##VIDEO ID:dMxre6nzOo8## microphone test for wetta school board regular meeting January 13th 2025 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening the time is now 7:00 the WIA Public Schools Board of Education regular meeting for Monday January 13th 2025 will please come to order will the acting clerk please call the role Heidi ker here Sheila prior here Sarah Johansson here Paris bende here Valentina SS here Dan janesta here Milan soney here Chase Anderson here thank you we have a forum welcome back uh colleagues to another year on the board your your work on the board is always appreciated let us make this year a great one for the district this evening there is a slight change from the regular agenda this first meeting in January is referred to as the organizational board meeting where the board is required to elect its officers the chair Vice chair Clerk and Treasurer among other organizational approvals this is required for State Statute the term of each officer is for one year I'm acting board chair until a chair is elected following which the elected chair will conduct the rest of the meeting let's begin with the election of the chair the recommended action is to approve the board chair position for 2025 and until such time as election procedures are completed in January of 2026 are there any nominations for chair I would like to nominate myself are there any other nominations for chair are there any other nominations for chair Milan soney has been nominated for chair are there any I already asked that anyway so hearing none mil has been nominated for the role of chair is there any discussion hearing none all in favor of electing milen soney as the 2025 chair please say I I I I oppose n the motion carries Milan will now chair the meeting till its end we will now move on to the election of Vice chair the recommended action is to approve the board Vice chair position for 202 5 and until such time as election procedures are completed in January of 2026 are there any nominations for vice chair I nominate Heidi ker Heidi ker has been nominated for vice chair nominated by Sarah Johansson are there any other nominations are there any other nominations hearing none Heidi ker again has been nominated for the role of Vice chair is there any further discussion all in favor of electing Heidi CER as the 2025 Vice chair please say i i i oppos n motion carries congratulations Heidi I will next call for the nomination of the treasurer the recommended action is to approve the board Treasurer position for 2025 and until such time as election procedures are completed in January of 2026 are there any nominations for treasurer I would like to nominate Sarah Johansson thank you Sarah Johansson has been nominated for treasurer and nominated by Heidi ker are there any other nominations are there any other nominations hearing none SRA Johansson has been nominated for the role of Treasurer is there any further discussion all in favor of electing sah Johansson as the 2025 Treasurer please say I I I I oppose nay the motion carries I will next call for the nomination of the clerk the recommended action is to approve the board clerk position for 2025 and until such time as election procedures are completed in January of 2026 are there in nominations for clerk I would like to nominate Sheila prior thank you Sheila PRI has been nominated for Clerk and is nominated by Heidi CER are there any other nominations are there any other nominations hearing none again Sheila prior has been nominated for the role of clerk is there any further discussion hearing none all in favor of electing Sheila prior as the 2025 clerk please say I I I oppose n motion carries congratulations Sarah congratulations Sheila and congratulations Heidi all right we now have officers of the board for 2025 thank you Heidi Sarah and Sheila for your dedication and willingness to serve also a happy healthy and safe New Year everyone I would first like to say thank you to my colleagues for your trust in me I'm truly honored and know this is a heavy lift which I cannot do without your help in return in collaboration with the administ ation I promise to I promise to perform the duties of chair to the best of my ability which while being focused on the district road map and the commitment to each and every student in the district all right let's move on to the business for tonight the next item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda and the consent agenda items consent agenda items are considered routine in nature and will be enacted by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a board member or a citizen so requests in which event the item will be removed as a consent agenda item and addressed the consent agenda items are listed in the materials the recommended action is to approve the agenda and the consent agenda items will the clerk please take a roll call vote we need some motion and second yes is there a motion I so move second moved and seconded will the clerk please take a rooll call vote Dan janra yes Sarah Johansson yes Paris bende yes Sheila prior yes Heidi ker yes Valentina SS yes Milan soney yes thank you Sheila we have an agenda the next item on our agenda is report from organizations this section of the agenda provides an opportunity for a wieta high school student council representative to report on information and events at Wisa High School Pon model student council vice president is usually here to give a report but both pton and the president Marcus are in dispos so Amy will read out a report from pton I believe right okay thank you Amy this is straight from our high school student so please no questions and I will do my best good evening to start off tonight I would like to summarize the student council council's winter festivities Day held on December 20th it was a huge success with Incredible involvement from the council's Senate house staff and students at the beginning of the day Mr Elmhurst one of our band directors and Troy the Trojan conducted the Wind Ensemble in some f of music during the day staff members appeared as elves visiting classrooms throughout the school both students and staff members seemed thrilled and quite cheery about the whole event the high school's yig Youth and government attended the 2025 yig conference with more than a 100 delegates in attendance student council's freshman representative Addie wenss was voted to be the speaker of the Meyers house Wisa deca is holding an ACT prep event on January 18th following their previous opportunity on January 11th they are partnering with act instructors from flying colors prep wetta theater just hosted the student written directed and acted performances of the 24-hour Play Festival on January 3rd and 4th an annual fundraiser for the drama club both the 910 musical man I'm sorry Music Man and the spring play Romeo and are in production the high school's unified theater program will be presenting Disney's Frozen this Friday January 17th in Auditorium 1 at 10:15 it should be a great time the wetta speech team starts their season on the 18th with their first tournament on January 25th the following tournament will be held at the high school leadership meetings between captains of the high school teams are scheduled to have been a productive time for the student athletes spring Sports captains practices a time for captains to help lead their sport are kicking off with the end of the first semester coming up there are a variety of opportunities for students to get support and continue to be involved in the school Community lastly student council is up and running with our spring events staff appreciation fmsc service event Peace Day prom and I cannot wait to share more details next month thank you and have a wonderful evening on behalf of pton thank you Amy so like Amy said oh yeah sir sorry make a comment I I just want to add I know we're not supposed to ad done but it was super fun at yig um we had the governor for Youth and government this year so that was really fun which led the whole thing and there were actually three students that were elected for next year we'll have the lieutenant governor um as well as the speaker of Meyer's house as well as someone else who I forget who it is but three so go why is that a we had a super strong showing sorry thanks okay thank you at this point I just want to remind folks in the audience that if you want to speak at the during the public uh comment section please fill out a form that's in the back of the room there and hand it over to Amy to my right so all right next item on the agenda is recognitions I will join Dr Anderson at the podium good evening everybody my name is Chase Anderson I'm superintendent for the school district and it's always my honor to convene the recognitions portion of our school board meetings I think this is the first meeting in 16 and a half years where all the attendees at the meeting were perfectly assembled in one quadrant of the seating if I were an airline flight attendant I would have to say I'm going to need to have half of you move to the other side but those are the preferred seats they must have had some kind of a lure to pull you into those tonight but we're happy to see you and thank you so much for being here tonight we have uh two recognitions tonight and it's uh my honor to uh first recognize our employee of the month from bsy elementary school Megan trell and I would like to ask her to please come [Music] forward please come forward you can safely uh remove yourself from your seat because we're at 30,000 ft or whatever to continue with my bad metaphor but congratulations I'm going to read a script that's been prepared on uh Megan's behalf and then give her an opportunity to uh share a few thoughts in regard to her work at birfield thank all of you uh thanks to all of you for being here this evening berre Elementary School is proud to nominate Megan trell kindergarten teacher as the January Employee of the Month Megan truly embodies what it means to be a birch bobcad in every way and our school is a better Community because of Educators like her Miss trell is a student centered passionate and gifted educator who is transformative in the work that she does for our students and our school Community Megan brings a renewed positive energy to the field of education and to Birchview she has deeply invested in this important work and always goes above and beyond the betterment for the betterment of our students and our school her impact as a classroom teacher is something to be commended and celebrated in her recent years she excelled in her role as a third grade teacher and most recently she moved to kindergarten Megan has shared that her dream job was to be a kindergarten teacher and this year the opportunity finally came through kindergarten teachers are truly gems they set the foundation for our students for years to come Megan and our Birchview K team exemplify all of this and so much more teachers like her set the stage for our youngest Learners of our school during parent teacher conferences a family shared their admiration for Miss trudell they shared that when they dream of a kindergarten teacher of their child someone to start their child's educational Journey they think about someone like Megan they smiled and expressed extreme gratitude for the work that she does every day this example is just one of many positive things that others have shared about her work over the years she takes her job very seriously while also having fun and puts in so much energy to being the best teacher she can be for our students Megan is a huge advocate for children and always willing to give her absolute best for not only the students she works with but for all students her impact is evident as you often see many of her previous students stop by her classroom every morning you can also find her at students events outside of school cheering them on and being their number one supporter many students have expressed their deep admiration for her as a teacher but wait there's more lastly her impact goes goes beyond the classroom to our entire School Community she exudes positive energy with a bright smile and welcoming demeanor with everyone she interacts with she goes the extra mile for The Wider Community by doing things such as organizing our school community garden planning our first ever literacy night called Camp read a lot and designing fun projects to enhance our school Community if it is good for kids Megan is always willing to step up take initiative and do whatever it takes to make it happen she's not only a phenomenal teacher but a tremendous colleague she's the Ultimate Team player and when a colleague needs something she is quick to volunteer to help Megan has a unique ability to help everyone that she interacts with feel like they truly matter and thrives in carrying out our school goal of you matter at birchie burv elementary school is thrilled to recognize Megan trudell as the wi Isetta public school's January employee of the month she is very deserving of this recognition and Birchview is a better place to learn and work because of Educators like Megan congratulations to you and now you [Applause] here thank you Dr Anderson and the members of the wetta school board I'm so grateful for this moment to stand here and thank you for this recognition I'm honored to be representing virtue Elementary tonight I knew the second I walked into beru that this is where I was supposed to be it truly is a special place every day I'm surrounded with love and support and I'm so happy to receive this recognition but I want to make sure that I recognize the people that make this District Second To None I want to thank my principal Ashley farington for this nomination I'm so proud to be one of Ashley's teachers he is a remarkable leader his commitment to his work raises the bar for me every day he wants me to be the best educator I can be and supports me in achieving each one of my goals he leads berw as a true advocate for children and his commitment to equity is something that inspires me daily I know exactly why this recognition is so humbling it's because of my berw colleagues they are the best of the best and when I got to Birchview seven years ago I was amazed by the extraordinary Educators that I worked alongside I credit so much of this to them to my third grade colleagues Trina snow and Brook Gibbs thank you for your constant care and for teaching me um to my new kindergarten teammates Andrea Cochran and Adele Burling I really do think I hit the jackpot with the two of you you inspire me and you teaching kindergarten is no joke um but you two make it look easy um thank you for being there for me during this transition in my career to my kindergarten Pera Lisa rqa I I really could not have made my move to kindergarten without you you are really amazing at what you do and I learn from you every day to all of our Paras you are the unsung heroes of America's education system and I thought since I'm up here tonight um in front of the board I think we should name some kind of holiday after them always is that a public schools no school parah holiday yeah yeah we can vote on it abely okay yeah um yes virtue is filled with highly skilled Educators that make a difference in our kids lives daily but they are also my second family and the most genuine people I know they are also some of the funniest people I know and I love going to see them each day thank you berue staff for always Lifting me up our ber students are the heart of our school they make this job so meaningful I want to thank my kindergarteners this year and all my third graders in years past you make this job so full of humor and you make this job so full of hope I want to thank the families at birf thank you for sending us your most prized possessions every day what an honor this is when we really stop and think about it on top of that these families are so supportive and make virtue the beautiful community that it is lastly I want to thank my family for being here to support me tonight and for supporting me every other night ever especially my mom and my dad sometimes teaching means making sacrifices I learned to make sacrifices from my dad for instance tonight he is at the wetta school board meeting instead of watching the Vikings thanks Dad give us a wave um but my parents did teach me about work ethic my dad is the hardest working person I know and he taught me to give my best to my career because it will add purpose to my life my mom also taught me this but she taught me that giving my best to this career adds purpose to the lives of my students as well I want to recognize my mom tonight my mom retired this past spring from her teaching career one that she should be so proud of I turned 30 on Friday and woohoo and to Stand Here feels like the most remarkable way to w up my 20s I really do consider myself a career woman not like someone who's climbing the corporate ladder but someone who's really truly deeply passionate about their career and I am I'm so passionate about education thank you for this recognition Dr Anderson and the wetta school board it will be something I hold close to my heart forever thank you [Applause] congratulations again Megan and to the cheering crowd that's here tonight thank you so much it's one of the bigger uh support Crews we've seen for a while and I just have to say as the dad of a wi Isetta Alum who is also a kindergarten teacher in another school district I can relate to the importance of that launch and uh getting students off to a great start so Megan thank you and your teammates for all that you do to help those little ones uh get launched into that long journey through high school graduation and to parents of kindergarteners who may be listening in it comes really quickly and uh it's amazing how fast those years Zip by so thanks so much for being here tonight and uh we greatly appreciate uh everybody's hard work and Megan enjoy the moment and congratulations to you we also have one other uh recognition this evening um at each uh school board meeting we recognize those individuals who have indicated their intent to retire from Wisa public schools and we have four of those individuals listed in our board packet tonight I have not spotted any of them here but if I missed anybody feel free to come forward um Karen arenstein who served as an administrative professional in our Welcome Center for 13 years Caroline gsen administrative professional in our human resources department for 20 years Kathy emley a par professional at Kimberly Lane 14 years and Leanne Jasper art teacher at wetta high school for 17 years and even though they are not here this evening could you join me in giving them a round of applause I'm sure they're at home watching our recognitions on YouTube or the Vikings game I don't know one of the two but that concludes our recognitions for tonight thank you all for being here and uh we'll continue on with our our board meeting thank you so much congratulations to the honores and thank you Dr Anderson all right we have now the highlight of our regular meetings the school Spotlight presentations tonight we are joined by Birchview Elementary and I'll turn it over to our executive director of teaching and learning Dana Miller to make the introductions Dana thank you well first of all I'd like to say congratulations but I have four children and I'm not sure I would miss the Vikings game to come to this so um I tip my hat um I guess only work and a boss would have me here so I will be here a Packer fan boss I might add so with that thank you and tonight we do have Birchfield Elementary here and as you all know the district continues to prioritize the development of Highly Effective professional learning communities as we call plc's as a key strategy for achieving High student outcomes and enriching the daily learning experiences for all of our students at Birchview Elementary principal Ashley farington along with his very dedicated staff have been focused on strengthening teacher Collective efficacy through a growth mindset and targeted approach to their PLC work the fifth grade team in collaboration with their literacy coach is excited to Showcase this progress particularly their Innovative literacy rotations aligned with their PLC goals and are here to do that with us tonight so with that I will turn it over to principal farington and his team thank you all right members of the board thank you for having us um and before I even get started you this is what we get to work with every day and they're so committed not only the people standing up here but all the people in the audience and so many people who cannot be here but before we get started I want each of them to introduce themselves so you know who's up here um I'm Ashley farington the principal and I'll let them introduce themselves I'm Kate guo the literacy coach I'm Nick lard fifth grade teacher Shelby scha fifth grade teacher and there's McKenzie ell who just had a baby a week ago who makes who rounds up our team of three here at Birchfield so today we want to take some time to talk about professional learning communities with an intentional um literacy structure and support um really proud of the work and effort that they've put together with support of Kate um and our interventionist um trying to figure out how we can meet the needs of each and every kid um so on our agenda we're going to talk a little bit about our district goals in alignment some of our Birchview goals our fifth grade design their PLC goals um PLC work goes beyond Justice team and the work that we're all doing all of our teams um and then they'll describe what it looks like um we'll talk about the collaborative piece that we do to execute and then our kids they can't be here because it's should be close to their bedtime um but they have a video of them sharing what their experience is like um doing literacy rotations in fifth grade um of course it's important that we highlight how this work is connected to our district strategic road map and so today we're Focus on strategic directions number one and strateg strategic Direction Number Two ensuring a high quality daily experience for each and every student um and delivering high quality instruction that leads to high academic achievement for all students at birre we talk about how we want all students to thrive and reach their Highest Potential in an inclusive safe and supportive environment so everything we do leads back to our core Focus um this map shows the Birch V experience both on we talk about at the beginning of every year our student experience goal um and our academic experience goal when we were here the last time we talked about our Birch VI Garden um which highlighted that student experience part and today we're going to focus on our academic experience um and all of our teams are engaged on this intentional Focus around reading um and really diveing deep to make sure all of our kids are succeeding so today's presentation will be focused on that you can see here our two goals written up there our student experience first um we want all of our kids um to say that they have a close friend at school and secondly we want 100% of our kids to meet their literacy goals designed by each of their plc's I'm going to pass it on to Shelby who will talk more about what this process looked like thank you Ashley um so fifth grade met at the start of the school year along with all of our grade level PLC come up with a goal that would guide us this year specifically in literacy and so we wanted to align our goal with the building site goal as long as as well as with the Minnesota state standards and so our literacy coach guided us through an activity in which we looked at the standards and discussed what we thought was most important for our students to master and become strong readers by the end of the year and so using those factors we came up with this goal through intentionally structured small group instruction all students in fifth grade will be able to make inferences about the text using evidence as measured by a common grade level passage assessment in order to grow or support their literacy skills by May 2025 a few things to note we said all um we believe that all students can learn and all students will make growth by the end of the year um and we also wanted to hone in on inferring though we focus on many comprehension strategies in fifth grade we believe that this one um is most important as it impacts their ability to read every day independently and it allows them access to other comprehension skills as well all of our grade level teams participate in plc's or professional learning communities those are focused around the four guiding PLC questions what do we want all students to learn how will we know they've learned it what will we do when they haven't learned it yet and what would we do when they have learned it so this is what we refer to at bery as the PLC flowmap this is what guides our plc's throughout the PLC process last year a lot of our learning and professional development was around questions three and four thinking about how will we respond when some students do not learn it and how do we extend the learning for students who've already shown proficiency this year as a building we are really refining and strengthening our tier one instruction that's our core instruction what all of our students receive we did that in the fall by really examining our state standards um and looking at our essential standards and skills and then teams are working on developing intentional um formative and common assessments those can be quick like exit slips or they can be end of unit summi of Assessments and then most importantly teachers are thinking about how we can teach differently and think differently about our instruction to meet the needs of all of our students we know the curriculum is a wonderful resource it's a great tool but it's not going to meet the needs of all students so what can we do collaboratively to make sure we're meeting those needs and that is went handed over to our fifth grade team they have spent some time within their PLC thinking differently um to meet the needs of their students so if you were to walk into the fifth grade POD at Birchview this is what you might see on a Monday we would start reading off for the week with a whole group lesson this is kind of a traditional way of teaching reading the teacher is in front of the class introducing a new skill and modeling what this looks like for students following the lesson we would have independent reading time and students would practice this skill in their own IDR book now this is typical but what we've changed um in the past year and a half or so is what the rest of the week looks like so on Tuesdays Wednesdays and Thursdays we now do reading in a small group format through rotations and so my colleagues and I started this last year and after observing some of the younger grade levels who do rotations on a more regular basis we were able to implement this in the Upper Grade or in fifth grade and so at this time some students are working independently on activities while other students are working in a small group with their teacher and this way we're still using the curriculum but we're able to differentiate it so it fits each students needs we find that this process works a lot better we've seen this in our data including our MCA data um not only is it student standards student centered but we're able to really hone in on the standards like we decided we wanted to at the start of the school year um and it also allows for us to change groups and make changes more quickly than maybe we would have been able to in the past most importantly students are able to practice and extend their learning on a much more regular basis rather than listening to a story and talking for 30 to 40 minutes as a class they're able to practice different activities three or four a day within 20 minute uh time frames and this also helps them stay engaged as well as build Independence as they are moving themselves or transitioning themselves almost entirely on their own that this time since students are also working with the teacher so how do we make this happen this is really possible because of our PLC and how we use our PLC time um we track students progress in two different ways each unit one way is what we've always done and that's tracking by an essential skill so an essential skill in fifth grade would be a comprehension strategy like analyzing text features Making Connections um or asking questions so we determine what we think is the most important skill per unit and that's what we work on during whole group lessons as well as small group reading rotations that unit and sometime by the end of the unit we assess students progress towards independently applying that comprehension skill and then note that here on this living document and you can see there's also comments because we like to come back to this typically we're only able to actively teach one skill per unit and then we move on but this way we're able to go back and help students who did not yet master that skill throughout the year so that they're able to use it by the end of fifth grade now the other thing we're tracking is is our smarkle or students ability to infer and to use text evidence so that data um looks different throughout the year the assessments are similar but we're using different passages each month in this way by going back each unit and plugging in new data we're able to see students progression throughout the year and whether or not they're making gains towards our smart goal and once again this helps us go back and decide what's next what are our next steps what are the trends we're noticing is it something we need to switch as a team or maybe just with specific groups of students so how do we Define what's success on these assessments well each time we are ready to give an assessment to students we first have to think about well what are we assessing them on so as a PLC we create something called success criteria basically it is a rubric and so as a team we spend time typically it takes about one PLC meeting um to come up with this so it's a 1 to four scale and the goal is to score three or above students see this slide here but they also see an example of what a three might look like so they know what's expected of them and so we introduce this to them as well and then try to give them as immediate a feedback as possible so they know how they did and what their next steps are this also provides feedback for the PLC so then we know what changes we need to make or what we're ready to move on and Conquer next I'm going to pass it over to Nick who's going to tell you a little bit more about what we're doing during these rotations all right so on the left there that is a screenshot of what we use every day in literacy rotations um we show that to the students every day and they're able to see the expectations for the activities that will they will do in that given day on the right there is our schedule and I'll get to that in a little bit but first we're going to start on the left with some of the activities that we do during latery rotations uh the light bulbs the colored light bulbs that you see on the screen are groups um and there's five groups in each classroom um five separate colors and the light bulb is in a certain place which explains which activity you are going to be doing during that time and then obviously we can move them around um after rotation and that shows which rotation you would go to from there I just want to go through uh some of these activities to explain what a given literacy rotations day would look like uh the pink light bulb right there is on the in classroom rotation which is with the teacher it's usually a group of four to five students working with the teacher um where they can uh work on skills and really um get a uh collabor collaborative experience with a teacher where they're able to ask questions and take risks and we like to um see student growth in those uh small group teacher rotations where that yellow light bul right there is in the breakout space rotation that is a place where um students meet with a literacy coach or a coach that'll extend student learning uh and that's another place where students could go for an activity the skills practice on the right that is a um activity where students would be able to practice the skills they've learned in previous weeks in previous lessons and skills that they've also worked with on the teacher in that given day uh right below that is word workor where that green light bulb is and word workor is really our word study curriculum uh but it's more individual practice and so we see um we're practicing with students there through uh parts of speech um figurative language figurative speech um word parts and that's a really good uh way to build student learning uh of literacy as well uh if anyone has questions about that QR code up there that connects to that skills practice lesson where students are able to scan that and then they're listening to a read aloud of a story and through that they are recording questions and having observations about the main character and setting so if you had a question about that QR code that's what that would be right up there uh and then our last activity that many students do throughout uh given literacy rotation is IDR or individual reading where we want students to really challenge themselves as readers uh and we're also encouraging students to read different genres of books because we know many students love fiction comic books and those graphic novels we're really making sure to extend that learning beyond that as well uh on the right side here is our schedule if we see that Monday through Friday image uh every Monday like Shelby said earlier we do a whole group lesson where students are learning from a teacher and the teachers are displaying the information it's more of a standard uh teaching lesson where we are giving most of the information uh Tuesday through Thursday is that small group literacy rotations which we see the image of on the left and then Friday is usually when we're assessing students or meeting with them as needed one thing we really like about this schedule is it gives us the gradual release model where Monday is more of an I do as a teacher I'm giving the students a lot of information and it's me as the um uh distributor of the information Tuesday through Thursday is more of a we do where we're working with students uh in a smaller group where students can collaborate ask questions and they really feel free to take more risks so we're working together collaborative collaboratively to learn information and then Friday is more of the you do can you take that information and then apply it to an assessment uh and all of that combined makes a really good week for literacy and learning it as um a classroom uh one other thing I'd like to touch on is the pink and purple groups you see that we meet with them twice a week those two groups were identified as high or some Risk by the fast Bridge assessment data so we want to make sure that they get the instruction that they need in a given week uh so that they can um we can meet their needs as a learner that yellow group also was identified as the um lower risk Group by the fastbridge data and we meet with them twice a week and meet once with the classroom teacher and then once as you see in the image to the left with the literacy um code or another teacher to extend their learning uh so we can meet their needs as well as learn as Learners all right our second right here we are going to be talking about um some PLC data and how that informs our instruction as teachers so in our plc's we really focus on our students and we're able to identify our data and see Trends and um data points and see how we need to inform our instruction so if we see lower scores in the certain uh in a certain topic that's more likely to be addressed in the classroom rotation with that small group with the teacher because you're able to work more one-on-one with the student and identify where that misunderstanding really is we're also like to use the independent events on the on the right there to review some information and also extend it as many of our students have a firm understanding of something how do we then challenge them and help them learn and apply it to real life situations on the right side also the independent stations also help with refreshing information as many students often uh forget something after a couple weeks or just need a quick reminder and so those stations are also beneficial there another thing we' like to highlight and I think Shelby touched on earlier is groups are constantly changing and that's another important part of our data is students are not always going to be in the same group we need to always be changing our groups and making sure students are getting the instruction that they need and we are able to to adapt to them in that way all right and then this is the fun Slide the student slide where we're able to see some of it in action uh in the top left there is IDR independent reading we're able to see that in two different ways there we have both a physical book and reading on the iPad on the bottom left there is book clubs which we see Kate doing um and she meets with uh students to extend their learning and challenge them as they're reading a like book and then they come together and talk about it those two middle images there are word workk we students see students working on a word workk packet there uh I think that day was specifically on homophones uh exciting stuff and then on the right we have skills practice which we see on the top right a student listening to a read aloud and then identifying character traits and on the bottom we see a student playing a game um working on a similar skill one thing we like to highlight in all these images is there's different modes in which we can use these independent practices right and we want students to be engaged and making Mak sure that they're motivated to do this work because we are going to be meeting with four to five students during that time so we need to make sure or we like to make sure to uh include gamification and fun apps and not only just paper pencil like we see in those two middle pictures but also some games that help them mo um stay motivated and engaged to accomplish that learning as well on the right side we know through Hattie's research that Collective efficacy is the number one indicator of student achievement and that's the belief that all students can learn at high levels and we could not be able to do this work without working together as a whole entire staff so the way our plc's are organized at Birchview we meet on Thursdays for roughly 60-ish minutes and we have created this schedule to allow other staff members to join so reading interventionist El teachers special education teachers so all voice can be a part of those conversations as we're thinking about meeting the needs of all students um this larger PLC group allows for different resources to be shared different expertise to be tapped into and that has really allowed our plcs to flourish at but not just I know we brought the P the fifth grade team but that goes for all plc's um and all grade levels you want to add and so with that um we get to Heir from our kids um and what is we always want to talk about the student experience right we come up with these great grand old ideas and our PLC meetings but how are they living this out how is this meaningful so the fifth grade Team interview some current fifth graders at Birchview who talks about what does literacy rotation look like and feel like for them what do you like about the teacher time small group rotation I like um the small group uh better because then the big group because um it's easier to make mistakes because there's not as much people watching and if you're with a big class it if you guys might be at a different level so I think that it helps you most when you're at a small group and most people don't really raise their hands a lot in like big groups because they probably are like shy or like or are scared to talk in front of someone so I think that helps you most of reading groups awesome thanks Marcel how have small group rotations with the teacher helped as a reader they've really helped me understand my reading more after you I used to kind of like just rush through books just to get them done but now I'm like looking like forward to rereading books like if rereading like would be like better because it would just help you more understand and in our small groups we we read a lot of stuff and it really help it soaks in how have reading rotations helped you as a reader helps me understand certain words better um for example um word study um it helps me understand homophones hyperboles and other metaphors and stuff how have smaller rations with the teacher helped you as a reader helps me understand uh the plots and settings and traits of a character instead of our books that we read how has the small group teacher time rotation helped you as a reader it's helped me because it's like when an adult sits next to me it makes me feel more motivated and like motivated to learn and stuff how have reading rotations helped you as a reader uh uh they make me feel independent uh uh I like seeing my assignments I like getting getting my assignments back and getting good it just puts a smile on my face it makes my day uh yeah that's just a few of the voices that we get to work with and I'm sure if you would um approach many of our fifth graders they would say the same thing like Shelby alluded to we started this last year um our data really showed Oh this is something we want to invest in more heavily um Nick was new to Birch fud is here it was just a team of two and he jumped right in um and was able to help and I think he can talk about how that experience has helped him as a new teacher um our pods offer us an opportunity to do things like this kids are able to move from class to class um Kate being at our school full time has been super helpful to be able to support teachers right in the moment with that the coaching and she's still getting a little bit of what it's like to be a teacher so then she can go back and help them so a whole collaborative effort and me as a principal get to sit and watch this magic happen um and help sometimes um and seeing how all of this comes together and really really impact the student experience um so to wrap up here the five things that I wanted to talk about we wanted to talk about is we want to have that through line right when we talk about how is our district goals then allign to our site goals and then align to our PLC goals and you saw that um through this example um we all always want to be data driven um Kate mentioned this the curriculum is a resource and how do we use the data and use the expertise which is our teachers um to figure out what do we need to do to change our instruction to meet the needs of our changing kids every day um the collaboration to benefit our students Megan when she was up here talked about our and our at BIR we use that word our is not my we can easily go in one classroom and just focus on my students but we can do even better work when we Embrace this hour right um Shelby's taking a group of kids Nate Nick has taken a group of kids Kate has taken some kids um our interventionist is also part of that process our special ed teachers are part of that and then bringing it all together to help each and every child reach their Highest Potential um shared accountability and responsibility share that accountability and responsibility we we're we're as strong strong as the people sit standing next to us right and so we share that responsibility um I think Nick as a newer teacher can talk about that how do I how do we all share this load when this job is really really hard um and how do we hold each other accountable because we all have to do our part um and then that ultimately leads to our desirable student experience we want all of our kids to reach their Highest Potential we want readers at Birch viiew and as you heard from that video so many of them are just really really really excited about that time not only do they get individually with their teacher but also that time to be independent Learners as they transition into middle school so super proud of the efforts here of our fifth grade team it's just a small example of what all of our plcs are doing each and every day to make things happen for our kids so thank you for this opportunity we really appreciate it anytime we get this Spotlight happy to be part of that so thank you thank you principal pton and the others uh thank you for the insight that you have provided in your fifth grade PLC communities and and how you want to improve literacy obviously and you know the smart goals achievement of 100% by May of 2025 both colleagues any questions comments I have one question thank you for the details um one quick question so the rotation can you elaborate more on that so when you look at the four guiding principles so that three and four where who has learned or you know who hasn't is that based on that rotation or how do you rotate once you form the group so we have different students working on different independent activities so there's always a group of four to five Learners with us and we try to keep um Learners group together based on the data so that way we can work on skills that are going to be relevant to them and then while other students are completing at activities um those look what those look at what might be just right for them so for example some of our students with IEPs are practicing something a little different based on what we came up with with their case manager so they're still practicing the same skills but maybe using a different passage from a different grade level or maybe doing word work but practicing a different skill within word work and so we meet individually with students so they know what they're doing at that time and then go over all of um in PLC and outside of that we also our small group teacher time rotations end a little bit before um the entire rotation system ends and so that allows some Freedom at the end for teachers to walk around and see student work um and to talk with students about their work and kind of also get that straight level data to determine whether or not what they were doing independently was just right for them does that answer your question it does but the next question is do you see so beginning of the year you have groups then you start rotating them based on the outcome if you will do we get to a point where now again looking at different groups each group will have similar talent and is it recommended that way or would you rather have mix talent in each group you know what I mean I think we have a little bit of both we do see it's really fluid and it really depends on the skill um and obviously no two kids are just alike and so I would like to say it's a little bit of both it in some skills it levels out and the class as a whole is scoring about the same and then in some regards different students have different things they're working on and once again we might have to work with some students in addition to their two teacher time groups or we might have to extend the learning even further than what we had planned um Team I don't know if there's anything else you want to add on yeah and I think um to build on what she said to one of the best parts I think is that responsiveness of what we're seeing um I think having that data tracking sheet gives us the opportunity to go back and see some Trends if the trend is so large enough then it's like oh we need to pause and take it for a second because wondering is something that our kids haven't figured out so we need to do a more whole group reteaching um or all of our kids have gotten it already so we need to start doing more extension so the data one thing that's super good about the PLC process allows us to keep on coming back to that because really that drives what we do next right whether we need to slow down whether we need to speed up whether we need to change um and then the activities too um inferring is a big deal right 12 graders college students us as adult we infer all the time so we know this is a lifelong skill that they will need to do and so how do we keep practice activities within that rotation so they're doing that all year long because we know that that's something we need to be secured right sixth grade teachers will tell us what's the number one thing that we need our kids coming into sixth grade is knowing some infer and how do we provide evidence from the inferences that we're making about a text that we're reading and so it's like said it's a balance of boat and always using the data to continue to keep it fluid okay makes sense I also think there's power in having mixed uh level groups and that's why Mondays are really important to us because it is the whole group and kids are learning from everyone not just the kids in their group or the teacher so they're um working with other kids through different culturally responsive protocols and sharing ideas and things like that as well as Fridays um and often times too we sometimes have to flex like if we're reading a book and we can't finish it in one day or it's not real istic in terms of Engagement to read it in one day we'll do reading as a part of our writing block as well to fit that in and once again then they're working with a large student so they definitely get the chance to do independent small group and whole group with very mixed abilities great yeah thank you and that's where my question was with the mix skill set or mix group that experience will continue and it's not like at the beginning of the year there is one group but then as you get towards may now you have different groups but then one is you know excelling versus one is struggling then it gets a little bit different experience but sounds like that's not the case it's really the mix composition so perfect thank you like um I'm really enjoying hearing about all the PLC work that the schools are doing and there's so much to love here um I really just you know to think about the work you guys are doing it's adapt it's responsive there's sharing of knowledge it's collaborative there's so much you know good things coming out of this and I I'm excited to you know hear more and I hope that yeah the students are really that you're seeing progress and you're seeing you know good outcomes from all of this um what else did I had a question it was about the pods my students did not go to birt um are the pods somehow different than the other elementary schools can you tell me more about that yeah um so the pods is what make Birch VI Birch View um and it is a bigger classroom that's separated by Furniture so we have four classrooms within one um big space um right now in fifth grade like I said we only have three sections right now so we actually have the luxury to have a breakout space um when we did a bake renovation in 2021 um we really um enhanced the Pod to keep the acoustical um noise in one space of the Pod and and the furniture that we bought allows us to make it bigger or smaller when we do when we need to do that and so everybody walks in Birch like how does it all work and then you walk through you're like oh this is how it works um our teachers as you can tell are collaborative they kind of have to be um lock St with one another um they also describe it as the best professional learning experience that you ever get because you get to watch each other teach all day long um it allows so much flexibility for um space um our kids also really like it um you have this little Community within a bigger Community right um the fifth grade teachers now know all of the fifth graders and that's something that's unique right um the Birch View the fourth grade teachers know all of the fourth graders um so it's really really cool I get really excited talk I get Jazz talking about it because it offers this opportunity to be collaborative um it offers Community that's what we about um and it just it's fun it's really fun that sounds challenging but also like yeah done well that it helps in you know again with the colle collaboration do as teachers do you find I know I've heard you know other teachers in the past say it's it's so hard to get to every small group but with the new organizational structure and the the plc's and there it sounds like yeah students are going to different teachers and so is that kind of lessening the load and allowing more Focus where it's needed um yeah I would say so and then in addition to the time we have allotted we also use our when or what I need block so rotations move into that but we've purposely scheduled groups so that kids who are um receiving other services at that time are not missing their reading group and so the first half or so of our win is students continuing to work on literacy and then by the time that hour and 15 minute block or so is up we're ready to get up and move a little bit more and talk a little bit more and so then we have some more um activities that are geared towards what their needs are going to be in that moment yeah and I feel like the timing uh works really well and it depends a lot on what the students are doing when you're not there so when you're meeting with those four or five students are the rest of the students engaged in doing what they're supposed to be doing because it's pretty easy to get through a 15minute section or session of the rotations if it's uninterrupted and it's good quality time right and so making sure that those independent events or activities are um engaging and they're really doing those what they're supposed to be doing that helps us get through all the rotations pretty effectively thank you thank you this is amazing um I loved seeing really proud students telling us that their teachers and their lessons help them to feel independent and motivated it's it was really powerful so thank you for that um I I I also loved the the um thoughtfulness about your timing so that you can make sure we know that our students Thrive when they're part of a village right and and the collective efficacy that you're talking about and so scheduling that when when all the people that are important in a child's Learning Journey is there is important um so that's awesome I'm going to build on the Pod question and ask a second question with it um which is this seems really powerful is in how you do it do you need to be in a pod to implement that and you need to be and do you need to be teaching literacy to implement this process and so are there ways that you take this even if it looks a little different and and do it other subjects yeah these guys are probably see me coming in they're like here he comes with another idea um but they are now starting to dabble in math on the math side and how that looks like and sounds like and feels like um especially in fifth grade math where we have a wide range of abilities um do you need to be in a pod no no I think you need an effective PLC to do it um to make it happen but um the criteria is not a pod although I do have a bias towards the Pod right now thank you so much for coming it's always really exciting to see the students and I think one of the standout comments to me is that this work helps the information soak in which is really really like getting that deeper learning is really important um my question um gez I just lost it um my question was around plc's so for us it's it's great to see I'll second what my colleagues have said about the plcs and it's important to understand that the investment that we're making in it as a district is worth our time so seeing this is really really important I appreciate seeing that tell me it sounds like it's working really well for the teachers I'm gathering from the students it's working for them as well but talk to me about their engagement and what you've seen as a change in their learning engagement as you've implemented PLC work I think one challenge we've had in the past has been engagement especially during our literacy block um the way that our curriculum is structured is typically we read a book I'm out loud to the class stop and talk at several points and then discuss more afterwards so it's a lot of turn and talk and it's a lot of sitting and listening and not every prompt is going to make sense or be something that's going to work for all students sitting in front of you so I think just by changing it so it's in smaller groups kids are more engaged because they understand it more it's not too boring or too hard for certain students um and then we're changing what we do every 20 minutes they're fifth graders um sitting for any extended time is hard it's true for Austin staff meetings as well and so to be a fifth grador and to do it um is not easy and so I find that the movement and the change is helpful and then they're able to focus in more on what in front of them um rather than lose track of what they're doing and maybe not apply their best effort I think like Nick said too we really try to listen to the students and get their feedback about what they like and we've learned that they really like feedback they want to know how they're doing um so they want those check-ins and they want to turn and work and to hear about how they did and then they also like different modes so we've tried to do different activities every week we'll try and keep it consistent so Skills Practice activities will look the same Tuesday Wednesday Thursday so it's predictable um but then the next week we're going to try something different and then we just kind of use that to determine what's best each week yeah to build on that too one of the pieces that I think as being as an observer walking in when we first adopted um our s c collaborative classroom CCC curriculum we noticed that the length of time that our kids were being asked to sit and get was too long and so this team again running into the IDE and I think some of their frustrations in term of kids aren't engaged the whole time so what can we do differently um so and like some of the students mentioned I get more time with my teacher when I'm in a group of five versus if I'm in a group of 25 and I think that's the biggest difference um whole group instruction there's a place for that yes and small group instruction in my opinion is the way to move the needle right when kids are able to get their questions answered directly by a teacher and adult and on a reverse site like Nick mentioned too they're also working independently on meaningful relevant activities to them as well so a balance of both yeah we also use our PLC uh not only to just look at data but to come with new innovative ideas on how to uh work on Independent work um something that we also do after every rotation is we check in with students what did you think of that rotation uh rate one through five how are you with was your voice level how was your engagement how was your independent work and so when we see that that hand through five if we see a lot of fives we're more likely to implement some of those um independent activities going forward because it shows that they're engaged with it of course well thank you so much for being here it's great to hear always from you know the different schools and um the great work they're doing U my question revolves around the um the the books that students are you know um being read or reading themselves so you know kind of to to what extent do uh students get to pick what books they read um or is it it's read allowed to the class the teacher selects that um that kind of Choice versus kind of that that's the um theme for the day so for teaching purposes we're using the being a reader texts that are provided with us um we have made changes to those in the past if we feel it's necessary and there are some recommendations um for the teaching and learning department for things to swap out with as well and then once again we collect a lot of student feedback so one thing that students tend to do um at some point during the week is read a passage on their iPad whether it's from ReadWorks or common lit and we try to find passages that we know are going to be of interest to them um lots of sports and seasonal things um but then in terms of when they're picking their books they always have have a guaranteed 20 minutes of IDR independent rating time and we tell them at this time and we teach them how to pick these types of books you need a just right book and we change the genre depending on what we're practicing in class so sometimes we might ask that they read a non-fiction book other times it might be a chapter book we also want to make sure that students have and Foster a love for reading and so we don't want to be telling too often and so outside of this time we also have a lot of choice reading the fifth graders love reading they love hearing read alouds and so we also do read alouds for fun and let them vote on the books we read to the class and then like I said there's other times maybe after a writing prompt or during when that they have Choice reading and then it's entirely up to them what they read all right thank you I'm just curious when the teacher finds enough time to grade and give feedback to all students yes it sounds great but where is one teacher how does she do that or does he do that uh like I said earlier our PLC and sometimes we are um collecting data Collective or working together to collect data during those as well uh and we have a group of four four to six people there during those plc's that'll help us uh put that data into those spreadsheets then from that data we can plan together some of those activities uh grading is something that we we find time for and we have a lot of apps that actually help us so we um like read Works passage where we would um give those to students assign those to students and then we want the scale inferring to be one of the highlights and then it will grade it for us and we'll able to see how did they do an inferring during this independent event and then we are able to um take that data and see what we're going what how to use it going forward so apps have been really helpful and then we use plcs not only to um look at data but also plan going forward we also we started this last year and my teammate and at the time her and I we were teima too we found that it was a lot of grading and a lot of creating assignments and we asked ourselves constantly at PLC how can we change this so that we are responding to data and we are doing other parts of that PLC flow map and one thing we've discovered is no matter what when you start a process you're going to have to do a little bit of front loing but then it pays off in the long run but also thought about well do we need to grade every single independent activity they're doing or can students have some accountability and start grading on their own um so we've tried different things where we have students help grade um and not everything is necessarily graded at the elementary level a lot of it is just looking at it and talking it with through the students talking through it with the students and so like I stated earlier oftentimes our teacher rotations will end before small group independent stations end and I will take their assignments right right away and begin looking through them and then if there's things I have questions about or things I want to follow up with I'll call them up right away so sometimes I'm looking at it and responding to it within that day and then I think something really awesome about our PLC too is yes we PLC during our hour on Thursdays but we really are living that and we we PLC in informal conversation all the time and so I think like Ashley says when you have an effective PLC that's also part of it and we've just been able to build a system where it no longer takes as long much thank you okay um I have a couple of comments with respect to the last video we saw that kid at the end was going like this and like this he never fell down so is there like a built-in gyroscope that he has inside him he's talented I I was I was saying you know he you know he's going to fall down at some point um the second one is about the class you know the smaller classes I think that really tells you from the kids how important smaller class sizes are right they are very very fond of smaller class sizes because because they can do so many things better than from in a bigger class uh the question I have comes from my background in project management so when we do project management we keep track of the tasks and the timeline based on your goal for 100% success by May of 2025 how confident are you that you can get there by that time TBD no um no we're working towards that and I think it's always when you're setting smart goals especially in the system that we're in if we're not targeting for 100% what are we doing right and so I think right now as we look at our data we're looking looking at them constantly um we're actually doing our midyear fast assessments here coming up this tomorrow um and that'll be a good midyear check how are we doing where do we need to tweak um I think we I think after we get that we'll be able to make a better decision about where we're at uh but we're always where we start and that belief and that mindset we wanted to start at that 100% because if we're saying only 90% of our kids are going to do it then I I don't know what we're doing that's already telling me and us that we're only we're giving up on 10% of our kids and that's not how we're about that's not what we're about in wi Zetta and that's definitely not what we're about in at Birchfield um so to answer your question directly it's it's a work in progress um will we make our goal we don't know yet but we're going to work really darn hard to make sure we get pretty close or make it and something about those documents too is because we return to those Data Tracking sheets so often we can see where we need to improve as a team and what we need to do differently and so once again we return to a lot of this and we can update it as we go um so for certain students like I said we're really responding more to that question for how are you going to extend the learning when kids already know it but on those sheets we also really want to focus on what do we do when they haven't learned it and so that's when we go back and then as they are demonstr in proficiency we count them towards that goal because it's not just about that one test that one assessment it's about their overall growth okay thank you so much and thank you for coming here and spending your time enlightening us as the board so thank you so much thank you we really appreciate the opportunity we appreciate everything that you do for our district [Applause] okay okay um Amy do we have anybody from the audience no so nobody to speak at the podium moving on to the next item on the agenda which is the administrative reports and recommendations there are no superintendent and teaching and learning reports okay so the next item on the agenda for admin reports is financial reports for the month that thank you board members hold on one second let me let me introduce you first give me one second uh is financial reports for the month ending November 2025 or four rather presented by executive director Scott SC Le Scot all yours now perfect thank you thank you board chair soney board members Dr Anderson and Rachel thank you for sticking around back there so um I thought these last few months I thought I would get a crowd every time but apparently that won't be the case so back to normal um anyways I don't spend a lot of time on this first page but um just some things to note before I dig into page two um these are numbers through November 30th so in accounting we're always kind of lagging behind um for obvious reasons with bank reconciliations and tying things out so this is through November 30th as I've always said if there's anything that's critical um we made as a finance committee of the board uh Sarah and I meet also planning committee so You' be well aware so um as I said these are first uh through the first five months of the fiscal year and then we're currently in the process of working on the revised budget planning so David and team um in collaboration with uh Human Resources with David luds and um their team we are working on getting that through so I think uh Dave draskovich his door was shut for a lot of the day today it probably will be for a lot this week so um he needs to get one of those lights like Dave loots has so that I know if I can bug him or not so um yeah but we will be coming to the board with that we always do come with a revised budget um that will come in February at some point it'll just be the general fund at that time and then in March we'll likely bring the community ed budget and the food service budget um just because we always like to highlight those if we go to um the next page there that's um showing right there um not really too much to point out property taxes are right on par with what what our expectations are um when you look at State AIDs that can vary significantly depends on when we get our property tax dollars in um so as you can see there we're right in line with prior year um and then the federal dollars just something to point out um when you if you looked back last year at the same time or two years ago we have a significant decrease in our federal funds obviously the driving force behind those prior were the cares related dollars due to covid um another uh reduction in there is that we're using roughly 1.5 million of federal dollars um that we're using to pay tuition bills for State special education dollars because it allows us to generate some additional Revenue the district wasn't prior so um just something to note on federal dollars uh miscellaneous local Revenue um pretty right on par that can a little bit um hopping down to Food Service um we're pretty in line with prior years as as I've mentioned at each of the board meetings um this is kind of a uh a change for us because it went to the free lunches and so um that's why you see the vary from two years ago but we're more in line with last year Um this can be for leg of when those get submitted through um clicks through the state of Minnesota to get reimbursement community service um seems in line with prior years and then Debt Service that's usually pretty right on so going to the next page um this is the time of year as I've mentioned the last few months we really are watching to see where salaries and benefits are at um as we know from budget presentations we're a service or people oriented industry and so those are where the majority of our costs are roughly 71 72% so as you can see their salaries are spot on with prior years so um we feel pretty good about that with revised uh budget coming up David was just talking to me today as he's analyzing the different areas he feels really positive about where we're at if we'll have adjustments it'll be um due to student growth obviously um and then adding staff for that and he's been working with um Stacy's team with Dave loots to um tie out number of Staff members so um we feel really good about that benefits I've kind of explained this at the finance committee of the board meeting but um that is an area that we're conservative on the front end of it because um with so much when we have staff turnover we add new staff we have to assume that they're going to take um the insurance that would be offered to them if we didn't obviously that would be uh a costly error for a costly estimation so um those will get adjusted in the revised budget and then purchase Services all the way down to other expenditures those can vary significantly as I pointed out each month it depends on when we get build so if we get a transportation bill b or as we get our construction bills coming through from our ltfm projects those can vary uh just looking down food service uh community service fund Debt Service and construction fund um they're all right in line with where we're expecting at this point in time so no real big changes at this point and then the final page um I know I keep saying it but I've pointed this out I think every month it is our investment report but these are um for the most point um are just our dollars available so um the liquid Max that has at this point in time had roughly 64 million sitting in it obviously we had gotten property tax payments from um the county on that um but those are dollars that we can access we usually just have to wait a day to get them and then our liquid is what we have available right away so um that es and flows uh we're usually transfering dollars ahead of payrolls so I think David transferred roughly 7 million um today ahead of the next payroll so um nothing really else to point out on that so any questions from the board members thank you Scott um any questions I have none wow okay no questions thank you so much for the presentation Scott thank you okay next we move on to Other Board action this is typically not something we have any items in typically the rest of the months but in January we have a lot of approvals to make so we'll start start with the first one the recommended action is to approve the 2025 uh I'm sorry Heidi will present the superintendent contract I apologize so thank you uh chair sonon let me just pull this up [Music] quickly okay sorry it's taking just one minute can she present that here yes can Amy present that do you want there's I don't think there's anything to present from Amy so it's from me okay board colleagues as you know um we have gone through the process of um the superintendent evaluation and now have come to um if uh um reapproved a contract for our superintendent um the following changes are being recommended to the 2025 2026 superintendent contract it is for the period of one year from 2025 to 2026 All Dates within the contract will be updated to reflect the 2025 2026 dates there will be a salary increase of 2% and there is some added ESS language right okay thank thank you Heidi so the recommended action is to approve the 2025 26 superintendent contract as presented I so move I second moved and seconded is there a discussion hearing none this I do have some discussion right um I just want to say um do an acknowledgement that the development of a superintendent contract is is one of the most important as a board we have a couple things that that we're statutorily required to do um hiring a superintendent is one of those things and um it's a process and a procedure that we take really seriously and um and that relationship is also something that we preserve and hold deeply and so um a thank you to our to our administrative support for helping us to move this forward both from human resources and and finance um and then and thank you to Heidi for leading the team um in this process and an even greater thank you for Dr to Dr Anderson for engaging in this process with us we are um Beyond fortunate in this District to have your wise leadership and your deep commitment to our district and the and this um contract really reflects your uh your commitment and servant leadership for this district and for that I'm beyond grateful so thank you thank you I appreciate that thank you Sarah yes absolutely Echo what Sarah just said yes so thank you for what you have done for what 16 plus years now counting yeah counting okay good thank you all right so again the recommended action is to approve the 2025 26 superintendent contract has presented um it has already been moved and seconded finished the discussion so this is a roll call vote uh Sheila Sheila prior yes Heidi Kar yes Valentina SS yes Dan janesta yes Sarah Johansson yes haris Bend yes Milan soney yes thank you the motion carries next on the agenda is committees and appointments uh these are very much organizational in nature but we think it's important to share with our community the work that board members do between meetings uh at the December 16th 2024 special organizational work session the school board reviewed its committee structure individual board members indicated their interests and the tentative list of community assignments for 2025 is attached for board approval uh can I ask Heidi to read the uh the assignments and the if you don't mind I'm having a little issue with my throat so that thank you so much I appreciate that okay so the 2025 Board of Education committees include the first is facilities development and longrange planning the purpose of this is to oversee Bond referendum and other capital projects to develop longrange plans for facilities development um the members are I I uh will be chairing Dan janesta melan soney and Sarah Johansson will be the alternate um the admin liaison is Scott lasage the second uh committee is finance and operations the purpose of this committee is to provide guidance and support to the finance department to review C back agenda and serve as board representative to the meetings to provide oversight through the OPB committee the members Sarah Johansson will be chair Paris bende Dan janesta and Milan soney the alternate for human resources the human resources committee the purpose of this is to offer support and guidance to the Executive Director of Human Resources Sheila prior will be chair Sarah Johansson uh and Heidi kater Paris Bend Will be the alternate the admin liaison is Stacy BOS I'm sorry on finance and operations I don't think I said but it goes without saying the admin leason is Scott l h okay for the policy and regulation Review Committee the purpose of this committee is to review District policies and make recommendations for revision addition or deletion as needed to consider and provide guidance on questions of policy or District regulation to maintain policy adherence to state and federal laws Valentina s will be chair Sheila PRI will join Paris bende and Milan soney will be the alternate the admin liazon is Dr Anderson uh the community relations committee that purpose is to support the communications and engagement team in connecting with the community Through electronic and print Publications media relations crisis Communications and other District initiatives Dan gestro will be chairing Milan Sone will join Paris bende and Sheila prior will be the alternate the admin liaison is Amy Parnell for the student uh superintendent evaluation and Schoolboard development committee this purpose is to plan facilitate and document the annual superintendent review process including goal setting a midyear check-in and the annual end ofe review to develop the SOP and Schoolboard handbook um the I I will happily be chairing this again uh Millan soney will join and Valentina ears the admin liaison for that is Dr Anderson for teaching and learning the purpose is to review processes and longrange planning educational recommendations review and recommend changes to policies pertaining to teaching and learning meet and work with the director of teaching and learning and tnl staff regarding educational issues to discuss technology gifted and talented equity and qm related issues to hear academic achievement report reports and closely monitor efforts to close the achievement Gap uh Sheila PRI will be chairing uh Heidi cater I will be joining Valentina SS Sarah Johansson will be the alternate the admin leaon for this committee is Dana Miller um we have looks like two ad hoc committees for 2025 uh the first is diversity equity and inclusion uh and the purpose of that is to work with the superintendent and director of equity and inclusion to explore the need and purpose of a board level Equity committee the members Paris bende will chair uh I will uh join Heidi ker will join Sarah Johansson and Valentina SS will be the alternate the admin liazon are solve hered and Dr Anderson uh for employee negotiation assignments the negotiations for this year are for teachers um and the there will be two leads from the board that are joining um me Heidi ker and melan soney the admin liaison for that is Stacy Vos thank you Heidi thank you Heidi um the recommended action uh board colleagues is to approve the board committee structure for 2025 as presented do I have a motion to approve so moved is there a second second okay moved and seconded is there a discussion okay hearing none All In in favor say I I oppose n the motion carries thank you so much hi again next we have the appointments again once again I Heidi I would request you to please read that thank you uh the first is the association of metropolitan school districts amsd and that is to attend the amsd monthly meeting uh the board representative uh would be Sarah Johansson for the citizens Financial advisory Council also known as C is to serve as the board liaison to the CAC committee typically this includes members of the finance committee the CAC meets on the 4th Tuesday of the month at 7:30 a.m. at the district service center the board Representatives would be the finance committee uh the next appointment would be the Community Education advisory Council to serve as the board representative on the Community Education advisory Council the council reviews programs the budget and offers a strategic planning input meets four times a year at 5:30 p.m. uh the board representative would be Valentina SS for curriculum instruction technology advis for the curriculum instruction and Technology advisory committee also known as scitec it would be to serve as the board liaison to the Community Based advisory committee scitec meets four times a year in October December February and may on the 2 Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:00 amm the board Representatives would be Valentina SS and Sheila prior for intermediate District 287 the appointment to 287 requires the appointee to serve on another school board regular meetings are on Thursday evenings at 6:30 two times per month with only one meeting in June November and December and no meeting in July 287 does not have committees but there are optional opportunities for get on the bus events and breakfast with the Union both four times per year there's also an optional opportunity to attend lots of graduation ceremonies at the end of the year um the board representative for this would be Dan janesta bright Works um is the next one wisett is a member of the Metro escue Service Unit which is also now known as bright works and every member appoints a representative from the district to serve on the representative assembly this meets by monthly on the third Thursday from 3:30 to 5:30 at the Metro escue offices in Arden Hills the board representative will be Sarah Johansson Minnesota school boards Association also known as msba whereas the entire board attends msba trainings and events the school board nominates a member to serve as the liaison to the msba in order to ensure a central contract person and the dissemination of msba materials at this time we also have a wi that board member who is an msba District director there are no formal meeting dates and times for the liais unroll the board representative would be Milan soney the Minnesota State High School league mshsl is to serve as the wetta board representative for the mshsl and keep members informed about events this meets semiannually the board representative would be Sarah Johansson for qm it is to serve as the board representative on the district Q comp committee which is made up of teaching and learning staff principles and others as assigned it meets regular quarterly sorry in the afternoons to review and address the Q comp program the board representative will be me Heidi kater Wisa education fund also known as the we and the purpose is to serve as the school board liaison to the Wisa education fund this meets the second Wednesday of the month from 7: to 8:30 p.m. the board representative would be par spending the student wellness committee is to serve as the wetta board representative to the student wellness committee um which guides the school district's efforts to establish a school environment that promotes a student's health well-being and ability to learn the board Representatives would be Sheila prior for rotating board assignments the district liaison committee meets monthly during the first week alternating Thursday evenings and Fridays at the uh new noon or Creekside location this is a rotation um the next rotation that we have where all board members are in attendance at some point during the year is partners for Healthy Kids partners for Healthy Kids is a community collaboration meeting um that is comprised of many different health and well-being service providers It Is co-chaired by kit Swanson from the YMCA of the north and Christina libec Wisa early learning school the phk meets monthly from 3: to 4:15 p.m. on the second Wednesday at Plymouth Community Center for April May and September through November or Zoom for December through March there are no meetings June through August the last rotation is agenda planning the board chair Vice chair and a rotating board member meets on the Tuesday before a scheduled board meeting or work session to plan and review the proposed agenda okay the recommended action is to approve the board appointments for for 2020 5 as presented do I have a motion to approve I move second mve and seconded is there a discussion all in favor say I I oppose n the motion carries thank you Amy Amy guys has done a phenomenal job of putting everything together for us so your your work is appreciated so thank you so much all right uh another item discussed at the December 16th special organizational work session was Schoolboard compensation in accordance with board policy 220 board member compensation and expense the Wisa School Board must annually recommend Compensation Plan the board recommends no changes for 2025 and the board will continue to be compensated at the following yearly rates School Board directors $4,700 Schoolboard chair $5,500 in addition for special meetings and work sessions scheduled on days other than regular meeting and work session days compensation will will continue at $50 paid to each attending board member the recommended action is to approve the board compensation for 2025 as present is there a motion to move so moved second second thank you moved and seconded is there a discussion if not this is a roll call vote will the clerk please take the role Paris bende yes Sheila PRI yes Heidi ker yes Valentina SS yes Dan Jan estra yes Sarah Johansson yes Milan soney yes the motion carries thank you Sheila all right finally in The Other Board action we have a vote on the Pledge of Allegiance at our school board meetings to give a little background director Valentina SS has requested that the school board recite the Pledge of Allegiance at regular school board meetings the board discussed the request during two work sessions one in September and one in December so that members were well informed to decide whether to approve the request so the action is to approve the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance after the call after the call to roll to order or roll call at every WIA School Board regular meeting anyone who does not wish to participate in reciting the pledge for any personal reasons may elect not to do so do I have a motion to approve I make a motion to approve is there a second second okay we have the motion to approve and also second is there a discussion Sheila yeah um my sense from the community that is that you know whether or not the board says the Pledge of Allegiance is low on their list of priorities um however I if if approving it and saying it is going to help us focus on more important things during the year then I support it yeah so again by just saying the Pledge uh I don't know how that impacts the students outcome or how that helps more collaboration within board members or with the office of superintendent so again I don't see the the outcome um but that that's where that's where my stand is and again listening to the community um there is concern with folks who don't wish to say that but may feel obligated to do so in public forum so just considering those aspects um I would say no yeah so one of the things that makes wisett excellent and there's lots of things that make wisett excellent but one of the things is is our level our high level of partnership and collaboration and so when we make decisions we don't make decisions because of one person values or what they want to do but we really look at what um why we are doing it and how it's going to move the needle or support our strategic road map and and our Equity commitment and our strategic directions there were a number of things outlined when we discussed this at the organizational meeting related to how does saying the Pledge um how could it work to move the needle on student achievement or in some way um uh work to Foster an environment with students and connect with student learning we talked about a stakeholders perspective that made it say that are why are we doing this in a rote way or do we make it something that's meaningful and inclusive in bringing other people in or um or finding out the impact from other communities we talked about the reciting of a of this um as it relates to other recits that are done at the start of meetings such as land acknowledgements and and other things and there is a suggestion at the organizational meeting to work and partner and bring it to our committee structure which we just reviewed that we have to see what that means and then bring it forward to the board for a vote in a way that is Meaningful and is really connected to our road map that work has not been done and so um that is disappointing to me and I think it's a disservice in our role of governance and um so if this is approved I would just hope that uh there's some commitment or direction to make this in alignment with with our goals and our commitment to Excellence moving forward thank you Sarah anyone else ID um I have similar feelings to Sarah around how we've come to this point um out of respect for the pledge I want to do this in the right way and I want to do this in a way that is Meaningful especially to the people who the pledge really means something to them and so um I know that there's a motion on the table but what I'd like to do is I'd like to move that we postpone this vote in order to do the work that needs to be done to make this really Community focused and to make it the voice of the seven of us um so I'd like to move that we postpone this vote tonight and wait um to have a little bit further discussion at the next work session and then bring it back to a vote for February 10th the February 10th regular meeting and I think just that little bit of time will allow us to take it through our um committee structure make sure that we are aligned as a board with you know that handshake that we have between Administration and the board so that is my recommendation so are you are you suggesting that we amend the motion to to say what I'm recommending that we amend the motion to postpone the vote on this until the February 10th meeting okay so that's that's an amendment that she has moved Heidi has moved is there a second I second any discussion on that I would like uh Pledge of Allegiance is uh uh does establish a sense of community and citizenship it unites us uh pledge of legance is for all Americans regardless where we came from I'm an immigrant sense of uh it's pledge of legance also brings a sense of value in belonging to the country which we are proud of uh there is a reason why so many people would like to come to this country uh that's the beauty of this country Freedom I'm I came from a country which did not allow freedom of choices uh this one is giv choices I heard about that some didn't want to pronounce uh the word god um God can be in many religions uh I mean the word I just have different um uh naming or if you don't want to say that part you can admit or also the beauty of the America which gives choices and uh we have it written in the language that it allows you to have a choice not to do that and another one what kind of uh value we are sending um to students we are asking our students to recite when we uh for some reason have a hard time uh reciting once a month pledge of allegiance to the country and now one more time I'm going to say I'm from of a country uh originally which did not and does not especially right now uh to the degree that you you'll be uh imprisoned um to have choices this country has a base it gives choices you have so many choices so no I'm I cannot obviously push you into making decision uh I mean to vote Yes or no but you can at least uh say uh your um vote uh what vote your conscience thank you okay thank you Valentina so right now colleagues the the motion on the table is to amend the original motion and it is to approve the postponement of this original motion to the next board meeting on February 10th I believe right uh so I I have an issue with that we discussed this since Valentina brought up this issue in June of last year we have had work one work session in September we have an organizational work session in December the points that Sarah mentioned were brought brought up there and just before this meeting last week in the agenda planning meeting we did discuss all those options and we we agreed that we will compromise to the one motion that we had originally and that is to have the Pledge of Allegiance re cited every every month at the regular board meeting now how to do that and all those other ceremonial things can always be be done afterwards but that is not the point the point is whether we we actually originally we we do even want to recite the Pledge of Allegiance yes or no then you know we could also set up a committee to decide how to do it but the the focus was actually on to know whether we want to do the Pledge of Allegiance or not so I will not be supporting the the amendment so you know if anybody else wants to make any comments please go ahead yeah Dad um you know I think we've all deliberated on this a lot and that's why I do kind of I have a lot of respect for for Heidi Kar and her motion and I just um we've kind of dealt with conceptually this this idea of um you know delaying we kind of refer to as then kicking the can down the road so to speak and I just I think deep down we all have our opinion on this matter um and I just to delay it even more I think I I appreciate what another colleague said that um we we we have to come down on this um you know whether whether it's something that we appreciate or not um and so with with this motion as it's been amended I'll be voting no anyone else okay so let's uh get I'm going to try and repeat that Amendment correct me if I'm wrong Heidi so the amend amended motion is is that we postpone this original motion to the next board meeting so that we have more time to decide on exactly how we want to do this or or if you want to state that in you know in brief if you if you can y the purpose would be to take it through our committee structure as we do with all of our decisions and our resolutions to ensure that we as a board are in alignment with the district and so that this motion this resolution comes forward as the voice of seven and not just one was there a date that you you suggested February 10th where we take it up again yes for a vote Yes yes can I ask a question so again it's not about deciding if we like the pledge or not it's about making alignment and with our committees and and having time to talk about it in stakeholders and talk about it in teaching and learning and talk about it in Dei so that we are in alignment and and maybe we have lots of really great um administrators with with lots of great perspectives about how this fits within the district so um is it can I just confirm that do we feel like we could bring this to committees if we do it take it in February committees have meet each committee is meeting between now and February so would we be able to because if we just say we're going to postpone it and then we don't post and then we don't do anything and we just come back here in the next way then that's then that's not there but the committee list that we just approved shows that our committees meet monthly or as needed so um does the board feel a high level of confidence that we could have those committees meet between now and February so we can have this discussion okay so yeah that's that's that's a great point but I have heard repeatedly that this is a board action this is not something that the administration wants to get involved with and so I don't understand what the committee will do and if we talk about a board of seven the board of seven did meet in September at this table the board of seven did meet in in December on December 16th or was it 18th I think it was 16th at the organizational work session so we have met twice as a board of seven we also met in the agenda planning meeting where most of these final decisions are made as far as what to put on the agenda or not so I I I guess I I would still not be supporting the amendment so I would have to say the reason that I'm I'm bringing this up as an option and it's to see if the board has an appetite for it this really has nothing to do with whether or not we would approve Pro The Pledge it's really to do it in a way that is Meaningful to the pledge and to to people who feel like it is a meaningful thing um there were a lot of issues that were brought up at the organizational meeting board colleagues and I don't feel like we had an opportunity to kind of wrap it up and really have an opportunity to tease out what's what um and so that's that's really where I'm coming from is that I just want to make sure that we as a board are coming together on this to do it right okay I I I again I I don't understand what meaningful really means I have seen a lot of pledge of allegiances I actually attended most of them at the city council level msba I have attended committee meetings at the legislature and it's it's just a pledge of allegiance I don't know if there is a lot of fanfare behind that I have not seen it maybe at the introduction maybe we can do that but to do that every time it would be asking for too much I think so I I I don't know I think like Dan said we are kicking the can down the road and how long will this be kicked I don't know I really don't know so just one question I know in one of our work sessions uh we also talked about hey can there be a ceremony maybe it's you know beginning of the year right so when we vote and again if the vote is no would we still have opportunity to do something to acknowledge and appreciate or once we say no meaning that's it so again my point is if those are the things we need to discuss then I think it's worthwhile taking time uh but again I I'm not following if we were to say no meaning this is it like we're not doing any ceremony we're not we're not going to do anything or how would that no no that is not that is not the case from what I understand if we do decide to have the pledge of Alle by a majority vote then we can there is always time we can then we can actually have a small committee to decide you know we talk about committees right so we can have a small committee to decide how to do it ceremonially Etc but if the vote is no then what do we do then then it it gets killed then it doesn't matter if the vote is no to not do the Pledge of Allegiance then whether we do it ceremonially have a big Fanfare and all that doesn't matter I have a question so what if the vote is no to do it every time but the vote would be yes to do one big thing year so that would be another amendment or that would give or we wait a month and we have these kinds of conversations to say do we do it one once a month do we or once a month do we want to year do we want to that is precisely at the root of yeah we talked about doing this lots of things were un were were introduced at the at the organizational meeting and there was no resolution there was no Collective Bo understanding and so the timeline is not kicking the can down the road it's a very specific one month from tonight or you know in our normal meeting Cadence we will be back here having the same thing with a collective commitment to say we're going to try to get some of those questions answered and try to align on a board as a board on that so that we act as a body of seven then the then what we discussed Sarah at the agenda planning meeting had no really no meaning right we we discussed those those those things that brought at the organizational meeting and we we came to a compromise that we will bring this up because this has been going on for seven months I'd like to call the vote yes go ahead for what okay so the first motion that needs to be voted on is whether or not we postpone the vote tonight in order to take it through a committee structure and to answer a lot of the questions that that were brought to the table at the organizational work session that have not been resolved as a body of seven can we just keep that end of vote would would happen on the next regular meeting on February 10th 2025 can I suggest that to to make this very simple that motion could just be to postpone the original motion to February 10th right and and uh I just want to be really clear about what the intention is that is all understood right I mean yeah so if the the board votes yes then they they are voting yes based on their Assumption of the intention right they have understood what the intention is if they vote no they also understood the intention I waited patiently can you say can I say something to since I'm the one who ini I'll to be honest I did not realize that this is what it's going to create um I was thinking this is you can vote your conscience do you want to do it yes or no it is not where is I did not have any ill intent again seeing how how things are changing how things are changing uh to the degree that reminds what was happening in my my own country I would like us to be uh to show uh since we're asking students also to recite Pledge of Allegiance just to do it and I was also I listened I listened patiently uh since first time when I asked it it had been asked that uh if we can if it'll be redundant and all I flexed I said why don't we do just once a month I don't see anybody uh protesting during like um whenever is a football or Sports everybody stands and proudly says Pledge of Allegiance at that event this is one month uh a time uh I mean again we gave plenty of opportunity and all what I feel right now that it is the language had been changed changed um and this is not a surprise why even small item like this is uh it takes so long I'm not sure if I'm going to raise any other questions how long it's going to take thank you okay so Heidi let's finish the discussion and then we'll come back and we'll have to once more this tell us what what the motion is okay unless it's all done we are all done with the discussion anybody else have any comments do you have a comment then no I was just going to ask that we vote I'm sorry yeah yeah yeah right so okay so I think I've stated the motion but I'm goingon to State it again in my way um I would like I am moving to postpone the vote on this Pledge of Allegiance until February 10th in order for this board to be able to take the discussion to to the committee structure and to bring a resolution that is reflective of the board of seven uh you have already moved and Sarah you're still second in that right okay um the discussion is over Valen now we'll just vote um can you can you take a role I guess Valentina SS this is a vote to post for the amendment I need V clarification if I'm going to say uh uh no when it's not going to be brought to discussion I you say no it will be brought to discussion on February 10th is what the proposed amendment is no it's in the country no the vote if you if the amendment fails we go back to the original motion right there's motion on the table there's original motion on the table to say the Pledge of Allegiance there's a secondary motion on the table to amend the motion to postpone the vote for a month so this current vote is simply do you want to vote on February 9th or on February 10th correct that's exactly what I said yes no I clarified sorry uh no okay Dan janesta no Sarah Johansson yes Harris bende yes Sheila PRI yes Heidi ker yes Milan soney no the motion passes that's three yeah three Nos and four yeses okay so the amend motion to amend the original motion passes um so that does not mean that the original motion failed right I mean the amendment passed so we do not have the original motion on the table anyway right okay so um we will we will have to sit down and discuss what we need to do to get this on the table again on February 10th we have less than a month and uh we'll have to talk about this okay and uh final item on the agenda is board reports of which there are none and uh this concludes the WIA Public Schools regular board meeting for Monday January 13 2025 is there a motion to adjourn so mov second all in favor say I I I oppose nay the WETA Public Schools Board of Education regular meeting for Monday January 13 2025 is adjourned happy New Year everyone