all right we'll call tonight's meeting to order Joan roll call Director Gerspitch here Director Hawker here Dr Kellenberg here Director Lowour here Director Parker here Director Theelander here Chair Sherman here We have a quorum Great Let's stand for the pledge of
allegiance I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all
Our first action tonight is the approval of the meeting agenda I'll make a motion to approve Can I get a second i'll second it Oh great We'll go with Director Kelzenberg with the second All those in favor of approving tonight's agenda raise your hand and say I I I Opposed
Approval of agenda is unanimous Now we move on to our consent agenda And we have our payment of invoices and a field trip request items A and B Is there a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda so moved Director Theelander Is there a second
director Lowour thank you for the second All those in favor of approving tonight's consent agenda raise your hand and say I I opposed Motion passes unanimously All right let's move on to our next item
Under strategic direction A ensure the learning process is adaptable to meet individual student needs We have a another opportunity to hear from one of our building principles Tonight we're going to hear from Stonebridge Elementary and get a little bit of a building update on some of the great things going on in their school and some
of the challenges that they're facing that may help the board in its work Welcome Right Thank you Chair Sherman Dr Funk members of the board Thanks for having me tonight And I will be spending a few minutes talking about Stone uh Stonebridge Elementary and uh some of the good things that we
have uh got going on and that some of the challenges as well Uh first of all just a quick snapshot about our school We uh we are a preK through fifth grade building We have 455 students uh in the school We
have capacity for 425 It feels really good quite honestly We have a little space to do some things that maybe other schools don't have the opportunity to do if they are uh closer to 100% capacity But bottom line is we do have some room to expand uh if our uh enrollment ever
increased Uh you can see the table on the left and uh you see that Stonebridge is below the district average in three of those four categories The free and reduced lunch category multilingual learners and also students of color And then we're a little bit above the
district average when it comes to to special education Uh here are some of the current realities that I'm going to be speaking about uh tonight Uh you can see on the left uh we've got five of these realities that would be in the strengths column And then on the right we have a
couple of uh challenges or opportunities that I'll be speaking about uh towards the the end of this presentation But that's kind of the menu of things that I'll be talking about here tonight So we'll start with the campus and the the building Uh first of all we sit on a
little bit more than 11 acres of land Uh we're at the southern end of the attendance area And when I say that we're at the southern end uh I'm talking about like we are 200 yards to the north of the southern boundary of our attendance area So we have students that
come to us from areas that surround William O'Brien State Park and all the areas uh in between Uh and of course we have many that are walkers as well But we sit right at the the tail end the bottom end of our attendance area In
addition to the 11 acres that we have um we work in cooperation with the city of Stillwater and we have a nearly 4 acre school forest Uh so we have uh staff members and kids that are able to enjoy that space as well and do a wide variety
of activities and outdoor learning opportunities that they have We've done a number of building improvements over the past uh five summers and uh it it's really amazing what we've done within the building It looks really sharp Some of those things
are uh updating the lighting the carpet the casework the plumbing We actually have hot water right now uh at Stonebridge Elementary which sounds somewhat humorous uh but it's true We had hot water in the kitchen We had it in the health room We had it in the staff lounge but nobody else had hot
water So if you can if you can think about elementary kids on a January or February day coming in from recess you know we're wanting them to wash their hands before they go on to uh to lunch or uh or other things within the classroom And it really didn't promote a
whole lot of uh fantastic handwashing So we are really pleased to have hot water in our building right now And it's just something that I wanted to to underscore Um first time the board has heard something like that Yeah it's a true true story It is I I
witnessed and experienced the cold water It was really surprising Y So uh this is the 53rd year of Stonebridge Elementary And one of the things that I think stands out is it does not have the look or a feel of a 53y old building I think
we are primed and set up to serve students in that building for for many many years to come Um I do want to acknowledge that as nice uh as our campus is as nice as our our building is I' I'd like people to all remember that what matters most are the people in the
building And that kind of gets me to our next uh uh our next slide here We know that having high quality people in our building is what is going to make us uh successful and we speak about this as a as a staff but we know that everything ticks when our relationships are
centered And so that is something that we uh that we are after We're chasing after that Our building is filled with people that are consistent They are reliable and they are predictable And we just talk about the benefits of having
some clear common expectations So at a at a base level I talk about um something along the lines of if I stop commun uh communicating with you which I won't do I will continue to communicate with people but if I were to stop communicating with people if there are
four things that they are doing if they are getting kids reading at grade level that's critical If they are showing up we know that we can't impact others when we're not here Both adults our colleagues uh but also the kids uh we want to do today's work today We don't
want it to drift and build up because then it becomes unbearable at that point and we want to be easy uh to get along with And if we talk specifically about what that means it means taking an interest in others It means encouraging others It means that I am bringing a
positive attitude and I am slow to take offense as well Um it can't be something that we do one time per day or one time per week or one time per year and check that off the box That has to be a daily part of our fabric So it's consistent
It's daily We hope for it And I know that hope is not a strategy but our hopes do identify where we want to be and then we need to take action on that So if we want to have a first class school if that is our hope we've identified that What are the things that
we will always do in order to achieve that and then what are the things that we will never do because some things that we do may uh may distract us from having that first class uh school So uh I want you to know that our people and our school culture is not an accident It
is something that we do pursue daily Uh we talk a lot about it We talk a lot about the people that we want to have at Stonebridge Elementary and and people with these types of characteristics uh are the people that I think can propel us to to new levels uh academically and it's such a benefit to
to our kids Uh also before I move to the next slide uh oftentimes I think that our kids will take on the personalities of our our teachers or our building And I just want to point out that um we currently have 19 kids in our building
that have zero absences on the year They are 100% uh attendance rate at this point And we have an additional 36 kids that have missed only one day of school so far So we've got 55 kids in our building that have zero or one absences on the year So
our kids are showing up also And I think that's something that uh that that really excites me I'd also like to point out that our families volunteers and our PTA is a is a strength of our building We have some volunteers that are part of the vessel program Vessel is volunteers for
elementary school literacy Uh most of the people from our vessel program are from the Stillwater Sunrise Rotary Uh they are coming in two days a week and they are providing some additional supports for our uh our learners in the area of literacy So it's added practice
it's added reps that our kids get with our vessel volunteers Uh by the way our vessel volunteers they too are just first class people and they have blended in so well uh with our staff members and our whole school community Uh we have a host of parent volunteers Uh these
volunteers are doing things from Friday folders helping out on field trips They are classroom helpers A few years ago we just had some things that we needed to address in uh our restrooms with some restroom behavior Wouldn't think that we would have a whole lot of parents that would want to help supervise some
restrooms and make sure the behaviors are okay Uh we had people jumping on that and I think that really speaks to uh to our parents Uh we have a PTA uh that is exceptional and they host a lot of events that also build community
I have four events here This is not an exclusive list of the activities that are that are hosted by our PTA These are just some of them and they they build great community Uh and then we do have an an engaged parent community as well I
want to thank them for their efforts because it really is a cooperation between a school uh and our parents I'm going to move to some of the systems that we have We've got a a pretty robust academic system Uh and it's growing and it's something that we continue to to
improve upon but I think it's a support Uh uh first of all we've got just a universal academic screener We do it three times a year for all of our K5 kids It's called the FastBridge Screener Uh and the screener is really valuable
to us The data tells us who is responding well to tier one instruction And if students are showing that they are not responding to tier one instruction then we make a plan for them through these in-class interventions
which would be like a tier 2 intervention or in some cases even a tier three intervention which may be a pullout intervention uh with a with a reading or a math specialist So that's kind of how we roll with that universal screener We have these
schoolwide intervention uh meetings that take place We're doing them four times a year but that's where we come together and and we talk a group of professionals uh about where our kids are at and where we need to target some supports and and
how we can how we can best do that uh we decide at that time who's going to be uh served with these in-class interventions who's going to be served with these pullout uh interventions and then we continuously uh monitor that I'd also like to point out
that in the tier one piece as it shows on the screen we have in fact separated tier one into and these are my words uh you know I would call it the high achieving tier one students and the lower achieving tier one students Now
tier one is is really good We want about 80% of our students to be in that tier one category We're not there quite yet We're not at that 80 uh 80% of our kids at that tier one but it's a broad group Tier one is a really broad group And so we have one group that's higher
achieving one group that's lower achieving And um we also have a building goal this year where uh initially based on our fall data we had 95 total kids in our building that met the target Uh
they're in tier one but they were in that lower achieving tier one area And based on our winter data we had 36% of those students that now have moved to the higher category of of tier one which shows that uh there's some really good
things taking place within our uh within our instruction in that tier one area So I'm excited to see what happens when we do our spring fast bridge screener If we could get another 36% that would go into that higher category I think that would be pretty outstanding So just know that
there's a lot of a lot of work that takes place with that A lot of data collection and a lot of purposeful planning uh that goes behind it The last bullet point I have is about our our wind time It stands for what I need We're doing this on a daily basis in all
of our classes It is something that is uh scheduled So when teachers are doing in-class interventions simultaneously you will have some kids that leave the classroom to participate in a in a pullout intervention or maybe even in a special education service as well And
you can see here you know the rhythm really is we're going to teach we're going to teach we're going to teach we're going to teach Uh you know after that we get a chance for the students to perform You know we can measure the progress and then we can make adjustments uh if needed based on that So a little bit about the academic
systems which I think is a a strength and a and a growing strength for us When we take a look at our student achievement this is based on uh MCA data uh the the left graph you know it's the reading graph and comparatively I would
say it's it's okay Uh but honestly you know none of the scores here you know overly excite me I think we've got room for uh growth with this Uh I do think that the long-term trend speaks to some of the gaps that we uh baby seen in our
current literacy uh curriculum Uh and I will tell you just anecdotally we've got classroom teachers that are excited about the benchmarks curriculum uh that was approved at the last meeting and we are hopeful that that will close close some of the gaps that we see Uh on the
right uh it's our math uh our math graph Uh and again I think last year we took a a step in a in the right direction Uh but I'll be really excited if we you know can continue that trend uh with math as well Uh the last strength that I want to
talk about is our uh sightbased emotional and behavioral disorder program So there's seven elementary schools uh within the Stillwater School District Four of those seven have a sightbased special education program Stormbridge Elementary has the EBD program There are 18 students from
across the district that are served here There are daily curriculum and instructional responsibilities They are in a sight-based program but that doesn't mean that they are not receiving uh high quality curriculum Uh it's delivered to them on a daily basis
They're also learning uh social emotional and behavioral skills There there's classes that are taught in regards to that They have service learning opportunities as well when they are serving others we feel that that promotes uh something within them to continue doing that And they know that
it feels good when they are contributing to our school or contributing to people outside of our school There's a ton of praise shout outs a lot of recognition for these kids We want to capture them doing good things Even even if it's small good things we want to capture them doing uh doing these good things
And then maybe the most important bullet point here is is the last one The skills and strategies that these kids are being taught and using sometimes successfully sometimes not as successfully 100% of the time Uh they are really applied in
all of our classrooms So just just an example I can go into one of our sitebased uh program classrooms and the teachers may be teaching on uh conflict conflict would be the topic and they are talking about the the sentence stems or the language that we will use uh
to uh to start a conflict uh but also to stop a conflict So we're talking specifically about conflict starters and conflict stoppers And then these kids have an opportunity to uh apply that And again sometimes they're not 100% successful with that but when they are
we are we're jumping on that and we are praising them for that But the real benefit is that other students in the building other staff members in the building uh are are hearing this language and we are replicating that language with the broader good So
because of what our our EBD kids are learning in the sightbased program I believe that it's raising the bar for everybody within our school and it makes that program uh extremely special to us All right I'm going to transition to a couple of opportunities
uh that I'd like to talk about One is uh we do have some unfilled pair of positions Uh just this past week we uh hired a new pair professional Uh she started she's actually in week two uh with us right now Uh and she's done a
fabulous job so far We still have one other unfilled position These positions were filled at one time but again attracting people and retaining people uh has been a challenge uh for us at Stonebridge as it has been for for other
schools within our district Bottom line is we need really skilled people in these roles Uh just like I spoke about our our strength of our building is our relationships Relational greatness is a must in these roles Uh we do have a
limited pool of subs And uh with the inconsistencies that we have in subs it just increases demands on the existing staff Um and you're probably wondering well what does that mean how does that increase the demand on uh on the other
staff members and let me share with you um a little bit about that When we have a sub that comes into our building we have classroom teachers and we have special education teachers They are sharing details about the children that the paraprofessional will be serving
What works what to avoid what to do academically what to do and how to respond behaviorally when is specialist time when is lunch when is my personal lunch there's a whole host of things that they are going over And uh you know
I guess the the true message is that the teacher's time is spent preparing others to be successful but it also simultaneously will eat up the time that they need to prepare to be successful themselves So I would like you to imagine for a
moment uh how great it would be if we could hire somebody in the summer or at the beginning of the year and they would carry through with that that role and responsibility for the for the entire year And that would allow uh our teachers to have these conversations um
you know a few times throughout the year but not every week or in some cases multiple times per week when we have uh various subs that work within our building We have really nice subs uh that come into our building So I am
grateful for our subs Uh but what I'm talking about here is just the inconsistency that it provides and the demands that it puts on our on our existing staff Also when there is uh inconsistency in our subs it just leads to a higher volume of uh potentially uh
inappropriate student behaviors uh you know one sub expects one thing another sub may not expect that and it's not really not unlike what we experience at home as uh as parents too you know my kids may ask my wife something she may give them an answer but if they don't
like that answer sometimes unknowingly they're coming to me and uh if I don't give the right answer you know there's inconsistency you know it brings some challenges uh that that take place so along those same lines that's what takes
place within in our within our school too So the last one that I wanted to speak about is uh that's a growth opportunity for us is uh our systems for social emotional learning uh and behavior support and I say and I I I bring the slide to you with a lot of
humility as well Uh but I just want to share you know we've got one administrator and we have one social worker and we have 455 uh students and the the support for students that have needs it's not always consistent and it's not always timely
Before I get to the next two bullet points uh again just something that I want you to picture in your mind uh if we have 98% of our students that hold it together for the day uh they are doing exactly what is expected Uh that should
be celebrated and it is celebrated Uh but it also means that we have 2% of our kids that may not be holding it together during the day 2% of 455 is about nine students And the reality is that it takes a significant amount of time if
there is an issue an incident even an allegation that takes place uh within the building It requires somebody to investigate to retach the desired behaviors to facilitate apologies if needed to patch up relationships in a
way that is lasting to follow through on consequences to communicate with parents to communicate with bus drivers if it's a bus situation uh also to keep accurate records of the incident and all of that does take a significant amount of time and that is just one example with one
student if it happens to be two students or four students or five or nine students in the day uh you can see that uh supporting behaviors is something that begins to to drive the day and it does start to limit the ability uh for the academic leadership uh opportunities
that take place as that urgent work uh seems to take priority uh over a lot of that important work So it's just one of the things that I thought I would share is an opportunity uh that I think we can we can grow in Uh in summary uh the things that I want you to take away
tonight about Stonebridge is it is a wonderful school with exceptional educators And when I say exceptional educators am I talking about our teachers yes I am But I'm also talking about our support staff uh food service staff our custodians We all play a role
in developing this type of positive environment where kids and families want to be Uh and and we we are a school We are filled with exceptional uh educators Uh we've got a positive culture and we are continuously seeking uh academic
improvements throughout our building And our challenges of course are a couple of things that I spoke about already about recruiting and retaining highquality pair of professionals Not just any paraprofessional We want highquality pair of professionals and also providing
uh consistent supports to to our kids That's what I have for you So thank you open for questions if people have have questions Um thank you so much for that It was wonderful and we got a really good idea of how great things are in Stonebridge So and some of the challenges are we've seen and heard
before at the board table But um I wanted to open the floor up to any questions for Principal Berg Yes Thank you very much for for doing this because it is really insightful for us to or gives us insight to to be able to hear
that from you and from all your fellow principles Um one thing I haven't heard other principles talk about is that you tracking the the tier one uh students and and the the lower and the the higher ones and it's and it is nice to be able to see you you bring those up the ones
that are lower and that that's a really good metric Um does that also allow and may maybe there isn't the bandwidth for it but to give some attention to those higher achieving students that you know that you can see are doing really well and
challenging them even further Is there an opportunity for that uh yeah there is an opportunity and we try to capture that during our win time as well I do think that most of the intensity uh during the win time is for our tier 2 students uh but it doesn't mean that it
uh that our instruction is absent for our kids that are uh achieving at extremely high levels Uh we also have opportunities uh to do that within the tier one extru uh instruction And when we get to fourth and fifth grade we also have kids that uh they may not have
qualified for our gifted and talented program Uh but they are highly motivated and they are high achieving and we cluster them together into groups And we know that there are benefits when kids are clustered together when like minds have opportunities to uh read the same
literature work on a project together uh dialogue together There are benefits uh uh to do so So there are opportunities to do that Uh but it may not be in a pull out type of a a setting if that makes sense Thank you
Yes You had one stat early on where you are have a higher number than the district average and that was special ed Is that because of kids that are bust in or brought in from outside of your attendance area that makes that number higher uh I don't know if that's the reason that it makes it higher Again
we've got four elementary schools in our district that have a sightbased program and all four of those schools would have a similar situation where kids are are busted to that school for that specialized program So um uh off the cuff I wouldn't say that that is the
reason why we are a little bit higher Uh I I don't really have an answer on why it's a little bit higher but I don't think it that it's our our sightbased program That's just my my sense with that Okay Dr Theer Principal Burke thank you for
your time Great presentation Um my understanding is that Stonebridge is not a bar elementary school yet Correct Correct We are not Okay Yeah Um I guess from your knowledge and what other schools are doing and working with your peers I guess what are some of the opportunity costs that you're thinking that Stonebridge is missing out on and
um what excites you about it or maybe what concerns you yeah Um I think what excites me about BAR is it seems like some of our schools uh their structure is set up where you've got teachers that are interacting
with teachers across grade levels uh and they are they are they're having conversations about what's working in their grade level and uh what they can do at uh other grade levels as well to help propel kids to uh to having greater uh greater achievement So I think part
of that excites me Um you know at the end of the day it seems like some of these schools have some really uh decent scores too you know academically they are uh they've shown some good improvement And so that's something that's tough to turn away from if if you've got bar schools
that are performing at the level that they are uh performing at Uh so if we had the opportunity I know we've applied uh in the past to be a bar school Uh it just it just hasn't worked out uh at this point Uh uh but we would certainly uh entertain the idea I think there
would be a benefit in having all seven of our elementary schools uh all be participating in bar so we could be speaking the same language and supporting one another as well And and really we have kids that that transition
from one school to another school uh all the time And you know if we have a student that's at a bar school and they come to Stonebridge and there aren't bar opportunities um I think it would be a benefit if we were consistent with our approach with
that One thing that we've heard from other schools and I think one of your bullet points maybe alludes to it but not directly in terms of your time as an administrator Some of the administrators have come up and said sometimes the behavior is where you end up spending more of your time and less on that
academic leadership that you would prefer to be doing with your staff and students right would you like to comment on anything like that is that something you're experiencing uh yeah Yeah And I think that's you know I'm kind of coming back to the uh the last two bullet
points of this slide here is you know I use that that example of 98% of the kids that you know if they're keeping it together that's that that's great They're they're doing the expected behaviors but it doesn't take much to uh to drive my day in a different
direction And like I said it could be an incident It may not be an incident It just may be an allegation but there's a significant amount of time uh that that that takes place Uh if I'm calling a parent you know it may be a 7 minute phone call it may be a 10-minute phone
call it may be a 20-minute phone call But if there's an incident or an allegation that takes place if you do that times five people that were involved with it you know again you can see that that uh that really builds up I think another part that I didn't mention
is uh as a principal of Stonebridge and and I'm not unique in this I think all of our principles are doing this but we are out we are visible we are in the cafeterias we are in the hallways Uh we are trying to be in classrooms Uh I think where I see the the limits is uh
when I'm in a classroom it may be to support a student and get them reintegrated into a classroom it may not be uh as much for that academic support or the academic leadership Uh with that it seems like those opportunities are fewer um fewer and far uh in between
with that Thank you Thank you so much for this presentation It's really interesting to hear so much about our different schools Um and one of the themes that I definitely been picking up on is the PAR issue Um and that they are incredibly difficult to find and retain Um I don't expect you to
have a perfect answer for this but is there anything that the board should consider in how to address this issue in the district and in at Stonebridge in particular is the issue more that people are not staying through the year that's kind of what you were alluding to versus coming to Stone Stonebridge and how can
we help yeah you know I I don't want to go places that I shouldn't go and I don't want to get into you know labor negotiations and things like that but I will tell you I I do think that at the entry level uh for our pair of professionals to get a pair of
professional in at the entry level um they can work other places and make as much and probably have a little bit less stress in their lives uh a little bit less intensity in their workday And uh so I think that's one thing that uh
uh that I think could be addressed at that entry level of our uh a pair of pay scale Like I said I I I don't know if I should be should be even going there in this venue with that but the the pair of professionals that we haven't retained it is not because we haven't liked them
uh or that they haven't liked us Uh it's been it's been really challenging for them and for us like there's a lot of tears but they are leaving for a higher paying job elsewhere and um so I think that's one of the things that probably is it's on my heart with
that and that's just an honest answer with that is uh we we've gotten some really good people but we've lost some really good people due to that reason also Thank you Great Okay seeing no other questions Thank you so much I know you're sticking
around so it will be Yeah Thank you Okay Thank you All right Our next agenda item is an uh item on a priority based budgeting elementary
schedule change And um we're welcoming a few people here A couple principles Gina welcome back Principal Bird and Caitlyn's here And um before we get started I just wanted to I think that a lot of people are here to hear your presentation So I'm excited the board's
excited to hear from you Um I want to um for background for the for the community I want to just stress that the district has really been looking the board has really been working with our administration to look at academic indicators that are concerning and have been concerning um for a while now And
we brought our superintendent in and and he has your his leadership team here to kind of help address those indicators The board's role we've invested probably over $2 million in curriculum updated curriculum curriculum that has been needing to be updated for a long long
time So the board is really excited about those investments as are our taxpayers Um we're here today because we have both science and literacy curriculum new curriculum new standards and it's overwhelming It's a lot And we want our teachers to be able to engage
in the new curriculum and in the standards And so hopefully we're here today to listen to um the solution from our administration on how to meet that challenge So thank you for coming here today And with that I'll turn it over to you Well thank you for teeing that up so
well director Uh thank you for having us We uh we are here to talk about uh a change that we are making to our specialist model that will hopefully alleviate some of the day-to-day uh instructional stressors that our classroom teachers have with regard to
meeting all of the instructional minutes and academic benchmarks that they're responsible for And um I have along with me two of our elementary principles because this has been something that we have been discussing off and on for the
last year and a half and um are re we have found that now is the time to revisit it with the adoption of our new literacy curriculum So with that I want oh can you click for me post sure Thank you Uh I want to just ground us in our
strategic focuses which are literacy equity and inclusion and social emotional learning and mental health both student and staff And so I think this touches all of those with regard to what we need to do is find 40 additional minutes in our classroom instructional
day for literacy curriculum um aligned to the science of reading which we've all been engaged in very robust professional development in the science of reading And to do that like I said we need those that additional time And there's opportunities for us to
integrate dis different discipline areas to further enrich that literacy experience and provide a more inclusive and equitable experience in both literacy and science So hopefully you will hear many of those things and of
course any questions that we don't address we can address at the end of the presentation So with that I will kick it over to Gina and Derek to walk us through some of their thoughts Thank you so much for having us this evening Um we want to talk about
the rationale for change So change is hard We're going to acknowledge that right away Um but one of the things as Caitlyn talked about is our strategic focus and literacy is our high priority And so we're using that priority based budgeting approach to reach these goals And so we didn't come about this lightly
Um and we've taken a lot of time but with the adoption of our new literacy curriculum we need 120 minutes for literacy instruction daily Any curriculum we looked at required that much Currently we have 80 minutes So we needed to find 40 minutes somewhere as
Caitlyn has said So moving science to the special schedule is going to allow teachers to focus their time on implementing the new curriculum and improving literacy instruction the amount of prep time for the fewer standards that science requires was taking away is taking away from the
literacy focus So it's a high amount of prep for not as much instruction that you're doing Um so I I guess that's how we're testing to see We're working on trying to get the audio turned up for you guys Sorry for that interruption but I know that's what
we're trying to do thought it was me Did I break okay Um so it's taken away from the literacy focus and so implementing a new science curriculum has just been a challenge and we knew it was a heavy lift but that with our intentional focus on literacy has been
has been a stressor for our teachers So this change which we'll walk through a little bit more is going to give fidelity to the science curriculum and will lead to improved outcomes for student learning in science and in literacy So we feel this approach is going to tackle both these
things How we got here So we did not arrive at this decision lightly or in a knee-jerk manner This has been over time So we wanted to walk you through how we got to this part um in our decision So um our thoughtful approach started in
2023 actually So August of 2023 um we had our science adoption We had concerns with the heavy lift of curriculum option time to prep science lessons but it was a start So we're just starting and seeing how it goes So in August of 2023 we embarked on this So then 2324 school
year still um we implemented heavier swim and built um initiatives to attention focus on our schoolwide improvement This was additional meetings for teachers Um it's adding constraints on teachers time This is where we're focusing truly in on um the the
instruction as Dererick talked about in his presentation looking at all learn tiered learners and how are we helping them So that's another part that came in Um and then we had a so we saw this and we're like this is so much heavy lift science We're getting feedback from our
teachers Can you you know and I'll be honest how much more can you put on their plate so as what happened in November of 2023 the elementary principles came together and we proposed a change to science specialists at that time Um we thought this would be a good
switch Um at when we presented it to district administration we were told it's not the right time and we were told that this we're not going to as I've heard before not rush to failure It wasn't the time We hadn't give science enough time maybe to see if it could even itself out with the amount of focus
that it would be So we put it on the shelf and it was just an idea at the time Then 24-25 school year read act in letters So that lot more putting on teachers plate we're going to do letters training right I love the the I think it's great and I want to do it We want
to do it but that's another thing that came on there Um I was part of the literacy committee and during our discussion during the literacy committee as we um researched different um curriculums that we could adopt We found that like I said before we require more
time We require more time to teach literacy And where do we find it is the problem And so I don't think we're adding to the school day That's a whole different budgetary discussion But how do we accommodate these new literacy requirements then we adopted um literacy adoption
which I'm so grateful for Um we're going to implement new literacy curriculum and complete liter training which then led us back to where we were before How do we find that 40 minutes and that was even talked about at the literacy curriculum committee Where do we do it
science specialist was even floated by teachers at that point Could we do this in my head I'm thinking we asked before right so it's just came full circle So it wasn't the time before but now it is the time with the heavy lift of science a new curriculum that requires more minutes And Derek will walk you through
this next part of how it will look and how we got to this point with the standards Could I before we move off this lovely slide um why did we need to adopt this new science curriculum and I'm asking this because I kind of remember discussions coming to the board table explaining the
necessary um new adoption of curriculum in science particularly because standards changed or something and you keep referencing that it's going to be more difficult to teach science So if someone could kind of explain or more timeconuming in the adoption of um this curriculum two things with that yes
science standards changed and we hadn't changed our curriculum and please someone tell me it a long time a long time like overdue for sure and so bringing this new one is more robust it's a more robust curriculum in general like it's just more intensive and so that plus any new curriculum is going to
take a lot and a heavy lift So when you're adding the rigor and the intensiveness to something that wasn't very intensive before that's what's been the balance So we needed to because we were so behind in it which we see in our science scores So then that was part of
the change Great So I'll turn it over to Derek as he walks you through what it currently looks like and what it will Can I take the You can have the click All right I'll just share a little bit about our uh current elementary
specialist schedule Uh right now we're on a six day cycle a six- day rotation Uh kids have two days of fed They have two days of music and then they have two days of media or two days of art depending on the quarter In this example
here kids would have media in quarters one and three Uh they would have art in quarters two and four We also have fifth grade band and orchestra uh that we integrate into this uh cycle and I'll explain that more in a slide coming up as well But no change to fifth grade
band or orchestra that will continue on Uh and this is our existing specialist schedule uh as it is today I'll move to uh some science data Uh these are just this is fifth grade scores and these are comparable groups
and they're comparable groups simply based on their demographics and their their size that is somewhat similar to to Stillwater area schools Uh you can see in the the the darker red line where we fall with our science scores And I want to uh point out again something
that Gina had mentioned already In 2023 that is when we adopted our new uh science curriculum and we took a pretty significant jump in our science scores between 23 and 24 And to me I would I
guess I would submit to you that the materials I believe work You know perhaps the method uh could be revised or revamped uh or enhanced as well Uh but when we take a look at the data it's not it's not great data Uh but we did
have nice improvement over one year It's one year's worth of data Again I'll be really excited if we can continue doing this and get to a much higher level as well Uh but we want to be on that improvement track I'm going to talk a little bit
about some of the uh our rationale uh for change here Um and I'll probably spend a little bit more time on this slide than I have on the uh on the other slides but um I want you to understand that we have had difficulty recruiting
and retaining licensed art teachers Um this is the 11th year that we have offered art as a a specialist So and in the 11th year in the 11 years that we've offered art uh just speaking for
Stonebridge we are on our seventh art teacher in that time So there has been a lot of movement within uh within our our art positions Not all of the art teachers have been licensed art teachers We have hired people on an out of field permission uh as well So so know that uh
that is something that that takes place Uh we also know that when we rehire people on a continuous basis it does lead to inconsistency uh within that art instruction Uh I'd also like to talk about the second bullet point and that's that our classroom teachers are having
to prep for language arts for math for science for social studies and all in-class interventions And uh and I just want to say this is a demanding and a heavy lift on a daily basis for our
classroom teachers And it's important to know that I cannot lighten the load for our classroom teachers without interrupting something on that list So just for example we are not going to do these things These are just as as
examples But if I were to tell teachers that they would not need to complete their bloodborne pathogen training or their hazardous materials training that would feel really good to them for that hour or two that it takes them to complete that takes something off their
list They would like that But it doesn't fix the daily weight that is on their shoulders When that is done they are right back at it The same example could be used for a day off I I want to acknowledge for example I want to acknowledge you're working so hard I'm
going to give you a day off That day off helps on that day but it doesn't fix that Our teachers are coming back to that same daily expectation of things on this list And for us to to to interrupt
that then we have to address something that is that is on this uh this list here Uh the last bullet point is that our our media specialist their focus is on instruction They are in front of kids
and that is where they are focusing uh their their their instruction They have other parts of their job but it's tough to get to those parts of their job when they are preparing uh for lessons delivering on lessons and in front of kids for the for the
day Uh and this is what a realigned specialist schedule uh would look like Um it would be fed for two days No change with that And when I say two days I'm talking two days out of six If it's
a three-day cycle uh that means every three days kids would have fed they would have science and then they would have music as well So it it really essentially moves to a three-day cycle rather than a six-day cycle But one of
the nuances that I just want to share with people that when the schedule comes out it is going to show a six day cycle because on the side we have to integrate uh band and orchestra And again using Stonebridge as an example our orchestra
teacher is teaching orchestra to fifth graders at Stonebridge only on cycle day two She's serving kids in other buildings on all of the other cycle days So we would not put our band and orchestra teachers on a three-day cycle
We would maintain a six-day cycle for them But for fed science and music in essence it really is a three-day cycle that they would be uh would be working with This is just an example for a K2
class Uh some of the content on here was talked about uh by Gina a little bit earlier but you can see on the left side our current 2425 uh schedule We have 390 minutes in the day We spend about 80 minutes in our
reading and writing instruction We add on another 30 minutes uh for phonics phonics instruction That's 110 minutes that we are committing to to all things literacy In 2526 there is an increase in time The
time commitment has increased and we need to respond to that Uh and we'll be looking at 120 minutes of reading and writing instruction plus 30 minutes of phonics phonics instruction It's 150 minutes is is what we're looking at next
year So we will be integrating uh uh the areas such as art media social studies into the other content areas And I think that cues it up for Caitlyn next who's going to talk a little bit about how we how we accomplish that
Okay next slide So this is uh an example This these are the benchmarks I know it says standards across the top but these are the benchmarks uh that classroom teachers are responsible for uh on the left So you
have depending on the grade level 42 to 43 English language arts benchmark benchmarks 24 to 29 math 10 to 11 science and currently they're teaching social studies within the classroom as well So those 21 to 22 social studies benchmarks
Right now our visual art and media arts standards are met through that specialist model with the adoption of our benchmark advanced curriculum And two two things right we need the additional instructional time I think we've covered that right but also it's
um it's really important to note that within that curriculum already in these three content areas 86% of the social studies standards are covered in benchmark advance 60 to 65% depending on the grade level are covered of the 12
visual art benchmarks and 70 to 73% of the nine media arts benchmarks are covered So with some realistic modifications we can embed the additional art and media standards to get at those areas of instruction that
becomes much more difficult with the 10 to 11 science benchmarks we have a year because that science instruction is much more cumbersome It does involve as we talked about much more prep and rigor and it's not as connected and you'll see that in the the next slides It's not as
connected to the content in the same way So for example this is an example of a language arts fifth grade language arts benchmark and a lang a visual arts benchmark So if you look at these these are very similar
skills that we're trying to teach students to understand around theme in a text And so there are lots of different ways within one literacy block that we can address the skills and the learning that needs to happen within both of
these content areas and make that content that much more enriching for students So they'll be able to have an arts experience within their literacy experience which just furthers and deepens their learning Similarly with
integrating our media arts instruction So sequencing in media arts as we do lots of sequencing within text right so these are very similar benchmarks that we would teach very similarly within a literacy block And
again these these two things really just deepen student learning and increase student engagement and social studies as well Whoops sorry Social studies as well So this is a first great example around
perspective and retelling of stories and thinking about how who and what and where these stories happen and how they impact people simil very very social that's filled with social studies opportunities right it's also a language
arts opportunity I can also think of ways that we can integrate very interesting media and arts within this as well when you're learning about IND indigenous art or um indigenous storytelling So lots of opportunities
for integration of content So the benefits of integrating the content is is there very many ways to do that but knowledge should not be done in a silo right and so that's the old way of thinking is I learned socialize now I learned this now I learn this now but
it's a great way the crosscontent learning makes meaningful connections and subjects so they can give a deeper understanding so it's not just this is here this is here and so we know that works um by doing that you can maximize instructional time if our curriculum is
already hitting so many of the standards let's do it better there then add on more later And so we can just do it and we see that happening Um develops critical thinking and problem solving skills So back to that deeper and so I think um you Dr Low or member Low you
had said you know what about the kids that are achieving higher right like what about those kids well this is where we can do that and they can dig deeper and go a different way Um and encourages deeper inquiry and analytical thinking So one of the examples here is you know you could illustrate endangered species
but you could really get in you could do that in art class but you could really get in deeper and do an informational write up practice your writing skills and so everything can come together Um and so it just promotes synthesis there And I can give a personal example I taught at um seventh and eighth grade science at Crosswind's arts and science
school for eight years and that's all we did You know I integrated art into everything I did and it just gave kids a deeper understanding Socialized did the same thing we would put science and socialize together So it just makes a deeper um connection to learning for all our
students So in anything this is great to integrate everything but how are we going to support it um so anything you do needs to make sure that you're thoughtful about this process So to support this new model this new schedule we'll have science specialists at each school So when we talked about before
about staffing um we would have dedicated science specialists We would have two K12 media coordinators in the district So that wouldn't be per school but that would be within the district And that's going to free them up from the teaching and instruction and we're still covering the standards but it t
frees them up so they can modernize our collections and review our materials So keeping everything up to date and bringing in new materials for our students And then another one is another way to support this is a K5 art coordinator because we're not all
artists I can't draw and but I would love if as a classroom teacher they're like well how do I how do I integrate back to that integrating everything how do I put it together so there'll be someone that can help our K5 teachers do that in a meaningful way so those are some of the things that can enhance and
like um help us make this model change in a thoughtful way Can I ask a question on this sorry the does the K5 art coordinator would they provide like any kind of lesson plan or like do you see it like that or is it would I mean would
it be like a streamlined system for our teachers that is something I'm not sure how to answer yet because we're still developing that position I can answer I think our right now our focus is to get through our staffing Right Right But uh what I want to say about these positions
is these are teacher and special assignment positions And I know um with this change there is there is emotion right because this means that people are shifting roles and shifting responsibility and uh we very much value our art teachers our licensed media
specialists and these are positions that I hope um we will continue to see our our current employees bid into these positions because they'll bring with them their experience and their knowledge and they will be key stakeholders for us in
developing what does it mean to integrate our media standards what does it mean to integrate our art standards and then partnering with teachers to do that work side by side so after we get these positions hired then we'll be able
to engage the teachers in how will we best do this work in this model And that's I think kind of I guess more what I meant than lesson plan Sounds kind of I guess like tactical but there'll be so I'm assuming we would try our best to find a actual licensed art teacher which
easier to find one We have we have had better luck this year with art teachers than we have in years prior So we have individuals um who are impacted by this change but may be eligible I I mean there's like contract language and I'm not HR so I
don't pretend to know that but there are opportunities for our current staff that are serving in these roles to bring their experiences and their expertise to these positions question This represents 10 people here
right one at each of the seven ele not exactly It's oh yeah rather complex when you're thinking about the science specialist Yes um there will be a science specialist at each school So that is accurate Now some schools don't require a full-time science specialist
based on size So there might be a position a science specialist that is across two schools depending on the size of the school So that could be one person serving two schools and then yes two K12 media coordinators and one K5 art just like we do with I mean we do
the same thing with music and PE and FIAD So they are shared across buildings All right Thanks Can I have just a clarifi clarifying question um so it's a K5 art coordinate coordinator This hopefully is obvious but secondary art
middle school and there's no changes No changes happening No changes happening in secondary Okay Thank you So just with that like Caitlyn said is we value these things We just have to think differently to reach our outcomes
So this is our way to support still media and art and make sure this is done with fidelity within the curriculum that we have the new benchmark curriculum but adding you know look I shouldn't say adding but just looking at it in a different way if you go back to the schedule which I think the had the
sideby side of the schedule what I think is important that that is our current reality right now is if you look in our 2025 sample schedule here you'll see those you know 110 minutes of literacy instruction ction that's happening If we were doing even in our curriculum that
we have now which we all acknowledge is not good and not aligned to the science of reading which is why we're moving away from it If we were to be doing that the way it was designed to be to be done to be delivered we would be using those 40 minutes for social studies and science on that Lucy Caukins curriculum
We have kind of strategically abandoned that a little bit because we're not getting the outcomes that we need because we have a curriculum that is not aligned with the science of reading and teachers are using that time to alternate between teaching some of the social studies standards and some of the
science standards But it's putting it's creating an inconsistent experience for students because every day our teachers are faced with making the decision Do they continue with literacy instruction especially as they're learning more about the science of reading and learning more strategies that they could
be employing in the classroom they're faced daily with a do I capture some of this science and social studies time to dig in deeper with this literacy concept or do I move on and cover these the science and the social studies information So it exists It's a current
problem now Um but it's it's fixable and it will allow for much more rigorous science instruction for all students because I think there are pockets based on individual teacher comfort that they're really embracing and fully
understand how to get a lot get really going and dig deep within that time frame for science And there are other teachers that maybe are focused more on the social studies and there are other teachers that are learning more within literacy and they're recapturing some of that time So it's creating a very
fractured student experience if that makes sense So just like anything we want to make sure what are our outcomes what are we measuring and what are we looking at and so we know in the short term what we're going to be looking for is our academic growth indicators So we're going to look at our fast bridge testing
right we're going to see is that making a difference right away You know Derek talked about that his fast bridge screener We all do that And so we're going to be able to see that in with our literacy growth observational data We're going to be able to see how much time are we investing in time do we get to actually dig into our literacy
curriculum and how much time is there for us to make the obs observational data Can I actually see where my students are can I make changes do I have a moment to breathe and think about and reflect what I could do next and win time things like that that frees up the schedule will free that up for teachers
a bit Um teacher surveys and interviews We're going to ask how it's going You know that's how this came about as principles We're hearing what our teachers are saying and the load on them and why we might not be seeing the literacy growth we needed So going back and asking for that long-term this is
where we are going to our hopes are to see academic performance and growth data MCAs So MCAs will see growth in literacy and science right so the reading MCAs and the science MCAs So we saw a small jump um small increase I should say with science with the new curriculum But if
we have someone f we have a focused teacher on science with fidelity we are hoping to see growth and in turn with spending more time and finding the time for our new benchmark curriculum and rolling it out with the appropriate amount of minutes to start the launch
we're hoping to see MCA growth Um with staffing stability it's been mentioned it's it's hard to staff art In my four years at Afton I've had three art teachers so it's the way it has been And some have been out of field permission but also consistent side and staff and
education like I said is going to help with our outcomes And our classroom teachers stability in that in in their jobs right that they can actually show up and focus on what's important every day So that's going to help And of course parent and community feedback We don't is we don't work in a bubble right
so we're looking for feedback and how is it going and we ask questions as we go All right this is a summary and just being a summary a lot of these things are things that we've touched upon already Uh I'd like to mention that we uh we view this as a a great benefit to
our classroom teachers uh there is an opportunity to focus on core academic instruction Uh we know that there's going to be increased instructional minutes for literacy and we need to respond to that There will be more time for teachers to prep for literacy math
and social studies and they can focus their efforts in on that Uh we believe that there's going to be more focused science instruction Those things were covered a little bit by Caitlyn and by Gina as well Uh it will allow teachers time to implement the new literacy
curriculum Uh again we are integrating art and media standards into the classroom instruction Uh media access remains a priority Media centers are open every single day They are run by media technicians Uh the circulation of
books is going to continue for for our kids And really I said at the beginning of the slide that this is a a benefit for for our classroom teachers but ultimately we view this as a benefit to to our children as well Uh and that's truly something that we we are
after So with that it's it's uh I know you've asked some questions already but if there's other questions that you have we'll we'll try to help you out with that Yeah Great Um questions One Director Um you said it's hard to
staff an art teacher but instead you'll be staffing science teachers Will that be easier um I think it will be And when we think about art and media you know remember they teach half the time in a
building compared to FIED or music And I think that's been part of our uh challenge as well is you've got people that are going between two buildings and they're not even full-time And so when we have lost some people it's been because they've been offered a full-time
job in one building There's no travel between the buildings And that seems to be a more desirable desirable position Um but if we have um you know with the new schedule with science it's going to operate similar to music and fed where
we aren't seeing the the turnover like we are uh in in in the in the area of art So I I don't think that it's going to be a rollup where we have a turnover in science uh like we do in the area of art I think that we will see stability
in the area of science like we do in FIED and music And I think I can say with that too is to teach science classroom teachers are already teaching science You don't have to have a science specialist degree or anything like that It can be a classroom licensed teacher to teach that So that's a benefit as
well Um another thing I see with it and I see some teachers are super passionate about science and they love teaching that I did I really like that And so to be able to do that is something that is probably going to strike quite a few of our current classroom teachers may want to
go do that Okay thank you Oh yes Um would like the creative outlet for students in having a dedicated art time Um how would taking away an art class um impact like their creative
outlet because I know students they like to have a break in their day Like I take AP art for example and having like that break of taking an art class and having a dedicated time to work on that is super helpful So I was just wondering how would like not having a qualified
art teacher with the dedicated class impact their education yeah I think it's a great question Um I think one of the things that I would speak to is those creative outlets don't need to take place specifically in
a pullout class Uh we have teachers for example that will take kids outside for uh for recess time um or for physical education on days when they don't have physical education as well uh you know they can just tell they can sense our kids are going to benefit and they are
going to learn a little bit better in the afternoon if I can get them outside and do an activity with them for for 10 minutes Uh so some of those things could be uh integrated within the classroom or by the teacher It wouldn't have to be just a designated pull out into an art
classroom to get this done So these art things will take place Uh they're just and those outlets will take place I view them taking place within the classroom uh or even an outdoor classroom like many of our schools have uh but not in a
designated art room as we have right now And that's a great question because you wonder like I I have students said that they look forward to that right and so we want to find time and when we adjust the schedule and we're adding time for literacy but it also is giving time for breathing room in there a little bit
here and there So teachers can continue on with the project right a lot of times they don't do it right now because they are scheduled to the minute I have to get through the science lesson So sometimes that does stifle the creativity of the classroom teacher to work with the students too Um but I see your point that what I my high hopes is
the part of the K5 art coordinator to be able to work with teachers to look at what the teacher are teaching like you could do this Have you thought of this maybe you would have done this worksheet before but what if you did this art project instead and just having taught in that type of environment That's what I'm hoping for that they find it um like
a lot of different teaching opportunities like to have diverse teaching for students with uh because not everyone learns from the same cut and paste um curriculum structure So like I think that having a different opportunity integrating those areas would also benefit for students that
don't find lectures as or if you're not a strong writer yet Yeah Right We'll be working on that But if you're not a strong writer yet is there a way to show your your comprehension of a story or a literacy lesson through a piece of art sketch journal something there's just so
many creative ways that I think that we could do Thank you Yes Um well thank you all I I just greatly appreciate every time you guys come and we get an opportunity to learn more about uh how things work and and how things could work better potentially So just really appreciate
that and and just want to echo and maybe build on Angley's point Thank you Angley for that great question Um thinking about how we show appreciation or celebrate some of the kids' passions because that's some of the areas that I cons worry about missing uh for kids that are big readers big um big into the
arts That's an opportunity for them to be celebrated Uh it's something that they have some uh great qualities So I just want to echo or amplify Anley's point Um my question is around uh the targets Uh what does a win look like what does
re-evaluation look like and what does a loss look like in this and then second um I saw I was looking at the science course Can we also look at things like circulation of books um I don't know how to quantify art Uh but is there
something like uh uh participation in the Da Vinci Fest quantities or something like that that we can quantify and and just start to think about how some of those other things are being impacted i could adjust it The funny part is the Da Vinci Fest just came up with one of my teachers and we were talking about that She's like "Oh I have so many ideas We could be reading this
book and they could create this artwork." And I think that's something we will have to think about differently right and pair with the like I said the K5 art coordinator but like how can we bring it out of our classrooms because right now the Da Vinci art is art they might have created in second quarter
when the art teacher was there and they haven't done anything with it until it goes to Da Vinci fashion in January so there there could be some benefits there too but that would be something we could measure participation of how many different classrooms just address that talking about so I think the win is
being able to integrate ate these content areas in a way that keeps the fidelity and the integrity of the literacy instruction but also provides a more inclusive more accessible access to both literacy and art and media because they're not done
in a silo and we're giving students multiple opportunities to show the skills that they're learning in different ways And then I think it becomes the job of the principal and the teacher teachers and teacher leaders in that building to elevate those examples um because then we can build a culture
around there's not one way to show what you know and we can learn across contents um effectively within one area and and dig deeper and have um increased student engagement I think to your point we can look at you know obviously we
have our academic indicators our MCA scores circulation of books Uh our principles also do student engagement surveys with students So we can look at getting student input What is this experience like for you you know what specific art experiences are you looking
to have or media experiences are you looking to have or not or haven't had yet and so there's just an opportunity to develop that and that that creativity in and of itself I think is exciting and provides opportunities You are right We're going to have to be intentional
about what key indicators we're going to be measuring and bring those back frequently Um one of the one of the things that um wasn't reflected within that timeline slide is
we have the intention of moving ahead with our specialist committee So we have engaged with around the creation of a specialist committee that got put on hold a little bit this winter We need to re-engage that from the standpoint of this is the model that we're moving
forward with now as a specialist committee give us your input What what barriers do you see right now already i can think of a few you know prep barriers that principles are going to have to work through in collaboration with teachers with regard to prepping
multiple grade levels of science instruction So those are the kinds of things that the we'll work with that specialist committee on We are not the only district that will have science as a specialist So we can leverage what it is other districts are doing and what it is that they are measuring and what
tweaks that what have they learned along the way um and how they've made those adjustments so we can maybe capitalize on their learning before we even start with implementation So those are all of our kind of next steps I feel like I've summarized to you what I'm going to be
doing the next two months but those are some of the things that that we will look at and continue to progress monitor and hopefully also see these things show up in our fastbridge scores and our student engagement as well So how do you address the issue that
we're getting rid of art and media we're not Yeah Well I've been told we are So I'm just curious to hear what your thoughts are on hearing that statement Well that's why we're here tonight is to explain I had a five minute conversation with a parent after school and I kind of
basically did this in five minutes Oh I'll get it Okay You know the whole idea is that we're not we value it We just need to think differently and just structure it and move it around And so these things are all being taught They're just being taught in a different way which can be hard to to make that
change And sometimes we think of it in people and that's hard but they're going to be all these standards what the students are experiencing will be integrated into the benchmark curriculum and then supplemented by those people that we are going to move around right to help with the coordinators to help
make it happen So that's how I would address it It's still happening just in a different way Yeah And I would echo the same thing We we are not abandoning these things but we are retooling them and we're doing them in a different way And uh we do have an emphasis on
literacy You know we we are adopting a new literacy curriculum We can't ignore the fact that there is an increase in in minutes that are required Uh so I I probably would sit here thinking it would be inappropriate if we did
nothing and uh you know adopted a new curriculum without addressing the needs that the curriculum requires Uh but but you know here we are um you know trying to address that and trying to meet the needs of our teachers and our kids Uh
but it does mean doing things differently It doesn't mean that we're not doing them It just means that we're doing them differently There's a lot of academic vocabulary in science as well right so the things that when we're looking at our at our achievement we we have to improve our reading We have to
get kids reading at grade level because that is going to just open up their worlds And so if you are a student that loves art you're going to love it even more if you are a literate student that loves art And so what we need to do is capitalize on student strengths and be able to integrate all this content so
that we can increase student achievement and align our pra our instructional practices with the science of reading Did you yeah I had a question I thought there was a question over there too but I'll go first Um so in in talking specifically about art but also media as
well uh we talked a little bit about standards and how they can be integrated into other um sections of the day Um how do we currently measure art and media standards is that something that comes up on MCAs or where how do we keep track
of those standards that they're still happening and then kind of a two-parter Um since we are looking at licensed staff and you did mention that we don't have a lot of art um licensed can you just give me a number of roughly how many art teachers we have that are
licensed art teachers and do you know that off top of your head to answer the first question So media and art standards are not a tested subject and so we don't have a measure of that in like standardized testing or anything like that it's the teachers do teach them and then they assess them on the
standards like you know throughout and given them report cards and so there are ways that they do measure it but there's not like a a school you know a district-wide measure of those or statewide measure of those and then as for art teachers I wouldn't be the best to answer that I can say you know um Derrick gave his example in 11 years how
many he's had I've had this year was more successful yeah this year was more successful I believe this year we have three licensed start teachers um out of seven or out six Well they're shared So like half will share an art teacher
right half the time is spent at Stonebridge half the time is spent at a Yeah this was a more successful year So um I can speak for Anderson for example when they have to staff a point four or you know whatever it is that isn't easy to come
by and that's when we often go often and not every year and I'm not even going to speak to this year but we go to off out of field permissions to fill those spots which and often what happens is we'll we'll get like we had a good year this year and then a full-time position will open up at one of the secondary schools
and I mean of course you're going to want to bid into that position where you're in one school and you can really focus on your content Well and to be clear and that was something that that asked is like my for example a point8 is what our position is and so when someone
finds a 1.0 and it just because of how we staff a different district that happens too So it does change Okay Thank you Yes director Yeah Well uh principles do and Burke thank you Uh really great information and executive director
Willis thank you as well So um I mean obviously from a a board standpoint as we approach it you know definitely seems to make sense from a a systems standpoint to make that consistency and um a couple things that stood out with some of the things that you both had said in terms of uh you know Principal Dole we need to think differently you
know and change is hard and that is true and um and principal Berg I mean one thing you mentioned is just like it would be I don't remember the exact quote but essentially um it would be wrong not to try to find a way to do it better Um and that's one thing I do appreciate what you know Dr Funk and the approach you have taken is just you know
what can we do better um there's some things that we do really well but being open-minded to what can we change and what makes sense and you know I think as a board I think we want to figure out for these subject matter experts to you know give you the sandbox to do those
things and and try to best support it Um I guess one question I had was just from uh I guess two questions You know you both are very passionate and and not trying to speak for other principles but I assume there's obviously buy in and uh working with each of your individual schools of looking at this is something
that we need to do Um and then the second question is you know any potential unintended consequences um by moving to maybe a science specialist type of approach Um you know obviously we've seen that uptake with the new curriculum um you know was that something that potentially could be
harmed and I know um um you know a statement was made in terms of some of the checkpoints of essentially thinking what's the winds and what's not Um so I guess those are some things I'm interested in terms of um you know what can we anticipate and or do you really see those are really being a spark to
making it uh even better So sorry for the long-winded question Yeah Take any Yeah Hi I do see it as being a a jumping point or a spark and something that could have some long-term and some lasting benefits
Uh you know right now I don't you know the uh the loss or the shortfall is we're just doing it differently It doesn't mean that we're not doing it We're just doing it differently Will it be toolled differently yes it will be toolled
differently Uh but it doesn't mean that that's necessarily going to be a a loss We're just doing differently uh compared to how we are doing it now And I just I think to answer about the principles we did come together as a principal group like I said in November
of 2023 We're aligned Something needs to change and we knew that And so we knew but it wasn't the time because we didn't have the you know we could feel it off the teachers and the pressure and what's going on But then when the new curriculum came it's back to a D It was
irresponsible not to try something And so that's why it came back around and all principles we talked about it on board you know what what needs to change for our students to achieve better and for our teachers to be able to teach I don't want to say better that sounds terrible but like to be able to invest
the time and to do what they are here to do and so that's part of it and then I I see it as a spark and I think there are some things that could be difficult at first like anything that's new but we aren't the only district that does a science specialist so that's where I think we can learn from other districts
I mean I've been in I've worked in four other districts I think of other districts that have that And so it's again not that we're teaching in silos We also aren't learning in silos So we can say well what's worked what hasn't worked and being willing to change because we tweak things all the time This is bigger right change is bigger
But that's where I see it as a spark that we could look at it differently and achieve differently Thank you Any other questions go ahead I was just ahead Sorry I was just curious how other you said that there were other schools
that had science specialists that you know of Um how do those schools run with those science specialists and how is it different from research on this little I know anecdotally but um it's different at different in different districts Um so most places within K3 uh are doing
very similarly to how we've proposed like on a rotating schedule Um when you get to the higher grades the fourth and fifth grade there's it's like hybrid model where maybe there's some embedded content within the classroom instruction like a non-fiction unit within their
literacy block They'll do a focus around like an earth science concept that then they're doing some lab work or hands-on work within that specialist So diff different districts are slightly different depending on how much time The other thing that I will say is part of
the research I did with with when I was looking at different districts is I also figured out how many instructional minutes are in their day So some elementary schools actually have more than 390 minutes in their day to work with And so there's their approach is even more of a hybrid approach where
they have a science but they also have some embedded classroom time that we we don't have within our instructional minutes So I look forward to not doing that research in a silo by myself but but engaging with our specialist committee The individuals who end up in
these science specialist positions will be key individuals to engage in planning this work out and thinking about how we can do this in a way that is manageable and will get us the outcomes that we we want and need for our students
Thank you No just I guess just a comment not really a question You know may I think we we heard a lot from the community over the course of the last couple last week anyway about people concerned about losing art in particular Um um and and I
get it and and hopefully you've converted some people tonight Um certainly I I think the opportunity is great to both create some consistency in learning across all of our elementary schools but then I mean when I think about
adults that have that ability to integrate art and literacy you know I mean they can tell stories using ideas that you don't just necessarily get from any one particular discipline that you that can
pull things from different places those are very successful individuals and so hopefully we're we're starting them off you know young also I mean in anything there's there you know any decision like this there are winners and losers and that that's a reality I've got two
boys both of them found uh elementary art very stressful like I I know a lot of people really love it they did not and so you know that I could have seen them maybe engaging a little bit better with you know here here's here's a a
story we read and now you know give me an image of what what's in your mind's eye from having read the words I I could see that have worked maybe worked better than you know make make an ashtray I don't know I'm not not not trying to
minimize art I'm just you know it's for for them They We don't do astrays anymore We don't do astrays anymore I'm old I'm sorry Uh and everything looked like an ashtray whether it was or not Um so I I I'm
really excited about this So thank you Thank you for the work Thank you We are too And the last thing I'll say Anley you kind of hit it really well with your question and I don't know that you meant to but my background um prior to to being getting to serve in this role as
special education and what excites me about this opportunity is it feels so much more inclusive So if I am not a student that is a strong reader or a strong writer or has a harder time connecting to rigorous academic contents I now have multiple ways to show my
learning and multiple ways to engage in the content And so I think that ability to increase student choice and um that interdisciplinary approach will make it a lot more accessible for all of our students And I hope that shows up in our scores and we work we will continue to
monitor that as well Um maybe as a as a new board member this is a question that that uh I particularly will only ask but we'll find out Um this I was curious about the process of how this this came about Um so thank you for the context going back
to 2023 That was super helpful to me Um for some reason this still felt a little different than some of the other uh changes that have come up uh throughout the district And so I was just curious um maybe two port portions of it One is
how were like teachers or other specialist coordinators involved in the process to help bring them along or to comment on the changes And then second is um as this has some
uh potential and I maybe I should just ask is there a budget implication to this or not and if there is I would have expected that potentially to come to a board for a vote So um so maybe you could comment on both of those Yeah I can I can take those unless Okay So with
regard to input and stakeholder input uh you you are right This work has lived primarily with the principal proposal from 2023 some ongoing conversations that have happened at different pressure points along the way It was a larger
conversation of our literacy implementation curriculum this fall So those teachers were certainly sitting in spaces I will say when you're sitting in spaces ideulating you don't always think about the systemic impacts of those decisions right so there's a lot of emotion tied to this because these are
people and these are people's jobs and people's passions And so I just want to acknowledge that in that space With that said when we're looking at having to shift within our specialist model our options are limited It's not realistic
to integrate PE standards or to integrate music standards into classroom instruction That's just not something that we can do without being disruptive and detracting from the learning But what we can do is take these standards within media and art that there are
already so many connections to the content in literacy and frankly even in some areas of science and we can integrate those into those areas So it it's not nobody likes to feel like they're having things done to them not with them right and I know that right
now in this moment it feels a little bit like having something done to you What I hope people hear is when the decision is made there will be so multiple opportunities to engage in the process of given this decision how can we roll
this out in the best way for students and staff and so that's what I look forward to doing next is engaging the individuals that are going to be working in these positions and supporting these positions and supporting our classroom teachers and principles in doing that Um
with regard to the budget you know it's interesting that this you know the title of this presentation is priority based budgeting and Marie is going to do a presentation next on our priority based budgeting discussions and decisions Components of priority based budgeting
aren't just eliminating right when we're looking at priority based budgeting we have a finite amount of resources and our job becomes aligning those resources with our strategic plan in a way that's going to give us the best outcomes for kids that is realistic and is
sustainable And so this is not a totally neutral budgetneutral change It's not But it is a sustainable way for us to meet all of those instructional requirements without significantly
impacting the classroom teacher daily load with regard to implementing a rigorous science curriculum a brand new rigorous literacy curriculum continuing the letters training So this is a fiscally responsible way to be able to do that and sustain that
So great question on the budget So we are going to show you as as Caitlyn just mentioned um our our priorities here in in a presentation or two that's coming up As part of that we're going to be reducing a number of dollars We are
actually adding some to our fix our specialist area um to to fix this current situation And that will be reflected in the slides you see and that will be reflected in the budget we are going to ask you to adopt in in June for
the 2526 school year So we're ahead of ourselves We're we're planning this is the way we're going um with the budget But you that is what you will be doing as part of that I'll go to you Oh thanks Um just on the topic of budget uh one of the things
that I've been thinking a lot about in previewing this presentation and now thinking about it is how much the board has already invested in curriculum in science and in literacy Um these are two huge areas that we've not been meeting the needs of our students with We know that from the numbers um it's born out
in the data and it is something that we have been striving to improve in this district and I really appreciate that the principles have recognized the challenge that that that our u classroom teachers are facing in implementing this new curriculum with fidelity That's the
only way we're going to be able to move the needle is if we can support our teachers And it is a huge challenge to take on new curriculum especially like two three years apart in two core areas both of which are tested in our MCAs So
I really can see the value in you guys advocating for the needs of your staff recognizing the structural um changes necessary in order to support and make sure that this investment is successful because ultimately that's what we want as a board is for this investment to
actually have an impact Um and I do appreciate that there is going to be a small cost to this but I see that as protecting the investment that we have already made So thank you for all your work on this I really appreciate it You you may have covered my question but
uh within the last couple years we approved a new science curriculum right in the elementary schools And then one issue is that is all the teachers now had to get up to speed on that Will they be able to back off of that now because now you have the specialist coming in to do it instead right so that'll allow one
person to focus on those standards which are less standards than literacy um and focus on that and then teachers can roll out this new curriculum benchmark literacy and focus on that instead So it does take off their load and we'll still be using that same curriculum I know part of that came with a lot of
materials that they'll just will be used Yeah One thing that stood out to me uh director Willis is you kind of mentioned um and director Lauer had mentioned as well just you know some of that interdisciplinary learning approach which I think that's such a great life skill as you mentioned those hard and
and soft skills what I'll call the left and right brain I mean that's real life I mean and and I think the more ways that we can encourage that and and incorporate that even when maybe kids don't even know it um I think that's such an important approach for them to you know learn and grow as you know
little people and becoming adults um so that's what I'm I'm excited to see how that can be further amplified you know I think things are done in some ways in different ways but how can we even make that more of a priority because I think those are the skill sets that we're going to be able to see that really will make impact in their in their lives as
they get older and um you know move on from Still Water Um so that's you know I guess that's one thing that really stands out what I to me is be hopefully a really exciting um you know positive additional outcome So so thank you Yeah So I just want to echo you know thank
you for the time and work I know this is a process I know there's a lot of additional buy in and work that's going to be happening Um and you know just you know from a board standpoint what we can do to continue to support the work that's being done all across the district Um because at the end of the day it's all about the kids and that's
what I'm excited about So thank you Thanks Question Um I just had a question about if you could explain maybe a little bit about the older grades and the impact because sometimes you know you'd say like some schools probably not every
school they do switch a little bit like they maybe have a teacher that is already their science teacher or already their specialist teacher Um so you know why couldn't we do K through three one way four five a different way what I
mean I know that this is just community questions right like why do we have if we're already doing it like this in our older grades i know we don't do that everywhere consistently but could you maybe elaborate on that for say not everyone so we call it departmentalizing
So maybe I'm in let's just use fifth grade So maybe I teach literacy I teach math and I teach science and the kids all rotate right not every school does that So that's more of a decision within a building and that's not wholesale So to say to everybody could do that and
that's because of sections that's because of lots of different things So that's not a consistent experience They get science but they might not have a specialized science teacher So that isn't always possible at every building So that's one one reason that you couldn't And then the K3 and please
interrupt me here but like if K3 did it one way with specialists and you know four or five did three four five did another that would blow up our whole specialist schedule right they all are balanced together in that six day cycle So that would be an even larger change for that to even be a possibility and
they couldn't but it would be another Yeah One of the other pieces that poses a challenge doesn't make it impossible but it poses a challenge is with literacy there is 150 minutes next year of instruction but that's not the requirement for
uh that's not the requirement for math So even if you had two teachers you would have one teacher departmentalizing with one group of kids for say 75 minutes but then the literacy teacher would be with a group of kids for a
total of 150 minutes and with lunch that's involved with wind time that's involved These things are scheduled with recess Um you know we are going to have some literacy sessions that are not um 150 minutes of sustained time uh there
may be a portion that takes place in the morning There may be another portion that takes place after their specialist time but it just adds to the complexities uh when there is departmentalizing that takes place and then that's just if you have two teachers you know you know if you have four teachers it's a the minutes are
just different if you have three teachers in a section it's different yet so it becomes inconsistent across uh across buildings doesn't mean that it's impossible uh but it's there are some challenges with it I think departmentalizing moving forward will become more difficult um with writing in
our new curriculum You can't separate it It's embedded and throughout the literacy components that are being instructed and that's intentional because that's what we know is best for kids And so what some of how we've balanced those time constraints that
Dererick's referred to is we've peeled components off and said "Okay you're teaching social studies and writing." That's just we can't segment this curriculum in the same way nor should we because we know better now I appreciate that because you get that question in
the community a lot and although and you answered it far better than I do So um I appreciate that And then in terms of extending the day I know I mean that's a that's a cost I would assume contracts I mean that is not so just because I do
get that in the community too that you know why don't we just make our days longer and that's one thing we you know working within our parameters we have 390 minutes how do we make it work and that's what we spent a lot of time looking at options how do we get this
time and this was the one that seemed to integrate curriculum meet all this the benchmarks and standards and you know still honor those subject areas I love it because I personally hear I talk to a lot of kids and I work in a school and so you hear like what's your
favorite subject and it's usually this a lot of times it's the specialist time right the gym like kind of like you were saying it's the art it's the music it's the gym and I look forward to like I love this um idea of embedded learning of different subjects because sometimes you'll hear someone say I love social
studies oh why and it'll often say because it it's a subject that has stories and engagement and it's reading it's you know actually academic but there's also some art sometimes in there so I look forward to you know having kids that'll say "What's your favorite subject?" Well it's re it's reading
because I get to do I get it's more than just sitting and being lectured at or reading a book It's it's art It's writing It's it's all kind of embedded together So um yeah I I just really want to echo the comments that have appealed to the board here that that embedded
learning is appealing My only last question is because the board has um a two plus million dollar investment in this curriculum we want to see improved outcomes academic outcomes and indicators We want to be able to
measure that is does this change give us the best opportunity to actualize and um make that a reality engage like fully take advantage of the investment that taxpayers have made in purchasing this new curriculum and moving the needle in
results and by your estimation is this the best route well they started the conversation a year and a half ago so I'll let them answer Yeah Well you know I I would come back to that with the new curriculum that's been adopted we would
be compromising that curriculum right out of the gate if we didn't do if we didn't make any adjustments Uh so that's why we're here to share what those adjustments are Uh because I think we are seeking the same thing that you are uh that you are seeking but not doing
anything Again that's it doesn't seem like that's going to cut it or move the needle if coming right out of the gate we're compromising that new curriculum I echo that to look at my teachers and say "These are this is the outcome we want right we want increased student
learning but we're not going to give you enough time and just do the do it as much as you can." And then we just start to lose pieces of it And so we wanted to start just like Derek said the right amount of minutes the right amount of everything so we do it well and not have to go backwards later and be like "Okay now you can have this much time or this
much time Let's do it right the first time." Thank you very much I mean I know this is a ton of work It was an excellent presentation and I hope that like for the community that we have some um we can clarify that we're not getting rid of art or media We're just kind of
changing the way it's delivered to our students and we look forward as a board I think to having all the data that comes along with it when we look to measure the impact in our schools So thank you very much Thank you Thank you Okay Next on our agenda is our budget
update I'm gonna steal your thunder for just a second Marie You don't even know I'm doing this Okay So I've heard a lot of talk in the community over the past week or so that Still Water is cutting you know
between 4.35 million depending on if you look at our additions back to the budget um or you're just looking at our cuts So can you zoom on that a little bit Joan there you go So a little more if you can
Okay Thank you So this is a metrowide survey and we didn't fill it out because we we had two different numbers we could use So with our adjustments that we're adding back or versus just our budget cuts So a survey was conducted about six
weeks ago um districts in the Twin Cities metropolitan area And so you can just take a look at the list These are the budget shortfalls they are facing with current language Um the the current proposal within the legislature
and on the right hand column it's the governor's proposal So you can look at um if we take a look at some of our lakesiz districts Um go down to Prior Lakes average you can see they're cutting $4.1 million If we were looking
straight at cuts we'd be about $4.3 million So very similar to where we are Roseville a little bit smaller than we are They're cutting $4 million Um you can look at Minnetonka they're a little bit larger than we are they're cutting close to $5 million And
if you take a look at the bottom right hand column or the bottom columns depending on the governor's proposal or the uh um legislative proposal Twin Cities metropolitan school districts are looking at a
$280 million shortfall This is coming on top of what we heard this last legislative session the greatest investment in public education that people have seen in a number of years All right and so when we're
talking cutting in the range of four to5 million here we are just similar to our neighbors throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area And so I I just wanted to give the board that little bit more
of a local view um prior to uh entering into this discussion with Marine And I'd like to Katie and I go um we serve on behalf of the board at AMSD and this is I mean this is a painful process for the board members there for the
administrators there It's um it's hard times for public schools right now So thank you for sharing that So this evening um we'll be giving a budget update Um and again it's it's kind of a process where we're building
on um what we provided as a fiscal forecast back in February and we're we're building on that Um each one of these presentations um up through June um we'll provide um additional detail uh
the next update again will be um in the next few weeks and we'll we'll give more information as uh it becomes available Uh we'll also have a um revised budget uh for the current year So as as we
continue to compile more information as it becomes available um we'll certainly share that Um so again um these will um have more uh we'll have a budget book available again early June that has a
lot more detail Uh previous budget books are posted out on our website There's a lot more materials out there Uh so again um you've seen this slide before I'm just going to highlight some of the main points here Again our
current financial reality unfunded state mandates Uh some of those you're familiar with Um Caris uh Caitlyn just uh reminded us of the uh redact uh that
curriculum We received about $300,000 of revenue and uh that is certainly a lot more than that Uh that curriculum is over a million dollars And um the paid uh family
medical leave act that uh goes into place during our next fiscal year That's about um3 to $400,000 summer unemployment that still has uh
costs that impact our district And then legislation um as we watch what's going on up at the legislature uh impacting revenue It's not really impacting revenue a lot this year Uh we continue to watch um what will um become
of all those um different proposals inflation rising costs and then projected enrollment levels Um what's interesting right now our current year uh enrollment levels um as of April
um as compared to April of last year at this time we're currently down about 56 students overall and our current fiscal year projection for this fall um for
budgetary purposes we're down about 54 students So it we're we're in that 50 range of being down um for our projections plus what we're actually um down overall from last year So we're
trending right in that 50 being down um for students and um looking to um find ways to just you know boost that enrollment because as you know gened state aid that's what uh brings in the
most revenue for us um one-time only funding Uh we'll cover that um shortly here in our slides but uh one of the larger pieces is um federal grant carryover that we won't
have going into next fiscal year Uh that was some of our specialed carryover funds So just another uh slide to highlight is our unassigned fund balance and you can see that historical uh chart there Uh
we're currently um as of uh our fiscal year 2023 24 fund balance at 1.1% and that amounts to just shy of 1.7 million um with our board policy being
uh 5% So some of our general fund budget assumptions and again this was highlighted um in our previous presentations We are using the current formula allowance uh the allowances in
state legislation for our revenue Um we did update our um general ed formula for that slight inflationary amount Uh the levy amounts are from our school board
um certification in December The federal revenue again we're basing that on the information we have Um we will update that uh once we know additional information but we have to assume that
we are receiving the revenue right now Expenditures uh we based our forecast and budget uh that that forecasted number on current year's staffing levels uh we assumed negotiated agreements and
our cost of living was steps and lanes and then also increases in benefit costs Um we had made a projection uh and then pension contributions along with that legislative change in the uh FMLA and
then also the cost of inflation for other purchase services and utilities insurance supplies materials there's a lot of other things that um the district does have to um pay for And then that use of uh restricted fund
balance um in order to uh and you'll see this shortly for the curriculum for our uh redact um that would be the um funds that we would use for um fund balance um
utilizing that uh not unassigned fund balance So you see in the blue column here um the updated numbers for our revenue as of April 4th uh 152.6 6
million That is the general fund budget uh for 202526 That's the projection at this time And the major changes there or the difference from our current year budget
would be um the most of the funds or the revenue is our general ed aid Um that formula Uh the other larger area is our levy that's very categorical uh in
nature um and those funds are restricted to uh levy law and then um also within the revenue uh we have that loss of our federal dollars and some compensatory
dollars on the expenditure side Again um what you're seeing there as the larger increase um is a lot of the salary assumptions with benefits along with um services uh materials and that
curriculum um piece added in there So overall that balance of um minus5.4 4 million that we're um going to present to you how we are mitigating most of that shortfall And then we're um adding
back that use of our restricted fund balance in operating capital uh 1.1 million to cover the curriculum purchases and then uh leaving us with a minus $4.3 million
um as that projected uh budget in which we'll present how we're um planning to cover those So right now in our priority based budgeting framework and this is the framework we've been using uh for
current year and also last year we're in that allocate to school sites So we're working on uh the budget allocations staffing and then uh working toward uh finalizing that budget for a budget uh
presentation and documents uh to be published So that is we're kind of in the middle there working on those budgets um getting staffing and coordinating that final um those
documents uh to be presented So again just to highlight um we we touch all of the different strategic um directions and initiatives and focus areas Um we mainly um in strategic
direction C but I I do see us fitting in all of those different areas um in supporting um as a budgetary um purpose And then the initiatives this is
um the areas when you're doing priority based budgeting And what we did this year is we looked at areas to expand and um areas to fix and areas to eliminate
So those are the three that we're going to highlight um in the next few slides One thing I would just inter uh interject here and I'm here as the the wingman for Marie but also to represent the fact that she did not do this work alone This is really a team effort All of our
leadership team worked really really hard to put together a plan that not only looked at addressing the 4.3 million we had to cut but where did we need to make an investments and how did we make the best decisions to make sure that we were continuing the good work that we needed to do and supporting kids but also addressing the financial re
reality that we have So again this priority based budgeting process has really helped us to look at things from a systems lens like see the whole entire picture instead of how we used to do budget cutting was like we have to reach a target so let's just take a little from here and a little from here and a little from here without being very
strategic So I just want to acknowledge that um there was a lot of work a lot of conversation You heard some great input from um the last team about some of that but just so you know this is not that peacemeal um approach we've used in the past It's very strategic I think I also
I'd like to just kind of complement to how we've taken priority based budgeting and also um it complements our strategic plan and um the action cards and how that works to complement all of the the
different areas and um how we're able to assess those outcomes for the different um areas we invest in too Chris I'm glad you kind of said that and I just want to add and echo what you said for how the district has worked in the past as a
community member I think we're used to um a board taking a look with its you know governance lens which is not a system lens not professional educators Um that's not why we're here And it used to be like okay here's your list of
potential cuts and you cut this and you cut this And it really lent itself to a total misalignment of all of our systems and structures And I in in hindsight and I think Dr Funk um analyzed this when he first came on board The areas that
typically were getting cut were curriculum and professional development because they really didn't impact people And so it was like you're making popular decisions but you're not necessarily making or you know short-term decisions because we all love our staff and our community but you it led to where we are
today with our academic indicators lagging So I just want to I know that this budget priority process is different This is only the second year we've done this So I think that it's a change for sure but I too have appreciated a little bit more of just a a focused um approach to it and kind of
guard rails So I just want to add to that So as you see um this slide this is um just kind of putting into perspective and this isn't everything This these are highlighting some of the major areas
that we did You will see a lot more as we present um our final um areas um in pre as we present the budget book Um these are highlighting a lot of the major initiatives and
programs Um but there are some you know adjustments overall to our budget Um you'll see in the expand area um the curriculum in many different areas highlighting literacy
uh science personal finance MIGO Unidos um AI and uh science uh that programming at Bellwin and then uh fixing um the support positions that elementary
specialist model um that Caitlyn and the team just highlighted and then PSO and concurrent enrollment options um at the high school And then uh our district role and the benefits uh
contributions and then music uh instrument replacement um that making that mindful um investment um in a lot of our instruments that uh that capital dollars and then uh eliminating uh that
the curriculum uh there's been lot of uh historical investments I'll just say uh the co years where there were a lot of apps um online apps and just um team kudos to the team back there for uh
really assessing those and um making those um mindful decisions to uh eliminate a lot of those uh apps and uh staffing adjustments based on enrollment uh department program reductions and
then those one-time only commitments which I will also highlight So you'll see two different lines here One were the priority based uh budgeting reductions and realignment because it wasn't only elimination of things Um it
was also expanding or investing too and that and that is the process sometimes you're eliminating more to also invest um in areas um for uh student outcomes And then the restricted fund balance use
really is to use our operating capital dollars we have um for some of our curriculum uh using that the capital dollars Oh I'm sorry It's all good Uh I had a couple questions on on this Can you talk
about how we prioritize like science and the programming at Bellwin um as something to expand investment in during this time of of budget and then second I didn't see block up here How does that factor in
i can answer the first part of that So we have an opportunity with Bellwin to you know one of the things that we look at when we're looking at um providing educational opportunities for our students is what's the investment and what's the
impact And so Bellwin is in the finishing stages of adding an additional classroom to their um to their site And so Bellwin is a uh conservancy in Afton that has uh I don't
even know how many acres it has but they have a nature basically a nature center out there And currently St Paul uses another one of their buildings and and the St Paul School District buses their students out there um they're I think
they're elementary students um pretty much every day of the school year and they have a naturalist environmental experience um and it's Bellwin is located in our district and our our kids can go there if St Paul cancels They'll
call Afton Lakeland Elementary and they'll say "Hey we got a spot You guys want to come over?" So last year Bellwin approached us and they said "We're building this new building We have an opportunity to teach your elementary
students environmental education in our environmental you know in our environment out here." And so we said "Okay there's some interest here and what's the potential cost?" And the potential cost I think you're going to get to it another slide is
$125,000 And that will impact every elementary student in this district who currently I think what was the nature center up north that we used to send the kids to warner What was it warner Warner We haven't had an opportunity to do that
for years And so this is an opportunity with Bellwin to um to really provide kids a a nature experience that we currently don't have the ability to offer them So the budget
number is 125,000 and that's um you know what what we believe okay that's our exposure on this We're also working with uh Bellwin and we're also looking with with different area foundations to see if
they can help us um reduce that even more because I think they see the opportunity for our kids to have this experience So it's a unique um situation that is uh it's a slight
increase to our budget but it is uh um the impact is elementary wide So great question Thank you Yep Block block schedule Is that what you're referring to that's a 27 Yeah there's
nothing on here for the block schedule It's for a future year So just to build off of the expand as you see in the first uh row there um for the curriculum uh this is implementing
um what we uh see for the readact um for the first year in addition to the fir personal finance curriculum and the secondary science materials What you see highlighted here is um that intended use
of the restricted fund balance um of about just a shy little shy over a million dollars um of the operating capital funds So that net uh impact to the general fund would be zero um Amigos
Unidos um again expanding that grade level um to grade 8 by one FTE for that uh estimated cost of 145,000 and then um artificial
intelligence um investment in a tool um called Brisk would be uh a cost of $50,000 and then again that um expansion of the to the bellwin of
125,000 So you can see the expansions there on this slide And sorry just a real quick question This is my sort of ignorance in this space That 145,000 for the FTE for uh Amigus Unitos Wouldn't that be
somewhat costneutral since they're going to be in a class somewhere else it's a it's we we're hiring an FTE to fill the position Um depending on how the middle school staff said it could be
less than that Okay This is again this is worst case scenario on our budget Thank you And then the areas um prioritizing um the fix would be the support position the
model um for the elementary specialists Uh one area is um the green room paras um having one in each building So that's actually a reduction of one
FTE and then replacing the um media and art with science specialists and um also providing uh K5 media and art coordination So that overall cost there um is an increase of
about $28,000 And then uh for PSO and concurrent enrollment options uh what we're doing there is expanding um those current college credit options at the high school so that they would be more
um located there um on site at the high school And uh that right now um is looking to be more cost neutral as we project those costs because a lot of those uh costs right now are paid to the
colleges We're looking um as um principal Bach had presented um bringing back those options um into the high school um teaching on site actually would save the district some
dollars So that um projection there um we're not looking at any additional cost and then um the benefit contribution um that uh whole projection there was already accounted for in our
general fund budget assumptions when we did our inflationary costs And then the music repair replacement Again this is another investment that we would use our uh restricted funds with operating
capital That's about $70,000 I just wanted to comment um and I know this is a team collaborative effort but I'm sure that the specialist presentation that we heard could have been costneutral had you not prioritized a licensed art coordinator and two media
specialists overseeing the stacks of our media materials I appreciate that we're having those we're maintaining that so that we have that focus on the arts and the media center throughout the district still and it's not going totally away Um so I know this probably could have been
cost neutral and I'm sure I don't know but I'm sure you guys probably toyed around with it and I appreciate the um keeping maintaining it And then additional um slide here with the eliminate uh the curriculum on align
apps again not aligned to the core instruction that was about $48,000 additional staffing So again um in alignment with our our enrollment that is uh the projection to be down uh
this fall uh elementary was around six FTEES secondary just shy of one and a half FTEES So again you'll see that uh savings there just shy of 1.1 million And then department and program
reductions um eliminations central uh office support positions three and a half FTEEs uh secondary social workers uh three FTEES Uh bar coordinators uh two
FTEES and then AVID uh 1.4 four FTEES and then a a half uh position gate coordinator Yes Dr Funk So I know people see secondary social workers up here and they say "What's
going on with that?" And I can share with you that we added a number of positions during COVID including these social workers
and the co funds have gone away and so I don't know what the instructions were when we were here but in my previous life when we hired co positions all those employees were said you are hired cleared and then when the co dollars are
gone your position is going to be eliminated And that's what's happening here Um so we we did not have a dedicated ongoing funding stream for these positions I also want to to let folks know that we are aware of this and
we're sensitive to it And this year this during this this year's budget we actually increased our commitment with family means to provide uh counseling services um external to the district uh where they they come in and they can meet with our students So um we look
forward to continuing that relationship moving forward but I want to acknowledge that that is causing some stress on uh on our system And I was Katie and I and I don't know if Pete if you were I don't know if you Pete was might have just be me and you We were on the board at the
time of those coed dollars and we knew full well we were spending one limited time money on staffing because that was the need and when you have 76 or 77 cents of every dollar that goes to staffing I mean that's where it made
sense but we knew going in it was going to be hard to see them go because they're here and they're necessary and I just want to you know community members ask us like what can I what can we do to help and um AMSD The Association of Metropolitan School Districts has a
great position paper on student mental health and um the challenges in school districts and so writing your legislators in support of that position paper so that we could get adequate um mental health support in our schools
adequate funding would be very helpful I just I know that comes up frequently in AMSD So um while we're here uh bar coordinators and we've talked a lot about bar and the effects that it has Where does that leave us with or or now are we relying on fil people in the buildings yeah I'll
I'll uh address that So currently our elementaryaries don't have bar coordinators I mean they have people who are picking it up but there's not an official compensation for those positions We added this past year coordinators at each middle school to
get the program up and running The high school because of its large size has their own coordinator as well So this year we said we need to reduce and so um basically we are cutting back to I
think a6 person will be covering one person will be covering part-time the two middle schools the high school's position was reduced as well but the high school principal said I can adjust staffing elsewhere I need a 1.0 0 here
So so he's making cuts elsewhere within his team um to maintain a full-time bar coordinator at the high school So we're reducing two FTEEs total Uh but he's picking up part of one of those Um so and and I feel I don't feel great about
this but I'm more comfortable with it that at least the two middle schools have got a year under their belt to have got a solid framework um with bar And we still are receiving support from from uh from bar itself um for the next I think
two years for uh the two middle schools Can I ask a yeah question on this one too since we're looking at the um program reductions um between bar and avid and gate Are those programs going to be affected by these um coordinator
positions are they still around like what Yeah people might find this alarming So bars still exist AVID still exists gates still exist All right I I think the difference um is we
are AVID is going to fall under more the opaces of teaching and learning and the the building principles Um gate I think our focus we we tried to expand our focus to gate to provide more support to our clusters We just really haven't had
done that And so the gate gate coordinator's focus is really going to be on the self-contained program that we have and and uh identification of students Um we have a uh a gate community school community task force
that has been meeting for the past number of weeks They're they're scheduled to meet I think in May at some point Um so you'll be receiving a report from the board on some different opportunities that we are we could potentially be looking at for gay moving forward Uh but at this point in time um
we're making it just so that position is focused on the the uh um self-contained program And then my question just for community members because we hear a lot about class size and um is this the additional
staffing the reduction in staffing we're not changing class size This is based on your enrollment projections This is not okay So the stat the existing class sizes we are within the board parameters for the existing class sizes Okay Yes
Alison Uh just to follow up on that question it seems like if we are down potentially 56 students and we're eliminating seven and a half FTEES that it would either suggest that our current class sizes are misaligned currently or
that the future would be you know there's some other change happening as well So I guess it could be true I guess what your answer to the question was we are within parameters right now and we will be in parameters in the future I guess my assumption on that is it may
affect class sizes It may not affect class sizes outside of the parameters Correct Y right and so the parameters and that's what I mean the high the high and the low that's all And so part of that is you know staffing is a is a moving target all the time but we will
start the year staff to a certain level because that's what our enrollment starts at right okay If we're down 50 some kids this year okay well we're losing them in some classes So we may start with classes that are you know
mid-target and then okay they lose two or three kids Okay suddenly they drop And so it it is um based upon the enrollment that we're rolling forward uh we are looking at a a reduction in
point of six FTEEs at the elementary Now suddenly if August rolls around and we get a significant uptick okay we we will adjust from that but we will have the students coming in to say okay we got 30 more kids coming in or 25 more
students okay we can add an FTE um but again that I wish it worked that cleanly well and it's it's really challenging um and so I think our principles and their their admin assistants do a great job of you know we're trying to identify my incoming c kind kindergarten classes
Okay what's it going to be what's what what do we know what do we have in hand and we are making decisions here in um April based upon projections Now we again as as Marie stated as we get
closer and closer to June we will have a better target of okay what's our enrollment looking like we will have a better idea of what the legislaturator is actually going to provide us and and this um forecast you're seeing tonight will tighten up as we as we move further
into the year But having said that you know we have to have our budget in place by June 30th Well June 30th comes and and now we start the new school year on July 1 Well okay we will see influxes throughout the summer on enrollment So that's what we know as of today what
we're we're planning for Thank you Then the final area is one-time only commitments And th this area for me is the first area I look at when we do budget reductions because to me it's an area where you're not you're not um
these are areas in our current year budget that you don't repeat the next year Um it's it's a purchase that you make once Um for example the K5 uh science purchase um we completed that so you don't budget for it next year Um we
had some general fund um one-time capital projects um like our wireless project um that we currently are doing uh that was um for example the amount uh that the general fund um obligated was
about 380,000 for that So again that project will be completed um hopefully by the end of this year but again those dollars are obligated You don't budget for that again next year So these areas those commitments um are a savings for
next year's budget long-term facility maintenance uh revenue Um that the revenue that we have um varies from year to year and uh we had a levy back in December that was approved based on our
10-year plan for projects The board saw that uh last June and approved that So every year we have to realign what the budget is and uh for this upcoming year there's about
$840,000 of savings or expenditure budget that we can reduce So again that's another commitment or project commitment that we reduce here or a budget reduction Uh and then the last areas uh we had some federal specialed
carryover funds um that we reduced um because we are spending those in our current year You don't plan again for that um next fiscal year So again that's about $780,000 So those totaling just shy of
2.4 million are items that will not exist in next year's budget um their funding sources and the expenditures um do not exist next year So those are just reductions out of your
budget Additional considerations Um just to summarize again we're awaiting uh any further legislative action um before we do any um other reductions um further reductions um likely will be
in the area of salary or benefit um increases as we negotiate contracts Um we consider other um we'll be considering other reductions or cost savings We
continue to look at that Um if there are contracts um not at the negotiations level but other cost savings if we can save it other things that we're doing in procurement or um other things at the district level we certainly do that to
help balance anything helps Um and so we continue to do that at our level Um and so that's what we have for you this evening Um again you can look at the budget timeline here The next uh area
that we'll be presenting is our current year fiscal year 25 revised budget um at the next um school board meeting coming up And that's
all And again I want to reiterate what Chrisa said Um it is a team effort to do this budget And I just um thank all of the team um including principles too Um there's a lot of work that goes into
this and there's been a lot of committees and things that um people have been on to get to where we are today with a lot of this work So kudos to the entire team
Questions or comments i have more of a comment um just to acknowledge all that work that you guys have been doing Nobody signs up in education to cut people or to cut resources like this is a job where we are working in a tough ecosystem So um I
I appreciate how much work and how much thought has gone into this and going back to your comments earlier on how this system of priority based budget budgeting um is really focused on a systems lens and that it's tied to the strategic plan and it's a very what I
find a stabilizing um system systemic view of our budget and I appreciate that as a board member um as um Chair Sherman was mentioning having the responsib ibility fall on us as board members to cherrypick different things um
that's not going to help the system long term It's a short-term fix So um as difficult as it is to see all of these cuts I don't want to cut any of this I no none of us do Um but it's our fiscal responsibility to make sure that this um district is financially stable So it's
an ugly part of this job and we appreciate all the hard work and the difficult decisions you guys have made So thank you for that Well said Other comments or questions thank you very much for your time and efforts Thank
you Okay we have um an action item There's actually a a resol resolution here So we'll first accept a um a motion for an unrequested leave of absence
So moved All right Director Hawker with the motion Is there a second okay Great With a first and a second I'll comments and questions but it will turn it to Do you want to explain to the board what's going on with this yep So um um as we go through um the staffing process um
occasionally we do and it hasn't happened here in a while but um we do occasionally end up with a situation where we do not have um FTE available um in a particular license area for a staff member And so this um individual has is we don't have we're missing point two of
that person's FTE Um so this is unrequested leave um that you that you would be approving Um and that makes that puts her on a list so that if we do have that FTE come up available then that would be assigned to her or offered to her
So this is different She's a tenur staff member Yes Okay The other action we're going to have you take are probationary teachers Yes So there's a different process for tenur staff members So she will have rights to a position I think for five years Yes Um so something comes
available we call her and we say okay it's come on back Great Um any questions for Chris with a motion and we can ask questions Okay Um Joan roll call vote on
this please Dr Gersovich Yes Dr Hector Yes Dr Kelenberg yes Director Lawauer yes Dr Parker yes Dr The Lander yes Chair Sherman yes Resolution passes Correct Thank you
All right Um and then we have an action on staffing adjustments I'm just going to ask for a motion for approval I'll go ahead and make the motion Is there a second i'll second Great Director Hawker with a second and then we'll turn over to you Chris to explain and then we can ask
questions Sure Um this resolution is um regarding our probationary staff Um as we go again through the staffing process we do have to make room for tenure teachers who um through the staffing cuts perhaps may either be losing a portion of their position or all of
their position And because they have uh rights to a position um we need to make room for those And the way to do that is to um release probationary teachers in those areas So we have before you a resolution to uh release um the teachers
listed above Um and so we're just asking for your approval Any questions or comments so can you talk about the effective dates for this uh first off I'll have a couple other questions but yeah So they
are um released as of the end of the school year So technically it's June 30th um is the release date but obviously the last day of school And then second is this all of our um probationary teachers is this a
subset no this is not all of them No this is um this is what we needed to we try to make sure that we're not releasing anyone extra We just try to make sure that we only release what we need And this is about average for here
It's around this many every year And then last question for me so far uh would be how does uh future staffing needs like retirements factor into this is that already
factored in or is that then they reapply for the jobs that are vacated because of retirements or other openings so retirements are due to um to our office in February Um obviously people still retire after that but yes the retirements that we know
about are already figured in so that we don't have to um so if we already had if we had enough spots then we wouldn't release more probationary teachers um to backfill those retirement spots Um so a after we go through the first and second round of internal postings if there are
still openings available then you know most of these teachers or the majority of them by far would be eligible for rehire And so they we would just work that out with principles and these folks Thank you Um and then just because I know this
happens every year these teachers can apply for they'll I mean sometimes they are able to bring we are able to bring them back right yep We're often able to bring them back Great Okay There's a motion and a second Any other questions
great Joan roll call Dr Gersovich Yes Dr Hawker Yes Dr Gellzenberg Yes Director Lowour Yes Director Parker Yes Director Theelander Yes Chair Sherman Yes Resolution passes Thank you everyone And then under strategic
direction D develop strong partnerships with the communities we serve We have an update from the adventure club um group and Annette Welcome for an update on staffing and enrollment Thank you Chair Sherman Superintendent Funk and board
members I have a brief presentation to update you on where we're at with the Adventure Club members Let's see if I can get this right So first of all this is just a snapshot look at where we're at today Uh for summer we have 640 students 43 students
that are fully enrolled 25 more that are partially enrolled And what partially enrolled means is that they have more of a need than we've been able to accommodate but we've been able to accommodate some of their need And we're working on fully serving them And then
we have zero on our weight list For next school year at this point in time we have 794 students that are completely enrolled 182 that are partially enrolled and 68 that are on a wait list when we're estimating the staff and
when I'm looking at this this is for next school year We're looking at our hiring needs for next school year It's really very much an estimate at this point in time That is a moving number no different than the school district experience with um enrollments going
into this school year Things are going to adjust Family schedules are going to change Staff schedules are going to change Um so we did our best to give ourselves some cushion here but we do believe it's going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 to 25 staff that
we'll need to hire And this I feel like there should be a drum roll if you've already taken a peek at this So this is the last three years where we are at at the same time over the last three years um the past two
years and then this year And so we are in ex in really very good shape We're feeling very good about the fact that um uh we've been able to successfully place so many people
We have had an quite a bit of of success actually in sustaining staff So that is helping us with this number But in addition to that we have already started uh hiring additional staff So these these efforts are very similar to what I've shown you in the past if not
identical Um and we'll continue to use those strategies as we found that they have been successful um to try and complete that 20 to 25 staff So with that do you have any questions
it's on the list there but have you gotten much traction with getting students through pathways we uh through pathways that's uh really happening at now more than it has because that's something that the students would be exploring for next year So uh we have
had actually um success in hiring students but that's because their schedules right now work with our schedule So it's a little bit different factor for next school We're looking at different approaches at the high school to offer kids credit for a school to work type opportunity So more to come on
that but that's definitely an opportunity for us I think Yes Dr The uh I'm sorry Yep The the numbers jumped up quite a bit from April 24 to 25 And do you speculate that a lot of that is because of the time change uh
the number of people enrolled Yeah Yes I think it it is in part that although I will say that our numbers are higher this year than they were um in previous years And so I think that there's just an increasing need for the care and an increas increasing ability to serve
those individuals So it's sort of a combination of that Okay Yeah I just want to commend Annette and her team Um you know I think one of the concerns the board was really looking at a year or so a little over a year ago
was this situation and would we be able to meet the needs of our community if we flip-flopped our high school and elementary or secondary and elementary start times and it appears you have risen to the challenge here And uh um
but I we still need 20 to 25 more people So we're right we have not slowed down a bit We're the postings are up if anyone is interested I did list on that slide where to go Um and please apply Does your car have it
on yeah Right Really not a bad idea This is really good positive news I know there's work to be done still but it's to be commended So thanks to you and your team to HR and to all the people involved in this So a lot of people involved and they have done an exceptional job Yes
Thank you Look forward to continued updates All right Any questions before we have her go Great Thank you It's always so harsh but with that we're adjourned Thank you everyone And my voice held out
Held out