I'm back. I just did want to say about
the haze flooring project. Um Harold and his team have been with us every step of the way and this is so important because as we're building, as we're doing making decisions, he is there because we want to maintain this, right? So we know that maintenance has been a problem for us um
that preventative care. And so just a big thank you to Harold and his team for their work on that. um at both of our elementary schools, they have been um having a lot of fun purchasing furniture and equipment refreshes. So, as you can see there,
some of the new things arriving daily at the schools. Um each school had a budget and really individualized what they chose to buy. Um, and everything from, you know, new chairs, new desks for kids, flexible seating, a lot of storage
and bookshelves, rugs, lighting. Um, at Stephvenson, they did a lot of work on their um, cafeteria. So, we really wanted to make sure that the staff got to have a lot of input. The principles had a lot of um, input. So, we just want to say thanks so much
to both the staff and the principles for all the work they did and just so excited to go to those open houses. A lot of the furniture has arrived, but much will be happening in the in the fall, too, as we move through. Next, we'll head over to Vista
Secondary, which um Principal Engelhart gave us kind of an update on. You can see here um a map of where we are placing the doors. Um, I want to say we have a new state fire inspector who um definitely did his due diligence and put
us through our paces and um uh we um ended up approving everything, but it did hold us back two weeks um in our planning. Um the city of Fidley um we've involved them from day one in our planning and we had our permit after the
state inspection cleared within one hour. So that will tell you again the partnership that we have there. Um so the project's underway, everything has been ordered. Um we certainly um are pushing every day um to get this done on
time, but are anticipating we might have nine days that we're not. Um we're trying to as we do that make sure that um we're thinking about the students about transition plans for them and hope that we can use the time so that it is a very smooth transition for them. the
educational space is ready and prepared and ready to go. So excited to welcome those students to their new space. Um in the high school we are also doing a bathroom remodel. Um and here you can see some of the pro progress happening.
We were um very excited to see the stalls go in. These will be single stall um user uh restroom that'll be used by students. Also, anybody utilizing our gym or auditorium will have access to that. Um, we were picking out tile um
actually yesterday. Um, some of the colors weren't in stock anymore. So, um, doing a lot of picking. It was great. I was doing interviews for the um, assistant principal position at the high school and so I had a ready team to give me feedback on the tiles during one of
our breaks. So, excited for that project. We're looking at completion um, late September. And then our favorite district-wide reheat valve replacement that we've all become very uh we can talk that through. As you can see here, here's one of the
valve replacements. Um they have moved through all of our schools. This is in place and we're hoping to see some real cost savings for this. Um as not one of our most visible projects. Um could be a real costsaver for us. So we're excited to get those done.
I'm so excited to have heat in my office. So, Lori and I will have heat. Um, which is a perk to us. So, um, any questions for Harold or Relle? Not here.
Okay. All right. Then we'll move on to um direct certification. Um, as you potentially have been hearing, um, the one big beautiful bill, uh, severely reduces funding for SNAP,
$186 billion over the next decade, $186 billion. Also, expanding work requirements um, for eligibility. Um, also starting in 2028, states are going to be forced to shoulder part of the benefit cost and assume 75% of
administrative expenses. I want to talk a little bit about Medicaid. Um, Medicaid severely um is getting reduced. Medicaid matters to us. If you remember that breakfast
that I was having with Senator Hoffman, um that's about he's interested and a huge advocate of our Vista program and hearing how we do. Um Fidley is one of the highest uh Medicaid
billing districts in the state percentagewise and he's a huge backer of that and with this most of our Medicaid thirdparty billing dollar revenue will go away. um it doesn't impact our district necessarily. Um
as far as programming, but it impacts our students. Um as a reminder, there's uh Head Start was saved. Um but Head Start is proposed to be eliminated in 2026. Remember, these are most
vulnerable um learners who qualify for Head Start. This is the first district I've worked in where we don't have we aren't the fiscal holder of the head start here. It's I believe in Noa County, but still something we need to have our radar on. Our families are not
getting wealthier. They are simply getting these benefits taken away from them. Child care subsidies, SNAP, Medicaid, and so forth. Um, Title One funding also is directly related to this. So, I just want us to all keep
this in the front of our minds here. And just as this last legislative session, I remember Director Meisner said to me, "Is there anything positive, Brenda, that we could ask to be expanded as part of our legislative agenda?" And I said,
"No." I said, "It's all for fighting for what we already have and for the most part are legally entitled to. This is going to have significant impacts on our families and significant impact on our districts. So, this is something I will
our district and and many districts, the districts that are harder hardest hit are going to be the ones that look like ours, right? So, I will continue to really talk with you about this and I do believe we will um likely see from AMSD
um uh MASA um MSBA some real thinking around legislation to come up to really help with this. Fidley, I think, is leading the way here in our activity fees. Right. This is an
example of how we now see that some of our families who didn't qual who did qualify now potentially won't really know that impact sooner rather than later and we're uh breaking down that barrier. So this is something that I am
very concerned about and I ask board members that we all watch this very carefully and advocate as best we can. I'm now going to uh talk with you about an incredible experience that um
Michelle Herald and I had a few weeks ago. I was linked ining you. I just made that a verb from this conference. This is the best professional learning I've had in my 26 year career. Best professional learning I've had in my
26year career. Um the AASA, which is the association of um the school superintendent association, hosted this. Um if you see the gentleman in the coral colored tie, that's David Law. He's superintendent of Minnotonka Public
Schools and he is the AASA board president for the whole nation. So he was there. And then the two administrators to his right are folks that um Harold and I have worked with in our past in St. Paul public schools. So
this um really grounded us in the work that we need to be doing. We're hearing from other districts how they have turned this work around and frankly speaking it brought me closer to my why and it also charged me up about we are
not doing enough. We are not serving our learners enough. We're not seeing the academic outcomes as quickly as we need to do that. And here's the steps that we need to be unapologetic about. With that, Michelle and Harold, if you want to chime in, I would welcome
I can start um echo everything she said about some of the best professional development I've had in a very long time. Um it was their inaugur inaugural. I knew I wasn't gonna say that, right? So, I thought about that. It was the first one of its kind. So, um when we
went, so you always kind of wonder what's it what is it going to be like? But it was engaging every single session, the people we met. Um I will I want to give one small example. We um went to one on immigration and um looking um for our families and some of
the strategies people were using across the nation. um at our tables we were allowed to give feedback about how our district had has um worked on that. So um the superintendent turned over to me to talk about some of our immigration work with our families um that we had
done for everything that Alotus done for breakfast and empowering our families to workshops that we've done with um with immigration lawyers. Um, and I would say after that happened, I felt like I was suddenly with a rockstar at a conference
because everyone came up to um, get her contact information. I was handing out cards. I felt like, you know, her agent. Um, but I would say um, we left with a lot of uh, new colleagues, new new friends, invitations to a lot of things.
So, the networking was incredible, too. Harold, I would agree with everything that's been said and also to add that it was just great to be at a conference where it was a significant number of leaders of color from the geographic United
States and how they have to navigate the waters, if you will. You can't say certain things like DEI or equity or things like that and how they're navigating that as leaders. um keeping the focus on the students and
student outcome and achievement um in the face of adversity and a lot of challenge. And so I was very inspired by all of that and and it encouraged me a great deal too. Um we have a great board, but some of the things we were hearing is everybody does have a great
board. Um, and just it was just great to see men and women um, multi-racial to be perfectly honest to talk about um, the why they keep going back and why they continue with the work is because
there's a lot of work to do in an area of many roadblocks right now. So, I was very inspired by what I heard and what I saw and I agree with everything that was said already. Thank you. I just want to also point out in some school districts superintendents wouldn't even put a
slide up like this. So, thank you for empowering and centering this work. I'm excited to also share and Michelle's going to take team with me on this one too. We were invited I had um sent this to you if we think back maybe
um how we were invited to apply for the League of Innovative Schools. Um, we completed the application which was a lot more rigorous than I planned on. I had like a 20 minute block and I mis mismanaged uh miscalculated on that. But
we managed to get it submitted and then we got invited to an interview. So I just said to Michelle, "Hey, they said I can bring a plus one. Are you in?" Well, we did not prep at all. We thought it
was just going to be like, hi um this is why we we picked out Fidley to be a part of it and um that was not our experience. I walked away from that interview saying to Relle, uh yeah, we're not going to get invited in, but
if you just want to share a little bit about kind of what that felt like and um what they're about. Yeah. Um this is a group who are very particular about who's getting in. Um and in fact I think during the um conversation slash strenuous interview
we had um very much downplayed that we were going to be a part of this I think so we were feeling a little bit um there were a couple of staff people a couple of superintendents on the call. Um, and once the nicities were over, the questions started being firing. And I
was just I was just happy that there were two of us because one of us could start and the other one could kind of think about it a little bit to kind of backfill the answer. So after um uh sweating through the hour, we got through and it was and then it wasn't
even like you did great or anything. It was like you might hear from us in a month and we were like, okay, sounds good. So, I was regretting that I had told the board we were invited. Um, but uh we um were admitted we're excited
about that. They're attracted to us for our work around staffing and they're attracted to us for our work around um threat management that ended up as national national work and um they're attracted to us on our summer turnaround
academics. So, uh, this league brings, uh, problems of practice together for districts that are literally innovative and working on a solution. They also want districts that say, "Hey, we don't have it all figured out. We have some pretty significant problems and actually
wants to uh, do the work." This also opens the door to us for uh significant research studies um such as Gates Foundation and other places that then also along with those research studies you get supports that are funded through those research studies. So very honored
to be a part of that. You'll hear many updates as we go through our time with Innovative Schools. David, is the video able to play? Should be. Yep. We've been testing. What I love about Fidley Public Schools
is that we are a community that is beautifully diverse and has incredible individuals that are working for the same thing each and every day, which is to help our students be successful and
achieve their hopes and goals. The mission of Fidley Public Schools is to ensure belonging for every student and we really want to ensure that every single student every day is successful. We are a smaller district compared to those around us which I think is a
benefit to us because we are able to build those relationships a little bit differently with our students and also make meaningful relationships with our students. We're very diverse and we offer a lot of unique programs from IB to AVID. The relationships between
administrators and teachers are very close-knit. So that helps for creating a vertical articulation of supports and programs. I would say families are choosing Fidley because of word of mouth. I think when you have good programming, you have a welcoming environment for all for every student kind of speaks for itself.
Another piece that makes Fidley public schools special is our IB continuum. main tenants foundational piece of the international balora is just that global perspective for our students to really understand what it means to be a global citizen and a global thinker. So it
really helps our students to understand how big our world is and how our students are able to contribute to that and what it takes to have that global perspective in a global society. We're the only school district in the state
that has pre-k through 12 IB and then we are one of 13 in the nation with the full international balora program. The learner profile is a huge part of what we develop in kids. We want kids to be inquirers. We want kids to be knowledgeable communicators, caring
individuals that they bring on to the middle school, high school and into their later years. It allows kids to develop in a way where they are growing both academically, but also in their sense of what is right, what is just, what actions that they can take to set
them up for success in their future. AVID stands for advancement via individual determination. And what the class does is it helps teach students different skills, whether that's writing skills, reading skills, organization skills. It just really takes students and helps refine different skills to
help them be successful in their future. Our AVID class that's for college and career readiness. It's just all around. They want to make sure that you know what you're doing after high school. We have student voice. We make sure that we collectively hear from our students, engage with our students. We would like to address the needs of our students.
When students have situations that may arise and occur, we always provide a safe place for students to sit down, have a healthy conversation, a positive conversation on how we can change the trajectory of students identity, belonging, and awareness in our public schools.
Since preschool, they make the kids feel like they're at home. You know, it's no one bigger than the others. No other kids that get more attention than this child. When I think of Fley, I think of home. I feel like Philly is helping me prepare for my future by offering resources around the school for
post-secary options. Whether that's posters on becoming a phabbotomy technician in 9 weeks or offering help with the ACT or FASA or every teacher just being willing to help you, you know, decide and go on your path after
high school. We also have concurrent enrollment here, meaning there are classes that our students can take to get credit towards their high school graduation as well as college credits at that transfer. So, just a lot of robust opportunities in our small environment.
Diploma program classes are preparing our kids for the future because they get them ready for how much studying needs to go into college. Our oldest is already in college at Mano State and taking diploma program classes ahead of
time has helped him. We also offer culture and diversity events and activities that make sure that we are bringing in all cultures into our schools to provide the learning and experience which is also our IB. So we're making sure that we are collectively seeing our students and
making sure that their success and identity is always elevated within our school district. We have kids from all different cultural backgrounds that it gives them the opportunity to get to understand each other. And I like to use the term if you haven't had a chance to trace someone's hand or you don't come from the same background, you find a way
to touch their heart. I would recommend Fidley School District to anybody. I mean, we truly have loved Fidley from day one. I could not imagine doing any other job than this one because I love being around our staff and our kids each and
every single day. One thing I want people to know about Frley is that we're very passionate about the things we do. Whether it's about our schoolwork, our sports, our clubs, anything that involves a school. Everything we do, we put passion into. Our students remember how much we care about them. And that's why I got into
teaching was my eighth grade teacher that was here at the middle school. She really inspired me and cared about me. She made learning fun. And I think all of our staff really strive to do that. To make learning fun and make our students feel valued and know that they matter because they do. They belong.
[Music] Next Monday. And our district hasn't had an updated video for quite some time. So I'm really proud of the different voices, the different perspectives and um just appreciate you seeing this. This trended really well um when we released
this on social media. We also have it uh close captioning and we have it in Spanish, Somali and Mong. So with that chair, that concludes my superintendent update and we have board updates uh from Northeast Metro 916, Northwest Suburban
and AMSD for board members that have them. Um for 916, um sorry. Yikes. all kinds. Um, we had our meeting at the beginning
of the month and we started with a legislative update from Valerie Dosland who represents 916 and the other media intermediate districts. Um, we talked about, you know, there were a lot of things that came through this legislative session. One thing that 916 was really celebrating with Valerie was
the um, intermediate teacher residency apprenticeship collaboration that or collaborative that was funded um, for this current bienium. um and the cohort of teacher apprentices that are coming through um at 9:16. Um, we got a QC comp report from uh the
executive director of educational services, Scott Thomas, and we heard about their implementation of the 5D plus um rubric for teacher evaluations and how they've really increased um worked hard to increase the rigor of their academic um expectations for their
students and their teachers and how still with that with those high expectations, 91% of their staff received their full or partial stipens. Um but that that was really intentional and um a large lift for their staff and
their um administrative team. We approved policies that were all for minor changes. Um 916 has a new director of HR, Natasha Helsath, from who was formerly from Intermediate 288. And so we just kind of updated policies that
needed to have contact information changed. And then we approved the Arctic Wolf cyber security contract for their cyber security um maintenance. And then that helped Yeah, that helped their um just insurance policy rates on their
cyber security. And a couple of other things happened. 916 opened actually earlier this year. We approved the board approved a stretch calendar through for some of their sites. And so school actually started at the beginning of August in a couple of their settings. Um but that just
required that everybody was ready to set start the year with all of their um things being in place in terms of curriculum and different decisions and things like that that would be made. So they are off and running already in a few different locations. And then one really exciting celebration is that the
Metro Heights ALC has moved officially into Fidley um into the location that is on the corner of Mississippi and University and they are move they've moved in. They're preparing to host
students in just a couple weeks. So they are on putting the finishing touches on that which is very exciting. That is all that I have. Thank you. Thanks. Yeah, first you have one. I was out on medical leave, so I don't
know if the alternate went or not. And I don't believe there was one in July. Okay, then I then we're good. We're safe. And I was unable to attend. Awesome. That's good. Okay, perfect. And that concludes. Thank you so much for your time tonight on I know this was
pretty lengthy, but a lot of good information. It was good. Thank you, Dr. Liss. Yeah. Um, so back to our agenda. Um, next up we have um some gifts to talk about or a gift. Um, I would entertain a motion to accept
the gift, but it's not clear what it is. The gift is through to the special services department from Ken Bicken for $100. Awesome. I move that we accept the uh gift from Ken Bickens for $100 for the special services department. Motion made by Meiser. Do I have a second? Second.
Second by Shiner. Welcome. First official act. Second. Yes. Second. Yep. Uh this is roll call vote. Uh Miss not here. Miss Jones. I. Mr. Carup. I Mr. Meisner. Hi. Miss Shriner. I Miss Stark. Hi. Motion passes.
Next up, I would entertain a motion for our consent agenda. This will approve uh the last minutes of the business business meeting held on July 15th. New contracts, amendments, leave of absences, resignations, retirements, and terminations, and our superintendent's
contract, an addendum for the 2025, 2026, and superintendent contract for 2026 through 2029. Do I have a motion? So moved. Have a motion made by Jones. Do I have a second? Second.
I have a second by R. Meisner. Um, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed? Motion passes. Um, we've got some written information I think was shared before the meeting in regards to the first reading of new policy 516.5.
Um, is there any discussion on that or questions that we need to discuss before the second meeting or second reading? Oh, perfect. Um, next up we've got important future dates. Uh, as mentioned by Aloto, we have our back to school
resource fair on August 23rd from 10 to noon at the high school parking lot. Uh, as Mr. Angelharted mentioned, we have the Vista orientation on August 27th from 4:00 to 5:00 at the Vista Education Center. We have preschool orientation sessions on August 27th from 4:00 to
6:00 here at the Fidley Community Center at the Fidley High School and Fidley Middle School will be hosting their open house and orientation on August 28th, 2025 from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. uh at the middle school and high school respective
locations. Uh Stevenson and Hayes orientation sessions will be held on the same day on August 28th um from 4 to 6 at their respective schools. Tiger Club will have their open house on the same day, August 28th from 4:00 to 6 here at the Fidley Community Center. Uh district
holiday will be September 1st for Labor Day and uh preschool Hayes RLS family orientation sessions will also be held on September 2nd uh at their respective schools and first day of school for all
Vista students will be September 2nd at the Vista Education Center. Fifth grade and new student orientation will be September 2nd at the Fidley Middle School. We'll have our 9th and 12th grade first days of school on September
2nd at the Fidley High School. And then first day for all students will be September 3rd. Uh we have district spirit day which we're encouraged to wear black and gold on September 5th. Homecoming week will be September 8th through the 12th with a
homecoming game on Friday, September 12th. Our next board meeting will be on September 16th, 5:30 work session, 7:00 public comment, 7:30 business meeting here at the Fridley Community Center. Are there any dates that I may have missed anyone can think of? No. All
right, no pressure. With that, I would certainly uh entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. We'll go. Motion by Shriner, second by Meisner. All those in favor, someone wants to go.
All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. Motion passes and we are adjourned at 8:55. Thank you everybody.