Okay, good evening. It is Thursday, April 10th, 2025 at 6 p.m. We are at the District Service Center in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. We would like to acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the land of the Midawakatan Dakota people. Midawakatin means dwellers of the Spirit Lake. Our first item on the agenda is 1.0 roll call.
Dana. Oh, Dana, it'll be Sean tonight. Uh, Luis Hines, yes. Ryan Clark here. Sharon Vanlier here. Eric Tesmer here. Melinda Douls Simene
here. And Katie Schwarz here. Okay, on to our next item. 10 point or I'm just skipping the whole meeting. 2.0. Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand. Okay. 3.0 approval of the agenda. Can I get a motion to approve? Second.
Motion by Sharon, seconded by Simmyi. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Okay. On to 4.0. And that is our workshop items. We do have two this evening. 4.1 is teaching and learning
report on science. And that will be introduced by Kelly Jansen, assistant superintendent. All right. Thank you very much. Um I'm excited to introduce our teaching and learning services department here to to do this science report. As you recall, in December, we report on our annual comprehensive
achievement and civic readiness goals. And with that comes talking about strategies and um other student data that we use to achieve those goals. And so tonight we're going to provide an in-depth look at our K12 science. And this is the final of our teaching and learning reports for the year. And we
anticipate a similar cadence next year of a literacy report in the fall, a math report in the winter, and then a science report in I think we could say it's spring, right? Um in spring. So with that, I will turn it over to our teaching learning department. Thank you, Kelly. Good evening,
everybody. Uh we have an agenda here that we hope really gives you a comprehensive look at science at K12 in our school district. We're going to start by looking at the state standards uh and what we call our CIRC process and where we're at in that process. We're
going to look at student data, student achievement data, and then we're really going to look at the curriculum sequence that students uh progress through and uh look through the eyes of students. So, we'll have some videos in an elementary class setting and also a secondary class setting. So, we're excited to be here.
Before we start, I'd like to thank uh both Ian Bronson and Laura Larson and my colleague uh Arthur Williams and also the communications department for their work in collaborating on this presentation. They did a lot of work. So, really proud of this team.
Good evening everyone. Uh on this slide you can see uh our an example of the process that we go through um when going through our CIRC cycle and CIRC is the standards and instruction review cycle. Um since we're talking about science,
you can see the science um roll out through the year 2030. And this is based on the current MDE standards review cycle. And we use this to really have a thoughtful implementation of our science
resources. Uh Laura and Ian will talk we'll get into detail about this, but on this next slide, you'll see that our new science standards are based on three dimensions. Dimension one being science and engineering practices, dimension two, crosscutting concepts, and
dimension three, disciplinary core ideas. Here's an example of what standards look like for grades K through 8. Um, they are by grade level. So on the top you can see this is an example
of a fifth grade standard. Uh, for grades 9 through 12, you can see they are bundled together. So the example you see is 9th through 12th grade earth and space science. Okay. Thanks Arthur. So uh with some experience of doing some board
reports and workshop meetings like this, we thought we'll start with the data first. So there are three uh areas that we're going to report on for a student performance perspective and it's what we would call satellite data, right? It's highlevel snapshots of our student
performance. We know that our teachers are gathering and assessing and grading at the classroom level and understand progress at the classroom level. But this is really uh bigger picture data. So we're going to start with our MCA
data as you saw on the previous slide. uh MCA science. The MCA is taken in fifth, 8th grade and then at some point during high school. Um on the left hand side you can see so co schools our MCA science you can see for the 2024 23 24
school year um we had a proficiency rate of 41.7 and then that's broken down you can see from elementary, middle school and high school. On the right hand side of the slide, you will see um where we compare to state for elementary, middle
school, and high school. And then this shows our participation rate um for our um system of students participating in the MCA science. So as we navigate then to our preac
taken in 10th grade uh just maybe a pause on what does the preac offer us for data. Uh first of all we know that there's uh a lot of research to support just the experience of our students taking a standardized test. Uh whether it's the time the formatting the level
of questions it's really important um that they get an opportunity to do that before the ACT. It's also very predictive. There's high correlation between what students score in the preACT and what they will eventually score on the ACT. And it also provides us really valuable information to guide
instruction and how to support students between the preACT and the ACT when we're trying to make them college ready and hitting that benchmark. So, as we look at this data, the science uh benchmark score for college readiness is 20. uh in
24-25 we had 41.1% of our students uh hitting that benchmark. It certainly is trending in the right direction from 2324. Uh you might ask what does the benchmark being college ready mean? How
do how does um uh college board define that? Uh students that are 20 or above can apply scientific reasoning, interpret data, and understand uh scientific concepts. Um the other piece that I should mention
about the importance of preac is we know that test anxiety um is a very real thing. So for students having another opportunity to be able to be in that environment uh before even a higher stakes assessment like ACT that's very important to give that to them. Uh in
terms of participation rates, we have uh the last five years uh 83% as I always go to the right of the of the graph uh 83% of our students uh took the preac. Moving on to 11th grade. The
range of 11th grade is or sorry ACT is a 1 to 36. Uh the preac I should have mentioned is 1 to 35. That's the range for a top score. um five years of data here we were at
43% uh of our students uh that received or that met the benchmark of 23. Um there has been some conversation at the uh college board you might have heard of making the science component
optional. uh we as a district have said it's really important for us to maintain the science component of our ACT uh because we have such few so few uh uh data points as is between MCA and preACT
and ACT that we think it's really important that we keep that in there for the student experience but also um for to guide our own instruction and our own continual improvement. And then the final slide that we have here is uh a little bit about uh how we
rank against the uh the state in terms of meeting the benchmark. Uh and you can see that uh generally we are trending just above uh the the state in terms of that type of performance for our students. We do really look forward to
using uh the preac and the act data in um even more transformative ways. So for example, how do we uh use it in our uh professional learning communities? How can it get into that classroom level? Um is there an opportunity to use our preac
data to support students in an ACT academy? So actually using those results in a meaningful way to prepare our students um to see increases uh towards that college readiness benchmark. All right, now on to the fun stuff of
looking uh at science through the eyes of our students. And to do that, we have our two uh TLS supervisors. It is my honor to introduce uh Laura Larson, who serves as the TLS uh supervisor for elementary. Thanks, Arthur. Good evening, everyone.
I feel like I have the fun part here. I get to show you a little bit about what's going on in our elementary classrooms. So, we have this kind of broken into parts for you. So, you're going to see uh you've got two handouts in front of you. Uh you want to be on the elementary science uh side. There's a double-sided. You'll see secondary and
elementary. So, if you look to that elementary side, you'll you'll notice some language about anchor phenomenon, which gives you a nice definition of what we're talking about. So, our our elementary students really experience this launch with an anchor phenomenon, which you can I won't read it to you, but it is basically something that's
occurring in our natural world that we can use our science knowledge to sort of investigate or explain. And so the example you see on your screen here is um from matter to organisms. This um is a short video usually or an image that students see projected on the screen. Um it it's a hook usually. It's pretty
exciting. This one's about food webs. And um those guiding questions that you see on the right hand side of the video are what our teachers are using um to kind of have students think about and discuss um what they already know. our students come to us with so much curiosity and so much worldwide
knowledge uh that they bring in a lot of that content either. So, it's just sort of hooking them in uh with that anchor phenomenon and that that sort of launches us into our um our our science experiments. So, if you uh on the next slide here, you're going to get a little
snapshot just about three minutes of what our elementary classrooms actually look like in action. So, you'll see on your uh handout, there's some boxes that if you like to check boxes as you're as you're looking along here, uh those science and engineering practices are
visible throughout the uh videos uh for you to kind of follow along. No need to check boxes, but it's there for you if you like to check them. for one. So talk at your table. Why do you think that we would use? I think maybe so that the water um when
it comes down, it doesn't just stay only at the roots and overfill so that it can go to the bottom and start the um water cycle. We don't want to drown the plants, right? The seeds. We don't want to drown them. [Music]
What do you like about this? The experiment. I think the rocks will act as the accumulation. I love how to use the science term we learned yesterday. Let's give them all a whoosh. Ready?
All right. This is kind of fun. I say seeds. You say water. Seeds. Seeds. And then stop. Okay. How many seeds do you put in the dirt? Why are we We already put some in water. Why
we so in that quick snapshot you can see sort of two different classrooms across our district within the at different stages. We've got one kind of coming to that um hands-on uh building that mini ecosystem to wrap up all that they've learned throughout the science unit and then the other uh just in the initial
stages of testing out what do seeds actually need. So our elementary uh students experience the units you can see on the screen up above. Um we at the elementary level we cycle through all the areas of science and it spirals through all different grade levels. So kindergarten through fifth grade. uh
unlike our high school courses where it is one uh course, elementary they get to experience all of those science areas across the year. Um can head to the next slide. There we go. So the example you saw today was from fifth grade. It's that second unit from matter to
organisms. Um and so just different stages of of what's going on in the classroom. What I love to see is the hands-on component. kids are actually not not only reading and writing about science, but they have their hands in the dirt and got their hands on seeds and they're making observations and it's
um uh super engaging. You could tell from the video. So, uh switching over to our elementary staff, uh what this looks like for our teachers is really starting with those uh benchmarks that our state standards call out. So the example on the screen for you shows which benchmark is being addressed by both of these
classrooms uh to get at that uh bigger learning of um those guiding questions and and breaking go honestly going back to that anchor phenomenon on what do plants and animals need in order to live. Uh every unit starts with a story line at the elementary level. Um this
helps teachers to help uh guide students through a story or a process. And so each story line launches for not only teachers but also to guide our students. So that's our example of our unit story line for uh what ecosystems really need. Your second handout um really breaks
down that flowchart you see on the left hand side. This is uh where our teachers really do start. Um uh go back to that. There we go. Perfect. If we go back to that handout, this is a a really quick at a glance just a flowchart of what that unit is
going to look like uh across the entire unit. So looking at what is that anchor phenomenon, what are the concepts that we are um addressing within the learning and then also uh previewing and coming back to that unit project. So students uh not only see what it is that they're
they're working toward but then they have an opportunity to build that hands-on learning as well. And then again by the end of the unit u having students checking in are they able to answer those guiding questions that have been guiding them throughout the entire unit. And then usually there is a project with um a final piece which for
this one was that that mini ecosystem. Uh one final piece that our teachers also have available to them as they plan are looking at those same science and engineering practices that you have on your handout. So it it um really guides them in showing which lessons and which topics are are being
covered within science and engineering practices, those disciplinary core ideas and then which cra cross cutting concepts are being addressed within uh the various concepts that they're learning. So the example you saw today was uh from concept one really focusing in on those plant
needs. I think next up is our secondary example. All right. Well, uh good evening. I'm really excited. We're all We're really looking at that and then know that the the standards actually are sort of fit underneath each of those
substrands. Um and then remember as as Laura mentioned in elementary they cycle through each uh sort of core concept of earth and space science, life science and physical science which is inclusive of physics and chemistry when we get to a high school level uh every single
year. And then once we hit middle school we then focus on just the earth and space science in one entire year. And so you'll see that video that shows sixth grade. We'll have a seventh grade teacher talk to us and then we'll have eighth grade as well and then we have a
snippet of nth grade as well. So, um we'll jump in right now. So, while we set it up, feel feel free to jump in on your uh sheet. All right. So, one thing that's been working really well in seventh grade across the district is we decided to do
all of our common assessments in the form of CER, which is claim, evidence, reasoning. And I was just talking about how it's really applicable to any unit that we do, any essential question. The students make a claim about it. They back it up with evidence from all the labs or activities that we did. And then
they show reasoning to tie it all together. And it's really applicable to like science in general, but also specifically we target standards as a group of seventh grade. And we all are doing a CER. That's kind of our common assessment for each unit. Bam.
So, I say it's the opposite of each other because the winter solstice means that there is less sunlight and the summer the summer equinox has more sunlight. I'm not it's mostly on the bottom and it's not
angled towards the top and it's like hitting the top. It's below the equator, right? So that means the southern is having summer right now. So this is basically you're stating your claim. What you think causes seasons? Um
yesterday I changed this to hypothesis. By the way, yours says claim. This was your hypothesis. So if your hypothesis was supported, that is your claim. If it wasn't supported, come up with a claim that supports your evidence or your seasons change because first the earth that is away
from the sun gets the least amount of sunlight. When the earth rotates, the sun hits different spots. Um, kinetic energy is like when it's moving. Yeah. The movement. And then potential is when it has the possibility.
Yeah. Um, we're just saying like what uh station we're on, uh what object it is and the forms of energy that it's is and uh the energy transformations that we're observing about it. Okay, go ahead. So,
like when she pulls it back, that's potential energy and kinetic energy is passing through as the balls like hit back and forth. Um, we chose to create sand and this relates to our unit cuz right now we're talking about landforms and how they
formed and ours is mostly um depositional which is winds moving the sand grains around forming the dirt. All right. Well, thanks for watching. Hopefully, you caught some of the
phenomena in there. Hello. I'm struggling a little today. Bear with me. Hope you caught some of the phenomena in there and the topics. Uh, I get a kick out of watching the energy of the students and their engagement. One of the new really pushes for our new
science standards is using narrative defending based on evidence that you see in in a phenomenon or a topic or a research uh that you're doing and then articulating that to your peers or to the class. And hopefully you saw that multiple times developmentally
appropriate as we continue through the grades. And so it's fun to see in our elementary level, the students are writing and they're saying like, "Hey, what do we notice about what we're observing and you see that all the way through to our ninth graders in this case, and we see it all the way through uh all of our high school courses as
well." So, it's really fun to see the students engage in that dialogue and try to explain what's happening. So, hopefully you caught it, right? Uh it's about the summer and winter solstice. If you're paying close attention, I've had the opportunity to watch this several times. Uh, but what's fun is their their thinking was revised as they went
through that class. And it was really neat to see those students struggle with what is the solstice, how does that relate to seasons, and then they revised. Just know my little notes on the bottom there are just for your own. We're not going to walk through each one of them, but that's the science behind what's going on. Um, so we'll move on to life science. Uh, and and really Mr.
Olson gave a great articulation, a description of what claim, evidence, reasoning is. And so our teachers, it's really been neat to see our teachers across the district come back and say, how do we teach each particular phenomenon based on this claim, evidence, reasoning? And then of course
they start to sneak in that word of hypothesis, which some of us who are in in science recognize that word as well. So that really is what that claim is and how do you test that claim? So moving on to eighth grade, we looked at a roller coaster investigation. hard to see there and we didn't see it on the video, but
they do have the mathematical principles up of what is kinetic energy and what is potential energy. Um, so one half the mass times velocity squared is kinetic energy. And so those students are actually processing with that as well, getting out their calculators and calculating that based on how high their
marble starts. Um really a fun opportunity for those students to practice multiple times to see that they they were tasked with can their marble do a couple loop-de-loops in that and then also land safely in a cup without pushing the cup off the table. So some
complexity there making students revise that science engineering practice of we try something and then do it over. All right. All right. And then finally, ninth grade, they're looking at a national park presentation, and they use that as a springboard to say, how are certain things formed on our planet?
And so, we observe sand dunes. That was the what the girls were talking about in that particular project. How did those form? They form through deposition. And so, they have to investigate that and then be able to articulate. They present that to their peers and they have a choice of doing it as a poster or a
presentation or a talk to their peers. again using that narrative approach of how do we explain the science that we're seeing. All right, we'll jump to the next one. Oops, I mixed up my slides over here. No
worries. Um, so I just put in there the these are the eight substrands that we have and like where do you see those uh as we walk through those videos. So I just jot in there like which grades you would have seen those in there. So asking questions and defining problems. Hope you hopefully you saw that.
Planning and carrying out investigations. They were able to analyze the data that they got in class and then make a difference. Somehow it slid off a little bit on that one, but maybe it's on the next slide. We'll try it. We'll just skip past it. That's all right. Um so this this is where we go
back to once we jump into sixth grade. Students are in Earth and Space Science. Uh we utilize discovery education as sort of our core resource. And really what the teachers do, these are each the each of the phenomena that discovery ed has for us. But no, like for example, when they were looking at weather in the
seasons that really comes from the supertorm and dog sled racing, both of those talk about the different seasons. Then they use that as a springboard to talk about how do seasons work on the planet. And then that final one would have been looking at the rocket sled
because they're looking at energy and how that works. And so they'll use that rocket sled as a springboard and then they can talk about kinetic and potential energy. Then when we get to high school, the traditional pathway is we start now with earth and space science. Uh that was introduced a couple years ago. Uh
most students then move to biology and then the traditional path is they go into chemistry and that's their physical science. Students actually have the option of taking physical science for chemistry or in physics. But the traditional pathway is just going into chemistry. And then if we go to the next slide, really a lot of our high school
students have a lot of options as they move through high school. And so you can see here different options. No, this isn't supposed to be all the potential ways students go through high school. Uh so some students will take AP bio their junior year or maybe even their senior year, but these are possible pathways to
which they can go through. You'll notice the color there. Our IB program at Park, they sort of do a one-two punch when they do biology. So they'll do IB1 then IB2. Same thing with chemistry. And then AP, the AP classes usually stand alone. And know that that AP physics one and AP
physics 2, not all students do that. Some people take just AP physics. And then AP environmental science is offered at our online school as well. All right, that wraps up our sort of sneak peek at science. If you guys have any questions, any of us would be happy to answer them. Thank you. Anybody
have any questions? I have some questions. Um, so I guess we can just go kind of in reverse order. So, um, Ian, have we seen like you mentioned that in secondary we're using
this narrative focus for students, um, as they are understanding science. Have we seen a difference in comprehension? Maybe not in our district, but maybe do we know what that having a narrative focus does for students ability to comprehend the material?
Yeah, I uh we're jumping with the MCAs this year and that's part of why we backmapped to make sure we had our students in that. Um so we're really looking for that data this year. Uh I can speak anecdotally to a lot of the teachers saying, "Hey, my seventh
graders are grasping concepts faster because they practice this as sixth graders." Oh, okay. And so that's been a neat piece as I've worked with the science teachers as they recognize, hey, this is really working. And claim, evidence, reasoning is also used in English. And so the students are
starting to get like, oh, this is a way we think about acquiring knowledge. And so anecdotally, we have it seen and we're hoping that we'll see that those results on the MCA coming up. Okay. And then in terms of um you know, I'm looking at sort of the high school
pathway, right? And in terms of options that students have, um, you know, my kids took AP Chem and there's only like 20 or 25 kids at the high school in any given year who take that class, right? So what do we do for students or have we not figured this out yet for students if
they're if they with the addition of earth space earth and space in nth grade it feels like they don't get to take preap chem or prem whatever whatever the class is called um before they take AP chem um is there a way to ensure that all
students do have access to advanced content in all you know biochem and physics at each of our high schools or will we run into kind of enrollment issues um if they don't have enough years to to
get there? Yeah, that's that's a really good question. Can we go backwards one slide because it'll help us I think. Um so just uh yesterday I was actually meeting with the biology teachers and and there's a couple ways we address this. So one really the answer to your question is yes for both. um some of our
students will find a little bit of a squeeze and they'll have to make a choice of what do I do my senior year and so that's that's one challenge that they do have. Uh the other is we're encouraging students if they feel ready and prepared they can jump into those AP classes instead of taking sort of what
we would call like regular or core classes. Uh, and so our biology teachers yesterday were having a discussion of I think they had and I apologize I could look up the exact number for you but it's about 20 students that went from earth and space science directly to AP bio. Okay. And uh one of our teachers
was expressing of those students she said over half are actually really helping set the bar each test. Like they are really engaged and doing incredibly well in that class. So then I have some others that they're working really hard and so I'm helping them along and and they're they're successfully navigating
that class, but they're recognizing it's really a tough Okay. Um so that that's an option for them and then they can jump right to AP Chem. Most of them do do honors cam first and so it just changes their pathway a little bit. And so actually that brings up another point. So when we were talking about the
data and not all of our high schoolers are proficient and I know that the MCA you take in high school is for bio, right? And so if you've got these kids who are moving straight from Earth and Space to AP Bio, if you take AP Bio, you're not taking the MCAs. But if they are setting the bar in AP Bio, are are
biiocas then artificially depressed because we've got this group of kids who are not who who should be taking that class but are not taking that class and therefore we have fewer proficient kids because the a lot of the proficient kids are not eligible for the test. Yep.
Great question. Uh with the MCAs, uh you always take MCA reading as a 10th grader. When you are in biology, whatever biology you take in high school, you take the MCA. And so even if a student takes the AP bio, they take MCA, they take the MCA as well. So
hopefully those students are there. Um so they would still be counted, okay, as part of our our cohort of kids who take the the biology test. Even if a kid takes AP bio their senior year, they are enrolled in biology. they would sit for the MCA. Okay. Is that new or because
I've both my kids took AP bio and neither took the MCA that year that they took AP bio. And so, but they both took regular bio. Yeah. And that and that's what happens. If you take regular bio already, you're tested then and then you don't have to retest when you take bio again. Okay. But if it's your first time through biology, then we would have them
test. Okay. Um and then Okay. Well, Melinda has a question and so I don't want to ask I don't want to ask any questions she might have. I'll come back because I have plenty more. You probably have this one, too. So, I just have a question. So, you showed us the um MCA optouts and
you gave us an idea of like what the participation rates were, but I'm wondering if we can get a better idea of like the population of the optouts. Yeah, we can certainly Sorry, thank you. We can certainly bring back that information. We would need to study it a
little bit, but we we could probably come back with that. Would that be of interest? Yes, please. Yes. Um, yeah. Yeah, I mean I think just to see like are if it's a certain group of kids who's always opting out of the MCAs
and if they're I think what I don't want to speak for Melinda, but I think what Melinda's probably interested in also is are the same are the kids who are opting out kids who are likely to be proficient or kids who are likely to be not proficient or some combination thereof or is it totally
random or whatever, right? But just kind of to get a better understanding of what our scores would look like with or without when these kids are added back into the cohort, if that makes sense. Yes. And I think we're looking currently at ways to be a little bit more innovative to make sure that those participation rates increase by
embedding opportunities to take the MCA during the day. Um, so that should help. Um, I also anticipated that same sort of question around the preac and who's not taking the preac because there's 17% there and I anticipated that question
and that we'd have to come back with who who is a part of that 17% and we can get you that information. Yeah, that actually was one of my other questions especially because I know for the preac, a lot of those 10th graders who are opting out are choosing to take the PSAT. Yes. Instead. Yes. And
so if you're taking the PSAT, it's usually because you're trying to get a head start on like the National Merit stuff. And so are those kids different from do they have are is there some difference in who is opting out versus not opting out? I guess we could we
could study that. That would be great. Um and then with the MCA scores and the um and the ACT, can we see or do we know what are the areas where students aren't proficient? Right? Because if there's 40 40 or 50% who are proficient and 40 or
50% who are and I know that there's a bunch of like subtopics within each of those. So do we know are there certain subtopics where kids are more likely to be proficient or less likely to be proficient? Do we know
it? Again, we can look up those substrands and we can report it all at the same time. Um, you guys, it is really unfortunate that I have a high school junior who's going to take the ACT on April 22nd and so we have been talking about the ACT a lot at home and so I'm very sorry for all of my I think
as Ian mentioned too though, the new MCAs are this year. So we wouldn't have any of that strand data for the new the new standard MCA is going to be this year. So we can certainly pull strand data from previous years. Um you know the MCAs do give us quite a bit of information when we dive into them and
look at our kiddos. So we can we can look that up. And then for the standards that the MCA or the standards that the state set, do they also set the benchmark too or is the benchmark our interpretation of how we're going to teach to the standard like the benchmark that was on the slide? Yeah, the benchmark language
is the state's language. States language. Okay. Yes. Okay. Um, that was it. Those were my my last one was what is driving the proficiency score. But if that's part of what we'll be getting out of the data this year. I just have a clarifying question mark. You had mentioned that the MCAs are
going to be offered during the day. Aren't they already taken during the school day? We have specific testing days at the high school if you recall on the calendar. So, I believe it's the Wednesday before the admin break where um we do some of the testing and so and
some students are asynchronous learning and so we're having some conversations about participation rates since we've gone to that model versus having it like the morning of a day and then they go into other classes. Um logistically those are difficult when you have a 2,000 student high school to figure out.
Um but the you know the administrators kind of brought it forward like gosh our participation rates have gone down since we've had this special testing day. So let's let's talk about what can we do different. So so when we do the ACT then do we get higher participation
because it's on a Tuesday or like it's just on a regular school day or do we is it the same sort of stuff as we see with the MCAs? I think I ICT my assumption is I think our participation rate's a little higher because I think it's a higher stakes test. I think it means more for kids. I think they know what
they use it for. Um so um it's an opportunity to take a test that would normally they would have to pay for. So I but I don't know that to be fact that it is higher but that's what I would assume that that's why that participation rate is higher. And that is one that is really difficult with the
parameters around the testing requirements like five feet away and all of the things that we have to do. Um that would be really difficult to have every kid in school because we need so many rooms for our kids who are testing. So but that Wednesday before break is when we do our preac
um or MCA science or m or reading or so those are the ones we're we're talking about. Okay. Any other questions? Yeah, I got one. Um so for for the MCA data that indicates proficient versus not
proficient um for each individual student what what is the score or percentage or whatever that they're required to obtain I guess in in the area of science um to be considered proficient kind of like what when Mark mentioned
like 23 was the threshold for ACT and you know um usually Usually it's that 50. So they're it's the so if it's a fifth grader the score would be 550 is kind of that meets meets. There's kids that waiver on other side of that that
are partially meets and partially does not meet but the score of 50. Now to translate that to 50% I don't think is an accurate um like to say it's 50% but the score is 550. Um, and it just depends on the MCA in terms of what that
actually means of how many it's correct. So, it's not really based it's not really based on, you know, I guess just to make it simple, if there's a 100 questions, do they have to get 70 of them right or or we don't
really know or Yeah, I we don't really know that, right? like the MCA like the department of ed has this scoring that happens behind the scenes and so it's not as simple as saying 70%ish um we do know like and it's by sections
as well and so then all the sections are you know put together to kind of make that composite like ACT so there could be a section that they do you know not great on but then they do really well on another section and those even out so okay is that been pretty consistent
throughout with MCA scoring several decades or has that changed or do we Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I would off I think the MCA scoring has stayed pretty consistent um since MCA's have come out. MCA's have evolved um and
I think AI is going to play a role in terms of evaluating students work as well. So, we may see more freehanded MCA. We used to have an MCA writing and we don't have that anymore. So, um, but I I think it stayed pretty consistent. So, the for the formatting maybe of the
test, well, the formatting of the test has changed, no doubt. Um, the scoring system seems to be somewhat consistent or fairly consistent. That's what I would offer without, you know, evidence. But I would say that the questions now when we say a
new MCA is coming, the questions in the MC are related to the new state standards that were required to be implemented this year. Yep. I think Eric, one thing that we always look to is um there's that score of if you're a third grader and you take it,
it's 350, a fourth grader is 450, a fifth grader is 550. As Kelly said, one thing we'd look at because there's that definitive line of marking a student then proficient or not proficient. What schools tend to take a look at is who are those students that were within kind of striking distance of, you know, maybe
they were a 449 or 448. and then what are those skills that we need to move students up into the proficient but in reviewing MCA data um in the past what I've seen is there are a number of students who are within that plus or minus five of hitting that proficiency
mark but they cut it off right at that 50 number not percentage but the 50 450 550 etc. something to add that may or may not be helpful. I've had an opportunity to sit on some of the MDE panels and in the math area, not in the science area. However, in the math area,
a fifth grade MCA will also include sixth grade questions. So, there are questions that exist that are um to show growth and does not necessarily impact that meets or does not meet. Another thing that happens again math question
if there is a question and it asks something um to the effect of uh which figures have an area greater than 64 kiddos have to read that s meaning there may or may not be more than one correct answer. If they don't select all the
correct answers select one there's no credit for that at all. And so I think if anything, at least what I've seen in math, if anything, those scores are probably a little lower than I would have given, you know, some credit for understanding this particular figure has
that in a classroom. Thank you. Okay, moving on to 4.2 two and that is our strategic plan update and that will be presented by Julie Nielsson, superintendent. Thank you. It seems like just yesterday we were starting our strategic planning work and we when I
look back at the timeline and the dates, it's it's been a number of years. Um if we could go ahead and get the slide deck up. Um I just wanted to begin by sharing just the outcomes for this presentation is just to review the history and where we were and where we are today. To review our strategic plan roadmap. I
think it's important when we take a look at the road map just to remind the board that the road map um the mission the vision the core values and the approval of the abuck buckets um the mission the vision and the core values all of that language was negotiated and conversa
conversated with our board um and if you remember we took a couple Saturdays to have those conversations and then the board approved our final roadmap um we will take time tonight to have the leaders in the various bucket areas um review the work in those areas is and then we'll talk a little bit about the
measurements and what our community and what our board can expect to see in terms of the measurements that we'll be using. So the next slide um is just our timeline. The winter of fall of 2022, we gathered a team I want to say almost a hundred. This boardroom was completely filled to begin the process. As you
recall, it was a classroom to boardroom process. So the board didn't take action or get involved until kind of the very ending and it was so the last couple of months. Um you'll see we worked on that through the winter and spring of 2023 and then it was May 18th almost two
years ago that the board approved that strategic roadmap mission vision core values and our strategic buckets. Um since that time we've been working um on creating our vision card and how we're going to communicate the data as well as setting up um project plans with our
various departments and how we're going to roll our big work out into the system. The next slide is really just a visual. I think we're going the wrong Oh, I'm gonna go to this. Oh, who's Oh, Sean. Is it
Sean? I just want you to know I'm not Dan. So, please don't cut me off. Don't just keep going ahead to the slides. Um to point out this because this is our communications department's work. Thank you, Sean. Um and this just is that one pager, the mission, the vision, core values. Um, people around the table know
that I always say two I's, two E's and a C. It is just the quickest little acronym to remember are two I's, two E's and a C. Um, so integrity, innovation. Yes, I know we had a long conversation board members about educational innovation. We didn't want to be 3M. I think that was our conversation. Two E,
equity, and excellence and connections. And so those definitions, if you recall, along with mission, vision, um, those were all negotiated with the board. that really was the final act of the board and not executive cabinet. So our next slide just gives the visual and I want to just point out
on this particular slide that light blue at the top and the light blue at the bottom. All of our work is sandwiched in between what our uh students, staff and families said they wanted out of South Washington County schools and we call those our desired daily experiences. And
so we'll reference that throughout our presentation. You'll also see that the strategic um areas, student experience, mastery of learning and expectations, etc. all have an assignment of one of our executive um directors and cabinet members. So, just to recall, these are
the sheets and if you look closely, and I know we don't have those printed out, but you can see what our students want, what our staff want, and what our families want. So at the end we want to make sure that we have measurements to measure those desired daily
experiences. So our mission and vision um I hear it referenced a lot educating students for success. That's just the quick short. Um and then our vision u leading by example working together with students, staff, families and community to support each other. uh our vision we
don't talk about as much but certainly when we sit down and have our meetings we certainly know where we're headed um into the future but that mission of educating students for success is always forefront. So, our buckets again um you're going to
hear tonight about the work and the strategies um done in student experience, mastery of learning and expectations, our student pathways, and really just to point out as our individuals present, those first three buckets are really interchangeable. Um when we talk about the work and what
we've done, we're like, it should be in that bucket, it should be in this bucket. So just to understand that there there's really a flowth through between the student experience, mastery of learning and their pathways. Operations, staffing and finance is a little bit different and more delineated. And then
engagement and partnerships again um really kind of more separate but able to be woven into the other buckets. And this slide just shows at the very top um the individual executive cabinet member or leader who is responsible for the work in those bucket areas.
So to start us off and we will just go around and we won't do any pauses just for the the sake of time. Um Kelly will will start us off with student experience and then we'll just have our directors um continue on. All right. Thank you Julie. Um I'm excited to share the strategic direct direction that
underscores our unwavering commitment to the student experience. Through this direction we will create systems that promote positive student interactions, amplify student voice, accept students for who they are, and welcome all students as part of our community. You might see this familiar language in our
district tagline of be seen, be heard, and be bold. To bring this vision to life, we've identified three key areas of focus. Um, first, we've empowered our schools to take ownership of their school improvement plan by giving them a SIP template uh that supports them
through the creation of their very own theory of action. And I put that in quotes because I would probably say it's theory of action light for researchers out there. But it's schools going through that process of if we do this then we hope to see this and they're using data on both sides of that to measure it. Um this allows each of them
with their own with the template given to them. This allows each of them to set those intentional goals directly tied to enhancing their student experience and to implement tailored strategies for their specific communities. The second strategy um amplifying student voices
and you've all met many of them um is established through our active student ambassador groups within each school and the district level. This ensures that student perspectives are not only heard but actively shape some of the key decisions that we make throughout the district and fostering a true sense of
partnership with them. That is one of the goals that we talk about in the student ambassador group and that's one of the um measures at the end of how much did you feel we accomplished this. Um, so we definitely survey our students on the outcomes of our student ambassador groups as well. And then
finally, uh, the student handbook isn't new, but we've repprioritized a clarity and understanding by ensuring that all students are thoroughly educated on their rights and responsibilities as outlined in that handbook. Um, it empowers them to navigate their educational journey with confidence and a clear understanding of what we expect
of them um, and what they expect from their peers. So some of the specific uh work that we have accomplished within these three key key strategies um within the SIP plans as we review those some of the theories of action that address that area. Um for
example is the implementation of conscious discipline schoolwide. Uh the establishment of consistent and supportive morning routines. So having a routine every time the students come through the classroom. Uh the integration of monthly themes into learning and school culture. and then some targeted professional development
and responsive teaching strategies meeting kids where they are um so that we can teach them those academic and social uh skills that we want them to have. So you can see by the varied approaches that each school created these theories of action that allowing them to do that. This is one of those
areas that um Dr. Brookkins, Miss Schaefer, myself were pretty were really passionate that a principal and their team need to establish their school climate and culture. this isn't something that we will all say you all have to do something around here. So, um
it's been pretty successful and we're excited to see where that goes. Uh the second strategy of student voices through student ambassador groups, some of the things that our student ambassador group has been involved with, uh invaluable feedback on school themes and rebranding efforts. I know that the CGMS student ambassadors
were huge in rebranding their logo this year, so that was fun to to see. uh the development of district and schoolwide climate and culture initiatives through posters and videos. Um the Woodbury Elementary student ambassador group does their their weekly news and it's so cute
to watch those kids uh do their video about what's happening at Woodbury Elementary in the news. Um so that's been fun. And then they are often our our first group that we do pilots with our student surveys like does this question make sense? Does that question make sense? What do you hear when you hear this question? Um and then of
course you've heard about it that they get to participate in that nutrition services tasting which actually ends up with what our students are are seeing in their cafeterias. So um those student ambassadors are definitely a way that we've ensured that we have active partners within our students and our
schools have found them to be really valuable as well. And then the last bucket of work um is just that clear understanding to accomplish it in the elementary schools. we had um just conversations with teachers age appropriate. It wasn't a deep dive into
the handbook as it was at our middle schools and high schools. Um and so for our secondary schools though, we did utilize schooly and we had every student go through a course in their advisory along with discussions. Some of the things that we uh made sure that they were aware of some of the changes. For
example, the title n legislation that changed, we made sure students were aware of that. um our bullying policy and prevention. We made sure that they understood what we expected with that. And then of course the changes with the cell phone usage were an emphasis this year. So um making sure our students
know are safe and informed and know what we expect from them. So we're really proud of the work we've done and I um I've really been proud of all of these strategic directions because it the language that the board has provided really allows us to hone in on some specific strategies. So it's been really
helpful. With that, I will turn it over to Dr. Dr. Brookkins. Thank you, Kelly. And that brings us to the next strategic direction of mastery of learning and expectations and it kind of dubtales that student experience. So now we have our students grounded. We've uh heard
from our students. They feel good about what they're going to uh bring to the table. Now it's about okay, what are we teaching? And we want to be clear about what we're teaching and how we're assessing what we're teaching. And then we also, you see language around personalizing learning experiences. Each student will be on a different path. And
so when you think about a large high school, just uh as we saw with that science uh teaching learning update, I might be on a path where I'm going to take an AP class or I might be on a path where I'm not taking that AP class. We want to make sure that we have uh opportunities for our students to have
access to learning experiences that will support the path that they're on individually. We go to the next slide. So the strategies that we have put in place to accomplish that is identifying where the access points are for every student that's coming into our system and the particular path that they
desire to be on to make sure they have those essential skills to be successful on that path that they're on along with the knowledge uh that's going to uh come through the standards that we are teaching. And then we have to make sure that they are positioned to be successful at that next grade level. And
we do that uh what we call at the core instructional level. And so that at that core instructional level that's where everybody's going to uh be exposed uh to uh that standard and then from there they will have an opportunity to grow and and that knowledge in that
particular area. Now we also recognize that as everybody has exposure to that that state standard, there will be some opportunities where they're going to need additional time to fill any gaps. And then we'll also have an opportunity to uh some students who are going to need some acceleration opportunities around that particular standard area.
And so we want to make sure as we go back to that com that that term personalized learning to make sure that each student gets what they uh need. The second point here says personalized learning by empowering students with a wide selection of career and college uh level courses. when we look at that secondary experience for our students,
we want to make sure they have a pathway uh that's going to set them up for the future and they have some decision- making into that particular pathway. Now, our uh the work that we have completed around this uh area is we've established what we call a multi-tered system of supports. You will hear the
language MTSS uh from this point forward. And with MTSS, it's a framework that guarantees that every child will have access to curriculum, opportunities to receive acceleration or to uh fill those gaps um at different points in
their uh I would say educational journey. And so this year we have successfully trained leaders around the MTSS framework and also be we've uh started to train staff on what that framework would look like. And that framework uh uh encompasses kindergarten
all the way through 12th grade. And so if you can walk into every uh school at every level and they're going to be able to point to their MCS framework and talk about what actions that teachers are making to uh make sure that students are learning and they have what they need to
be successful. That particular framework will also have an opportunity to not only provide that core instruction, but when we get to you'll hear us talk about tier one, tier two, and tier three. Tier one will be the core instruction. Tier two will be okay, what does Tyrone need
either to be accelerated or to fill some gaps and then what resources going to be uh put in place to make sure that he has what he needs. Uh with that particular model, you will see a pyramid that's inverted and it'll say what school teams do and then um what do individual teams
do? And so it's very uh articulated and specific, very easy to follow. uh it will guide the work that uh our PLC's which are professional learning uh teams and communities focus in on and then they will use assessments uh to guide that reteing and guide that original
teaching around uh what our students need. And then a final piece that we completed this year is what we call the uh profile of a graduate and that has been finalized. Every student that we have educated for success coming out of South Washington County schools should be resilient. They should have effective
uh communication skills. They should be able to critically think and critique uh information that's in front of them so that they are socially conscious and in and those uh components uh make up what we call being a lifelong learner and that profile of a graduate articulates
that and so with that I will pass it on to Christine Schaefer and Erin Davenport as they talk about student pathways. All right, thank you Tyrone. And so now that we've talked about the student experience and mastery of learning, we're going to move to the third bucket of student pathways. And so that is really what opportunities do we have for
students? What pathways and supports do we have to meet each student's academic and social emotional needs? And so our strategies for that are providing a strong literacy foundation for all students. And that included, as you remember, um training for all teachers, teaching staff, and
literacy. And you've approved that calendar and we've added all those PD days. And so that's been happening all year long. Um and also evaluating our special special services delivery system to ensure that all learners receive the support that they need. And so what we did this year all
staff all teaching staff were trained in literacy. So early learning through elementary participated in KIAL participated and are part still participating in KILL. Grades six through 12 plus online language and literacy academy and grades six through 12 plus specialist teachers adolescent
literary solutions. So again that's still continuing. It started at the beginning of the year and will go through the end of the year to give teachers a strong literacy foundation to then transfer to students in the classroom. Erin, thank you. Excuse me. We also partnered with Handover Research, which is a global research and
analytics firm, on a project that had to be slightly revised due to some nuances with our contract. And so what we landed on is partnering around what are other folks doing in our state with the same rules, the same accountability measures and systems, small, medium, and large,
just to get a sense of what's working for other folks in addition to what we know is working for us. So we uh centralized that review around academic outcomes, social and emotional outcomes, preschool and early learning all the way through transition. We also looked at
graduation rate and discipline data. And this is all specific to students with special education. And then we looked at a few five uh national districts that are considered exemplar districts to just look at how do they do staffing, how do they look at case loads, how do
they talk about programming and and what could we consider to potentially bring into our district. The next bucket is operation staffing and finance and that is the bucket that Chris Blackburn and I work most closely in. Um the work in that bucket is all about investing in our
employees while still being accountable for effective and efficient management of resources. And so some of the strategies um in that bucket are maintaining and updating facilities to support safe learning environments for both our students and staff. Um
sustainable and efficient staffing, also hiring the best talent that's out there. And then the efficient use of district resources to ensure long-term fiscal sustainability. Some of the work that we've done that you know about is construction. You know a lot about the work that's being done
there between bond construction lease levy um and also our LTFM projects. Also this year we issued bus IDs to um help track ridership for all of our buses and to help ensure student safety and tracking. Um, and our technology team
has also been very busy making sure that all of our employees are on multiffactor authentication. And you may be aware of that um, as board members as you've had to go through that process as well. But that helps protect our systems from cyber security attacks. Um, with the redact training
that we were talking about before and the additional PD days in this calendar, we've used that opportunity to also invest in our non-licensed employees and provide more professional development for those groups on those um, professional development days for Reedact for licensed
employees. One of our big undertakings this year um, was a project called True Time. And what that means is all hourly employees in the district who were paid even pay throughout the school year were transitioned to a real-time pay where you punch in and punch out at the
beginning and the end of your shift. Um that's been a one of our big big pieces of work this year. Um and then of course our continuous budget improvement process um is an important part of the work in this bucket as well that we worked on this year. Now I'll turn it
over to Jake Winchella and Sean Hogendor. Hello. Thank you, Abby. Um, so I am working on engagement and partnerships. So I'm doing that with Dr. Cheryl Jogger. Um, and we working together to promote engagement and sharing of resources to
build f uh stronger family and comm community uh and community connections. Um, so a lot of the ways that we've focused on doing that is just intentional outreach with a focus on um improving our multilingual communications to help uh engage um all of our families with in their students
uh educations. Um so I've been working as well with Nikki Climber on that. Um and she is our uh director of multilingual learning. Um and then we've also been working to connect on uh with families uh to share important information through fun and engaging activities. That's a lot of things in kids club. That's community ed. That's a
lot of the stuff that Dr. Cheryl chugger does with schoolie and things like that. And then uh the third part is uh to be doing the community outreach through uh strategic partnerships to connect needs and resources within our SAS co uh schools community. Um and that's a lot of the work that's also being done with
so cares. Um and so some of the work that um to show what that looks like is with multilingual support. So this year we've launched a new language line app um which gives 247 interpreting services for conferences for family meetings and so that is an app now that um if
families need that they're able to choose the language that they can understand best and um or their primary language and then um that would facilitate that right on a on a um a phone or a a laptop. Um it's really kind of a neat um program. Um we've also new
now have translated report cards. Um, so those will all be done in Spanish and in English. Now, um, we've also worked on, um, improving our multilingual enrollment process. Um, so, um, our website is also translated in seven languages. So, we've added Oro and, um,
Amharic to that. Um, and then the tools for families is a section that we think is tools for um, that families will use as they go through our school system. And so we've been um adding to this as we learn different questions from families and and um how do we support
them to be able to find how to use campus and how to um check up on their students report cards and things like that. Um and then uh the last part here with the multilingual supports was the new to country support campaign and again that was led by Denilo and Nikki Climber in our multilingual learning um
team um for you know to just close out our multilingual supports um family engagement and a lot of this um has been done through our district ambassadors and affinity group meetings. Uh we have had three three this year so far we've had two we've had a third one coming up
in May. Um and so um those are the all district ambassadors and then we meet with different advisories and uh affinity groups throughout the years. Um so um monthly for most of them um but they all have different bylaws. Um and then we have the early childhood uh family education screenings. Um you've
heard a lot about those from both um Joyce Beard I think had spoken to that and then I think we spoke to that um in the last workshop as well. And then we have a lot of different cultural events and literacy events that are happening throughout the year as well. And then from a community engagement perspective, um this is our second year that we've um
come back through the quarterly print newsletter. Um so we'll have one more of those that's going to come out in May. Um and that gets mailed to every family uh or every home in um Southwestern County Schools District. So um this will be our second year of putting out a quarterly newsletter for that. Um Skoolie runs a ton of events over the
summer. So that's starting to kind of come up and um we'll um be kicking off here in the next couple of months. Um and then the community education program volunteer opportunities uh like the grow uh growing to uh grow growing the read to me program. Sorry about that. Um and
then the new food rescue program and then generations cafe are also different um ways that we try to engage our community. Thank you. Um, just to share with you that when we get together and have what we call an operational planning retreat, it's all of our departments together and
the one thing that we really have to work hard on is balancing what we're pushing out to the system because if we're all not aware what's going out um, pretty soon we have five different resources or curricul curriculums being implemented at the elementary level and
then we have bus passes and this. So together we really try to make sure that we balance it out so that we can manage the workload and do a good job of implementation. I'm going to round out the presentation talking about um our vision card and the data sources we use
and how that's going to look. And so up on this slide, I'm not going to read it, but um board members are aware of the various um surveys uh the different information we collect. Um just to remind the board that community survey we did was uh right as we were starting the referendum work and so we are
planning um to commission another community survey in 2025 and that would be the November December and so some of the information you'll see on the vision card comes from that I think to understand that that's pulled then every three years so it allows us an opportunity to go back on the next slide
just shows the rubric um and the rubric really um Dr. from Mao Jacobson um helped create all of this behind the scenes and I know board members got to see what it looks like from the nitty-gritty of grade levels of demographics, free and reduced lunch, um
many many different categories. Um and what we came up with as a a group was kind of the blue ribbonish like vision achieved was the brightest blue down to yellow, you're making progress, red requires intervention. And so as an executive cabinet team and operational
directors um what we and instructional directors what we'll be doing is monitoring now as we move forward what areas are requiring intervention and what are we doing. Um so as we measure um on our vision card we actually are going back now and measuring those those
desired daily experiences of our students staff and families that our community that our students said were important. So, in the lefth hand column, you're going to see the experience. You'll see the data source of where that information is being pulled from, and then you're going to see the results.
Um, and then the final column just gives you that color coding of where we land on our rubric. And so, we know, um, and this isn't new information, and we know we're going into a testing season. Even as we heard science percentages tonight, we know that those were from last year.
um we know that one of our biggest areas of focus is around our overall academic achievement um in reading, math, and science. And so you can see those areas according to the rubric require intervention. And so we're going to really need to dig down deep. I know one of the board members talked about strand
data. Um that's really what it's going to take as we move forward to take a look at what specific areas are our students falling short. So this is just the example of the vision card for our desired daily experiences for students. on the next slide talks about staff and what you see on that particular one
these were actual experiences they listed and right now we don't have any survey that we conduct our community survey the Minnesota student survey is for students so these particular questions would be asked on a district survey a district staff survey so once
we have that information after May we would update our vision card um we hope for the survey to go out in early May um and then we would be happy to update the board with what those percentages were and what the results showed. For families, you can see that right now
there are two data sources in there. We've used the community survey for two of the experiences. Um and then you'll also see the center two um which were some of the desired daily experiences that families had wanted and asked for. Those we again would we don't have that
information anywhere. So that would be part of a district family survey. And what we're trying to coordinate is that if schools have any surveys as part of their school improvement plan, if they have any questions they want to ask their parents that we can combine it so
parents and families aren't getting multiple surveys from the school district andor the school. And then finally, the district. Um I wanted to point out as I talked with the board on Monday and as Chris and I talked that woo that first one, yes, we overachieve. There should be
like another color for overachieved. 17.2 2 unrestricted. Our policy was set at 16.6 by the end of 26 and I said we can smile today but we also know how quickly that money goes. Um so fortunate that vision achieved there. You'll see the next two are the community survey
and that just takes a look at um the experience in our district uh district decisions as well as school board and administration. You'll see where those are. And then the final one as a district um the graduation rate and that is through the Minnesota Department of Education and that is our 2023
cohort. So again bringing um the board and our community back to um the work that we do where we measure that out through our desired daily experiences of staff, students and families. And then in terms of next steps, um I was at, let me think,
gradecloud elementary school this week as they were preparing for MCA testing. Um there's a lot of work that goes into the next weeks with all of the kind of the culminating tests, especially our MCA's reading, math, and science. And so, a lot of work being done at the school level. We will be able to update
at the end of the school year the data. Uh a copy will be shared with the board um and posted online for our community and families. And then we have a cadence with our district directors where we sit down and take a look at the work in our system and what are we pushing out? What's your timeline? When do you need
to get in front of principles? When do you need to get in front of system leaders? Because it's all a big communication sequence to make sure that as part of our work, we're always getting feedback or sharing information and then coming back to the full team. So, a lot of work has gone into this and
so for our executive cabinet around the table, thank you. Um, it really takes all of us to manage the work in a large district. And so with that, I will and we will take any questions you might have. Thank you, Julie. Anybody have any questions?
Okay, seeing none, we will move on. Thank you. Okay. Um, we are on to 5.0 information items, and we do have two of those this evening. We'll start with 5.1 financial update. that will be presented by Chris
Blackburn, director of business services. So, I kind of feel like I should have intro music here because I see Sime smiling down there. So, um I am excited though to be here this evening and talk about special education funding. So, um I did tell Sean I would talk real quickly because I know that it's a
lengthy agenda. I will share that there's a lot of information in these slides. It's pretty um I'll say information dense and so I'll be highlighting on some of the slides, but know the information is certainly there for you to review further. You can always reach out if you have questions. There really are four key takeaways that I would like you to come away with
tonight and that is special education funding is complex. There's a lot of information uh a lot of moving parts to it. I would like you to understand number two various funding sources and some basics of the state special education
specifically. Three the significant financial impact that this funding these funding sources have on our budget. And the final is really to uh just know that it's highly regulated and that it requires a lot of detailed reporting and reconciliation at the end of the
year. So I think it's important to start just with a bit of background. And so with that um just to point out that we're required by law to provide the appropriate necessary services to these students with disabilities from both birth through child's sec 22nd birthday. It also is it has to be based on an
assessment of the child's educational needs. And so we have to develop a written individualized educational plan for each of those students in response again with the state and federal laws because we know that federal comes into play as well. We'll talk about IDEA um later on but we know that again that
helps to that highly regulated nature of this funding sources by the numbers. It's just helpful to kind of put that in context as well. And so statewide this is information is added December 23 December 1st 2023. That's the most recent available currently. And
statewide there was 165,285 students were about 19.3% that received some special education services. And locally in Swashko schools we know that we had 3,865 or about 19% 19.6%. What I'll share as well, we know statewide um I compared to the previous
year and it was about 18.4 was our local number. And so we know that we're continuing to see both statewide and locally some growth in the number of students qualifying for services. In the next slide, it's the funding. Notice the funding. There you go,
Simmyi. Um, special education services are funded by the following three primary three categories we receive. State special education aid is by far the single biggest funding source that we receive for these services. Federal special education aid, third party billing revenue. So outside of those
three, if there are remaining unfunded costs, we do have to fund those with general fund, whether that's state and local, whether levy, general basic education aid. And I will point out though that all students, we receive basic formula and general education aid for all students. So these students still generate that aid as well. And so
again, it's appropriate that we utilize those funds for that state special education aid. Then like I said, this is our big bucket. um it's provided really to offset um the additional cost of the specialized instruction services provided to those students. The aid helps offset direct
expenditures and we have to make sure that they're necessary and essential to provide those services. The formula is multi-step hybrid formula which sounds real fancy to say it's very complex and it's largely based on prior year expenditures. This slide then shows the seven
components of state special education aid and they're listed below. The two I'll point out that we don't receive and you'll notice that on the future slides are hold harmless um and that's due to how we get funded currently and then homeless transportation aid and right now we just don't receive funding in those categories because we're not eligible to again we could potentially
in the future. The seven components listed um provide a single or combine them to yield a single special education aid amount. So to bookend the data intents in or information intense slides, I thought it was helpful just to
illustrate what those seven categories look like. So I took 23 24 actual ex um revenues looked at the state aid and said here's here's how that shakes out. So initial aid we received 22.5 million excess cost aid and we're going to talk about each of these categories in the
coming slides 7.2 2 million. Special transportation aid was 12.3 million. Tuition billing adjustment uh was a negative 1.7. And so what that we'll talk about how that comes to be, but that is a note that we did use our federal funds to offset that. That would have been 4.7 million without that. And
that does reduce our aid. Hold harmless, as I said, is zero cross subsidy reduction aid. You've heard us talk a lot about cross subsidy over the years. We received 10.3 million last year. and the homeless transportation aid. Again, another category we don't um aren't eligible for. That gives us to that one
big number of gross special education aid of $50.7 million last year. I'll point out the proration factor on here is at a 100, which means we received all the age aid to which we are entitled and eligible to receive. And we'll talk about why that's important as we look to
25 at the end of the state sped number. So on this slide what I would really the first component um was the initial aid and we get the lesser of the least of the three options and so there's option one which is old formula expenditures which is a fancy way to pay salaries, contracted services, supplies and equipment. There's option two
non-federal which adds in largely benefits and option three census based. I'm not going to give you a quiz on what those three options are but what I would like you to know is that we generally receive under option one old formula. The second component is excess cost aid.
And really, it's a component um an additional aid to help offset that excess cost. So, it's kind of self-described a little bit, but that's excess cost that's not reimbursed through regular special education aid. Um some further information on this slide, but it is based on prior year data. So, you'll notice that's a
recurring theme as well. The third component is special transportation aid. And this is really transportation for the students that have an IEP, if they're in care and treatment, students who are homeless, and if they have a 504 accommodation plan and that they require that special
transportation. Again, prior year data sense a theme. The fourth component is tuition billing adjustment. And so I will point out on this slide that this is really reflective of those students of ours who receive services in other districts. So think open enrolled
students largely but they go also when we send students to 916 for services they're enrolled at that district and so they receive they bill us back for 80% of the services provided there. So for our resident students if they're served elsewhere similarly we also charge
students. So if we have students from say Stillwater receiving services in our district we also charge Still Water. So we charge external districts if we're servicing their resident students as well. They net those two together. Um, and then that strictly flows through Department of Education years ago. I'm
old enough to remember when I used to audit and we had to wait for tuition bills from districts. And so it got to be just challenging, right, to do those calculations. And so MD took that on since 2007. The fifth component is hold harmless. Um, and really what I would
say, we don't receive this. And so I'm not going to, you can read the slide certainly, but again, because we receive that option one old formula aid, we're not eligible. This just makes sure that we don't receive less than. The sixth component is cross subsidy reduction aid. So this is one that we frequently talk about the cross
subsidy and special education and that's the unfunded piece. So we talked about needing to use general ed previously. That continues to be the case. They have just managed to um shrink this number some. And so it's the amount of general ed aid that's used or general dollars that are used to cover that unfunded
cost. I will note that it increased to 44% and that's been in place now for several years and it's anticipated still expected in statute to go to 50% beginning in 27 and again it's based on the previous year information. The seventh and final
component is homeless transportation aid and again I'll point out that um it's described in detail but that we don't receive that um largely because of how we're funded. So we're not currently eligible to receive this aid. So the bookend piece funding for
fiscal 25. So I took from 2425 our um estimated revenue based on revised budget. And so initial aid under option one we're receiving um anticipated to receive 27.3. Excess cost aid is currently at 11.2 million. Special transportation aid
13.4 million. That tuition billing adjustment right now shows a minus 3.9 million but that does not include the anticipated use of our federal funds. So we would anticipate that would if we use 3 million again similar to last year we would see a minus 900,000 there. Hold harmless and that transportation aid
again are at zero with the cross subsidy reduction aid at 14.2 million. We add all those components up and we get that final number of 62.3 million. Proration factor however is 95%. And so right now what happens at the state they have a
statewide cap. So they say all everybody, every district in the state that's going to get special education aid, they know the total that they have set in statute that they'll they can distribute out to districts. Right now what they would distribute out is too high. They don't have enough in that cap. So it's prrated at 95% currently.
So we're scheduled to receive 59.7 almost. We're anticipating um our understanding is they've never in this history have had that not where they've raised the cap, but it will take legislative action. So the next funding source then um done with so that was all state special
education aid. That's our by far our biggest number when this category of funding. But the next funding source really is federal special education aid. Again it's largely driven by the aid is provided under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. You'll hear IDEA quite
frequently. It really is again just to help offset some of those aids. I know um we used to talk to they originally were going to fund it at 20 or 40% and we don't even get near that. Um they were going to just invest heavily in it and we have not seen that the funding first comes through the state and
department of education Minnesota department of education and then they allocated out to us largely on a three-part formula with base amount and then it's based on poverty and enrollment as well. On the next slide is really just differentiates. So
within the umbrella of federal special education aid, there's three um unique buckets and the first is by far our biggest bucket and that's for ages 3 through 21. It's the most broad category of what we can utilize and the ages we can utilize it with and that's considered Eron love me here. I'll say
part B section 611. We just call it FIN419 um in finance. But then the second category is for the ages three through five and we receive significantly smaller dollars in that category. And then our second biggest is actually the part C which is for um servicing the students birth
through age 2. So there's some specialized dollars for that. The last funding source tonight then with state special education is third party billing revenue. And what I would really point out it's required by law that we um pursue these dollars and
where we get and most other districts get is really on the medical assistance the MA funding and it's for covered health related services only. And again, it has to be indicated clearly in the child's IEP, which we talked about, the individual educational plan, or for the
littlest kiddos, they call it an individualized family service plan before their school age. We can use it for any eligible sped expenditure um within the qualifying for third-party billing. There are a few nuances on what we can use utilize it for. The next slide then shows because
sometimes, well, how do we generate those dollars? What is a health related service? And here's the list of some uh examples of what is included in there. So, physical therapy services, occupational therapy, speech, language, mental health, nursing are some of the most common ones that we see. And we've managed to increase that revenue quite a
lot in the past number of years um through the great work of Air McCoy and her team um in the individuals in these categories that provide those services. So, the it's a lot of documentation to um receive that revenue. I like to have some illustrations so
they're not you know little blinking or anything but there is just a recap of those. So on the last two aids and we talked state sped and that was that very large number on the top of this slide is the federal special education aids and again those three categories. So you'll notice the most significant is that top
number that 3 point almost 3.9 million um real close year to year. You'll notice not a lot of fluctuation in total. then we received just over four million um in federal special education aid. we might have the question of well what happens if they go away or the
department um US department of education if they take those dollars away we would um it'll be challenging because then we will have to take those costs on and so again back to that what are our funding sources right if they're eligible for state special education aid we could potentially leverage that third party billing we could look could we leverage
that and I would say the likelihood is that it may come out of general fund as well um just undesated dollars otherwise thirdarty billing revenue I'll just point out is about 2 million. And so that was a lot of great work on the special education u student support
services team last year to really get that revenue driven up above 2 million last year. And so we're anticipating to receive hopefully quite the same this year again. Final slide. I told Sean I'd talk fast. Um expenditure reporting and
reconciliation. So it really is what I wanted because it's so highly regulated that we have to report our revenues not just in one way but in two ways to the state. So the first is the finance side. We send off our data and information via and we call it UAR as always but it is delineated out uniform financial and
reporting system but that really gives our summary financial data to MDE and then they utilize it for um report card so that we can compare across districts and such as well. Additionally we have to provide detailed expenditure reporting and we call it CEDRA special
education data reporting application. I always get the A wrong. Um, but it not only does it check for allowability, it checks for to make sure that if we have a teacher here and maybe Still Water does that we don't go over FT or we're not it has some parameters and what um kind of cost and sometimes we have to
provide actual invoices to the state and so it's a really detailed um a lot of lines and a lot of going through our financial data and that to reconcile the two together but they utilize CEDRA to calculate the aids. So before November 30th of each year, we have to reconcile the two to the penny. Um I did look last
year and I would like to say that our team was very successful and I'll give a lot of credit to Mary Beth Collins who was brand new last year. Um and Nikki Kasle worked to um reconcile that $73 million across all the funding streams that we reconciled to the
penny. So again, it makes sure that we get the aid we're entitled to and that's why the importance of that. But the four takeaways again, the complexity of the funding, right? It really is a lot of nuances. I know I kind of really highlighted a lot of it, but there's a lot of complexity behind that. The
various funding sources that we get as well as those basics of those seven components of special ed state special education aid, the significant financial impact. Again, when we look at that $60 million in state sped aid, that's about 20% of our revenue. That's a big number for us. And then it's highly regulated.
And again that year in reconciliation to the penny um it just helps again to hopefully provide some I'll say maybe some confidence right that our numbers and what we're doing is eligible cost and that we're doing it with a lot of
high degree of accuracy. So with that thank you Chris. Does anybody have any questions? I do. Um, first of all, Chris, I love this and I really um I really appreciate the deep dive into some of our finance buckets just to help
everyone understand and level set like where we're spending our money and how our money comes in. And um so thank you so much for putting this together. Um my first question I guess is for Erin. What is driving the special education growth?
Like I mean I don't now don't make me say the C word. I was gonna say but I mean what you know to have 20% of kids have be enrolled in special education and I don't remember that and now of course I was like 10 right but I don't remember this
percentage from when I was a child. So, do you know sort of generally how like what is what is driving this and is this just something we're going to see in the foreseeable future and is it going to continue to grow? Um, well, I hope it doesn't continue to grow. I I hope we
start to level out. It It's always reassuring to see that we're on par with the state, right? I would worry I I worry about that number, too, but I would worry more if it was significantly different than what the state average is. Um, I would offer that our assessment tools in the medical field
and in the educational field only continue to grow. Our understanding of trauma, of mental health, of mid to long range impacts of those um experiences and um the effects, the long-standing effects we understand more and more over time. Things that perhaps in the past we
would reject as um behavioral choices, for example, we now understand the factors that drive that in a different way. Um, and so I think all of that together and then broadly across our nation over the last decade, we've really grown in our understanding of autism. And so we see that as one of the
the greatest growing categories that we have. And then our early intervention, right? So we more more and more we have doctors and community providers that recognize things early and get those referrals into us early um so we can start providing services earlier. And
then I would also offer in celebration that our our slight increase over the state average I do believe reflects the caliber of the services we provide and we often have families reaching out saying we're moving to the state or we're moving to the area and we've heard you're the district to move to. Can we
talk about what my student needs and what school would be best for them? Okay. Um and so sort of as like a adjunct to that, you know, we get $2 million from billing MA, right? But if Medicare cuts happen fedally, and I know I know
Minnesota has the provider tax, right, which is a little bit unique compared to other states, but do we know what the impact of that could look like? I would offer that worst case that dollar amount would go away. So that
would go straight to zero. And so um you know, hopefully that's not what we see as what we end up being at. But I would say the, you know, like doom and gloom scenario would be that those dollars, both the federal special education and that tuition billing, u third-party billing number go away. And so that
would be, you know, roughly a $6 million um that we would have to consider how do we how do we leverage that and how do we services other creative ways to um we know that on the horizon period we have challenges, right? Whether it's with enrollment or with um some of this too. And I think Eron and her team have been working really diligently to say how
best can we service our students, right? knowing that um sometimes there can be a gap in expectations of maybe a parent might think their child needs this and what maybe services are really meeting that requirement of the federal and state law. Um and so we always are working to kind of balance that because we certainly want to provide that
appropriate but to that potentially it would go away. Okay. Um and then just a couple clarifying questions on the finances. So the special education transportation subsidy that we get that's only if they are on a special education route. Correct. Like if
they're taking the regular bus. Correct. That's only in their IEP and so typically they need specialized transportation. So maybe they need a lift bus or otherwise. Right. So yes. Okay. And then um the other thing is that with the the
2425 fiscal funding, right? So I have seen in the news that you know as things get cut at the federal level you know for example somebody will make a commitment to some expenditure and then the federal government has chosen
they they've decided they're not going to reimburse you know based on what the expectation was or whatever. Um so this is kind of our worst case scenario but if we do get the $3 million from the federal government then this would go up to 65 million. Correct. Correct. And then we would get 95% of that or would
we or would that factor change? So the the what would change on that slide is that rather than somehow on the earlier slide it had 100%. So that factor would change to 100%. Oh, it would. So the proration would go to 100. Now I would qualify that a little bit. While certainly if they changed that aid um
and raise the statewide cap, we would receive 100% and receive that um 62.3 million. That said, one of the um areas that they're looking at is the transportation aid and talk one of the governor's proposals is to reduce that to 95%. And so, you know, it's kind of
that shell game a little to and to where because we also know that the state is facing some challenges as well and they need to balance their budget. So, um we continue to be optimistic a little and while still trying to plan as best we can. Okay. So worst I guess worst case scenario for
our budget is that we wouldn't get the $3 million from the federal government and that the MA dollars would also theoretically could could also go away. Yep. So it' be about six million if both the federal and that um third party billing would go away. Um that
said too on the state side if they make some changes there we budgeted conservatively. So we did budget that 95% pration because it there just is uncertainty whether that for sure will get raised and so certainly that 6 million I would say staffing you know as we've talked so many times that's already set for next year and so I think
we'd likely have to take that one-year hit which again the importance of building that fund balance so that we would maybe be able to navigate when there are times we can't quite adapt for maybe a year um and then we would really look closely at what does that look like is there a different service model we could have what's driving some of those costs and is there any way that we could
maybe contain some of those um a little better. But again, a lot of it is driven by um it's driven by student need, but then even the staffing cost associated with that. So um as we settle contracts, you know, that so again back to that complexity, right, that they're all um in play into those scenarios.
That's all I had. Thank you. You want any other questions? Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Okay, we will move on to 5.2 two and that is the first reading of proposed policy changes and that will be presented by Julie Nelson super. Thank you. This evening I am bringing
forward nine different policies um that have been reviewed by our policy committee um and now coming forward to the board to start with uh policy 407 employee right to know exposure to hazardous substance. I'm not sure how this word could not have been included in the policy but it's the addition of
the words bloodborne pathogen to section two 504 student dress and appearance. Um just a minor grammatical change on that policy. 507 corporal punishment and prone restraint. Um you'll probably see the most adjustments and that is required by statute. 513 student
promotion retention and program design. There was just a title change um with the wording to make sure that the wording reflected the definitions within the policy. 517 student recruiting. No proposed changes there. 518 uh DNR DNI orders. That's do not resuscitate, do
not intubate orders. No proposed changes there. 521, student disability non-discrimination. No proposed changes. 529, staff notification of violent behaviors by students. Um, just some clarifying language updates in that one. And then finally, 532, use of peace
officers and crisis teams to remove students with disabilities from school grounds. Um, and that policy had no proposed changes. Anyone have any questions or comments related to the policies? I have a quick question. So for 507 the corporal
corporal punishment prone restraint. So if there's a an incident at school or kids being violent or something that needs to be broken up by teachers, what what uh options are available to people? Obviously hitting them seems like you
can't do that clearly, but how do you restrain somebody if you can't put them on the ground? Yep. Do we have like like self-defense classes being taught to folks? people know how to do wrist locks, joint locks, pressure points, no consetsuaza, no waza, anything at all.
So, it's just I would say SRO's to come essentially. Um, no. I think what we do and Erin, you can maybe help speak to that too. Um, we have something in place uh deescala deescalation strategies, crisis prevention intervention. Is that correct, Erin? Do you want to just talk a little bit about that? Sure. So, we um
use the crisis prevention institute model for non-violent crisis intervention training. Um and so all of our special education staff are trained. Um and it has a variety of um increasingly intensive interventions going from non-verbal to verbal um all
the way up to physical when absolutely necessary. Uh so to answer your question about training, yes, we do provide training and there's lots of opportunities and options um that don't include putting someone down on their chest face down. Yeah. My question is if someone is really violent at school,
what what options do teachers or administrators or whoever have to deal with that in a safe manner that follows the state statute but doesn't put the student at risk or the teacher at risk? Yes, we implement the principles of that training model. And that training model is a range of non-verbal to verbal to
physical intervention that promote safety. Okay. Any other questions or comments? Okay. The do we have any no comment? Um so these will be brought forward for um
vote next board meeting. Okay, on to 6.0 and that is reports and comments. We will start with Superintendent Julie. All right. Um we have had a last or this last week has been busy. Just to highlight um this
past week uh we had Literacy University at I have to think Lake Middle School we were at. And just for our community to be aware and as we watch information come out in our uh parent and family newsletter, um it was just a wonderful event. We had the Newport Library, the
Washington County Library, Red Balloon, Barnes & Noble. Um we had our early learning program, we had our adult basic ed program and really just a great opportunity for resources. And while it wasn't well attended, the model itself was really strong about how do we work
together and promote literacy. You know, I think as we take a look at um the literacy crisis within in the district and the performance of our students, we also know that we have to be we have to work with parents and families early because so much of language is developed
by age three into age five. And so just a shout out to our teaching and learning team for great work with the literacy university. Um also this week um we hosted open houses at Woodbury Middle School and our transitions program. So, I'm looking at Kelly and Christine. Both
of those uh individuals attended. When I talk about open houses, it is it was the open houses for the neighbors around the area. So, they could come and take a look at the proposed plans, ask questions, bring up concerns. Um, and so I do just want to go back and talk a
little bit about our transitions program. There's really some inaccurate information out there about our 18 to 22 year old students. And so I think for the board, for anybody watching, um these are our students who have specialized services um who will have
their school there. Currently, it's next step in pathways, but these are our students, 18 to 22 year olds. These aren't just students off the street anywhere that are going to what we're considering to be a school. So, I think whatever we can do to help clarify
um and maybe change that reputation of what people may think in our community about our 18 to 20 year old students, um we are very proud and so excited about the site. We think it's going to be tremendous. Um next week we will host that same type of community meeting for Woodbury High School. Um also to give a
couple other shoutouts, April 4th, last Friday, well, it's the end of a long week and some of us are like just one more event. Um, at Park High School, we hosted the multicultural event and I would say there were a thousand people there. Christine would probably say 500
and someone else might say 400. I don't know. But it was super packed and I think the highlight of it was just to be able to see the various cultures of our students um and see see them on display. Um along with just it was almost like an
indoor picnic. um food trucks outside, coming inside, watching our students perform. Um and a lot of work went into that. So, thank you to our cultural leaison for helping put that together. And then finally, April 5th was our Woodbury Expo. Um the students and families who love to stop and talk to
their principles, to their old gym teacher. Um it's just really amazing. And so just it was fun to see one of my former students who is now getting recognized for 20 years in the district um who works in our early learning department and has been there for 20
years. The connections and relationships she has with all of our early childhood family education families, all of the little kids to medium-sized kids who came up and said hello to her. It was just really a great event and so well attended. Um I forget what the chamber
said, over 3,000 maybe people attending or more. Um, but definitely one of the busiest expos we've ever been part of. And then finally, for any families viewing or people around the table, if you have a kindergartener, uh, we welcome our kindergartenner kindergarten students into our elementary schools
next week, April 17th. So that'll be their welcome to kindergarten and we're so excited to have them. Thank you, Julie. Do any board members have any events upcoming for any of their committees? I do. Uh, so the Southwatch Cares has a
a mixer coming up on May 2nd at BFW in Cottage Grove. It's 7 to 10:30 if I remember correctly. Uh $35 a ticket. Also, there is u they're piloting a program Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which offers books to kids uh
age 0 to five. My understanding is it's one book a month and it's not restricted to anything. So, it's just as long as you have little, you can get a book. Uh I think the only location is St. Paul Park if I'm not mistaken. Thank you for that
information. Okay, on to 7.0 and that is our future meeting dates. April 24th, 2025 is a schoolboard business meeting here at district service center at 6 p.m. Then May 8th is our schoolboard workshop meeting here at district service center at 6 p.m. Um 8.0 is a
closed session for consideration of a proposed expulsion of a student enrolled at South Washington County Schools. The board must review and discuss educational data regarding the student. The open meeting law stat Minnesota statute section
13D.05 subdivision 2A3 states that any portion of a meeting must be closed if educational data is discussed. We will return following the closed session to take action on the proposed expulsion. Can I get a motion?
Second. Motion by Simmy, seconded by Melinda. Any comments? All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes.