001This meeting of the Hopkins School Board is called to order at 7 p.m. I'd like to welcome our community members who are joining us via the YouTube live stream and those who have joined us in the physical space this evening. Our first agenda item is open agenda. This is the time during which we take public comment. Community members have two options for giving public comment to the school board. You of course can appear before us at the meeting, fill out a public comment card that is located in the back of the room and hand it to me before the meeting begins. Or you can leave a voicemail to be played publicly at the meeting. And we have one voicemail this evening that aligns with our guidelines for public comment. And so, Elise, I'll have you
002play that now. This is a comment from Laura Jensen. Hi, my name is Laura Johnson. I'm a teacher at Mark junior high and I'm also a parent in the district. My topic I'm calling about is an invitation to the school board members to come and substitute teach in our buildings. Today we were told that the number of cases in the district is at 78. we were encouraged to start masking up even though it's not a requirement. Well, being has definitely increased at my own school as well as I think in the secondary area at my school, it's required to sub when the name comes up on the rotation. It causes a lot of increased anxiety and stress at that loss of preparation time. And even under a non code year, solving is very stressful, but
003even more so this year. I know that one of the school board members does do some subbing in one of our elementary schools. So I thought it might be nice to call and give you a personal invitation for the rest of the school board to come and sub at our secondary schools. We would love to have you. It would help solve one of the problems of our lack of substitute teachers, and it would also give you a chance to see what our schools are like in person, in the classroom, when our students are there. I especially encourage you to come to our secondary schools, West Junior High, North Junior High, or the high school. We would love to have you. We would love for you to see firsthand both the challenges and the joys in
004our buildings. As the guardians of our finances and policies, which I know is a huge responsibility, you would see either how they're fleshed out in really positive ways or how they're slightly missing the mark. Feel free. Come in. Substitute teach. If you're at North, come to room 506 and stop by and say hello to me. I know my colleagues would also welcome you to come in. Thank you so much. Bye-bye. Thank you very much, Laura. Next, we'll move to our reports. And we are so thrilled to have Imani with us this evening. And Imani, I'll turn it over to you for your student board representative's report. Okay, I'm Imani and I'm the senior representative and so tomorrow is True Team for track and field. I'm not on track and field but I know some people
005on track and field so good luck to them. And on May 25th at 6 p.m. is the National Honor Society induction ceremony. I'm in National Honor Society so I'll be there. On May 20th is Culture Night, which I mentioned at the other board meeting. And a few things that will be involved will be music from different cultures. People can come in clothing or bring clothing to show. And people can choose to bring food from their different cultures. But then they would just have to register with the owner of the club for the culture at the high school. So we had a surprise at the high school. I didn't know who the Gronkowski brothers were, but when they came to the high school, a lot of people were really excited, especially to see Rob Gronkowski, who
006is an NFL player. So the Gronkowski brothers played against a few of the high school girls basketball team shooting three-pointers and half-court shots. The girls won, but Rob did score a half-court shot, so that was good. And then after the game, the Gronkowski brothers gave a $15,000 donation to Hopkins High School. Seniors are excited for prom. Prom tickets are on sale for $60 or $30 for free and reduced. And again, it's on May 28th at the International Market Square. A few topics that have come up as issues at the high school are communication still seems to be something of concern at the high school, even though there are. frequent emails sent per week. I think things like, for example, when the Gronkowski brothers came or the surprise guest speakers came, the schedule was altered and
007not many people knew about that. So a lot of tardies happened. And now since the high school calls. parents when there's a tardy now I guess that kind of a lot of people I mean they are a good thing but some people um see some concern with that since having frequent calls home even though it could be excused can create problems in a family so um yeah communication and um yeah that's it thank you thank you Imani could you tell us the date of culture night again it's May 20th I'm not sure about the time yet, but it's supposed to be after school. Oh, great. Yeah. Thank you. And if you're watching the YouTube live stream and you noticed any movement, there is a member of the paparazzi here documenting Imani's journey. So it's an
008exciting night for us, too. Excellent. Thank you. Any questions or comments for Imani? No. Well, I do have one question. Is this your last board meeting or will you be back? I think I might come to the May 24th one. I'll go to all the board meetings I can. Are we supposed to come to the June 7th board meeting? Does that count as the last one or is the May 24th the last? June 7th will be the last one. And we are not ready to say goodbye, Imani. Yeah, I'll be there. Okay, good. I just wanted to know if I... needed to be sad or not. That's okay, I'll be there 24th and 7th. Excellent, thank you. And there are no other student board reps on the Google Meet, right? I can't see everybody on
009there and so I just wanted to check. Okay, great, thank you so much, Imani. Next, I'll turn it over to Dr. Miri Piri-Reed for our superintendent's report. Thank you chair Bouchard and good evening to board members colleagues community members and parents staff listening in and Thanks for your report Imani. And yes, we are going to be devastated when you leave. So hopefully We can have a couple more board meetings with you and thanks Elise for sharing the deck here so You see the cutie pies on the left hand side of the screen these are students giving a thumbs up in the teacher and school lunch staff teacher and school lunch staff Appreciation video excuse me, which we hope to show you at the end of this brief presentation then you can see in the middle
010there so our school leaders and parent teacher organizations put together some really amazing recognition and celebration opportunities for our very deserving and hard-working staff so this note is to Mr. Bell at Meadowbrook and says, our first grader looks forward to seeing Mr. Bell every day and he has taught her so many things this year, how to read, how to be a good friend, and awareness of other cultures and countries. So Mr. Bell is an example of all of the amazing teachers that we have here in Hopkins and we're just so grateful for everything they've done for... our students, families, and for each other this year. And then on the right hand. side of the slide are students who are on the robotics team, the technocrats. So as you know, they went to the World Cup
011in Texas a few weeks ago, and then I had the opportunity to spend time with them this past Saturday. They were at Williams Arena for the state competition. So there are, Coach Jason explained, there are over 180 robotics teams in the state of Minnesota, Minnesota, California, and I think he said either Michigan or Illinois have the highest number of robotics teams in the country. So Minnesota is in one of those top states with the most robotics teams. And then there were 36 teams represented at the state competition. And essentially... All of the teams had the task of building a robot that could shoot, basically shoot hoops. So the robot would gather balls and throw as many balls into a center basket. And it's a three-on-three games where the high school teams have an opportunity to
012work with two other teams who then... you know, play, it's like three on three really, but they don't have an opportunity to interact and strategize with that team until minutes before the match. So it's very high intensity and really fun just to get to know that whole landscape of robotics and just see the amazing students that we have on that team and all of the parent volunteers as well as Jason has 10 or 11 mentors who work with him. They are engineers and adults who are working in design and engineering spaces who have provided mentorship to the team. So it's really wonderful just to be able to spend time with them. And we're really proud of the technocrats for achieving so many milestones this year. I also wanted to introduce our school board and community
013members and staff to a wonderful scholar at our high school. Her name is Ashley Beard, and she recently was gifted a very specialized wheelchair so that she can move around with comfort and class. Ashley has a very rare disease called juvenile Huntington's. disease it's a progressive disease that mimics ALS Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and it's a very a very rare condition and so Ashley has a wonderful teacher case manager Judy Griffin over at the high school and a whole team of staff who are her champions if you want to view a video of this this gifting of her wheels, you can check out a report on WCCO. So we're really proud of the staff over there for raising the funds in partnership with Champions for Huntington's Disease, which is a new nonprofit organization. The chair was
014more than $8,000. And so we're really happy that Ashley and her family are able to have that chair for Ashley. And again, just wanted to highlight that really across our whole district, we... watched many recognition and celebration efforts unfold across our schools. So our leaders and PTOs put together some wonderful opportunities for our teachers and staff for this year. So last year was Teacher Appreciation Week and then on Friday was School Lunch Hero Day. And so we're very grateful for our staff here in Hopkins who have really been through the thick of it. this year and last year, very challenging years, and they have provided high quality service to our students and families. They care for and love our students. They recognize and meet unique scholar needs, and they go above and beyond in so
015many ways. So thank you, Hopkins staff, for everything that you do. Ms. Jensen, thank you for your voicemail earlier during open agenda. Another special day, especially for our elementary schools, is Earth Day. So Earth Day was April 22nd, and it's a great day for our elementary schoolers to get outside. do something good for the earth. So at Tanglin, Miss Ringel's class visited the local woods and picked up trash. And apparently their favorite trash surprises included bricks, hats, styrofoam. Glass, hopefully they were careful it was broken glass, and a sandcastle toy. So lots of treasures, treasures found in the woods that they picked up to participate in cleanup. So thank you to those fourth graders and their teacher. How many of you have been to the annual Glen Lake Carnival? Oh, you've got to go. So
016Glen Lake has a carnival every year. I volunteered at the ball toss game. which is a homemade game of muffin tins where the little kiddos throw golf balls and try to get it in a certain color so they can win a sugar treat. So there were probably 300 students and parents at the Glen Lake Carnival last Friday. They had a DJ, lots of fun prizes, mostly. candy, a few toys, and we appreciate the Minnetonka Fire Department for the aerial photos and also having a fire truck there. So that was a very fun event, and it was a beautiful evening, 75 degrees, sunny, and lots and lots of people out. And then lastly, for our system goal focus, I wanted to call your attention to our innovation goal. And this week we received a letter from
017MDE. Dear Dr. Nielsen-Winkelmann, we are pleased to inform you that we have reviewed and approved your application. to offer K-12 online comprehensive learning. You may begin enrolling students into your program. And this is a note from Director Ertl to the members of that team. So we are extremely thankful and grateful to Dr. Tiffany and our assistant principal Lou and all of those virtual EDU team members who literally built a school from scratch. And of course, we have been offering virtual learning to approximately 300 of our families K-12 this year. But this new accreditation approval allows us to open enroll students into our program. And as you know, we've partnered with Frankie and Fiorella to engage in a market analysis to help us understand. who our niche audience might be and what would be the value
018proposition for virtual edu what kind of programming what kind of learning experiences are families craving and looking for so i look forward to sharing those findings with you we'll have director ertel share those findings with you or perhaps dr tiffany herself we're excited to build an online program in its next year now that grows in its anti-racist approach that offers project-based learning experiences to students and that provides a comprehensive experience with social worker support, personal wellness support, all of the services and experiences that our in-person students receive. So this is going to be a really amazing program and I'm very proud of that team. And now we will end with the teacher appreciation video. Teacher and staff appreciation video. During the month of May, we get to celebrate two groups of incredible people, our amazing
019teachers and also our school lunch heroes. Thank you for all that you do to make our schools an amazing place. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, everybody. We appreciate our teachers so much. Thank you, teachers! Every day you come to school and you are what makes the difference in the life of our kids. You embody our Hopkins core values. The excellence that we accomplish here is not possible without any of you. Thank you all. Thank you teachers! Teachers, here is a virtual bouquet of flowers for you. You are amazing! Teachers have the most important job in the entire world and the teachers in Hopkins are the very best at that job. Thank you teachers for helping us learn. Thank you again for all you do. We love you teachers! You are appreciated! You are so important and
020we could do none of it without you. Your grace, compassion, sacrifice, and commitment during a very challenging year have made an incredible impact in the lives of our families and our students. Thank you teachers. We appreciate everything you've done for us. Thank you to all the classroom staff in our district. E through 12. plus thank you for all that you do each and every day you are absolute miracle workers it's amazing to see you in action i am so proud to be a part of this district with awesome teachers like you thank you teachers thank you for all the inspiration encouragement and the love for all the students thank you all for all that you do every day for our students we appreciate you for your tenacity, for your compassion, and just for being there
021for students, families, and for each other. Thank you very much. Thank you, Hopkins teachers, for loving our students, teaching them to be scholars, and helping them one day become all of the things that we know are in their destiny. Thank you, teacher! We also want to thank our school lunch heroes for the delicious and healthy breakfast and lunch they provide us every day. To our school lunchroom heroes, every day you are providing our students with nutritious food and keeping them going through the whole day. Thank you school nutrition. Thank you so much to our nutrition staff. You do a wonderful job. Thank you lunch! Thank you for school lunches, we really appreciate it. Thanks for making us healthy food. Thank you school lunch workers. Thanks for the food. Thanks for feeding us. Thank you so
022much, Dr. Mary Perry-Reed. What a great video. Everything in it is absolutely true. And we need our state legislature to commit to fully funding our schools so that we can pay these dedicated professionals what they deserve. So wonderful appreciation reflected in that video. i wanted to make an additional note on the virtual edu which is so exciting and as director erdl said you built a school in less than a year which is really remarkable and remembering those early conversations at this table and to know that we're at this point now is really exciting any board member comments or questions for dr mary perry reed I had a comment. I wanted to say that I had the honor of meeting one of the students who's currently attending our collaborative lab school, and they were also part
023of the Technocrats, and they had something so positive to say about our lab school. They said, compared to traditional schooling, the collaborative lab school was more inspirational. It motivated them to be part of the community process. And it just, she felt that, you know, she was being prepared for the real world. So she prefers that over traditional schooling. So that's just a comment. Thank you. Excellent. So with that, I would look for a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Motion carries. Next, I would look for a motion to approve the consent calendar. So moved. I have a motion. Is there
024a second? Second. I have a motion and a second to approve the consent calendar. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Motion carries. Next, we'll move to our treasurer's report with Treasurer Adams. Thank you, Chair Bouchard. Our enrollment report is in for the month of April, and every grade except kindergarten showed a decline in enrollment during that month. Total decline was 37 scholars for the month, but it was not concentrated in any one particular area when you consider that it's over 12 grades. It's roughly three per grade, so it's nothing, I think, to be alarmed about. Kindergarten, on the other hand, held firm at 596 scholars, and that's an increase of five since October 1. So typically our grades declined during the school year. Kindergarten increased, so that's
025kind of a welcome turn of events. Expenses of note this time include $20,190 to Region 6AA for basketball playoff ticket sales, $7,400 for elementary chess instruction at Meadowbrook, Eisenhower, and Tanglin. We continue to give out numerous refunds for prepaid lunches that were paid for prior to the COVID free lunch program. $756 for new nets for the tennis courts. Over $2,500 for new textbooks. And yes, we still use some textbooks. So that was interesting. $159 for regular transportation for April. And we continue to incur costs for counseling services, psychological counseling for the non-public schools within our district. And that amounted to nearly $10,000 this month. So with that, I move that we approve total disbursements in the amount of $4,479,209.46. for the period April 12, 2022 through May 3rd, 2022. I have a motion. Is there
026a second? Second. I have a motion and a second to approve the treasurer's report. Any further discussion? Seeing none all in favor. Please say aye aye all opposed nay motion carries next we'll move to New business before I pass it over to vice chair Andreessen just want to acknowledge that this is a big policy night and our monitoring committee always has a heavy lift but they've been doing a lot of work recently around some major policy pieces and so we're really excited to see these coming to the table so with that we'll move on to our policies in first read we'll invite assistant superintendent lightfoot to the table and i'll turn it over to vice chair andreessen Thank you, Chair Bouchard. I wanted to just give a little bit of context around the policies that
027we will be talking about. We spent a long time kind of going through and actually through your suggestion, Chair Bouchard, to take a closer look at our policy 956 around relations with law enforcement in the schools. And then also the other policy we'll be talking about in first read is the graduation requirements, 613. And part of that discussion was around acknowledging that although we have been, for the most part this year, in-person learning, if that is your choice, that the impacts of the pandemic are cumulative and still ongoing with our students and feeling that. We need to acknowledge that and have done so through policy. So yeah, let's assistant superintendent Lightfoot, if you want to lead us through those changes, we can talk more about it. Certainly. Perhaps we'll begin then with what Vice Chair
028Andreessen just mentioned, which is the temporary modification of graduation requirements. This is a modification that has been before the board multiple times during the course of the past couple years as we've navigated the conditions that have been identified in. The statement of the resolution and then the specific modifications to the general elective requirements that are part of this Modification so with that there are specific questions. I'm more than happy to address those and can Serve as a information source for anything that might be related to the recommended change Chair Bouchard. Yes, Director Adams. I see we're, well, we did this last year too, right? Reduce the requirements, the elective requirements. I'm assuming that we got a waiver from the state to be able to provide this, or is it within our purview? It's within your
029local purview. Okay. Are there other school districts that are doing this? Do you know? Some have, and some have done this in a similar fashion. We've used a couple models from other places that are looking at this as well. Most have made some adjustments based on the needs that they see, demonstrated within student populations and conditions as they've navigated the cumulative, I think well said in the resolution, the cumulative impact that this has had on them. Okay, thank you. I think, too, one of the things we talked about was that we did this in prior years because the need was real and present before us. But when I was thinking about these students who are graduating this year, they've had more of their high school learning disrupted by the pandemic than the prior two years
030graduating classes. So I just felt that we really needed to acknowledge that and that it could be an even bigger struggle for those students than the last two that we did this for as well. Yeah, Imani doesn't know what it's like to go to school without going Yeah, well high school Yeah, any other board member comments or questions on this resolution? Assistant Superintendent Lightfoot, I just have a procedural question. When we're approving this, do we need to approve the resolution separately as a roll call vote, or can we approve it as part of the policy package? As part of the policy package? Okay. Great. Thank you. Yeah, no roll call or anything necessitated. Excellent. Anything else on this resolution? Okay, I think we can move ahead to policy 956. Great. Oh, okay. Either way. I
031can go. So this is regulations, relations with law enforcement authorities. And one of the things that we were very intentional about was having this reflect a law that is hopefully moving. quickly through our state legislature around the rights of students to have legal representation and making sure that those rights are well protected when they are on school grounds. Yeah, so I'll let you and advocate for that bill if you have a chance. Thank you. Yes, we did take a look at some of the proposed statutory language and use that as a guidance for the additional material that you see included within the changes that we are recommending for policy 956. We were specific. Oftentimes, we don't include regulations, but since there was such a substantial change and there was an initial inquiry into how the
032regulations were conducted that we thought it would be most important this time to make sure that we drew that attention to the board so that they could see what changes specifically and the impact that that would have based on prior conversations that we had had. Our goal really with the changes was to, as we identified in the general statement of policy, look toward the disruption of that school-to-prison pipeline and to really look for the ways in which we could strengthen the ability for students to be self-advocates if ever faced with this. and at the same time to minimize any need for this even to be a policy in place in that we would be very clear in our statement that we do not feel that there should be a need for this kind of interaction
033to occur at school unless it is a substantial set of circumstances that are on an emergency basis So to be clear the changes reflect current statute Anticipate a bill that gained some traction during this session Representative Feist was the the chief author of that bill and I testified in support of it in the Public Safety Committee hearing Six weeks ago time is flying. It could have been longer than that and You know what has become clear as I've learned more about this The bill and this process and this issue is that we have quite a bit of agency here at the district level to make these changes and put these protections in for our students I think as I look at the proposed changes One of the most powerful aspects is the interview section section
034B that is i'm looking at section b part three this requirement that the principal or designee notify the student that the student does not have to speak with the officer if he or she does not wish to i think that there is often an whether intended or not, and an intimidation factor. And students, you know, just think like I have to speak with them. So to be informed of their right. There's also an ability to request legal representation and counsel and that the district's expressed desire is not to waive a right to request legal representation and counsel prior to and during the interview. So having that, those explicit protections in place, I think is a really important change. I think too, I don't remember the specific number and perhaps you do, Chair Bouchard, about students
035who do waive their right. It's shockingly high. So I think it's important that the other adults who have their best interests at heart are making that clear to them that they don't have to do it. I also appreciate the language specifically around, you know, if principals or peace officers who are trying to enter our buildings, you know, have questions or disagreement about whether or not they, bless you, whether or not they have, they can access a student, you know, that the pathway of communication there is really clear that they should contact the assistant superintendent. who will explain the policy parameters. So that's another, as I think through like implementation and what this looks like, that seems like another really important change to me. Yes, Director Adams. I'm just curious what precipitated this. Is this a
036frequent occurrence that police are interrogating our students at the high school? Does that happen often? I'm not sure during the school year whether. It's a common occurrence or not? No, common, no. Has it happened? Yes. Okay. And based on previous conversations when the policy was brought forward, I think part of the general concern is that in a custodial setting and circumstance, it is often in the case. for many students that they might not be able to have parents with them and to have that guidance and to have that counsel with them and how would we appropriately manage those situations and I think that's really kind of the impetus for what this was looking to guide and direct versus any kind of frequency. Thank you. I had a conversation earlier this school year with the parent
037of an elementary student who had been questioned by a peace officer in one of our buildings. And that student is an elementary student. They had no idea that they could refuse to talk to the peace officer. And the parent I spoke with was understandably very upset about that. So it does happen. And it's important that we have this policy, this revised policy in place to protect against it. I also just wanted to say that one of the considerations that went into this policy was not making a designation based on age because often in our programming, we are working with students that may be vulnerable adults. And therefore, this policy should be in place for all of our students regardless of age. That was an important. revision for me. Thank you. I have a quick question.
038Did we already explain to our community why were you replacing police with peace? We did and we had that conversation last board meeting when we were looking at 532 the use of peace officers for any removal of students with IEP and that a peace officer is a more expansive inclusion rather than just a more narrow police officer. Other board member comments or questions on this policy? Thank you again to our monitoring committee and our monitoring committee, which is led by Vice Chair Andreessen and facilitated by Assistant Superintendent Lightfoot. Thank you both for your framing and context during the conversation. With that I would look for a motion that the board approved the above policies and first read The board direct the administration to prepare the policies with suggested revisions for approval and second read at
039the next meeting as part of consent So moved I have a motion. Is there a second second? I have a motion and a second any further discussion Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Motion carries. We're still on policy, and I will pass it back to Vice Chair Andreessen. Thank you, Chair Bouchard. We wanted to... also bring before our community a new policy that we have been working on in the policy and monitoring committee, our racial equity policy. This is part of a larger body of work that the school board has been undergoing around our policy 102 educational opportunity. And this is one of the protected classes named in that policy that we have been intentional about creating separate and unique policies around. Our community may remember last year we
040passed a gender inclusion policy. We also have other policies. in place, but this year we've worked with our with creating a racial equity policy that we talked in depth about at our workshop earlier. So if anyone is wondering about the specifics of that or any changes that were recommended, I would advise watching the video of that workshop if you weren't tuned in. We are also working on having a community conversation around this policy as is our practice about around new policies but the process that went into the creation of this has been relatively robust getting feedback and input from students staff and i want to thank specifically our group of community liaisons who have put in time and effort and having conversations with us, but also reading through this policy in its draft form. We
041incorporated a lot of recommendations from that conversation and then also other staff that have weighed in and given us really crucial feedback. And I just want to give one shout out to Parker, who is a student board rep who's on the monitoring committee, was really instrumental in helping us shape and craft this policy. And with that, I will... turn it over to assistant superintendent lightfoot if you have some feedback and open it up to the board to share your thoughts no additional feedback at this time i'm happy to respond to any questions or any additional information as would be helpful thank you both so as vice chair andreessen mentioned we had a great conversation around this at the workshop and You know some of the sort of top line items from that conversation were the
042format of the policy that this is a unique format that really lays out our values as a district and then also has these accountability mechanisms built into it that taken together with the set of policies that Vice Chair Andreessen mentioned that addressed the Minnesota Human Rights Act that these are very both powerful policy pieces, but also really useful just in terms of implementation so that we can link other policies to them as a cross-reference, that they can be used, of course, in our schools to guide all of our processes and procedures. And so it takes a lot of intentionality to think through like a whole suite of policies like that. Our monitoring committee has done such a great job. And then embedded in the policy is a reporting mechanism so that students can report incidents
043of racism and racial harm in our system. So some really great components of this policy and looking forward to seeing it in action. Any other board member comments or questions about this policy at this point? Okay. I have a question. Yes. So I appreciate the conversation we had during the workshop about the action slash accountability plan that connects policy and practice. And then Vice Chair Andreessen asked me to read it word for word, which I thought I had read it word for word until I was asked to read it word for word again. So I'm just wanting to ask a question about the second to the last bullet here. So I agree that we have to look at policies programs professional development and practice that are perpetuating systemic inequities what I noticed here is the
044last statement of using an annual external equity audit across the system, so I'm just I think as you know the one of the individuals who needs to make sure that we are enacting these expectations I'm wanting to just call attention to annual and external okay So there, okay. So that, and I assume that was intentional on the part of the policy committee. I must be seeing either annual or external for the first time, especially combined as a, I mean, that's powerful, right? Yeah. Every year and not an internal equity audit, but externally conducted. So obviously there's, there are cost implications and it's a, you know, it's a labor of, it's a, it's a exercise of labor and. And it is something that the school board will have to budget for, right? I mean, that's, but
045no, we did discuss that. The frequency, would it be onus, burdensome? And also that we would have to then pay people to come in and do it. And you're the, I think. It was mentioned during the workshop, but I don't know if anyone picked up on it. But I think, yes, we should be very explicit about that as a specific and very tangible. So I think that I'm just thinking through. how this gets operationalized. So this last equity audit looked at multiple facets of our system and was very in-depth. And in order for us to engage in shifts in our practices, in the way we do programming, in the way we are... generating different outcomes, we will need to focus our efforts in specific ways. Because I think just in wanting to manage expectations but
046also move with intentional or purposeful urgency, I do want to just... acknowledge that we you know we we won't be able to see changes in multiple areas within one calendar year does that make sense so we might want so we would want to be intentional about in which departments or in which programs or which specific pedagogical or program or leadership practices are we focusing on making changes year one, year two, year three? Because we'd want to be really intentional about how we engage in setting those expectations and managing the change process. Right. I think that that this bullet is giving the district a mechanism to identify those specific policies, programs, professional development and practice that are perpetuating the systemic inequities. And then it is our metrics, our accountability metrics that then charge us with change.
047So I think, yeah, being very intentional and perhaps where we might make some changes, if you're proposing that, I'm not sure, is maybe the annual external equity audit is not across the entire system. Right. But is... Yeah, I don't know how we would reward the identity. I think what we need to do is scope out the work and I done and and so we know what all of the areas are because that's what our initial equity audit tells us and We've been studying our system for you know, three four years now, but we do need to sequence scope out the work and sequence it so that Everyone knows, okay, we're paying attention to special education, you know, K-6 special education, or we're paying attention to our talent development programming at the high school, right? So
048which facet of the organization are we paying attention to, and what are those levers that we're pulling? to achieve the success metrics that have been pre-identified in that specific space. Yeah, and so I think if we, at least I feel like it gets to that need if we just take out across the system. So we're identifying Hopkins Public Schools policies, programs, professional development and practice that perpetuate systemic. inequities along racial lines and reform them through an equity lens, through an annual external equity audit. Could we even piggyback on the work that was done prior and use that to, I mean, we could identify and almost call it like an audit update versus like a full. kind of similar to your vein, right? But like we identified areas. Is there a way to create a report
049that's more of an audit update or refresh based on previous audits done that sort of reduces a little bit of the onus of that and the workload of that? In the expanse. In the expanse, yeah. Well, and what we might want to do is to sit down with our partner in this work. It would be, wise to select a partner that we could have a long-term relationship with and then they help us identify first, second, third. And is this a progress monitoring system? that uses the initial equity audit findings as a basis? Is it an update? Is it a, I'm not quite sure, but they could help us, I think, articulate what that could look like. Yeah, and then just a rhythm for a full audit update every, you know, whatever they feel. Makes sense.
050But yeah, I can understand the trepidation of, because the last one took two years, right? Granted, we had COVID, but like, you know, that would be a heavy lift that would potentially take some focus off of actually doing the work. Right. Well, and we were all disappointed with the results, but then we had to remind ourselves that it took 400 years to build the system. It's not going to take a year to fix all of it, right? So how do we manage expectations and the change process? Part of the... desire to include this as a specific element was for the accountability factor, much like we hold ourselves accountable for annual fiscal audits, that we would also be looking at our system in ways that are driving the change that we want to see. That's a
051good analogy. Yeah. So if our budget is that important that we conduct an external annual audit every year, then this is... Yeah. This is equally important. And if we identify those key metrics, how do we also make sure that we have that external review of those metrics to help inform that annual kind of report? So we definitely can look at the scope and the sequence of that on an annual basis with some intentionality in the design and how we put it together. You know, with the fiscal audits, we have spot audits, too. So we'll pick an area in conjunction with our auditor to say, let's look at this this year, you know. Nutrition services. So, yeah. And, you know, we could do that simply for this equity audit as well. I like that. Okay. I
052think they call those spot it. I didn't want to go bring us down the rabbit hole of how to operationalize, but I was struck by that combination of action. of implications requiring us to engage in specific actions. And I just wanted to be really clear on what the policy will require of us. I think Vice Chair Andreessen's edits now allow for that flexibility of implementation. I appreciate that. Yeah, and just so everyone's clear on what you're... being asked to vote on. In that bullet that we've been talking about under accountability, it's the second to last, they took out the words across the system. So then that allows us to maybe do a spot audit or to maybe not have it be as large in scope as the audit that we just got the report on.
053Okay. if everyone feels comfortable with that change. Yes. Thank you. Any further discussion on this policy? I would look for a motion that the board approve the policy in first read and that the board direct the administration to prepare the policy with suggested revisions for approval in second read at the next meeting as part of consent. So moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Motion carries. Next, we'll move to our staffing resolutions. It's a big night for Assistant Superintendent Lightfoot. He just gets to stay here at the table with us. I could use the steps, though. Staffing resolution. I was struck by the video during the superintendent report of the
054gratitude expressed to all of our educational staff and our support staff and our school nutrition heroes and everyone that makes this work possible every day. And these are the most difficult actions that we take. These are the actions that are required of you as a board when we bring people into the organization and when resources and changes within the organization are necessary, we do have to also take that role of ending those contracts. And that's what is in front of you this evening. There are three resolutions. And those resolutions are required to be roll call resolutions as they do and the contracts of individuals and as such. That will be one of the requirements for you this evening. Those resolutions are separated out, so we will go through each of them. But before I do,
055I cannot stress enough, and I want to acknowledge the contributions of the service and incredible dedication of all of the people that are on this. and call out the difficult action that this is. Necessary, of course, within the context of what budget we have and the parameters that we have and our sectioning and course availability and offerings. Please know that as we do work through the budget and we do work with available resources, that as those become available and there are opportunities, we do our best to work to bring individuals back as conditions change. So I just wanted to make sure that we put that into the context before we actually conducted the vote on the resolutions. So is there any other additional question that we have before I walk through each of these? No,
056thank you for that thoughtful framing, and I think we can walk through them. Okay. The first resolution is the termination and non-renewal of temporary teacher contracts. These are the temporary contracts that are often most frequently in place for staff members that might be on leave for leave of absence in the air temporary in nature, just periodic throughout the course of the school year. And as such, we would look to terminate those, and that would be the first resolution. Any questions related to the temporary teaching contracts? Doesn't appear to be. Thank you. You're very welcome. I look for the roll call vote on the resolution. Thank you. So I would look for a motion that the board adopt the resolution for the termination and non-renewal of temporary teacher contracts. So moved. I have a motion. Is
057there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Clerk Peterson. Treasurer Adams aye vice chair Andreessen aye chair Bouchard aye director Heartland aye director Khan aye director Peterson aye and director Ross aye Thank You clerk Peterson we have seven eyes zero nays motion carries we can move to our next resolution Thank you second resolution is the termination and non renewal of probationary teacher contracts We are recommending the termination of the probationary teachers because of financial limitations reorganization declining student sectioning And other such related reasons. So with that are there any questions regarding the probationary? All right. I don't think so. All right. With that, I would look for a motion that the board adopt the resolution for the termination and non-renewal of probationary teacher contracts. So moved. I
058have a motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Clerk Peterson. Treasurer Adams. Aye. Vice Chair Andresen. Aye. Chair Bouchard. Aye. Director Hartland. Aye. Director Kahn. Aye. Director Peterson. Aye. And Director Ross. Aye. Thank you, Clerk Peterson. We have seven ayes, zero nays. Motion carries. The third resolution is the placement on unrequested leave of absence. Unrequested leave of absence occurs when we have a contract that is tenured in the district and because of declining sectioning, numbers, changes in enrollment in any given year, there may be necessary action that has to take place for an individual who has obtained continuing contract status. As such, the contract does provide those individuals with certain periodic ability to come back into the system. And so we have a separate
059action that occurs for an unrequested leave of absence. And that is the third resolution that is in front of you this evening. Any discussion around this last resolution? So with that, I would look for a motion that the board adopt the resolution for the proposed placement on unrequested leave of absence. So moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Clerk Peterson. Director Adams. Aye. Director Andreessen. Aye. Chair Bouchard. Aye. Director Hartland. Aye. Director Kahn. Aye. Director Ross. Aye. Director Peterson. Aye. Thank you, Clerk Peterson. We have seven ayes, zero nays. Motion carries. Thank you assistant superintendent lightfoot. Thank you cheer Bouchard. Yes. I'd just like to make a comment on this I think for our two new board members, this is
060the first time you've been through this. And this is probably the most painful thing you do as a board member. Before this, we're voting on budget reductions. We're voting on general staffing resolutions to reduce staff. When you see a resolution that's got an actual name on it, that's, I think, when it hits home. My wife taught for this district for... 45 years, I think and The first 10 years that she was in the district she her name was on one of these resolutions every year so You have to understand that it doesn't mean that these people are necessarily going away for good But we reevaluate the staffing requirements during the summer and some may be made an offer to come back so I know it's somewhat painful, especially if you recognize a name on there.
061It's hard to do. But just be assured that this is part of the process and that some of these people will be back. And ultimately, my wife had a year when she wasn't on this list. So, you know, things change. Thank you, Director Adams. Thank you, Assistant Superintendent Lightfoot. Next, we'll move to our board member reports. I'm just going to do it, Director Adams. Are we going alphabetically again? Yes, that's what's happening. Well, I didn't have a whole lot of activities, but I thought some were pretty significant. The first one was the HEF donor recognition at the Gold Nugget that I attended, along with some of you, on April 28th. That's always just really... reassuring and heartwarming to see the kind of support that our district gets from parents and former staff members and current
062staff members and just people that care about this district. So it was fun to attend that. Last Friday, I attended the AMSD meeting and there were a couple of items on the agenda, but the one that was the most... I think got the most attention was the student data privacy bills that are before the legislature right now. And there's two different bills, at least there were as of last Friday. I don't know if they've been amended yet, but it's basically to put restrictions on what student data privacy, what student data can be shared and how. And it's been very much on someone's agenda for the last, I think, four years. But Anthony Paternos, who is the IT director at Osseo and formerly IT director here, spoke to the content of those bills. The one that
063was in the Senate, he said... He could live with Most IT people could could deal with it. The one in the house needed significant amending and And we've been assured that that's going to happen by the author that bill representative feist our LAC He had a meeting subsequent to that and asked John Wetter, our IT director, what's your take on these bills? And he said they were something that he could live with. So I was concerned that they might restrict. Data privacy for students to the point where it would be a big imposition in workload on our IT staff and as it stands now it will not be so That was reassuring, but it was interesting to have the discussion about student data privacy and it is all become Come about as a result of
064the fact that we do a lot of our instruction digitally now You know when you had paper books and you had worksheets and film strips There was no way to track whether students were doing it or what their response was to it now that it's all being done online Or a lot of it is It creates a digital trail And what has happened is that some of the providers that provide the content for digital instruction have been using that content to track students, to find out how they responded, what things they responded to, and then sell that data. to someone that can make use of it or use it themselves. And these bills put a severe restriction on that. And I read an article that was in the Star Tribune, I think, this week about
065people were questioning... Don't ever read the comments section for these things, but I did. And people said, oh, well, you know why this is an issue? Is it because schools are selling the student data to other, you know? To nefarious for nefarious purposes. I thought what you know someone thinks that we're actually Selling our student data to somebody else. No, it was for the providers digital providers and So these bills will now put some restrictions on that Very similar to what they've done in California so that anyone that provides content to our district or any sort of student data Will not be able to sell it so But that was it's been a big issue this year at the legislature You know I asked the question I think was from of Anthony I said has
066this ever happened in the in the in Minnesota And he said, well, no, not really. But there were, so it's all in response to what is an anticipated concern, which is kind of surprising to me. But apparently there was a product called Gaggle that was put in use in the Minneapolis school district at the time they started doing strictly online instruction during COVID. And Gail did do some tracking never sold the data as far as anyone knows but There were parents that were concerned students that were concerned about the fact that they were being tracked on their use of the systems, so anyway, it's you know the ACLU has been very adamant in Supporting these bills, but there's been very little of actual Harm that has been shown for any of it And then yesterday
067I attended the MSB a and AMSD and Massa day at the Capitol there's a press event and I was there with Vice chair and reason I'll let her report on that. So So that's my report My activities. Thank you, Director Adams. I do not have a board report tonight, but I just wanted to add a little additional context to the conversation around the Data Privacy Act. So this is, you know, in response to a rapidly changing digital landscape and also to legislation that's been proposed and has bipartisan support at the federal level. So I think, you know, really. getting ahead or getting on board, either way you look at it at the state level is wise and the ACLU is championing it because it is a protection of students and their families' constitutional rights. So
068I appreciate that the LAC has been discussing the issue and I know there have been multiple revisions of the bill at the legislature, but I mean, my personal opinion is that our students' constitutional rights far surpass any sort of implementation concerns, because all of those can be worked out as they are with other curricular materials. So thank you. Vice Chair Andreessen, did you have a report? I think I do. So yeah, Director Adams and I were at the Capitol yesterday along with Director Contreras and our... superintendent to advocate for fully funded special education. It was really, really good to be back at the Capitol, like actually in the building. And I didn't see any barricades, which was a nice new feeling for the Capitol grounds, at least from my perspective. And so there was a
069press conference. I think some good questions were asked. They had a slate of speakers who spoke, I think, very well to the chronic underfunding of public education and specifically for those students who show up in our buildings needing the most from us. And I think that... Yeah, I think it was good. I hope the legislature does take this opportunity to make school districts whole around that specific piece of what we do that is very important to our community and the future of our families. Thank you very much, and thank you both for being there. It's really important, obviously. Great. Other board member reports? I have a board member report. Wonderful. I am also on the LAC and have been learning a lot this year. And one thing that's kind of exciting me about some of
070the conversations we've had lately is not only addressing specific policies and... especially in light of this budget surplus and some upcoming decisions that are having to be made, but also how we can best leverage from Hopkins are the kind of things that we already do really well and how we might be able to use them. I know that especially the two board members, Treasurer Adams and Vice Chair Andreessen, have a lot more experience there, but one thing that's very exciting to me is... kind of doing partnership liaison types outside of just the MSBA to help our counterparts are kind of LAC or the the similar organizations at other districts where because we have the fortunate position in ours that our representatives are very engaged with us and typically are very open to the things that
071we say and like to hear from us and then typically vote accordingly and not every district is in such a position and so there's no kind of exact immediate plans, but it is a topic that we've addressed, and that's a project that I'll continue to advocate for and talk about. So the LAC has been busy, and then Meadowbrook has been extremely busy. That is my home school. All of my children currently attend that, but since... Since our last board meeting and it does feel like I think you mentioned your bishop was that three weeks has it six? I don't know how long it's been But the Meadowbrook I've participated in we've had the mingle which is a big fundraiser that Meadowbrook holds every year and that was very successful. I actually don't know their final
072dollar amount, but I know my kids were very excited about the various prizes that they won all week. They also had their plant cell fundraiser. They've had many... field trips. They had a big movie night where they had a giant theater outside on the playground, and I thought that, I mean, there were, I don't know the exact number, but a lot. There was a lot of kids. It's a big school, but, and I think mostly it was parents sitting in lawn chairs and kids playing on the playground in the dark is kind of how it... It turned out, but it was really great. It was very novel. I know that my children and their friends really enjoyed it, and it was nice of the PTO to put that on. And then we also had teacher,
073like the movie mentioned, but we had the teacher and staff appreciation week where we had lots of parents submit feedback, and actually even students submit feedback and appreciation and comments about... people who have touched them in various ways and impacted their lives. And so that was just last week. I think that was just last week. And that was very heartwarming to take part in last week. And I hope that the teachers that we're now talking about how we might be able to, I don't know, give the teachers who are mentioned some sort of permanent little relic of these really beautiful things that were said by their students and the parents. Wonderful, thank you so much. Other board member reports? Chair Bouchard? Yes, Director Ross. So we had our final ESAC meeting for the school year.
074Sounds like I'm going to do the same thing. I'm not sure what you're doing. We're all in a time warp, right? 2021, 2022. You know, it was good meeting with Dr. Erdl and Allegra this afternoon. both Director Khan and I, I'm not gonna steal all of Director Khan's thunder on it, but it was nice to be able to see kind of where the status was with personalization and just how it's moving forward. And I think it will probably, and Director Erdo don't. don't get upset for this but it might end up turning to be kind of like a community engagement because there was a lot of community members that mentioned like just the communication and ensuring that the district is continuously talking to one staff and then two parents so then they're brought along to
075understand the progress and what's going on because obviously as you and uh director andreason can i imagine there's still a lot of I don't know if I want to say hurt feelings, but there's still a lot of confusion and anger about the talent development that still came up today. And just to even hear it come up made me wonder, like, probably eventually this will probably have to be a community engagement, whether or not that's August, September. So then, you know, the community is starting to, you know, understand what's going on. Correct me if I'm wrong. I believe there was something about pre-algebra that had come up. Yeah, regarding North Junior High, there was a parent at our meeting stating that not enough communication was happening regarding the math program, and so unexpected changes were not
076anticipated by parents. So they wanted more communication regarding that. So yeah, I mean, Director Kahn and I heard a good portion. It was refreshing to hear that the community still wanted to hear more information about what's going on. So that was the big one, the big takeaway from the meeting today. Excellent. Thank you both for being there and for passing along the feedback. That's important. Right. And if I could add to what Jason was saying just regarding these programs, it's really nice that there are still community members who's children have graduated from Hopkins and yet they still want to have input and they want information as to how we're doing as a district and they want to contribute as much as they can. And so that was really nice that they still want to be
077very much aware of what's happening and the changes. And another The first meeting that I attended was with Hopkins Community Ed. And they were presenting with Allegra, Shannon Finnegan, Nicole Dimich. with their Thrive Ed team. They had a slideshow on the Collaborative Lab School, which I commented on earlier when Rhoda had her report about the technocrats. And it's wonderful that it's being focused on being centered on student voice so students can experience a joyful education experience. And I love how they called teachers engagement guides rather than teachers. it's really nice because they have more of a mentorship role where students can guide, sorry, students can be guided by them instead of being dictated to. And that one student who is currently attending the Collaborative Lab School commenting that She really loves it. She loves how
078because of the lab school. She's building intentional community And it makes her feel safe and you know she has immense possibilities where you know they have these opportunities for internships and Real-life experience so that they can be part of the change that's happening lately and Yeah, that's that's my report Thank you director con last call So we'll move to our incidental reports and I would look for a motion that the board accept the incidental reports Second oh I have a motion and a second to any discussion Seeing none all in favor. Please say aye aye all opposed nay Motion carries I would look for a motion to adjourn So moved I have a motion is there a second I have a motion and a second to adjourn all in favor. Please say aye aye All
079opposed nay motion carries this meeting of the Hopkins School Board is adjourned at 8 24 p.m. Thank you all