001Good evening the Monday March 10th 2025 in Berger Heights Community Schools Board of Education Regular meeting is called to order at 531 p.m. At Salem Hills Elementary School As a reminder, all public comment during regular school board meetings must be related to an information item on the Knight's agenda. The district holds public listening sessions prior to all regular board meetings to allow participants to speak on topics that are not on the agenda. More information on this can be found on our district's website. This meeting is being recorded and access to the recording will be made available on the school district's website as quickly as possible. Our school district's mission is to inspire, innovate, excel, a community commitment. Board Clerk Larson, will you please take roll call? Of course. Member Dukes? Here. Member Klingner? Here. Member
002Pearson? Here. Member Lounsbury? Here. Member Larson? Here. Member Nehemiah? Here. Member Warwick? Here. Thank you. Please join me 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. Do I have a motion and a second to approve tonight's agenda? Motion by Member Klingner. Second by Member Warwick. Motion by Member Klingner, second by Member Warwick. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. The motion is carried. We will start the evening with Activities Director Will Short and Winter Highlights. Good evening. Thanks for having us here tonight. We're very proud and excited about the things that we accomplished this year during our winter season. I had a couple days off last week
003and I had some things that I contemplated and I wrote some things down. I thought I would share some of my thoughts. I just feel strongly about the lessons that our programs teach. Teamwork, responsibility, resilience, time management, leading with character. In a time when young people are facing so much adversity and distractions, high school activities provide a huge sense of a belonging and structure and purpose for these young people. I see the impacts every single day. Students who participate in our activities are more likely to stay engaged. in school, achieve academically, and build positive relationships. They learn how to handle both success and failure, as do their adults and the parents who go through their wins and losses. And they carry those lessons. They carry them with them into college, in their careers, and in
004life. I truly believe that when students are involved in activities, whether they're athletics, music, debate, theater, leadership, our schools are stronger and our communities thrive. This also leads me to the next part is one of the initiatives that we went after as the activities department was getting the five versus five girls flag football program going here at Simley High School. 12 states in the United States have already adapted or adopted this program as a state high school league program. We were fortunate enough to be one of the 32 teams who got sponsored or granted by the Minnesota Vikings, so our district's not paying for it. The Minnesota Vikings are. And we'll be starting this opportunity for girls this spring. I'm very excited about that. Coach Karowski, who is our girls hockey coach, is going to
005use his licensure as a head coach to take over the girls program for the first few years. and his daughter's here tonight. She'll be speaking a little bit. Maybe we can get her on the 5v5 flag football team. So we're very excited about that. And so I just wanted to say that I'm excited about the things that we're doing here at Simley High School. I'm very proud of the activities that we have done here and of all the students. We have some of our senior leaders here from our programs that are going to share some of their experiences here tonight. First, I'd like to bring up the leaders of the Norris Key team. They're going to come up and introduce themselves and tell you a little bit about the Norris Key program. Hi guys, my
006name is O'Reilly. I'm Eli. We're just going to kind of talk about Nordic. So this year was, again, kind of challenging. Similar to last year, not a lot of snow. But luckily we had some reducing of our team size, so it was a little easier to have practice and team cohesion. We were able to do some team program stuff where we did the food drive and donated some food that we went for a day and bought. Days like Fun Friday is just really getting together as a team and making sure we're like... a group, a collective, rather than just a bunch of people. And then when we could, practice every day, get over to Battle Creek and ski, and yeah, just improve as a team. For conference this year, we had one all-conference honorable mention,
007and we had the boys team finish in good standing with PRs from every boy from last year. And I think we finished second to last, which is an improvement from last year, so that's always good news. Yeah, we also like outside of ski. We also had the gold standing of the like conference Academic thing is called or yeah, we all had like a above a 3.8 or something like that. So Maintaining both on and off the snow. Yeah Thank you Speaking of PRS to tonight. I couldn't have anybody from the swimming team here tonight and coach Newton is in New Zealand But I want to do a little report of our boys from team Vincent evangelista just swam in the 200 I am on Friday at the state tournament He was in that he qualified
008in the top 32 He did not make the final in the top 16, but he represented similarly very well We had our team down there to support him on Friday All the awards for swimming come out after the season's over because they have every opportunity to swim their time. So we'll learn about All-State, All-Conference, and all those awards here in the next week. We don't have them yet. Lynn wanted me to say something. We only had three seniors on our team last year of the 27 boys that swam. And she had a first in her 30-year career of coaching boys swimming here at Simley High School. She's never had a group. swimmers at the section tournament every single swimmer at the section tournament PR or had their lifetime best swim and so she was very
009proud of that she wanted me to share that with the board tonight and was an outstanding job for the boys they got better from the beginning of the season to the end of the season they kept improving their times and swimming faster speeds next I'd like to bring up the girls hockey team senior leaders hi I'm Courtney Kowalski I'm a senior I'm Ella Sanders and I'm a junior This year we went 12-13-1 after losing some of our top players last year. We had to rely on a lot of the youth to come up and play varsity minutes for us. Earlier in the season we had a couple rough losses, but we also played some of the top teams in the state. which made us better in the end of the year when it mattered most.
010We ended up winning some good games, and our favorite by far was definitely crushing South St. Paul 8-3 on our home ice. It was definitely a great season to remember and learn from as we went through a bunch of adversity, but also made a lot of positive things come out of it by team bonding and different things that we did with our team to build community. Having such supportive fans and teachers that helped us through the season played a big role when we needed support and motivation in certain games. This year we had seven senior skaters which was really special to us because these skaters have been with us since we were all really little. We celebrated them and their dedication to the program for the last four to five years. And being a part
011of this team and program was such a blessing to have them and a privilege because not many people get to have that in sports. The team becomes a lot of like sisterhood and after being together for so long, being able to play alongside mixed ages, It really helped us as captains because it helped us play a big role in leadership and helped us get the team motivated and playing together as a family. The boys hockey team this year, we graduated 14 seniors from the boys hockey team last year. Most of our first and second line. And so we then also had our whole coaching staff resign. And so I had some fears that maybe we were going to be in for a really rough year on and off the ice. I hired a young man
012named Ben Horsch. And Coach Horsch, I can't say enough about the job that he did with our team. Again, another very young team this year. As I talked to other ADs and the people, we play in one of the most difficult hockey conferences in the state of Minnesota. St. Thomas, Hill-Murray, Potomac, Perennial Powers. consistently in the state tournament. That's a bunch of our games. A really tough conference. And so there were some concerns. And we went on to win 12 games this year, 12 and 15. It was an outstanding season. We got beat earlier in the year by St. Paul Academy. And then in the first round of the quarterfinals of the sections, we won that game 3-1 in advance to the semifinals. I don't think anybody that was in our conference or in our
013section thought that Simley would win even five games this year. So I can't say enough about the boys hockey program. We had two all-conference athletes, Ethan Unglesby and Tyler Letendre, two honorable mentions, Alex Miller and Eli Boone. They had a fantastic season, and I have had multiple emails, even just this week, from parents. that have been so happy about the program this year and the job that Coach Horsch has done. And I don't get those very often. I get a lot of, obviously we get some negativity, but I got positive emails about the things that were going on with boys hockey. So if you're around boys hockey or you see some of the families, tell them what a great job they did this year. Next, Connor's here for, he's going to speak a little bit
014about the boys basketball program. Hi, I'm Connor Streiff and I'm a junior and I'm the boys captain. To start off our year, we got a new coaching staff with Willie Brazil, Travis Chavez, Nick Anderson, and Ben Glover. They came in and they were leaders right away. They helped us accomplish wins and work hard or work to work hard. And then we had many sponsors. We had a big culture. We would go around and work with young kids like Fist Bump Friday Youth Night. And then we also had a holiday sponsor. We sponsored three families, and we went to Walmart as a team and got them presents for Christmas that couldn't afford them. And that was just a lot of the culture we had sticking together and doing stuff on the court and off the court.
015And then our season, we finished 6-20. We didn't have the best season, but we're a young team with only having three seniors. now have or new one in the next year will be a more developed team because Everyone's been playing together now and yeah excited for next year Thank you. Thank you Next I'd like to bring up the senior leaders from the girls basketball team Hi, my name is Alyssa Gorder. I'm Chloe G and I'm the captain of the girls basketball team to start off our season. We really focused on working in the offseason to try and build up. Since we lost a lot of talent with our seniors last year, we were trying to build it back up and just get going early, which really paid off. We were already ahead of where we
016were the season before to start off. And... Although we worked a lot, we still had a lot of new girls coming in that just didn't have the experience that you need to be able to play on varsity. So getting started was a bit rough just to try to get them to understand how to play in a varsity game because it's very different. But we saw a lot of improvement in them going throughout the season. Some of our highlights include winning close games between Tartan and North St. Paul, which really gave us some momentum going into the season. Yeah, just being part of the basketball program has taught me a lot about myself and how hard I want to work for things and it's just taught me patience and Taught me to be a leader even
017though there might not always be things easy. It just helps me get through it To finish up our season, we worked really hard to try to get a good seating in sections. Although we got seated sixth, it meant we had to play a pretty good team in sections, and we ended up losing to Como Park. Although we lost, it was really fun to be a part of the basketball team. There's a group of really close girls, and it was really fun to welcome some new girls and watch them improve throughout the season. One really fun thing we did this year was go to the University of St. Thomas and watch their basketball team win a game. We had a great season and we're really excited to start preparing for the next one. Next, we have
018had a great tradition at Simley. That has been our assembly dance program. And we've been trying to work that tradition back up to where it was when we were consistently in the state tournament in jazz and high kick. We have a new coach, Emma Tioni, and I have one of our senior captains here tonight to represent the dance team that qualified for the state tournament this year. Hello, I'm Caitlin. I'm the captain of the assembly dance team. Throughout the season, the girls have worked really hard in and out of practice, and we all had a set goal, and that goal was to go to state. At sections, hearing our name getting called was super exciting, and it was just a huge highlight of our season. Over the season, it's been very memorable just learning new
019things and getting new friends, and we're just excited to be back out there after making it to state, and I'm just looking forward to seeing where it leads next season. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. I brought with us myself tonight these two young men who are part of the Sindley Wrestling team that recently took fourth in the state tournament. Really nice team, 20-8 this year. They won the conference championship and the section championship. This young man here is one of our individual state champions. This is Jake Coz. Emilio Salas, he's a captain. He was fourth in the state. We don't have her here tonight, but Charlie Raymond won her fourth state championship. and she is the first female athlete, she is the first girls state champion ever in the history of Minnesota and now she's
020the first four-time girls state champion and the Star Tribune is doing an article about her tomorrow. They'll be taking some pictures of Charlie and she's a really special athlete. These guys are gonna tell a little bit about their season. This season was a very fun and long season. At the beginning, we had a very young group of guys, and we weren't sure. I wasn't sure how we were going to do as a team. As the season progressed and as we took some hard losses, I think we grew stronger and closer as a team. I think at the end of the year, even though we didn't finish our goal to be team champions, I think we wrestled the best we could as a team. Adding on to what Jake said, we're also kind of a young
021team, only graduating. three or four seniors and going throughout the season we just had a lot of development through everyone had a lot of new guys and we lost a lot of our city starters so we had guys having to fill in those spots and learn to put in the work and everything I also want to share one of my favorite memories with the guys When we were up in Bemidji and we were riding the bus, it was a two-day tournament, so you'd weigh in and then you'd wrestle and you'd get time off and you'd wrestle the next day. And between those days, some of those guys, we were underweight by a lot, so we ran across the street and we got clovers, a few of us, and the stats, and we just had a
022really fun time. sitting there eating our food then we ran back and got on the bus and went back to the hotel and then we also really enjoyed playing the card game mafia and we were playing that in the pool room and just a lot of fun team bonding always next i have the senior leaders from the girls gymnastics team i'm ashley a senior captain of the gymnastics team and i'm emerson a senior captain The Simley gymnastics team had a great season with 106 individual and team personal bests, including three new school records with Lucy Pentel on bars with a 9.575, Emerson Hockingham vault with a 9.4, and myself on floor with a 9.525. We had three all-conference and all-state gymnasts, Emmy, Lucy, and I. All-conference honorable mention was awarded to Skylar Lane. The team
023ended up second place in the conference with a 135.425 and second at sections beating Matamidai, who we previously lost to in the conference meet, with a 136.4. The team was also section 4A academic champions. Over 40 years of coaching, it was our head coach, Dena Walsh's, last season, and we were also honored to be a part of it. The assembly gymnastics team had a great section as well. We sent the three captains to state. I went for vault, Ashley went for floor, and Lucy went in the all-around. State went really well. Ashley placed in the top ten on floor. Lucy got fourth in the all-around and second on bars, which she really tied for first. But the season really represented the gymnastics program well, and it was a special year for Walsh and all of
024our coaches, as it was their last season. All of them have coached for over ten years. Walsh now over 40 years. So they've had a huge impact on assembly. But we're excited to see what the underclassmen can do with the program next year and Aubrey Orancina's captain. Thank you. One of the things that we have, I have Emerson Hocking here staying up here with me. Emerson is our Assembly Female Athlete of the Year. She's the Athena. I have a list of her credentials. that I'm not gonna force you to listen to. But I will give you a kind of a quick summary. Three sport athlete, 15 letters in three sports, four year starter for soccer, captain and 22, 24 all conference players, six year starter and team captain for gymnastics, six times all conference, one
025time in the all around, all state on the vault and all around and five times state entrant and holds the school record on the vault. In track, she's a five year letter winner and team captain, all conference in the triple jump in the 400 meter in the four by 400. She's our Athena this year, Emerson Hockey. I'll conclude tonight just saying that I know some of our sports are up, some of them are down. We have seniors. We didn't have a lot of seniors participating in a lot of sports, but I know this. We had some phenomenal experiences this year, and I think even when you listen to them share, you hear about the things that they're doing. These are not things that we get anywhere else. These are activities driven. Skills that I'm just
026really proud of my coaching staff and the kids here tonight. So thank you Thank you Question any questions anybody has? I just am always, every time kids talk, I probably say the same thing, but I'm always proud at students that come and talk and just how polished you are and how prepared you are to talk to us. It's not easy to talk in front of a group. So congrats to that. I just think all of you are role models for those younger kids that watch you that you might not know they're watching. I have a couple at home and they see you guys and I think that's great. And then I guess congrats to Ms. Walsh as well. That's a huge accomplishment. I remember when she was one of my Phi Ed teachers and she
027brought gymnastics to the Phi Ed unit and I will say I did not embody the simile value of perseverance as I fell off of the bar. I think that she spotted me to like flip me around on the floor somehow and I didn't do very well at that either. So congrats to her and congrats to you guys. We did honor Ms. Wall last night. uh at her last home dual meet we're very proud of her and i probably should have mentioned it a little bit more she was on the lake today so i couldn't get her down here for the board meeting I just want to thank you for taking the time to come this evening. Not only are you representing yourselves and your team, but you represent our school district and our community. And
028that's such an important part to remember because as you get older, you think back to those times and you really cherish them and you value those experiences like going to Culver's and being able to eat when you usually can't or those other things that happen. So thank you so much for taking the time to be here. Thank you for representing your team, your school, and this community as well. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great rest of your night. All right, moving on to the consent agenda. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda items? Motion by Member Pearson. Second by Member Dukes. I have a motion by Member Pearson, second by Member Dukes. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. Now we will donations
029do we have yes No worries We just want to Thank you and acknowledge donations to the school district. So for Noel and Christine Larson for their donation to the kindergarten team use at Hilltown. Thank you so much. Your generosity and support of our schools and community is very appreciated. All right, now we are excited to welcome Principal Tina Ouellette to give an update on Salem Hills and Athenaeum. Okay, well, that is a very tough crowd to follow. I have never gone and consumed Culver's just to gain weight. Concrete mixer? Concrete mixer? Yes. I've always been in my car like, I have to get one. I think it's very telling to sit and not only see alumni from this building sitting here, but it just reminds me that we start the journey when they're very little.
030And you we don't always get to see that right because they leave our building and we know they're going to continue to grow and thrive and do all these amazing things. So to hear them just reminds me of how important our work is at these early years and the early grades to prepare them to be the amazing young adults that were here speaking. So I'm always humbled when I get an opportunity to hear them. You're going to hear a little bit from Salem students. So welcome to Salem. I'm going to start our conversation. You're going to hear from my fifth grade friend, Ben. who on, nobody asked him to do this, but he sent this message about two, about a month ago to Precussion, clarinet, saxophone, and flute. Our first grade teachers are Mrs. Anthony
031and Mrs. Mary. Our second grade teachers are Mrs. Eos, Mrs. Kinnian, and Mrs. Terps. Our third grade teachers are Mrs. Stia, she doesn't go there, second and fourth grade. Mrs. Edge, Mrs. Floyd, and Mrs. Westrom. Our fourth grade teachers are Mrs. Scottos, Mrs. Fathers, both third and fourth grade. Not why I chose it. The kids aren't just something to listen to though, they're something to remember. Other initials, Mrs. Forber, the teacher, learning partner, and Nurse Kate. Nurse. You'll have a great time at Salem Hills Elementary. So now how are you gonna follow that? That's all I needed to know. Yeah so out of the mouth of a child right like nobody asked him to make that video he made it at home sent it to Mrs. Swanson who promptly sent it to me. So I
032think you never know the impact that you're making on a child and he just happened to share that with us but you don't always get to hear. that people listen to my words of wisdom because I don't ever know that they are, but they do. It's lovely. So the students that we serve at Salem, I always say we're a small and mighty school. We have lots of different programming. So we have our early childhood programming, we have Little Spartans Preschool, and we have our early childhood special education classes down in the front hallway. Obviously, we have Salem Hills Elementary School, which is our Title I school, and Athenaeum Elementary that Ben talked a little bit about. And then we have our district behavior program in this building. So I think sometimes people are like, oh,
033it's a small school. And we are a small school, but we have a lot of... different programming and our student population is so varied, serving children as little as four, all the way to fifth grade with a lot of different needs. So I always say we're kind of a microcosm of a bigger community, just of all the children that we serve. So I think it's always nice to remember everything that's housed under one roof in any school. Our staff, we really value intentional caring and authentic relationships with students and our families. That's a commitment that we have. We continually learn together and challenge ourselves. As we know, every school year is dynamic. It's never the same school year twice. So we're always in that mindset of learning and challenging. We're looking to close gaps for
034kids to make sure that there's equitable practices. And we celebrate our successes and we always maintain that growth mindset. Like how can we continue to grow? How can we continue to thrive as the Salem staff? We continue to focus on making sure that our students progress towards their standards. We're flexible in our grouping for students with what they need. Always looking for proactive responses to needs, the targeted instruction that Jess and Catherine will talk a little bit about. Maximizing learning time for every student every day is always a goal. There's a lot to be done in a short amount of time every single day. So we're maximizing that learning time. Proactive responses to the teacher needs too, because if the teacher's needs aren't met, sometimes that kind of struggles a little bit, so we're focused
035on that. And then collaborative teams. I don't know what's going on in my voice. Collaborative teams focused on student learning, and then looking to maximize time within the school day for teachers to meet, because we all know time is... challenging. So we're always looking for creative ways to make sure we've got some time for our classroom teachers to meet and have conversations. So I told you who we have here. This is a little bit of our demographics for this current school year. So you can see we're just around 40% of our students are white. Just about under 10% two or more races. We have American Indian students, Asian students, Black students, and Hispanic students that we serve for Salem. And the Athenaeum shifts just a little bit. So our population of students, white students increases.
036Some of the other areas stay pretty similar, except for our Hispanic drops pretty significantly in Athenaeum. It continues to be a goal of our district to look at our data and try to reflect our student body back into Athenaeum. So it's always a goal that is not just a Salem goal, that's a statewide goal. is for students who qualify for gifted services reflects the students that we serve. So that's gonna be a continual goal through the state of Minnesota and for sure of those of us in ISD 199. This kind of shows our other demographics. So just about 12% of our students at Salem Hills receive services under special education. Just about 45% of our students receive educational benefits. We have 15% of our students who are multilingual learners. And this year we have 2%
037of our students that are experiencing homelessness. Athenaeum looks slightly different. So we have 10% of our students receive services through special education and just about 15% of our students do. receive educational benefits. So they are two very different demographics in the school, but we're under one umbrella and we teach those same standards and those same expectations for a student no matter which building they are in. I know you have heard a lot about the READ Act. So if you just focus on the last part, it's been very intensive this year, but I will say that the staff, back to me, when we're talking about the READ Act, as they are reporting, they are gaining new knowledge and new perspectives on how to effectively teach reading. So I know that Megan's given you lots and lots
038of updates on READ Act, but from the mouths of teaching staff that are taking those courses, they do really feel like they're growing. So I'm very excited to see where we take all of that training. turn that into practice in the coming years. So after hearing our amazing student athletes, it really comes down to how do we build community and belonging at Salem Hills. So I pulled up a couple pictures of different ways that we really center children in belonging to something bigger than themselves. So this year, Mr. Lave, as Ben pointed out, He did a band performance in our building. So it's been a long time since we've had families come in for a band informant. So keep in mind, it was early in fifth grade band. But we had lots of parents come,
039and the children were really proud to play their instrument as well as they could for that moment. And any time we can engage with our families and invite folks into our building builds our sense of community and belonging, too. The center pictures is a significant deal for our fourth and fifth graders here because we do take them over to the PAC to perform. So they really get a sense of... Where their life is going over to the Simley High School campus and to be able to perform on the big stage and I also think parents like that too because they get a sense to be in the school community this last time the one we did this one that we had like a standing ovation and all the families stood in a line and all
040of our Kids walked through and everybody cheered for them the time. They thought they had like paparazzi But again, it builds their confidence, right? That they can perform and they can get up in front of folks like you've talked about our student athletes being able to speak to you. It's giving younger students that opportunity to perform and get on a stage and maybe be a little uncomfortable. And they shine every year they do that. We also bring families in for after school events. Our Glow Flake Dance and Winter Carnival is always a big hit. Somebody sitting with you has a lot to do with the decorations that are shown in that. But it is a family event. We were talking at our PTO meeting this evening, and we think just around 1,000 people might have
041come through the doors for that one event. So, again, the strength of the school, the strength of the community. The more we can bring folks together and share in what we do, the greater the outcome is for us as a school and as a school district. Getting more into the day, always looking for creative ways to engage students. So you can see the fourth grade reading cafe, that was Ms. Grados' idea. She changed her entire room into a cafe, had snacks, had light stems, she had little tea light candles, fake ones. So they came back from their specialist and came into their cafe. They had no idea she was transforming their room. So you can see them taking that very seriously. We had a leadership workshop, so we had a really strong PTO-driven fundraiser and
042one of those top bids was to be principal for a day or STEAM teacher for a day, so I did run some leadership workshops with them on how to be young leaders, so that was my morning group of young leaders. They took their job very seriously. And then we do a lot of in-school events. So you can see Snapology came into our first grade. And those are two of our students who actually are learning English as their second language. But when you bring in something like robots and Legos, it equals the playing field a lot. Because you would not have been able to tell if someone was learning English or three languages or only spoke English when you bring something like that into young children. they all can thrive and shine. So that is something
043our first grade team does every single year. And you hear a lot about UFLY. You can see on the left is a student really working in Ms. Herp's second grade classroom on doing the spelling it together. It's very refined of work that they're doing. Kelly Goodnature works with our gifted and talented students that are not in Athenaeum because I think it's always important to recognize not every family chooses to come to Athenaeum. We do provide service for gifted and talented students that are not within the school. So that's Kelly. Good job. That is Kelly working. That's actually a group of kindergartners that are working with Kelly starting this year. And only because I love turtle tag. You can see that from Mr. Brown's by Ed. If you've never seen turtle tag, if they get tagged,
044they have to sit on their back and wiggle their feet up and down. And then someone taps them and they flip back over and they can keep going. So I just, it cracks me up. And then a big part, well, we had simile girl basketball here. So the lower corner on the right, that was then they came over for recess. They probably felt like celebrities that day because again, you bring this profile of student into a building of elementary children and they are excited and our kids are excited. I talked about our PTO. They and our big fundraiser we were able to bring back the Explorer dome from the melt Bell Museum for every student To participate so you can see first or second graders They are staring up inside the planetarium and then you
045can see two of our parents that have done Popcorn Friday here for many many years A lot of the engagement and the Bell Museum and all those pieces are driven through our PTO and also driven around equity. We want to do as many things as we can during a school day so that we can equalize the access children have. So it's very intentional about what can we do in the school day so every child can have access to what it is that we're bringing in. So very intentional about that, the Explorer Dome. It's extremely exciting for children and you hear them talk days after the Bell Museum is left. So just giving you a little bit of a view into how we create a space where children thrive, they want to learn, they're intrigued, they're
046interested, and they really, really have that sense of community at Salem Hills. Now, one thing we have done for many, many years. is not only the impact of our school, but we impact our global view, right? So we have been a part of H2O Life for a long time. We've raised just over $34,000 and that's in nickels and pennies and dimes. This year we were able to put in the hand washing station and latrines in San Pedro. So what they had before is on the middle and bottom and then what our funds helped them to put in in terms of fresh water, clean water for drinking, washing hands and bathrooms. It's a big part of who we are as a school community and it's always nice to show children that their impact in their school
047in Invergrove Heights resulted in that halfway across the world. So it's always valuable to teach them again that they're change makers and little acts of that we can do here can have a global impact for children that are in other parts of the world. And then this is always a big one. This is the fourth grade garage sale. So in the month of January, if you ever have toys you would like to donate and get rid of, this would be a place to bring them because our fourth graders price them all out and then sell them. to all the other children and I'm sure all the parents are like, well, I did not want this in my house. But they sold and raised $1,477 for their garage sale and they sent all of that money
048to feed my starving children. And when I say they, that's the fourth graders deciding where they want the funds to go. So they run the whole thing. I think they understand how tiring that is to run an event. They get that experience. And they are also doing leading and leadership because they're working with all the other children and helping them shop. So you can see kindergartners shopping with the fourth grade. So I was really impressed. I think that's the largest amount they've raised in a long time, but it's also the most donations we got. So they're probably take all my stuff. So. That gives you kind of a sense of a lot of the different things that we do at Centrum Hills to diversify their experiences, bring in community experts, work with our students with
049all of their skills. A very particular skill is their core life skills. And Jess Hill is our success coach. This is her first year with us, but not her first year as a teacher. And then Catherine Snyder works at District K-12 Perspective. So they're going to share a little bit with you on the success coach role, show you a little bit of the processes. I think the important thing to note is that Catherine is the link between all three of our elementary schools and she's working with all the success coaches to align our practices because we all know we feed one sixth grade team. And so they're going to speak a little bit to what that looks like for all the success coaches at the elementary level. And then Jess will talk a little bit
050for what that's actually looking like here and the children that we're serving. So I have had the privilege over the past couple of years to work very closely with our student success coaches. And I had the privilege this past summer to really spend some time digging into the 199 way and how their roles align with the 199 way and how they can look different in each building depending on the building's needs, but really focusing on that need to belong. the need to build those authentic relationships, and then how do we actively engage so our kids are in the classroom learning and not having lagging core life skills get in their way. And so a big part of that is our success coach role. And we saw a need over the past couple of years to
051really align our practice to ensure that we are all doing the same proactive things to teach those core life skills. That being said the goal of our universal behavior response framework is really focused on being proactive at all times and we coach to behavior on all times and when I say behavior I mean core life skills because our Behavior tells us those lagging skills that might be impacting it, right? So we have a process in place in each building that really has four specific steps to kind of look at what might be impacting the students progress in the classroom and or leading to them needing some time out of the classroom. So that first part is all about regulation. How are students able to regulate and do they need a space to do that in
052the classroom or out of the classroom? The second step is all about processing to understand what the student's perspective is that might be impacting their ability to participate in the classroom. That third step is all about if something has happened, what do we need to do to fix it? Repair. Repair with this teacher, repair with other students. And then that fourth step is how are we going to get back in class and learn? And so... All those steps really speak to being proactive along the way. And our success coaches, they wear many different hats, which I'm not going to get into, but I'm going to let Jess get into all of the different hats. But really what I think is awesome about the steps that we have taken is it's all very proactive in how
053we are teaching skills at all times. And I will, oh, we'll talk a little bit. No, you're good. So one of the things that we focused on at the end of our summer training was really that commitment as success coaches is rooted in the idea that we teach positive behavior at all times, whether we're communicating with students, whether we're communicating with staff, whether we're communicating with families. take it away so i am very honored to be speaking here with you all tonight i appreciate all the work that you do and um this being my first year in vergrove i just appreciate this whole district and the commitment to equity and all of the wonderful things. So coming in as a student success coach, as Catherine was saying, we wear a lot of hats. So it's
054kind of the proactive and reactive side of teaching these SEL skills, these social emotional learning skills. So we kind of are professional learning leaders. We provide learning to teachers around tier one behaviors and like how to manage tier one interventions. And then also around mentoring teachers, coaching teachers. co-teach in the classroom like if for example i had a grade who was struggling with being kind at recess so i go in and teach lessons with the teachers to help the kids with that and then i'm able to go out to the playground and reinforce that stuff with them and then we also provide direct skill instruction for kids who are showing a need in certain areas so we want to go to the next slide So again, there's kind of two sides to this that kind
055of makes it flow together. So there's the proactive side and then there's the reactive side of working with behavior. So proactively, we've done a lot of things this year. My friend in the upper corner over there is holding up, I don't know if you can read it, but it says my magical yet. So she's in one of my social skills groups, which is a tier two intervention. And we pick those groups based on needs. The Sabers assessment, which has teachers going through and looking at what kind of needs kids need, and then I pull groups together. And so she's learning on how to be persevering and how to have that continuous spirit of that educational mind. So she drew her magical yet. And then some other big things is we've kind of brought regular assemblies
056back this year and really focusing on a book of the month that has a certain SEL character core life skill. For example, we had one month courage where we talked about different types of courage and then the kids helped in the assembly, like rate the different types of courage. Like this is social courage, emotional courage, moral courage, because there are different kinds. So aligning the school in that way. And then we got a PBIS team. this year which is exciting and we've been doing we tried this called a changemaker challenge where we go back to the Ashoka changemaker mentality of leadership teamwork problem-solving empathy the kids are learning about these words in their classroom and then we did like we're in the middle of doing still like an incentive program where they get these little
057puffballs that they put in the jar and then when they get to the goal line the thing i love about what we did is it wasn't like a competition it was a school-wide initiative so when everyone in the school gets to their first goal we do a school ride reward school wide reward excuse me so you can see the second and third graders we picked It was a team. It was between the students and the teachers together picking a school-wide movie day. So they're watching a movie together. They had popcorn. It was super fun. So all of these things proactively we're doing to work with them. And then in the reactive side, all of the elementary schools go through this process that meets these objectives. I'm not going to read through all of them because
058I know our time's ticking here. But what I just want to say is they're all about making kids feel those, that 199 way, the belonging by building relationships. And those things lead to the engagement. kids. All perspectives are heard. I meet with kids on a daily basis who you know they have their problem with at recess. They have their problem in their classroom where they don't want to do their work and it's always why. Why do you feel that way? What's the reason behind? And all voices are heard at the table when we do that. So there's kind of like a four-step process like Catherine was talking about and I just wanted to show you some Salem things because I think they're cute. So up in the corner is my behavior parrot with one of
059our little buddies who takes regular breaks. to keep regulated and there's so many options because regulating your body and yourself your emotions your mind can take different paths for different people. One of my best friends up in the corner is doing belly breathing so he's got his hands on his belly while he's taking some calming breaths and then we've got a kid doing a puzzle in the corner to regulate we have different spaces in the building that kids can go to regulate depending on their needs. So that's like once we have our brain in the right spot, then we can move to the next step of the process, which is processing. And we always go through the same four questions. And again, this is after we've already got our tears out, our big feelings, we've
060taught, we've gotten that all out. Then we're sitting down together and this is kind of that where everyone has a voice at the table. What happened? Who was affected? So again, building on those relationships and then what could have been better? And finally, my personal favorite, how do you repair? Because holding that accountability and it's not like... I'm going to tell the kid how to repair. It's, well, how do you think that you're going to repair with that person whom you've harmed in whatever way that happened, small, large, whatever it is. And then after that... The final part is the reconnection with the teacher. So we do this in different ways. I have these entry forms where I can put in kind of what's happening so the teacher can see what happened with me so
061that when the child goes back to the classroom, they have a communication of, oh, they did this with Ms. Hill. Sorry. And then I also, when I take a kid back to the classroom, I always make sure to make sure that reentry is smooth by staying for a few minutes to make sure that they're ready and talking with the teacher as well. So, yeah. And last but not least, to kind of summarize, our data is certainly showing the impact that we have seen with the universal behavior response system. You can see in each elementary building that our kids are in class more, they're learning, there are more proactive things in place that are meeting the needs. So it's really great to see. That's a snapshot of Salem and some of the pieces that are happening.
062And again, it's not just about Salem. It's all three of our elementary schools. And again, working really hard with the other success coaches to make sure we're giving children the opportunity to gain those skills they're going to need to be successful. My gosh. To be successful when they go into our secondary schools. And then they can be right here. A few years from now. sharing all of their growth with you when they have left elementary school. Thank you for listening. Do you have any questions? I think we should just acknowledge that Ms. Hill also does safety patrol. She does not. Which is a thankless job, but I think it's really important to say it like it was. What a great presentation. I love Salem. I will always love Salem. It is the safe place for
063my family. And I just, it is an amazing. mighty school. And it's just you're all doing great work. I love the concept of a smooth reentry. And just how you said that you stay for a few minutes just to make I mean, what an overlooked piece that is so critical, right? So that's, I guess it shows me that you all are thinking of every aspect of this, not just that moment and fixing it and documenting. But what am I leaving this teacher with right and then making sure that smooth reentry that's pivotal to me. Thank you for that work. Yeah, I was nodding my head and shaking and smiling very largely. I have a Master's in Restorative Justice. Yay! So this is, I don't even have anything to say. I'm speechless. It's amazing. Like, I
064cannot. say more than you did. It's so great that students are getting this type of experience and then it teaches them these skills to go out and like ask for these things. Like, hey, I'm having a moment. Can I step out? Right? It turns into those students who go to high school and can ask for a minute, you know, and sometimes students don't even know they can have a minute. You know, school has always been this very rigid thing and it's like I don't even know I can, I would have never in school asked for a second to step out. Like what do you mean, no, right? And teaching students that they can advocate, they can ask, they can repair. And then my favorite part is this reconnect going back because I think a lot
065of times when behaviors are addressed in, you know, traditional systems. student is, you know, sent out the class and there's no re-entry back, right? So the teacher doesn't get a minute to figure out what happened and what was discussed or if anything was discussed. Students are disrupted now that this person was kicked out and now brought back. So I just think it's amazing that you all sort of talked about what does it mean to bring the student back into class because that's the whole point. We want the student to be able to be in class. Learning doesn't happen outside in the hallway. because the student was put out for not having the tools to regulate themselves to be in greater community. So I think this was amazing. So lots of kudos to you guys. I
066think it's top tier. Thank you. Agreed with everything that she said. And I think over a long time, SEL or social emotional learning has been underestimated. And I think the combination of the academic with the social emotional learning is so important. And it does keep those kids back in class and they are learning. So all of that together is so helpful. And I believe over the years and time that we've kind of been bringing this in, We are a spearhead in this community and other districts are going to start hearing about it and coming to see us and watch us how you all are doing that. So thank you. Thank you for your support and what you're doing with the kids. Really appreciate it. Thank you. One of the earlier slides talked about... modeling the
067behavior you want to see despite the behavior you're seeing. If you are a parent in this room, you know that that can be very challenging. How are the other teachers feeling with this program and being equipped to, you know, to see it as a form of communication versus this kid is just constantly disrespecting me. And yeah, just being brought into the process. I don't know if my question is clear. I think it's all about communication, and it's all about partnering and collaborating and figuring things out together. Each perspective is really important, and being allowed to talk through things and work things together. We're trying different things, and some things are going to go really well, and sometimes we just need to adjust. And so it is that constant collaboration that allows it to be healthy,
068as long as there's that communication. It's sometimes easy in the school setting to ignore creating conditions for success. And that's exactly what these people are doing. They're creating conditions for success, not only for the school. not only for the grade level, not only for the class, but by individual kids. And you saw in the photos kids that have their own individual strategies to help them to regulate and to be set up for success during the course of the school day. And that's what we're all about. And way back when we did a strategic plan, we talked about academics, but we talked every bit as much about core life skills because we know for kids to be successful... post their time with us they need those core life skills that's what we hear from employers that's
069we hear from everybody that's actually probably more important so if we all learn how to and can do the things that we need to do to make sure we're successful, they're gonna be better off than everybody else is as well. So thank you for the great work that you're doing. Thank you, Catherine, for your leadership because I know you've pulled that group together, but also the way that group strategizes to make sure that they're getting down to the individual to set them for success is amazing. It's been fun working and learning from each other. Good attitude. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right, moving on to our second information item, which is the 25-26 school board and committee meeting updates. Superintendent Bernardson will share a draft. Every year we bring to the board the
070calendar for our board of education meetings and our committee meetings. This draft is for the 25-26, our next school year. And as you've seen it, it follows a pretty typical course. We work to have our work sessions on the second, Monday of each month our regular meetings on the fourth Monday and the only we do have some months where we only have one regular meeting and those would be July December and March and that's just because the dynamics of those months and then you'll also see that we do pair our committee meetings with those meetings just depending upon some or before after work sessions and some are before our regular meetings so the calendar looks pretty much similar to what we have But we also want to acknowledge that one of our important parts that
071we do here is, just like tonight, we do have a regular board meeting at every one of our schools. And that's an important opportunity for our schools to share. And again, as we've heard tonight from even our student athletes and the like, when we're talking about kids, it's great to have kids sharing with us what their experiences are about. So that's why it's so important that we meet at schools as well. So then also want to also always highlight that before each one of our regular meetings, we do have a listening session, which is an opportunity for our community members to come and share aspects that they are wanting to share with you. And those listening sessions, again, are available before every regular meeting from 510 to 525 p.m. So we'll bring this calendar or
072this set of meetings, the slate of meetings back to you at our March regular meeting as an action item. April. april gosh this is march yes you know somebody shared a little earlier that it's six in 60 days it'll be may and i'm like you gotta be kidding me it's flying yes it is uh thank you any discussion on on this all right moving on to committee highlights sarah will you please give an update on the facilities committee short and sweet the facilities committee has not met this one okay Jake, will you give an update on finance? The finance committee met tonight and the agenda included a budget update. Thank you. Shana, on personnel? Yep, the personnel committee met tonight to discuss agreements and a normal renewal of a teacher. Okay. And Sherry, will you
073please update us on the policy committee? Yes, the policy committee has not met this month. Thank you. Membership reports. Dave, will you please update us on AMSD? Yes, AMSD met on March 7th. They had their regular routine business and, of course, an update on the current legislative session. Thank you. Shana, on the Invergrove Heights BEST Foundation? Yeah, the BEST Foundation has not met this month. The scholarship application deadline was March the 3rd. Okay, wonderful. And Sherry, will you give an update on MSBA? Yes, today was the MSBA-MASA joint day at the Capitol. This is where members from the MSBA and MASA gather for networking and learning and to hear from some of Minnesota's education policy and finance decision makers. Thank you. Putting you on the spot, what does MASA stand for? Minnesota. Minnesota Association of
074School Administrators. Okay. Thank you. There we go. Okay. And lastly, Dave, will you give an update on Intermediate School District 915? Sure. They met on the 4th of March, and their agenda included their routine business, a policy review, and they also approved a joint powers agreement. Okay. Thank you. Moving on to our action items. I'd like to invite Superintendent Bernardson to introduce the recommendation to approve a resolution providing that school board elections held after 2023 shall be held in even years. Yes, so along with that, we'll talk or share with you this evening about that we need to establish a transition plan. And again, we just want to remind people that this topic was discussed at our February work session and also at our February regular meeting. So this evening, we're bringing to you this
075opportunity. And first, before we do that, we just want to talk or share, I want to share a little bit about elections. So our school board elections are held every two years. These elections alternate. So at one election, we have three members that are up, and another we have four. And that's really to provide the alternating consistency within our board to make sure that we're not having all new members at the same time. In addition to school board member elections, we also have two other types of elections. We have operating levy referendums and bond referendums. I think we've got that on the next slide. The operating levy is just like what we had this past fall, is where we go to voters to obtain funds so that we can operate our school district. And levy
076referendums must be held either on even or odd years on the first Tuesday in November. There's no other time than that time that those elections can be held. Bond levies are funds for facilities, basically. And as you see in our slide here, they can be held at varied times throughout the year. So they can be held on the second Tuesday in February, the second Tuesday in April, the second Tuesday in May, the second Tuesday in August, and on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in election of the general election timeframe. So those are the three different types of elections that a school district can have. And again, tonight we're talking about school board elections. And again, we have been holding those election on odd years for four year terms. And as far as we
077can tell, that's the way Invergrove Heights has always had school board elections. And we do have three terms that are expiring at the end of 2025. And we have four terms expiring at the end of 2027, which would mean if we follow the typical process, we would be holding those elections on odd years or in 2025 and 2027. What happens with an odd year election, if there's nothing else on the ballot, then the election function pretty much falls upon the school district with support from the county. And as we experienced this past fall, we as a school district really pay the lion's share of those election costs. If we were to move to an even year, then even year elections are run by the city. And just as we experienced, I should have said that
078odd was back in 2023, just as we experienced this year with the city running it, we're assessed a fee and that fee for running an election is much less than if we run the election on our own, substantially less. Why are we bringing this to you? So as you know over time the voting or the election windows have expanded. So it used to be that you went on one day and you voted on that one day. Now there's early voting and other types, a couple other types of voting that people have that start much earlier, which means then that we have to be active with things much earlier than usual. Also, the costs have increased, and with that, the time has increased as well. And as we found out this past fall, there's a much
079larger turnout, and we know that from general elections in even years, and we think that would be a benefit to our school district as well. So as we look at this, there are three different options. The one is to continue doing what we're doing. A third option is that we could transition to even years and hold two consecutive three-year term elections. But we were recommending that we transition to even year elections and extend the terms of all of our board members for one year to align with that cycle. We think that's the best. aspect to do to maintain consistency but also to align with other aspects associated with our school district so this evening we're bringing to you the recommendation to approve option two which includes a resolution to change our election school board elections
080to even year starting in 2026 and included in that would be a transition plan which would then state that each of our board member terms would be extended one more year Thank you. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution and transition plan presented? Motion by Member Larson. Second by Member Warwick. All right, motion by Member Larson, second by Member Warwick. Any discussion? I just wanted to bring up for what it's worth that there's a lot of other districts that already have. Even your elections anyways, and then there's also a few that are doing the same type of thing or have already done That we're doing here tonight looking to move from odd to even here So I think that's great great point to bring up there is over 300 school
081districts in the state of Minnesota and now the number of school districts that do odd your elections is in the 20s and that is continuing to go down 17 down to 17 now, so it's It's transitioning quite quickly Yes, my term is an odd year term. And I guess I have been out campaigning two times. And some people would, you know, wonder why we were, you know, it's the only thing on the ballot. Why are you doing it in an odd year? And, you know, I think historically it was done to. elevate maybe education and so that people could just focus on that. But it also, I think, for some it was viewed as maybe... Trying to just slide things things under the radar or whatnot You know, it was not there. I do not
082believe that there has been any ill intent in Invergrove Heights but it is important to give as many people the opportunity to speak on this because this is This is the community schools. And so I think moving to even years There's a push for that as well, but then also just being fiscally responsible So those were two very compelling Reasons that I have pondered. Yeah, any other discussion? Yes. I was gonna say something similar. I think the more For me, it's an opportunity for more people to show up and vote. And I think the more people that show up to vote means we get a better sense of what the community actually wants and needs. When it's such a small subset of people, we're getting the views and the thoughts of just that very small
083subset of people who come out and vote in odd elections. So I think when we have more people show up, I think it's actually a benefit to the greater community that we get a better sense of what everybody actually is. excited and happy and voting about in the first place. Thank you. Yes. I think I said this in the last meeting and I'll say it again. It is hard to calculate the costs of these elections truly from the time that our staff has to spend dedicated to these elections. It's a lot. And so if we could take any of that and put it and simplify this process and put some onto the city, I think that's a really great thing. And honestly, where some of the costs are going to go is onto the people
084sitting at this table, right? If we are running for an election, we're going to have to work to be maybe heard above a presidential election or a congressional election or what have you. And I think that's okay. I think that's okay. I think people need to understand what we're running for and why. And I think... So far, I've heard a lot of positive feedback about it. I certainly welcome more feedback if people aren't feeling that way. But I think it's worth the work on our parts and the parts of the future board members going forward. I think it's along with that after our referendum didn't pass in 2023, we did offer a survey opportunity to community members and we heard quite loudly that why don't you run these elections in even years so that there's
085more attention paid to them and more community people out there voting and they're in that mind frame of elections at that time and they looked at that as being something that we should consider. So that's one of many reasons why it's in front of you this evening. Any other discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. All right, second reading. for review. Superintendent Bernardson will recommend the approval of policy 903, visitors to school district buildings and sites and parking privileges. Yes, thank you. So pretty short piece on this. It is policy 903. We did have significant changes. There's a general statement about this policy that's included. Plus we updated some visitor procedures and other things associated with that. And again, this policy was brought to you as a first reading back in
086December. So we're bringing it to you and asking for your approval this evening. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the second reading for review of the policy presented? So moved, Member Yamioya. All right, second by Member Lounsbury. Any discussion? Madam Chair, I have a... thing just to add I I just want to say we worked a lot on this policy we we discussed it a lot in policy committee um I called Dave we had a lot of talks about this one and because I don't I always want to be careful we're not trying to make a procedure here this is a policy um and I just wanted to make sure though that we weren't overstepping on procedure right that it was a policy that made sense um and also just listening
087to our our behavior response process for kids in our building right we are always working on good behaviors for our kids and what is great about this policy we we can't do that with adults in this community all the time. And sometimes adults come on this property and do not, on any property, it may be at a game, it may be in the parking lot, it may be in the building, and they aren't behaving appropriately. And the only way we can kind of say, hey, this is the standard. Please respect our kids and our staff when you're on our property. This is the policy that addresses that. So take a look at it. I think it's really one of those things. It's just... It's a great policy, and I think it's well thought out. So
088just respect and mirroring what we're trying to teach our kids is found in this policy. Thank you. Any other discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. All right. This brings us to the superintendent and school board comments. We'll start with... Superintendent Bergen. Thank you. Yeah, first of all, I want to thank Salem Hills Elementary for hosting this evening and your excellent share. Really appreciate that. And again, to our student athletes for taking the time to come and share about their successes during the season. And sometimes when we hear about athletics, we think again, as kids shared, about wins and losses, but they really share about that experience, and that is so vital and critical that they are having a wonderful experience. As you know, the weather is much different today than
089it was last Wednesday. Wednesday, Thursday, and that was a flex learning day for us. And I always want to point out to people that when we cancel school, we try to do that as soon as we can based on what the weather conditions are, but also that there's multiple ways that we announce those closures because no system is foolproof. So we always encourage people to check multiple modes that we use to ensure that school isn't being held. With that then, since we had to cancel last Wednesday, we also had parents... Teacher conference is scheduled for last Wednesday and they'll be taking place this Wednesday. On a different note... I had a chance to go to the Planning Commission meeting last Monday. The Planning Commission approved our renovations to the south vehicle lot at Pine Bend.
090On that same day, we had bids for that job, and the bids came in very favorable. So we're excited to have that happening. The last step in that process is to bring the next aspect of approval to the City Council on March 24th. I want to remind people that we've got spring break coming up March 24th through the 28th. That's only two weeks away. And then just after that, we do start our last quarter of the school year. And again, I want to thank our students over and over again for the great school year that they're having. And again, to our student athletes for their participation. And just the opportunity to walk through schools and walk through the hallways and see kids that are excited to be there, excited to learn. and are really doing
091a wonderful job in school and the adults that support them every day thank you board member dukes yeah so again thank you for everyone hosting us today um i had a nice opportunity to go to msba day at the capitol today it was fabulous so a lot of gratitude to Representative Rick Hansen and Mayor Francis Clarity for their time today, whether it was meeting outside of a building or meeting in a hallway because of all the things and all the busy things happening there, but they made time for us and I think that's important. And they already knew the things that we wanted to talk about, so I think it also shows that we're doing our part and making sure to keep them informed in many different facets, whether it's, you know, text messages, conversation
092and inside of Cubs or us at the Capitol, right, making sure they know what's important to us. To the student athletes, I think it's amazing to not only see them that they're committed to their sports, but they're committed to the district and going out to different schools and being a part of different things there. I think it's amazing. And then their commitment to the general community, the bigger Invervost space. And I think I wish that was something that my schools... athletic department focused on. You know, it's one thing to win a championship, but it's another thing to have the students here, right, see you and be like, oh my gosh, like that is the basketball team, and I know them, right, at the game, and I think it creates this feeling of community, which I
093think is super special. And then my last comment is just, again, for the presentation about the way behaviors are handled. I think it's amazing, and it's not just It's not something we do. It's who we are. And I say that to people when I talk about restorative practices and this kind of approach to things. It's not something that you do. You can't just check a box to do it. It has to be who you are at your core. And I think you guys talking about it really. It solidifies that this is who you guys are here, and it's because it's who we choose to be as a district. Whether that's the 199 way or our model or how we show up, it is who we are at our core. You can't do this work. I've
094seen districts and organizations try to do this very thing, and it's not who they are, so they struggle. And then people are like, oh, my God, there's just soft-form behavior. And it's like, no. we're not trying to be soft on behavior, but it's just because you're trying to check a box. So when you're doing it because it's who you are, you don't really get that kind of response. You get that like, oh, that's just how we do it here. And I think that is so commendable in so many different ways that it's just who you guys are and who we are as a district. So again, even more kudos to you guys and that team doing all that work all around the district. Member Klingner. Thanks to Principal Willett for hosting this. My kids went
095to go to school here, so it's a special time to always come and visit. And I guess echoing on Member Dukes' comments, just kudos to the leadership with the behavioral kind of success coaching and the SEL programming. I think if parents don't understand that or if you hear critics in society, I think if kids had those skills, we wouldn't have to teach them. those skills, but kids need these skills. And so it's, it's important learning that I'm happy that our kids get support with. So thank you for your hard work. Thank you, member Pearson. I just wanted to call out the positive things that I heard, very similar to what other board members have said about community-based things from our different athletic and activities teams. You know, I called out that the boys basketball are
096going to do fist bump Fridays at Pine Bend. And Connor talked about the boys basketball team sponsoring three families over the holidays, like that giving back and that volunteerism. is really really special and i think that wins and wins are great and your record at the end is awesome but they're building something far more there in that athletic and that activities department so i really appreciate that and just wanted to echo the thanks for the consistency among success coaches my little one goes to an elementary school it goes to pine bend and he had a falling out with a classmate and he came home and he told me about it And I'm thinking, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. And I'm thinking this poor teacher. And I said, then what happened? He goes, then Mr.
097Piney came. Oh, okay. And he's like, and then we had worked it out by the end. Okay, awesome. And so it's that agreement and that follow-up and that moving back into the classroom. And you could see the relief on his face when he said, Mr. Piney came. And it was just like the story got better from there. So it's just really, really powerful. And I appreciate that our district can have that kind of support and that consistency among the different elementary schools. So that's all for me. Board Member Larson. Yep, it's already been said, but again, the athletes, just everyone heard the same thing, not only building the team, but building the community. And that's... That's so great to hear. It's great to see them out. A lot of the sports teams have social media
098pages and stuff, and when they're sharing those things, it's just really cool to see what they're out there doing. Thank you to everyone here at Salem tonight. There's so many great things. My favorite was the Explorer Dome because that was, it was, oh, now I'm blanking out what it was called when I was at Pine Bend. The Star Labs. Star Labs. And still I get, look at me, I'm still excited about it. So being able to bring those little things in, you know, for the kids to enjoy. what else do you learn about like when i can point out so many of the constellations people are like look at me like like that was from like fourth fifth grade when we brought that in so it's a way to go keep up all the other
099good work i know some of that's partnership with the pto and they've got some great folks probably moving on after this year um so so um keep up the good work thank you uh board member niamh miyoya Well, Member Larson, boy, that's great. I love the Explorer Dome, too. I want, yeah, thank you to Salem Math and AM. I think what's great about the PTO is you could have a PTO, but if you don't have a great partner in the administration and the teachers, then what's the point of the PTO, right? I mean, I think it's because we've had such a great partnership. and and we ask the the parent teacher organization asks what do you need right what do you want and before we just say and we want to give you this like
100i don't know you know i think it's it's nice to have a really really great partnership that's how it works um everything about salem and athenaeum i just I love it. I don't know if I can come on the last day of school. Normally, there's a wonderful drive and everybody decorates their cars. I don't know if I can do that on my kids' last day. I don't know if I can really do that. It'll be too hard. I'll keep coming back, but it's not the same. Right? It's not the same when you have a kid here who feels like, again, I'm going to say it, feels like home here. And it's just a safe space. So I'm so proud of everybody here. For the student athletes, I'm so proud of those kids. And I'm so
101proud of how many of them talked about, I think kind of going off what member Pearson said, the opportunities and looking at the challenges and looking at the record in the positive light that they did. It was so great. And about how they were improving and progress over perfection. I just, Certainly my child who was in wrestling for the first time this year, it was just an out of this world experience and made him just feel better about himself as a human being, period. Let alone also handling academics during that time. It's just, these are amazing programs that I'm so proud of. Every coach and teacher that lets them out of class that they got to go, all these things, really wonderful. I just wanted to add one little piece on the MSBA, MSA, MASA
102joint day at the Capitol today. And I don't want to be depressing. I don't want to bring anybody down. But I think the public needs to be aware of the ambiguity in this time is a real deal. It is a bipartisan sense of ambiguity. It is very nerve-wracking. And I would say in any year when we have been, I'm sure this board before, i got here for example or remember dukes or anybody i know member works has been a delegate before for the msba this is the kind of year where we need to be paying attention really carefully to the legislator lature um and and even today we talked to a legislator who didn't understand a piece of one of these new laws that's going to take effect on December 1st and how we are
103talking hundreds of thousands of dollars that somehow we're going to have to tack on. And that was, oh, there was a piece of it that was just a surprise. And so if we aren't sharing it, who is? Somebody needs to be. So it is, please stay informed of what's happening at the legislature and certainly at the federal level, because not everything is just happening here. It's happening beyond our control. So we're doing our best. Thank you. Board Member Warwick. I just wanted to add this last moment. Thank you, Member Nemioya, for your passion at the legislature. I appreciate that. We really do. It's important. Also, it's a pleasure to have the student athletes here and hear of how they are embedding structure and purpose from a sport and carry that into their lives in the
104future. Thank you to Tina Ouellette tonight for being here or having us here in Salem Hills. We'd love to hear your words of wisdom sometime. And to Jess and Catherine, it's very nice to meet both of you. I think we've met you before. It was nice to have you come back again. Thank you for being the leaders of spearheading this like I said before and I love it member Duke said as well it's who we are it's who we are and I am proud that we are branding our district in core life skills because it's so important and from as I know Jake knows Carrie knows It takes the stress off of the teachers too when those things can be taken care of a little bit more and then you can you can concentrate on
105the other things too. We do that a lot. Trust me, but it's so nice to have another entity that can help with with that with us. So thank you very much. Oh, last thing. I'm looking forward to going to the event for Billy Mills next Tuesday night at the PAC Center and learning about his story. Yes. Well, I agree with everything that has been shared so far, so I will not repeat myself. But I, you know, I think... Sometimes it can seem if we're so focused on core life skills, then where are the academics? And I just think if our brain is on fire, we're not going to learn anything anyway. And so even the student athletes sharing what they learned through loss. I think if, you know, would it be fun to have all
106of our sports have the storied record that our wrestling has or that Edina hockey has or what? Of course it would. But would we really be? launching well-rounded individuals into into society so I did I think it's it's a gift to be able to walk alongside our students and you know as board members to support this district in helping really raise awesome human beings. And I think that that comes through these, these life lessons. How do you get back up? How do you build resilience? How do you repair harm? Um, how do you join back into the classroom community? You know, how do you let go of your shame, all this stuff? Um, I mean, if our, if our students can learn this, imagine what, um, workplaces will be like in 10, 20 years. It
107would be wonderful. So thank you, thank you, thank you. And then just a reminder for, well, I guess they will be, let's be real, I don't know that any 11th graders will be listening to this board meeting, but they have their ACTs tomorrow. And so 9th, 10th, and 12th graders are learning from home tomorrow. So on that note, our upcoming meeting dates, the next work session will be held on Monday, April 14th, and the next regular board meeting will be held on Monday, April 28th at Pine Bend Elementary School. Um, so we do, I have a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting and to move into a closed session of the school board for the purpose of the superintendent mid-year evaluation for, uh, the 2024 25 school year. Um, per statute requirements of
108the official closed session meeting minutes will be included in the next month's consent agenda. Motion by member work. Second, I'm going to reduce. All right, all those in favor? Aye. The motion is carried at 7 p.m.