tyrant. Yeah, I bet you are. We just beat Egan last Friday. So, good evening everyone and welcome to the regular meeting of Lake Savage Board of Education. If you would all stand as you
are able and join us in the pledgece to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
Okay. All members are present. Uh so we will start the evening with Laker Pride Dr. Ellis, thank you so much. Uh, Chair White, board of directors. Um, I think it was about a month or so ago, I gave a little
tongue-in-cheek joke here from the DAS about the 80s van Foreigner with high top fades, Aquinet, hairspray, and blue eyeshadow. Didn't go over so well uh, you know, with our young folks, but I think many in the in the the adults understand that. But tonight, uh, we
want to recognize, um, our Prior Lake High School students that performed on stage, uh, with rock legends, Foreigner during the Lakefront Music Fest in, uh, this past July and under the direction of Randy Erinsson and Rob Han. Um, I I'm
always thrilled uh to listen to our students uh on a variety of fronts. One of my faves is listen to the the choir. And so we want to recognize all of them tonight. And you know, Rob and Randy, uh, uh, there's I see Rob. Oh, where's
where's Randy? Oh, there she is. You get that a lot, don't you? I do, actually. I'm sure you do. It's not the first time. So, um, uh, on behalf of all of us, I want to just say thank you for doing us all proud. And uh I'm glad you had this great honor to get on stage to look
before thousands of uh folks from the community, not just Prior Lake Savage, but literally from all over the state and probably in the region, um to watch uh this band, but also to listen to you all sing that wonderful choir component to that song. So, and to the both of you, you're amazing leaders in our
district as always. Thank you so much for what you two do. And here I've got all the stacks of uh you know, certificates. And if you want to say a few words, feel free. And then we're going to huddle up somehow. Sweet. Perfect. Up front here for a group photo.
We're actually short. This is about half of the kids that sang. We had 25 on stage. So there's the crew. Um beforehand we had we had call time uh for our sound check when we didn't get to go on stage at like 3:30, but we didn't take the
stage till 11 10:00 10:30. That sounds about what happened. It was uh it was pretty crazy to, you know, be in a festival like that and cut kids loose and go, "Okay, at the drum solo, we'll meet you right here." And they handled it beautifully. They met us
exactly where they should have. We all got um our backstage passes, which is a fun little sticker of someone walking their kid. Um and uh let's see. Yeah. So, the pictures from backstage, the view most people don't ever get to see. what 16,000
audience members looks like. And then of course we pivot around Randy and I are kind of right there behind that council and the kids are out on stage. Um, pretty cool. Uh, Kelly Hansen, lead singer still. Um, he's he's leaving the group sometime this month. Um, talking
to the band, singing, and uh, we've even got video clip if you'd like to hear a little bit. Yeah, let's do that. Let's cross fingers that this goes. Let's see. [Music]
We'll just jump. Uh, it's like 4 and 1/2 minutes, so we'll we'll spare you a little bit. Video footage courtesy of some parents who were right there in that front pit area. They could also sing along with this.
And we surely could. Take the queue, guys. time. But I mean, to me, that's that's it right there. When you've got a pictures of these faces up on the big jumbotron screens with nothing but smiles, um,
you'd say it's once in a lifetime, but it's actually the second time we've had kids sing with foreigners. So, when they called, they knew that we had done it before. They knew exactly when and where. Um, we sang it out at Mystic Lake when they were here in 2016. [Music]
Yeah. [Music] So, yeah, pretty uh pretty crazy to get that phone call. Um, important, I think, to note that these guys didn't get a chance to practice on the stage beforehand.
So, they didn't get to walk out there and figure out here's where you're going to stand, here's what you're going to do. It was just line up and go. And they just handled it so beautifully. So, and a learning experience for us, too. Um, when I watch that video, I see all
the smiles, but I also see very proper choir kids standing with excellent posture. Someone should have let them know that they could have a little more fun than that on stage. Um, that would have been great. Is to remind everybody and bring attention to the lack of funding for
school music programs. That's right. Far too often, the first programs that are cut are music and the arts. And that's a sad, sad thing. Yes. Because music and the arts help you reach outside of your local world to
different parts of the world to different places in time. It exposes you to thoughts and feelings that you might never have in your hometown and that's a good thing. And so please contact your local politicians, your school board, your teachers, make a donation. I
mean, he said we were supposed to contact you, so I had to pray. I'm just following directions, you know. I mean, when the lead singer a foreigner says to do something, you probably just do it. You just do what the guy tells you, right? Oh, but yeah.
So, really proud of our students as always. They they just represent so well and they we didn't practice over the summer. We just all appeared at Lakefront that day and did our thing and it was it was a really awesome experience. So, um yeah, congratulations to you guys.
Awesome. Thank you for having us. Please come forward for a group. [Applause] If you guys want to sing a little bit while you're getting your picture taken,
I wouldn't I don't think anybody would care. a little bit. Do one more. Thank you. Thank you. You can sing on your way out. Go.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, moving on to the next item on the agenda is the superintendence report. Dr. Thomas. All right. Thank you again. Um, of course, the biggest news to report on is the welcoming back of all of our students into our schools. uh last week
and this is our first full week of school. So, um the the first couple of days uh were great. Uh we got all our kids here and we got our kids home and uh and and and they returned today. So, that's a good thing. And um and really a
big thank you last Friday. Uh you know, this week we'll start my Fridays 5. Um, last week was just a a big thank you email to all of our staff for making it such a wonderful launch and um really leaning in to this whole theme that we have this year about growing to succeed
um and really how we can take care of one another. That's something that was um centered on our kickoff this year and again just very evident going into our schools into um the community that uh the the love of having that um energy of students is is definitely real and it
reminds you of our why every single day. So, thank you to all of our staff who made it a successful launch and looking forward to the year together. Um, and then also I uh ride the bus every year. It's been a tradition of mine um since being here and uh this year uh Leah was
our bus driver and I rode the Hamilton Ridge route and sounds like I was in your neck of the woods and uh you were in my neighborhood. A couple of others have emailed me and I just full disclosure uh I still I I should have asked what his name was, but uh the Chicago Bears parent, it was his house
that is the stop and um so um I hope he's at home watching getting ready to watch the Bears lose. So, well, that's right. That's right. We have another uh Bears fan in the house. But yeah, it was definitely a great opportunity to build community. Uh Dr.
Anderson got a chance to ride along as well and just kind of see what that fun is all about and uh just it's so fun to watch uh the the excitement of kids coming onto the bus that first that first day. So, thank you to everybody who made that an extra special day. Um coming up uh our annual state of the
district September 21 uh 4th from 6 at 6:00 here at the DSC. Um and also be looking out um many of our families. uh you'll be dialing in um shortly thereafter for your state of the schools and then all of that will be also
archived. Um schools will have that uploaded on their websites. Um so be looking for that. Um and then just as a placeholder for our community, more information coming soon, but just a little teaser message if you will, but we are looking at uh different ways to
engage our community. That was some of the conversations that we had at the end of the year um just for me in terms of the superintendent and ways that we can really uh deepen those community partnerships. And so we are looking at bringing instead of our typical state of the district, um I think we're going to
change it up a little bit and find ways that we can do a little bit more of an engagement and a conversation um with our broader community um and some of our um uh electeds, our local electeds so that we have a broader kind of ecological discussion about the
importance of education and the impacts that are occurring around education and what can we as a community do um to make sure that we can bolster the greatest um opportunities for our kids um as they go throughout our our school system. So um
once we firm that up more uh we'll share the dates and things of that nature, but um it'll be coming up um at the very end of October, possibly um no later than the first week or so of of November. So stay tuned for that. Uh and that is my report for tonight, Chair.
All right. Thank you, Dr. Thomas. Moving on to proclamations. Uh the first one is school board recognition month. Dr. Thomas, thank you so much. So um first we'll go ahead and play this little
video for you all and then I'll share some Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for helping me too build for my future, get ready for my career, prepare to serve my country, to succeed on the court, in the science lab, and on the stage. You are a role model
for kids like me. We need your voice to help strengthen our voice. [Music] So I will uh read the resolution. Um whereas Prior Lake Savage Area Schools recognizes the importance of public education in our community and whereas
Prior Lake Savage Area Schools appreciates the vital role played by those individual individuals who as local schoolboard members establish policies to ensure an efficient effective um school system. And whereas school board members serve as a voice that enables our community to preserve
local management and control of our public schools. And whereas school board members are charged with representing our local education interests to state and federal governments and ensuring compliance with state and federal laws. And whereas school board members selflessly devote their knowledge, time,
and talents as advocates for our school children. Whereas local school board members are strong advocates for public education and responsible for communicating the needs of the school district to the public and the public's expectations to the district. Now
therefore, be it resolved that Prior Lake Savage Area Schools recognizes and salutes the members of the Prior Lake Savage Area School Board by proclaiming September 2025 as school board appreciation month. Um, and on behalf of all the staff um here in Prior Lake
Savage Area Schools, I just want to offer my sincere gratitude for each of you. Um, you all bring uh unique, valuable perspectives to the role, including our students as well. Um, and the work that you are called to do is
way bigger than you as individuals and quite frankly in this day and age almost way bigger than the board as as a body. But what I appreciate about all of you is that you know when and where and how to lean into what is right for kids. And that's something that I really want to just say thank you and encourage you to
continue doing um because without you a lot of what we do in our district would not be accomplished. So, thank you so much for all of what you do. And um in the spirit of um tonight, I'm going to ask that you all come forward. And uh
yep, you'll have to take your nice uh photo shot or photo shoot. I think I have these in order. I'll be in front row though. It's all people in the back. You're new, but you're still part of the student.
In nice and close here. Thank you all. Thank you, Dr. Thomas. And our second proclamation will be for IT professionals appreciation week. And if Marcus wants to make his way forward, I'll have director Bullion read the proclamation.
Fair Lake Savage Area Schools recognizes September 15th through 19th, 2025 as IT Professionals Appreciation Week. IT professionals play an integral role in keeping our networks and applications running smoothly. This week we celebrate
our thanks and gratitude for these essential staff. Whereas Prior Lake Savage Area Schools has 14 DSC IT staff members. Whereas IT professionals support and manage devices in our district that students and staff depend
on daily including iPads, MacBook Airs, Apple TVs, desktop computers, projectors, telephones, and wireless access points. Whereas IT professionals manage and ensure the safety and security of our network, servers, and infrastructure and follow practices that
keep children safe online in education. Whereas IT professionals provide technical support to staff and students across our district, including but not limited to classroom, audiovisisual, account setup and maintenance, mobile device and phone management, and
hardware software licensing. Whereas our district print shop professionals provide wellorganized and efficient printing operations for the district by operating high-speed high-capacity copers, industrial cutters, and other miscellaneous equipment along with
organizing and processing materials at the curriculum repository. Therefore, let it be resolved the board of education hereby extends its appreciation to all Prior Lake Savage Area Schools IT Professionals for supporting the education of our students and staff and proclaims September 15th
through 19th, 2025 to be IT professionals appreciation week in Prior Lake Savage Area Schools. Marcus, Chair White, board directors, Dr. Thomas, Marcus Malazo, director of technology. I have a prepared a brief
statement. On behalf of the prior lakes ajary schools technology department, I would like to express our profound gratitude to the school board for acknowledging IT professionals appreciation week. This recognition inspires the department to excel in supporting educational programs and all
stakeholders. Their responsiveness, empathy, accountability, and commitment to lifelong learning sets them apart. I'm honored to lead this team and I thank the school board for recognizing their contributions. Thank you so very much. Thank you, Marcus.
All right, moving down. There are no open forum speakers this evening, so we'll move down to the approval of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as submitted? So made by director Bullion. Second. Second by director Atinson. All in favor signify by saying I. I.
Opposed carries 70. Next is the consent agenda. These are items that are routine in nature to be enacted with one motion. If there is no one at the table or in the audience that would like to pull a item for separate discussion and action, I will entertain
a motion to uh to take action on the consent agenda as presented by Dr. Fran. Second second by Director Mason. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor signify by saying I.
I. opposed. That carries 70. Next is a resolution for acceptance of gifts. And we have two gifts this evening. We have a gift of $500 from the Parlike
Savage Optimists for back to school event as well as $617.50 50 cents for summer band scholarships from the patrons of the arts and activities. I'll entertain a motion to accept these gifts with gratitude.
So made by Director Bullion. Second by Director Johnson. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. Roll call. I'm sorry. Roll call. They haven't even had it written down here. Seriously. Director Olstead. I.
Director Johnson. I. Director Atinson. I. Director Bullion. I Director France I and Dr. Mason I and I that carries 70. Moving down to uh personnel items. Uh 2526 kids company pair professionals.
Director Kther. Thank you Chair White and directors. So there's three positions that will uh added the memos were in the board but I will summarize the three of them. The first one being um an additional uh 4,000 hours to our kids company pair
professionals. Uh they request an additional 4,000 hours for nine month kids company pair professionals. Includes both expanded hours for the existing staff and new positions during the school year totaling 3.16 FTE. Kids company has multiple students enrolled in the 2526 school year program that
will require a higher level of support. Without additional staffing, the program may not be able to adequately support all students needs and the associated costs will be covered by the '04 community service fund. The second position is for the Laker
Learning Tutoring Program and the district requests approval to expand the Laker Learning Tutoring Program to include qualified tutors beyond our district current staff. This change is proposed due to limited internal interest and the ongoing need to provide academic support for our students. This expansion will help add to our pool of
tutors and ensure that students continue to receive support through the Laker Learning Tutoring Program. And these costs will be covered by the user fees that are charged for the services. And then the last one is an additional 9th grade football coach. The increase in participants has created a need for an additional coaching position funded by
the booster club and the booster club has confirmed their agreement to cover the cost which includes estimated taxes and benefits cost for this position. All right. Thank you, Martha. Do I have to take these individually or can we do them as one motion? Individually. Okay. All right. Then I will entertain a
motion uh first of all to accept the increase in the pair of professional hours as presented. So made by director Bullion. Second. Second by director France. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. I.
Opposed. That carries 70. And now I'll entertain a motion to accept the uh increased cost for the Laker Learner tutoring program. So moved by Director Bullion, second by Director Johnson. Any discussion? I just had a quick question on that one.
Will we be posting this out like on the careers page and how will we share this out with our community, I guess, to help recruit for that? Um yes, this this will be something that we will put out in terms of our um broader communities should they have interest. We would also be looking to
entertain with professional tutoring organizations as well um that may be local, maybe metrowide. Um so it's a combination of both. So yeah, if you have if you know of folks who are interested, please have them reach out directly to uh Joel Dah, the executive director of community ed.
Great. Thank you. Thank you. There's no more discussion or questions. All in favor signify by saying I opposed. Motion carries 70. And then finally, uh, I'll enterain a mot entertain a motion, uh, to, uh, accept the increased staffing for the ninth
grade football team. So by director Johnson, second by director France. Questions or comments? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying I. Opposed. That carries at 70. Moving. There's no unfinished business.
And so we will move down to a business services update. Director Ryder. Good evening. Um, this afternoon we received the email from MDE that uh provides us with the information regarding our levy documents. So, they are now posted to
the Minnesota Department of Education website and um they have noted that there are some areas that they're still working through such as the approval of um long-term facility maintenance plans that districts have submitted um and a few other areas too that they're just needing a little more time. So there is
a scheduled discussion tomorrow with our MASBO group and MDE uh where we will walk through the entire levy document and um be able to just ask our questions to then of them as if we see something that looks off. So it's the beginning of the process of us reviewing that
document that then we want to make sure is accurate um and as close to perfect as possible by the end of the month. And um in the meantime, oftent times districts will approve at a maximum, which gives that flexibility should
there be a calculation that's wrong at the state level or something else of that nature that it can still be adjusted before the final that you would then take approval of in December. So that would be my expectation is that we would be bringing forward that um suggestion for approval of the um
preliminary certified levy for September at just the maximum amount and that will be coming at the next meeting. So um that's the update on the levy certification discussion. Moving on to the audit, we're still finalizing some of our key points on the
on the audit and um particularly Gazsby 101 which is a new Gazsby. we must comply with. So, that's still in the works. And then our enrollment update, we have included in your board packet the um kindergarten enrollments. Similar to what we've done in the past weeks, um
I've updated for the last two weeks since our last time we talked about this. Um we are now at what we would think would be 100% right at the time of August 29th when this was pulled. And at that point in time, we were seven behind where we are budgeted at 533 for
kindergarten. and 26 below that which was last year at this time. So um so that is um oh actually 26 below that which was last year's October. Keep in mind we still have time to have numbers
change on us, right? Um, so the October count is intended to be a fall count that is those students enrolled as of that date, but we still report to the state all the way up till December 31st on adjustments and then it gets
finalized as fall. Okay, so that's how that works. And then the other document included in your packet is the uh continuation of taking note of where we are for our 2425 the year ended that we're auditing and comparing it to the months that we've
seen for headcounts at the top from October through June. And then I just filled in the September 2nd line item. Um you can see the numbers are still very similar to what they've been. So we're we're holding tight to that. Okay. Thank you. Any questions for Lisa?
All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next on the agenda are the 202526 uh board committee rosters for the policy advisory committee and the teaching and learning advisory committee. I'll entertain a motion to
accept the rosters as submitted. Made by director Bullion. Second. Second by director Olstead. Discussion. I just have a couple questions. Um, similar to how we explained on the finance committee, if someone could
maybe just comment on like the skill sets that we were looking for for both policy and teaching and learning and what we were targeting. Sure. Um, I'll I'll let uh the respective executive directors just speak to like skill sets unique to their areas, but overall, first I want to just
say thank you to the teams. Um uh we are bringing greater alignment to our committee work as I shared a couple of weeks ago with the board. Um the committees represent a good cross-section of our community from varying uh perspectives, community
members at large, parents, elementary, secondary, etc. And one of the things that as a management team we are committed to doing is really leaning into the the roles of our said committees because they are representative. And so a lot of our
engagement touch points with community um will be coming through those committees. And I think the the key aspect for us is that we ensure that um the committee the committee members our community um understands the the ask
that we have of participating in in this uh work. Um all the committees had about 25ish or so give or take um applicants and so there's a lot of interest from our community to be involved. It's one of the areas that I really appreciate about this community. Uh we saw the same
thing with our strategic plan um process as well. And um for that or because of that I just want to also remind our our community and our you know folks who are on uh coming on to these committees this is a commitment that we are asking of
you and um and it's not a commitment that we take lightly. It's it's a two-way street and we want to make sure that as folks are coming uh aboard lending perspectives um that you are providing um your kind of personal local
immediate um experiences with the various topics um that each committee will be discussing um and that we want to make sure that you are there. That's another piece I just want to stress as well. Um that's one of the areas that we noticed over the years is that um you
know we understand life happens but this is also something that we've been very upfront and public about when we post for the openings on these committees of what that commitment will entail. And so I just ask folks to please stay in tune, you know, with the administrator that um is uh uh assigned to leading with that
uh board rep on that committee so that should life happen that you're being in constant contact um with one of the three executives directors and in two cases um um two of our uh directors because uh Director Powers um does that along with u um Lisa Ryder for the
finance and ops uh components. Um, so really excited about that. I also want to thank all of our board reps um for your work in leaning into this and I know that um we postponed uh a couple of the conversations till this evening um so that we could best align our
processes as well as ensure that moving forward we have some consistent practices. So, um I do apologize about that delay, but again, thank you, uh chair, uh Mary France, Jessica Olstead, and um Amy and and Charles, and both of
your committees. I know, um uh Robert was a little bit, uh little uh hung up in in uh jury duty, so we couldn't get the uh uh convenings together yet. So, that's the reason why we delayed that one. Um, but I think what we have is uh
some very robust committees. So, I will turn it over to the three of you if you want to just talk a little bit about um u the process of what you were looking for, specifically where we might have had some gaps and kind of what rose to the tops in terms of some of your selection. Well, thank you uh Superintendent Thomas
and Chair White and directors. Um just to underscore the point made by the superintendent, lots of interest in serving on these committees and that's a strength of the community to have folks who want to be involved. uh so uh was pleased to see that level of interest. Whenever we look at a committee roster
or a roster to fulfill a task like teaching and learning, we're looking for a cross-section of expertise, interest uh and experiences that represent the wide swath of prek through 21 uh across
all the sites and um to represent each of the levels. And so looking at the uh interests, experiences and expertise of folks uh we tried to strike a balance across those lists of criteria and I'm
uh you know pleased to say that interest yielded strong candidates. Um so uh I look forward to working with the committee and uh with the liaison to uh teaching and learning uh to to navigate all the things that we must do as a part
of that. So I appreciated the opportunity to work with board members and uh fill out that roster. Thank you. Oh, for the policy committee, I think one of you know one of the things once again just uh we had yeah 25 applicants u all strong applicants. One
of the things that when I met with a couple of the directors, we got input from director Johnson on kind of how he processed some of those and then I met with director Bullan um and the superintendent to look through some of the applicants. For me, uh one of the things, you know, I kind of look at it as a team and I wanted to put together
the the strongest team possible, understanding where my weaknesses are as well. And so I looked at uh we I I felt that either legal or policy experience was uh critical in having somebody on the policy committee. and we were fortunate to have a lot of people that
had some of those backgrounds. Um, so the two individuals that we selected seem to have strong uh either policy background or legal background to help us fulfill what I understand to be a very strong team. So I'm excited to work with these people um and um get to know
them better and and uh lead the policy committee. All right. Thank you. Any other questions? Yeah, I mean I think just a second comment to just some feedback that we have gotten from prior committee members. Um I you know I think it would be really great to just have I haven't attended like teaching and learning for
example but I think the feedback was just trying to get some consistency and making sure that these are advisory committees uh versus just um you know presenting to them and them not being in a place where they felt they had time or um feedback to give right it was more
just presenting to so I know we're trying on the finance committee also to try and really make it um collaborative and that we're actually utilizing these people for their advisory and for their strong skill sets hopefully that we're bringing to the table. So, just wanted to share that. I think it's important for all of us across the board to take
that into consideration. I I would echo that which is also why we changed the format halfway through the year with teaching and learning uh as a direct response to feedback along the way. So, I want it to be known that um the second portion of the year I think
was a bit more hands-on sleeves rolled up engaging in um actual artifacts as well as kind of professional development and then doing some table learning sessions together ultimately building some capacity of the team so that they could apply that learning into the
actual work. So that is something that um as a superintendent I want to make sure we have great consistency across all because I thought that was a really good format. We heard that that was a a good format as well. And so we'll do a little bit of both. There's going to be some kind of information data sharing
but then we also want our committee members to understand that you bring vantage points that um will differ from many of our ours you know as as the leaders within the organization or on the board. Um, and they can bring that kind of lived experience. Uh, and I kind
of liken it to looking at a blueprint and it could be the best design, but you know, the builder understands the topography in the land in the soil and says great idea, but in the field it's not going to really work. So, I think it's a both and approach that I think um
the executive team is committed to taking on. And again, to echo my colleagues here, I look forward to engaging with our community on all these committees. So, thank you all for your participation in advance. Any other discussion or questions? All right. Um,
go ahead. Um, on the uh committee purpose statements that are presented in the board book uh under teaching and learning and both and the policy advice advisory committee. Um there is language stating
like under teaching and learning advisory committee. Um the the last sentence of the first paragraph says TAC members also serve as important liaison fostering strong communication between the school district and stakeholders.
Something similar is also in the policy advisory committee. Um it's worded just a little bit different. It says policy advisory committee members also help strengthen communication between the district and stakeholders. Um um and then the rest of that sentence in
the finance and operations advisory committee there isn't really a sentence that like that and I'm wondering if we could um take one or the other. I think it's an important um I think it's an
important sentence that everyone you know on these committees they are um liaison to the to stakeholders in our community. So, I just thought I just thought maybe you could add that in there. Sure. Yeah, I think that's something we can talk about tomorrow morning to weave
that in. Um, and again, I think what we're trying to convey from different vantage points, you know, the importance of that connection, you know, with our committee as as to the district. So, um, yeah, we can be a little bit more explicit in that. And just to be clear,
we are we're voting on the rosters only the finance committee can probably do that if they feel like it's it's important. Yeah. And director Bolan, I really appreciate that brings that brings to mind just um I'd like to have a better understanding of um how do you say what
type of consistencies we can see from committee to committee because I know that's one been one of the challenges in the past is that um different committees have been used utilized in different ways. And so with our new team, um our new executive team on board, um I'd love
to better understand um how we're going to see consistencies across the board with these advisory committees, maybe how they're structured, how the feedback is given to the board, um different perspectives represented in the feedback, that type of thing. So yeah, I think those are good points of
feedback. Um and you know I think between the calibration with the administrative reps and the board reps um in reflecting on how that meeting went kind of what is our uh what are our takeaways and our report outs so that we can have that constant. I think that was brought up
um during your your board goals as well. So that'll be a proposal coming up in a few minutes. So I think that's already being woven in um and I think there's great intentionality. you know the the team has been working very closely around this as as a new uh leadership team
again and uh Dan Powers uh bringing on the operational perspective um to the finance ops component as well. So I think between our connection points with the board liaison um with some agreed upon structures of when we launch our u
committee meetings and then even a formal structure for how we have an exit ticket out um so what are the key takeaways? So, you know, one of the things that we did um with the strategic planning process, if you all recall, um you know, if you participated, we wanted
we wanted uh our community to be um champions of Prior Lake Savage Area School. And so, what was that what was that thing that they were taking back to the community from the session that they attended that day? And so just being more intentional um I think director
Atinson and team um in terms of what are agreed upon takeaways so that through the board reports um as well as kind of where we land um one of the things I was just sharing with a couple of our staff members at a school was the tighter we can get on our conditions of satisfaction meaning the agreements and
when we leave the meeting so that we're not walking away um I'm thinking this is what we're going to do others are thinking it's something different and we're both going in our separate ways doing what we believe is the good work and then we find when we come back we were working at odds with one another
you know unintentionally. So again really being clear around those conditions of satisfaction um and calibrating you know as board and leadership um moving forward I think will be will be great. I think also um I I'll just kind of stop with this um is
the um uh uh one also having some level leveled expectations upfront. Um as you all recall um when you bring divergent perspectives together sometimes they can bump a little bit. Okay. And that's okay. We we had that um throughout the
strategic planning process too. But there's ways that we can still um have differing perspectives. um but hold a level of regard and respect for one another and that's something that we'll be making sure that gets uh normed on day one. We have those agreements within
the chart uh the charter statements, but we also had some that governed a lot of our strategic planning process that we utilize in a lot of our our things. And then lastly, as we close out the year, um I think having a unified uh way to exit out and so we get that intentional
design of feedback across um every committee so that we can coalate, you know, the information that we garner from every committee. Um and not every committee is going to be cookie cutter, right? I mean, it's the nuance of the topic. It's the art of leadership um and the styles that you all bring to the
conversations as as board members. So, you know, I'm not looking for this automaton approach to how we do the meetings, but I think we've put in some good stop gaps to have a consistent um effort moving forward um to uh ensure
that as a board you all are seeing the value add of these committees assigned to the board that as leadership we are going off to facilitate um on behalf of the board. So, hope that answers the question. Thank you.
Mary, um I want to um kind of go with and and I know that we're only voting on the rosters today, but the um um the the charter, the purpose, and all that to make sure each of the administrators in
particular are establishing and coordinating on the rules of engagement for these committees, to make sure that the outcomes are what they are as well as the the rules of engagement for when um a differing ing
opinions come come to play um and understanding what is expected of each of the committee members in a little bit more of a discreet way in each of these areas of the purpose so that when um uh community members come in uh anybody
comes in for that matter that there that that is very well stated and and that is um being followed. Y I I would just echo that uh Director France and and I couldn't stress that enough. uh we can disagree but we don't need to be disagreeable with one another
and and I think that's part of that value ad you know on the front side and so when we find ourselves at somewhat of an impass you know on how we might see certain things there's ways that we can effectively work through that um you know a couple of you have said on multiple occasions what we model here in
the boardroom should be you know good models for our classroom um and and the same with our committee work what we do in committee you know we should not be ashamed of having a student sitting right there, you know, and watching and observing that whole interaction, right? Because we're setting the stage for what
we're expecting them to to go into. They are our future leaders. So, so I couldn't agree more. So, as we we talked a little bit about the team um as a as a team um and knowing that uh it's going to be important to level set no matter if it's community, parent, or staff
members. Um we're all held to a standard, you know, of decorum to uh um uh lead effectively together. So, thank you for that. There's no more discussion. We have a motion and a second on the table. All in favor signify by saying I.
I. Opposed. Motion carries 70. All right. Next, uh, we have a curricular resources report from the LEI team. Dr. Thomas, you want to do introductions? Yeah, thank you. as the team gets ready to set up for the discussion. Um just
want to let the board know um we we will be having a deeper kind of work study session with you all in just a couple of weeks. Um uh that is more of our traditional approach. That's usually about um uh the time frame that we've done it. Um but we know that the MCAs were released and there's some
conversation about that. We wanted to just honor and acknowledge that a little bit here tonight. more so we wanted to focus some of the conversation around some of the curricular resources that um are more pressing um that as a result of what we see in our data. So you know you
all have seen the same information that we've been seeing uh we see that essentially we have a lot of uh flatness into our data. I think we're seeing uh that mirrored at the state where we're above the state but nonetheless we seem to be overall flat on an aggregate. We
have peaks and valleys around various grade levels and departments um that we can um dig more into. Um our teams are working with our built right now as they're finalizing their school goals too. So a more robust uh discussion
around kind of what does this all mean? We'll be digging into this in just a couple of weeks with you all. Um, but we wanted to um give a little foreshadow to some of that tonight because some of that preliminary theme that you're seeing or hearing about and talking about, you're probably hearing from some
of our staff who are going to be looking at some um uh uh MDE approved aligned readact resources this year. Um, that's some of the things that we wanted to really focus in on because we'll be um exploring a couple of uh readact
resources as well as exploring a couple of high school um specific math resources um that we uh will align to both statute as well as the incoming standards coming up here. So, so more will be coming throughout the year with
you all on these, but we wanted to give that introduction because we'll be sharing out uh information to the families um next week here or no later on this week, I think. Um u notifying them of some of the resources that we'll be exploring together and then getting
some intentional feedback around some of these resources both here at the board level. um posting um opportunities um either here and or schools so that families can interact and take a look at these resources um curriculum nights with our teachers as well. So a lot of
that will be happening you know in the first um quarter or two uh and then having that midyear kind of status update um to you all to see how is this explor exploration happen uh uh going what are we learning from this and then
from there making some determinations as to what would a spring um conversation look like as we go to make a recommendation for you to take some action um as we typically do in in like an adoption cycle that would be for new implementation um for next fall. So with
that um I will turn it over to Dr. Zumbush who will start the conversation um a little bit about you know what we're seeing of the of the what and then some preliminary now what's around some resources that we know we need to launch um for exploration and then like I said
going deeper in a couple of weeks. Good evening Chair White, Dr. Thomas, members of the board. Um, I'm going to start by just uh talking about some of the data really high level and then we're going to move on to kind of the now what conversation. Um, I know there
was a question about um specific numbers associated with these lines because the um the the dots on here are not labeled. That is just the way that they come from MDE. Um but I also wanted to just pull up these slides in the data appendix in
the data appendix that show um a little more detail so I can give you the exact numbers. So in math um in 2024 our um overall uh proficiency rate was 58.0. Uh this year is 57.7. So that's a
difference of.3 uh percentage points. uh looking at reading um last year we went from 59.7 to 59.8. So to Dr. Thomas's um earlier point uh really when we're looking at these
overall that is a flat trend for both of those. Um as you can see in the data appendix um I broke down all of the results by uh demographic group and grade level and you can feel free to look through all of those charts. Um, if
you also go to the MDE report card, you can just Google Minnesota report card and click there. You can further drive down into results and see by school, by school and grade level, you can basically uh click on almost infinite
different combinations of ways to look at the data. So, if you're interested in exploring that further, um, that is all publicly available at this time. So um yeah, overall the story is that we have flat trend lines for both our
overall math and reading outcome data. Um in terms of our graduation rate data, um there was some questions about the fact that we noticed um a decrease in our graduation rate last year. Um just
as a recollection, graduation rates are um lagged by a year because it takes a year to track students as in terms of whether they show up in another location. Um so this is for 2024, but that is the most recent graduation um
data that we have currently. Um the blue line here shows uh the percentage of students graduating in a 4-year rate. Um you can see that we did experience a decline from 23 to 24. Um but the other thing that we uh found as we dug into
this and talked to counselors at the high school and other um individuals involved in graduation um and and special education staff. Uh we learned that there was quite a number of students who who simply needed more time in our system. So if you look at the red
graph here, you can see the percentage of students who graduated or continued learning with us. Um and if you look at that graph, um we did not experience a change. So um in a lot of systems, we talk about not only a four-year graduation rate, but a five, six, or
even sevenyear graduation rate. Um and here you can see that um while our graduation rate um in and of itself for four years declined um it was a matter of um a group of students needing additional time in our system um and
they stayed they did stay on with us. Uh we also have anecdotal evidence that since that time they have um graduated. So they maybe just need an um another quarter or semester or something like that to get um over that finish line.
Um there's been questions about FastBridge um in terms of what trends did we see there. Uh I just wanted to remind everyone that FastBridge is a formative assessment and it's designed to give teacher feedback. Um it's not designed to give aggregate results.
That's really the purpose of the MCA. Um even in that case, I think it's good to take a look and see if we can identify themes and trends um and see which direction they're going. And I would say overall what we see in our fastbridge
data is that it's widely varied. Um so I think you have just a lot of different um experiences at different schools, different grade levels, different contexts. So overall um there's not a clear pattern in any sort of um like
clear and distinctive direction. Um but one of the things we did look into when we studied the implementation of fidelity of bridges is that the individuals who had the highest fidelity in terms of their implementation of the curricular resource also uh showed high
fastbridge growth in math and also had um high higher MCA results. So saw that upward tra trajectory in both fastbridge and MCA. um fastbridge and MCA are correlated but not entirely predictive.
So um the getting a high FastBridge score and showing growth is predictive of MCAs but it doesn't tell us exactly where that student is going to land. So it's not a onetoone correlation but um the the information that's being measured in FastBridge gives us some
indication whether that student is on track um to meet that proficiency rate in MCA. Um we did look at our specific data and we saw that correlation as well. Um and then our reading data really confirms the need for that
ongoing science of reading um training. We just see a wide variety. We know that our resources are not aligned with science of reading. Um so we really um see that we need to focus on that continued professional development and selecting and implementing a curricular
resource that is aligned with the science of reading. Um so that's the highle fly over of our data and then I will pass it over for next steps. Thank you Dr. Zumbush. I can't help it uh given that part of my charge is to
represent teaching and learning. One of the strategies we use when an educator or a learner uh shares something of value to us uh at least sometimes is to snap. And I'm just going to test do you have an appetite for this? Can we snap for Dr. Zush for can we try it? Some of
you are less comfortable which is totally understandable. Uh so thanks uh Dr. Thomas, uh, board chair white, directors, uh, and those in attendance. Um, one of the things we're charged to do, uh, in addition to looking at that
high level data and then consider what are some next steps we might take is to also be aligning our materials, uh, and our practices with requirements um, from the state. We're also charged to think
through systemic uh implementation uh and tend to do things like vertical articulation, make sure we're aligned to state standards, and of course position ourselves to pivot to deliver in new MCA uh tests that are coming. And so as a
contextual cue and reminder for us, uh the state curriculum guidance uh comes from a 10ear cycle. And uh believe it or not, these mass standards have been in practice since 2007. And in 2022, the state updated those.
They updated those and gave us a longer timeline because they knew this would be a next level uh next generation of rigor for students that uh pivoting with just a simple new curricular resource alone uh wouldn't be easy. uh the way uh that
we have to attack the level of thinking required by these new mass standards would take time to build the capacity of educators to deliver and that's uh in part the reason for this timeline. So new standards approved in 2022 but not fully implemented and measured until
2728. And so um they have other prescriptions. One pulled out for your consideration tonight is that instruction at the high school level must include all the required 2022 mathematics standards and benchmarks for grades 911. It's not a
small thing and it deserves u investment of u time and training. Our current status as you can see uh is that uh in our teaching and learning spaces we are monitoring uh and assessing formatively
and summatively uh standards uh and position ourselves to do so uh in alignment with the new standards. Previously uh before now this system undertook K through8 uh adoption processes and those materials are uh
positioned us to make this transition. and we're in the middle of the transition from the 2007 asks of how we do teaching and learning to the 2022 and so uh educators are working to do that and that Dr. Zush talked about um so far
we think better results where implementation is better uh in our system and uh high school math materials are not aligned uh very well to the new standards at all um and uh in some cases
behind even the 2007 status and they're 15 years old in most cases. And so uh we're going to do this next work uh to do the vertical alignment so that we're positioned at the high school level to do the same thing uh that has been done
at K8 and that is to align to these new standards uh and the new MCAs. Now the high school math process is last in our system uh based on a number of things. Um it's a phased approach uh uh
predicated in part by constraints like limited budget. Many systems will do a K12 math or curricular adoption in one year. Uh some systems will do K6 or K5 in one phase and then the next year do 612 u partly because some curricular
areas are uh even more difficult. Math can be one of those uh sometimes because uh like in our case we didn't have resources to stretch us in one year to two years. We stretched our resources and had to uh over three years. So our
process um was at the high school level uh you know truncated uh not truncated extended for some of those reasons. So, in the spring of 2023, uh the uh math committee and teachers
studied different materials. Staff attended presentations about each of these curricular resources. And then in 2020 uh 2425 that high school math team and committee members narrowed resources and agreed to have algebra 1, geometry and algebra 2
teachers have some access to some curricular materials they believe are aligned to these new standards and some did use those materials uh in that fashion. In the spring of 2025, this last spring, the high school teacher consensus was to
field test for the 2526 school year. And so the intention is that we will be working to as a system make a decision after first semester and begin planning for full implementation for 2627. Again, that's in alignment
with the state uh 10-year curriculum revision cycle timeline. And so uh this process includes field tests again um for visual purposes at the high school level which is the third in our three phases of math adaption.
Algebra 1, geometry and algebra 2 will be using the savis curricular resources in a field test manner and that includes the the classes listed there and as well as advanced math 8 at the middle school level.
Another way to think about the timeline is uh using this graphic. So in 2425 there was further exploration of high school math curriculum materials. There was confirmation from and consensus of high school math teachers to do the
SAVIS field test in 2526 and then use that field test to try to drive to a curriculum decision. As a part of that and as I understand our process requires letters will be sent out to or communication sent out to
families. Materials will be available for community feedback and review starting uh as soon as this week and feedback loops uh including the aforementioned teaching and learning advisory committee on which uh two board members sit uh to interact with provide
feedback around and otherwise support phase three of this math adoption. It follows then that we would be driving towards full implementation of a new resource year 1 2627 year 2728
and uh recall that's when the state will start measuring these new standards that were adopted in 2022 and um then year three where those student achievement MCA goals or those SAGs that we uh use shorthand for in our
system will be utilized. So that's on the math side. We're talking about math resources uh and the curriculum adoption process as one of the things we do um in response to state standards, updated state statute and
certainly results that we're getting or not getting to the degree that we want. The second area that we want to highlight tonight as a curricular update for to per the purposes of tonight is around uh as we forecasted elementary literacy
and in that same manner as we align to state statute and state law in this case the read act. These are some of those contextual cues that help situate us uh where we are as a system.
So the contextual reminders are summarized there. We just pulled out a few for your consideration tonight. This readact was uh passed in July of 2023. And one of the key signature highlevel requirements of that read act was that
we have to consider and integrate all of these things into the curricular adoption process. It's not that we wouldn't uh consider or integrate these things into a traditional curriculum adoption, but it is that this is a even more robust set of requirements than
we've ever seen and it's taking a lot of time and it's taking a lot of resources and it's taking a lot of bandwidth. So, at a time when we want to do some high stakes math implementation, concurrently at the elementary level, we've got to do some high stakes
literacy implementation. We're not the only ones doing it, but in our context, it's it's definitely just as difficult as in other places. And in some case, I would submit even harder given that we have some other constraints. So, uh you can see in the bottom bullet, the
district must provide this robust training from a menu of approved evidence-based training programs aligned to state requirements. We have been doing that. teachers are uh working and have been working very hard to do so and
our district staff has been working hard to try to line up to support uh both their work and the work of principles who are charged to monitor and support this stuff. Uh and so u I'd like to invite up uh assistant director of teaching and learning Dr. Caroline
Warner uh to share a little bit about that training and a little bit about that ELA committee process as we've worked really hard to align to these up updated state statutes. All right, good evening. So to reiterate and just maybe highlight a little bit
more is to look at that training specific to Ola. So that is brought to us and we have a high number of staff who have really create who have completed that foundational training. So the excitement around having a shared base of knowledge. We have a large group
of our staff that have already completed that this summer. We have our remaining staff who will complete five through nine. So there are nine full modules for that. Um they will complete that this year. And then new staff that we invited in this year also have that same that is
remember that legislated requirement by June of 2026 to make sure that we have that foundational learning all nine of those modules for our staff to be able to be done by this school year. Um the other component which certainly is important we start with elementary and then move to our secondary is looking at
when that comes. So as you can see the training options have not been announced yet. So as Dr. Anderson mentioned those specific ones that we could choose which of those trainings that will be released to us in October and then we will begin to look at registration for that in January.
And then to highlight our committee process, um what we did similar to math is studied um one component that was different because of the read act there were rubrics that MDE released that led us to resources that were highly aligned
to the science of reading. And so we looked at all of that as a committee. We also then attended presentations on all of those highly aligned resources, narrowed that resource list down, and then teachers were in or in that process of field testing this year. Um, some
specific curricula, and we're working to make that final decision again after our first semester. So, teachers excited to be able to have their hands on that piece and to watch that learning through the students eyes um and then make some really good decisions after that. And so
again just that visual piece you can see and just to highlight a little bit different again these are those highly aligned resources there's a couple components that that is grouped into so the knowledge building you can see is a K5 and so that piece looks at our
reading our writing our speaking and our listening standards that comp component covers all of that and that we are looking at arts and letters so that's the specific um highly aligned curricula we're looking at the phonics is in two different um curricula areas. So it's a
K2 and looking at our functional phonics and UFly. So those are two different resources that we are having teachers look at. And then our word study which is that higher elementary component for third through fifth is functional phonics. So you can see we have 42
classrooms across K5 in each of our elementarymentaries represented um the exception of Lola because they are utilizing a resource already. Um and that piece has not actually been laid out for what that would look like with that specific carryover or layover for
um immersion learning. Again, another timeline to be able to see where that piece is as that reminder of when our read act was passed and then looking at developing our local literacy plan as well as our professional development. So, starting that piece in
2425, finishing that here in 2526 and then looking at that part two for adding our secondary component when we know more about that specific training. And then the note also just like in math our new
MCAs will be based upon those 2020 standards. So looking at that MCA4 full implementation in 2627 um for that resource 2728 and then 2829. So looking at those student achievement
math MC or excuse me MCA goals and then just a couple pieces from our field test next steps. So we have just like Dr. Anderson had mentioned letters that will be to families in those classrooms that are field testing any of those resources. Um and then a survey
that will be sent for families um in midyear for that feedback. Our teaching and learning advisory committee having those formative check-ins and feedback throughout the fall and then opportunities to view those resources here at the district service center at elementary buildings during our
conferences and then that QR code available to be able to submit that feedback. All right. Any questions for any of the three presenters? Mary? Um, starting with graduation rates. Um,
you know, working with um the um Bridges Area Learning Center, I know that there's students who do take the summer to graduate uh and fill in some extra credits. Is that reflected here as not graduating within four years or is that
reflected? Um, thank you. I believe that the summer um if you graduate in the summer that counts towards that graduation rate. If it goes into the fall at all, then it does not count in the four-year. Okay, thank you. That was that helped me understand the numbers a little bit
better. Um, and then with the math, um, one of the things that I know the state did when they did the science and the math almost at the same time is they tried to align those two because the push was to have a certain level of science by freshman year that required
algebra 1 uh, for many of the uh, new science standards. But I'm seeing the the high school uh focus on algebra 1, algebra 2, and geometry. And if I remember correctly, science was supposed to try the science standards are
supposed to try to push that down into the middle school area. Is am I did that change because I know the science wasn't wasn't finalized at that time. I think the state is and has tried to do alignment work. My understanding in our
system is we haven't had capacity to do those all of those areas with for example budgetary constraints. So there's a reason for that delay. There is going to be some science work done this year too. But it's again it has to be subservient to literacy and math
because of our capacity. I know that was definitely subservient to literacy and that was a larger discussion than I've ever seen before at the science standards because uh the science had a lot to do with reading and understand the vocabulary of the words and they found that the literacy was lacking to
be able to do that but concurrent to that we had the science math um uh uh continuum going on and um I know that the science program uh the science standards were really
pushing that that earlier uh ingestion of algebra 1 into college algebra 1 which is sometimes considered algebra 2 and then the geometry and the trig in there just in the beginnings in order to balance it out for what they wanted in
their high school science. So what I I I'm hoping the state does not come back and then make us rework something that's kind of I think there's work to do in science uh regardless of what the state does. I
think the state has this ideal um uh integration which is built on increased rigor in all of these areas because the world demands that our kids know as much and are able to do as much as they have ever been able to know and do. Um uh so
I think there's work to do and for me my first read on our system is this has been a function of our capacity and uh so I think we're going to continue to be invited to balance what is the state asking prioritize what that is and then
take it in chunks so our system is able to digest. Okay. Thank you. And then um with regards to the detailed fast bridge and I understand fast bridge is formative is not supposed to be there to measure because every quarter is going to be different and students are going to
ingest the and understand the information at different levels. But I am wondering if was there any uh patterns particularly I mean you mentioned bridges was there any patterns in the middle school math um that that were noted
um in terms of the middle school math implementation since this was year one we didn't do the concerted um implement as concerted of an implementation study as we did for bridges because that was in year two uh so it's one year behind in terms of
implementation Um I don't think we have um a first of all it was year one so there's a lot of um different components going on. You definitely you actually some most often see an implementation dip in year one of a curricular implementation. Um so I think the
combination of us not having the the detailed study yet of what is implementation look like at the middle school um and then corresponding that with fastbridge. But I would say we don't know at this point whether um where that's trending for middle school.
Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Anyone else? Go ahead. Okay. Thank you. Um sorry about that. Thank you. Um I just have some questions about the SAVIS um implementation at the high school and
wondering um I know you you're you come in um doc director Anderson playing catch-up here and um just wondering if you can help us understand um maybe was there two curriculums that were
you know typically we do a pilot and we have multiple different curriculums so that we have an understanding of which one is the best fit for our community and so um there's a couple things I feel like we're we're kind of how do I say moving forward with having had missed
possibly some steps and as well um the board has not had any visibility to what SAVIS is and so how do we as a board ensure that this curriculum meets the um the values and the viewpoints of our community and the needs of meeting our strategic plan of academic excellence
and so I'm wondering if we're going to take a deeper dive into this curriculum at the math um and when when we would be doing that because we haven't done that so far. Just so you know, this is actually the first time that as a board that we're hearing um about this this particular math curriculum and this
pilot. So, well, good. Thank you for that question and I appreciate that. We always want to um you know round out the process as completely as possible. So situated in the context of this is phase three and situated in the context of um trying to
do vertical alignment and making sure our systems ready for the state year of implementation. Um perhaps that informed some of the steps we've taken to get to here. can't speak to every step. Uh but what I know is when they looked at those curricular resources in 2023, the 612
uh roster of committee members and teachers looked at five different curriculum areas, three of which were more gerine and uh in the view of our high school team members more aligned to the direction that they thought would get us in uh alignment with the state.
And so, uh, the high school team, uh, looked at at least three sets of resources informed by things like, uh, among other things, what other districts are adopting as well. So, um, on October the 6th, we'll have a chance for the TAC
committee to take a look and get updated in ways. And, uh, I don't know if the board would have in historical situations had access before the teaching and learning advisory committee. I don't I can't speak to that. I don't know if that's your normal process, but certainly it's important to
me in October to as one of the key first things that we do in TAC is to do um uh a key move to try to do the uh community feedback in conjunction with letting making sure the materials are available that letter to families like I said. But
other districts that have looked at this resource and went ahead with adoption include but aren't limited to Orino Mameidi and Grove Heights, Shakipi, South Washington County, Edina to name a few. And that's my first look at it. But we'll we'll continue to want to look at
what we've done, look at the processes that we've come to appreciate, make sure it aligns with the values of our community, and give opportunities for feedback. That and that that kind of goes back to the also to the reading curriculum. So, um I'm just wondering, you know, like I
said, when are we going to as a board, um have a better understanding of the curricular resources that have been selected? Um based on like the one, you know, why is there not multiple pilots? Um the other question I have that it go kind of goes back to this um the read act.
So, I thought we were using foundations, which is a fun space program, and how long have we been using that? Um um yes, we do use foundations, but um foundations was not uh reviewed by the state because it didn't meet I I don't know the details of the criteria, but it
wasn't reviewed because it didn't meet the minimum criteria to go into review. Um so that is not classified as a highly aligned uh curricular resource. Um I think that uh it has a lot of really
good components and I think if um the if it had been reviewed I think you would see that there was at least some alignment. Um but the other component was as teachers went through the OLA training I think there was more identification of areas where it isn't as aligned as some of these other
materials. Um, I don't believe we've gotten clear guidance on the financial component of choosing something that's not highly aligned, but um, it's not classified in that category. Um, there was a lot of back and forth over the course of a year of whether it would be
considered or not, and it and it's not. So, it it's not on that list. And I'll just add um to that uh response, that was a big source of contention throughout the state. um many districts had adopted some early
literacy materials, you know, years before the the law was passed. And I think the challenge is that u you know, districts have invested millions of dollars in in curricular resources and to the to the point of reimbursement. So essentially, if we find that there's
value add and it's making a difference, uh because it's not one that MDE has approved, we wouldn't be able to utilize any redact reimbursement process. you could use it but you're using it on your own on your own dime so to speak. Um so I think that's the challenge that we
faced uh with that um also um districts like us um who um did their preliminary studies around you know what their resources that outdated resources to bring in additional um um tools for our students. Um, again, a lot of that work
happened pre-REEDACT and then when Redact came in, it really kind of changed the direction of of where the state was going in terms of their standards. And so, even as districts uh took on uh their own initiatives and now kind of doing some course correction to get back towards, you know, the science
of reading um that's now, you know, within statute. So, I think that's the challenge that we've had. Um in terms of the resources coming before again this is some areas that we're going to be exploring in field testing the ones that we have with uh literacy um the reason
why we have a variety of different options um is one it's the ones that the state has approved um but two um the resources that we have at our disposal to adopt and align to re um read act are are available to us. high school. The
challenge that we have with multiple resources is that um how the high school is structured in terms of their overall um schedule. One student could potentially um over the course of their career have four different curricula. And so you don't typically want to have
multiple field tests going on. And the days of vendors giving free resources are gone. Um they're now charging. So uh when we have to be you know optimizing our resources I think leveraging what our colleagues have kind of um field
tested juxtaposed to the field research that many of our math team has done. We merge those two together to say okay if we only have the financial capacity to explore um a singular resource um and we also know that subjecting a student to
you know three or four resources in the over the course of the year because of how the subjects are are differentiated with the schedule. Um this is where the team has landed. Um that's not to say that maybe second quarter we couldn't find if there's something that is in
alignment that comes at a very reasonable cost that we could bring in or find someone who may have um looked at that similar resource juxtapose. But I think our team has done that ahead of time um particularly with some of the
exploratory pieces last year and talking with their colleagues around the Twin Cities um and some of the research that uh Dr. Anderson shared of who's adopted and kind of gone full full implementation with this. Um this particular resource is one that we believe from a stewardship standpoint
meets the uh the uh high school standards um but also gets into more of that concrete sequential math. Um that was some of the feedback that we heard you know on on the middle school level. So that's leaning more in that direction. So that's another reason why
our team kind of felt that that would be a best place to begin looking at at least for first quarter. Charles, Dr. Thomas, I appreciate what you said, but you didn't you're only giving us one option. Mhm.
So if you're only going to give us one option, then just tell us to vote on it. Uh no, no, that's not what we're doing. Okay. Yeah, that's not what But you're telling us. You understand that, right? Dr. Anderson who just walked in the door said that there's years of other things
that everyone else has done. Mhm. Right. We have no idea what everyone else has looked at. Mhm. You're not giving us anything else. Yeah. I I You're asking us to trust you, but you're not showing us everything
else that you've done. You're only right. We can trust you so much. We have gone down this road before with other curriculums. that it's only been one. We right. We're not asking for oh right
35 things. Right. Right. We're just saying hey give us the process. Give us the names of the things at least in my perspective. Right. This I'm only one. Sure. Right. I want to know the process of
what you're what you've gone through through the last two years. Right. Or what Dr. Anderson has is trusting his process to be especially for our ninth graders who um as Jay-Z
said right last year they dipped right because it was their first full year of CTM now ninth graders last year's eighth graders right first full year they would have dipped now they're coming in the ninth grade now they're coming into a brand new curriculum
am Sorry, I correct. I apologize. I wasn't speaking specifically to that cohort. I was just saying in general I I would need to pull up the grade level data again to pull it in front of my It would have been the first year of CPM. Yes. I'm just I was speaking generally
to the fact that in research that we know that an implementation dip is a common occurrence. I wasn't specifically speaking to the um but yes, I mean in terms of um it was a little bit all over the board in terms
of by grade level in in last year. Yes, there was some ups and some downs. So now we've got a cohort who's got a brand new thing and now they're getting another brand new thing. How are we making sure that these students who are just getting bombarded
over and over and over and as you said, right, they're in high school, so they can just be getting thrown left to right and center new curricula. How are we making sure they're getting taken care of if if we are not going to make sure that we are going to give them the best thing? And I don't think only
giving us the opportunity to see one curriculum, right, and only testing one curriculum and you telling us there's only one curriculum available. Well, yeah, correct option. Sure. So, Director Johnson, I I'll share this. Um what we're looking at for this
first quarter is sticking with a singular um implementation or not implementation a singular field test at at one time to not have four different ones happening simultaneously because kids with their schedules will move across at the high school level differently than they will at the
elementary. And so after first quarter based upon the results that we're seeing we can have discussions with the board obviously you know throughout that quarter to say is this trending in the direction that we would like to see or is there something else that we would like to take a look at. Um, but going
full boore out, you know, with like five curriculums or whatever, just hypothetically at the high school level from a resource standpoint, I think we would be uh more prudent to go quarter by quarter to see is that going to get us the results that we're looking for based upon, you know, the the formative
feedback of our students. So I think after our first quarter to have some conversation with the board to say here's what we're finding and from the discussion with the board and you were saying well you know based upon what we're seeing we might want to explore something different um as an as a
another co-pilot co-pilot field test. Um that's that's an option that we can have that discussion but just within the quarter we want to stick with a singular resource at a time um for for better foundational consistency for our learners. And to your point about subjecting kids to to new resources, um
even if we weren't changing resources right now, um exploring uh uh resources at the high school level aligned to the new standards. Um coming out of middle school, they're going to get a battery of new curriculum anyway because they've not seen this. So um I I it's not just unique to um a curricular change.
They're going to get something new at the high school level anyway. So now so just so I would just caution us to think in in those kind of chunks. Um so that not we're not overinvesting with resources that we may not have to um and you know that we have limited you know
resources too to to contend with. Um but certainly could go um one other thing we can provide is um and I think to your point it would be helpful to see there was um quite a few resources at the high school level that were automatically eliminated due to
some very baseline criteria. So um one set of curricular materials were not fully ready for all high school levels. Um there was a commitment to do one resource across all high school levels. So that eliminated some of the resources. Um there was at least two or
three that were not aligned to Minnesota state standards. So their national curricular resources that didn't have an explicit Minnesota alignment guide. Um and that's very difficult for the teachers to then have to map that each individually themselves. Um and there was at least one resource where um it
required students to have uh what's called a consumable. So a notebook that students got every year and that is a a very high ongoing cost that we are not able to support. So that automatically eliminated that resource because we were
not able to have um that ongoing payment for the consumables. So there were some very um I I think it's a little bit of a situation where um there was just a number of resources that were looked at extensively that kind of had these uh deal breakers that we weren't able to
move forward with um for those reasons. So the main ones are state standards alignment um cost and then not having the full package of the um all of the different levels at high school available to us. Could I just suggest something? Is it
reasonable um since we are going to be doing a bit of a deeper dive in a couple of weeks um would it be reasonable to have maybe a little broader explanation as to why two or three of these you know specifically didn't fit I I would enjoy that from a from a member of staff
committee first right yeah so so I yeah so what Dr. Anderson mentioned is that we were going to be bringing this forward but again I think in in terms of the discussion in terms of the now what I mean this is part of the conversation you know that we want to be able to have with the board so that you can actually see some of these
and be able to explore some of that as well. So I think yeah for the September we could definitely introduce the actual materials themselves um but also um um have some of our staff who were part of that initial just review kind of in the
field research um as to where the in this case the high school team kind of centered um and then obviously this is something that we'll deeply unpack at um the the TAC committee um and then from there um you know October we're
I don't know what time that October 6th or whenever it was, we would have additional feedback too from that discussion that would come with the board. All this culminating into kind of a full quarter's worth of really kind of looking under the hood to say, is this is this really getting what we want to
see happen for our students. um and then making some some determinations from there to say, okay, if if we want to embellish more in a particular content area, maybe it's only one strand of math at the high school level, um we're going to keep this resource, but we're going to find something else just for um
algebra. Okay, then then what resources are we going, you know, what will we shift to make that investment then to make to make that second quarter, you know, this plus this little writer on the side for a particular course. Okay. Um I would just like to add um I
do I have a I have a student in high school and my understanding is that there are some teachers who were supplementing with this SAVIS math um the curricular resources um we saw some of their um the items purchased um so I'm looking forward to hearing some of
the teachers feedback um because some of the the feedback that I found interesting just talking to some of the teachers is that they felt that SAVIS was um too rigorous and that perhaps um kids coming through our system. Um we're not prepared for this particular
resource. But that kind of goes back to where is the alignment with our middle school resources and are we giving those middle school resources enough rigor to prepare them for a curriculum that has been adopted across the state by different districts or the ones that you
listed. So I would like to understand um the alignment piece of it as kids are going through bridges, CPM, not having advanced math in the middle school. Um how are we truly meeting the needs of all students with um math in general
within our district. So I look forward to that discussion. We good for tonight or um I mean I have several questions. I guess we I don't know if we want to save some for study session, but just I guess a few things just kind of related to that too is I was going to ask about um
the curriculum for both advanced and also special education. Would the special education math be um changing or would they continue to stay with math 180 I believe they're on or do we Yeah, I'm not aware of any plans to deviate from math 180 as the resource a
primary resource. Okay. Well, again, that's that's an um correct me if I'm wrong, that is a um on students in most students in special ed are still in regular coursework and that is an additional um intervention
program. So, there's no intention of changing that um intervention program, but all students in special ed are not all most students in special education are still receiving the general education curriculum as well. Okay. So, it's not completely separate. It's kind of a ven diagram.
So, they would be starting to use SAVIS and whatever we're using at the high school and a combination of both of depending on the specific situation with the special education student. Yes, that would be possible. Um, can you also elaborate on um the comment about the trends and teachers
who have highly implemented or I think you said use the highest fidelity with bridges have seen the the largest fast bridge growth and upward MCA trends. So, I guess why wouldn't we have this highly implemented in all of our classrooms or
are there like how do you know that? What's what's uh where did that bullet come from I guess? Yeah. Uh we conducted a very um structured uh review of implementation of bridges in the winter of last year um
to look for very specific implementation components. Um I think it it can be complicated to understand why it does take three years to fully implement a resource but it's um understanding uh the resource at a depth and also to
understand the flow of how things work. Um typically in an imple implementation situation you would have um quite an extensive component that is on the job um job embedded professional development which is also coaching. um we obviously
are very lacking in our um resources for coaching. So in terms of the in the- moment co-planning, co-eing um coaching aspects of implementation, we've not had that structural component um really um available to us. Um so we're trying to
do our best to understand implementation from a systems level and understand what areas we can better support in terms of implementation and that was the purpose of that study. um in uh collaboration with principles and peer coaches, uh
they've all last year they all observed math lessons for their um uh for their Danielson observation um Q compmal teacher observations. So we have quite a bit of data from them because they all
observed math lessons. Um and we just at this point based on the we have a specific document that shows what would implementation look like in year 1, two, and three. Um we know which teachers are um kind of further along that progression in different areas. Um and
so there's um based on a whole host of reasons. There's certain teachers that are further along in that implementation process. Um and so we're identified some of those early adopters and um teachers who are really implementing it um with the highest fidelity and those are the
teachers that we identified um obviously not to share publicly but the ones that we were able to cross reference their data with and saw some really really impressive results even after that year two um knowing that as a system um it usually takes three years and again
that's a system where um there's a lot of that ongoing coaching and professional development I I think often times teachers need um support in how to problem solve something and it's really hard to do that theoretically without someone there to help um guide them. So
um we we do know um from a variety of sources which teachers are kind of in that highest um implementation fidelity uh phase and we're able to look at their outcome their student outcomes and um there's a very um consistent trend there.
Okay. Thank you. Um, yeah, I have other questions about data, but I don't I think we're probably going to deeper dive in in the study session. Um, also and so I think just to clarify the October 6 teaching and learning, both the math curriculums and the reading curriculums will be presented in that
committee. Is that correct? Or we're just talking about math. Okay. Great. Right. And then just can I clarifying? Is that correct? Yeah. So our Yeah. The 22nd will be a deeper work session to go into the data
more um and kind of analyze some of the trends that we're kind of forecasting um for you all tonight. Um also for our ability to have some deeper discussion on like and as a result of that this is what we're doing. I think that was some other components that we really wanted
to focus more on, you know, and you know, you all also kind of focusing on and what do you need from the board, right? And so we're going to be focusing more on that conversation, you know, as well. So the data is here. We wanted to just make sure you had that well in advance. Um particularly those who just
need to have some time with it and kind of looking through. Um I would invite that conversation as well. Um between now and the 22nd, there might be some opportunities for, you know, Dr. Zumbush and I to sit down with any of you who might request as well just to get some of that background knowledge. we we be
available because some people just they'll just jump right in and start looking at their own uh trends etc and have lots of questions. Some of you will just wait for the presentation and so we wanted to make sure that we are accommodating multiple learning styles with that. And do you have an update on when the
science MCA scores will be released? I know there's Yeah, it's a moving target. So um I don't know the exact date off the top of my head, but I also know that MDE did change their exact date for math and reading. So, um it it just so everyone is on the same page, um this was the
year where science transitioned from MCA 3 to MCA 4. Uh it takes MDE um quite a bit more time to look at that and to do their item analysis and identify which items worked and didn't work across the state. Um so that will be um later this
fall. I would say that the estimated was somewhere around October. Um but I don't have a um specific date. Um, and if there is a specific date, I'm not 100% sure it's going to stay. So, um, yes, later this fall, we will have, um, science data um, with that updated MCA
4, which is kind of the first batch of all of the MCAs that are now transitioning from three to four. The last thing on I'm sorry what the last point on the MCAS2 um you all know from the state uh the last legislative
cycle um that the uh legislature is now interested in a task force that will be re reviewing our state assessment is it the right assessment etc. And so that team I think it's closed and and compiled. Um but as as we learn more
about what's happening overall on the measure of MCA, we'll definitely keep the board a breast of that um as that progress of any kind of changes with that as well. Um thank you. Sorry. So my my other question was around um are are all of these
curriculums included in our budget already for the upcoming year year and any costs around that and implementation? Yeah. Yes, we have that included in in this year's budget. So, um the SAS and the um resources at the elementary read act are the ones that
we're looking at that we kind of pre-planned for. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I appreciated the comment around like the criteria and understanding that because I think things like, you know, the consumables that you talked about being a criteria, it would have been really great as a board for us to be able to help make that decision, right? if that's the best
math math curriculum even though it costs a little more you know maybe there's trade-offs there I don't know so um it would be helpful to understand like what was budgeted and and how we can help with those decisions and priorities um for my perspective so um
okay I have a lot of questions around the data and curriculum but we we can table that until thank you study session all right thanks guys right moving on to 2526 six uh schoolboard goals. Um as per our discussion two weeks ago,
um we uh I'm presenting tonight a list of three goals. I want to uh take the opportunity to thank publicly uh directors Mason and Olstead, especially director Olstead for taking uh copious notes during our discussion, which got
us about 80% of the way there before we even sat down to chat. So that was super helpful. So just very quickly uh um we came up with three goal a um really wants to center around um us governing according to the strategic plan and uh
you can you can read the paragraph there but basically how that would work is we're going to commit for now me as chair whoever is chair in the future along with with Dr. Thomas and the vice chair um trying to map out when it makes sense
to discuss any individual pillar. I don't want to just throw something out there because we haven't talked about it in a while. I wanted to align with something on the calendar that would naturally be the time we'd talk about it anyway. That uh so trying to get that that mapped out as well as a con
administration um beginning to continually highlight things that we're already doing that do tie back to the plan just for board awareness. So if for instance a simple example would have been tonight the additional nth grade coach um paid for by our booster club.
That would be a a simple idea of optimizing resources. And just to call that out so that we are continually aware of of of how the the system as a whole is is is using that as kind of their their their northstar. Um,
goal B, uh, centers around perhaps getting back to a model of of assigning board members, uh, to to buildings or areas. In my previous times on the board, the math worked out perfect. We had seven buildings and seven board members. That's not the case anymore. So, I've started to sketch out how it
might look and I'll send that out to you guys uh, this week and kind of give you an idea what I was thinking. And then, you know, we will have some board members with more than one building and some with only one if, you know, if if we, uh, decide to go ahead with this.
So, um, and then I think I I want to try to make this goal more of a get us into the buildings in pre-prescribed times, three times a year. nothing overly, you know, I want to take everybody's time up here, but I want to begin to develop these relationships, build trust, learn,
you know, all the elementary schools and our secondary buildings, they're, you know, it's a different staff, different culture, different leadership, all working toward the same goals. I think it would be helpful for us to have um connection with with a building or two depending on how that all shakes out to
uh kind of understand better what's going on inside the buildings which then in turn over time should help us better inform our our decisions. Um and then so that's that's kind of what what goal two looks like. And then uh
goal C um kind of gets back to the discussion we had earlier about um trying to to maybe normalize how the committees committees work and um get back to that thing that's been it's been a constant struggles for all mayors in the board. How do we better communicate
in between meetings, not just here at the table? And I think having uh a board member who's on one of the three board committees as well as a community member send us their feedback from individual meetings. Um you know I I would think it would be helpful to to run it through
the chair of that committee, one of the three directors first. just what I heard. Am I off base here? Is this just just so we're clear? And then that information is then is sent to us um in between meetings so that when a policy committee comes through, you know, the
policy committee, we've already kind of understood where the discussion has been. I think then we're just better informed. I think we can make better decisions. And then uh I kind of like the idea of of maybe using the stutter survey sometime in the future to plug in some questions uh revolving around the board and what the community is
thinking. I think those would be helpful. So again, I want to uh give a shout out to to Jess Olstead for really getting us almost all the way there. We had a good discussion. It only took about 30 minutes or so and we kind of cleaned up some language. So uh these are my proposed goals for the year. I
wanted things that we would be tangibly involved in, not things that are that we don't actually control. I wanted things that we were we'd have our hands on. And I think that uh um you know other goals that are more districtwide we we we can certainly talk about but for these
specific goals I wanted things that that we'd be hands-on we're responsible for and accountable to. So I'll open it up for questions or or comments. Can I say sorry can I say one thing because it's bothering me. Um under goal A I just
need to fix some verbiage uh if you all don't mind. Um the beginning of the year school presentations from principal should be the state of the schools addresses and then I'll change state of the schools to state of the district. Okay. Thank you. All right. That's fine. Bugs me. Before we start discussion, I will
entertain a motion uh to accept as presented. Sorry. So made by director Johnson. Second. Second by director Mason. Questions, discussion. Um, one of the things that, um, just doing some more research on school boards and their goals, and I
think it actually aligns really nicely with the number C, goal C, and the student survey. Um, I'd actually like to add a third bullet point there where the board has access to the stakeholder survey results unredacted.
And I think you know other boards read the the student survey comments from the teachers and from the parents and the students and they read them unredacted and it gives us as a board I really truly believe the tools that we need in order to make important decisions. And I
know Dr. Thomas um you've made the comment that we read every single one of those comments, but I want the community to understand that the board as a whole right now does not have access to those comments. They're highly redacted and I know that other boards do have access to them unredacted. And so I truly believe
that if we had access to those surveys unredacted um we could fully understand what are the needs of our teachers, what are the needs of our stakeholders um and our students in our district. So, I would actually like to add that as a bullet
point under the stud survey um is to have access as a board to the unredacted comments um to fully understand the needs of our district comments. I don't agree with that. Um first of
all, when we've done student surveys before within this lane, if we keep it here, uh this whole thing was about getting feedback on the board. So if we keep it there right now um with the with the stutter survey to ask questions of the community about the board we've
already we've always receive those back to the board unredacted since we are the topic of them. Um what we have never done is release the names of the people who have given the the um feedback the names the even the IP addresses their
email addresses or anything like that for obvious reasons for blowback for whatever and I think that's fair to people filling out the survey also think it'll encourage them but we have always when we have done it before uh we've always received it unredacted um I
believe that when you were on the board before we used to get really some blunt comments. Sure, director Francis, but this but this goal C here is about the uh survey to the community adding the questions about the board of education back into that and then any
other topics outside of that with other surveys that the district does etc is probably not in scope here anyways. Okay, Director France, I want to clarify this is a this is a second um this is in addition to the deliverables. So, of
course, we would not um we would not the district would redact the names of the people filling out the survey. That would only be make common sense. Um what I'm referring to is when we get our when we have received the teacher um comments, they will say things like um I
teacher A and then it's fully blanked out. It's fully redacted. We cannot have an understanding of what the needs of our teachers are if their comments are fully redacted. And um that's what I'm referring to. And other boards just because we've done something in the past
is not necessarily the right way of doing things. So other boards, Minnotonka, I mean I can give you a list of I know board members who it's common practice to receive the stakeholder survey comments. That's why we do them so that we can better understand the
needs of our community. Um receive the unredacted comments not from who they're from. We just received the comments so that we can understand what the needs of our communities, the community and our teachers and our students are in our district. So, is that clear? Can I just be I want I just want to add I'm agreeing
with you for this survey. We've never we've never received before redacted comments coming back to the board because we're the subject. So, but we've never received the So, if we're in agreement about the names and all that
to stay redacted, then I agree that we should use the Strutter survey to survey the community about their comments about us as a board and we should receive those back unredacted. The only thing is is if they mention a student or something like keeping with uh data
protection rights of if they accidentally make a comment about their student or their name in there that should be redacted since we shouldn't know who is doing it. And we're we're supposed to protect uh the names and identities of kids anyways under 18. And
if we're protecting the the who it is as you agreed to then that would be redacted out. that the actual comments coming back to the board when we have done these surveys have never been redacted to us. We've always gotten them. If they mention a board member, if they mention a specific event or if they
go into any detail, we've always receive those back totally unredacted. The only thing that's been redacted is the name of the person uh doing it. And again per everything else if they mention a specific uh person under the age of 18
then that is usually redacted per data pri practices or data privacy. So I know we haven't done the board student survey surveys since I've been on the board. I know it was done in the past. Um, so I would think you would be in agreement then of if we were to receive the
stakeholder surveys, which is the annual stakeholder survey where we we review um the teachers comments, we review our parents' comments, that those would also come back to us unredacted and we would follow data privacy laws. So if a student's name was in there, the
students name would be redacted. But I'm talking about full paragraphs that are redacted. And if you've taken the time to look at them, you would understand what I'm referring to. Just a point point of clarity. Um, so the the who of the sender and the recipient.
Um, and and I just want to be clear on that. So the board, you know, if I'm a staff member um, and I'm saying I don't like this staff member for XYZ reasons. The board doesn't need to know the staff
member to staff member names, but you're trying to understand the issue that might be happening at a at a tool. And so and and so the reason for the redaction of you know a line or so um would be the inference is made
that a staff member in this case I'll just use a staff stakeholder survey could have context written that clearly identifies the only music teacher in a building right and they're talking about the music teacher so that's where the redaction has happened to protect the
recipient as well as the sender um outside of that the information it has been available. Anything about me has always been available because I'm your employee. So that's that's never been redacted. Um but that's I just want to be clear. The board the boards need to
know staff names to understand what's happening in a school is irrelevant. Right? It's the theme of what is being discussed. It doesn't matter if you know it's teacher X and teacher Y. You just need to know the issue. Is that what I'm understanding? Correct. But that's not what we're doing
in practice. If you've had a Have you had a chance to look at what the board looks like that is sitting in um um Christiey's office? There's context that would allude to it's this particular staff. That's important for the board to know similar to like our data reporting. We
wouldn't report on certain data if the N size is too small that you can deduce um you know, oh, it's these kids at this school. And so that's that's what we're trying to protect is the identity of the sender and the recipient if you will. I think knowing that the board is the
client following Minnesota data practices act to a tea is really important and I would question then why are other districts doing it differently? Why are we not being transparent with our board? And so can we pass this along to other
board members? This is something that I would like to write on here. I think it actually would help us as a board be better align aligned on what the needs of our district are. And I'd like to hear from other board members on this as well. And I'm going to ask the chair that we are talking about stuff that has to do with the board only here.
Correct. That's extending the scope of this. Um it's not actually chair um director France if you would pull up Minnetonka school district schoolboard goals. The first thing they talk about is reading their stakeholder survey in order to determine their goals. I truly believe
that's perhaps why we can't we as a board have a trouble aligning on goals because we as a board do not have the tools necessary for us to be able to do our job effectively which the biggest tool we have is our stakeholder surveys. So I would I mean you can look it up
right now pull it up on your on your board Minnotonka schoolboard goals and that's exactly Oh I know you're very familiar with them. So am I and so I'm surprised you don't know that director France. So, here here's my Let's move on. Uh, go ahead, Jess. Um,
I think I think part of our annual stakeholder survey is to allow families to be incredibly um, honest, open, um, vulnerable,
um, which is of course what we want when someone fills out any kind of survey. Um, I I personally, this is me, I have no interest um in I'll I'll read the redacted version to
get a general sense and I think that gives me that general sense. Um, I don't I don't have any interest in getting any kind of gleaning from any kind of comment. It would make me uncomfortable to be honest. Um, and if other districts
do it, in the words of Mel Robbins, let them. I mean, I don't I don't care. I don't care what other districts do. I serve this one. And I I I don't have any interest in looking through. I mean, I've seen it. It's It's massive. And And
I appreciate that. And And if again, if that's your thing, that's fine. I am not dismissing anybody who who who wants to look through that stuff. It's fine. I have no interest and I don't want to infer anything from any kind of comment.
This town, these towns are too small and I don't want to run the risk of knowing who who I could be reading about or you know a teacher I could be reading about. Now, do I want general context context? Of course I do. Of course I do because
that is what we should be getting. But I don't I don't think as a board goal I if if there's a place for it, we can have another discussion maybe, but as as a board goal, I don't think a it belongs
here. And I I wouldn't I wouldn't do it. So that would mean that I wouldn't be meeting that goal. That's that's kind of where I was getting. I I'm not necessarily saying that this conversation about to what extent we get information from the student survey. I want to get back to my
one of my earlier comments. I want these goals to reflect hands-on board work that we are doing. Now, if we want want to have a discussion to the extent we want to receive the general student survey and and how the results going to be presented to us, that that's a valid
conversation. I would agree with director Olstead that I'm not convinced it's a board goal because we're doing the survey already. So, it's not this isn't these are these are in a lot of ways things that we're going to start doing to maybe um move in a little different direction
and to honor the strategic plan. Um I don't think that it belong again since we're not hands-on, we're not actually conducting this um I'm not convinced it belongs on on our goal sheet. And Chair Wade, I appreciate that. Um I
know that has been brought up as a future agenda topic. The the whole study survey and having more transparency perhaps the unredacted version it has come up as a future agenda topic. So perhaps you can help us understand as a board when that would come to the table for a discussion so that we can have
that proper discussion. I do believe it it aligns with a board goal because if we were to read the comments, it would help us be able to, like I said, allocate resources that are needed and all the different things that we need to do as a board. So, I disagree
with that, but I'd also like to hear your answer on when you pro you plan to bring that to the board for a future denda topic. Since we redid the the board policies, I have not received a request to go over this. if you want to email me that
request. Well, it was pending from previous. So, I I'll have to go back and look at my notes. If if I did forget that I think Mason actually brought it up. Yeah. I mean, I I would appreciate that as a future subject. I know we talked about it in the past. I I mean, I I
think I understand hopefully where you're going with this. like I think um the deliverable from a goal perspective to review um the survey I think is important as far as we don't know what that feedback is without reviewing it right um so
obviously I don't want personally identifiable information but um certainly the full comments are helpful um where that's pulled out um I haven't seen it so I don't know what's in there what's not I've only seen other surveys and I know they were heavily redacted and difficult ult to follow.
And again, I'm trying to not I I was I present these in an effort to not put things on here that we've already been doing. I'm trying to chart a little bit of a new course, maybe a little bit to to try to honor the work that was done in the community, you know, as it relates to the strategic plan and
getting us more hands-on in the buildings where appropriate and, you know, scheduling with proper with the, you know, specific um building leadership. um and then trying to improve communication. And so I think um if either or both of you want to send a
reminder, email me to as far as the feature agenda topic, I would more than happy to take that under consideration. So and perhaps we just add the word review to the last sentence. Director Olstead, I don't know, to review and gather feedback.
Oh, if if we just kind of make the statement that we're reading that we are actually reading. Yeah. to review and gather feedback. Uh, I have down two to review and gather unredacted feedback. Should I add that word specific to the board? Yes.
Whatever those questions would end up being. Okay, got it. Charles, yes. And I have I would You have finance town halls up here. Um, just take off finance and just put town halls and then
you can have whatever kind of town halls. True. you want, right? It could be finance, could be, hey, let's just have a town hall and talk about Yeah, because that I think I just put that because we've had the finance specific ones,
but then we can have it for anything, you know. Okay, easy enough. I just had a couple other minor things at the top. Can we put 25 26 goals given we're still Yes, we can just for clarity. Um, and then my only
other kind of I don't know I I was reading this again and um I guess the in the first top paragraph where we're saying as they relate to each plan pillar um I think it's also used in the first bullet would it be more appropriate to say each plan priority since that's what how they're listed on
the strat plan. I don't know if that matters but just to align language. Say that again. Sorry. So um like the second sentence on KPIs as they relate to each plan. Can we say priority instead of pillar? Y just to align with the strat plan. And
I think that pillar word is used in the first bullet too. So cross out plan and pillar and change it to priority. Plan priority or each priority either one. I think you plan in take replace pillar
with priority. Yeah. Got it. Anyone else? Yeah, I just have a question under the number A deliverables. Um, you know, a lot of these I see as being, you know, presentations from admin, which is great because that's going to give us a better understanding of what's going on in the
schools, whether it's the beginning of the year, the built plans, um, state of the district, state of the schools. Um when when I look at things that we can review to how do you say make
improvements in our district that align to our strategic plan. I think of things like reviewing truency rates or the safety and security in our buildings. I know AIO just did a really amazing deep dive on the safety and security of their district with their board. um also like
behavior rates and what's being done to improve the behavior in our district. And so those are some of the things that while presentations from our school, it's I love to always hear more about what's going on in the school and I think us actually being in the schools
as a goal, some of us are more than others because we have kids in the schools or whatever. Um but I like the, you know, being assigned the schools to be able to enhance those relationships with the admin in those schools that we're assigned to. But I think taking a deeper dive into some of these other
topics um I would I would personally like to do like to have on the agenda and they align to different pillars um on our on our plan especially like the safety and security one and again this isn't I don't I know they were just examples they were just example not meant to be
exhaustive um like leaving it open because we're going to get data at different times and there's going to be different emphasis. Can we put something like other uh other topics aligned to the strategic plan? Something. Yeah, I mean I'd be open to that.
Other topics as needed or requested by the board. Yes. And the only I'd like to what you said, Chair White, in the beginning about um making this kind of, you know, something that we have control over too.
Um, and emphasizing that we're not going to take one meeting and say the next meeting we, you know, want the administration to just do A, B, and C. I'd like to have something on here where we can plan it out through the year and give administration enough heads up to
be able to actually build a robust report. Um, and also know when the data is available because sometimes we ask for something and the data isn't available right then. So um kind of give just a high level do something per each
priority, not pillar but priority and uh schedule out through the year have it have it reviewed with the board and therefore give the administration enough of a heads up to be able to prepare a robust uh presentation in a timely manner.
And that be probably my first go around with with Dr. Thomas and with Amy is to try to calendar this out and see where the the four priorities might just fit during the school year. We we might only do one of the priorities once during the year. Maybe that's where it fits and others might, you know, show up more
often. Trying to balance it out as best we can. Uh but that would be my first order of business is to do exactly that. Let's look at the calendar and then eventually I'm hoping this kind of just becomes organic and just becomes the way that the the agenda is produced with that in the back of everybody's head. um
as long as this plan um is in place. But getting to that last bullet point, I mean like other topics slashinformation as needed or as requested. Yeah. No, I agree with that. And then that way that the board as individual board members, we can email the chair
and the superintendent um to give different topics that do align to that strategic plan and then you can develop that calendar. Um I like that as well. So, anyone else? I had a couple things. Sure. Um and the the first sentence just the
um to use the strategic plan as a guiding star. While I understand the guiding star, I'm just wondering um you know another word could be a as the compass as a filter. Um I'm thinking
you know if we a a possibility to say to use the strategic plan to guide our interactions with each other with staff and all stakeholders. Um the strategic plan
as a guiding star to govern all discussion. I think we could um I think we could maybe make that a little bit more descriptive by saying using the strategic plan to guide our
interactions with each other, with staff, with stakeholders, however that looks. Um I just feel like the first sentence is a little bit loose maybe. Um I don't know if that's if it's just me. Obviously I go with the
will of the board in that. Um I also at the end of the first sentence um this is done in the interest of honest and open planning and providing support where needed. I I just had tell
me more. Um I think what we were trying to get and you guys can interject if you remember it differently that we were trying to we just don't want information for information's sake. Part of the reason we want information is to say, "Okay, we have a need at building X that's not
being met. Is there anything that we can do?" I mean, that's kind of the the the my heart behind all of this is getting us the kind of information we need to make uh the the decisions that need to be made. and and and um so I think
that's kind of where wanting to make sure we're not just here to absorb, but we're here to react out of that out of that knowledge to the best interest of the district as as uh as we discuss and plan. So so interesting and opening planning as a board team
and providing support to the district where needed. I guess I I just wanted clarification on exactly what we were talking because I it it's great to me and while at first read I'm like, "Oh, that sounds great." I also want to know
what that exactly means. And so again, going back to the first part of the sentence, it's like using our strategic plan to guide our our interactions. To me, that it's using our core beliefs.
It's using the four pillars, right? So that helps me understand, you know, what we're using the strategic plan, not just as a guiding star to govern all discussion. So it's just a little bit more inspiring.
So what are you suggesting specific? My suggestion is to use the strategic plan as the guide or as to guide our interactions and again with each other with staff with
all ST stakeholders um you know if that's our living breathing document that we are using from uh the board to the classroom and everywhere in between um using using that with our our pillars in mind and
our core beliefs in mind. Um that's helpful. Um it it gives specific and I think it specifics and it gives more life to the strategic plan. Um so that was the the the first part is
where I had a specific suggestion. Um and then the the you know again telling me more um for the for the last part the interest of honest and open planning providing support where needed. Um, is
that the is that honest and opening open planning as the board team and is that providing support to the district staff to you know and I think calling that out is helpful
um because you know where are we open open honest and opening you know I I get I don't really plan with senior leadership Um, so I think calling that out a little
bit more specifically would be helpful and injecting the board into that as as us like you just did. Yeah. you know, it's like done in the interest of the of you know, is it the again I'm asking is
that what the the heart was here of the board's honest and opening open planning because our o our honest and open planning happens here at the table. I mean, if we're h I mean, obviously, we
get to have side conversations with our board team. Um, but we also have to adhere to open meeting law and and not doing serial meetings and all of those things. So, um, you know, naming that I
think is important, trying to craft something. I understand your I understand your intent, Director Bullion, and I and I I understand it, but I also think that a lot of what you're trying to capture is in our strategic plan when we talk about respect and unity and stewardship and accountability within our core beliefs.
So, I actually like the way the first part is written to it's very plain and simple to use the strategic plan as the guiding star to govern all discussion. I mean that that is pretty simple and I think muddying it with not it's not muddying it but um adding in things that
are already in our strategic plan. I think just I don't know I think it takes away from some of the things that are also in our strategic plan like academic excellence and community partnerships and so I I like the way um it was written. So that's my my only my
feedback on that. So I agree with director Bowen. Um the plan is very high level. It's not discreet at all, but using it. I like the term you came up first with compass. Um I believe you said compass compass or I like that. Um it's just it's a little
too dramatic. I think no offense to director Olstead, I think I love the language, but as a guiding star, I just think is as a as a boundary or a compass uh for our discussions, but it doesn't provide governance. It is not discreet enough to be a guiding star for
everything. Um but it should be the boundaries from which we work in and we direct our discussions in such as the um priorities um those are you know what we discuss should fall within those priorities
um and uh relate to those priorities. So I I like that um and I do agree with you on the on the statement when you when you kind of made your question on the first sentence. I liked it. I do appreciate the simplicity. I I am a
less is more. I definitely appreciate less being more. So I I I can appreciate like all discussion. I I totally I actually listening to to that I I agree with that. Um that they don't need to be
listed out. Um and um I I I appreciate the compass or filter as well. the gu guiding star is a is a good thing, but everyone might I don't know. I just I agree. Um and and not my my um desire
was not to recreate this because I really do appreciate the work that was prepared. Um also with that very last sentence I think um having descriptors and you know
planning of is this the board's planning providing support to the district like naming that I think is important um because or is it providing support to the superintendent? I don't know. I mean, I
guess that's where I'd like to hear what board members I could I suggest that um would would it would it would it kill the opening paragraph to scratch everything from this is all the way to the end.
Is that is that even is that even needed? I kind of agree with it because like I appreciate what you said um director Bullan about open and honest is here at the board table, right? and we are supporting our one employee which is our superintendent. So I I don't disagree with scratching that last sentence. Really has nothing to me. It's not what
it what it really says. Is it is it really necessary? Is it too much of a description when what's really important is what we're going to deliver on underneath. I agree. I like that a lot. I I would be in favor of scratching from this on.
I agree. So, can we can it read to use the strategic plan uh to guide oh to guide our interactions working with district leadership on regular reports to the community on KPIs as they relate as they relate to each planned priority. Is that
that was perfect. That's perfect. Hey, I didn't get it. Good thing it's recorded. All right, hold on. We're going to cross out 816.26 to use the strategic plan to guide our interactions. crossing out
as the guiding star to govern all in discussion. Just kind of replacing one with the other. That's good. Are we good? Yep. All right. Thank you everyone. Um if there's no other
Are we a vote? Do we need to make amendment to a a motion to amend per the changes we discussed? Well, this was a draft for discussion, so we can we change it on the fly. I'm not sure. You made a motion to approve it as is. So, you already did. All right. I have one more comment. Hopefully, it's
it goes faster. Um um as far as the redaction and adding a bullet point for unredacted, I I I don't personally I don't need that. Um
but I did have a using sutor survey to ask questions about the board of education to gather feedback from community. I wanted to understand more like is this to use this student survey
to understand what they think of the board of education like tell me. Okay. Yes. We haven't really done it in the last two years. I know it was done prior to us being on the board, but just adding us to the mix of questions
um that um that are asked during the survey and then we would take those specific questions related specifically to us. We'd get those unredacted so that we can properly review. I like adding review to review and gather uh the feedback from the community.
Okay. Thank you. Okay, that's good. Thank you. All right. All right. Well, then we have a motion in the second on the table. I'll entertain a motion to um approve the changes. Is that right? To to amend the previous amend the previous
motion to include changes uh as discussed. So amend by director Johnson. Second by director Atinson. There's no further discussion. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Motion carries at 70.
And then we will uh we have a motion and a second on the table to um pass the goals as amended. All All in favor signify by saying I. I. That carries 70. Thank you everyone. Thank you.
All right. A couple of quick items before we get to the close session. Next on the agenda is adoption of a resolution um authorizing the school district to conduct business on Christopher Columbus Day/Indigenous People's Day, which this year's a second Monday of October. Is there a motion to
approve that resolution? So made by Director France. Second. Second by Director Johnson. There's no discussion. This does require a roll call. Director Olstead I. Director Johnson. I. Director Atinson. Hi. Director Bullan. I. Director France. Hi. And Director Mason.
I. and I that carries 70. And another resolution adopt appointing uh election judges for the special election on November 4th. Is there a motion to approve that? By director Bullion, second by Director Johnson. If there's no discussion, this
also requires a roll call. Director Ol. I. And Director Johnson, I. Director Atinson, I. Dr. Bullen, I. Dr. France, I. And Director Mason, I. and I that carries 70 and we don't just need consensus. Uh we
have to canvas the special election sometime between the 7th and the 14th of November and it's being proposed that we just start the meeting on November 10th. Uh canvasing the election. Is that cool with everybody? Yep. Okay. Then we'll mark it down.
Uh no policy this evening. Are there any administrative reports we haven't already heard from? Nothing. Okay. Any board reports? Yes. Director Olstead. um
wanted to um I I mentioned it in our study session um the last time um but I wanted to uh formalize here that the Southwest Metro um superintendent goals have been approved by the Southwest
Metro Board. Um very very aggressive goals but great goals um and uh Dr. Horton is just 110% in. So, um, that was a great discussion that we had at the board meeting. Uh, we went through all of our policies for the year, so those
are all reviewed. Um, it was a very long list. Um, but we got through them. Um, and I did want to mention, um, on a sad note, um, the Southwest Metro family lost one of their students uh, last week um, as one of the Elevate online
students, Maya. Um and so just wanted to pause and um uh make sure everybody is aware of that. Um so it's hard to lose a hard under any circumstance to lose a student. So um wanted to tell you all
that. Um and then on a sorry that's a horrible transition but the uh delegate assembly for district 13 um those nominations um can either be nominated or you can self-nominate for district 13 delegate assembly uh the
deadline is September 30th with voting happening in October and then all the action happening um beginning of December. Um uh so if anybody's interested um I know I'm interested uh to do another two-year term, but I obviously want to open that up um to
other people if they're interested. So just wanted to uh memorialize that here. So thank you. Patrons of the Arts and Activities is having their first meeting of the school year, which is on the 11th uh 7 o'clock
at the I just call it the glass classroom right across from the concession stand uh there at the high school. So, it is welcome to everyone. Uh LABC has theirs next month uh in October on the 20th. So, I'll say that
at one again. Uh, congrats to the football team for obviously winning. Uh, they'll play Rose Mountain this week and then we're back at home next week. All righty, Lisa. Um, yeah, two things. Um, we have our first finance advisory committee at 8
a.m. tomorrow morning and welcoming some new committee members. So, um, excited for that early morning meeting tomorrow. Um, and then I just personally want to give a a shout out to Christy Musman. She's still here. and Liz and whoever
else was involved in the back to school celebration at the high school. It was phenomenal and um just so much work and I'm sure um coordination with vendors and the P it was so fun to see the PTC's out there and so I really just think I it's I've loved to see how that has
grown um over the past couple years and what a great example of Laker pride. So thank you and kudos to everybody involved in that. All right, thank you Amy. None. Mary. Um, this Friday is the first scale committee uh county meeting after the
summer break and we will be continuing on discussing about fire services throughout the county and uh some um um services that actually um have to do with school districts and how they participate in our security uh programs.
And of course, it is there's an open forum and is also on Zoom. It'll be this Friday from 7:30 to 9:00 am in person at the link center and uh at the um at the Midwalk and Sue uh facility or you can
get online on a Zoom meeting. Great. Thank you. And Jessica? Uh no, I was also going to say kudos to um everyone that put all their time into the back to school night. I thought it was a great turnout and a great event. So, thank you for that. And also just generally back to school last week was
um fantastic for me and my family and I think from everyone I I've heard very positive things and I know a lot of time goes in from the teachers on on those nights also. So appreciate that. But that's all. All right. Thank you. And we have a student council report as well.
Yep. Um, so school started this past Tuesday for freshmen and our link crew helped those freshmen get accustomed to a high school schedule. Um, the next day our 10 through 12 started and our Minkcaps program is starting a new
chapter now that they're no longer stationed in Lakeville and so all their classes are at the high school now which is nice. Um, fall sports have become underway and you know, students are excited to compete, cheer on their
fellow Lakers. Um, like we just mentioned, uh, the football team had a game against Egan last Friday in our tackle cancer game and we'll be playing against Rosemount for our salute to service game this Friday. So, that'll be fun. Um, boys and girls, cross country,
they're off to a great start. had a great performance in Anoka last Thursday and then along with girls and boys soccer. They're playing at Lakeville North right now and so hopefully a good outcome is over there. As for activities,
um we had the activities fair about um week and a half ago. Plenty of students joined new clubs um you know found new friends, met new students and they also that was for picture day as well. And so
students got their pictures taken. And then um student council, we're currently planning homecoming and actually have our senior sunrise event coming up this Friday. And so we're very excited about that. And then to close off with our activities, our junior optimist club had
over 150 members join these past two weeks. And so they're excited to, you know, get going with community service for the school year. And um yeah, just being great Lakers. Awesome. Great. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Uh, future events are as
listed and I will now entertain a motion to move into close session for the purposes of discussion discussing uh, certified negotiations. Is there motion to close enter into a close session? So made
Amy Charles. Uh, all in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. That motion carries. 70. Let's take five and everybody can clear out and