001Okay, welcome to the May 13th uh Columbia Heights Public School Board meeting. Uh if you are able, please rise and join us in the pledge of allegiance. 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. Thank you very much, Michelle, if you would do roll call, please. Absolutely. Um, should I still call for student? Um, okay. Awesome. Cheat sheet. Um, Palmer here, Pway here, P Smith here, Maderas Granland here, RDE Anoir, Superintendent Stig here. Wonderful. All right. Columbia Heights Public Schools, where we create worlds of opportunity for each and every learner. All belong, all succeed. Our core values are community, excellence, collaboration, integrity, respect, courage, and innovation. Okay. So tonight we
002are uh we have our Highlander highlight for um Heidi Lee and Paulie is here as her adi as their adviser. So um why don't you come up and I'll read a quick blurb and then we'll ask we'll we'll check in a little bit about it. Sound good? Okay. Hang on. So, we have our wonderful journalism student Heidi Lee who is here tonight because she wrote a piece for the Columbia Heights High School student newspaper, the Heights Herald, which has been published on Best of Snow. So, Snow is school newspapers online, which is the largest student journalism publication service in the country. Lee's feature story is titled Scholastic Journalists deserve consideration equal to professionals. This story was written by Lee and edited by opinion editor Cadence Hansen and co-editor and chief Cass Weise. So, congratulations and
003thank you so much for being here a little bit. Um, I guess I can speak about why I wrote the story. So earlier this fall and a little bit of last year before the summer, a new student law was passed in Minnesota called New Voices, which gave students in um grades 6 to 12 um extended protection against school censorship and we had we ran into a lot of problems with that last year especially. So with this new law in hand, it actually allows students the more freedom of speech this year and writing about anything mostly anything they want for the school district without limiting like their words and like what they can go against. Wonderful. Hi, I just wanted to add that uh it was so wonderful to see Heidi uh write the piece. Uh
004her original idea, she created an original digital artwork to go along with it. Uh, not only did it get the attention of uh, Best of Snow, but also Watch Us Rise, a nonpartisan civics newspaper that aggregates and republishes great student journalism nationwide, part of the Student United News Network uh, Post, and uh, it reaches an audience of over 3,000 schools. So, they also republished her work. So since publication online and in our print edition, it's been seen by more people and a wider audience than perhaps any other Heights Herald story has ever had the pleasure of reaching. So thank you, Heidi, and thanks to the board and Superintendent Senic for uh taking time to recognize her. Wonderful. Thank you. Um any comments from members of the board? Laura, I I wonderful job. It's so wonderful
005to to be able to see that talent go out there to be shared with everybody and continue. Thank you. Yeah, Michelle. I mean, I won't pretend to be able to make it sound uh even a little more monumentous than it actually is. So, I'm just going to say congratulations and you know what you've done. So, good job. It's awesome. Yeah. Um I think I would just like to say uh thank you for for writing this article and shedding light on it and also um doing such a fantastic job that it's been highlighted and shared not only by snow but by a bunch of other organizations too. Um student voice is incredibly important especially in journalism. Um no rules about us without us right. Um, and I think it also uh speaks quite highly of your
006um of our faculty advisor because he's had a lot of folks come through with snow uh recommend or recognizing uh the articles that our students are writing. So, um incredibly proud of the work that you all are doing. And for those of those folks at home, um, a lot of the journalism uh, Heights Herald staff, student staff are here tonight, uh, as well to probably to help celebrate and support, uh, Heidi with this recognition. So, um, the work that you all do is incredibly important and it's much appreciated and I love it when, um, it can be highlighted more, uh, not even just by us and with this award, but also, um, around the nation. So congratulations. All right. Uh before you go, we now make you come up and take a picture with us
007and then you go through and shake everybody's hand and then we'll let you go and then we're going to do it over here. So So it's a nice smoother transition. to shake everybody else's hand. [Applause] All right, that being said, we have a riveting meeting ahead of us. Uh, and you are welcome to stay instantly. Wow. Wow. Paulie, I think yours led the charge. you are you are welcome to stay but you don't have to as they I they left even before I got that out folks at home. Um cool. No, I'm just kidding. That's fine. Um okay. Uh moving forward, we have um so can I get uh an approval of the agenda? So moved. Can I get a second? Second. Second for Karina. All right. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed.
008Abstained. Motion carries. Okay. Um announcements. May 20th, we have our schoolboard work session here in the community room. May 26, we have no school and district is closed. May 27th, we have a regular schoolboard meeting in the community room. Communication to the board. Uh excuse any at this time, any citizen or employee may briefly address the school board. The board will listen to the brief remarks, ask clarifying questions, and if desired, request that administration followup. The board will not take action at this meeting on requests presented at this time, and time will be limited to three minutes per speaker. Okay. Um, we just had a pause in our live stream. Um we had a staff member come in and share concerns about um the some teacher retention and um discussion of uh class sizes. So
009uh moving on to the consent agenda. Can I have a motion to accept the consent agenda? So moved. Laura, can I get a second? Second. All right. Uh second by Michelle. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Abstained. Motion carries. All right. The acknowledgement of contributions. All right. While this loads, this will be the longest part of the meeting. I'm just kidding. What a wonderful problem to have. Um and do really love this part. So acknowledgement of contributions resolution Minnesota statute 123B 02 permits school boards to receive for the benefit of the district bequests donations or gifts for any proper purpose and apply the same to the purpose designated on that behalf. The board may act as trustee of any trust created for the benefit of the district and for the benefit of pupils
010thereof. Therefore, the School Board of Columbia Heights Public Schools, Independent School District number 13, resolves to accept with appreciation the 101,513.19 monetary contributions detailed in the background. Detailed background. All right, I just got to limber up. Boxtops/General Mills donated $79.20 to North Park Schools for Innovation. School for Innovation. Jennifer Piper Muno donated $20 to support the Heights Herald. Gary Countryman donated $20 to support the Heights Herald. Lauren Grall donated $10 to support the Synchro team. Allie M Kernieran and Carrie Christensen each donated $15 to support the Synchro team. Noah Lure, Ashley Grell, Jacob Henderson, Cassandria D. Rose, and Rachel Niss each donated $20 to support the Synchro team. Kate Cruz donated $47 to support the Synchro team. Austin Sego donated $50 to support the Synchro team. Laurian Mueller and Carla Robertson each donated $100 to
011support the Synchro team. Neil Granlin and Santo Zerati each donated $20 to support the Columbia Academy musical. Keith Rizville donated $40 to support the Columbia Academy musical. Stacy Nura donated $50 to support the Columbia Academy musical. Carolyn Given, Roberto Milchek, Mick Alch, sorry, and Anna O'Brien each donated $100 to support the Columbia Academy musical. Jim Scaliz donated $50,000 to the CHHS scholarship fund 2025. Patricia Johnson donated $2,000 to the CHHS Retired Staff Scholarship. Anonymous donation of $50 was made to Columbia Heights Public Schools in memory of Elroy Honel. Tara Tuckil donated $6,000 to the Valley View Sunshine Scholarship in memory of Ranjanna Tuckil, Jane Hollik, Pamela Zimba, and Ela Yoast each donated $300 to the CHHS scholarship fund 2025. Corus Johnson donated $50 to the Retired Staff Scholarship Fund 2025. Don Hoyam donated $75 to
012the Retired Staff Scholarship Fund 2025. The Columbia Heights Lions Club donated $200 to support the Valley View fund run. The Black Bow Giving Fund donated $50 to Valley View. Boston Scientific donated 2500 to the robotics teams 728 7281 and 6708. The Columbia Heights Athletic Boosters donated $1,000 to support the softball trip, $2,750 for boys tennis, baseball, girls basketball, and robotics, and $5,000 for two scholarships. The total fiscal year 2024 2025 monetary contributions to date, $179,977.19. Can I get a motion to accept? So moved. Laura, can I get a second? Second by Michelle. Okay, let's let's have a discussion. Well, give me a second to take a drink before I talk. So, go ahead. There's a lot there. Oh my gosh. every every time, you know, we just like all the the variety, the support of
013um all of our our sports and um our our musicals. So, our theater program and and scholarships and robotics and and a whole community as well as retired staff and and community members and clubs and it's just wonderful to see all this participation from so many different groups. So, thank you Do we have a synchronized swimming team or what's the We do. Yeah. Oh, wow. That's incredible. They're awesome. Yep. They're really exciting to see that on here. Yeah. Um Yeah, it's amazing to to see just the variety and also um the financial support that our community has. Um, and our community is not just folks that live in the school district, but folks that worked here or have family here and all of that support. And we see that really um come through in a
014lot of ways. So, I mean, it's it's an honor to be able to accept all of this and and um just massive thank you to everybody who supports our community in this way. Since it's a resolution, Michelle, will you do a roll call vote? I do have a question. Oh, and I've had this question for a while now. Yes. So, when people are absent, do I still call them? Yes. Okay. Yep. I mean, I've been doing that, but I'm like, am I supposed to be just the voting members? Just just the the initial I mean, once they're not because I'm like, we already established that they're not here. So like when we do a roll call vote I do I need to still include them in the only time you would have to include them
015is if they happen to come in late to the meeting in which case you would make a note of the time that they join the meeting and then allow them to Okay. So just call the people who are present. Yeah. Yeah. There's there's no point in they have to call they're not here. So therefore they darn it. I know technically or Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was the other way. I thought you had to call it all the time but just at the beginning. Okay. All right Michelle. I'll text Jessica later. God forbid. Double double check. I'm pretty sure it pretty sure a parliamentarian is missing. So, roll call. Let's go. Um Palmer, yes. Pway I. Smith I. And Grant I. All right. Uh motion carries. So, thank you everyone. Now I have to unzoom
016all of my things. Next up, we have discussion reports and information items. So, we'll start with reports from members of the board. We'll start with Karina. Yeah. Um, last week I attended a teacher appreciation event. Um, and that was really amazing. Uh, super awesome to meet a lot of the teachers that were in the room and particularly celebrate um the teacher who was chosen by their peers. Um, so that's what I've been up to since our last schoolboard meeting. Wonderful. Thank you. Uh Laura, I I really don't have a lot to report. Um I attended the 916 board meeting, uh monthly board meeting. Um a lot of just typical business. Um proving uh new lease contracts, you know, um where were the where some of the programs are going to get their school lunches from.
017Um and of course, uh some of the various teacher kind of um end of the year um staffing issues. Um and the the meeting just prior to this, the board the chair meeting. Wonderful. Thank you, Michelle. All righty. Pull my mic a little closer. Um, so I attended the um, parent me strawberry shortcake class that they had at the high school. It was my first time going to one and it was awesome. My daughter loved it. Um, she mostly enjoyed just making her own whipped cream. So now I have to keep heavy whipping cream in the refrigerator now because it's so simple and it's a thing and she loves it. So yeah, that was awesome. um very affordable classes, very kid-friendly, adult friendly. Um and I would recommend them to anyone. Um I I do
018not know right now when the next ones are, but they are on our website. You guys should check them out. Um and then I I also went to Oh, I I attempted to go to the Valley View Carnival. Um however, my almost middle schooler was over it and so we uh we just went and did a couple things and then we left. But it was really nice. um same uh you know uh show of support, lots of people there. It was um well attended. Um I attended the AMSD um board of directors meeting um virtually. I uh oh I also attended um this uh community conversation around community engagement with um Dr. Darius Stanley from the U of M. Um it was it was um hosted by Robbinsdale District and it was very insightful. Um,
019community engagement is like my love language in our district and I love trying to figure out how to do it better or how to be more effective in it. Try to get our families involved. So, um, lots of great pointers, lots of tips, lots of books, and just so many resources. Um, I feel very nerdy right now when I talk about it because I'm so excited. But it was really good. And then, uh, I also attended the middle school openhouse because, as I said, we are on our way. Um, and so that was exciting. um we actually uh are trying to get into AVID and you know try to be our best selves and push forward. So that's a great thing too. Um the middle school is is uh an exciting time now and not
020so scary. So I'm excited about that. And I also attended the scholarship um award ceremony um where I got to see the uh the um re you know receiving of these funds that we were just talking about. And um I did not know that students did not know what they were getting when they were when they are there. So they would get invited. Uh Superintendent Stinvik told me they could get invited and then they find out what they won. And so to see their faces and they're so surprised and they're just so excited and happy and their hard work is paying off and it's like this is what they work for. It was so great. Um and yes, I make my little one go because I need her to see, you know, the possibilities of
021everything and what hard work will get you. Um, so I appreciate um, you know, everyone who gives uh to to our students so that they can uh, look out for their future. It's hard out here. So, yep, that's all I have. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you. Um, I also attended the Valley View Carnival, but I was there the whole time. Um, I was slinging pizza this time, so uh, thanks Mr. Kman and Miss Berg for for placing me there. It was a lot of fun. Um, I also attended the teacher of the year celebration. Um, it was a lot of fun, not only just to to see, you know, all the staff coming together to support Miss Cahill, but also because my youngest son had her as his kindergarten teacher. Um, so I know firsthand
022how welldeserved that title is for her. Um, so that was really fun to be able to celebrate that. um uh with her. I also met with a number of parents to plan the 8th grade uh party at CA. Um I was able to attend actually the um award convention in Minneapolis where I spoke with a um a member of the St. Paul's school board about uh the hold harmless for compensatory aid um and discussed their um uh their take on it um a lot of schools are just struggling uh with that under no fault of their own um to that change in the law. Uh, I had a phone call with Director Tuckerrell uh about some some things last week as well uh as phone calls and text messages with Superintendent Stenvik um and uh
023members of the board and I was planning on coming to the scholarship night but it was also my youngest son's birthday so he after he was there um to orient he was awesome. Yeah. Shaws. He toured us around the middle school during our open house and I sent a picture of him directly to his mom and said, "Get um and uh also we had prom this last weekend which was wonderful to see all of those pictures and the kids look like they had so much fun. Uh and prior to this we had our chair meeting policy meeting has been pushed to the end of the month. Um, and I'm sure I left something out, but uh I believe that that is it for us and I will p pass it on to Superintendent Denvvic. Thank
024you, Chair Gremlin. Um, I participated in a meeting about the Medronic site on 53rd across from Target. Um, the meeting was with city officials from both Columbia Heights and Fidley, also the Mississippi Watershed, Mindot, and Metroransit. Uh the plans for that site include 65 threebedroom town homes. Um nearly 300 apartments that they're predicting will be two and three bedrooms. Um walking trails at the Sullivan Lake um and a play space. I was assured that about twothirds of the units will be targeted towards families. Um you know that's has the biggest impact on us here in Columbia Heights. So that's what I was really interested in hearing about. Um, but they are still in the very early FA planning phases. So, I don't have the date yet for the groundbreaking or anything, but you know, there's
025some progress happening since the last time that we've had an update on that. Um, I participated in the district finance committee meeting yesterday, and that's where Director Henigans provides a a financial presentation to um committee members, which are made up of both um district employees and community members. Um, I've engaged in many emails, phone calls, and communications with legislators, staff, families, and other superintendents about the compensatory aid issue that Chair Granland mentioned. Um, I've been out visiting each of the schools and connecting with staff and students. And I know I've said it before, but they are really sprouting, the fifth graders in particular. I was at Highland on Thursday and Friday, and they are tall now. And I concur with those who shared about the annual scholarship night. It was truly wonderful. We really appreciate
026all of the local scholarships. Um, and I also enjoyed hearing the stories, you know, the, for example, the retired staff or anyone who the the scholarships who, you know, it's in a person's name, a memorial scholarship, for example. I really enjoyed hearing the stories um behind the name that's on that certificate. Um, a lot of positive reminiscing and people really giving back and continuing to give back to the community. So um it really impacts our students. So thank you all for that. Concludes my report. Thank you. Um student school rep student school board representative um they are not here. It is May and we are in the last few weeks of school and they are also very busy. So um no shade that they are not here. So we will move straight forward into the
027curriculum update with director Tuckil um Emily Garner uh the coordinator for teaching and learning and Sarah Matusvvic teaching and learning coordinator as well. So welcome. Good evening, Chair Granland, members of the board, Superintendent Stenvik. I'm here tonight with our two teaching and learning coordinators, Emily Gartner and Sarah Matisovic. And we're here to share about a curriculum update. Our mission in Columbia Heights Public Schools is creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner. All belong, all succeed. As as we think about curriculum and classes and materials, it really encompasses all of the core values and aligns with the Columbia Heights Public Schools Board of Education equity statement. We're here tonight as anformational presentation to the board. will be returning on the 27th. Seek an approval of the adoption of a 68 ELA English language arts
028curriculum amplify the adoption of 68 math and vision and a personal finance class of the Columbia Heights High School. Our presentation tonight and our recommendation tonight really aligns with our vision 2030 as we think about all succeed and really focusing in on academic instruction, providing culturally responsive instruction that meets the unique needs of each student using approved curriculum and providing academic interventions for identified students through a multi-tered system of support. In the elementary schools, we are still moving along with our literacy. It has been a journey and so many celebrations. Um, as we look at looking into next year, we're going to be continuing strengthening the multi-tered system of support that's ensuring that all of our students have strong core instruction. And in addition, we're providing supports for students who might need some scaffolds or
029might need some enrichment, might need acceleration. So, really thinking about the different supports that we have in place and how we can strengthen those pieces. And then our continued focus on readact requirements including professional development, screening and curricular resources. And this changes almost every day. And um there are a lot of requirements coming out in legislation and more coming on its way. So really ensuring our staff have clarity about what's coming and supporting them with the next steps. And with that, I'm going to pass it to our coordinator Gardner. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Granland, members of the board, Superintendent Stenic. Um, so some middle school updates. Our 68 math and ELA teachers have been collaborating with teaching and learning and also with our supports from Bright Works to do a lot of work around
030standards. Uh, the 2022 math standards were approved this year. So even though they're called the 2022 standards, they were approved in 2025 um and will be required for implementation by the 202728 uh school year. So our math teams have been doing a lot of work with those standards. Um and then another redact adjustment, 612 ELEL teachers were added to phase 1. So they will be completing um the same OLA training that many of our teachers completed this year. Um they will be completing that training during the 2526 school year. Um as director Tucker mentioned, we have some curriculum that we are recommending to the board tonight. Um so our curriculum development process uh is up there. So we always start with teachers with finding out what is working, what their needs are, what the gaps
031are with their current curricular resources. Um from there we bring that information to leadership teams um principles and the teaching and learning team. Um then on to the larger administrative team to the comprehensive achievement and civic readiness so formerly world's best workforce now ker um team. So, we met with the Keker team last week, um, of course to the superintendent and then to the school board. So, we have our 10-year curriculum review cycle. Um, and this is always our plan when we create it. And then it is always almost almost always immediately uh out of date. So, as new guidance comes, as standard uh timelines change from MDE, as new legislation comes, we um obviously need to adjust in response to that. But we do have a curriculum cycle where we're looking at all of
032our curricular areas on a regular basis. So our review process um is this is the same process for both ELA and math curriculum. So we were looking for grade 6 8 for both of those content areas. Um and a little bit different than the last time we brought ELA curriculum to you where we had two options to choose from. Right? So there was no guidance um like that for 612. So we had many more options to look at. So the review process looked a little different. Um, so throughout last fall and into the winter, we met with representatives from potential programs, um, for both math and ELA. Uh, we gathered input, uh, as I mentioned, from teams, from the teachers to find out what was most important to them and created our selection criteria. Um,
033throughout winter and spring, we met with representatives from potential programs to then determine um, two to three programs, and we narrowed it down to three for each content area that we felt met that criteria. Um, in April, we spent a full day in this room, um, hearing from representatives from these programs. Um, teachers had an opportunity to then review the materials, provide input. Um, they actually had several weeks to then take the materials with them, look at them in their PLC teams, um, continue to provide any additional input. Um, as I mentioned, we brought it to KCER last week. Um there will then uh be an opportunity for community input um over the next couple weeks and then we will again be bringing this back to um May 27th for your approval. So for math
034um the recommendation is envision math. Um the feedback that we got from the teacher review uh they really liked that there was a balance of explicit and inquiry based uh instruction. So students are getting direct instruction and developing procedural fluency, but there are also a lot of problem based conceptual understanding opportunities. Um really robust data collection and analysis tools and assessments that come with the program. Uh lots of resources for both intervention and extension. So supports for students who need a little bit more and then also opportunities to push ahead for students who are ready. a really strong online platform with a lot of supports built in, including the ability to translate into multiple languages, which was very important for our teachers. Um, Envision is used by a number of Minnesota districts, and it was
035unanimously ranked as the first choice by the teachers who reviewed the program. So, looking at cost, uh, the cost that you see on the screen there is for three years. Um, so it is a recurring cost for the online platform and for the student, uh, additions. Um, the professional development would be a onetime cost. All right, I'm going to pass it to coordinator Matisovic to tell you about ELA. Good evening, Chair Granland, members of the board, and Superintendent Stenik. Um, so as coordinator Gartner mentioned, the review process was the same for ELA and math. Um, the ELA team selected amplify ELA and um, this was some feedback from the teachers. They appreciated that the lessons with Amplify ELA were rigorous with all of the domains of language included. Um, reading, writing, listening, and speaking throughout
036each lesson. The texts were engaging and they had a robust online library offering diverse perspectives. It was very important to our teachers and students. The lessons are interactive and very easily differentiated like math providing intervention and extension. There's spiral exposure and alignment to the Minnesota state standards. The content and lesson design were created with middle school middle schoolers in mind. It's very developmentally appropriate and engaging. The media literacy and vocabulary vocabulary are also incorporated. It connects really well with AVID schoolwide strategies. Columbia Academy recently went through AVID training as a whole school and I had been incorporating the strategy schoolwide. So, it aligns really well and it was also ranked their first choice um by all of the Columbia Academy ELA teachers. This is the cost. Um this is a one-year cost for Amplify ELA
037um with a recurring cost and then a one-time cost for professional development for this um upcoming school year. We are also excited to look at functional phonics and morphology for Columbia Academy. Um they will implement this program and it will be an expansion of what's currently implemented in the elementary school. So, if um these curricular resources are approved, um the next steps would be to purchase them, to provide professional development options in the summer and throughout the school year, and then to work with teachers, coaches, and principles to support um the curriculum and standard alignment. I'm going to pass it back to Director Tucker. Thank you. Um, as mentioned earlier, another recommendation is to approve a high school personal finance class. So, during the 2023 legislative session, a graduation requirement was passed into law that
038requires school districts to have a personal finance class and that each student starting with the current 9th grade class takes this course for credit in order to graduate. It does not replace any of our current courses. It's an additional course that will need to be added. So personal finance really empowers our students to make informed financial decisions when we think about individual experiences, cultures, values, and goals. Really incorporating the what they need as they move forward onto the next steps after high school. So we're excited for this and talking with the teachers. It's an excitement there as well as we've noticed a gap in part of the offerings that we have to support our students with the next step. And with that, we are here tonight as anformational presentation and we'll be returning on the
03927th of May seeking approval of the adoption of the 68 ELA and math resources as well as a personal finance class at the high school. All right, thank you so much. Um, before I open it up for questions, I want to apologize for mispronouncing your name, Miss Mattisovic. Is that Did I say it right then? Okay, thank you. I wrote it phonetically. I appreciate director Tuck Roll for saying it multiple times. Thank you. Um, so, uh, that being said, does anybody have any questions or comments that they'd like to I would love to have questions, but you actually explained so much. I actually don't I I don't really have any. I look forward to seeing what's going to happen in the future. Yeah. I have a question. Go ahead, Karina. Um, so just given that
040some of these have different implementation dates, can you share which ones would be landing in what school year exactly like the finance class? Great question. Thank you for that. We are looking at starting um the 68 ELA with sixth grade next year. So same for 68 math. We're looking at starting with sixth grade next year. So the costs up there only had sixth grade and then we would look at our budgets and look at considerations to determine if we could do seventh and eighth grade the following year or seventh and then eighth grade. So working our way up. Our hope is to start that personal finance class or we would like to if approved start it next school year. Um as we need to have all of our current nth graders have it before graduation.
041We want to start it early enough that we have that opportunity to ensure everyone has that class in by next school year. The upcoming school year. Correct. Yep. this fall. Great, Michelle. Yeah. Um really just a comment. Um during our uh strategic planning, like the uh p the finance classes were just something that parents wanted, students wanted. Um I mean it was like a a big need for it and that was probably one of the most uh helpful things that we heard from people. So I'm happy that we are um working to implement you know something like that for them. um they definitely need it and I think they'll value it. Um so I I know that it's um Never mind. I don't need to ask that. I'm good. Thank you. Thank you. You know,
042sometimes you say it out loud and you're like, "Nope, I got that." Um thank you, Michelle, for bringing that up. I was actually going to say something very similar that that was um hearing from the community when we were doing the strategic planning process. um a lot of people wanted our students not only to be prepared academically but also know what it is to balance a budget for yourself um and what that's like. So I'm grateful that the legislature, you know, in that regard passed that requirement. I think that that's helpful even though they do not helpful things sometimes. Um anyway, hold harmless. Um, my other question, uh, I was just going to say, so I know at Columbia Academy they're discussing moving towards having, um, English and math every day, and I'm I'm wondering,
043so right now it's just for sixth grade is my understanding. Um, and so what would something like this look like, say, for um, seventh graders who maybe aren't getting that everyday instruction, the seventh and eighth graders? um and does that look different for um development with staff and um learning targets? Great question. We are excited that sixth grade is moving to every day for um literacy and math. as we think about the number of minutes they have in fifth grade and moving to sixth grade and really supporting with that base as they enter middle school. Our goal this year is to collect a lot of data and to determine the impact that has made and then look at budgets and see looking at seventh and eth what we can do. We have been working with
044both of these um resources and their teams to share that currently we're moving to that what could it look like for seventh and eighth if some students have it every other day. There are some opportunities there for us to build a plan out. So we would be able to this school year work on that plan to support that it could be implemented in either way. Um we are excited to build that base in sixth grade so that they have that knowledge and those skills moving into seventh and eth. Wonderful. Thank you. Um if there are no other questions I think thank you all for your time on this wonderfully warm uh Tuesday evening. So thank you. Thanks. But you're not going far. I'm not leaving at all. Uh next you're going to talk to us
045about uh outofstate and overnight field trips. I see you are director. Thank you. Good evening chair granland members of the board superintendent Denvvic. I'm here tonight with Sarah Matisovic our teaching learning coordinator and I told our coordinator Emily Gartner to stay as well. I said you don't have to get up. This is part of you too. So she's joining us for it as I'm going to have her name come in there in a little bit. Our mission in Columbia Heights public schools of creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner. All belong, all succeed. And our experiences really do encompass all the core values. And the core values are aligned with the Columbia Heights Public Schools Board of Education equity statement. We're here tonight as anformational item and we'll be returning on May 27th
046with governance of approval of the overnight field trips for the 2526 school year. There's a lot of research as you start looking at it to show the importance of having our students have the opportunity to go out beyond our doors of our classroom or bringing people in. And really the results are showing that when students have those rich excursions or rich experiences, they do better in class. They make more connections. They have more positive social outcomes as they're doing different things and experiences. And they're expanding their view of the future. It's wonderful when you take them to the river and it's the first time seeing the river or being there in a different part of it and it's right behind us, right? It's right next door. So really expanding where we are and how big
047this world is around us. The importance is also there in our vision 2030 as we look at all belong and student relationships. One of our areas students will have opportunities to find and develop their passions and interests and make connections in Columbia Heights through diver diverse inschool and extracurricular activities. and students will have access to multiple pathways and relevant learning experiences that support their growth and post-secary options. And with that, I'll pass it to coordinator Mattisovic. Good evening again, Chair Granland, members of the board, and superintendent Stenbeck. Um, as part of my role, I'm fortunate to support with field trips across the district. Um this includes instructional exper um experiences uh and field trips off-site um in-house um bringing guest speakers in and having college and job fairs at both CA and the high school.
048Uh our instructional field trips um our teachers go through an approval process and we um have field trips laid out so that it's aligned with schoolboard policy um to support communication with families and to support the um academic standards. Um, all students in preK through 12th grade have similar a grade five. I'm sorry that's wrong. But next year I'll be back to talk more about secondary. So preK forward to grade five. Um, all the grade levels throughout the schools have similar experiences with field trips um and similar opportunities. And there is vertical alignment throughout those grades as well to provide equitable opportunities. I'm going to pass it back to director Tuckerrell. We were excited last year we brought to the board the plan to have that alignment for preK5 and now with coordinator Matisovic it's
049gone even deeper where she and coordinator Gartner are mapping out each of the quarters and how do we bring people in and so how do we bring the businesses around us? How do we bring people in our community in to enhance the curriculum and standards that we have? So, that's been an exciting work that we've been working on this school year moving into next year. Another part of field trips from instructional is extended field trips. And extended field trips really are outside of the school day or extended beyond the school day and include a lot of athletics and activities. So, as we look at next school year, there are some supp supplementary opportunities for our athletics and activities to compete, to learn and grow together, to have some of those team building opportunities. And that
050includes the ones listed, um, tennis, synchro, key club, and many others there. And this is the anticipated list of athletics and activities. Sometimes we have additional ones that come up or opportunities that come up throughout the year in order to support these goals. I'm going to pass it to Superintendent Stenick. Thank you. Um, for the Native American education program, um, Yolanda Dorso and I work very closely with our parent committee, which also includes, uh, middle school and high school actually and elementary school students, students from all levels. Um, and recently we had long conversations about the upcoming school year, plans, budgets, and all of that. And um part of the discussion centered around that it's becoming more challenging for families to do our typical weekend um excursions or evening events. Um and so with that,
051the conversation turned to doing two cultural immersion um trips with uh with the students um rather than the one and then so many weekend and evening where this the participation is dwindling. And I'm going to reference um a phrase that Yolanda is using now, which is cultural place-based learning. Uh so that's what we're looking at. And when it comes to our um Native American education program, um cultural place-based learning, um we're looking at making sure that students are connected with the earth. Um learning about the original caretakers of this land through experiential lessons both about the Ojiway and Dakota traditional and contemporary people. Um so there'll be community building but also connections to their own um cultural identity. Again um these uh immersion trips are also aligned with standards including science, social studies and language
052arts. So the first one this will be um new in recent years. We did this tour 12 years agoish I want to say. Um so this is looking at the Dakota areas of southern Minnesota. So going to Jeffers Petracliffs which are um petetroglyphs that have been there for thousands of years. Um the pipstone quarry and museum uh mano the city of Mano has a lot of sites including reconciliation park and the dates that are were selected strategically to align with the mano pow-wow. Um, so that would be uh I believe it's a Friday out of school and then over the weekend, Saturday, Sunday. Um, qualifying. Uh, this one we the committee we're really interested in allowing middle school students to come. Um, so we're strategically going to be having um administrators join this tour. Um,
053uh, so we're we're we'd like to open it up to middle schoolers and high schoolers for this one. And of course with all of these um Native American program uh excursions, there's no cost to the students. Travel, lodging, and meals and activities are all included. The second one is similar to um what the board has approved in previous years. And this is the cultural um or the exploration of Ojiway culture in Malax. Um, so this includes um hiking in Cathio State Park with presentations by the Minnesota DNR um who's the the Malax DNR designated person um the Max Museum and Trading Post and then um presentations by the tribal officials there, the um the uh chief Virgil wind has been really good to our school team. Um uh and then also traditional drum and dance.
054So the this is similar to last year which would be over the MEA weekend. So the Friday, Saturday, Sunday of MEA. Um so students would not be missing school that that day that Friday and similar to like I just said um this one would be limited to high school students and then um no cost to the students. Thank you. The next one we have is our Chicago arts experience. Our students were able to go this school year and had a lot of success and I kept coordinator Gartner here because she was able to join them and I would keep getting pictures and going these students are amazing. Look what they're doing. And so we are bringing forward the Chicago Arts Experience for February March of 2027. So not this school year but the next school
055year. And the purpose is to have time to be able to fund raise and try to support the students with the learning that they would be having coming up. So to have a little head start on that to be able to support it as in this year the trip would be supported with the leisure time tours which worked really well this past year. I think having everything organized and then outside organizations figuring all of those pieces out with the tour was helpful and looking at inviting juniors and seniors again in concert band, choir and AP arts. So, some features, and these are all new pictures from this school year, a lot of them are from you, included college visits, professional experiences, classes they took, performances they went on. It really was an extraordinary opportunity for
056them in Chicago. Um, fundraising efforts and donations include included the ones listed. So, they're looking for the same part and maybe additional ones. They really had a lot of success for this past school year with donations um reaching out to different businesses and asking for support. In addition, with the change to Chicago, it was more in the budget in in order for all students to be able to access it. And this picture is actually taken by a student at the aquarium they went to. Um in addition, I wanted to share again that our Harvard National Speech and Debate Tournament, the date is wrong. It says approved May 2025. I should say 2024. Last year, this was already approved by the board, but it will be coming this school year. So, I added it in there
057more as anformational piece that we are excited to provide our students an opportunity to compete and learn from competition at a national level at the Harvard Harvard Debate Council tournament, which will be in Boston, Massachusetts. So, we're here tonight as anformational item about the different field trips for next school year for 2025 2026 and we'll be returning on May 27th seeking approval. Okay. Any questions or comments from the board? Just a just a comment. I I think that these new opportunities are really super exciting. I really wish when I was going to school that we would have had like a lot of these enrichment activities and um you know just well of course I mean growing up outside of Chicago I actually did go to a lot of those places for summer field trips but
058but being able to to go on those cultural those cultural tours and and um and being able to provide um those opportunities is is really is really incredibly terrific. Thank you. It reminds me of our mission, right? creating worlds of opportunity. We really do. Yeah, it really it really really is. Michelle, um yeah, I was just gonna say thank you guys for um for the update. I remember us talking about this last year and us being so excited that all this was coming and now it's like, oh, it's another year. So, it's nice to see it being implemented. It's really awesome. Um I also want to say thank you for doing the work to reach out to businesses and, you know, people in the community um so that we can actually use the resources we
059have. We have a lot here. um and we don't have to do it all on our own. So, I appreciate the fact that you're looking at other ways to help our students instead of it being like, you know, all it relieves a little pressure, right? So, thank you guys so much for um for doing the work um for planning a lot of this stuff out and for showing the students what it takes to do this kind of stuff. You know, when they get older, they're going to want to take trips. They're going to want to do other things, you know, when they have children and things like that. So, um I think that, you know, there's a lot of lessons in there. And so yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you. And a thanks to our
060amazing teachers. Yes. They really make it all happen with the fundraising, the planning. Yeah. Yeah. That part isn't easy either. Um I just want to So yes, thank you for all of that work. Um, and also I want to just briefly touch on the um the uh Native American um cultural place-based learning. I am not originally from Minnesota. I'm from South Dakota many years ago. And so I as a kid I went to Pipstone um and Mano, but I did not learn any of the actual history and the cultural significance of being there for the pow especially in Mano. Um and so I just want to say thank you all for for making that a focus. That's an incredibly important um history that I didn't learn about until I was an adult and I'm glad
061that our students learn about it in all of the ways. But the students who um are alive and because our Native American students still exist, right? um they are here and um I think taking them during that time to um to Mano for the POW was incredibly powerful and I'm really grateful that that was um so you guys were so thoughtful in planning that. So thank you. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. And now we'll go to the uh AB uh lease with director Stunkle. Welcome Chair Granland, members of the board, Superintendent Stenick. I'm here this evening to um bring forward as an information item the adult basic education lease. Our mission creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner. All belong, all succeed. And with adult basic education, the students, the learners are adults. All
062of our core values are represented in the education that we provide at our AB site at 411 central. So uh just in case uh not all of you are uh fully versed in our AB site, it is part of a consortium called Metro North Adult Basic Ed which works with uh there are eight school districts that partner with this. There are many consortiums around the state. So we're part of Metro North and I meet every other month with the other community at directors from those school districts to oversee the program. At our site at 4111 Central, we offer many classes. The most popular being uh improving basic reading, writing, and math skills. That can be regardless of one's home language, earning a a high school diploma or GED, learning and improving their English language abilities,
063and preparing for college or careers. We've also had citizenship classes and other um employment training programs. And I should say all of these programs are free. So uh I worked we worked with Kathleen Morardi who is the coordinator of that site and this site is both serves the Colombia Heights School District and the Fidley School District. So my counterpart the community ed director at Fidley Steven Keeler and then also the uh Brian Henkin's very involved in this process but also the Fidley finance director. So it was a team of us that worked with the owner of the building to uh look at what our current lease was and to discuss what the future lease might be. So, this is a lease agreement between our school district and the Fidley School District collectively and then Spacemax
064offices LLC. That's the owner. It is a two-year grant. Uh, not grant two-year lease. Sorry. Very different things. I know you're right. It's a two-year lease. Um, so it would start July 1. It's aligned with our fiscal year. And what we did the last time uh you'll remember that we are still kind of coming out of the pandemic and what we did was we released some of our space because about half of our programming is now offered online. It's very convenient for adults to be able to do their classes online so that they don't have to arrange child care or transportation. But of course we also know that there's a benefit of being in person. So we also need classrooms for the in-person classes. Uh so we have scaled back each time that we're up
065for a lease. We assess what space do we need? Is this space working for us? Uh we look at are there other possible places in the community. We always want to make sure that we're on a bus line that 411 central is very well located to transportation hub hubs. Um it's also easy to reach for people from Fidley or Columbia Heights. So we do an assessment of other options and each time now for over 20 years uh we have chosen to stay where we are because it is a very convenient location. There you'll see the square foot rental. It is a 2% increase for this year and then a 3% increase for the following year. Uh that is very much aligned with market rates. Uh, Director Henkkins assured me that he feel he and the
066other finance director feel good about that uh that rate and uh the way that it was negotiated. So the next steps I've uh I brought this this week. Next week it will be brought to the Fidley School Board and uh for review and approval and then it will come back to you in the consent agenda in two weeks for your review and approval. And with that, are there any questions? I mean, you answered my question already, so thank you for that. Um, does anybody else have any questions? No. All right. Well, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next, we have the policy first reading. Um for that we have uh policy number 101.1 name of our school 612.1 development of parental involvement T1 program 626 foreign exchange students admissions 705 investments
067706 acceptance of gifts and 903 visitors to schools. Uh the public is urged to go ahead and look at these online. they'll be available um if and seek any feedback. So, uh feel free to give us feedback if you have any on that. I have a question. Yes. Um uh we're we're um it looks like some of these policies um since they're just simply being reviewed um are those not policies that we could not um both um in in the future. Okay. Looking into the future, not do this as a single uh presentation and approval on some of those because we we are doing some of that over at 916 on on things that don't change, you know, and then it's just simply, you know, you know, um being accepted like the name of our
068school district is probably not very controversial. No, I'm assuming. Superintendent. Yeah. Thanks, Vice Chair Palmer Palmer. We've been doing that for um legislative changes when it's change, you know, updating for legislative changes, it's gone straight into, you know, rather than going to two board meetings, it's just gone to one. Um so there have been times this year where we've be begun doing that. Um, some of these heads had some pretty good discussion on them, but uh, you are correct. The the name of the school district did not in there. I wanted to say to Well, maybe there's a legislative change, you know, there was not. So, it would be I was going to say because we do do that review where we're reviewing at least we're looking at all of our policies every three years.
069Yep. And thank you very much even though I'm not on the policy subcommittee that we are sticking to that rigorous timeline because you know how important that was correct. No no absolutely no good question. Um and thank you for that. Uh so then there are no action items which is fantastic. So we'll scooch right into board topics. Does anybody have any board topics? Michelle. I do. Um so at North Park on Friday they'll be having their annual um barbecue. Um and so uh you know it's it's just a good time. There's usually ice cream, hot dogs, um some activities for the the kiddos, a little wine dancing. Um, you know, it it's it's really a good time and uh especially for me this year since we're in fifth grade, just trying to soak in all
070the the last times, you know, even when I visit, it won't be the same. So, um just a heads up about that. It's from 5 to 7 um Friday evening. And then, um I looked at my my planner earlier and I saw that tomorrow the family center is having their garden party. Yes. And that's going to be from 4 to 6:00 p.m. here at the family center. Yeah. So, I just wanted to share those events. Wonderful. Thank you. Anybody any other other boards? I It doesn't make sense and I don't care. I know Laurian watches and just cringes every fine every other. Yeah. Um I actually I don't think I have an other tonight. So, woo. Um, so with that, we will go ahead and adjourn at 7:08.