As I call to order the regular schoolboard meeting of Independent School District number 82, it is 6 p.m. on Monday, October 20th. Um, please go ahead and stand and join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. We're looking for approval of this evening's tenative agenda.
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Melissa Curtis, seconded by Casey Root. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed, please say no. Motion passes. 6. Now we are moving on uh to item
number four, citizen comments. We don't have any this evening, so we'll move right along to item number five, fiscal stability. Starting with uh motion for our consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Melissa Curtis, seconded by
Casey Root. All those in favor, please say I. I >> oppose please say no. Motion passes 6. Now we'll move along to collaborative connections and I will pass it over to
Superintendent Eric Olsen. >> All right. Good evening. Uh we have uh two um donations to bring forward here tonight. um the COP Family Foundation bringing forward $1,000 for the Connect 5 transition program and the Lions Club
bringing forward $1,000 as well for middle school baseball uh field repairs. These are our two um donations here tonight. I want to continue to thank the community for the um amazing support that they give us. Um and now I turn it over to the resolution and Jeff Hegley.
>> Therefore, it be resolved by the Monell School Board number 882 to gratefully accept the following donations. The Cop family foundation, $1,000 for Connect 5 transitional program and Monel Alliance Cup, $1,000 for middle school baseball field repair. >> Second.
>> Moved by Jeff Hegley, seconded by Mayor Bartell. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppos, please say no. >> Motion passes. 6. On to item B, recognizing the high school custodial team's exceptional
efforts with Superintendent Eric Coulson. >> Awesome. I have a shout out uh here today and it's for our high school uh custodial staff and the person who gave me um the good news was Leanne Gors and
Janine Severson of the uh NWTA uh summer program, but they just said that the thank you was long overdue, but the work that uh Ken Redka did um with uh the summer programming at the high school was just phenomenal. He takes care of um every user uh group over there and just
was a um a person that they could always count on uh to make things comfortable, whether it was climbing up on the uh roof to make sure that air conditioning uh was working or um trying to find um space for all the materials that they've been collecting for the gifted and
talented summer program. um that crew both Ken Redka and the whole crew is uh are just phenomenal and she just wanted to make sure that we knew that here as a school board that they're very grateful for the team's hard work, flexibility, support and just wanted to share
appreciation for the Monol High School custodial team. >> Awesome. Thank you. They are very much appreciated. All right, moving on to item seven, innovation and leadership. I would like to welcome to the podium Monosella High
School student Sam V to go over a basketball camp presentation. Hello, my name is Samantha V. Thank you for having me tonight to share a little bit about what I did this past summer. I'm a senior at Monosel High School and I play basketball and tennis and I am a part of the unified club. This August I
hosted a basketball camp at the high school. It was a three-day long camp that was broken up into hourlong sessions. The dates were August 11th through the 13th. I had three sess sessions each day. The first session was kindergarten and first
graders, which had a total of 11 kids. The second session was third through fifth graders, which had a total of 24 kids. And the last session was sixth through eighth graders, which had a total of nine kids. Uh what we did during camp, start off
camp, we did introductions and I asked the players to share something about themselves with a question. Um more like favorite part of basketball, favorite drill, etc. I wanted to have each kid feel acknowledged and this was a way for them to introduce themselves to me. Soon
after our beginning meeting, the camp was broken up into usually four drills. Obviously, the drills were age appropriate, but I wanted them to be competitive and for everyone to do their best. The first drill would be some sort of dribbling drill. Then we would go into passing, then a shooting drill, and
then at the end it would be a fun game incorporating all of it. Some examples would be red light, green light, which would be the kindergarten through first graders. And the game is you would I would call out red light, green light, or yellow light, and they would have to dribble down to the other side
accordingly. And with the older age groups, all they love to do is four on four, five on five. That's what they beg me usually every day. So, we did do that. And to wrap up each day, we would come back to the M and we would do trivia. I would give two questions about myself pertaining to basketball and I
would call on the kids to answer. If they got it right, they would earn themselves a Gatorade. Then, of course, we broke it down to family on two. Some of my favorite parts of camps were seeing the smiles on the kids' faces. A part I was worried about was if the kids were going to think camp was boring or
not fun. So seeing Joy laugh and smiles made me very happy. More recently, outside of basketball, seeing these kids in my everyday life just come up to me, start conversations, give me a hug, or just say hi, make my day every time.
Why I wanted to do this camp? Because I love basketball and love sharing my love for the game with others, especially younger players. When I was young in the program, I looked up to high school players that were helping at camps. I wanted to provide the same acknowledgement and encouragement I remembered feeling.
Where is the money going? The money is going to a future scholarship through the girls basketball high school program. The total amount raised was $3,850. Communic community education took 30%. The t-shirt cost was $351. and the total
funds left to go into the scholarship was $2,450. My goal is to continue this camp and to keep giving back to our basketball program and community that has given so much to me. What did I learn? Running this camp gave me a sense of ownership because my name
was attached to it. Taking ownership and leading the camp pushed me to grow as a leader leader. Seeing the kids learn, have fun, and get inspired gave me so much pride and satisfaction. Who helped? There were several people
who helped me along the way. Coach Kajowski and Coach Gian helped me with the basketball flyer and promotion promotion. My mom, Aunt Christy, and their friend Shelley volunteered their time to be my assistants. I want to thank Mr. Olsen for asking me to share
my story with you. Thank you. [Applause] Well, >> Samantha, real quick, I have a question for you. >> Oh, yeah. You have to stay up there. >> Sorry. >> This is absolutely fantastic. What an impact you're making on the youth in the
future um of basketball, which is great. So, um I see you did it this August. Do you have plans to do any more camps? Because I'm assuming these kids have probably talked to their friends. >> Yeah. >> And are going to want to do it again. Yeah, I I'm planning to try to do it every August when I come back from school.
>> Okay, great. And will you continue to run through community education like you did for registration? Will you do it separately? >> Um the plan is community education, I'm pretty sure. But yeah, >> great. >> Board members, what other questions do
we have for Samantha? >> How many What was the total number of kids that attended? Um total I think it was around 45 I'm pretty sure some ages like um the older age group had some kids um more
kids one day more kids less because of like I think football was going on that week too. So I think around 45. It's like it's pretty neat that uh when I saw that you donated that um I just think the full circeness of this story and and hearing how you came through the
system, you had your heroes and now you're a hero and and and you have you learned that and I know you won't forget it and we're really really proud of you. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Thank you for serving our community. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. All right. You can go sit
down. I don't think we have any more questions. If I was up there, they would have been a lot harder on me. He did awesome, Sam. >> All right. And I feel bad for everyone that needs to follow her up. So,
next is item number eight, teaching and learning. We will invite to the podium our director of community education, Jeremiah Mack, and his team to go over community education goal updates. >> All right. Well, thank you. We have most
everybody here today. We have one on vacation. Everybody else is here. So, as like I said, I'm Jeremy Mack, community director. We'll let everybody else kind of introduce themselves. We'll start with our newest member, Parker. >> Hi, Parker. Clear, activities and recreation coordinator.
>> Jen Johnson, early learning coordinator. Andrea Greenwald, Magic Adventures Coordinator. >> I'm Stephanie Jude. I am the enrichment and marketing coordinator. Ryan Sidel, fine arts coordinator.
>> All right, just want to give an update since we were here in the spring kind of like summer and fall. Uh overall, just reminder what our program goals are. Uh just a reminder, we are a part of the district that serves all 24 and a half thousand residents in Monaceel School
District and get them into the schools, get our schools accessible to our community, make this try to make the schools the center of our community. And obviously our programming es and flows based on what community need and demand is on a yearly basis.
Uh these are all of our program areas. We'll talk touch on all of these today. everybody will have a little say on what has gone on since last time we were here and we'll start with early ed. All right. So, first I'm going to touch
on some of our summer programs from this from this um summer. So, um for ECF, we offered one day, two-day, and weekly sessions throughout the summer. um our most popular we um partnered this summer
with the local library. Um and so we had success of having um story time there. Um we did a pop and play on Wednesdays. Um so we had lots of families coming in checking out the gym and our outdoor spaces. And then we had a variety of
one-day themed classes. Um, and then for special events from last spring, we had family fun out at the Bertram Park. And then this fall, we had our annual big wheels event and that was
amazing because the kids loved seeing all the vehicles, but I think their favorite was having the helicopter fly in. So, so thanks to all our community partners who came and were a vendor um at that event. And then um throughout
all these events and our classes, we've had over 600 participants. And then new this fall, we decided because we um to offer year- round signup. Typically, we just did semester to semester um signups. And so that was something new
that we decided to do because we had we were hearing from our families that they would like to sign up for classes for the whole year instead of just each semester. So, um, and then the most popular ones for this fall have been our nature classes
and our mixed stages. And then this also in the summer, we did offer a summer preschool program which was um main having students who were going into kindergarten to either maintain or um enhance their skills.
And then the next slide. Um this fall for school readiness um we're serving um currently 237 and I know that's going up because I had a few more registrations coming in this past week. Um, if we click on
um the link there, I know you were curious about how we how our tuition looks compared to other um area schools and you can see we have
some of the highest um rates compared to other communities. So that's how our tuition looks. Yeah. So the red is most of ours. I think the only one that we were the lowest was it one of the half day ones?
>> I think a four day >> or the four day one. Um and then for screening um last year we served um 260 children and already in the last three
months we've already done 110 kids ages three to five. So that's been a lot of lot of screenings to process. Um so kudos to Tanya Larson. She does all of those. um she's amazing at getting all
those done. Um and then Rally to Read um because we also partner with that um and with the Imagination Library. We already have 245 and we just started those registrations this early summer. And so
I think that's exciting that we're getting books into um kids as ages zero to four within our community. Each month they get a new book. So, I think that's pretty awesome. And again, I just want to say thanks to the community for voting us um the
number one preschool in our area. So, >> I have a question for you real quick. So, when you were looking when you we had the rates up there and we're the higher, how do we compare in terms of how many classes we offer in our community compared to some of those
other communities? Do you know? >> You know more? Hold >> up. C. Uh if you look on the chart, it shows all the different options that most people have in the area. >> So obviously some have full day, a lot of most everybody has half day. Just
kind of depends on what they have for available for space as well and their community needs. >> You know, roughly how many kids or how many classes that they're >> we have we run 10 different classrooms.
So like for half days, Tuesday, Thursday, we only have one section of h two two half days. Three half days we have two sections. Two full days and three full days we have two sections. Three five full days we have
four sections. >> And naturebased we they combine between their half day and full day. They're in one big classroom, but the kids are split into within they're all housed within the same classroom. They just come for partial day and no full day and cap out at 25 maximum kids.
>> No more 20 full day. >> So just for clarification, the numbers underneath the two half days, those are the numbers of students in each of >> that's the cost per month. >> Okay, >> this is just the money. So I guess my question is like
not to create more work and it's not necessary. I was just wondering if like we knew how many like AIO how many classes do they have of the four half days or three half days like how's their enrollment >> for those areas I guess is a better way to ask
>> well at oier schools they pretty much have an option at all their elementary schools for the most part because they're in so based on their space availability Elk River they have option they had about they have more options than we do because they have options in Elk River at Hanky they have options in Rogers and
Zimmerman for classes. So, they have quite a range of spaces. You're looking at St. Michael, they're offering eight to 10 different options. You know, either like this half day is one option, this is a different option. So, there'd be like one, two, and then I just we'd
have to ask how many different students they have in each option. >> So, because each option even no matter where they go, is capped at 20 maximum. >> Are we losing kids to any programs? Maybe that's >> I mean the competition in town would be if they're going to playhouse whatever
the formal whatever Playhouse is name is there's a few you know there's some students at Pumpkin Patch that does half day there's Swan River also does have does have full day preschool as well so and then obviously you have inhome daycare or families are taking to other
center based based on their employer they're closer to their work so that's New Horizons so that's a primrose if that's uh you know any other option as a daycare option as well. >> I remember it was uh 237 the number of
participants and is that three and four year olds then >> and that's me most of those are fours. >> So then if you look at that as comparison to a graduating class um you would hope that you know if we were getting people into our programs and you
know um each class you would hope be around 300. Yeah, because we're about 60% of our students come to our preschool program that are that then are in our kindergarten class. So out of the 240 kindergarters, about 60% of those were
in Monaceel preschool. The other 40% either at home, moved to town, or went to a different option. >> Okay. Thank you. Thanks. >> Hello again. I'm Andrea. Thanks for
having us today. I keep thinking about Sam's presentation and I need to figure out a way to hire her. Um, uh, currently this school year, we are serving 335 students. We have 56 amazing staff
members on our team. Um, and as of right now, we're serving about 15 more um, students this year as compared to last year. >> Okay. >> Um, it's always something I look at. Um, we do have about 20 on the waiting list right now. I got it closer to 15 and a
couple more people have uh, registered again. So, um, that's always on my radar, constantly trying to hire more to be able to add more kids into the program. Um I looked back at our numbers three years ago before the school times
changed and we had about 60 kids on the waiting list. So um my work with Superintendent Olsen and Miss Chido at the high school has really helped with our youth service um starting that youth service program and getting those high schoolers in the door and I think I have
about five high schoolers that can come at 2:00 or before and um work with our kids. So that really helps um me to be able to get more kids into the program. And I know that's always a question that that you guys ask. So I wanted to talk about that a little bit. Um this past
summer we were at East View and at Little Mountain and we served 285 students and um we had 30 more as compared to last summer and we went on 37 uh fun field trips between both
sites. We always try something new um every year and uh just to get some more ideas and and make sure it's uh fun and exciting for the kids every year. Um one of the pictures up there I thought was really cute to highlight. There's um a
couple kids that wanted to be junior staff that day and so they were making walkie-talkies out of construction paper and little badges and I just was like that is the schoolboard needs to see that. That's really cute. Um, and then this summer, the only difference, I guess, from when we were here in April
to now is we had to there was a budget code change, uh, requirement. And so, um, we had to kind of remove the preschool age group out of the underneath Magic Adventures budget code and and switch that over. So, uh, I
worked with my team. Stephanie has great ideas and she can make logos like no other. So, she created a few different ones for us and we came up with little adventures for the preschool age. Um, I think that's helped parents be able to register and understand the registration
process a little bit more because there's there's only before and after school when when parents are registering for K through 5th during the school year. And for preschool, there's before school, AM wraparound, full day, PM wraparound, and after school. So, there's a lot of options for them. And
now that it's kind of dialed into just one little adventure as preschool, it has it has helped my life. And then I also just wanted to highlight our uh the staff welcome back event. Um Mr. Olsen called me about a week before the event and said, "Do you think you
can sneak in 150 kids into the high school in the back auditorium?" And I'm like, "Uh, we can try. We take three buses everywhere we go, so I don't think it's that big of a deal to walk over." So, um, Ryan laughs at me, but I'm like holding up that curtain trying to get
every kid out on the stage. Um, I think the most impactful part of that day was, um, the teachers and the staff remembering why we do what we do, but also when the staff then stood up and
applauded the kids, it was like, "This is so cool. This is so impactful." So, um, and I had a couple people afterwards just tell me that they cried and they were like all emotional about it. So, just wanted to highlight that today as well. Thanks for your time. Here is
Stephanie. Hello. So, I do have a summer recap here um for what was happening with enrichment classes. Um, our summer went really well. We had 87 youth enrichment classes that we offered um both in person and online. We got 464
participants with 337 of them being unique. Um I did start partnering with Big Lake and Becker on some of our classes mostly in like STEM and art classes and that really helps out with participation rates and everything. It we get more people in the door. Um we do
um host classes both at their sites and here in Monaceel. So that's kind of helpful. Um, as far as adult enrichment goes, we had 56 courses this summer and we did have in-person and online courses and we had about 160 participants in
that. Um, this summer we had some really great trips. Um, I took a group to Still Water for a riverboat cruise lunch and browsing and we had 46 adult participants for that one. And then in July we went to the Chateau St. Croy Winery for a tour and lunch there in
downtown Stillwater and at the land. They love that. Um really popular trip. Um but in September was my biggest trip that I ever took and I ended up getting 91 people registered um for a trip to TGO, Wisconsin to take a train trip. So
that was above and beyond what I've ever experienced before. It was super fun. I did have help. Um, we took two large extra-l large coach buses and we got to eat in the dining cars on the train and then we got to stop at the Bernett Dairy
Co-op on the way back and buy cheese and it was super fun. Um, I partner with St. Michael, Albertville, Big Lake, Maple Lake, Anaddale, and Becker for all of my trips. I plan them all using a travel company local. And um so I put them all
together and then I just send out the trips to um the other community ed sites and they they just put it on their websites and do their own registrations and it really helps to boost participation for those trips. Um it's a really fun part of my job that I really love connecting with all those community members. They just, you know, I know
them all by name. They know me by name. I see them in the grocery store and they give me hugs and it's really it's a really fun part of my job. Um, as far as marketing, this October, um, I did an extra mailing. It was an oversized postcard that went out on the 7th to all
Monaceel residents within our school district boundaries. I hope you guys got some that live here. Um, the postcard featured just some of our other classes that are coming up this fall that I wanted to boost enrollment on, but I also took advantage of um, a part of it to put the levy information on that
postcard as well. Um, and then right now I'm in planning for um our winter spring program. So fall's classes are going well and our next catalog will come out in right before the holidays and all the
classes will be online December 15th um available for registration. So we're at Thanks. >> Uh hi. Uh so I was only here for August. Uh so just a little bit for you. Uh summer fall we offered 60 youth courses.
Uh 265 users, 1221 of those users being unique. Uh this fall middle school activities all came under the community ed umbrella. That started last year and this year they're all under community ed. Um so so far we've had 213 users, 190 of those being unique and that was
as of 107. So those numbers have gone up since then. And then our adult recreation for summer fall, we had 10 courses, 488 users with 400 being unique. And then our facilities, uh, facility rentals for the fiscal year of 25, we
had over 9,700 facility use hours, uh, for non-school related events, 100 different facility users, 74 in district and 26 out of district. And then the facilities were used 335 days. >> I have a question for you real quick, Parker.
>> Yeah. >> Number one, I want to say thank you because I know he volunteered to help coach a volleyball group that didn't have a coach. And so I guess my question is for you now that we've transferred a lot of the activities for middle school over to community education for registration. Are you having difficulty
finding coaches? We're super grateful for you, but there's only one of you. >> Yeah. Um, volleyball was definitely a challenge. Um, thinking some of that though was just me being new, not knowing exactly who to reach out to being as we did have some coaches move on. Uh, with uh, girls basketball coming up, I had four coaches apply. Uh, right
now I only need one, but I did hire a second one on condition. Uh, so really hoping we get enough students to be able to have that second coach because she does have a lot of experience. So, volleyball is tough, but boys and girls basketball is looking really promising. >> Okay, good. And you got some maybe names for next year already. Starting to
collect some of those. Okay. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. Well, thank you. I appreciate it. We appreciate it. >> I do have to comment on that, too, as a kind of a good um segue. I did ask Parker recently what his favorite part of his job because it was new and wanted to get a a take on that. And he actually
said coaching the volleyball. So, it's pretty neat to hear that even though it was a burden to take on a responsibility that you didn't foresee happening, um he took it with such grace and and um really gave the kids an awesome experience. I got to watch one game and it was awesome. I can tell you the
athletes love him as a coach. So I ran into him and they were like, "Coach, coach." So yeah, it's great. >> I get to talk about uh AB. Julia's on vacation today. So uh the biggest change is from the spring last time uh starting
July 1st, we added our 17th school district. Malaca joined our consortium. Uh we had started doing programming at the Malax County Jail a couple years ago because they were not getting any services. And then Malac Malaca was also not getting any services from
some St. Cloud. So they joined our consortium starting this summer because consort school districts and change consortiums put a request in by the end of January to MDE and then they can move on to a new consortium if they choose to. So you can come or go throughout that time frame. Uh so you can see all
the sites up there. So Malaca is the only new one we have. Uh just a couple keyynotes for students. students must be 17 years old to be in an adult basic ed program and they can't be also enrolled in high school at the same time. So we can't compete with the high school. Obviously we the state moved that up
several years ago from 16 to 17. Um but because we do get parents that do ask and they do have to hit the criteria to be in adult basic ed and have dropped out of high school. Um and it is part of the state system. So we have a site it's AB is across the whole state kind of no
different than the rest of the school system. Uh just some reminders of how we are we do programming from May 1st through April 30th and then we do our fisc our fiscal year is still July 1st through June 30th uh every year and Julia is our new manager who replaced
Jill starting into January this year. Uh some highlights from the summertime. We tried a GD Express course. So we had five attendees, two graduates. Um, so they would come in for a week, study in the morning, take a test in the afternoon, study for another subject,
get their tests done. So they could kind of like a boot camp, just get them in and out, get their GEDs best they can. We started also offering online classes as we've been pushing this for years and finally have and finally have a manager that's really like, yes, we can do this. Uh, getting this meeting the adult
learners where they're at. So it's always in-person classes and for every adult learner. So getting them in person but then getting them into an op getting into a classroom that fits their needs. Uh we had had 81 testers this year or 236 testers.
47 diplomas out of our consortium. Uh we also had the teacher of the year by literacy action network. Theresa Fischer who is our teacher at Buffalo site. Um and we had over 1890 students and over 45,000 contact hours. uh community at AB
is funded half on contact hours. So, it's very important that we have students in the classroom. And we started also promoting our statewide courses to get some other certifications for our employ for our students. And Eric and Casey also went to graduation
night, which is very powerful to see adult learners making impacts on their lives and what they can do and progress from getting their citizenship to a driver's license to getting their GED so they can go to college or, you know, learn English to better support their family. And on your calendar, we have
graduation again on June 10th in Buffalo. All right, Ryan. >> All right, good evening everyone. Uh so some of the highlights here for the fine arts programming uh the course of the summer saw a return of a few different
courses uh to include uh the storybook theater, the uh the community strings orchestra concert and the community strings jazz concert. Um all of those yielded a high turnoff from both uh the youth and adult uh enrollment. And then
we also introduced u weekly theater workshops. And what these workshops is is it's sort of an all-encompassing uh various aspects of theater. Um they're covered on a week-by-eek basis. This could be ranging from acting to sound design, light design, any sort of
stage combat, costumeuming, really anything that goes into theater um that I have learned through my time in the field. I've been able to bring uh right over to the high school. That's where we do it at. And um those courses have been open to the public. And we saw a another
high turnout again from both youth and adult there. And I am confident that as that program comes back next year, we will even get a higher number. Um so that's been a lot of fun to work with that. Uh we have also employed a number
of new personnel to serve as our uh event hosts for uh for all of our after school programming. You may have seen them uh at a few events. They're wearing their highly fashionable uh bright neon green construction shirts. So, um uh we
brought them on to sort of ensure that the highest level of customer service is being provided to all of our renters. And thus far, uh throughout the school year, I've heard nothing but good things about both their hospitality um and the
enthusiasm that they bring to all these events that they're working on. Um, we've incorporated a a number of numerous uh fundraising events here um to try and raise some money for the
theater program. Um, we have a bunch of our theater students working um the Haunted Acres that's over in Big Lake right now. We are currently trying to partner with one of the local gyms for a day of the deadlift event that should be
pretty fun. Um and then uh we're also bagging groceries at the local cub there. Uh so that's been off to a great start. Um on top of that, we have submitted a few grant requests through the American Theater Wing and the Andrew Lloyd Weber Foundation uh for some
auditorium upgrades for both here uh at the middle school and over at the high school. So stay tuned for that if we get approval. Fingers crossed. Um, and then noted below is just some of the upcoming events and productions that we have uh
to include our high school and our middle school musicals as well as a few theater productions that we are renting out to some of the local theater groups. So, pending any questions? That's all we got going on for fine arts.
Thank you. >> All right. Uh, one of the big highlights of the summertime, as you know, is swimming lessons. You can see we had over 283 different swimming lessons sections in our eight lane pool. So, say it's very, very busy. Over the 10 weeks as the summertime, we had,91
registrations and almost 900 different students took swimming lessons. Uh, and we offer a variety of during the school year, we offer private swimming lessons. As you know, our pool is very busy Monday through Friday with swim team and swim club. Uh, so we do pool and pizza,
private lessons on the weekends and we keep getting more and more requests for private pool parties, birthday parties. I just got one today and I just want to thank our staff. We had two new coordinators this summer, Kate Hansen and Kayla Hegley and they did a great job of transitioning over and running a smooth excellent program for the
summertime and continuing tradition that we have set for many many years with Monaceel swimming lessons. Uh, little bit about Northwest Talent Academy. Janine and Leanne will probably be here at a different point, but just a little high overview. This is our seventh summer and our largest summer
and we ran the shortest amount of time. Um, so we had 30 34 different courses. We only had seven cancellations out of our 58 sections. That's our least cancellation rate and we ran only three weeks. So we just ran in till June.
We're doing the same thing again this summer. Uh parents asked for more but the numbers dictate that they liked having it shorter amount of time and we had higher participation count so which is great for our students and it keeps getting bigger and bigger every year.
The students love it and Leanne and Janine do a great job with that. Do we have any questions for anybody >> on the Northwest Talent Academy? You said that's ran in June. Would it be an opportunity to run it again in August or
July? Run it more than once or no? >> Um the year before we've run two and two. Um but our due numbers have always been much higher. >> Okay. >> Um just so like we're trying we're exploring a different option to run some programming in July potentially that could serve a larger v variety of
students and maybe incorporate some of the instructors that we do. Um, but most of our instructors are teachers, so they do kind of like it's they feel good and then it's kind of like even their proposals kind of weaning off because they want some summer vacation as well, too. And I'll just echo um what Jeremiah
said, but Sarah Wal is working with uh uh staff Andrea and Jen to make sure that uh we look at what programming is going on districtwide and how could we build our program to um have some tendencies like NWTA so that more of
that that curiosity and that hands-on type of feel um to every program that we run. So there there will be some new and improved um uh summer opportunities for kids >> because this kind of runs with conjuring with summer school too. So we're just
trying to figure out how to engage more students, right? Because you're you know you have price, you got transportation, you know what and what people want because you have as you can see through the numbers like you have a much higher participation in recreation than you do in enrichment. So, it's always finding that balance of having what's the right
time, what families want, what they need, how many vacations are they going on, coming and going. Any other questions? >> I don't think so. Thank you so much for coming and presenting. We appreciate all the hard work that you guys are doing. >> Thank you. Great presentation tonight.
It's fun to see you guys and all the different new things that you're offering. It's very noticeable. Keep it up. All right. Now, we'll shift to item number B where we're going to go through our elementary building goal updates
with our elementary principles. Let me welcome to the podium principal Kristen Green, Principal Nicole Cotto, Principal Shelley Gilmore, and assistant principles Pinewood Clay Norman got.
We're going to start with introductions. Thank you, Chair Steven, for introducing our group. Good evening, Superintendent Olsen and chairboard members. We schoolboard members, we are excited to present together this year um because we've been working so hard to collaborate as an elementary team and
make sure we're setting a strong foundation for our earliest learners, especially as they transition from East View um into the other elementary settings. So, we're going to go through the slideshow together and then we'll open it up for questions at the end.
>> I'm Shelley Gilmore, principal at Pinewood Elementary. >> And Clay Norman, assistant principal at Pinewood. >> I thought you was giving introductions. That's why I stepped aside. I'm >> sorry. >> We'll get our act together. I'm Kristen Green. I am the principal at East View
Education Center and our naturebased program. Our district goals are improving preK through 12 literacy and then also district-wide implementation of the vision of a learner. Our um elementary
schools have been working hard on staff development um for our teachers and making sure that our goals and our staff development align with the needs that we have. All right. So, first and foremost, I'd like to talk to you about the incredible
literacy work that's happening from a preK5 level at East View, Naturebase, and Pinewood, and Little Mountain. We are working very hard with our staff to continue uh enhancing the instruction that is in front of students. So many of
our teachers have already completed either letters or OLA and some of them are finishing that up. Our preschool teachers all the way through our fifth grade teachers. And so we've really built a collective efficacy, a collaborative community around how we
instruct students in early literacy. All of the instruction that you will see happening in classrooms is strongly based in what they are learning in letters and Ola, that science of reading. And so you will see prior to a few years ago when we had all of this
great professional development, you saw maybe some different learning styles and different approaches to literacy and even different philosophies of what early learning looked like for young readers. Now as you walk across buildings you see common practices. You
see explicit instruction happening in a very similar fashion from building to building. That instruction also follows very closely our MTSS framework. So lots of different strategies but similar across classrooms differentiating that
instruction. And then the decisions that are being made around how we're delivering instruction are based on datadriven information. So, we are guiding our tier one opportunities for kids using data that we're collecting even as young as four years old and
using that to guide what their classroom experience looks like and then what they might need as far as additional support. Which way? There we go. All right. And then as far as literacy staff development, that looks similar
between our buildings as well. Um, as Kristen said, we have most of our staff completed in the redact training and the rest of them finishing up this year. This includes our educational support specialists as well, which is really exciting. So, now we're really taking that knowledge and taking the time to
build upon it and make sure that we are implementing it with fidelity. Our reading coaches, which have been key to our literacy instruction, continue to do coaching observation and coaching cycles within our building to continue to strengthen our teachers across the
district. We continue to work through our PLC's. Um, and as Kristen said, really dive into the data and make sure that we're making the best decisions with the data we have in front of us. Um and then we continue as the middle school had talked about using that instructional framework to make sure
that we have really good strong teaching practices in place all across the board. This is me again. All right. So our first goal was around literacy prek through five literacy and our second goal is around our vision of a learner
goals. So what does that look like in elementary buildings when you are building students who are effective communicators, resilient learners, critical thinkers, and persons of integrity. An example that I can give uh at Eastview is around effective
communicators and what does that mean for us? We're tackling that vision of a learner attribute both on the side of the adults as well as on the side of the children. And so the adults are doing the modeling. How are we talking to students? How are we talking to each
other about students when we're sharing data, when we're planning for kids? And then how are we modeling for students how to use their voice? How to be an effective communicator and communicate their needs, their misunderstandings, the questions they may still have in
their learning, how to speak up and be an advocate for your learning. Resilient learner. You'll hear that in all of our buildings. You'll hear students saying to to each other, well, if you want to be a resilient learner, you got to keep going. Don't give up. And reminding each
other, they know that word resiliency means it might be hard, but I know what to do. I know who to ask because I'm an effective communicator. I know how to advocate for my needs. All of the work we're doing both in literacy,
mathematics, science, social studies is giving kids opportunities to be create critical thinkers. So we are not just spitting information at them and hoping it sinks in. We're giving them opportunities to collaborate, to turn
and talk, to pair up with partners in their classroom, to do their learning activities while also still expecting them to be independent critical thinkers and take in knowledge and information on their own. And then another thing you will hear throughout throughout our
buildings is integrity. Doing the right thing even if a teacher is not asking you to. How do you step up as a person of integrity even when no one's looking? And what does that look like? What does that look like on the playground? What does that look like on the bus? And so
all of these are really truly embedded as elementary teachers. This is our jam. This is what we do. Trying to build people in our community who exhibit all of these attributes. the staff development
around the vision of the learner is um we have a a lot of different ways that we're doing this. So, what Kristen was just talking about with the vision of the learner, our character strong curriculum that each child gets throughout the
elementary um experience focuses on how to be respectful, responsible, how to um persevere, how to have empathy, how to think creatively. Um, so throughout our days, not only are we teaching content,
but also working on those important attributes. One thing that our staff um in at Little Mountain and at Pinewood work on is something that's called the catalyst approach. And Clay's going to talk a little bit about that.
>> Good evening. Um so the catalyst approach is something that we've um spent a couple years on now and that training revolves around teachers setting up um consistent practices for students to um come into and know what to expect every day. Um that allows
students to be a little more independent or start to build that independence even at our a younger age. Um it also allows them to learn how to problem solve. It allows the teacher um more time to interact with kids because you've been in an elementary classroom, you know that often what you experience is kids
are asking hundreds of questions. And so to try that takes a lot of energy and a lot of time. And so trying to set up consistent practices where kids feel safe to um feel like they know what they're doing in the classroom and not relying on the adult to always take care
of those little things. Um helps them be successful and to grow. We are also um using a program called Ukaro this year. Ukira is a program that is brainbased. So it um talks about how
the brain responds when there is a trigger. So we're being more curious about behaviors and thinking about the why because behav the why um why behaviors are happening. So understanding that it's a it's a brain response. The way that the neural
pathways are developed might be different than we're expecting and what we can do to help reroute those pathways. Once a month, our teachers get together and behavior PLC's and they learn about the brain and how to respond
to students that may be disregulated because of one thing or another. All of these things are put together um along with the academics to ensure that every student every day, no matter what school you go to for an elementary experience,
um that student is getting the same thing. So when they go to the middle school and the high school, they've got that strong foundation. And we have a lot of different systems and structures in place. And of course, you've heard us say the big umbrella is our MTSS structure. And so everything
that we do is falling under that. We're making sure that we're meeting all of the different tiers of instruction. And these are some of the ways that we do that. So we're consistently meeting with our instructional leadership teams to make important instructional decisions within the building. Our behavior and academic study teams look really closely
again at data and make sure that we're getting students what they need. And then our PLC's go through a lot of different cycles around literacy, behavior, um, and math to just make sure that our instructional approaches are in place to best meet again all tiers of
instruction within our buildings. So, we've talked about how we're supporting literacy, how we're supporting academics. We're also talking about how we're supporting students um to become happy, healthy, resilient learners. critical thinkers.
We also know that um that you have a packet of data and we do have time to address um some questions that you have with that. And we also want um you to know that we look forward to doing a deeper dive with you all on the data um
in a future work session. >> You opening up to us now for questions on the data? >> You bet. >> Okay, great. Um board members, as you can see, we have two data charts that were presented to us on testing scores. Um have you guys had a chance to review
all of this data now? And can you just give us a brief overview of it quick before we spring questions? So as we reviewed the data together as a team, one thing that uh immediately jumped out at us was our pride in if you
look at a particular class of students as they move through the years, you are seeing some nice increases in student performance. And so as we have strengthened and enhanced um some of the teaching strategies and made um things
more consistent across spaces, you can see some increases. So the kiddos that were in kindergarten in 21-22 increasing over their course of those few years um and attributing that to the hard work of teachers really um bringing
practices into their spaces. So that was a celebration that we noted when we looked at the data. >> We also noted that there's um areas that are in need of improvement. Um for example, we look at some of our math scores and we have new
new standards in math and the new standards are um we know that we need to focus on more in how the brain learns how to do math. So, we have just done a really deep dive in the science of reading. Um, now we're going to be
diving into the science of math. Really working on having students understand what um the concepts are rather than being able to memorize and just do facts. Have an understanding of what does 3* 3 really mean and how does that
work instead of just nine. Um, another thing with math is that we have been working with our current curriculum for quite a long time and we're going to be starting piloting and um, looking towards an adoption process next year.
So, um, so we know that with our new standards that we need to do some things differently. We need to make sure that we fully understand how kids learn how to do math and focus on um, on those big concepts.
As we've looked at reports for the last few years, usually there's a state percentage next to the 882 percentage. We see that um over here on the MCAs. What would you say is the
purpose or the advantage of looking at the state scores? Overall, it gives us a chance to celebrate um because on average we are higher than the state. Um it doesn't point out I mean we obviously still have a lot of work to do but I do think that helps us
see that we've seen some decreases in scores but the state overall has seen some decreases too. Again not that we don't have work to do but it is a point of celebration at times for us because our averages do seem to be higher than the state in most areas. I have a question on the fast bridge. Uh
maybe you can explain if you want to pull that back up. Zoom in a little bit. So I can see the the grades as I move through are improving. But it looks like year-over-year there is some drop. So if I just pick one randomly, second grade
for example, that grade was at 61, then 58, then 54, then 50, grade three is 73, then 65, then 6061. Am I reading that correctly? And if I am, what do you think is the
largest contributor to that trend? >> That's a a great question. And um part of it is looking at cohort data. So cohorts come in um you know kids have different things that are happening in their lives. You know if you look at you
know adults um and generations. So part of that is um is just the differences in cohorts. Um it is something that when we look at it that's why it's really good to look at the data both ways when we're looking at data um longitudinally. So we're you know able to take a look and
see are students making progress from year to year. Um it we're looking at it we're looking at it both ways. We're taking a look at you know what is happening with second grade and then also um you know really digging into the
data and seeing is it our foundational skills? Is it comprehension? Um what is it exactly? And then we're able to put supports in place to help address that. >> Yeah. So I mean year over year you're making strides but it seems like each year we're starting back further and further than the starting block. So I just want to make sure we understand or
when we dig into a little bit further that we understand what's what do we think is driving that and what is the how do we how do we help rectify that as all >> I think one of the factors um that you don't see up here is usually the fast bridge is given with within the first two or three weeks of school and so
there is definitely summer learning loss too um so that is a part of it that's although you're looking at spring data sorry that would make sense then but we do um we do often start again a little bit behind in the fall and have work to make up. I do want to throw out there,
we don't like to blame COVID, but some of our early learners that second grade cohort going through would have missed a lot of in-person learning around that same time if I'm looking at the dates quickly. >> Right. And in addition to that, it's um a lot of their language development was
happening when people were wearing masks. And a big part of comprehension is not just um you know, not just reading comprehension, but it's also that language comprehension as well. So, there are some pieces that we're continuing to work through.
>> Yeah. Yeah, I mean I think a positive the part of it too is like when you look at fifth grade, it seems like they're catching up by the time they're in fifth grade, but is there anything we can do as an opportunity to help springboard earlier? So those numbers by the time they get to fifth grade were were a little bit higher as all
>> and I think in hope that that's what a lot of the plans that we talked about in our staff development are really targeted towards and so it is um ensuring that what whatever elementary you're at you're getting the same experiences with our functional phonics
resource functional morphology amplify building oral language in collaboration with comprehension. Those are all some things that have really been enhanced in the last few years that I don't think we did as well a handful of years ago for
kids. And so now the explicitness of instruction, the really purposeful looking at data and each week we have an assessment tracker where we can see up this was the skill this week and I see a dip in that. What are my interventions
and resources to give that extra scoop of instruction? And so I do hope you will continue to see that we are filling those holes that maybe we didn't fill as well in previous years because now we know better and we're doing better I think for kids.
>> There more support that you guys need from the board to to assist than this at all? I mean we're here to help. We just want to >> There's a loaded question. um it it's um we have really great people in front of kids and the willingness of
our staff to engage with reading coaches. So having that opportunity and that is something that Monaceel has moved forward allowing reading coaches to come in and support teachers and noticing things about kids that when you're in the front of the room
instructing you might miss something. And so how do we not miss those things with kids? So, I do think the systems of support that we've built in this community are really really to an advantage for our students. Um, and and not everywhere has that. So, we that is
something that we are truly grateful for is those interventionists and those reading coaches. I'd just like to draw attention to this is the first time that we've done an all elementary um and so um through the director of teaching and learning and work of our principles and u making sure
that all that work gets all the way through the system goals are worked on and true collective efficacy is going to happen because we're going to be talking about it throughout the system. even bringing it back to the board level to have those granular um data um dives both at a little you know a little bit
here at the meetings but then also having them scheduled throughout the year is going to be something that um becomes part of a vocabulary in the district which we're all really excited and proud of. So I I love the conversation and um the knowledge that uh we're seeing from both both parties
here. Can >> you speak just a hair more on the reading coaches? Is that something? You said that's something new that we've incorporated. Is that volunteers? Is that grant money? Where where do our reading coaches stem from?
>> Uh our reading coaches fall under the ANI grant. Um and that was we put that into place three school years ago. Um so they have been able to get into every elementary classroom in some capacity to provide coaching. um you know, some of
them have branched out and started working with special ed as well. So, they're a huge impact on making sure that we have consistent great reading instruction happening. Um it would be lovely someday to have math coaches as well, especially as we roll out a new
curriculum. Um so, that's something the board might be able to help with, but we just so thankful to have those people there. We come into the classroom in a much different way. we can help coach and things too, but that's their dedicated time um their full-time position. >> And that's achievement integration
money. That is not specifically a grant, but it's just programming and funding that we qualify for as a district from the state. Just wanted to clarify. Okay, good. What other questions do we have? >> Nothing. All right. Well, thank you and
great job presenting. We we like the unified approach. All right. Now, we'll move to item number nine on our agenda, safe and healthy culture. And I'd like to welcome up to the podium our activities director Gary Revig to go over resolution of
governing board supporting form a application for the state. >> Good evening, Chair Sebin, Monosell School Board, Superintendent Olsen. I'm here uh seeking school board approval for two grants from the middle Minnesota Minnesota State High School League.
These are annual grants um we've applied for every year. The first one is the form A grant and the money that comes in from the foundation is from the sales tax at all the state tournament events. And Monaceel, we're fortunate to host uh state soccer. We're hosting state soccer
on Wednesday and Thursday. Two games each night in our stadium this week. And then we're going to host state football on Saturday, November 8th. So, uh, we're very fortunate, like I said, to be able to host that. The sales tax from those tickets goes into the foundation and that money is split equally between all
the schools that apply for it. Not every school does. Um, we always do here in Monaceel. So, form A is to offset the students that qualify for free and reduced lunch to give you some money back to the school district. And in the Monosel district, it goes back into our
general fund. That's form A. Form B is for um something with safety. In the last three years, we've um applied and received the grant for a new AED. And um I was trying to think this year, where would we possibly put another AED if we
received the grant and I just found out last week that two of them did not realize this happened, but their life uh lifespan has expired and they need to be replaced. One is in the fieldhouse at the high school and the other one is the first portable one we received about 10
years ago. So they do expire. Um so we will try to hopefully we'll get this grant this year and we'll replace both of them. So I'm seeking approximately $3,000 in form B for two new AEDs. >> Awesome. Any questions from board
members? This is an action item. two separate. >> Well, form A, whereas the Minnesota State High School League Foundation was formed to provide support for Minnesota's high school youth to participate in athletics and fine arts,
whereas the governing board of district 82 recognizes the value of student particip participation in extracurricular activities. And whereas the Minnesota State High School League Foundation is offering grants and funding to assist schools in recognizing promoting funding
extra extracurricular participation by high school students and the athletic and fine arts programs. Therefore, it be resolved that the governing body, the governing board of district 882 supports a school application to the Minnesota State High School League Foundation for
a form a grant to offset student activity fees. >> Second. Moved by Jeff Hegley, seconded by Casey Root. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed, please say no. Motion passes 6. And now on to form B.
>> Before we go on to form B. I just want to applaud our board for majority participation. Um, we're talking about safety in athletics and there was a letter provided by a
fellow schoolboard member in the state that was sent around to board members throughout the state asking for our signature to support Title 9 compliance. And the letter goes to Attorney General Keith Ellison. I don't know what the status is right
now of that, but appreciate that we stood up for um our girls sports who are doing very well and hopefully we can um see some compliance with Title N to
provide safety for girls sports. Thank you. Whereas the Minnesota State High School League Foundation was formed to provide support for Minnesota's high school youth to participate in athletics and fine arts. Whereas the governing board of district 882 recognizes the value of
student participation in extracurricular activities. And whereas the Minnesota State High School League Foundation is offering grants and funding to assist schools to provide seminars, training opportunities, or support for specific school functions for students, faculty members, officials, and others who are
involved in athletic and fine arts programs. Therefore, it be resolved that the governing board, District 82, supports the school's application through Minnesota High School League Foundation for a form B grant. >> Seconded. Moved by Jeff Hegley, seconded
by Mary Bartell. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Please say no. Motion passes 6. Thank you, Gary. >> Thank you. >> All right. Now, we will move on to item B, which is a calendar change for
election day for 20. Uh, this is supposed to say 2026, I think, calendar. And I'm going to pass it over to Superintendent Eric Wilson. All right. So, >> nope. This is uh for this election day.
Um so, um as you were making notice of though, I will be coming with the calendar in November uh for the 25 uh 26 school year. Um but this one is just a slight change. Worked with high school administration. Um and we feel it's
important to keep up um what we've been doing the last two elections. And over the last two elections, um we have either not had school um at the high school um because our high school is a voting precinct or we have um had a online um digital at home learning day.
So we'd like to keep up that tradition and so it's just a little tweak of the calendar where um on November 4th um our high school students would um have a digital at home learning day. Um, our staff are well versed in and being able to do this for, um, inclement weather
and, um, uh, Principal Hansen has been working with the staff just to make sure that they're ready if, uh, this goes through here tonight. Um, so I'm proposing today that, uh, we tweak the the November 4th calendar. As you can see, there's a new cal uh color on the
calendar, and that purple represents um high school only at home digital learning day for November 4th. That just gives our our public the opportunity to vote in a place that's just for voting. And it gives our students an opportunity to um be with with their teachers and
and um it might be um in a different format than normal, but it is still a format that uh provides that separation. All right, board. Any questions? Um, moved. >> Second. Moved by Jeff Hegley, seconded
by Melissa Curtis. All those in favor, please say I. I. >> Opposed, please say no. >> Motion passes. 6. On to item C, which is our second reading of policy. May we welcome to the podium, Director of Human Resources, Rob
Danicker. >> Thank you, Chair Seban. Members of the board, Superintendent Olsen. So, I'm here tonight with the second read of four policies for adoption. Um, uh, we had five, uh, policies come to our first read this month, and we did
table one and send it back to the committee for, uh, further consideration in November. So, we'll see that one back in front of the full board at that time. Uh, but the four in front of us tonight start with, uh, policy 303, which is superintendent selection. and timely given the agenda for the work session
this evening. Uh the purpose of this policy is to convey to the school community that the authority to select and employ a superintendent is vested in the school board. Uh there are no recommended changes to this policy, but based on our past practice, we do um bring forward uh those policies that are
not subject to revision uh to be part of our action agenda as well. But any questions on 303? Moving forward to 607. This is the organization of grade levels. Uh the purpose of this policy is to address the grade level organization of schools within the school district. This is not
currently a policy um in place for Monaceel. Um and it's we're drawing from the MSBA model uh language uh for this policy and the fact that three Minnesota statutes refer to elements of this policy. So thought it was uh fruitful to
bring it forward for adoption and I'll accept any questions on 607. Right. Moving forward to 621 leg uh literacy in the read act. Um the purpose of this policy uh aligns with the Minnesota law established in the read act and on other
topics related to reading. Uh we're this came forward for review due to legislative change during the 25 legislative session. Um there are significant amendments made to um the the statute that guides uh the read act and then again uh that's impact on
policy 621. So some revisions in terms of timeline dates um dual language immersion programs uh alignments as we heard from our elementary principles um and uh against some more changes regarding timeline for
implementation and um training. Any questions on 621? Okay. And last, but certainly not least, policy 704, development, and maintenance of an inventory of fixed assets in a fixed asset accounting system. The purpose of this policy is to provide for the development, maintenance of an
inventory uh of the fixed fixed assets of the school district and the establishment and maintenance of a fixed asset accounting program. Um and so uh at the recommendation of our director of business services along with our auditors uh we're recommending some
updates to this section um and first and foremost to bring it into compliance with uh current auditing uh standards. And so uh we established that uh new capitalization level of $5,000 u total
threshold being 25,000. We adjusted uh the amounts on capitalization and depreciation. Um and we updated also the uh legal references and cross references to other MSBA policies. Any questions on 704.
All right, Sher Stevens. So these are action item for tonight for um four policies for this month. >> Recommend these policies be approved as read and presented and updated. Second >> moved by Mary Bartell, seconded by Jeff
Hegley. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppos, please say no. Motion passes 6. Thank you, Director Danicker. All right. And that brings us to adjournment at 7:13 p.m. We will be
following this meeting with a work session. Take a five minute break before we get started on that. And our next upcoming school board meeting will be at 5:00 pm on Monday, November 3rd. Thank you for joining us.