5/19/2026 - NMUSD Special Board of Education Meeting

001All right, calling the meeting to order at 3:00. Um, moment of reflection pledge by um, Trusty Murphy. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Um, roll call Sam. Trusty Soil um here. >> Trusty Murphy >> here. >> Trusty Pearson >> here. >> Trusty Maroy >> here. >> Trusty Anderson >> here. >> Trusty Crane >> here. >> Trusty Wagan >> here. >> Dr. Smith >> here. >> Great. Um now we'll move to um adoption of the agenda. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Trusty Anderson, second by Trusty Crane. Roll call vote. >> Trusty. >> Yes. >> Trusty Murphy. Yes. >> Trusty Pearson. >>

002Yes. >> Trusty Mroy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Anderson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Crane. >> Yes. >> Trusty Wagon. >> Yes. >> Great. Um unanimous. Is there any um community input? Um nope. There is no community input. Then we can begin the strategic plan board update at 302. And superintendent, did you want to introduce them? Yeah, we welcome uh our great friends Sandy and Terin F3, but I don't know who you represent when you do this, just every everybody and uh all inclusive, but they've been working with us all year on our strategic planning process that um really started before this school year kind of setting up how we could engage our community in meaningful conversations around a strategic direction. And so they've helped facilitate that. Um you'll remember that we had multiple days beginning of

003the year in the fall with roughly 150 or so constituents representing a diverse um set of constituent groups. And then throughout we've had our board study session. Then we've gone back to our constituents through advisory meetings. all the while trying to revise what you have in front of you today for your second study session and consideration. We're really excited about the progress we've made. So, without further ado, Tel and Sandy, thank you very much for being here. >> All right. Well, good afternoon. Good to see all of you again. We are delighted to be here. And our goal today, um, we have myself, Sandy, Teran, and we do have Ammani Jones with us today. And I don't know that you've all met her. She was with us at the two uh committee input sessions and

004so and has been working with us on the document and working behind the scenes through all of this. So we're actually really happy to have her here. She's going to talk about the student engage when we get to that portion because she was really involved in that piece of the committee work. So our our goal today is really to just talk a little bit about um the the documents that we've created. We're going to spend a little bit of time uh talking about the process again, just reminding everybody of where we've been. But we spent a lot of time with you all on that at the last meeting and really to get your input yet again as you think about this uh moving forward. And so it's been a really rich process. I think you

005know as we've worked with other districts, one of the things we realize there's no perfect document. It's kind of like when you redecorate and you're like, "Oh, I should have bought the other couch." Um there's always that element of what do we swap out? What do we change? It's really important today that as you go through this document, you're really thinking about at a high level, does this represent um what you really feel as a community? This is a vision. It's not a plan. And we'll talk about that in a little while, but we want to really remind you of that. You're not going to hear from us what the action steps will be. That's the staff's work. But so it's really important that we just really think at that high level as we work

006through this. We're going to talk. We're a tag team operation here. So, I will um defer to Carolyn anytime she wants to ring in. >> Keep going. >> All right. >> Just you doing beautiful. >> By the way, so the trustees know you have the draft document with more of the text at the deis with you. So, as they're going through their PowerPoint, it will refer to the large buckets. The content is in front of you though >> and we'll refer you to that when we get to those slides. Um so, just a reminder of why you've even engaged in this process. Um, I used to always say to our board, you know, if everything's important, nothing's important. And the reality is it is all important. And it is, uh, all the work that we

007do all the time. But the challenge for any board and for staff is to bubble up those things that if we could do nothing else this year, but these three things that would move the needle for kids, would improve outcomes for our students, what would those things be? And so, we're not going to ask you to narrow it down to three, but we want you to really think about what those top level pieces look like. A strategic plan should not be a checklist. It's a long-term or strategic vision, a long-term vision over time, and that doesn't mean it doesn't change. Um, and so that's another piece for the board as you go through this process over years is to ensure that your focus is where it needs to be based on the context that you're

008in at the time. It's forwardlooking. Um, and we had some, as we go through the document, you'll hear we had a lot of folks with input around that to really not be thinking about the way it's always been, but what do we want to be and really thinking about where are the places for us to have a do different, to have a pivot, to to look at something a little bit differently. It's a guiding document and you have your LCAP, right? We know that. That's a really important document that guides staff work. And it's not sticky. It's not a good message. It's not inspirational. People don't necessarily get up and say, "Can't wait to No offense, Zakuro, but I don't get today to get excited about the LCAP." What you want to do with your

009strategic vision is really keep people focused again, forward thinking, long-term with those ideas that people can grab on to. And then it should be inclusive. There should be things in there that resonate with your whole community. Not every piece will, and it should be something that all can connect to. Thank you very much. I just want to elaborate before we go into the timeline briefly the point Sandy said about being nimble. It may change certainly 2020 any long-term plan we had in place faced change and we were reflecting as we prepared for today's meeting had we done this work for you two or three years ago. I don't know that we really would have heard from your community as robustly as we did if at all about AI. And so we do need to um

010keep our ears to the ground and our eyes on the horizon if that's physically possible. And so I'm just going to move quickly through the timeline. As you recall, we met first here in this room last June, nearly a year ago, where we heard from the board, yes, do proceed. gather community input to guide the creation of a portrait of a graduate and also the key themes of interest that you really hoped we would um inquire about when we met with your community group. So we began with the board then moved into that visioning and planning session. Again the word plan um I say as a former trustee don't to all of you with deference don't look for the plan. the plan will be built based on the vision that's set forward from this. Uh

011we met then again in a special board meeting that I believe I was unable to attend. I was here with you virtually. Um my daughter had a boy. >> Yay. >> I'm doing my part for ADA Sakoro. And uh then we began um following that to revise the document from the points you added bubble up. what were the priorities the consensus of the board and we took that to the full committee for the members input um with two guiding questions which we'll walk you through. So, they saw those vision documents and were able to answer a couple of questions for us. Um, did your voice come through and is anything missing? And we we're going to walk you through that detail. And here we are um today now May reviewing these draft vision documents with

012you. Does this set forth for this body the direction you want to move in? And then from that cascades into direction for staff to put um the detail on it. the how so briefly the engagement process was the full school community um and that so internal uh shareholders um uh audiences and uh I have a marketing background and sometimes I use corporate language and I I get scolded for it but frankly I find it a lot easier than um special ed acronyms anyway so I I if I slip I apologize to Um we began with that community engagement and that was uh two days um in November very long days the first one very long I would like to share with you I've done this in many districts I watched it as a board member

013in my own district the people who participated were very engaged they were talking they were listening they were challenging one another and I will also say um probably comes as no surprise to all of you that your students were vocal and strong and um listened to and their voices come through very um very clearly here. We asked Ammani, our USC graduate, to keep a particularly close eye on the questions asked and the responses we were receiving from the students um and she did a wonderful job for you. So um we list here and I will not read for you the groups that were involved. you as well had um not only internal and families caregivers but also city and community leaders who brought in their voice and were very um I felt very reflective of

014what we're looking for in in tomorrow's graduates today's graduates tomorrow's graduates and um so again I will not read this to you I think the detail is here but the ongoing committee input is important for us to know as a board um because that is our job right one of our critical priorities outlined in law is to bring in the voice of the community, the local to our schools. So, we they did receive a summary um and links to your December discussion. We're um invited to comment on that. They received a friendly reminder that they had opportunity to review the f the final draft and uh we did hear from 20 people who gave us quite a bit of input on that draft. We'll walk you through that. So, it's just some a pictorial guide

015to two days in the Newport Mesa district with quite a number of people. Would you like to join us? Ammani, I want wanted her to share with you some of her observations of your student engagement. But if you just look at these sticky papers around the room, um you can see just through color and the the tremendous detail on these papers how much work this group did for you really. and um very very committed to bringing in their voice and talking about your schools. I do want Monty to share with you about students, but between the first and second day, we asked everyone to leave, reflect, and come back. And I want to share Where'd you go, Sandy? You ditched me. Um, >> I just wanted to share with you that when they came came

016returned on the second day, Sandy did ask, as you've reflected on this, is there anything in particular you'd like to share? And um there were a few who stood up um many nods as they spoke. one gentleman who did say, "I've been reflecting on the influence that technology is going to have on our lives. I don't want technology to take over instruction or take over schools, but AI, I hope the writing is on," he said, "the writing is on the wall, and I hope you're reading it." So, and there were nods. So, there was a great reflection in between those meetings. Um, and I just share that with you because we are profoundly responsible for bringing in that community voice. and I'm going to let Ammani address you if you please. >> Hi everyone. Thank

017you for having us here today. Um I'll speak briefly to the perspective of student voice. My colleagues have far more experience in this area than I do, but I was a student less than 10 years ago. So uh we felt strongly that their perspectives and their voice needed to guide this work. So we made sure they had a actual seat at the table. We provided panel space for them. They showed up. They didn't hold back. They were open, vocal, and most importantly, honest. Across every school and every conversation, one theme remained consistent, and that was, "Please see me, know me." And that plea, it isn't unique to a single student or school. It's universal to the student experience here at Newport Mesa, and we wanted that to remain in the conversation as you move forward

018in this work. So, thank you. Thank you. >> All right. So, we're going to take a minute and look at a key takeaways from each of uh the groups, both the committee input for those two-day sessions and then your input. As Ammani just said, um being seen by name and need was a really profound theme and the students felt that strongly. Um, and it's something that the board has, you'll see your how much alignment there is in what the board said to us as well. High expectations, consistent course offerings, opportunities for all students, all schools. And these students represented the breadth and depth of your district and had different uh lived experiences in high school as well. So that was really important. They want you want us to think about integrating life readiness and digital

019literacy skills into learning. you know, we financial literacy is on the horizon or is happening for you all now. We have things that we are we know we need to put in there, but it's really important to note and as a you know, former superintendent, I heard this from students. I've heard it for the last, you know, 15 years really, this idea of being adult ready. And so something that came through from your students in particular, but also from the parents and staff in the room and then allocating resources based on students needs. um equal is inequitable and that came across from all community partners, student partners, parent partners that were in the room. >> Excuse me. I just want to say in particular your staff, >> the employees of the organization were bubbling up

020on their own that we don't need things to look the same. We need resources to be allocated in accordance with where they're needed. And that was a very strong statement. >> Strong sentiment. Yes. and then um that they really did want character traits to develop a well-rounded graduate. And so we have the graduate the portrait of a graduate and we'll talk about how what that looks like and how it could be used in the future. So that was from the committee from the board and we got to meet with you and do the spend a dot and let you kind of grapple with the input that we'd received and respond to it. You also talked about high academic expectations, a consistent course offerings, opportunities for all students, all schools. You wanted meaningful learning opportunities. You

021also talked about life readiness and you reinforce that. And if you remember, you had an opportunity to add anything that you didn't see in the input that we received as well as reinforce what we were bringing to you. And you also reinforce the digital literacy skills. Um you also talked about resources being allocated based on needs and you identified which also came up very loudly and clearly in the uh committee input session as well having these school identities so that students and families want to stay in their home schools and so really thinking thoughtfully about how those things are being allocated across the district. >> Yeah, I just want to speak to um consistent course offerings. Um, specifically what we were hearing was, "I don't want to have to leave a neighborhood school to go

022somewhere else to receive something that I wish was available in my school." In very common language, that is what we heard. Um, what we heard from this board was pride in school. I believe you use the word zones, but um, that's a rather antiseptic word if we're going to build a pride campaign. But we did hear that and we heard that as well from from families and caregivers that they love their schools and they want people to know how remarkable they are. They didn't tell us how to do it. They just said they'd like to see that that pride built up. Pride um and the and the course offerings were the themes that came up um around zones and schools. Um, so I think this one's you. >> So when we um that just means

023you don't know what to say, so you're good to me. >> I'm superintendent. >> Keeping it light to the board. >> Keeping it light. So when we push uh pushed out in April a letter to all members of the community committees, the over 100 people who participated, we did ask these questions and we did receive a response from over 20 about 24% of those. The checks indicate to you what they where we got as a group strong marks. This came through. this was really important digital education for students felt it was um addressed very appropriately. Uh community and this is interesting community and civic responsibility specific to creating those strong neighborhood schools. So they don't just see the course courses that are offered but engaging those actual communities in building that they see it as

024also a civic um lesson as well which I I thought was very important. I heard that from the board, maybe not stated the same way. Rigorous academics for all students. Um, meeting students where they're at and making sure where wherever they want to go when they leave us, if they knock on the door, there's a good shot at that door opening for them. That's what parents want for their kiddos. That's what the kids want. The pluses indicate what we added based on their input. Um, of course, there were nuances, but these were specific ads. Safe, welcoming, accessible, and well-maintained facilities. There was a call out for that and a call out to address uh the fundraising gap between school sites and school communities. Those were literal callouts. I do want to share with you that

025um there were also some points made that we've kept. We've kept all of this to inform your staff as they move forward with their buildout that belong more in the plan, not the strategy, not the what. For example, there were some specific callouts for career and training and life skills that don't necessarily belong in here, but they should be considered as you build that out. For example, financial. Did I do something wrong? >> No, >> we don't have it on slideshow. So, we're very transparent. You can see our notes. You can see where we've been, where we're going. >> My granddaughter's high coup poetry. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I couldn't make the mouth. >> It's good to have a team. um at special education, somebody had had a couple of of

026um staff members had said, "We want to see you call out special education." We did not call out any specific student group. You would look for that in your action plan. Um and I just want to point out one other that came through. Um and that was a desire to see parents included in digital education and digital literacy. As you're taking their children on this journey, would you bring them along? again that belongs in your your plan but those were um noted and we shift now to portrait of a graduate which was really exciting work and I just want to say as board members we know one of the most exciting and rewarding things we get to do is attend graduation. Um it is in the the draft document with all detail is in your

027packet. Um, but one of the most exciting things we get to do, of course, is attend graduation and hand a student a diploma and shake their hand. And um, what do you want to see? And what do parents want to see? And families and caregivers and what do the students want to see in themselves and these business leaders and higher ed leaders who participated in this discussion? What do we want to see in them? How do we build these um, competencies in their personal skills? And this is it. So the detail is there for you in a separate document. We didn't put it all on this slide. A lot of discussion around this. A lot of discussion. Uh this was one area in community response to the draft documents where there was no input other

028than thank you. That was that was it. So they felt like their voice came through. And now we move into what are the key areas of focus. And um I'm gonna let Sandy walk you through these briefly. Again, you have all the detail in front of you. Um and the portrait of a graduate, the language that articulates what we see in each of these buckets is here for your review and input. So you have this in front of you and just a reminder that this isn't an action plan. This is a vision and again it will change over time, but this is something that really bubbled up for your community. Um so they really wanted that expectations, rigor and relevance across and you heard the relevance piece also we talked about that idea am I

029am I adult ready? Um so we have a couple of bullets that we called out rigorous college preparatory course offerings offerings consistently across all schools digital literacy and responsible use of innovative technology. Notice in the portrait of a graduate that we called it tech navigators. And so we really looked through all the language that we heard. It wasn't just about literacy. It was about use. It was about agency. Right? So, we really felt that was important in to really concretely name in the portrait of a graduate. And here we married those two ideas up. >> Responsibility. >> Um, and then extracurricular opportunities that came through loud and clear as something again to have a focus on as you think about academics and co- uh curricular and extracurricular activities kind of all bundled together. How are

030we doing that for with a vision for that across the district? Do you want to do the next one? >> And so that is what we do. We teach children. It's at the heart of our work. How we do it, what we heard from the students and with complete agreement from the adults in the room as well. Not that they aren't adults, they're young adults, but from our students, please see me. Just see me. When you I feel like someone knows me. And um I think Sakuro and I have discussed this so many times in our career together. When you see me and I know that you know me um then I'm going to work harder for you. I feel a connection to school and I'm going to draw connection to the portrait of a

031graduate at this point as well because sometimes when we see someone it's not that they're getting an A. It's not that they're the top of the class but they are trying. They are resilient. They are showing character. they are communicating and articulating their need, their challenge in school. And so the portrait allows you to recognize those in as you're connecting with students and getting to know those students even more deeply, the portrait allows you to recognize beyond their academics and the courses they're taking, the character traits that are important to them, important to you. and uh the specific areas of focus that were articulated here and this is inside baseball language vertical teaming. But your staff really did say as they're looking at this theme of belonging and our students and connectedness, they really wanted

032opportunity to speak with one another about that >> with the goal of achieving that. Right. >> Exactly. Um and the next one is connections. Our schools are community. Um again we we talked a lot about this idea that you know good schools are reflective of a community and attract a community and they really wanted to also talk about how those neighbor school uh neighborhood schools are really ensuring success what whatever neighborhood or zone they're in. And so what you can see here is we didn't label these things because it was a little bit different in terms of the data that we were aggregating but they really want every school to have high expectations and connectedness to create that pride. They really want all staff, students, and families to be together. Really demonstrating that civic responsibility

033and participation. That came through a lot. That idea that we're creating connections not just at the school. That's super important, but really we're a neighborhood, we're a community. How are we making sure that that connectedness is there? And that that came through from a variety of perspectives in the room. And then ultimately really building on the successes and the unique identities that these campuses have. Um, I was sharing with Wes, you know, I don't live in uh Orange County. I live in a different county and I've been seeing all the great press that you guys have been getting in the last couple of days for a district-wide effort. And so, I think that's partly what we were hearing. That kind of thing resonates with your community. They want to see that it's schoolto that it

034there is a success and a connection. And I would I would just say to underscore that as we move into this last category, um the people who did participate, who shared their authentic voice, while they had areas that they feel we need to address, maybe addressed um more robustly, more honestly, they're also very proud of the district. I also want to not lose the opportunity to say how clearly connected this board as a body and as individual trustees is to the community that you serve. the direction you gave us when we first met and the themes you touched on are the themes that came out of these voices. And so, um, truly you are very connected to what's being said out there, what you're hearing, praise and need. And so that that's really nice to

035know that um you're you are fulfilling that that legal responsibility of community voice resources is um really the conversation was if these are our priorities academics, making sure students feel they belong, building strong school communities. We just want to know that you as an organization are looking at all of these resources and then some. But these were the specifics that were listed by your community asking the question, are they aligned to the priorities we've outlined here? So you don't see an action plan necessarily around academics, technology, lifelong learning, civic responsibility. They just would like you as a policy body to be asking the questions, are we aligning these in accordance with those large key priority areas of focus? And um we did not hear that you aren't. We just want they just want to make

036sure that again as Sandy said you can do I I think it was our CBO who used to say to me we can do anything but we can't do everything and so are we aligning as a busy mother I often felt that way myself. So, um, are we aligning our resources toward those critical priorities, um, that you have mapped out? And that really concludes our portion of the presentation. Um, it is now time for discussion with the board to identify um, anything that you feel might be missing and to with your staff map out the timeline for your next steps. You do have a timeline with a desire to have this completed by summer. But I will tell you that's a self-created timeline. It's yours to own. If you need more time, if you want

037more time, if there need to be more steps, that's your privilege. Isn't that right, Superintendent Smith? >> Absolutely. >> I didn't want to overstep there. I was I lost eye contact for a moment. >> Always there. >> Thank you. So, I turn it now to the president. >> Great. Thank you so much for your presentation. Um before we open it up to our comments and our discussion, um I wanted to take a moment and hear from staff first about um are there any current elements that you have that might be currently underway in any of these four areas? >> Yes. So, um, President Oilyu asked us to be prepared to kind of share because we know that people are going to be saying, "Yeah, the vision looks good, but what about this one thing or

038what about the things that you're excited about working on those strategic actions?" And so, we wanted to give you a flavor for, you know, the things we've been thinking about, but only thinking about because it would be premature for us to plan for something you hadn't identified as a vision. It would be disrespectful. Um, so we're prepared, depending on where you land, to start working with stakeholders to co-develop these strategic actions, but we thought we would share with you some of the things we're thinking about in each of these buckets. I just want to make sure that my team's um, we shared this earlier, but we want to give the board as much time as they need. So, just kind of briefly hit on these things. And everything they'll share is something that could and

039will be measured. there'll be a timeline, a measurement, and an expected outcome. So, really smart goal applicable, right? So, um with academics, let's let's do um the PLT and continuing the PLT. Um and Carrie, let's have you and Kurt speak to that. So, Carrie first and then Kurt or however you want to do it, but let's have you guys do that one. >> Um sure. I'll introduce um the conversation around professional learning teams. Um this is work that we um have been engaged in for the last two years and we as a team have decided um with the research that one of the best mechanisms for school improvement and school transformation is through highly effective teacher collaboration and we have established that as our PLT process and so one of the one of the great

040areas that we've been able to gain momentum in is bringing these teachers together and being able to provide opportunities of time and collegiality and collaboration to come together to really talk about student data and really look at how and what ways we can inform adult changes in adult behavior to really drive changes at the school. So I'll let Dr. Sir talk a little bit more deeply about metrics, how we measure that and what our expectations are. >> Yeah. So, we are uh excited going into next year and thinking about the way that we're going to be structuring our PLT time. We know we have 75 minutes on a weekly basis for our teams to collaborate and support one another. And with that um sh at the elementary level specifically shifting from a model where maybe

041one Wednesday you have professional development, the next Wednesday you have PLT work with data analysis, the next Wednesday you have professional development. We're going to shift that model moving into next year to where every single Wednesday, every single week, we're looking at a set of data. We're working and supporting teachers in regards to future planning for instruction that's coming up, looking at intervention models to support our students. So, we're really excited about framing our PLTS in a in a stronger way that will really build that muscle, if you will, in regards to data analysis, collaboration, and understanding where it is that our students are. And specifically, one of the things that we're highly interested in and uh we're able to use our data to analyze it is the growth that is occurring in our schools.

042And when teachers have sets of data and we can uh share with them uh some of our analyses in regards to the amount of growth that is occurring, it gives an opportunity for us to identify great things that are happening in particular teams and really uh magnify that and communicate it out so that when teachers are doing incredible things with students and the growth is very clear, that can be a a wonderful thing to put a put a huge spotlight on and share with other people because teachers collaborating with one another is really where um the work is going to go in regards to making strong academic progress as a school district. We know that it all comes through our teachers. So being able to identify where is growth occurring, what do those supports look

043like and how is it that we can take advantage of that so that everyone can see particular things that are happening is wonderful. But it really comes down at the end of the day because at every school you have pockets of excellence and things where support is needed. So it's not just about identifying the areas where excellent things are happening, but it's also about clearly identifying areas where we can support and help move the whole system forward. So it's not about just taking things that are working and moving them forward. It's about looking at the whole big picture, all of your grade level teams, all of the work people are doing and moving it collectively by analyzing the data, understanding the growth that is or isn't occurring and being able to make shifts so that

044we're moving uh student learning uh forward in all of our classes and all of our programs. But to Dr. Smith's point, it really comes down to being able to understand what it is that uh is occurring when our students are um making academic progress and having that data clear and visible and understanding where it's working and where we need to support. So, we're excited to be able to pinpoint specifically where growth is needed and highlight and pinpoint where outstanding academic progress is being made. >> Yeah. So, for the team, that's a burrito response. just so we're clear to kind of set the standard. Um uh because they mentioned we don't call out in the plan specific subgroups. I I want to give you another example in this bucket though Sarah your your um work that

045you're looking at around the learning center model just briefly how that would fit into this bucket. >> Right. Briefly or Kurt briefly briefly. >> Yes. So we we know that students with disability research shows that they do best the more the closest they are to grade level academic rigor. And one of the things that we want to do is look especially at secondary of removing basic skills um students who just go to a class for homework help some of those things and replace it. We're we want to do that starting at new at um Costa Mesa and have a learning center where any student can go any student um general ed, special ed, 504 can go and get that help and really track our data on how students are are performing who have that as

046their academic support. >> Thank you. in in the uh bucket of belonging, we're already looking at groups that we can work with like the search institute to do um asset mindset development in the district. Uh beginning with staff. So the first year would be how do we train staff to be asset minded and intentionally build those and they have programs then that we take to schools or mindset shifts that we take to schools that can be measured and this is the important part because there are surveying they can do about asset development where do students feel like they are seen more heard more safer after these interventions? And of course we would bring all these things to you so you could look at them and say you know are these surveys appropriate whatever but but

047to really quantify how the students are progressing in this feeling of being seen supported and safe. So that's one thing we're working on there. Kurt also mentioned the PLT these these innovations can can hit on more than one bucket. He also mentioned that we could put in there and should put in our PLTs metrics around how students are feeling, seen, heard, supported. So it's teachers are looking at their academics. They're also looking at but are these students feeling like they belong? Do they feel more connected and what can we do for interventions if they are not? So again these strategic actions can hit on more than one bucket. Sakuro had one on connections I wanted her to share that I think um gets to that that part of how do we connect families and the

048community to schools which then drives pride in that school when you have more people participating and coming together to support it. Squorro, >> thank you. What we are thinking about and what we've always been thinking about, but now really having the voices from others and ideas from others is thinking about family and community experiences. How we create positive experiences for everyone to connect to each other and to school and to our community, both the large and small ones. We have we have a school community but then we have a city community and then we have two cities communities. I mean there just a lot of things to belong to in Newport Mesa and how we do that through experiences, training, developing leadership. All of those are part of connecting us as a community. >> Yeah.

049Thank you. Finally, with resources, we've we heard today about the parental concerns, community concerns about the disparity of of um raising funds. I've heard it from some of you in fact and one of the things we've talked about that the parents on the the task force group brought up as well was looking at this idea of a district-wide foundation which wouldn't take the place of the existing foundations. They can do their thing. What we would do is a thing districtwide um that would allow us to offset some of the expenses at all sites. So all of us would work together to help all the sites. There's a power in that um that that we've only begun to explore and other districts have done it to great success. So, we want to really lean into that's

050work that's already started and we think that this would really address some of those concerns and and this bucket. But also, there are issues and and and Jeff had several about dashboards. How do we with facilities and safety have dashboards that you and the and the community could look at to see where are the priorities? Who's up next? When am I up? All those kinds of things. You get asked all the time instead of asking you, they can look at a dashboard and then talk to you about something else and it will be based on >> send them to the internet. >> What's that? Well, or you can read it to them in your coffee talks, whatever. But but the point is that there would be these resources that Jeff would produce in in a

051bunch of different areas around facilities, around safety, etc. Um, but the the one trace I wanted to hit on last and turn it over to the board is with that idea of position control and how that helps with resource alignment because I think that is so necessary for us. So go ahead. >> It will be a key. So one example of an actionable item under that would be to prioritize multi-divisional work to standardize the position control process. Um, that would ultimately improve our accuracy, our cross departmental communication and fiscal accountability around all of our staffing decisions. So that'd be an example of an actionable item. >> So again, these are just ideas, things that we've started to begin to work on. We know that we have to work with the community. We have to take

052into account where you land and what your priorities are that we've heard and that you express. But those are just some ideas for your question. >> Great. And with that, we'll open it up to any feedback, comments from the board. >> Is it for just this section for now? >> Anything that was presented? Um, Trusty Murphy, then trusty Y again. Okay, I have a couple of questions. Um, okay, Tracy, what did you just say? >> I know. >> Really good question. So, an example would be to bring our divisions together to work on a process that really incorporates multi-divisional um collaboration around staffing decisions because ultimately that's where pime most of our fiscal resources are given. And so that is one of the examples that should um this be the strategic plan would be something

053that we could put as an action item to prioritize that work. >> Okay. Give me an example. >> An example would be when um creating a new position for example what process that goes through in order to you know all the way from creation all the way through to approval, posting and filling. um really prioritizing that work that happens behind the scenes and in between to ensure that our fiscal resources are being allocated um in the way that supports the um ultimately the vision that's being set forth. >> Does that help? >> Kind of. >> Okay. >> I think I'll still need to see that in action. >> So will I. >> More on the actions later. >> Okay. Um and then of course the facilities website, the web page. So what is what is

054the scale look like? >> To be determined, but one of the big things that we heard coming out of that resource section was the alignment and the importance of aligning our resources. Well, you can only know if you're aligning them properly if you can account for that and how do you see that? Unfortunately, school district budget is not easy to read for the layman. And so when we think about dashboards, those are really easy. So when you look at like a sitebased budget, can our school sites access a dashboard and see how much they've spent or how much they have available in certain categoricals? We don't have that yet, but that's an idea. Same thing with facilities. We have projects. You can track how much we've spent on the project up to that point. >>

055So these are just examples and the technology exists. So it's certainly something we want to explore. >> In terms of explore, do you mean like we could do that soon? >> Let me answer that one. two two things for you to to to think about. We're here all night, so we'll answer questions. We'll tell you all the fun ideas we have. I I I just would encourage the board to really focus on the vision part of it. Um because that's the time you really have to inform this so that we can adopt it at some point. But but I would say um and and I should have said this earlier, so thank you. Next year is our time to develop the strategic actions. We can't develop them all over the summer. That would be also

056disingenuous. The public would say sure you were waiting for your board to decide and we are. >> There are some things we can do sooner than others though. And I think dashboards like that are something we can turn around within the year, right? So I really think next year as we look at dashboards for you know based on a certain metric right that we disclose publicly here is the order here is the cost and you can track updates for both and it would be a landing spot for that and again these are just ideas that we have >> um to to just share with you examples of what the action strategies will look like. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Great. Awesome. don't think I'll not agree with you moving forward with that on any level.

057Um, okay. So, Kurt, one little question was how um how how would you track data on feeling connected? >> Absolutely. So, um we have a number of different assessments that are available. I'll give you one example. We have star reading that is uh done four times a year starting in second grade up through uh the high school levels. Those assessments uh have are uh we are able to measure and quantify how much growth has occurred between different points beginning of year to end of year beginning of year to middle of year >> and one of the work one of the things we've been doing is working with Doug Fiser and specifically looking at schools that are trajectory changing schools that make 1.3 years worth of growth in a given year. And so by analyzing the

058growth that is occurring throughout the year, we won't have to wait till the end of the year for state results to come in and be able to >> Kurt I think hers is about >> I thank you for that. But you guys talked about how would we track students feeling connected. >> So there's there's a survey that I mentioned that we could do >> and also so that you know because this is this is a great question. How do you measure soft skills? How do you measure the human skills? And and in most of the school districts around the state, they've never been able to do that. We've been investigating technology right now where you can measure >> using AI and video and it's it's not high cost >> the human skills in students over

059time and it is statistically really really accurate. So, a the surveys I've mentioned about the search institute. That's an easy one that's been done in lots of districts. And now we're looking at emerging technologies that allow students to interact >> with um an agent, right? A virtual agent that then analyzes how they're doing and spits it out for teachers in real time. >> Okay. >> But just doesn't become their best friend, right? >> No, it's not that kind of agent. >> Okay. Um but thank you, Kurt. Thank you. That was I appreciate that. Um then so in terms of all that data, so this is just a logistics question. How are you going to give that to every group of teachers every week >> from every different school, every different >> Well, we've been developing

060that for this year, but to Wes's point about really developing the actions and how we're going to measure it and Jeff's point, how we're going to make dashboards for teachers, for parents, for students themselves, that is part of the rich discussion for next year. But there are tools out there >> that the but we're going to be able to give each teacher you know PLC group you know every week >> they have it now >> data that what happened in this last week >> well and one thing I think and >> I mean are they looking at that every week >> reminded a lot of groups it's not just a test there is test data but there's also other data in a classroom and it can be the writing from that day it can be

061a sample that the teacher did on the board it it can be a lot of things. Data is a lot of things. It's not just ESPback. It's not just grades. And so developing that out and ways to >> the key is that they agree on what that is and they all bring it and talk about it. But that is kind of how we would develop that out and making sure teachers know that have access to it and when we can we are using AI and other tools to make data very visible to a lot of people. >> May I um jump in? I have a >> Oh, no. >> Because it's on the same subject because I I can wait my turn, but that one's relevant to what >> Trusty Murphy is. So, where does

062the California Health Youth Survey fall into all this? Because isn't that part of that whole effective >> would be part of the data >> because I know it's limited to certain grades, but is it kind of the same model of questioning? >> Well, and you can see it over time. You can see change over time. You can look at specific questions and domains. So that absolutely would be one of our data sources, but not the only. We would seek to develop more. >> Thank you. >> And to just follow up on all of that, there's other tested tools that measure these different attributes that a student feels or perceives over time. And so healthy kids measure some of them, but there's a bunch of other tools that measure all the other elements that they're talking

063about. It's just a matter of, I think, to their point, getting clarity around the staff and which one the team wants to use because someone's going to love one question and someone's going to hate one question and they're going to have to compile a tool that meets everybody's needs and then just use that tool regularly, maybe monthly, maybe quarterly, just depending. >> Um, so were there any more questions before we go to Trusty Wagan was next? Thanks. Um, so I wanted to kind of go into this um, document, a portrait of graduate that you have put together. Um, I don't know if we were going to go through it and wordsmith it or just provide you feedback. I'm not I don't I don't know how this document I guess is going to be fully used,

064but one thing that I have about um, so my comments are really about things that are in this document. Um, you know, our commitments to all students. So on these two paragraphs up there, I was, you know, listening to you talk about how great our students are and and what they want and what they need, but I don't really see that so much in these two paragraphs. Yes, they want to feel a strong sense of belonging and and and being that cultivated, but I don't think anyone really talked about that I want my school to be rooted in empathy and kindness. I think they were talking about you said our students are focused and strong. I would like these two sentences to be a bit stronger about what we are for our kids. I you

065explained a lot um or said a lot um adult ready. I mean, if our comm commitment to our students is that they're going to come out focused and strong and adult ready, um that they will be, you said, open, vocal, and honest, um lead and reflect. Like those types of strong characteristics of our students to me is a better reflection of what we want our students to become, not that they're kind and and empathy. Of course, we want that. However, speaking as a parent, that is somewhat overdone where we're like, "Yeah, but you know what? Johnny over here just bullied my kid and I want my kid to stand up to that kid." Right? Like there's those types of things where it's not I don't want him to be kind to that guy. I want

066him to be like, "Look, that's wrong. You shouldn't do this." And so instead of being bystanders, I think I've talked to to Wes about being upstanders. You know, have a sense and and we there's a lot of discussion about civic responsibility and connectiveness. Speak up in your community, volunteer in your community, be a part, find a voice, find what makes you tick. That whole idea of asset mindset, like I maybe am never going to be great at physiology, but you know what? I might be great at something else and that's my asset. Um, and so I would like those to represent a little bit more of a vision of that character of that student that we want. Um so that that's my um take on those top two. The other thing is >> can I

067ask you a question about that? So that because we this is really that time for you as a board to words smmith this if you will. I mean I wouldn't say words smmith but to your point what's missing. So just for clarity sake, are are you saying that the strength and some of those things need to be in that second paragraph? >> But the what >> just so we're clear so that then you can respond these six items that they mention as the portrait of a graduate those been highly vetted through the groups and through you. So when you give that feedback are you talking about the second paragraph or the six or both? because >> yeah the first um thing that I just said now the top two the mission statement >> it is

068a mission statement our commitment to all students is what I'm >> I guess our question is is this is this going to be on our website is this what we're going to be going on for the next 10 years yeah so I agree with Christa five years when I read this those first two paragraphs I almost wanted to stop I mean I was like this isn't us this is not Newport Mesa Unified School District it's I almost wanted to stop reading it but then as I went down. I saw how wonderful. I mean, I don't want to It's not my turn, right? >> Yeah. No, you're you're you're right on because I I I don't even bother reading the top two like statements of things. I go right into the big paragraphs because I find

069them fluff and so I would like this not to be fluff and I find that to be fluff at the moment. Um, sorry to be so critical, but I've come from a long time. >> I love it. But, but I think once I'm glad I did keep reading because the key areas of focus were fantastic. I mean that was fantastic when you started getting into the technology, the critical thinking, the AI literacy. Um, >> and I see this happening in our district already. I see you guys planning like when you I thought when you guys were going to speak you were going to tell us, well, hey, we just said I ignite that. I mean, that's all of it. I mean, you've already started doing this stuff. >> Um, so that's amazing to me and

070that was what I got excited about. Um, but yeah, if this is what we're going to send to our parents, I mean, I think that that needs to be exactly what was right on with that with those adjectives and those words and um and use those strong words. >> I think if a a parent read that, they'd be like, "Oh god, not again." Like, what? Like, come on. What am I what are my kids, you know, like are they going to come out being like >> not adult ready, right? Like, >> but I love the connection. I mean, I love I don't want to dis you know, I don't want to be disrespectful of the connection because we've heard that from the students. We know that they want to connect. We know that's important. >>

071I mean, I you know, we know that and it is important, but we don't want to substitute that for rigor and for making getting our kids jobs, you know, later on later on. >> Agreed. And I did not talk to Lisa about this earlier, so we are not vomiting, but thank you. Um, so that's really like in that first paragraph, it just needs to be stronger and I think it needs to define what we want our kids to turn out as. Um, and then these other ones, um, I just have a couple uh, comments. I think on the tech navigators, I think there's a big push um, in our district to figure out the proper use of technology for all grades. And I know that we were talking about this last u meeting as well,

072but um I hear it a lot from parents is do we need our kindergarteners and our first and second graders and I just have this is an anecdotal experience I've had is that like I travel to China for work and I talk to my colleagues about what their kids learn in school and in China they're doing so much technology in their classes. Those kids don't even write. They communicate to their phone or their computers and that dict and they dictate to it. So they don't actually do pen to paper anymore. And that's going to the fact that we can be more creative with pen and paper. That's going to take us and lead us more than it is going to be using technology because everyone can do that, right? But can everyone create something themselves?

073>> We got to be able to use AI obviously as a a tool. But what's going to separate us from from being successful and not is is you know being having that creative thought, that creative mind. So, I would like to see tech used in a a responsible way and in a creative way. And then one more thing on the I don't know if this goes into um I'm not sure where this goes into, but um you know rigorous academic uh standards like is this something that we talk about, hey, are we we make every kid have um to do A throughG have an A throughG requirement for our high school students? um do we require then each student to take one CTE class? Um and then I would like there was this whole idea

074of the civic-mindedness that we have of the connection and get people involved in our zones or the elementary schools um volunteer hours. I remember in college um we had to I went to USC fight on and um we had to um one of our classes every student every freshman in an English class had to go and do volunteer hours at a local um elementary school in downtown LA. And that was something that got kids to actually want to be teachers or they got they they understood someplace different or a different um aspect of education or just community that they weren't a part of. And so I would love to see if that's something that we could have as well that we would have to volunteer in our classrooms. Um but I would also like to

075see volunteer hours as a graduation requirement as well. I think that's part of uh civic-mindedness. Those are all I've got a lot, but that's that's what I wanted to say. >> Thank you. Those are great. And in um following up with that, um if I could make a couple of like edit um elements for the the F3 team um in response to that. So, for instance, um Trusty Wagan, I heard the word like focused and strong that you wanted to hear that under confident. Um focused and strong should probably come out stronger in there. And then the open, vocal, and honest. Um, you have a space for communicators down below. In the communicators, it should probably reference the open, vocal, and honest. But in this very first intro paragraph situation, it sounds like folks would

076like that sentence, the we foster schools rooted in empathy and kind of let that go, but begin with like we want to foster, you know, adult ready upstanders um that can care for one another, cultivate a sense of belonging, and then have the resources to do so kind of situation. That does that get at what you were alluding to trusty wand getting the top paragraph a little stronger but then some of those words particularly >> yeah I mean I think >> yeah word smith it so it doesn't just talk about feelings I'd like it to talk about you know substance >> yeah like what we're we're really trying to >> one thing um and I think all of it can be incorporated and it's your call ultimately the one word in there we got the

077most feedback on from our constituents and it wasn't close was empathy >> that that wasn't in there or wasn't in there enough. So, however you would accept integrating that, I just share that because that came up in writing and in the advisory groups quite a bit just >> Yeah. No, I mean that's an amazing amazing word and that's definitely where you know I I want our children to be. Um but could there be something where it's great to be empathy but what are you going to do with it? Yeah. >> like integrity or standing up or something. >> Yeah. >> And maybe it's a matter of um going through each of the >> six bullets and drawing out one key word from each of it because you have empathy down there under collaborators. So it's

078like you have these words in the mix, >> but they're not coming through as strong in the intro paragraph. um and it could sound like more active voice of how these six things will get developed, but up front at the top would would probably help that. Um and I do think under the tech navigator one that you mentioned um again you have language in the rigor and relevance page that you've called the technology use confident, ethical, creatively used technology. But then on this page you have confidently and responsibly maybe moving the ethically creatively into that first page too. So however you describe the tech whenever you mention AI you mention those three adjectives um the same across each page of the document. Um and then something in there to Trusty Wagan's point about the tech

079being age appropriate. So like yeah the kindergarters don't need their Chromebook. So how do we like convey that everyone shouldn't be doing tech all the time. So something age appropriateness with tech. Um but um next we had trusty Pearson. Did you have more before um before >> I guess I do have one more question I guess for Kirk. When we talk about the PCL groups or whatever it's a 75 minutes a week you said. Yes. >> For the teachers doing the date and stuff. >> Do they also during that time do they get the time to talk about Odyssey of the mind and how >> you know to do this the stuff with the kids? Do they get that time in there or is that just all data driven? >> Um, Odyssey of the mind

080is uh one of the areas that we're working on with the innovation work and that is done by point people sometimes during the day, sometimes after school, but to answer your question, I wouldn't say necessarily odyssey of the mind is a point of discussion during PLT work, but I would say that how are we going to challenge students who have mastered the content that we are looking at um as a next step? Definitely that's part of the discussion. I sat through a meeting with all the principles and Anderson brought up um you know the the next new math olympiad or whatever and I know they're really um want to push this math olympiate and I could just see all the faces in the room going oh my gosh you know what teacher is going to

081step up to do this for us or like maybe if they had time during that time like I mean because I think that's I mean when you see the pictures of that ignite night I mean and uh battle the books like that stuff I mean that's just that's really taking this next step and the next level and doing what what this is saying. So I just want to know where that time is going to come from. >> PLT time is adults kids have already been dismissed but there are times in the elementary structure where students get what they need. It's called wind time what I need and there are places where we could embed acceleration and those types of things and that's what we've been starting to do and along with the training for gate

082and the gate icons making sure that those are all visible across the district when students have time with teachers. I I would just add yes and that is appropriate in a PLT for them to talk about where students can be advanced in their learning and teachers also we don't just talk about remediation in a PLT we talk about what every student needs in our care and if they need advanced coursework or challenges then that could be a conversation we have there >> so just noting the time for everyone we have about half hour left um can I next go to trustee crane then than Melroy. >> I think Anderson >> was it first? Okay, I can't. They're all just lit up. Sorry. >> I know. I know how that >> Anderson Melroy, >> thank you.

083Uh I agree with Trusty Wagand. I really like um and I think it includes under the tech navigator part, we have responsible there twice or once and confidently twice, but I agree with the creative piece. One thing that I would like to add, not necessarily as a portrait of this, but perhaps um for this something for the staff to create that I think would help with the engagement and for us certainly to be able to explain um is early childhood expectations. So, I don't know with our continuum, here's what a TK student is expected or exposed to. Here's what a first grade student is expected. Um, you know, I think we know in places like Finland, they don't introduce technology at all until first grade. And so there's just diff there's a lot of different

084approaches. And I don't know that any of us know what our district is currently doing. And I know that's a question that I get often. So something like that, I think, would be really helpful um, from the beginning stages. I've been hearing a lot more from parents about, I'm starting my child in preschool with your district now. What does that look like? What will it look like in the next few years? whereas before we were talking about kindergarten and what does that look like in those next few years. Um and I I like what trustee Ursuloo said about the age appropriateness piece. Um I I do agree. Um what I saw and I heard from the dots on the boards and from um a lot of the conversations that we had was that focus like

085uh Superintendent Smith said about empathy. Um I actually one thing that I would I think could be helpful is to flip the order of this and so to have this is portrait of a graduate and again this is just you know like that it's not a visual necessarily but to flip it so the top piece is this first line at the top it says our graduates are self-confident and forward thinking and then goes into the items and then at the bottom is our district commitment to students and so I I I think all the students that I have worked with um all speak about that first paragraph. I think we heard over and over about empathy. We've been doing a lot of work on kindness. I think the soft skills are something that we hear

086repeatedly. So I I I'm less um inclined to lose those. I think it's an and situation not an or. And I think one of the things that I would like to see under that included too um would be about our commitment to students is related to opportunities. I think we in our area um should be and could be turning out amazing graduates. And so I think as part of our commitment to all students that should be we should be raising the bar for everyone. It should be if you graduate from any of our campuses they have amazing opportunities um that are unique and expansive. And so I think that too has a place in there that's maybe not as itemized by the eight or so items. Um and then for me the the thing that

087um I think also could be helpful as we're putting this together and again these are just kind of based I think from the dashboard and then of what superintendent Smith shared. Um, I was just at Love Coast Amaz at Wilson Elementary and one of the teachers was like, I think we were supposed to get new asphalt, but now we're not getting it. But so I think having a dashboard for everyone will stop the bottleneck of everything having to go through the principal to get that information. Um, but that also got me thinking about how we do funding. So when there's new PTA people coming in, when there are just people who are looking at our schools, most people have no idea what a basic aid district is, no one really knows unless you, you know,

088have a have a a decision one day to spend a couple of hours to to dive into how school finance. And so um but it continues to come come up more and more for our district. And I think it really is a subsequent piece to what we did with the facilities master plan. And so if I think it could be helpful in addressing the fundraising gap is what is our fundraising gap? So do we have one? What does that look like? Is that based on federal funding? Is that from property tax? What does that look like differently with private foundations versus it sounds like possibly going the route of a community foundation that's holistic and would probably have parent voice in it and our business leaders. So I think but we would need to start

089somewhere foundational to get to that. Um and so I think that would be really um helpful and yeah I think the learning center model sounds great. It sounds similar to what you guys have at Krono Delmare High School with your learning center that I know has been like an amazing resource there. So yeah, lots of interesting pieces to that. Thank you. >> All right. Um Trusty Crane next and then Trusty Mckelro. Just a couple of comments or questions. Um, so this these first two paragraphs, are they a mission statement? What how would you portray those two? Are they supposed to be >> a promise, a preface to the actual >> so preface? >> Okay. Um, board, I don't know how you feel about perhaps inserting the word in the first sentence. We believe that when

090students are truly known, >> wait, hold on. are truly known as individuals and feel as a strong connection to peers, staff. Can we insert the name the word community? Because I think we're talking about civic-mindedness. We're talking about us being greater than just ourselves. How do you feel about the word community being inserted in this? >> I don't like the first sentence. >> The whole thing. Sorry. >> Okay. What about including the word community? Somehow >> community can be involved somewhere. >> We have it right. I mean we have it in connections community >> as a like a sub >> connections or okay that's good. All right. And then my last question is it this is so we're as far as timeline and trying to meet the timeline as a guideline of course because timelines

091are meant to you know be stretched or not given the need. Um summer summer should be our own personal sort of personal goal to to iron this out the language and then after that how many years to implement and is and then when do we revisit again? >> We've talked about with this group a five-year master plan. That doesn't mean everything takes five years. So we would stage it in multiple years for you. So, I think that timeline makes sense. Um, again, we're going to need time to develop some of this. Some of this we can do a little sooner. Some will take a lot of community. So, it's a a yes and probably answer, but it's a five-year plan um in probably two-year stages so we can implement monitor >> and then so we

092revisit do we do we focus once again on taking a look at it and see how we're doing every five then? >> Every year? I mean annually we bring these things back. We would we would connect these strategic goals that we've initiated right these strategic actions rather sorry >> to our board meetings. So we'd be publicly sharing how we're doing with these things how we're tracking my evaluation annually will be once again linked to whatever those are that we commit to for that time period like we do now with our big four. Now we'll put in the ones that we've agreed to. So it'll really be annually and often that we bring these things forward. >> And would the model include the same breakdown of the stakeholders that gave feedback or would that be every

093five whatever years? >> We we wouldn't anticipate bringing them back until we do this again. They've helped us inform this. This will then become the board's vision and direction and then staff will do the strategic actions and then bring that back for your consideration and evaluation. Okay, thank you. >> So, Trusty McCulla. >> Okay. Um I just mine kind of drills down like maybe farther than we need to go. um just like specific examples. But so I'm going to first start and say um Christa's right on the first paragraph either just needs to be eliminated or completely written in a very strong manner of who we are and what we do and what we expect and and um you know just a very strong statement. So parents read the first if we keep these keep

094a first paragraph read and go wow this is great and move on and see all these things. Um, two things I want to say. It under um in the strap it says our efforts will include and this says our efforts will include. I think that just needs to be wiped out. Just we're doing this, you know. Um on all these it says >> leading with care whatever you know our efforts will include. I just think we should wipe that out and just go we are doing this and you know this is what you know this is our plan. not that that we're just kind of giving in an effort perhaps we're actually doing it. Um I wanted to talk about um the connection between being the the being seen and heard and everything and um

095I have firsthand example of you know a school making a complete change u over you know just because of one human being and that is the Newport L and I I think that what she's doing the principal and you might not know but she she is the perfect example of what we need to have every principal and teacher do. And um she every student wants to impress her because she sits down with each student as a one-on-one. There's 300 and something kids there. She goes and meets with them, goes over their grades, and then they do not want to let her down. So if we can implement maybe where the principal I know high schools we got 2,000 kids but I mean our principal at Newport Harbor he all the kids fully respect him too

096because he makes that effort to get to know and be seen and and somehow we can how we can implement that that and and also with the teachers I was thinking he spent 75 minutes you know going over growth well let's spend 75 minutes you know I remember when I was in elementary school we got a one-on-one field trip I know this is Not today's day, but I got to go horseback riding with my teacher. So, >> I know, but I'm just saying like spend that seven, you know, one of those 75 minutes. I know it's during not during school time, but figure out a way where, hey, let's go hang out the teacher and the student. So, that student then feels God, we're friends now, and I want to really impress, you know, him

097or her, whomever it is. So I think we have to do a lot more of just that full engagement with the students not just teaching at them but teaching with them you know um and growing with them and just you know just a real like emo like a a bond versus here's your assignment. So any way we can implement that and I somehow would like that in this wording like if if the parents heard if they're going to read this like you know we're going to you know have this one-on-one with your child I don't know how to do this but this is would be my dream. I think that they would really be like hey yeah great idea. So that's that's just my feedback. Um I appreciate all the hard work. I mean there's

098a lot of great things in this for sure. I just think we need to make it stronger and more um ontact. And one other thing is under confidence or whatever our headings might be. I want to really tell kids to follow their passion um at whatever age like you know and my daughter's an example. I'm sorry. She's followed her passion. She knew what her passion was. I never knew what mine was. And you know if you let them follow their passion they really succeed. And um and I just think we should write that somewhere. You know, we thrive on having children follow their passion. >> I think that's good feedback. And just to be clear, because I don't want the labor groups or HR to freak out over you just changing our PLT negotiated language.

099But what you said in all seriousness is, you know, really creating those connections between adults and students. And I appreciate what you said about principles. It It's true. And that's why we're going to begin if if we go in this direction, again, this is all dependent upon where you land with training the leaders first so that every leader is trained in then how do we do that on our side? And it absolutely includes not just teachers but classified as well. How does every adult intentionally create those kinds of relationships that develop these assets for our youth? All of them. So 100%. Not during PLT time, but we'll we'll figure out these other ways to build that all of us together. Yeah. >> And a way to prove if we did that or not is the

100healthy kids survey has two questions on that. So, it will then dictate if we're actually doing it or not. Um, so this is great. We have about um 14 minutes left of conversation. Is there anything in the document that anyone else um wants to flag or wants to raise um before we adjourn? Um, anything else? Any other final thoughts? Um, Trusty Crane? >> Yeah. So, so we're going to end up aligning our mission statement to this, right? Somehow, I mean, because we do have a mission statement on our website. >> Yeah, I'm assuming it's all going to line up. That's part of the process. >> I would say that whatever we have now isn't what we'll have in the future. Okay. >> And we don't have to be constrained by the old mores like mission,

101vision, right? It it gets confusing to people. And so we we wrestled with our commitment is kind of like you're saying we're not going to try this. This is what we're going to do. But if the board would choose another word, that's fine. But this really replaces all of that. >> Okay. That's good to know. >> Whatever we call our prep as our preamble, our commitment or whatever it is, this is this is what we're going to do >> and this is how it's going to look. Right. >> Okay. Helpful. Thank you. >> Anything else before we adjourn? Just one small item on the um belonging page on the bottom. It has specific area areas of focus will include professional learning and vertical teaming for staff to ensure subject matter collaboration. I think those sound

102very similar. And so I think it would be helpful to maybe if they're included >> at the bottom of belongings. >> Third uh one third page the back. >> Okay, got it. Second page back. they seem similar. I mean, professional learning is just sort of vague, but then it also falls into vertical teaming for staff. So, maybe some more articulation around that I think could be helpful to clarify that. >> Thank you. But I like it. I like where it has the specific areas of focus. I think for each of those are clarifying for people particularly the community who will be working and reviewing this. So, I like like under the next one for connection specific areas of focus. We can barely hear you. >> Okay. >> Say that again. Board member Anderson. >> Uh

103did you hear what I said about >> I did the first part. Yes. >> This part. Um just the other pieces that have for for me. I think it's helpful when it's going back to community and they're reviewing it where it has what the specific areas of focus will include. I don't know that it needs to be on the final document, but I think it's helpful in the still draft version. And so that's a good point for us to discuss because we put these on because they came up through the community, but really these could be the action steps and we could just leave that off. These would be the things that they would consider as they derive those action steps. I don't know if that's a better way forward. >> AB: Absolutely. And and

104I would just say if I understood really this isn't going back to other groups for draft now. this is now with you however long it takes to finalize that um so that we can start the work of actually planning those steps and bringing folks together. >> Okay. So the specific areas for belonging are just going to be included in >> Yeah. Yep. Thank you. >> And that makes sense because it seems like the other four are there isn't that specific areas of focus at all. So it's >> it's a oneoff it seems. Yeah. >> Clean it up. Thank you. >> All right. Good point. Uh 10 minutes left. Anything else? >> Yes, I I have a question. Um what what is our plan to um maintain the engagement of these original stakeholders? Um are are

105we is the intent to give them um a draft of what we've done tonight or are are we still going to keep them on board and engaged um to follow through with so they feel like their their work has been acknowledged and and received? >> Yeah. Well, it so yes, we invited them to this so that they knew that they could come to public or they can watch on YouTube and see their work being, you know, kind of digested and considered by the board. Once the board adopts this, we'll share that with them for sure. And then we'll update the community about our strategic progress for the next five years and and keep these things in front of them and how we're doing so they see those efforts and can even come back to the

106board and say, "Yeah, we said that and this is what you did. we kind of were looking for this >> and then they'll they'll inform the process throughout in our public meetings. >> Well, I'd like to extend our grat my gratitude um to all those who put in the time, the feedback and also the courage especially our student voices as you reported. Um I think it's very valuable. So, thank you. >> And Trusty Murphy. >> Oh, yeah. Um, I just wanted just in listening to everyone, my colleagues, and I appreciate all of their comments about the wording. I usually probably get hung up on the executions. I'm fine. I'm really fine with the wording. Um, but what I did here is this commitment to all students. This is a statement to this essentially to the

107students and making them feel heard. It is not in like districtwide like as a district we are this as a as an organization. we are this. It's not like our mission statement, but this is a statement specifically addressing what the student said was their number one priority. So, I don't want to necessarily see this lost, but it doesn't need to be first. I think what the concern is is that to everyone's point, you read the first couple, you know, >> you know, the first couple of statements and then it's like, oh, okay. Um, so >> and I do think we were coming off, you know, that all that input and that was really where they were coming from. >> We hear it. I've heard it. We've all heard it from our students and and certainly

108our families who have come back and said to us exactly >> what Trusty McGallery was saying. I had this connection with this, you know, with this principal and or this teacher and it like saved my life. And um and that's all about you know building those relationships and being empathetic to the students needs. Right. Right. >> So um so anyways however I don't I don't want to lose that statement. It just probably doesn't need to be first. It just maybe can't be and we and we have to come up with something that's a little bit more about >> as a district as a whole all of our all of our goals if you will our mission as a whole. But then certainly this is our commitment to our students. >> Yeah. One of the things

109we've talked about with that is these aren't just our expectations for students. To your point, these are adult and system expectations. So that has to be >> clear also. >> But we can say as adults we want, >> you know, we want to make sure that we are developing, you know, we're creating adults. we're developing adults who are going to be, you know, able to, you know, work in our communities and be, you know, >> and I think we can do the both. I really do. I think because I think that the input we got around the kind of strong language, really making sure that it's woven through what those attributes are, personal, interpersonal, cognitive, we will pull out that strong language. >> I I think we could we should take a stab at it.

110And here's what I would suggest because I agree with you. I think we can reframe that into sort of a promise from the board because what I'm hearing you all say is you want something that really sets the stage very strongly and sets the tone, right? This really was a commitment to your point around that connection with the students and hearing what they but it really does come across I think in the elements of the portrait of a graduate. So let us take a stab give you a couple of options that you could play around with and then think where you want it to be used because to Dr. Smith's point, you know, ultimately most districts are moving away from the old vision, mission kind of static, bureaucratic language and moving to something and, you

111know, with the strong language, really commitment. This is who we are in Newport, May. So, this is what we're doing for all our students. And so, I think we can do that. You gave us really good feedback for that. >> And we'll work with Dr. Smith on a timeline for that. Okay. I mean basically we want to give them the tools to succeed and that's about it. I mean right >> that that that's how I would phrase it. >> All right. Um with that if no further comments then we can conclude uh and adjourn at 4:25. And thank you so much to the F3 team.