with liberty and justice for all. All these years I still want to see play. Thank you, Mrs. Please turn your cell phones to silent. Are there any additions or deletions to the agenda? There are not.
Madam Chair, we entertain a motion to accept the agenda. Motion second. Any questions or comments? All those in favor? I opposed passes. Those are comments.
Just hanging out again. Awesome. Welcome. All right. Considering the percentage of that, consider the minutes of the previous monthly board meeting, the monthly cash flow including investments, monthly bills paid, monthly monthly
bills paid in the activities account. Uh we have donations which I was on that page. Booster Club for 983825. How do I I punched too many
times. All right. Booster Club 983825. Like to thank the Pillager Fire Department for $500. I believe that was for swimming lessons. Dorcas for $4,000 for school supplies for students in
need. I believe that. And then on here, it also says the Brainer Legion for athletic sign and a gift permit for Costco to be used for PEL supplies. So, thank you to all of them. And then also the personel summary sheet which is
enclosed. Madam chair, one from the lines. Oh, on the bottom of the dorcus one. I didn't see that farther down. Thank you for pointing that out. Now I want to see it. Yes.
195. Perfect. Can I get a motion to accept the consent agenda? I'll make second. Any questions or comments? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Special board reports with
possible action. We're going to start with activities this evening. We did meet, madam chair. We met on March 18th. Um we called the meeting to order and then we started talking about the weight room expansion project. Um the lease levy option for funding. Kind of
went over that. Um then Mr. Moan went into the winter sports update. Uh we went over the coaching evaluation, the participation numbers, the survey results, and then what changes might be needed for next year. Um to kind of give an overview on it. Most of that stuff is
in the packet for you guys. Then we discussed the spring activities update, um all the programs that are out there, um the coaching openings, which were none as of right now. So hopefully we're all caught up on that. And then we just had an open discussion about what is needed, what is not needed. for the
spring activities. Um and then we went into the other activities within the musicals. Um that is Little Shop of Horrors and that will start April 3rd through the 6th and we talked about the ProStart. Um
keep reading for a minute. That's right. Sorry, my bad. Y I just go Sorry, I own that one. But it's a good update. Um and then we uh postart was uh fourth in hospitality management. Um then we
talked about the 1x and robotics. I think robotics took six in the section um on that side of it and then we adjourned from the activities that went on to the community education um with Mr. Smith. We went through all the classes that is offered and that is also in your packet. Um and then we he had an
update on the advisory meeting that he had with his advisors. Um then we went through the youth sports updates. Um all the winter programs and the numbers that were within the winter programs which were growing steadily. Um and then he was the spring/summer programs which is
growing steadily also with all the kids. Um it was coaches needed within those spring and summer programs. Um as of right now Mr. Smith has all of them I think all lined up so we shouldn't have an issue there. Um and then we talked about the programs within the spring and
summer. um all the baseball softball needs and everything that needed to be done on that side of it and that was it and then we adjourned pretty easy meeting but easy one question that was included in
the packet wrestling startup funding request yes something just talk about it some of those things will be already in the budget some of would not probably be in the budget. Some some of them might be fundraised for, but a lot a lot of
those things would already be budgeted for like the uniforms, the but Matt presented that as costs for starting it on our own for next year. Okay. So, some of those things just moreformational. Okay. Some of those things are already budgeted. Um, some of them are not, such
as the wrestling mat, an additional wrestling mat for 15,000. That is not in the budget. Um, but those other things like the uniforms and the the scale and the equipment, those things are are all in the budget for next year. It was it
was nice to see the breakdown on So, the only thing that really isn't would be that the additional mat. Okay. Is the wrestling scale different from the weight room? Yes, it's certified. It's a big It's a be a certain one
that you want it to be a little lower or No, I've never stepped on that one. It's a It's very beat up. It's electronically digital. Yeah, it's a No, I know. But anyway, so that was it for the
committee. That was it. Thanks. Any other questions for the activities committee? All right. Moving on to facilities. I do have a meeting scheduled with the
Lakewood representatives uh I believe uh a few weeks, three or four weeks. Okay. about the wrestling room project. So get more information from them and personnel. We did not meet but um we did hire a new high school
principal for the coming year. So I would make a motion to approve the contract for David Reeds. I'll second. Any questions or comments or concerns for him? I'll just say he will be here at the May board meeting to be introduced to meet
you. Um good good proceed thought it was a very good process. We had a couple different committees. Uh we interviewed uh all the candidates. I think it ended up being five candidates or four can't remember. One backed off the weekend of before he
was our number one candidate from both committees. The one that backed out. No way. The way I said it, one of the candidates back. So, um, he is an assistant principal currently in Monosel and, uh, so he'll
be here at the May board meeting to be introduced and meet you real quick. Okay. He's coming up that day to spend with Mr. Savage and hang out for the day. I was told this weekend that we've gotten very lucky. So, comes very highly regarded. So, I would
be good. Any other questions, comments? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. So, unless Mike has anything else, Ryan, I think that was all for we will need to meet sometime probably in
the next month personnel to ratify contract and stuff once we get that done. But I am no longer traveling, so I'm free whenever. So that so personnel will probably need to meet at some point in the next month or so. This is going to be the Ryan show today
because he made up for hanging at the beach last month. No, what you said was Sarah. You prefer that. I didn't say that. Um there's something pressing. we would rather wait. We'll just wait. Um so the report that I have
what I wrote up here is um from the curriculum committee meeting um a month and a half ago and it's been a while. It has been a little bit. Yeah. Um so I'm going to go through a couple of pieces with that and then Wendy is here and going to talk a little
bit about and we've talked about all year. get a chance to see some of it. And so we have a video that we put together as a resource for families. So um so for the report uh one of the things that we went through curricular
updates um so a couple of things just have on your radar early childhood um we will be purchasing a it's called scholastic it's their prek programming uh piece to provide an updated resource for them. Um we're also talking about
some of that connection with um how we use UPI and how we do some of those literacy pieces to see how that can come down as well preschool programming. Um elementary has been working on UFI this year that has been our main implementation that is in terms of
literacy is one half of the reading rope that they talk. So that's the foundational side. The piece that we're working on this year is the comprehension side. So what are the resources for comprehension? Um so we have been reviewing different um
curriculums. The state of Minnesota has also done rubrics around each of those curriculums. And so looking at that and then looking at what fits us best. And so that's going to be the big decision that we have to make going into this
spring. And then it'll be the implementation cycle of how are we going to implement that? um so that we are providing enough training and enough uh support as that is being implemented in classroom and make sure the teachers all
follow it not just skip back to what they were doing which is part of how we have implemented have done yep so that and we'll talk more about UFly in a little bit um and then middle school high school
the focus is shifting then to mathematics and So with um elementary heavily focused in literacy, we're looking at the curriculum and the resource that we have in middle school and so looking at a number of different curriculums looking to pilot some of
those going into next year. Um one of the the changes within the Minnesota state standards is that it's focusing or moving a large portion to data and statistics. And so that is a big chunk of the Minnesota State. I say about a
fourth of it where before it was kind of an add-on. And so that's going to change some of when we teach what we teach. And so we'll be looking at that as well with the resources that we've got. Um number two is part of the
handout I have. So the second page and this is a proposal um to look at how we accelerate mathematics. Okay. Um, so what we currently have is a a pseudo honors program where we run about four sections
per grade level. One of those sections is an honors program um or moves a little bit faster. Um, one of the the problems with this is we do not have enough students that would make an
entire section of that honors program. And so to balance class sizes, you end up moving some more students in there as well. What that does in the long run is we've accelerated these classes and then when we get to algebra 2 and we get to
some of those higher level mathematics, we have students that have gone through there at such a fast pace that they're not ready. They're not ready to comprehend that. They're not ready to work through that. And so the proposal I have here is to do an accelerated model
where beginning in fifth grade we would look at the data from fourth grade and identify those students that would be the 90th percentile uh on local assessments. It would include looking at the MCA test as well and then offering that out to families to make a jump,
make an acceleration. So that jump would be in fifth grade you would actually take the sixth grade math class and that would be the jump. So acceleration will still be here. It still exists but to have class sizes that are more
homogeneous they're more leveled out um so that you are keeping that pace at grade level expectations. So fifth grade classes would be have fifth grade expectations and then if a student is accelerated they would actually jump a grade level and take sixth grade. We can
do that in our schedule. We have a sixth grade section that runs at the same time as fifth grade sections. So we can do that easily with the schedule without changing the rest of the schedule for a kid. Um one of the there's a number of districts that have done this. One of
them that that I was in previously was peers. Peers did this because they were having the same issue that students were being accelerated that then down the line were not ready to move forward. And so they have moved to this model where
they look at that data, they look at student scores and then they offer that acceleration to students that that have the scores, the aptitude, but also that conversation with families and parents and teachers of the workload as well and
moving forward they can keep up with that. How many years have PIR been doing it? Pier's now this would be their fifth year. Okay. And it's obviously working very well. We're working very well and yes, their scores are above us in the region. So, um the conversation that
we're having at the high school is very much how do we bridge this with a lot of kids and so trying to move away that we don't have to do that and we have students that are getting algebra 2 that are ready to take up two. That is a a proposal. Um the next
uh spot is I'm going to bring this to the district leadership team and dissect it and go through with that group as well. Uh number three is PSO and CIS. This has been an ongoing conversation all year um looking at just the
increased number of students taking PSO or the number of PSO credits that we have um and looking at what options do we have and what is the better programming for students. And so we offer college in the schools courses,
but we offer them based off of the teachers that we have that can teach those courses. Um, and PFCO is a much larger catalog. And so students look at that. They look at it to get those high school credits to be college credits as well, but they're also looking for
flexibility. A lot of those PSO courses, I would say by far the majority of our kids are taking it as online. So they're looking for that flexibility. We have been exploring how to increase the number of CIS courses that we have. So we're looking at a
consortium model where we would share teachers. So we have we have a pilot right now with uh Pquad. So Pquad is teaching a CIS course that we have some students taking. We're going to do the same next fall where we our business teacher Mr. Sober is going to teach some
classes that those Pequad students can take as well because they don't have that in their list of CIS courses. We're looking for some of them to expand ours. So that's one thing that we're looking at in terms of how do we keep kids here.
We also the cost for CIS is considerably less than state. Um the other thing that we're looking at is our arrangement with CLC and so we've been exploring other colleges as well. So, one of them that we're looking at right now is Alex Tech
and part of that is they have some additional offerings or they have some different programming. So, they offer a um high school online program that is CIS courses or PSO credit, their college credit. Um but they have brought the
cost down pretty significantly about $150 a credit versus about $260 credit. and they have some pluses to that as well. The courses that kids take, there are only high school students that are
in those courses as well. Um, the communication model is a little bit more frequent and a little bit more embedded with the high school. And so, Alex Tech has one of those programs. There's another one called MState. And so, looking at some of those and and really
every district in the area is looking at that right now. And part of it is CLC has not developed those program hasn't developed that that side of the programming. And so how do we balance this piece out both financially but also
when we look at what's the best mode of education for kids too? So well just just having the cost savings even if we decide to come down the back with the due diligence to correct check out and it's the same sets
of courses you know um one college versus another might name it somewhat different but it's still a biology general education credit. It's still a history credit. Um and it still works towards whether that student's working towards an AA degree or they're working
towards four-year degree or certificate program. It's still still those things. The pieces that we're looking at is how do we make sure that uh we won't if we move from CLC it won't be a cold turkey completely cut off. We have students
that are finishing programming over at CLC. There's programming that's in person. So we have their uh diesel um yeah I think it's their welding and diesel mechanic program their certificate program. And so making sure
that nobody's nobody's going to miss any that they if we do some switching. Weren't we looking at something with Southwestern looking? We looked at Southwestern, we looked at Krookton as well as well as Superior which we were
connected with before. Um and so looking at who has those options, who has those pieces, one of the there's the PSO side of it and there's the cost of PSO. There's also the instructor certification, and some
colleges, if they're a four-year program in the state, um have a little bit more openness to some of that certification for for teachers that are working towards their um what is their master's degree plus 18 credits in that area. Um
where the two-year colleges have kind of come to an end and said, "Nope, if you don't have it, you're not teaching it anymore." And so that's part of also looking how do we expand our CS program. If we do, we're going to we need some of that flexibility.
Can I touch base on that real quick? Yeah. I was part of a a group that negotiated of the 12 area schools with CLC last Thursday. There were four of us that kind of represented the 12 schools and it was good conversation with
several president her and a couple other people and um the the comments that we all four of us made on the committee were you know we understand that you know CLC is our community they're they have staff and uh teachers and people
that go to all of our schools in the area. Um, and I also pointed out when I first came here, we used to be with Lake Superior and we switched over to CLC because they were our neighbor. You know, it was better for kids. It was more online or I'm sure it was more in
person. CO changed that. CO changed it to where it was all online and most of it anyway. And um the cost and number of kids that are going not just in our school but all of our area schools has
just really hit our budgets um really really immensely. Um interesting comment that was what that that uh was heard was that CLC's budget for PSO is and CCIS is $4 million which is a third of their
budget. So, a third of their budget is PSO kids, high school kids. Now, I made the comment, you know, we we understand that, you know, we want to work with CLC and they're our neighbor and they're our partner in in our community, but when the cost is
$135 versus 260, it's, you know, and communication of the kids withdrawing and coming back not graduating, right? So they're they're going to do some work and I and President Her asked us are are you guys
all going to cut us cold turkey and my comment was I don't see us cutting it cold turkey because we have it'll be a hodgepodge you know it'll be some kids will still need to continue there. Um some classes might be better offered there because Alex Tech doesn't have it
for example. Um, but the majority of us, I think, would see us either going to MState or Alex Tech, depending on what's best for each school in the area. Well, and it's not cold turkey if you just had a meeting with them and told them you were looking at other options. They've been
Yeah. So, you need to fix something, but they're bud, you know, we're all in our budget times right now, you know. So, but it was a good meeting. Um, I mean, it was well respected. I mean, it was good good communication. They're going to do some work and see if they can they can pattern some of those things after
Alex Tech and and Mate, but I don't see the dollar amount coming down much. It may come down a little bit, but it's not going to come down. But so anyway, it was good. It was a good meeting. So So more to come as as we look through
that, but our teachers are working towards uh supplying information to Alex Tech. Uh we're doing more of that this next week just to make sure that we have everything in line if we switch over for that for our CIS courses and then looking at what does that look like for
those courses and students taking it through their online version of it. The next one um on there is fast bridge update and so kind of throughout the year I said I provide a update on
where we are with fast certain this our first year with fast bridge. Um, so the next two pages, the first one is literacy and the second page is mathematics. Um, this was the sheet I started off with the fall as well. And just to keep people in mind, the column
to the right or the left, thank you. Column to the left. Um, that is the district goal. So that is the goal we set as a district. As you move to the right, the benchmarks are breaking that down by each grade level. So when we met
with teachers in the fall, we looked at each grade level and said, "Is this a good goal?" All of that rolls up into the goal for the district. So um looking at that and then you can see there's three columns there was fall, winter, and then you'll see the blank spot is for spring. And when
is the spring testing? Spring testing will be in May. Yeah, the first couple weeks of May. the color coding, which the key is on the back side of each of those pages, but the color coding is green. We've met the benchmark. So, the benchmark we set
as at each grade level. We've met that already in the winter. Obviously, our hope is that we continue that into the spring because it's still another testing round. Okay. Yellow is we're moving towards that. We're moving still in a positive direction towards that
goal. and red is we're either flat or we're actually moving direction. So, a couple of highlights for the first page, the literacy one, you can see the majority have either met the goal or at least moving towards it.
The one grade level in particular that was not flat is first grade. We talked a little bit more about that in the in the curriculum committee. first grade has been kind of a notorious like Achilles heel for us. Why can't we move kids past
a certain point? Um we actually pulled together all of first grade and and look and said this is the data that we have. What can we do right now? What can we do at at this point in the year and change? And so we are in the midst of changing
some of those activities and things that they're doing in classroom. Um, one of the things that we talk about is we don't want this to be, oh, we got to the end of the year, next year we'll do it different. Um, what can we do right now to make some change? And so that's the
mentality that we've taken and hopefully we will see some turnaround with that. We took the data from their winter testing and we broke it apart. We looked at each component and we identified the area that was the biggest need off of
that and then we talked about those independent activities and practice activities that focus on that particular thing. In this case it would it's uh fluency in particular. So that practice with reading, not that they the kids
know their sounds, the kids know how to blend those those pieces together, but the fluency of reading it is the score that was the lowest. quite a few but first grade level I got the second page is mathematics and you
can see within math um we have again the bulk in green yellow moving towards that so moving towards that remember with the benchmark goals that we talked about with teachers is it's not just the fall score it's keeping those kids at
proficient and adding more kids. So it's like you're having an issue with 10th grade. 10th grade. Yes. So look at the back side for both. Yes. So one of the things that's different for us this year was we never
did star testing past 8th grade. And so one of the things that that we were having conversations both with teachers but also just amongst kind of planning pieces is that many of our kids especially our 10th 11th and 12th
graders haven't taken any test eth grade before and so changing that mentality of we need to take this serious we need to take that time put in it. 11th grade in particular is one um looking at we have kids that come for mathematics they come
for that one piece and so the seriousness of taking that because then the PSO conversation comes into play they leave for PSO and they go to other things so that it's not just I'm going to sit here and I'm going to click click click and just and that's the data that we're
seeing not just even statistically possible score like it's just plummet and so looking at and saying are we actually taking the time to do it and not taking five to six minutes to do it.
That brings me back to one of the PSO questions. Are any of the schools considering putting the ACUPPLACER back in so kids actually ready and prepared them in there? That's part of the Alex Tech and Mate piece. They
require They don't require it, but you can work with them to do that. That's there's a much better way of getting kids that are actually ready for it. Yeah. So, that was one of the pieces that that ended in CO. They did say they
removed that requirement away. Yeah. It never came back after. That's why. Yeah. So, it is part of MSTates and Alex Tech. It's not required, but schools can they'll work with you on that. I think I'm not sure Jason would have more info on that, but I know there was brought up
and when we met with Alex Tech, they talked more about again working with each high school. Um, how do we get kids to where we can say they're ready to take that course as opposed to with the restrictions that has been one of our biggest concerns is that it's open, they
can you can take whatever class you want. And and when we look at that, we say you're taking a college level class and failing is ob obviously the worst one in terms of we're paying for the credit, you're not getting any college credit, and then we're at jeopardy of
not graduating, but also the conversation of should we be saying that you're a high school student who's getting D's on that college level course, you should be here taking a high school course. Well, yeah. Some of them are D's in the classes and
then they're go, "Oh, I'm going to college to for more freedom, right? Because I don't want Is it or is it because you're not?" Yeah. There's a couple pieces that just FYI, uh, Kurt Stump and Aaron Nelson testified in the legislation a couple weeks ago regarding
PSO. PSO was never intended to be a credit replacement. was intended for school for kids for mostly programs or classes that small schools or schools didn't offer or didn't have. For example, chemistry, let's say advanced
chemistry. Um, it's turned into a a place for colleges to uh replace their budget is really what it's been. George and peers mentioned that of the you know I can't remember how many credits he had giving up but he did a study of his kids
and most of that how many of them weren't even going to college but they were taking these college credits because a it was sometimes easier b it was flexible they didn't they could do it online and not have to be at school so you're paying for these credits to go
to PSO and the kid never maybe even attends to go to college So Kurt and Aaron did a really nice job testifying at the legisl and I think a lot of the legislators on the committee were shocked and stunned. Uh I think there'll be some legislation maybe not this year
but possibly in the future that maybe and of course colleges are going to lobby us lobby against that because they had the cash of their budget. One of the one of the comments I that I shared with Kurt to present was you're
paying taxpayer money for a kid to get college credit. They fail and may not even graduate from high school. And that's taxpayer dollars for that kid to go get college credit and then they may not even graduate from high school.
That's not that wasn't the intent of the purpose of the program, right? And then what's the repercussions? because we can't recoup that cost, right? Right. Yeah. Then they then it's up to us to try to get the kid to graduate, make up credits and stuff, you know, where the college basically says
send them back their senior year. So that didn't work out very well. So it's kind of been spearheaded by our region. You know, it's been really good. Our superintendent and our principles have really done a nice job of lobbying against some of those things. It worries
me for our for our budget for the kids because I mean how many kids are just withdrawing because they don't want to have and then we're paying for that and Yes. and past the withdraw deadline. Yes. And then the cost is already been
paid. Yeah. For it. Um what's interesting this group of of superintendent and high school principles and directors of of teaching the the great conversation in talking to the legislature the consortium piece I if any of you think back to the days of
the CCTV and like shared piece between districts it's really that idea kind of coming back of how do we share the resource but also to provide you know other programming for kids but they're not leaving us they're not
As a school, do you have to offer a PSO? When is that when did that become like a I mean is that that was originally the PSO statute? I don't know if the statute started in the 90s. The PSO definitely and you have to you have to advertise
it. Can you change a policy to change can we implement a policy that about the passing or the No, we can't put that restriction on. um they have the option to take that. The other is, you know, we have a contract with with CLC. We would
open a contract with uh Alex Tech, for example. Students can still go to CLC through uh just registering through essentially the MAR system kind of thing. So, we don't necessarily have to have a contract with anybody either. But,
and I would say the majority of kids don't care where they're going. No, they just want the flexibility and the class, you know. So, yeah, kids that are going to go in person that actually are going to try and go, they're not going to draw. No,
no, no. So, go classes. Yep. The online and the others and that would be the hands-on programming. Um, one of the neat things about Alex Tech, which geographically, if we were closer to it, they have actually created programming too with the hands-on
programs where it's at no cost to the district. So, you can if you have a student who's interested in that program, they and it's a CTE program, they can join and there's no cost. Um, so yeah, the downside is a kid would have to drive an hour drive there every
day and or maybe live with somebody there or but it's kind of a cool thing if they if there's a kid who wanted to go into that field and it shows that they're looking for ways to to help districts out work together.
All right, the the last one I have on there is talking a little bit about UFly and um so our foundational literacy programming at the elementary and Wendy is going to talk a little bit about UFly, but the big shift as we've gone
to, you know, kind of back and forth and you guys have kind of lived it and seen it and we we had a balanced kind of literacy focus that was level literacy and phonics kind of went out the right phonics stopped and I won't say it stopped completely but a lot of that
that direct instruction for phonics stopped and what structured literacy and what we've been trained with letters and what the state is trying to move towards is that structured literacy includes that foundational piece which is phonics instruction and you know one of the
things that I will say like from 20 years ago the phonics instruction I was having there was instruction on the sounds the unique awareness the structured part of it is so systematic of what we we are adding in
and that is what you doing the you Sarah brought up and we had this conversation before as well but it is so common as we implement a new curriculum that teachers kind of they see it they get a little
bit of training on it and then so easily can go back to I'm just going to teach what I was teaching I would I know it, right? I'm comfortable with it. I've been doing it for 10 years. And so what is that professional development look like to say, "Nope, this is what we're doing,
right?" And that's what has been this year. And so we have um used Wendy as the literacy coordinator, but as a coach in the classroom going in and showing. So, like the the football coach who's
not just saying, "Here's what you got to do." And walking away. Here's what you got to do. Let's do it right now. Let's practice it. Let's see it in action. Right? And so Wendy goes in and she coaches with them and they go through a lesson or Wendy teaches the lesson and
they see that and then she watches them do the lesson. And so implementing that all year long. Winnie and I were in a conversation, you know, the last couple weeks, but looking at where are we at in the implementation? Are we at 100%? Are we 75%? Like where are we at? And I
would tell you that we're about 50%. We have the motions, we have the routine, we have the it's 30 minutes and you are sticking to it. And it's at this time we are to the point where okay, we have data coming every day. How do we
use that to change our instruction or to improve it? We're not there yet. And so looking at that curricular side of how do we implement it? This is a a big concern and our big question about the comprehension side of it. How do we
purchase a curriculum and then how do we stick to it? How do we say this is the curriculum we're using and let me show you how it's supposed to be and we're going to come back and I'm going to show you again until we are implementing it with Fidelity. So, so yes, when you
think of like we implemented you play K4 this year um which is really a K2 curriculum, but we did that because we wanted to make sure that the foundational skills were in place for people in third and fourth grade. the ability by group the ability they're
grouped by skill. So we do have three sections currently that are done with the youth scoping sequence but in in in that if we take me and I model and then I also provide coaching that's four days per teacher right there. So it was
January before I got some of the to some of the teachers and they're like I wish you had been here this fall. So we've had a lot of conversation around and that's the like same procedures doing the same thing. So when you get to a more comprehensive um curriculum, how
will we support teachers with that change? Um and so the first round of coaching really was around the implementation the procedures like what does a UI lesson look like? Last month we really started to delve into during PLC's looking at the data. They collect
data every week with their progress monitoring assessment. We might think of it as the old like spelling assessment. It's not a spelling test. It's it's to see what do the students know of the skills that they've learned. Um, and we've looked at how do you score that and then how do you really truly analyze
that and organize it in a way that you can drive instruction. So, as I'm going through the second round of coaching, teachers still have an option on what they want to be coached on. But, um, we are also including that how do we use the data that your students are showing
you each week to drive your instruction. Um, so that's been that's been a great like that's our next shift. Um, and just seeing how how much change um has happened within the classrooms. We then also realized like our parents, how are
we supporting our parents? So last fall we sent home um what EUFly recommends. We sent this home on dojo. Um I happen to have a sister-in-law who lives in southwest Minnesota and she was asking lots of questions and it really just got me prompted to be like, you know what, we aren't doing enough for our parents.
So um I have put together um this is a a five-part video series. This is with a kindergarten student. Um, I've had some parents give feedback. I've had some, um, teachers give feedback. And then I also had some, um, literacy leads over at Source give some feedback. So, I now
have all of the videos except for one, um, under five minutes. Um, this will show you just one part of the home practice. Um, so there's some explanation as well as, um, one section. And so, we'll quickly watch this just so
you can see what it is. Our goal is next fall we will have um we'll send these videos out on dojo. Um we have also talked about our kindergarten um students this year have like a youly binder that has materials that they
would need and then their homework comes home in this. So, just to kind of uh emphasize like the importance of this work, um these will be sent to home and then we're also going to create a um parent resource page on our website so that there's one place where they can go
to in addition to um things being sent on. So, I'll just show you this video is just under five minutes, but it'll give you the intro to the first part of the home practice. This is video one in a five-part series of how to support
beginning learners with big 5 practice sheets. First, you will see an overview with some language that was used to teach the new concept. And then you will see a kindergarten student completing the new concept and sample word section of the home practice sheet. This
specific example is from lesson 23 where the child is learning about the letter H. It is important to know that all lessons have the same procedure for the new concept and sample words section. Your child will learn and grow as a reader and writer, so the support you
give will change based on their development. Please know that there is another series with an older and more advanced learner to view. This is to show you a progression of support that may be implemented while doing the same activity. If at any time you are unsure of how to
support your learner, please reach out to your teacher and he or she will answer any questions you may have. Here is some of what your child was taught in Newf Fly Foundations lesson 23. They learned that the graphim h spells the sound. They also learned
three new irregular words, he, me, and me. Here is how your child was introduced to the new concept. This is the letter H. H is a consonant. H spells H like in the beginning of the word hat. The letter H can come at the
beginning of a word such as the word had and has. To make the H sound, make a puff of air at the back of your mouth like this. Be sure your voice is off. You can pretend to pant like a dog to make this sound, but keep your tongue in your
mouth. So, we're going to start with the new concept and sample words where you're learning about the letter H. Will you read these words? Show me these. It's his hot [Music]
and hand. The first word I'm going to have you write is the word kids. strong. Second word, hot. [Music] Nice job. When you make your page, I'll start it again. Yeah. Let's make sure
that the hump stays un just touches the dotted line and doesn't come up above. Oopsie. It's okay. Nice job pulling down. Okay, next word is remember when we start our letters we start from the top and pull down. So
let's erase that and then let's do it start at the top and pull down. Nice job. Oops. He's too big. Thank you for noticing. I have to say first and then Great strategy. You wrote the word hip. Nice
job. In this video, you saw how an adult might support a child as she practiced reading and writing words with the concept she had just learned in class. Because the new concept for lesson 23 was the letter H. The words gave the learner an opportunity to practice
reading and writing words containing an H. This is the first of five videos in the UFI home practice support series for beginning learners. In video two, you will see how to support your child as he or she practices reading and writing
irregular words that have been recently introduced. So, the goal was to demonstrate and then also um show some examples of how they might support their child. And so, there's one part or one
video for each of practice. Wendy, quick question for you. How does that look with a teacher with a class of 20 kids? So, how would you how do you go in and model? Are they all doing it at the same time? So, there it is a little bit different than Ryan and I talked
about how do we show how do we show this without showing you 30 minutes? Yeah. 30 minutes. So, in reality, there are eight parts. um five of them are done on day one and then there's a quick review of part five and then five through eight are done on day two. So it
is blending and segmenting sounds. They are um p practicing reading words, blending words. Then they introduce the new concept and then they practice reading and spelling words. They practice irregular words and then they also um read and write sentences before
they read a decodable passage. Um, so maybe next year we'll have little snippets because we're already starting to record. Um, because Ryan and I have talked about like how do we support how do we support our staff next fall? Like we've had lots of training and now we're getting comprehension. Like we can't
forget about everything we've done this year with UFI. Um, every time that I coach the staff gives feedback. And so one of the questions this second round is what kind of support are you feeling like you want next year? So, we have some ideas and we'll potentially be creating some videos with some footage
of staff members teaching this year. So, to your point, the lesson is whole group. It is so the they're all of the students and they might be on the at the carpet, they might be at tables, but it's whole group. And the bulk of them
are using whiteboards um and dry erase markers. And so when when they're spelling and they're doing that, all of the kids are doing that and they're showing and the teacher is there to provide corrective feedback in the moment when there are mistakes. And so even the the authors of UFI will
oftentimes say that is not there is not it's not intended to be independent, right? It's it's I do and we do. And so when I am teaching, I have a little whiteboard just like they do. And so there are times that I might be helping Johnny here correct something, but I can
show my board to Sally and she can see what it is that she needs to correct. And so getting them too to look to to see, oh, am I does my board match what Mrs. Hall's looks like? And so then they can provide that corrective feedback. And so not
only spelling but also formation and spacing and so many different things can be taught or are taught um during different that brings me to my question of the formation and the spacing. When you've got a whiteboard on your lap, you're not
your formation and your spacing are not what it would be if they were at their little table or even laying on their stomachs on the floor but sitting in their lap. They're not going to be making that H like they would at the table. So there is a there is a time and a place right for for everything. Yeah.
So and whiteboards have are line whiteboards as well. So they're practicing it. But absolutely. Yeah. Depending on the moment and what they're doing. We talk a lot about when do they have that opportunity also to write outside of EUI to practice that which
would be maybe it's on our worksheet. Maybe it's on a drawing they did and they have to label it. that and that practice is in a more standard location. One more question because I know you're you've been a big instrument in our school being catalyst trained or
teachers. I see now as a concept of being a former elementary teacher and now what I've seen catalyst working in the classroom of teachers using catalyst skills of management. Now you have 20 kids in a classroom
doing that. How has Catalyst helped with you? Have you seen that kind of you you know when a teacher's trained as with management skills where you don't
have organized chaos, I guess you could say. As a former elementary teacher, I know what that's like. I've done it. Um do you see it? Do you see where those skills really help our elementary teachers when they do UFly? 100%. So,
even we um we have one of our highest implementers has implemented slides right into the UFI um slides to show the students like what they're supposed to look like because her feeling was I feel like I'm transitioning because there are a lot of transitions and I want to do
that without wasting my words, right? And so it is all about management and not using your words so that you can save your words for relationships and for curriculum. Um it it's one of the reasons why I will also model and do a lot of pointing like when the when the
kids are looking at me I don't need to say anything. I can point and they look and they're like oh yep I need to make that change. Um it just makes for a much calmer and more productive safe classroom really. So 100%.
It has been really amazing to see this get implemented full. Um you you see you saw the H up there and you know even I was a math teacher, secondary math teacher, right? And they're going through each sound and
they're going through each piece and I'm like oh my gosh, where did you learn this? Like how do you know all of these pieces? So that you know in terms of the the pressure as you're going through you find those pieces it is amazingly laid out but all of those things to think
about like the way my mouth is when I say those words when I say that sound that the h sound is coming from the back of my mouth it is closed voiced it is my mouth open all of those things which has
opened the door to us as we are looking at Ah, this kid is really struggling with how often it is language. It's just oral language and saying, "Oh, do you hear that?" They're not saying the in the in the word. They're saying a
different sound. That's why they're spelling it wrong. I have learned I've learned so much myself about the English language, like when do you use G for J and when do you use the J for J? when do you use the C for versus the K
for? And so I was actually just talking with the mentors as an adult. You're sitting there like I don't know like I don't know why I don't is like how you which is where the videos come in. Well, I will say anytime
you have questions like reach out to teachers because we are learning too. It it is incredible how much I didn't know about the English language until we started teaching this. It's really fun for me to coach a lesson that that I haven't taught yet. I'm like, "That makes total sense." And then and then we
talk about it like, "Oh, yeah." Um, so that has been just incredible. Um, it also when you know that then when you look at the data, it gives you specific ways to give feedback to the children. Uh, for example, today one of my mentors was talking about how her buddies
spelled um desk de ck because she learned that after a short vowel, the c is spelled with a ck. It is when there's not that consonant there. So now we have to go back and clarify. Oh, you're
you're using that rule, but you're confusing it. So things like that, it's it's pretty incredible. Wait till we come back and talk about morphology. Right. This way. Thank you. Anybody else have any other questions for Wendy?
Thank you. Well done. All right. We have Yes. What about policy? We did not meet but we will set up a meeting tonight. Okay. Budget.
We did not meet but Missy Barry might have something to report. I have some things for me. Just a little portion. Um okay. 2026 official budget. Most of you already know we've discussed this last meeting.
Um or the budget is underway, still in the finetuning stages. Um and with that said, I'm going to skip to the bottom one. So, state legislature, many bills obviously have been brought forward to the legislature. So, some of those could affect
education. Um they are set to adjourn on. So, hopefully we'll have a better idea of that come that towards the end of May. special ed fiscal monitoring. That's still hanging out there. We haven't heard back. Um so we're just waiting to
hear back if that's been processed and all good. But our ESR fiscal monitoring, we have heard back this last week and we received a letter stating that we passed and we are in compliance. There were no findings on
our ESSER. Good shout out. Um current budget we're in month 10 of the 12 and we have spent 66% of our budget to date. So that is where we are at. That's what I got. Any
questions ever? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. All right. That's all from budget. We're going to move on to the 2026 2027 school calendar which is closed in your packet.
Looks like a long the uh you have your calendar that we need to approve tonight. The teacher recommendation out of the three choices was the one to get out the earliest which it has always kind of been that way with our staff. So you have the calendar in front of you
which uh kind of highlights the first day of school September 8th which is kind of a late date. Uh so it does eliminate some of the vacation days throughout the year if they want to get out uh before Memorial Day which is on May 28th. Yeah. It's gonna be a long
April. And is this this is 26 27 two years away. Two years away which is based off of our contract. Yes. We need to have the calendar approved two years in advance. We already have 256. We already have that one. Not every school puts them out
two years ahead, but according to our contract, we have to. I found that out this way. Yeah, I was like, why did we do these at the same time? I would have thought they just want to do one and then we do the next one. The 25 26 we already had done. Why would we do them
both at the same time? Well, you don't want to do too far in advance because things may change. Wasn't that just a couple months ago? Yeah, I feel like we did. Well, this one is nice because that's the year because we updated possibly they're going to start the road
construction, too. We may up we updated the 2526 because we changed some conference dates. It was actually passed last year. We just updated it because we had a change on it. Yeah. So my recommendation would be uh to approve the
second. Now any other questions, comments or concerns that I screwed that up on Close. What? It's also on the table say that. All right. Any other then? All those in
favor? Opposed? Mush passes. Make a plan for the miss snow days on snow day on April 2nd. Um revised calendar. You have a revised calendar there. Since we missed April 2nd, what I would propose to you is to Friday, uh, May 30th was
supposed to be an early release, which they get out at 1, and then we use the last two hours to kind of check staff out and stuff. Uh, we now can can do that since we have to bring staff back on the 2nd. I would recommend that we make May 30th a full day, which most
parents probably like anyway. Um, which would be normal release, and then we would bring staff back on Monday the 2nd. So, we gain a couple hours back for student time. Um, not the full day, but we're still fine there. And then we would bring the staff back on the second
for staff development. And was staff coming back on the second before or that was added now? That's an added day for the April 2nd day where they did not work. Would somebody like to make a motion on it? I'll make that motion. Is there a second? I'll second.
Any other questions, comments, or concerns? Do we have to make it up? What? You didn't make the teachers come back June. We're very We pay the teachers to be here. It's a contracted day. Okay. And how many contracted days are we? 84,
which would amount to roughly if the teacher was making such a $400 a day times 100 teachers, $40,000. So, not to have that made up, right? How do you explain that to tax field? You
know, and we have things we can do. We always have things to do. Any other questions, comments, or concerns? All those in favor? I I opposed passes. Superintendent report. Uh I have a
couple things. Um this elementary spring concerts are coming up on Tuesday, April 22nd for kindergarten and first grade. And uh second grade is on Thursday, April 24th. They have afternoon and evening shows for those. We also have
the spring visual arts show which will be in the CTC center. They are having an open house on Tuesday, April 29th in the evening. But the show runs from Tuesday the 29th to May 2nd. So people can come and check out all of our art show art
kids things that they've done throughout the year will be on display. Okay. So it's not like a video type because I was like No, it's actually So it's their actual project. Yeah. Projects are up and hung and shown. Yep. All right. I got you. Uh Arbor Day plant sale that's coming up April 25th. The
community sale is from 11 to 1:30. So they have different types of plants like they always have tomatoes and hanging baskets and some other types of plants. So that is coming up. Frequent flyer there. Bus driver national appreciation day is
on April 22nd. So we'll make sure we do something for that. Paul Bunan music festival with CLC band uh is on Friday, April 25th. that is a free show. So that's with some other area schools along with our kids. So they will
perform with the CLC's band. Uh educators of excellence banquet is coming up on Wednesday, May 7th, and that's put on by source wall and that is for teachers and Paris. And for this year, we have for the high school, Ben
Horn is a teacher being recognized, Susie Bettis is the EA. For the middle school, it's Andrea Langhoff and Rebecca Dobson for the EA. And the elementary, it's Kayla Ivers. And the EA is Dan Krueger. So, congratulations to those
people. And the last thing I have, I've given you some handouts. Uh, put together some information. Uh, some of you have reached out to me regarding some questions regarding new students possibly enrolling with talk about Randall. So, I've given you policy 630
for you to have, which is our class size recommendation. And I've also given you the open enrollment policy that you can kind of review, but then I combined everything for you in one easy sheet, which we'll I'll update every month. I like the open the open thing. You can
have this. So, you can see this is our enrollment moving up to next year. So, our kindergarten class right now, we have 79 enrolled. That is down 14 from where we are currently. Now it's early so but keep that in mind. Uh we
currently have five sections. That class average would be around 15. Our policy says 17 to 22. So let's say we don't gain any more kids. Let's say we had 79. I would maybe come to you this summer and say let's take one of those sections away. Maybe we would move that somewhere
depending on where that would be. Uh first grade we're at 93. We've gained one. We're currently staffed for four sections next year. That would put you at 23. Policy recommendations 19 to 24. That's open and it's capped at 105. So
you can see the sheets that I put across there. Second grade, we gain five. You can you can read this. I'm not going through everyone, but then you can see where we're closed. And I've done it all the way through all the way through 12th grade. If you look at the bottom, moving those numbers up, 2024 current for total
high school is 358. Moving those numbers up, we'd be at 374. So, we're gain 16 kids in the high school. The elementary, I'm sorry, in middle school, we were at 428. Moving those numbers up, we'd actually be at
425. So, we're down three. Elementary, you're moving, we were at 495, and this next year, we would be at 492. I must have did that wrong. So, it's a I got those I got those flopped. I must have the 495 and 492 flopped
around or it's I'll double check that. So, we're either plus three or minus three. I think we were minus three. It's supposed to be minus three if I remember right. But keep that in mind then. So, when we start updating those numbers, you can see which grades are closed. Right now, we're closed in second,
third, fourth, sixth, and eighth. So, those are the closed grades for open enrollment. Um, keeping in mind then what happens as we maybe gain kids or lose kids. Um, you can also see where we're at with different sections and classes. Keep in mind part of the cuts
were that section of first grade and second grade. Um, do you bring one of those back or not? You may look at the overall number of saying, well, if you're actually down three kids, do you want to bring a teacher back at $70,000 if we're down
three kids? I get the second grade one is but over what or do you move it or move a teacher for example but I'll update this sheet kind of every month or at least the summer I might not do it in May because it may not change a whole lot but I'll do it throughout the summer for you. I like that. So with with that
Randall possibly closing how many of those students are a there students they usually have and b are in our district. Uh I don't know that they have about 100 kids. I don't know how many are in our district. Yeah. So, so in theory, even with the
closed classrooms, if they are coming in a second, third that are closed and they're in our district, we're taking the So, we have to be Yeah, I would I would count I would I would know. I wouldn't think many of them are in our district. Mike, that's my guess.
I would think most of them are already here if they're in our district, but we have gained a few kids that have already signed up from down there. That's where you see the plus five, plus two. I don't see I don't see you gaining a whole bunch because the problem with it is if you're a parent
down there and you have a first grader and a third grader. Well, we'll take your first grader, but we're not taking your third grader, would they come with just a first grader? Some will. Some will, but district. Okay. So, and that's the question is how many of those students
down there are in district? Yeah. And what do you think like last year how many of our sections were closed? Uh we were closed in two grades last year. We were closed in um like in the elementary. I think we we only had three grades closed. Well, most
of them were middle school. I think I think we had three grades closed. I know we were closed in uh sixth grade. Last year we were closed in fifth grade and seventh grade for sure and I think fourth grade. that I was looking at the man we're not
growing much per section but when we have that many closed can't grow you know in the past we've always oh you're growing so much so that was part of my budget right that was part of my budget consideration for you guys to remember
as expenses go up yes you're not going to grow much anymore and this this was good for that thank you yeah because I you know that's why I say we've been living on growth I haven't changed my opinion and and that growth is going to stop.
You may grow in high school um as those kids move through a little bit, but the elementary is really going to be but like you said, you have room to grow in kindergarten and you have room to grow in first grade and those might bop up between the next three or four months depending what happens. But I would
anticipate we'll be at least that 80, you know, probably around that 88 number in first in kindergarten. I think there's seven or eight that we anticipate that haven't gotten their paperwork in. Um, but it's kind of gone down as you can see. It's a little lower
than it has been right now. Have Have we heard anything yet about our voluntary prek? We have not heard application. All right, that's all I got. Any other questions for Milford? All right, then I would entertain a
motion to adjourn. All those neighboring little Well, they're closing maybe part of their building. They have open They have lots of space in their buildings. So, they're closing some. So, it sounds like they want to possibly close middle school building.
Put your pen away, girl. Not me. and scream. Bye everyone. Okay, I have a pen. I