001Okay, I'll call this meeting of the regular school board meeting Monday, October 27th order. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nation justice for all the free approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> Second. I'm sorry I did not hear that move. Sorry, Chrissy. >> Any discussion? It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. All those in favor say I. I. >> Those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Public forums done. Okay. Uh, moving on to the consent agenda. 5.1 Approved minutes of the regular schoolboard meeting of September 22nd. 5.2 approved minutes of the special school board meeting of October 2nd. and 5.3 personnel report action required. Does anybody need anything pulled out of that? Any discussion?
002Hearing none, can I get a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> It's been approved and seconded to um approve the consent agenda. All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Number six, financials 6.1 review of budget year to date. >> Okay, the budget we're at 23% currently. Last year at this time we're at 22%. Looks fine. >> Any questions for Jackie regarding the budget? Okay, hearing none. Moving on to 6.2 approved treasures report for September 30th, 2025. >> Current cash balance is 9,477,817. Last year was 10,144,000. >> Any questions or discussion for Jackie? >> Hearing none. Can I get a motion to approve? >> So moved. Second. >> It's been moved and second to approve the treasures report for September 30th, 2025. All those in favor
003say I. >> I. Those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. 6.3. Approved 2023A bonds treasures report for September 30th, 2025. >> The current balance in this account would be the $856,035. >> Any question or discussion? the remainder. So far that the tier one project of our roof is paid for >> except for I think for the I think we kept some retainage on the um steel work that the okay the sheet metal work that needs to be finished yet. I think there's a little retainage held for that but for the most part yes. >> Okay. So even after that there still will be a balance in his account. >> Yes. Cuz we'll have phase two which is the first half we had originally divided in two phases. >> Now phase two we're actually dividing into two
004phases. Phase one and phase two. >> Okay. >> Is going to be paid from this account and then phase two of phase two will be paid with the LTFM funding. Perfect. Perfect. I see that. >> Yes. >> Okay. Any other discussion or questions? >> Hearing none. Can I get a motion to approve? >> So second. >> It's been approved and seconded. Seconded to approve the 2023 B a bonds treasures report for September 30th. All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed same sign. Motion passes. 6.4 Four, approve regular bills. You know, I'd asked a couple of questions and Jackie got back to me. So, thank you, Jackie. >> Jackie, you ready >> for questions? >> Yep. >> Sure. >> The Tim Rust said, "Is that one to fix the sidewalks from?" >> Yes.
005A lot. But that should have been sent to Blackhawk. >> That should have been sent to Blackhawk though. That should have been >> Oh, no. That is a cement base for the sign that was donated at the elementary school out here on the non. Thank you. >> And they were saying that was my understanding for my >> Yeah. Well, that's what I thought. That's why I'm just making sure we were getting reimbured that or not. It's okay. But are we getting reimbured for this then? >> Yes. I need to build them >> for the for the >> She gave me the board. You need the number. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that they were getting So yes, it's just an in and out. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Okay. And then the
006other one was bear with me one minute. I had one other question. >> Um Great American Financial Service Corporation. What page? >> Uh rental six. Yes, >> I asked that too. >> Those are a copier and print. Copier rental. >> I like my first meeting. >> So I knew but I just >> Any other questions? Okay. Hearing none. Can you get a motion to approve? >> Some moved. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve the regular bills. All those in All those in favor say I. >> Those opposed, same sign. >> Motion passes. 6.5 approve high school activity bills. Any questions on those? Make a motion we approve the high school activity bills. Okay. Second. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the high school activity bills. All those in favor
007say I. >> I. Those approved same sign. Motion carried. Board form reports. See who is going first. You. No. I don't >> we met with negotiations uh have a tentative agreement signed uh or not signed just waiting for them to approve it. So we should be in good shape there. >> And there and there's language in place about the whole new PFMLA, right? >> The the new Minnesota pay like that's all put in there. >> Yeah. >> It's a whole new hoopla. Yeah. >> Yeah. I know >> we're sticking with what the state says. We're trying to stay out of it. >> Yep. I think that's a good way to go for it. >> And and the the tenative agreement has a equal split between the employer and the employee. So it's a 88 total
008and we're splitting that 444.44%. >> Yes. >> Which is kind of state guidelines. >> But that's Yeah. >> I mean you can take it any way you wanted but that's what we can take on more but minimum required to pay for half. Um, and that's what we negotiated through the process saying that >> so this is a benefit. So, >> well, I think it's good for both employee and employer to have stake in the game. I mean, it's >> a good thing. And for those that aren't familiar, pink family medical leave is something that initiates January 1 um of this next coming year. And it's something that has become a basically an unfunded mandate from the state that we're having to put in. And the costs are being pushed on to the employer to the
009employee to be split evenly similar to I think a great parallel is like social security. >> It's kind of social security. >> Would you say it's safe to say that both parties wish it wasn't there? I I think there's a sense that that would be the case. >> That's just negotiations >> because the cost that's going into into it by the employee and the anticipated costs both in terms of dollars as well as opportunity cost for the employer because you look at opportunity cost, you more people will probably take it an opportunity to take leave that may not have occurred before. >> But it comes out of the employee the teachers. >> Yeah. And then that's why they don't want to pay it either because Yeah. They lose their money too if they don't use
010it. >> Yeah. >> Right. There is a insurance policy though. I mean if you're ever or if you're a single parent, things like that where you have to take care of your child. I mean it is a good thing to have in place for people that need it is how >> there's different ways of looking at it. >> I know. But I do think it there's some good good things that come with it too. But what's that? I know I wasn't at the last board meeting, but I was I uh would have mentioned it. I went to the um band performance out at the U field and um they announced that the uniforms were made by Colleen Langren, which is pretty impressive if you look at those. >> Yeah. And so, um, I think that
011she deserves a shout out cuz that was a huge undertaking, especially when you look at what they were and they look really good. >> And to take on that many uniforms in that short of time is impressive. And I'm assuming it saved that band program quite a bit of money. >> So, I know I talked to band parents a couple one night when I was out field two and they told me that I'm like, "That's crazy." I mean, that's just a lot of work. Yep. So definitely anything else? I haven't been any other moving on administrator's report. >> All right, I'll go first. All right, a number of things to share. You can see the enrollment report is attached. Um the gym floor for the elementary, we have a temporary fix in place. Um, it
012it's not real attractive, but it's it's a temporary solution for use. It's big squares of plywood that have been put down and sanded smooth and then put a finish over top of them so they don't splinter or anything like that. It It's like I said, just a temporary fix. Um, and then what we'll do is next summer we'll get in there and remove the plywood that's temporarily installed. come back, tie in the floor. They're going to have to pull out some boards and feather it together because one thing I learned through this process is gym floors are harvested all at the same time from the same batch of wood. And so it's aged about the same time, both in terms of how big the trees are, but then also how long the boards sit together.
013So there there'll be a difference that you'll notice in the floor finish with the boards compared to what's existing there. And um lifespan of gym floors typically have four maybe five complete sandings. I think I've shared that before. We'll be doing a complete sanding of that floor when we get the boards tied in to try and and get it to to meld together and look better um aesthetically. So, that's going to happen next next year. We'll do the rellining. One of the things as well that we learned is that our lines technically weren't up to code. Um, the pinion lines, I didn't realize that was an issue. Um, the installer for the gym shared that that was a concern that he had just looking at it. So, we get that corrected as well when we
014go through this process. Um, >> isn't that something that should go >> I know. I'm just like, how how can that be contractors that that we should be going back through then? Well, the trouble is we're past the one-year warranty. >> I feel like that's not a warranty. >> I think Well, it should have at there's there's several things. We We have that with the with the gym floor. We've had the the regular flooring. Um we had a pipe that was severed because they used pit run gravel instead of um crushed crushed uh gravel to fill. Pit run typically has rocks this big and and that's what happened. a PVC pipe that was about that big around got severed by a piece of pit run rock that was on that. And so there have been
015several things that have been >> Where was Carl Anderson on all this? >> That's a good question. >> Well, that's my thing. How would we know if the lines are up to code? We can't see that by looking at it. I mean, >> and that's and that's why you hire a construction manager. Um, something that was interesting going back and looking over the documents, the construction management agreement that the district had with Krauss Anderson was not a construction manager at risk agreement. It was a construction management um at representation agreement. And the difference is when it's a CMR or C uh construction management at risk, that agreement basically puts the construction manager with skin in the game. When they're at representation, they're just grabbing a chair, pulling it up to the table, saying, "I'm here
016for Pipeline Area Schools." When it's at risk, they're like, "I'm here for Pipeline Area Schools and Cross Anderson. Oh, by the way, here's our checkbook and here's Pipstone's checkbook." And they didn't have a checkbook on the table. Just real basic terms there. >> Is that typically what they do or >> No, I would say that Well, I don't know if it's typical, but I would I would say that if you're going to use construction management, you want construction management at risk. >> Yeah. >> Skin in the game. >> There's no >> um the chair they like to pull up that is the one that they don't skin in the game. >> Exactly. >> I don't remember there ever being any discussion about that amongst the three people construction companies either that we had. I mean,
017we had it wasn't just that we picked, you know, we had interviews with three different construction companies and >> so note to self in the future when we when we had more construction is the way to go. Um, again, just because they they have they have uh some obligations there. So, um, but it doesn't preclude us from having some further discussions with Cross Anderson, which we've done on on a few occasions here. um some information about the focus event that was uh great to attend and my first opportunity to meet to meet Barry Kirkart which was great. Um I'm sure all of you know Barry and I did not that he did a little presentation and uh thoroughly impressed with what he shared in conjunction with Dr. Barry Dunn and um certainly some real interest
018in doing some further partnerships. I know we when Mrs. Portland and I visited with him. He talked about some of the uh scholarship things, but we also talked about how we could build more career awareness with our with our youth and um he seemed very interested in working with us and partnering in that. So, uh we're super excited about how that could could uh result in some other opportunities down the road. Um roofing, the metal sheet metal crew, like I mentioned earlier, they were supposed to be on site. They they came last Friday and they were supposed to be on site again today. They weren't. So, obviously some follow-ups are going on and have gone on. Um, we just need to get that done because it it doesn't look good. I mean, and I know
019I've had multiple questions asking is this it? And no, it's not. And and we're working on that. Um, federal shutdown. I know there's been a number of questions asking what is the impact to us. Um, at this point in time, there haven't been any real, I would say, direct implications. There's some residual implications that we're keeping an eye on. There's been um a number of layoffs, massive layoffs, I would say, in the US Department of Education, particularly in the Title One and special education areas. Uh obviously there's going to be some questions when the government gets up and running again how that will impact special education and title one programming. I think also some other areas like um title N and and 504 things at the federal level. So uh still a lot up in
020the air relative to that. Uh I know the state is stepping in in some of those things. Um but again, they're going to run out of resources as well from what might be in reserve. Um strategic plan, we're still working on finding possible options there. What I'm trying to do is line up a couple of people and then have um some board representation sit down with them and and go through a process of determining who we would want to partner with to have a good strategic plan process. Negotiations already been discussed. Um we have a tenative agreement working through that Christmas party December 13th I believe is the date. So board members you can mark your calendars. We'd welcome you to participate in that. We are reaching out to some partners and vendors again. The
021administrative team will host the party. Um already locked in to be up at the region on that date. So uh super excited about this. It's kind of becoming an annual tradition and um a great way to spread a little Christmas cheer for everybody. uh leadership conference. I believe a few of you have signed up already. Um still time to sign up. Uh might be a little tricky with rooms, but we'll figure it out. Uh another issue that is outstanding that we're working on the high school gym curtain. We've had some issues with that. Um the manufacturer and the representative, we had a pretty long conversation about a week and a half, two weeks ago with them. they were going to to kind of well we'll talk about it some more and I said no you're
022sending a rep out to visit you're going to get eyes on this um I demanded that we get an extended warranty if they're not willing to completely replace the system so uh tomorrow we're actually supposed to have that rep out to take a look we're having some some damage done to the netting area of the curtain and then you can see some lines being kind of etched into the vinyl part of the curtain and that curtain's not that old. Um I think there was some initial issues with installation that weren't done correctly. So again, we're pushing for a complete system replacement. If they're not willing to do that, certainly an extended warranty. Um number 10, kind of an interesting dynamic here. Firm gases versus interruptible gas. Um, we learned that since 2003, the district has
023been on interruptible gas, which means you can have your gas service cut off for a maximum of like 15 days. And when we started asking questions, we myself and Len um the initial reaction was, we're not aware that we have any backup fuel storage. Well, then we found out a couple of days later that we do. Apparently, it's located over by the big chiller area. Um but then as we ask more, what should happen every year with those backup fuel systems is the boilers and the burner should be run with that alternative system for a few days just to make certain that the fuel is fresh and and there's no moisture buildup. Um nobody could recall the last time that alternative fuel source has been tapped into. So, um, we have decided to go with
024in with farm gas versus interruptible and do some testing of the fuel that's in those tanks because one of the things I learned, um, if the fuel isn't full, those tanks can sweat internally and you can end up with water in there and then it can damage your boiler systems. So, I'm learning far more about boilers than I expected I would, but uh Len's been great about that. And we're going to do, like I said, farm gas this year, work through that over the next 6 to 12 months to determine if we can get back to interruptible. I think there's a little benefit costwise to do the interruptible versus the firm. But given the uncertainties of our firm, uh our our backup gas source, we thought firm was the way to go versus the interruptible.
025Um because heaven forbid that we would have the gas shut down for a number of days in the middle of a cold cold winter and residual damage with that. So >> do you know the last time we've had we've had that happen >> like not sure. Okay. >> I would have no idea. >> I just wonder. >> Yeah. No idea. >> So where is the was all this with our guy that we have doing boiler checks once a month? >> Isn't he aware of any of this stuff? I don't know. I don't know the answer to that question. >> Well, that would be something we should investigate because we're paying him to check this stuff once a month >> and that may be on his scope of what he has been asked to do because
026he may be something we need. >> Yeah. >> We need to include him in on it to make sure it's getting done. >> It's it's followed through. >> Do you know what the difference in price is? >> Not off the top of my head, Ty. That's something that we're going to get to. we just because this happened last week. I don't have that info. But yeah, we'll get that shared out with everybody cuz um that was a like I said a little shift unanticipated, but I think it's the right thing to do because it's just being preventative given the uncertainties that we're dealing with. And then the last thing that I wanted to share was it is principal appreciation month this month. Um and I want to give a big shout out to Miss both
027Mrs. Ortman and Mrs. Marvitz. Um they've been doing just an incredible job representing our district and working for the kids and for the community and for the staff that they serve. So again, I just wanted to ask that you join me in saying thank you because they both do a great job and you can tell by looking in their eyes they're both getting tired already and it's only so beautiful ladies. I appreciate it. >> Okay, moving on to the question before we move on. So, you guys were you talked about talking to Barry Kirkart. Um, we had a gal here from Pipeline Systems a couple years ago. uh talking about probably something very similar as far as trying to get a career fair going. Uh they're very enthusiastic about that. Have we gone anywhere with
028>> Yeah, that great question. Yep. So, we are working career fair. >> We have because we send kids to Marshall, but that feels a little disjointed because it doesn't have any direct connection back to Pipstone. So yes, there have been conversations and maybe during your tour you want to talk about that just as importantly. I know that there has been um discussions with Erica Vulker at the chamber because she used to help run the career fair at Fairmont when she was there and she's equally very interested in again flexional system and then trying to tie another business as well because we know that that there's a need and our best customer is one we already have >> and there's a lot of opportunity and I don't remember were you in on that conversation with the
029trades I went to the school board meeting or last Was it last year or two years ago last year? >> Anyway, there's a lot of opportunity for them to come down to our area cuz they don't have a school. They they would like to have a school in our area that would let them come down and do a trades fair and they do, you know, they'll set it all up. We just have to pretty much supply the school. >> And I think that's like cuz there's it's a huge there's a lot of need for trades and it's a lot of those kids don't get that. I don't think they get that exposure to it is because, you know, it's something that's not talked about like what are you going to do, you know, and a
030lot of those jobs are, I mean, they're talking five to six figure salaries, you know, I mean, so it's not like it's it's something to look at and look into. And I think it's important for our students to be at least to know what's out there. >> Well, you weave that into the ongoing development of artificial intelligence. >> Yeah. >> Those are jobs that aren't going to be taken. >> They can't be taken. And that's what they were saying. you know, we need we're we're having less and less people going into these fields because they don't want to work. I mean, you know, they don't have the hard labor jobs, but but they're not the type of hard correct and things like heavy equipment operators as well. I mean, bringing in to a career fair
031double D for example. Yes. >> Cuz there's a number of different career opportunities that exist even within an organization like that. So, >> yes. >> But yeah, there's a lot of cool things going on there and that trades, it's like a trades union. I have to look it back up, but they they will come in and help you get it set up and bring people in um help get people from your community to do certain trades for them. >> And we talked about some simulators as well. >> Simulators. I mean, it's just there's a lot of hands-on things and and they would like I what they they would like if we were able to do that, they would pay for it and then you what you would do is you would invite maybe invite Leverne
032or you'd maybe invite you know like who else so that they could get a bigger student base here. >> I'll go back through I think you sent me an email again last year because I was like look at that school. >> Yeah. And then I'll go back to talk. I would also encourage you to reach out to Michelle just because she I mean she pres did a whole presentation for the school probably seven years ago. >> What's her last name? >> Raymond. Um R E M U N D. And then just her experience and her knowledge from I stone. Um and she sits on a or did sit on a board that did that for different school districts. So >> yeah, she's very passionate about it. >> Well, during his presentation, Dr. Khart said that
033they expect Pipes System to grow like 3,000 employees over the next 10 years. So that's a tremendous amount of upside for our community and region. Obviously, it's bigger than just us, but yeah, Tyler, you said a couple of questions. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Strategic planning. >> Yes. What is what is the goal behind that? How do we utilize that? And is there a a reason that we need a third party to come in and facilitate that? >> Okay. Few questions there. So, yeah, I'll unpack all those. Um the goal or the vision with the strategic plan is it does give us a pretty clear direction on what our priorities are in terms of what we're trying to get for measurable outcomes. Um the last strategic plan and and obviously I was removed from that
034but I'll give you my perspective. um was done in collaboration with the schoolboard association and from what I've heard it felt kind of disjointed from what actually happens in the classroom to what we actually put on the paper that's hanging on my wall in my office. Um, and when I say disjointed, I would say some of the metrics weren't necessarily aligned to our current reality and our current situation. >> So, give me an example. So, you say metrics. So, we say, hey, we need we have a goal of everybody hitting this reading level at 1%. like 90% of our kids reading at grade level for example. >> Okay. >> And that doesn't match our current reality on a couple of different fronts. Um I think one from from our English language population we know that
035data tells us that it takes like seven years to fully acclimate a new language. So to think we're going to hit 90% with an increasing ER population, those two things are disjointed. They're not. >> Um, so that's an example. Um, so so I think the the objective or the vision of a of a strategic plan is to give us real tangible and measurable outcomes, which we've kind of been working toward. I I've worked with each of the principles to have a um an academic goal and a non-academic goal. That's a start to get to that direction, but I would like to have a district strategic plan that's set by the board that then cascades to those school improvement plans that then cascades to the teacher to say, "Okay, here's here's where I see myself in
036the strategic plan." Because right now, I don't think our teachers historically have seen themselves in our strategic plan. So, that's that's kind of the big vision. Um why why a third party? Um yeah, I think we could do it ourselves. I I don't have any doubt. Um I feel like can't we just do it based on the strategic plan we have and just make some changes because I look at our strategic plan. I mean I'm looking at it right now and it some things are I mean 95% of children entering kindergarten will have preschool experience. I don't to me that's not I mean some of those things are things implement. >> No, I understand that but we can help make that accessible like where we gave free preschool to I mean those are things that
037we action items that we did to make it more attainable. You know what I mean? I I don't know. I just think that, you know, I mean, we have one. I mean, I I I'm looking at is that I don't want to pay somebody else to do something that we already paid and I was on board. We went through this. >> Yeah. >> And we had even Didn't we invite people in the public to to business people to, you know, come in and Yeah. >> So, I you know, I think we had a good base relationship. I'm glad we did, but you know, not that I've >> gone and looked at it, but I don't know if that's something that, you know, we evaluate. And again, I mean, if we have extra of that grant
038money, but I I don't I don't want to have that as an expense when we kind of already have one or can we not just sort of look at other districts and see what, you know, they have and like what are we missing? And I I get we're not like every other district, but what is it? Maybe our strategic plan is missing that maybe we want to incorporate and you know, >> so when they do this, they kind of individualize every district though, right? Based on >> they do certain different planning. I don't know if they do. >> They should, but I like I said, I don't know if they do or >> we had different planning needs. So we had we had a um parents like one in the mid community one then we
039had a staff one and then we had a school board I think just had one too didn't they? >> Mhm. >> Yeah. I just did different little pods and then they did kind of the same thing in each one, you know, got everybody's ideas and >> they pretty much just collected the data. collect they just collected the data and then we did the belief statements and we from everybody's you know ideas and yeah kind of >> the intent would be if if there are resources to use it that would come from that grant funding that that was the intent not that it would be a general fund expenditure. >> Okay. So that's but again I I'm open to hear what the board has to say and what you think would be best for us because
040um I just want to make certain that our staff see themselves in the plan. That's that's my biggest concern >> and I would agree >> that it's not something being done to them but with them and and how we set up metrics that get us to that point. Does a piece of paper on a wall dictate how a teacher is teaching? >> Can it have an influence? I think it can. >> Yeah, I do. >> Well, I think it's >> I think it's like organization that you have you have a mission, you have a vision, you have goals. I mean, it's I'm guessing the place where you work, you have a strategic plan. You have some kind of organizational goals. And while it may not be something you live and and breathe intuitively, it may
041be there in terms of decisions that are made, where resources go and >> how things populate getting to the belief statements, those types of things. So, >> well, and we've done a lot of these things on this as far as things. I mean, there's some things that we've met. I mean, you know, so I mean, it's probably is a good thing to go through it all and take off the stuff we've already done and we we've accomplished and but I mean, I don't know if we need to start from >> and it needs to be aligned to we really need it and want it to align to before it used to be the world's best workforce. That that was one of kind of those driving factors behind this too. Um, now it's with the comprehensive
042achievement and civic readiness that we would need to align to as far as the state goes. And I say we need to because when we get to reporting out, I mean, there's a world's best workforce report that we've done that they ask for that data and where it comes from. And we just don't want to be grabbing things randomly. We want to say that this is a board approved. Does that require us to submit a strategic plan to them? >> A reflection of our strategic plan through the through that through that report. Yeah. >> It takes it from being random data to well this is approved by the board and this is kind of setting organizational direction. >> Sure. >> All right. Thanks. >> All right. Homework for all the board everybody. look over at
043the strategic plan >> and if you don't have current access, we'll we'll push it out this week. >> Yeah, it's on our website. >> Yep, should be there. But yeah, we'll push it out, make it accessible there. >> Okay, moving on. >> I I just wanted to make sure that I looked at that right. So, we lost almost 20 students from September to October. Did I read that right or did I not read that right? >> Does that sound right? I was going to say huh. >> I thought I think it was that many. >> So, I thought I looked back at September and maybe I was looking at a different year. >> I know. >> And it was like 11 something and it's now 1080. Did I look at the wrong year? >> It
044was 1091 and now it's >> Oh, you know what? It's not on there now that you see it on there. >> Yeah, >> that's why. Sorry. My bad. I didn't even look at the year. I just looked at the last number. >> It was probably on the last page. You know, I don't print the prints to a bunch of lines, but I >> So, sorry. I just wanted to like make sure I'M LIKE, WHERE DID THESE KIDS GO? >> I think it was too >> And and part of that could be not saying it is, but could be impacted by what's going on with >> Yep. >> And just I don't have any quantifiable to say that, but that has been something you talked about. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. It's uh 1091 last month. 1086.
045So >> Yep. >> So it really wasn't my error. >> No, but I'm not going to say that. I mean, I did look at it twice, but I never looked at the year part of it. So my bad. >> Okay. Any other questions for Dr. Alert? Moving on to the principal's board part. Jennifer, I have you up for yourself. >> Okay. So, for the month of October, we had picture retakes at the beginning of the month. Preschool screening on October 8th, we screen 31 students, which is awesome. I love that we do that. A huge kudos to the elementary or to our early childhood staff along with Christy and Josie who did an awesome job with that. Homecoming week, that was a fun week. We had a lot of dress up days. The pep fest
046was awesome. Just like over the top. The kids were so excited with that. And then the parade that we had was so wonderful. Indigenous people's day that was on October 13th. So Lisa sent out a lot of information for our staff to kind of do that. They're required to do an hour with indigenous people. So one of the things that I've noticed around the elementary is that the paper towels don't make it into the garbage. So last week we did the great paper towel challenge which is awesome. I picked up one paper towel all week long. Scott picked up like I think 10ish something like that. And so the students won which is awesome but they just took such great pride into our school so it was a lot of fun. Um we had a
047dental ceiling clinic this past Friday. Several students I don't remember exact number. We weren't able to get them all done but then we have another time in November. This coming Thursday we have our airway assembly. So with our airway support team we took a character trait of every month. This month happens to be respect. We've talked about it. I talk about it in my morning announcements in the classrooms. Our social worker and our um counselor talk about it during character education and really talking about what does respect mean and going through that. So on Thursday we're going to highlight one student um from every classroom on Thursday at our assembly. Our first trip program is on Friday. The end of the quarter is also on Friday. I'm really excited about this elementary booster clubs. Samantha
048Terry came to me and said, "Hey, we can write a grant. What would be some ideas that we could write that grant on?" Well, one of the things that we talked about was indoor recess time and what we could do other things. Kids like to do different things during indoor recess. They wrote the grant. They received it. $2,000 and I'm excited about that. So, we've met with our leadership team to brainstorm some ideas to come up with what we can purchase for indoor recess. Um, winter's coming. We do spend some time in there. So, what are different things that kids can do? >> That's a good idea. >> Yep. We've had two fire drills this month. We just had our last one and for this month and that was with the fire department. The kids
049are doing awesome with that. I mean, they're out. Everyone knows the drill and what needs to be expected. Um, just an update on my non-academic goal and we are currently at 95.4% attendance for the month of October, which is so awesome. Above our 92%, which is really, really wonderful right now. So after listening to my staff, they were like, "What what is it that you need when we start looking at our PD calendar?" And one of the things that they talked about is they wanted to have our monthly staff meeting. So we've been doing that. This year, I'm really just focusing on just fostering that strong, positive school culture. And two things that I really talked about this time around was just talking about the pebble in the jar. And I kind of just really
050went through that analogy. What does that look like? Um and um it was very well received by our teachers which is awesome and really understanding what are the pebbles and what is the jar and what is the significance behind that. Um one of the other things that we talked about is the eagle and the crow and just encouraging our staff to kind of rise above that negativity and anything that might distract us and weigh us down and to kind of soar and be focused and strong and really um solution focused instead of problem focused. Um, October is national appreciation of principal appreciation and I just want to take a moment to just celebrate this appointment. I I truly appreciate our collaboration and our and our strength as administrators and how much we do together and
051how much we work together. And I just value the work of our entire advocate so much and the work that she's doing and how dedicated she is to students and to her staff. So just a huge kudos to Mrs. Arman and I just am very very thankful for our team and the support for one another and what she's doing with her team. And then that at the bottom to what you were saying about enrollment. So my enrollment at the elementary I believe was 609 last month at 614. And so some of the grade levels was a switch of decreased enrollment in a couple of villas. But then our preschool program that went up by a couple of numbers. So that's where we kind of fluctuated. We actually ended up six more than last month. We
052lost some in the older grades and then we fixed some up in the younger ones. questions for me. No questions. Moving on to Mrs. Orman. Great. Thank you. >> All right. I also want to wish Jennifer Morvitz happy National Principal Month. Um we typically don't get a lot of time during the day um to collaborate. So we end up doing it at night. we spend between, you know, one to two hours, several nights a week just collaborating and problem solving and and and helping each other out. So, I appreciate that um ability for us to be able to do that and I do appreciate you as a as a cohort incredibly. Um we are down to 4 minutes of getting out of the building in a fire drill and that is down from 9 minutes
053last year. We changed some things around that made it more um streamlined and I'm happy to say that we are very efficient with our fire drills leaving the building and coming back in so we can get that instruction. Um we are bound by the state of Minnesota as far as how many drills that we are supposed to have every year. So we do what we're supposed to do and stay uh compliant that way. Um so it was brought up uh about the the career fair and how how important that is and we recognize that as a leadership team as well. um our students typically go off campus to a whole different town whether it's Warthingington and um and get to see those businesses that are that are represented in that community and I don't know
054that it's very relevant for our kids for our students. So um I did I have spoken to Erica Vulker at the chamber and she's got some ideas. I'm actually meeting with her either next week or the following week to kind of get something set up. But we want to bring our local businesses here to expose our students. That's the only way that they're some of them are going to know that these companies and these businesses exist. Um obviously we want to grow our own once our students graduate. Um if they don't go off to college right away, we want them in the workforce or or a trade school, something something will eventually be great if they just came back to our community. So that is something that we are absolutely working on. Um we actually
055um took we normally don't do this. We normally we normally go to visit a career fair in a different town and I don't I don't know that it's as meaningful as we would hope. Um our students just kind of they hang out with their friends and they go to this booth. They grab some swag and some cool pens and some papers and they don't ask a lot of questions. And so, um, I do a lot of walking around at lunch and visiting with kids and sitting with them at tables and talking to them. And so, I sent out an email to the juniors and seniors and I talked to them. I I had I went around with a notepad like, "What do you want? What do you think you might want to do?" I'm not
056sure. I think maybe tag, but I hadn't visited once. So, we decided to take our kids to um Southeast Technical College is what it's called now. Um, and they we took 26 kids there last Tuesday and it was incredible. It was incredible. They they were immersed in the labs, the nursing lab, the plumbing lab. So that early sort of introduction is so important because they've got two programs right now that are on weight list. So they have HVAC plumbing is on weight list and cardiovascular synography is on weight list. So, juniors that are interested in maybe going there, they should apply now and get put on that weight list. And so, I had gotten great feedback from those students and um and the two staff members that I sent um to Sou Falls said, "These
057kids were absolutely incredible. They represented us so well. They were they answer they asked a lot of questions. They were so respectable." Um so, I'm really proud of our of our students. Okay. Um we just had today's Monday. On Friday we had Corey Greenwood come to speak to our students in grades 6 through 12. This is the second time that he's been here. Um last year he did um you matter and we had Park Elementary and we had our middle and high school students. So he does another program called You Matter 2.0 which deals with the same type of thing. Music, lots of motivation. um kind of talking to the students about what kind of a person do you want to be? And so that was that was awesome. 65 minutes Friday afternoon meaningful. So
058if you have kids in grade 6 through 12, please ask them what they thought. Um, we have now hosted a FAFSA night. The FAFSA is one of the most confusing and anxietyinducing documents that any parent that has a child going to college or technical school has to fill out. It's the first thing that you have to fill out before you even fill out a college application. That's the first step. And so, we wanted to make sure that there were no no questions for our parents. Since 2019, we have not had an in-person FAFSA representative. And so, Mrs. Duos and I spoke and and we thought we'd go ahead and reach out. Stream reached out to some area schools and we had a representative from SDSU come and kind of walk everyone through um the FAFSA.
059We didn't have a great turnout. Um it says strong turnout here. That's because I my board report had to be turned into death before the event turnout. Okay, just take out the word and turn out, but I'm hoping to build that in in the future just the more that I can get parents and and the stakeholders in and I had trouble with the faster myself and I didn't want to fill that out when I when I had to. So, it's it was a nice thing to have and so I would like to continue that on. Um, so we are October is and was um our focus on forever graduate how to be community-minded. how can we do something for ourselves without having to get anything back? And so we had different things happening in the
060middle and high school. Um middle school held a hunger drive and th those middle school teachers used that terminology throughout the month of October. And um and my my high school my high school choir went to uh Good Samaritan Society for about an hour and performed um for those for those guests. And um my high school band went to Bridge View and performed there um just to kind of give back. other classes did some small projects where they just um like picked up some uh picked up some garbage or a high school class went to an elementary class they practiced reading books to them and so we're just trying to focus and this is something that's going to last all year not just for the month of October we want our students to be community-minded
061and so we're hoping in the spring um our leadership team talked about I think we're going to go K12 with a day of service which is going to take a lot of planning I'm also working with Erica Vulker on that. So, um Oh, we are partnering with the public library right now. We have um we have a something in place where that librarian comes in and our goal is to try to get everybody in grades 6 through 12 who wants a library card through the public library to have one. And then she's partnering with Lorie Gunnik um who's very community-minded in different ways that we can sort of work together. That's something that I'm really wanting to see in the middle and high school is how can we not just be our own island. How
062can we not only help the community, but how can we partner and how can they help out? How can we work together in a in a more cohesive way? Um, so Mrs. Morris talked about the homecoming parade and how that was a little bit different. Um, we were excited about lengthening it and extending it. Um, again, we want to be more visible to our community and to our stakeholders. The reason it was so long is because we our school is located not very close to the downtown area, but we wanted to go there in front of those businesses. And so I am interested in your feedback if you've heard anything there. Um we've already had our middle and high school arrow away and we're excited about those students. Um everything that um we do that's
063worthy of celebration is going to be on our social media on our Facebook page. Um we've got Red Ribbon Week this week. Um, and we've got a dress up days every single day. And I think I think that's it. Unless you got questions or comments for me. >> My only comment on the homecoming parade is is it was very long for businesses to be gone from their business. Sure. >> I mean, cuz it was we were there an hour and 20 minutes and we actually bugged out like when we came back from school just because we had to get back to work. But, you know, so I just don't I just don't want it to be that to inhibit people from wanting to do >> Oh, absolutely. >> You know, just because it did take
064and and a lot of it was we were stopped. I mean, it was >> Yeah, >> that was part of it, too. >> We'll brainstorm and see if we can come up with the perfect solution. >> Yeah. I mean, I think it's I think it's great cuz there's a lot of people out that would normally not see it. That was great to see. And I think it's good. It's just I think the time part of it, >> the time constraint. >> Yeah. You're right. It needs to be in town out. >> Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. >> Um I was going to ask uh the students you brought to Southeast Tech, how did you select them or were they they volunteer or that what was >> um they they volunteered. So, I started out by sending
065um an email out to all juniors and seniors. And then I like walked around and sat with the kids at lunch for several days, probably a whole week, and had my little clipboard and you know, okay, do you want to sign up for this? Do you want to go? Some were yes, definitely. Some were maybe. And so then I um I did open it up to two sophomores that really that I just felt were that really needed to go because they really were questioning and they had never been to to a tech school or a school at all and they really just wanted to go and they were great. Um so they definitely got um it was it was a volunteer situation. So some had signed up and then they decided to back out at
066the last minute but I got parent permission slips from everyone. And so parents knew that their child was gone for the majority of the day and they all went out to lunch together and they were incredible. I was so proud to hear that they were incredible. Well, and there's a lot of good opportunities through SDI. Um, as far as the Bill Dakota scholarship, anything that's considered a lot of the medical ones are the plumbing. I mean, a lot of those you can get paired up with a a host and they pay for everything. >> The only thing you pay for is your housing >> literally. And then it's the bathroom. >> Yeah. And then you have a all you do is you you know work for them for three years. So you get paid anyway.
067You're out of school. You have a job. I mean it's to me it's that's huge. The build is incredible. Um it's it's incredible. I mean you start your life as an adult with debt debtree debtree and that doesn't happen. Get a job and I mean you know I mean it's like for sure. So my daughter graduated last May and her I'm pushing her um no her major that she wanted to go into which is cardiovascular on the wait list now that was not eligible for the North Dakota scholarship. They had a list of you know 25 others she didn't want to go into anything else but now she got a call just last week asking her to interview to be reconsidered because now they're offering it and so she'll be a sophomore next year but
068she hopefully will get that too. It's just an incredible opportunity. >> It is. >> Yeah. >> Very There's a lot of opportunities out there for stuff like that. So, >> okay. I have one more thing. I completely spaced this out. I apologize. My two international teachers are here and they are doing incredible job. Good. Miss Canali, Miss Lyra. Miss Lyra teaches algebra and eighth grade math. And I would say a big thank you to Kristen Brockford, our long-term sub, who stepped in right away and is continuing to mentor Miss Lyra. There are lots of things that are confusing from, you know, the customs. They started during homecoming week. So, at this point, I think they're fine with anything. And also, Clarinda Loving has been a great match. >> I see them at the fireman's dance,
069so they're out and about in the >> I love it. They want to just embrace it. I mean, they they want to just embrace the time in the community. So, I'm I'm just thankful to have them and they're fitting in great with the staff. >> Will you try to encourage them to come to the next school? >> Absolutely. So, so we get so if you see the public, you know who you're >> absolutely I will do that. >> Definitely. >> Okay. Any more questions from assortment? Moving on to Mrs. Please's report. All right. Well, I would like to start to say happy principal appreciation. I did everything that you've said to each other and I know that um I've gained valuable knowledge the last year and month, couple of months um in my position. So,
070thank you. Um and then you were talking about the um CACR which is the comprehensive achievement and civic readiness. I had to uh submit a summary report to MDE. So I will be presenting that information to you at the November board meeting and we try really hard not to talk about the same things. And um my first thing and Jennifer's first thing was about Indigenous People's Day. Um I know that it looks a bit different in the elementary than it does in the middle school high school. At the middle school high school, they do it during um just the social studies teachers um do it. And I know that um in talking to a couple of the middle school social studies teachers that they really embrace that and appreciate that MDE actually gives lessons for
071them to be able to look through, take and use what they want since it is a requirement for Wednesday. Early dismissal PDS. We've had two AI trainings for the middle school high school staff. Um, I know that Sonia was able to be part of the second one and there has been great feedback from the staff that have attended and they're excited to learn about it and be able to figure out how they can utilize AI um, in their classrooms with their students. NWA data digs. I've done those during early dismissal PDS with during with the elementary staff by grade level and also middle school, high school, ELA and math teachers. So, we are using that data for win time in the elementary and we're going to use that data which is my next one there.
072We have another assessment that is required by the state of Minnesota for the read. Ridiculous. Um for grades 4 through 12. So NWVA we're using as a reading screener. It's just a higher level screener. And the CAT read basics we have to assess the students that scored below grade level. We give them this CATI read basics which is a diagnostic but it will really hone in on more specific skills that the students need. And then once we have that data then we will meet um and make a plan with our with Emily Spear as well our literacy lead and make a plan of how to support those students um once we get the data. Well, that might be something. I mean, I put it in a way, but for the high school students that, hey,
073if you do well in your first test, you don't have to take the second test. You know, like just to put a little skin in the game as far as some of these kids are just teachers actually did that for the NWA reading test and uh some of THE SCORES THAT WERE I were incredibly higher, I will say that. And so that that that was was a strategy that some teachers are like, "Okay, if you do really well on this, you'll you'll be good to go. If you don't do so well, you will probably have to take another assessment." So, but even if once we do the di this CAT diagnostic, if they score above grade level on that, then then they won't need any intervention. So, it'll be um good data for us to
074have. >> Yeah. I think sometimes it's uh not necessarily they can't do what they just agreed. Agreed. Then we have another assessment uh which is one that we cannot opt out of. It's the national assessment of educational progress which is the NAPE also known as the nation's report card. And our eighth graders have been chosen to participate in this assessment. they will randomly select 50 of our eighth graders. We have 75 eighth graders, so 50 of them will be randomly selected um to participate. The assessment window was January 26th through March 20th and I went on the site today because there are a few back-end things that I needed to do and our assessment will be on March 5th. We're assigned the reading and the math. students are selected for two subjects but they only
075have to take one subject. So um and they their representatives come here and actually give the assessment to our students. >> How many schools do they choose? >> I am not >> all across the state. It's >> it's supposed to random. >> Yeah. But >> when was the last time we had to do that? I can check and I will get back to you on that. And that it's on a public site, right? Or result. >> Yes, it's part of the nation's report card or this NAPE um website. No, like parents don't have an option of opting their kids out of this test. It's just like they the kid is chosen and they have to take it whether they want to or not. I do I do not I do not research that you should
076be honored that your student gets chosen test. >> Yes. Yes. Just curious. Some kids have test anxiety and you know don't want their kids to be put through one more you know so they should have that option. But if not I was just asking. >> Yeah that's a great question. Not that I ever opt out of my kids, but um the next is the Redact training requirements and this is training required for um the teachers. Phase one, we are almost to the end of phase one, which is the elementary staff. We currently have four teachers completing volume one of letters and five completing volume two of the training. Um and they are so they have to do part of it online, part of it read the manual, part of it do live trainings. And so
077with the MOU um that was established I believe at the beginning of last year with the union they get paid curriculum pay um to complete this on their own time because there are such a small number of them. We didn't put it in our PD calendar. And then for the middle school, high school, special ed, and ML, they are also part of phase 1. They are going to take the core OLA training, and this will begin in January. It's a much shorter training for them. And then phase two will begin here shortly. We will and this is for anyone in the middle school, high school who pro provides foundational reading instructions to students. So, mostly um the ELA teachers and then we haven't gotten word on the training options yet, but I was at a
078curriculum leader networking um meeting at the co-op on on Friday and they said that there are four for us to choose from. Two that we've heard about before, two that are brand new. They couldn't share any more than that at that time. They're just waiting for MDE to be able to um let them release that information. Registration will open in November and then the same with the letters training they will um get reimbursed according to theou. How many hours would you say each phase takes? each phase and of so the letters training. So volume one there are um four units and within those four units there are oh gosh sessions there are eight I mean it doesn't have to be exact just >> six to eight sessions and so each session takes about 12 hours
079to complete. That's >> according to the letters and they have trainees outside of school. They do. Yes. >> How long do they have to complete it? >> They have the whole school year. Um I met with this year's group in at the end of September because they're all new teachers and so we like to give them a little bit of time instead of on day one say, "Oh, hello brand new teacher." You also get to do all of this. And so they actually have until like August 14th to complete it all. >> So they can do it over the summer. >> They can do it over the summer. Yep. And Emily Spear is a certified letters facilitator. So the live sessions she actually does um after school with them. They're 1-hour sessions that she does
080with them. And that's the same for um the core training. The core training is much shorter. Um the core training is about 50 hours total and I believe only 4 to 6 hours of a live training and that will have to be done on the core platform because we do not have anyone locally certified to be able to do that >> and that they can take a year to do that as well. We haven't gotten anything on that yet as far as how long they get. They're not starting their cohort until January 5th. So, at that time, we'll know how much time they have to be able to complete it, but it's a much shorter training, okay, for those staff members. I'm kicking myself already for having to ask this, but what is in this
081readact and why is it better than what we were doing before? that science it's grounded in the science of reading >> um which is which is researchbased approaches to literacy instruction that's the whole premise behind that's kind of the big overarchics imagine that >> very great JOB WELL ONE OF THE COMMERCIAL one of the concerns though that has emerged out of this first of all the nature in which it came about. I mean it feels very heavy-handed. Um number two there's been some perceived um market positioning by vendors >> if that makes sense. Um and and even so much so that some vendors were partially approved, some vendors were fully approved. And at first you could only use fully approved vendors. So it almost felt like you were mandating a curriculum without mandating a curriculum.
082So that again that heavy-handed nature of the approach that it was taking, I think that is loosened up a little bit, but there's still um very prescriptive as you can see from the details of the report on what school districts can and cannot do. >> This is federal or state. >> State it is state. Okay. >> So it is it is back to phonics based instruction. >> Explicit instruction. Yes. And there are Jackie and I have spent a lot of time together in the last year. Um there's a few more years. >> There are there are three pots of money that um we have to figure out. So if we have training that can come out of this pot of money. We have curriculum can come out of this pot of money. Some some of
083them are one time you get the money when it's gone it's gone. And then some uh money you get every year. >> Yeah. Two of them are onetime funding, the other one's ongoing. >> Money is just specific to training >> and curriculum. Yeah. >> Two different pots of money. Yes. >> In reserve balance that you spend. >> Yeah. >> And it's not a great amount of money. There was one time I ate 42,000. I mean, I'm not saying it's great, >> right? >> Okay. >> Your question. >> Yes. I'm actually glad to hear that. >> Mhm. >> Right. Heavy hands there. >> Yeah. Yeah. Going back to the basics. Yep. Okay. Any more questions regarding her report? >> Did you want to date? >> Are you going through the district or >> I just want
084to reference it for point of reference? I mean, you want to highlight there? >> Sure. So, with when I went through the data this year, I put in the quick purpose of the assessments and we all know that part of it is heavy-handed from MDE. Speaking of that, saying these are required obviously, but just to know that it's a snapshot of their learning. The scores alone don't represent the full picture. Individual results are shared with families. Those got sent out the beginning of of October. Something that I did add this year that I that I I I didn't put in last year and I didn't see previously, I put in the student demographics so that you could see um the e learners, the special education, free reduced meals. Um those are the ones that that's
085the data that we um have in this slideshow. So, um I'll just look. You want me to keep going? Sure. >> Okay. So, that the demographics are there and then I broke it down. I have the district then elementary and then middle school and then high school. And then it goes into the MCA3 reading data, district and state proficiencies. And then I also have the EL sped pre- reduced broken down. And then the next section is um the district and state level math data. And then I also included the grade level. So I um didn't include that the first time around last year and then you requested that I add that information. So that data is in there as well. And just something with the MCA3 um reading data, we have fully implemented our new
086reading um standards. And so now there's a new reading MCA test. And so this will be the last year that we can compare previous years because the test will be so different that it will just be brand new data starting um after the assessment has been given. And that's where we're also at with the MCA science. The MCA 4 is the science data. So last year was the first year of the new standards, first year of the new MCA. So we can't compare it to previous years. And something that we need to remember in looking at the science data is that fully implementing the standards and assessment takes time. It usually takes a few years before you see the growth that you want to see. Um and so the um as we shift our instruction
087to more align with the standards, our hope is that our scores will improve as well. And then the last few slides are the other just to goes to explain the other assessments that we um do the dibbles, the capy that we'll be doing and then the NWA kind of a very high level overview. Do you have any questions on any of that? >> What is your synopsis of it all? >> My synopsis of it all. It's difficult to really know exactly where our students fall because we don't know how much effort is put forth on these assessments. And so then it also makes it a little difficult to use just this one piece of data to drive instruction. That's why we have to have all of the other pieces together so that we can see
088a more comprehensive picture of the student. >> So I I agree with that, but I also wonder so every other school is also the same boat. Why are we still below the state average where the state is testing? That's what that's what concerns me in looking at year-over-year. We have dropped in every subject. I think um I think there's got to be more behind that than just kids not caring on these tests. >> It's demographics. I was just going to say it's demographics as well because if we look at other districts that are similar in size and demographics with ours, our scores are pretty similar. >> Is it only in one lang one language these these English or English? >> Yes. Yes. And our students take the test in English. There's no Spanish version. So
089even if a student comes into our district and speaks very little English, they are still required to take this assessment along with everyone else that's that's been in our district and has spoken English since, you know, that's their first language. So there are a lot of factors that go into it. Um why don't they put it in Spanish? Why don't they give a multilanguage option? because it's a state. It's because it's a state a >> but it is Minnesota. You would think that it would be allowed on those. >> There's enough Spanish speaking people that you would think that that would be a >> So in our elementary I know that we have how many ML students? 85 >> 85 90. >> Yeah. And then in the middle school high school we have not quite
090as many but low 60s. >> Yeah. High50s. >> Mhm. Is that an increase over last year? >> At my elevator, it's pretty similar to to what we have. We have a lot of students moving out and then other, you know, different ones moving in. But they mandatory state testing. I just want to say it is if I were to show you Tyler or anybody just the literacy the component of and we do that with one of the programs that we have. You've got red means five or more years below grade level. So let's say sixth grade. Um we've got orange which is like two or three um below grade level. We've got yellow, we've got blue, and we have green. We got the entire rainbow in any particular class. The MCA is geared toward it's
091at the level that the student is supposed to be at and just academically it does not it's not feasible unless we start adjusting how we teach in the classroom. They have to start meeting kids where they're at in order to see more growth. That's just my two cents there. It's just it's just hard. It's just a one sizefits-all. It's like giving me a pair of size five shoes and expecting me to fit into those. I can't. And that's where the NWA assessment is a value added assessment because it is a growth metric from where you start at the beginning of the year to where you end. And you can do you can do comparisons for um like spring like fall fall to spring growth. You can do fall to fall growth so you know how
092much um summer regression there is because that's a thing. Um you can do fall to fall. I mean, there's different ways that you can assess that, but it's it's truly giving an understanding because when when students take the NWA, they're given a growth target and then a determination is made relative to that target. Did you reach or didn't you? And the higher up you are in your achievement, the more difficult it is to reach your growth target. Obviously, um the MC's are just a snapshot and it it's it's really autopsy data for us because we take the assessment in the spring and we don't get the results until October. So, we're looking over our shoulder a problem that no longer exists necessarily. I mean, it's it's it's it's autopsy day. >> To me, it's a
093it's a problem that is forever persisting. Um when I first started the board seeing these same test results um again lower than state average it's man what why hasn't something changed along those lines to improve it? It's actually it seems like things have been getting worse um from a year-over-year standpoint. And so even if it's just a snapshot in time, well, we can still go back to this data every single year. Well, okay. Yeah, every grade has gone up to the next, but that grade hasn't we haven't done anything to excel those grades with where they are either. >> I feel like we're starting to I feel like we're on that path right now. U we're in the beginning the beginning stages of that, but as a district, I really feel like that's the path
094we're going is trying something different. in order to meet every single child where they're at. Right now, we're pretending everybody is able to do the same thing at the same time. It's not. It's it's it's false. >> And at the elementary, we have started a wing time, which is what I need um for um based off of all of the reading data that we've collected. And um so we have the the students are are put into groups for exactly what they need. They need funic awareness, you're in this group. You don't know your vowel teams, you're in this group. You are at grade level, you're in this group. You're above grade level, you're in this group. And so we're hoping that that change will help um give students the little extra push that they need
095um to gain valuable skills as well. How long is wind time? >> Uh 30 minutes every day. Every day. >> Mhm. >> So it's it's a limited amount of time. Obviously 30 minutes >> moves pretty quickly. Yes. >> And that's on top of the tier one instruction in the classrooms as well. It's an additional 30 minutes. I had a parent ask me um if there's any correlation if we keep data um for those students that are involved in any sort of extracurricular activity to test scores. Um I have a feeling I know what the data would show. Um I didn't know if there's any concrete stats that we have that would show that. Yeah. I don't know if there's any way to measure that >> could be created. It could you could do a correlational
096study through Excel. Um take a little time. It could be accomplished. I mean just >> it it could be and I I'd be I mean I would I would say 93% of of me would would agree that if somebody is involved in an extracurricular of any sort, that student is going to just take a higher priority almost over their learning. they're going to want to come to school because they have to come to school in order to participate in those events. And so we already know that attendance has a positive effect on academic achievement. So based on what I know and the coaches know when there's a missing assignment and they then are the extra person where there's a there's a a raised level of concern when those students are in an activity they want
097we see less behaviors. >> True. We see most behaviors in between the sports seasons. We just So, I think that I mean that'd be an interesting >> Well, I think we're we're trying to get more opportunities like the esports thing is great. The I mean, we're trying to do more things to involve more students and and again, that takes time and it takes staff that wants to be part of those things and parents standing behind it. I mean, it's all about >> Yeah. Everybody getting behind it. But I do I think it's the band has really the drone line >> which we are as a school district I feel like putting new things out there for different students to be involved in. Okay. Cuz not everyone's going to be in football and you know so
098I mean it's great that we have some of these new opportunities for them. Great. Any more questions moving on? New business 9.1 first reading of the two the 20 25 2026 teacher seniority list 9.2 first reading of the 2025 2026 par professional seniority list 9.3 first reading of the 2025 2026 secretary tech custodian seniority list. No action on any of these. We're just right. They've been brought Yeah, they've been brought forward to catch per unit and review the potential changes yet for next month. So, >> okay. And and for those of you that have been on the board for a while or whatever before, you notice the format has changed and that was through a collaborative work with the association to get >> for teachers >> a running list because before it was chunked by
099defer that and and this >> and and really that didn't mean much anymore because the tier changes in the lensure. So this just shares data fire running list. So we we remove those chunks or those subsets of data that were part of this before. And just to refresh everybody's memory, I think we did that last year was the first year we changed that. >> Um moving on, 10.1 resolution accepting donations. Um, we have donations from Pipone Holdings LLC amount of $1,000 donation to the girls tennis. Pipone Green Company in the amount of $500 donation to the girls tennis. So, $1,000 donation to FFA. Um, that was given by the Pipone Vet Clinic, $500 and Windy Ridge Veterary Clinic, $500. And then Woodstock Communications, $5,000 donation to esports. Again, it's great that we had someone come
100up and get the esports thing going and donate money. And I know Neil has done a lot of work with that, too. So, that's great. And then we thank everyone else also that has donated towards our student activities. So, do I have a motion to accept these donations? >> So, moved. Second. >> So, moved and seconded to um app accept these donations. All those in favor say I. I. >> Those opposed, same sign. Motion passes. 10.2 Two, approve e-learning plan for 202526. >> Um, so you see the attached e-learning plan. This has been u updated and reviewed. Uh, we've had the association review it as well. And there is agreement that yes, we'd like to have an e-learning plan as an option. It gives us tools in our toolbox. And um, again, you can see
101a couple of the changes that were made pretty pretty minimal, but um, it does provide us an option if indeed we have to exercise that plan. Any questions regarding the 202526 e-learning plan discussion? Hearing none. Do I have a motion to approve? So move second. It's been approved and sec motion to approve and seconded to accept the e-learning plan for 202526. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? Same sign. Motion passes. Okay. Can I bring up I know this is not it's not with the the plan. I wasn't but this is just a question like so when we have an e-learning day due to snow or there's no school, do we have like a plan like if students show up to the school? Do we have bodies here? cuz I know last year
102there was an issue with the student walked all the way across town and Josh happened to be here and he just happened to be walking and heard somebody pounding on the door. This girl didn't realize that there was no school and so I just want to know do we have a plan of somebody that internally can get here in case that is the case. >> We not talked about that specifically um because we work to get and it out. I know, >> right? And I and I get like people can't travel, whatever. But I, you know, there I just, >> you know, think there should be some type of plan if it's safe enough for somebody to get here to make sure that where do you where do you have them then? I don't know.
103>> You know what I mean? There's >> Right. Yeah. There's how you >> Well, there's only two doors that are going to be open when there's school. So, I don't know. I don't know if you have a representative from each school. I I don't know. It's just not that I just need to think about cuz then where where you know they stand where what is this person? >> This was on a day where it was cold not because >> Right. Right. It was like Yeah. >> Like really cold. Right. >> I just want to make sure that we >> have something ability to watch cameras remotely. >> We're working on remote access right now. We don't have that yet. Also, I think a good like indicator with the kids that walk obviously if there's no
104um crossing guard. >> Right. Right. Make that clear. Right. Right. The students themselves. Yeah, >> for sure. >> Okay. Sorry. No, off track again. Temp.3 approve snow removal quotes for 2526. We had looks like one quote from Outlaw Customs. They are who have done our for quite a few years. Um been happy with their service. >> Any discussion or questions? >> Where's this from this year? >> Outlook customs the only one. >> No price wise. Is it the same or is it >> Oh, I don't know. I have to look at last year. I don't have that. I'm sorry. >> I couldn't tell you. I can pull last year. >> Probably pull last year's up. >> I'm just curious more. Yeah. Let's see. You only have one one. >> Anyway, we don't need it. >>
105Thanks for jinxing that. >> Yeah. She just jinxed it. >> I move to approve outlaw customs. >> Second. It's been moved to approve and it's been seconded to approve the snow removal quote for 202526 for Outlaw Customs. All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed same sign. >> Motion passes. is close to the same that was last year. >> Yeah. I'm just curious. Yeah. >> Oh, yeah. >> 10.4 resolution of governing board supporting form a application to the Minnesota State High School League Foundation. It's something we do every year. >> Yeah. >> Sure. Why not? YES. >> Access the change. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's ridiculous. >> Move to accepted or approved. >> Approve resolution >> that resolution form a obligation >> and I second it. It's been moved and seconded to approve the
106resolution of governing board supporting the form a application to the Minnesota State High School League foundation. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, same sign. Motion passes. 11. Adjournment. >> Second. So move or seconded to adjourn. All those in favor say I. I. In favor sign motion passes. All right.