##VIDEO ID:_cmOtILjbT0## I'd like to call to order this independent school board meeting of Independent School District 624 I'd ask the clerk to please call the role Strife OG hi Thompson hi Aran here beloy here Daniel here new master here I'd ask everyone to please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right sorry y'all just getting all my ducks row here we have before us an agenda I would ask for an approval a motion by Bloyd and a second by new master we have an agenda before us and then we also have uh a consent agenda that comes before us every month and this has um many items on it that are typical daily items of the school district that we get one of the things that we always like to call attention to are the donations that we receive from our community as always they are um very supportive of our district and we are thankful for that could I get a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved motion by Daniels and a second second a second by stri oi I'd ask the clerk to for a roll call Strife OG here I hi Thompson I Aran I beloy I Daniels hi new master I and we have a consent agenda uh it's now time for our public forum portion of the meeting we had no request uh this month for speakers so we'll move into our first informational item C1 student recognition Dr K all right just give me a moment we're all a half page up all right we'll recognize students uh who represented the district at state or national level uh during tonight's meeting certificates and bear pins have been distributed to the students congratulations students [Music] very successful fall seasons for sure it's been been a fun year so far and we'll move into informational item C2 the superintendent's report uh thank you I'll I'll jump right into that so students throughout the district participate in a variety of activities to honor Veterans Day some examples include vness Heights Elementary students gathered around their flag pole to uh discuss the meaning of Veterans Day while CB Scouts raised the flag Central middle schoolers enjoyed a Veterans Day assembly with a special guest who spoke to the students about his experience serving in the military and Senior Center attendees came together for con uh for conversations and good company to honor the day with the cooler weather comes an invitation to use the high school Fieldhouse walking Track which is open for Community use from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday there is no cost and we ask that you wear clean dry shoes the high school fall Musical Legally Blonde the musical opens this week shows will be performed at 700 p.m. this Friday and Saturday and next Thursday through Saturday there is a 2 p.m. matina on Saturday November 16th which is free for senior citizens who live in the community tickets can be reserved online um this is the last fall musical expected to be performed in the theater as the high school's new performing art Center will be the location for future musical Productions and I'll mention here too just real briefly the first U the first event in the new Performing Arts Center is on November 25th an orchestra concert we have a board meeting unfortunately but anyway so it'll be fun to see activities starting in there right I'm excited to meet with families and community members next Tuesday November 19th from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. for the first Cofe with Dr K event of the school year these informal chats held at Caribou coffee in downtown White Bear Lake are a great way to connect additional coffee events are scheduled later this year over the noon hour on February 27th and in uh the morning of May 6th and last but not least even as we enjoy the recent mild temperatures winter weather season is just around the corner if winter weather is so severe that school needs uh to close start late or dismiss early families will be alerted in the following ways a phone message and email will be sent to All Families those who have opted in to receive text me messages will be alerted that way as well a message will be posted on the district's homepage uh messages will be posted on the district's Facebook and Instagram Pages it's important to remember that to always assume uh schools are open and in session unless you hear or see differently from a source listed above please be sure that your contact information is updated so our emergency communication reaches you that's what I've got very much we'll now move into discussion item D1 2023 24 world's best Workforce summary and achievement and integration progress report oops great good evening chair Thompson members of the board Dr casmer um Dr gpie unfortunately couldn't be here tonight so she sends her regrets um I'm Jen babish the director of teaching and learning and I'm going to give a progress report on our world's best Workforce uh goals and then my colleague Brenton schaffers will give a progress report on our achievement integration progress so um as we look at the world's best Workforce it was developed in 2013 and this ensures that school districts Charter Schools um enhance student achievement through teaching and learning and support s so um this is aligned to our strategic plan that the board approved we had four strategies that were updated and approved in the 2022 2023 school year and there's five goals and just one caveat I wanted to mention um that may look a little bit different uh due to legislative changes third grade reading is no longer part of the world's best Workforce schools and we report that separately um on our literacy uh plan that is on our website um but you will see some of the our literacy um growth scores uh tonight in some of our specific goals so the new uh world's best Workforce is transferring to comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness and so I'm going to report on these first four goals uh tonight and just um keep in mind that these are multi-year goals and so I'll give you the progress of where we're at at this moment and then knowing that many of our goals um we we want to reach by the 2025 school year so um these goals are also aligned with our AI goals that you'll see and they're really is a focus on student um student groups to close the achievement gaps so as I mentioned uh the board did approve four new strategies in the 2022 2023 school year I know that's probably it's a little bit hard to see I apologize um but as we think about this alignment with our world's best Workforce goals and our strategic plan um our four strategies will be that we will create and sustain a safe Equitable and nurturing environment promote and encourage students personal learning experiences and aspirations ensure our organization continuously transforms to fulfill our mission and that we establish healthy and vital engagement with our entire community so you'll see this come out um in our goals uh just a couple things um as we look at our communication uh with the public we have this on um this will be on our website and we have already presented these goals and our progress reports to our systems accountability committee I know I have um some board members that serve on that committee and we had over 50 participants um and that is a combination of our principals and our um our staff members and our families so we were thrilled and we got a lot of feedback from our goals too so um thrilled to have the community and the families be part of the feed feedback to improve um tonight obviously we are here uh giving the progress report and then our next step will be to present at the American Indian parent advisory committee on November 20th and then we will submit both the uh world's best Workforce and AI report to mde in November 30th and then December 15th so that's our timeline so I'm going to jump into our first goal and as I mentioned this is a multi-year goal so 2025 we're not quite there yet um of reaching our goal um but our goal is 75% of all wiper Lake Area School kindergarten students will demonstrate Readiness for school by earning a fastbridge early reading composite score of 32 or higher which means that they are low risk and they are on track for grade level when it comes to literacy and so as you um not to get into a ton of detail about these um these screeners um but this really is our early reading composite um score is the best predictor for future reading success so as we look at all the students in kindergarten this fall um we had 55.8% of all the students at low risk and that means that they scored a 32 or higher on that composite which is four different um screeners concepts of print which is looking at orientation of a book location in beginning and ends of the sentence um in in a book um onset sounds letter names and letter sounds which is pheic awareness and phonics which are all predictors of early literacy skills um and so just to dive a little bit deeper and this is some feedback that we received from the systems accountability is um we recognize we want to look at all of our students but what um students specifically that are in our kind our prek programs um you know how are they doing and knowing that we've had our early childhood uh teachers participate in letters training as well you can see um we're at 56.2% if we just take and look at our students who um have been in our preschool programming and you can see the trend if we look at 32 or higher you can see that Trend increasing over the last three years um of our students reaching that that cut score and just um I don't expect you to remember this but our our previous school we had the cut score be 30 and so and we had um you know for 75% of our students read reaching the cut score of 30 but really if we want to say that they're on grade level it needed to be 32 so we kept that 75% but we up the ante and so um you know we're we're optimistic and our continued work our teachers with um the science of reading training and their new curriculum with CK we feel confident um that we're going to continue to um improve to reach that goal College and Career Readiness um we have two goals and you can see we're on track and um really we wanted to look again at achievement Gap and um one thing that we Define when we look at for college career Readiness is um how many students and the percentage of students um by student group who can take college level courses in our high school and we say the 12 by 12 if they're able to obtain 12 college credits by 12th grade we feel that they're they're prepared for College and Career Readiness and so you can see um you know we have a goal for 2026 but we're definitely on track for both our um latinx and our black students and then also as we look at um the percentage of wiper Lake Area students overall um will increase from 27 to 40% so we're really um encouraged as we look at um these these numbers as they are um for 2024 just to add a little bit more to kind of that definition of College and Career Readiness um we we have a partnership with the University of Minnesota and as we we think about um postsecondary institutions that our students in Whitebear Lake Area Schools you can see Century College is the top college that our students um attend followed by the University of Minnesota and then univ University of duth and one of the things that we look at when we look at Readiness for college um and this comes from our sleds data through the um mde which is Statewide longitudinal Education data system um we're able to see and you'll see that this the percentages um of students that or percentage of high school graduates enrolled in developmental education courses at Minnesota College during the first two fall terms so this means the percentage of students that need kind of remedial coursework in college that they don't actually get college credit for but they're paying for that and so you can see um that decline in the percentage of students that are needing that um which is very reassuring and then we have the next school um the next few goals all students graduate and so our first two goals when we look at a four-year graduation rate of our American Indian students um definitely on track and making progress towards that as we look at our seven-year graduation rate um again on track uh and making progress towards um that as as you may remember that is lagging data right we get we get um we have to look at data from the year before for graduation rate and we recognize with seven-year graduation rate that some students need um more time than four years in order to graduate uh for different reasons different programming and so this is a way we're in um to ensure that we include all of our students in that goal and then finally we did take a little dip um in 2023 with our four-year graduation rate um we're excited that we're a comprehensive high school now 912 and um encouraged about um you know the happenings and things that we're doing as a comprehensive high school that we will increase that so all right I am going to uh invite my colleague Brenton schafers up and then I'll stick around if you have any questions such a nice job um achievement integration so the goals of achievement integration is to increase the racial and economic uh integration within their District reduce achievement uh disparities increase access to effective and diverse teachers uh this is a three-year plan that's uh created every three years and we are actually in this just completed the first uh year of this plan in June um we did as Miss babish said so some of these goals will be a repeat because we do align with the world's best Workforce um and some of those uh so you will see a couple of them in this um this uh report here um number one so we actually were on track for four of the six goals uh number one or goal one is the graduation rate for White Bear Lake Area High School Indian students will increase from 50% to 96 um in 2026 we are currently at 80% this last school year so we are on track for that as well uh goal number two the percentage which Miss babish just read uh percentage of white be Lake Area High School latinx and black students who will by the end of their senior year earn 12 college credits will increase from 15% to 27 uh we are on track with that goal as well U being at is that uh White Bear Lake Area Schools will increase the percentage of bipo teachers from 4% um in 2022 to 7 and 26 uh we are currently as the end of last year at 6.5 uh bipac teachers throughout the district uh one of the questions that came up during our systems accountability was wanting to see if there was a difference between teaching staff or all staff um it is our teaching staff that we have identified only goal number six which is a um racially identified School goal uh that's Willow Elementary within our district uh so White Bear Lake Area Schools uh it says here Willow Lane Elementary will increase the percentage of bipo teachers also um with that same percentage they are currently at 6.25 teachers within the district that are identified as bipac there are two goals on this sheet that we did not meet um the first one here is one that Miss babish just said that uh world's best for Workforce is not identifying any longer so we will have to rewrite this one um and I will work with them to do that uh so that we do align with the uh District as well uh but this one also says the same as Miss babage talked about here so from 43% in 22 to 68.1 in 202 26 um there is a slide after this that I want to share to talk a little bit more about that one so I'll go on to goal number five that uh willane students confidence and Leadership skills will increase by 30% um by 23 24 this was actually one that between myself and uh our person that we have at mde that works with achievement integration so it was a misunderstanding here uh um we were under the assumption that we had to partner with a school outside of our district uh we Matt I know Matt is the principal and he spent a lot of time trying to coordinate with different schools to do that experience found out this year again that we can do it with our schools in district so um we have already have a plan in place for that one and they are currently in the process of doing it so that goal will be reached by the end of this school year back to goal number four that was not so um and Matt is here so he will he can speak to this as well but uh this when we're looking at data we really went back to see so we just implemented CK this past school year uh with it which is our Ela curriculum so using fastbridge data uh early reading data data we selected the kindergarten because we really wanted to see a growth from kindergarten through fifth grade and how they're doing and achieving achieving um so here is the spring data for 2122 um you can see the differences here between 2223 and 2324 the green meaning that the students there is no um no concern uh on track 16% there is some um some concern and 14 there is uh a concern area for those students so you can see the decrease in those over the course of the year years um between 22 21 and the 23 24 school year so there definitely is growth happening at that element or the kindergarten level using fastbridge data we also um one of the questions from systems of accountability they wanted to know if um how was Willows compared to the district was it similar um and that data is also very similar within that so there is a growth Across The District kindergarten wise using fastbridge data with CK so um we're pretty happy at that thata and seeing that Trend so the goal is to keep it going every year and um seeing success it's been really fun seeing the students in the classroom as well so um so Matt is here if there's any questions regarding Willow Elementary specifically being the racially identified School in our district so thank you thank you does anyone have any questions I do when is the the 2425 winter MCA obviously the winter one this year when is it the early the fast bridge data well what we are doing with the third graders but we're no longer reporting but when when does that happen oh for the for the MCAS yes yep that's in April yep so we'll have um I can are you thinking like having that we can look at our literacy plan and we have all that the MCA data on there so we can pull that up and and give that to you so then the fast bridge data is winter spring and MC is spring one time yep so fall winter spring for fast bridge data so we just closed the window not too long ago for the fall winter will open in January and then um the spring I believe is possibly in April when will the fall data be available yep so um this the fall data is what you've what you saw um already and um as I look back to are you speaking to the um specifically to Willow or yeah um yeah so if you want to go back here oh so fall data yep yeah so it's just so as I mentioned that was that just had closed um Miss Bloyd so we can definitely give you that okay so I'm not crazy no no no I'm sorry I'm sorry I was I was thinking about the world's best Workforce goal um when we look at the kindergarten for the fall so yeah you're not crazy U so it's just it's it was the report that ended in June so this was uh through June 30th of last year this thank you uh the question I had when we look at that graduation dip those that did not graduate do we know how many are still working in our system to get that diploma yeah that's a great question um Dr arand and that's something that we can pull to to to get to you to the board to see how many students were talking about because the other thing I want to mention about this when you look at graduation right I had a I have a special needs child and he had the opportunity to go a few more years after he completed his high school um education and then we worked on social skills we worked on uh work Readiness skills without that I think he' would still be living in my basement uh I mean this is a child who couldn't walk into a restaurant and order a meal and figure out the money but by the time he finished he had developed the social skills to do things in the community so I think we we have to remember those students going into that program it's extremely important for those students and it does provide a great service to them thank you and we just upped that for an extra year or two so students are allowed to go until they're 22 if they have uh certain needs on their I um individual education plan yes and you're speaking to our transition education program yes and it's such an important program thank you Dr Aran for bringing that up um so that maybe this is for Matt um how do you measure confidence in leadership I know it said pre and post test but that's kind of a hard thing to measure isn't it uh I wasn't sorry everybody on the board welcome and thank you for having me be a part of it yeah I um I can speak to the fact that the a Andi goal has been difficult to um to get to because you need a partner to work with another District in order to work with this I spent a lot of time trying to reach out to um Forest Lake Rose you name it St Paul uh in in trying to get these integrative experiences for our students however I will say that with it when you come to Willow you will see leadership in Spades I am very confident that our kids are walking away not only with academic skills but the number of leadership opportunities that they have especially as they progress through our system as fourth and fifth graders that's no more evident than on uh November 21st when you'll see fourth graders being able to articulate how they've done research a service-based learning project to enrich the lives of others that is leadership uh taking place uh in so many different ways you'll see it when you come to Willow uh at a community event what have you as you're warmly greeted by leaders within our um building this is fostered from kindergarten all the way up to fifth grade I am quite confident that as a student leaves Willow to go to the Middle School whatever middle school they're going to go to they will be a shining example of leadership and also take with them the qualities that we are instilling in terms of cooperating with others showing empathy for them uh for their classmates for their teachers and then also how do they um help others and that's a service learning component which I would say is all about leadership who who or what school will you be partnering with within the district yeah currently we're going we have some plans to work with Otter Lake and so uh an Nelson the principal there and I are starting to um take a look at what the opportunities were when uh Miss Strife OG was principal at Willow before me they had a really robust partnership with otter um where their students and our students came together and learned I think there's an an opportunity for us to kind of reset what does that look like but I'm really excited by her leadership and some of the things that they have got going on at otter that we can uh very seamlessly um work with their students and then have a very meaningful uh opportunity for students to get to know one another to learn a little bit more about each other and then ultimately problem solve some problem that we want them to identify so that's going to begin some of that work is going to to begin with our Equity Specialists uh Nirvana and Julie who are going to be working with our fifth graders to talk about courageous conversations and things where we can better understand what their experiences are that is also taking place at otter and then we can start to bring those two uh classes together and then begin to come up with what the next steps will be with that so I'm very excited about the that opportunity yeah thank you so much yeah thank you all right we will now move into discussion item D2 the first reading of Schoolboard policies 4:19 7:22 7:30 and 8:05 so the policies always come to the board uh for a first reading and then we bring them back the following month uh typically um for a second reading and approval so with that uh does anyone have any questions regarding the policies tonight and with uh no questions we'll bring them back on the December 9th agenda next we'll move into operational items E1 action on the resolution canvasing returns of votes of school district general election Dr K all right um thank you board members so um Minnesota statute requires its school districts adopt a resolution canvasing returns of votes of school district special and general elections between the 3rd and 10th day following the date of the election the district's election attorney Mr Peter Martin of Kennedy and Graven provided the necessary documents for this resolution and the results of the election were provided by Mr Dave triplet Ramsey County elections manager so the recommended action this evening is to approve the resolution canvasing return of votes of school district general election and with that I would ask for a motion to approve so moved motion by Miss Daniels the second by Dr newmaster does anyone have any questions all right with that I'd ask the clerk to please call the role Strife OG here hi sorry sorry my apologize Thompson I Aran I Bloyd I Daniels I new master I with that the motion passes and we'll now move into operational item E2 action on resolution authorizing issuance of certificates of election and directing the school district clerk to perform other election related duties Dr K right thank you uh chair Thompson and members of the board so just give me a second all right so the resolution authorizing issuance of certificates of election and directing the school district clerk to perform other election um uh election related duties has been provided by The District's election attorney Mr Peter Martin of Kennedy and Graven the recommended action tonight is to approve the resolution authorizing issuance of certificates of election and directing the school district clerk to perform other election related duties with that can I get a motion to approve so moved motion by stri oi in a second second by Daniels all in favor say I I oppose same sign and the motion passes and then we'll move into our last operational item E3 action on school board policies so these policies came to us at our October meeting for a first reading and now uh they come before us again tonight for approval and the policies are 404 405 541 and 599 can I get a motion to approve so moved motion by Bloyd in a second by Dr newas all in favor please say I I oppose same sign and the motion passes with that we'll move into our last item of the night the board Forum this is an opportunity for board members to share uh events happening in the district or other other things they want to share Dr arand I just want to share that we know that we normally nor meet on Monday nights but uh yesterday was Veterans Day we couldn't do what we do here as citizens without the people who have sacrificed and the families that sacrifice when our people in the armed forces take care of us uh I can go to bed tonight and sleep soundly because I know there are people out there who are taking care of this country and protecting us and so for all those who have served and all those who are currently serving and even those who are going to be serving within next year too I just want to say thank you for your service that's it than youone else all right with that I just have a few things I would like to mention uh one November is Native American heritage month and this ties into a little bit about uh Dr aran's message and just something I thought I wanted to share in honor of Veterans Day um in our country during the Vietnam war we had one in four Native American people who served in the armed forces uh that is in comparison to one in 12 non-native members so just in the population density of the Native Community they really did um serve their communities well and just something that I wanted to highlight uh to thank all of our members who have served our country it really is um thanks to them that we're all able to have the rights and freedoms that we have in our country um also uh November is also homeless Awareness Month uh and with that they they even call to attention youth homeless awareness which uh homelessness affects a diverse population of our community members right here in white bar Lake uh in our surrounding communities in the district so families individuals Youth and seniors in our community are all affected by homelessness there's a few ways we can help uh this month and all throughout the year to um just contribute to helping people that are homeless to find their way out of it and to also have the essentials they need such as food clothing and life Essentials uh like hygiene needs which are something that people often forget about when they're donating uh things like soap shampoo um toothpaste toilet paper paper towels cleaning products uh all things that people who are homeless do need because even though they're homeless they still have a place that usually they can um provide shelter for them until they find a place to live um that just as a reminder that we have an upcoming event called the winter wonderland that will take place in our high school um and this will take place December 9th through the 13th uh you can check your emails to find out more information and to donate if you are able to but this is an opportunity for our students and our community members to donate essential items uh to members of our own Community here such as items that I just mentioned but also will'll provide an opportunity for a toy drive um as the holidays are coming up and just to make sure that every child um can have something to celebrate uh on the holiday season and one final thing I wanted to mention we have an event coming up by our career Pathways program it's called test drive next stop reality and it'll take place on December 12th they're looking for approximately 200 volunteers to make this event successful and it is a Hands-On event where students will get to test drive their future and see if they have what it takes to make it on their own as a 25-year-old so basically the students will uh look into a career that they're interested in they'll see what the salary is that that career would provide as well as how much it would cost them to to earn a degree if that is something if it were if they're schooling involved in uh be in getting that career and then they will have the opportunity to do some research on it and then they get to visit 22 stations the day of the event so they'll have to find housing they'll have to find uh insurance needs they'll have to figure out what their utilities are going to be Transportation expenses child care you name it the things that we all uh pay for uh as adults these are things that they will um get to have some experience discovering and so to help make this event successful they do need about 200 volunteers um so if you're available on December 12th to volunteer sure is a great way to give back to your district and to help our students um learn a little more about what it's like to be an adult so uh you can reach out to Katie Olsen our career pathways coordinator um or if you are somebody who has a student in the high school you probably receive a weekly text that gives you the weekly announcements the information is also shared in there so with that I would ask for a motion to adjourn uh chair Thompson I move for an adjournment second second by Daniels all in favor say I I I I oppose same sign and with that we're adjourned