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um he talked about communication and um and barriers and that's our biggest goal. So the reason we mentioned that multiple times through our through our back and forth conversation today is when we sat down when we said with Ryan, what are things when we look through the data? Well, the main things we want to look at things that we can actually control. Uh and some of the things we can control is how we communicate and making sure we eliminate some of those barriers. So that's why you heard that over and over as a common theme. uh that language barrier we have we have a plan and working with those uh and that's what in including that new some of that new uh new formats like the new website we're hoping infinite campus will be an uplift with our registration as well so these are things that uh we're really looking forward to but this has just been a great year we couldn't thank Ryan enough uh and everybody that was involved uh from access teachers because this without this data it's it's step one and uh it's really was it's well overdue for the fact that we now know something about each kid We literally took every single student and talked to them.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
I think the Highland Institute and you think about the middle school uh and the work that you do that I've witnessed with my children in really individualizing and scaffolding um uh lessons and when I when I'm just curious uh if with testing out the new curriculums um I know at the uh at middle school uh as you're getting older kids are more worried about their grades. grades and I didn't know if there was any um uh I'll just call it out. So at the high school there was a math curriculum uh and there was some growing pains. Uh my child experienced shock and awe of u of those growing pains um the beginning of this year and my understanding is maybe that curriculum doesn't allow for say some scaffolding and some individuality that you might need for students. Um have you found that there have been any similar sort of growing pains on a middle school level with students saying hey I you know the ways in which it it is is you know what I'm asking the short answer would be yes okay um but it doesn't tell you the whole picture so we we are taking this very slowly we only did one unit but when I say one unit what would you say Maren it took 10 six weeks minimum oh finally eight weeks to do one unit.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
So that's that's it's very impressive. Uh so that's all we have. Um just want to say thank you one more time. Um we are obviously very passionate about athletics and activities and what it brings to our students, but uh it means a lot that obviously the board and the community are are equally as invested in it. So thank you for having us and and thanks for your time.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Um because we did go very very slowly. Um the the teaching requires that teachers were learning and we went into it with let's not worry about grades. Let's not worry let's let's all learn with the kids. Um and there absolutely there are growing pains and we knew that going in. Um and some of the feedback is we need to take now that we've done this once we recognize that there does need to be more scaffolding and that was one of the things um again I evaluations are not fun but this is my opportunity to say okay well what did you learn from that and and um we always ask our teachers to to do a reflection for us and so part of that and I think Mark and I share the science people that's that's been coming up is what was difficult about this what what was needed And that's come up a couple of times is I we need to be able to scaffold.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Any questions from board members? So collecting data. Um, are you relying on the survey data? Is that the data you're referring to? So, um, I guess my question is if my daughter registers and becomes a member of the empowerment club at North with Karen Spar Thomas, I mean, is that not collected? Is in and you know, is there a are we using five labs or is there are there some like software that's collecting this participation? Because it sounds to me like you're relying on the survey data. Yeah. So, we rely on multiple sources, but right now we're talking about the survey data that we got to be able to tell a story about our students and be able to dive deep into the data. Every year, we're able to look at the registration data to see who was registered and know a story about the students that are involved.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
So the the PD days and the early release days and things like that are going to be very important for us next year because we know that going in and and like you said, we h the staff is phenomenal. Um they're working really hard at it now that they recognize that they know that. But they we kind of took the grading off the table. Um did we assess them? Of course, but it wasn't the end goal. The end goal was to have them learn the science process and learn how to what what it's like to think like a scientist. So, does that answer your question? Totally answers your question. I think my daughter wishes some of her grades weren't counted at the beginning of this math this math curriculum. We just we didn't think it would be fair to, you know, agree and at the end of the day, we you know, there's lots of ways to assess them and that wasn't the most important thing.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
But by being able to take the schoolwide survey, we just learned new things maybe about people that aren't currently involved and they're not on a roster for a club or a sport. And so then we're able to go in and dive a little bit deeper and talk to those students and have a one-on-one connection with the people that are currently not involved. And our students that are involved, whether it's us or our administrative assistants or teachers or their coaches or their sponsors, like they're already talking to them about the reasons why they enjoy being involved and why they love being connected to North and South. I hope that answered your question. It does a little bit. Um Okay. Sorry. Ryan definitely if not um there was two survey like in Ryan's beginning there was a survey about the students that are involved and kind of how they're the reflection of what how they're involved how they feel right the second one that we talked about right before we got on was the belonging activity that's the one that we're primarily focusing on in our presentation because those are the students that were that basically when we pulled all the rosters and all and all all that it's everybody your daughter wouldn't have been included in that one because she wouldn't have got pulled out because she's already involved Um, so this is every student that we we we were able to find out who wasn't involved.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Yeah, I appreciate that answer. Thank you. That's all I have. I have just one question about the learning partner program. You talked about making it into a class. Can you talk a little bit about what will be included in that class? So, Mr. Garcia works closely with kids and what um he started experimenting with this year, he he's done it before, but with our within our program was um the kids apply to be a learning partner. They actually he's he's done a really nice job where it's not staff picking them. The kids it's a staff have input, but the kids actually go through a an application process just like a job, an interview, and then he helps to match the kids up. And so the learning partners um are very involved. They will go into classrooms, push into a classroom, push into a gym class, push into the life skills program and um be a peer model or a coach to help those kids.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Okay. And then we gave then we had one-on-one interviews with them and survey with them. So we use the word survey, but that was this uh belonging activity. That's the brand new one. The survey that he started with is the one we do every two years. But is there is there a database that like you can look up and say my daughter Hannah Rener is on this club, this club, this club, and this club. Yes. Okay. Okay. And that's your starting point. And then from there you were looking at the kids who are not involved in any activities and then you were surveying them and interviewing them and getting feedback. Yes. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Can I just ask about the barriers? So are they I know you're looking at all of them. Is there any prioritization of them? Are some larger than others or are you I think that's where we looked at um kind of the controllables.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
So during that time um Bill had asked me, geez, can we can we actually put this in a kid's schedule so that you know we're not pulling them out of another class or you know they're in you know if someone's looking for them. So, we created um a section like a trimester level so kids can do it experiment and do it a little bit at a time maybe and so far it worked pretty well this year. So, that that's the plan for moving forward. Great. Thank you. Yeah, it would be Yeah, he just it's during a special area time so maybe they wouldn't have a math lab for a term or an academic support or something like that. Great. Thank you. Sure. Um I guess two things. Um, I got to see the civics showcase this year and I was totally impressed and it was a great um, voice and choice um, component for the kids and I was really really impressed by that.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Uh what can we control within there? you know, some of the students is I just want to focus on my academics. That's that's great. Is that something maybe we we're not going to try to change that? Um others are involved, but they're in a club sport, so maybe that's not going to possibly change. Um so what when I look at uh one is transportation. Uh uh is there a language? Did they not know about they didn't know how to get registered? Well, that's something that we can control. Make sure that they know more about registration faster, more often, more frequently. So, those are some of the things that when we got through all the list of questions that Ryan asked them in those one-on-one interviews, we want to go through and can we actually can we actually uh move that needle at all? Um, after school, I think we've had activity buses running after school now for at least three years, I believe.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Um, you're talking about check-in and checkout and wanting to uh, expand that. So, do staff and teachers choose the students for that program or do students volunteer and say, "I want that." Students are often um referred and it could be for a number of different reasons. It originally it started off as a behavioral program, but it it can be a mentoring program right now. And one of the great things is as Mr. Madden mentioned we have a lot of uh staff members that are trained as mentors and one of the things is the kids do not have them in their schedule. It's apart from that. So it's an adult in a different part of the building and it's kind of a free judgment zone. So it's it's it's helped and um we look at kids who may be struggling in a number of different areas and refer them to that.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Um, and the 615 at the second. Yeah. So, that because we have had the 4:30 bus for a very, very, very long time, but three years ago, we added the 615. 615 bus. But if if you come I know I can speak to south for the amount of students that I sit around watch waiting for that 615 bus to think if maybe a good chunk of them wouldn't have been able to be at the school because of that offer not having that offering there's a lot of them every night so not saying all of them wouldn't have found a way but there's a good good amount that that they're utilizing that bus so that's one barrier that we eliminated over that time do we have data about I know you you mentioned a correlation between participation in clubs and activities and sports and student achievement in the classroom.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
So they check it out obviously at the beginning of the day and the end of the day. So you're saying that that you have room to expand it? Yes, we have room to expand it with the number of trained mentors that we have because um as Mr. Madden said, one of our biggest committees that we have is our PBIS committee. We've got uh over over 30 teachers on that committee. Terrific. And a a teacher wouldn't necessarily pick an individual student. it it more more often than not would go say through the RTI process or you know uh a team that knows the child and the adults so that we ma we kind of match them um as opposed to oh I think I want to work with that kid and that way we have and again to his point we feel that it should be somebody that is completely neutral they don't you know they're not in any classes with them together and that that's been our pretty effective model terrific thank you yeah just a a couple of just quick notes that that I took while you were talking.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Do we actually track that data within D99? Meaning like if if a student has two or more like clubs or activities, they they are achieving at a higher rate than students that are not participating at at that level. We can track that. We don't currently track the correlation between the two. I think a a lot of studies do show that. Okay. But I think more recently we've been tracking the sense of belonging students have and tied to their participation and we're starting to see more students who have connections within the school and then those connections move outside of school where they don't need to be in the sport to find that core or to find that connection. Um but yes, I mean we could because we have all the students on the roster, we could run a report and showing the correlation between grades and uh kids on the rosters pretty quickly.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
I want to say I I was at um one of your unified events, the basketball, and the gym was packed. And now it was packed with staff certainly, and we're so grateful for our educators for showing up uh to support the kids, but it was packed with kids, too. And so there there wasn't a seat to be had in the bleachers. And so you've really created an environment, a culture where you do see that support for inclusivity at the middle school particular impressive. One of the reasons why we wanted to showcase that about a month or so back and again uh the team that puts that together uh phenomenal and and the the rare events I've been, you know, able to drop in on a few of them and again the level of participation of the kids has is just tremendous. And there's just an excitement that is palpable when you go into the gym.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
You think it's the sense of belonging that leads to the higher achievement? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Okay. And that's hard to measure, right? Yeah. Because uh for example, I mean, we know some very high achieving athletes that don't participate in district 99 sports because they're playing club sports or travel sports and they excel at North and South just as much as the students who are on the D99 teams. Yeah. And still from your data say that they feel like they belong at school. Absolutely. For Sure. But that's like the intangibles that they get to be involved in through like like lunchroom activities, dances, other big schoolwide events that it's not connected directly to their sport or activity, but they're still participating in community. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because there's lots of different opportunities to be involved that that's not necessarily like tracked, you know what I mean, through data, but through their classes and through the feelings that they get from being involved with their teachers and their classrooms and connecting with their peers.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
And for the folks like I think it's usually um Rachel Lassie who's got the um the megaphone and she doesn't but she does such a great job getting the kids, you know, really into what's going on. And a lot of that has to do with the relationships you've all built with the kids because they're pretty free to express themselves and what you really excuse me when you think about middle schoolers how they're can can be somewhat reserved and and you really do see quite a bit this there's just there's literally joy in in that space. Um, but I just also want to mention the open sad and thank your teachers and you Sarah. I know that was a lot of hard work for the last couple of years and you really invested yourself in it and I did have the opportunity to visit a few classrooms while the teachers were engaged with that resource and there was both like a mixture of excitement and trepidation, right?
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
They're still having that sense of belonging. For sure. and the staff versus senior softball game this weekend uh Wednesday, Thursday at South, right? Um that there are students who will participate in that and compete against the staff and that sense of belonging being able to compete and have 500 of your peers out there watching during the school day. That is a lasting memory that some of those kids have and they may not be participating in a club or activity at North or South right now. Yep. One thing that uh we do informally, some of our coaches do this um just for their own data and I think it may answer one of the questions is we don't always compare our students that are athletes versus students that aren't athletes um or involved. But we do is sometimes comp take our students GPA while they're in season in the semester they're in season versus the semester they're out of season.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
because the teachers knew that, you know, this was definitely a different learning experience for the students and for them. They they literally shared. It was it was kind of scary for them to give up some of their the their control, but at the same time, um there was an excitement about what they were seeing in terms of student engagement and even their own engagement. And so that was really fun to see the project 351. I mean, again, this is your second year. It's a lot of work to get those things off the ground and to involve all of those students and to think about the impact, the ongoing impact that that's going to have on students, not only at the middle school, but as they move on um to the high school. And and I'm glad you mentioned uh the two leaders from the high school because they did just such a tremendous job.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above