001o'clock on Monday, February 23rd, 2026. We'll call the regular school board meeting to order. Uh members present tonight are Matt, Danny, Corey, and Scott with Shannon absent this evening. Uh 3.0 is the open forum. We did not receive any requests uh from the public to speak. So, we'll move on to 4.0, which is the approval of the agenda. Lisa, you sent out one and then you sent out the form. So, those are kind of the highlights there. You'll see the bus recognition and then the other spots. Is there anything to add or remove from tonight's agenda? Okay. Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve. Motion by Scott, >> seconded by Matt. Any discussion on the agenda? >> Hearing none. All those in favor? I post. Motion carries. 5.0 is the approval of the minutes
002from the previous um regular school board meeting. Are there any changes to those minutes? >> We got a motion by Danny. >> Second. Second by Scott. Any discussion on the minutes? Hearing none. All those in favor >> 6.0 is the honors and recognitions for this month. >> Yes. >> And we have uh two district honors um to recognize. The first one would be um the shadows parallel valley and Dawson Hoya dance team um earning another state title. Congratulations. Um, and so here to accept this on behalf of the team and the coaching staff is Carly Wagger and coach. >> Thank you for representing us so well. And then um secondly, last week was uh on Wednesday was bus driver appreciation day in Minnesota and we would like to take a moment just to recognize we
003have a a a uniquely talented and experienced group of drivers and we also have a uniquely large and um when it comes to weather uh difficult to predict district and our drivers do a fantastic job of keeping our kids safe um getting them from point A to point B and so we wanted to recognize them by name at today's meeting. And so, um, we'd like to just publicly recognize Kristen Pierce, who is our transportation director for the district. And then drivers Wes Anderson, Gary Bourstead, John Buer, Sandy Buer, Daniel Hayan, Derek Corvath, Kyle Jones, Helen Bowen, Paul, Brian Mowen, Alan Oyan, Franklin Pierce, David Reapetting, Chuck Ranglin, Dan Smith, Amy Stit, and Pat Weiss. My bad. Sorry. Um, again, just very thankful. Uh, they they do a fantastic job. They're the first and last faces
004our kids see every day as well. So, do we have any of them present here with us today? Would you please stand and be RECOGNIZED and we are going to get certificates off to every one of you. So, thank you very much for being here. We move on to 7.0, the student council report. Our activity night/fingo night was very successful as it has been in the past. We finished our crush can activity led by the freshman which was students could pay for a can to be sent to another student. We had a similar turnout previous years and we sold around 200 cans. Um, our next project is a service project that's going to be run by our juniors. Um, it's going to be goodie baskets for the nursing homes for Madison and Apple. Um, they'll
005have blankets, coloring books, and other fun things for the residents to do. >> That's it. >> Any questions for these guys? >> Well, thank you very much. >> Thank you. I'm just kidding. >> All right, we'll move to 8.0, which is the resolution to accept the gifts, donations, and grants for the month. We just have one from SK Cleaning Services. Take a motion to approve by Scott. >> Second by Matt. Any further discussion? >> Hear none. All those in favor? Motion carries 9.0 live update. Zack. >> Good evening. How's everybody doing? >> Wonderful. Matt said, uh, keep it under 30 minutes. So, she was speaking. Um, so yeah, just kind of give you guys obviously a quick update on kind of where we're at with things in both departments. Uh, but I'm in charge of
006community editing activities. Um, winter is kind of winding down and winter gets to be kind of a a grind. So, um, yeah, got some got some updates to share kind of where we're at with some things. I wanted to first kind of just recap uh kind of how some of our winter activities went. Obviously, we already talked about Carly, uh, Coach Wagger and the dance team. Uh, they had a very successful season. Conference champions in jazz and kick, section champions jazz and kick, and then obviously state champions in jazz and runner ups and high kick. So, obviously very proud of them and success and the hard work that they show each and day, each and every day. And I know me directly working with Carly, other coaches, uh, they make, I don't know, my job
007pretty easy, too. And they just I'm just they're a joy to work with. So, I want to make sure I recognize them again for that. So, thank you for everything, Carly. So, you have a lot to be proud of and so so will we. Um, girls basketball finished up their season last week. Um, had a hard five game with YM last week and that ended their season. Uh, boys basketball, they'll play Thursday. They got the eight seed in the section, so they'll play Thursday night here against Cami. Um, opening round of playoffs, United Wrestling, uh, we had individuals for sections this last weekend and we qualified three wrestlers to the state tournament um, for our for our team. So, successful there. uh robotics um they will travel to Wilmer Saturday for their first kind of
008competition of the year kind of get get things going and then they go to their big competition uh in Grand Forks in March and that's kind of their first big regional competition. So uh musical Wizard of Oz uh March 20th, 21st and 22nd and that'll kind of be our big first performance in our in our new theater. So I know the music department's really excited about that. Obviously Chad uh is having a concert right now too. So, but then we're kind of really excited for this to kind of have it be our first, you know, really performance in that new space. So, um, spring activities obviously are going to be starting two here in a couple weeks. It's crazy. You're going to feel like you just finished one and then boom, you're off and running
009with the next sports season. Uh, they'll be starting in March. And then obviously, as uh many of us know here, boys volleyball is brand new, right, for the high school league this spring. So, I know a goal of mine uh is to just help our coaches and our kids with that transition to, you know, moving from club to high school league. And um I'll be having some meetings with our two coaches next week to kind of talk about transportation, uh scheduling, all those sorts of things because there'll be questions, I think, from everybody. So, I just want to make sure that process is smooth and um it's going to be unique kind of like I talked about earlier this fall when we approved it um as far as their games and things, but um really
010excited for them and you know what kind of notoriety that can bring to our district. Um, so really excited for that. Uh, summer planning, uh, as winter activities are wrapping up and all the fall activities are wrapping up, I'm going to be meeting with our coaches to kind of talk about summer planning. Um, I know some things that have been brought to my attention have been doing our best to really try to align, and I know we've tried this always, but trying to really align summer practices to help best fit kids' schedules in summer, parent schedules. So, we're going to meet meet with them to kind of, you know, try to work out a plan and do our best to uh make things kind of easier on our kids and our and our families for
011that. So, um that'll be coming down down the docket here quickly. Um kind of the big thing I wanted to share with you guys, uh and everybody here is an update on some technology that uh we're going to be moving moving towards. Um, and this kind of really aligns too with our uh strategic plan of our goal number three to kind of be looking at our communication tools, platforms, and what's best uh for our our district, our you know, our kids, our community, everybody. Um, and that is a platform called Bound. Um, so if we kind of rewind a little bit here, for 20 plus years probably, Scott, maybe you can help me with this. we've used when you were in my role right our school has been the company that we've gone with for
012activity scheduling activity registration etc um this last year a different company called Arbiter bought our school so obviously with any change um especially when purchasing new company comes in they make changes they think the changes are great well turns out these changes that we've been experiencing um in the office in terms of our online scheduler activity registration has been it's been a pain and they don't really know what uh they've gotten themselves into. So, it's it's kind of been a struggle. So, because of that reason, it's, you know, the timing has just been perfect as far as obviously revisiting these tools for our district and then this happening. Um, but I wanted to start looking into some different platforms to possibly use, right? Um, myself, other conference ads, other state ads, uh, have had the
013same frustrations with this. Um, so we looked at this company called Bound. We looked at other ones too, but this one kind of stuck out. And the reason that is um is because this is a platform where we can it's kind of like an all-in-one type thing, if that makes sense. Um it's like it's one website. You go to it, it's going to have your uh activity registration, scheduling, transportation, all the event workers on there, uh officials, digital ticketing, facility management, uh stats for the team, results from the team, games, um communication, team websites, public websites, uh an app for users to use. So, families, community members, it's one app you download, your kids sign up for whatever. We're looking at parents, right? kids sign up their parents for an activity, it automatically populates their
014child's schedule for them in that app so they know where where things are. It'll show GPS directions. It'll show weather updates. So if it says, you know, we're in a blizzard warning, it'll give you notifications saying, "Hey, might want to drive slow or something like that." Um, so kind of really it's really modern technology and um all one platform. It will also uh help me in community ed. And the same platform will also be used for community ed. Um so it does that as well. Um also does concessions too. So we're looking at possibility down the road of allowing people to use uh credit cards if they're buying a bag of popcorn or a couple you know whatever. So just kind of really helping you know users with this. Um I don't want to dive
015too much into it but um I've been working I'm in the very early stages of this. Our conference actually made the decision to go to this route. So every single conference school um and as well as like the West Central conference too near us, they are also going to this platform and we're seeing more and more uh states or sorry schools in our state go to this balance platform. So um it's growing. Um they have assured us that it's not going to outrow what they're ready for. Um but so far in the early stages, the communication from them and the response has been phenomenal. So just excited to kind of get going with that. Uh worked with Mr. at us a little bit on how obviously we can incorporate this with all the other platforms
016we already use and we've already looked into and there's already automatic integration that the company has with a lot of the stuff that we still use. So, uh really excited for that. Um and then two, it'll be cheaper for us as a district. So, obviously that's always a plus. So, better product, not as expensive. I feel like that's a win-win. So, any questions on that piece? >> We did pan. >> Yes. Yep. So yeah, this this new uh bound, right? You're one app that will have your kids' team websites, all that stuff. So like the coach will organize a website all automatically for you and the kids. Um same app will be ticket digital ticketing too. Um so yeah, it's all in one. So I just think it's really going to be um really beneficial
017to to us. So and really the whole state. So yeah, excited about that one. uh community head updates. Um that's kind of activities that I have for you guys unless you have any questions specific to activities. Okay. Um some of the stuff was in my, you know, board update. So I'll I'll kind of go through this kind of quickly, but uh we're kind of moving through the year. So the spring newsletter went out end of January. Uh just some classes we're offering. Uh this time of the year is really popular for swimming. So uh Marian Anderson's doing a lot of swimming lessons, private lessons, group lessons. Uh we'll have a couple lifeguard certification classes going on. Um defensive driving, adult basic education classes through uh Mavio's Murbed. Uh that's what we offer our classes through
018there. Um summer act looking forward to the summer. Um it's February, but we got to start planning for summer already. It's kind of crazy. Uh we're looking for a adult um Apple W coordinator. Um so we do have Madison filled looking for Apple. Um, and then I wanted to lastly kind of just touch on little equals daycare. Uh, obviously with Miranda being here, I feel it's pretty fitting to kind of just talk a little bit about this, but um, this is year three for me in the job, right? Dual position as as AD and and community director. And obviously from the start, daycare has been a big chunk of chunk of my plate, right? Um, but a goal has always been to really work with Miranda, work with her staff, uh, work with Scott, other
019district, um, employees to really help our budget, right, and and and try to create make this program, um, obviously it's great with Miranda, but really make it sustainable going forward. And, uh, we feel, honestly, you guys, we feel we're in a really good spot. Um, I think a lot of that is obviously due to Miranda's all of it, I should say. is due to Miranda's leadership. She does a great job. Uh she's she's punctual, she's timely, she works really, really hard, communicates, um and she's had a lot of longtime staff stay. Obviously, you have your turnover like any place, but that's been a huge plus. And then two, she'll share with you guys here in a little bit. Um but, um budget-wise, uh we're in a great spot right now after we ended last year.
020So, uh I am proud of that. I'm proud of Miranda. Um because not gonna lie to you guys, kind of overtaking that was a lot right away. Um but we feel we've had some very we have a great working relationship. Um you know, we communicate weekly, monthly, um update, you know, we do our updates. We have trackers where we're tracking spending and all that type of stuff. So really have just had a great working relationship to really kind of I think turn things around. So credit to Miranda um and all her staff, too. So yeah, that's all I have for you guys. questions for Zach. >> Danny, you sure? >> Well, for the summer planning, just to back up to one of our previous meetings where we talk you you brought up practice alignment with
021the coaches >> to include transportation. >> That's for the freshman and below. >> Yep. We we've talked at our activities meetings and yeah, continue. >> Just wanted to verify that we're still talking. >> Yep. Sure. >> Thank you. Of >> course. Thanks, guys. All right, segueing into the live update for Little Eagles here. Miranda, >> thanks for having me. And Zach, thank you for that. He is right. We've had just a great working relationship and we started right at the same kind of time together. So, um, I put together just kind of an update with you and you guys have those slides in front of you there. Um the first page there just talks about our capacity. So when we um think year two I added that extra room in there. So we still have
022a license capacity of 75. So we can have 75 kids within our just little eagles program. If you go into the next page it talks about enrollment. You can see the difference there 2024 and then the current numbers. Um currently we have 54 uh kids in our center. um down a little bit from last year, but we lost quite a few, not lost them, but they went to kindergarten. Um which then in return they went up to kids time, a lot of them. So, um holding pretty steady there and kind of a a nice number as you kind of have have room to grow. Um there you'll see the one thing to note there is we share a lot of kids with uh um current five. So, we have a lot of part-time kids, if
023you will. They come before school, after school, and then all day on Friday. So, it's a good partnership kind of in our our wing down there. The next page, I always like to hit on this too as I took over uh kids time. Um we are currently at 27 there in kids time down a little bit, but as kids get older and can stay home themselves, um that's kind of where we um dropped in numbers. The new thing this year is we offer care for the twohour scheduled late starts. So the ones that were on the calendar. Um not a lot of kids on there, but it's helpful. It's helpful for those families who do need that care for before school. So we have a little time with them and then we feed them breakfast
024and we bring them down to their classrooms. Um the next slide talks about staffing. Um currently sitting at 22 staff members between the two programs. Uh the nice thing about that is we have seven who can flex between the two which really helps with um ratio because you have to have so many staff per kids. So if we're kind of running out and about we have um some that can kind of swing between call it upstairs and downstairs even though it's kind of one and the same. Uh the next page talks about grants uh and donations. So in the past we looked at uh the deed grant. We'll get into that a little bit. We're still um going strong on the great start grant. We're in year uh this will be year three. They guaranteed
025it for four years. That has really helped with the employee retention. What it is is we can take some of that um cost of their wages and the new ones out of there. But those hours that the employees are working directly with children, they get a stipen at the end of the month. Um, so some of them are like, "Oh, that's my car payment." Or, and it really when, you know, somebody's going to call in sick, it really has dropped my callins um down a lot because they're like, "Oh, not working with kids that I don't get that extra money." So, it's a big law formula. I apply for it every month. So, that's really helped. Um, and then just looking ahead to the future. So, we were added to the donation list for the
026uh Madison Area Foundation. Um, we have created a task force. So, it's basically our community leaders, Zach uh and Scott and I, and we meet um sometimes bimonthly and we just kind of talk about how can we get uh other community businesses involved in kind of helping support uh the program and the need that we have. Um just sent out a a donation request to Cargill. I know they've donated in the past um to cover maybe some food costs. Um but that is also um in the works and then just looking for new grants and this just came up just recently. There's a new deed grant. Um so Scott, Zach, and I are in the process of working on um that again for next year. So it's a kind of a quick turnaround time, but
027we're working on that one. The next uh page there is kind of our our after our audited finan final financials. Um so with everything um we actually ended up in the green uh $68,15621 and basically this is based on the $50,000 D grant that we did get. Um we have been working really hard, Zach and I, on just supply cost analysis, like you know, where can we cut cost? Um working with the staff, I give them a lot of credit. They know what they probably hear me say a lot, do we really need it or do we want it? Um, if we want it, that's when we get the the the D grant and that grant money. If we need it, obviously we need it. Um, and then Zach and I have just been working
028really hard just for a better understanding of district financials. Financials in the district are very different than what I am used to. Um, and then in this number, and you'll see it on the next slide when we get there too, is we have community partnerships. So, the Madison uh health services and then the Madison EDA. So, the uh $30,000 that you see there, that um is included in the 65, but that was the shortfall from the year before. So, once everything is audited, um we went back and said, "Hey, we were short $30,000." Um and they split it between the two of them just to kind of make us even for that year. And then also it's important to note and to thank them because every year annually they each give us $20,000 at the
029beginning of the year. Um and that just is it's just a contract that we have with them and they they uh annually do that. And then again to note they come up if there's a shortfall and and help us with that as well. So on the next page you will see um the 2023 or 2324 results and then the 2425 results. um you'll see that that uh the loss of $30,000 um that was a loss, but we went back and then asked them and they split that um which shows up in the 2425. So taking that out um we ended again with a profit of 37,6677 and again that is in uh you know with the DG grant and then with those partnerships in there as well. So um again year three for both Zach
030and I and I think we've come a long way and I think uh that's something again to be proud of but a lot of work a lot of work put into that. Zach or Scott, did I miss anything on explaining that? Or Drew also? No. Okay. And then just uh again, the next page talks about the financial considerations. So um with everything obviously we know there's there's variables. So with increased kids comes increased supply cost. So just making sure that we're keeping uh track of that. Enrollment can fluctuate quite a bit. Um again, do we need it? Do we want it? That's important. So, we pay real close attention to our variable expenses, but there's some things that are fixed that we can't do anything about, and that's the staffing. Um, and then this year
031we had a cost of benefits. So, we had to increase uh a little bit that we kick into for employees who do take our benefits. And then just moving forward in the sustainability of the program. So, uh after last year, Zach and I started a monthly tracker. So, we keep track of um each month about kind of the financials and where where they're at. Um always looking for grant applications. Um and then just community engagement and growth. We have do have a parent board. Um there's three people on there right now looking to add a fourth or a fifth on there. So getting involved with them too and just kind of ideas on what they see and how we can make things work. We've talked about the task force already. Um, and I also think
032just it's important to note that us being out in the community. Um, field trips, having people come in and read to us, that's all been very beneficial as they see the need for our program. Um, and the benefit of it. They see us, you know, walking around strollers of kids down the street. That's just something to be seen in the community. But any questions for anybody? >> Are we doing any type of rate increase every single year? So, we did a a rate increase when I started and then we just did one in July. Um, and so that's something that uh we're keeping a close eye on and it's something that we have talked about is, you know, we did a big one when I started because we needed to and the one that we
033just did wasn't big, but it was significant. So, most daycarees are doing something at the beginning of every physical year. So, it's something just to keep an eye on and make sure that we're being competitive. Any questions for you? This was very good. >> Thank you for quite some time. Appreciate the transparency. So, thank you. Um, moving on to 111. Drew, you still with us? >> Yep. >> Go ahead. Um yeah, so starting off with the investment report, um one of the things I'd mentioned last month was that we had uh just recently paid all of the uh yearly debt payments. Um so the um liquid asset accounts that total just over $10 million are uh a little bit less than they were um in last month's report. And that's largely due or well entirely
034due to the uh um annual debt payments that you'll find under the uh January manual checks in the uh um board report. Um so that'll be the one thing. Other than that, the investment report is just kind of uh business as usual. the um accounts will kind of everything's right in budget so it uh accounts will kind of trend back up over through the uh end of this year. Um it's just kind of part of the natural cycle. Um skipping to the next page. Um some really good news here. Um the enrollment is up 19 over the uh previous month. Um I think Appleton was up 12 students. Um and the high school was up about 10 I believe. Um so a large increase in in the enrollment here. Um reminder that the uh budget
035revision that we approved in November was based on 785 for K through 12 enrollment. So, um, being currently at 807 puts us, uh, with a little bit more breathing room between, um, the the budgeted assumptions that we had earlier on in the year. And then moving on to the expenditures. Um, once again, nothing really out of the ordinary here. Everything's kind of right along track. Um the one jump would be in the debt service fund where um now we are almost fully paid up for all of our um uh debt payments for the year. So that would be a significant jump compared to last month. But other than that, everything's just kind of trending right along uh right along the natural path of the school year. Any questions for Drew? Thank you, Drew. >> Thank
036you, Drew. >> Thanks, Drew. We'll move on to 12.0 payment of bills and claims for the month. >> All right. I'll make a motion to approve the February 2026 board bills of $161,61925, the January 2026 manual checks of 3,991,42066 and February 2026 construction bills of $99,25266 for a total of $4,258,29257. A motion by >> second by Danny. Any discussion on bills and claims for the month? Okay. Hearing none. All those in favor? Motion carries. 13.0 is the presentation of the consent agenda. You see uh the resations and also the employments there. did not get the updated uh agenda. You'll see those two names there um in the employment personnel were added. There's no objection. I think I'll make that seconded by Scott. Any further discussion on consent hearing? None. All those in favor? >> I
037motion carries. 14.0 is to request to soliciting bids for 2026. So, they would need somebody for the Aton uh school and bus garage and then also for the uh Madison Marriott and Nassau Elementary School between April and October um for this coming summer with the motion Danny second by Scott. Any discussion on the bid? Hearing none. All those in favor? I post. Uh 15.0 is the notice of non-renewal for a probationary teacher. So we have one for nonrenew for this year by Scott. Any discussion on this? He hearing none. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Uh 16.0 is the resolution for nonrenewal of tier one, tier 2 and OFP teachers. So this is by law we have to do this if they're not uh fully licensed. So all of those type of people in
038those types of positions um do have to be uh non-renewed um each year. So motion by Danny >> seconded by Scott. Any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. 17.0 is request for the approval of proposed 2627 service co-ap contracts. You'll see 26 27 considerably on child. Um, but overall looks like about a $3,000 increase from what we paid Southwest Central Co-op last year. Motion by Scott. I'll second. Any discussion on the Southwest contract? Hearing none. All those in favor? I post motion carries 18.0 is the 26 27 school calendar. So um board members the calendar that is proposed has been brought uh for teacher input and meet and confer as well as reviewed by district administration. It represents a pretty similar calendar to the one that we're functioning under
039this year with a couple exceptions. Um um still 174 student days, still 184 staff days. Uh first day of school August 31st, last day of school May 28th. Um one difference is also that um this current year we've had a combination of late starts and early releases and in an effort to make that easier for families, we did change that in this calendar to um all early releases. So they're the same every time and they're um they're all twohour early releases if you remember in the past. Sometimes they were three hours, sometimes there were two and we're trying to stay that the system. So we actually gain a little bit of learning time back into the year comparing this calendar to the one um for next year. >> So can you elaborate on why the
040for early again. >> So that is the collaborative time that we built in. Uh we are asking our teachers to review all of the the state standards and curriculum and then to map that according to the state standards and we need time for them to do it and uh that collaborative time is is built in and that's where marine and the building leaders work with their staff to accomplish that. >> So is MCA the state requirement, right? Correct. I mean, in conversation, we could say that too early. We're prepping for our kids to do really pretty well on the MC. >> Exactly. It's the idea is to be prescriptive, not just shot in the dark. We're looking at our standards, making sure we're teaching the right stuff, that our curriculum has the standards covered, and
041if not, how do we supplement that? >> So, how that work when math is under revision this year. What else was under testing science? >> You know, >> how does it work as far as >> Well, we're taking two hours out, but we don't have anything to really align our math curriculum because it's still under revision of the school. >> Um, the test is under is a new test this year. Yeah, new standards are implemented in 2728. Is that what you mean? >> Well, so we we test in the math, English, science. Correct. >> Correct. >> Is it this year? Is it English? According to Scott's >> notes that you'll bring up here at the end of the meeting about the MCAs, >> we're not able to tie it to English this year, right? The
042MCA assessment changed this year >> to align with the new standards and we all schools will not have immediate results because it is a new assessment and MDE will spend the summer of 2026 to work on that standard setting. So we know what the >> So then 26 27 you will be able to with your two hours early releases be able to then adjust the curriculum. Let's just for say read >> correct. So the >> we'll have a new standard. >> Yep. So MD has said by September tentatively we will have those reading results. >> Correct. >> And then we'll be able to use that time. Correct. And I should also point out that time aligns with our strategic plan because we've been working on a multi-year system supports for students and and that's written
043into our plan and that again is that's the time set aside for us to be able to accomplish that. >> I guess where I'm going with it is what metrics can we as schoolboard members measure that against the two hour early hours? Is it the MCA test scores and I would say feel free to jump in Marie, but I would say it would be a combination of MCA assessment results, um the um fastbridge results, the access testing for EL results. Um fast bridges through K fast bridg is elementary through 7th this year, right? >> Correct. >> So what is the access? What is that testing? Thank you. That's all I got. Other comments or concerns about the uh 26 27 calendar? Okay. I'll take a motion to approve. >> Motion by Scott. >> Second by
044Matt. Any further discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor? >> I carries monthly reports to the school board. You'll see most of those are attached. Um Scott, can you touch on the MCA incentive letter? >> Yeah, >> that is just um something we do we've done for several years here and it's just an incentive to try to get our kiddos to give their best effort on it so that we can get um as accurate results as as possible. Um, I think I don't know what how our student forum kiddos responded here recently, but in the past it's been favorable like that as motivation for them to give their best effort there instead of just filling in the blanks and whatnot. So, um, I'm hopeful that we can continue to offer that again this year.
045And I guess what just in case anybody's not familiar with it, what happens is if they if students meet on the MCA test, um it's an automatic B for their semester exam. If they exceed on the MCA test, it's an automatic A. And they can choose not to say if they meet, they can choose to not even take the semester exam because they have demonstrated then that they they have pretty much mastered the standards that that are being covered. However, they can still take the semester exam and we will give them the better of the two scores. Um, and so it's kind of a there's no threat to if it doesn't go well, you you get a worse score or anything like that. It's just it truly is incentive to say give us all you've
046got, show us what you've learned. Um, and that gives us more valuable feedback. And then I think Danny, where where I was caught up a little off guard was uh when you were referencing the the standards. And I think this is what you're talking about, the the reading because those standards are changed, we're not going to get those results as quickly as we are going to get the math and science results. We'll get the math and science pretty much immediately. The reading will we won't get those until September. Um, so in this letter, it won't for English, it won't pertain to English this year because of the the change in the MCA test. >> That's how I was tracking it. >> Yeah. Yeah. So the option won't be there for >> not for reading this
047year because we won't >> because last year it wasn't there for science. >> Yeah. And and yeah. So we just won't have the data to to be able to do it in that content area this year. >> So are all students made aware of this prior to the test or leading up to the test or >> Yep. The teachers the teachers will will get this letter once approved again. um we'll push it out by parent square so that families can read through it. Um yeah, so they're made aware of it and I don't know the feedback that I've received over over time is that it does make our most of our kids I'm not going to say all of our kids because that wouldn't be accurate but I think it makes several of our kids
048put put more effort into this assessment. >> So we're So for the kids that take it seriously, we're rewarding them with A or B. What about the kids that don't take it seriously? C. >> No, they'll they just have to take the semester exam. But can I say this? How do we incentivize them? The ones that don't care, they're just circling everything. So we get a result that's invalid. Yeah, I don't have a great answer for that. That's that's this is the best thing that I've been able to come up with so far. Um I I do think Corey, there's probably some kids out there that unfortunately don't give their best effort here and that doesn't give us the the detailed most accurate data that we would like to have. >> So if I can
049build on that, that's what I'm saying. As a school board member individually, I track metrics The only metric we have to track if the teachers are doing their jobs is so though this is a very good start Scott >> is that C and D that's unfair to you guys is well not necessarily to you but to your teachers right because they're not we're not getting an actual picture right >> are they doing their job so when in my opinion and I'm not on the negotiation team but when the teachers come in the union and says hey we'd like a pay raise why would you like a pay There's nothing to base it on except the cost of living that's set every year, but there's no metric to say yes, you guys deserve it by all
050means because this is our overall score. And that's where I have a hard time with metrics. We don't have anything that's technically fair to you guys. So, we got to figure out how to get those C and D kids to try than just go this is land, this is land, this is land. I don't know what the answer is. >> Yeah. >> But it's a concern, right? Because I think it's a concern of all of ours. >> It's unfair. >> Yeah. >> And that's why I like FastBridge, but unfortunately Fastbridge since it's internal to us, we're only at seventh grade level instead of where we need to be up by it see, you know what I mean? And I get it, adding every year, correct me if I'm wrong, Fastbridge is internal to us. Correct.
051>> That's correct. Yeah. Teachers use it to set groups to see where interventions are needed, >> right? like they do in Apple with the round robin type groups and who needs more. >> Correct. >> But I'm saying that fast is internal to us where we could have internal metrics to know >> but only through seventh grade. >> Well, you know, and ultimately the goal will be that all of that work. You're laying that foundation so we'll see those results when it does come to the MCAS >> in theory. But what about our CND kids that we just said? >> They don't care. We're still not getting true measurement, right? >> Yes. >> That's where I was trying to expound on >> metrics. And I can speak to during the assessment the rules of the MCA
052which all of the staff have to be trained on each year and have to um we have to have documentation and everybody's gone through that requires that um that they that they have to actively monitor which means that they have to actively monitor the students as they're testing. However, at the same time and this is a little bit of a kind of a conflict we're also not allowed to look at the specific test. you know, and so, um, it makes, you know, you're not able to track a student and look over their shoulder and, hey, you're you're you're not as able to track that. You know, obviously if they're done in in five minutes or 10 minutes, you're able to go, okay, yeah. Um, but that is a challenge that all schools deal with as
053well. to kind of piggy back on that and maybe this maybe this will be a um my hope is that this will be a piece that will help that is uh we took a group of five of us to South View uh in Edina to watch kind of it was an MTSS model but within there there was a flex schedule that we're very intrigued with and are going to be working to hopefully implement uh this coming school year if we can figure out all the details within this flex schedule it it's probably going to eliminate study halls but there will be similar component to it where students will be able to select select their area where they need to go get some extra assistance in. So if you need um added math support then you're
054going to select that flex period whether it's for a 35 40 minute period of time and go get that added support from that teacher. Um, and there will be some other fun opportunities, too. But if I'm a student who's not doing well in math and I choose a fun opportunity, that teacher might just say, "No, Scott, um, I'm going to assign you to my flex period because you need to retake quiz and you need some extra support." And so, we're looking at some components that within the school day, we can really give kids me support um to hopefully give them the tools so when they get to this maybe they'll have the motivation to um say I work pretty hard. I I think I can find some success in this in this assessment. >> So
055this will be some of these flex things they go to will be involuntary or voluntary. >> Well um this the students will have the opportunity to select their flex periods um and there's some training with them in that. However um and we heard this from some of the kids that we visited with. They don't always choose the right choices. And so then teachers will have the opportunity if they need to override that to say, "Okay, Danny, um you might have picked going into the shop class because you want to hang with the guys and work on a project, but I'm crossing all options off. You're coming into my math class. Um that is your flex assignment." So, um again, we're still learning about the the smart pass system that went along with that that I
056need to sweet talk Mr. Radits a little bit here, but um there's a lot of there's a lot of stuff. Um, I wish that I would have known about this in October. Would have given us a little bit more time to dig in, but we're we're working fast and furious on it. So, um, I guess I wanted to plant that seed. I put it in my report a little bit, and I I do feel like this is a pretty exciting opportunity to, um, just to be looking at enhancing that that intervention time that our elementaryaries are getting and we're not necessarily getting it to the point where we need it. So, I hope this is this might be the answer. Definitely some enticing. >> Yeah, >> I should have I sure could have used that.
057>> Maybe a little override. Override. >> Okay. Anything else on Marine? Anything to highlight? >> Uh just quickly, I did talk in programming about the achievement and integration plan. I'm working on the next three-year plan. We're wrapping up this current three-year plan, but the next three-year plan is due in March. So, I'm working on those goals. Um, they will align with the strategic plan. Again, working on test scores, communication, and involving families in events, and training staff on a variety of culturally responsive methodologies. But these all will align with our strategic plan. And so in March, I will have those solidified hopefully if they are approved by MBE. And I I think Drew is no longer on the call, but I've been working with Drew as well on the budget piece for that. And then
058today, just Oh, any questions? And then today I found out from MSBA that they will have an artificial intelligence model policy available on Wednesday for us. I know this is something the district is working on. So they also are developing something that we can make sure that we are in compliance. So more to come on that. That's it. And >> thank you, Marine. That actually segus really nicely. Um almost like they planned it that way. >> He did >> to uh just a quick update to the board. Um Scott Zawatsky and I have been meeting with a a team that Scott has put together here in the building. Um as an artificial intelligence committee, um artificial intelligence is something that is is going to have a profound impact on education as we move forward. we
059um whether it's something we like, it's whether it's something that scares us, it's something that's not going away. Um and so um you know, I was at a training a while back or a meeting, superintendent meeting a while back where they said it was something like at the time 13 school districts in the state had a a policy in place or something that that gives direction to how students and staff can best utilize artificial intelligence. And so that's what this committee's basically been working on. um that's got pulled together um and one of the things that they have so far um accomplished through two meetings um is the development of uh of lack of Carl Valley artificial intelligence vision statement. I just wanted to read it so the board can kind of get a sample
060of some of the discussion that they've been talking about. But the the vision statement that the the group developed is that artificial intelligence in Lacaro Valley schools will enhance not replace the human connection at the heart of education. While traditional learning methods are still used and valued, we will utilize artificial intelligence to expand opportunities for every learner, advance instructional excellence, and prepare students for successful futures. We commit to implementing AI with integrity, equity, and transparency using an ethical model. for our students, staff, and community. And and um and so it's been a fun meeting with that group and we're going to continue to do so. When we we get through that process of determining what those pro protocols and if we feel comfortable and ready to go their policy is ready, that would come to
061the board for approval before being action. Just wanted to give you an update that that's happening. And then uh lastly uh the district advisory council uh met this past week uh to review the progress we've done so far on the uh strategic plan. And that was a kind of a fun meeting because it was an opportunity that the people there were the ones that helped us to collect the data and put the plan in place. And so we got to go here and talk about the the accomplishments that have happened so far on the work on that plan. It was validating to to see the work that's been done and and have dialogue about if they're going to continue to uh be in that role as our district advisory council moving forward. Questions for uh
062anything else for tonight hearing none. I'll take a motion to adjourn. >> Motion by Danny, >> second by Matt. All those in favor? I >> post