food service indicator report. Thanks for coming, Paulie. Well, thank you for including our department on the agenda. Um, I'm Paulie Podpescer, the dietician
and director of the food and nutrition program. And this year's indicator report outlines a very robust year that the food and nutrition department is
having. And it also will reveal how the culture in our department informs the operation. And I'm mentioning that early on because um you should really note that the food
and nutrition staff is required to do breakfast and lunch, but they do breakfast and lunch and snacks and catering and uh to the tune of 600,000 meals.
So for curiosity, I divided that out to see how long it would take a family of four to serve 600,000. We'd be really old. All right. So, legislation is still in
place that allows um all of the students um to receive a nutritious breakfast and a nutritious lunch free of charge regardless of their ability to
pay. The change in legislation occurred a little over a year ago. And when that changed, our participants and families responded positively right off the bat.
And on year one of the change, which was a year ago, we served 30,000 more breakfasts than normal and 55,000 more lunches than uh a normal average year.
So the program was very positive with the families and if the paid participants who were now getting the meals free of charge um were charged the families would have
been spending um $800 or so per child a year. So that was quite a savings and um they're very appreciative of that. It's important to note that there is no
charge to the families and there's no charge to the school district. The meals are paid for through state and federal reimbursements. So, it's really nice. The kids can move through the line without worrying if they have money in
their hand or money in their account. They can just pick something colorful and nutritious and go past the cashier. be counted and uh just very nice and positive
upgrade. The food and nutrition program also known as fund two operates within a $2 million budget and it's actually upwards of 2 million uh closing
in on three million. So every penny that we spend, we have to be creative about recovering because it's really important uh for our department to balance the budget and not rely on revenue from
other sources. And the sources that we do rely on are federal reimbursements, state reimbursements, and um local dollars that are spent in the food and nutrition department. The Department of Ed
requires our department to have a threemonth operating balance, and we do have that. It's healthy. it's actually greater than 3 months and we're in line uh to balance the budget this
year. So, we have 35 talented individuals um employed in the food and nutrition department and their shared values and practices influence how the department
operates. They affect decision making a higher level of service and they help uh determine overall strategies to um provide nutritious meals. Do something that the students are interested in. Um come up with a
menu that's affordable. And I'm not exaggerating when I say a week doesn't go by where one of the staff um doesn't come in and say we should try this or what if we do this instead of
that. It's constant and it it's very positive for our department. So the food service employees, they start their day really early. They work in front of hot ovens and steamy dish machines and yet they
return year after year. And I use that as a benchmark to determine if we are offering the employees something that they appreciate in a uh work environment.
So, I thought you would think it was interesting to know that 53% of the food service department has worked for the department six years or longer. Wow. And that is a pretty strong number and it's
really important to us because we don't have a large pool of applicants or people who are clamoring to come in and go to work. So, um, I try really hard,
uh, to appeal to what it is that's important to them as moms and grandmas and dads and new dads. We have a a young man that's working with us who um, has a brand new baby. So, they have a lot
going on outside of work as you do and is normal and typical. But the reason I'm mentioning that is they're also very willing to come in and do extra work so that the we
can generate additional revenue and balance our budget. One of our employees has worked over 30 years followed by a 29-year employee and up in Big Fork a 14-year employee. So it it tells me something
when I use that as a benchmark. They like serving the kids and they know this is a great place to work. So we get a lot from those employees and
um I think they feel that they get a lot too. So these 35 individuals prepare about 600,000 meals. And our flagship program is our school lunch
program. This year we will serve over 400,000 school lunches and 150,000 school breakfasts, which is 7,000 more meals than last year. And last year, I said early on, um, all
told, we served 85,000 more than the year before. So those are huge, huge numbers. Um, in addition to that, the staff prepares thousands of dinners, thousands of snacks for the Boys and
Girls Club, and snacks, thousands of them for the learning academy. uh 5,000 breakfasts and 8,400 summer food service lunches. So, um that kitchen cranks out a lot of food with
those indiv. Last year, we added a goal to our work experience program and that goal was continuity. So, in line with that goal,
we hired the student worker who was working with our program, graduated, and is now working with Quest. Um, we hired him back for another
year and now he's working without an ESP and his he has gained work skills. He can work independently and our goal was to help a student prepare for future
employment. Uh we worked with a special needs department in uh determining who that individual would be and everybody is just crazy about him. I recently met with Bill Braun from Quest and the
students mother. Um, I was happy to tell them how far he's come with his work skills and also that I wouldn't discount the possibility of him responding to a posting in the future and being able to
uh perform as a young adult um outside of the Quest program. We recently held our summer food service meeting. So that meeting is all of the planning and the state and
federal requirements for offering a summer food service program. It's a large program and at this meeting we had the YMCA camp, learning academy, the Boys and Girls Club, Extended School Year ALC, Kinder
Camp, and Big Fork ALC. The summer food service is convenient and it's also uh nice to know that the area students have access to food, breakfast and lunch
um five days a week. We advertise in the newspaper and we also advertise in the um doorways of the buildings where the service is offered.
So, just in case you didn't think the food service employees worked hard enough, uh, in addition to all of that, they serve thousands um of meals.
They cater they cater to educational programs and individuals, community events, and a month ago they just prepared several hundred meals for Lake Country Powers annual meeting. And that involved afternoons
and evenings of work. And it was the same people that I mentioned earlier who were willing to sign up and um help produce and serve the meals for Lake Country
Power. Last month they did 800 meals for the children's fair, 150 meals for the IASK Prom with Purpose, and in addition to that, they
do about 30,000 catered meals to Early Edge, the Little Red Wagon Daycare, and the YMCA. So, why are we doing that? Certainly, uh, mutually beneficial. Those programs receive
um affordable nutritious meals and the school district receives an important source of funding for fun too. Uh this year students were happy to try some new menu items. They had
blueberry crisp and naan. That's um it's like a soft cracker bread. If you're not sure what that is, they had baked potatoes with chili.
And secondary students enjoy orange chicken, chicken bernet, burritos made from scratch, pasties made from scratch, mega meatballs, and stromboli. They also enjoyed locally
sourced Whoa. Wow. Did you do that to me? Locally sourced apples, sweet tango, and um honey
crisp. That was from our farmers market hub. And they also had delicata squash. So, uh, one question that comes up a lot is, if everybody gets a meal free of charge, why do families still have to
complete free and reduced applications? And the answer to that is when we um apply for reimbursements to pay for the meals, we have to give the number of
students who qualify for paid free or reduced meals. And then we receive different levels of funding depending on the payment types. And then the funding comes from different state or federal sources depending on the payment type.
So that's why it's important to us. And normally that number is used by business services um to determine funding levels for compensatory revenue
uh -ate title programs. Normally, when a high number of free and reduced applications are processed and approved as free and reduced, the district receives a higher level of funding. But this year, they used a
different number and that was all categorical uh didn't pan out real well for the school district and the programs that rely on that funding. But the good news is they're looking at a different
formula. So hopefully that will improve for next year. This slide shows a breakdown by building of enrollment and student payment types. It also includes the um so paid, free, and reduced. You can
see the building with the highest amount of free and reduced, the lowest, and everybody in between. And the first two on this slide are the highest and the lowest. We did. Can I ask you a quick question
about this? Sure. Uh so as you have it laid out here in free, reduce and paid, is that indicating that these people are still paying or is that what they would have been classified had they not been free? Um they are not paying. Um
everyone, all of the students have to be offered one breakfast and one lunch every day free of charge regardless of their income. But we have to determine if they would have been free, if they
would have been reduced or if they would have been paid. Because when we take the numbers uh that we serve during a month, that's how we're paid. X number of free, X number of reduced, X number of paid.
So, nobody pays unless they're having a second meal. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. The um next slide is exactly the same as the previous page, just a longer
timeline. So, it's interesting to look at aggregate data over a 10-year period to see the trends and help figure out why that trending level occurred. So if
you look at the current year 2425 you see that we had 1,265 students approved free and that's lower than the previous year
that is not uh positive. Okay. So when we see something like that, we want to do a deeper dive and uh try and understand why something like that would
occur. And if you look down to um 20 and 21 22, it's far lower. And we all know what happened during those years. COVID. If you look further back than
that, the numbers are fairly constant. So, the next slide is similar to the previous two slides. Um, it replaces enrollment with breakfast and lunch
service. So, this year we're just projecting that number. We always come remarkably close, but that's where we will end up this year.
Um, this tells us that participation increased significantly in the past two years, and that's because of the change in legislation that allowed all students to
eat free of charge. That's really a positive number because uh we rely on economies of scale. The more students that eat, the more likely it is that we will break even. The educational benefits trended
downward during the 2122 school year and increased in 2223 and then decrease this year. And we suspect that the decrease in ED benefit applications was because families didn't
have to complete an application to participate in free school meals. During the 21-22 school year, families didn't have to apply for benefits because of COVID regulations and that affected that
approved number as well. And then the last slide is um it's information for the board because of the makeup of the board. There are enough new members that
I thought I should include a little more information and um I'll just run through a few of the high points. So our program is administered by USDA. That's a
federal program. USDA oversees the Department of Ed. That's of course the state program. So it's administered for us on the state level through the Department of Ed. And
the school district operates the program through agreements with the department. and it's very prescriptive and to make sure that we're doing it right, they show up once every five years and they do a very detailed
um review and that is scheduled for next year right after I resign. Um so next year we have a very detailed review of the program and what happens there is they find good things and bad
things. They audit the program. If we exceed error tolerance levels they take money away from us meaning if we don't have the right meal pattern on the menu. If the students aren't taking what they're required to take, uh they add it
all up and take it all away. So, it's very important uh for the staff to follow the directions even though they might not seem like common sense in some
instances. For example, ensuring that all students have a fruit or vegetable on their tray. Even if they throw it directly in the garbage right after they get past you, you still have to put it on the tray. So,
Um, in addition to our cash reimbursements from the feds and from the state, we receive USDA commodities. And uh, this year we surveyed 50,000, no we didn't. We
surveyed $200,000 worth of USDA commodities for next year. Um the commodities are available from surplus stocks through
uh the federal program USDA commodity program. This year, our department um surveyed or ordered for next year
$50,000 worth of fresh produce from the Department of Defense. I know Matt's going like this. It just seems like a really unusual um place to order fruits and
vegetables, but that is a program that's offered through the commodity program and not everybody uses that option, but it's really nice. They come to the school district once a week and drop off
um at East, West, uh the high school, the middle school. The high school takes enough for the schools that they don't go to. And there we have $50,000 worth
of fruit that costs us 23 cents on the dollar. So, it's a huge savings. um schools that are doing everything right and following a menu that follows
the requirements. Um that would be us. We get an extra 9 cents for every meal that we serve. So you not only get penalized if you do it wrong, but you get rewarded
if you do it right. We receive reimbursements for afterchool snack programs and we have to keep production records and a real clean audit trail. And that's about
it. What questions do you have? Anybody go ahead David? Uh Paulie uh thank you for this report. Oh you're welcome. I'm very very impressed and uh I have seen personally uh the effect
that having uh proper nutrition for our students makes uh in our students. Uh they learn better. They're they're more engaged in this. So, thank you for that contribution to our Well, you're welcome. And I have to agree with you
there. Studies show that it helps improvement and behavior. I mean, attendance and behavior. So, y Pauly, I had a few questions here. Um, and and I think you kind of answered
one. Um, with your your bonus of 9 cents per meal, I assume then that we get paid a flat rate per meal from from the state. Is that kind of how you keep track of meals and that's how we get compensated from the state?
The the end all answer to that is yes, but it would depend on the payment type. And then part of that reimbursement is state part a larger part of it is federal.
Yeah. But but the way the compensation package comes is it's based on meals or or a rate per meal. Yes. Served. Okay. And that's why again the economies of scale is so important to us to make sure
we attract large numbers of students for breakfast and lunch. Um when when you talked about um at this point the state has stepped in and said they're going to provide meals for lunch and and breakfast.
correct is the way the policy is or the um so really when you're talking about additional funding anywhere that you need to seek that um you create some of it through the catering services but obviously we're not getting refunded for that at all so we bill out completely
for that right correct um and then what else are we trying to where where's our loss that we're trying to recover from you talked about other sources we serve snacks or things like
that. Is that what we're trying to Yes. In order to balance everything? Yep. Every single uh breakfast, lunch, snack or catered event um is done partly to help a
need. I'll just give you an example. Melanie Debbay will send an email and say, "Is there any chance that we could find a program to provide snacks at East after school?" We try
really hard to do that. Um, so those kids can have a an affordable, nutritious snack. and it's done then secondary but almost as
important is a way to help pay for everything. So we ma maximize uh all of the coolers, all of the freezers, all of the ovens, just keep things going as much as possible and
turn the inventory around and do it again. So, thank you. That's all I had. Okay. Anybody else? Just one really quick thing. I know we're on time here. Um, I volunteered at
the uh children's children's fair um a couple weeks ago and firsthand saw um it I imagined as we were loading trays and trays and trays and trays and trays of sandwiches that it must have taken a minute to make all of those. So, thank
you for your whole team in putting those together. I know that everybody was pretty excited to get a lunch that day. Well, that's really nice for sure. And that that um was a situation where we expected that we might get that
phone call. And so we were preparing the schedule and then we heard from Melanie Melody and or Melanie rather and she said I don't think we're going to be able to do that this year. And then they got funding and then so the timeline was
really tight but we got it done and yes there were 800 all told meals so and they all every single one of them left so thank you for that. Nice. Good. Yeah. Good.
Thanks Paulie. All right. Thank you. Uh at this at this time we're going to adjourn the workshop. We'll come back into session for the board meeting in just a minute. [Music] Was there she left?
Was she there? She was popped. Yeah. And then she left. Is Melissa there? Okay. Okay. At this time, we're going to call the uh regular meeting of the school board to order. Please stand for the pledge.
I pledge allegiance 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. First item on the agenda tonight is
approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion? So moved. Moved by Ashley. Second David. Second by David. Is there discussion? Hearing none. Uh Julie is Melissa on. She she is not. So we can just take a
regular vote. Um all in favor approving the agenda, please say I. I opposed. Agenda is approved. Next item on the agenda, principal report. Sean
Martinson, West Rapids Elementary. Spelling that on my computer. Julie and I are going to kind of work in tandem here. Uh my name is Sean Martinson. Uh this is the the end of my 15th year in the school district. I'm going to talk to you a little bit tonight about West Rapids Elementary
School. If you remember in the fall, first of all, really good memory. But if you remember in the fall, I talked um probably targeted more toward the new board members about some things that elementary schools do. Now, tonight I'm going to do a really bad job of trying to
explain what it's like for the teachers this year and for the staff and the schools. There there's just there's no possible way I can if you gave me a whole day, I couldn't tell you everything that gets done in a school day. If I gave you 15 years, you
literally have to live and breathe it every day to understand like everything that an elementary school teacher does or an elementary staff member. I say teacher, but in my world that's pair of professionals, cooks, custodians, office staff, that's bus drivers. That's everybody. And the reason I preface it that way to the beginning is I'm not
here to talk for any other group. Just West tonight. So, if you mind going to the next one, Julie, I'll come up with really cool non-verbal. Just don't confuse it with my ticks. So, we opened a new school this year. So, if you ask, you know, what did West
Elementary do this do this year? We opened a new school. We opened a new school. It's a K2 building. And we have a a third and fifth grade. There's an asterk there because I'm not leaving out Coasset. I'm not leaving out Big Fork. In my world, we opened up a new K2 school. Next one,
Julie. And we did a few other things, too. And I'm only going to show you a few of the other things that we've been working on this year. if you don't mind going to the next one. I won't read all of these to you. They're here for your reference later. One of we've had many lifts. You know,
there's it's it's a big lift. We've got a whole bunch of big lifts going on in the elementary this year. So, the next full or handful of slides talk about some of the things like the what like what have you been doing this year? One of the things our building has been participating in is carry all. It's a
training through the University of Minnesota. It meets part of the requirements of the read act. It talks about the science of reading. It's asynchronous. It's synchronous. It's a fancy way of saying we have in-person work and we have do it on your own work with the exception of maybe a
couple that still have a few things to do. We're up through eight modules. If you can go to the next one, Julie, this week we end our eighth module, which if you read on the right, it tells you the different modules that we've gone through this year. But our staff has been engaged in a year-long
research-based literacy training program, deepening our understanding of the effective reading instruction through a mix of self-paced, you know, in person and and on your own. Next one, Julie. So, now I jump into Whit and Wisdom and I spent like 30 seconds on
the carry all slide. if you've been following that at all, that's a whole session, probably multiple sessions for you guys alone. So, Whit and Wisdom is another big lift that we've been working on this year. So, Whit and Wisdom would be like the what, like what are you teaching during literacy? This is Readact Align
program. It supports structured literacy and tier one instruction. So tier one, what your child does in the classroom every day for all kids, focusing on vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, writing, and again meeting the requirements of a high quality
evidence-based program through the ReadAct. Mind doing the next one, Julie? Some year one highlights. So this is the first year. It's not the first year that we've talked about it, but this is the first year that we've been implementing it in our classrooms and it supports the Minnesota Read Act. Mind
going to the next one, Julie? In my world, we use the word or the term year one. So, what is a teacher in our district? Sorry, not district. What's a teacher at West being asked to do in year one? The focus of this year has been
learning that new curriculum, not the mastery, but just the foundational use. What is this program? What are we supposed to do? We have and those words that you see in that first bulleted point, teach lessons as written with minimal outside resources. That's been
shared over and over again. Just do the lesson as it is. Trust trust the program. Go through year one before you make any major adaptions or adaptations. Follow the pacing guide. Use the curriculum materials. Basically, develop an understanding of what the lessons are, how they're structured, and build
over time and ask questions and reflect throughout the year. There's been built-in checkpoints all throughout the year. If I don't I probably won't say it a lot tonight. Early outs. Early outs have been whatever fancy term you want to
use. Had we not had that, I could leak I could look each one of you in the eye and say we wouldn't have had the time during the day to work on this. You've probably been following our sub shortage. Outside of the early outs on Wednesday, there's no other predictable time. We did have a grade level meeting
this year. I participated with the kindergarten group. It's the first time since precoid where the and that's five years ago. The first time in five years where the entire grade level was pulled during the school day. The difference between now and 15 years ago is 15 years
ago any building could do this. Any grade level could do it. And it really wasn't it really wasn't a big deal. We can't do that anymore without talking to the entire district because if I for example run something at Wester, I get it covered. it's at the expense of everywhere else. If Jill runs something
at East, it's at the expense of guest teachers elsewhere. So to say that collaboration has become important would be an understatement. Mind going to the next one. So what are we doing in year one
with Witten Wisdom? So again, this is our literacy program. We're participating in ongoing professional development, early outs workshops. Carol Cop has been pulling teachers after school, which has been really nice to see teachers sitting down and working together either in departments or just
programming preparing and delivering modules one through three. You see one through three, yeah, it's an entire year. Um, if you haven't had a chance to look what's in a module, it's a considerable amount of content. I know most of you probably were able to do some of the walkthroughs to say anything
other than it's unbelievable. Like you don't leave those training or you don't leave those walkthroughs and not say, "Oh my gosh, that's what they do every day." Every day, 170 plus days. I think I told the group that came to West because I got a little bit passionate. You don't just walk in off
the street and do what our staff does. That's not what we do. They make it look extremely easy. I mean, you probably walked in and heard some of the discussions they were having about the topics. Yeah. That's every day. And they're seven years old. It's unbelievable. So, we're planning our lesson preparation protocols, understanding how
to implement units. We're receiving regular support through walkthroughs, planning time, and team discussions. I wish there was more, but the reality is that's where we're at right now without those early outs without some other built-in components. It's just the time wouldn't be there. How our schedule how
our schedule is built at West, think of it like an A group and a B group or a one and a two group. the kindergarten group, they have common preps in two groups, meaning half the half the team could meet at this time and half the team could meet at this time because of the size of the structures. We can't
pull the whole team at the same time and giving feedback to guide adjustments into year two and beyond. Year two and beyond, it's not a brand new learning year, but it is much again of like let's just keep going, keep learning, um, and keep doing. Am I doing the next
one? So, FRAB bridge. So, I talked just a little bit about like the what we do. Well, how do we know? And I'll show you some data in a little bit that I I don't know if you know me very well. I don't I don't shout from the rooftops. There's going to be some data in here that you're going to want to take a mental snapshot and maybe look at
what Julie shares, but we'll get there in a second. Um, so what is FastBridge? So, FastBridge is the tool that we it's one of the tools we use to say, well, is what we're doing effective? So for kindergarten and first grader, it would be an adult assessing the child. Second
grade, it would be an adaptive test that they take. Go to the next one, Julie. So for kindergarten and first grade, we have what's called the early reading. We have this for math. We have this for um social emotional, but specifically just for tonight, let's just talk about literacy. So we have the
early reading component. So early reading is the assessment for kindergarten and first grade. It looks at letter names and sounds, blending sounds, reading simple words and sentences, and understanding what they read. So, you go to the next one, Julie. From that assessment, they get what's
called a composite score. I'll say composite score for second grade, but they have a fancier name for it. But what's so what's the early reading composite score? If you look to the right side and kind of that gray, those are the composits. That's what the composite score could
include. But if and it's really small at the bottom. They don't do that every time. and they do three or four of those at each assessment. So, this is what combines their scores to say, here's your from these categories, this is your overall score. Go to the next one,
Julie. So, green is good. You don't have time to really dig too deep, but when you look through these, these are the last three years of West Elementary School. Keep in mind the first two columns, that was when we had K5. So the numbers in the third column should overall they should be larger
because it's a bigger school. So these charts show students reading risks each spring for the last three years. And for both kindergarten and grade 1, we've seen more students reaching low risk. So there there's not a no- risk category. The best is low risk. We've seen more students reaching lowrisk status,
meaning more are meeting grade level reading goals, and the high-risisk numbers have declined, showing that our instruction and the support are making a difference. So, I looked at this one and this is just a spring score. And in my seat, I knew it didn't tell the full story. And
part of it was because I looked at the greens and went 72 to 118. We have more kids. If you look at these, if you go to the next one, sorry, Julie, this chart, although smaller, each of those two is a year. So, it goes fall to spring, fall to spring, fall to spring. The top is
kindergarten, the bottom is first grade. So the chart shows how kindergarten and first grade students have progressed in reading skill levels from fall to spring over the past three years. If you look at the last two boxes on the right. So the top kindergarten. So this is this
year fall and spring. This is first grade fall and spring. The last slide that I showed you just showed you the total numbers, but it didn't show you the percentage shift of where they started the year to where they finished the year. So for 2425,
we're seeing a strong movement from the high risk and some risk to the low risk. And again, I said there isn't a no- risk category. We want them to move up into the green. Um especially in kindergarten, we're seeing a big shift. So, if you were to say which kids were at low risk, which means that they would
mean need should need minimal support to stay on track. First grade or sorry, kindergarten was I can barely even see it like 70%. And first grade was close. I'll put my cheaters
on. It's like 70% and 65% of our kids leaving those grades onto the next school year are that much higher than year before. And really the pattern that we're seeing is every year the kids are leaving a little bit higher which means every year they're starting a little bit higher which means that next year
they're leaving a little bit higher. It can't be said enough that this progress reflects the impact of our high quality tier one instruction. So keep in mind I just talked about carry all I just talked about wit and wisdom. I'll never be able to explain to you how
hard this has been. And that's the results in year one when we're just trying to learn what it is we're doing. Um it's also a clear sign that our foundational reading efforts are working and it gives us a solid starting point as we move forward into full you
fly and witten wisdom uh implementation for next year. Go to the next one Julie. Thank you. So the second so second grade takes a a similar but different same program same fast bridge. Theirs is called a
reading there. There's measures vocabulary, word recognition, and reading comprehension. Go to the next one, Julie. This is another one where on the next slide, if you kind of look at the right side. So, for second grade, we use the A- rating. It's called the test theta score. It's the composite. It's a it's a new name. So, they have a
different name for it, but it seems to serve the same purpose as a composite. So, I can look at that score and say, of those categories that the assessment covers, this is their overall score. Keep in mind this test is adaptive. Meaning if you're doing really well, it gets a little bit harder. If
you start to stumble, it gets a little bit easier and it keeps adjusting throughout. What I've noticed in the K2 setting is second graders typically take this type of assessment much more serious than a 12th grader. I pick 12th grade because by the time they get to 11th and 12th, it's
really hard to get them to buy in. We could look at the next one, Julie. This is actually the graph that mentally really messed me up, and I had to go back and change the rest of them. So, as my father-in-law would say, figures don't lie, liars figure. There was something wrong with the data
earlier. There was an entire column missing, so my totals weren't right. But then I couldn't figure out why in the 2324 school year, we'll just pick blue. There were 40 blue in the 2324 school year in the spring. In the 2425 school year, there were there were still 40,
but we have more kids. So, I'll tell you what this chart shows, but then I want to show you the next one because it's really in the percentages. If you just looked at the overall, I'd be like, why is it 40 and 40? Wait till you see the percentages of where they started and ended. But this chart shows the second
grading reading levels each spring. More students are now finishing the year on track or above. While the overall overall numbers have grown, most students are meeting the benchmarks. Again, highlighting the strong impact of tier one instruction. So, this this
grade level has what's called CP, cognitively proficient. It's advanced. So, before we topped out at the green, this is where you like to see the blue. If you go to the next one, Julie. So, this one again is two columns per year. Fall to spring, fall to
spring, fall to spring. What you want to see is you want to see the fall red get smaller. That means your children that are high- risk, that group is shrinking. You also want the yellow group to shrink. That's the group that has some risk. You want that group to shrink.
What you want to see is you want to see the green and the red or sorry the green and the blue groups growing. The green being the low risk, meaning those that should be on track with minimal support and the CP or the advanced group. You want to see that grow every year. So if you look at the last two columns, I know
it's kind of covered. On the last slide, it showed that each year it was 40 students in that level, but if you then dig in and look at the last couple years, so this fall we had, you know, 30 and 23. So we had roughly 50% of our
kids either at some risk or high risk. By the end of the year, it went down to was it 16 and 12? So it went from almost 50% at high risk or some risk to what is it
28%. So the chart shows how second grade students shift across risk levels from fall to spring over the last three years. The data it continues to reflect um the impact of that instruction. Sean, can I ask quick question? Um, are
those uh column axises correct or is it start with 2024 or 2425 and go backwards? I think I got the data flipped around on the dates on the dates on the bottom are goofy. The right side is this year. The right side is this
year. Okay, perfect. Thank you. What you'll notice from even your administrators is when we work on this, we're also juggling other things too. So I caught that the previous slide the 40 and 40 was like wait a minute I can't bring that to the board that doesn't how
can I have a school that almost doubles in size and still at 40. But the point of it being is when you're when you're shown information it's sometimes it makes sense to dig a little bit deeper. What we continue to see is year after year, we're shrinking the pockets we
need to shrink and we're growing the ones that we want to grow. Go to the next one, please, Julie. It wouldn't be me without putting something random in here. I'm not verbatim, but a few April 30th, we had a
staff meeting or an early out where typically we would do a survey like how did the first part of the year go. this year from the strategy team. They asked us rather than doing a a survey to ask similar questions but sit and notate just listen and notate listen and notate. So these are the feedback items
that came from basically three core areas from the staff on the 30th. And this would be essentially the instructional staff that's there after hours. But some of it I can tell you though all groups would agree with. Could you go to the next one, Julie?
We were asked next year as a staff, what do you want or what do you think we should focus on? Every grade level said you fly implementation. We just started talking about this. Um, so our Orton Gillingham with a
tweak. It's not it's not a change, it's a shift. It's not a complete relearning, but it's a refining of when you look at our when you look at some of our scores, they're starting to plateau. And why is that? Some of it's our instruction. So, it's tweaking and changing a small shift. One of the other things that came
up was refining wit and wisdom, especially writing. Just a lot of discussion about, okay, what does writing look like? And now that we see you fly, which is a tweak to what we've been doing, how is that going to impact writing? And the desire for better pacing, alignment, and time for collaboration. Time for collaboration
has been every year since I started here. I was in Grand Rapids before we had early outs and I was in Grand Rapids after. There's no one single factor I could say that makes it good or bad. But I can tell you that what we had at our disposal for staff and time 15 years
ago, it doesn't exist anymore. You can't just we can't just say let's pull the whole grade level. It's not as easy. Um but pacing came up. Pacing was a consistent thing that came up from not only admin but from staff.
So for example, in my building with let's say next year eight kindergarten sections, how do I know that by the end of the year the children have been exposed to the same content? If I have if I have whatever you define it to be the teacher that's at le 70 when
everybody else is at seven. I know that's a ridiculous gap, but closing that gap to be as a team, not only should you stay together, but here's the reasoning and the rationale behind. We talk about equitable educ equitable education, we also need to make sure that kids are being exposed to the same
content over the course of a year. Mind going to the next one, Julie? So, belonging and culture. This there's kind of two parts. How does your staff feel about being at the building and how do how you as the adults think the kids are doing? How we
think the kids are doing and we actually have assessments that the second graders take. The second graders are living their best life. like they take a what's called a my sabers where they're asked social emotional questions. Most of the kids they're living their best life. They don't know about any of the stress which goes back to the staff. So some
words that came up with or some phrases were the students um not on this page but it said, you know, the students feel safe and welcomed, but part of it's because they don't know the stress the adults are going through. And that's what adults that's what we do. We protect them from the stresses. We did
talk about behaviors and transitions in hallways and lunchrooms. uh like a lesson learned when we went from a K5 to a K2 and a 35 whether it was on purpose or not some of our thinking was like for like okay a K2 building needs this and then you guys
just need this that that thinking is gone now it'll just pick lunchroom what I need to supervise a lunchroom for five six seven year olds is quite a bit different than third fourth fifth graders and vice versa it's not nobody has a corner on the market I usually say the gr grass is grass grass isn't
greener anywhere it's it they're not it took a little bit of time to realize they're not like for-like schools anymore even though we're there um staff when we got to this portion talked a lot about they feel supported of one another but are also stretched thin and underrecognized a lot of this either I
felt or I made it a lot about myself as a leader this was not the ideal year to get started and not like there ever is but that huge push for carry all that huge push for wit and wisdom that huge push of trying to get all these new families and staff kind of figuring things out. One thing that I know we
lost along the way was just slowing down. And I'll be honest, a lot of it was what what do we do here? We This is the west way. And for staff that came from East or another site, they didn't like to hear that. And sometimes like there's no other way I could say it.
Well, how do you guys do pickup here? Well, it's west and we do it this way. It wasn't meant to be a negative, but I know there were things that we did and said, well, this is what we do at West. Well, I wasn't that west. And there was a considerable amount even for myself to keep in mind like, "Oh my gosh, you're right." Because quite a few quite a few
of the staff that came from east I had worked with at Murphy or Cohassador at a different building. So even for me when we get into the thick of it, I would just forget. I always pick on Kari Carlson for whatever reason. Kindergarten teacher she always gets picked on and be like, "Kari, what do you mean you don't know this?" "Oh,
that's right. We were together at Murphy. That school's closed. I forgot you weren't here at West for the last five years, but you just you fall into that routine. So quite a bit of learning. The leadership team came up with some ideas for next year that we could do better. Um even looking at the
early out cycle in the start of the year, the year will just start better in that sense. Um our specialists and our sped staff reported isolation and need for clear for clear communication. And what they were saying is a considerable amount of this year was dedicated toward like this topic or this topic, you know.
Um, like wisdom. There are portions of it that apply to your FIA teachers, but portions of it that don't. So, couple more. I'm almost there. Next one, Julie. Uh, equity and safety nets. The staff were asked, "What safety nets do you provide for children?" I can best
summarize it as this. If you work in an elementary school, you provide everything you can think of except for letting them sleep at school. And we had two different meetings and I said that again. I said, 'N no, you as a staff, you guys do everything. You feed,
you clothe, you bathe, you wash their clothes. And I said, 'We haven't even got to what we're supposed to be here for and you teach them and you talk about what's so and we went on and I said, "You do everything but let them sleep here." And then one of the teachers said, "Ah, we do that, too." So the only thing that they that
they do not do at a K2 sites is let them sleep overnight. But the reality is if you stop and think of what it takes for a child to live, thrive, and survive, our K2 built, I'm just here for West. Everything but let them sleep overnight. We have a pantry.
We have just the things that I'm not even talking about instruction. Every single thing you could throw out there, we do it or we or we connect them to the services that do. Um yeah, strong rel relational culture serves as a foundation for our equity
work. Want to do the next one? Julie action steps. We talked about continued work with our PD on you fly and went wisdom. We were we and I were very we were grateful that the early out cycle for next year. This is maybe our world. We were glad that it wasn't
done because it wasn't done because all the feedback wasn't in yet. If I had come back to my last meeting with here's what we're doing next year, I would have been frustrated too. Like no, it's okay. like let's take the feedback and find out where we need to go. We do want to strengthen talk about pacing again
improve our systems for transit trans transition some of this is just logistics in the building and formalize and sustain care going to go to the next one it's my last one probably my wife and give her credit I don't I heard somebody say this
teacher staff they're non-invasive brain or neur neurosurgeons like I'm sorry David, you were there. I think I probably looked right at you. I don't know why. You were across the table. You don't just walk in off the street and do what we do. Um, I loved my educational
experience in the district I grew up in, it's gone. That time doesn't exist anymore. Like what kids do now, what they're expected to do, what we're expected to do, what kids can do, what we can do, things have changed. And just because it's hard doesn't mean it's wrong.
So, this is the part where I pause and say any questions and then you kind of like, uh, it's already been a half hour questions or comments from the board. Dave. Uh, yeah, a couple of them. Thanks, John. Thanks for all of that. Um, first one I had is, can you talk a
little bit about the difference between, and I think I might have got it, but not sure. Carry all from Whiten Wisdom. Is Kiel the how and Whitw Wisdom is the what? Or is that not quite right either? So carry all would be here's the science behind literacy instruction. In the past
when I like when I went through my training at whatever college it was we were brought in products from vendors and what I was taught was how to read the lesson plan. We were never taught about the science or at least to the level we are now. So carry all is the
the why, the science, the some of the what and the how. the wit and wisdom becomes like here's your structured approach like this is what you're going to do but also why you do that. Okay, next one. Thank you. The next one is um it sounds like year one has been pretty
impactful in terms of you know even the the slide you had on to the right. Incredible progress. So that was outstanding for the team at West. Um how do you make sure that year two with any turnover in staff doesn't slow you down? Does that make sense? What you're
saying? Well, for better or worse, there's no turnover. I mean, there we haven't been into hiring for quite a while. But that's coming. The flip side is whether I'm borrowing language, the systems, having the systems in place and the supports because again, when I went
through it was you were handed the manual and you were you were sent loose. So, but there are plans and we it's not it's just like with kids. We don't just do it one time. We keep looping back. Keep looping back. Sure. Sure. Okay. And I think kids are trained better than we were.
Thank you. Anybody else? Dave. Mr. Chairman. Uh Sean, thank you. Uh great presentation. Uh please share uh my personal recognition for the staff and the very
hard work they're doing in very tough circumstances. Uh it's astonishing work that's being accomplished and uh recognition needs to go. They have not seen any of that. They they have the ability to see their own. We haven't had a staff meeting yet where they can see
that. And I'll be frank like when we started this year, I was nervous. Like how are we going to do this with a new new staff, new families, new kids, new trainings, new new like you can't say it any other way.
They crushed it. Like they outperformed every grade level. Yes, Mr. Chair. I just have one comment and Sean Whoops. One comment Sean used the uh acronym SEAL in there and uh
unfortunately what I've seen over the last few years is terms or ideas get hijacked or co-opted and that's one of the latest ones to get hijacked and co-opted. Uh SEAL stands for social
emotional learning in our school district. What that means is we are helping kids figure out how to do school, how to handle when they have an emotional reaction that's uh kind of out of line or not pro-social. Um it's about how do we how do kids get along in
public and how they deal with things that are going on in their life. Um, so I just wanted to make sure that that was clear that when we're talking about because I just read an article today about how that one phrase is hanging up an entire curriculum adoption in a in a
school district. And um I think it's a really good example of uh idea getting co-opted or hijacked when really at its core it's about how do we help kids um through their day, through their life, handle stress, things like that. Great.
Anybody else? One one question. Um I'm sorry. Uh you fly I I heard it mentioned a couple times quickly. I guess I don't recall hearing it much before. Can you tell me a little bit about what that is? So we have a program that we were
trained on over the past two or three years. Three. the earliest the the early kind of phase start of it right after COVID and then like systematically it's been like three years. Yep. So Orton Gillingham has an approach like the
foundational skills blending words rhyming sounding things out what not only so that's an actual the approach of what they do like even when I was in when I was in the classroom funological awareness like how do kids sound out that's not an Orton Gillingham thing or
Gillingham it's like a structured approach of how to teach that what that program's even found is they're too long um they're too long the data is starting to plateau the they're having to revamp their curriculum. They're they're going to be
charging for that new curriculum. And what we found as an alternative, you fly, the univers University of Florida Literacy Institute. Is that right? Um it's the same concept, but not that packaged program. It's shorter, it's
more concise, and it focuses on the portions that even the company has said, "We need to fix this." So, what you might hear is, "We're throwing the baby out with the bath water. We're switching." And I and for a teacher listening to this, I don't mean to offend them. Coke and Pepsi, Ford and
Chevy. Like, it is not a monumental shift. It is required training, which staff has built into their schedule or can do on their own over the summer before we come back to school. And what I've heard from those that have gone through it so far is yeah, this isn't a major change, but some are nervous
because it's they think it's something brand new. And does this apply for all grades K in your school there? In my school, yes. Okay. I think too, just to add on to that, the district obviously made investments in Orton Gillingham, training time, things like that. Those
aren't sunk costs. All that learning and training pays off in the UFly model because it's it's fundamentally centered around the same concepts. Um. Yep. Yeah. When I taught it was called one thing, you know, they called Heggerty or
Gillingham and back in the day it was funological awareness or FMIC awareness. Close your eyes. Can you hear it? Can you sound it out? Can you rhyme it? It's like I could package it up and put my name on it. It's still phonmic
awareness. Thank you. Thanks, Sean. Next item on the agenda is to appoint the 202526 student board reps. When I was in the military, we called this the hail and farewell.
welcoming welcoming the new members and saying goodbye to those who are leaving. Um just to give you a little background uh we did interviews uh May 15th at the high school Grand Rapids High School. We did not have any big fork
applicants. Um, on the interview committee was uh David Marty, myself, uh, Julie Raspersonson, Superintendent Gross, and two of the high school counselors. Um, we had some
really good candidates. Um, the committee chose Aaron McMullen and Eva Rzinski for the 202526 student school year. um their terms will actually begin in
September. Um and so what we're looking for right now is a motion to appoint those two individuals to the school board for next year. I move to appoint uh Eva and Aaron. Thank you. Do I have a second?
Um second second from Ashley. Is there any discussion? Yeah, Mr. Sure. I just want to call out the fact that um I've known Eric Aaron McMullen for the last few years in the swim team and um I think he's going to do a fantastic job today. Very excited
for him to join. Perfect fit and I'm looking forward to meeting you. Any other discussion? Julie. Uh is Melissa on? She's not. All in favor of the motion to appoint those two individuals.
I I I opposed. Awesome. Uh their terms will begin uh the first meeting in September and we usually do a little bit of a an onboard training session with them so they kind of know what to expect. Uh the
sad part is the farewells. Um, and we just tonight would like to recognize and thank Owen Rine and Jaden Hison uh for all the hard work and
coordination and briefings and everything you did for us this year. Thank you very much. Anybody else from the board have any comments? Thank you, Jaden. Thank you. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is to approve
the minutes of the May 5th, 2025 regular school board meeting. Do I have a motion? So moved by Dave. Second, David. Second by David. Discussion. All in favor say I. I. I.
Opposed. Minutes are approved. Uh, next item on the agenda is to approve the April 2025 claims. They're listed in your packet. Do I have a motion? So moved. Moved by Dave.
Second, David. Second by David. Discussion. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Uh, the April 2025 claims are approved. Next item on the agenda is to approve following retirements. Casey,
good evening board. Tonight we have Denise Scooch, ESP retirement. Just want to acknowledge her 31 years of service. Recommending approval. Do I have a motion? So moved. Moved by Ashley. Second.
Second. Second by Dave. Discussion. All in favor say I. I. I. I. Opposed. That retirements approved. Thank you very much, Denise. Thank you. Uh, next item on the agenda is to approve the consent
agenda. Uh, reminder that consent agenda is uh kind of standard items that do not require discussion. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Moved by Ashley. Second.
Second David. Second by David. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Consent agenda is approved. U. Next item on the agenda is to approve resolution for the
25 26 membership in the Minnesota State High School League for the Grand Rapids High School and Big Fork High Schools. Um, do I have a motion to approve that membership? So move David moved by David. Second second. Second by
Dave. Discussion. Yeah, I'd like to I I did bring up um ask some questions with with Matt regarding this. Um I you know I am somewhat concerned
with the MSHSL and their and their stance on allowing um opening up women's sports to to other identities for lack of a better term. I don't know the proper terminology. Um,
you know, I coached girls basketball for years. You know, there's fundamental differences. I look at I look at the fact that, um, in sports, we we expect people not to take performance-enhancing drugs and things like that. And I and I
just really kind of question that. Um, you know, so I I asked a little bit about if we have an opportunity to express that concern to the MSHL about that. Um, I think we're seeing it in the
state. I I know there's some things going on now. Um, you know, I recognize that you, you know, to not be part of the MSHSL would really be punishment for our current students. I mean, bottom line, which that's, I'm not looking at that at all,
right? Um, but I'm, you know, one of the things Matt mentioned was the fact that we get insurance for our athletes there that I kind of forgot about, which is huge. And then obviously the all our athletes and all our participants work towards a state tournament, right? To
participating in that to take that away from them would be wrong, plain and simple. So I I don't even want to consider that. But I would like as a board to think about maybe sending a letter expressing concern about about
this stance. Um and you know, I think it's something we should consider at some point. I'm not sure that this is the time to talk about it, but I wanted to bring it up because it was a concern when we were renewing this for me. So, that's all I have. Okay. Other
discussion? All in favor of approving the membership in the State High School League, please say I. I. I. Opposed. Uh, membership in the State High School League is approved. Next item on the agenda, approve a three-year
Portage Park lease agreement with the city of Cohasset. Cara, good evening. Um, we're just renewing our lease with the city of Cohasset um for the Portage Park fields for three years and the city has not increased its price at all in
any of the years since I've been here. Um, we do levy for this. We levy 92% of the cost um for this annually. You have a motion to approve the three-year lease. So moved by Dave.
Second. Second. Second by Ashley. Discussion. Mr. Chair. Yeah. Uh I just wanted to um say thank you to the city of Cohasset for, you know, keeping this a consistent charge for us um with our significant appreciation. Thank you.
Other discussion hearing? None. All in favor say I. I I opposed. The lease agreement is approved. Next item on the agenda, a financial update. Cara, um I provided
the year to date revenues, expenses for the general fund. Um I don't know if you've had a chance to look through them. Um 83% of the year is over. We're in our 11th of our 12th month, which is exciting for the accounting people in the room, me. Um, so, um, if you just
look through and you see things over 83%, under 83%, there's normally a reason for it and it's probably cyclical. Um, like our levy, um, if 44% we've collected, but we receive, um, payments of our levy after taxpayers pay
the county and then the county passes it onto us. So, we have a big payment coming this year. Um, there's not a lot in here that should jump out. Revenues are at 77% and expenses are at 77%. So both a little under where we should be
and um that is not worrying at all to me. Questions? Keep up the good work, G. Thank you. Yeah, thank you for taking the time to answer some of my questions. Obviously, like you say, you see 77%. And it didn't
bother me the overall numbers, but but there were definitely areas that were significantly off and I wanted to you answered them all in regards if they're really tracking where we think they should and and it's appreciate that
given Mr. Chair, one comment as well I'd like to share is Carth. Thank you. I think um tracking a budget where the inputs and outputs are known discreetly is challenging um considering that neither of those are known uh at either points
in time until two years afterwards um is um incredibly I'm sure frustrating. So thank you for bringing some sense to this um math problem that we have here. Thank you. Next item on the agenda, approve the
202526 school resource officer agreement with the city of Grand Rapids. Superintendent Gross. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh our school district has a uh fairly long uh history in contracting with the city of
Grand Rapids uh for services, school resource officer services and uh historically for many years had two officers as part of our budget reductions last spring. One of
the officers was eliminated or that agreement was eliminated. are part of it. We use safe schools levy to to fund the position and essentially what happened is that the uh cost of those two officers exceeded the revenue that
we generate. The current agreement that's before you represents a 9% increase in cost. And uh if you talk to individuals on the city side, you'll you you'll learn more about the need for them to be competitive in the law
enforcement space. So it's challenging on their side of things to um attract and retain officers. I uh included in my board report some uh work that I did around this previously
uh relative to comparing other options. Uh I also included some information in there about the services that this officer provides is is jurisdiction of Grand Rapids uh city because it's a police department
position and so we depend on the sheriff's department for support in Cohasset and Big Fork. Uh and that is on a much less formal basis. uh there's interest in on the part of the sheriff's department to provide more
formal uh support for both those schools, but um and there are some grants that come along from time to time, but grants that support uh personnel have become really really hard to
find. Um the funding, the safe schools levy is enough to support this contract. Um, and the officer that we have has gone through training that has been specified in law. Now, there's been some changes
in the SRO law actually for a couple years running and um, the city's done a good job of adjusting to that. We've done a job adjusting to that. A lot has to do with training and what that officer's responsibilities are in the
school. Um, and they've done a good job of that. The officer's done a good job of that. So, I'd recommend approval of the agreement and stand ready to answer questions if there are any. Have a motion to approve. So, move David. Moved by David. Second.
Second. Second by Ashley. Uh, discussions or questions for Superintendent Gross. I did send a couple questions, Matt, earlier, and I I appreciate the feedback um regarding this. Obviously,
uh, you know, as with anything in schools, you're you're questioning what is required by law, and it's a little convoluted sometimes with some of these. Um, you know, I am glad to know that that our levy still covers this additional cost. You know, we're not
we're not taking out of our general general fund to to cover this. Um and and realize that it's it's challenging when we're when we're competing. Um you know, when we look
at the city trying to maintain their their officers, um that sometimes they need to do things financially to to keep that. Um so it's it's always hard to take a little more out of our pockets, right? But but I think this is something
we just have to do at this point. So agreed. Any other discussion? Well, one quick question, Mr. Chair. Um Mr. Superintendent, has is there a possibility that this can be a private or does it have to be a licensed
um officer? Yeah. So the one of the things that's happened is uh as a result and going back to the law the law the laws made it clear, training's made it clear and policies have made it clear that the job of that school resource officer uh is not to enforce school
rules. And so that means that their job really is about violations of the law. And so at that point when it gets into things that are violations of the law, you really need a law enforcement officer if they're going to do what it is that school resource officers do. Um
we could, you know, hire somebody in a security type position. Uh but they would have less u you know or or no impact really when it came to uh legal issues. We'd be calling the PD for the support that this officer can provide
immediately. So, um there would be options but the services would look way different. Okay, thank you. Any others? All in favor say I. I opposed. Agreement of the city of Grand
Rapids is approved. Next item on the agenda, board action on the proposed community engagement strategy campaign. Superintendent Gross. Thank you. Um uh the the board has had a couple
discussions about this. Our subcommittee met uh a number of times to discuss uh the work looking forward. Um really what this boils down to is laid out by the goals that the subcommittee identified
for community engagement. Uh the first being build public understanding, confidence, and trust through increased transparency. The second building or including provide an opportunity for community voices to be heard. The second or the third sorry uh gain clarity on
what matters most and the fourth purpose to clarify the level of support for additional funding versus sustaining additional budget reductions and program cuts. What uh what I'm recommending and uh the subcommittee I believe is
recommending as well uh is that the board formally approve moving forward with a community engagement plan focused on the four goals I just referenced. And then second, um we currently invest some
funds in advertising and communications. And what uh we're recommending is to reallocate some of those funds or the the funds necessary necessary from that spend to support this community
engagement work and strategic communications planning and implementation. So, there's two parts to that uh recommendation. Uh and that comes I'll I'll let the other members of the subcommittee speak on their own behalf, but but that's uh that's what
we're looking for, what I'm looking for as a superintendent tonight. So, move David. Moved by David. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Ashley. Discussion. Ju just um just make sure
we're really not looking at any additional funds at this point. We're and we're saying a reallocation where when I look at that I mean to me this is a communication function really. We're going out to the people. We're saying this is where we're at. This is you know
and we're looking for feedback. Um and not just bringing it to a vote, you know, out to the public. We're looking for solutions, widespread solutions that people are willing to support, whatever that may be. Um, I
think that was definitely the intent of the subcommittee. Yeah. And to add on to what Tom is saying, um, because I agree with what he is saying, I also would like to point out that it is important that we start those conversations at the very beginning rather than,
um, what may have felt like something that was a little bit more aggressive. Um um and making sure that we are coming in with open communication and a lot of empathy and you know making
sure that we're starting off our conversations um with more understanding and less um for what I have been from what I've been hearing what I've been told um less
um this is what you need to feel and do or this is your, you know, this is going to be your goal. So, less ultimatums and more more open engagement essentially. A lighter tone would be nice. Any other other discussion? I think I'll just add
on to that too. I had a conversation with a member of the community um that I think to Ashley's point, welcoming empathy I think needs to really be at the forefront. I think our community loves our school district. When you think about how uh much support we get
for different things, right? Um the community does step up in a great way to support um for example the activities and things that we have. How can we help them see kind of past the
front door and and help us in that way with a core mission of what we're here to do and to educate our kids and give them lots of great opportunities to thrive. So, I think um that's I fully support this. I'm looking forward to how we can have those conversations. Some I
know are going to be difficult. Some will be tough. Some are going to be great. But I think I'm looking forward to working with people, especially those that um are going to act as advocates for us with our pre um sharing our our
thanks ahead of time. Agreed. Hearing nothing else. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. The proposed community engagement strategy is approved. Next item on the agenda, board
reports. Jaden, last chance. Okay. kind of a lot as we like wrap up the school year here, but um senior scholarship night took place on Wednesday, May 7th, and in total $465,000 were given out um in
scholarships to GHS seniors. And that night, we also did our outstanding senior awards for our hall of fame, and that was Kayla Jenkins and Alfred Net Ness. So, shout out to them. And then Key Club wrapped up their last blood
drive of the school year, collecting 80 units. And these units go to all our local hospitals and ambulances. And if divided into the three components of blood, could save up to 240 lives in our community. Uh we were also able to give
$3,400 in scholarships to seniors. And we are once again the number one high school blood drive in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, which just goes out to like all of our key club students and key club organizer and blood drive coordinator that does all of that. That's s so
amazing. Um GHS Unifi class held their annual unified softball invitational last Wednesday and students of all abilities participated in this fun week and it was at Portage Park. There was a team warm-ups and opening ceremony games and presentation of
ribbons. Last couple things that student council has done. Uh we concluded our pop tab thing for the Ronald McDonald House. We raised we collected 160,935 pop tabs and
$489. And all of that will be delivered to the Ronald McDonald House in Duth this Friday by student council members. On the 8th, we did a thank you Thursday in recognition for all our teachers. So, it was just for our teachers. And then
that following Friday, we were able to do host a breakfast for all of them and we posted all the thank you notes and were able to deliver all of them just to show how much they really do for us and our appreciation towards them. We also
held our last meeting which was kind of sad but uh we held our student council elections and voted on new elections. So our executive board which is student body president, vice president, public
relations and our just renaissance person which they are in charge of all just um monthly challenges which is basically like helping to improve the school climate and culture. And then other positions that aren't the executive board is we have two
philanthropy and fundraising. We have class presidents for all all the other classes. And then we have a ninth and tth grade vice president. And we also have two senior content creators. HOSA
um just wrapped up their last presenter and was about dentistry. They had an average 20 students per meeting and they just held elections for officers as well. and they were just able to donate 19 quilts to
the Grace House this past week. IB testing just got done today. So, we administered IB exams in 10 different subjects. 97 students were registered for at least one IB exam and 27 students chose to take more than one IB
exam. 46% of all juniors and seniors are at least one IB course. And many courses are considered two-year courses. So students can only test the end of their senior year. It was our first year offering the IB medallion and merit
awards which we were able to have three students receive the medallion and 20 students receive the merit awards. Upcoming tomorrow we have 68 IB theory of knowledge students presenting their T exhibitions in the library. This
is um a class taught by Mrs. philosy and it's also out been sent out to the public. So each student will be able to like showcase their work they did and they'll present to like the class teachers, parents and other community
members. This Thursday is our senior walk where our seniors will go through each elementary school, the middle school, the high school, ALC, and then go around St. Joe's and just get a like one last walk around all their schools. And while they do this, they have the
opportunity to do an honorary diploma, which they can write out to any teacher or staff member at any of the schools that have helped them throughout their schooling and made a great impact on them. And Thursday night will be our senior sunset. And
then we'll be doing that on the Tommy D practice field after the lacrosse game. And the last thing we have is graduation on May 30th, which rehearsal is tenatively at 1 and graduation will be
at 7. And depending on the weather, hopefully it'll be on the Noble Hall Field, but otherwise it'll be in the Yanmar. Oh, summer activities, jazz band playing at the community festival on Saturday, June 7th. And then the last
Key Club like blood drive of the year will be July 10th and community members can sign up or contact Katie Thundershell. They have any questions. Okay, now I'm done. Thank you. Great report.
A busy mate. Yeah, Ashley, thank you Jaden for that. Um and congratulations on your last year. Thank you and whatever you do in the future. just have a nice time. Thank you for being here. Um, so just kind of following up on one
thing that Jaden had mentioned. Um, I attended scholarship night and that was incredible. Um, before the meeting had started, we were just discussing, you know, kids are signing up for anything and everything so they can get as many scholarships as
they can. and our community did in fact um as Jaden mentioned um pass out in the amount of $465,000 worth of scholarships to our Grand Rapids High School students. Um and that is a phenomenal um a phenomenal
amount of money to be able to give to our students. Um and so thank you to our community for that. Uh, we were able to participate in those observations that Principal Martinsson had just discussed at West Rapids Elementary. And we we
went in and observed a kindergarten class, obviously first and second grade, and I I highly recommend all of you going and taking a look at that. Those kindergarteners were just impressive.
Um, there was one young man that read all of the sentences for his teacher. He they every single one of them was extremely enthusiastic about the book that they were reading. There was not one child that was just be boopping around doing their own thing. They just
were engaged. They loved the content that they were discussing. The teacher, uh, she was phenomenal. Um, and then it went on again in second grade as well as third grade. It was it was wonderful to see um and for being a first year in to
this new curriculum. Those teachers were killing it. They just did such a great job and I just have to give praise to all of our staff members K through eight that are going through this right now. They are all doing a phenomenal job at this and um I cannot give them enough credit for all of that.
Um uh I went and purchased some plants at our FFA plant sale and I would have bought more except they were all gone. All the plants that I wanted were gone. Uh we actually the first day was on a Monday which was our board meeting night and that's when everybody bought the
flowers. All the flowers. Everything was just gone which was phenomenal because FA raised a lot of money. I did get a couple of pumpkin plants um hanging baskets. It was it was awesome. And those plants are beautiful. Those kids work really really hard. They grow everything on their own and then they
sell it to be able to raise money. Uh and they did a great job. So that is my report so far. Yes. Thank you, dude. Uh again, Jaden, thank you. Uh appreciate having you with us at the table this
year and Owen as well. Uh very much appreciated. Um and scholarship night was awesome. It was incredible. Thank you. Uh I was there as well. Um the wit and wisdom workshops uh that um Ashley
referred to were unbelievable. It was it was uh just astonishing uh what was what was happening in those classrooms. It really was pretty incredible. uh attended MSBA law review.
Uh and as we all know, everything all the balls are up in the air right now and nobody knows where they're landing. So, we'll wait to see uh about that. Uh there was uh an adults rapids PTC fundraiser
uh and it was it was great. I saw Tom there. Uh um he he he donated some money, too. Um, thank you. Uh, it was it was worthwhile. I think I think the PTC raised a bunch of money that night. It
was a great uh social event. Uh, FFA plant sales. Yep. I was there early and I got all the plants you wanted. But I bet you did. Uh, and Prom with a Purpose uh happened. What what an incredible
event uh for students that otherwise would not have the opportunity uh to have a prom um celebration. It was really quite incredible and credit to the uh uh to the uh high school for uh
uh uh for for taking that on. That was really incredible. and braver angels workshop uh workshop on uh maintaining difficult conversations. It was uh an incredible
workshop uh and provided me with some tools uh to try to listen better and to understand uh more deeply uh as we move forward in some difficult conversations. Um, thank you, Mr. Chair. Jaden, again,
thank you um for everything you've done. Best wishes to you in your future. Um, I also attended the scholarship night. I mean, I don't know what else to say. It's was incredible. Th those kids are It's pretty cool to see how what
we're pumping out into the community. Pretty incredible. Um, I was able to meet with um, a specific band director from our um, district and I got to get a very snippet uh, preview of the marching
band program for next year and it looks to um, entertain and delight again. Um, I uh will be playing a different role this year, but I'm looking forward to seeing that. Um, I also attended the Braver Angels workshop and um, it was good to see that, you know, school
boards are not just the only kind of public entity that are working through some of these conversations. And it was good to see people from cities and counties and boards and sewer districts or whatever that are coming through and learning how to have these conversations
um, that aren't always um, they don't always start off positively. and how you can approach them and it was a it was a very informative training. So yeah, Tom, uh so I was able we had a uh staff
development meeting. Oh, Jaden, by the way, thank you. Top of my list and I skip by it. Thank you very much. Best of luck here. Um I was able to attend the staff development meeting last week, uh
Friday. Uh good conversation there. Um understand that they were able to spend some time with Cara and and and were able to uh get a report that that everyone there feels a lot more comfortable with that they can sit down
and know that they're using their funds for staff development, what they have available, how they're using it. Um so that's that's always good to hear, right? we want to do our due diligence on on these things if we're setting money aside. So, um also as Dave
mentioned, I was able to participate in the adults night out there at the Kohas on Friday. Um that was a great event. Um you know, won some won some things there and and parttook in some of the bidding there and it was good time.
Um we had uh a facilities steering commu committee meeting um on the 12th Monday. Uh that went well and we kind of got things going there and discussed some of our uh maintenance things that are going to be coming up this summer and and
talked about the parking lot. Um and and also had some made some progress it sounds like uh since the meeting on in regards to the solar system there. Uh, which is good to hear and I'm I'm very glad that we're um doing our due
diligence on on the contracts when we're doing them and and and making sure they're done right. Um was able to go to the Big Fork Senior Reception uh on Wednesday. That was a here again it happened to coincide with
with Grand Rapids. So I was able to run up there. Uh it was a great time just like everyone had here. Great to see uh what the students are doing up there. Nice beautiful facility to host those things in and it was a really an
enjoyable time. So that's all I have. Boy, I've heard a lot so far. Thanks Jaden from everybody. Um in addition to what we've heard tonight, just uh couple reminders. Tomorrow night is Big Forks Academic Awards Night and if you can
make it, that'd be great. Um, and we have two big events coming at the end of the month, 30th and 31st. Two graduations, Grand Rapids and Big Fork. Uh, Superintendent Gross. Thank you. Yeah, graduation is
just such a fun time. Um, you know, May is a great time in schools in general. And when you, you know, you you start and you look at kindergarten kids in a literacy lesson.
And in this literacy lesson, they're being exposed to classic art. Uh, reacting to that, acting it out, learning language, reading full sentences. Um, and then you fast forward and a few nights later you're sitting in
a room and hearing about kids uh, our graduates going to the Naval Academy. I mean, that's just like that's the continuum. Uh, listen to Sean tonight talk about all the things and services that our school district provides to the community, to kids. Uh there's a lot
right with public schools and there's certainly things we need to fix, but there's a lot of good and I think uh the last month is a good reminder of that. Jaden, you're one of those good things that we're excited to have go out into the community and we're certainly
grateful for you. Um uh I don't know that I have a lot to add other uh that hasn't been mentioned. Um so I think I'll uh I'll just leave it at that. Mr. Chair, can I just add one more thing? I apologize. Um I just the fifth
graders had a phenomenal uh musical this past week as well. Um the Granny Awards and um um Mr. Meyers and Miss Ryan were the ones that put that show on at the Refe and it was awesome. And to have like a
100 plus kids to have to fifth graders especially to just organize and get all of their lines down and the singing it was it was awesome. And then tomorrow night also are the Indian ed awards. That's right. So just wanted to throw that out there
before I forgot. Thank you. Great. Uh meeting announcements. Uh reminder that upcoming schoolboard committee and meeting dates are posted on each agenda. Schoolboard meeting agendas can be found on the district website and on the
designated posting site at the ISD 318 ed services building. Is there any other business to come before the board? Julie, is anyone signed up for public input? Chair, I'd request that we go into uh
close session. Are you making a motion? Yes. Okay. Um do I have a second? Second. Second from Dave. Julie, can we have a roll call to go into close session? Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Uh at this time, uh we'll we'll stop the normal Google Meet. Uh anybody that's in the room that's not on the board needs to leave. [Music]