March 8, 2021 ISD 199 School Board Meeting

001The Monday, March 8th, 2021 Invergrove Heights Community Schools Board of Education meeting is called to order at 5.32 p.m. We are meeting virtually tonight in the district office boardroom. Board members have been given the option to attend the meeting in person or virtually tonight. Superintendent Bernardson is present at the district office. We ask that all public members in attendance wear face coverings indoors and maintain a safe distance of at least six feet from other individuals. We will continue to follow the guidance of health officials to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This meeting is being recorded. Access to the recording will be made available on the school district's website as soon as possible. Our school district's mission, is to inspire, innovate, excel, a community commitment. Board Clerk Rachel Hansen, could you please take roll call? Yeah,

002thanks, Matt. Member Schaefer? Here. Member Lonsberry? Here. Member Cardy? Here. Member Hansen? Here. Member Nordstrom? Here. Member Warwick? Here. Member Stensgaard? Here. And we have a quorum. All right. Thank you, Rachel. Will you all 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 the agenda items tonight? So moved by Nordstrom. Second by Lounsbury. Thank you. Any discussion? Board will now vote by roll call. Tracy Lout will assist by calling out board members' names throughout tonight's meeting. Tracy. Member Lounsbury. Aye. Member Nordstrom. Aye. Member Clardy. Aye. Member Stensgaard. Aye. Member Schaffer. Aye. Member Ward. Aye. Member

003Hanson. Aye. Thank you, Tracy. With seven out of seven aye votes, the motion is carried. We're going to start out our district highlights tonight with Director of Community Education, Barb Pierce, highlighting our winter activities along with Activities Director, Will Short. Who's going first tonight? I think I'm going first, Matt. All right, perfect. All right, thanks. Thanks for letting me come. It's always so fun to come to the board and let them know what our students are doing. We haven't had a whole lot of winter activities with the kids in distance learning. Our elementary enrichment opportunities were limited to take-home art kits, which we had some success with, so that was nice to be able to get kids some new things to do. But we did manage to put on a production through the Simley Theater.

004They put a radio show on. It was The Middle School Brain, and then also followed by some selected Shakespeare dialogues. The kids had a great time. It was well received. And now they're busy planning a spring play. So we will have not a musical, but a play this spring. So something to look forward to. And now I'll toss it to Will. All right. Thank you, Barb. Will? Good evening, everyone. Thanks again for having me. It's always nice to come and share what's been going on in athletics and activities with the board. Coming right out of, normally I'm at the meeting and it's... usually after my season and I've got a little time to collect myself. But as many of you are aware, we're still in season right now. None of the seasons have ended except

005for Nordic Ski. It's actually not over, but we didn't qualify anybody to state tournament. But we've had a really great year and a really great winter season in a very challenging time to be a coach and an athlete. specifically at Simley because of some of the things that I'll share tonight. But first, Tracy, why don't you go to the next slide there? Our Newark ski team had a really nice year. Coach Anderson had a great job. He had weekly updates for his parents that I was copying on. He was always keeping people informed and really did a great job of getting the kids the best possible experience he could give them. We had three all-conference honorable mentions in Nathan Schauer, Abby Lindquist, and Ellie Johnson. Lots of the kids, as you can see in what

006Heath wrote, one of the things I asked the coaches was, share something with the board that you felt was at least difficult or hard to be a coach or an athlete during the pandemic. And he shared that several of the students on the team expressed feelings of being overwhelmed by online learning and isolation of COVID. Thus, this year's many students and families expressed how grateful. They were for the opportunity to gauge in the activity that builds both an athleticism and supports social and emotional well-being more than ever. I understand the power of what we do for our students and co-curricular activities. Both the boys and girls teams also earned academic All-State. Kirsten Fitchback, Brett and Grayson earned individual academic All-State honors by maintaining a 3.9 or higher GPA. This is all going on while they

007were a part of Nordic Ski and going through COVID and distance learning, which is a challenge for many. And not so much a challenge for all, but a challenge for many. I think he sums up what all of the coaches would have expressed in that this was a social and emotional outfit for athletes to get back to what they love to do. And, and boy, I tell you, they've worked hard to be in their pods and, and follow COVID protocol and make sure that they're wearing their mask and doing what they need to do throughout their events. And so great job by the Nordic ski team and Heath Anderson. The gymnastics team coached by Dina Walsh and Andrea Youngdahl. And let me just go on record saying that this is a outstanding team. They have

008sections coming up. And last year they qualified five gymnasts to the state tournament. They were the section academic champs again this year, which obviously they've already calibrated the GPAs. And we will also have many gymnasts to qualify for all section team and all conference. And Dina wrote that her greatest challenge in the pandemic probably had nothing to do with the pandemic, but the fact that our main gym floor was, oh, excuse me. I'm so sorry. Our main gym floor was exposed to water over the Christmas break. And the gymnastics team had to share their, really their area, which is really kind of just set aside for them. We do use it for basketball, but we had to have games in there so that our basketball teams could be in there. And it really put a

009strain on the coaches and the athletes having basketball and buzzers and things going off while they were in practice. The coaches always in a situation where they were worried about their equipment. And I know that the coaches have expressed to me that they didn't feel I did the best job of taking care of their equipment. And I did what I could. And I talked a lot with our basketball coaches and what we need to do to take care of their equipment. It is expensive equipment. And we did do a good job. But, you know, there's always we can always do more and we can always be a little bit better. It was a challenge and it was a challenge for both the gymnasts and the basketball players to share that space because of our our

010situation in main gym. We do not have another space in which we can hold events. So it was a very challenging year and it's been a very challenging year and we're not done. We have basketball this week in there a couple of times this week, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and the gymnasts are trying to train for sections. So it is difficult and it has been difficult, but a lot of credit to the coaches and the staff of getting the girls the best possible experience they could have and getting them ready for sections. I'm girls hockey, Tom Patteno. Now, again, we're working with Vets Arena. And Vets Arena and Simley have had a great partnership. If you follow hockey at all, you know that when we first started the program in an effort to broadcast or

011what we call boxcasting is a program that we got sponsored by T-Mobile as a athletic. I spoke about this in the fall as an athletic program. The boxcast needs a very good Wi-Fi support or it needs to have an Ethernet system that will work with our system. And when we first started going over to vets, that was very challenging. We could not make it work. And despite test after test, and we try it one in the afternoon, it would work. And then the game would start and we couldn't get it to work. And so it was, it got challenging and the vets and the guys over there really got together with me and we were able to solve that situation. And now we had Doug Woog do the game last night or Saturday night with

012the girls, South St. Paul game. And that was a lot of fun to listen to him talk about the game. And we've been live streaming every game all year, the best that we could with limited budget and limited staff. You know, I've had Paul Renslow and Keith Carlson. I have to thank them. They've been doing the box cast announcing for me. They know hockey better than I do. And they've done a great job. The girls team right now is seven, six, and two. Their captains are Zoe Bouton, Kate Carlson, Callie Gustafson. Their sections start next Monday on the 15th. Their academic all-conference and their all-conference meetings will happen this week. And so we'll know a little bit more about wards and things that... are going on with the girls team, but a really close game

013with South St. Paul. They'll probably go into sections as, as a slight underdog, but with a team, with a chance, you know, South St. Paul would be the one seed gentry to us three. We just played them two, one. I think they've got a very good shot and they they're hopeful for a state tournament bid. So they're playing hard and the girls are doing a great job. Boys hockey coach Kreiser. I got to tell you, I, you know, lots of my coaches have done a good job. They really have during, during this pandemic, but coach Chrysler's his ability to work with his guys and to get them to do what they need to do to follow protocol and have a great season has been, has been really good. He's done a great job of communicating

014with his parents and his athletes and getting them the information they need for all of the, every place we go has different requirements. And can we get in the locker room? Can we not get in the locker room? What do we do with buses? What time can we get there? And every protocol has to be different for every place that we go. So he's done a great job. And he said, he talked about the administrative challenges. of coaching during COVID, contact tracing, schedule change, bus charts, continuous reminders of masking up, scheduling away games due to each rink having different protocols. And then he talks about the fact that because he can't spend time in the locker room with the guys, that the relationship building piece is tough because... If you're not, remember, he's not a

015teacher, so he doesn't get to see them online and in Zoom. So that's where the locker room is, where you get to know your kids and you get to get into their lives and really get make an impact. And he really misses that part of his coaching this year. But the guys are playing really well. They've won a couple of games in a row and they're and they're very competitive boys hockey team. We play and obviously we all know we play in the toughest conference. in boys hockey in the state of Minnesota with St. Thomas, Hill, Murray, Matamedi. It's very difficult. And so they're rolling into sections with a lot of momentum. And Coach Kreiser's got high hopes for what they can do at the end of the year. The girls basketball team's under first

016year head coach Ed Cassidy. First year head coach as assembly girls head coach. Ed Cassidy's been coaching for over 30 years. He is a veteran coach. He's an outstanding coach. He's well-respected across the state. All of you know that we had the outstanding year last year. And obviously the girls playing all the way to the state tournament third and fourth place game. And we lost four starters. And this team has made steady improvement throughout the year, continually improving. Their scores, they lost to Hastings early, got within six of them. They beat Matamidai recently. They're playing better basketball, and they're peaking toward the end of the year here. And despite having a lot of games canceled, obviously you can see they've only played 12 games. They've got a couple left. So they won't get near what

017we thought they would get for the year. But the girls are playing well, and they're improving, and Ed's done a really nice job of being a calming force. for a girls basketball program. And he's been a veteran coach who we've been able to rely on to get things done with the girls. He wrote, you know, the ever-changing practice times and game schedules, dealing with not having enough, not having the main gym. And then for use and that essential, he talks about relationships as well. And developing team bonding activities off the court is a challenge when you can't get the kids together for more than 15 minutes. And that gets to be a struggle for our coaches because they thrive on the relationships of activities as well, much like the kids do. Next slide, please. Our

018boys basketball team has been quarantined the most. Two different times this year, they were stuck in quarantine and were not allowed to play. So you can see that they've only got 10 games in. They've had steady improvement throughout the season. They just beat Matamida on Saturday, and that was after losing to Matamida earlier in the year. Obviously, Isaiah has obviously sharing spaces and changing his schedule. On Thursday, we were supposed to play the Math and Science Academy on Saturday. They came down with a positive case. We got canceled. We found another team, Metro College Prep, which is a Minneapolis school. They were going to come in on Saturday and Friday night. They canceled on us. So on two nights, we had two different teams, and we had to cancel them both. We ended up not

019getting a game. So the kids are doing great. Brayton Weisman and I should have said Chomp Dancer are both very close to getting a thousand points in their career. And so those are things we're hoping we can get them to by giving them enough games to have the opportunity to do it. And then, of course, we're going to start here in sections very soon. Unfortunately, we will not be able to host section boys and girls basketball games and they'll have to play on the road for the rest of the way because of our gym situation. Next slide, please. The wrestling team, obviously we're having an outstanding year and we've gotten plenty of coverage and plenty of press. So I don't need to spend a lot of time on us right now. We're currently 22 and

020all ranked number one in the state and number two in the nation. We're the number one public school in the United States. We've won the Metro East Conference. We have 12 individual all-conference wrestlers. We have a 3.51 section team GPA. We had seven wrestlers nominated for academic all-state, and our section team is this week. I put that picture on there for wrestling because that's the group of seniors that are anchoring this incredible. wrestling program and wrestling team that we have. Ryan Sokol, Reed Nelson, Cale Berg, Bennett Tabor, and K and Short and that's Marshall Spahala and not pictured as Jesse Cunabo. And those seven seniors have been with me for a long time since a lot of them when they're six years old. So really proud of this group of guys and we're excited about

021the end of the year. Next slide please. The boys swim and dive team. Lynn is extremely ecstatic. We are six and one on the season in the conference and we are the co-conference champs. We beat Hastings. Hastings beat St. Thomas. St. Thomas beat us. So it was a three-way tie for the conference championship. We have 10 athletes in boys swim and dive that are named all conference. And as a team, we are seated first going into sections this Wednesday and Thursday. And we have two athletes. Two athletes seated first at sections. Many athletes already made state cuts, which means we've already qualified athletes to the state tournament. We have one returning state champ, 11th grader Nico Lazinski, and he has the best time in the state this season and hopes to defend a state title

022on March 20th. Lynn, again, has done an exceptional job with her team, working with the Grove. That picture is not from this year, by the way. That's from last year. As you can see, there was no mask in that picture. Lynn has done a great job of abiding by the growth protocols like Tanya did and making sure that her swimmers have been safe and put themselves in a situation to swim all the way through our state tournament. Next slide, please. And the girls dance team. Boy, I'm so proud of these girls. I don't know if you remember, they started right away in a lockdown. And so they missed a portion of their season. Remember that their season started before we went into distance learning. So Julie had to start in distance learning and Zoom teaching

023dance. And we had lots of conversations about how difficult it is to teach a dance team from Zoom. But she did it. And then when we came back to in-person coaching in January, she was able to get the girls back in. They came out of their first COVID shutdown and they didn't get to, they didn't get to participate in the first conference meet. And by the second conference meet, they were first in jazz, second in high kick. And then in the third conference meet, they won both and they became the overall Metro East Conference champions. You can see they have an academic all-state team of a GPA of 3.33. They have an all-state team, Taylor Plenty, Molly Wilhelmsen, and Katie Honchel. And they are dancing this weekend. They just had their section tournament this last

024week. They qualified in both high kick and jazz. And so at 5 p.m. on Friday, that's when they report. We don't know exactly when they'll go on the floor, but they will be able to dance their state tournament dance for jazz. And then on Saturday, they'll be dancing their high kick sometime after 7.40 p.m. in Edina. You can live stream. Those, you have to go through the state high school league website to do that. And so if you want to watch our girls from home, you can watch the girls dance team perform at the state tournament this year, which is outstanding. I do believe there is a cost for the live stream for the dance team though. So that is where we're at. Just one other highlight. We have selected our Athena female athlete of

025the year. It is Zoe Bouton. Zoe is a standout all-state soccer player. She has been a couple of time all-conference hockey player. She's been in the state tournament and track. She's a three sport. She's an outstanding Athena award winner for us. And we're very proud of Zoe Bouton. She will represent Simley very well at the Athena celebration that will happen mid-April. And that will be, the Athena winners will be the only ones in attendance for that meeting or for that. banquet and everything else will be live streamed, which you could watch that if you chose to go to the Athena website, St. Paul Athena, and you could get the live stream for that as well, which is a lot of fun. If you've never been to a, an Athena award banquet, it is, is really

026impressive. It's really inspiring to hear what these young ladies do and what they've accomplished throughout their careers. That's it for the slides right at this point. And I just want to say again, how amazing the coaches have been and how really diligent the athletes have been. This has not been an easy thing to do. And we've got a couple of weeks left here. We've got tournaments just starting. And I know there's some, there's some anxiety just so you just. being aware there's some anxiety with coaches and athletes because there have been a lot of programs if you've been following the paper that have been exposed to COVID and had been forced into shutdowns and at this time of the year with so much riding on the line for the athletes. there's a lot of anxiety

027about exposures. And so the kids are doing a great job. The coaches are doing a great job to give the kids the best possible chance we have. And we're just going to cross our fingers and hope we get through the finish line here and into our spring break with our athletes getting the best opportunity they can. Does anybody have any questions for me? I actually have one for you, Will. Talk. If you wouldn't mind indulging me, talk a little bit about the experience of wrestling on the stage in the theater. Well, I can tell you. I have, as you, as I said earlier, I had a special group and I had a, had a group of seniors that really deserved to be wrestling at some of the national tournaments that we usually attend that are

028bordering States, but we can get to a national tournament when we, when we couldn't do that. You know, I thought, well, it's going to be normally. And then when the gym went down and we started talking about what could we do? And the fact that the one act plays were not doing a stage this year. And we had a stage that's big enough now to have a wrestling mat on it. We did do, we built a little corner of the stage so that the mat corner, which would be the out of bounds area on the edge of the stage, a couple of my dads put it in there. And let me tell you, it has made the senior year for those kids. We got a light show. We got music. My brother, Wade, came in.

029And of course, Wade has very good experience from running his dance competitions there. And so we had a tech person built right into our program. And man, was it a lot of fun. And the young guys, I can't tell you enough how excited they've been to be wrestling on the stage and the teams that we wrestled against. We had Stillwater and Cass and two of the top programs in the state and they just had a blast. They didn't love that they didn't win because they didn't win the matches, but they really enjoyed their experience. And so everybody that's come over here to wrestle, they've had a great time. I can't say enough about how much we love doing it. Now, I know that it's probably a one and done year because the one act stage

030will be up. And of course, I would never pull that stage down for a wrestling match, but it was a lot of fun this year. And thank goodness we were able to do that because we were allowed to have home meets. It would have been very difficult for us to do what we did, trying to use the gyms that we have. It just wouldn't have worked. Yeah, no, the whole concept was, I thought, pretty awesome that we were, you know, using our facilities efficiently. Yes, we were. We were. We got a lot out of the Performance Arts Center this year. Good. Any other questions for Will? Comments? Matt, I'd just like to make a comment and thank Will for the manner that he's consistently adjusted. And sometimes we say in a classroom, you have to

031adjust minute by minute. hour by hour, day by day. And Will's been doing that every day because every day brings a new adventure. It brings a new adventure as far as scheduling facilities, a new adventure as far as trying to figure out who's in, who's out as far as competition goes. Also becoming a production manager now for live stream at the same time and making those opportunities available to people, not only here, but... anywhere that wants to watch those games. So we'll just want to thank you for the manner that you've gone about it with a lot of positivity and a lot of looking at it and saying, hey, we got to make this happen because our student athletes deserve this and they deserve to have the best opportunity they can, even in the time

032of COVID, even in the time of not having a main gym, you did the best and helped to do the best you could along with coaches so our kids could have the best opportunity possible. So thank you. Thanks, Dave. That was nice. Thank you. All right. Any other questions, comments for Will or Barb at this point? Actually, I got one quick question for Barb. You mentioned that the spring is going to be a play and not a radio show. So that infers that in person? Yes, it will be in person. So, and sneak peek at the selection. It is called Bad Auditions by Bad Actors. A comedy. So, it should be great. Awesome. Awesome. All right. Any other comments, questions? Okay. Thank you, Barb, and appreciate the updates. Thank you. moving on the board was

033not noted or was notified that no one has signed up for any non agenda items this evening. So we'll move on to consent agenda. And so with the consent agenda, do I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda this evening? So moved. Since Dunsguard. Second by member Warwick. Thank you. Any discussion? Board will now vote by roll call. Tracy. Member Nordstrom. Aye. Member Clardy. Aye. Member Stensgaard. Aye. Member Schaefer. Aye. Member Wark. Aye. Member Hanson. Aye. Member Lonsberry. Aye. Thank you, Tracy. With seven out of seven aye votes, the motion is carried. On the screen, we have our list of donations to the school district this past month. Your generosity and support of the schools and the school community is very much appreciated as they do make quite the difference for

034our students and our staff. And so appreciate it very much. Thank you. Moving on to our information items for the night. We do have Principal Jody Wendell sharing an update on Invergrove Heights Middle School. And I believe I saw Vice Principal Jason Voss there as well. He is. All right, Jody, the floor is yours. Thanks, Matt. Thanks, everybody. Good to see all of you. Had you asked me, I'm sure you've heard this a million times, but had you asked me a year ago, would I be presenting to the school board from my family room? I would have thought you were crazy, but here I am in my family room. So just I am excited to kind of share what's been going on in the middle school the past year and kind of what we're thinking

035and hoping for for the next year. I do want to make a quick introduction. So yes, Jason Voss is with us, but also with us tonight is Andrea Norberg. She is, if you can see her on your screen, she's waving at you. Andrea is one of our math teachers in the middle school, a fantastic teacher in the middle school, and she is currently working on her administrative license. So she's going to be working with us doing some things with the high school, elementary to get her admin license. So she is joining us tonight as an observer. So glad you could be here, Andrea. So Tracy, am I driving the bus or are you? Yes, I give you sharing rights to do your presentation. Okay, thank you. There we go. So I did say welcome to

036the middle school, but clearly we're not in the middle school tonight, but we are excited to have this opportunity to talk with all of you. All right, my question is, how do I get it to go to the next screen? My arrows aren't working. Do I have to take it out of present mode? Exit full screen. All right. So let's, now I got kicked out. So give me one minute. Sorry. I don't know why that did that. Okay. I'll try it again, but maybe I can't be in full screen. So that might just be how we have to go tonight. Okay. So I'll just leave it in this mode. Does everybody see it? Okay. Okay. Thank you. I can't see anybody right now. So we just want to quickly just kind of remind everybody the

037mission that we have in the middle school. And that vision is to create a learning environment that provides for high student achievement. So as all learners are academically and socially prepared for lifelong learning. And then our mission statement is really to help every child reach their full potential. We really in the middle school, and I'm going to talk about this here in just a minute, but we really believe that the whole child's development of personal, social, physical, and academic skill is crucial for the success in life. So our goal is to prepare all of our students to be career and college ready. So one, oh, and then our guiding principles. We developed these a few years ago with the staff as we felt like we just kind of were going in different directions and we

038kind of needed to ground ourselves on where we are and what we believe in our building as the adults in the building. So the first and probably the most important one on that list is that the needs of each student come first. That has been something that has been driving me since I went back into the middle school many years ago. We will meet those needs through purposeful collaboration. We combine the wisdom of one's peers is greater than any one individual. And we use that teamwork approach. We share our insights, take a collective interest in each student's educational growth, along with each other's professional growth. So it's about our students, but it's also about how can we get better as the adults. This is a slide that we share every spring. We just shared it

039every winter. I guess we're still in winter. Every winter with our fifth grade parents. And I thought it was just a good slide to add tonight, just so we can kind of, again, kind of go back to those things that I mentioned before in our guiding principles. But what does it mean to be in middle school? Most of us, as we've said in many presentations before, most of us would never go back to middle school. for anything in the world. It was not a great experience for many of us. Just is an awkward, difficult time for lots and lots of reasons for so many of us. But so we, knowing that we are a middle school, that we really believe that these are kind of the four areas that we have to work on. And

040sometimes it's hard because we have some some fixed mindset sometimes that it's always about the academics. And while those are important, the top two especially are very, very important to helping our middle schoolers make that transition from elementary to middle school to high school and beyond. So again, we focus on the social emotional development, and this is even more so this school year. And we'll talk about that here in a little bit, but we really focus on that social emotional development. and really support the students through all the ups and downs that come with middle school, adolescence, changing of friends. It's quite an emotional time. So we really spend quite a bit of time on the social emotional part. We really were focused on those core life skills. So really teaching students how to communicate,

041how to problem solve, collaborate, persevere through challenges. building relationships, advocating for themselves, setting goals for themselves. Just because they're 11, 12, 13 year olds doesn't mean that they can't be doing all of those things. So on top of the math curriculum and the science curriculum and the English curriculum, these are things that we are focused on and weaving into our daily practice in the middle school. And then of course, we are career and college ready. That is something that we are getting our students to think about. Never in a million years do we ever say to a student, you need to figure out what college or you need to figure out what major you're going to have in middle school. That's not what we do. We're setting that foundation. Like what are some of the

042interests that you have? What kind of learning style do you have? What is GPA and what does that mean? And how does it get calculated? And what is that going to do for you when you get in high school and then beyond? We start to look at careers just to give kids some broad, general information to get them thinking about it. This is so important. And then, of course, the academics. So those are the kind of the four areas that we focus in on in the middle school. So this year we had a set of goals, as we all do in our buildings, but we had to kind of shift a little bit. So the next couple of slides just kind of talk about the goals that we've had for 2020-21. And then we've kind

043of added to them. So I'm going to kind of go through them. each one here just for the next couple of minutes. But the first thing that I wanted to talk about tonight was our equity work. So we, of course, and we'll show you some data here in a little bit, but we know that our students, our students of color are at a lesser rate of success in our building. And it's something that we have been talking about and trying to figure out ways to find that equity, find that culturally relevant curriculum and teaching that we need to find to make sure that all of our students can succeed in our building. And then with the murder of George Floyd in May. our building kind of, it took off from there. It was kind of

044that for us, it was that spark that we needed. And then we had some amazing teachers. who literally contacted us and said, this is what we want to do. So the equity work in our building really has come from the teachers, the counselors, from those folks. Jason and I are there absolutely every step of the way, but really this has been... a grassroots effort in our building. And I am so proud of so many teachers who stepped up. Our first equity team meetings over the summer were total voluntary and there were 20 plus people who were coming in the summer to talk about the equity work that needed to happen in our building. And one of the first things that we did as an equity team is we kind of wrote what our mission was

045and what our goals were. And we landed on that we will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or racism from students or adults. We felt it was very important as we are part of our school community as the adults that when we're talking about discrimination, harassment, and racism, it's got to be from the 11-year-olds that walk into our building to the 50-plus-year-old people who are in our buildings every day. And then we came up with three. kind of big goals around inclusive climate and culture. And that is everyone is treated equitably and with dignity. Everyone feels seen, heard, welcomed. Again, those are students and adults who either visit our building or who come to our building every single day. And that we wanted to be anti-racist teachers. So we have been working through A couple of different

046things. One is called BARWE. It stands for Building Anti-Racist White Educators. And we've had a group of teachers who have led that work. And again, this is all voluntary. So we spent time going through some different lessons, 30-day challenge in BARWE, just really kind of getting us to be kind of grounded on where we were. as white educators and where we needed to be. The next thing that we've been really focusing on is trauma and equity professional development. So at each of our weekly staff meetings, one of our counselors or student success coach kind of take some time around trauma and what does trauma look like? What does trauma feel like for students? What does it, how does it come out? in a classroom or in a school setting? And then what kind of professional

047development do we need to better help our students through the trauma that they're experiencing or the discrimination, harassment, or racism that they might be experiencing? So we really have spent a lot of intentional time this year, and that work will continue. to really make sure that we are looking at that trauma and equity professional development for our staff. And then we have just recently developed a partnership with Inver Hills Community College with their equity folks that are kind of leading the work over there. They have a vice president of equity and we are partnering with him. He is going to be just an amazing resource. when it comes to working with our student groups. And that's the kind of the second thing down here on our list. But he's going to be working with our

048student groups to really make sure that we are hearing our student voices. So we have a group called Students for Change, which is formerly known as Student Council. So they still have kind of student council type responsibilities and goals that they have, but they're also for hearing their peers and being those kind of change agents from that grassroots effort from the student's perspective. So really listening to their peers and what kinds of things do they see. as things that need to be changed or improved within our building. So we're excited to be working with them. And then we have a Students for Color leadership group. This started a couple of years ago, and they are growing every year. Of course, this year, everything's been a little bit of a challenge. All of our meetings have

049been through Zoom for these groups. But they're just doing a lot of talking and work around equity. So the partnership with Inver Hills has been where they are going to be meeting. And I think they've already met with our students once. They're going to be working with the Students of Color Leadership Group from the high school. They're going to be getting our students together with the high school students. They're going to be doing some. professional development for staff. So it's just an amazing opportunity. We are so incredibly blessed to have Ember Hills in our backyard for a lot of reasons. And I'll talk about another reason here in just a minute, but we are very, very excited with that partnership to really kind of help us keep going in our equity journey in the middle

050school. And then under how to hear student voice, I also included a school newspaper. This again came from two teachers, a teacher and a counselor who said, man, it'd be great if we had a way for students to share their voice. So they said, can we do this? We'll do it for free. We'll volunteer our time. And I said, sure. So they did. So I'm just going to real quickly, I haven't linked here, hopefully it will work. But this was the March edition. And this one, they collaborated with our art teachers. to really kind of the theme of this edition was photojournalist perspective on my COVID life. So they wrote, some of the students will write articles, some of them will actually do the artwork. So you can see all of these students. Now the

051last two columns are mostly staff, not all staff, but mostly staff, but you can see how many students. have taken up the opportunity to get involved in our school newspaper. It's just been amazing to see. So it's super fun. So I'm just going to, again, real quickly scroll through. This is one of our students' artwork, Zoe Diaz. Amazing. She is going to be heading up to the high school fairly soon. And just going to do amazing things. Some staff got involved in the fun. Just kind of what did COVID life mean to, here's an example. I think this is the teachers, but it could be a student. Just amazing things, amazing artwork, and more amazing stories that get told. This is a picture of the support table down in the cafeteria that we'll talk about

052here in just a minute that's been happening. Rick Olson showed kind of what his outward outlook is when it comes to COVID and just Jill Saris learned how to play the cello. So just some fun things. But the students really got involved in so much of this newspaper. It's just been super fun, super fun to see. Go, let me go back. Now I have to stop sharing. Sorry. There we go. Okay. So as I mentioned earlier, some of our goals kind of got flipped on their heads. This year, and one thing that we had to quickly do. Starting last March, when our students went into full lockdown like the rest of us, we needed those digital tools. We needed PD around how to really do kind of flipped classroom models when our students were either

053in hybrid or in distance learning and they had their teachers available to them just once a week. So just an amazing job. of getting the tools that we needed to our families and then the professional development to our teachers was just, it was an amazing feat. That's for sure. Then keep going with our goals. Our next goal was all around AVID. You've heard me talk about AVID now for many, many years, and we just were continuing our works. So many things, unfortunately, did take, kind of got pushed to the backseat a little bit, which is no one's fault. It just was what it was this year. when we are in COVID and really needed to focus on hybrid and distance learning and digital tools and digital curriculum, things like that. So our work still continues.

054We still meet. We're still talking about our WICR strategies and how to get our most rigorous curriculum in front of our students. The AVID team's goal for this year is to start looking at our grading practices. And we'll kind of show you a little bit about what I mean here in just a minute. But they're kind of starting that work for us. The equity team is talking about grading as well. And the AVID team is talking about grading and how can we be more equitable in our grading practices in the middle school. We developed, I may have told you about it last year, last March when, or last year when we presented, but we developed a partnership with the Inver Hills Community College's education program. So this year it's been a feat for sure, but

055this year our avid tutors have come from the kind of education 101 course over at Inver Hills and their teacher preparation program. So it was, they come in through Zoom and still try to do the tutorials and the AVID tutor type responsibilities that they have with our AVID classes, 7-12. So it's been a great partnership and we look forward to continuing that partnership with Ember Hills over the next few years. And hopefully we'll see some of those education students from Ember Hills come on our way for student teaching and possibly for positions later on down the road. And then lastly that I'll talk about here under AVID is just our national demonstration status. You know, back in 2018, March of 2018, we went through an extensive process of being called, become a national demonstration school,

056which at the time I believe we were only one of 10 schools in the state of Minnesota that had that distinction. So we were very, very proud. We were up for revalidation this year, but AVID Central said we're giving everybody a bye year because of COVID, since we weren't able to do any of the in-person types of things that we normally do. So we will be up for revalidation here in 21-22. So we're excited to kind of get refocused back. on that work too. I've already mentioned kind of the hybrid and distance learning and all that went into to that. Then our goal was always to continue working through the platform called Schoology. This year, though, or starting in March, and then this school year, last March, starting to this school year, we actually kind

057of essentially pushed every single teacher into the deep end of the pool. We gave them some life rafts and support along the way, but they were pushed in, and we are 100%. using Schoology. It was supposed to be a little bit more of another year phase-in plan, but with Caroline's help and others' help, we just pushed them in and said, we got to do this for our families. So it is really that one-stop shop now for families and students. In our building, we have consistent school-wide practices, so all the pages in Schoology should look very similar. where students find materials, where families can find materials. So we've really tried to create those school-wide practices to make it even more user-friendly for parents because we were kind of all over the place last spring and we

058heard feedback from families that we needed to be more streamlined and have some consistency between classes. So that is what we did. And then lastly, our last goal was still continuing our work with Cary, the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement through the University of Minnesota. That too kind of took a backseat since they weren't able to send over. The person that we work with, her name is Laura. We haven't been able to see each other face-to-face, but we've had several Zoom meetings over the course of this year. So we are still partnering with them. It's just looking a little different this year, but we will be doing kind of those recalibration kind of efforts and really looking at what we're doing. And part of how we do that is we do student surveys.

059So we'll be doing that in April. We will do some staff interviews. They hopefully, but I doubt, I'm sure it'll be all through Zoom, but they will be interviewing one-on-one different teachers who have been very directly involved kind of in the recalibration efforts and the advanced option efforts. So they will be doing staff interviews here in April. And then they put together a report. We send them all this information, a lot of data. They'll take the student surveys, they'll take the staff interviews, and then they put some recommendations in place for us. So TJ and I usually get to see that later in the summer. And then we can kind of make some plans as to what is that work going to look like for next year. Because we know that, again, that was another

060area that kind of got pushed to the backseat a little bit. So we know we have to get refocused on that this spring and over the summer so we can kind of hit the ground running next year. So current enrollment, we thought we'd just give you a very quick snapshot and a big, huge thank you to Andrea Norberg for making my very boring looking PowerPoint look so much better. I'm just not that creative and she certainly is. So big thank you to Andrea for her help on this PowerPoint. But as of today, or a couple days ago, we had 547 students in our hybrid model. We had a little over 200 students, 218 students in our 199 online model for a total of 766 students. So you can see about 20, just under 29% of

061our families have chosen the online option for their child this school year. So this is from, this I found very interesting. This is from the state of Minnesota's report card for the middle school with our demographic breakdown. And as of October 1, 2020, they said we had 767 students. Well, the other day we had 766. So that was a good thing to me that we haven't lost too many. It seemed like at times we were losing a lot of kids, but then, you know, we've been getting, we've had another one get enrolled just today. So luckily we're bringing some students back into our building, but you can kind of see our breakdown. White students still make up about 45% where Hispanic Latina students are 20 just about 30% of our students and then you can

062see black and African Americans make up just under 12. And then the rest of our demographics. So we thought we would, and I know that Simley had kind of done something similar. So we kind of took their lead and wanted to show you a little bit of comparing one year to the other. And we know that the end of 2019, 2020, and this whole school year, it's been, it's been a challenge for. school districts, for buildings, for teachers, for families, for students. So we recognize that our data isn't going to look as good as we would want it to look. But nonetheless, we wanted to kind of share our data with you. So this column on the left, or the columns, excuse me, on the left are trimester one pre-pandemic. So we kind of wanted

063to compare trimester one in the non-pandemic year to trimester one in a pandemic year. So you can see we had about 30% of our students who had one or more Fs on their report card. So you can kind of see by grade level. how those all shook out. And then in the blue columns to the right is trimester one here of this year. So we had to separate it out because of hybrid and online. So we kind of separated it out a little bit. So we had an average of about 42% of our students had one F on their report card at the end of trimester one. So definitely an increase. from the year before. Here's the breakdown by race from 1920 to 2021. So you can kind of see our online students, as I

064think anybody could have predicted early on in this pandemic, that our online students are definitely struggling the most with about 51%. And then here is Three or more. So this number naturally is smaller, but it's still not where we want it to be. After trimester one comparing 2019-20, we had about 9% of our students, sorry, that should say three or more, Fs on their report card. Then in the blue columns, trimester one from this year, percent with three or more Fs, and you can see that it increased greatly all across the board. So hybrid, it was about 19.5% of our students. Online was about 34% of our students. And then a total or an average between the two groups of about 24%, so a significant increase. during the pandemic. So we just started, Jason and

065I and a little help from Andrea, just started to brainstorm like why, you know, and there's not one thing that you can point to. There's a lot of things that we can point to. You know, one thing we listed was just kind of lack of a student engagement. And it's sometimes not by choice of a lack of engagement or participation. Sometimes there's other things going on in the home that we have no idea about. So they're just, unfortunately, more online students than hybrid students. They're just not engaging. They're not doing their work for whatever reason. This year, more than ever, you know that no personal connection with the teachers or their classmates. The hybrid kids at least had a couple of months where they got to know their teacher face to face and got to

066know their classmates a little bit, but the online students haven't. And honestly, we had a teacher share with us the other day. She has never seen her students this year without a mask. She wouldn't know necessarily what they look like because we're always all in masks. So that the personal connection we think is another reason why we're seeing the results. So there's little to no FaceTime. They won't turn their cameras on. And we get it. We get that there can be a lot of chaos or a lot of things going on in the home. So they don't want to turn their cameras on. They're unwilling to talk. They won't unmute. They're just that lack of trust or that fear because they just really don't know the people who they are interacting with through a Zoom

067class. there for the online kids there's no advisory teacher and that was something that we talked a lot about when we were going into this year but just could not figure out how to make it it work now we've had some advisor teachers who have said to their online kids come on into my advisor so if we could go back and do something different that obviously would be something that we would do different Just the lack is kind of well talked about. The high school's been able to do some sports, but we really haven't had any sports, no groups, no clubs, no targeted services, nothing in the middle school. So just really that disconnect from the building too. And then teachers, just a lack of control in a Zoom class is different. than the control

068that they have when they're actually face-to-face with their students or they know what to expect with technology, with Zoom, with Zoom bombers, with all of those things. You just can never, ever predict what's going to happen during a Zoom class. So it's, that's been, that's been a challenge for teachers. And then just, as I've said, the anxiety, the stress in home, the stress with medical conditions of why they can't come to school. Students have no support during the day because their parents are working. So I don't know about you, but not very many 11, 12, 13, 14 year olds that I know of. We're really that kind of self-motivated, like I'm going to do school. I'm going to get on at 830 and I'm going to be there until 320. And, you know, most middle

069schoolers just don't operate like that. So it's been, it's been very tough, very tough for our students. And then we did break the. information down by race as well. And you can see that our Hispanic Latina students are leading, unfortunately, the three or more F or no credit in our building, followed by white students, Black students, pretty much in all, in both hybrid and online. our Hispanic and Latino students are failing at a higher rate. So those are definitely some of the things that we are talking about in our equity team, in our AVID team, as administrators, those are the things that we are talking about. What do we need to keep focusing on and doing different to better support our Hispanic and Latino and Black students and all students. So just my last couple

070of slides here, supporting students during distance learning. I had to absolutely take this opportunity to acknowledge all the folks who have just gone above and beyond. And of course, teachers every day. They are Zooming morning, day, night, weekends. constant. So teachers, of course, we know have been supporting students, but there's a lot of people behind the scenes that don't always get that recognition. So I just wanted to be very intentional and take that time real quickly tonight. Ben Kissling and Karen Pimentel are two of our staff members who Ben came and said, hey, this is what I want to do when we go into distance learning. I want to create a space. to bring kids to school and help them. He tried, he and Karen tried when we first went into distance learning in the

071fall to go out into the community. and was able to help some kids. They were able to get to the different locations throughout the community, but it just, we weren't serving enough kids. So, and then once it got cold out, we needed to bring the kids inside. So Ben and Karen put together a plan. So four days a week, since we've been in distance learning, they are in our cafeteria with a morning shift and an afternoon shift helping students. And they have seen a lot of successes, a lot of smiles, a lot of self pride in the kids who are coming and getting so much work done. It's been awesome. Food service, man, did they step up. When they saw that we were in the cafeteria every day, they said, hey, we can feed the

072kids. So food service said, let us help. So they bring breakfast and lunch out to our kids. So the kids who are there in the morning get breakfast and then they can take lunch to go. The kids who go in the afternoon can get there and have lunch while they're working with Ben and Karen. So it has just been awesome. Food service was amazing in helping feed our students on top of getting food out to other buildings and throughout the community. Technology, Leslie Foster-Holtz and Caroline and the tech team have been so supportive, not just with the devices, but with the professional development and problem solving. Helping parents who just needed a little bit more help on how to use Schoology or how to use Zoom or what to expect in a class. So the

073whole technology team has just been amazing. I mentioned it, dedicated teachers, long hours, prepping, engaging lessons and supporting students. Paraprofessionals, I have to say my eyes were opened a couple of months ago with how much above and beyond our paras were going. I had no idea. I thought they were kind of doing some Zooms and one-on-ones with students and they are doing those things. But let me tell you, some of our paras had to go way above and beyond to support their students and what they needed while they were home. So just, I... huge thank you to our paraprofessionals for everything that they have done for our students and for our staff. The office staff, Jen Moynihan is there every day, bless her heart. Helen is there every day. Denise is going in, just working

074in the building to support the families, answering those calls, getting to parents or to students or families to where they needed to be to get the support that they needed. So just a huge thank you to those ladies. Vicki, our nurse, trying to help keep us safe when we were in building and then educating us around COVID and safe practices during those really anxious times. Helping us once we were able to start getting the vaccinations, helping us with figuring all of that out and answering questions. at night and on weekends of teachers who are just very anxious around it. So just a huge thank you to her. The counselors really focused on the mental health of our students and staff. They saw their role expand this year and really not just working with the students

075and their mental health, but the adults. So huge thank you to Jess and Janelle. And then Ashley, our social worker, really coordinating those local supports for families. has been instrumental in getting parents and families the help and support and the resources that they need to help their children. So what did we learn? Well, these are three things that we can kind of come up, but these were valuable times that Nobody ever wants to say there was anything good during the pandemic, but there were some things that are good that could come from it. And those were our family connections times that we did in the fall. I think we're going to be replicating that this fall was an amazing time. Teachers absolutely loved the one-on-one conversations that they were able to have with parents and

076with students in the class presentations that we did. So we're going to continue that. Conferences we quickly learned. that parents don't have to come into the building to have a face-to-face conversation with teachers during conferences. So we can see in the fall, going back to giving parents choice, Zoom or in-person conferences. So again, trying to just better meet the needs of our families. And then Zoom has been a godsend with staff meetings, PD sessions, parent meetings. We did our fifth grade parent night the other night on Zoom. We, Jason and I kind of talked and said, let's do teacher observations. We don't have to be in the classroom. We've got to do teacher observations. Let's do them through Zoom. Some, a few teachers recorded lessons so that we could watch them. Some teachers said, nope,

077come on into my Zoom. Here's the link. Come and watch me. So that has been great. And I can see us maybe continuing with that practice next year too. And then again, just another shout out to the pairs. The pairs reached out to me early in the school year when we were doing our PD sessions and our staff meetings on Wednesdays and said, hey, can we join? Absolutely. And man, have they joined. They are on the equity team. Their voice is heard in our breakout sessions and our small groups. So the pairs have just been such an amazing asset. um to us this year. It's just been awesome. So we will continue that work next year. And then we look forward to a normal, whatever that means, next year in 21-22, supporting the mental health

078of our students, our equity work, equitable grading practices, continuing with our partnerships that I talked about, the digital learning for students and staff, and then the AVID and recalibration work with advanced options are kind of all on the to-do list next year. So. Sorry, that kind of took me a little bit longer, but just thanks everybody for your support at this past year and your trust, your trust in us as a, as a building. We just thank you for the trust that you have put in, in to us and your support over the last year. So any questions? I think it's awesome that. you know, the ability to have some of the group, the student groups that have been put together here, whether it's on equity, racial equity, or even the student newspaper, to be

079able to continue to have those types of activities for them. was really great to see. So thank you for. Yeah, like I said, it was a grassroots effort from the teachers, which makes it even more powerful than it would if it would have been coming from me. Any other comments or questions for Jodi or Jason tonight? Okay. Okay. Thanks, everybody. Thank you. Our next information item for the night. is Director of Learning T.J. Anderson-Schmidt and the American Indian Community Liaison Chris Johnson sharing an update on the American Indian Education Program. Thanks Matt. I'm just going to pull up our slide deck here tonight. I just want to take the opportunity to welcome back Chris Johnson. This is her, actually her third year with us as our American Indian Community Liaison and Program Coordinator. And I

080want to also acknowledge a special thank you. We're joined by some guests tonight. Nicole Wheeler is our chairwoman for American Indian Parent Advisory Council. Renee Davis, who had to leave us here but was with us a little bit earlier, she's our chairwoman from South St. Paul Public Schools. And just a reminder that I think we have kind of a unique partnership because we have combined the parent advisory councils from South St. Paul St. Paul and ISD 189 together to have more of a community approach as opposed to a district approach. And I also want to give a huge shout out to Shilin Walker, who is one of our student representatives on our advisory council. Shilin has served on the council for the last few years. She is a senior this year and will go on

081to do great, amazing things and has been a really integral part of our indigenous leadership circle as well. So a big thank you to Shilin. And congratulations for a senior year that is almost successfully completed and looking ahead. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Chris Johnson. And Chris, I will be your assistant. So just let me know when you'd like me to advance the slides. I sure will. Thank you. Thank you, TJ. Can everybody hear me OK? Good. Okay. So on behalf of the American Indian Education Program and our Parent Advisory Committee for the Invergrove Heights Schools, as well as South St. Paul, we would like to thank you for this time to highlight our program. to provide information and discuss how we can continue to work together to support our

082common goals of equity and inclusion for our students, families, and district staff and community. So again, thank you so much for taking the time and letting us present tonight. Go ahead, TJ. The first thing that we'd like to do too, as we start out our meetings, and I really encourage anybody to look into this, or if you have questions, feel free to follow up with me later. This is our land acknowledgement. So I'd like to take this opportunity to respectfully acknowledge that our board meeting, be it Zoom, I should say our district is being held on the traditional lands of the Dakota Indigenous people. And we would like to pay our respect to them, the elders, both past and present. Thank you. Okay, next. Okay, our American Indian Education Program, I'm not sure how many

083of you are familiar with it. I was getting some good information from Jodi there with some of her statistics, so I would like to continue to follow up with her directly. on some of those as well. But our goal is to provide equitable, intentional, and targeted educational opportunities to every American Indian student while fostering cultural identity and pride. The purpose of our program is to increase academic achievement, increase our graduation rate, and to improve the school climate of American Indian students. in a culturally appropriate manner. In Minnesota, this program addresses five specific goal areas and a special focus on ensuring that all children are ready for school, all racial and economic achievement gaps between students and students are closed, and that all students are ready for culture and career exploration. Our program services, we provide

084academic support and mentoring. family and community resources and advocacy, also community cultural events and activities. We also, when we can, of course, provide college visits and college fairs and post-secondary preparedness, and as well as curriculum, being a curriculum resource for our districts. Okay. Okay, and the other reason that we bring our presentation to the school board is once a year, our parent advisory council needs to submit a resolution of concurrence or non-concurrence for our program. It's in accordance with the state and federal funding agencies. That's where we have our annual public hearing and our school board resolution request. It's also... um the result of the parent vote, the current status of the district support of our Indian Education Program. I'm happy and pleased to present and announce that this year, the Independent PAC voted in

085concurrence. So that just means that the school district has been supporting our program and we're very pleased to continue and support each other in those aspects. Thank you. Go ahead next. Some of our program highlights, we'll just kind of go through these quickly for you. Our middle school, we have a middle school affinity group, which as most of you know, just did not happen much this year. However, we were able to connect with students via Zoom. and we would try to get a couple together. It was just really, you know, we faced quite a few challenges, but we do still stay connected. Most of the students, being that this is my third year, I have developed a good rapport and connection with them. So whether it's via Zoom or text or we're always trying to

086find ways to connect because that is so important right now. The purpose of our affinity group is also to build community by connecting students and families with our Indian education program and staff. And we also like to have a cultural component in each of our gatherings or meetings so that we can provide our students with that opportunity as well. Next. Thank you. Our program highlights will probably, let's see, we got the high school here. Students check-in meetings. We focus this year, being that everything was via Zoom for the most part, we decided to focus on our Indigenous leaders circle. That's also on our graduating seniors. And we are doing this virtually and when allowed on site. So we're looking forward to doing that when we can. Needless to say, there's been quite a few challenges

087this year in keeping in touch and connecting with a lot of our high school students. So that's been a main priority for us. The purpose of our group and check-ins are just to connect with an adult mentor. We also monitor school success and their mental and well-being. And then we also support future academic and personal goals. So that's really an important connection that we like to make as well. So we're hoping with, you know, as time comes here, we're hoping to be able to get that one-on-one and in-person connection. Thank you, TJ. Okay, and as TJ mentioned, one of our program highlights is our Indigenous Leader Circle. This is a cross-district. group that we are on our third, I believe third or fourth year, third year for sure. So a lot of these students have

088been together. We work with Forest Lake District. We have South St. Paul District, of course, Invergrove Heights. We also work with a couple of other schools that have a good native population, which would be Harding, Como. a few other high schools as well. But we started this program about three years ago through Equity Alliance, and we were able to start building a program from the ground up, which has been exciting. And I'm very pleased to announce that our student that has attended here, I don't see her right here, Shailen, is also one of our very first. students that have gone through the program for the last three years and will be graduating. So we're excited to see that full circle, so to speak. So we're so proud of her. Anyway, our core values in the

089ILC group is leadership with traditional values. We also look at community service and community connections. That's a very important part of giving back and finding ways to volunteer and support each other. We also have a core value with our cultural and racial equity. It's a very big component of our group. And so our students work together and find ways to find things in common rather than differences. So I think that's an important part. But it is also a time for them to reflect. And if they come across any challenges or... discussions or we find purpose with last year we marched with the murdered and then missing indigenous women's march on Valentine's Day. And so we showed support there as well. But it's a great opportunity for students to explore activism and support each other and

090volunteer. And then finally, mentorship. My background was I was a successful business entrepreneur for years. And so I like to bring the things that I've learned and my successes forward for our students to connect with as well. Okay, TJ. And this year, I am so pleased to let you know that we are finally getting our cultural trunks in place. We're gathering artifacts from various sources, and we will be having these available beginning in grades five and eight, I think is kind of our focus point. It'll be a great resource for our district staff for use in their classroom instructions and professional development trainings. So we will be connecting, getting a group. together, excuse me, a system together that we will have like pictures of the item and then a description. And so it'll be something

091that'll be easily accessible for staff. So if you're doing a specific lesson plan or, you know, an area or a topic that you'd like to see if we have anything, we're going to have this available to you so you can scroll through and see pictures and a basic description and guideline too. So I'm hoping that by the end of this year, we'll at least get the basic foundation for that and have that ready to go for you guys for next year. So we're excited about that addition to our program. Now our parent advisory committee is what I'm speaking of is amazing group of families, students and community members as well as district staff too. We meet once a month for the most part virtually now. And when we can we'll certainly connect on site hopefully.

092We usually meet the third Monday of the month. And of course, everybody's welcome to join us or just check in with us and see what's going on or got questions or it's another great resource. Our parent advisory council is a great group of volunteers. And so I just want to thank them too here and now for their participation and support because without them. We just don't have the voices that we need and the guidance to connect with our students and our communities. One of the PAC events that we're planning is called a Family Fun Night, and it's virtual. We will be doing this the last Friday of the month. We're hoping that it doesn't interfere too much with everybody getting back to school this year, or back in class, in person, I should say. But

093we design these programs so that they're fun and the whole family can join in and it's a way to connect our community and try to keep a cultural component. So this upcoming event, we're going to do the fry bread demonstration and we will have kits for the families and participants who register. We call them ingredient bags or recipe bags. So we'll have all the... ingredients needed to prepare fry bread. And so I'll walk through a step-by-step demonstration and everybody can join in. They can cook in their own kitchens. It's so fun. We get a lot of the family involved too. You'll see grandma or auntie over there telling us how she makes her fry bread. So it's kind of a real fun time. But we just look at ways to connect, whether it's, you know,

094a learning time or if it's just connecting culturally for like food or something like that. So we're trying to get those back in place and going so we can stay connected with our families and community. Okay. And again, we have some other highlights here. I was pleased to hear a lot of the equity training PD that is going on. I have been actually, I think Jody had mentioned there's Barwe program, which I have was contacted by Nicholas D. Shaw, who's of Salem Hills. He has sought out to get some assistance and some input on the training. So I will be joining him. I think it's next week during their PD training. as well as Rachel McLaughlin and a few others. So I'm glad to see that everybody's reaching out and using the resources that we

095have and connecting with me. I look forward to it. And if I don't have an answer for you or a resource, believe me, I'll find one for you. One of the other programs is the Alive and Thrive through Dakota County, which is our Suicide Awareness Voices of Education. And I have been asked to be on their Native American subcommittee. So I'm glad to participate and offer any insight in that as well. And then our program this year, we also joined the National Indian Education Association. And so we are part of what's going on and what's relevant in Indian country today. And I think that's another amazing resource of people and other connectors for our education programs. And then finally, our curriculum resources. These are the cultural trunks that I was talking about. So we're very

096anxious and excited to get those in the hands of whoever wants them and can use them. So if you have any thoughts or questions or anything along that line, do not hesitate to get back to me or contact me directly. Okay? And then our growing goals are to expand our program services to include our elementary sites. Currently, right now, we have been focusing on our middle school and high school programs. So we would like to expand and grow into our elementary sites, either by providing curriculum support and program awareness or just connecting with the families on some of our events and activities. The other area we'd like to expand in is our Indian Education Parent Advisory Council. And if we can, I wanted to introduce our chairperson. And let's see. TJ, I'm going to have

097you. Can we get Nicole Wheeler? Awesome. So if we can say hello and introduce Nicole, and I believe Nicole's son Brandon is with as well. And then at that time, I'll introduce Shilin too. Brandon is not with me right now. Oh. Okay. Hi, Nicole. This is Nicole Wheeler, our Parent Advisory Council Chair. Nicole has been with us for as long as I can remember, or as long as I've been here, three years at least. And then a couple before that, Nicole? I tried the year before, but the program wasn't quite active yet. It was just before you. Great. Well, that's, this is what I'm telling you about some of our dedication for our parents and our council here. Nicole, again, like I said, is instrumental and is helping, her voice helps guide our program into

098these, the direction for the goals and objectives for our funding programs. Thank you, Nicole. And let's see, do we got Shy on here? Shylyn? I think she's our student rep. I don't know if she had to check out or not yet. Oh, I think she's still there. Hi. Hi, Shilin. This is Shilin Walker. She is one of our graduating students, seniors this year. Shai, are you on there? Can I? Oh, hi. Sorry, I can't turn on my camera right now. That's okay. Sorry. I don't know what to talk about, but this year has been very difficult for motivation to get on Zoom, but having this group here has been really supportive. And I love being able to talk to some of the people who understand what I'm going through, especially people who have the same

099background. Yeah, it's been really good. How about our ILC program as well? Do you have any comments on our ILC program? ILC has been pretty laid back, but I still love to talk to everyone there, and it's been really great to be connected with them still. And it's still a supportive group there too, so I like having both supports. Great. Thank you. And finally, will you want to share with us what your plans are for next year? Well, next year, I hope to go to Hamlin University for business and finance. Yay. We're so excited to hear that, Shai. Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us tonight, too. And make sure you tell your folks and parents and everybody in your family hello. And thanks for supporting our group as well. Thank you. And

100again, I wanted to give a shout out to Renee Davis, who is our chairperson for the South St. Paul School District. And again, we have such a unique partnership with the South St. Paul District and their community as well. So it's great to work with everybody there. And again, shout out to Renee. Thanks for your time. Sorry, we had to check out sooner. So we'll look forward to seeing you soon. Okay, go ahead, TJ. And Chris, a big thank you to you. It's having had the opportunity to work with and learn from you and have your leadership with our group for the last three years has been instrumental in growing the program. And I'm just really excited that we get to keep working with you. So thank you for sticking with us and helping us

101grow. Oh, it's my pleasure. It's actually an honor to work with the students and the staff because we all help each other, support each other and grow together. That's our goals. And with that being said, I think. Thank you. So that is. Oh, go ahead. I think we are just right here. Yay. Okay, well I will open it up for questions or comments or anything. I'm happy to share with you. And with that, I will go ahead and let connect out of here and let my volunteers get back to dinner or whatever they were doing and thank you again so much for the opportunity, and your continued support of our program. And again, do not hesitate to. Contact me for any resource. Oh, sure. I just had one comment. I wanted to thank you for

102your mentorship and guidance. And I firmly believe in the effectiveness or efficacy of like affinity groups. So thanks for doing that with our kids. And, you know, it's not just with the kids, but we're the event community and they get full circle. So thank you. Oh, well, thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks, Chris. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Chris. And Nikki and Shailene, thanks for joining us tonight. Appreciate it. Okay. Thanks, guys. All right. Our next item of, well, information item tonight, it's probably called. We are going to talk with Superintendent Bernardson sharing a draft of the school board and committee meetings for the next school year, 2021. 2022. Dave? Thanks, Matt. Yeah, before you have the draft of our meeting schedule for next year, it's very much aligned with the format we have

103used this year as well. So you'll see in our board meetings and work session schedule, we typically have a work session and a board business meeting each month, except for the month of July, which is an organizational meeting, the month of December, which also includes our annual truth and taxation meeting. We also have one meeting in March. and then as you'll see in may we do not we condense our meetings a little bit because the month of may does bring a bunch of busy aspects to school districts later in the month also highlighted are our three listening sessions that the board holds during the course of the year If you look at the committee meetings, you'll see the finance committee meeting happening before work sessions, a personnel committee happening, excuse me, finance after work session,

104personnel before work sessions, and then our policy committee, which meets prior to the regular school board meetings. Also included in the bottom is our meet and confirm meetings with our teacher leaders, and that also includes our personnel committee. So we're bringing this forward tonight as an information item. We'll bring it back as an action item and just setting the meeting format for next year. So I just wanted to highlight those and see if there's any questions or give you also the opportunity to take a look at those before we act on them to see if there's anything that looks like it may be in need of adjustment. Just want to share those listing sessions, as mentioned earlier, are in bold. So in November. February and April and they do take place before meetings from 5

105to 5.25. Any questions, comments on the draft schedule here? This one comment was just standing out to me that Unite to Unite is absent. I'm struggling to recall if we had come to a decision. on what we were doing with that moving forward. Thanks, Rachel. We have not, because it did not happen last year. We just, we placed a work session on the 9th because that typically, if there is a 9-2-9, we typically make that adjustment and then do a 9-2-9 in lieu of the work session, typically. But right now, without any, absent any information, we put a work session on the schedule. Thank you. Yeah. Any other questions? Okay. Dave, we'll keep you on the hook here for our next item, which will be presenting several district policies for a first reading for review,

106please. Yes, thanks, Matt. The policies that we're going to share with you were reviewed by the Policy Committee in February. And you'll see there's policies with no changes, minimal changes, and significant changes. These will be presented for a second reading at our next regular meeting on April 26th. So no changes are 507, corporal punishment, 531, pledge of allegiance. We did make some minimal changes to 213, school board committees, which would adjust when committees are formed. We're moving towards setting them within the fiscal year rather than the calendar year. And then our significant changes are 501, school weapons policy, 502, search of student lockers, desk, personal possessions, and student's person. And then 505 distribution of non-school sponsored materials on school premises by students and employees. And lastly, 512 school sponsored student publication activities. And these adjustments

107were primarily, or the significant changes are primarily moving some of these aspects that were in policy to procedures. So these policies, again, we'll have a second reading at our next regular meeting on April 26th. So if there's any questions for... the policy committee or Tracy or myself, we'd be happy to take those, but also request that you take a look at those for sure and forward any questions before April 26th. Okay. Any comments, questions? All right. Thank you, Dave. Next up, we are going to have our Vice Chair and Treasurer Sherry Warwick share a summary of the Superdense Mid-Year Evaluation. Sherry? Thank you, Matt. I'm a little background on this process. This evaluation is given twice a year. Each board member rates Mr. Berenson with a one or entry area, excuse me, leadership and culture,

108organizational management and communication and engagement. And a one through four is given a one being unsatisfactory to a four being distinguished. Comments are encouraged. And this is a summary of these comments and the ratings. Leadership and culture. Superintendent Berenson has led our district into having conversations of racial equity and social justice. Dave and his team are doing an exceptional job in ensuring the employees and students of ISD 199 have the support they need to receive a high quality education that reflects a diverse perspective. Listening and learning from community conversations has always been and continues to be a priority for Superintendent Bernhardson. It takes true leadership that these equity conversations have continued to be a priority and have not been pushed aside by the pandemic. The board has rated Dave highly accomplished in this area. Organizational

109management. Superintendent Bernhardson's leadership regarding instructional models during this challenging pandemic journey has been strong. Dave has been a source of stability and focus for employees and students. New models of teaching learning are being implemented regularly during the hybrid, the digital, and in-person learning. The Moving Forward Together Guide, which has been communicated often, continues to frame the work of Dave in his cabinet. The board has rated Dave distinguished in this category. And communication and community engagement. A tremendous amount of time has been spent gathering data from staff and families to determine the best way to navigate the school year. In addition, Mr. Berghenson has maintained excellent awareness of health data and the governor's executive orders. It was being methodical in his decision-making of communication. He also recognizes the need to explain the why of how a

110decision was made. The clarity of the messages as well as the volume of the messages has been excellent. Dave has been awarded highly accomplished in this area. Thank you, Sherry. Thank you, Dave, for an excellent job. Appreciate it. Thank you, man. I just want to make a couple of quick comments and a couple of things that were acknowledged. in what Sherry and the board shared was the word team. And all the work that we've done in ISD 199 is truly a team effort from our cabinet to our school leaders to all of our 600 plus employees. And the other piece that I'd just like to share that we've been very focused on is being methodical and making sure that as we're moving forward through some of these unchartered times that we're making determinations that are

111the best for our students, staff, and community. and making sure they're as comprehensive as possible so they can be successful. And then just want to thank the board for the continued support and opportunity to serve ISD-199. It's truly a pleasure beyond belief. So thank you so much. Thank you. Any questions, comments? Okay. Thank you very much. We're going to move on to our committee reports for tonight. And we are going to start with Rachel giving us an update on facilities committee. Thanks, Matt. So the facilities committee met virtually on March 1st. Our agenda included updates on a potential equity grant collaboration with Inverhill Community College, a status update on our prairie field. Rachel Poste, An update on the South Grove sale, the South Grove property sale, an update on the solar panels that we're putting

112in at Pine Bend, Rachel Poste, and an outdoor classroom grant at the middle school, a weather siren installation at Pine Bend, and then the repair and maintenance updates and some upcoming projects. All right. Thank you, Rachel. That sounds like that was probably the most items I've seen on a facilities committee agenda in a long time. Well, it's been a while since we met, so we have a lot to go over. There we go. Thank you. We'll move on to Carrie with an update on finance committee, please. We have not met this month. That's because all the items were in the facilities committee. Sherry, could you give us an update on personnel, please? Yes, the personnel committee did meet tonight prior to this meeting to discuss an employee investigation and a staffing time. Okay, thank you.

113And policy committee, Mary Frances, do you have an update for us there? Yes, the policy committee met virtually March 2nd. The agenda items reviewed. policy 213 school board committee and a temporary addendum to policy 610 on field trips. All right, thank you. And we'll stick with you with an update on Equity Alliance Minnesota, please. So Equity Alliance has not met yet this month. All right. Well, our meeting is a little bit early this month, so we'll get an update next month on that. Lynette, AMSD update. Well, along with the AMSD emails you get regularly, we did have a meeting on March 5th and the agenda included the approval of the AMSD 2021 session priorities, an executive director's report, and a presentation on learning during COVID-19. It's the initial findings on students' reading and math achievement

114growth. And that, I believe, is available out on their website. Okay. Thank you. We'll stick with you for Best Foundation update, please. We did not meet as a whole collective group. I believe we're next week. The marketing group continues to meet. The Best Foundation scholarships were due on March 1st, and we are planning a golf tournament scheduled for August 9th. More details will come. Okay. Thank you. Let's see. Oh, MSBA update. Let's see. MSBA continues to provide some virtual webinars and COVID-19 updates to members, typically in email form. And then, Cindy, do you have an update on 9-17 for us today, please? Yes, the ISD 917 school board met on March 2nd. The agenda included a legislative update, policy updates, and a discussion on a negotiations committee. And we have the closing of the superintendent

115position, I believe, is March 16th. And then we'll be looking at the applications and doing our interviews for the last two weeks of March. All right. Appreciate the updates, everyone. Thank you, Cindy. Our action, a couple action items tonight. And first up, we are going to have Superintendent Bernardson introducing the recommendation to approve the second reading of several district policies. Dave? Thanks, Matt. The policies you see this evening for action were reviewed by the Policy Committee in January and also then reviewed or we had our first reading on February 22nd. So again, we've got three different categories, no changes, minimal changes and significant changes. No changes to 506 student discipline or 514 bullying prohibition. Minimal changes to employee electronic technology use. which is 424 and 524, which is student electronic technology use. And then our

116significant changes was 410 family and medical leave. Again, these policies had their first reading last month on the 22nd. And we're asking the board to approve these changes to the policies that you see before you. Thank you, Dave. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the policies presented for a second reading for review tonight? Motion by Member Clardy. Second by Lounsbury. Thank you. Any discussion? Any discussion? Board will now vote by roll call. Tracy. Member Clardy. Aye. Member Stensgaard. Aye. Member Shacher. Aye. Member Ward. Aye. Member Hanson. Aye. Member Lounsbury. Aye. Member Nordstrom. Aye. Thank you, Tracy. With seven out of seven aye votes, the motion is carried. On our second... Action item for tonight, we'll again have Superintendent Berenson introduce a recommendation to approve a temporary addendum to policy 610, which

117is field trips. Dave. Thank you, Matt. Thank you. The policy committee reviewed this temporary addendum on March 2nd. And as we look at policy 610 field trips, we're actually looking towards the rest of the school year to temporarily suspend student travel field trips. for state domestic travel and field trips and for international travel. We're looking to have them set aside until at least through this summer given the health and safety of our students and also the risks that may be imposed through travel. We also within this addendum shared that we'd have the board revisit it this summer to see if any of the aspects associated with travel and especially travel out of country may change. And according to this, we also put together some procedures to help guide our staff in looking at field trips,

118both out of state and out of country. Please know this doesn't include regular things that are out of state, such as an example, our track and field team has a track meet in River Falls, Wisconsin. That's more than fine to take place. These are any additional things that we may look to have happened. And once again, it's both for state travel and field trips. in international travel and field trips and we're looking to suspend those through august 31st and then we'll revisit the addendum this summer thank you dave uh do i have a motion and a second to approve the temporary addendum to policy 610 which is field trips motion by member stansgard our second five work thank you any discussion any discussion Board will now vote by roll call. Tracy. Member Stensgaard. Aye. Member

119Schaefer. Aye. Member Warrick. Aye. Member Hanson. Aye. Member Lonsberry. Aye. Member Nordstrom. Aye. Member Clardy. Thank you. With seven out of seven aye votes, the motion is carried. That ends our action items for tonight. So we're going to move on to our comments section. And as always, we'll start with our superintendent, Dave Bernardson. Thank you, Matt. I want to thank all the presenters this evening for sharing updates about both the middle school, American Indian, and our community ed and high school activities. Also, we're really poised and excited for the return of our middle and high school students to a hybrid learning format on Monday. Really looking forward to having kids back in the building. Also, some of the regular stuff continues. really focused on also looking at our budget and staffing levels for next year

120and working through those aspects. Also just want to share with our community and our staff that we've talked all the time about the pandemic and we are nearing the one year mark with the pandemic and just want to share that we provided meals in ways that we could never have imagined. We put cleaning and spacing protocols into place. We have first and foremost supported though the well-being of our students and our staff and we've embraced all of our kids and all the different challenges and supports that we can put in place to help those challenges so they can be successful. Just want to really thank people for that and thank people for their continued support, their patience, their grace, flexibility, but we are really excited to have our middle and high school kids back. and

121look forward to seeing what other aspects we can do to further have our middle high school kids in school more than two days a week. So really focused on that and of course things associated with the next school year. And then also just thank you for your kind words in regards to mid-year evaluation and thank you to our team of people. As mentioned all 600 plus employees for the work that they're doing that makes all these things happen and makes that success happen. with an ISD 199. So thank you very much. Thank you, Dave. Let's see, on to board comments. And today we'll start with Carrie, please. Yeah, I echo the thanks that Dave mentioned to all of the presenters. To me, the common thread throughout was just the value of relationships and the dedication

122to your craft. And so I want to thank you all for that as a parent and as a community member. it means a lot and especially even more so this year. And again, I am excited as a parent to be sending my last child back to school next week. It's, yeah, it's, I think he's ready and I just... wish the best for secondary families next week. And I just want to thank you again for your patience and grace and, and trust. And as it has been stated, The district's plan has been very intentional and methodical. And I appreciate Dave's leadership in that. And as he shared in his comments, he has created a thriving village to help him with this. And so I just think that also goes to... Just Dave, I think you're a

123remarkable leader and I appreciate just being a part of this community in this year. And yeah, I love what we heard from the middle school and I wish you the best as you welcome students back next week. Thank you, Gary. Mary Frances. I just wanted to start off by saying I'm always so impressed by our scholars and their academic achievements. So I'm really excited about the wrestling team because I kind of have a family background here with wrestling. But the teams, you're doing an amazing job. I talked to a school psychologist today since I'm a teacher. and say, what are three things that are going to really help our kids get through the rest of the year and do really a good job? And she basically said, routines, set small goals, and balanced meals. So

124as simple as it sounds, that's coming from a psychologist that works with kids all the time. So I'll take it and go with it. So that's all. Thank you. PB Harmon Zuckerman, Rachel, please. Thanks, Matt. The mayor Francis. What I'm getting is that the constant begging for snacks in my home is maybe not the right way to set my own PB Sarah Silver, I'm joking aside. PB Sarah Silver, You know, as somebody who was part of the first group of avid tutors that was hired by the district quite some time ago now. It's always so exciting to me when we get to hear from our middle school leaders about how that program is growing. So Dodie, thank you so much to you and your team for the hard work that you've done really growing avid

125over really almost the last eight years at this point. That's for me to think about. There we are. So thank you so much for all your hard work in AVID and all the other aspects of middle school life. Because as you said, that middle school age is really hard. And you and your team just do a great job shepherding kids through really an awkward time in their lives. I know, Dave, you thanked us for your kind words and your in your mid-year review. And I want to say thank you for making it so easy for us to give you kind words in your mid-year review. The work that you and the whole team at the district office do is just incredible. And that's very greatly appreciated. And that's all that I've got. So thanks, Matt.

126Thank you, Rachel. Cindy. Thanks, Matt. Just a couple of things for me tonight. I'll make it short and sweet. Virtual awards for Best Foundation is going to happen this year. We're not going to have a ceremony in the performing arts. So that will be on May 21st that they'll be announced virtually. And I want to thank the community, the staff, and the leaders for their support, their resourcefulness. their flexibility and their patience during this time. And I think we have two pandemics going on and it's glad to know that I'm just glad to know that we're addressing both the medical one, as well as the social and emotional one that's going on with the equity. And I don't think our job is done and we need to continue forging forward. So stick with it. Thank

127you, Cindy. Sherry. I just have a couple things tonight too as well, Matt. Thank you to Jody Wendel and Jason Voss for your presentation tonight at the middle school. I applaud your work and your staff. I've had your and your staff work in your goals of anti-racism. I wish I could come in and assist some of those groups taking place soon, very soon. They're coming in, can't wait. And then also thank you to Chris Johnson, our cultural liaison, for her leadership and equity as well. Thank you today for his leadership, his stability and focus for our employees, our kids and our community is very much appreciated. Your leadership is shining during this pandemic. Thank you. Thank you, Sherry. Lynette. Yes, I just wanted to start off with Will, Barb, the coaches, athletes, and all the

128activity members. Thank you so much for your flexibility and hard work. You've done just an amazing job with all the various challenges that we talked about from facilities to masks. And you truly represented Simley so well. And best wishes to all of those that are in their tournament runs. Jodi and Jason, so much going on at the middle school, but I just really have to applaud you and the staff for all the equity work in the middle school. I love the adjustment to student council being students for change and the addition of the bilingual newspaper. Nobody called that out, but I did see that. That's pretty amazing. And as well as the collaboration of I know that we've had the group of color, but seeing the collaboration and the growth of that program to be

129mentored with high school and Ember Hills, that's just taking everything to the next level. And I just really appreciated all the work done there and all the other work that's going on besides. Chris Johnson, thank you so much for helping us grow our indigenous programs and the passion. You can see it in the effort. It's so appreciated. And finally, Dave and Cabinet, thanks for your continued perseverance and flexibility in handling so much in this unknown year with such strength and positivity. The leadership's just been incredible. So thank you so much. That's it. All right. Thank you, Lynette. A lot of the points that I wanted to hit on have, you know, when you get to the end of the line, people have hit on them already, but really like to thank Chris Johnson for being

130here and with the update on the American Indian Education Program. I think that was very important and good timing for us to hear that. Principal Wendell and Assistant Principal Voss. As always, I do appreciate every year hearing update on middle school. I think as we continue to hear about it, there's growth there and I appreciate that. We always strive to make it better and some of the programs and the way we're... getting together with more students. You know, some of these groups that are being put together, there are a couple new ones this year, but also, you know, the continuation of it through this weird time of pandemic. And so I really want to, you know, thank you for engaging them as much as possible. And, you know, we take for granted that, yeah, we're

131there. to engage with them anyway. But having these types of activities and groups really, you know, takes it to that next level and gives them a feeling of togetherness still. So that's really key. So I appreciate the work being put in and I hope next week starts off very well for you. Thanks, everybody. On to activities, you know, and Lynette touched on it very well, you know, Will and Barb, there's been so much rescheduling, so much changing of what was happening. The ability of both of them to make sure that they're, once again, there's something for the students and the kids to do. Very important, very important. You know, as I've said many times over the past few months, the more we can learn from this period, the better we are. And even from the

132activity side, you know, utilizing our facilities efficiently. You know, we were kind of forced into stuff with having problems with the gym floor, but... What a great, great way to highlight and spotlight some of our programs by using the stage for wrestling. And, you know, being the parent of a student who is typically in the theater group to know that. There may be a play this spring, we're working on a play this spring that kids can actually be there for and get that theater experience on the stage again. So that's awesome. So thanks to both Barb and Will. But part of having these great leaders in our schools and our district is... by having key leadership at the top. And Dave has shown time and time again that, you know, he has great leadership, but

133also great leadership comes with surrounding yourself with the best people. And that is, you know, I know we have a lot of cabinet members on this call and leaders. I appreciate all the work you do and the cohesiveness of this team is great. But I will focus on Dave for just a second here. Like I said, it takes a leader to put together great leadership. And so I appreciate the work you do. And this is mid-year evaluation. I hope to see. you know, a great rest of the school year here. And I look forward to talking about you more when we get to the end of the year evaluation too. So thank you, Dave. Okay. With that, let's see. Our next work session is going to be Monday, April 12th at 5.30 PM. And our

134next regular board meeting will be held on Monday, April 26th. at 5.30 p.m. Do I have a motion and a second to adjourn tonight's meeting? I'll move by Nordstrom. Second by Lounsbury. Thank you. Board will vote by roll call. Tracy. Member Schaefer. Aye. Member Warr. Aye. Member Hanson. Aye. Member Lounsbury. Aye. Member Nordstrom. Aye. Member Clardy. Aye. Member Stensgaard. Aye. Thank you Tracy. With seven out of seven aye votes the motion is carried to adjourn the meeting at 7 37 pm. Thank you very much everyone.