001e call to order this meeting of the stoen Area School District Board of Education okay will you call the RO yeah Mr Tim buban here miss Mia cyle Mr Joe fry here Mr Zach mamers here Miss Lisa Pew here Miss Allison sorg here Mr Francis suvan here miss Holly Tander here our student rep looks like she's excused tonight and President Joe Patterson here all right item two on the agenda is public comment I have quite a few people signed up for public comment in person tonight and then we have some um previously submitted public comment through email so we'll start with the in-person folks first person is suzan and I apologize verbon verbatim if you want to go right ahead should whenever you're ready hi my name is Suzanne verbon and I am currently in
002fif grade Orchestra Orchestra is something that I have liked ever since I started playing and it means a lot to me I have made new friends learned a lot and always felt good about myself when I am playing I love the challenge of learning my instrument and learning new songs at the same time there are some people in lower grades than I am who want to do Orchestra and they want to start sooner or later not having fifth grade Orchestra would deprive them of their learning in music when I am playing I feel like I am a part of something bigger than just part of an orchestra class because it has made me feel like a bigger part of Sten this makes me feel like I am connected to everyone else that plays in my
003rester class Orchestra is something that I can Fe feel hear see and love when watching playing or listening to I can feel like I can be who I am through my instrument and I can feel like I belong this is why Orchestra is so important to me and who I am as a person thank you next is Monica verbon hi my name is Monica verbon and I'm a seventh grade Orchestra student at River Bluff Middle School orchestra has taken such a center stage in my life ever since I started in fifth grade when I first started it was such a different experience for me I have always loved music and having the opportunity to play it myself was a very big thing at the time I loved being able to do something that was so
004different and to be honest I don't know what I would do without it the program has become one of the many reasons that we've stayed in Sten over the years and I'm glad we have I think that Orchestra is one of the classes that I feel the most sense of community in this community truly starts in fifth grade when students have the opportunity to join a middle school class they learn their music play at their concert and even join the middle and high school at the orchestra Festival then when they get to sixth grade many of them join this community once again if you ask any of the orchestra classes how many of them took it in fifth grade most likely around three4 of them would probably raise their hand many more joined because they're
005friend they in sixth grade and even more people join every year this is what has swelled our number since the end of Co yes the high school orchestra is small now but give it two years and it won't be with my class as eighth graders next year and the current fifth and sixth graders there should be more than 150 Orchestra students in the Middle School alone and because of these numbers we can't continue with a single orra teacher for the district as a seventh grade viist I fully intend to continue this class through high school but if we only have one teacher that may not be possible lessons will be a thing of the past and our one-on-one time with our teacher is Gone without lessons advancing a proficiency is extremely difficult especially with the
006quickly growing class sizes the amount of time Miss Meer has put in to keep this program gr is greatly appreciated by all of its members we want to keep this program going and we want to share it with the rest of the stone community for a long time we want to have our skilled hardanger FID list play for the Norwegian dancers we want to continue to contribute players to Y so we want to continue to share this unique opportunity with generations to come and most of all we want to share this community with students of all ages thank you okay next is Rebecca ver Bon my name is Rea verbon and I speak as a parent of those two girls there and then also a third and first grader who are still deciding what instrument
007they want to play when they get to fifth grade since I heard about the proposed change to the orchestra staff in I have been on a an emotional roller coaster of utter confusion at the proposal and the stated rationale for it feeling honestly betrayed by District administration and complete heartbreak for the kids in Orchestra quite a few of whom showed up on quite short notice taking these in order the referendum passed we were told please please pass this so we don't have to cut programs okay some say it's enrollment based what numbers my program sheet I'm a packrat from last Spring's Orchestra Festival has 36 high schoolers 28th graders 14 seventh graders 38 sixth graders in my older daughter's class 34 fifth graders this year there's more than 50 fifth graders in my daughter's Ensemble
008this program is a rising tie not one that's fading away the Betrayal when miss Lamb left last fall a number of concerned Orchestra parents were told there's no way we're cutting this program we're not looking at any Cuts Miss Meyer's given her Blood Sweat and Tears to hold things together for the spring semester the kids have given up lessons in both the middle and high school the high schoolers give up expected instruction time all in the hope the district would have their backs and fill the position for next school year so they can return to progressing in their musicianship the Heartbreak the school district says that it wants to place students on a three-legged stool math literacy belonging study after study after study shows students who are in the Arts do better in all the
009other areas of Academia as well music is math music is literacy and it's a way to shape belonging the high school students behind the current low enrollment are the ones who've continued their study in the face of insane obstacles like covid and and all of the other normal obstacles that come along with grades 6 through 12 are they now to be told they don't matter enough to have their own teacher removing a teaching position in the orchestra program effectively Mo removes a fully functional student community and it undermines the sense of belong in for hundreds of students in this District please think very carefully about the Ripple effects of this decision thank you for your time thank you okay next is Olivia Holt hi I'm Olivia and I'm in sixth grade at riverb last year
010when I was in fifth grade I could GZA I joined the orchestra to learn the cell it was so fun having Miss Meer and miss Lamb teaches music I like being part of Orchestra when I started Middle School this year I was glad to know Miss Meyer and I was glad to know Miss Meer and have her classroom is something comfortable I knew think about something you like to do now imagine someone took it away how would you feel if the adult said it was for the best but you know it isn't yesterday when my parents told me the news about the possible changes to Orchestra I was upset music is important to me it brings me happiness whether it's dancing playing instruments or singing it brings me Delight please let's keep the music in
011Sten thank you thank you next is Katie I'm sorry again cider the ston area school district has had a valuable music education for many years in 2002 I had the privilege of student teaching in this district and then music education was strong 22 years later as a resident of Stoten music education is still doing well and even after a stint with covid it continues to grow the question I find myself asking is why is Orchestra not supported the Essa states that music is part of a well-rounded education stoen students have had Orchestra as part of their Elementary learning for a long time surrounding districts have orchestra available to students in fifth and even fourth grade Co had some effect on music numbers there is no denying that however they have been growing growing in the
012elementary and middle school levels and thus the numbers at the high school level will Thrive once again but really why are numbers what matters shouldn't a quality music education for students matter the most as I read the mission statement it mentions ensuring all students achieve Excellence they maximize their talents and abilities they are prepared to face the future they are literate and they contribute as members of society Orchestra does all of these things have you been part of a fifth grade Orchestra class in the past or have you observed one students who are in fifth grade Orchestra are some of the most excited Learners that I have seen they learn how to sit or stand with an instrument without playing it even though it's super tempting this is self-discipline they learn how to read analyze
013and decode music which includes notes rhythms Dynamics boeings articulations all while listening and blending within an ensemble this is literacy they learn how to work with others how to problem solve how to connect to the world outside of school all of these skills are vital to Life Beyond school as part of society if you were to ask students where they feel safe they would say the orchestra room not only do students feel safe but they feel like they they belong students of all walks of life join together in the orchestra room to create something beautiful former Wisconsin State superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor States the study of Music stimulates the creative mind and is a valuable part of every child's education by helping build essential skills imagination and self-esteem music and the Arts fuel achievement in
014all academic areas leading to infinite possibilities for our students as Future Leaders and innovators fifth grade Orchestra is home for many students it is a place where they feel part of something huge before they start Middle School please keep Orchestra as part of a well-rounded education for fifth graders in Sten thank you thank you next uh Kathy Gargano I'm going to change topic here just for a second uh my name is Kathy garano this is my 24th year working in the district I started as the library media specialist at Yara and when Yara closed I moved to the high school and have been there ever since I'm also the district media coordinator which until erene pen retired in 2013 was a 0.25 paid position now I do it for free in my spare time and
015for the past two years I've also been the sandill library media specialist in addition to being an employee of sasd I'm the parent of twins who will graduate from shs in June I'm also a taxpayer who voted yes for the referendum and encouraged others to do the same I believe that strong schools are essential for a strong Community I also believe that we owe it to our students to support their math and reading achievement as well as their mental health Bas on the overwhelming support of our of the referendum our amazing community members feel the same now that the Kagan library media specialist has resigned effective after summer Excel there will be two Elementary library positions open for the 24 25 school year if you truly want to increase literacy as stated on the ballot
016you need to fill each of these positions with a full-time permanent library media specialist at least 21 Studies have shown that having a certified librarian on staff can make a tremendous difference in Reading achievement up to a 35% increase in test scores at the elementary level in these studies student test scores were higher the more time Librarians worked Cooperative cooperatively with classroom teachers the more they taught information literacy skills and the more they provided in service training to teachers this is not happening in the few hours a week that I can get to Santo anybody who has watched the news lately knows that now is not the best time in the world to be a librarian book bans and personal attacks have skyrocketed causing many to leave the profession those who stay and are looking
017for a job can pretty much pick and choose where they want to work posting these positions as one-year temporary positions will guarantee they go unfilled which is is exactly what happened when the Sandhill position was posted two years ago I tried to get that message across then and was ignored so I'm going to try it again I urge you to post both of these positions as permanent full-time positions we owe it to our students and to the voters who put their faith in us to do the right thing by voting yes thank you thank you next is Jen Colberg my name is Jen Colberg and I live on hildale Lane here in ston went to the polls last Tuesday and I filled in that little bubble next to yes even though it will cost my
018family a lot of money um after June 2 I will no longer have a child who attends sasd and I still voted yes when I woke up Wednesday morning I learned that our very generous Community showed up for the kids of the district and on Thursday I found out about the proposal to cut a 1.0 position from our music program an orchestra teacher I recognize that our district numbers really don't support maintaining two full-time positions in Orchestra but that job is way too much for one person to do alone and I'm here to ask you to keep a05 Orchestra teacher at the high school um Erica Meer is an incredible teacher she maintains High numbers of students in her program at River Bluff but she's being asked to do way too much and there are
019a couple of things that have been suggested by a team of people that I really respect to lighten the load of whomever is here to teach Orchestra next year but I disagree with this team's ideas first of all there's been talk about changing the way that fifth grade Strings program is run I'm not going to go so far to say it will be eliminated but it certainly will not look the same at the detriment to the kids and the Orchestra program the community just voted to keep all programming through the referendum and the next thing that happens is a decision to basically eliminate fifth grade after school strengths program and that's really embarrassing for us the next justification in cutting a 1.0 teacher position is related to teaching orchestra lessons which is a critical part
020of learning and the solution that I've heard is to have other very qualified music teachers do it and although our high school band and choir teachers are two of the best teachers in the district to ask them to successfully teach a student the intricacy intricacies of how to play a cello violin Viola or Bas that's embarrassing for us so please do not eliminate a 1.0 Orchestra teacher in order to serve our students in grades 5 through 12 we need a 1.5 Orchestra position please only cut half of the high school position in order to maintain fifth grade strings as we know it and allow an orchestra certified teacher to teach orchestra lessons our community deserves a 1.5 Orchestra position and in 1988 that was my Orchestra room thank you okay um next is Austin Reyes
021hello Sten Board of Education I have come here to today to talk about Orchestra and the possible cut of the fifth grade fifth grade Orchestra program as well as the possible cancellation of the high school orchestra teacher position you may remember me from last time I was here but if you don't here's a reminder of who I am I am a cellist in the high school orchestra who joined in fifth grade has been playing for six years I have also been doing my time I have also been donating my time to help teach the fifth graders with Mrs Meyer this past year I have genu I have genuinely I have greatly sorry I have greatly enjoyed helping the fifth graders and seeing them grow and make friendships that will follow them all throughout their middle
022and high school lives being a former fifth grader I know that I know that moving into middle school can be difficult but I also know that having these friendships will greatly help them with with this transition this is why I this is why when I heard that fifth grade Orchestra was going to be cut I was deeply saddened these fifth grade classes are where I made some of my closest friends and made some of the most important support groups that I still use today so I asked to reconsider getting rid of the fifth grade Orchestra I also want to shed light about the possible cut of the high school orchestra position I know be uh no before I say anything Mrs Meyer is an amazing Orchestra teacher and I love having her but she is
023a teacher who cannot she is a teacher who cannot be present at high high scho as a high school teacher both both a high school teacher and a middle school teacher sorry uh us us high schoolers do not have a teacher for parts of the day and often lose and will lose by the end of the year 50 hours of dedicated Orchestra learning an additional 60 that would be held by lessons unless you are able to find a way to make a time machine or teleporter we do not have we cannot just have one Orchestra teacher we need at least a part-time for for the high school I really love this program and I don't want to see it be run by one please consider the things I've have said today thank you very much
024thank you next is Cali Reyes hi um in my in November my son and I gave public comment at this board meeting addressing concerns that we had heard about cuts to music education programs in the school district after we spoke many friends and community members reached out to many of you um we received communication from members of school administration and board members that no cuts to programming were planned we were encouraged to support the operational referendum this spring to keep funding for these programs in place I was recently heartened watching the dozens of social media posts from the district celebrating music in the schools within recent weeks but I'm here today to respond to the proposed Staffing plan that reduces the Staffing Resources for orchestra by 50% effectively cutting the fifth grade Orchestra program from
025its current form and on as an offering in this district and it reduces the support for Effective programming for both the middle and the high school in our previous comments I tried to impart the personal impact that the music programs have had on our family literally keeping one of our children alive but and this is still very real however I do want to talk today about how this reduction will affect close to 200 students in the program as an officer and Orchestra Busters I'm aware of the enrollment concerns at the high school that are driving this decision I'm also aware as we plan for fundraising needs for next year of the wave of kids coming into Orchestra at the middle school level as Austin stated we're currently living under the funding model that you are
026suggesting in this plan this has meant a reduction to access in one-on-one lesson time and a combination of the auditioned and non- auditioned groups at the high school both of which were Staples of the Orchestra program before this combined with a plan to not allow students to begin the orchestra Journey until sixth grade will put them at a disadvantage from other Dean County students in other districts one of the Strategic pillars of our district is belonging and it is amazing that we as a district have chosen to call this out as an area of focus the kids in Orchestra stay connected because they find a place they belong within the seats of that room in fifth grade they meet kids from all the elementary schools and create a ready-made Landing space for the first tough
027weeks of middle school they know the building they know each other they learn new skills they work as a team towards a goal they learn to take feedback even from the scary but cool high schoolers who in turn are able to grow their leadership skills with opportunities to provide service in their Community the kids who are in Orchestra at the high school right now our kids that stuck with it during covid when they couldn't play together and they had to learn independently and they did it because they love it it's their place those 35 kids at the high school deserve a quality Orchestra program they aren't insignificant and they belong the Middle School's enrollment continues to grow year after year with four times the eighth grade students expected next year as we're planning there are
028currently six sections of Orchestra how are these numbers going to be supported in the future years with this cut the Staffing plan you're reviewing tonight has some wonderful and needed additions to our schools but please don't approve this plan at the expense of needed and valued programs are currently in place thans thank you uh next is Moren shows hello thank you um school board members families students I am here as another passionate advocate for Orchestra program as a parent of two students one in the high school and one in the middle school and have seen so much value from the experiences they have had in both of those programs my son who in high school who has had the opportunity to represent our small town in Norway as a fiddler as a result of the
029awesome experiences he had starting in the fifth grade I can go back to the day he told me he had learned about the fact that he would be able to go to the middle school as a fifth grader and learn an instrument and sat and poured over all of his options trying to figure out what he would learn because secretly he wanted to learn every single one and how excited he was because we kept on talking to him about find your people find your people and when he found Austin and the other students in that Orchestra and said Mom these are my people this is where I belong and I'm so excited to continue this path and understand it and it was so powerful for us and we found a way to support him from
030there he has been excelling in school and he just earned um recognition for his high honors as a sophomore and we couldn't be more proud I want other families to have that opportunity and over the past year have seen the struggles of this program and they have really been showing Erica has worked so hard to support this as well as our substitutes and miss Lamb but it is absolutely fraying at the edges and you can see that in the quality of what those students are putting out they just can't do what they used to we went to solo Ensemble this year and we disheartened because it didn't feel like the kids were as prepared as they have been in previous years and these are students that are representing stoen they representing our school when Theodore
031has been trying out for the dancers it's been shocking how few students are prepared as musicians to be in front of an audience in that way and we want to be giving them those tools and resources to be prepared because that opportunity is one every student deserves I could go into the statistics but you've heard them already just think about the opportunities that we're denying our students if we're not preparing them right away and fifth grade really is where they should be starting with this before they're getting into full middle school so that they have the skills at high school and Beyond thank you thank you uh next is Tracy Martinez um hi my name is Tracy Martinez my son is um rapael he is a seventh grader um at River Bluff um coming from
032a family so have playing an instrument was not even something we would be aware of as parents um if Mrs Meyer hadn't come to the school um and the music program hadn't let them try instruments and things like that and it has opened up a complete new door to him and given him access to opportunities that he may have not otherwise had um I think it also so I remember when he first went to middle school how scary it was going being a sixth grader it it allowed him to have continuity um have a safe place to go and um just gave him a lot of opportunity that he wouldn't have otherwise had um it's been something he's been very passionate about and it's something that he has stuck with and like others here I
033too want other families to have that opportunity um we made a decision I in I think it was 2017 we moved to stoen and we looked at a lot of other communities I know we talk in this District a lot about I hear a lot about enrollment numbers being down um POS you know um having to make Cuts I too supported the referendum the referendum passed and when we made a decision to move to this this community we we made a decision based on this community has a library this has a a nice downtown it has good schools we we didn't want to be in Madison where you continue to see those cuts and if we are going to bring families into these communities we're competing with schools school districts like Oregon where they are
034well known for a lot of these art programs people are going to pass by stoen so I think we need to be thinking about those types of things when we're making decisions to cut because we are not going to be seen as a commun a destination Community for for young families to be bringing their students to schools here they are going to go look at other places and the other concern that I have is that um Mrs Meyer has done a wonderful job but I can see from a distance that she has been asked to do more and more and that is unsustainable I have seen as a parent over the years we've seen turnover um with the principal the assistant principal with different teachers and that is going to continue to happen if we
035don't have if we're not seen as a a good employer um to teachers enrollment teachers numbers are down everywhere um there's a shortage of teachers and if we're not seen as a desirable place to work we are going to have a harder and harder time attracting teachers to our community which in turn is going to affect our students in the end and I'd like you to think about that thank you thank you um next is Mario Martinez is that right hello um well I didn't get well prepared for this but oh my name is Mario Martinez so my son is Rafael Martinez he's been playing since since he was in fight grader so he has really been enjoying this program since since the beginning so now he's seven grader going to a going to high
036school in couple years so taking this SC in this teacher will really affect his education and or orchestra music so by cing this position I think what we what we got in the dream I'm some of the younger kids are the Fig graders and well affect his education so then the other thing Mrs Meers has been doing such a great job teaching him teaching all these students then by cutting that position now not the only students that going to be suffer some other kids they're not going to have the opportunity then the quality is not going to be the same then week 19 we are you can the this this um how I say Miss Myer it's not it's not she's not going to be sustainable for her to be keep keeping out with it
037so and I think we are in a high race I losing her too because she is going to be bured up so please consider replacing the other teacher please thank you thank you okay last on the list of inperson comment is Theodore chose and then I will ask if there's anybody else who wants to give public comment when Theodore is finished so if you still want to think about it you will have one more chance go ahead uh hello everybody my name is Fedor chose I a sophomore Orchestra musician um let's see I'm part of the Wisconsin new Sy Orchestra Fiddler for the dancers and also I help out with fifth grade Orchestra with my friend Austin uh during fifth grade Orchestra I've seen a lot of these kids grow their skills been able to
038express themselves and find a place belonging a lot of bonds have formed that they wouldn't have felt or had beforehand and a lot of friends were made um yeah it's just a really amazing program um and it should really be kept uh yeah that's about it thank you thank you okay is there anyone else in the room that wanted to give public comment that hadn't signed up previously seeing no hands I will oh I just make one additional comment we only limit it to one comment per person I'm sorry okay so no other public comment I'm going to move to the written public comment submitted prior to the meeting today the first comment is from Amanda golin I am providing comments on behalf of open enrollment families in regards to proposed plans to permanently combine
039the middle school high school orchestra instruction position this is an unsustainable option that is not sensible in the setting of passage of the new referendum just days ago retention of skilled faculty in a combined middle school high school Position will be severely limited similarly retention of open enrollment families like mine will be risked by decisions that limit offerings within the district sasd has an obligation to offer a breath of pro programming to accommodate its resident population as well as to remain competitive amongst neighboring districts for open enrollment dollars please think closely about the impacts of your decisions beyond the immediate black red I appreciate your service to the community and your consideration thank you the second public comment was submitted by Kristen Rosenberg dear sasd School Board I am writing to let you know that
040my family and I are moving to oair so sadly this will be my last year as the Konza librarian with my departure it is my deepest hope that the district will fill the two open librarian positions with certified Librarians we are teachers and our libraries are classrooms libraries have evolved so far beyond quiet rooms where students read we teach coding social emotional learning skills stem skills and a love of reading in a variety of forms also I believe that Carrie Kellerman and Kathy Gargano should be thanked applauded and given a parade carry for working so incredibly hard to make sure the strong sandill Library program continued after Julie fingerson retired while being paid a fraction of what a certified librarian would be Kathy for running the high school library while also tirelessly tirelessly supporting Carrie
041literally working at two locations our district values Equity inclusion and literacy these are a Librarians bread and butter for the good of our community please fill the two open positions with certified Librarians thank you for your time the third public comment is from Renee Su I hope I said that right dear School Board I am writing in support of the current Orchestra funding model including fifth grade Orchestra student inclusion does not stop with r race/ethnicity and disability inclusion for all means including all types of Learners music education allows and encourages creativity and new brain Pathways this is an outlet for some in the same way art and physical education is we would never consider not encouraging Learners to move their body and learn how to move their bodies as they develop into adulthood the same
042applies here when you don't ensure all students have the ability to develop skills to self-regulate parentheses art music physical movement closed parenthesis you will have more mental health needs in the school setting music education may be the only reason that kids attend school using motivation on something enjoyable to balance build skills and resilience to engage into adulthood if you haven't listened to the Daily episode from 4 from April 2nd 2024 it is insightful on absenteeism we moved to Sten because of the school district because of the opportunity for expanded learning options and the ability to engage their brains in many ways I am disappointed that these options continue to dwindle and I do consider if this is the right district for my kids at this time I also have a hard time understanding the lack
043of resources in a community that is growing so rapidly finally discussion and potentially cutting important learning opportunities in this community after the pass of a very liberal referendum will require accountability and explanation the fourth public comment is from Abby and I know I'm going to murdle it this one uh shacker members of the school board this is my comment to support keeping Orchestra education accessible to all students of our district to cut positions down to be shared across the district would be a huge disservice to Children of our community I cannot begin to express the impact that Orchestra education has had on my life I played the viola from fourth grade to 12th grade not only did Orchestra deepen my love of music but it also gave me a colorful and enriching community in my
044grade school years Orchestra taught me dedication teamwork practice and perseverance in a unique way that other programs or Sports didn't this carried into so much more in my life Orchestra provides exponentially more than just learning and just learning an instrument the beauty of coming together to create art music teaches appreciation music gives children the opportunity to try something new and fail then try again it gives them an outlet for expression creation and passion music creates safe spaces in communities for children who don't feel they fit in anywhere else to cut back would harm students who haven't found another interest that works for them to go from being excited that the referendum passed to hearing about stripping Orchestra in our schools is gut-wrenching this program needs to be cared for as much as others if not
045more quote music gives a soul to the universe Wings to the Mind flight to the imagination and Life to everything close quote from Plato public comment number five written and submitted is from Joel cyle my daughter is an or ra her grade cohort entered middle school during the time we were fully virtual imagin being a bod string instrument virtually her class could not play together and they could not receive Hands-On position correction we were all in survival mode and it is no wonder enrollment was low yet the students currently in shs Orchestra are the ones who persevered they have continued to play their instruments despite having a long-term sub for the majority of the past two years despite losing lesson time with an orchestra certified teacher and the advanced class integrated into the main class
046because of the shared Orchestra position making it a permanently shared position seems incredibly shortsighted especially given the robust enrollment at River Bluff as a music instructor myself I am also shocked to hear that the proposed replacement for the fifth grade program is a ukulele unit and the quote instrument petting zoo close quote while both excellent curricular ideas neither of them offers even 1 hour of instruction on bod string instruments to replace the over 90 hours of specialized instruction that fifth graders in the program currently receive when I look at the proposed cuts it looks to me like the district is trying to burn out their incredibly skilled Orchestra teacher at riverbluff and burn the entire program to the ground please prove me wrong comment number six is from Suzanne Cole I'm writing as a graduate
047of shs music programs and a parent of a second grader music gives kids a place to belong often that's kids who won't be on a sports team for me the place I felt the most connected to school was the music department sometimes it is kids who struggle with traditional ways of academic learning music can help with so many things emotional regulation social skills creativity and can even be an entry point for math and language arts my daughter was so excited when they had the instrument petting zoo in music class this year she was told that in fifth grade she could begin learning an orchestra instrument if she so chooses don't take that choice away from her I understand that her peers in other districts in the area have the chance to begin Orchestra instruction during
048the school day as early as fourth grade the stoen community supported our schools with the referendum stoen is also a community that strongly supports the Arts don't take away this opportunity to keep the Arts vibrant in our schools comment number seven is from Elliot writtenberry I am writing as a past sasd music educator regarding grave and Urgent concern for the upcoming decision of removing FTE from removing the fifth grade strings classes and reducing the amount of Orchestra teachers please understand how dire the fifth grade Strings program is for the entire music curriculum when I taught band at River Bluff Middle School I could always tell what students had participated in fifth grade strings as they were able to excel in music reading and learning music this created such joyous and competent musicians and also developed
049student leaders removing these classes would take away a crucial component of their musical experience secondly assessing FTE of FTE off of these numbers would be discrediting the phenomenal work that I have seen Erica Meer do firsthand the current freshman did not have access to fifth grade strings due to covid which shows us that taking away the fifth grade strings classes would could lessen student participation this unfair decision could pave the way for cutting Corners in music education students will deeply feel these changes and suffer I could not imagine how lost students may feel with having one less year of curriculum of instrumental music available to them and having little access to a trusted adult adult as their building teacher do not allow this negative Trend to accelerate comment number eight is from Katie Holt a
050community dedicated to fostering holistic growth students we recently rallied together passing a crucial referendum aimed at bolstering our educational resources and support systems Central to this referendum was the explicit commitment to enhancing reading and math scores alongside prioritizing mental health assistance within our district in light of these shared goals we are ly concerned by the proposal to reduce the staff dedicated to our Orchestra curriculum music education isn't merely an extracurricular activity it's an ingal it's an integral component of a well-rounded education with far-reaching Benefits research consistently demonstrates the positive correlation between music education and academic achievement learning to play an instrument enhances cognitive abilities including critical thinking problem solving and mathematical skills Studies have shown that students engaged enged in music education often exhibit higher Proficiency in reading and math compared to their peers music
051has profound effects on mental health and emotional well-being playing an instrument provides an outlet for self- expression stress relief emotional regulation Fosters discipline perseverance teamwork essential qualities for navigating the complexities of academic personal life nurturing a robust music education curriculum invests in the artistic talents of students and empowers students Within valuable skills that transcend the confines of the classroom cutting resources from Orchestra classes would not only undermine the promises made in the recent referendum but also jeopardize the well-being and academic success of our students we urge the school board to cons to reconsider this proposal and uphold our commitment to providing comprehensive and enriching educational opportunities for all students in our district comment number nine is from Josh Wold as a dedicated realtor promoted sten's Vibrant Community I stress the importance of a robust education
052system and attracting families recently our community passed a crucial referendum to enhance our educational resources highlighting the significance of maintaining excellence in all areas of learning a key aspect of this comprehensive education is a strong music curriculum which not only Fosters artistic talent but also contributes to academic success and emotional well-being research consistently shows the profound benefits of music education on COG nitive development and academic achievement making it a crucial factor for families considering a move to Stoten I am deeply concerned about proposed cuts to our Orchestra curriculum as it would compromise our commitment to providing a comprehensive education and diminish our community's appeal to prospective residents a decline in music education quality could deter families from choosing Stoten impacting property values and Community growth access to Quality education is a priority for families when
053relocating and a thriving music curriculum is a significant factor in their decision-making Pro process I urge the school board to reconsider any actions that would undermine our music education curriculum preserving and investing in our Orchestra classes aligns with our commitment to educational Excellence making stoen an even more desirable destination for families seeking a home and that concludes the written comments um just so everyone here understands um there is a discussion item on the agenda tonight that does touch on some of these topics but other than that we aren't able to respond to the comments that were given this evening um but if you want to stick around and see what happens during discussion you're welcome to do so okay thank you everybody so now we are on to item 2 B which is the legislative
054update that I'm going to hand off to Lisa Pew online hello everybody uh just a quick kind of overview of um referendum action in the state is the legislative update for tonight so Statewide 56 of the 93 School referendum on the April 2nd uh ballot were approved uh 93 questions were asked across those uh 93 school districts about 2third of the referendum questions were to fund staff and services similar to the operational referendum that we had here in Stoten um other statistics uh there were 19 out of the 30 debt referendum uh passed so that was a passage rate of 63% nonrecurring referendum 26 out of the 43 passed for a passage rate of 60% and then for recurring referendum like we had here in Stoten 11 of 20 of those referendum passed for a
055passage rate of 55% um I just did a little math on the passage rate of those uh recurring referendum similar to ston had the third highest winning percentage margin so our our referendum passed by 22% um which was um just behind barnaville had up winning percentage of 33% North Lakeland School 52% those are much smaller districts so I think our positive um passage rate is really something to be commended for our community um a few other statistics according to uh Civic media reporting 100 of the states 421 districts um get at least 10% of their revenue limit from non-recurring operational referendum and that percentage is growing and expected to continue to grow last year there were only 80 districts that met that threshold of uh operational referendum funding at 10% and 10 years ago just
05636 districts were uh ahead of that 10% Mark in terms of being funded by referendum funding so um that is the update for tonight Thank you Lisa are there any questions for Lisa see none in the room or virtual okay we'll move on uh then to committee reports I know community relations met since our last meeting yeah and we'll cover that um what we met about is related to uh the agenda item 6A so I don't know that work giving a update we talked about the business Nal we came up with four nominees and we will present them uh during that time if that's okay only one and that's the only one okay all right so I don't believe we'll have a student representative report because I don't see Lily online so that takes us
057to Dr keizer's report all right so because we'll be talking about Staffing as a separate agenda item um my report will be um pretty short um as mentioned in public comments and in the legislative update from um Lisa we are excited that the operational referendum passed we want to thank um not only the community but um all of those who work behind the scenes to help um get out the information I personally want to thank ER picket for all putting together all of the information into an understandable form and doing the line share of the presentations we've done many together um and then some independently but thank you for doing that work um couple of um other related items I know that people have um seen and have asked about the secondary principal positions we
058have two that are were out and um we had applicants applying for these up through win uh spring break which closed on March 31st first one I'll talk about is River Bluff where we've had as an interim Cheryl price and thank you Cheryl for um stepping in and helping to support River Bluff during the transition happy to report we had 25 applicants um apply for that position um as a close on the 31st and so last week we um have been going through those applicants and sing out some screen interview um so some of the 25 applicants will be submitting screen interviews and of those U we look to do inperson interviews on on or about April 25th um with the idea that we'll do building inperson interviews the week of May 6th and um
059which will include staff and parents um we have an idea of how we might involve middle school students within that Pro process in an informal way and then hopefully be able to get um a recommendation to the board shortly thereafter for the high school um if you're saying this is a little bit Deja Vu this we did um have this posted earlier in the year and it didn't yield um a recommendation um to the board so we reposted we had 17 applicants um and that also closed that at the end of spring break and so very similar to River Bluff we are um in the spot where where we have some screen interviews out um April 26th is the schedule date for in-person interviews for the first round with again that same first week in
060May for building um interviews this will include staff students and parents as part of the interview process us um and then again uh plans to make a recommendation to the board shortly thereafter and then the slide that isn't in here I just want to public publicly thank Kate bbus my executive assistant this is her last board meeting she has um accepted a position to be the executive assistant to the dean of students for W Madison and so she'll be transitioning to that at the end of this week and so just want to say thank you for the two years um you've helped support me as I transitioned in and the support that you've given to this board and this community thank you yeah I just want to say thank you and thank you to the
061whole board it's been a fantastic learning opportunity and I really am going to miss this group so thank you so with that comments questions anyone I can't see Frank anymore Lisa nothing okay all right Frank waving no comment okay all right we are going to move on to the consent agenda move consent agenda as presented second second by Bove on is there any discussion Alison I had one question about the calendar the calendar yeah the um it's looks like it doesn't make a difference for a number of school days it just says so it's in compliance with the staff contracts I correct we when we were um double triple quadruple checking we recognized that we had 191 staff um days okay and our handbook has 190 so we removed one day in August at the
062beginning so it does impact student days um or the start or end days okay thank you any other questions or discussion around the cons agenda Lisa I see your hand uh I was just curious on the last few check registers seing the charges for um substitute teachers wondering if we're on target are we uh having more substitute charges than prior years or is it just looks like a lot but I don't know how it compares it's a good question it is a lot because as part of ESS there there is a I forget the percentage up charge pardon 33% additional cost so we pay the subs the same rate that we do but the cost to ESS is an additional 33% so that's what is the increase in costs over prior years any other questions
063or comments no all right the consent agenda has been moved in second all in favor I I any exensions consent agenda has been approved on to item 5A topic on everyone's mind yep Staffing Okay so this will be uh a little bit different from last year where I was giving the presentation and answering questions we are um gonna have a team effort on this one I'll kick things off and first want to recognize the public comments that um we've heard this evening and I want to address up front that there is the perception that we are cutting a program and the Staffing while showing a reduction in the 1.0 position Orchestra this position is vacated and has not not been filled this year we've had long-term sub who um supported us through first semester and
064when told that they would not be continuing on for the remainder of the year we engaged um the services of Miss m to help um develop a plan that has been in place this in entirety of second semester and in part the recommendation is to continue that plan and improve upon that plan moving forward we've been meeting with Miss Meyer even a um as of today to double and triple check the plans that we are moving forward with into next year and have her support as part of that plan that is moving forward so I just want to say as we go into this conversation that if the language seems different it is not it is not to discredit the information that our public has been told and has shared tonight but we have been
065working with the staff in order to develop the the recommendations and the plans moving forward so with that pleas I will um jump into the presentation and it will um dovetail both the things that we've been doing prior to the referendum and include the positions that have been approved as part of the referendum Mia can I just ask a clarifying question about what you just said so you said that no program is being cut and while I understand that the fifth grade after school program is necessarily part of the Staffing recommendation are you meaning to say that the fifth grade after school program will continue no I'm not saying that at all I'm saying that the fifth grade after school program is being move is and I will talk about that in the presentation and
066Kate will talk more about it as well but after school programming it this is about Staffing and staff ft no Staffing is being changed that is is tied currently to the after school program the program programming after school is being moved into the school day in part to improve access and mitigate some other long-standing uh challenges that we've had with after school both with recruitment access and um transportation so that will be a part of the conversation but it is not impacting Staffing with yeah so we always want to start with Staffing with where where um our overall vision is so when we think about our vision we talk about the big AES and um our all the way down to our individual students and one thing that I will am proud of this year
067is that we've kind of codified from this room the boardroom all the way down to the classroom that our priorities over the next couple of years is around literacy math and belonging um and as we've heard from our public comment there is a lot that feeds into that but our focus and our road map until 2026 is really tied to making sure that the numbers that we built around our um board dashboard are mile markers that we can not only meet but also exceed So currently with all students um in ela at 43% in mathematics at 45% we want to see those numbers grow over the next several years and we want to make sure that we exceed those mile markers um as we move forward and so a lot of our time effort with
068our buildings has been about what are we currently doing and how can can we increase the impact last year I introduced this slide and I felt it important that we bring this slide back to give us kind of a li uh a lipus test and a marker by which um we have been looking at both our staffing and our enrollment this goes back to 2010 and the orange bar still represents our overall student enrollment as a per percentage um marker in 2010 so what our student population was back then and where it is now and as you can see we still are about 18% below where we were in 2010 based on our staffing decisions that we have made over the over that same course of time you can see that blue bar has dipped
069and increased and has dipped again and based on the reductions that we made last year mainly to our own policies around class-size targets we are about 2% lower than where we were in 2010 and as a as a metric where we were last year was slightly above that 2010 Mark a lot of discussion was talked last year and we didn't necessarily have this slide last year but we we resurrected it um this fall and want to make sure that we have this a part of our Staffing conversation moving forward which is really talking about class siiz targets and how we go about developing our class sectioning is different based on whether you're elementary middle or high school at elementary school we build our staffing model based on our um second Friday counts and cast those
070enrollments moving forward knowing that open enrollment starts around February and closes and ultimately is finalized in June and July so the we get a good sense of where we are Elementary knowing that open enrollment um makes some slight adjustments in in our Elementary Middle School um section numbers at the high school it is based on um student course selection I.E students sign up for the courses that they want to take if they see it in the course catalog it is available for them to sign up for and so all the students who signed up for orchestra for next year the plan is to provide them Orchestra sections for next year so the orchestra classes that we have this year and the orchestra classes that we have next year are still going to be staffed although
071the number of students who have requested those classes as we have heard and as I will share on the last slide have decreased slightly but also to the credit of of what has been listened in public comment we have seen an an uptick in kids taking courses at middle school and so we are digging into that why there is such a disparity in Middle School um to high school the rounding out of our staff um Staffing assumptions we talk about how we staff El and special education which is based on um student um proficiency levels in El and also weighted case loads moving forward that had a factor in our staffing recommendations moving forward for next year and as we had had shared both um last year and in our our referendum presentations we always
072are looking at ways to staff according to our enrollments and according to our um course selections so we have always maintained that we will continue to use the same policies and procedures and practices that we have um in the past moving forward and that the referendum was to help us maintain these programs so we wouldn't have to use the um um last point on here which is a reduction in force because of um budgetary concerns but seven and eight are um directly out of our handbook which is we always look at um flexibility based on attrition so any retirements or resignations are the first things that we try to look at when addressing Staffing and then if we have to go down to that last that last bullet and we have to reduce in force
073we use our um staff handbook and the procedures outlined in the staff handbook to give a lipus test because there was a lot of conversation in regards to a year ago what would uh a cast forward look like and as I mentioned open enrollment has some factor to play with that these are our current um class sizes in elementary school so using the target of 22 you can see in kindergarten through fifth grade each of the sections that we have the total number of students and um the average class size for each of those sections at the middle school because they have English Math Science Social Studies so forth I just simply um to give a snap shot looked at home rooms um this doesn't mean that these are the numbers in each of the
074um core areas or even in the related art areas but you can also um get a snapshot of how many students we have in each of our grade levels and then what the average class size is I did not do high school because high school has hundreds of courses um and so it would be I would end up just picking on one particular department and doing that um but our class sizes again are based on the based on um student recommendations and then we staff based on based on the class size Target of 28 so all the slides that have just happened become a foundation for all future Staffing conversations our staffing recommendation going into into this year I'm actually going to start from the bottom and work work my way up um because there's
075been a lot of conversations in regard in regards to um one of those uh two positions and I want to make sure that I address that and then I will uh talk about the additions and then transition over to Kate and Kelly to talk about um the referendum pieces so with with the kindergarten recommendation we are recommending that we are going to reduce a 1.0 kindergarten um position there is if you remember from the previous slide we had 193 kindergarten students and 10 10 sections based on our cast forward from our second Friday count we are down about um almost 30 or almost 20 students so reducing uh reducing this the section in that reduces in elementary a full FTE and we are looking at Open Enrollment um and balancing those out so that our
076numbers stay within within the class siiz targets so the reduction of that one F FTE really is looking at um balancing out based on those the um second Friday counts moving forward and again looking at um attrition we are looking at our retirements and resignations at the elementary level and being able to adjust within that so we feel confident that um that 1.0 is not going to result in any sort of um uh reduction of an actual FTE due to retirements and resignations that um have been acted upon or will be acted upon potentially coming up this spring the district 1.0 Orchestra as I mentioned is something that has been talked about a lot and this is a vacated position so this position is a a position that um is currently being staffed by Miss
077Meyer 612 because we had to adjust Midstream we didn't have the benefit of actually building a structure within one FTE with all of the lessons and all of that which is certainly the concern that um Community has elevated and I wanted to dis way any um anxiety that the board may have that this is going to be something that will continue moving forward but something that we have been working alongside Miss Meyer to address and make sure that we have um all of those bases covered the um perception that there is a cut to staff around fifth grade Orchestra or fifth grade strings that is after school program and since I've been here some of the challenges that we have had with um the after school program is one the access it is available to
078those who have the ability to sign up and participate after school transportation and so we wanted to make sure that if we wanted the best possible opportunity to bring um Fine Arts or in this case music to all students we want to move that from outside of the school day to within the school day and work with our Elementary staff to develop what will this look like we recognize it will be different than what the after school program is it has to be because we're make it a part of the school day but we feel that it will have the best um leverage to increase access to music programming moving forward um some of the other pieces that have been talked about the the instrumental petting um zoo we are looking at ways with our
079elementary um mu music teachers to find other and new opportunities to increase the um exposure to these instruments in Orchestra as well as look at Cross level opportunities um to increase the opport the um access to those exposure opportunities and so we have more information that we've been working directly with with our staff but that is a programmatic decision not a staffing decision which is why you do not see it listed on here that the Staffing position is currently a vacated position moving to the top of top of the um recommendation she working my way down the uh 1.0 addition to learning strategist again working with pupil services staff and the the strats across our district and seeing where we have increases in in um initial evaluations as well as three-year evaluations and using our
080weighted case load as a um marker by which we we um look at those case loads we are recommending that we need to add a 1.0 position that will be listed currently at the district because we are waiting for final um spring Staffing and initial evils to see exactly where that position is going to be the most impactful um so that's why it's listed not by a school but by at the district because we are still evaluating exactly where that uh impact is we know where it would be a year ago for this year we're evaluating this year with our staff to see where it would go next year the 1.0 academic coach again this is to support our overall goals around literacy and Ma mathematics it is directly to support teachers with the aim
081of increasing that highquality first teaching which is universal to all students within the classroom it ALS so is one of the tenants within our act 20 that was passed and the work that we've been do doing um largely Kate and the um Elementary staff in rolling out what that means so that academic coach is is um going to augment and support coaching and intervention across the district which is why it's listed at the district level the eighth grade River Bluff position again it's a it's simple simplistically listed as enrollment um driven but again looking at um our cast forward numbers from our um second Friday count and looking at how we have been talking and implementing the class siiz targets adding the 1.0 gets us closest to the class siiz Target and so the recommendation
082here is to add that at 1.0 position to 8th grade based on enrollment numbers likewise in looking at course selections at the high school there's been an increase in students who have been subject selecting in PE which has created the need to shift Staffing back up to to the high school so where we had a high school staff sharing between high school and um Middle School specifically um um that shift to from the high school to the middle school was to support Health we need to shift that person back up to the high school to support the increased enrollment at in uh physical education and so the added 0.5 in health is to backfill that position and all of those positions I've just listed were discussions that we've been having with staff at the building
083level prior to um last Tuesday's election since last Tuesday's election we are fortunate that that remains where we are because of the support the community has shown us and we talked about how we would add some staffing to address specifically our literacy math and mental health goals and so that has translated into um an increase in positions for reading and math which Kate um shortly will talk more about and a 2.0 position um to address Mental Health Resources which Kelly will talk about and the reason why and Kelly will speak more to this as why it is TBD is because what you will see is the work that needs to be done and we are still engaged with ation with the pupil services staff to be able to accurately title what those roles would be
084and so while we can talk about the interventionists because we've we've done that Discerning in the past the mental health resources are resources that we have a clear vision of what the need is we have lack of clarity at this point of what we want to call those positions to address those needs so we know what the they will do and we're we're at the point that we feel comfortable asking the board's support for the positions even if we don't have the title figured out at this point so with that I want to turn over to Kate to talk a little bit more about those uh three positions for academics and then I'll turn over Kelly to talk about the mental health and then I'll Clos out with the last thank you hello every oh
085you I was just are we saving all the questions for the I think we should okay thank you thank you thanks everyone for being here tonight appreciate you all um we're here tonight to talk about three interventionist positions across the district to address reading and math needs that'll be afforded by the referendum and we are so appreciative of our community for supporting those uh as well as will speak as Dan mentioned about two positions across the district to support mental health needs uh one quick note about all five of the positions is we really do Envision them as positions that would fluctuate based on needs so they would be District level positions and they may change uh even in in the course of a year um in terms of the buildings or students they might
086serve um these would be interventionists so they are going to be responding to Benchmark testing that we do with students and if we see a greater need somewhere we want to be able to provide the services to meet that need uh but I and just to remind everyone and I know that Dr keer talked about it earlier tonight of our our pressing commitments and immediate needs to be able to support all of our students and I want to talk a little bit specifically about how our the key what the key actions of the reading interventionist might be so uh if I were a Community member or a board member what I would rightfully want to understand is what will these roles actually be doing if I walked into a school what would I actually be
087seeing uh so you can see all those um examples one through four three has lots of different parts to it but really all around providing instruction uh from a science basis or rationale um to be able to give students the code to be able to read um and to make sense of ideas to also be able to read stretch texts um stretch that might be a text that might be a little bit beyond their capacity we want to be able to provide them that type of instruction at our earliest level of course we'll be seeing really robust and strong instruction in foundational skills um but what an interventionist is going to be doing is not just more of the same so not just sort of the the same curriculum the universal curriculum that we think
088really cast a wide net and meets the needs of all of our students and then what we learn is that there are some or and or few uh who despite our best efforts our coaches and teachers have worked together to ensure that high quality first teaching is happening we're still not making the gains that we want want to make with our students of concern so then we would think about what types of interventions that we would want to be using with our students and those would be what you see so um words with multiple syllables so that tends to be a place where our students break down um they will often skip over the word move on to something else and we want to stop that we want to be able to U give them
089the skills to be able to decode those words with multiple syllables that very complex discipline specific vocabulary we want to be able to ensure that our students have access to those types of texts because those types of texts equal access um to not only to what's in school but have such value Beyond school as well um other words that probably seem somewhat familiar to some of you would be the fluency building activities to help students read effortlessly um lots of comprehension so students being able to make sense of what they are reading um so that they can contribute meaningfully to discussion which was a big part of our professional learning today at the 62 level um so that will be primarily the the key actions of our reading interventionists uh we have now a a
090sort of a developing uh list of interventions that will be District approved interventions that will be aligned with act 20 that our interventionists will select from they will have the opportunity um to meet with each other um quite frequently with that we think that's important to build a community of practice um around the the work of providing interventionists and with me and also with our build leaders that's the work of our reading interventionists the work of our our math interventionists are likely what you would imagine uh that we want to be sure that our students are being directly taught clear and concise mathematical language of course we think we're doing that in our first teaching in our Universal instruction and then what we know from the data that you have seen is that it's not
091taking um for for some and few of our students so our interventionists are going to provide a qualitatively different EXP experience for those students um interventionists on both sides will be engaging in ongoing progress monitoring so we're not just sort of um the providing the intervention and hoping that it works we're collecting data on a much more frequent basis and a much more precise basis to understand the the extent to which those interventions are really impacting student learning um so those other key actions that you would see of a math interventionist are lots of opportunities to use concrete representations to make sense of mathematical ideas say um deliberate instruction on word problems that can be a barrier for many of our students uh many of our students who are learning English um are May struggle
092with that many of our students struggle with word problems um I did as a learner so having those opportunities to really learn a process for addressing word problems in math will be really an important part of some students um sort of diet of mathematical intervention should they receive them um they'll use the learning progression so looking at the Arc of the major work of the grades beginning in kindergarten all the way through high school and being able to diagnose when a student is encountering a problem with math how far they need to go back using the progression afforded by achieve the um which is a prominent website that helps us understand uh Common Core based math instruction um it it's just a really easy way to track our students um back to where their instruction
093is grounded and secure um for some of our students that may be two or three great levels um behind where they are now but that helps us to give a key to what interventions needs to look like because it not only needs to provide um opportunities for students to access that major work of the grade but a tool like the progression and access to peers uh among our interventionists will be able to help our interventionists make really judicious choices about the type of intervention that's going to serve the child the best um and that really leads into the major work of the grade so really thinking about when we know we have students who are struggling to learn in Universal instruction we have to really think and ask the question of all we could pick
094what would be the most important thing for our students to learn and once again that progression allows us the opportunity to to um be able to identify according to the Common Core according to our state's uh standards what that major work of the great is so that we're focusing on that which is the most important thing for for them to learn um and it rigor is a really important part of that work as well um when we think about um what's important for all of our students to experience we want our students in intervention to be successful at something they think is difficult which is really the only way that any of us develops uh self-esteem uh and to develop certainly in the math context of mathematical identity um if I can be successful at
095something that I think is really difficult so we want rigor to be a part of that to um those are those are really the plans I really wanted to lay out what we what we envision for that position um and we'll talk a little bit more about how both of those roles would actually work uh and here I want to lift up some advocacy from our building leaders we um when we learned that we would have this opportunity to go to our community and and ask for these positions we wanted to engage our building leaders in understanding what they thought would be the best fit and in here are some sort of more General um pieces of advocacy that they have you see that interventionists they do play a a crucial role and um you
096might also be wondering well that's you know you showed us Kate what key actions of the interventionist are when they're working with children how about when they're working with adults which is another key part of their job so um our staff identified for us that our interventionists really need to actively participate in collaboration meetings they need to be a part of analyzing data making instructional decisions um and some coaching as well so that we want to make sure that our interventionists and coaches have opportunities to collaborate with one another um that can be difficult to do we're going to work on that um we think that's important um and our our building leaders also felt the dedicated time for building relationships with students and staff was really important um so it's wonderful to have research
097back um evidence-based interventions we're going to do that but we also know it's important to build Rel relationships with kids um and to make sure that they feel seen and they feel known in that intervention environment um and and so too with staff so that we get to know one another um that's especially necessary when we're talking about about student data we all want our students um to Excel and succeed and you know when that's not happening those are times for necessary conversations and we need to call Deep on those U relationships we have with one another to be able to make really good decisions for kids um the the crime need just wanted to call it out here really across um K through 12 was for more math interventions to a greater understanding of
098what uh high quality math interventions are and for those to exist across K12 so we agree um and they also thought providing professional learning that that's really important um so that we're universally designing instruction that's really what we mean by high quality first teaching so cting the widest net so as many students as possible all students are included the first time are thought of um in planning and in the first time we teach something um also just wanted to call up or to highlight that our building leaders felt that leading literacy coaching and supporting teachers in implementing those research strategies like discussion project for example like what to do when you encounter um a a word with multiple syllables um they want to know what the high quality strategies are they want to use them
099and they they would like some support in in how to do that um and they also noted as we did too as an administrative staff that um one of the ways that interventionists among all the other ways we've mentioned today can be really helpful is that you can achieve the benefits of smaller class sizes when you're working with interventionists um while while not necessarily reducing class sizes but you're able to U be able to have smaller groups of students have more targeted instruction uh and that that becomes really important so I wanted to um to really first thank our building leaders we came together and I think they did some work in late January and in early February to talk a little bit um as a as a K12 leadership team about their advocacy and
100we wanted to share it with you here and and what you see here around building relationships with students and staff that will that will go for any position um that we have in our district um and and also we want to make sure that in our referendum based positions that we're both talking about that you know that that's a key point for us as well and then there's some um actual there's just some quotes around what staff what our leadership team um has told us about the intervention role and and what they'd be looking for um that I'll just let you read for a couple minutes or second um and then some more quotes as well to talk about um what the f who that was um and then what what we envision for um
101all these positions is that they will be working closely together um whether they're interventionists or around um math literacy and even that mental health belonging you'll see some pieces here we've met with this is feedback from our leadership team as well as from our pupil service team on what are our needs across the district when you're thinking of mental Wellness mental health and belongings um and it it has come up about leading districtwide Equitable multiple um level systems of support so you saw a lot in the interventionist roles is that data analysis piece so what do kids need what are we looking at for does someone need interventions do they need more support in the classrooms things like that so we really need to get this systemwide data analysis process that every building is looking
102at data and asking the same or very similar questions obviously there's going to be some difference depending on the level but um we want that to be a consistent process that we're looking at student achievement data as well as belonging we also want to make sure we have a culturally responsive evaluation system DPI has really outlined a very uh a very robust process to look at the evaluation system and look at the whole child so we really want to start integrating that into both of our looking at problem solving for kids for interventions for any special education referrals and assessments or any interventions regarding students with intensive needs um like a functional Behavior assessment a behavior intervention plan any um tier two and tier um interventions we want to have a set system that's really
103culturally responsive we want um a position to lead in collaboration with our building student services staff professional um learning to implement those inclusive research-based strategies we've done a lot of work in trauma informed care we want to continue that coaching and that support emotional regulation belonging of students within classrooms um our PST staff were very adamant about um emotional regulation and teaching emotional regulation can't just be student services staff it has to occur all the time um in classrooms and they want support for um all teachers to be able to help practice and teach emotional regulation strategies right in that classroom where they're going to have to use them um we want this position to be able to problem solve with principles schools leadership team student specific teams regarding any intensive needs of a student
104or group of students so to really work at that collaborative process and help problem solve what any student may need and then really looking at insurance and monitoring restorative practices and re-engagement if there's been any behavioral incidents or extended absences how do we re-engage that student restoratively and then being able to provide support um to buildings as needed um as needs come up um and again these are the feedback from our staff both of our leadership teams and our PST teams on what they're really looking for um as that mental health or mental Wellness um support um that we need at the district level I think and so the last slide here and thank you Kate and Kelly for talking through those um positions um which are new new positions that really are targetting towards
105impacting that dashboard that um we enlist at the beginning and then just as they were talking how I wanted to close this out was um to kind of come back to where we are and then where we are heading and this isn't again to um create anxiety although whenever you're talking about um Staffing and um within the district we're talking about things that people have um have passion for and have experience with um but it's also part of an organization that is being responsive to its community and responsive to its tax payers that we don't hide from the tough conversations but want to foreshadow them and so while we are talking as part of our staff Rec commendations the V the vacated position at the high school for orchestra you can see what the numbers
106are for this year and what the projected numbers are for next year just at the high school alone that's the conversation that we're having tonight the conversation we're not having tonight but I want to bring to the board and to the community at large these are conversations that are either ongoing or will be started moving forward are in the areas of world language in um the last several years we've been noticing the trends of students that are taking German and again not a conversation that's impacting Staffing tonight but something that we are going to and have started conversations um initial conversations around the fact that we want to look at this and try to understand better why the trends are what they are in German class and so you can see what our enrollment at
107the high school is currently what the projected enrollment is for next year what the current enrollment is at the middle school and of those students how many of them are currently eighth grade eighth graders transitioning up to the high school next year this is something that may have an impact on Staffing and so we want to let the board know that we are going to be having these conversations and like um the conversations we have around um uh Staffing if the the conversations lead to a change in a recommendation into Staffing it will come before the board as a recommendation in some way shape or form if it doesn't Impact Staffing um we might make some adjustments to the programming but it's if it's not impacting the Staffing it won't show up even though the
108Sation will be active and ongoing something that is ongoing and as mentioned tonight in public comment is the library media specialist position this is something that I walked into when I first started it's been an open position we have been engaging with the library media Specialists across the district they have been providing us with input and information um but we're not at a point where we have come to a decision of what um programming changes Andor Staffing changes we need to make but again the commitment to the board is that if it is Impact Staffing it's going to end up in front of this body with a recommendation of some some way shape or form and that is because our past practice and our beliefs are for us to maintain um Staffing within our system
109we want the board to be fully informed of what those changes in Staffing are so currently we have an open position we just approved a uh resignation so current so moving forward we will have um two open Staffing positions going into next year and the conversations are ongoing as to what our ultimate recommendation will be moving forward so with that I'll open up for questions comments to me or any any of the director team okay so I'm gonna ask everyone to limit their questions to one at a time and we'll go around and around again so Holly go ahead okay well I'm we've heard so many passionate arguments today for our students and I appreciate all of that I want to and I and I don't want to um take anything away from Orchestra but
110I do want to speak to library um I was part of the committee that that um discussed with our Librarians at the start or towards the end of the pandemic when we were when we really came together and came up with a solid policy to make sure that stoen students um would continue to have access to information through their libraries hearing Kathy talk today about the work that she's doing that's unpaid um and the opportunities that are going missed um when I hear you talk about the reading interventionist phys you know I'm just I've been an educator for 25 years and I know I know what a librarian brings to a school um you know and I and one of my I'm a math teacher so if you've heard me at all you know that
111but one of the things that I have such a problem with in Reading how it's changed over the years is we just Hammer Hammer Hammer Hammer how to read and we have lost why to read or what to read you know and I think that we cannot we we cannot say in good faith that we focus on literacy and belonging in this District if we aren't um investing in full-time Librarians to produce the kind of programming that pulls students into literacy make them like lifelong readers because they want to be um and I think I mean I just wrote down so many notes like you know the stretch text that you were talking about Kate like how many Librarians are out there like pushing kids into their stretch texts right um getting them excited about
112things they never even knew existed until a librarian talked to them about it um I think that a a full-time librarian can do so many of the things that you talked about in terms of obviously not you know one-on-one in small group instruction but belonging and representation which is such a huge piece of feeling like you belong um that that's something that our Librarians are they're the Vanguard of the asss that we're seeing on those types of of um inclusive practices and inclusive materials so um if I hear you right I I you're saying there's two open positions and decision hasn't been made about how those will be filled but you know I'm I keep hearing what Kathy's saying is as those positions are listed as temporary I mean she's right I don't see how
113we can get a quality candidate knowing that that position is on on The Chopping Block at any time and I don't think that we can underestimate um the value and the power of a full-time good invested librarian in you know in at least two of our three pillars that we've all done belong in and I I just thank you and I also want to make sure that I bring continue to bring back to the board uh Consciousness that I'm want to actively pursue the uh disruption of a binary it's not we keep or we cut there when we talk about programs we talk about everything from expansion to maintain to fix to streamline and ultimately to cut or to eliminate so it is not a question of we're keeping it or we're cutting it we're
114having the conversation of we understand what the research and that and some of that research was talked about at um during public comment and the conversation being engaged with them is what is the research and what are we actually doing so the reason why we don't have a recommendation is because we want to make sure that we make the right recommendation moving forward and I know that the the concern that is being elevated is well we got to fill these position positions if we are filling the positions and we're and we're not filling them in with the right expectations we could do a disservice to all of our students as if we were to say are we being are we being as impactful with the staff that we currently have as well so it's a
115both and but right now we're actively engaged with the staff that we do have and while we have Miss Rosenberg still with us she will be an active participant in that conversation so that we can make the right recommendation moving forward so I just want I want to make sure that I'm pushing all of us out of the binary and into we are really looking at what do we need to do and it may be a combination of things we may have to fix and also streamline things as well not just either fill expand or cut yeah agreed I just I I have been listening to our Librarians for the last couple years say we're ready and willing and able to do more and I look at the objectives that we set and I just
116think think that they deserve the opportunity to do that yeah I appreciate that okay I don't know who was first online but I did notice Mia's hand um in the room so I'm gonna go with Mia next and then Lisa and then Frank okay um so I have a question for Kelly um I may be misremembering this so if I am feel free to say no you got this wrong but didn't we have a grant that was funding a mental health coordinator of some sort and when that position came that person was going to be doing some mapping of resources and assets do we have are we using that mapping product to help inform you know the for the formulation that you talked about in terms of what we're looking at to build in those
117new positions yeah for that mental she kind of was looking at a mental health needs and then she also looked at um before she resigned she also looked at you know what are some of the universal things that we're already doing around trauma inform care emotional regulation and she has started to map that out okay and um oh I was aware that she had resigned so um she resigned before the grant was over so what happened to the rest of the Grant I we have looked at spending it on um some professional development for inclusive practices and things that were also allowed in that gr okay yes great thank you okay Lisa you're next I have a comment and then a question I guess um for the six new positions that are listed at the
118district level so what I'm talking about is the academic coach the reading inter two reading interventionist the one math interventionist and the mental health resources to FTE um I know they're listed at the district level Kate had mentioned if I was a member of the community here's what I'd be listening for I know um when advocating on behalf of the referendum heard a lot of people talking about um how the district is heavy on the administrative end things I don't have an opinion on that one way or the other but I guess my recommendation or comment would be that I think it's important for these new Staffing people to be embedded in school buildings and I know Kate you had said that um they would be kind of floating depending on where there is need
119but I think in terms of developing relationship with staff and being part of the school culture it's probably good if their home base is somewhere within one of our school buildings and even if that means they float around among the school buildings so that's just one comment based upon what I hear in the community my question is do we have confidence that given all the shortages across education that we're going to be able to fill these positions and is there some magic way to um design a position that's attractive for someone to apply or do we think we have internal candidates for some of these positions that will then open up other positions I just want to make sure that like was just saying you know we had a mental health coordinator who then left
120are we going to have a similar situation trying to fill these really really awesome important positions yeah so a couple things just human magic over here but I I think that we we will be able to design those positions so that they will be interesting and meaningful and we will have people that will apply um and secondly by District level positions I don't mean they're working at the district office I just mean that they will go and work where the need is and we anticipate that's why we spend so much time talking about the relationships we know that's really important so we have several um you know I'm thinking right now of our Advanced learning uh teacher at the elementary level who is embedded in all three schools so that that's the vision for those
121those programs with sort of a place to hang your hat at the schools that they're in um and opportunities to build relationships with students and staff so those two things are I think of Paramount informance and did I miss anything Lisa all right Frank you're next then Allison then oh wait what s I just want to be on the list okay all right then then Alis and then Tim and then Zach thank you Jill uh I want to talk about the actually I want to ask questions about the library media specialist I don't know how to and I understand Dan does not want to make it a dichotomy between choosing learning strategists and choosing library media Specialists it seems to me that people of good faith can make both arguments to about which position is
122more important or which fits in better with what we're trying to do the question I have and I think it's a question for Kate is what research is out there about the role of the of a library media specialist in literacy development um I would say you know it it exists um I I think I could prepare something for you that's what I would say for tonight yeah okay that's yeah I'm certainly am not asking you to prepare anything yeah um my my my question I guess to reframe it is how do I as a as a lay person understand the difference between those two roles and which fits better with what we're trying to do right I mean I I think you know both of the of the services that are outlined in in
123the report that Holly mentioned um I think and in the actions that I mentioned are really important um when I think about what we're our highest aim and what we're we're we're actually wanting to see from students I do think our our interventionists are going to be able to work very directly with those students who are most in need of what it is we're after by the same token I completely agree with you that we have incredible gifts and strengths that come to us um from our library media Specialists so I appreciate that you've drawn out that there is no there you're not the desire isn't to pit one against the other um that they're they're both really meaningful does that answer your question Fray I think it's as far as we're going to get
124tonight thank you okay Allison is next then Tim then Zach um I one of the things that I've heard um you talking about is how do we start building the Orchestra program back up um and I guess will just have to probably have to agree to disagree as I look at getting rid of the after school program in my mind that is a cut I don't see that that shows that we're building so by adding things in to the um the music curriculum at the elementary schools that is one way I've heard that you said that we're going to build the program what are the what are the other things what are what are we going to be doing to try to build that back up if we are no longer having a fifth grade
125after school program so I know that we've had had the conversations in terms of how do we build greater exposure to all of our students within that and part of it is knowing what we've done in the past that provided opportunities for students to gain those exposure elements that helped make them helped them make an informed decision that hey this is something I want to explore when I get to middle school but also to increase the overall access so what I'm not what I know has existed was a previous pullout program that again was not access for all it actually took kids out of core instruction to participate in but what we want to do is engage engage our Educators in saying how might we what are the opportunities in front of us to build
126something that's going to do a both and both increase access and increase exposure and some of that what we've talked about when we talk about multi level is maybe even engaging some of our older students who who are already um we've heard of students who have gone out to um you know as part of the Norwegian dancers to play how might we engage some of them to come down to the elementary school to talk to talk and show and I'm don't think I'm doing all the the service of the conversations that we've had I I absolutely think you are I think the one um thing I just would like to contribute is that we have a relatively new music curriculum at the elementary level Quaver um and our teachers have been and students been overwhelmingly
127supportive of it um and when we look at we're not at this time looking at making adjustments to that curriculum because it already includes or the way that our teachers have adapted it um already includes exposure for students at multiple grade levels at the elementary we've talked about the orchestra penting Zoo um to act to be able to touch instruments to be able to have the opportunity to learn what what it might be like to play one of those instruments but we just want to be clear that it it is a difference um and we're not we we when we think about our music instruction um our I think our music educators would love to have more access to their students but we we feel you have a very solid and robust and wellb built
128out existing music curriculum that does offer students opportunities to be able to learn about Orchestra and I think those are the types of things that Dr kezer was really mentioning and thinking about and we've been thinking about together as well as with our colleagues about how we can introduce some cross level more cross- level um experiences for our youngest students um that I believe we used to have in the district so students from middle school and high school coming to the elementary school and maybe that looks like like um for evening programs perhaps that looks like during the day and we know that there are always you know commitments there um when we think about what we're after in terms of of our outcomes and and we know we don't want to disrupt our students
129core instruction too much but there's always a balance um and I believe we can find it so that we can really have an eye on um increasing exposure to Orchestra but wouldn't that mean like seems like we would need like instruments for them to have access to and if we've got increased um participation at the middle school how do we get oh like right now how do we get that how do we how does well it's just what we're look it sounds to me like what we're looking at is that maybe I'm not understanding this correctly that we're replacing fifth grade after school with increased exposure in music classes at the elementary am I not getting exposure but I would say we there wouldn't be a need for increased instruments so instruments are donated when
130the the students are experiencing the padding Zoo which happens at different times across the district so the instruments are used at one site and shared with another um so they have access to those instruments during the petting zoo but as far as like obtaining instruments at our Middle School I I would have to look into that I just I don't know I don't have enough background there okay so they wouldn't really be playing instruments in their Elementary Music Class you know they they have exposure to them but that's absolutely right like they they aren't going to be able to learn how to play the string instrument in that exper and like learn the whole process of it that would take a much longer time [Music] okay okay um sorry Tim you're next and then Z
131yes uh thank you for all your work you put into this I know it's a lot and I'm sure you you uh you took a lot of time with it so one of the we're adding these interventionists in the mental health resources and so I always ask this question um in a year from from now how are we going to know this was the right choice what data are we going to be looking at because I I've been through this a lot and this is what I sometimes frustrates me is we we're going to throw money at this and in a year we don't we don't really know what we're Target is or we don't we can't even say anything so I I'll use the example a few years ago we approved additions of dean
132of students and we were looking at cutting taking it from other other services such as school psychologists I still don't really know how that's going um I know I I've heard anecdotal things but I don't know has that improved and if it is what what's the data to show it what what's the data that's being used the metrics being used to help us determine that um because I think I'm gonna have a hard time in a year if I don't see an improvement in our math math scores or whatever we're using to to measure this uh are we going to come back and say well we need to do more we need to do more we need to do more one could look at this and say well if we took these FTE and put
133them into the classroom we would have lower class sizes I know what the policy says um and I I I can support that I can support this but I I need know in a year how are we going to know it was the right choice and if it wasn't then what's going to be done about that and I don't mean that in a got way or an accountability way but but I kind of do um quite frankly I mean um is it going to be put back on the teachers and the people that hold these positions just weren't doing it well enough um but we're throwing a lot of money into these positions and I expect results quite frankly and I think the community expects results especially because it's coming from referendum on so you
134know how are we going to know y I mean I we probably both have some ideas on on what we would look at you want to yeah let me let me start off a fair question t on Tim and part of the reason why we had agreed to the audacious goals that we did and create a dashboard right now around the academics and working with culture and climate subcommittee around the mental health and belonging piece um is to tie ourselves to that so what what we feel is the kind of proof in the pudding as I'll I'll put it is we want to see us give we want to give ourselves the best opportunity to not only meet the Milestones that we've set out for ourselves as um displayed in the in the dashboard but
135we want to try to exceed those as as much as possible I would recommend we do a learning session on this dashboard mean maybe I've missed it more but I think even from a community standpoint I hear dashboard and I think a lot of people would be like what what are you talking about so you know is it a is it going to be a specific and I would maybe maybe I've just dropped the ball and I don't really understand as well but is it going to be specific as improved ACT scores is it going to be GPA is it going to be this I mean what you know um because I think it from a community I this as a taxpayer as much as a board member which is we just we just ask
136the community for a lot of money and we need now uh show them we're putting it to good use and I think in many ways it needs to be communicated to them as as clearly as possible and as specific as possible um so that I think just saying the dashboard itself is great but I don't I don't know that everybody really understands how that works or what that is so I think that's going to be really important that we we flush that out no no I I thank you for I thank you for that feedback and in part part part of the reason why we wanted to create uh and create a document by which we listed our um achievements proficient advance in reading and Mathematics um and and do a um do it in
137a way that helps us based on past performance predict future your outcomes and then you build plans to say what are we going to do so that we are going to achieve achieve those and so yes we certainly can get more information out to the to the board and to the community around what that is and how we how we're trying to achieve that and maybe the conversation is that we need to be more targeted with our regular um board time just to to have regular updates around that but you are right we're making a significant investment in in our academics specifically literacy and math and our Mental Health Services with the audious goal that we want our students to feel like they belong to to the school district and that they are reading in
138um doing numeracy at higher levels of proficiency than what we've seen in the past not yeah I mean to to me that that sums it up we do have as I think as as you well know we have regular screeners that we use for both reading and math three times a year um and for students who are in intervention they're receiving they we we screen much more frequently for students who are inent in intervention and we look at what the responses have been to the intervention what those response rates have been and that helps us determine whether or not we are going to stay with that intervention to switch to something else or perhaps even exit the student but I think to your point you know do we have a way to to measure that
139or Mark that we we do we have um so I I'm I'm using my questions I appreciate that and I understand that but I guess what I'm saying is is is it improved ACT scores is it you know I understand you have different responses you do an intervention and then you're trying and I some of that you probably can't share with us because it's an individual student thing but at the what's what's the bigger I mean again I don't want us take all the time but that's the discussion I'd like to have and I've tried to have that discussion in most in you know I I work in a place where if the guy passes the GED tests that's our that's our metric those are it and I'm not suggesting we have to have anything
140that clean cut um what I'm saying is I think it's just it's everybody looks at the school report card yeah uh and perhaps that's that's it I mean that's that's what we really are are striving for and all the other things we're doing within are designed to improve scores on that at the high school level it's probably going to look different um but I just think it it is continuing to be really hard when I don't when I don't and I think the public doesn't know and we're going to put a bunch of money towards this um to really know what is that endgame uh and how are we measuring it but I think that's probably for a boorder a larger board discussion at some point then because there's a lot of questions here and
141I don't know that there's time to Hash all that out right now yeah no I think it's a a really important question and I I think the answer is increases in proficiency I think that's how we'll know and how are we measuring that uh I think I I would say the forward exam is is really helpful that's hard it's once a year but our three bench our three screeners I think are a little bit more precise and help us to understand that those are those are the major ways that I think are are sharable to a larger audience but you know we have we have other markers but I think that proficiency rates really matter that's what I think we're after I agree yeah so what are we using to measure the I think the
142forward exam and our bench and our benchmarks and for belonging we have survey data um that we're providing to students a couple times a year um and we're going to continue to do that around those social emotional competencies so we can compare year after year how our students are doing and what other supports they may need um moving forward okay Zach is next on my list I just had a question about the academic coach and how it aligns with act 20 like what is what does that exactly mean and and then like I guess I don't have an understanding of what an academic coach is or does yeah I just want to understand what that is yeah um so part of act 20 is going to be the Assurance of reading plans for any student
143who scores below the 25th percentile on the screener um which will be a Statewide screener by January of next year um but we'll be trying to adopt that Statewide screener if it's not the one we have already um as soon as possible um and so part of the reading plan for those students is going to be to ensure that they are for many of the students that they are receiving high quality instruction or first teaching in the classroom for many of those students they'll also be receiving interventions but what we want to do is make sure that we are supporting our students so they don't get to be in the below the 25th percentile so we want to make sure that the teaching in every classroom is coherent is so we use wit and wisdom
144and we use magnetic and Sunday at the elementary level which are the levels all of our levels will be impacted by act 20 but K3 is most impacted um so what our coaches will be doing is engaging in Cycles which will roughly involve pre-planning observation and postobservation and then another cycle um and during the observation uh planning they um our coaches generally look for pre previously agreed upon criteria IIA that classroom teacher and Coach have decided um along with grade level team and principal uh that they're going to look for so we already have for example at the elementary level a set of criteria um for for like a walkthrough tool that we would use to establish the extent to which a teacher is um teaching with Integrity the curriculum that they've that they've been
145given um and then we choose an aspect that a teacher might decide they're working on um so we have had coaching in our district for a long time and we are really eager this year we've been receiving professional development and we have some more work to do and outlining exactly how the coaching Cycles will work um but we're really eager to be able to continue um and to augment our current coaches um with more support for teachers so generally it involves being in the classroom and often that observation looks like co-teaching so it doesn't necessarily always mean someone um or that in-class experience which doesn't always mean an observation it might mean co- teing um it might mean switching roles lead teaching coach is going to um do the instruction and teacher is going to
146watch the coach so there are all kinds of ways for that to happen but primarily it involves two colleagues working together um to sort of shine a light um where where it's difficult to see in your own practice um so did that answer your question and I just to add it also can help with inclusive practices so we have a lot of research-based pieces that really support teachers in what does inclusive practice what are those research what are those access points which could be also called Universal Design for Learning so how do we teach to the edges who are the edges and then what are different access points we can put in place for all of our Learners in order to access the curriculum that we already have and an academic coach can also help
147with that collaborative thinking and look fors when you think of a classroom of a really diverse learning um students because they're not all the same many do we currently have do we have any currently wait could you say that again how many do we currently have oh of our at the elementary level right now we have um some who are serving as coaches and interventionists together um like they they have a blended role so right now we have um two coaches and three interventionists at the elementary level and we have two incl inclusion support um teachers at both Elementary early childhood and Elementary and then level thank you Joe yeah can somebody describe to me please what it looks like what a library looks like when it's short it's library media specialist how does it
148run then in terms of like what are the duties and responsibilities that are happening what's the impact of us being short of library media specialist well I my experience my experiences have been in in the schools they they're different by roles um so Elementary they're doing things differently and it and it's homegrown to um what the how the SCH chooses to operate it um I know that in some of our element I'll just take our three elementary schools they um some are more engaged with doing um some of the interventions and working with small groups of students as well as doing book talks I think all of them do are doing book talks at the elementary level uh at another Elementary School one is very eager about um introducing kids to different genes of books
149I've seen that quite frequently and then in another elementary school it's a mixture of both so I think some of them some of them have their areas of interest and I think others are um doing a little bit little bit of it all when there isn't a person in there they're still doing the um the running of the library checking out books and things things like that um and then at the secondary level it's a little bit of everything um from working with teachers and helping them gain access to databases and resources um at the high school level when I first came here and having having a conversation um up at the high school it was um in helping teachers access different resources and how how um libraries have transitioned from print material to database
150material and online material so I from my standpoint it's it's been an evolve evolving um role but K I think H we probably were going to say the same thing I'm thinking but I think your hand was up first well actually I was just going to ask you're listing all these wonderful things and I was going to ask also like where are students learning media literacy um because that's also typically something that falls into a the curv of a library and programming that they provide and that's something that I think is really important so that's my other question yeah I think you know hly referenced our sasd library plan which is a beautiful Rich robust resource that really outlines not only current state but Preferred Future um for our Librarians so a couple things I
151think our library media Specialists do take on the bulk of of media literacy but our classroom teachers do that too it comes up often in the curriculum so they're I think they're prepared to respond but our library media Specialists do take a great a very active role in that work um but and I'm happy to go into it more here I mean really I think a great resource is the library plan to take a look at um sort of what they've laid out and also knowing that you know we we have um areas of of growth within the in the plan as well okay um additional questions I'll take another round Mia you can go ahead so I have a question about the inter I think this is a question tag team question for you
152guys but for the interventionist positions um I guess I'm trying to sort out in my mind how is that different than the existing reading Specialists that we have at the elementary level and then how is that different than the work that may happen for a student with an IEP who has literacy goals written into their IEP like how I just don't understand how all of that yeah so how how would these how would these new roles be different roles we have existing I mean I I and how will they collaborate yes I think the collaborate is key so that's why we sort of said that at the outset and the second thing is um I I don't anticipate for interventionists um I inter I I anticipate that new teacher serving in the same way that
153our existing interventionists do we we we have needs you know so like really it's to meet the needs of all of our students so that's what we have outlined in our in our plan so it's really the same role it's different from coaches so coaches is sitting down with teachers doing like pre um classroom experiences and in-class experience and then afterwards to make sure that high quality inclusive teaching is happening from the very beginning and then in terms of um supporting students with specialized instruction reading did you want to talk about that I'm happy to so um so our students who have specialized instruction in their IEPs um primarily and often receive mostly receive their services from special Educators but our U teachers who are licensed um are in literacy are able to provide specialized
154instruction readings we can use them flexibly and we do in some occasions yeah so as you know every students's IEP is unique and different so we look at what are the needs of the students and then we look at the resources in the building and try to find the best match that we can right and the IP doesn't say who's going to provide that service right it just says this is the service that best fits and if there's an intervention that's providing that intervention that that student would really benefit from then that the interventionist can help support that if they're licensed in reading so for example reading interventionist is already teaching reading Mastery um there's a new student um who has been newly identified and has an IEP and it looks like their reading needs
155would align with reading Mastery and it might make sense for that student to join that group so that's that's how that works okay I'm I'm just in my mind trying to align that with what my experience has been um which has been a little different than that but I understand that maybe that's a goal we're moving toward thank you oh okay wait for my next turn Zach yeah so going back to decision with possibly going with reducing the orchestra position I'm going to speak from my own point of view and where I've come from as a 6 through 12 uh music educator I taught band that is a tough road to be in it's very difficult with small group instruction it's very difficult on many different fronts and I taught in a much smaller school
156district and and it's hard for me to believe that either funding or support or something that's not there I just find it very it's very difficult for me to separate the The Logical side of myself the emotional side of myself and the background experience that I have and the idea that there wouldn't be exposure exposure meaning there's full competency of performing on the instrument that has been occurring you know with the after school lessons and then the thought that this now would go to General music teachers who are not experts yes they're certified I was certified in in the state of Wisconsin to do General instrumental music I was not a technical expert of teaching orchestral instruments and for me it it just doesn't it seems nonsensical when when there seems to be Trend growing
157within the middle school and at the elementary I understand with the high school there's been drops with covid there's been drops with lots of other different things that are going on I don't know what happens there with scheduling or because I know for me again this is personal experience scheduling at the high school is a monster it always is and there's the competing interest I understand that but you know I just very short story next week I'm going back to my high school my school has uh they call it the Opus day and they have clinicians come in to the choir band and Orchestra and we go and do clinicians there and I got asked to do that I'm doing that next week you know my high school band teacher asked me to do that
158and I'm thinking about all these opportunities that I've had you know I really appreciate the people that came to speak today you know especially staying here this late um it's it's hard to reconcile that fact when Arts is one of those places and I I totally appreciate the that like the the amount of pressure that you're under to do data analytics to report to DPI to report to the state and the FEDS I get that but the idea that Arts can be reduced maybe not cut programs not cut I understand that but reducing that and reducing that experience is those places the Arts programs are a place where I think data is not I don't want to say it's not taken into account it's not it deals with the the social emotional it deals with
159the mathematical it deals with a very technical language that translates to a lot of different things that occur you know I credit a lot of the things that I do in my own life my personal life to to those programs you know why I'm even probably here right now you know having been on the side as an educator having been on the side you know now here which is very very difficult but it's just it's difficult for me and I just I want to understand the thought process because the the idea of that Arts programs are always the first ones to be looked at to be examined you know has been pretty much I think put into my brain ever since I started college you know I heard it from my dad dad who's a
160middle school band teacher you know that you know he said he's always been blessed to have supportive Administration supportive board and so I just I want to understand you know what what the complete thought process is with that and I know this this is an ongoing discussion that will transpire but just for me like I think about my own kid what they can be involved in there's I would think that any service or program should be to support in that way if it deals with the Arts when if it deals with a place where there's artistic expression you know another very small anecdotal story we went to Florida and we went to the Kennedy Space Center and they have you know the they have a memorial to the Challenger went explosion and tragedy and you
161look at and again not just there but around you see different artifacts what inspires people and music is a very big one and I just remember in that exhibit you know walking up and down with Judith Resnik who was you know NASA astronaut she was a concert pianist there I think actually on display they have um one of her favorite pieces of violent I wish I could remember what it is violin piano and I thought about that I'm like what inspires kids to think beyond what what can be in what is and you know again we get we get put down into this world of data analytics you know this is what this is the facts on the ground of what what is but we also have to talk about what can be and what
162does that look like and I and for me I feel like in arts programs are a place for that and that and that's an important part to a well-rounded education to be a lifelong learner and and so as these discussions materialize I want to know what what that process is because I would think there are ways to be creative right allocations and you know it was even mentioned in one of the public comments why isn't a 0 five I mean if we see at the middle school there's you know uptick that's where it seems to be why is there not you know here and there like what and again coming from the the government side it's like yeah we're we're very tight we have to be creative with what we're doing and I think Erica
163does a great job with being creative and presenting the information as it is but we how can we get creative that's what's that's what was told to me the other day is how can we be creative with what we're doing and I'm like I'm being asked to be creative in a very you know data run government you know place so again speaking of it from my own volition and not on behalf of the Department of Defense anything very clear um I just think we have to think what what can be where do we want to go and that's the Eternal question I I always appreciate Tim because he asked those questions very strongly and adamantly and like putting something tangible but I guess what is just what what is the thought process with that and
164that's that's just going to be continual right no I and I appreciate appreciate the comments and um sorry kid I didn't know if you it it is about and data transcends the numbers data talks about the experiences and kind of like what Tim was talking about the anecdotal pieces those lived experiences and and part of get Gathering that is as impactful as the actual numbers I the it is an evolving conversation because there are two separate things that are being meshed together here one that is in front of the board which is Staffing which is localized only to middle school and high school is not impacting Elementary and then there's the program conversation about accessing opportunities that currently exists as an after school program much like a club and saying can we do better by
165moving it into the school day and when we know all the students are going to be there and what are the possibilities and what is the creative side of that that decision is a decision that we're having internally and as a conversation not impacting the board we're having that conversation and we're making the best decisions we can with talking to our staff the conversation that's in front of us is we have we had two full-time FTE serving six 67 and8 and the high school and one of them left and currently we are operating with one ft within that and the numbers suggest that currently moving up at the high school our numbers are not supportive of maintaining that that Staffing at a 0.5 or a 1.0 that's why we're making the recommendation that we have
166a vacated staff that we can operate working with our staff to provide a quality experience in Orchestra 6 through 12 with the idea and the whole hopes that the numbers that are currently being seen at the at the middle school do trans transition up to the high school giving us the opportunity to say like yes we need to add add staff whether that's a 0.5 or whether that's a 1.0 in the future that decision is 13 months away from the decision that's in front of us right now but that's where the decision in front of the board right now is in front of his only middle school high school Orchestra and that the other conversation is exactly how you said an evolving conversation and one that we feel that we could get some benefits by
167moving in this direction and if we find out that it isn't kind of like like Tim had talked about with with the broader conversation with literacy and math if it if it is if the data is showing that we are not seeing th those positive results we come back to the same group of people and say we tried it and what what are the ideas that should be a part of all of our conversations in and out moving forward in all areas that's why we that's why a programming decision that does not Impact Staffing is something that we we are continually doing a staffing decision that is impacting a staffing for the positive or in the negative sense with the reduction is always going to come before the board because that's been the board's perview
168in the past moving forward so I just want to I appreciate and I agree with everything you said in terms of how it impacts an individual student we've heard we've heard that but I also want to be very clear about what the board is making a decision on is not impacting that is and and I take all of your feedback as feedback that um Kate myself and and the staff need to incorporate within our decisionmaking process so that's why I want I I want to be very clear I'm not discrediting what our community has heard but I also want to make sure that we are making a decision on what it what is actually the decision that's being made because it would be a disservice to us as an organization to make to think that
169the Staffing recommendation is somehow impacting Elementary when it isn't it's only impacting Staffing that is currently in open position that we're saying right now there's no sense in keeping it open because this the requests aren't leading us to say say that we need this Staffing we can do it within the existing Staffing that we have and that would say that would be fiscally responsible which is the promise we've made to our our staff in the referendum past and current okay I see your hand Tim had his hand up earlier Tim do you still I don't know now if I do I guess I'll say I'm wondering then with Orchestra and I I agree with everything that's been said I I think you know I I I don't have a lot of experience with this except
170from when I was younger and I wasn't very good so I I decided to play sports um but I have a tremendous amount of respect for it and I know even from uh experiences with friends and things that have seen the importance of extracurricular activities including Music Theater Orchestra the impact that has on mental health so we talk about more you know improving our mental health systems and whatnot well that there's one way to do it to make sure we have kids have access to that stuff uh the academics I guess I'm wondering where the disc because I'm I think I'm I'm just more confused now about like what's happening with Orchestra we're we're we're eliminating a position would is it fair to say the quality of our orger program because of the elimination of
171that position is probably not going to be as good I disagree with that okay no I'm just asking that because I think that might be the perception that that that's where I'm wondering where the disconnect is because it's I'm feeling like a lot of a lot of the community that you know through their testimonials tonight is feeling like I our Orchestra our music programs are in trouble and what I'm hearing from you is you don't agree with that you think they're going to potentially get better even with a reduction in uh in our staffing there so and maybe I'm thinking out low I just I guess I'm wondering where that disconnect is um because logic would say yeah the quality might not be as good because we're reducing a position uh in that area um
172and I think it's a fair to make I'm not saying I'm making that statement I hear everything you say but I do think it's a fair it's a fair perception and a very fair concern to have uh because I don't I don't want to see the quality of something go down when in fact um I feel like we need to continue to try to improve it no and I and I agree with the with your your perception that I believe there is a disconnect that has been that has been out out in the community where it came from that I'm not going to try to figure that piece out but I do want to make sure I clarify for the board who has a decision um in its consideration of the Staffing plan to say
173we are putting forward a recommendation and have done the due diligence to say we feel that this has the the plan and the staff behind it to make this successful and to also give us some insight as to why might have we arrived at this place to begin with i people have shared that you know Co had a had a factor to play in it and I wasn't here during that period of time to to say yes or no to that that was not my lived experience but the plan that we have in place has staff who are best positioned to not only provide the instruction but also to help us provide the insight as to what other things might we consider to help grow the program at the high school so that we can
174move in the in the direction of increasing Staffing our students vote vote with their with their um choices each and every year and so students made choices not to take one class over another whether it's Orchestra or some other class and there is a multitude of reasons why that may be and and we won't you know we could spend a lot of time going through each and every one of those that might might be tied to orchestra that we've all individually heard but safe to say that what we do know is that we do have 30 students who have taken it and those 30 students students will be fortunate enough to have an instructor if approved that they've had in the mill school that they have a relationship with that they know the level of
175expectation and rigor that she brings to her art and she'll also help us get a better Insight of why might we be in the in this position with this one particular performance art that we're not seeing across the board and so yeah there is a lot of things in there and all of it has to do with data and the data isn't the numbers that is a symptom it is what is this what is the story lines behind those that lead to those numbers that I'm I'm talking about now and that data is ultimately important in determining is this a short-term thing and that we should expect to see that transition from middle school to high school to increase or is there something else that we need to be having a conversation around so I
176just I would just add and again I don't I don't want would it be fair to say then with an extracurricular like basketball if we saw a real huge d uh decrease in the number of kids going off for basketball and in middle school and even in the high school we'd be really looking at that program and trying to determine what's going on and we maybe need to do something different and maybe we need to make some cuts I mean there that sort of way of doing things apply to everything that would be as a person who loves basketball but yeah if you're taking it out of out of the out of music and into something different yeah if we saw an extracurricular um program like basketball we would we would do we would ask
177the same questions what what is the trend and yes we may we may even have to make decisions around Staffing does is it just going to be a head coach and no coach is it going to be do we even have enough to support A Team Al together in which case we do it the one difference that I would say is that when you're talking about pure uh extracurricular that isn't uh a staffing decision like a contracted position like a teacher there are two separate rules that that come into play the board doesn't get into get into the discussion around hiring or firing a basketball coach but the same rules apply if if the Staffing doesn't support having the same number of coaches in a sport we should adjust we don't we shouldn't keep the
178same number of coaches just because we've always had the same number of coaches if we don't have the number of athletes to support it so from that standpoint I can agree with you I just want to make sure that we understand that like the mechanisms around Staffing are fundamentally different because the board approves the the teacher contracts not necessarily athletic contracts I see your hand Mia and I know that Zach also wanted to say something but I think that something that has been running through my mind as a parent of two students who have been involved in music um band and then a for band student Uh current choir student I have a wondering around orchestras beginning in fifth grade versus bands beginning in sixth grade and the differential in those numbers and whether the
179fact that there are certain students who are able to take Orchestra in fifth grade and other students who are not exposed to that at all impacts the numbers when the students get to sixth grade and we see that it is the fifth graders that move to sixth grade Orchestra and I'm imagining there's very few sixth graders who elect into orchestra that hadn't been because I know that we saw huge increases in ban electives when we changed the way that we were having students in Middle School do music electives choosing band choir or songwriting I think was the other one so I'm just like there seems to be an inequality there and the numbers total but also I really wanted my kid to take Orchestra I wanted him to play violin and he was just like
180nope not doing it and I don't know why that was but I'm I am for trying something new in hopes that it might change the numbers and I I guess I'm kind of with Tim on the the you know let's see does this impact numbers in a positive way if we're exposing you know many many more kids and granted not in the not in the same level certainly but we're giving many more kids more exposure hopefully um I and I I have not like that's not my my opinion one way or the other but I just that's my wondering about it and then um I think that Zach was first and then me one I'm not sure can I go first go ahead are you okay with that Zach first all right so one thing
181is I think if we had enrollment in data data in front of us to be looking at you you might see that a good number of students do elect in at sixth grade my student was one and I know many of her friends elected in at sixth grade granted it was covid so that was the year that everything was virtual so not as many elected in as maybe would on a normal year but I think if we saw the if we had the numbers in front of us which I wonder if that's something we could be provided with you know the numbers from going back to like 20189 which would be our last quote unquote normal year just the number of enrollment in the fifth grade program sixth seventh eth and then high school just
182to see that those enrollment in the in the classes but after school programs I have to I I'll to take a look you can include fifth grade that's fine um but even just to see that those Trends um but what I really want to say that I'm feeling very strongly about right now and I want to say it I with all respect to you Dan but I feel like we give a lot of lip service to wanting to hear that student perspective and we give a lot of lip service to wanting to hear the parent's perspective and for you to say that you don't feel like it will be a lower quality program when we heard students who are currently experiencing this shared position saying the quality of instruction that I'm receiving is less than
183it was before I think we're we're you know ignoring that data that we just received today I can tell you as a parent of a child in Orchestra at the high school they don't have a full class with an orchestra instructor a full class period the orchestra instructor has to leave the class to travel back to the middle school and I hear from my daughter they play cards in Orchestra for part of the time after the after the instructor leaves they play cards and I also heard from her her struggles to prepare for solo and ensemble because she couldn't have individual lessons with her Orchestra teacher because her Orchestra teacher was not available for that the band teacher came in and tried to help them and she said he couldn't show me how to hold
184my hand so for you to sit there and say I don't believe that the quality of instruction will be less I that feels disingenuous to me because we're hearing from the people who are currently experiencing the quality of instruction that it is less if there's some magical schedule that's going to allow for everybody to get what they were getting before at the middle school and the high school level with the elimination of this I would be happy to see that schedule but I as I think we heard you know in the absence of teleportation or a time machine I don't physically see how that's possible and thank you for the feedback and I believe that my comments tonight was that this I don't believe that is that moving forward that we're going to have a
185decrease I do acknowledge and I and I do believe I acknowledged in my opening that we had to make a pivot because we had a long-term sub and when we found out that the long-term sub was not going to be there second semester we engaged with Miss Myers to develop the plan that we have right now and it's not perfect because we did not we did not have the benefit of being able to realign all of the courses so that it wasn't going to be impacting moving forward with one FTE we don't have a schedule developed because we don't know who the people are yet but the the plan moving forward we we don't know the people yet because the board has to act on the decision so the plan moving forward once we know
186who the people are is to build a schedule we would not want to build a schedule that would not create the opportunity for the instructor to be fully with their um students and also have access to the the lessons in order to do it we we were very careful to double check and come back to and say are we missing anything are can we based on on the projected enrollments for next year at the middle school and at the high school do we have based on the feedback here's how much lessons we're providing currently in the ideal sense project that forward what how many minutes of lessons do we need to account for how many classes do we need to account for and will we physically be able to do that schedule and have 1.0
187FTE that's the conversation we've been having that's why we feel confident that moving forward we have we can provide quality in quality Orchestra experience for our middle school and our high school students with the staff that we currently have hired because not only do we have the staff but we also have we feel we have the expertise in those staff to provide highquality instruction with the 1.0 FTE that we're that we are that we have so we don't need to add additional staff because we've got the staff already hired so you're saying that with the 1.0 position students at both River Bluff and the high school will have their Orchestra class time and also have weekly lessons and we and and based on 100% 100 % sign up and 100% attendance yes wait can I
188just interview like my understanding is that that a high school that historically it's been two lessons per semester at the high school okay and um eight and then we're looking at eight lessons a semester at the middle school so we would that's been what has been put out there um there we in the past there may have been 8 to 10 I don't think it's going to be feasible to offer 10 I do think it will be feasible to offer eight um less per semester for our sixth seventh and eighth graders and the two lessons um and those lessons are small groups so just to be clear they are not individual lessons that we don't and they never I don't think they ever were yeah they would individual right now we have them figured at
189like 2.5 students so either two or three students in a small group so all sixth seventh and eighth graders who are currently we do have the orchestra numbers that we feel are pretty reliable at the middle school at this point um that we would be able to offer um both the instruction and the sections needed so for example three sections at sixth grade which we had last year we will need again which is a good thing two at 7th grade one at eighth grade so basically the same sections that we have this year we'll have again we're anticipating having next year and then we're offering we'll be able to offer eight lessons to sixth seventh and eighth graders and then for our n our 9th through 12th graders um there what is in the plan
190right now is to offer those two lessons that are one to one and they're 20 minutes and they occur once a semester so some of the things that Dan mentioned about working out a schedule that we feel like is is far more amenable to to full and rigorous instruction that that is what we plan to do so that would not be in the plan to have somebody take over for the last few minutes of class like that that was something that we needed to develop for this year so that would not be planul done for next year um but the the other thing I would also say is that um wanted to mention the other piece there oh um the other thing is to just ensure that we have some good communication um with with
191our high school around um how to make sure that those students can access those lessons at a time when the orchestra teacher is available you know which is which is hard to to do for any student um and so we want to make sure we work on that so none of these problems are easy they're not simple at all very complex um and yet that's that's what's in the plan now so I know there was a great concern and I understand it that lessons would not be able to be continued but really taking a careful and thorough and deliberate look at the minutes of instruction that are available um in the time that a 1.0 FTE is we we do think that all that is deliverable within within the school day but as far as
192weekly lessons I I don't I don't have that as part of my background for what I understood I'll look into that that and see where that was happening um I don't I don't I want to just maintain that right now what we're looking at is e at middle school and two at the high school is it Zach you're next and then Frank hit his hand up and then Alison Frank Frank and go we haven't heard from him for a while okay and I'll come back geez Frank go ahead Zach's yielding to you um that's a little frightening um I I have a couple points I want to make and I apologize for not being more present here we're having some pretty exciting weather to go through where I am and the the uh internet connection
193is a bit sketchy at times there there are a couple points I want to make the first is that I strongly support the position that our decisions in Staffing have to be enrollment driven if there are not enough students to support two orchestr te then we cannot have two Orchestra teachers we have a we have a duty to be fiscally responsible we have a duty to prioritize programs that people want to enroll in and I three of my four kids went through Orchestra um back in 2013 Joe and I fought to save fourth grade strings back when that was a thing so I respect and appreciate the importance of the Orchestra program at the same time if we don't have enough students to support two teachers then we should not have two teachers the question
194that I am not sure that I'm able to answer tonight is whether we have enough students to support two teachers that's where I'm stuck the other point I want to make relates to the tone of the discussion tonight we have stated as a board value that we are going going to assume good intent and we're going to be particularly that's going to be particularly important when we are having difficult decision discussions like this one I am not going to name any names I think it is highly inappropriate to call the the district administrator disingenuous in a public meeting that implies that he is lying and I am very uncomfortable with that statement I also think that it's a dangerous statement to imply that no one can disagree with your position in good faith because this
195whole the whole point of what we are doing around this table is disagreeing in good faith I would ask all of you please to separate people from problems and work together to address the problems rather than hurling accusations at people who are doing their best to make good decisions that's all I have to say Zach yeah thanks Frank yeah this is it's it's hard it's really hard to separate separate everything um I do want to say though if like I have to respectfully disagree that the quality wouldn't wouldn't suffer for the growing students ped gically speaking like the the idea that you know 6 to 12 yes they can it's even more different with Orchestra as they grow into for even for band same thing physically there's a lot going on there and it would
196it would the quality would go down I mean it's just it's the reality so I'm and I thank you for the for the feedback and um much much like um earlier comments I we are we are doing our absolute best to bring a um plan and approach in a staffing plan that balances all the compelling needs and I and I and I trust the I absolutely respect your lived experiences I've not I was I was in choir when I was in Middle School I was not very good at it I shared this story with people internally you know I wish I would have learned how to play the percussions because I love drum lines and I love and and I love that I love listening to to drum lines that aside I absolutely respect the
197lived experiences everyone who's had orchestra band Choir in their past but that does not diminish my respect that as a comprehensive high school I want to preserve the access to it and put the best people that we have in front of it and and in part my responsibility to the board is to give you our best ideas that we have with the available resources and the available information and then ask for your deliberation and consideration around it and that's what I'm hope hopefully doing for for everyone around the table tonight is answering your question to the best of my ability so that next week when this comes back um under action discussion that we can that the board has the information they need to make a make a decision on on the recommendations that we
198that we put forward and the the conversation doesn't end there every year we will be faced with decisions of adding and reducing FTE in a lot of different areas based on enrollment based on choices based on fiscal fiscal um responsibility so the decisions don't get any any easier I I've only been here two years I if I'm here 20 years I don't think there will be a year where we won't have something listed in both areas that doesn't make the conversation any any easier and so with that I just thank you for the comments and I I don't expect people to always agree with decisions that I make where I said this this morning to to the Educators I met with there is not a decision that I've made since I've been here that doesn't
199make someone upset there's a decision that I make someone's going to be happy about the decision someone else is going to be not happy about that exact same decision and that's that's the fault line that I've chosen to accept when I accepted this role but my commitment still is to this board and to the staff and saying I'm going to give give you my best thought and my best plan that as a team we can come up with and then we'll go from there we'll take it one one to ision at of time yeah um and thank you as I know that is what we have asked you to do so I appreciate the effort you've put into it um I just I I'm still kind of struggling you know back to the lived experience
200thing I have a kid that was in Orchestra from fifth grade and when all of this happened he was excited to Miss Meyer would be his teacher because she's F fantastic and then once he realized what it was going to be like just like Mia is saying having to leave early to get back to the Middle School uh no more lessons um just and the other challenge that he identified in his reason to draft Orchestra um for this last semester is that um having string choir and Symphony combined um is extremely difficult it made it so that the students that had been there a while were having a hard time finding you know they were having to sit around and be patient while the the younger kids were kind of brought up to speed because
201they don't have the same experience and I realize if you've got you know half the kids in string choir and half the kids in Symphony that now you've got a group of 15 and when you look at our class size targets we're like well that's not really going work um it just I feel like without the lessons we now kind of are at a loss for the group The this group of kids and it wasn't just this year there was also a leave of absence last year so um and I don't know that that was the same level you know of of change but I feel like not having another Orchestra instructor whether would be a full-time or a part-time which I don't know how you do part-time if we can't hire a temporary library
202media specialist I don't know how we find a part-time Orchestra person but maybe they exist what what I'm I'm struggling with is how how are we going to build the program because it's sounding to me like what you're saying and maybe I didn't hear it right is that we're expecting Miss Meyer to grow the program and figure out why kids are either taking or not taking the class and I feel like that's a really tall order to put on one person and she's fabulous but we've got string choir we've got symphony choir even if they're together they're still kind of two classes and at the same time we've got lessons at the high school we've got growing the program and then we've got all of that with a huge influx of sixth grade students is
203what I heard from one of the comments got this huge influx of sixth grade students coming in plus our seventh eighth graders and they all have lessons too and they have even more lessons and I'm trying to understand how that's going to work with one person even if it's Erica and I don't I'm not seeing way I don't see how having a little bit of exposure in grade music I just don't see how that's going to grow the program I don't see where we're going with it and maybe y all have talked about something different than what I'm seeing here but I I don't even I can't even understand the schedule you all were talking about the schedule and I literally in my mind I'm listening to all these sections and I'm thinking how I
204don't yeah I don't see how that happens we can yeah we can provide a visual for that you know and you can see it and see see the numbers I think that's reasonable yeah absolutely I I that yeah okay the you know and in terms of like you know to think about you know growing the program really we think about it as part of the of our whole K12 music department who works phenomenally well as a team um and so I think in thinking about what we might want to have on that agenda I think that that could be really important um there the colleagues who really want to and do actively support uh each other's work across the musical disciplines and I I would like to be a part of that work as well
205and I mean that's that's great there's that cohesiveness in the group and I think that's one of the the strengths of our district but they're not Orchestra teachers and that's where I'm I just cannot wrap my head around this I don't see how that works just me that's that's fair and I'm I I I respect the perspective that you're sharing with us so we take that back and okay as Kate sharan we'll work on creating a more visual way to represent the conversation that okay that would be helpful thank you so okay Tim go ahead I don't want to belabor this because I it is getting late I I want to just speak to I think Frank said that our decisions have to have to be enrollment driven and I agree with that and I
206also agree students V I think you may have said it with um with what they select but I really hope that's not all we look at because I guess that that kind of scares me a little bit obviously that might need to be the primary thing but if we decide it's really valuable that we have a strong orgest program and that means we might need to have a year or two where class sizes are a little bit lower than we would like them to be because of then but you know if everything's just going to be driven by what the students want um I don't know I think sometimes as adults we need to we need to say well and this is a valuable thing we we want to provide students if we don't have
207the enrollment in these areas that we want it to be then we need to look at that and that might mean we have a year where we are overstaffed in an area or two um so I agree I mean en we are fiscally responsible things have to be enrollment driven but my fear is you know we get into situations where and I'm not suggesting this is the case with Orchestra where we we have to eliminate a position because it's not enrollment and we lose a really good person um and that you can't get that person back or you lose high quality people because they know that their their job may be be dependent strictly on making sure we got the numbers there and I would hate you know we're dealing with this quite frankly in
208in my place of work where we have teachers competing over students okay and I think that that that can just set up a very scary kind of situation uh in competition within within a system um so I agree I mean enrollment is is huge and it's it's really got to be the primary thing we look at but I I really hope we look at other things as well as we make these decisions and not just strictly what those numbers say from an enrollment standpoint that quick word about music education because I know band and choir I think are a lot more front-facing than Orchestra at times because they're at basketball games they're at pep band they're marching band jazz band Choir concerts everything eduation we have to remember that music education music is not a
209service industry it's not you know just based on enrollment it's not just based on the educ ational part the human part the everything that was mentioned part like it's it's not just a service industry and I need to say that because that's that's a principled thing of myself and I want that I hope that's recognized by Administration and I think it is I I appreciate I love all the posts that go on Facebook I think it's great to highlight that but you know Public Image is different than policy and everything else thank you okay are there any other questions for Dan around Staffing think we should move on perhaps yes okay that will come back to us next next meeting which is next Meek next week after some robust conversation tonight all right item 6A
210is the 2024 business honor rooll which I believe Tim was gonna lead that discussion yeah and I'll I'll I'll it short unless people have a lot of questions I know I think um one second I think okay right y okay can I make that yeah yeah uh so I would like to move approval of the recommendation to submit ston VFW zul Joseph's fabricators ston ERS in Sten floral as Sten Area School District's 24 WB business honor roll submissions second Lisa or Lisa all right I don't so I would ask if there's any questions unless you want me to go into detail or ask my colleagues I would just say the committee discussed several nominations 12 I believe yeah um and these were the recommendations that the committee put forward and go ahead Mia just how
211many did we have last year I mean like how many did we nominate forward was it two two okay looked into it and we can nominate up to five okay so we had kind of start out with two and then we had a very I I really appreciated those that were able to be at the meeting because it was in the middle of a giant snowstorm and so we so I I really appreciated that um but we we determined we could have up to five okay so we felt like okay these were the really the top four um based on you know what we we did the use of the rubrics and things like that um and had had some good discussion uh regarding it so okay any other questions for Tim no all right
212so uh because it came out of committee that was the first step in our two-step process so this is the second step so it has been moved and seconded so I'm going to call the question all in favor I any opposed any extensions motion carries then and we are to meeting closing uh I have for Action items um some learning around the dashboard how we are determining uh U measuring Improvement and how the proficiency numbers are coming where they're coming from my personal question is whether they are off the school report cards or the various assessments um there was a request for data uh around historic enrollment change in Orchestra dating back to pre-co and then a visual around demonstrating to board how Orchestra scheduling will be happening with one FTE are there any other
213action items I am forgetting Mia so this is an action item but can I just add a couple announcements is things okay I'm going to allow it okay thank you um just that Nom that uh applications are open for community members to join board committees so for the public out there if you're looking to be a community member on certain of our board committees that have that those applications are available um and then just this is more for my board colleagues but for anyone um this Thursday we're having the second of a series of three Community conversations around belonging and the the it will be happening this month is happening at the United Method Methodist Church which is a change in location from 5:30 to 7:30 and dinner will be 5:30 to 7 and dinner
214will be provided and that's Thursday and child care this week Thursday yeah okay 11 all right uh we have a future board meeting on Monday and then committee meetings next week include long long range planning meets this week legislative meets this week too wonderful and community relations meets next week as well and if there's nothing else I'll entertain a motion for adjournment we'll move'll move second okay I've got moved by fry second by Sullivan all in favor hi any opposed any extensions meeting adjourned