March 13, 2023, ISD 199 School Board Meeting

001The Monday March 13th 2023 Inver Grove Heights Community Schools Board of Education meeting is called to order at 5 30 p.m We are meeting tonight at the Inver Grove Heights middle school as a reminder all public comment during ISD 199 regular school board meetings must be related to a specific item on that night's agenda ISD 199 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 public comment and public listening sessions can be found on the district's website. This meeting is being recorded. 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 Lounsbury, can you please take roll

002call? Yes. Member Hanson? Here. Member Pearson? Here. Member Schaefer? Here. Member Warwick? Here. Member Larson? Here. Member Klingner? Here. And Member Lounsbury? Here. Thank you, Gary. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. 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 the agenda items tonight? Second member work Hansen and word. Thank you any discussion all in favor aye opposed Motion is carried We are going to start off tonight our district highlight will be superintendent Bernardson and director of business services Heather Ani introducing such highlight We want to give a big thank you to our buildings and ground staff. They always work very hard,

003but this winter has been even more challenging with the additional snowfall and icy conditions. And they come in every day and clean up the snow. We have the list of our buildings and ground staff on the slide. And when we have to cancel school due to the snow or have e-learning days, they still come in. They clear the parking lots and the sidewalks and salt the sidewalks and make sure that we are able to come back and have safe conditions. This group has been phenomenal. It's one of those groups where you start thinking about something that needs to be done, and when you start thinking about it, almost ironically, they already have started on it. So they're very intentional and very focused and very prideful in our facilities. So we did want to give them

004a shout-out today, not only for it being a challenging winter, but any winter. They've always got things in great shape and are very much focused actually on our mission. they understand the importance of it because they know it as well that our schools are not only used by our staff and our students but they're used by our community as well so thank you to this group they've been amazing not only this year but throughout time as well very much so thank you David thank you thank you do I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda a consent agenda tonight motion by Lonsbury second by member Klingner lounsbury and klingner thank you any discussion all in favor aye opposed motion is carried up on the screen you will see those who have

005donated to the school district this past month your generosity in support of our schools and the community is much appreciated as it does do wonders for our students and our staff thank you very much rick's keys those actually go a long way yeah awesome all right thank you starting off our information items tonight we're going to have principal jody wendell and assistant principal jason voss share an update on inver grove heights middle school sorry we just don't aren't used to being up so quickly we're excited welcome everybody definitely since the last time we had a chance to meet with the board so we are excited to have you here in our library and our mostly updated new library we've spent the last couple of years updating this space so super grateful of all the financial

006money that went into this but then just the time and taking out furniture and everything so just excited to be in this space oh I have to turn it on there we go for those of you who I haven't had the opportunity to meet yet I am Jody Wendell and I'm the principal here of the middle school and as mr. Klingner and I were chatting I am a simile grad so I too is in this space back when it was a cafeteria Really long time ago. I think this is my 29th year here in the district as a Employee I've been in this district since I was five But we won't get into how long that was Yeah with me. Yes, Jason boss. I'm the assistant principal and this is my ninth year here And

007then Jesse Hannes is our assistant administrator who works with Behavior. He is off this week with his family for spring break. So he was unable to be here, but he is the third of our team. Oh, Tardieu would make much more sense, wouldn't it? Sorry. All right, so here's our agenda. We're going to just quickly highlight who our students are in our building. We'll talk a little bit about the focuses that Jason and I have for the building for the 22-23 school year. We'll talk a little bit about a student survey and the data that we gleaned from that survey. And then, as you may have seen, they're on the hall chatting a little bit about their time with you. We have... hopefully five of our web leaders and we'll talk a little bit more

008about what web is here in a few minutes. So to start this is just a quick snapshot of who our students are. So we take this information from MDE. So this is as of October 1 of 22. So you can kind of see the different race, ethnicity breakdown for our students. And then the other criteria, about 8.5% of our students are EL learners. About 15% are in special education. Almost 59% of our students. qualify for free or reduced meals and just not quite 1% of our students are considered homeless. So in an ever-changing demographic, which has brought a lot of opportunity to really get to know all of our students and the different cultures and things that they bring to the table. So here are the areas of focus that Jason and I put into

009place for this school year. So we kind of have a motto that we've talked about with our teachers since August, Back to School Workshop Week, and that's let's really get to know our students. Not just the student as they walk in and what kind of student they are in science class, but what kind of person are they? What is their background? What is their culture? What is their story? What is their data? say about them. So really kind of digging deep into who our students are. We have been focused last few years, but especially this year on developing those relationships and we'll see kind of how we've used our area focus of relationships when it comes to our our student data when it comes to relationships in our equity work, so those two have been

010very In the forefront this year and we'll talk about that a little bit more We always have the PBIS the positive behavior interventions and supports as a focus for the year, our mindfulness, which is quickly two opportunities throughout the day. We do it right away at 8.30 in the morning, and then during our advisory time in the middle of the day for students just to do some kind of calming. Sometimes it's teacher-led, sometimes it's student-led, sometimes the students can just sit quietly. It's just whatever works for them for five minutes to just kind of... Bring their minds down a little bit because they we have advisor right after lunch So you can imagine how crazy it can get a little bit for students and hyped up after lunch So mindfulness is just five minutes in

011the beginning of the day and in the middle of the day for kids just to have a few extra minutes just to kind of Relax a little bit get their mind refocused for the afternoon academics that are coming and then of course as I mentioned data little challenging to see but the next three slides I took from the student survey that we do every year and we've done it the last few years and actually use that data when it comes to writing our SMART goals as a building this particular question I feel like the majority of my teachers are trying to make a personal connection with me this year so again it goes to those really getting to know our students to building that relationship with students again not just as a math or as

012a reading student but as a person the next question is i feel that i am seen and important in the classrooms at ighms and this could really mean a lot for students we've been working the last five years or so our ela teachers in particular have really worked and we've spent a lot of money trying to get books that are reflective of the students that are in our classes. So that's one way, just one way that we hope that students feel seen and important, but also that their teacher knows them, that they know that the teacher knows that they're in their room. Even if they're a quiet student, that the teacher makes that effort to get to know them a little bit. And then the last one, I feel the adults accept me for who

013I am, was another one of those questions. Again, getting to know who that student is, understanding that student's story and what they bring to the table. So accepting them for who they are when they walk into their classrooms. Are you doing, okay. I'm like, I haven't switched the button in. So how do we use the data? So again, there's a lot. There's 26, I think. different questions that we ask students. So there's a lot of information that we get from that student survey, again, that we do in the fall and that we do in the spring to see the growth. But one thing that we do is we develop, that is an opportunity for our students to kind of have a voice, for us to ask them some kind of pointed questions sometimes. So we

014can use that information as we go through the school year. As I said, we use the data to develop our SMART goals, and I'll show you a couple of examples of that here in just a minute. And then, again, hoping to improve the interactions that we're having with our students. We say to our fifth grade families when we meet them for the first time, we just did that last month here, and we talk about how middle school is really the whole child. And we strategically put four things on the list that we talk about. And it's they're social-emotional. They're the college and career and finally we get down to academics because if we don't do the social emotional and really set those relationships and understand who our students are the academics aren't going to happen

015and we talk about that with our incoming sixth grade families so they really understand yes math and science and reading and all the classes are important however We have to have that social, emotional, and understand who our students are before they're going to learn from us. And that's something that we've been working with teachers to the last several years. So the next are just a couple of quick summaries of the SMART goals. So as you know, teachers have to do a teacher development and evaluation plan. And part of it is that they have to put some SMART goals that they want to work on. So they can work on their own smart goals or we work together as a team, as a grade level to write some smart goals. So the first smart goal is

016based on that survey question about feeling important kind of been seen in their classrooms. So then we wrote a smart goal for the sixth grade specifically around feeling important, that their voice is important in the classroom. So we write a smart goal around that. And then here's just another example. I feel that I have more positive interactions with adults each day than negative. So this particular example, we focused on our black students. So we can glean the data by grade, by race and ethnicity. So we can kind of look at both ways. We can look at grade level and we can look at, so this particular example of the SMART goal was written with our black students in mind. So how can we Have a positive impact so we are having more positive interactions than

017negative interactions with our black students So the next part you want to go out and grab them while I talk about web So what is web web stands for where everyone belongs? And it really does two things for our building first thing that it does is it is a transition program to support our sixth graders As we all know, coming into sixth grade from the smaller elementaries, and now I'm one of 275, it can be pretty daunting. Not just for our students, but for our parents too. They really struggle if they're first child coming into the middle school. They have just as much anxiety as the students do. So it's really a transition program to support our sixth graders. The next thing that it does is it is a leadership program, and you're going to

018meet five. Five of our web leaders who really have the opportunity to step up and develop their leadership skills. And then it really is building that strong relationship and sense of community within our school. It's a positive for our sixth graders. It's positive for our eighth graders. But then it also is positive for our seventh graders because they think, okay, wait a minute. This is the time now, this year, where we're looking at our seventh graders of who's going to be the web leaders for next year. So it's overall just a very impactful program for all of our students. So here we just threw a couple of pictures. So our web leaders go through two days of training in August where they give up two of their summer days and they come in and they

019go through two days of training and what it looks like to be a web leader. So they came in and then on that first day with sixth graders after our family connections picnic, they come in, our web leaders come in with just our sixth graders. So we have a full day planned to do some kind of team building, community building with the sixth graders. And then they get to kind of follow their schedule and meet their teachers. And these guys are instrumental in what we do on that first day of school for our sixth graders. The next picture is just the service learning and they just did this last week where they do a day and it's all about serving others out in the communities. So they've made blankets and they can probably tell you

020all about what they did during that. And again, it's just another opportunity for them to develop their leadership skills as they go through these different activities that they do throughout the year. So we are going to have them come up. We're going to have them introduce themselves quickly to you and then they're going to kind of just go through and answer the three questions that are up there for you. Ready? Make sure you introduce yourselves. Hi, my name is Jada and I wanted to be a web leader because I know how hard it is like coming into a new school and being a sixth grader and being like the new... the lower class of the school and I know that's like a lot of pressure and like it's scary and like very scary because you

021don't know where to go you don't know who to hang out with and who to like just associate with when you come into the newer school. We do activities like the toothpaste activity where it's basically teaching life lessons about the negative words you put out into the world you can't really take back. Because you take a toothpaste... tube and then you like squirt out all the toothpaste and you try to put it back in the toothpaste tube and like you can't really get any words or like toothpaste back in it so it's like the negative words you put out into the world you can't take back so you really got to watch what you say and try to be a positive person and we also take them to the gym we do like fun activities

022like we play games like ships across the ocean just to get them moving and like excited for school and like just and then we'll like sit them down and like have check-ins with them and just make sure they know like they can come to us and just like check up on their grades and how they're doing in school and if socially they're okay um but yeah that's just some things we do with the sixth graders hi my name is donah and the ways that uh web has uh benefit the six graders is um like having them get more comfortable with the school than We typically help on the first day. We help them get around the school and learn where their classes are so that they know where to go and not get lost because

023I remember when I would get lost from school. I had an eighth grade class. My name is Crew. I chose to be a web leader because when I was in sixth grade, I had an issue adjusting from my elementary school into my middle school. And I just would talk about why Webb just became a thing because sixth graders would have a hard time socially and mentally and physically adjusting from their elementary space into a whole new area of middle schoolers with different classes, different teachers, and just a whole different environment. And when you go into around seventh grade after you're web leading, like after you're treated with web leaders, you can choose to sign up and go through like people they interview you and you can become a web leader yourself and help other kids

024just become a web leader and help the sixth graders adjust like how they helped you. My name is Kendra and the best... The one thing I liked about what or why I wanted to be a web leader is because I love helping people and I found I thought this would be a great opportunity and then I also thought I was in sixth grade when COVID was around. So I didn't really get the experience that they got. So it was hard for me to adjust to the new school. And then some things that we have done as a group is we've gone to a base camp to learn how to help each other and really come together as a community. And I think it's a great way to do that because we do all these different

025activities to kind of have to help each other out and be there for each other, even though it can be hard at some of the things we do. And then we did a service day where we kind of helped. made things to give back to the community. Hi, my name is Bita Ram. Why I chose to become a web leader is because during 2020, it was really hard being a sixth grader and having the web leaders online helping us through it really felt good. So when I became a seventh grader and I could sign up for this, I was like, I want to give them the experience they've never got to have because of COVID and having A's and B's. like the rest of the people here said we do a lot of stuff to

026help the sixth graders learn how to navigate the middle school and how to deal with bullying and people talking to you and how to respond and we've done a lot to help back the community doing the community day here at the library and making blankets and yeah Sometimes when you're done sharing you think of something that you wish you had also said. Does anybody have anything else that they want to share? Make sure. Maybe it's only me that does that once in a while. Thank you very much for what you're doing, being a web leader, and you are truly leaders. Thank you. You are making a difference, too. You're making a difference in kids' lives, and you know what it feels like, so you're paying it forward. I love that concept of that toothpaste story.

027Thank you for sharing that. Thanks, you guys. Thank you. what's great about these some of these programs like webb is this was all teacher generated i could tell you the exact time but i know debbie van scooten came and said we'd really like to bring this to our school um so we talked about a little bit we talked to tj about it talked to dave about it and said yeah let's let's do this um so it's been Great for the students. We have three teachers that have taken on kind of the lead to work with all of our amazing web leaders, Debbie VanScooten, Jenna Hamilton, and Mary Dillon. Spend time each week with the students. We actually have two web advisors, so they use their advisor time to help the web leaders as they start

028to plan the lessons that they're going to implement when they go into the sixth grade advisor classes. You can imagine as a 12, 13-year-old, how scary that can be to walk into a classroom of sixth graders and you are in charge you're the one and we tell the sixth grade teachers don't don't let them do it let them do it so they have built a lot of valuable skills this year as web leaders and it's just it is it just kind of makes your heart feel full when you hear them say well back in 2020 during that wonderful coveted time they didn't have a great experience in in transferring up here so they knew that they wanted to pay it forward they didn't have that opportunity so very grateful for them grateful for the teachers

029that brought that to the forefront and said let's bring it to our building So I know that you had an opportunity a month ago maybe, a few weeks ago to meet Courtney Norman, our student success coach, and Michelle Sherard, our learning partner. Two people that I could not imagine not having in this building. Every single day I'm just in awe of what those two do for us and for our students and for our teachers. And then as we introduced earlier, our Assistant Administrator Behavior Specialist, Jesse Hannes, he's a busy guy. A lot of it's proactive, some of it's reactive, but he really gets an opportunity to get to know students too and work with teachers who have positive impacts on students. And then of course, I cannot not celebrate our two counselors and our social

030worker who do amazing things. even before COVID but especially since COVID we all know that the mental health needs of our children have increased greatly so these folks along with our school psychologist they're busy every day they're busy trying to meet the needs of the students that come into their office that come into our building so these people are absolutely valuable members of the support team in the middle school then I have to take a minute to really talk about our teachers and our paras they are so much more than educators the things that they do As teachers every day you just would never believe sometimes some of the things that they have to navigate in their day So they are advocating for their students. They're acting like counselors. I stole the phrase from our

031guest speaker last Friday dr. Abdi and Kind of referred to the women that were with her as cultural navigators Exactly what our teachers and paras and counselors and all of us really are it was just a super interesting phrase that I plucked right away because it just resonated with me with the ever-changing demographic in our building we are cultural navigators as well hall monitors of course mentors to their students mediators sometimes when there's conflict i know jason and i just we cannot thank them enough for all the different hats that everybody wears our teachers obviously but our Paris to I we could not do what we do every day without the custodians as Heather talked about without our support staff without our Paris without our teachers service there's just a lot of people that go

032into having healthy happy adolescence so thank you very much for being here and just want to make a comment that we have the unique opportunity at the district office to be connected to the middle school and that is a unique opportunity because it doesn't happen everywhere and one of the things that just gets us all jazzed up is as you can imagine with sixth seventh and eighth graders there's a lot of energy And that energy is very contagious. And that energy is very much focused on relationships and them trying to navigate relationships. And the support that they get in navigating those relationships so they can get their learning supported is amazing. So it's a fun place to be. It's an exciting place to be. And I often used to say when I first started teaching,

033you know, that middle school thing wouldn't be for me. And if I went back and did it over again, I would say, yeah, that middle school thing is the thing I'd want to be at because there is just so much uniqueness and so much energy and so much wanting to change the world, which you kind of saw from our web leaders here. They want to be very impactful and make a difference. So thank you for your leadership. But more than anything, thank you to our staff. Thank you to our students at the middle school. And thank you to all of them for the energy that they give all of us. All of us back there, when we sit and meet, we get to overlook the middle school through our window, and it's pretty darn exciting.

034So thank you. Speak to, so is this the first year that there's been an assistant administrator for behavior? Yes. What is his role, and how does that pair with the student success function? Oh, yes. So really... They are somewhat independent, but the student success coach and the behavior specialist definitely overlap quite a bit. So the student success coach is really focused on trying to help the students make good decisions. Jesse does that as the administrator. He runs and heads the PBIS team. in the building and then he and Courtney will pair up when he starts to see someone maybe who's making some bad choices in behavior the two will partner to talk with families talk with the student try to figure out what's the best way to support that student So as I said earlier,

035he definitely does some proactive things as the PBIS lead, but a lot of his day is also then kind of the reactive and helping the students who aren't maybe making the best decisions on any given day. The survey is Same survey that we've been doing for a couple years or yes, okay We added a couple of questions this year But we do want to be able to for the most part compare apples to apples and if we change the questions too much Then we're not really able to compare from the year prior So for the most part the questions stay the same you give it in the spring and at the end of the year as well And it also helps us with the cohorts too to also compare when you look at you know,

036like This year seventh graders. We can also look back at the data sixth graders to see how we're doing to across support I said they got a comment in a question. I'm fact-checking myself. Does there still the avid banner on the yes Okay I mean I'm familiar with with that and everything that goes into it and I just I have a sixth grader and so I can see the level of Rigor the writing and all of it. It's just it's really impressive. And so I think that that's awesome that it's not just a banner on the wall, that there's some real hard work happening. But like when you listed the priorities, you put academics on the bottom because the other stuff has to happen so that academics can happen. And I was just wondering if

037you could give an example of a time where like a kid's voice was honored. So like you're talking about voice being important and that their voice being heard. So like do you have an example of a time that like... their voice was taken into account and either something changed or they got their way or I don't know. Well, maybe you might be able to answer this too, Jason. I know I met with some students who were concerned about... going on in the hallways. So to get their perspective on things was very interesting and they were quick to say, I don't know really what the staff can do different. It's just they're just being naughty or whatever. But it was just an opportunity to have conversation with them so I could hear their perspective. And I

038think sometimes for a lot of the students, it's just the fact that someone sat down and listened. that they might not see necessarily a lot of change right away, but the fact that somebody at least cared enough to sit down and listen, I think has been helpful. Yeah, and I think, you know, Also us recognizing and making sure that our students are seen and heard throughout the day, but also in things that we're learning. And so, you know, we made, we did some wonderful activities during Black History Month this year. And that came out of a lot of, when we were discussing and talking with students, they wanted to make sure that they were represented. And so we... We made sure that we worked with students also to make that happen because a lot of

039that was student driven this year. And so we were, you know, we made sure that we were working on that and had all of our student voices. And so we're trying to even expand that for next year because we want to, you know, look at our Hispanic heritage too and make sure that we have that honored too. Thanks. I really appreciate the transparency that you shared in the survey results, the data part of it. I thought it was really, really interesting and a lot of really bright spots there, right? And a lot of hopeful information. One thing that did jump out at me is the question about I feel important. And if I was looking at the color-coded bar graphs correctly, it almost looked like the people that rate it as always, like I always

040feel important, it actually looks like the number gets less as you go from 6th grade to 7th grade to 8th grade. So I was wondering, have you developed strategies around that, or what is the tactic to approach that? I think it's the second graph. This one. So if the green is always, it actually looks like it's sixth grade, green is a pretty good chunk, and then it gets smaller when you get to seventh grade and even smaller when you get to eighth grade. So I was just curious if there's strategies, or like you said, you can compare cohort to cohort and see how you're doing. Any thoughts around what? Yeah, a lot of this, as we shared with teachers, they had opportunities to really kind of look at the data. how they, you know, whether

041they wanted to look at it by race, whether they wanted to look at it by race and ethnicity. So in one of these things that that's where it's super important. So like as Jason was describing, say for Black History Month, that was really teacher, excuse me, student generated. So making sure that we understood that they're seen and they're important for what they want to bring to the table. But then it also falls on the teacher as well. So what can I do differently when students are in the hallway, when they are in my classroom to make sure that I'm having some sort of connection with my teacher, that I'm not just somebody who's sitting in the room and the teacher doesn't even know my name for the first three months of school or something like

042that. So it's things that we can do, but then also things, what can teachers do? And that was, they were given time, obviously, to write the SMART goals, but then also just, okay, what are we going to do with this as an eighth grade team? What are we going to do with this? They've actually, of the three grades, they will do big celebrations for student of the month and they will do breakfast for all the students that may have been celebrated for the three months prior. They will bring in families and the students for donuts and juice in the morning just to have another opportunity to say we noticed. We noticed you as a student of the month back in October. but we're recognizing you again now with your parent hope parent or guardian here

043to really get them to know that we are seeing them that their contributions to the school and to their classrooms are important well thank you anything else yeah all right thanks everybody thank you thank you very much our next information item tonight superintendent bernardson will share a draft of the school board and committee meetings in 2023 and 2024. Thanks Matt. Yes, each year we have the board approve the upcoming school board and committee meeting schedule and what you see in front of you is a draft for the next school year and just wanted to put this out there it follows the typical schedule that we do have. If you look at board meetings you can see that we have board meetings two times a month, a work session and a regular session every month except

044for July, December and March. that's intentional just due to the summer schedule in July and the challenges of the schedule in December and then when we get to March it's as much about that we have a full week off of school as well so this calendar follows that pretty pretty much what we call the traditional schedule of two meetings a month with the exception of those three and then you'll see that we have our committee schedule and you'll see that we have our policy committee meeting, if you can go back to the bottom Tracy, sorry I'm bouncing you around a little bit, is part of our regular meeting each month and then we have finance and personnel with personnel being before our work sessions and finance being after the work session. And we look at

045personnel. There's also an additional meeting that we have, which is our meet and confer process when we meet with our teacher meet and confer group. So those are our meeting. That's our meeting schedule. It follows our typical calendar. And also just want to remind people that within those regular meetings, we always have public listening sessions available to community members starting at 510. So we're just bringing this to you as a draft today, and we'll bring it back to you as an action item at our regular meeting in April. Yes. Some of those dates have to do with elections and other aspects just to make sure we're not hitting those Inevitably though there seems to be every once in a while a date that comes up later on where we may May need to make an

046adjustment if that be the case we bring it back to you to adjust this calendar as well Any questions? All right. Thank you Let's see, we'll have now have Board Vice Chair and Treasurer Sherry Warrick share a summary of the 2022-2023 Superintendent Mid-Year Evaluation. Yes, thank you Matt. This summary was conducted by five school board members. Two members were only here for a week. So here is the superintendent mid-year evaluation summary. On leadership and culture, Superintendent Berenson was awarded distinguished in this area. Dave has actively gathered students and staff members in the same space to ensure kids feel like they belong in our district. He is setting the conversations to promote student engagement so that all students have a relevant relationship in our schools. Under organizational management, Superintendent Berenson was awarded distinguished in this area.

047Dave has an exceptional vision to prepare our kids for the future. The development of 199 Future Ready is inspiring. The invitation is clear to our stakeholders. Help us to help our students become future ready. Communication and community engagement, Mr. Bernhansen is awarded accomplished in this area. Dave listened to community members and board members that our communications could improve. A communication audit was implemented and recommendations have been made. Dave realizes the importance of timely and accurate information in both language and manner is key to our families. Thank you. Thank you. shoot back to superintendent burns and to introduce several district policies for first reading for review thanks matt yes the policy our policy committee i should say met on february 27th to review these policies they'll also have a second reading on monday april 24th at

048our regular meeting and the policies that you see in front of you for a first reading with minimal changes are two two zero two school board officers which has minimal changes, 611. Tracy, I'm escaping on the name of that one. It's different on the screen. Homeschooling. Homeschooling. Good. Thank you. Okay. And then we have limited changes to 414, mandated reporting of child neglect, physical or sexual abuse. And then significant changes to 409, employee publications, instructional materials, interventions, and creations. And these policies, again, we'll have a second reading on the 24th of April. If any questions you can truly let us know or also connect with the policy committee member as well. Thank you on to our Committee reports and I'm gonna summarize here as per typical in the month of March There have been no

049committee meetings this month and so instead of going around the room and Having four people repeat that We'll just leave it at that Membership reports. Equity Alliance Minnesota committee has not met this month. Dave do you have an am SD update for us? Yes, am SD met on March 3rd the agenda included guest speakers on policies and effective legislative advocacy And then we had the typical reports and the next meeting is on Friday April 14th in addition to that am SD did have a day at the Capitol last Wednesday and I was able to attend and visit with our State representatives and state senators about the school districts legislative priorities. Thank you Rachel, do you have an update on Invergrove Heights Best Foundation? I do, thank you. The Best Foundation will be meeting next Monday,

050March 20th. The scholarship deadline was in the relatively recent past on March 6th. So for folks who receive a scholarship, you'll be notified the first week of May, and awards will be announced virtually on May 31st. Thank you, Rachel. Sherry, do you have an update on Minnesota School Board Association? I do. As a reminder, the MSBA School Board Member Day at the Capitol is scheduled for Monday, March 20th. There still is time to register, Tracy? Still time to register. I know three of us are going for sure, so awesome. It is nice that we actually have a couple opportunities to have that day at the Capitol. Good. Dave, do you have an update on... Intermediate School District 917 for us. Sure Matt. They met on March 7th and their agenda included executive reports and some

051policies that they reviewed. That brings us to our action items for tonight. And we're gonna shoot it back to Superintendent Bernardson here to introduce the recommendation to approve the second reading for review of several district policies. Dave. Yes, thank you. The Policy Committee reviewed these on January 23rd. They were also presented to the board on Monday, February 27th as a first reading. So with no changes, we have 413, harassment and violence. We also have limited changes to 412, expense reimbursement. and then an adoption of 701.3, which is point post issuance debt compliance, which is an aspect that came out of our conversations in regard to bond refunding. And it was one that was suggested by our financial consultant, Ellers, and we felt it was an important time to put that policy into place. Thank you,

052Dave. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the second reading for review of the policies presented? Motion by Member Warwick. Second by Schaefer. Any discussion all those in favor aye opposed motion is carried Next action item will be Dave introducing the recommendation to approve the 2024-2025 academic calendar. Yes, this is our 24-25 calendar that we're bringing to you. We also shared this with you at our most recent work session. And as you look through the process or reflect on the process, we also gained perspective on spring break through our teacher meet and confer process. So as we look to the or towards the 24-25 school year, you'll see some various things highlighted which would first be our new teacher week which is the week of August 19th followed by our all staff

053preparation week the last week in August. Then we start the school year right after Labor Day. Our first day is family connections for everyone. We do have family connections those first two days for our elementary schools. At our middle and high school, that second day of school per se, or September 4th, is a day for our 6th and 9th graders to get orientated. You heard a little bit about that from our web leaders today. And then our high school students work with our link leaders. All students grades one through five would start on Thursday, September 5th. And then we have our kindergartners who are doing assessments actually start on Monday, September 9th. Then that brings us to in the month of September, we do have one of our three during the school year early release

054days on that last Friday in September. then as we go into October that's when you have our first set of conferences which as conferences in the evening on Monday the 14th Tuesday the 15th with all day conferences available to families on Wednesday the 16th followed by teacher convention week which is a typical calendar again for us as we move into November you'll see the end of trimester one on Tuesday Followed by a professional development day for our staff or no school for students on the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving. Followed by the Thanksgiving weekend with the trimester, new trimester, trimester two starting on Monday, December 2nd. We then move into winter break, with winter break starting on Monday the 23rd. And as we get into January, you'll see that we then resume school on Thursday, January

0552nd. Some people may have some questions about that because it's a two-day week, but I think you'll see a little bit about that as we, or the why of that when we get to the end of the school year. As we progress into January, we've got our Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday the 20th. And then we get into our regular conferences or our second set of conferences on Tuesday the 4th, Thursday the 5th, and during the day on Friday the 7th of February, with the next week having our second early release day on Friday the 14th, which is also then in conjunction with the President's Day holiday on Monday the 17th. Then we get into the end of trimester two on Thursday the 6th with a workshop day. So no school for students

056on Friday. Is that the 7th or 6th? 7th. 7th. Eyes are getting a little tough back here. Third trimester starting on Monday the 10th. And then as mentioned through the meet and confer process, we identified the spring break week to be the week of March 24th. And then as we progress through April, we do have a day of no school on Friday the 25th. And then our last of the three during the school year early release days on Friday the 24th in conjunction with Memorial Day weekend. And then we get to the end of the school year on Thursday, June 5th. And that plays a lot into why we have a two-day week in January so that we didn't have to progress into the next week of June. So you can see how that all

057comes into play. Then in this grouping, we also have the number of trimesters, and you can see those as well, numbers of days in the trimester. We're going to make those as equal as possible. So what we've got for you this evening for your approval, hopefully, is the 2024-2025 calendar. Okay. Thank you, Dave. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the 2024-2025 academic calendar? Second, Member Klingner. Larson and Klingner. Any discussion? Just a reminder that we're approving two calendars at this time. We approved the one for next year back in December and then are approving this one in regards to the year after that. So we've got two years that will be available to families and staff. Any other discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion is carried. Our final action

058item for the night is Director of Learning T.J. Anderson-Schmidt introducing the recommendation to approve the Achievement and Integration Plan. Good evening. We're excited to have the opportunity to share our Achievement and Integration Plan for the school year 2023 through the school year 2026. The next three years that would begin July 1st of this summer and go through June 30th of 2026. The purpose of the Achievement and Integration Program is written into Minnesota statute. and it's really to pursue racial and economic integration and increase student achievement, create equitable educational opportunities for students, and reduce any disparities that are predictable based on students' racial, ethnic, or academic, sorry, economic backgrounds in Minnesota schools. In order to be eligible to participate in the Achievement and Integration Program, which also has funding attached to it as well, there are

059four different ways that districts can participate. The first is if a district is what's considered racially isolated. And to be a racially isolated district, what that means is that the enrollment in that school district of a protected class of students. under achievement integration protected class focuses specifically on racial and ethnic groups so that if there is a discrepancy and there's over 20 percent of a protected class in that district compared to their surrounding districts that touch their district borders they're considered a racially isolated district you can also be in a joining district which means that you border a racially isolated district and you have an achievement integration plan where you are working with that district and collaborating around integration activities or working on strategies to decrease any sort of enrollment disparities you can also be

060a voluntary district which means you're not racially isolated you're not necessarily attached to a racially isolated district but you do have to have special permission from the education commissioner to be a voluntary district. And lastly, you might be a district that's not racially isolated, but you might have a racially isolated school within your district boundaries. We are considered an adjoining district because we border 196 who is considered racially isolated. South Washington County just recently was also designated as being racially isolated as well. We do border them as well but their designation is a little bit newer in this last school year. Under Minnesota statute, districts are required who do participate in the program are required to write a new three-year plan every three years. And then there's an achievement integration budget that's written every year

061that's due by March 15th of that upcoming school year. Under Minnesota statute there are equity criteria as districts are writing their achievement and integration plans. Those equity criteria include increasing access for students and their families to programs, to rigorous and high quality educational experiences, to decision making and resources and viable school options. It also includes increasing participation. So that participation would be increasing enrollment and student participation in meetings meaningful rigorous coursework and other academic programs as well as any sort of enrichment or extracurricular programs as well. increasing the representation of students across the school, the school culture, the coursework, the rigorous classes, the curriculum so that students are seeing themselves. Oftentimes you'll hear things like windows and mirrors and my favorite is Paul Richardson from Pine Bend often talks about a sliding glass door too.

062but that not only students can see themselves but also learn about others and then lastly increasing outcomes for students that are measurable and that they're not predictable by race ethnicity or economic background There are three different goal types that we are required to meet when we do craft our achievement and integration plan. And so as I go through those goals tonight, we have four different goals and they do meet the three different goal types that we're required to have. The first one focuses on the achievement of students and reducing any disparities in the academic achievement of students based on their gender. I'm sorry, based on their racial or ethnic background, but also We do look at gender, we do look at EL, we do look at special ed status, but those are exclusionary when we're

063writing the achievement and integration plan under the statute. The second requirement is that the goals increase racial and economic integration. So you'll see some of the strategies that we have for that. And that lastly, we're reducing any disparities in access to effective and diverse teachers among all students. Again, looking at those racial and ethnic groups in particular. When we do write our achievement and integration plan, it is a multi-year process. it includes a lot of stakeholders we work really closely with our gifted and talents advisory council as part of their work we work closely with our american indian parent advisory council and also our world's best workforce group that's representative all three of them are representative of staff of families some of them of students and then administrators as well so that gives you a

064little bit of a snapshot of the what and the why and some of the requirements But also I think what's nice is that there's been an intentional effort in our district for quite a while around equitable outcomes and equitable practices. And so the achievement integration plan and what we work on aligns beautifully with our leadership agreements in the district. Those leadership agreements were crafted in collaboration with cabinet. They were crafted in collaboration with all of our leadership across the schools and our departments. in partnership with the University of Minnesota at Mankato. And those goals around those leadership agreements include holding high expectations for students and also for ourselves and ensuring that we're opening pathways for students, we're removing barriers, we're providing professional development for our staff based on culturally relevant practices, and that we're really

065identifying and eliminating any practices or systems that are not inclusive for all students. it also includes leading courageously that's not always easy but part of that includes modeling and supporting and strengthening our staff's capacity to carry out equity work in their classrooms in their schools and support that work across the district helping use our positions and our voices to really amplify the voices of students staff and families and you heard some of those examples tonight with the middle school highlight that's a practice that you can see across our buildings is really getting that stakeholder input and our students are the closest to us in understanding what their needs are and how we're doing and what we can improve. Being sure that we're seeking out other perspectives that are different than our own to help us

066improve programs and practices for families and students and then putting ourselves in situations that might be uncomfortable. and really being sure that we are being empathetic and building that empathy. Part of our goals and our leadership agreements are also to create a racially conscious and student-focused culture. What that means is that, again, we're looking at all of our systems and whether or not they're inclusive and if we're unintentionally creating barriers for students or families or we're seeing disparities or discrepancies in the data that are predictable, especially by race. That includes reviewing our curriculum on an ongoing basis. The middle school talked about really trying to be thoughtful about the kinds of materials that are coming in. Again, that we have windows and mirrors and sliding glass doors, but that we're also using our time and

067our resources to provide the highest quality experiences for our kids. And then lastly, ensuring that safe and welcoming environment where kids feel like they belong, where they're engaged and they have strong relationships with each other as well as the staff in the buildings. And again, that means listening to the voices but also being flexible and being intentional about how we're reaching out to students and families. The Achievement Integration Program, while it's a great opportunity for us as a district and for our students and our families, aligns beautifully with our leadership agreements and our commitments, as well as our strategic plan in that direction of focusing on a culture of equity. So as we look at this three-year plan that would be coming up again on July 1st of 2023, we have four goals. And when

068we write these goals across these committees, we also need to identify what kind of goal type they are to make sure we're meeting those three that we talked about in the beginning, and then how that aligns to our World's Best Workforce plan that's also required in statute as well. Our first goal does... focus on academic achievement and that is to increase the percentage of our black and hispanic students in grades three eight and nine who score at benchmark or above on our fast bridge a reading assessment by 30 from fall of 22 through fall of 2025 it is important to note that as we focus on our achievement and integration plan our goal is to support and increase outcomes for all of our students What the Achievement Integration Plan and funding does is helps us

069do that and also asks us to be really specific and targeted around certain subgroups based on their needs. So it's about supporting all students and then being intentional when we do see those disparities. Our first strategy to meet that goal is to provide an elementary reading specialist. That reading specialist helps support core instruction in the classroom but also provides tiered interventions for students. They utilize that fast bridge data to really target student needs and evidence-based practices to provide those interventions at the elementary level. Our second strategy is our kindergarten readiness camp. What the kindergarten readiness camp does is it provides an integrated opportunity to bring kids from pre-K across the district together. We usually can accommodate about 50 to 75 students who come together. And what is so awesome about that, Hilltop oftentimes will host

070it. Our own kindergarten teachers are teaching it. The kids are riding the bus, some of them for the first time, because they may not have been able to participate in our early childhood programs and so they're getting excited and getting to learn about what it means to be in school they're the only kids in the building at that time and we're focusing on their core life skills we're focusing on the rituals and routines of school and those early literacy skills and they are so proud and so strong by the time they leave us and then you watch them walk in the door on the first day of school and they're like i got this I've been here. I know how this works. So it's really focusing on that transition. And you'll see some themes tonight,

071even just bridging off with the middle school. How do we support kids in that transition from pre-K to K? How do we support kids in that transition into middle school? How do we support kids in that transition to high school? And then how do we support kids in that transition to life after high school? Our third strategy is providing community and cultural liaisons as well as the Academy of Powerful Parents programming. The focus is really on building effective relationships with our family through culturally responsive teaching practices and communication strategies. And our cultural liaisons, community liaisons, you met Chris Johnson at our last. board meeting our American Indian community liaison are really pivotal in that work. And then there is a force. strategy to get to that goal. We call that strategy skills, strategies, and habits

072of mind for academic success. So it's a little bit of a mouthful, but really what the focus is on is to, as we look at our secondary students in grades 6 through 12, it's really increasing their critical thinking, their literacy skills, their self-efficacy as they transition through the grades and across the curriculum. It's supporting staff with training and resources. Jacob, you talked about AVID. AVID is a really key piece of this particular strategy. And then it's also creating positive peer groups for kids. You heard from our web leaders tonight in middle school, and that support to help kids as they're transitioning into sixth grade is so critical, but also those leadership opportunities for our middle school students. We have a very similar program in the high school called Link Leaders. They are students in grades

07310, 11, and 12 who work with our incoming ninth graders, and they do something very similar in the summer where they go through training in the summer. They plan that ninth grade back to school day If you'll remember our academic calendar is set so the first day of school only sixth graders are in the middle school Only ninth graders are in the high school and they get that day alone with their link leaders with their web leaders to really Learn about the building get comfortable meet a buddy and start to learn what it means to be a middle schooler or a high schooler. Another piece that the LINC leaders have been doing this year is they've been meeting one-to-one and doing mentoring with their ninth grade cohorts, especially before things like finals or midterms. What

074is a midterm? What is a final? What does that mean? How do I prepare for that? Just what it means to be a high school student. And then our second goal is to increase the graduation rate of our black and Hispanic students to 93% or above by 2026. This is addressing again that achievement disparity goal and the world's best workforce where we're focusing on all students graduating from high school. Our strategies around that include the fourth strategy that I just shared up above as we were looking at the academic success and building those habits of mind and those relationships. But the fifth strategy is really focusing on rigorous coursework and concurrent enrollment options. And this strategy is around college and career readiness. our goal and our strategy really is to increase the participation of students

075in our rigorous programs and coursework and part of that includes partnering with our counselors and post-secondary education partners to increase the access participation and outcomes of the representation of students in our ap courses our current enrollment course offerings are growing exponentially, which is really exciting because we're using our own Simley High School teachers who are certified to teach college courses to provide college credit in the high school setting while still providing the support that high school students need developmentally. to meet those outcomes and also includes our career certificate programs like our certified nursing assistant program or CNA program or our emergency technician program or EMT and EMR and things like that and part of that is through also our work with our tri-district CAPS program that you had heard from Ben Cush. at our last

076meeting as well so those partnerships and strategies include transportation to dakota county technical college they include partnerships with inverhill's community college for us to be able to teach concurrent enrollment courses but also for our students to participate in pseo or post-secondary education option courses with them It also includes our middle school business innovation academy. This is a summer program that's available to our middle school students through the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. That particular strategy is also our integration strategy with District 196. We actually partner together and we send our kids together to that business innovation camp over those two weeks. And kids are touring the campus. They're working on real-life problems and solving business problems and providing solutions. They're developing leadership skills. And lastly our tri-district career and college readiness program. Our

077third goal is our integration goal, which is also required by statute in our achievement and integration plan. And that goal focuses on our students in grades 6 through 12 to self-report an average score of 3.7 or higher by 2026 on a four-point scale in their level of comfort with initiating and maintaining positive relationships with their peers. In particular, peers who have different backgrounds than their own. And we use a student engagement instrument that was provided to us by the University of Minnesota and their Center for applied research and education innovation. Our strategy around this particular goal is really on helping foster cultural identity, building relationships student to student but also student to teacher and promoting kindness and empathy which are really important core life skills. Part of that strategy includes professional development for our staff.

078All of our new staff participate in a My Culture, Your Culture professional development session as part of their requirement in their first year. We have developed a learning partnership with Inver Hills Community College's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. They've been doing a lot of work this year with Simley High School, but also our student groups and our student affinity groups. That includes continuing our partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center. They've done a lot of work with our elementaries this year on story circles and restorative practices and bringing that across the district. It's helped a lot to build stronger relationships with our staff. with each other to build a positive school culture, but staff are also taking those practices and bringing them into their classrooms to help amplify student voice and to help students get

079to know each other better as well. And also continuing our partnership with Forbes Solutions Paula Forbes who helped lead our world cafe this last August and is also working with us on the ISD one in nine experience and How we're building relationships with students how we're fostering belonging how we're building those connections and increasing that student engagement And then lastly kindness retreats for our grade five students courage retreats for our grade seven students in Indigenous leadership circle which you heard a little bit about from Chris Johnson the last time we were together and again our web and our link leader programs are tied in with that strategy. And then lastly, our fourth goal, and you can see why this takes a few years to build with a lot of stakeholders. Our fourth goal is to

080increase the hiring of racially and ethnically diverse teachers and administrators and staff to at least 20% of new staff candidates by 2026. And this particular goal type addresses the requirement around teacher equity. That particular goal our strategy is building the cultural competency and culturally relevant pedagogy of teachers but also increasing the recruitment and retention of staff of color part of that is through participating in job search engines, job fairs, providing staff with district tours before we even set an interview so that we're being welcoming and we can not only showcase what we have to offer but get to know people and they can ask questions. being thoughtful about our interview selection process and providing mentorship and professional learning for staff because what we're finding and it's nationally in the statistics is that almost half of

081teachers leave teaching within the first five years. But what we do know is that if we provide a welcoming place where people feel like they belong, the same way we do for students, and also provide that professional learning and that mentorship, that connection, they're much more likely to stay. So part of that is that retention. And then lastly, further developing our urban teacher pathway. This is a partnership that we have with South St. Paul schools where our Simley High School students have an opportunity. to take their urban teacher classes and program and they've been going out, they'll be going out in the spring to our elementary schools to get some real world experience. Not that they may not remember being in elementary school, but it's a little different being a student than going into support.

082That's a lot. So that gives you an idea of those four goals that meet those equity criteria that meet the goal criteria for the plan. And as I shared, there's also revenue that comes with that. So while we write a three-year plan, we receive revenue every year and we submit a budget every year that's due by March 15th. And that revenue is based on two different types. There's something called the initial achievement and integration revenue that's based on state aid. And then there's something called incentive revenue that's based on a local levy. And the incentive revenue can only be used for activities that include integration activities or that address enrollment disparities. Tracy, would you mind scrolling up? I'm sorry, down. There you go. Thank you. That's perfect. One of the things I've included, though, is

083I wanted you to see a little bit of the pattern over the last few years because what you'll notice is that the revenue, it's not real predictable except that it seems to keep going down. inflation keeps going up but as you look at this i'm going into next school year between the initial revenue and the incentive revenue it comes to 665 528 dollars It's almost $30,000 less than the revenue that we received last year That revenue is based on a couple different factors. It's based on our fall enrollment pre-k 12 That enrollment of those protected class students. It's also dependent on how much money is in the pot and how many participating districts are participating that particular year. Um so that money does shift um and move around. The other thing that I've included in

084the budget is I just wanted you to kind of see how we break this down a little bit. Um I've broken this down by our staff. We do um the majority of our achievement and integration budget over 90% of that budget is dedicated to staffing. That staffing would be all of our middle school and high school teachers who teach the AVID elective courses, our AVID coordinators. That includes our middle school success coach, behavior specialist. It includes that elementary reading intervention teacher. It includes our community and cultural liaisons. And then it includes point one of my salary as the integration leader. again that makes up for almost over 90 of the total funding and you'll see as you look at those trends that in the past that was around 80 of the funding but now it's

085getting really close to almost all of it There's also the programming. So that would include our AVID programming. We have a partnership with the Inver Hills Community College Teacher Program where they provide peer tutors to our AVID students in grades 6 through 12. That's a really powerful partnership because you have college models, but you also have someone that you can relate to and build a relationship with. that's helping you understand what's needed to be successful in that next transition if college is your goal. That includes our transportation part of it to Dakota County Technical College as well as the web and link crew programming, our recruiting and retaining teachers of color, and then kindergarten readiness camp. As you can see, the funding for that direct programming out of achievement integration gets smaller as the years

086go on. But I do want you to know that we do supplement that and we've had to supplement that more every single year with other budgets. So we're dipping into staff development. We're dipping into Title I, Title II, Title III to maintain the integrity of our goals and the programming that's here. One thing that's important to know is that if it's not written in the three-year achievement creation plan, we can't write it in the budget. So you're seeing some things like kindergarten readiness camp. We write that in because we want to be able to offer that. This next year, we're not going to be able to because of the funding. But next year, if our funding goes up, we would be able to offer that. But if it wasn't in the plan, it's a no-go.

087And then the last part is that incentive revenue. And as I shared, that incentive revenue can only be utilized for integration activities. And that would be with your partner district. For us, that's 196 as an adjoining district. Or strategies that address enrollment disparities. And so for us it's looking at the underrepresentation of some of our students of color in rigorous coursework and concurrent enrollment options. One of the pieces that we know is that there's a large barrier for our students who want to go to Dakota County Technical College and participate in some of those programs. Transportation can be a barrier. and so that's why transportation is written in in both spots it's in the programming piece as a portion but we were able to cover the other portion of it through that incentive revenue and

088that's why you see that there And then lastly, in the past, a long time ago, we were able to include professional development activities in the budget in order to fund the FTEs to reach our goals and meet those strategies. We're not able to do that, so we use our staff development funds and Title II to provide professional development around those culturally responsive strategies and things. That was a little bit of a fire hose, but that gives you some insight. I did share our goals for that three-year plan and that equity criteria. You've had an opportunity to hear about the first year budget going into 23-24 and under Minnesota statutes districts are required to get the approval of school boards on their three-year plans before we can send those to MDE. So tonight we are asking

089you for our your your approval not our approval your approval on our new achievement and integration plan for school years 2023 2026. thank you tj do i have a motion and a second to approve the achievement and integration plan by member pearson second by lounsbury pearson and lounsbury any discussion Thank you for going through all that There's a lot to it and and the you know the the incentives, you know certainly help with You know, it's stuff we should be doing Anyway, right and the incentives help us achieve those Just as a point of clarification being in a joining district. We haven't always been in a joining district not always been in a joining district and that gives us much more safety if you will on continuing to qualify for those achievement and integration funds

090if you are a voluntary district that can be a very precarious place because it is only based on mde approval and that can go away at any time But being in a joining district and having those relationships and that strategy with that district that's racially isolated better solidifies our revenue over time. Thank you. And this district has always been a voluntary district up until this time and a part of that was through the involvement with Equity Alliance Minnesota. But when 196 became racially isolated, which is actually a year ago, we jumped on that opportunity to partner with them. And then the last piece with that is that as TJ outlined the budget, that's one aspect. But as you saw, there are things in the plan that we may not be able to do now, but

091we want to be able to have that opportunity to possibly do them in the future. Exactly. Any other discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The motion is carried. Thank you, TJ. Thank you, everybody. That was our last action item for the night, which brings us to our closing comments. And we start with Dave, as always. Thank you, Matt. Maybe a true sign of spring in your ears today, that little sound that you hear, isn't the sky falling? That's lacrosse going on in the gym next to us. So those are lacrosse balls against the wall. Spring activity started today. So thanks again to Inver Grove Heights Middle School for hosting and for your share this evening, and especially for bringing the web leaders to give us an insight into web. Also again, thank you to

092our buildings and grounds staff for the outstanding job they do. Also want to congratulate our STEAM teacher at Salem Hills Athenaeum, Joe Meldy, who started out as one of the nominees for Minnesota Teacher of the Year, and he made that tough cut to be a semi-finalist. So Joe is still in the hunt for that. great award but to make that cut is a very very big thing also want to congratulate our winter activity people our simile band our winner state participants individually and as a team and we'll have an update on that at our next meeting in april when our activities director will short comes also remind people that we do have spring break coming up uh the week of march 27th And then also with that continued information in regards to 199 Future Ready.

093Then I want to thank the board for your kind words in regards to the mid-year evaluation and just want to share that. Those kind words and those aspects shared are a reflection on the work that all of us do here in ISD 199. The 199 experience, future ready, and communications is a part of the work that every employee does. So those kind words I take as a reflection on the work that all of our adults do with our kids here in the school district. So thank you, and thank you for creating the condition for that work to take place. Thanks, Dave. We'll start board comments with Member Hanson. Thanks Matt. First of all, just have to say thank you to Jody and Jason and their whole team for hosting us here in the middle school.

094We met here primarily over the course of the pandemic and I was starting to feel kind of a little lonely from being in this space. So it's nice to be back in here. So thank you very much for that. Just a couple of comments. tonight just kind of community at large um Dave talked a little bit about winter activities my dad and I were anxiously watching the state boys swimming meet over this list last week like just kind of obsessively refreshing the results of the event I'll just say well done to our Simley Boys team. They did just an incredible job at the state meet at the University of Minnesota. And although it doesn't feel like it, spring is going to actually be here before we know it, which means that organized activities that we're

095hearing through the wall might be making their way outdoors so I just would encourage members of our community to be keeping their eyes out for kids who are in organized or unorganized activities out there in the world it usually takes some getting used to this time of the year but that's all I have tonight thank you Rachel member Warwick Yeah, first off, I want to thank the buildings and ground staff for bringing that forward tonight. For staying on top of that snow removal, thank you very much to them. Secondly, of course, to Jody and Jason, thank you for your leadership here at the middle school. Yeah, you guys do a lot, you can tell. So thank you. Being in this library is wonderful. The remodeled library with all the shelving around the perimeter instead of

096right in the middle and they're really high and things. Yeah, anyway. And then the web leaders. Wow, it's just so cool to have the students here and to hear what they're doing and just how they're making a difference as well. Like Rachel said, spring is coming. Yes, it really is. It was great to see the sun today. Trimester to go this year. I wish all of the teachers and our staff energy and the patience, energy and patience that it takes for the last try. I just quickly, I was just reminded of the importance of greeting our students the other day. I've been doing a long-term position at the end of the year, and their quick orientation was with a video. And on two scenarios, of course, a student coming into school, getting on the bus

097first, and hi, you know, with lots of energy, hi, to the bus driver, and, you know, just kind of, okay, go sit down. And getting to the school, the principal is rushing and telling everybody, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, and trying to say hello and everything. And just, and then the lunchroom, he goes to the lunchroom, he doesn't have his number and, you know, the frustration that the lunch person has. And so all those scenarios and, you know, again, he's energetic with things, but, you know. So then, of course, the second scenario where everybody is greeting this student. Oh, I'm sorry, backing up. I have to say that then this kid was thinking, well, this isn't a very friendly place when he wasn't being greeted by people. Anyway, so the second scenario of course

098was everyone was getting or he was getting greeted by my people But it was just a it was a neat video for me to see like yeah Those are important and it makes or breaks a day for for somebody. So Thank you to member Lounsbury. Yes Thank you for hosting us and I I thought The student survey was very interesting to see and if I'm not mistaken the the statement that had the highest rating was I feel adults accept me and I just Kudos to your staff. And we have two children here at the middle school. And the statement of, or the challenge you, the motto you had for really getting to know students this year, I just want to give a shout out to Ms. Mamani and Ms. Consor because at conferences, they knew

099my kids. Not talking about what... they were learning in their specific subject area but they they knew my kids and i'm sure they know many other students here as well so um as sherry said in this last trimester to the students and teachers um continue continue giving your all and let's hope that the snow leaves soon and that we might even take some learning outside so thank you Thanks, Gary. Member Klingner. Yeah, thanks again to middle school admin for hosting us. Beautiful school. Shout out to them. I think the facilities, grounds, building staff, we really do have beautiful facilities. In the last two weeks I've gone on two field trips and so I think that's been very exciting the fact that our kids are getting these experiential learning opportunities and getting out there. We're really

100fortunate to live where we live and being connected by proximity to so many things but the fact that the teachers are making it happen. So went to with Salem Hills and Athenaeum staff went to the Minnesota History. Center? And then Society, and then the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. So, awesome opportunities for the kids and super grateful that they got to go. Thank you, Jake. Member Larson. As the current parents of 5th and 7th graders, this building is about to become our world next year. Already my 7th graders, I'm applying for Webb, I want to do this. But then with the 6th grader coming in, I'm like, you've got to be careful with that. So lots of excitement about incoming middle school and the next level coming in here. So always exciting to hear about what's

101going on. The goals for the achievement integration stuff just really stuck with me too. I'm really excited to see and hear how that just kind of all progresses on and just all the good things happening everywhere all the time. Thank you, Sarah. Member Pearson. Yeah, we heard some wonderful things tonight. I agree with Member Larson. The achievement goals were definitely a bright spot and something very encouraging. I feel like the presentation that I come away with reflecting on the most is those five young adults that you had present, those web leaders. The thing that really struck me about the young adults you brought in front of us tonight is the compassion. each one of them talked about their why and it was about either giving somebody something they didn't have or wanting somebody to experience

102something better than they did. And if we can get more of that into society and into we're going to be okay. We're going to be all right if we can get more of that. So I just have an immense gratitude for the job that Jody and Jason that you do. The population that you educate and care for is unique. Adolescents and middle schoolers. So thank you and kudos to what you're doing with that web program. That was really, really impactful. Thank you, Darcy. Thank you, Jody. Thank you, Jason. Appreciate the updates as always. And just want to thank you for what you do here and also bringing in the web leaders today. I think they did a great job up here explaining the program. experiences in it so and I think it's it's it's one

103thing to be told that by you of course but it's another to hear them in front of us and have them talk about their experience so thank you for arranging that and then just want to thank TJ here for this achievement and integration plan and the work that you've put into it and led here it really is a big part of you know what this district needs and Should be doing so I appreciate you for for putting that together and leading us through them Okay, the next work session is scheduled for Monday April 10th And the next regular board meeting will be held on Monday, April 24th at 5.30 p.m. And we're going to continue our tours of our schools here with our next meeting being at Pine Bend Elementary. So more information on upcoming

104board meetings can always be found on our district website. Do I have a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting tonight? Motion by Member Warwick. Second by Member Hanson. Warwick and Hanson. Thank you. Any discussion? I like asking it. All those in favor? Aye. Motion carries at 7.07 p.m. Thank you.