strategic plan our continuous improvement plans that are created at the sites have to align to the strategic plan so when we talk about that alignment there that's that level of accountability because we are going to
be looking to have outcomes to the execution and actualization of the strategic plan the board's role is to approve the money in order to get this job done and to do that we need to have we need to understand what's being talked about how
we got to this point and I think the board is involved in some other aspects of the implementation too correct right okay all right so anything else then i think we just appreciate your time and your your involvement with us today and um
yeah say thank you thank you all thanks all right um that brings us up to 3D addressing concerns raised during public comment is this you Dr hines speaking this is me so um thank you all for um I
want to thank the principles as I have invited them to come to our study session in order to provide clarity in regards to the concerns that were brought up by teachers and parents
i think that there is a need to clarify some of the where these decisions came from um because it is important that um we have an understanding of how did we
get here i think that there is a lot of background information that um has not been fully disclosed that has led to the need to make some strategic
decisions not for next year but for two years down the road we are sitting in a situation where a lot of the the things that are happening in public education are unprecedented and we are in a state of
preparation for the things that are unknown we have a lot of financial variables that are questionable at this point in time and so when we look at our finances we have to do a true deep dive
as to how we are spending monies and how we can be more efficient with the funds that we have because we're not getting any additional funds let me say that again we won't be
receiving any additional funds we are actually preparing for less support because of the projected deficit that's not coming next year no but it's a projection that's coming from the
state in the next fiscal bianial time so there is a what is it 685 deficit for 2728 through 29 so we have to prepare for that today
we're currently sitting at a reserve of 8.27% we've heard from our business office that that is probably two months of our expenses because that there there are some things that are in place i.e
unemployment insurance that yes the legislators did budget for two years ago but we know that that don't that fund bucket is depleting there hasn't been any conversations and and I haven't been
keeping up lately i've been been busy if they are if there are plans to replenish that unemployment bucket if they do not we have to cover it we have not budgeted to cover
that it will be picked up in our reserves so we are getting very we don't have a we don't have the deep pockets to cover a lot of the expenses so we have to make some real hard
decisions as to how we did deliver a high quality educational opportunity for each of our students because that's our job with that being said there are some we had an
opportunity to really unpack and listen to the the comments that came forward through public comment in order to identify what's the question one of the things I have told principles is I heard
teachers when it came to we don't have the capacity and I also heard that if the teachers don't have the capacity the students may not be able to have some things one of the things that's at my
core is that students will not have not have that opportunity because the adults in during our transition year won't have the capacity so what is our plan
B so principles go start planning what are you going to come up with so we're going to address some of those concerns so that we are being transparent as to how are we going to pivot during our transitional
year it is a one-year transition to get us ultimately where the teacher said at the secondary particularly at the high school where they wanted to be and that is at a block schedule we cannot
afford to run the same model for next year which is the five out of seven because we still ha you we still have to provide the professional development so that the teachers can function at a high
level in the block schedule we heard today that there was tra trans transition or change fatigue teachers want the professional development in order to work at a high level we need to create the job invest
the job the time during their workday for them to get the professional development that they say that they want and need here I hear you it is a year one year of
transition so I'm going to ask Ashley to facilitate the questions so that principles can respond okay and I believe we're trying to um maintain some level of time so
we've condensed it down to eight questions total but the first question is how will the district support teachers given the loss of prep time well f first and foremost I think that we always want to do what's in the best interest of children there I I've worked
with a lot of teachers in this district over the years and they all want to do what's in the best interest of children and um as we look at contractual time because something that we've heard is we need more time in the classroom right we need more time because we don't have
enough time to teach science and social studies and our literacy so one of the things that we've really looked at is how do we gain more time and um within our current schedule so sometimes we talk about preparation time and and sometimes we talk about student contact
time the way that our contract reads is in regard to student contact time um and we at both elementary and secondary are going to ensure that we do not exceed that student contact time for our teachers so that they do have adequate time to plan um for for our students and
so um it will look a little bit different at the secondary than does the elementary um but we are projected to be 10 minutes under per day at the uh elementary level next year and so while it may seem uh and just to specify I'm also elementary and so while it may seem
that our teaching staff is losing prep time the reality is that our teaching staff has been over prepped for the past three years and so they will have less prep time however they're still well within to Dr mesowski's point well within their contract time and what what
happens then is that you know really ultimately we take the focus off of off of the the adults right because our goal is to ensure that students have what what they need and what we know is that at the elementary level we have not had again to Dr mazowski's point sufficient time to ensure that students academic
needs are met we have not had sufficient minutes to ensure that we are teaching um our core reading curriculum our core math curriculum and meeting the needs of science and social studies even in a transdisciplinary way at the IB schools with integrity um each day and so that
that is something that we feel strongly about and that we have heard from from parents that they want to ensure that students are accessing the academic rigor and that we want to see that reflected in um student achievement i would say at the secondary
level I I hear um my colleagues but um I would say there's with the increase in instructional time which is also necessary at the secondary level there's also an increase in prep time in exchange for the supervisory time um or
the supervision time and so um at the at the high school and middle school um staff will no longer they will be using that time for the transition year to prep for the block stud rather than supervisory time which would be spent in
um things like study hall um hallway duty things of that nature um so not only are we creating space for students to be in classrooms uh getting content um but we're also creating that space for teachers to prep on the flip side of
that and taking some of the um supervising duties away yeah I would add that in terms of what a daily schedule is looking like for teachers at the secondary level they're not having any reduction in prep time but they're having a reduction in additional
supervision duties um that um they will no longer have which was it was some student contact time not like instructional um preparation if you will but it wasn't considered to be a prep time so we're
not actually having a reduction in actual prep time for teachers with the transition to the five and a half out of seven i'm sorry can I just clarify that so you're saying um the supervis supervision time wasn't actually prep
time that was like monitoring a study hall or hallway or something like that lunch room okay so that's why it's not actually a reduction in prep time it's correct changing the supervision time to be construct instruction okay
and you everyone has um like printed copies of the sample schedule so you'll see a middle school sample sample sample and you'll also see a high school sample so because sometimes we need the visuals to kind
of you know articulate what it would look like so you'll see the the five out of seven and then you'll see the five and a half out of seven and what does that look like as far as a teacher state and we're talking about
um if you you can see the comparison but you'll see that teachers are will have their prep times prep times are also embedded you'll also see in the five and a half out of seven that there's the job embedded PD that is also within the
schedule whereas in the five out of seven we won't have the capacity to have the job independent job embedded PD we know that we they we have to offer the PD if we offer it in the five out of seven that's a additional financial cost
because we have to pay teachers out for their time outside of their contract in order to do the professional development we can't um control their professional development over the summer we can offer it but contractually
we can't make teachers do professional development over the summer so that if they if we offer it we got to pay them that's an additional cost so our costs are still increasing with the five out of
seven so again we are planning today for two years from now when we food is going up i know my personal food budget is going up i don't shop for groceries
but you get you get what I'm saying but when we talk about nutrition and ser nutrition services we're currently under cost we're running under cost but we are anticipating the cost of our produce and
groceries will go up we have to prepare for that now we know that we have contract negotiations coming up we have to prepare for that
now so we can't wait another year of delaying decreasing our cost and we know that just what's what's being unearthed
in our strategic plan we have to create opportunities for our students to have a sense of belonging to feel a part of our community and that we are preparing them for the their
choice not the choices that we have to limit them to because we don't have the finan financial resources to offer the different opportunities that we currently offer so we have to continue to have the choice
i don't want us to get pigeonholed to the point where we have to now start trimming programming because we don't have the financial resources to continue to offer different academic opportunities
for students then we really have to grapple with declining enrollment not because of the low birth rates that's happening throughout the state of Minnesota but because we don't have the choices that
we had in the past because we have to make severe budget cuts again we have to prepare now for the future I'm sorry I'm No I was just ask
another question uh Corey was saying that in and Maria were saying for elementary it' be 10 minutes under contracted student contact time is that will it also be within the contract and student contact time at the secondary
yeah the current um for our schedule at the high school the current um instructional time and this is time in front of kids teaching like content is 250 for a 1.0 FTE um and that's well within the
instructional minutes of the contract and then um moving to a 5 and a half out of seven would increase that uh by 25 minutes on average daily over the course of the whole school year so we get over the course of the whole school
year and do you know what the contracted time is contracted time is 33 minutes yeah yeah but it would still be 25 minutes below contract um I'm sorry i'm It was It's late i got
up early okay i saw the 30 after I said that so it would be 55 you also have to take into consideration that because it's the five and a half that that's only for half the year so they'll be teaching one extra class for about 95
days give or take for half a year so it it's not even a whole additional class for the whole year again trying to put that in comments and what that looks like for Sorry just to be clear so the contracted contact time is the same as the
total amount of time for the day or that 3:30 is not the total minutes for the day that's just the contracted total the contract is 330 student contract okay the total time for a day instructional or supervisor i see thank
you because they they teachers are entitled to an hour of prep and a 30 minute duty-free lunch each day so that says it's 90 minutes on top of the the 3:30s okay this is a great segue into the next question which is what is the impact of
these schedule changes on teacher student relationships instructional quality and overall teacher workload one of the things that we have heard about is concerns about time for writing letters of recommendations for students time to do clubs and activities for um
athletic activities or tutoring i guess I'm going to start maybe by asking a question i guess I would be curious to know like what the context of the teacher student relationships part of the question was only because I mean I will speak for the
teachers at the middle school where they are very very good at forming relationships with students and I do know that there has been some concern like I'll have an extra class will I have time to form relationships and I fully believe that yes they will because
we also have teachers at the middle school that actually teach 10 classes right now of 30 students and they are very much able to form relationships with students so I have complete faith that that is going to happen i will also
say that I had a conversation with the teachers today and I said with the additional um extra section it's really important that we are thinking about how these teaching sections are assigned we need to limit preps we need to ensure that we're not asking a teacher to teach
a course that they've never taught before and they have to learn a new content for a year we're not going to do that so we have to be really thoughtful about how we're assigning the additional teaching section so that we're not adding the burden of having to learn new
content it needs to be something that teachers are familiar with to the best of our ability that we're going to be able to schedule let's be humane about this and then additionally part of what we are doing to prepare for the block is how are we using our time in our
classroom who's bearing the cognitive load who's doing the work we want to be shifting it to the students are doing the work where the teacher is facilitating on the side able to have the conversations with the students to form those relationships with the students but also how are you using that
time to assess student work in the moment instead of bringing home piles of paper and having to do it in the evening or on the weekend and even if we weren't transitioning next year that would still be a focus of what we're working on is how are we continuing to center the
students experience in the classroom and also improve our teacher workflow and not get bogged down in some of those things that um we can be more mindful of in the moment and actually you know multitask talk to
students see where they're at give them feedback in the moment jot down what they are like in your grade book in the moment and then and move on and not have to be doing the paperwork afterwards so um I guess
that's kind of my thinking that would be my answer around that question as far as the clubs and athletics um we pay stipens for teachers to do that after school and it is up to them as to whether they feel they have the capacity or not um and
so we um if we needed to find an adviser I know we partner really closely with community education around after school opportunities so we'll kind of work that out as that comes but um teachers that
are really passionate about working with students after school they do get a stipen to do that and I know that that actually brings many of them a lot of joy so but I always honor what teachers feel like they need to take care of themselves personally first and foremost
so we'll work that out as it comes can I ask a couple of followup questions unless I interrupt sorry I kind of just um I guess I have a a really quick question at both the middle school and the high school will students continue to have advisory or connections or
whatever you call so is that an opportunity for teachers to form relationships with their students in a different way that is outside of their instructional yeah so yes the the whole premise behind having our park connections at the high school park
connections um advisory is really to integrate in that social emotional learning to focus on restorative practice to um uh uh integrate in uh college and career readiness um and we also uh this year
started what I need or win so students get to go and get support um academic support from other teachers that was my question was about win time my second question is my understanding of cultural responsive practices is that what we
call it still i never remember what you call it in St but isn't that um the cultural response of literacy isn't that hasn't that been a focus at all of the grades right and um my understanding of
that is a central component is developing relationship with students when you implement that in the classroom so there's an opportunity for teachers to continue to deepen their relationship with their students using
right absolutely okay we're not going away from that is it called culturally do you call it culturally well I need to get this culturally relevant pedigogy relevant thank you that was the R word sometimes we call it culturally relevant and responsive anything else that anyone wants to add
to that one i was just going to talk about the letters of recommendation because I know that has been um it's a curiosity of some of the teachers and I I just um I want to acknowledge like that change is
hard and that um I really believe that this is about how we all come together as a community and collaborate right to have the best outcomes for our students and also not um that doesn't negate the fact that we also need to take care of our teachers And so um and and the
reason I'm talking about the letters of recommendation is because we only get the best outcomes if we're as collaborative as possible and so if that's a concern um my teachers have come to me and said you know I have just a lot of letters of recommendation to
write what can we do about this and we work together to make sure that they have the time necessary in order to get that done to support our students because we want our students we don't want our students to be impacted because we don't have the the capacity to do that so I think we need to keep that in mind as our end outcome as we're moving
into a a year of transition that this is really about how we collaborated with each other to create the best outcome that we all believe in right we all believe in and it's student centered but doesn't dismiss the fact that we need to take care of our teachers as well has it
ever come up in negotiations has Pat brought it up to you no yeah I was curious about that too that's good like now because it came up from several people a couple weeks ago like had you
had that conversation with your staff about like I mean that one um makes my brain break because that is about individual students yes right like we can get someone to coach track um but writing a letter of recommendation for
an individual student is a very fundamentally individual act so um how do we make that happen right like how do we make that happen um that and I will tell you that um there hasn't been that many cases where where uh staff
have come to me that they've said you know I really need some time can we figure out a way to create that time and space so that I can do that and the answer is yes because I'm always going to put our students first and I'm always going to like take care of you so that you can get what you need to provide for our students so that is not even like
it's a non-negotiable we will do that for our for our staff should that come up during negotiations and this tax we will certainly address that and make sure that the students are at the teachers to accommodate because we do know there are districts where that is compensated for in various ways and
contracts i'm going to keep us on secondary since we're we're getting into it a little bit here one of the questions that has come up has been around alternative scheduling options especially as we look at a transition year before moving to
block so what alternative scheduling options were considered besides the five and a half model and how were these decisions made well I I will just speak so if you I'm just going to speak
transparently we would need to change student programming and the model for students uh at the secondary level if we were um to move to anything else but a five and a half out of seven um as Dr hein said like the current
state of budget reductions does not allow us to continue the continuum of service that we currently provide at the high school um not moving into a five and a half out of a seven with the current budget reductions that we're experiencing at the high school would require us to reduce programming so
there would be some additional hard decisions um so I just I just wanted to start with that but um I think it would actually make two transitions right we'd have two transitions if we transition to a
different model it would trans uh it would transition our students twice would which in my belief that is not what's in the best interest of our students as we try to prepare for the block schedule um and so um I think it also does not free up our
our um the time for folks whether that's teachers you know other support staff admin we are all transitioning this is not just one group of folks our students our families we're all transitioning
into this block model and so we all need to be afforded the time to adequately prepare and the five without changing drastically what the model that our students are currently receiving which is their seven period day right um and
so um it's there wasn't a consideration of another model because we felt like that would be multiple transitions um and we need to stay the course but provide that space for people to have additional prep to prepare for the transition to in 206
Where did the decision about block come from um well this has been um before my tenure um block at the high school um from what I know has been something that they've really supported and wanted um
there was a focus group I think it was a district level focus group or task force that was working towards a block and then CO hit and kind of um went under the radar when we transitioned back um but um our teachers have been doing
extensive research on what they believe are the benefits of a block schedule um I'm just um so some of the pros of a block schedule that came out of some of their research was that it's a del uh a
delivery model that allows for um additional student support or or um that delivery model just allows us to in the moment provide that feedback right or if there's a lab we can instruct and then we can go into our lab and we don't have
to like plan for a a separation um in our in our plans um it better supports our special our students that receive uh IEP services uh there's less transitions in the day which leads to decreased discipline referrals um there are better
routines put into place uh students and teachers have better relationships the community culture and climate actually um we see a positive impact on culture and climate and it benefits our multilingual learners so um my team of
teachers presented to me in the fall about moving to a block um after some extensive conversations we have had over the course of the years um and there they they presented this it was brilliant how they presented and I was like there's no way but for me to lean
in and say yes how do we support this um I think there's also on the flip side of that what we need to consider as we transition uh have a transition year and some of that is what is and this is not limited um but um what is the
professional development there's a different delivery model in a block schedule than there is on a current seventh period day um we have to consider what does co-eing look like for special education teachers and our multilingual learner uh programs uh we
have to think about course design we're currently revamping the entire uh secondary both both middle school and high school are going through and looking at standards and what is standardsbased grading look like and what is um how are we maintaining and
designing standardsbased culturally relevant pedigogy and uh curricular units um so you have to consider course design scope and sequence and lesson planning uh we have to rewrite every IEP um you have to go back and make sure
that you are meeting the minutes adequately and if a student needs and needs daily service we have to go and rewrite them to reflect what their IEP currently says to a block schedule which is a it's a it's a heavy lift
um we have to also um have conversations uh most likely we'll be having a conversation with the board because we have to look at our our graduation requirements and our credits uh we also have to look at our course registration guides because um in the research that I've done and I've met with a few people
um as as I'm like trying to support the block um it was really about um I remember him saying to me when you look at your course registration guide there's courses that you haven't even designed yet and you don't even know what they are right like we are going to have to do a deep dive in like what we
currently offer and what we're going to offer because a block schedule changes the pathways right for it for good but we have to consider all of those things and be prepared um and then also in the research that I've done um it
recommended at least one year of transition so I just want to be clear about um yeah it's a hard it's hard it's a change the five and a half is not it's not popular and also it is um something that will help us get like to the
intended immediate outcome that everybody can be support of thank you i want to also name something here because my understanding is the five and a half out of seven is a less expensive model than the block schedule
but that we are committed to doing what's in the best interest of our students and what has been recommended to us by our teachers which is why we are still planning to transition to that block i think that's another important component and from an operational
standpoint it the transition year also gives up gives us an opportunity to unpack and really dive into our spending and how we are spending monies and how we are spending monies in partnership with other institutions that are
educating our students and are are we doing a due diligence and ensuring that the education of our students is happening within our four walls so that we can retain those funds here as opposed to paying an additional
institution to carry some of our instructional load so it gives us an opportunity to look at our efficiencies and be able to redirect some of our practices so that we can be more
efficient financially um I just went uh a good two and a half hour meeting today with my leaders in my district about the online because the the impact the negative impact on us as
teachers but also uh the district in as an institution and the budget is vast so I've asked um Patricia if she could share with me the cost of the online classes how many students are taking
online classes what are we doing to what are we doing first of all what what are they why are they taking online classes because that's concerning um number two we also did a deep dive into the policy into the statute regarding
online classes is there any um do we have an we've jokingly started calling it the online letter but um the statute requires that the district provide a person who investigates all online
programs to make sure that they're meeting state standards because the fact of the matter is I have students who are not engaging in our curriculum because the pathway online and I'm just going to say it is a hell of a lot easier
than our classes in the online um they're not meeting state standards so my curiosity and you don't need to answer this today but I am curious about how much it's costing us i'm curious about how many students are taking it
because the exodus in my building and I know this because I'm an elective teacher um for the last period of the day it's like they're out the door and they're coming up with the way so I would be curious about what um not
tonight but moving forward the cost but we have the information for you we can we can provide it to you and we also have a plan meeting with Dr hines and Dr robinson and I don't know others in this room so we are looking at language in my
district um for the student handbook so so I would be curious because they're not I mean as a as a parent I would not I do not believe that my child who took two online classes
because there weren't classes available at the high school for her to take she took a PE class and um a photography class and she absolutely was like "Great mom i didn't have to do any work this is so fantastic." And that's not acceptable i
don't accept that as a parent poor child and I also don't accept that as an educator i don't that's not why I got into this business and I don't think we should be helping kids pso is totally different we're taking an online PSO class my child is taking two next year
she'll be sitting in the media center taking them because of like part of the school and she wants to be a part of the building that is a separate that's not what we're talking about just make that clear no no i think that you were talking about that i I mean to get back to the like prep preparation for the
block and thinking all of that through and thinking about how we advertise courses to students right like my students taking PSO because they could take math in the fall and another math class in the spring so now they've done two years of math in one year that is something you could do in a block you
couldn't do it today in St louis Park it also allows us for students that might struggle in a course um or maybe don't pass a course for us to offer that support in if they if they didn't pass it in the fall we can then revisit it and they could possibly get that support
in the in the spring right depending upon the model because we haven't decided upon the the the model yet but I just want to appreciate um Ashley's naming the fear and the lack of trust because I as we heard from Pink Consulting there is a lack of trust um
and there is a fear that we're talking about moving to a locked schedule but then we'll find that we won't so I would hope that that is something that we're working on to build that trust then also from a perspective of a teacher
um you know I went from a lock schedule to a sixth period day to a lock schedule to a sixth period day and then to like middle school we try I don't know if your kids were at the middle school at the time but we had eight period day and then we're went to a seven period
day so like I understand the messiness um and then the difficulty of providing professional development during the summer should not be taken lightly this is really difficult because teachers don't and rightfully so why would they
want to but also I I just um I did not with all of the transition that the schools that I was in we were never provided we were never given the time for meeting um and have that transition year it was just I think we had two days
in our workshop week about how to teach in a block schedule and then they were like here you go i had I had to my only year of full-on teaching was teaching on block schedule i came out as a brand new teacher and I had to teach three different classes and I didn't have any any special supports
for that so it's like good luck have at it you teach for 90 minutes now keep the kids um anyway can I can I just go back to something that um you can say Virginia um Virginia said um I just need to like
I have to stand in my purpose and support and advocate for my teachers we cannot go back we have to go into a block schedule we cannot change our minds it is that important like I am standing here saying we cannot
make a different decision in 26 27 the decision is we have to go into a black schedule and with that said when it comes to budgeting that is the priority but but Colin just pointed out something
that Melissa had said earlier as I believe you have right of assignment do principles have right of assignment so I mean yes I'm very happy to hear that you're collaborating with teachers about who is teaching what but as a new teacher in a block schedule I was
teaching seven cups that's that's killing that'll kill a teacher so I mean I think that to you that but and I don't know how I'm thank you Lenanisha for saying that we're going to the but I just I'm also hoping that
there will be ways that you communicate to the board and to Dr hines that you are taking some consideration into not overwhelming particularly our new to the profession teachers like why are we giving them the worst schedules because
seven preps is too much i would agree i mean I you know we try to you know at the middle school even in our current system limit the number of preps that teachers have and and personal elective teachers it's hard
it's hard to be a business teacher you know um but you know to be very mindful very mindful of that um because I think that's also when you're teaching a course multiple times it's also how you improve because you get to improve on it
each time that you you teach um I think you know I appreciate the opportunity that to um work with teachers like we are I we've got a lot of energy generating at the middle school and we're going to be
forming a committee to really look at like what's important to our community what do we need to prioritize in a schedule how do we build a schedule that meets those needs um especially considering our my IB programming where we want to be able to ensure that
students are able to take music every year and also meet their art requirements and also have design and so to really take time to say like what's important to us and that would include also getting input from our students and our parents as well and to be able to
design um a schedule that's going to meet the needs as well as offering my hope would be some in support and support time every day for students to get a variety of different support and how they might need it so there's a lot of opportunities here to meet student needs
um in a wide variety of way both within the tier one classroom but also like as a building as well and so I think it's a really exciting opportunity to be able to really be student centered and meet the needs and it will be a heavy lift um to do it but I think it will be worth it
and I do believe that teaching in a block is going to be able to help us actualize more of what we're hoping to do with culturally re relevant pedigogy i mean to be honest a 44-minute class period at the middle school you welcome in them you say hello you do a warm-up
activity you give them some instructions they you know and then it's like goodbye you know and so just that opportunity to be able to go deeper with longer periods of time to form those relationships I think we're going to see dividends from that so I do believe that taking the
time to really invest and do this well is going to pay off so principal Kellowski just touched a little bit on process moving forward but I want to also open to some of our elementary principles what role do teachers and staff play in the
decision-m process and how is their input being honored moving forward so last year I can um good evening board and cabinet members um thank you for allowing me to be here um I just wanted
to share last fall uh last spring um the PE design team met with us and they had some pretty specific um guidelines and wishes and hopes and the principles elementary I want to
stress um we met in May I believe and it was just we didn't think we could pull it off so we want to honor their voices these are PE teachers across the elementary um buildings that were
sharing their plans with us their hopes um so now we have taken that into consideration in the draft schedule for the elementary um in regards to having single sections of PE
um so that the students can have more individualized time with the specialist the PE teacher um 50-minute classes class periods instead of having up to almost 60 kids with two adults that's a
lot uh at some of the elementarymentaries there's been increase and you know there's this natural I run into you we get hurt we hit heads we got to go to the nurse we have to check on things we're hoping that will decrease um that's our hope
and our expectation um but we're honoring the teachers voices and I'm really proud of that um also with the schedule that we the elementary principles have put together um proposed
put together that there will be less transitions um you will go to a specialist class and you will go back to the class or a teacher will drop them off the classroom teacher will pick them up in between before there was two
specialist classes where the specialist teachers in some of our buildings were transitioning so those 30 minute classes were even less so now in essence yes it's a um uh decrease in number of PE uh
classes but there's single sections so there's you know 24 students instead of up to 55 students in a class and I'm really looking for or I'm really happy for the students and the teacher to be
able to share um life skill sports you We also have heard from the athletic director in regards to high school sports and how we have uh a decrease we don't have very many students female
students of color um that are interested in sports and we're hoping that by developing this they can get into something because that teacher has more one-on-one time with the actual sport i know we've had at the elementary we've
had lacrosse come in we've had ultimate frisbee come in those are some of those sports um we've had partnerships with the high school so I'm really looking forward to that um another thing I know actually you didn't do you mind if I add
to this um another thing that I am really excited about about is this schedule that we have built up um is really open to up to 24 sections none of
our elementary buildings have 24 sections so me by me saying that um specifically at Susan Lingren we've been lucky enough to add because of our enrollment has went up this year um
we've added in August um additional teachers which is a great thing but then it kind of puts a a mess in the schedule so I pride myself in having grade level teachers have a common prep time so they
can collaborate together in this schedule they will have that 50inute common planning collaboration time also we need to do a better job um with our ML and special ed teachers
in regards to having time to plan with those gened teachers um so we will have that time and we are planning on building that in as well and I think going back to the question um that you posed Ashley to how are we how have we
gathered teacher input we we've been gathering teacher input a lot since we transitioned three years ago um in that um we had additional specialist time so two days a week students have 90 minutes of specialist time that's a lot of
transitions and especially if they're not backtoback i I I've worked with elementary kids for a long time you know walking five and six year olds down the hall you lose five minutes on both sides right and so if you look at our schedules there are a lot there's a lot of choppiness right so we might in an
ideal world you'd have a 90 to 120 minute block for literacy all in one false right that that can't happen for every classroom because of the way that our specialists are set up right now and so resultingly by going to 50 minutes
it's going to decrease the amount of transitions and open up those blocks of time for us to dig in deeper with our kids and that's something that our teachers have been asking for like we don't have enough time during the day to do everything that we need to get done so that our kids have access to state
standards right and so I'm really excited about that and and so how have provided input we've been providing input for multiple years it's been an ongoing conversation and then moving forward too u it will be like anything
we're going to monitor it we're going to make tweaks like we always do right there are going to be things that unintended consequences are going to come out of the schedule we're going to be like "Huh didn't see that coming." Right and we're going to revisit that but we're really excited about common prep times every day for grade level
teachers we're really excited about less transitions really excited for more time in the classroom yeah um I so I heard from both elementary and secondary about um sort of the block or just longer time periods
being beneficial for our multilingual learners and our students receiving services so I and I saw Dr robinson react to both of those so I'm just wondering if you would just say a bit about why why that why why you I saw you snapping so I just wanted
I am first off I want to say thank you to this group this you know it it is it is overwhelming work right I always say it's hard work but it's hard work and if we always re remain student centered we're going to get to our goal um and I
was just thinking about the um pit way back in July how we talked about the introduction the goals objectives the implementation the execution and here we are here we are actually doing the work So when I hear about this is what we're
doing it's it's something that I I I envisioned when I first got here that sped gened our babies are gen ed first and they need that time our special ed teachers need time to collaborate to
plan co-e with gen ed teachers right but I also look at it as a way where those TDN rubrics how it all aligns with this work ida tells us that our kids need to
have free appropriate public education and we're doing that here at St louis Park is it is it easy she just mentioned how we're going to need to amend our IEPs myself along with our two assistant directors along with the entire sped
league teams were willing to do that work because we know again it's needed and it's going to be valuable to both going back to seesaw our families need more input they need to know what we're doing know thinking about the report cards all of this is in alignment and it
also goes back to we have students who are receiving services for thinking about the pull out and the push in we would will now have that opportunity to say during our reading blocks instead of us going to our SLPs they can come into
the classroom and provide direct and indirect services in those small groups what does that look like it means that we have to come together to say what's going on at Susan Ling let's see what's going on at Aquula so that we can get everyone together to say they rolled it
out over at Aquula let's see what's taking place at PSI just to make sure that we're doing everything that's beneficial for our kids peter Hobart oh yep they have a phenomenal program let's see how we can make this work so that when our families
when our students come into the space they know that our teachers we're one St louis partner and we're going to continue to build upon that so that's why I'm over here celebrating with the and I see a few sped teachers in the audience and I'm like we got this and I
tell them that in in a lot of ways that you call me we're here we're going to come because that's where we're trying to build that trust but we're also trying to show that we're going to collaborate in a way where everyone knows that we feel supported in every
department whether it be ML SE regardless we're all going to be there to support so yes thank you can I ask a question um one of the things that came up or has come up in the emails that we've received um and in
conversations that I've had with other parents of elementary age students is the concern about the need to be able to move our bodies um I'm standing it's not because I need to you know but I like it's hard for me
to sit for two and a half hours um but you know so can you talk a little bit about what intentionality is going to go into creating space for our our elementary age students who can't you know who who need more time to be able
to move their bodies and if we're eliminating um the daily access to gym i know we're going to have uh the recess time um but but how are we supporting our teachers to be able to create space for that movement i can start because I think
this is an opportunity where we haven't always tooted our own horns right like because we have a lot going on already we just haven't necessarily told our larger community all the ways that kids are moving throughout the day right um at the elementary level we've got um at
PSI I'll I'll speak to PSI because that's what I know best right like in every room we have sensory boxes we teach kids um about the the furniture that we have in the room we get up we move around we can move the entire room in 60 seconds with furniture to make
circles we're constantly moving furniture all day right i like I I think I heard you say Sarah that you'd like to move around like I have a hard time sitting also right kids have a super hard time sitting and our elementary teachers know that you know within our building we've got sensory walks um uh
we we have sensory paths we have different spaces that kids can go if they're feeling disregulated um we have you know as you mentioned the daily recess but additionally it's also about all right let's stand up let's let's do some breathing exercises together as a class we're going to now transition to
math and what I need you to do is I need you to go grab that notebook over there um and we're going to walk but we're going to do it walking like elephants right like it those are those things that I think we haven't always talked about all the ways that kids are moving throughout the day and it's also a moment that we need to pause as a
community too and go why are we not sharing that and also what ideas are we doing ac across across classroom across grade levels um and I think that helps when people are in each other's rooms too and so it's providing space for people to see other things that are
happening but as a person who's in our classrooms every single day I see a lot of opportunities for kids with movement yes it is true that we won't have a 30 minute physical education block every day And if you come to our gymnasiums where you see 50 to 60 kids in that
gymnasium all running around they're not really moving a whole lot right so if our goal is student movement um we'll have 50 minutes of dedicated time once every four days and it'll be skill-based you know I heard Melissa
talk about 44 minutes right like what does that look like for middle school for elementary too it's five minutes to get them in five minutes really we're doing an activity for 15 minutes right and so for a longer period of time we can go more in depth um but then within the classroom we are going to have
longer blocks and so we are going to have to think about how are we being intentional about that movement but I think it's something that for sure at the elementary level that we've always been cognizant of like anyone that's taught elementary kids knows they can't sit for extended periods of time or
other things happen right so well and I've had the opportunity I mean I'm I'm asking the question so folks can hear the answer but I have this opportunity to to walk through schools with you all right and I take that opportunity as often as I can and you know I see
students moving every time I come in um and I'm thinking about like music class right like I can't every time I go to music class like they're dancing there's some you know some sort of dancing happening right and there's like real intentionality around that movement talent development they're constantly
moving to different tables um you know and so I've had the opportunity to see it in a lot of the buildings um but I you know this does come back to how are we sharing our story about what that looks like um I've also seen what gym class looks like and I have had concerns
about that as well um you know and so I I I I appreciate that i think we need to um create opportunities for folks to have windows into what this looks like in our buildings um because I know
there's a lot change is hard but there's a lot of fear around this particularly at the elementary age and because that's my parent group i've heard a lot about it um and I have I have kids too right who are in that age group who need to move
their bodies um but I feel I feel confident in the intentionality behind this and and what we're doing but I I hope that that can start to be communicated out differently so I can speak to the the process at
Aquilla and I I just want to address um you know I received a couple of of emails of concern from parents who have students who have IEP so IEP minutes will not be affected so if students have um mo gross motor breaks in their IEDs that's absolutely not not affected and
in conjunction with that um we have had our um our OT Domin she went through all of our classes at the beginning of the year and just did sort of an audit as to what was happening in terms of developmentally appropriate movement and developmentally appropriate um seated
time so we have at the kindergarten level kids are sitting for no more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time and then they're up and moving and that increases incrementally as you get older in developmentally appropriate ways for students to be able to focus um or who are able to focus for a little bit
longer but also within that and to Corey's point um we have brain breaks built in we have intentional movement built in because the goal of this increased uh academic time so this increased time for core content is
that students are learning and what our teachers know because they are skilled professionals is that we're not going to be successful with that if we're not building movement and so as we think about you know multiple intelligences kinesthetic intelligence is is one of the eight not nine intelligences and so
that is that is is built in to what the way the teachers are are planning their universally designed lessons so I think that's really important to to keep in mind that um our classroom teachers asked for this
time to be able to meet students needs academically to be able to meet the minute requirements of our various curricula across um disciplines and w with that request comes the knowledge that they also are building in in the
time and so to Corey's point to Dr meslowsk's point as well um we utilize we always say to Chloe we use all parts of the animal like we utilize our hallways to a great extent we all of the things we are moving as much as possible so you might see kids
doing a math lesson counting the squares on the wall like so out moving through the school um so that's something that's that's definitely definitely happening and then the other thing that I think we we haven't talked about is um what it means for students to have intentional
time in PE where they are seen by the the PE teacher um on a very individual basis um and and acknowledge and able to move more i know we've mentioned that but the other thing is that within all of our and we've
talked about citilla within all of our gymnasiums there's the ability to drop a curtain and with one class you can have PE on one side and if there's another class that just needs five minutes to come in and move we've talked about that that as a possibility um and teachers
are intrigued by that and also I will say at a cool now we will have this extra space this flex space this room where we will have the priority being developmentally adaptive PE which has been occurring here 24 to four on the back of the stage um and we'll now have plenty of room for that but that that's
only an hour and a half to two hours each day so that leaves four to four and a half hours a day when kids can go in and be doing a literacy activity that involves movement big big movement and so we've just talked about how that can look how we'll leverage um in non-inc in the non-inclimin month of the year
outdoor spaces to make sure that students are students are outside uh doing that learning so you know I know that we have we we do have concerns because uh physiologically uh we are now we are no longer in the business of of creating cogs and factory
workers right we're creating thinkers and learners and training students for jobs that we can't even conceive right for careers that we can't even conceive and so we know that part of that is ensuring that we're meeting the needs of of the whole child and so we're thinking really deeply about that and I just want
to say I'm really thankful for uh the parents that have reached out to me specifically about PE because among them we have parents who are also outside OTS who are offering suggestions and so we are open to all of those suggestions and I think our our classroom teachers and our own um occupational therapists are a
wealth of knowledge so I I feel really confident that we're going to be able to meet those needs yeah I think just to build on that our teachers crave for PD i mean we've heard that across consulting and so having opportunities to build in whether it is
um we use move mindfully if you're aware and so every staff meeting we spend a chunk of time doing a new move mindfully so that they can take that back to their classroom and implement that in their classroom um we talked about culturally relevant pedigogy um culturally relevant
pedigogy oftent times requires movement um I can talk about in a kindergarten classroom when they when they are tapping out sounds to create words they literally hop on the cushions across and they do it as a group so people each student gets an opportunity to leave the
hopping across the mats to create a word a sound and sound it out so having those intentional opportunities for our staff to learn and building that within professional development are going to be critical as we think about movement all of the principles would agree movement
is important none of us are disagreeing with that at all we agree wholeheartedly and we need to find the time and space to make sure our students can succeed academically as well as social emotionally so I have a question because my um move mindful came up and I I had
that written down but I've heard it before um but can we elaborate on who received that training and is there more of that training to come yeah at least at Peter Hobart I know that I sent um our connections coordinator and um our
social worker to move mindfully training um it's been called yoga calm before thousand pedals it's had a couple iterations um and so I know that they went last year on a grant and then I chose to send them as part of our professional development comes this year with the intention that every staff
meeting they are bringing that training to our staff i think it's really hard when we do a oneanddone type of training it's too much to absorb and so how do we continue to build that over time and offer new ideas to our staff um over time around whether it's a move
mindfully activity whether it's a culturally re relevant pedigogy practice um lots of different ways that we can continue to implement that um not only in burst of PD but then also over time so that teachers have the capacity and different ideas that are constantly
coming to them and one of the things that we are putting we're going to build for next year is the concept of ondemand PD where teachers can get have access to 15 20 minute professional development um mini lessons to give them some ideas and
tools as to different concepts so um we will have some some on movement mindful movement we will have some on differentiated instruction we'll have someone scaffolding scaffolding um data how to analyze data so that they when
they feel the need to brush up on their skills they don't have to wait to a day of the week where they're offering PD or they don't have to wait until that all day PD day they can access it on demand at their need so we
are we again I have heard the the the the need and the want for access to professional development but we we live in an age of responsiveness where things are ever
ready i can Google I can search and I can watch a YouTube video but how are we taking the best that we have internally and giving our teachers that platform to showcase the things that they are doing and it's working in their spaces so that
they can share it with their colleagues so we are building that catalog um and we're starting with how it how we kick off the year our kickoff of the year is going to be a conference style for our teachers where they get choice as to what um professional development that
they want to or workshops they want to attend when we welcome our our teachers back i have something very quick before we move off and that is just that it strikes me that this is a opportunity for collaboration with community ed um
we did that when we changed start times a few years ago kind of like community ed was able to say "Okay we're going to like scaffold around this new schedule for elementary." Same thing here right like we have tons of programming coming through community ed and that's that
strikes me i mean that's this is you know applies to all levels but especially in elementary right we can add activity on the outside of the day rather than all of it having to be inside the day and and partners with with the uh park district and some things like that too i
I Yeah I think we we probably have a few more questions yeah I wanted I wanted to say one thing okay you Well you can go ahead no I just it strikes me as I'm listening that um I'm thinking about my husband my husband is not an educator but he's married to me
and so when my daughter would come home and she would tell him about her day he thinks of education as he experienced it and I think many of our parents and many of my generation think of education as they
experienced it and education is very different i've been in I'm this is I'm going into year 30 well it's year 29 so I'll be year 30 i know i know and it's different even like by decade it's
almost changed so much and so I think that is part of the communication piece is that many and it's not a bad thing my husband just thought of school the way he experienced it so when we would go to parent teacher conferences and he would
he was like oh my god did you know all this stuff and I'd be like "Yeah but right." So like he's they're learning too and they're understanding like it doesn't surprise me that any of it doesn't surprise me when I listen to this but it can be very surprising for somebody who hasn't experienced it
absolutely i think the only other thing I was going to add thank you um was that I think about my personal experience of like in PE I never learned how to swing a bat you know and it's some of that stuff that I think what I'm hearing is like like you played baseball right but you
weren't like instructed on how to swing better you were teased or the the kids who excelled in those areas excelled and you never got to build the skills now I know how to swing a tennis racket and can I build off with something like that perhaps but so I think about those opportunities too and I think about that
too when you talk about having more dedicated time or if you read what is in our state guidelines for what we should be doing is developing motor skills not just getting activity but developing motor skills and strengths and things like that and getting people to understand what it means to have that
accuracy or how you get that accuracy or do whatever to do that so anyway so I'm excited about that and one of the so I did did a check-in with um Dr misslowski and we did a Wasp Brown and I
was like we're going to PD talk to and had an opportunity to talk to the P teacher and one of the things he said was I'm excited to teach the kids how to ride bikes he has a set of bikes that he
has access to but the students aren't they don't really they can't really take advantage of the opportunity to learn how to ride a bike or to take a bike ride during PE that PE time one because there are not enough bikes for the 60
kids that two there's not enough time to get them on a trail and one of the things that I appreciate about park there are some beautiful bike trails and how are we helping our
students explore their city so that they can love the place that they live so that they have a desire to come back so that we can continue that generational um the generational longevity of
families that's currently here that they don't want to go and live in Minnotonka because they live they love the beauty about St louis Park so again as we think about how our students are
experiencing our earliest learners in early education and how our families are having their exposure with the engagement with the teachers how that translates into how they are experiencing
kindergarten first grade second grade because that leads into the desire ire to continue the trajectory into the middle school and as we continue to nurture and develop i went to the six I went to a sixth
grade social studies class and I was like "What grade are we in?" I literally had to tap a student i said "What grade are you in?" He said "I'm in sixth grade." I'm like my the level of engagement and conversations that our students are
having as as a sixth grader in most settings you see that intent so our students are are accelerating up to the high school where we have all of these grand opportunities
so we have to understand that we are we are moving away of a system of schools and we are developing a school system that what I do as a kindergarten teacher
impacts what Clarence can do can do as a first grade teacher that impacts what Sarah can do as a second grade teacher and it accelerates up so we talk about our core values and we talk about that
collective responsibility and it's not just about me but it's how am I preparing my because every day we engage with these impressionable humans and we are leaving
a piece of us with them and that is our individual impression and our legacy that we are leaving with that student it can be positive and it can be negative we as
the adults have that choice but it also impacts that next teacher and how they experience the development and learning and and facilitating and molding of that student so we talk
about how are we ensuring that we have true alignment that from site to site from grade level to grade level so that we are ensuring that each
because I believe in the the power of words each is each each is not all each means I am getting to know Taylor and what drives Taylor because I'm going to make sure I I connect with
him did you see that ball game did you go to that play wasn't that phenomenal that's that connection so every student is seen every student is respected every student is supported
where they are so that they can actualize their being and who they want to become in the future so with that being said yes next year is going to feel
different yes will we do what we need to do as district administrators to ensure that our students are not lacking if we need to engage with our community partners to fill in the gap
while our teachers have dedicated time to develop their skill sets build more tools in their in their toolkit in order to teach in a block to transition their courses from periods to block
we will engage with our community partners if there are opportunities where we can have vendors or community members i when I been at when I visited Linox our seniors want to what how can we help we want to help can we come and
tutor so there are we have community members that want to help and if this is a a plan B that we need to put in place so that the teachers have the space to do what they need to do during our year
of transition we will develop that but at the end of the day I understand that a lot of this seems different and when when things
aren't fully known because I haven't experienced that i understand that people react to that differently some of it some people are comfortable
with change some people are are fearful of change but change is inevitable we live in a society that is ever changing and we can't be stagnant in the
change we need to support one another in order to get through our year of transition because we will get to the block we won't pull back it is a priority and I will say
that again moving to the block is the priority but we have to we got to take the trip so we I don't know how many of you all like road trips it's not me
if I can't get there in 6 hours I have to fly but my husband wanted to take a road trip from Brooklyn Park Minnesota to Yazu City Mississippi that is 15 hours nonstop we
stopped three times so was it enjoyable for me nope but what it did was it gave us time in the car together it gave us time to
connect it also gave me the time to slow down it didn't feel good i was glad when I got there and I'm sure teachers will be glad when we get to that block schedule but we got to take this road
trip we'll stop for snacks sit down in a restaurant to eat you could actually eat drive but we are we are going to get there together and when we arrive at our destination we can look back and say we
made it so I appreciate each one of you i know board members the emails was firing off and and and I appreciate you all just breathing through them so that we
can direct the questions where they need to be directed and that is to our building principles because they are making the decisions in collaboration with their staff and as board members
you all have the responsibility of the purse to decide how much money we get in order to actualize our strategic
plan and whatever you all say we have to play with that's what we have to play with and our job as administrators is to manage the expectations when it comes to presenting
students with educational opportunities that address each one of their needs so that they not us by our li limitations well the barriers that we put into
place but that they can have the choice of who they are going to become because every day of their being is getting them to who they are going to become
so I I appreciate each one of you and I will also say this and then I'm going to be quiet cuz it's late and I know we got one more topic and I'mma release my administrator so they can go home cuz they got to get up
early but I will say this one of the things that is very important to me is how we treat each other as humans and I am I am concerned with the level of
professionalism that I am seeing when there is a distaste for decisions that are being made i am concerned because I'm having triggers that is reminding me of the behaviors that I am
seeing on a political front when there is disagreement with decisions that are being made i truly believe that we create space and I will always create space for people to
express their voice but one of the things that is a zero tolerance for me is the disrespect in how we create we as educators and we as leaders
because we have the title does not mean that you can say what you want to say how you want to say and we are just supposed to sit and take it that's unacceptable i will treat people with respect but I will not tolerate the
disrespect not from myself not for any of my administrators not for my students not for my teachers that has to stop because you talk
about the ecosystem of education how are we going to attract our students to be teachers and educators when they see the adults
treating one another the way that some people are treating each other here in St louis but that has to stop i am concerned and I'm saying that here
at the board table because I got to be just as transparent as to what I'm seeing and what I am experiencing and what my other administrators are
experiencing that would drive people away if you look around this table the administrators principles and cabinet members that I have I got the top of the line and I'm
concerned because why would you stay in an environment where you're not treated in a respectful way so I'll say that thank you thank you all as we walk
together through this transitional year as we go to our destination of a block schedule at the secondary where we are fully committed to creating that learning
space for our students i would say that I think there was three more questions she's good but I encourage any teacher community member student that still has questions about anything
please talk to your administrators they have the answers i say that again please talk to your administrators they have the answers can I just say thank you for the visuals
because I know this was like very important to the community um and me as well as a parent when I got the email I didn't understand what uh 5.5 schedule was and um I saw the emails from everybody who felt the same way I felt so this was really helpful and mind you
this is for this is a teacher view this would be a reflective of the teacher schedule for next year the student schedule They will still be in class they don't get ripped can we just I know we I know we're
trying to be done i just you know first of all it's late and I know that folks here like we'll be greeting students at the door you know at in the 7:00 hour and just want to say thank you for that but I think I hope that people tune I know there's not that many folks here
but I hope people tune in i think this type of dialogue and this type of conversation to see the intentionality and the like the focus that's behind and you know to really understand what the leaders of this district are doing and and why it's
important um goes back to what we talked about earlier about how are we telling our story because I think so much of this got lost in communication and so I really hope people heard it and that we can find ways to share this out going forward and I just want to thank you all
for um walking this journey with us and for being here late tonight because it's one thing for us to do it but this is above and beyond for you all so thank you awesome thank you thank you so much for being here you said they get to go right
they get to go okay thank you um all right we do want to touch on one thing real briefly here um it doesn't have to be super long but we were looking at their next listening session and the question came up i think we have three board members identified to be
there for sure sarah Virginia and Celia to be there um but the question came up should we have a dedicated topic for people to come to um we have had a history sometimes of not having that we've been trying some of that this year to have some more
dedicated topics to at least sort of um create the energy for the kinds of things that we need to hear about right so that we're hearing about what we need to hear about when we did our last one I gave space for people to also share other things that were outside of that topic as long as we had time to do that
um but just trying to short it up and keep people mostly focused on that realizing that we have other ways for people to communicate to us via email if they want to have public comment if they want to email their administrators or whatever that there's some ways to do
that as well too so is there is there anything more that you want to add there probably anything related to that I don't know okay all right so so the question became I think was that you had a suggestion about a possible topic so one of the things that
um I suggested is that in light of all of the things that are happening at the federal level and just some of the concerns that may be may be bubbling in all of
the uncertainty and I know Sarah yep that funding act of Congress but there is the reality of um well what's going to happen we are a
we are a district that is very prideful about how we talk about racial equity with our racial equity transformational strategic plan with our um our racial equity policy our gender
inclusion policy the language in our student title nine um we out front we are we are very um overt about who we are and what we
believe but with the recent letter where it was sent from the US Department of Education that said that every department state department of education needs to certify that districts weren't
violating any laws with their policies is is there a need to create the space with our community to have that conversation so that our community has an understanding of what the executive orders mean what
is the Department of Education Minnesota Department of Education saying how are what does that mean for us as far as our policy work because I know initially when it was the the focus was on
immigration we did a lot of our work internally to ensure that we were doing right by our families and our students but there was some mumbering in the community as to what is the district
doing where we had it all under control and we were being strategic about not giving away I didn't want to say it but what she said but now we're at a point where okay it's
getting it's it's now getting to our structure so is there a desire to create space to have a listening session with the community that centers around a lot of the policies which the board is
responsible for in relationship to a lot of the the the things that are happening on a federal level so that's where I kind of put that into and just to be clear like we've said in the past
listening sessions tend to be a focus where we can hear from people we don't often have the answers correct right and that would be a thing that we want to be clear that this is not an opportunity to come and have the board answer questions but for us as you're saying to give space to say what is it that you're
concerned about are you concerned that we are going to change our policies are you concerned that you know like what is it that you're feeling and and seeing in terms of this stuff so that's that's what we're we're suggesting as being a possible topic
and we this the schedule it's 5 to 6:30 is that what we Okay yes board meeting so there will be a 30-minut break in order to give board members an opportunity to eat we will start the board meeting as which is slightly different than I think an email that went out earlier but just to be clear
that's about 90 minutes and again that would give us some space for answering those questions and then if there were others like I said I just previously I just asked people to kind of reserve to yeah does the board need to take action on changing your meeting time uh it's
not changed though 5 to 6:30 is what you advertised right no board meeting we just have to give a three-day notice of the changes all right so was there any any thoughts questions concerns about that being a
topic um are you sure you want me to be at the listening session that's the topic i guess I Yes we do that's the one you're supposed to be i mean I think I think right I think it is an opportunity to speak you know it
does give that opportunity to speak more freely but again focus on trying to hear what people have to say it's what we really want and I think people who are particularly maybe like that might be a lot to take in i want to acknowledge that too um so I want to ask it you know
like that like is it going to feel depending on who shows up depending on what they have to say how how we feel about that but I I you know I I do like the idea of having some focus on that and seeing and and like you said if if 100 people show up that's great we've
heard from 100 people if five people show up it's great we've heard from five people but we want to get some of that opportunity for that to do something like that seems like a reasonable time kind of way to use your time
so unless there's unless there's any sort of like I I think we're late it's 9:30 i think we've been at this for three hours there's always a possibility that we can adjust that slightly but I think we wanted to have that discussion at this table and make make that clear
and then again I I don't know we've traditionally kept it to board members largely at at the at the table i don't know what the feeling is about administration being there sometimes we get pointed questions and we sit there and we like we don't know and it's maybe too much to ask one person to do that
but I think there's a question that we we as a board sometimes sit in these meetings and particularly if this one's not recorded and if there's not an opportunity for people like how what what's going to be the best ways to make sure that we can follow up on some of those things the only I guess there are two things
before the one uh that Ken and Heather and I did that was virtual that just got overwhelming for us because we didn't know any the questions were we just were so bombarded with questions um so it was frustrating
not to have a focus and just for Taylor and Cecilia I I liked the idea of having more of a focus so that it's not I mean like it was a bazillion questions coming at us and then following up with each individual who asked that became really
overwhelming for Ken Heather and I and I don't remember why Heather couldn't do it it was it was a situation she just So Ken and I took it up we were responding to like 25 different people so it just got to be and then it was like you know
the superintendent was also responding and just got really overwhelmed and I think and I think some of that is that expectation setting to as much as we can with the listening sessions how we communicate about it that this is you know we call them listening sessions but I'm hoping that the message can be sort of like this is your opportunity to
speak and for the board to listen but um it's not a Q&A you know like you don't call for your name whatever but I'm thinking that just making sure that it's clear to people as much as we can so that's my question for Ashley how are you going to like how how does
one advertise that we're going to be talking about because you know would you can't well because I don't want to put Celia in a situation where she like there's a group of people who who are
outside of St park who hear about what we're going to talk about and so they make it a point to come up to ride to raise a bucket or to I I don't want to be put in that situation necessarily but I also I mean like I want to be
transparent at the same time I think what the way that we will promote it is this is an opportunity to speak on this topic just like we did for the cell phone policy which it was the last one that we did even though people may come to the listening session and
not talk about cell phone i think that's what happened at your last one a little bit i mean or they just kind of offer it but I think it was Yeah I think it was really successful to base it around yeah yeah so we'll share a description of what this topic is with people and what
to expect but I given current uh current reality within the district I would be expecting this next listening session you might have some questions that are not related to this topic and and I think that's a little bit of what we're asking about is like what does that
support look like for us to do that like either that's language that we can say this is what you should do or this contact name or we have a member of cabinet there that can track on that or something like that i think we're just looking for some level of support so that we can because that's just a hard thing and it can be hard when you're
just when you have three board members in there in a meeting when you have possible topics when it could be you know somebody did does want the railroad or want to talk for a long time most people great people were pretty respectful last night though I would say for us so it was pretty good about that
but most people were engaged and good about that stuff but just we might need some help there support and I know I can make myself available for the listening session as well and I can tap some of some of the cabinet members also to be present
all right well unless there's any I mean again there's some opportunities here to change your mind but I just wanted to get that clear right now and to see if that's good for everybody okay with all that then I'm just going to call us adjourned what time is it 9:38 i did