e e the study session of The Independent School District 535 School Board is called to order at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday July 23rd 2024 in room 137 of the Edison building 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 present at this meeting are school board members superintendent Kent pel a non- voting ex officio member and assistant
school board clerk Miss Lori Sam Miss Sam would you please call the RO here here here at this time we offer the opportunity to say the Pledge of Allegiance flag United
States stand item 2.1 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 Rochester schools.org assembly this meeting is being live streamed on youtube.com isd535 and the recording of the meeting will also be posted following completion of the
meeting our first item is a focused topic the chief academic officer introduction and conversation superintendent pel thank you chair Nathan and board members this is a um exciting opportunity to have uh
intentionally unstructured conversation with Mona Perkins our new Chief academic officer as board members know well the ation uh two years ago now of the office of academics was um and is intended to focus our work on that priority that is
the number one priority for Rochester Public Schools which is the academic success of all still uh children and that office has had many um uh creating that office has had many aspects um perhaps the biggest of which initially was bringing together general education
and special education and multilingual learner services in the same umbrella which was uh a gap in our school system previous and under dru's leadership we made some significant progress on on that bridging in particular but much
much exciting work remains to be done and so uh you briefly got a chance to meet Mona um uh at the Schoolboard meeting but not to have a conversation and so what I've asked her to do is just take a bit of time to introduce herself and then for us to move into um a bit of
a conversation we know those other items on your agenda tonight around um the work that we are beginning to see and that she's beginning to see in her early days in Rochester Public Schools um the one final thing I'll say is that as I um as board members know for almost six months since Dr abu's
resignation I've been standing in and Jackie Peterson has been helping me in providing some supervision for the office of academics and I've learned a ton and will continue to remain very engaged in that work one of the things that uh after Mona was the enthusiastic choice of our interview selection
process people um in particular in her now office were excited about her coming and every once in a while someone would say well we're waiting until Mona gets here to find out what her vision is of something and in fact um one of the things I said um then and I think has
continued now is that in fact the work Mona has come to lead is neither her vision or my vision or anyone's Vision it's what's in the Strategic plan and so that really has been the starting point what's exciting is that in the first days of her leadership here she's
already bringing fresh eyes to the challenge that you know well and so lots of continuity but also change um that are there so let me just turn it over and um as um Kathy and Julie and I talked about this in exec we intentionally decided not to have you
know a set of discussions and and this conversation can linger as uh long or as briefly as the chair decides but we have not prepared PowerPoints or anything like that um and just an opportunity to get to know this new colleague so thank
you welcome and let's jump in thank you it has been um probably the most fun few weeks um professionally that I've ever had the transition here has been fantastic the welcome has been beyond warm like that
um like it's been it's been wonderful um one of the things I think is important that I'd like to share with you guys is like my personal story because I think my personal story really has shaped me as a leader
and um big part of that is my family moved here from overseas when I was four so English is not my first language um and I went through the St Paul Public Schools as an El student and as did my my sisters um and the schools there
played a huge part in our entire family structure my mom didn't speak any English at all my dad worked a lot he was a pharmacist and his pharmacy license didn't transfer when we first moved here he eventually became the first person in the state of Minnesota
to take the equivalency exam um in pass which was amazing um but they relied a lot on the school and put a lot of trust in the school and and and that matters when people send their children to us
trusting us to take care of them and do the best we can with them is really really important and that's what that's what my family did receive when we came they helped the St Paul schools helped my Mom and Dad learn how to navigate a system they actually ended up hiring my
mom she recently retired from the same Elementary School we went to um and that just has res resonated with me all through my career in education in the I just it's not something I take lightly
everybody wants um the schools to love their kids push and support their kids um and advocate for them and that that's what I feel like we're we just need to be feier as advocates for for the kids um part of
what brought me here is the Strategic plan because the work that we're doing here is the work it is the right work the extra focus on literacy is not something to be taken rightly I think that is critical for all of our kids
that's a big part of the equity work just across the board um so I just I felt like the match was was right um and that probably has something to do with why it's Felt So Good C it's just been great so I'm really
really excited about uh about the work the challenges don't um I don't get stressed by them there's challenges in everything that we do if there aren't any challenges the work isn't um that's what makes it meaningful and whatever
and it and knowing that what's at stake is like these little kids that come to us like it's we have to put in the work so yeah that's my story and how about just a little bit on your professional trajectory too even
though we did share um yeah sure so I took a slightly alternate route to get to education um I started thinking when I was in St Paul schools I was in a program a stem program in high school and we partnered with 3m and I thought oh this I loved it loved science and
math I was like I am going to be a chemical engineer that did not happen um I ended up getting randomly a pargal degree and worked at a law firm for about five years um and then said okay
if I stay in law I need to become a lawyer but I don't want to stay in law so I'm not going to become a lawyer so I went back and got uh got a degree in organizational management and Communications and was still like at 26 was still a little like I'm not really sure what I want to do and I thought
back to my experiences and thought I'm going to try teaching and I became a middle school math teacher and the rest is history I absolutely fell in love with the with the job um worked as a teacher for about
six and a half years and um um felt I just felt like for the first few years all I saw was the walls inside my room and the kids that came in and then I started seeing the system and I was like okay it's time to impact um the
system a little bit bigger and so I got my admin license um and served as a secondary assistant principal for two years and then um moved into the elementary got my world rocked a little bit and was there for 12 years at the
elementary level really really had to dig in to learning about the science of reading reading instruction how to support teachers in in that Journey because I had never taught a reading lesson I've done secondary math um and the last few years I started
I could see what was happening when I was in my classroom like okay now I'm I'm seeing the bigger system and so I knew it was time to get to look at more of a system level um and now I'm working on my my PhD at the U and and at policy and Leadership so
that's that part's important too but just that family piece was that's where my heart they're both critical board members any questions comments Dr Marvin well first we are so glad you're here um I we've been waiting for you and I don't think we knew that
but I'm so we're so glad you're here secondly your um your career uh trajectory is really interesting we have a lot of students graduating from high school who are hyper fixated on they have to know what they're going to do and how they're going to do it and the
path has to be clear I think you're a great role model that you you can make different choices but what would you say to kids today um to encourage them to think about going into the teaching field
because you've done some different things but what's better I don't mean to make this judge well it is judgmental what's better about teaching than some of the other jobs she's a retired teacher just so that wasn't where I thought your
question was going to go well so answer the other one then no no no it's okay um so I have my oldest daughter is an occupational therapist she's 29 she's kind of on her on her path um my 21-year-old is following more in my path
in the sense of not really sure what he wants to do that's where I thought you you were going to go and I thought you were G to ask me what we what I tell him and what I tell him is it you don't have to pick a career for the rest of your life find what you love because what what is really really
important um is that you love what you do because then it's not a job um and no matter how hard the work is you get up in the morning and it's not it's not cliche I mean I know my hus husband worked at um at at the Ford plant for
many years and to see him switch careers I saw a difference in like he went from a job to a career and it's because the heart is in it so I think that's one thing that about teaching that you can't um you can't underestimate I mean it
is your heart is in it uh 100% And it's hard work and you need to really use your brain it's both so um and then my youngest is a teacher is going to school to be a teacher and we knew that she knew from the time she was little I have a feeling my son will end up in that heading down that road but he's got to
find his path himself but I don't think there's anything um from my experience more rewarding but that's because that's where my heart is I'm sure my daughter who's an occupational therapist would tell you that that's the way so heart's
got to be in it for sure director Garcia thank you and I appreciate you sharing both your personal and professional story with us um I think what I'm curious about is to hear more um so your job as Chief
academic officer and I think that there are a lot of people in the community who are wondering why we focus on things outside of academics outside of the Reading Writing arithmetic as I put it and so given your personal experience I'm wondering how you see your office
as doing beyond the academic but within the scope of your work if that makes sense so knowing that schools aren't just a place where kids come to learn their ABCs but there are so many other things that our family our families rely on us for and what that might look like
in your office like how do you imagine that coming to light in your role and what what would that sort of look like and I say that also letting you know like this is safe space because all of us are wanting to do that work um and obviously the school does it a little bit differently maybe than the different
roles um that are here today but I think I'm just I'm always curious to know what people's um what people's reaction to that would be or how you see that kind of showing up in your in your office so I think the first thing is we have to when we're
thinking about the kids humans are are not onedimensional right so um Reading Writing math that's all that's all really really really important um um and you got to tap into everything else
I think about one of the one of the things I love to do I had no idea I even liked it until I was a required course in high school which was sewing um I just had to take it and I was like oh my God this is something I
like and I'm good at it if I if that would have never been offered to me I wouldn't have known um I think it's really important to tap into people's Sparks and figure out what it is that they really love and drives them and I I
think for kids you have that starts with exposure because they don't know um and I I think the school this is just one part of the answer but I think the school is a place that we can we can do that because so many things have changed
over time like with in order to access enrichment opportunities all that stuff happens out outside school it doesn't have to we can we can partner with the community and bring a lot of that stuff in so that kids so we can level the playing field it doesn't matter what neighborhood you
live in or how much money your parents make experiences here can be really enriching and and there really um just a lot offered so that kids can get exposed and see what is it that I really love
and what am I passionate about um as they get older and it'll change but you just you don't know until you have that experience the question about what we can what like the Partnerships with families and how we
provide that um collaboration and partnership that is specific to the community that we live in right so it's not for me to say this is what this is what this community needs we have to be able to listen and here and um and and
then partner accordingly I can give you some examples of things I've done done as a building principle where um you know I've gone from having families that didn't have access to a washer and dryer and I went from washing their kids'
clothes to having the mom just come in they went to come on in and we we'll pick you up with the their van and you can come in and use our facilities to okay the kids don't have access to um enriching after school programs we provided basketball programs created um
like theater programs within the school staff by by the school staff I mean in that case tapped into my sewing skills and made their their costums myself um but it just kind of depends on what the community needs one Community needed uh
food food was a there was high level of food insecurity partnered with local organizations to do a popup um Food Shelf once a month in our building that that really just focused on our um our staff we I mean our our small community
and then that was as a building leader but then tapping into other buildings and saying hey these resources are out there is it a need it's not a need in every building um but then you you tap into that and kind of expand it as needed but you have to really hear the
relationships with the community is critical to hear what it is that they need and then partnering there's Partnerships are so important parents are so important the community there's so many people out there and so many different ways that we can partner and
and uh like provide amazing experiences for the kids and their families thank you Dr Cook um well uh yeah welcome to uh echo my colleagues here really excited that you're here um we um are
are on a path to uh prioritizing literacy and implementing tiered supports um there is is I'm I'm sure you've you're already aware of there's a lot of work going on there there's a a
lot um happening excited to have your leadership and I I just think it's it is really important because the schools do so much and we have so many um so many ways of uh collaborating with
our families and and providing diverse opportunities for our students to pursue their interests to really have an office like yours or your office um to focus on the academic piece because um the providing high quality
evidence-based uh reading instruction is how we address racial inequities it is how we address inequities in neurodiversity in socioeconomic outcomes um and it is the way that we honor our students by having high expectations and
providing them with the very best uh educational resources and curriculum that we can and teachers that are equipped to apply that curriculum and are well supported to do it so um we've talked a lot about that at the board table um it's literacy whenever I hear
that I just sort of can't contain myself I'm excited about it and it it isn't it isn't just because I I can't wait to uh get a phonics lesson or something it's because literacy is the very first thing
that impacts the way that our students feel about themselves so when I think about literacy and the importance of Science of reading I think about the self-confidence of a first grader who is only going to be in first grade one year and by the time they get to second grade
and third grade if they aren't getting those skills that confidence can be shattered so it is it is so so important it's not the it's not the whole game and we're continuing to provide resources to meet needs for students as they get beyond that but that early literacy
piece is just something that I'm terribly excited about really glad that you're here and can't wait to support you I agree it's a it's a non-negotiable piece that just has to be spoken from a the math person I mean
I I I remember as I was learning about it all when I went through the mines principal Academy I don't know how many years ago my um my action learning project was on sh supports in our building and I remember carrying around about a thousand pages of research in my
bag at all times because I'm like I saw that in an article somewhere like I you had yes and we have to we have to support the teachers to get um to get the kids reading at grade level absolutely yeah that is I agree it's nonnegotiable
well I'll add my welcome I'm fortunate to have been able to have some conversations with you already and I'm so excited that your welcome um has been smooth um and warm here um because I think uh director Marvin's right we've been waiting and we're we're glad you're
here um I'm curious your experience as a building principal in implementing the science of reading and supporting your teachers um the board is a few steps removed from the work that the teachers are doing but the the burden to be on them right now they're they're taking
the training right now they're looking at this new curriculum that we're implementing so how can we a few steps removed from their everyday work as a board best support um that work as we Implement um the react in our literacy this
year oh that's a good question have to answer it now yeah yeah question as you're doing the work yeah yeah yeah it it's a heavy lift and it is um it's not like they you go through the
training and the training is really just part one because the implementation of what you learned is so critical and you need support as you're going through that because a lot of this was new for a lot of teachers and it's not that's not
unique to Rochester Teachers like it's just across the board remember my first year as a Elementary principal thinking Elementary teachers know how to teach reading and I was shocked to find out that they did not
and I thought all right let's remove all shame from that and let's go on the journey together to figure it out because we are where we are but it doesn't have to be where we stay so let's come up with the plan and keep it moving so that the kids can get what they need so I don't think there's any
teacher out there doesn't want that for it up I want to uh one of the things I think that the board has done and can do um besides helping us pay for that new curriculum and the PD and all that is
supporting the structural change that in many ways lies ahead of us so one of the things that um mon I'd love you to share with the board is what we you and I were chatting about earlier today around around a potential because you haven't been in
our schools yet when there's kids there a potential Insight that you may be having about some of how our elementary schools are scheduled tied to literacy and getting kids the interventions that they need and um as as my wife who was an
elementary and middle school principal regularly reminds me I've never built a master schedule therefore I've never done anything truly hard in my life um she means that actually when she says that um but for you in the early conversations with some of our
elementary you know staff in this building principles and others um for me I was starting to see it kind of a light bulb as you were essentially saying that if you want to really schedule an elementary school to be sure that all kids are getting needing the interventions they need and by extension
a middle school and a high school but let's stick with the level that you just spent 12 years leading you literally have to lay out that entire schedule so that you're look looking at the entire schedule in a comprehensive way and one hypothesis again to be tested in the
fall as as staff our back is that we may not have been scheduling our elementary schools with that um entire um Panorama uh uh Upfront for our leaders as they try and identify those times for intervention can you kind of walk the
board I know we're pulling way down this is a board that likes being in the weeds a bit and then they come back up uh to make the policy decisions but kind of connect that question because if you ask any teacher or principal or ESP in this District what's your most precious resource time will be at top three you
know well of course because it's not unlimited um so the often This Is Not Unusual elementaries are scheduled you do it in an Excel spreadsheet they're in separate tabs we
do our lunch schedule in one tab um maybe our specialist schedule in another tab but they don't necessarily lay them all over each other but they do in their mind because you have to see if this person has specialists at 11 o'
they can't have lunch at 11 o' but once you start adding more tabs and now you're adding intervention time and if you don't if you can't see it the whole picture completely it's hard to know if that was the time it
also becomes hard to know um if I'm getting too far in the weeds tell me so like I created a a a sample schedule where I said okay I'm going to block out 45 minutes for specialist it's not they're not always 45 minutes sometimes they're 30 but 45
is the max so I know we'll just block it out that way then I'm going to block out lunches now I'm going to add where I think an intervention time will go so I plugged it in and just to find what you mean by an intervention time um small tier two interventions we're going to do small group reading focused very
specifically on the skill it's really important that that's scheduled across the grade level so that we can share staff and add additional staff so now if there's three of us teaching second
grade I if in my class I might have six different skills happening I can't get to six groups in 30 minutes and you might have you know that many well if I take the kids that have the same exact skill need in all three of our classes
now I can have have that be the focus you're just able to really drill down and get kids what they need um just maximizing your time and your staff and then if you have extra esps if you have extra reading interventionists or whatever they push into that great level
during that same time so now you have more groups happening okay well I've got my time scheduled but when I looked at I just did this the other day this is what I noticed that for one of the grades my fake grade I said oo above intervention
time I only have a 50 minute block open because I'm looking at the whole master schedule if I move this I could actually give them 60 minutes and they could get a full um core reading or core math done
in there otherwise they're going to have to split their time time so I'm I'm creating the master schedule with their individual schedule in mind and I thought well wait a minute we are adding part of our instructional minutes is 60 Minutes of WT wisdom 30 minutes of small
group instruction so I said what if I did 90 minutes and I staggered where the small group was so teacher a would have small group first then teach cor Whitten and wisdom
teacher B would have it last so now you have 30 minutes up here 30 minutes down here you have a 30 minute block in the middle that if I wanted an interventionist I could have intervention beef at a different grade during that time so that intervention interventionist is going to support
teacher a for 30 minutes go to tier 2 intervention to support a different grade come back to teacher B and it's all tier one and tier two in interventions right because the more you push into tier one the less you're
trying to intervene your way out you can't intervene your way out if you have too many kids needing intervention and that I that's where we're at so we have to figure out how to support the tier one and continue to do the tier two interventions and the scheduling
is that is critical it is on our um is a key initiative to really have it in place for next year year I still think we can do part A lot of it this year so it's not too late school year hasn't started we can always change it so we can always make
adjustments yeah well thank you because the devil really is in those details in so many ways oh 100% 100% and and and I think the urgency with which you talked about that tier one core instruction because we can't intervene our way out of these issues is a really powerful
Insight but I think we've we've seen it we see it in our data and uh now we're going to um have kind of the next wave of our efforts to address it so board members well thank you thanks for subjecting yourselves to the grilling
we're not that bad oh you guys agreed thank you thanks thanks our next item is 4.1 it's a monitoring item and it is our Schoolboard committee assignments for the 2024 25 school year so you'll remember that our policies outline the
standing committees and the Committees and Lea on organizations that board members serve on um tonight we're going to review the Committees that meet during the school year and try to reach consensus on which school board member is going to be assigned to these committees and so I can make the official appointments um you all
submitted um preferences and those are available in the agenda item so it appears we only have one request um by a board member for the insurance trust committee the Rochester Public School Foundation the Minnesota State High School league and the student school
board so if any other board member wants to change their mind and claim any of those four committees speak now or forever hold your piece or till next year hold your piece or till next year hold your piece right hearing none we have two committies that only have two members
but we could add an additional board member if anyone is interested so the community engagement is Don Barlo and myself and the legislative committee is Karen mclin and Julie Workman so if there's any MERS who want to add their names to that you can let us know
that director Marvin question um is two board members are two board members enough for these do you think or not I would be um I think I sent in some of my top choices and then also but I'd be happy to be on
other ones too I'd be happy to be on the community engagement committee okay I think especially for Community engagement s to have um critical mass of board numbers I won't be critical but I would provide
some man director Garcia mine was more of a question because I won't be there through the whole of the academic year so I guess um I mean I'm happy to go back onto the legislative committee but I also don't want to take that space for
somebody who might want that for like a full year either so I feel like you can just put me wherever other people aren't going to be thank you for whoever chose the trust that was me CH well personally I would say given
your experience in the legislative committee and the fact that you present a legislative agenda to the board to approve before the end of the year which would be before the end of your term if you just wanted to serve on it until the end of your term and then we could appoint um a board member in January
you're comfortable with that great thank you thank you so now we have the three um where we have more than one board member interested in serving we have the parent family engagement the community curriculum and instruction advisory committee and the reconsideration
committee um so we have three board members who served on those uh in 2023 24 and we have some board members who are new interested in serving on them um so one way to do it is to say it's good
good time to rotate out you know we should we should have new people or we can have people Express their desires take their name off the list add their name to the list director Mar question about those two also um IID
suggested and it may be that that we need to have both of them but I suggested that the person or two who are on the community curriculum and instruction advisory committee could also be on the reconsideration committee which didn't meet this year but I mean the one deals strictly with curriculum
and that's what the reconsideration committee reconsiders is curriculum well the the I don't know if that makes it better or worse pardon the reconsideration committee um also reconsiders uh Library collection
materials but but yeah I mean it's there there's a relationship there and the community curriculum instruction advisor committee meets regularly there the reconsideration committee would only meet if there's you need it a reconsideration brought up right so you could be on the reconsideration
committee and never be called to service so I don't I don't know if there's a statute that we need both but it seems to me if we had two or even three people on that combined committee that that might
work well the policy says that it's one board member on the reconsideration committee oh so well but then one of those people on community curriculum and instruction and are you saying rotate the
membership at the community curriculum and instruction advisory committee what at each and I should have looked ahead of time we can have more than one person on that committee I think policy says it's one board member too for cc stupid
policy who makes these policies these polies I have a I have a question for Jean so is your thought that somebody who's already on the whatever that committee was ccic I guess we used to call it that's what we're talking
about um would be in a better position to actually evaluate any materials that are being brought to the reconsideration committee well it it's just that you know the CCI
does meet regularly and there's a pretty good group of people who show up and generally they separate into two groups the general education and special education and it seems to me that it as a board we would be well served if we had a couple of people board members
going to those meetings and then it would be easy for one of them who has been involved in community discussions and staff discussions about what we're teaching our kids what materials we're using that that would be someone who would
have a better background in terms of materials that might be reconsidered for that other committee I'm I'm not I don't want to confuse things too much here but I'm just thinking that might be more efficient it doesn't help us narrow it down so so I'm can I ask a question to
help narrow um so I answered the question from the chair related to what I would be interested in in expanding my knowledge about board involvement but I did not consider the practicality of when these meetings happen and how that could impact my choices um so can we
learn more about that or or are those things flexible I don't know you know daytime evening so the parent and family engagement committee is usually a Tuesday once a month and Dr B are they all virtual some are virtual but maybe
occas overwhelming majority are virtual and they're 10:00 in the morning for about an hour um so those during the day um the community curriculum instruction advisory committee has been we meet around 4:30 um it's around an early
dinner time and then till about six about couple hours and then the reconsideration committee met during the day special we have reced it's going to be I
think there's been agreement there need to be regular meetings even if there's no request for reconsideration because then the committee just attributes good so there'll be regular meetings timing TVD um and certainly if there is a reconsideration process then that will
go here I think that um this summer is not a great indicator of what time is going to be most useful for people um but my sense is that committee can be flexible it'll probably be virtual during the day for some meetings but like they wanted people want to
physically look at a book this summer so people made a made time to do that during the day and director M can I follow the ccic 430 once a month no it's only once
a quarter once a quarter oh I would probably have to take myself out of consideration for the parent family engagement primarily because it's on Tuesday which is any other conversations about membership on the other two committees well
uh if at some point in the future there's a uh change to the CCI to make it two members I would continue to be interested um but as between the curriculum instruction advisory committee and the
reconsideration committee I would prefer to remain on the reconsideration Committee in case that makes a difference director um so another question for you Dr Marvin since you were the only one on that committee this year how did you split yourself
between special ed and General Ed when you not well so two people would be helpful on that committee I think so and I assume that's how it's going to work going forward but I I don't know so we really could we say we really need two people people on that it would be a
whole lot easier it's been it's been really well attended with u quite a bit of community involvement um teachers coming but also uh parents and and others who are interested I don't think we would be violating any sort of policy with the
ccic um especially because of the structure that it brought in the special education piece um but um so Justin can I have you serve on the reconsideration committee and then have director Marvin and mclin
serve on ccic sounds great awesome and then uh that just leaves for reconsideration we still have um two people we've got director mcfuckin and director cook um I would suggest that that be director
cook I love toering y'all are so good all right so it looks like we have our assignments um we've got in addition to what was on the agenda we're adding director Marvin to community engagement director Garcia to
legislative uh direct barer will serve on parent and family engagement uh Dr Marvin and director mlin will serve on the ccic and director cook will serve on reconsideration the other thing I just wanted to ask in terms of process for our committees we do have that standing
agenda item that the board member committee um reports and I would I was wondering if it would help um for us to put in the agenda item what we expect a board member might report on based on what we know about the meeting dates so
for example Don for parent and family engagement we know what the meeting schedule is so when you see the agenda for the Tuesday meeting after the most recent parent and family engagement meeting I could put report from parent family engagement to kind of remind us
that we're we we really do want board members to give a report of what happened at the last meeting does that help you in just giving you a little nudge it's always virtual and it's always on the weekend um and we get
together as needed as opposed to well probably as we go into the the fall it'll be more regularly scheduled but not regular so regular that it's going to be the same place in the month we're a little bit more dictated by the
legislative session than else but after a meeting you could always let the vice chair know or she can tell herself yeah um that we had a meeting if I tell myself I'm more likely to remember it to But to answer your question I think it would be useful to have it scheduled uh
for those meetings or committees that have uh a regular meeting day in time all right let's move on to our second monitoring item which is the school board evaluation for 2023
24 um so we do this once a year and it helps us to develop our goals and for the sixth time the school board used the Minnesota School Board Association framework for government Sur governance survey as the tool for our self- evaluation the results are in the um
agenda item in in assembly the school board self-evaluation results reflect the collective responses of the board team which includes the superintendent and board members these results build a profile of the board's work in five standards of board practice proven to
support student achievement and those are conduct and ethics Vision structure accountability advocacy and communication each board member answered each board member and a superintendent answered 71 questions with a rating of always most of the time some of the time
never or don't know so I'm going to use the guidance from msba to kind of help us walk through and and uh structure our conversation so I'm referring to the colored uh bar charts that were're provided as a summary um does anybody
want to start with anything that they see in the summary results that stands out and um maybe what you might think about how this compares to previous years or I'll let you pull it up while you're
thinking about it I I don't know if anybody else did this I I kept track of which what my answers were for each of those questions so I mean on the ones that are like the 11% yellow some of the time like was there any particular question because
there are a lot of them um in there that they you know a school board member had an issue or a concern or a question about well thanks for bringing that up because that was one of the things I was going to focus on that um if you looked across
all the standards um our answers said that we were meeting the standards always or most of the time between 88 98% of the time so the only two sections where we had a sum of the time that Rose above 10% was in conduct and ethics and
in advocacy and communication so that would be a to build on your question are there anything in those two areas in particular in conduct and ethics and advoc advocacy and communication that you felt might be a reflection of a sum
of the time as opposed to um and always or most of the time and the questions are in assmbly if you need to go back and review some of the questions in those areas we can help with that well yeah
standard three had a never yeah we're talk about oh Dr Marvin as you were saying for standard five um engage local community and represent the values and expectations they hold for their schools I think for us that's been um it's
really important it's been challenging because we know clearly that we have uh people here good people who don't hold the same values and expectations and when you are representing the entire
Community um I think they're going to be certain people who are going to be unhappy with some of the decisions that we uh we make I know that um that this
board is very serious about listening to our community and um how important it is for them to have a voice and be involved but we have some sort of disperate um expectations I think and I I think we need to continue
to listen and um and still make some hard decisions director Garcia I just the math always is not mathing for me like what is 2% of seven you know that's like
1.5 persons and so that that is always just confusing to me like what that means um I appreciate uh where there has been growth in the
always always answers um and for the ones in my mind that stay like somewhat stagnant like standard five you know how do we get this switch over I think that that's always the thing that I'm sort of
thinking about um and I appreciate that there were make sure I'm looking at this correctly uh that there weren't any I don't knows because I feel like that was a I was an I don't know a bunch of those years
um so nothing stood out to me except for that whatever that 3% of never is um but I agree I think with Jean the advocacy and communication um
peace and on the conduct conduct and ethics because I think it's you know even though we feel maybe like we're cohesive there are clearly things about individual board members that sort of deviate from like the group Norm um and maybe we need to do
more work with each other and figuring that out you know or are those answers most of the time and always as a group but that individual board member maybe doesn't have access to or is engaging in the the types of things that
that that that would be so if you're not on community engagement and you're not part of like the parent group maybe you're not seeing the way that we Advocate and communicate um unless you're like out doing other things like
in in events and stuff so I have yeah for me it's always the math like I just get confused the math piece because that doesn't look like it not right and the conclusion um from the
msba staff was that these were very positive results and they seem to to demonstrate a a general um satisfaction um and consistency across board members responses let's talk about
the never um for for a for a second because um we didn't have any never last year and we had um 3% of the answers submitted never in structure create conditions districtwide for student and staff success so I did ask msba to let
me know which questions those uh reflected so either one person or multiple individuals um she doesn't know if it's it was the same person who answered never for each statement so there were
four questions that were uh answered as never policies uh for evaluating staff on Student Success process that includes community and parent involvement in selecting curriculum adopting a budget that supports quality staff development and
resources for curriculum implementation and policies that require rigorous and regular evaluation of curriculum and supplemental materials to ensure their alignment with State and District standards so I'm wondering for those people who maybe didn't answer never
because I don't want anybody to sort of reveal right they don't want to if they were the never answers um what would what would help you to answer this question as um not never
like what what what information would you need or demonstration would you need to say that we're doing it some most or always I inter question do you have the numbers for those you say oh for those questions yes um they are
and the associated standard are number polies 35 process that commes uh Community engagement
um 40 adopting a budget is 39 and policies that require rigorous and regular evaluation curriculum is 41 and for let's see
35 40 39 they're all under structure yep correct and for all the all of the questions except for 39 um in the guiding document that we
provided you we did list the policies that were associated with each of those questions so yeah thank you can you read the comment then from the MSP about how this so they said for
each of those questions one person said never but does not know if it was the same person who said never for all four questions or if it was four different people or three in one two and two one person said never to 35 39 40 41 yeah it
might not have been the same person so for I mean for me if if somebody doesn't feel like they have enough information to answer that or if they read the policies and they didn't see a Sometimes some of the time most of
the time are um always then what Beyond policies maybe do you need to to see um I'm nervous that this was me we need to I know I was doing this very quickly and was momentarily very
distracted by another issue and as I read all four of these these are all four areas where I think we have heavy lifting to do um and and ret I think it was literally one of those cases of completing a survey too quickly and clicking on the extreme end of the scale
um I am now maybe one of you is sitting here thinking no that wasn't you but I am 90% sure that when I look at 34 policies that ensure hiring and retention of Highly quality highly qualified staff that was one of them
right yeah yeah I think I was thinking about well we don't ensure that hiring you know that how can you ensure that similarly um have a budget that supports staff development and cation well we couldn't have bought our reading or
science ccum if we didn't have covid money um and um uh we have definitely Gene was just describing the progress we made last year with ccic on curriculum but we haven't at least since I've had been had had the kind of robust process for community and parent involvement in
curriculum I mean even the great work we did with literacy was teacher involvement which I think is still great but we need to enhance that um and then that that ongoing evaluation of curriculum and supplemental materials to assure they align with standards that is all work that lies ahead of us I in
retrospect would not have ranked us never uh with those so I'm um I'm suest off the category in other words yeah I'm suggesting that I was it was a measurement error on my part um I'm really pretty sure that that was the case but I know I didn't intend that uh
never well but I think it's also good to point out that there wer 9% in some of the time and I and I I'm confident that I answered that's what I some of those questions as some of the time too for the very same things that you said the policy does have uh Community curriculum
and instruction committee but we know that we haven't implemented it as robustly as we could to follow all the curriculum um I think we know a little bit about the evaluation of staff and the class tool but it's even one of the goals for your team this year to look at
how that might be improved so um I think it's a reflection that we may have the policies but it's not necessarily implemented to the extent of robustness that we've want director M well I sort of an add- on Mia kulpa I read question
35 this is one of those right yep yes have policies for evaluating staff based on Student Success as I mean back in the day you evaluated teachers based on their students test scores I mean that was that No Child
Left Behind and it was a disaster so I'm thinking no we don't do that I was reading that as student test score your students test scores determine whether or not you keep your job so I just think it's a I I think
it's a um confusing question that's good to knowe because we've had this conversation before about some of the questions but I also remember looking at this and thinking at a bare minimum it's
not ever never because you're literally listing a policy but going into the policy I think maybe that for me is the difficulty is like for 35 have policies for evaluating staff based on Student Success there are two policies listed if I went into those and thought well I
guess we're doing that and so yes we would always be doing that because these policies exist but there's a heavier lift there like we still need to do better and so I think that's where this is like an imperfect instrument because I do want to reflect like yes we always
as a technicality but are we doing it in a way that like aligns with our values or whatever it's possible well I remember that we decided at least my my memory of this from last year was like let's stop changing the goal poost on us too and we've all been
doing the same assessment for basically there was a gap but since I've been on the board um and either we choose to keep this but adjust the words to say exactly the thing that we mean or maybe we choose a different
tool maybe somebody makes sure that superintendent is not answered never to or we agree when we are reviewing the tool um because the the phrase is to what extent does our board so if our
responsibility as a board is to have the policy then question 35 we have that policy now is there a different question that is about our monitoring role or our you know uh oversight role to ensure
that then maybe that question would be answered differently but in in its purest form do we have a policy yes but then what do we say about how well we're implementing at are monitoring implementation
right I I feel like we've been good like again of talking about that cohesion of we're we're a fairly cohesive board and perhaps this is now the time to like we've done the 101 stuff like we're we're sure that we have the policies like you could probably put a link in
there to our long-term facilities plan or whatever um and like now we've recognize like because of our strategic plan and because of of work from the policy committee at a minimum we are meeting these standards as identified by like
the state like what are we supposed to do but now we want to shift to more of that implementation and practice like yes the policy is there is it what we want it to be y or I get stuck when I'm answering these I get stuck on a little bit of semantics at times because I understand we don't
want to use the same word every time but not being on the policy committee sometimes it says policy sometimes it says process I don't dig in enough deeply to know if those are different or not um and also when there's an and in these questions I always get stuck because sometimes it's um that sometimes
lowers my score if I don't feel it's comprehensive 100% both that if they're yeah that I don't like hands on these I want them to be two questions it's going to be two things right did we have to split your your V director work so um I
answer number 47 um some of the time 47 seek public input during the budget process and I wasn't sure exactly what that looks like for this board I know we have the
community budget committee now and I'm assuming at some point we'll get a report from them but I don't know if that would um really address this particular question question we also have time in I mean we have a study
session we had what three study sessions on the budget there was ample time for the public to respond but we didn't I don't consider that really seeking like we're going to go out and you
know search search the woods to have somebody come in and and give their their public input um so I guess it's I mean it's my problem in how I in how I read the question and it's also where is that public input most beneficial in the
development of the budget because the superintendent and team right did go out and give presentations on the budget y while we were in our earlier meetings of deliberation so that and they brought that feedback when they were giving us
presentations on the budget so it it's sort of where where does where does the feedback where does it fit right is it better that it's early in the budget development I think it has to be I mean if if we've gotten to the final day like this is the day we're going to vote on
the budget we can't go back and say well we could but it's really messy at that point to go back and say but what about this and what about this and what about this and I was on the board at a time when stuff like that actually happened and it drove everybody crazy well didn't
drive them crazy but everybody else drove them crazy so okay thank you anything else Marvin just one more quickly on standard for holding the school district accountable for meeting student learning expectations um I
think that due to the superintendent and the staff and the regular reports at Schoolboard meetings about um Student Success and challenges and uh and uh the um dis IPL reports I think that's become
much more transparent you know we or the information is provided to the board this is what we're doing this is where we're struggling this is these are the changes we need to make and I think that um I'm I'm really glad to see that that the last couple years has been in a
really positive trend uh that we're taking that very seriously and making sure that it's not just a conversation it's we're using data to look at how kids are doing and how we as a district are doing and I appreciate the
superintendent's responsiveness but also my colleagues continued uh requests for the kinds of things that we put on the ABCD when we plan it out for the year um to think about um what will help you not just in
your decision making but as I I appreciate the superintendent say sometimes we dive into the weeds but we come back up but I think sometimes those dive into the weeds help our decision making governance um activities at the board better because we've had that that
background information one of the other areas where there were no somebody mentioned this before um nobody ranked don't know which I think is is is a good thing um but just to to know that we can stay on that
track uh one of the ways that we do try to keep the board informed is is um through the executive committee so you've given the executive committee the responsibility of kind of guiding development of the ABCD draft with the superintendent every year updating it um
as we develop the agendas and then giving you the weekly updates are you finding that serviceable for you are there any other methods of communication that would help you not ever to answer any of these questions don't know
I think the combination of that plus the policies on our questions were very helpful to alleviate the concern that someone might not know board member questions before the meetings no I'm sorry that when we did
the questions for the survey okay the reference to the policies yeah if you had any question it was easy to find can I Workman yeah I just have a comment to make um being part of the executive committee um so I hear
everything that's discussed and I have to say that Kathy does a just a super fantastic job of grasping the meat of it and how she expresses it and we do have some conversation about you know how how
do we work with this with the board and I don't know how you put it together so SU L but it's great and I really appreciate it needs to be more succinct to let me know I will I just wanted to Echo what um Dr
murin said too that not only the last couple years but I'm reflecting back on the first summer would have taken the survey would be 2021 compared to now is just a nightly difference I think it's really refreshing and reflective of the work that the board St the bar bar graphs really do look
encouraging for us I think we should be encouraged by that so if we can finish the evaluation I think that's a good lead into our goals for 2024 25 so that would be item
5.1 um so we set our goals for ourselves every year and first thing we'll do is just to review our goals from 2023 24 and the progress we made and that summary is in the agenda item so you'll see in goal one uh which which was
improving board communication with stakeholders um we had an initiative to hold Community listening sessions and we completed every every initiative except for the fact that we had three listening sessions instead of four and internally
um because I know Dr Workman um was managing a lot of the scheduling that fourth one just didn't get scheduled because of uh schedule conflicts with the targeted organizations that we were trying to schedule that fourth one with so we just
going to ran out of time in the school year to schedule it yeah I mean I had contacted that particular group and it was like well we can do it in the month of May and then it starts to roll into it and it's like you know I it's
not um for goal one initiatives two and three are really um reflective of ongoing work that we um do or Our intention is to continue to do it at our board meetings one is the meter in the Greet and um one is the
um the way we speak at meetings the way we ask questions at meetings the way we um ask ask questions before meetings to clarify for ourselves and for others um so I don't know that we could ever say if that's complete um
initiative uh for was to establish a plan for board members to visit all school buildings and programs and while we created the infrastructure for that by creating an online form that people could track um we didn't really fill it out but I do know that board members did
visit buildings and did visit programs because people reported on it regularly during um during the meetings I just don't think we accomplished that um intentional let's make sure we cover every school and every program so that no one feels like they haven't been
visited or they haven't been um U seen by by a board member um and then the last one uh the board will support implementation of the Strategic plan by providing adequate financial resources and making informed decision on strategic plan initiatives I
think confidently we can say that we did complete that by passing a budget and um focusing on redesign of the transportation system which morphed into the um attendance option redesign and um allocating Financial Resources to
support the Strategic plan uh director Nathan yes um or rather chair Nathan uh I'm curious I'm thinking that it would probably be useful for me possibly others if we were
to uh consider establishing a um list of schools and programs um and and maybe since we are thinking about our School Board goals uh
maybe even if you will targeting uh visits September we're going to these schools these programs that way we're certain to ensure that we cover all uh doesn't necessarily have to be a
particular um assignment for a specific board members but if we know we're we're looking at uh visiting these following schools during the month uh and potentially these programs just a thought I'm not uh necessarily married
to it to where if there's not a second I won't mind well you would have to been there to know what I'm talking about yeah um I'll just say we would be pleased to support that process if you chose to do it I've asked Lori to put
together something similar for me okay this next year where I I got into all of our schools and programs um but I didn't like you achieve my full aspirations in that area and so we're going to calendar we're going to checklist it out year in a way that I
think is similar and we certainly could put together a process if you chose to do this is probably just my issue but I'll mention it anyway and then I'll give me some ideas about how to fix it is we get invitations oh come visit us
anytime or come visit my classroom anytime and I have contacted teacher teachers individually who have said that to me make sure that the principal knows that's their responsibility and then I go and visit but for me to come and say
oh okay um let's see I don't know what's happening at Sunset Terrace this week but you know I have this time open next week on Thursday I think I'll go visit well what am I going to visit number one and number two is is that going to really screw up staff time who are then
going to feel that they need to do something like take me on a tour or or or whatever so knowing what those programs are or things like that would be really helpful or you know sometimes we've gotten notes from principles saying this is going on in our building
and we'd like you to come if you can that's really helpful too and we've also heard in the past that when board members show up sometimes it makes people nervous so I'm wondering if some sort of communication from us about our intentions you know that we have set
ourselves a goal for this this year to do these visits and it's Our intention to and however we want to Define it um so that they understand why we're coming and I wonder if I I think having
a structure makes sense you know some sort of a schedule but I'm wondering if this should come from U building leadership you know we're really interested in being in your building where and when what what should we be at now there're going to be things that
come up during the year concerts and uh culture fairs and whatever that we just show up because they're open to families and whatever but I I'm thinking um you miss Workman as you said just sort of showing up and saying I want to see your
building um are there people places or programs in each building that they would really like the board to know about and then get those on the calendar as far in advanced as possible and D tailing with what director Barlo
said um we could we could organize it by a time period maybe a quarter and send out that in send out that in in information to a building leadership and say when between
September and December would it be convenient for a board member to visit they could set a date and time and we could put those date and times on a central Google doc and then we could claim one so Karen could be able to plan ahead and say I know it has to be during
the day I need to clear my schedule right same with Justin so that we we know when we're being invited and then we could share in the assignments and I guess we would have to decide how many school board members can visit something
on you know a program or whatever on any individual day I mean I think think you know seven board members would be overwhelming but it would also not be violating open meeting law at all because we're simply there to observe and we don't make decisions um because
some events you know it really is nice to have the whole board at but like Jean said earlier a lot of those are more they're more family oriented or public oriented or you know like the culture fairs I'd ask the superintendent
for his feedback on that because I agree director Workman for the ones that are open to the public and you know having seven of us there is like having other members of the community but in terms of these individual visits I don't know um I think it depends on what's
useful to you as board members and while I greatly appreciate the each of your desires not to disrupt teaching and learning and things you are the governance leaders of this district and ultimately your votes determine a lot so you should be self interested here I
mean you should also be but I know you will do it in a way that is respectful but you should be saying this is useful to me where I to suggest something and this is what I'm planning to make a focus of my visits next year it's their skip plan they've made the plan so
you're not coming in and you're not doing it as a a inspection but you're saying tell me how it's going with your Skip tell me what's in your you know we have all of them on the website we you could glance at it where you go and then you can say tell me how it's going with
your plans around you know fill in the blank um and that way you're being you're giving them some direction because one of the things that in some ways is hardest for them is to figure out what they can make up like well I don't know what I want to well the board wants to know about your skip plan how's
it going they don't need a dog and pony show they don't want you to divert a lot of Staff time to that but they want to know how your improvement efforts are going and I think that would be very positiv receiv received by many of our schools um uh and it would help us move
our Improvement efforts forward um so that's one option and I think the idea of saying what are times that work for you building principal to have board members come out to hear about how things are going with your Skip and they could identify the times and then I
think as you suggested we could put the times out for you and you could sign up for slots um I think that could be a very positive thing I understand the event piece like we're having a showcase or everything I would see that as separate from this
like that's also very positive but that you could do anytime you know I I have been enthused about the times all of you have been in schools and that I have not had a single instance in the three years I've been here of a board member going
in and this does happen in other locations I hear about from other superintendents going in and individually providing frankly direction for a principal on that has never happened here and I have no concerns about it not since you've been here not
since I've been here so you know uh that would be my recommendation is that their visits to hear about the progress of their skip the challenges the issues and then separate from that are times that you're going out to a concert something like that which we also can help
facilitate but that this other idea would be something we could calendar out and I think to director Bar's suggestion we could have a checklist and make sure you got to all the schools you know collectively or individually I would appreciate that like direction or that
narrow not narrowness but if parameter because yeah because I feel like I've shown up too and they're just sort of like what do you want to see and I'm like I don't know can I I languages music you know yeah I just sort of make I'm like whatever is least inconvenient
for you um but it there's a very different feel for when we were all going around and um shadowing a student versus we're showing up for like a skip thing and so I feel like the clearer the boundaries and the parameters are for us
and if they're like inviting us to see a thing and they have already decided what that's going to be and I don't have to show up and be like I want this and this and this um I think that it feels like I'm being a better guest or like a more appropriate guest and maybe they're you
know they ask us like oh they know Julie and Jess were like music people and so they want to kind of show us their band room whatever like that's fine um but I always want to show up with a purpose but I worry sometimes like if I walked in by myself obviously with your blessing to say like I want to see skip
an action and they're just like a but if they know that that's kind of what you're shepherding us towards then it feels a little bit less aggressive on our part um even if we say it real nice with a smile like I think people get a little nervous how how do you all feel
about having like two board going in at the same time is that would that be okay think I would be Dr Marvin and I think the specificity is good and and to your point Dr pel that um you don't show up
just because it's an event you know a concert or whatever but when we shadowed teachers to me that was the most authentic kind of visit because you got to see people in action you got to talk to them afterwards you got to see the
kids and it wasn't about having anybody think I've got to do a presentation and my my concern about saying we want to hear about your skip is that does that mean they're going to really have to and I honestly I'd rather be be
watching uh either administrators in action working with kids or teachers in action with students rather than listening to another presentation about skips but I think it should be part of this how's this aspect you know show us
one thing you're doing that's working for kids or one thing that's really being challenging for kids and which classroom and which person or what administrator um one of the things I thought that worked really well was shadowing with a
student yeah and when I went to Mayo High School it was really great because they made sure that my student played the violin in Orchestra oh you know and I really appreciated that and I mean it was great to to go through part of a day of a schedule with this kid and he was
excited to have me here the teachers were but they knew I wasn't there to spy on them or take notes or whatever but just to experience what the day was I learned a lot of stuff too I've forgotten it since then but you know it
was that was one of the best experiences well just briefly one thing Jean to your suggestion we could say what you want to see is skiping action yes yes because I do think one of the biggest challenges our schools face it's one of the biggest challenges I face I'm
sure we'll talk about it in my review in a minute is focus because the needs are constant and there's new things coming in all the time all the time and it is so hard not to say whoops we're going that way so for board members to come in and kind of say um we won't we don't
want to have a presentation in your conference room we' like to see some of the initiatives in your skip whether it's literacy or family engagement or mental health or have a conversation exactly EXA exactly so we'd like it to be about your your priorities so that we are going back and
saying yep these are the priorities you've named we want to you know we want to support you and them we want to hear about it but it's not I you're right we we we should give the direction like no PowerPoints action I like that I think I'm actually going to get the Powerpoints on my busit it's actually
division of labor that I think is appropriate because I think we are a point in our Evolution with Improvement where I can and should go in and say yes please I want to hear from more than just Troy priy about what we're doing at Mayo and I'm seeing this in your data
and I'm seeing that data I think for you the I want to see it in in action is aligned but different you know it's not it's not the same thing so um and I also think that if we're consistently focusing on the skips in action then
when we come back to the board um and that's another conversation we can have is how do how do the two board members who go then share their experiences with the rest of the board or at a board meeting will be using the same language we'll be using the same
structure of of topics that will help the community I think to understand more when we talk about these skips we'll help the ambassadors for saying what does that look like in a school that they may not have kids at or they may not have kids at any school but
they're hearing the work that's actually happening on the ground it's not theoretical as you said it's what does it look like exactly yeah I fully support the idea of including it in the executive committee report as a Google link I think that
that's helped us with other things like the meeting greeters and that kind of thing just to be reminded that there's a way to do it because that was completely lost on me okay um I also don't want to forget the programs because I think one of the things that I really in
appreciated in the last year was going to the technology department and thanking them that that was something I did not know what to expect and it was very gratifying to hear from them because I gathered they didn't experience that a lot no that's that's great and that was that was um yeah that
was great impactful for me that you know first of all thanking them for what they did um but I kind of see when I'm some time limited things like that that are kind of the one-offs but the big things are the things I'd like to be able to focus on so being able to know that I mean a day in a
lunchroom or we helping to serve might not be a bad thing I mean the governor did it yeah I was just thinking so would would it be appropriate to report on these then during the board committee updates under
information and Outreach that's what I so it would be not just committees but we've all been doing that anyway like I had the opportunity to go to such and such okay okay I think this is an
implementable plan does anybody else have any other goal areas that they want to talk about because I um I I guess I I wanted to mention that think the meeting greeter has been very successful and well received um and
I I I would I would like um well I I I think we should continue it for sure and I I think we should really uh recommit ourselves to being intentional about greeting every single person because there are plenty of people that um that
come to disagree vehemently with uh um things that they perceive the school board is associated with um and I think it is helpful to humanize that experience and allow them to shake the hand or meet the eye of an actual human
being and um who is friendly and welcoming um so anyway I think that's something that we do that is really quite helpful um and I'm just want to keep doing it is it enough to have one
board member is it manageable um I feel like myself uh planning on doing that every 7th time or so is a is a pretty um doable thing I could probably increase
that to every three and a half but um I I think one is probably enough when we have when we have really packed meetings and especially if people are getting here 30 minutes in advance or something one is probably not enough but and maybe we could just put it on the role of that
nights greeter to maybe come and recruit a second one and say I'm not going to get through all these people can you come help I do have a question that are people arriving at five or earlier that I was a little bit I was the greeter last time and I know we had our picture thing but I felt like I messed up they
were already inside when are the doors open five five so they wouldn't be in here before five and depending on what the meeting's about people might not show up until 25 after or I have a feeling people were
right here at 5 and we were not ready yet but that was our off well nothing actually U prevents anyone of us from U coming out and greeting uh members of the public so there is the one who may volunteer and say it's my official
assignment for tonight but I know I tend to naturally migrate out here and chitchat with people and so uh we all should be encouraged to do that because I as Justin just mentioned I think
people appreciate being seen heard value so we I don't think we need to include this as a goal for this year I think we'll just continue it as an ongoing practice um in the executive update and accessing it through that
document okay um so as far as goals I think we have one already for the uh School visits um um I would like to propose continuing a uh the goal of the community listening sessions um we got really great feedback
from those um under repes uh those organizations that were affiliated with underrepresented communities that we intentionally reached out to them and set up events with them um in
conversations about how those went um one of the things we've heard from our family engagement liaison and those organizations is um they would be happy to invite board members to their events so that it could focus on um the
needs and the conversations they wanted to have about their communities um we still have the list of the contacts we have the organizations we weren't able to reach this year we could go back and uh for example with aula and umoa woman um
but we don't have to talk out all those details tonight but if that's a goal area we wanted to do again we could do that for next year yeah I think the Comfort level for everybody is a lot higher if it's we are at their event here's the school board you can come and
talk to the school board they're going to be here but there are other things going on because for some groups they might not want to show up or why should I just come to talk to the school board when that's all there
is okay so and and rather than reaching out and calling them but let a lot of these groups know hey would you like the school board to come and you know when are these events yeah that that's a good point what we heard from some of these organizations
is that they also organized other tables and other information from other community resources and it it um it fits it gave those it gave their members a reason to come to the event the the event we were
just part of the agenda not the whole agenda we're not that PO so we can use some of the goals and initi or the goals and initiatives in this area and um complete them uh should we have another Target of
four one each quarter that makes sense yeah and then um can I ask a question about just I hadn't thought through this perhaps completely um included in that goal is students were any of our initiatives
directed to students in particular we do not but well we did this year meet with students from all the high schools on a regular basis and all the middle schools on a regular basis for the student
school board right so the question is whether outside of student School Board is the board looking for a it just see it's to me it seems impossible to have a single student listening session
that doesn't get to the depth that U student School Board does because they meet monthly right yeah and superintendent is working with others too about what student School Board may look like in the future and that could be part of that
conversation is how do we make sure that we really are including student boys um in the most um meaningful way and what we're doing now may not be it I guess my point is that it's included in the goal but it didn't really reflect in the initiative so whether there's an
initiative that can Encompass what Dr Mar saying I think would be something to consider um and then um another goal area a new one that I was thinking of was uh thinking about how we can
improve comments to the board at our board meetings um I don't want to get into any recommendations tonight but there are um there's been obviously a lot of conversation about different components of comments to the board how we do it
how it's done in other districts um and I don't know if the board would like um there to be a um evaluation of what some other options might be um for our comments to the
board process um and whether the board would like to receive some information and recommendations if you're happy with how the comments the board are going or if that's an area of goal we want to take on the well I would definitely be
open to um hearing different options I uh think back on the times when I appeared before the school board as a member of the community uh and probably the first time I actually thought there was going to be uh some reciprocation in terms
of response back to my comments and I was kind of Taken AB that all I received were a set of eyes staring back at me so if any of these um other ideas would uh allow for some level of well I don't
want you know uh predetermine what what may be available but uh I would definitely be interested in if minimally just seeing what other districts are doing well I I mean I really appreciate it when a speaker brings us material or gives us a printed version of their
comments um since you know we're not recording it at all and you have to rely on somebody else's recording if you really want to see what the comments were um you know so I appreciate having some paper in front of me when it's relevant and director Workman
brings up a something that's been on my mind is um we've intentionally decided not to broadcast the comments to the board and I'm still in support of of that but um there are some other districts that audio record the comments to the board both for the use of board
members who might want to listen to it because written comments were not provided um and then they they make it available just as an audio recording on the dist website for um I think it I think in those districts they have said
it benefits both parties because no one can say what was said or what wasn't said or that comments weren't allowed to be spoken that they were cut off by the board or Etc so it um it's another area of changing comments to the board that
we could look at in terms of what other districts are doing that we could consider adop Madam chair is that something that the executive committee might bring to the board for discussion or would that come through Community engagement
bringing We could decide that who wanted to take that could it be something at a future study session um right whatever information whoever pulled the information together we would probably have it at study session because it would require changes
to policy 206 and proced mostly procedure 206a so it would have to be conversation the board has so that's what I'm hearing we have some subgroup of people to be determined um working on um looking at some other
options based on other practices of other districts and we have a lot of resources on those and then bringing it back to the board for a study session good okay and then um the only other piece I had was on the
chain of communication um I know that we provide that chain of communication in our student handbook we provide it on our uh Schoolboard website but I think we all have experienced a number of times where
stakeholders either don't know where to go or jump to the the bottom of the chain which we are actually not the top the bottom um to address their issues and we talked a little bit the superintendent and the executive
committee have talked of what additional information or guidance could we give to board members so that they can appropriately direct some of those um Communications um what information could we give to our
stakeholders as to how to find the right person to go to before they just decide to um email the board um it may just be a problem for me because as board chair I have to answer so many of the emails or for them on but I
didn't know how much of a concern it was of other board members to try to establish a more um structured protocol and information for that I have a question yeah for the superintendent um in past years we would
get information like that and we would shuttle it to you and you decide where it needs to go would you become comfortable if we had a chain of communication where the actual board member or the board chair was deciding where it needed to go as long as you
were copied on it because I know your time is very valuable and when everything's a priority nothing is a priority to quote can't pick out um so i' I'd like a little bit of input from you if you don't mind um yeah I appreciate you asking I I
would say for now um the the I would be comfortable with that if it's to a Cabinet member and copying me when you get to out to the other I mean as Jess was saying in the context of visits you know you all have a a role that that is
appropriately different and and unique and so some people can take a what you think is a reg relative question as a Direction so but the cabinet I have no concern I I it helps me to make sure I'm copied so I'm connecting the dots across those things so I would say at that
level um I was thinking too of just in responding to an email like you know you have you need to talk to the classroom teacher or you need to you know where do they start on the chain or you know
because then we have to I feel like we might have to decide where in the chain they need to be sometimes it's really obvious that they haven't gone through steps yeah I I ENC that is I mean that's kind of getting into the governance or the
management issues yeah I mean if if the board chooses to make this a goal or even if the full board doesn't I'd be glad I've I've been experimenting with this and trying to get better and better at it over three years and I eventually answer every message every phone call and I
have learned the hard way I have to ask respectfully did you talk to blank and at at first I was reluctant to that because it seemed like why are you bothering me I don't care well no I've gotten some language that actually explain to them why I'm ask I know it
may seem that I'm the shortest distance to resolving your issue but in fact um and a lot of times they'll say oh really okay um so we could provide the board with some sort of you know Direction on that I think if you're naming an individual it's really helpful to either
refer it to a Cabinet member or just to refer it to me you know well I like uh for instance the inquiry we received regarding the lead um we knew it wasn't an issue for us uh
ultimately well you were I think copied on that as well but uh I think um it it may not be the problem that we may imagine it to be I think there are times and I get that as board chair responding on behalf of the
board uh I'm not sure though we can develop a policy or guideline that says to the public only contact us if or this is what you contact as about they're going to contact us because we're elected officials we are at their if you
will disposal to whatever and uh so but I I think um this is a good conversation to have and are there resources that would help you in the in the event that that email
comes with only Don Bar's name on it you don't know whether it got sent to the rest of us are there additional resources that would help you to know who to send that email to oh well since you mentioned my name what I tend to do in those instances is depending on
the subject matter I will probably refer uh to I to whom I think it is appropriate or you've given us that chain of command list can also you know kind of look at that and say this is the person you should reach out to I I know when I've gotten individual email
sometimes it's actually from people I know already but other times it's like well they are they sending it to all of us typing the emails individually or you know are they just targeting one person
but sometimes I think it's good if um say if I'm being called about a particular issue especially if it's more than once that I my I think how I would handle it initially would be to forward
that email to the board chair and say hey did you get this email too because I figured if Kathy got it then probably everybody did or you know I just might casually ask another another board member but um
otherwise everybody else is kind of kept out of the loop if we don't know that there's an issue that might really apply to all of us but only one board member is being contacted I didn't say that well at all
yeah but you know how I talk in C so is this a goal area that the board is interested in seeing development of for example a resource that board members could use to better Direct
Communications from stakeholders I mean I think I think you're right like I'm not talking about like a decision tree you know if a then B then C but more of Dr Marvin you going to say something no no I just thought we
already had that well if everybody thinks they have it then we're then we're good I I mean I suppose it could be more specific you know although we've got that information too like which cabinet member um has a jurisdiction or
expertise in which area but beyond that I think it's you start with the teacher and you go to the principal and then you we have that chart I yeah I mean I would say yes about email specifically but then you
know when things are like those of us who use social media regularly and we get sent direct messages like as a group every time you're on there I'm like good that's this is not a me problem's gonna deal with it but I think that that's hard is because sometimes it'll start coming out
sideways like we tell them hey this is you know a will reference thing can you reach out to him or I can forward the email um but then so now they don't email us they just talk to us on X or Instagram or whatever and so to me that's when it gets a little sticky and I haven't done
I did this for my Facebook which I don't even use anymore but the Instagram and the Twitter accounts I don't have the automatic response that some other politicians do and maybe I should do that which is basically like I'm not monitoring this like don't talk to me um because sometimes I do talk to people
you know they'll send something and so I feel like I feel like we have the resource versus it like in the email realm or even when those sorts of things happen but I do think it gets sticky when it's out in the world you know you're
shopping and they're like hey I want I was wondering if you have time to talk about a thing at Century and I'm like I'm literally checking out try trying to pay for my groceries sure send me an email I'm really glad you mentioned social media because I mean that's a topic we have haven't
visited Revisited for a while um as part of a study session or maybe it doesn't need to be that that complex but you know how do we respond or do we respond at all on social media and because once you're a Schoolboard member that's how
people say see you even though you say I'm not speaking as a school board member right now I'm speaking as me but if it has something to do with the school district they're still hearing school board and if I say it's just me individually they're thinking well you
really are speaking for the board and so maybe there's just more communication we need to make I don't know how with the public about um how we don't make decisions alone how our decisions are made at the board table in public and our board
decisions are made after we have had all the information and discussion that we feel we need to have in order to vote on something so people will say to me well how are you going to vote on such and such and I say well you know I have some ideas but you'll know when I vote
because I have not been to the final meeting where we will have discussion I might get new information that will send me in a little bit different direction so I think we have to be really really careful about how we handle some of that
I'm not saying that we aren't but it's something I'm really aware of all the time and it came up this came up at a recent msba copy conversation where uh someone asked if msba was going to provide some guidance on social media use for board members because there have
been some changes in um some Court law or Supreme Court case I think actually um and so they said that they're going to be issuing some guidance so could we wait to see Absolut we might
absolutely anything else any other goal areas we want to add to our work list anything Financial because last year we did have uh goals where we um committed to uh providing adequate
financial resources and making informed decision on strategic plan initiatives and this year we have before us the redesign or rethinking rethinking funding um which I think as a superintendent has said is going to be a
paradigm shift in how we think about funding um I don't know if there's any initiatives or commitments that we want to make in our goals to how we might manage that process as board members anybody has any thoughts on
that as a member of that committee I would suggest we include that next year once we know more okay yeah I I think I think you will be presented with the possibility of a paradigm shift but ultimately you'll have to make that decision so I see it more as
implementation rather than anything right now I do have something about the last it took me the process um the chain of communication can we have that accessible at what I would expect would probably be some community events in the
next few months even if the community event isn't about that but just to have that piece of paper available to us because I don't carry it around I could have a nice QR code maybe yes that would be help um I did also have one more reflection
on goal one thinking again about it was slow for me to process about how to involve students could we consider perhaps a pilot at one of our U listening sessions to include some sort of student involvement whether it be elementary middle or high school
students um parents bringing their kids and if we want to engage with them and perhaps a little bit of a different conversation we would priv I think we could talk to family engagement and maybe even our student
School Board to see and I would I would think it would probably be best targeted to a topic let's for example not saying that but okay anything
else great so we'll write this up and share it with board members and then we will approve uh a formal set of goals at our August 6th meeting all right moving on to item 6.1 there were no questions submitted by
board members before the meeting our ABCD update is available in assembly are there any items a board member would like to bring forward for consideration on a future agenda hearing none we have upcoming board dates on August 6th uh remember that is
from 4: to 6:00 p.m um earlier to accommodate National Night Out August 20th at 5:30 a regular meeting September 10th at 5:30 a regular meeting and September 17th at 5:30 a study session and our next item in the agenda
is a Clos session for superintendent evaluation the next item on the agenda is a close session pursuant to Minnesota stat section 13 D5 subdivision 3B which allows the board to go into Clos session to evaluate the performance of an individual who is subject to its
Authority while in closed session the board will engage in a confidential discussion of the scheduled annual performance evaluation of superintendent Kent pel in addition pursuant to Minnesota statute section 13 d05 the board will summarize our conclusions regarding the evaluation at the August
6th meeting pursuant to the law I have cited will someone make a motion to go into close session so moved second has been moved and seconded to go into Clow session all in favor say I I I any opposed the board moves into close session at 7:22
p.m. e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e we had various like partner organization session at 9:39 pm. Clark mclin will you please read the list of people present in the Clos session she to think about it
thank you and hearing no other business this meeting is adjourned at 9:40 p.m. everybody thank you everybody e