I saw Sheriff St. Joe's. >> Oh, yeah. >> She was preschool one day. >> Yep. Yep. She was ready. You track her for >> Yes, I am. Thank you. 5 o'clock with all the schoolboard
workshop to order. >> No, no pledge for the workshop. >> Okay. >> Uh, first item on the agenda, Tana Sanderson and Jessica Vosski Jibway Education Program. Mr. Chair, I wonder if we might just go around and
everyone because I don't know everyone. Sure. Why don't we start with Jessica? I'm going to name I would be Jessica Babrowski and I am the program coordinator for Dishabin program for eight years. >> Thank you.
>> I am Anna Aerson. I am a parent committee member. I have a seventh grader. >> David Marty, school board clerk. Mark Schroer, school board, >> superintendent, Jeff, school board, >> Tom, school board,
>> Megan Pington, parent committee, and they have two kids, 11th grade and sixth grade, >> Dennis Henderson, Erica Babrowski, middle school ad, >> and parent and parent.
>> Thank you. >> Yeah. So, we I have kind of like a more like formal slideshow, I guess you could say. Just some slides with some information. And then I thought we could just kind of have a conversation. Like that's why we invited some of the parent committee here just to hear their voices and lift that up to you in their
experiences here at the school. Jessica, if there's anything you want to add as I'm saying stuff, feel free to just jump in. Um so last April um we did a a two-day um like session as a team and kind of identified some strategic directions for
our programming. Um out of those kind of like getting us towards our vision are these four themes. So most of the work that um we're looking at completing over the next couple years and kind of really um targeting um our our daily tasks to
involve providing and sharing information to stakeholders, empowering and catalyzing cultural leadership and awareness, enhancing and centering team priorities, and expanding program curriculum. Um and as a result of our actions, um
what we kind of want to see in place in three to five years is responsible district collaboration, inclusive cultural events, um really focusing on that language revitalization. Last year when we surveyed our parents, um language and cultural education were
were the top things that were most important to our families that completed the assessment. um having a culturally fluent district, nurturing and healing spaces, and nurturing and educating our staff. Um you know, through those two days, it
was really clear um and cool to see just how much passion there was for our program from the advocates and the staff and just how um in tune they are with like the needs of the students and families within each of our buildings. Um the cool thing about a lot of this is
these aren't just like our vision. like it's not just our program lifting up these things, but it's really like kind of the district coming alongside of us to do this. Um, if you look at, for example, the culturally fluent district, that's something that the strategy team is focusing on right now. Um and then
you know some of the cultural events we've seen um with the um like the literacy avenue like last year like that Nespier storyteller came alongside like Carol Cobb had um had that looking at some of those other types of things. Um
and with the um nurturing and healing spaces, just really thinking about how um you know, we really see our rooms and our program as like pebbles of healing for students and families about the experiences they've had in the past. And so like just really trying to be a space that is safe and can advocate for all um
of our program students. And we do have a full report, so if you would like to see that, I'd be happy to email it to you. Um here's our program staff this year. Um, we were really excited to be able to have someone part-time in Big Fork this year. That's definitely been a goal. So, someone
that's up there specifically for Big Fork. Um, and then at each of the buildings in the district, our program funding, so state funding, and so this is kind of based off of our 2025 count, $23,100,000,
federal funding, 115, and then the JLM dollars um is to be determined kind of forthcoming. And then so when we talk about funding for Indian education within our district, we also look at the different supplemental income that not income
budget monies that are focused over to us. So our middle school advoc advocate is covered under the achievement integration grant and focuses on different goals through achievement and integration. When we did our strategic planning, we looked at the school district strategic plan. We looked at
the goals of ANI and then the goals of Indian education to see how we can align those. And so our middle school position is staffed by ANI and we get 35% of special education
funding. That special education funding is placed towards Indian education to help look at the over representation of Native American students in special education. Rapids does very very well with our numbers and not having an
extreme overpopulation. Our program comes in and we establish cultural observations. So, anytime a student is referred for special education observations, one of our advocates come in with a cultural lens and actually do the
observations for that student. And >> can I ask a question? They do complete or they they just participate. >> They participate. Okay. >> Yep. >> And so all of our advocates are currently trained in cultural observation through the dream catcher
program through Minnesota Department of Education. >> Joom >> Johnson Ali. So it's a specific pot of funds that is kind of like a direct reimbursement um for student needs. >> State funding. >> It's federal.
>> Federal, >> but it doesn't get run through the district. It goes through the lake education department agent. So just to piggyback on what Jessica was saying and the importance of that culture of peace there was you know one
of the things they observed over time there there especially with American Indian kids there were American Indian kids being identified for special education when the the uh what was being observed is really a function of their culture not of their ability and so
that's what the why that's really important >> that's why you have an advocate or a >> team on So um our program eligibility like the is for enrolled students any student who is a direct member of a federally recognized tribe or a descendant. So
son, daughter, child, grandchild or great-grandchild of an enrolled member or federally recognized tribe. But we really try to like include as many students as we can in our programming. Um but these are like the students that are our main focus. Um and that we like
collect data on I guess you can say or like collect paperwork. Um we really focus on family engagement. Um we have a lot of family nights throughout the throughout the year. Please join us. If you see something, please come. Um we encourage students, staff, community members to come and and
see what we're what we're doing. Um we do have an American Indian parent advisory committee um that helps guide our grant applications and like what we do in our work. We we get their feedback on um what would they like to see how um
how can we better support our students and families in the school system and they kind of give us that input to um help write our grant and there's some checks and balances with that. Um, we complete a family needs assessment survey every year to make sure that
family voices, even if they're not on the parent committee, are heard. Um, >> and let me step in on that one. So, that's actually a state mandate and a JM mandate that we that each program completes a family assessment survey to be sure that all the programs are collaborating with community.
>> How is that survey done? Is it face to face or is it >> We do it a multitude of ways. Okay. >> The best way we can get the most numbers we do >> I think last year we did information like a Google survey but then also conversations and just kind of trying to
get family fun nights. >> Um really the advocates are homeschool liaison and so they're really that connecting point for families um to the school. So I mean there's a lot of times where um if something's going on with the family they're reaching out to the advocate first. they're the ones that
probably know what's going on with the student or the family or they're the ones that the family feels trust with. And so it's just such a a bridging point to have that school community partnership kind of live in in advocates lab. Um and they're really involved in
whatever that means for family engagement or whatever that's needed. Um, and then just like the full service services like, you know, I mean, if a kid if an advocate is seeing that a kid needs classes or to see the nurse or there's something else going on or they
need food or whatever it is, I mean, they're really just that voice for students. Um, and then otherwise, you know, that that trusting voice so that they're not getting overlooked. Um we have a lot of different partnerships
um through the program as you can see here. I mean lots of partners. I'd say um you know our biggest thing is just trying to make sure that whatever partnership that we're having aligns with our strategic directions and making sure that we're really being focused on what we want to be doing.
And these partnerships right here are very longstanding and we were really selective when picking partnerships as the Indian education program grew tremendously within eight years. And so we were very selective within the community entities of who we wanted to partner with to be
sure that they were doing the best for the community, our students, and our families in the area. >> If you haven't been to the Children's Museum, you should go and check out the um the exhibit. that Jessica and Erica worked on very hard. It's beautiful.
Like if you like can go in and you can see like the Oji way constellations. You can like the lights get turned off. There's like a den. Um even just say like hey I got to go in and see. It's really awesome. Um so just some data just to kind of say like where are we at? So this is like
from the Northstar academic achievement report that MTE has like on the report card. Um and it basically says like are students performing at grade level? That's the question that this this chart answers. Um so you can see kind of where it is. So I put the the state um
percentage American Indian students at the state level the 318 achievement level and then the American Indian students at 318. So even though like there's some definite bright spots of like you know compared to you know
American Indian students in other districts um you know we are doing something that supports our students. However, like there's still a large gap there and so um you know that's something that we want to continue to keep an eye on and think collaboratively
about as we're moving forward. Um, you'll see the same for reading. Um, consistent attendance. Are students attending consistently? I think was the question. Um, I can see that um, you know, our students are coming to school
more than their counterparts almost the same as everyone else in the district. there is still some room for growth. Obviously, we'd love to see kids here 95% of the time. So, >> how how has that been historically? Do you have any I mean you you've said
in the last eight years there have been great improvement, right? Um is has that stat really improved with with programs or >> So, let's go back to let's go back to our academics. Grand Rapids is one of the school districts in Minnesota that
the achievement gap hasn't widened. During COVID, we were one of the only schools in the district that are Native American students didn't see. >> Yep. Um we also look at our attendance rates. We're doing some collaboration
with Ross resources in order to bring in that cultural piece to attendance. And we are seeing some movement still some we need some growth there. But overall when we look at even the statewide and looking at other districts around us
they sit at a 53% for their students. So our students are getting here coming to school. >> It would be interesting to kind of run the trend of that. I don't know. >> So it has >> programs really helped or >> great question.
>> Um so just looking at our graduation rates and I think this is really just like a testament to like how our program works. If you look um you know our graduation rate is last year was or for school year 2024 was 97.1%.
So that's higher than the district average and of course the state average. And so just something really to celebrate and I think it just speaks to the staff that are in the buildings working with the students and how much trust um and work collaboratively they do with students and families
and of course the students showing up to do what they need to do too. >> What does is the continuing further education is that what that >> No continuing means they didn't graduate in four years. So like maybe they had to go like beyond to like an ALC or doing
something like that. >> And then yeah, the one unknown. I'm not sure. >> But um this is the second year in a row we've seen that that really high average. So our goal in our grant is 100%.
Some point, but hopefully we get there, right? I mean that's definitely that's our hope all around, but exciting. >> That's a great question. So the attendance is probably pretty strongly correlated to graduation rate, right? Can you identify anything specifically
that you guys have been working on that is contributing really highly to the attendance coming up? Anything specific that you would can call out that you know since you implemented X? I think it's really just building that
um that relationship with the student and actually letting them know that we do care and we do just building that strong bond with the student >> to go to school >> and the family and then if they're struggling with um how to get to school,
we figure out how to help them to get >> Sure. >> I can speak to that also. I have a 2024 grad and she would not have graduated without Ella at the high school. Seriously, she that's the only reason she wanted to
go some days. So, >> fantastic. I I think to you know the if you if you go back to the slide you don't need to go back to it but or maybe if you rewind you know the clock 10
years the presence um our our we didn't have a presence in every school. Um back to you know the the relationship piece we didn't have a presence in every school. have advocates
in every school getting to know kids that way and parents that way. And I think that matters a lot to have somebody in your building um that can relate to relate to you. >> And I think just that like ongoing
um evolution of the curriculum too throughout the program and like including the language, helping students feel seen and heard and know that like they matter and they're important in the buildings is really critical. So, just kind of a a snapshot at elementary programming and kind of like
just some rough numbers as the day I pulled this um to kind of give you an idea of how many students are at each each building. Um students at the elementary level are doing cultural groups. Jess, you want to talk a little bit about the curriculum and the update?
So on the side I also write curriculum and I look at our state standards and I have some awesome people that I work with. So what I went ahead and did was we were working at the seven grandfather teachings and that's the signage you see in the schools. That's what our programming goes on.
And so what we did to incorporate we indigenized our curriculum more this year and we practice one grandfather teaching each month. So we now have benchmarks for our students in our Indian education program. K2 will learn numbers one through eight in Oji way.
They'll learn the grand seven grandfather teaching animals the month. Um we do a cultural activity that's related not just a craft. We don't do crafts. We do things that are learning lessons in our culture.
Then we also take real life experiences with them. So like this past month it was the buffalo. So we actually had students go out and help scrape a buffalo hide and we do these in collaboration with like the luch tribal
college. So they're out there doing this kind of work. And so those real life pictures are actually in the curriculum that the students are learning about. And so they do weather in Oji way. They do their numbers. They do they can have
greetings. How are you doing? and the kids will respond and our advocates have a very short time to do this in like literally about 15 minutes to go through all of these. So, we're just working our curriculum through the seven grandfather teachings.
It's created by us and you can't just go someplace and order curriculum. You can't go someplace and order these awesome signage and that's you have to create it all. And that's what we've been working on.
>> I'd say just to kind of talk about that the timing barrier, I'd say that's kind of the thing that we run into the most is just like how do we get time with kids? I mean like with the requirements of the readact and like kind of the intervention schedule and the whatever else that kid needs for their academics,
it kind of um at times can leave us going, okay, when do we see this student? And then we have this like tension of families going why aren't you seeing our student and kind of just trying to figure out like what are some creative ways that we can still include students that are maybe receiving multiple services, you know,
whether it's through like experiential learning or, you know, coming to family nights, but also like it's very real that, you know, the kids in the elementary are their days are very tight. And so we've worked a lot with the principles on like when to find time, but it's still hard to find time
for some kids. And I think that's attention we're gonna continue to see as we're moving forward. >> Yeah, I would agree with that. I just want to say really quick that my son's in sixth grade, so he's in band. He's not in choir, but he also has reading intervention. So he has there I don't
there's no I don't know where to find the time for the Indian culture program. So like he won't get that. He got that. So he loved every minute of it. He loved the connection. He loved learning and at
this point in sixth grade. >> And so that's a gap that we're looking at to try to address of being since we are building up this culture in the early years starting in preK all the way up and then we have this
linkage that's breaking in sixth grade and then again from 8th to 9th. So from 8th to 9th we're losing probably about more than half of our students will not utilize Indiana at the high school level.
>> Oh sorry >> do we have the ability with with our graa to integrate any because it sounds like we've developed program that's pretty unique here. There any way we can leverage that into graa at all? I don't know. That's
something might be a way to enhance that outside spread that culture out to outside of our district. >> And so just last week we had our wild rice exhibition and normally we it's
like a freefor-all for teachers to sign up first and like no joke I get emails and text messages like weeks before saying hey when are you releasing the schedule? like when is this going to go out because you need to like shoot me a text. So, I mean they're right on it.
So, this year we we really switched up how to do that. So, we seen all of the fifth graders in ISC 318 and then we saw all of our program students. So, we opened it up to
to those groups over a threeday period. Yeah. because we can over a three-day period. And so they got to come in and see, do taste, all of that.
And same with like Sugar Bush coming up. And let me say, you guys have some awesome staff. Herald's from Deer River and was my kiddos teacher in Deer River. So me and him have this trading barter thing going on. So we'll be smoking fish out there in the next couple weeks.
because he's getting us fish. >> And so just opportunities like that where we'll get to pull in just extra classes or things on the side like that that all kids can learn from. But I think it was cool like we really we picked the
fifth grade because they're reading Birch Bark House um for their white wisdom like it. And so just like they're learning about racing and like in the next week they're going to like read about it, you know, as part of that. And so for the second grade, they also have the the American West unit and so have
um some native content. Some of the teachers have reached out just like, okay, how can we do Sugar Bush but also do more? And like they're really excited about that partnership. And so it's exciting to see kind of what what will happen and just thinking about that our students not only will get to come like with their with their program peers, but
also they get to come with their classmates. And so that's really cool too to know like, hey, my classmates knows what's going on here. Um just to bounce back, Erica, do you want to talk about middle school? >> Yes. Um so the middle school, the um
kids keep me running. I have kids from the moment I step foot inside the building to after 4. Sometimes I don't get out of there till close to 5 um just with the extra help. But um I have kids um all throughout the whole entire
hours. And um I really focus on um academics to try to close that achievement gap to really get them to make sure I check on missing assignments, current assignments, grades. I see all the testing. And these are the kids that I'm only allowed to
pull kids out of study halls. So a lot of our program students I don't get to see because there's there isn't that time to put in place um for them to come into my room. Um but I still tried to do
um our number it fluctuates. I think I was at like uh close to a hundred 100 students 106 I think last time I checked for the middle school. So um and I really tried to do um
look at like missing the grades. Um, and then I really try to teach them too on how to be vocal and reach out to the teachers and have that open communication to like if they have missing assignments, well, what can we do? And I try to push them to make that
initiative to talk to that teacher and then they will come back with me with what um what they plan to say and what they the result. Um and then we do um so I monitor that really every Tuesday I get on them for their missing
assignments and then um Thursdays we do a little bit of um culture. So it's anywhere from um that's when really when I incorporate some of the language um we do a lot of like commands um and then we
do like counting. So um most of them can count up um over 20. um they know the colors um pretty much. And I don't look at I don't do it as a like sit down and learn here's a piece of paper approach.
We do um I really make it like a hands-on fun thing to do so it really sticks in with them. And then um I try to open it up to well I do open it up to um all non non-native students also so
they get that exposure too on the native culture. And then we also do um bigger projects um at the middle school. So, I do I teach a lot of um like the cultural aspect, the beading, the birch bark. Um
the wood carving. Um what else? Um we do dream catchers. Um I have a kiddo working on um a boy snowshoes right now. Um what else? Top of my head.
So for in the month of November, we also do a we work with Grand Tessa Clinic and Hospital for Native American Heritage Month. So for the month of November in the display cases in the clinic, you'll notice 90% of that is middle school
work. And so we're actually going to go there tomorrow and fill them up. But that's all the work from her students showcase. in those four. >> Yeah. And then with each project there um there's that story that culture behind on why they made it and why they
picked that. Um since it's all through done storytelling >> at at any one point, how many students can you maybe have that you're working with like in your
>> so comfortably? >> Yeah. I guess, you know, you talked about 106 and it kind of varies. So, it's like >> I think there was one time I squeezed 30 30 some kids in my little tiny
classroom. It's hot. Um but yeah and then um I also take on the approach of instead of me doing um teaching each kid individually, I really have the students pick up that
aspect on how they can help me teach other students so they really get that in >> leadership going. And then um our big thing that we're gonna be working on coming soon is drop your mocks. So that's um we do a weekl
long thing um second week next week and right next week to 14th >> next week and so we really um so instead of like just coloring sheets um we take apart um brown paper bags and I soak
them and then I have them help me glue them together and then we actually make um like sturdy paper moccasins that I have um like I'll put display in the hallway and I make like a little path. So, and then we also have the um ma witch tree. So, I will go at in lunch
rooms um during the lunch hours and um cut out a leaf and then they put what what they're thankful for. And then so we usually have this great big huge like fall looking tree hanging up by my classroom. >> And the middle school is taking great
strides in welcoming culture and welcoming belonging. Um me and Mr. debate currently wrote an endowment grant to bring in some food aspects for the full school. So, we're going to look at some different kind of culture
through food. Who doesn't like that? But our middle school students, everyone participates when we do cultural activities like this, which is nice to see. I think um two things I just want to note. I think uh the space, yeah, we
need a bigger space. That's for sure. at the middle school. I know space is a premium everywhere and like for a lot of the projects that Erica is working on with students like you actually need space if you're going to sew like you can't just like have a desk right and so I think that's something that we've
we've been in conversation about with middle school but you know with people shifting rooms and doing things sometimes you know definitely something just to keep on the radar continually so that we can find some space um and also Erica's kind of shifted her schedule so on Mondays she can meet more
individually with students that have that need, which is really cool because some students need that more individual approach and I think that's really great. >> Um high school um similar to the middle school um students coming in either during study halls or
recharge time um recharge you know either for that 20 minutes or a study hall. Um it's about 94 students at the high school. Um doing very similar things kind of across the board. There's a culture lesson once a week, academic
focus, just making sure that kids are on track for for graduation. Of course, the credit piece kind of comes up at the high school level. And so just making sure kids are working on that. Um doing some different like post-secary field trips, having different, you know, speakers coming in from colleges. Um and
also we have a an elective credit class for students where they can um work on a project um and by doing different um activities and crossgenerational
learning they can earn a half a credit and so this semester we have six high school students and three ALC students. Um so definitely um lots going on there as well.
Um Big Fork. Um just kind of Kayle's been up there just she's been great just kind of running around and trying to make relationships and figure out how does their schedule work and where can you know she meet with kids. you know, I mean, it's very different going from a one grade level or like a grade band
classroom to K12 and kind of meeting the needs of everyone. And so, um, she's just really jumped in and just we're excited that we can make sure that Big Fork has the same experience as our students around our schools. >> So, stay tuned on more information about Big Fork as we continue.
>> This is the first year. >> Yeah. Well, it used to be like they like someone would go up like intermittently. So like some people would be assigned for a couple days or kind of here and there, but not someone like specifically designated like as their position. >> And she really jumped into this role. Um
she was um or she took over the um East Elementary while our other advocate was on out on maternity leave. And so she's really um bringing a lot of the um she has some really good ideas and um she
incorporating the language and how she just migrates that to um K through 12. She's she's really she's doing awesome up there making strides as well. >> Um again, the cultural learning area, I just put these these beautiful pictures
of a beautiful day. Unfortunately, it was really cold for everyone the last couple weeks, but um kind of like next steps with that. um we need water at the cultural site and so um Darren Churnney has been he's getting some quotes and
estimates from public utilities and like figuring out like how much it would cost so we could look see if there's any grants available somewhere or like try to find some funding so that we can have water. I mean so much so many of the activities that we have at the cultural site like water is really needed you
know for those things and so that's hopefully something by next year we could have a have a concrete plan for um focusing on our strate strategic directions. Um also this year um advocates and their principles are setting a joint goal for their building
to increase cultural knowledge and awareness. um something just really like positive and a way to kind of expand um even you know the principal's knowledge of what's going on in the program and kind of like continuing that partnership. So, we're excited to see what that looks like. Um and then just
continuing to support the the parent committee and helping them help us, I guess you can say. Anything else you want to add on this? I don't know if Anna
Megan if you want to say anything else about your experience as a parent or if there's anything you want to share. you have a parent comment >> I already did about you know like I think there's a little bit of a gap there you know when my son come from
fifth grade to sixth grade is you know he was making fried bread he didn't cohass it he was learning the language he was learning the grandfather teaching is gonna now it's gonna I don't it's going to be a gap'll be a
gap Um, one thing that I and I've never had a sixth grader at middle school, well I did for like a month as I foster, but um I when I was at the sixth grade band concert last year, I noticed they said they thanked the sixth grade teachers
for letting the kids out for band lessons once a week. And so I'm curious why they can't go to Indiana for a lesson once a week. So, I don't know who like how we look into that, but um it
just seems like if they can miss something for a band lesson, they should be able to miss something for a cultural lesson. >> As you can see, it's really important. >> Yeah. >> Attendance and the connection with
developing rapport, getting to know the families. You just don't want to just end it. And I feel like some kids probably drop off after they have that gap. >> And in high school, too, is important too.
Actually, it's get gets tougher in high school if you have any difficulties with reading or writing or school, social or good to have that you said.
And I know at the high school they can like my daughter would get a pass from her history teacher to go work in the Oji wayad room on an assignment or something. And I don't know if anything like that can be done at the middle or I
mean maybe they in sixth grade though. That's just what I'm thinking because I focused on the kids that are missing out. But >> the band lesson, I mean, that's pretty that's good. >> Right.
>> It's bugged me for a while, but when I was at the band concert, I was like, "Wait a second. >> Why is that okay?" >> Yeah. Because I've kind of had some other like ideas and stuff because I know we've chatted about this multiple times and like how students are both in
band and choir and so they alternate those days, right? So, how can we get those students and can they continue to alternate those days in order to come and get that coach out lesson for me? >> Then again, we run into the space of
no space, >> right? >> And >> yeah, >> ask more the marrier. I think one thing too, Erica had a great idea of exploring like could we use that
religious release time for some of the sixth grade to try to like loop them in for a longer chunk here or there. I know there's some definite parameters to that, but you know, could we get creative with with some time if we couldn't figure out another avenue because that's what every every other
week for and then they get just missed around Don't quote me on that. >> Enough time where we could >> chair David. I uh appreciate the report. I understand that you still have uh a
ways to go and I appreciate that. Uh I use this information. you have such a successful program and in statewide meetings I frequently uh reference the work that you all have been doing and uh uh you should be very proud uh of what
you've accomplished. I know you're still working on it but thank you for the work you've done so far. >> I have a quick question. So I think I asked this last year at the year this year at the state um school
board association training um we went to at the federal level, the state level, the district level, school level, there are many different names of what the programs are called between Indian ed, way Indian all the different things, right? And so culturally I just would
like to ask you what would you like us to call it? You know what I mean? Like there's so many levels and there's so many. So, and I know that every level has different, you know, historical context, but for Grand Rapids, what would you prefer to
call >> it is like the Inishabin program for 38? But I think like >> if you could just say, I mean, >> I can handle that one. Right.
I I mean I think that's >> I have no idea. That's why I'm asking the question. I mean >> to me it means the first people like >> does mean the first people in way is that am I saying that right
>> original >> I just think it'd be important >> that we get starting there just the >> well and some of us I'm not consistent about what I say either just because it used to be referred to as Indian ed and
so I sometimes just will say that too all the like the legal statutes it is Indian ed the grants and so >> I think sometimes interchangeable but >> like at the middle school I call your boy education >> yeah right >> so we're kind of clear across like we're
across the board too >> and I'm sitting in all these other meetings and it's Indian education to me >> but coming back and because I mean in our area here we have we have o we have soup we have paw I mean we have a huge
mixture. >> So to make the question Yeah. answer clear. >> Yeah. I think I think you know learning how to say an isnab you know it's great and if you reference it as great and if you call it Indian no one's going to be
mad you know and I think >> probably a good way to say it. Yeah. Yeah. But I think I mean my experience has been like the effort that I put into learning is appreciated. Even if I don't say it
perfect. >> Sure. >> There's like an acknowledgement of, you know, that guy's trying at least. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. I appreciate that.
Stand in front of the mirror. Keep saying it over. >> Matt's gonna make your recording and send it out. Well, so funny story about that. It's not There's probably It's probably in video somewhere. Sherwin, who I worked
with in Dear River, he recorded me. I can't remember why he did this to me, but he recorded he wanted to get a recording of me saying all kind like a three sentences. And the number of times he had to like keep repeating it over and over again
was just brutal. And I think I still messed it up really bad. So, I hope that video isn't out there anywhere. Jessica, don't you go >> reserve. >> So, to give you guys some background and some history to on our program, I mean, so me and Erica sit on the Minnesota
Indian Education Association board. Um, we're actually enrolled members of the Fondelac Reservation. So, we're really close with their RBC and they have these amazing programming that out there. like our chairperson runs this massive farm and does all this traditional stuff out there. So, we get opportunities to bring
our students there like when we want whatever we want to get done. I'm like they're doing everything from taking care of animals from the very beginning to the very end to doing this kind of stuff. We also sit in being on
the Minnesota Indian Education Association board. We also have these amazing people we've had on the board throughout Minnesota. We have our Dakota Lakota teachings. We got to go spend some time this summer down there in Shakape and learning new things that
that really are the exact opposite of how we grew up and learned. Um we also get so the tribal the tribal nations education committee is Tene and they're in the Indian education world there are
higherups. Um I got asked by T-neck to go to a training last week to go in and observe and basically train the trainer and give them advice how to change up some of the new things that they're doing.
So last week I got the some extreme learnings at a state and federal level from our Tene members and just getting different insights from around Minnesota through those members because they're in complete different board. They're an
appointed board from the tribal governments. So just being on these different areas within Minnesota and seeing our program progress, seeing that other people want things from our programming.
And then we also sit on a Native American leadership team for the North Foundation. This is that we have been doing this my third year out there. And so we're looking at restructuring the Indian education
programming in the seven counties in northern Minnesota and how that will look through for the state and federal levels. So we work close with state and with our tribal relations director and with our Minnesota Indian education
department all of them to really figure out how we want this restructure to happen. So our feelers are everywhere and when you talk about the Indian education program in Minnesota Grand Rapids is actually one of the top education program.
So now it's time to step up our game and add more language in, add more of our culture in, and being in the community we're in and these relationships we have within the community is very embracing. So for Native American Heritage Month this
month, we are working with Fire in the Village with which is Annie Humphrey's nonprofit that's in town across the art gallery, the Children's Museum, Grand Ita. Um, I have a nonprofit in Deer River called Aunt Auntie's House. And then
we're working with Minnesota North and they're hosting a lunch and learn and performers. So, we have all kinds of things that'll be available to our students, our staff, our whole community for the entire month.
>> More comments or questions? >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you very much for coming. Great presentation. >> What a great job. >> Thank you. Next item on the agenda,
student data indicator report. >> Good evening. Um what's coming around is our current enrollment. >> Sure. What do we say about font size? >> I'm sorry. Um so >> I was prepared tonight. >> Good. Good. Um
each week, Linda Larson, who is our um student information service coordinator, she handles the enrollments. Um she along with the secretary is the administrative assistants in the building and they get put into Infinite
Campus. And each week she sends an update on Friday of what our enrollment is. And when I tell you that our enrollment changes every single day, um that is that is the absolute truth. Every day our enrollment changes. Um
whether it be a student going from RJ Gems to Graa or from West out at district or um Big Fork to high school. Um our our enrollment changes every day. So this is as of um
Friday. This is butts and seats. This is students that we have enrolled in our school in our district. This includes graa on Friday we had 59 kids enrolled in grav.
I can tell you one drop today. So this is already you know not correct um as of today but this is where we are as of last Friday. Are we exit interviewing anyone that
needs crow right now? >> We have our our um sort of first quarter, if you will, satisfaction survey has gone out to high school and elementary uh check for parents and kids. So, we should have
some data that not specific. >> Yeah, just be a standard how are things going on. >> All right. >> So, this enrollment indicator report, jump in with any questions at any time
that you have. Um, this is prepared with assistance from Linda Larson. Um, she does a great job with our student enrollment. Um, she's very knowledgeable, um, when it comes to all things enrollment. Christina Landress is our teaching and learning admin
assistant and she um is also our home school lison. So from the middle of August to September 15th she is bombarded with homeschool purchases which you'll see coming up but she does a fantastic job. Sandy is the ad admin
assistant up in Big Fork. So she provides the big fork data and Christine Grover is at the high school this year. kindergarten. We currently have 204 kids enrolled in kindergarten. This is our lowest kindergarten class in quite a while.
Actually, I couldn't find one this low looking back in our history. Um we based our budget on 232 kids in kindergarten. And the disappointing um thing is uh probably in March,
even earlier than that, January when we started building the budget, we had over 300 potential kindergarteners that attend Grand Rapids. And right now we're sitting at 204. >> So we're third, right?
>> 300. >> Yep. >> This is our October enrollment. And this number is very important because this is a number that a lot of our aids are based on. is the October 1 enrollment. Um, again, this is kids in seats. Um,
this is not weighted for anything. If a kid is here on October 1st, they count as one regardless of if they're in high school or if they're in BPK or ECSE, early childhood special ed. Um, right now our October enrollment is 3,864.
This number will likely not change unless there are errors in a system. And what that would be is if a kid transferred on the first in or out, we may have a disagreement in the system with another school which will get resolved. But you can see how this breaks out
between um the the secondary and the primary grades. This is three years of our kids enrollment. Um you can see it 25 26 um not really the highest in any of the grades. It's kind
of interesting to see how they progress throughout the years. Um interestingly our early childhood this is our early childhood special ed. So these are kids four and under who are receiving special ed services and this is the highest of the three
years. Um and VPK is also the highest of the three years. what happened. Um, two years ago, the state awarded Grand Rapids 58 seats in voluntary prek at West. And prior to that, the only BP BPK
seats we had were in Big Fork. We had 13 seats. Even though um, early edge invest early was offering BPK. We were educating the kids. We weren't getting the aid from the state for those. So now our kids are classified as voluntary prek. We are we are full. Um, so we're
getting the aid for those kids. This is our October count again. Um, and again, this is extremely important because the other thing about our October 1 count is we look at our free and reduced students. And what that does
is it helps um determine some of our aids. And the biggest of those is our compensatory aid. Compensatory aid the last two years has been right around $4 million. And that's based on um the rate of our free and reduced kids to our
total population. Two years ago, our percentage was 48%. This year, as of Friday, our percentage was 38%. How this is determined is students are
either directly certified, so their family is receiving some sort of benefit like Medicaid or SNAP, food stamps, um or um the kids fill out what's called the educational benefit form. They turn it in, the parents self-certify that
this is my income, this is where my kids fall. We need to collect more of those forms to get an accurate um picture of our enrollment. and maybe our enrollment has dropped to this percentage in the reduced classifications but um
I don't know that that is the truth we our compensatory aid is based on this this calculation also our rate funding is also based on this calculation These are our elementary sections and
our elementary grade sizes for the past five years. This year, the fifth grade um which has has been big all the way through um has an average class size of 29.1. I know we
can't have 0.1 kids, but for math purposes, this is how it plays out. We have 60 sections right now AC across Cohasset, East, West, and Big Fork. Um, which is the lowest we have had in the past five years. Um,
we're down two sections from last year. And if you remember when we were budgeting, we had budgeted um only a reduction in one, but then our kindergarten class, we saw those students um being signed up elsewhere, going to non-public um being held back.
Um, so we reduced another kindergarten section. >> We did that, didn't we? Cara do that. We reduced that kindergarten section after the budget was adopted. >> Yeah. >> So, we did I know Cara said we budgeted for 230.
We did adjust make an adjustment that we could make in the summer by eliminating the K section. We had the opportunity to help offset the fact that we were going to be over. >> These are the grade levels of our graa
kids. Um not as many in the kindergart in the elementary classes. Um more in the secondary classes. As of October 22nd, we had 58 kids enrolled in Grava. Last year at the high school um we
started at October 1st with 1116 students. 118 of those withdrew from the high school. We had 127 move in after October 1st. We graduated 251 and we ended
with,045. And at the bottom you can see why the students left. Um and the majority of the kids in grades 11 and 12 that other um is likely students going to our ALC.
So we kept them within the district. They were able to still take classes here. They just weren't taking them at the high school. This is Big Fork 9 through 12. Um at October 1st they had 72 kids enrolled. Um four withdrew
two were added. Um we graduated 21 kids in Bport. This is our district with our crazy um boundaries. We um we neighbor 11 district 11 districts. So
that leads to a lot of open enrollment. This is our open enrollment for the past 10 years. This past year 2425 um we had the lowest net gain of any of the years shown. We had 101 net gain
in 23 24. Our net gain was 164 students. In fiscal year 1920, we had a net gain of 217. And 1920 was the year CO started. And what also started
when CO happened was a lot of online schools. So since then we have been losing students to online schools and that is why our gain has been decreasing. It's very easy for students to live in our district and take classes
elsewhere online. The bottom the green are charter schools and we have one charter school located within our district and that's in Warva Northern Lights. Um and then the rest of those charter schools are
online schools. In the other districts, we also have kids taking online classes there. And then the tuition out are students that are put in care and treatment. So we keep those kids on our roles, but we pay for them. We get a bill from the
district just like our kids at IEC. Most of them are not on our roles. Um but we bill the resident districts for their care and treatment costs. This doesn't include any kids that leave to go to um our non-public schools or
schools. These are the top five schools that we lose lose students to and that we gain students from. So, um Greenway for Greenway, we gained almost 500 students last year and we lost 207. So we netted
292 of Greenway's um students. Dear River, we ke we we netted 17 and Hill City. We lost 19 students over Texas city. But you can see the top five. Minnesota transitions is a charter school online
that we lose 76 students. This year we have 567 resident students who are attending non-public schools or being homeschooled. You can see how they have changed over the years at the bottom the past three
years. Um Lighthouse Academy started during CO and has more than doubled in the past two years. Lakes Academy started in fiscal year 23 and this year they enrolled all of their
secondary students in our draa. So um all the kids in secondary are now enrolled in Grand Rapids through our online program. How many of the How many of >> I don't >> with the homeschool and why Christina is
so busy is um the state has a program and it was something that was up for discussion this year in the legislature. Um homeschool families, homesooled children are allowed these different allowances, these different rates. So,
if you homeschool your children or if your children go to a non-public school, you can get $132.98 for supplies for educational supplies. And there's a list of allowable items. Get 395 students
who need to place orders through 318 or submit their receipts and then 318 will reimburse those families. So when you look at that number, that really doesn't account for admin costs. >> No, it's not.
>> It's just straight >> cost of that. Really doesn't count. >> Yep. Yep. And they have families have until September 15th to submit their their data for us to get reimbured for it. The health services um we provide um
a nurse one day a week at St. Joe's and St. Joe's is the only um school right now that takes advantage of this health service um allowance. So we 318 gets the money, we pay for the nurse, the nurse goes over to St. Joe's
one day a week. There's also a secondary guidance service, but no one takes advantage of that. That's all I have right now. Do you have any questions? >> Very well done. Thank you. >> Kindergarten numbers are a little
concerning and first grade. >> I uh was on call today with the state demographer and um she had a graph she had a graph of statewide
17 year olds down to like one year olds and a look like this, male and female. Like it was there's way less little kids and she said for the first time in the history of our state she's aware of or can
access data there are more people 65 and older than school age kids. So our state has a fertility rate of 1.7 kids per family. 2.1 is
maintaining um she said our whole country actually there's not a state that's got two so it's just an incredible trend and actually not just in uh America it's most countries that
we're used to hearing about population they're kind of experience the same thing so it's a it's a it's a trend and you know think You look at
the number of sections we had during COVID, you know, we had we were running five sections of each. No, we're running 10 sections of each grade level just at east and west. So, we were
running 12 13 sections. No, more than that. 10 and then two 13 sections. Yeah. Um across the board. Now we're down 10. Um, so 15
15 sections. We've got 16 sections to try to stay right sized as much as we can, but we're going to need to continue to do it. part of the
when we eliminated that K section. It was another example of why going to our grade level buildings was really important. We wouldn't have been able to cut a section this summer if we weren't grade level buildings. Well, could have, but we would have had to tell families
in the middle of summer, oh yeah, Susie's going to heat down instead of west or it would have been, you know, big class size or whatever. >> Yeah, it would have been so structurally that way we're in better
spot than we were before, but there's still some challenges ahead. I I think part of what you know we're seeing too and I I you know we've talked about this with online it's a thing we've demonstrated that there's a need
um and part of what I think we need to do is lean into that. Um our homeschool number is down this year. I think that's part of that. there's still 70ome kids at Minnesota transitions.
Um, and so that's the one. We don't have a lot of levers to move. >> That's one of the levers that we could move. And I think we need to lean into that. And, you know, I think if we're going to do
that, we're going to need to look at how we're staffed administratively, have some somebody who's getting up every day thinking about online learning if we're going to really do that. So you can expect to see that recommendation from me at some point
for the kids that are going to Minnesota transitions. We must have their information who they are. Have we already reached out to them to share fact that hey? >> Yeah, I know that Andy made a made personal phone calls this this last
summer and I think it's something that we can kind of circle back to. Part of what I think these surveys will be helpful with is and we didn't advertise really hard. Um,
but I also know that in looking through materials from other districts that have been down this road, um, they're they're publishing information when they get data about how things are going. So if we are successful,
uh I think it creates an opportunity to publicize the program and maybe draw in some more of those folks that have gotten comfortable with what they're doing and maybe waiting to see how it will go.
Car, I can't help but ask this question, but do you have any sort of predictions in terms of how this is going to budget to Tom's point last
>> we um we purchase the the birth records every quarter for my task county. So, we know kids that are born in this county that would um attend our school. So, we track kids from the minute they're born.
Um we what we don't know is if they move out or families that move in. So, that's part of the 300. We thought 300 back in January. Um we can't keep families from going to our nonp >> Okay. Okay. So that 300 is based on
birth records six years old >> birth records and Yep. what we know if if a family moves in and they they bring a little we know about that little and we we recognize that kid in our system. >> Yeah. Yeah. But >> but we could have lost 50 of them just
because their parents lost a job and they were not >> right here and they would know that stat. We would we lose that information. >> We lose it if they had the stat. Yeah, if they don't have a kid that's older that's already in school. So, if that
family moves, then we know about that. >> It also includes all kids that are kid kindergarten eligible. Not necessarily. >> Not all those parents are going to send their kindergarter that year. >> Yeah, sure. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's just based on age
bottom line, right? >> It's not they're born on date. But it was I mean I would say as much as all those are factors I I would say that I don't know that I remember seeing that big of a difference between
the number of kids that we could see and the number that we ended up seeing. you know, we always have a number that's bigger than than we end up seeing, but not 65% of what we saw January. I don't
really we've seen that big change. You know, we see you go back to the comment changes every week, right? my mind when I think about that. So, are are these are is there a is there a real
low percentage that's just bouncing back and forth and all over? I mean, can we see one student that might be in and out three times in a year or is it or so? So, when we see those bouncing
numbers, it's really maybe 5% of the student population. They're just bouncing all over and kind of get lost in the system for lack of better term. >> Those kids that leave, come back, leave, come back. Those are definitely the
exception. We don't have a real a lot of those. You know, it's the families that are moving that are the hardest. They'll have multiple kids. And you know that at the
at the end of the day, this is one of the things that makes this really hard to budget. Makes the job really hard, right? We don't know the the two biggest factors and I've said this before a million times. Two
biggest factors affecting our our revenue uh are how many kids we have and the states you know the state gives us per kid. We enter every other year not knowing one really almost every year not knowing one uh what the state's doing and for
sure every single year not knowing the other one. So, two biggest factors and that's two of our biggest unknowns >> and we're paid on the average. So, Linda's giving us every week, you know, where kids in seeds, right? So, when
January, I ask her to start giving me the average. Give me the average because that's what we're paid on. So, if a kid is here the entire year, they're one. If they're here half a year, they're a five. So, you know, the the change becomes a lot smaller the further they
into the year. So, we'reing numbers. >> Any uh further comments or questions? Is there any other business come before the board? None. We're ajourned.
Thank you. >> Thanks, Carol. Yeah. [Music] Are there states that I'm just wonderidend Well, certainly some states have an easier formula to fill.
>> Yeah. >> All right. I think our terra how long's uh what's ours like 42 pages or something like that?