I would like now to now call to order the April 7th uh regular meeting of the Mounty School Board. Good evening and welcome. Our first item on our agenda is the adoption of the agenda. Do I hear a motion? So moved. Second.
The agenda has been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? I I. Next, we're going to move on to um item 2.1, our student representative reports. And it sounds like we're starting out with Monsu tonight. Why don't you both
introduce yourselves? Fiona and I didn't get your name. Uh Kosby. Nice to meet both of you. Thanks for being here. And sharing what's going on at MU High School with us. Okay. Um just a quick recap of the March of Mu High School's March recap. So,
congratulations to the MVI girls varsity softball team on their season opener win against East Ridge 10 11 to1 last week. Congratulations to the MA team for placing third at the state tournament. The team went in fourth for the season. Also, Austin Wang, who is a junior, um
qualified to compete on stage in the math bowl at the end of the tournament. He scored in the top 10 individuals in state on the invitational event at the beginning of the day to qualify. Congratulations to Kora Gentry and team who competed in America's Future Summit,
a youth leadership competition where teams develop and pitch civic solutions for America's future. The team took the top prize at the summit with a proposal to help small businesses adopt low energy options and were awarded $5,000 to put their plan into action.
Congratulations to the Moundie students who competed against over 100 uh 1,100 students in 70 plus competitions at the HOSA event. Competitors who placed in the top three in their event qualified for the opportunity to compete in the HOSA International Leadership Conference
in Indianapolis. individual placings and awards. Um, Avisha got second um in life-threatening situations and first in foundations of medical terminology. Prennav um got [clears throat] third in family medicine
physician. Nandanda got first in veterinary science. Sageel got top fifth in medical spelling. Jes got first in allied health statistics. Josiah got first in ATC biology. and Lena got first
in dental science. Congratulations to Lana Digian who won the U8 Junior Nationals Championship. Um, this is Lana's third win after previously winning the U16 titles. Len continues to post impressive results in Nordic skiing
across the country. Mount View also had their eighth annual student honoring Pow Wow on Saturday. Um this was an indigenous vendors and food trucks on site all day. Um they ended their day of celebration with student honoring. Due
to low attendance for our winter dance the past year student council is hosting a fundraising carnival in its place. Um this will take place on Friday, April 10th. Tickets are $10 and everyone is welcome to attend. Thank you.
Great. Thank you. Welcome, Kenna. Hi. Hello. Okay. Okay. Hi, guys. It's good to see you all again. And yeah, I'll be presenting Irondale's March highlights. We've had quite a bit going on this month, so
excited to present that. So starting off with winter guard Irondale hosted the WGI regional in Minneapolis where groups from around the metro and Wisconsin participated in both prelims and final performances. And so both Irondale, our
maroon and gold team competed and took first place in their respective classes. Um and so we were the 2026 WGI Minneapolis champions. and Irondale Gold will now be participating in the WGI Worlds competition which will be in Ohio
later this month. So, robotics also had quite a bit going on. Um, Irondale's Nightcrawler Robotics competed in the Northern Lights tournament um in Duth and the team their team's bots name is Monarch and the team
seated second after 11 qualification matches and was selected by the first ranked team to join their playoff alliance. And so the Nightcrawler re also received the prestigious engineering inspiration award. And so this award celebrates a team that demonstrates outstanding success in
advancing respect and appreciation for engineering. Um and this is the first time that the Nightcrawlers in the Night crawlers 20 year history at Iondale that they've received this award. So congratulations to them. And they also qualified for the World Championships
which will take place in Texas later this month. There have been 353 teams across the world that have competed and the Nightcrawler is currently ranked three in the world for championship qualifications. So, good job to Irondale Robotics.
DECA also had quite a bit going on. We had 29 DECA state competitors and 13 qualified for the international competition in Georgia later this month. Um, kind of some specific student recognitions. Usma received the
outstanding DECA member award and the speakers bureau award and qualified in all three of her events for internationals. Her partner Jacob received the outstanding DECA member award and the speakers bureau award and second place in his community awareness
project with OSMA. Um Amelia was recognized for the speaker bureau award and placed in two of her events and earned a scholarship of $333 and advanced um and second place in advanced interview and earned first place in integrated marketing campaign
product with her partner Owen who also received a $250 scholarship. And we had Samira Orelli Roslin also received speaker bureau awards and their advisor Diane she was recognized for being an outstanding advisor. So, a lot of good
stuff going on for DECA as well. And Quizbowl, um Irondale's freshman Hank O'Hara and Noah Johnson, along with sophomores Amber, um competed in the Minnesota State Quiz Bowl representing Irondale, um this past Saturday, and
they were undefeated in 11 rounds, winning first place in the challenge division. And additionally, Hank was top uh individual overall scorer. So, great job to Hank. Andre's speech also had a great month.
Um we they first they attended the St. Anthony Village tournament and placed first among 33 30 high school teams. And then Irondale showed up to Colombia um Heights High School for the section speech tournament and we had 17
finalists and nine students advancing to the state tournament and we also earned the distinction of the section 4A champion. So, great job to Irondale's speech. And then some specific student athlete highlights. Um, we had Azelle,
which I think she's behind me. Um, she was named the region 5A award winner, and this is the most prestigious award that the Minnesota State High School League gives out. So, the qualifications for this award are having an overall GPA above 4.1, um
excelling in arts, which she did in orchestra, and athletics, which um she plays three sports cross country, um a three-time state participant in Nordic skiing, and a state participant in track and field. Um also, congratulations to
Junior Griffin on being selected as one of 34 recipients for the MSHL Excel Award. Um, Griffin was elected from over 350 applicants for his commitment in community service, education, and leadership. And also, congratulations to
Cameron for receiving over a thousand career points in basketball. And that's all for March. Thank you. That was amazing. Now, we get to hear about more fabulous students in our district. and uh both of our uh high school activities directors
are here, Jim Galvin, Bill Quan, um and some of our students for our winter activities student recognition. So, I'm going to turn it over to Jim. Thank you, school board. I'm Jim Galvin, the lame duck uh athletic director at Mounds View High [laughter] School after 35 years in the district. I'm pleasure
to uh move on and Gretch and Z will be taking my place and things will go very well. But we've got uh I supposed to have three groups tonight. We've got one of our club sources of strength which works with a lot of kids on the mental uh mental health awareness and suicide prevention. We've got uh our science
olympied team which seems to uh win every competition that they enter and are getting ready for nationals. And our Nordic team was supposed to show up but I don't think they did. But our Nordic's got an interesting uh story behind our Nordic team. We're uh pretty good Nordic. Our coach Ian O'Neal resigned
after last year to spend a little more time with his young family at home. Uh after six months of job posting, we had no applicants for the job. Uh we were going to have to we didn't know what we're going to do, maybe not have a team. We had uh about five moms and dads from our students stepped up and said,
"Mr. Galvin, we will coach this team." We know a little bit about Nordic Ski. Um we know a lot about kids. And a couple of them actually had to take some state high school league classes to get certified. Uh they recruited Mr. Oberg, one of our teachers, to help get
everything going. uh logistically at school to work with Cindy and I and the bus company, all that kind of stuff. And Scott got them on the bus every day and the parents plus another 10 of parent volunteers met them at whatever park they were skiing at that day and it was an incredible season for the kids. Uh we
had multiple girls go to state and the whole boys team went to state and so uh it's it's kind of takes a village uh more than we think and sometimes the village really steps up. Tonight I'll turn this over to our first student. Thank you everybody. Thanks, Jim. Thank you.
Hello. Um, my name is Nicole Anderson and I'm one of the leaders of Sources of Strength. I have a little um little script here. Um, we are a divi diverse group of students and adults from across our school community. We know that life has its ups and downs and our mission is
to make sure that during the tough times, no one feels so overwhelmed that they want to give up. Our club was started by our deans Kazim Shazad, Sarah Hatala, and Megan Childs. Over the last two years, we've met we've met every Wednesday morning to create campaigns
for our school, including so including a social media campaign is which we interviewed students and asking them about who or what their sources of strengths are. These sources of strengths focus on eight specific strengths. Family support, positive
friends, mentors, healthy activities, generosity, spirituality, physical health, and mental health. Currently, we are working on a new project. We are asking students to pick a colored feather that represents a source of strength in their life. You will write about that strength on the feather and
place it in one of these bags here. Um once we collect them, we are going to display the feathers in a shape of wings in our common space. We want everybody to see that um the positive traits that we share, create awareness for mental health, and of course take photos with
the wings to post with their friends. We hope we look forward to continuing these campaigns throughout the year. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] Hi, my name is Kosby and I'm Fiona and we are the captains of Mountains View Science Olympiad or Mountains View
Science Olympiad program. Science Olympiad or SIL is the largest grade school science competition in the United States and it covers many science fields including biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, computer science and more. Both of us have been competing
since elementary school for over nine years. And this program runs from elementary all the way up to high school. Our team here at Mount Zoo travels to tournaments to compete against hundreds of other schools in tournaments where we compete in 23 different events based on knowledge, lab
skills, and engineering abilities. Through this program, we've learned how to study and how to research much more than a traditional classroom learning, such as reading college level academic material and learning new lab techniques. Science Olympiad has taught us how to take initiative in our learning, which is a skill that's helped
us not only succeed in competitions, but also in our academic classes and future career goals. Unlike other science competitions in the US, Science Olympiad is very dependent on teamwork and collaboration. All of the events are partner-based, which means that success
depends on efforts from all partners and strong teamwork teamworking skills. Each member of the team usually competes in three to four events, which allows them to always have the option to try new events and get introduced to new fields of science. Because partners often change from event to event, students
also develop the ability to work with different teammates and adapt to different working styles. This teamwork in our program has helped us build very strong bonds with one another. And we've we're proud to create a community where we support and push each other to do our best in our
competitions. Mountains View Science Olympia consistently ranks amongst the top um and strongest teams in the Midwest. We have won the state tournament 16 times in the last 20 years, making us mo the most accomplished science Olympia team in Minnesota history. In addition to
state, we've also t placed top 10 at nationals multiple times, even finishing second against the most competitive schools in the nation. This year, our varsity team won every single competition that they've attended to, and we took home the state champion title. will also be competing at the
nationals tournament in late May. We're really proud of these achievements, but to us, Science Olympiad is much more than just a competition. It is an extracurricular that has grown our passions for science and has become one of the most important communities to us
here at Mountains. Science Olympiad has truly shaped many of us and opened doors to future careers in science and engineering. Thank you so much for supporting us. Thank you. [applause] Good evening everyone. I'm Bill Quan from Ironale High School for the new
board members. Uh thanks for having us here today. Our student rep did such a great job. She checked off about half my list of the things I [laughter] was going to talk about tonight. Uh so I I won't repeat anything, but I will say in my first year at Irondale, I'm amazed by our kids and the sports and activities and the
clubs and all the opportunities we create and some of the kids the the things that the kids do. Um, our one act also made the finals this year, which was fun to watch. They they do a lot of comedies. It was outstanding. One of the walls accidentally fell when it wasn't supposed to in the finals and almost hit one of our guys, but we were still good.
Uh, our MVI gymnastics team sent three girls to state this year. One OIO uh, one OCIO good. That's my old school, sorry. One Irondale wrestler went to state this year. And our boys swim and dive sent two relays and four individuals finish finishing ninth in the state. Um, I do have some groups
talking today. robotics, um, Nordic and hockey, and then also Azelle and Griffin are here to talk about the award they won with the high school league. Um, I do want to say before these guys, I went to the Northstar meet this Saturday. And their robot is amazing. Like, we saw a bunch of really good robots and then
when we saw their robot, it was a different level and different class of it than everybody else. So, they they are amazing. Here you go. We have handouts for you guys. You guys can just like take a look at it and then pass it down. Hi, I'm Nicole. I am a senior and one of
our co- captains. And I'm AOMIA. I'm also a senior and I'm also one of the co- captains. And so we are team 2052 Nightcrawler. We are first robotics team from Irondale. Um and we this is the 20th year of our program. 20th year anniversary. I think she's wearing her 20 year anniversary shirt.
Um, and so we started off the season with 75 plus students applying to the program. um we had kind of a two seasonason format, but midway through we ended up doing some cuts. But then at the end of the season and right now, we have a roster of about 50 students and 19 mentors, most of which are volunteer-
based and kind of went through a lot about our DUV competition about again we were finalists and we won our engineering inspiration award. And then what we she didn't talk about is that before that we hosted two teams from China at our school to help build their robot. they
had to bring their robot in suitcases and we offered up a off location space for them and then in our space they were able to practice and then one of those teams was our alliance captain so that was a very cool experience with them and then Quan talked a bit about this past weekend where we competed at
Northstar and this was our second regional. It was at the Miruchi Arena at the University of Minnesota campus. And so at the end of qualification matches, we ranked number one and became alliance captains. And so we partnered with teams from a team from Illinois and a team from Alaska. And we ended up becoming
regional winners of the event. And we also won the autonomous award, which recognizes consistent and reliable non-driver operated programs. So things like vision and sensors that help on our robot know where it is on the field without being driver operated. Um also one of our students was recognized um by
winning the first leadership award which recognizes individual contributions. Um yeah and then for upcoming events we have our world championship which is in Houston that will be again end of April and that will be 600 teams from around the world. It's a really big event for us. And then
after that we will have state championship which is May 16th and it's an open event at I think at the Concordia. Yeah at the Concordia University. So if you guys want to show up, it's a great place to be. And we won last year. So um yeah, state
is a really fun event. We get to get together with a lot of teams from locally and around Minnesota that we might not see as often. Um and so some of our biggest goals, particularly this past season and future seasons, is outreach. We do a lot of STEM demos um at elementary schools and also with other community programs. And also,
again, we have a really big program and it just keeps growing. So, we're really focusing on providing a meaningful experience for every student on our team. Um, and also making things free and accessible. So, doing more fundraising so that STEM is accessible to all and there's no financial barriers. And also looking for a space
for our team. Thank you. Hello, I'm Ryland. and I'm Griffin and I'm a junior and he's a senior from the hockey team. Um to start off, we set a couple goals this year. Um this is the first year in
a while that we had double digit wins. Um we won 14 11 and one for boys hockey. Um that placed us at third seed in section 4A. And yeah. Yeah. This was uh the first time in over
10 years that we've had that good of a record and placed that high. So that was really cool for us. And our team was also awarded the second place in state for the highest GPA on the team. We average over a 4.2 GPA across the section roster.
I think anything else [laughter] I think uh next year we hope to continue this. I'll be on the team next year but he'll be graduating. But yeah, hope to make another great season. Awesome. Congratulations. Thank you. [applause] Hi, I'm Iselle. And I'm Sophie. And uh
we're both senior captains for the Nordic team. Uh so we finally had a winter with snow this year. So that meant that we were able to practice at Irondale, which was the first time we were able to do that for two two three years. Yeah. So that also meant that we
were able to host our um meet at Irondale for the first time in a couple years as well. Um, this also meant that we were able to have a really good uh successful trip to Michigan, which is where we spend three days up there and
just ski like non-stop. But, um, it really improves the team and it was super fun. Um, and we were able to ski in both snow and rain on that trip. [laughter] Um, so our team has continued to grow in
size and strength over the years and um, throughout the season we have we had a lot of strong performances from both our new skiers and our veteran varsity athletes. Um, so at our final uh,
meet for the season, our conference meet, um, several boys and girls received conference awards. So, all conference and all conference honorable mention awards. Um, and our at sections, our boys relay team finished third, narrowly missing out on state, which was
a bummer, but it was super awesome to see. And, um, our girls relay also finished fourth out of the nine teams. And I was on that relay. It was super fun to compete with my relay partner. It was just an awesome opportunity. Uh, at sections, I finished sixth and qualified
for the statement, which was super exciting. Competing there was a great experience. And after both of the races, I ended up placing 24th out of like 110 competitors. So, I received all state honors. So, that was a really fun way to end my senior season. Uh, one of my favorite memories from the season was at
the conference meet when we were watching Sophie and the boys relay ski. Our team would run from one side of the course to the other, cheering them on for like 10 minutes. It was It was more tiring than my race. So, it was that was one of my favorite memories of this year.
It's all great. Yeah. Um it was also just super fun to a few of our girls went up and supported Ael at State. So that was also super fun. It was a great um team bonding experience and we really were a tight team this year. So
awesome. Uh like Kata mentioned earlier, I was one of 30 students, 30 high school juniors selected for the Excel Award. This is an award uh that the Minnesota Minnesota State High School League awards uh to juniors for excellent excellence in community education and
leadership. And it was uh really an honor to be selected and I actually got to be featured on live television when I received this award at Williams Arena. Yeah, I was last month I was named the region 5AA female award winner which Kenna announced earlier. I was one of 32 out
of more than 600 applicants to receive this award and it recognizes students who excel in the arts, academics, and athletics. Uh we had an award banquet on a Saturday morning and after that we were honored during the state boys basketball tournament on the court. So we were on live TV which was super
exciting. Um and it was an it was just an incredible opportunity to be surrounded by so many other accomplished students and be awarded the high school's high school league's most prestigious award. Congratulations. Congratulations. [applause] Thank you so much for being here. We are
um so excited to hear about each one of your teams and individual successes and and I appreciate you guys each sharing um what participating in your activities means to you and that connection um that's really important to us as a district. So um thank you and congratulations to all of you. If any of
you are seniors and would like to share what's next for you after graduation, we know we have you for a couple more months. don't leave yet, but after graduation from Monzer Irondale, if you know what your plans are and you want to share them with us, feel free. If you don't and don't want to share, pass the mic. Um, I'll be studying engineering at
Northwestern University next year. So, I'll be studying um computer engineering at the University of Minnesota. I'll be going majoring at organizational leadership at Northern Iowa. Uh, I'll be studying environmental engineering at Yale.
I'll be studying mechanical engineering at University of North Dakota. Uh I'll be studying biology at St. Olaf College and will be continuing my athletic career in both uh cross country running and track. I will be studying chemistry and health
exercise health science on a premed track at the College of St. Benedict and I will be competing on the track and field team. Thank you so much you guys for [applause] coming tonight. Thank you. Awesome. Yeah. And also, thank you, Mr. Galvin. Congratulations on your retirement.
You'll be missed all your years of service to the district. And thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] All right, we are moving on to item 2.3, announcements. Jim, could you read the gifts for us tonight? Oh, it would be my pleasure. So, uh, there were 15 gifts for schools and
programs received this period for a total of $8,440. There were also 33 gifts received for the Ralph Reader Food Shelf for this period for a total of 93,483. It is recommended the board accept these gifts and extend thanks to the donors.
Great. Thanks, Jim. Um, upcoming meeting dates. Our next um meeting of the board is Tuesday, April 21st at 7 p.m. here at the district center and our next work session is Thursday, May 14th, 5:00 pm here at the district uh district center.
Shauna, would you uh share with us about comments of the board tonight? Yeah, so the board was available this evening starting at 6:30 to hear comments from the public. At today's comments to the board, community members shared their thoughts about the new middle school model. Since there has
been some confusion about the new model, I wanted to share a little bit about how that model uh was developed. Um so the district has been very intentional in this work. Uh three years ago, all three middle schools began exploring uh pre-adolescent development, the middle
school experience and programming at the middle schools. A national education consulting firm was selected to work with the middle schools to gather input from families, students, staff and identify opportunities for growth. Again, this was three years ago, so it
would have been students, staff, families at that time. Um the survey feedback was collected uh from a sample of those students, teachers, and parents who were engaged in our middle school programs. Uh the consultant worked with our staff to review our schools and
visited all three of our middle schools. They offered four recommendations including a schedule change that prioritizes additional flex learning time for personalized learning opportunities in daily advisory programming. Uh in addition to engaging
staff at all the middle schools, the middle schools presented uh to the curriculum advisory committee and made three public reports to the school board. Uh one of those was in May of 2024, December of 2024 and again um in
April of 2025. And I just want to say that the school board supports this process and the changes that are being implemented. Um, and as a result of all that work that was completed, all three middle schools are adapting this new schedule. The High
View uh started already. It's in place for sixth graders and it will be expanded to include seventh and eighth graders in the fall and the new model will take effect for sixth graders at Edgewood and Chipoa next fall. Thanks, Sha. Yeah. Moving on to item 2.4,
superintendent report. Great. Well, thank you, Heidi. Um, I think the students tonight did a wonderful job highlighting their accomplishments. So, like they said, I'm not going to duplicate that, but I do have a couple um, principles that I want to highlight because of the recognitions
they're getting. Uh, first, as you might be aware, principal Rob Reetsz was selected as the Minnesota recipient for the high school principal of the year award. Uh Rob will now be traveling to Washington DC in the coming days to be recognized along with his peers uh from
states across the country. We certainly want to wish him well and thank him again for representing not only Mounds View but the state of Minnesota with this exceptional honor. So congratulations to Rob. And second, new news. I am pleased to inform you that
Vichi Seong was selected as this year's capital division representative for the high school principal of the year award. So Vichi was selected by his peers for having demonstrated outstanding leadership, a commitment to student achievement, and a dedication to
fostering a positive school culture. So congratulate Vichi when you see him and we wish him the best of luck as he moves forward in that competition. And that's my update this evening. Great. We will move on to item uh 3.0
approval of the consent agenda. I would entertain a motion. So moved. Second. Been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Motion passes. We are moving on now to
item.4.1 termination of pro probationary staff and I would like to invite Julie Coffee executive director of human resources up. Good evening. Um so Minnesota statute defines the probationary period for teachers and during that probationary
period the annual teaching contract may be nonrenewed for any reason including performance staffing lensure and then we also have some teachers who were hired on one-year only contracts. A probationary teacher is deemed to have been re-employed for the ensuing school year unless the school board takes
action to non-renew those contracts prior to July 1. We're taking action tonight in order to meet that deadline as well as provide teachers sufficient opportunity to pursue other employment options. All teachers recommended for non-renewal this evening were notified by their principal prior to tonight's
meeting. So tonight we're asking the board for approval of the non-renewal of the probationary teachers. Thanks Julie. Any questions from the board over this at our work session? Um, if no
questions, I would entertain a motion. So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Thank you, Julie. And Julie gets to stay in the hot seat.
Ah, and we will move on to item 4.2, ratification of the 2527 custodial labor agreement. Yes. So we have reached a tenative agreement with SEIU local 284. That's the union that represents our custodian and building the in ground staff in the
district again for 2025 through 2027. Um SEIU did vote and the um employees in that group have ratified the agreement. So it covers a two-year agreement. Um there are increases in each year of the contract. There was an uh as you know an off-schedule payment that has now been
eliminated. We moved that onto the base salary and then applied um the increases on top of that. We also did some different increases. Um there's a probationary rate and then a non-probationary rate. We did some in different increases based on those two
classifications. Um we also increased longevity increments um differentials and then the 403 403b contribution was increased as well. Um, there were also several language items that were clarified and updated. And so tonight,
we're asking for approval for the 25 2025 2027 custodial labor agreement. Julie, any questions from the board? I just want to say thank you for your work. I know that takes a long time and involves a lot of people. So, thank you.
No questions. I would entertain a motion. So, moved. Second. Been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? I I thanks so much, Julie. Motion passes. All right, we move on to item 5.1 with
um one of our district operational plan goal updates, environmental outdoor learning. And looks like we're inviting Angie Pel and Carl Brown to share with us tonight. Brian and Brian. Good evening. I'm Angie Peshel,
executive director of curriculum instruction. And tonight, Carl Brown, the director of community ed, and Ryan Mson, instructional support for science, are here to present on the final presentation on our DPO for this year, um, environmental learning and outdoor
learning. So, we're going to start with uh reviewing with you the rationale and goal that we set forward. So, outdoor classrooms and environmental learning experiences, they really provide students and teachers with a dynamic, interactive learning environment that can enhance traditional classrooms that
students are in. most of the day. We think it's important that all students have access to this style of learning and that these learning experiences taking place outdoors in nature can stimulate students curiosity in a way that that can't happen in the classrooms. We like to engage their senses and foster a sense of wonder. And
when provided with these types of enriched learning environments, students are able to engage in hands-on experiential learning that leads to a deeper, more lasting understanding of concepts across a variety of subjects. So to that end, then we wrote a goal that really focused on uh developing a
comprehensive plan, a master plan if you will, that will outline outdoor classroom spaces and out and environmental learning opportunities that are available to students across the district. We um have had these things in our system for a long time, but there hasn't been purposeful
intentional alignment of those experiences for our students. And so, one of our goals was to see what was happening out there and then create some alignment around that. And we're happy to report that this goal has been met and the work will continue. So we'll review with you the four strategies that we had um in those areas. The first
strategy uh we looked to develop a vision and some guiding principles for those that outdoor those outdoor classrooms and then environmental learning and um as part of that then we created this vision which we'll use as we move forward then um and all of the environmental learning that we do. So we
want to empower students to become curious investigators and critical thinkers, responsible stewards of the uh nature through an immersive curriculum aligned outdoor experience. Um this vision will use the outdoors as a dynamic classroom and bring in concepts and real world phenomena to foster
academic excellence, physical well-being and lifelong environmental connections. And then to that end, we have three guiding principles as we do that work then. So we want to make sure that that work is curricula that curriculum integrated inquiry that is aligned to our Minnesota state standards that
students have experiences that are authentic and that scientific practices and that um the student experience and access are standardized across the system um as we move forward. turn over to Carl for strategy. All right. Yeah.
Well, good evening everyone. Uh strategy number two uh really is a kind of an assessment that we've been doing over the course of the year. Uh we wanted to create a district document that includes a listing of all of our current physical locations and areas where we're using outdoor classrooms, but also some of those spaces that uh could be used for
outdoor learning. We looked at our current school campuses, surrounding spaces. Look for things like natural features, um, open spaces, gardens, benches, tennis courts, and all those different places that uh would be available or we were already aware that uh teachers were using for those spaces. Uh, in addition to that, we want to look
at the proximity uh within the school areas to nearby spaces. So, looking at parks and park shelters, uh, trail systems we have, uh, looking for areas that are within walking distance of our schools, knowing that transportation is not only a time constraint, but it al also is expensive. Um and so we we documented those pieces and have a a
good list for uh all of the areas within our district. Um another component we looked at were the partner organizations and opportunities we have. So really looking at two different uh areas. One are off-site locations where we would bring our students to those places and then others where we would have partnerships of bringing students uh or
bringing experts to us at our spaces. So, the partner uh off-site locations, some of them we have uh ongoing relationships with Spring Brook Nature Center, Tamarak Dodge Nature Centers, Baker Park Reserve, and um areas like Wolf Ridge, what we'll talk about later, but um and then there's other on-site
ones that Ryan will talk about uh shortly. In terms of progress, uh that evaluation, we are looking at uh not only what our spaces are, but we also made the determination that our best efforts would be placed uh putting that focus on elementary knowing middle
schools are um pretty diverse campuses. There are a lot of choices for students and there are a lot of opportunities. Not to say that outdoor learning can't occur. We just are in a better position uh with spaces that teachers uh can bring students out to. And high schools, we have a lot of opportunities. It may not feel like a nature center, but high
school bleachers and other places are very easy for people to use when the weather's nice. And we see a lot of our teachers bringing students out. In terms of the elementary uh our different sites and buildings, um we've talked a little bit about Belair. That was one of our first uh kind of projects we worked on. Um they're near completion. Uh some of
the work was done on not only the space, but shade structure as well as ordering furniture. Uh we've taken delivery of the furniture. It just needs to be assembled. So that's really the last step, but uh we'll have that done shortly. Um some of our other schools had outdoor learning spaces in there. So Sunny decided a number of years ago um a
school group in their PTA uh had put that in there. Um and some of the other places we're looking at either ones that have been around in the past and trying to decide if they need to be updated but also working with our schools and principles to determine what are those spaces that's available and then what's the best fit for the school really
engaging staff and administration and families in that process. Um, while we don't have dedicated spaces currently at all of our buildings, we do have space that we know we can uh find for outdoor spaces or that in the meantime doesn't mean that people can't take students outside and enjoy a lot of the outdoor
learning opportunities. It's just not as formalized with seating and other pieces that maybe a little more creative uh options maybe needed uh until we get other pieces in place. Uh and then strategy three is to create a comprehensive list of curricular
environmental learning opportunities for students across all grade levels. And again, we specifically focused on elementary schools for that K to five group. The big thing is we wanted to make sure that we were intentional and purposeful with these experiences. So,
we wanted to make sure that all of our experiences connected to units that students were already doing in class. So, that when they went through these experiences, it wasn't just a thing that we did. It was a thing that was connected to curriculum that they were already doing. Um, this year we were
able to do all of the field trips where we had uh people leave the building and go somewhere else. So, in kindergarten they do a zoo field trip. In second grade, uh we created a maple syruping field trip to um where did they go?
Tamarak, uh nature center. Uh and then in fifth grade, we uh they go to all the fifth grade teams go or schools go to uh uh nature center and do Minnesota wildlife and wilderness skills. Um at the other grade levels, uh what we're
going to focus on next year is the on-site field trips. So those are the field trips where we are going to bring experts to the schools uh to do different things. Um and so again to make sure that they they meet with the units that are already in place. We're
going to work with the uh with the [clears throat] naturalists on what uh what specifically we want to accomplish and then work with them to make sure that when they come and they engage with our students, we are successful in having it connect to the work that they are already doing. Um, [snorts] one
thing on this slide that I want to point out is there's a an identifier here, SP and CL. Uh, in our, uh, elementary schools, we have, uh, science specialists. Uh, and so students have an opportunity to work with the science
specialists on on a rotation. Um, it's one of our rotations along with like, uh, physical education uh, and things like that. Um and then we also have units that are classroom uh instruction where the regular classroom teachers are leading the instruction. So we identify
when a unit is a specialist unit and when a unit is a classroom unit. Um the other focus area is on how we're going to utilize the outdoor classrooms. Uh and again one of the big things is we wanted to make sure that all of our uh
outdoor classroom experiences were connected to units that that are already there. Um so what that basically means is we'll try to create lessons that are connected to units. So we have the units already in place that we're doing and then how do we create uh extensions to
the units or how do we build in additional learning into those units to uh to have some successful outdoor experiences. Uh we find that connecting things to units uh and doing it that way uh gives uh gives more motivation to
actually go out and use those spaces because Again, it's not just a one-off thing that we're doing on a individual day. It's actually part of the curriculum that we are working on. Um, yeah, and then we just have the different grade level uh activities and the units that are connected to them uh
that you can see on those two slides. So, as part of uh when Ryan was putting together uh what those opportunities might be, so these are units that we have. These are outdoor spaces. How do we connect them? We shared our initial thoughts with our building instructional leadership teams to get feedback from teachers at each of the sites to say,
"Do these make sense? Um, are there things you're already doing that we're missing?" So, we we got feedback that way. So, as those teams looked at that feedback and as we uh reviewed that the strengths of the plan that we've just shared with you, positive feedback on the curriculum alignment, instructional
impact, um teachers really appreciated that our students are going to have similar experiences um in those areas as they uh as we move forward. um that the plan is educationally powerful and it will likely increase student engagement is what the teachers told us based on that. Um some components to address um I
liked what I saw because they're all things we can work with. So it's really about feasibility. It's about planning. It's about the logistics. How do we make time to have the naturalist come in when we've got other competing interests around that? So we uh know that we can work through those things and we'll uh work with um teams of teachers and administration to do that. So, we just
wanted to highlight that we're not doing this in isolation, that we are getting feedback from the teachers that are um going to be uh implementing some of these pieces when we move forward. And then uh some of our next steps um for the on-site field trips, so the ones
where we're not going to a location, uh we haven't done those this year, but next year we're planning on doing those. So, we want to build those wildlife specialist experiences for students next year in the grades that we identified for that. Um the next thing is um we
have identified ideas, [laughter] lessons and extensions to units that we have but we haven't actually created those lessons yet. So next year we will focus on uh working uh the curriculum team will uh will connect with teachers and work with teachers to build those
lessons and connect them to the units that they're already teaching in their classes. Um, and then the third thing here is uh as we continue uh right now our main focus was science because we felt like that was the easiest uh easiest in for the uh outdoor spaces and
utilizing those outdoor spaces. But we would like to look at other content areas at the grade levels uh and how they can create lessons connected to units uh in those uh in the same way. So, like when you have a a literacy, you know, when you're you're in that content
area, what things can you do outdoors that connect to what you're doing in the classroom that will make a a purposeful lesson that utilizes the outdoor space? Well, all right. Our fourth strategy, um, as we look at, uh, becoming more purposeful and intentional with the work we're
doing during the school day, uh, for all of our students and the experiences that all students will have, we're also looking at those areas to enhance and provide enrichment opportunities for students across all grade levels, uh, K through 12. Um, some of the examples that we have are really looking at our community education enrichment opportunities. Those are before and
after school classes at our schools. Uh, we're also gearing up for summer day camps. We have a lot of opportunities for elementary and middle school students. uh morning block and uh afternoon block programs that people can pair together. Um we've done some starwatch programs with um evening
things with telescopes and and giving opportunities to do that. Even those are multigenerational so family events. Uh some of the other pieces we have a number of our schools and we'll always support them when they're we have groups uh come forward is student organized and student and staff organized sustainability groups or clubs that just
want to meet and uh talk about areas of interest. Um and we also do a lot of field trips. Uh some of the ones we see are um a pretty popular one coming up this summer will be our third year is the overnight Wolfridge summer camp trip. It's a residential environmental learning center for a week. Um not everyone is into that, but for those are
um students have a lot of fun on those trips and learn a lot. Uh we also do a number of day trips as part of our summer camp programs, but also uh school release days. Some of the places we'll go to are back to the zoo, either Minnesota Zoo or Koma Zoo. We've done Bell Museum, the Science Museum, really
anywhere that um has a lot of interactive pieces for students are usually pretty popular. So, a lot of things happening and we're always looking at ways to continue to expand into that second year and beyond in this goal. All right. Um this last area really wasn't part of the goal, but as we
started planning for this and looking at it, uh we just want to highlight that a lot of the things we're talking about is trying to make connections with students and the curriculum. Um, as a district, we've done a lot of a number of projects in the last u five or so years that really have some great uh curricular enhancements and and connections. So,
some of the ones that we've looked at is really um three areas our solar programs uh geothermal energy and a recent one at Greenstep for schools. The geothermal energy uh will have three projects, High View, Ironell, and this coming summer at Pinewood, which just a note on Pinewood.
That's one of the reasons why we haven't moved as far ahead with Pinewood on outdoor classroom. there will be a lot of construction that we're not exactly sure how it will uh end up. So, we want to not create something and then have to move it right away. Uh with that though, it's something we're uh really looking at that idea of harnessing the energy.
The Earth um ground temperature is a consistent 50°. There's a lot that can be learned about that, how we can become more efficient within our um heating and cooling, not only in the energy we use, but also in the cost, which is real uh financial savings to the district. Um and also a commitment we've had about
having green energy or renewable energy sources as much as possible. Uh solar for schools, we've we have uh solar panels and installations on 13 of our schools currently and they all have monitoring systems that um can people can log into and get real-time updates based on weather and see what those uh
differences are and then also see the calculations about the not only the energy produced but also the potential savings for that. Uh we are also up for um waiting on hearing if we have um more recent rounds of solar energy um grant programs. And then the last one is a
green step for schools which uh we came to or I talked a little bit about earlier in the year. This is really a program. It's a statewide program where districts are recognized and really um given recognition for the sustainable practice we're having, but the curricular components are really allowing us to pull that together uh and
show the things we're doing, but then also use it as a learning tool as much as possible. So, not directly tied to our goal, but it fits in very well um like many of the things we're doing. So yeah, we're pleased to um present that we have met the outcomes of our goal and the work will continue. It's
really just we've got the plan now and now we got to work the plan, right, and work on implementation. So this concludes our report and we'd be happy to take any comments or questions. I think we did ask at the work session, Angie, when the puddles unit will be at [laughter]
all like that. Um that look like a lot of fun. Um but also I appreciate um your update, Carl, on that last slide. I was on the board when we had a group of students from Irondale come to the board and say we want a commitment that we're going to, you know, consider sustainability in our decisions as a
district. And in my tenure on the board, I've seen so many of those projects and so much attention to that and um love to then share that back with students, right? that that group of students is the one who came and asked us to make headway there and um for all of our
students to learn about the initiatives and and what it means to our district um I think is really exciting as as well as all the other programs. Any other questions or comments from the board? Carl, I have a quick question on the grants for the solar panels. Can you tell me about where those originated? Some of those grants.
Sure. uh the original uh grants we have for the 13 schools that was a department of commerce Minnesota department of commerce and um a made in Minnesota component. So there were a lot of pieces put together with that. We engaged in those not only um as a competitive grant
process. We somehow at that time we got very lucky. It was a lottery and so we had a very high number of our schools that received grants which was uh fantastic for those projects. It was part of a power purchase agreement that we had engaged in. So it was something the district had no upfront cost. The energy produces all green energy and we
were able to uh purchase that energy at a reduced cost. So lower than market rate. Um and we had recently put in for another grant to see if we can make it to the next round where that is a another uh department of commerce uh grant program but this one would uh the district would get the energy
immediately from that process. So um and ideally uh without any out-of- pocket cost for the grant. That's awesome. I work at the department. So that's great. We were hoping to hear today. Fingers crossed. [laughter] Yes. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah.
Uh Angie Ryan, I want to say thank you so much for the scientific approach that you've taken to experiential ed. It can seem to folks who aren't familiar with that process that it's kind of a a light or fuzzy way of of uh of educating. But
I want to say thank you so much for uh your transparency in how we've made those decisions uh what work we still have to do and um I had some questions about you know teacher training and and that kind of stuff and you answered those questions before I even asked
them. So I want to say thank you to both of you for uh uh taking on such a serious and dynamic way of teaching um that will more than likely reach some students um in really profound ways. So again, thank you. Welcome. Great. Thank you so much. Great.
All right. We're going to move on to item 6.1, updates. Uh Jim, do you have an AMSD legislative update for us at all tonight? Um yes. Um actually my AMSD meetings this Friday, but we have and next Monday is AMSD day at the Capitol and I will be
there um lobbying for um kids in schools. But, uh, it's a non-budget year at the legislature, which means there's a lot of stuff floating around. And, um, in a budget year, there's a little more urgency to get things done. This being a non-budget year, um, there's a lot of
stuff floating around, but doesn't look like there's going to be a lot passing. Um, the, um, AMSD has been really focused on the $250 million reduction in um, aid for, uh, special ed in the state, uh, which, um, would hit all of
us really hard. Um and so um there is a small surplus this year in the legislature and we have tried to persuade them to make that cut um a lot less um severe than it is now. Um the budget that passed uh three years ago um
gives us an automatic bump up with formula. So we don't actually have a formula fight this year. It'll probably end up somewhere around 2.5%. And um you know AMSD the other month uh or last month released um um school
district's financial shape and um I was really proud that we're on the list that uh next year we will be a school district that doesn't have a deficit. But uh the 40 largest school districts in the state will have 2002 224 million worth of deficits that school boards
will have to deal with. So, um there is a lot going on at the Capitol, but um I don't know what's going to get through, but um as I said, I'll go Monday, I'm going to go Friday, and uh we will see. Great. So, thanks, Joe. Janna, do you have an
update from Intermediate District 916? So, those of you not familiar with Intermediate 916, it is a uh school district made up of 13 member districts, and Mounds View is one of those member districts. Um they provide services for
special education and career and tech education. Um so we met last week on Wednesday. Um and uh I would like to say April is autism acceptance and awareness month. Um so we talked about that and then we
had a really routine meeting. We had first reading of several policies. We approved some calendars and uh labor agreements and we will meet again the first Wednesday of May. Great. We'll move on to item 6.2,
schoolboard member up reports. Who would like to share anything that they've been doing and seeing and participating in across the district? So, if I might, um, Pinewood is having,
um, their cultural heritage awareness. Um, it's the first annual, and it's, uh, it's titled We Are Pinewood on April 16th. Um, from 5 to 7. and uh they're asking people to um community members
and families to uh create a board and represent their culture and uh and uh have some great food uh at the event. So, we're really excited about uh about that happening uh at Pinewood. Um what one other thing I I did want to just
bring up is that uh um our students went to Europe uh with our uh with our music program and they back these wonderful amazing postcards. And I don't want to, you know, read kids' names or anything like that, but I I think this is a
demonstration of how uh consistently we have supported and support our music programs. Um, we did have some u some comments this earlier today that uh the the the through line in all of that is that people are really proud of our
programs and they're really happy with um with the kind of service that we give uh historically. And um I I I don't want to be presumptuous, but I do want to say they might be surprised that some of those things might not change as much as
they think that they uh they will change. and um and this postcard really gives me um a lot to think about as we move forward in uh in addressing our program. So, I'm really proud. So, thank you. Thanks.
Well, um me and several of us attended the POWA on Saturday and some participated more than others [laughter] on SA on Saturday and it was just great. It was great. It gets better every year. More participation. Um, it's a real
cultural experience and uh um I came early and I came late so I actually got to eat food this year which made me very happy. So uh thank you to our uh Native American students who uh put this together and our um advisory committee
that puts this together. It's a lot of work, but it's a great celebration. I I just I think I've made it seven out of the eight years and it's just fabulous. It gets better every year. So thank you. the local cable station 9 North was there and both Andre and Tasha were
interviewed and I saw a little segment that they had posted on Facebook that was I thought a great excellent representation in just a few minutes of what the POW was like. So watch that find that online if you have it. Yeah, it was really great and I'd like to uh acknowledge Jill Spencer and
Felicia Galvin for putting the whole thing together and being our amazing uh coordinators. Yeah. Great. Uh, I was able to travel with the, um, Irondale band uh, on their
spring break trip to Spain. Um, and the kids got to play three concerts. Um, and they played in a castle and they played in an orchestra hall and it was amazing. And they got to play uh, with a school from Spain. So students, high school
students from Spain and the kids from Irondale got to play uh, together for one concert. They played with community band at another concert. Um, and it was very incredible. Good [snorts] time. Great. Is there anything else to come
before the board? Thank you. We are adjourned. Thank you, Heidi.