Oh yeah. >> I don't know how much I have to say about It's two years. You told me. Okay. We're just starting. This regular meeting of the Independent School District 535 school board is
called to order at 5:31 p.m. on Tuesday, August 4th, 2026 in room 137 of the Edison building. Present at this meeting are school board members, Superintendent Kent Pel and non- voting exeicio member and assistant school board clerk, Miss Anne Kramer. Miss Kramer, will you
please call the role? Here >> here >> here. >> The board acknowledges this site and all RPS sites are situated on the ancestral land of the Dakota people and we honor the Dakota nations and the sacred land of all indigenous peoples. At this time,
we offer the opportunity to say the pledge of >> allegiance. I alian to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for it stands nation indivisible with liberty and justice for
all. >> Our next item is approval of the agenda. Are there any changes to the agenda? >> Move approval. >> Second. It >> has been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? The agenda has been approved. The agenda and documents for
this meeting are available online at rochestererschools.org backsembly. There are no comments to the board this evening. So, we'll move on to our information and outreach board member updates. Does any board member have updates from their committees or any community events or anything else to
share? Director Marvin. >> Um, excuse me. [clears throat] Yesterday was an active I want to get this right. An active fullcale exercise which commenced at Century High School. Um it was an incredibly wellcoordinated and
executed effort uh which involved Rochester public schools, Rochester Police Department, our sheriff department, fire department, emergency medical services, communications, a chaplain, and very importantly Rochester
public schools, which I've already said. um along with hundreds of volunteers, they came together to test how they would uh cooperate in a response to a largecale crisis situation like having a
shooter in our schools. Uh both how they would react both during the event as well as in the aftermath math. Um, this was an incredibly realistic, unrehearsed, wellplanned, but
unrehearsed event. The first responders who were alerted to an event at Century High School did not know what they would find there. I was heartbroken watching this. There were a group of observers there from the city,
the council, uh, county school board, and and other organizations. It was heartbreaking to think that this kind of preparation in the event that someone tried to hurt our kids
was necessary. That that's the time we're living in. But I was also incredibly heartened because of the way the first responders responded at the first moment that they were
notified. Those first uh responders uh from every agency didn't walk. They came rushing in. Their only thought was to make sure that our kids stay safe. It was um an event that was incredibly
important because the level of coordination and the level of cooperation and the organizations that have wrapped their arms around our kids and around our schools. Um, it was inspiring and I'm I'm guessing that other board
members will want to talk about it as well. >> Director Workman. >> So, I won't repeat anything that director Marvin said because she really nailed it. But I remember when I was in first and second grade back during the Cold War
and we all learned how to hide under our desks in case there was a nuclear blast. I didn't understand at the time that if there were a nuclear blast, it didn't matter where I was. But there was there was that fear, but I have to tell you,
kids are under so much more these days in terms of staying safe. Are they going to be able to stay how do they stay safe and what are the are are the responsibilities of the adults around them. And so, you know, I think that
this was a really good opportunity for us to see that kind of coordination and the obvious expertise of all those who participated. It was it was truly amazing how the community of those particular people
really came together and it was all about our and keeping them safe. >> Dr. Bar, >> I like to uh approach this a little differently having participated myself in mass casualty incidents um training
and um I think it would be great um while we acknowledge an important role uh that uh our readiness plays our Chester public schools. I think it would be great to also um if we haven't
already reach out and acknowledge the leaders of these various partner organizations uh and the hard work and important work they do to support our mission and the safety of our kids and and I will myself
be reminded uh to do that. Uh you're right, Director uh Marvin, it's uh difficult and uh there's always a a willingness um on the part of emergency responders to step forward. The thing that I
probably admire most at moments like this is the uh humility that it brings uh front and center to uh public education systems. Uh further uh
accentuating the important role we play not only the educational well-being but the safety of each of our 17,000 plus children. So you know thank you for uh those organizers within the department
and those uh partner organizations. >> Director um I would agree with director Barlo that one of the first things I want to acknowledge is the partner organizations not only for their hard work and dedication to this but also inviting us to be observers so that we can learn
about the process and be competent in their work as well. Um the takeaways that I had is that this was a fullscale practice and it seemed to me from the discussion is they've done similar events like this but not to the scale that they had before and what I learned from this is that they what they were
testing out yesterday perhaps for the first time where what happens after the location where the incident has occurred is is investigated and finalized and that threat is minimized or reduced or
eliminated but then what happens afterwards and that's I think where a lot of RPS work would come in in terms of after the incident. There's a there's two different locations where um parents would either be reunified with their children or get information if their
children are hospitalized or at worst um you know one of the casualties in an event like this. Um what I also learned at the um the emergency response area is first of all that a level of communication that's involved but also um very clearly they were explaining to
us that they were one of the first things they were testing for the first time this year was an accountability aspect of this so that they could um evaluate how accountable and how um successful they were at re reuniting children who are at
school who aren't with their parents with their parents and making sure that all of everyone is accounted for, which I think was important. Um, and I know that we've um at the board table addressed gun violence previously. Um, we're very much opposed to that anywhere or in our schools and we we have a
resolution related to that, but this related to that, but also other threats that could face our students. Um, and I think it was really important that we be involved as observers. I made some notes about some questions that I want to follow up here with our internal processes, but it it got us thinking
about u making sure that um internally RPS is on board with all of these processes and that we're ready to respond as well and partner with all those other organizations that um clearly are well trained and um
take this effort very seriously. And also even um taking step that they're offering the training to other um organizations in the region on a smaller scale over the next couple days so that they can benefit from um this um
opportunity to practice as well. Hopefully, we'll never need this, but if we do, we're [clears throat] ready. Um some of the well the first person I want to thank is Chris Lingan, our own Chris Lingan um who um has apparently
spent the past 10 months uh initiating this and planning this with our community partners. Um so our internal people who have led this um along with all the leaders that we met yesterday from all of our other partner organizations who each did a wonderful
job of talking about what all the partners' roles and positions and how they work together. Uh that that working together piece was was evident all day long. Um I also left thinking a how grateful I am for the individual people
who have um identified roles that they were learning through this exercise and will be taking on um accepting to be on standby if you will should should this happen. Um, as uh, Director McLaclin mentioned at the family reunification
center, um, you know, it's our administrators and our central office people who are going to be some of the first people that will be meeting um, families um, in a situation um, where there was an incident. And um, at the family um at the family assistance
center that there's a team from Mstead County um, that is being put together specifically for this reason. Um so that whatever the incident is, they have a team of mental health professionals, behavioral health professionals, social
workers, chaplain, um all sorts of of individuals ready to assist families in the situation. So uh what I appreciate is longevity of this, right? It's it it's not going to be an ad hoc situation should something happen. The readiness is is going to be established through
teams. And I think my last thought is I couldn't help but think of our teachers and our staff because when we were at the family reunification center and they were walking us through uh where the students would go and and where they would wait until they were able to be
reunited with their with their parents. The people who are with them are their teachers and the staff from the school. And we were explicitly told that that is a role that has been explicitly identified um that the teachers will be their point of contact. um until the
family reunification can happen. And director Marvin talked about how emotionally difficult it was to watch, especially in a building where a number of us have had students attend. Um I uh believe we should do everything we
can to prevent this from happening. And I'm also grateful for the preventative measures we're taking with our um learning environments, with our mental health strategies um to help prevent something like this from happening. But I am eternally
grateful for this community who um takes this seriously and um will be ready if if the unthinkable happens. Anything else, board members? We can move on to another topic if you like.
Director Wford. Um, I just want to say thank you to all the board members that were able to attend. Um, I did see it, but the only thing that comes to my mind in hearing you all speak is uh pre-existing trauma. So, you know, people like myself who have been
directly impacted by gun violence, these things are not easy to attend. Um, which is why um my absence probably unnoted, but you know, so there is um there's an importance of what to do. But there are many people like myself that have been
impacted by gun violence that although you can have a plan in mind, you'd be surprised what uh trauma or previous trauma can how it can impact how you're able to function in those scenarios. Um and in the times we live in now with so
many individuals having some form of connection or impact to someone who has either been harmed violence or they've been exposed to it. It does me um always think because I'm thinking of myself as a as an adult who was able to just pass
on something because it could be triggering to me um you know there's always continued steps to take uh because the people that did participate in this uh did participate voluntarily uh but unfortunately when events like this happen uh some of the spa people in
the spaces are have already experienced some forms of trauma uh which sometimes accounted for when we do these reenactments. Um, and and they're they're some of our most vulnerable population. So, it's a side note, but I'm getting off that. Uh, and that's
what I wanted to say, but back to school is coming up. We have our back to school events coming up. I want to make sure the families are aware, our constituents are aware that August the 15th, we have our big back to school block party. It is going to be at Soldiersville this year. due to all of the construction
that we have all over our beautiful city. Um MLK was not available. Uh but if you know of any other events, you know, please share. Uh we'll continue to share as the board to reach out for families for our children to be prepared coming back to school. Um but that is
one of the larger events. I do believe United Way will still be doing some things and some other organizations and as we have more information uh we'll we'll make sure that we share that with families so our kids are ready to go back to school with their supplies >> and make sure you come visit us at our
RPS table at the back to school event like our little RPS. >> Any other reports or observations board members? And we'll move on to our consent agenda items 5.1 through 510. Um would any board member like any item
removed for separate consideration? >> Move approval. Second. >> It has been moved and seconded. All those in favor of the consent agenda say I. I. Opposed. The consent agenda has been approved. Our next item is our focus topic summer
academy 2026. Superintendent Pel. >> Thank you chair Nathan. Board members. I'd like to invite Mora Perkins Sierra Lindfors Malachi Johnson. Um, I don't know if I see Amedawad here, but if he makes it, we would be thrilled [clears throat] to have him come on up. Um, board
members, it's been a few years since we gave you an update on the learning that happens through Rochester public schools in the summer. As I know you recall, during the COVID pandemic, federal funding allowed Rochester public schools and many school districts to frankly
greatly expand the reach of our summer programming. And >> [clears throat] >> um, we did so both in terms of the number of kids who participated and the breadth of the experience that they ex uh that they had partly in terms of community engaged learning but also in
terms of increasing the for instance mental health staff and social work staff that were a part of that. Unfortunately, um those dollars are not uh continuing and so we have had in the last couple of years the imperative to
continue to maintain robust summer program for students who need it but on a much tighter budget. And so I am really grateful to these folks for um two years running now of doing that and wanted to give the board and the community an update on the summer session that has just concluded and how
we're thinking about some of that work um going forward. Um to state a very obvious point, it is crazy that in 2026, our schools still work on an agrarian calendar. Less than 2% of American kids and less than that in Rochester, work on
farms. And yet, we still take three months off every summer. And we know that the summer slide or the uh impact of kids, especially kids who have additional academic needs of taking the whole summer off um can be really
problematic. And so this is a critical tool in the toolkit. I'm grateful to the team for um not only uh uh reconceptualizing our summer academy faced with the financial constraints that I just talked about, but candidly enhancing the academic emphasis um in
the last couple years. So, with that, look forward to uh the update. >> Thank you. Um this is actually going to be Sarah and Malachi's show. I just want to just start off by saying when we started this two years ago, um we did bring a group of teachers together to
help us. We went through an entire design process to kind of talk through how do we want um summer programming to look because ultimately the only thing that's really fixed was our budget. everything else like we we
have so we kind of gave them the sandbox to to plan like there were there were very few things that were um non-negotiable like you can't violate contract can't go over budget but otherwise we we really pushed them to think creatively about how we can service kids with keeping the focus on
academics um and so there is some some creative stuff that did come out of it um and there's we also didn't have like it's not unlimited dollars so We had to stay tight on some things. All right, I'll hand this to you. Okay, excellent.
I'm Sierra Lynforest. I have kind of taken on the role over the past two years as the K12 summer programming coordinator, if you will. So, helping guide and lead and then during the summer lifting up and making sure everybody has what they need to serve
our students. and I'm incredibly proud of the work that our teachers and all of the people behind the scenes have done over the past couple years. I did have the privilege of working um with RPS summer of discovery as a site director for several years and so I was part of
the summer of discovery programming that we loved so much and felt strongly about keeping those elements alive and well that focus on the whole child and well-being and thinking of it as not just an extension of the school year but some of those core pieces alive in our
summer academy programming. a historical view at the funding. Summer of discovery had those COVID relief dollars. So, and and Dr. Vel mentioned that as well, was also funded with the targeted services dollars. Mona is a genius at what she does with thinking
creatively about funding streams and we've really worked closely together to think about how can we braid funds that we have existing to better serve the needs of our students. And so summer academy funding comes from looking at our elementary special education uh
programming through um extended school year and I'm going to talk about that targeted services. We do have $125,000 set aside for transportation. We do provide transportation to all of our K8 students that need it. And then this year we did add on high school if they
were at an existing or could get to an existing middle school or stop. And then we were able to allocate funding through our title one and title three funding as well. So what shifted? What were those program shifts? Summer of discovery had small
class sizes about 1 to 15 or 1 to 12. They had field trips out into the community and experiences. It was focused on whole child. We were able to provide a lot of material needs. So we had a larger supply budget. There were a lot of wraparound supports including
mental health, ESPs, special education and clerical supports. And then there were some student interns as well. What shifted? We now have class sizes of about 1 to 20. We leaned heavily into sitebased experiences through strategic community
partnerships and enrichment specialists. We increased the academic focus primarily in in literacy and math. and then the supports, the staffing at those sites. We had to cut back to a site lead, a classroom teacher, and then this
year, student interns. What did our elementary programming look like? I'm going to kind of walk through our elementary, our middle school, and high school programming and the assets to each of those programs. Here's some exciting pictures. We know we talked about keeping uh that piece of
that whole child and it being summer and the joy. So here you see we have a partnership with Winona State doing some STEM lab stuff. We did one of our enrichment specialists was a classroom teacher during the year. She chose to focus on for over the four weeks a
different country and they did arts and crafts and music and all of those different pieces and brought that to life and did an art show at the end. And then you you see we're we're reading out in the hammock garden. So there are a lot of great opportunities for our students here.
So, elementary program components. One of our sites started at Overland last year. This year was at Sunset Terrace. We had a co-eing partnership between our extended school year and our summer academy staff. That looked like having one classroom teacher and one special
education teacher per classroom. There was time provided for planning and training and what strong co-eing programs can look like. We emphasized a pushin model which ensures students receive special education services were met through their IEP. But then those teachers were also able to help
facilitate some small groups differentiated instruction and it brought down that that feeling of that large class size that we have that 1 to 20 or 1 to 22. We have that enrichment specialist that I spoke of at each site ele each elementary site one classroom
or special area teacher for each site. And the goal is to provide engaging activities focused around movement, art, social, emotional learning to all students. And then again, we had that increased focus on literacy and mathematics. We utilize really great reading summer program and really great
reading is a program that we do use throughout the school year. They have a really strong phonics piece that can help tie and bridge those those years. So from first grade to second grade or third grade to fourth grade, we really focused on building positive mathematical identity and then
incorporated number talks and game based learning to really enhance our number sense and our foundational math skills. A piece that was new this year that we are so excited about um was this partnership with our grow your own uh grant that we got and the grow your own
student internship. So this is a grant-f funded opportunity through grow your own program. It was designed to introduce high school students to the teaching profession through authentic compensated experience and sustained mentorship. Students were partnered with a classroom teacher to work daily in small groups
supporting whole group instruction outside supervision and building positive relationships. Students were supported with a designated mentor and that's Malachi. He's he's one of the three that we had and he's going to speak about his experience. Um, and that mentor helped facilitate feedback,
troubleshoot day-to-day, and model positive relationship building. The mentor teacher was also a designated support for classroom teachers and site leads navigating how best to utilize their student interns. >> So, before Malachi goes into his
experience, what we decided to do is have one intern in every single classroom. And we were so impressed during the interview process. We also extended it. I just couldn't say no to the kids. The kids were incredible when they when they
came in and interviewed. Um, so then we also added an intern in each of the enrichment classes as well. It was at three sites and then each of the sites had a mentor teacher for the interns and that's what Malachi is. And so they met
with them for three days prior to before summer school started to get them get them connected and then teach them like how to support in the classroom, how you can run help run small groups and that type of thing. So, we tried to frontload some of that. Um, because we wanted it
to be a really great experience for the kids. We wanted them to be active members in the classroom. We wanted the teachers to really see them as a positive support and we wanted the great relationships between um the younger kids with the older kids. And that was a shift. I mentioned in summer of
discovery, we did have student interns, but it was one or two per site. This time we had 24, one in each classroom hands-on with the students and it was incredibly positive and I can't wait to have Malachi here as one of our student intern mentors tell us about his
experience. We did um hope to have a student here. Um life happened today, but we do have some of their voices and their experiences shared in the following slides. So now >> So I'm Malachi Johnson. I'm a second grade teacher at Overland Elementary. Um I had the just amazing opportunity
working with student interns and like said through the interview process. Um, one of my former students actually was a student I mentored. Um, just to see them interview and then go from that process to then working every day with the kids was just amazing. They were in the classrooms hands-on, building
relationships with kids in a short time. Um, working with the teachers, it was just an incredible experience uh to see them interact with the kids and grow and just what amazing leaders we have in the in the district. Uh, in our classrooms and in our in our high schools too. So
this program was just for me it was so I work with all the young kids so for me to see those high school kids jump in and they were doing the chicken dance with them. I mean they were you know but they just they flowed with it. They they could transition from that to then a serious uh working with education
helping them learn how to read. So it was amazing to see these kids any of them would be amazing teachers amazing leaders. Um, so I was just really proud of them, proud of this program and the things that came out of it.
>> And for some of the kids that are um planning on once they graduate going on to become teachers, there are they can apply through this grant to also get support paying for tuition. So it's all part of it um to try to get back here as
teachers. I should say we had overund5 applicants from high school students and it was a pretty tight turnaround. We them. They had they applied. We put them through the ringer with a a speed dating style interview. They showed up. They
did great. Um I got emotional seeing how the students connected with those positive role models. Um and I'd love Do you have anything to add? I >> was going to say one of the biggest things that I noticed was just the diversity of the applicants and how that affected the kids that they were working
with in our classrooms. Our classrooms are very diverse and so to see all these different students uh working with these kids was just a huge piece of this. Also >> I do want to share some of our students words because they're the reason we did
all of this. Um so I asked them a series of questions and several of them communicated [clears throat] their feedback. So I'm just going to read their words but know that these are high school students that really thoughtfully responded to these. So in identifying with might they
continue to pursue education. This student said I wanted this job to see if I truly wanted to go into elementary education and after this experience I know that this is the career for me. This job has helped me realize how much I love helping children. Another student shared this program has
in a way changed my perspective behind working with younger kids. I've always thought that working with children would be stressful burnoutinducing and something I'm not cut out for. So yes, I do think that with further contemplation, working with children, but especially teaching is something I
would like to do in the future. Some of them leaned into the leadership aspect. Because of this experience, I am much less uh much less interested in a career involving children, but I would be interested in a career in leadership.
I think I am more interested in a leadership role in schools just by being able to see how many students grow attached to you and outside of your own classroom. This experience made me even more interested in careers that involve working with children and leadership. I
will enjoy building relationships. I really enjoyed building relationships with students, supporting their learning and seeing their progress. and some really identified some transferable skills beyond education and leadership. This student identified communication
and adaptability are pretty big and important for a team and time management is just a good thing to have in general. Good skills to have for future jobs. This internship strengthened many skills that will benefit me in my career. I became more confident communicating with
both students and staff. Learned how to adapt quickly when plans changed and improved my time management by balancing different responsibilities throughout the day. And this is where our program really [clears throat] shined, if you will, was the feedback
that we got from classroom teachers and mentors. Um, every time I would go out to a site, I was met with we couldn't do this without them. Extra help and support is great. It's the big and little things like relationships, extra hands-on additional teaching, and trying to be in two places
at the same time. This from classroom teachers and mentors. Having an intern was extremely helpful in managing centers and rotations. My intern did a fantastic job building relationships with my students and was always willing to do whatever was asked. It was nice to have another person to
bounce ideas off to off of and talk about teaching almost like a coach. She also gave me a fresh perspective. It made a great impact having more adults in the room to meet the wide range of student needs this year. And in this setting, the student was viewed as an adult. The support they gave students
and the lead teacher was so awesome to see. Positive relationships were made between everyone involved. And this is from a mentor. I saw our kids make deep connections with kids, helping them through challenges and inspiring them in activities and reinforcing positive behaviors. I saw
our high school students grow as leaders and become more self-aware each day of the program. They needed minimal direction and they took all of the feedback well. We had outstanding kids in our program. That's all for elementary. In middle school, when we did our program design,
we leaned heavily into career exploration and igniting the idea of different career pathways that our students could um explore. These are pictures over the past couple years as we've uh have dived into this. We have a partnership with Mayo Clinic where Dr.
Hill comes with his whole team and you see there we've got phabbotomy. We've got ultrasound. We've got um they're moving kids with or moving like they have a helicopter situation going on. They're doing CPR and uh to all of the
different staying alive and all the songs and then the kids are naming songs that also fit the beat which is also great to see. um when we colllocated our program at JA because our middle school and high school programs are coll-located at the same site which was a shift as well. We were also able to have a partnership
with our 21st century grant that brings in big ideas and here we have um they're doing like virtual welding there in that bottom middle picture and exploring those careers. We partnered um there's a program working out at CEK with career exploration and we had carpentry. So, a
lot of great opportunities and outside of what you're seeing here with the community partnerships, they are exploring that in their classroom as well. That same focus on academics does come out uh focus on math skills and positive math identity. This what we did have funding to have a math
interventionist and a reading interventionist at our middle school site and they focus specifically on morphology and that literacy piece morphology and comprehension through teacher created resources. Focus on career pathways. We continue to explore and explan expand career
exploration partnership with CEK. Some of the pathways that they've explored are agriculture and STEM pathways. Again, I mentioned those collocated programs and the benefit that they have through experiential uh education. And then the Mayo Clinic partnership where
they explore phabbotomy, ultrasound, and emergency medicine. Finally, high school, we offer credit recovery. Um, we have increased our in-person programming and then we have egeneuity programming which is another uh credit recovery option. This year we required them to
come in person which did help with some of that completion as well. We also offer ML summer program courses. They are offered only to students that are identified and receiving ML services. It is one required credit high school credit course and it's rotates which
course is offered each summer. Some summers there's one, some there's two. And it utilizes a three-teer model where there's one NL teacher, one content teacher, and then a project teacher. And they work together to really wrap around the student and support through some of those those language needs as well.
We did have fantastic community partnerships with Winona State, the office of the mayor. The past two years, we've had a wonderful experience in all elementary sites with artists coming in. Um, Mayor Norton will come has come out. Um, And I've already been touching base
with uh current people pursuing the mayorship here in Rochester to try to continue that partnership because it's been fantastic for our students. Mmstead County Public Health came out and worked with our high school credit recovery pieces, Mayo Clinic, the library. We
utilized our bike fleet as well. So what is happening from this? Ultimately, our goal with summer academy programming is to sustain our academic performance from spring to fall or bridge some gaps. What we are seeing, this is 2025 data, so coming into last
year fall. We don't have all of our spring or our new fall data yet. School hasn't started, but we did see that 98% of our students maintained or decrease their risk level, if you will. We used FastBridge as our our indicator there.
66% of third through eighth graders maintained or decreased risk level. And then in math, first and second grade, 78%. And then third through eighth grade 55%. >> And the kids that the kids that get um invited typically are high risk in both
math and reading. >> We're taking the the highest risk kids. >> Yeah. And something to note I didn't mention um that is that our our numbers of students that we're serving when we were [clears throat] serving students in summer of discovery at elementary we had
over a thousand students 360 this was the 2425 school year and then 516 at high school and that's when we had that full experiences and field trips this most recent year and again there's those funding stream shifts um and increased
class sizes we are serving 37 71 elementary students at three sites, 101 students at um one middle school site and 414 high school students for credit recovery and the ML resources. Um at the
elementary and middle school level, we have well over 1300 students that are qualifying again based on their risk levels and fastbridge as well. >> Can you say that number again? that last one >> uh that qualified well over >> 1300 >> 1300. >> So looking forward we're continuing I'm
continuing to gather feedback of what our strengths and our needs are moving forward. Um our student interns delivered strong unprompted value to the everybody. Uh site level organization and our leaderships, our teacher leaders that we have are fantastic. And then the community partnerships have
significantly enriched the student experience and it is our hope that we continue and we continue to grow that partnership. In needs, class sizes and staffing ratios don't always match um our student support needs and that is consistently shared uh by our classroom teachers. um aligning student placement
and staffing support needs before students start versus after when we're trying to we identify pockets of challenging situations that we might need increased staffing in. And we think it'd be better to be proactive versus reactive in that. And then setting clear expectations and earlier logistics for
both interns and staff so that they can, you know, the teacher that they were assigned to so they can meet and collaborate together um beyond the first day. And what I want to make sure that I say is that none of this is possible without all the human beings behind the scenes
that make all of this happen. People from every department. It truly is a school that is functioning um in the summer and so every department is all hands on deck for our kids to make this happen. >> Board members questions come. We're start with director Whitehorn. Oh, I
just so real quick uh because right here at the end you mentioned some numbers. So are we only servicing about half the kids that are >> probably less >> that are eligible >> less less than half of the students that are eligible. Correct. >> So what is it logical to ask what are we doing with the other half of the kids
that need the services or how are we determining? >> So we can't mandate it. We don't we don't mandate it. So we send out the invitations and then we we don't turn kids away. So, we're programming for um
the number of kids that sign up. So, I think what we just need to keep doing is I think the more um engaging it is, so we keep working on that, the more kids want to come. Um >> so the 1500 is from the summer
>> from this summer is Yep. That would be the K8 number that qualifies. I think a big big one for me that really stands out is our middle school programming. Um last year there were well well over 800 students that qualified and a hundred
showed up. And so and that is a big need. That's that's over 800 students that have needs in both math and literacy. And so continuing to think about and bring teachers together about how we can increase programming and get more students here. >> So the so I guess what I'm making light of is the difference in the summer of
discovery looks like we had about 1500. Is it just are we just uting the lack of enrollment to the change of the program because that's a big jump to go from 1500 enrolled last summer to less than a thousand. >> I wasn't here during summer discovery
but was it open to anyone? >> The qualifying factors were different. I could recommend as a classroom teacher. I could say Mona really needs some social emotional learning and support with her her peers. [laughter] >> And that that would in itself was enough
to to qualify for program because we have the additional funds to support that student. When we're just going off of targeted services funding, the requirements for that use is a little different. And so we have to have an academic need. Those students not going to qualify just because of social
emotional learning or mental health needs. It's only it's academics. It could be ML services. It could be they could be in transition or different identifying factors. And so the number of students that we could serve based on those qualifying criteria decreased. So it would be nice to know just since we
threw the number out there like how many kids were referred >> the previous year >> because because we have what you given us was the number of kids referred and the attendance >> and the previous number you gave was how many attended which makes the numbers
look very screw. Now if 3,000 kids were referred last year let's say then it would show that we're still kind of keeping with the same pattern. So that's what I would I guess that where my concern would be is is there a drastic shift in the pattern of the kids that
are referred and show up or is it you know what I mean? Is there something else going? >> I think you are you're absolutely making sense. I think one of the things we could also we wanted to focus on the kids that had the biggest gaps because we really want to try to close those
gaps. I would say we're seeing in our enrollment data that we're not necessarily um able to get all of them. We could also expand because you don't have to be you don't have to have a math and reading need to qualify. You could just
have a reading need. So, we could expand it and open it up to to grow our program. And that actually like might be a direction to go so we can start to grow it. I think the bigger it is, the more to come right when your next door neighbor is jumping on the bus to go to
summer school, you want to go too. But if when you when you have smaller numbers, um I'm not happy with with how with the numbers. I feel like we we should have bigger, more robust programming. >> I was just asking for for clarity. I understand why the numbers decreased.
It's just a shocking difference. >> It is a shocking difference to just understand how we got to that space and and um and what the like I said if we could know what the how many kids were referred even though it was under a different metric which I understand it would just still give us a little bit
more apple to apple to compare because it really wouldn't matter what the qualifications were. It would still give a better map as to what the average enrollment is um for kids that are referred period, right? Because you were always going to have a percentage of
kids that are recommended and don't go. So, just so that it's not such a shockingly uh different number that would just help to clarify that a little bit and I'm sure I'll have something later, but I >> director,
>> thank you. Um question and a comment. Do kids get transportation if they need it? >> Yes. >> Okay. And the comment is I love the student intern idea. We know from experience and I think this district is absolutely committed near peer tutoring
and work young kids love it having someone who looks like a teenager and sometimes acts like a teenager uh to be with them. And I loved the comments from the interns that you provided because even if kids
find out teenagers find out they're not all that into little kids. What a good lesson to learn at this point before you, you know, go on and get your education. But also the things they were talking about, the other skills that
they needed and that they developed that their parents have been telling them for years. You got to be on time. You got to be responsible. And now there's they're figuring out, oh, that's really important. And these kids are these little kids are benefiting because I'm
here being responsible. So every level >> it's a win. So, thank you so much for doing that and for pulling this together with it must be really have been complicated to figure out where the funding was
coming from and figuring out a new model too. It sounds wonderful. Thank you. >> I I want to add that that having the kids there was so great but I also see a connection with this to our A and plan this as well because a lot of these kids
some of them some of the kids that took already took the college and the schools um the intro to teaching class applied and and were a part of this and I have a feeling some of them will now take it next year and so it it is it's to me
it's all kind of combined. We're trying to create for me I'd like to create a community of kids that really see themselves as being collegebound and >> even if you're not going to school to be a teacher you're still want to be collegebound and start heading in that direction. You've got this great
community because you guys built an amazing community when I went to visit and just tell them about your snack cart. >> It was so amazing. >> Well, I was going to say that um one of the students that I was mentoring was in the college to their college program and
was telling the other students about how to start and sign up and how to do it. But they had all come together and I had like a cabinet and they just filled it with snacks and they took over the room. Uh we would meet before and after. Um but the one of the most interesting thing was that for them was after we
would after the day we would meet every day. The way they would just come in and just be tired, just exhausted and like we'd talk about it and you know walk through what happened or how was your day and just they every day they were just so you know worn out because they were just putting their whole heart
everything they had into this experience and it was just it was fantastic. >> Director um Can I think it was mentioned earlier but I didn't quite get the full information. What is the schedule? Is it
certain number of weeks? Could that is that do you get input from families? Is that impacting when people can come? That kind of >> when we did summer of discovery years ago it was three weeks in June, three weeks in July. Uh last year we cut it down to three three day weeks um but
extended the day. So it was 8 8 this elementary was 8 to 1:30 secondary was 9 to 2:30. This year's programming was two weeks two 4 day weeks with those same time
frame. So we extended the day and then shortened the how long we were in session. >> That's helpful. Thank you. And then when you think about the students that are invited and and you know somewhat disappointment and not having all of those enroll do individual teachers do
outreach to the families can you prioritize the kids that you know that really really really need the help that really encourage them to come? How does that >> So what we do is um after the winter fast bridge window closes I work um
their office or with research and um our assessment team. I have them help pull the data and then we we get the kids into who is some or high risk in both math and reading and then in math or reading. So I get all of those lists and
then I email those to the site and I say based on academic performance alone on fall and winter fastbridge these are the students that qualify. Please look at this list and let us know if they would be a good fit for summer programming. Some of that might be we've got a tight
turnaround. We've got um students that we're we have cons like consolidated sites meaning multiple different sites coming to one one school. So can the student come and focus and have build those positive relationships right away? How can they function in a you know larger class sizes, minimal support,
high academic needs? So the teachers and the and the administrators and building staff give that feedback and then based off of what they check off we send the invitations out. Um we them. This year we did PDFs that were sent via talking points so they could be accessed in their native language. Um, but learned
that the the link to click to register didn't look like a link to register. So, you know, little notes like that that we can help and improve the processes and I've talked to many families this year compared to last year. Um, which is also an exciting part of my role as well. Um, so yes, teacher feedback is absolutely a
part of it and then leaning into sites and saying, "Hey, we've got one more week of registration coming." Um, another piece that I want to make sure that I put on the invitations this year is when is that deadline for registration? Because sometimes that wasn't clear as well. >> And great that you're super involved in
that, but do the classroom teachers then support and encourage >> They do. Yep. They It is the classroom teacher that sends out the invitations. Um, we've tal for me to send out invitations to anybody. Nobody's going to know who I am in the classroom level. So, all of that communication goes
through the classroom teacher. Awesome. >> As a class teacher, we We do send the invitation, follow up, follow up again, follow up again. So, yeah, we do really work hard to get students who need the support there. >> That's awesome. And then one final thing, where's the hammock garden? >> There's several in our district. I
learned that particular one was out at Overland. >> Okay. And are they just there for the summer? It seemed like those posts were pretty permanent. >> They are permanently there >> for teachers to access and check out. >> I have never been in one. [laughter] >> I'm not I'm not that brave. So teachers
have to check out the actual hammocks. >> Yeah, the Yeah, they can. The hammocks would come down at the end of the day and they can check them out. But >> can people bring their own if they wanted to? [laughter] >> I'm going to send you an invitation. >> I wanted you brought in. >> I will send you an invitation.
>> I was wondering if they had plusiz. >> I've got my own. I was thinking students might want to attend there. >> They need weight restrictions. >> Thank you. Oh, director. >> Okay. So just a few things in uh off of
what uh director Mlen said. Um one u big thing that I get through the summer is parents. Parents that reach out they reach out to the board. They reach out to everybody because they want their kid in summer school. They didn't get an invitation. They don't know how to obtain an invitation. I don't know
exactly how we um how we fix that, but that is a concern. Oftent times parents don't know it was starting or um the kid didn't get invited because they may not have been on that short. But the parent is very concerned and wants them in in there. So I don't know if this is a
question or a comment, but I don't know how we kind of fix that. That is something that happens every year. Um and then you were mentioning um and uh she asked a question about the scheduling. Um I think also what would be nice uh when you guys come back with
the with the data is to see what the hours of time spent were. So you know we'll get the percentages, but um I'd like to know if uh you know we've lessened the time if that's an impact or if there is no
impact you know from the kids being in less time. Um I think that would also help as we build this out and decide how this is funded or what is needed. you know, I just want to make sure that we're not um because we are making so many changes because we lost the funding
that we are giving a very real um outlook on what it looks you know what what these different things look like because I I personally feel that if it's something that's needed you know that's something that we should be aware of. I know that we've lost a big batch of funding, but I don't want to be in a
space where we're in a land of delusion and just assuming that the program is running great when we've cut all these things. So, it would be nice to see what, you know, what the actual impact is. Um, you know, how many hours, so if the numbers decrease, how many hours
were they getting prior? How many hours are they getting now? I'm just trying to think of um stable data points that we can easily track to measure the success with the with the change if that makes sense. What I'm saying >> this program versus summer of discovery.
>> Well, right because we're moving out of Is because we're moving out of summer discovery. So, I'm assuming that the >> the only thing with summer of discovery because it wasn't a um a clear academic focus. We don't have the academic data like it wasn't tracked the way we like
we track this. We look at their spring fast bridge and then their fall fast bridge to tell us if there was a summer slide or not or >> and we don't have that to compare it to. We do have we could look at the number of of hours. One of the things we did
the reason we extended the day is that's a way because funding is so tricky. 550 an hour when you're paying a teacher $48 an hour plus you know whatever else you need at the you need a minimum of you
know 12 13 kids to be in the classroom just to pay the teacher salary and it doesn't include covering anything for transportation the nurse the lead like all you know any other supports you have um but transportation is a set cost for the day I can generate more money for
the kids if we lengthen the day but they may be one less day in the week. So, you're still getting the same amount of time. So, I decrease my costs. Um, so we play around with all of that to try to maximize um because ultimately it's the impact on
the kids that's the most important, >> right? So, I guess what I and and I appreciate all the additional information, but I guess I was thinking way simpler than that. My brain went over there. But I was just thinking, you know, if we, like you said, with the fast bridge, if there is any declines, you know, it just would be nice to see
if if there was a change in the amount of hours that the kids were there. Just just, you know, I was just trying to uh determine how do we compare these pro this program success with as many changes as it's had to the previous program. If that makes sense what I'm
saying, because the the program has changed. So, let's say when the numbers come back, it goes from 98% to 95%. It would be nice to know that there was a decrease in, you know, hours that the kids, you know, I'm just trying to think of how do we continue some kind of um
constant even though we've made so many adjustments to the program. Does that make sense? So, >> yes. And we can do that with our programming, the summer academy. I can't >> Yeah, that long to be able we're building the longitudinal data. And so I think as we continue to look at it, we continue to reflect on where could
improvements be made, what were some some context that added to those numbers and performance. And so I think we can continue to do that. You know, next summer if you know, if I'm back next year presenting the same information, thinking about um how we can think about these are the shifts we made from fall
or from last year to this year and this is how we're going to move forward and showing that longitudinal data over time. >> And I do want to say I'm not fussing. I just I agree. I think this is a wonderful thing. I know we have to make these adjustments. I just want to make sure that as we're adjusting that we're not letting some kids fall through the
cracks because it it could be done very easily when we're focusing on the budget. And I think we should have maybe connect with you ear like if families are reaching out to you I'd like to know who they are even ahead of time because one of the struggles we
have is once we shut down registration we hire based on that and we the way we had to hire to maximize art so that we don't end up in the hole is we know I tracked like okay we registered this many kids this percentage didn't show up
at the elementary percentage didn't show up at the middle. So then that this year we said we're you're going to have to enroll 22 kids because we're going to anticipate 20 are coming. So once we cap it when people want to register later I don't have a teacher
>> and so so the deadline is really important and I also buses have already been bus stops have been created so we want we don't want to exclude anybody but I need them on the front end so that we plan for them. So if you're able to
help us like access some families, we will we [laughter] will we will utilize you. One thing we did do this year that I think really helped was making the website, the summer academy website available to the public that we did not have. Um my phone number is on it and
boy was it used. But that's why it's there so that we can get questions and things answered and that did help with some of that. >> And if I'm honest, a lot of that comes a lot of times from grandparents or caregivers who have the kids. So they're not always there through the whole school year. So then when the summer
starts, they're like, "Hey, why is my grandkid not in uh you know, they can't they can't read to, you know, what they think is an acceptable level." So that's where a lot of those come in. So you know, I just I try to steer them in the right direction, but >> I think that's a much larger situation.
But that is >> director, are you good? Okay. Director Barlo, >> uh thank you Malachi for uh answering the question I had. So the classroom teachers actually do the outreach in terms of uh parents, grandparents,
caregivers uh not once, not twice, but seemingly three times or so. >> Yeah. I mean, I can I can only speak for my building and what we do. But yes, we do reach out quite >> and uh so uh that's important to hear.
And um I think in terms of um Just a thought of a maybe um during the an earlier break uh be it winter or earlier point in the school year
informing parents, caregivers uh of what's coming up during the summer so that when the summer occurs, we may have less uh people uh wondering or feeling that they've been left out of
the loop. Uh uh I'm glad to say two of my children grandchildren participated in this year's program and uh u u I I think it went well. Um I know their
mom was glad to see them out of the house for a little bit. [laughter] But uh I think the very point that was uh that Dr. alluded to earlier, the uh schedule that we tend to be on of the
summer slide and kids go from being in school to now, what am I going to do if they're not employed uh with a summer job or uh enrolled in some type of uh private tutoring uh sessions. So, thank
you for the hard work. Thank you for the great information and uh I look forward to future reports coming back in. >> If I could just say real quick uh what an amazing job the summer teachers and interests do when we're talking about this. We talk about having a 1 to20
ratio of students with the highest needs. Uh they're really working magic in those rooms, right? They have very challenging students who have a lot of um things to fill in in their learning and they have a lot of them. So, I just want to give a shout out to those teachers that are doing they're doing
amazing work and with those interns in there, too. Um, they're just doing a great job. >> Dr. So, looking at the 2025 performance data, um, do you have any kind of baseline for what the summer slide is
for students who are maybe not as much at risk or for students who are already doing well? >> Um, that's a good question. I don't I don't know. >> Or might that be something to look at to see the effect? >> I think it is. I think what we actually
should do is look at the same kids, >> right? >> Who the kids who are in the same risk band that attended versus not attended. Um yeah, and that's what we we continue to refine our practices. I remember doing a summer of discovery and trying
to figure out what data could we bring and make sense of that make sense in these settings. And so we continue to refine that and I think comparing students that enroll and students that maybe didn't enroll but were still in similar risk bands is a great step forward in that.
>> Dr. Cook. Um, yeah. No, I'm glad that you that you said that, Mona, because that was exactly my thought that it's in some ways fortuitous for our purposes that there's sort of a uh a natural laboratory here of the the cohort of students that were invited to
participate. and given the the rates of participation, a comparison between those that participated and those that didn't and see the extent to which there's a difference in this regression measure, I think would be um really interesting both to evaluate the impact
of our work, but also as a useful marketing tool to help explain to parents what the value proposition is here. So, um yeah, looking forward um the next time we talk about this. Um I I think that would be really interesting information to look at. But thank you so much for the work and especially on the
uh um on the work with the interns. I I think that's just such a valuable program and and really dovetales with [clears throat] the near-per mentoring that um we think is really valuable here. So, thanks for all your work on that. >> I want to talk a little bit more about those summer interns. Um given that we
are trying to devel pathways and connections for our students with real world experiences. I'm wondering are we following these interns going forward to see are they enrolling in our CEKC teacher pathway courses? Are perhaps we hiring them as our some of our sack
staff? Um is there is there a way to keep f because I feel like we've trained like we've trained this new set of employees of RPS and you know what what else can we do with them? So, out of the kids that that responded to the um survey that she put out, end
of the um the end of the year thing, even the ones that said they didn't want to want a job later on with kids, they all said 100% they would return to do this. So, like that that was amazing. Um but yes, we will it's not going to be
hard to track them. It was like what 34 kids? >> 24 total. Um, and some of them we already know have taken the CEK course and sounds like some are they're helping them get the other kids registered.
>> Um, I do have one anecdotal story of a student that thought for sure he he wanted to work with stu with with kids and he wanted to go into education. He thought for sure secondary and then he did this program and oh my gosh he's remarkable with the kids and his foresight and his thought and his
intentionality. So much so that he did apply and interview to be to work for sack and he wanted to continue doing that. So when we talk about continuing those opportunities and and he is actively considering elementary education now um as well and when I was out at the middle
school they heard about the program and they're asking for interns also. So everybody wants them. >> Sounds great. >> Anything else for superintendent? I'll just be very brief and it's completely superflous to share, but I will say what
I went over to uh see the programming at Lincoln and was on the playground with the kids and was in the gym moving with the kids and of course uh this is my fault. It was July and I was wearing a suit. So the sweat is showing through
the suit in a very visible way and I'm in the classroom and a kid touches me and goes, "Oh, what's that?" And he All the kids had to touch my sweaty pants in my suit. [laughter] That's not the reason I'm telling the story. The intern in the room literally
said, "I thought I wanted to be a teacher before I saw that." [laughter] He was kidding. But, you know, you get a sense of what uh young children are willing to do. Thank you for the really great presentation and great work. >> Thanks so much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> [clears throat] >> Who said summer school was a bad thing, right? Our next agenda item is a prep for action. Our 2026 2027 ABCD approval and we are scheduled to take action on this item at the August 18th meeting.
Superintendent Pel. >> Thank you very much, Chair Nathan and board members. Um, as board members may be aware from your collaboration with other school boards across the state and maybe other governmental bodies, there are governmental entities where the administration really sets the whole
agenda for the electric board. Um, I certainly and our team has a role in that, but since I've been here, the board has ultimately set its agenda for the work that lies ahead. Um, as board members who were on the board when I
joined in 2021 will recall, um, not only did we create this, um, at minimum year-long set of priorities that we map out, we also redesigned the board agenda because how you use your time ultimately has a deep impact on how you lead the
district. Um, and so here we are again. We are at a point where we're on the verge of the uh submission and uh I assume approval of a new strategic plan. And so it's time to think about the board's agenda for not just in this instance the years ahead. It is the hope
of uh my hope and the chair and vice chair's hope who I've worked with on this that broadly stated this is a structure that we will utilize for each year of the RPS 2030 strategic plan such that the board and the community will know that at certain points in the year
the board takes up certain uh issues and uh certain lines of inquiry. And so this uh presentation is a brief overview of a long detailed document that you have posted in Simly um that we are presenting tonight in the prep for action category so that we can continue
to receive feedback from the board on what we are proposing. I've already received feedback from some of you since the draft went out and we're cataloging that. On August 18th, we will present the board with a full version of the uh board calendar that includes not just the major issues that I've added here
tonight, but all of the board's process uh items like the consent agenda, human resource items, the business and finance items that um are very important, but that are not the kind of deep dive issue that I've tried to highlight here. And so it's our hope that before the start of the new school year, we will have
this calendar approved. Um and then we will be aware of when those things are happening. Um this is therefore not the full calendar. It is the major issues that we are proposing to take a look at. Um broadly stated, we designed this
calendar with the flow uh of the intended flow of moving the board agenda items along those lines, setting the direction, monitoring results as to where we are. um focusing on where we need to improve and having the board uh provide direction where we need to act
and adjust. There are four big buckets that I'm proposing become recurring items in the board agenda. The RPS 2030 strategic plan as a whole. The six systems that are core components of school
improvement that I'm proposing would be another major focus of the board agenda item. what we're calling the change projects, the initiatives that are uh intended to um shift processes and structures and programs in RPS and then ultimately the school improvement plans
that our buildings are producing and data reports on um the outcomes that we're achieving. You can see that um we have proposed time certain opportunities for the board to receive an update on how we're doing in the
performance measures that the board has approved and equally importantly what we're doing to improve those outcomes. And so we would this year be looking at MCA reading and math. That is later this year because there's a new reading test that will not be available till
September 30. Absent that, it will normally be um around September one um as the state uh usually releases that MCA data right around the state fair, which is an interesting time to do it, but that's when they release it. That's when we'll report to you on it. Um the
ACT um uh measure, as you know, is the focus of our high school work. And so we would report uh to you on that in November. February, we would take up post-secary enrollment. That's about the time. There's a tremendous lag of course and when we know kids have actually enrolled in college, but that's about
the time when we have the most recent data on uh who where our graduates went. We will um look at the uh five essentials survey um we hope each uh May and late spring um looking at the discipline data in July and then
attendance rates in August and then as you see next year we would get into the um MCA data and the school improvement plan. So those would be the reports to you on the quantitative data. You can see that broadly stated there's a flow here that is really about the start of
the school year launching the work for the year. Um doing things like this year you'll be proving the strategic plan in October and December. Um uh obviously governing and improving happens all year long but really when we're in that budget season it's a critical time for you to be providing direction. Um and
then uh as we get into the end of the school year um closing things out and then of course uh during the summer uh engaging in a lot of the work like we're doing tonight. Um so the feedback not so much on this PowerPoint more on the larger written document that's there. Are there major issues uh that board
members would like to see taken up? Um does the timing uh and sequencing seem to make sense? Um are there any major topics that are missing? Um, and then do you feel that the calendar has uh broadly stated a good balance? As you probably noted if you looked at the long
document that's in Simy, the core proposal is to alternate between looking at one of the core systems for improvement, professional learning communities, the school improvement process, our individual employee development process. And then the next meeting we would look at one of the change projects, career pathways, um the
work we might be doing around nearpeer uh tutoring, nearpeer relationships that the board just talked about. So, this is an effort to provide a high level overview of the long document that's there and any thoughts you have either tonight or before the next board meeting
will be pleased to um work into [clears throat] a proposal for you to take action on. Board members questions, comments, perspectives. >> Director Workman. >> Um I I really like this. It's it's
really wellought out. um and should give the community the opportunity to see the kinds of things they might be interested. Um however, it is just a draft and so things can change during the year. Um hopefully these major
things will be able to stay in place. Um but it's not approved till it's approved. >> Yeah, that's right. Sometimes people get confused as you know uh Dr. Workman by this term we use the ABCD. For those of us in the inside that the intent is exactly that that it's the
annual board calendar draft um such that it's not the governing document. And one thing that certainly will happen because we know we live in interesting times that as there are new things like state uh legislative policy um you know incidents that may happen in the community, we'll always add those things
on an ongoing basis. But these would be the core major issues that we would be building. And as as you know, the the staff work that it takes to prepare a strong update and presentation to the board is not insignificant. And that's appropriate, but I think this calendar
really helps us balance that out and and calendar it out uh in a way that just candidly, I don't know many districts that right now are likely to be able to say these are the major issues that our board will be working on for the foreseeable next several years.
Okay. So, is this the time I get to talk about how excited I am about the annual board calendar draft? >> Um, because uh I think Julie, was it 2018 20? It was my first year on the board, 2019, and it was it was you and I and
Melissa Ammonson and um Michelle Severson, who was the clerk at the time, um who brought forward the idea of having a a calendar that was very clear and and covered the year. Um
and that's taken care um and it has evolved um with a lot of um work in thinking about um the cycles of
how we do the work. But I think this is the first year and maybe it's a new strategic plan that gives us that opportunity that we're actually thinking more than a year ahead. We're thinking multiple years ahead. And um
I I really do like what you said about um it being a governance cadence that this is reflective of the work of the district. But um this what what we
try to emphasize to the community is that the school board does its work here at the board table. um the superintendent and and and staff develop recommendations, do a lot of work before a recommendation comes before us or report comes before us, but we have to
do our work here as the seven of us um here at the board table. We can't make decisions anywhere else. So, it's so important for the community to know uh when those decisions will be happening and then also to back that up um for the work that the superintendent and um his
staff have to do to gather the information, get uh stakeholder feedback um and bring it to us. So, I I can't emphasize enough how important of a document this is both for us but for the community. This really does give you a map of the issues that Rochester Public
Schools is going to be um um facing and deciding on um um especially over the next year. Superintendent, um if um board members have any additional um qu uh questions or comments or edits or
additions, should they email you with them before do you have a deadline for that that you'd like it by? I would like it by the uh Wednesday before the August 18th meeting, whatever that date is actually. Um that would be when we send you a revised recommendation, but we can
send this out to board members. Okay. So, we do that. I I'll just say very briefly the the additional uh items that I've had requests from board members that are not on the proposal before you tonight are um an update on special education um in Rochester public schools both in terms of the number of students
we serve and the nature of those services. A discussion of screen time um what we know about what's happening and what the recommendation would be going forward. an update on our communications strategy and how we're engaging stakeholders and an update on the language access plan that the board uh
received last year. Um so those are four that are not on there that we'll be adding and if there are others that occur to you. Uh we can always of course as we were just saying a moment ago add on an ongoing basis. Um it is helpful to be able to um calendar it out so that we can um we can get planning but um thanks
again for the opportunity. >> Director I think that date is the 12th. >> It is the 12th. Very good. >> All right. >> 12th would be great. >> Dy noted. >> Director Cook >> for the um I I I really like this idea of providing updates on these
performance monitoring measures throughout the year and um you touched a little bit about why some of these months make sense given when the information is available. Is it uh I mean I think for the most part the the
nature of of this monitoring is doesn't always lend itself to decision points. But to the extent that um I I I guess what I'm trying to ask is other than when the information is available, is there anything about
presenting that type of information that drives other decisions elsewhere that makes this timing either appropriate or not? >> Yeah. Um yeah, thanks Director Cook. I I think that I worked with Peter Ruck, our
research director, to identify the dates that are there because they are both close to when we think we get the data from the source of the data and he has time to do data analysis. So they're as close to when we find out where we are as possible. I do think you're right. As
we are actually asking you to make decisions, there will be multiple decisions that need to be informed by that data that won't necessarily come on that date. And so for instance, as we are uh making recommendations to you about the shape of the career pathways work that I expect will be a core
component of our next strategic plan, what courses are we offering? How are we changing graduation requirements if we are um then those things would happen um tied to the board's decision-making cadence, but we'd be using data that is
coming out for instance with that ACT um release on our ACT results. those performance measure updates really are sort of agnostic to a decision. They're coming and updating you in the community as we've got the most recent data. Um but then we certainly will be going back
to those data sets as we are making recommendations for action over the course. And I do anticipate too that once the strategic plan is approved on October 20th, we'll be able to add some of the major board decisions to this calendar that will be, you know, action
items that will uh put there with enough time for stakeholder feedback and board analysis and also so we don't have meetings that go to 11 pm as well. >> Dr. McLaclin, >> um this might be getting a little bit into the weeds, but the performance
measures the postsecary enrollment that's about where students attend after they're done with RPS, not enrolling in our post-secary classes. >> No, it's where they end up after. Is there a different way to def word that so that people aren't confused by that?
>> I'll give that some thought. >> Okay. And then the May graduation, is that the current year or would that be the prior year? >> Prior. >> Okay. >> It's when the state releases it. And graduation rates are one of those measures that even though we of course track what's happening with our kids,
you don't know if a student actually graduated or not until we get the full data file from the state. because of course if they transfer to another district it doesn't mean they dropped out. >> So it's state data that we're evaluating in May. Got it. Thank you. >> Okay. I wonder if it's post RPS
enrollment. >> Maybe that's good. >> I'll find some kind of All right. So we'll revisit this at the next meeting with comments uh from board members in the meantime or questions. All right. Our next prep for action item
is related. It's the 2027 school board meeting dates. Um, since the superintendent identified dates in his [clears throat] ABCD where we were discussing things, we thought it would also be appropriate to do a uh first approval of our dates for next year. We
usually do it in the fall and then if necessary, we do an update at our first meeting in January. Um, so uh we're following the same cadence of uh two meetings a month. you will see uh in some months we're only meeting for uh
once that accommodates um holidays particularly in the months of July and um November. Um all of the meetings next year are at 5:30 p.m. because we do not uh have any um electoral dates or
primaries with one exception which is our truth in taxation that must begin at six o'clock p.m. And you also see that there are no study sessions listed as we've done this year. um we've really not scheduled study sessions unless there was a specific need for one and we
can always do that as as part of a specific notice as we've done in the past. So any given that any questions director? >> Yeah, I'd just like to make a comment. I think this is really really helpful. Um my early years in the board, it was
basically just block out every Tuesday for the rest of my life devoted to board. And some of those early early months, we were having board meetings every single week. And this is so much more efficient. We're getting a
lot done. And I I really appreciate it. I hope my fellow board members do as well, especially those of you who like to travel. Anything else? All right. >> Request five minute recess. >> Absolutely. So, we'll take this up at
our next meeting in action. And we have a request for a 5minute recess at We'll return at 6:58 action item, facility strategy, recommendation, and financing plan. The board discussed this item at a June 9th study session and under prep for action
at the July 21st meeting. Um, I'll read the resolution and then we'll open discussion or further questions. >> [clears throat] >> Be it resolved that the school board of independent school district number 535 approves the coordinated facility strategy recommended by the administration,
including relocating the majority of CEK programming from leased space at Rochester Community and Technical College to Century John Marshall and Mayo high schools. combining the Churchill K2 and Hoover 35 programs into a single K5 school located
at Hoover without changing elementary attendance boundaries and relocating about half of Hoover's early learning classrooms to Gage Elementary. Relocating the middle school alternative learning center to the existing Churchill building and constructing an addition at Churchill for the Rochester
Academy for Independent Living. renovating the education service center as the long-term location for Phoenix Academy, temporarily relocating Phoenix Academy to Fidell during construction, and placing Fidel on the market after Phoenix Academy returns to the renovated
education service center and continuing the relocation of RPS Girls Gymnastics and Fidel to One Athletics. Be it further resolved that the school board approves the recommended financing framework for an estimated 44,560,000 capital investment consisting of
20,572,958 in long-term facilities maintenance revenue, $14,970 900 14,970,954 through a lease purchase agreement or certificates of participation for the rail edition. 6 million from the
district's committed facilities reserve and 3,16,088 as a temporary use of the unassigned general fund balance expected to be offset by proceeds from the sale of Fidel. The financing framework does not include capital facilities bonds and is
structured to result in no net increase to the district's property tax rate. Be it finally resolved that the superintendent is authorized to proceed with the design, bidding, construction planning, and financing activities necessary to implement the approved facility strategy with contracts,
financing documents, and other actions requiring separate schoolboard approval to be brought before the board as required by law or board policy. >> Move approval. >> Second. >> It has been moved and seconded. Any questions or discussions or other
comments, board members? Director Cook. >> Yeah, thank you uh Chair Nathan. So I this uh this proposal has certainly generated a lot of community interest and is um yet further evidence of the importance that our our schools play in
our community. So I I just wanted to take a moment to explain my reasoning. Um I'm going to be supporting uh the facilities redesign proposal. Um, and the way that I look at this, one of the the primary purposes of [snorts] this
board is balancing specific concerns of individual neighborhoods with the overall health of our public education system. This proposal strikes that balance. Um we are facing enrollment driven
financial pressures and at that time um or because of that we have a fiduciary obligation in my mind to optimize the utilization of our available facilities and also to carry on with divesting assets that no longer serve our mission.
Um, crucially, this plan will enhance our operational efficiency while maintaining the current elementary school attendance boundaries. This offers meaningful stability to the families um in our current our current families while looking ahead and
retaining some elementary capacity for expected population growth in the Northwest. Uh furthermore, this plan enables critical long overdue investments in our students. Frankly, I'm not interested in
continuing to operate the rail and Phoenix Academy programs in facilities that feel perpetually temporary. These students and families deserve a similar measure of stability that our elementary families um are able
to receive with this plan. Providing educationally appropriate spaces that reflect this district's commitment to them is a key objective of this plan and a key reason that this facilities redesign initiative was included by this board as a specific objective of the
superintendent's most recent academic year. That was back last July. Accomplishing these upgrades in a costneutral way required making tough decisions to use available resources without increasing the expected net tax
burden. And in my mind, this is an example of responsible planning. I also I I just I wanted to address briefly the alternative of keeping and renovating Fredell. I understand there's a lot of people that question
the proposal of avoiding an indoor air quality project at Fidell um that is going to require some capital investment. But pouring uh elsewhere, I mean pouring millions into an aging facility with significant deferred
maintenance is simply not a wise use of taxpayer funds. Given our forecasted deficits, committing to FREL would exacerbate our fiscal pressure in the outy years and would inevitably come at the expense of our core educational mission.
Uh, divesting Fredell preserves our future financial flexibility, ensuring we can adequate adequately resource our teachers and classrooms with a realistic number of students rather than sinking those funds into maintaining the status quo
brickandmortar footprint. And then lastly, uh, I just wanted to address the concerns of the Church Hill Hoover community specifically. I recognize the sense of loss that this change brings to that community.
Um, as someone with four kids of my own in the district and ma who made a very intentional decision on which neighborhood to put roots down in in our community, I completely validate the families who chose that neighborhood because the K through2 and
3 through5 model resonated with them. They thought it was a good fit for their families and those preferences are entirely valid. Uh, and I'm I I find myself sorry that this proposal will mean changing a model that so many have
embraced. I'm hopeful that uh that the changes um will be navigable and I'm confident that efforts will be made to make these transitions as smooth as possible. Um but it it's not going to change the fundamental nature of what is
being proposed. Still, when weighing the district's realities and obligations, I believe this proposal is the most responsible decision for the district. Um, and for these reasons, I plan to support the plan. So, that's all I had. Thank you,
>> Director Bar. For me, uh, words like community and neighborhood, uh, speak to connections oftentimes based on proximity, identity, and shared goals or values.
Um, the drivers of change which were identified, uh, are real. They're not imagined. Uh, I think most of us are familiar with them. declining enrollment, deferred
maintenance upon many of our buildings, uh our programs out growing or outpacing current spaces, and then a projected $8.3 million general fund uh gap.
So, my thoughts are this. I am hopeful that program and grade level relocations will not diminish the district's commitment and ability to provide high quality
education at all grade levels. For me, that perhaps is uh one of the most important things and drivers of uh the the reason why I will uh vote in support of uh the recommendation.
And I also want to acknowledge um I ran uh to become a member of the school board primarily as uh an individual who did not believe that as a member of
a represented group as a pastor who saw the challenges of many of the parishioners of my congregation. uh I potentially ran with a onedimensional view of how it would
benefit those that uh I um dealt with on a regular basis, neighbors if you will. But upon being elected to the school board, I quickly came to realize that we don't have the leisure of simply
representing a particular school and or neighborhood. Uh but we have a shared responsibility uh for over 17,000 uh children. I don't know how many
families that represents and a fiduciary responsibility that uh we would be negligent if we simply made decisions based on what was popular and or uh what elicited or garnered the
majority of emails uh and the passion in which uh those individuals uh presented. It is important however to fully acknowledge that voices are heard, uh voices are
respected, and that uh we will continue to work to prove uh to uh various communities that this is a decision that only serves as a
model. what can occur when a district when administrators when board members are challenged to make hard decisions and we step up to the plate and do so. So I will be voting in support of this
recommendation. >> Director Mccclofflin, >> um I agree with my colleagues say, so I don't necessarily want to be repetitive here, but I think it's important to recognize that this has not been a quick decision. It's the district started looking at a year ago and it's about the
district-wide facility needs. There have been some difficult tradeoffs, but I think that this proposal and I do plan to vote in favor of it comes down on the side of not changing the boundaries. I think that's significant for our our students and our families. I also think it's important to recognize that this is
a coordinated plan and that we can't pick and choose from the various pieces of this that all of these things are working together. um to come up with a plan that meets the district's long-term facility needs. I think it's also really important to point out that the no net
increase in our property tax rate, I think that that's important uh for our district and for our community um to uh to create a plan that fits that category as well. Um thinking about what my
colleagues were talking about in terms of students, um I think it's, you know, It's an important obligation to do what's best for all of our students. But I think back to the I think every year we go through the state schoolboard association ethics and I do believe that
meeting the needs of all of our students is not only uh a practical need of ours and something we need to hold true to but also an ethical need as our responsibility u as schoolboard members. Um it's an ethical need to meet the needs of all of
our students. And I think about that in terms of um our community in terms of what our community looked like in the past, perhaps when some of these buildings were built, and then our present needs
and also our future needs. Um, and all of those things are important, but recognizing that there's been a significant change in our community perhaps from when some of these buildings were built in the 60s or 70s to um present day. And then also our
obligation to think about the future of the district both in terms of facilities and remaining financially viable. I also think it this plan recognizes that we've had some discussion at the board table about uh current enrollment and the
likely trends of future enrollment. Um that we anticipate a decrease in our enrollment based on birth rates and the way um our community is evolving. And some of that relates to, you know,
change is difficult, but I also think that this plan again with some trade-offs, but I think it is the best plan in terms of um a word that I came up came across over the weekend when I was reading some of my schoolboard work
was right sizing our district to our current community and current enrollment trends that we anticipate in the future. that um a lots of schools are going through this right sizing concept in a v variety of reasons. Some are having to
close schools and we're not doing that, but we're right sizing our district for our community and for the buildings that we own. I've always looked at Fredell and I came on the board when the decisions [clears throat] about um what
to do with Fidell has been on I think it's been an underlying current the whole time I've been on the board. um that the Fredell middle um district-wide program was terminating, but that we were using that space otherwise. I've
never viewed it as a neighborhood school, and I've never viewed it as a permanent site for the programs that are currently um that what we're using it for. And I think it's important to recognize that
it's a time to make a permanent space to meet the needs of the students in that program. And I I think it's perhaps long past due and something we we I know was on the radar, but um I'm glad we're doing that. And I'm thinking that it perhaps should have been done sooner. Um so I think ultimately this is the best
use of our facilities. It meets all the needs of our it meets the needs of all of our students. And I think it's important to recognize that as we sit here at the board table, we don't have any alternative other than look to the future of our district. And I think that this plan um again with difficult trade-offs, but we need to look at the
bigger picture. And I believe this plan meets those needs. >> Director Marvin, >> I can't add much to what's been said already. the the reasons the logic behind this plan that has been months
and months in the making and the importance of as was mentioned doing what's right right for all the kids in our district. I can say from a personal experience. I raised three children here in Rochester public schools because of
changes the district made. They went to three different high schools. And it's emotional. You you grow connected to the school your child is going to. And in our family, it ended up being three different high schools.
And they're fine. They're raising their kids. Well, two of them are in this community. Um you adjust, you adapt, but at the end of the day, uh we as parents, I think, are responsible for ensuring
making sure our kids know they're going to be fine. I know that the Churchill and Hoover staff along with the school district are going to do everything they can to make that transition a little bit earlier than the Churchill students
thought to Hoover. Make it as as gentle and as seamless and as positive as possible. They'll be going together. Their teachers will be going with them. There will be an unfamiliar sort of unfamiliar building, but very familiar
people and friends will be traveling together. And at the end of the day, this board has to do what's right for this district. And I absolutely believe that these are the right choices to make.
One of the uh things that struck me in the materials that we we have provided and and for those members of the community who don't follow every decision that we that we've make as a board, I I think this process and this decision um has generated
maybe the most amount of information, the most detailed of information um the most background along the way of what was being considered and then why alternatives were being um uh considered
instead of original plans and the most specific and direct response to the feedback that we received along the way from stakeholders. Um, I think it was a 50page document that was in our um our our assembly agenda item with every
single response that was received on the feedback form. Um, I think I counted about 39 or 40 emails that the board has has received. I know I've read them all. I know my fellow board members have mentioned that they've also read them. I
know that the superintendent and staff have issued multiple FAQs and and Q&A documents to respond to questions that may not have originally been addressed in the materials that were presented in the recommendation, but were uh addressed in the follow-up Q&As's. So, I
believe my questions have been answered. I also believe that the questions that the community brought up to for for consideration in the recommendations have also been answered. But what still sticks with me is this one comment that came in this uh document that was
originally presented to us in the um July in the June 9th study session when they were talking about the conversations that they were having with stakeholders. And it was one of the the rail uh stakeholders who said the physical setting sends a message about
how students are valued and what our Phoenix Academy highest need students have had to go without for years in that setting. The description consistently that people
feel people say it feels like a prison and that students who have needs for the services and that facilities their parents won't send them there because of that impression. That has to change. Um, we've met so many rail students at
graduation and at other events and have seen um what they strive for and what they're capable of. And we've also heard about how the facility at Fredell does not fully allow them to meet those needs. and we had uh Travis Bane and our middle school ALC people uh our staff
here talk about how many more students they could serve for whom a current middle school uh environment does not match their needs because they don't have the capability of doing that at Fredell. So we are we are are addressing the needs of three of our highest needs
groups of students through this facilities change and I think it really does send a message to those programs who um I understand in the past may not have believed that we prioritized them and they had every reason to believe
believe so if you look at the number of years in which there has not been a facilities recommendation that has improved the facilities for those three programs. So, I hope that through our action tonight, they will believe that we believe in their programs and that we believe in what can be provided to those
students. Um, I too um feel and empathize with the Churchill uh families and the Churchill community. I was a Churchill parent for a year when we first moved to Rochester in 2000. We looked for a house. We looked at the
quality of of schools and we bought a house northeast and we happened to be in the Churchill in the Churchill boundary. I was a first time public school parent sending my kid to kindergarten for the first time and I sent him to Churchill and God bless Stephanie Lamb if she's
out there because she was his kindergarten teacher and we had a fabulous year and then I got pregnant with our second child and realized they'd be five years apart and they would never be in the same or they wouldn't be in the same elementary
school. So I started looking at options and we made the decision to move my oldest child to Lincoln K8. So I went from a K2 and put my my baby in a K8 school. That same child, we also made the
decision to move them out of Lincoln K8 to Kellogg Middle School when he was a sixth grader because the curriculum was was better for him at the time. What I learned from that experience, similar to what Director Marvin said, is every building in this district is ready
to welcome every student, no matter where they come from, no matter who they are. And hearing from our Churchill Hoover um staff, the ones who will travel with our K2s and the ones that are at Hoover now, those Hoover 35 uh
staff can't wait to have those K2s in the building. I know what the experience was at Lincoln with the teachers being able to have a relationship with students for for eight for from kindergarten through 8th grade. Those eighth grade teachers wanted to meet
those kindergarteners on day one because they knew where they were going to get them eventually. And that's the kind of experience we see in our other K5 buildings. So, I know it can't be reassuring to the Churchill uh parents who are still feeling uh trepidation about the trans the the the the change,
but I personally and I think all of this board, the superintendent, we are all committed to making sure that that experience for you is positive and that um you're being welcomed into a community you're already a part of. And then I think about what we heard
from the Sunset Terrace um community when it was a possibility that we were going to use their building as part of our facilities change. And I have to contrast that with um I have to contrast the decision we're
making tonight with the impact that would have been on the 487 students at Sunset Terrace who would not be moving together to a community they were already a part of. That Sunset Terrace community would have been shattered.
Students would have to be sent to four or five different schools of which they are not a part of now. boundaries would have had to be reset, including for perhaps some students who aren't at Sunset Terrace, and we would lose the capacity that we have at Gibbs that we have right now for the growth that we're
anticipating on the northwest side. So, I think we are hitting the right notes to have our physical settings show that we value all of our students. Um, the
renovations at Hoover will give the Church students fresh classrooms that meet their their size and their needs. The early learning uh classrooms at Gagege open up another pathway for families to send their children perhaps to a school from preK all the way
through fifth grade if they choose at a Gage building just like they could do at Hoover right now. Um and and again the the longstanding needs of our of our three highest needs student programs are being met. So um
for that and for the other reasons that frankly the other options that we were looking at were far more expensive. Um I I I look at the $40 million at a minimum cost to build a new building for Phoenix, which would be of course a
wonderful thing for that program, but we can give them the same um experience. We can give them the same upgrades in the upgrades that we're doing at ESC for 19 million. So the difference uh am I right? 19 million um the difference in
cost is is right there is is is a fundamental difference. So that um that and among those reasons is the reasons I'll be voting in support of this tonight. Board members, does anybody have any other comments or questions? uh director. >> Um it occurred to me while you were
speaking that the one thing that I haven't heard from any of my colleagues that I think is important to talk about is that um and I think it reflects a little bit on our experience yesterday with the responding to the active threat um planning and and training is that I'm
confident that all of our students are safe in all of our buildings. I know that isn't the experience of all of our students every day, but the district is committed to that safety at all of our buildings, and I don't think that changes anywhere in the district. And I think it's important to recognize that
um we're committed to that. Any other questions or comments? >> Hearing none, all those in favor of the resolution say I. I opposed. The resolution has been approved. We'll move on to our next action item,
which is the 2026 2027 student handbook. Um, but before we get into the resolution, I believe there is a presentation. >> There is. Thank you, Chair Nathan. Ask Eric Johnson, our chief of schools, to um come to the podium. Um, and I will hand him the magic clicker. Um board
members, the decision uh of the board to approve the student handbook, I think is an important one. Thank you for being willing to take it in a single meeting so that we can have it ready for the start of the school year. Um the uh changes that we've made in the handbook
this year compared to previous years um are going to be the subject of Eric's brief presentation. I do want to say the chair and I um have very recently begun a discussion about the level of detail in the book and the degree to which it should do things like link to board policy. I want to commit to sustain that
dialogue um as we look at further revisions for next year. But I'm grateful for your willingness to consider approving this uh version tonight so that we can have the authority of the board approving this handbook as we uh get into the start of
the school year very soon. So, thank you, Eric. >> Good evening. I'm pleased to present the proposed 2026 2027 student handbook for your consideration. The handbook serves as an important resource for students,
families, and staff by clearly communicating expectations, student rights, and responsibilities in the policies that guide our schools. This year's revisions continue our effort to ensure the handbook is clear, current, and aligned with both district policies and state guidance. I'd like to
acknowledge that much of the work reflected in this year's handbook was led by our former director of positive behavioral supports, Angie McAnnandrews, before she departed for a superintendency in another district. I'm grateful for her thoughtful contributions, and my role has been to help bring that work across the finish
line for the board's consideration this evening. Student handbook highlights. While many sections of the handbook remain unchanged, there are meaningful updates this year. First, we've incorporated model language from the Minnesota School
Boards Association in several sections to ensure the handbook reflects current legal guidance and best practice. We've also reorganized portions of the handbook to improve clarity for students and families. Attendance expectations, cell phone expectations, and our PBIS
framework have all been moved into the student behavior section, creating a more logical and user-friendly organization. Finally, we've refined the descriptions and examples of level one and level two behaviors and the corresponding responses. These revisions are intended to provide
greater consistency and understanding for students, families, and staff when addressing student behavior. This slide highlights the areas where we've aligned the handbook with current Minnesota School Boards Association model language. It's important to note that in almost every case, this content
is not new. Rather than introducing new expectations or requirements, we've updated the handbook to reflect MSBA's current model language and ensure our handbook remains consistent with current legal guidance and best practices. The one exception is the um the inclusion of language related to student
health seizure plans. While this topic has not previously appeared in our student handbook, supporting students with seizure plans is not a new practice to Rochester public schools. We've been implementing these supports for years. The revision of adding it to this document simply documents the existing
practice within the handbook in alignment with MSBA. Overall, these updates represent refinements in language, organization, and alignment more than substantive changes in district practice. Continuous improvement. I'd like to close by emphasizing that while we're
asking for approval of the handbook this evening, we don't view this as the end of the work. A student handbook is a living document. As we implement it throughout the school year, we continue to listen to feedback from students, families, staff, and administrators. When opportunities arise to improve
clarity, consistency, or usability, we'll bring those refinements forward for future revisions. We'll also continue to monitor updates to the MSBA association's model language, and when appropriate, recommend revisions that keep our handbook aligned with current legal
guidance and best practices. Tonight's action represents an important milestone, but our commitment to continuous improvement and to maintaining alignment with the evolving guidance continue well beyond this evening. Happy to answer any questions you may have. Board members,
any questions or comments on the student handbook? Um, can we say something about the uh way that you've rewritten it to align with the language access plan in terms of we
we're trying to make the the language clearer. >> Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um the ver this version of the board will recall that we you uh reviewed um a language access plan that um commits to have all
of our documents in the most easily understandable format possible for the intended users. And in practical terms that aims at a fifth grade reading level uh including for documents that are for adults. And so one of the things that our communications team is doing, we
can't do every document at once, is revising the materials to reflect that. We're also doing a lot around translation and interpretation. And so this version of the handbook is a step in that direction um in terms of the uh
brevity of the language and the terminology that's utilized here. I don't actually want to suggest that it is fully reflective of that commitment, but um given that um [clears throat] this version of it uh needed to be completed soon enough to be in force for
tonight's vote, um there's still more that we can do, but it is one additional example of our commitment to continue on that in the years ahead. >> Director, >> yeah, I was really impressed with how
clear it was. Um, I appreciated too the um in the appendix that you provided policies that were mentioned and uh people could click on them and get to the policies. When you when you do that, you get to our whole policy
uh site. Some of them are a little bit out of order a little bit, but because it's electronic, I'm assuming that with time that's going to get fixed, too. >> But I I found it um I won't It was fascinating reading, but it was really
informative and it was really well written. So, thank you. It wasn't a novel, but it was good. Really good. >> Director, >> unfortunately, um, nobody in this room or outside of this room, aside from the parents involved, have control over
whether or not they read the handbook or not. But I would have really appreciated having had something like this when my kids were were going through school. Um, I think it could be very helpful, very good discussion between parents and students so that everybody knows exactly
what those expectations are even if they do it in small chunks. So, this is great. I think it's you you guys have done a fabulous job of putting it together. So, thank you. And can I I know in the past we used to
print them out, send them home. Can you speak a little to where this will eventually be housed and found and how we will let students and parents know there's a handbook you need to read? >> You can find that right on the district website and all of our schools will be communicating where it's located as
well. Um, in the event there's somebody who actually want a printed copy, they came here, I'd be make sure that they were able to get one as well. And because our uh website allows for translation into multiple languages, they would be able to in real time
translate the student handbook web page using the Google Translate function. >> Okay, that's great. Any other questions or comments, board members? When hearing none, I'll read the resolution. Be it resolved that the school board of Independent School District 535 does
hereby approve the 2026 27 student handbook. >> So moved. Second >> has been moved [clears throat] and seconded. All those in favor of the resolution say I. I. Opposed. The resolution has been approved. >> Thank you.
And for other business, uh the current version of the ABCD is available in this agenda item for reference. Upcoming agenda items include on August 11th, we will be having a study session um for monitoring of our schoolboard self-evaluation and our schoolboard goal
development for next year. And a reminder that that is from 4 to 6 p.m. On August 18th at our regular meeting, we will discuss schoolboard committee assignments for the next school year. We will have action on the 2026 2027 ABCD as well as uh we'll have action on the
schoolboard meeting dates we talked about tonight. and we will have a close session on the superintendent leadership evaluation. Uh reminder that these are draft um until we approve the agenda at the meeting. Are there any additional agenda items board members would like to
add for separate consideration? Hearing none, we'll move on to our meeting dates. We have um this August 11th meeting that is our next meeting study session that I mentioned was from 4 to 6:00 p.m. I'd like to let the community know that it
will not held in the boardroom. It will instead be held in room 26, which is on the lower level of this building because the boardroom will be in use that evening. Uh that also means that the meeting will not be livereamed or recorded, but the public is welcome to attend the meeting in person. We also
have three regular meetings coming up. August 18th at 5:30, September 1st at 5:30, and September 15th at 5:30 p.m. And all of those meetings are here in the boardroom. And hearing no other business, this meeting is adjourned at 7:37 p.m.
>> August 112.