001for 1026 and I'm super excited for the work on behalf of engaging families. They have spent hours hours trying to engage not only Native American Well, good evening everybody and welcome to tonight's regular board meeting for Monday, January 12, 2026. Like to call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. and >> Sarah Schumer >> here. >> Catherine Ban >> here. >> Mullen >> here. >> President Steve Olsson >> here. >> And Laura Gapsky I see is virtual here. >> Okay. >> And Mr. Schumacher and Mr. Olsen are >> excused. >> Yes. Thank you. We have met compliance with all official notification. At this time I would ask that we have two special guests here this evening from Cooper. two students, Kendall Staria and Marquette Smith, and they are going to lead us in the pledge
002of allegiance. >> You guys want to come on up here to the front. >> Okay, come on back here. >> Stand there. >> And here's the flag right there. >> There you go. To the United States of America and to the stand, >> indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Good job. >> Thank you so very much. This meeting is a meeting of the board of education held in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and is not to be considered a public community meeting. There is a time for comments by members of the public during the meeting as indicated on the agenda. Members of the public wishing to address the board on any of the topics included on tonight's agenda may do so by signing up on the public comment
003signup sheet by the entrance prior to the start of the meeting. The board requests refraining from making any comments involving personally identifiable information about students, staff, or administration. Comments should be respectful, focused on the items being considered by the board and will be restricted to 3 minutes in length. Do we have any comments by members of our public hand? >> No. >> Thank you. Disposition of minutes from December 8th, 2025. Motion to approve. Second. >> Motion a second to approve the minutes from December 8th, 2025. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. Next on our agenda is a report from our superintendent. >> Okay. I have twoformational items tonight. Our firstformational item is a presentation from Cooper Elementary School. That's you.
004>> Okay. >> So, my name is Christine Stere. I'm the principal at Cooper. And today I've got Kindle Stereo with me and Marquette Smith. They are actually going to start us off. We've got a lot of fun, exciting things going on at Cooper. So, they're gonna start us off by going over a few of the fun things that they wanted to talk about tonight. >> Yeah. So the fourth and fifth graders maybe >> fourth >> they both did wait to >> they could team up and they walk around the school so everyone could see most of the clubs. The next box has trunk or treat. So, if you don't go uh trick or treating, you can if you go to Cooper um after school, then you can do trick or treat, which um also has
005free um free free food with um with the dance party. The last box, the second to last box is our like work respect like working thing. >> Oh, wait. your own. That will be one as the one that you wanted to do the PTA. >> Oh yeah, I got um the last one is for the PTA. Um the PT the second to last one. Um is the PTA got the popcorn and they got drinks and their their movie was Monsters and Inc. And there was drinks and um popcorn. >> And our last one, >> um this comes around and if you like work and you get all the letters colored in, then you get uh ext. >> Thank you. It's hard to follow that up, but we do have a lot of amazing things to
006celebrate at Cooper. Um, made some really good gains on our report card. So, the the teachers and the staff have been working really hard and it it showed this year on our report card. Our celebration of giving was phenomenal. So, we do that each year with it coincides with our um holiday concert that we have in December. So, we raise money, the kids make crafts, and then we sell that and it all goes back to the community for buying gifts and giving back to families in need that need it. And we actually we were able to raise over $5,000. So, we give a lot of that to CASDA. We we support the local areas with that. Our fifth grade is currently at Starbase again. So, they left today. Today was their first day um going
007back to Starbase and it sounds like it was a phenomenal day. They came they came in hot at 3:15. So, I didn't get to see him for for too long, but the teacher said that it was it was off to a really great start and the kids were loving it. >> Can you remind them what Starbase is? >> Oh, sorry. So, Starbase is where I had um applied to be able to to have our fifth graders go last year. So, that's where fifth grade goes to the Air Force base in Duth and they get to learn all kinds of STEM activities. So, they they really dive right in. It is so hands-on. The kids get to do experiments, get to learn all different um career options that would be in the science field, and one
008of those days I get to go up and and see what they're doing. So, I'm going to try to sneak away for a little bit tomorrow and check out what they're doing. But it's it's a lot of hands-on learning, which is a great opportunity for our students. We were very fortunate. I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to get in again this year. It's um really >> mostly a Minnesota program. >> Yeah. So, I had I had seen it when I was at Piedmont in Duth and and I tried I took a shot in the dark and we were able to get in. So, um we've also had a lot of improvements in our PLC's. I feel like this is our strongest year yet for PLC's. We our shared leadership team has
009put a lot of focus on making um really commonized data collection and we're really focusing on math and reading which has been um a little bit of a feat for for especially with the new reading curriculum. But teachers have definitely stepped up to the challenge. So we've got um bi-weekly where teachers are collecting that data, reviewing it as a team. one week they're doing math and then the next week they're doing reading. So, we're taking turns and and really diving in to see what we need to focus on to meet the individual needs of our students in both areas. And because of that, I've seen a great increase in our math and reading instruction. Um reading obviously we're we're learning the new curriculum and I will say it is going a lot smoother. It took
010with anything new that you start, it's going to take a little while to get things going. And it is really the teachers have hit a groove now, which is feeling really good. Our math instruction, one thing that um I've been looking for in my walkthroughs and as I'm meeting with teachers is I want to see more productive struggle for math. I want to see the kids trying to work through that and and just the conversations that we've been able to have as teams and as teachers and bringing in the special education teachers into that conversation has been has been awesome and it's been fun seeing the collaboration with the kids and all the gains that they're making. It's been it's been a fun year so far. So hopefully that continues. Some challenges um we have
011an increase in students that have higher needs. So I've I've been working with the teachers. We've been collaborating on just trying to think outside of the box on different ways that we can meet those needs. Uh Amy and Dina have been a huge help in that as well. So collaborating with them on what we can do to to meet those needs of those students. And then we just have a small group which I feel like we're pretty fortunate, but we have a small group of students that we're really trying to figure out how to increase their attendance. So, working with the family, working with the community, working with Carrie Hennessy to try to figure out how we can get those kids in the seats more. Um, it it's not a large group, so I'm fortunate
012with that, but every every child matters and trying to figure out how we can get every single kid there as often as possible. So, then I've got my CPR card linked. Thank God for Ann because I was like, I don't know how I'm going to click that. Um, so here I have it broken down into I've been meeting with the shared leadership team on what we can do. Um, or if we're staying on our timeline, so I'm sure everybody else says this too, but green means that we've accomplished it. Yellow means that we are working that way. And then red would mean that we haven't started and and everything we have we are working towards. Um, so like that bi-weekly data for the PLC's, we that that's going to be all year though, so we're
013we're keeping that going. And then as a shared leadership, we talked about we f we knew that math needed to be a focus. And although we wanted to also respect that teachers were going to need to put a lot of time and energy into reading, we talked about, okay, what can we focus on right now though in math? So, we talked about getting that make sure that that quick practice and those daily routines are being done with fidelity in every classroom. And so, I've been walking around and observing that and also that's been brought into our PLC's as well as we're talking about how kids are mastering that. And then with the manipulatives and building on those concepts, we branched off a little bit on there with also emphasizing the need for that productive struggle,
014having the kids, if it's a challenge, that's okay. We're going to try to give them some time, give kids time to collaborate, have it have it be a little bit more of the teacher stepping back and having the kids try to problem solve that. And then, as I have said since my very first year at Cooper, family and community partnership is is a top priority and I think it's something that we excel at at Cooper. Our PTA is a phenomenal organization that we came up with and make sure that we're getting those families in the door. We've got volunteer opportunities. We we really make sure that we're bridging that community between school and community. And then I think that's all I have though. Thanks an >> and I know that it was in the last
015time that I presented my goal looked a lot like we are going to go from blank percent to blank percent. So I did include that. Now, um, one thing it was a good, it was a great great thing that we looked at when we got that initial data that we actually have 80% of our kids that are already um, at that above at or above that 25th percentile. So, when I sat down with Amy and we were talking about why why was the bar at 25th percentile, that well, that's because that's where our reading plans that that's what constitutes if a kid needs a reading plan or not. So, our initial thought was, well, we want we want kids not to need a reading plan. we want them above that. Um, so with that being
016said, I think, you know, we could definitely raise the bar and we we have outside of this goal. We're looking at, you know, we want those kids at grade level. 25th percentile is not always at grade level. We would like to see 40th percentile and above, but we still we would like to see 85% of our students in reading at or above that 25th percentile. And then in math, like we had noticed that we need we have some work to do in math. And so we have 73% of our kids testing at or above the 25th percentile. And when we talked about for for this first year and for trying to navigate what what we're going to do to increase our math scores, be upped it to 78. Um I was I was looking at
017the debt. We we're in the thick of doing that winter benchmark testing right now. So I don't have gains that we've made right now. I was kind of trying to look through Edge Climber and see what I can find, but it's it's not going to be accurate for you quite yet until I get all that data in. But um I from what I can see, we're making we're making some good gains. So that's all that I have. Any questions for myself or the girls? >> I don't necessarily know question, but the the PLC time, I guess it is a question. So weekly time, 30 minutes uh in the morning or an hour or >> what's your structure at at Cooper? So, it's about 45 minutes to an hour. It is weekly on Thursdays and I
018did that because before I had it where it was Tuesdays or th Thursdays and they they chose the date. But with um Sarah Barnes is with us two days a week and to make sure that she could be a part of that collaboration. Uh we have we have all gone to Thursdays so that she can be a part of those conversations. >> She's the EMLSS teacher there. >> Thank you. Give some background information. >> That's okay. Um but there there is like fourth grade sometimes they they will adjust it to another they're my one that kind of adjusted to a different day but um otherwise it's going really well and I will say with our EMLs she we have Emily Cheryl who supports K through 5 and then we also have Sarah Barnes who is
019assisting as well. We get her two days a week and last year she she was mostly with kindergarten and first grade and this year we've kind of expanded her to a little bit more. So she's actually providing a few enrichment opportunities for fifth grade too. She has a half hour out of those two days where she's trying to do some enrichment opportunities for them too to still, you know, trying to meet the needs of every kid. Push push a little bit more too. So, >> and I would say PLC's are probably the the most common action item um common thread for all of our our schools um CPR cards and I think a lot of principles have been focusing on that and as I've been doing observations this year, I've been sitting in some of
020those PLC meetings and grade level meetings. So, I've been able to go to Northern Lights and Bryant their data meetings. So, we all come to Coop. Um, and then I will say off of off of this, but that did remind me one one thing that Amy implemented this year helped give us a nudge because we've been talking about it for for a couple years now was making more of a PLC opportunity for principles at the elementary level. We don't, you know, we we've got an amazing team, a strong team, but it's you don't know what you don't know when you're not in each other's buildings. And Amy had blocked out chunks of time like sign up to go into other people's buildings. So, it's been a lot of fun to actually get in to Northern
021Lights and collaborate. I'm like, man, you know, my my math instruction, I want to see, you know, I want an area of this that I can actually bring back and talk to the teachers about. And I got over to Northern Lights and was able to get in the classrooms and and see what some of those teachers were doing and had people come to Cooper. So, it's been nice sharing those ideas and the everybody's got amazing things that's going on. So, it's nice to share that. >> You hit on my other comment. Oh, sorry. Thank you. >> Thanks guys. >> Thank you students. >> Girls, thank you very much for being here tonight. And uh >> great job. >> You don't need to stay for the rest of the meeting. Don't want to. >> Oh, thanks,
022Mom. >> All right. >> You want to introduce our students? >> Next up, we have our student representatives. Brendan and Veronica are here for our Superior High School update. So, we have uh some recent events for just the general Spirit High School and then we have some student council specific news for you. So, in recent events, DECA just had their districts at W Stout. Uh, we had a lot of students earn medals and did very well there. Just a quick shout out to Davin Britain whose team won the U8 National Curling Championship and they won five to four and against team Bra in the final round. Winter sports are in full swing with wrestling hosting their Spartan Classic meet last week. Becket Seldon won first place, had the most pins, and was named MVP. McKenzie
023Welsh won first place in the girls division for the Spartan Classic. Hockey, both teams, the boys and girls, had wins on the road this weekend. And dance had their showcase last week as well. For some swimming updates, Ian Pegnucci broke the team record for the 100 meter backstroke with a time of 57.21 seconds. So, some some pretty strong some pretty strong accomplishments from our Spartans in sports this last couple weeks. >> I would say another highlight is the student athlete leadership council. I'm sure you guys have touched on that, but I um attended one last Friday and so far it's been super positive. I've seen a lot of positive feedback from those students and a lot of participation. I mean, I don't know how many students want to get up at 6:30 in the morning
024and get to school and just sit in the pack, but a lot of people are very passionate about it and we have a lot of good coaches and teachers that want to be there. And so, I think that it's a really good positive change to get that this athletic community to also be a part of something bigger. So, I would say that that's something really, really good. >> So, moving over to our student council specific news. This last month, we met with Superintendent Starzi and discussed some of the results of the bright ideas contest I hosted and the student voice committee hosted. The main two concerns were bathroom vandalism and then substance use. So, we're currently working on getting some getting some things implemented to curb both of those things. >> Have you met with
025Mr. Harson yet about that? >> We have not. >> Okay. I mean, he's like still very ill, so I was just curious. Thanks. Yeah. but we're planning on it soon enough. Yeah. >> Um so yeah, we got into groups, we talked about this kind of stuff and then a lot of us had very similar ideas of like what we can fix and what problems that are just like surrounded in our high school. Um another thing that we concluded was Frostfest the last school week of December. Um events like the gingerbread contest were hosted and then along with the assembly. There was a decent amount of people at the gingerbread contest. There were about 16, so not as many as we would have liked, but still a decent like form of participation. And the assembly went
026pretty all right as well. Um, decent participation as well, but overall it was a pretty good week with like dress up participation along with students and staff. So, pretty positive. >> Yeah, we worked hard to try and give students the opportunity to stay involved with things in the high school this year. And kind of touching on that again, we're sending out a survey for what sports competition students would like to see just as an after school event, something to do with their friends, go out, have fun for a night, get some friendly competition in. So, we're going to see what gym space we have available next coming months. I know it's going to be really busy with winter sports, but uh we're planning on doing a fun night of competition sometime soon. >> Yeah, examples
027of that are like our powder buff that we hosted for homecoming. Um we've talked about dodgeball. We've done a dodgeball competition in the past. We have also been talking about bad mitten or something along those lines. So just trying to increase the different types of competition and activities and then also more activities like our gingerbread contacts to hit all of those student body areas. Um another thing that we are working on is our next spirit week which is scheduled for February the 16th through the 20th. It is going to be called Sparty GR. So Marty GR themed kind of um dress of days and there will be an assembly also following. So, more um information to touch on that when we have more dress up ideas and events planned for that as well. >> We're
028hoping that if things go well and we can get the space, the sports competition would be the week of Sparty Grow. And then we are working on some fundraising going into 2026. That was one of the things that we really wanted to uh we were really wanted to focus on. And we have some ideas lined up. Going to sell flowers the week before Valentine's Day is a is something that you can buy for a friend or um buy for a boyfriend or girlfriend there. And we're planning on holding a silent auction the week of Valentine's Day with items donated from businesses in the community. And then there is currently a form in the works to do some super one grocery bagging. So we're waiting on approval for that. Um and then kind of our last
029thing is we are planning a donut stress event. So we are going to um do some of that and we're going to give out donuts during ACT week or during like AP week um for testing. And we just want to kind of let the students know we're with you. we're all feeling the same stress and so just kind of have them come together and have a stress-free moment before obviously this time of year gets really really busy and I think that we forget that we all also need breaks. Um so we're just waiting on a donation form to be signed so that we can get those donuts and have a little small get together event. So >> So that's all the events that we had to share with you as the board. Is there anything
030else that you would like to know about? >> So the Sparty Grind should have a competition. It was Mr. Smith sitting here. I thought of this. Have the history part department go against the English department, the biology department go against >> from the guy who doesn't have to organize it. >> Former student council president encouraging them to dress up that >> be on the planning committee. >> Yeah. >> You come in and plan with us. I'm curious around the two issues you've identified at the high school like how are you all or your peers like involved in solving that problem. So that's something the student voice committee which is new student council this year we've worked on doing some outreach. We've sent out forms and some um some response activities to advisories. So the first
031form that we sent out was asking what are the issues that you see in the high school and those are the top two that we've identified and then we sent another form out to all of the advisory teachers and they did a quick advisory lesson on a Friday with coming up with some possible solutions to this. >> So not just saying what we think will work but getting it from the students. What do you think will motivate your peers to stay away from those things? And I would say when we met that was the bulk of our conversation is they felt very strongly about the solutions needed to come from students and not just the adults. >> And I heard that loud and clear. >> And I'll add that along with that one of our
032ideas and we talked with you about that um is making like PSA videos. >> So we began filming them. We have a couple of them filmed about just like not hanging out in the bathrooms and you know the just substance abuse issue and things like that. And so they're not posted yet. We're working with Spart and Spin to get the works with that. And so then we're going to post that out on social media and things like that. So >> hopefully soon we can get that out to students as well. >> And then one just quick thing to add, we also talked about some things that we thought were really positive in the high school going forward or going into the new year. >> Uh student participation is up. I think that's been a trend
033throughout the year. Just having more opportunities is just going to keep that trend going. Mr. Haroldson are reacting very well to him joining us at the high school. He's been very present around. Definitely a friendly face in the halls. >> Thank you. >> Good job. We do have one action item, consideration of an overnight field trip request from Marshall Vizroo for students in grades 8 6 through 8 to attend Eagle Bluff ELC in Lansboro, Minnesota from February 24 to 27 of 2026. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Motion and a second to approve the overnight field trip. Marshall, anything you would like to add? I mean that the the form was very explicit. You know, we know what's going on. So, this is something we're doing every year with a group or >> That's
034the plan is to do it every year. Um it's been a few years since I've taken kids down there. Gay Johnson and I took a group down there. I think it was 2018 and then I've had opportunities with summer programming through WS to take pigs as well. >> Who's going with you? >> Uh as far as teachers, uh Katie Pearson is is one. Andrew Rug is the parent that works in my room most of the time. Um, and then Tim and Saul I'm trying to convince as well. It'll depend on the other kids that because what we're trying to do is match up u adults that have good relationships with the kids center. >> Yeah, that makes sense. >> So, but it Yes, hopefully it'll be an um I used to work down there, so
035I've got a good relationship with the the people that do all the scheduling. Um, and they're very good about being flexible with our group because our group doesn't necessarily meet the the same requirements that everything else is, you know, do things a little bit differently. >> Um, I'm seeing for transportation that you guys are going to do rental vans. Is do we have any policy for who drives those vans? >> Yes. >> You want more than that? >> Yeah, Molly and David can probably answer that. >> Yeah. So we have a vehicle use requirements agreement that employees have to sign off on and then HR verifies that they have available >> and then I work with patent transportation so that he gets them on the district insurance. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Any issues getting
036bans? >> Um no not yet. Um, I'm shopping that around and trying to get some deals with that as well. >> That's good. Well, it looks like a great opportunity for our students >> and the staff >> staff that are going. Excellent people going with you. Is there any further discussion, concerns? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Next, we'll move to our board committee reports operations committee. We had an inforational item from Dan Whitaker, our new director of information and technology. Very thorough presentation on behalf of Dan and and we really look forward to him being our director and and moving our district forward in that area. I'd accept a motion for the operations committee. >> Motion to accept the operations committee report. I'll second.
037>> Motion second to accept the operations committee report. Is there any further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Policies and rules committee action item. Administration proposes the the approval of changes to the following policies based on Neola recommendations. This is the second reading of policy 7540.08 artificial intelligence. Make a motion to accept the policies and rules committee report. Motion in a second to accept the second reading of the policy 7540.08 artificial intelligence. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I >> I opposed. Motion carries. And now a motion to accept the entire report. >> Sorry. >> No, that's you're fine. >> Motion to accept the policies and rules committee report. >> Second. Motion and second to accept the
038policies and rules committee report. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Personnel negotiations committee action items. Administration recommends approval of the updated January 2026 new hirees and separations report. >> Motion to approve. There's a motion in a second to accept the updated new hieries and separations report for January of 2026. Is there any further discussion? You'll see in red that three names were added, one resignation, and two new hieries. Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. Administration recommends accepting the resignation and relieving Steven Gusten, director of buildings and grounds from his 2526 schoolyear contract per his request effective January 8, 2026 with the liquidated damages provision waved. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion to
039second to approve the resignation. Is there any further discussion? Molly, can you kind of talk through what's going to happen um with that position? >> Yep. So, we're going to be posting it tomorrow and in the inter director, Jamie Wilson, who's going to help out and kind of oversee the operational pieces of the department and work with the two supervisors that are in that department um as far as overseeing employees. And then hopefully we'll have it posted for few weeks and could get some candidates to interview over there. >> So we talked about bringing back a former person in that role. Is is has that been talked about any further or >> that would just be like as a consultant to do some of the background pieces of safety and other legal aspects like the
040four corners pond and stuff. So that wouldn't be managing any of the staff. So, >> well, thank you to Jamie for stepping into that role. >> Yes. >> Is there any further discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. >> Motion to accept the personnel negotiations committee report. >> Second. >> Motion in a second to accept the personnel negotiations committee report. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Budget Insurance Committee action items. Gifts, grants, and bequests. Administration recommends approval to accept gifts, grants, and bequests received in December of 2025. >> Motion to approve. >> A second to approve the gifts, G grants, and bequests for December 2025. There any further discussion?
041Behalf of the board. Thank you very much for the donations. Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Oppos. >> Motion carries. Open enrollment. Administration recommends 60 spaces for general education open enrollment and zero spaces for special education enrollment for the 202627 school year. >> Make a motion to approve. >> Second. Motion and second to approve the recommended 60 spaces general education zero spaces special education for 2026 27 enrollment. There any further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. Informational items. We have created a resource. The administration has created a resource for board members that outlines the annual budget development process. This will be placed on the district website. >> So, one of the things we heard from board members as I
042was working with some of you one-on-one this fall and winter was more information around, you know, building your capacity around school finance. And this was a tool that I thought um might be helpful for even as new board members come on, sort of like the calendar and the calendaring we've done in the past so you know what to expect. Uh, so this is intended to be a resource so you kind of know what to expect in the months ahead and how David and I sort of tackle um our budget throughout the year. >> Great. >> And putting it on the website so our public can see that. >> The other thing too, Amy, when you you off the weekly updates, the u 101 school finance finance and stuff, having the ability to >> get into
043that whole process and take a look at exactly what WASBY is saying and how that aligns with everything that David's been saying and everybody else in the school district. So that was a great tool. >> Yeah, I am not all the way through the webinar series yet about halfway through but um what I've seen so far has been good information for board members. So >> and then the information from Mr. Ross Mileer also >> was excellent. Yes. >> Thank you. Okay. Also anformational item. David C, our chief financial and operations officer, provided the update on the school district tax levy at the committee the whole meeting on January 5, 2026. We also reviewed the fund 10 revenue and expenditure preliminary reports and all of that. You have the ability if you're watching or go online
044to click on each one of the attachments. I will make a motion to accept the budget and insurance committee report. >> Second. >> Motion is second to accept the budget insurance committee report. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> Motion carries. Discussion items from the legislative committee delegate assembly and resolutions. Laura presented us with some information about the resolutions that are are going to come up at the WASBY convention next week. Uh she had the booklet. We've had the opportunity to take a look at them and stuff. So if there's any questions between now and then of next week, Tuesday at some point uh Tuesday evening and then Wednesday she'll be going. Shelley, are you our who's our second? I'm sorry. >> It is Shel. um
045that questions about any of the resolutions that we reach out to to them because they'll be voting on behalf of us and it's not a very big list for us. >> All right. Is there a motion to accept our committee report? >> Make a motion to accept the legislative committee report. >> Second. >> Motion a second to accept the legislative committee report. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. opposed. Motion carries. Teaching and learning committee andformational items at the committee the whole meeting on January 5, 2026. Dina Hagen, director of special education and student services provided a special education department update for us. Again, you can click on the attachment and take a good look at that. It was a very thorough presentation again by by
046Dena. Tonight, we do have two presentations. First, Jennifer Willoughby, our director of early childhood and family education. both 4K enrollment and kid get kids ready program. >> Good evening >> Jim. >> So 4K enrollment starts in February. We always start the 2nd February or the 1st February, excuse me, of every year. Uh so February 3rd will be when we kick off our registration this year for 4K. Uh website's already updated and ready to go. Families have been reaching out with questions and it's kind of hard for the course. So, it's pretty standard this year, this time of year. Um, I wanted to share some information though about a new program uh called Get Kids Ready. This program um was part of the governor's bianial budget. Um and it's put out through the funding is all
047funneled through DCF, Department of Children and Families. So, Get Kids Ready is a preschool program that is intended to um support child care centers uh for four year olds um who are will be going to kindergarten the next year. So, just some bullet point information about this. Um it's very similar to our 4K program at the district level. So, children must be four by September 1st to be eligible for Get Kids Ready. Uh, they're required to offer 437 hours of instruction just like we offer. Um, the biggest difference is that the Get Kids Ready teacher does not have to have a teaching license. They just need an associates degree um or a bachelor's degree in anything. Doesn't even have to be early childhood. So, um um let's see. The other big important piece of information
048is that the um those providers that are um offering Get Kids Ready cannot have a contract with the school district to offer 4K. So, they cannot have both pieces in place. Um, children however can be enrolled in both programs. So, uh, in working with the YMCA, uh, we have a pretty great relationship with a lot of collaboration already. And in talking with them about this opportunity for get kids ready, they have decided to end their contract with the school district for the 2627 school year for 4K. uh they'll finish out this school year to June, but going into next year they will not hold a 4K contract because they're going to offer get kids ready at all of our elementary buildings or as many of our elementary buildings that they can support. Um, in preparation
049for that, we pushed out an interest survey to families in December, uh, to just kind of gain some feedback and some interest to see how many families are talking about that would be interested in doing this. Is it feasible to look at offering this at every one of our elementary buildings? You know, can we do this? Um, we had 107 responses within that month and every single one of them said yes. they want it. So, we have a lot of families out there who are very interested. So, what this means for families, they could attend 4K for half the day. Let's say a morning program at Cooper. We'll use Cooper as an example. They could attend morning Cooper 4K and they would stay right at the building and they would attend Cooper Gets Ready, which
050would be >> So, it's a full day program for families >> and they don't pay a fee. Yeah. >> It's free for families. I guess I didn't say that at the beginning. $65 million was uh >> kids >> pushed out for funding to support this. So families don't pay for any of that. Kids stay for the full school day. Um the get kids ready would be taught by YMCA staff. So we don't have any of that um cost added for us to provide staffing for that program. We they're just going to be in our buildings. >> So we provide the classroom. >> Correct. We have the capacity then each one of the buildings to offer the programs. >> We've reduced sections in all of our elementary schools which has been able to free up classroom
051space for this. >> Feel I'm pretty confident that we can find space. The one school I was most concerned about was Great Lakes and in talking with Brian and Dave prior to break. They both feel like we can find a space. We can make it work. We haven't gotten into the nitty-gritty of logistics for space yet at any of the buildings. Um but >> so all all five elementary schools can >> Does this have any financial impact for the district to not be >> that's revenue we won't have well but that's also revenue we're not getting for the Y program correct or no >> correct right this year they only have six children so it's not a huge >> um revenue hit on that end but there is potential for more students to attend our
052school sites who otherwise would have gone to childcare locations. >> Okay. >> Give credit to Jen on this because when this first came up, this was really, really bad for districts. >> Jen was able to figure out a way that this is could really turn out to be a real positive because we're operating full day re busing. It's going to >> and childare. Yeah. I mean, it's it's >> advantage over all these other places. So, it's it's >> it's a really good positive for families who have needed this, you know. So, do you see it as a way of like getting students and families into our schools? So, it's a kind of a recruitment >> a little bit. Yeah. >> Yeah. Many districts are um looking at losing students, >> right? >> Like no way
053to recoup them. >> Revenue hit already took place this year, but they lost that contract. >> Actually, some of it was a little bit. So, how many daycarees or other institutions in the area in Superior are not partnering with us then? Do you know? >> So, yep. So, the only um outside partner we will continue to have is Cathedral. Um I did approach them to see if they were interested and get kids ready also and just due to their own uh private school requirements and things, they said, "Nope, we're happy with 4K. We want to keep things the way they are." Um there are um four I think licensed child care centers within Superior um and maybe five five that do not partner with us. Many years ago they did way back when we first
054started. The biggest challenge I think for child care centers has always been staff and that eventually every one of them has fallen back. So in the past the Y has kind of struggled to provide employees for their before school program. Do they think that they're going to be able to handle this? >> They do um primarily because of the merger. So the merger now with Duth um they were required to change their fees in Superior to align with Duth >> you mean their um salaries >> their salaries excuse me and so that would increase quite a bit so they are they are feeling optimistic that they're going to be able to get the staff because again >> the challenge with finding staff has always been um just >> and part of the challenge with the
055before and after school well they really just do the before is just that short period of time before school you know that That's a hard >> Yep. And in talking with them too, they're they're excited about this because if they can find somebody to work get kids ready, that person will then also just stay at the school for the morning. So they'll be here for the morning before school program. They'll do get kids ready. It'll just transition and extend their day. So, um there is also potential that we could offer um two sections of get kids ready just like we offer two sections of 4K at the schools just depending again it's all going to depend on the numbers of kids that we have who want this. Will they be able to attend the before
056school and after school program? Okay. >> And they will eat lunch at the school. >> Yep. Correct. >> And ride the bus. Mhm. Okay. For free. Except for probably the before school program they have pay for >> they would pay for before and after school. Y correct >> but half day cost or full day cost of daycare versus >> Right. >> small that they would pay for before and after school care is >> going to be a huge savings for families. >> So does that mean they're sharing they're sharing classrooms they're sharing supplies? They're sharing everything >> or that hasn't been really worked out yet? So there would be essentially two classrooms at every building that are designated for preschool. So at Cooper, for example, you'd have a 4K classroom that has a morning and
057an afternoon classroom or morning and afternoon section with one teacher. And across the hall, you'd have the get kids ready classroom. >> Okay. >> With a morning, potentially an afternoon and they just switch and the kids would just flip-flop. >> Mhm. Now, obviously there will be kids in our programs that don't get kids ready, and that's okay. they can just come for you know a half se half day section that they've been doing which will make accommodations for that. So >> any questions any other questions for me? >> No, thank you for answering. >> Okay, >> thank you. >> Next back in her role, >> Kate Tess, director of continuous improvement and assessment. >> Uh I am here with kind of our first big update from our new strategic plan. So, I did a brief
058kind of recap of our strategic plan slideshow, but the main bulk of my communication tonight is around the specific scorecard. Um, so just a couple refreshers on our strategic plan. We worked on last year our mission and our vision, ensuring our superior learning experience, empowering every student for life. We've done, you've heard from principles, they are doing such a nice job of really doing the work that they're doing every year, but really making the connection to the new strategic plan and working through their CPR cards like you saw Christines and Coopers tonight um with the real action steps and monitoring this throughout the year. So again, just kind of grounding us in the strategic plan, the commitments we're making, and um our pillars that are supporting the work that we're doing. So we created um
059our strategic plan scorecard. So throughout the work um with Joe uh Shrader our consultant as we created our strategic plan we worked through metrics that as a board uh you're going to get updates on twice a year was kind of what we agreed upon kind of a January update and an end of the year update with da uh pieces of data that are we're we're tracking over time kind of as a dashboard he used a few analogies and the dashboard in your car just different metrics that you're just tracking not necessarily good or bad just information um that can help us as we are monitoring our growth as a district and our healthy our health and our livelihood. So I had shared with you uh kind of this overview and can you click on that
060graphic that it should open the >> I also have oh you have it great perfect thank you so prepped and then it the yeah the plus sign on that picture is the best way to see it a little bigger. Um, so as we get as we kind of kick off our scorecard, the hard part right now is that we're in the middle of a year. So some of our data is from last year still and some of our data we have from fall. So I tried to use as as current of information as we could. And a lot of this information I shared with you in our in my fall report in December with the achievement data. those pieces because they're old at this point from last spring, but I wanted to make sure and
061also add them in here. So, originally we did not have a benchmark column, but we felt like it was important to get a start on here and put some some information into the into the scorecard. So, our first pillar, student engagement, growth, and achievement, the metrics that we are reporting on. Um, of course, just like when I share information with you, it's often hard because there are at every grade level, there are important benchmarks and then that becomes really overwhelming. So, our big kind of checkpoints are second, fourth, eighth, and then our ACT, which is our 11th grade um benchmark. So, we've got percentage in our in our student achievement uh pillar. We have our metrics are really around second grade math. So we started with math. Math is a huge focus as you're aware.
062Um the first one is our fastbridge math composite and that is that's a fall data point. So the most we try to use the most recent which would be from fall and we're looking at the percentage of students meeting the benchmark or or or scoring higher. So second grade, fourth grade, eighth grade and then the ACT composite score. Um so we have percentage of students meeting and then the ACT composite score is on a scale of 1 to 36 and that's our average composite score in math for all of our juniors taking the ACT from last spring. So the ELA follows the same pattern. So we have second grade fastbridge composite from this fall and then fourth eighth and our ACT composite score. And again my presentation in December is giving you like the historical
063trends and different groups of kids. This is really meant to then give us a snapshot. So this spring we will add the 2526 a you know we'll we'll keep updating this as we go along. It's kind of it's a little lonely right now but we we do have information in there. So then as I go down and you made that nice and big, thank you. Um our student belonging and engagement. So our two metrics, the first one is the attendance of students who are attending 90% of their total days. So we talk a lot about attendance. You hear about attendance from principles. Um and so that I think is a really important metric to track. It's a hard one to solve the attendance. It's a but I think it's important as a community and as
064a school district that we're looking at the percent of our students who are in attendance 90% of total days. So I think what that's also important is if students move in they they don't have the same number of total days but we're still looking at are they here 90% of what they were able to be here or enrolled for. And then that's a year-to-ate measure. So we pulled this um as of the end of December. So that we have 82.7% of our students currently here 90% or more of their days. >> Can that be Yeah. Yeah. Am I sure the answer will be yes. Can that be drilled down elementary school? >> Absolutely. And I think um that might be you know in the work I've done on this I think there are some pieces
065where there might we might have some things that come out of this like for example your question maybe that's something that I add to some of my more frequent reporting where I break down more attendance more you know the achievement data is static I have to do that that's a kind of statute piece but I also could add in some of these metrics on a more specific scale and it is yes in >> saying that Kate then back up on that first one you don't have to move it in but okay um >> so the percentages there then um we're we're drilling down that data the the principles are able to take a look at that data and then work with their PLC's or grade levels >> absolutely okay >> so that's part of the
066ch yeah yeah that's part of the challenge is what do we share at the board level is very different than what principles are using on a daily basis in their CPR card and it's very different than what teachers are using at their grade level meetings, but all of that work funnels up really to these data points. Wouldn't you say that? >> Yep, absolutely. Um, so we've got the attendance, student attendance rate, uh, as a simplified term. And then our student surveys. So, we're in the process of revamping our perception surveys. I have that, uh, on my to-do this week. Um, so we typically give a staff and a family perception survey every year. Um, and we've we we wanted to make some changes, some of them very small, but more specific questions around a few
067things. And one of those being, you know, students being feeling seen, valued, and heard. Um, we've had things kind of eb and flow over the years with our student perception. So, we're adding that in that survey. Those surveys will be given this spring. in our family and community partnerships. Um we keep coming back to and this was kind of a question that was asked, you know, surfaced during our strategic plan work. The question really around like would you recommend the school district of Superior to your family, your friends, your neighbors, not only from a enrollment perspective, but an employment perspective. And so we've we've used that language um in a couple places or we're we're adding that language because it gives us some perception of of what people are thinking about, you know, as a
068school district, whether we should, you know, their perception is we're a good employer or a good school district. And then our parent teacher conference uh attendance is um a metric that we added just trying to really connect with how connected are our families to the building. It's not an easy thing to always measure. We have lots of activities. We have lots of engaging things happening um but how do we put a measurement on that? So um I think you see a very um typical trend as we break down the building. So, elementary, the majority of the elementary schools hover between 97 and 98% of families attending. And as kids get older and things change, that number reduces. And I don't necessarily think that's um negative. I just think that as a metric, there are ways
069we communicate with families, but this is one that we picked for our family community partnerships. Our exceptional staff uh staff survey question. We had a lot of conversation around exit surveys and stay surveys. So, um the the stay sur like why do we choose to stay here all of us as employees? And I think that's a really great question. So, Molly and I spent some time working on this last week and I'll continue to um refine this before sharing it for our staff survey this spring, but essentially being able to rank like what what is keeping me here as an employee. And I think that's really helpful information for all of you. The exit survey was also revamped um this fall and so far um we have had four people who have left the district
070take the survey and that information goes through HR. Um but in terms of reporting the statistics all four of those people so 100% um said they would recommend us as an employer to their family, friends, neighbors. So, um that is also giving us some information not only around why am I staying but when I leave for a variety of reasons. Um would I recommend our district as a as an employer? And then the staff survey question kind of going right along with uh the students as well feeling valued as a staff member. And then finally our two metrics around financial responsibility and can you scroll down for me there? Thank you. um are our our open enrolled number of students who are currently open enrolled out of our district and then our actual expenses uh
071versus budgeted goals. So, we have um our open enrollment numbers and we have those actually that's the one area we had numbers for already this year and that might change a little bit by year end also if some students come back that number could change but we wanted to put that in there as of year to date and then you can see the metric for our actual expenses and budgeted expenses um we had created a four-point scale there so our score our metric score is a four so our um actual expenses did not exceed the budgeted goals by they were only within 0 to 1%. I think it was like 0.1 or something, right, Dave? Pretty pretty impressive. He said it might not happen again, but let's celebrate that it did. So, um so that's
072a lot of me talking and kind of explaining. Um, but I think that we're on a really good path towards really having a nice visual and metric, some very specific metrics to measure at the board level with way more detail coming from principles, from me um throughout the year. Any questions about anything on there? I think I just want to reiterate what you're saying is very uh broad data points here um from a district board level and what we're doing each month with principles or each week and PLC's that data looks very different with the intent that that impacts this. I just think that's really important >> and I think that's that's been one of the things that's always been difficult. I mean for me six six plus years in this role is how to
073take all of what we measure and all of what we're doing and and give it in a streamlined visual andor report to you because it is important to have a a district perspective but we also measure so many things that it's hard to just say this is the one thing we're picking. So that that was the work that went into this in terms of streamlining to just a few metrics in each pillar >> and and knowing too Kate that if we ever have questions we have the opportunity to come and meet with you have conversation with Amy with with any of our our directors in this district. >> Yeah. And I think we I think you see it from the principles every month or every meeting, the amount of work that they're doing and teachers
074are doing on a daily basis with classroom level data, which is really pertinent because it's in the moment. >> And I guess I do want to remind folks the metrics that are on here um came from our strategic planning meeting. So you guys had brainstormed like what could be different measures that we do and so we worked with Kate to figure out what made the most sense and what you needed. >> I think Steve though I was curious where you were going. Could you just increase this a little bit an on the >> It was in. >> Yeah. So like in the in the Fastbridge math composite there's 60% that that's our benchmark data right now. So when they're looking at that data they're able to drill down in that second grade and what what
075are the concepts learning things that that that should be going on? And if they're if we're showing that we're struggling in a certain area, can we identify that? And then what do we do as as a PLC across a district to to address the the areas that students might be struggling in. Is that a fair >> Yeah. I mean that that data point second grade fastbridge math isn't super helpful for a principal because that includes all of our second graders. So we had to disagree. >> Yeah. I have a I have a I have a question. So my question was if like looking at attendance what I was where I thought you were going Steve when you asked about elementary, middle, and high school cuz can't they couldn't that number be skewed. >> Oh, absolutely.
076>> So like that's why it's >> and I would argue it's even skewed elementary to elementary and grade in an elementary. I think if you have a if you're in a small building and you have a few kids who have, >> you know, and you're using I think that's the hardest part with any kind of anytime you're looking at comprehensive data point and you've got a couple kids and you it can skew a percentage dramatically when the rest of the building might be at 90%. So yes, I think this is kind of giving us big picture. Um to Steve's point and your point also I mean I think you know >> but at times you need to look under that >> yeah absolutely >> to understand you frequently kid by kid all right here's the
077percent but where are we at and what are we doing about Johnny and Susie and how are we getting them to school and Christine spoke a little about how you know a small number of kids but they're significantly missing um school. So yes, I think and I I think based on those comments that's something I can kind of give a better overview to maybe in my annual report just giving you some more details on the attendance because it is pretty it's significant and I think not only with elementary age kids but even I think it grows even more dramatically at the middle and high school level around absence versus tardies. Um, you know, I spent a lot of months not all you were all in class when you needed to, but uh we talked a
078lot about that at the high school like this need to be in class on time. It's not a shared vision necessarily for all high school kids. These two are the exception. So yes, I think more to come with attendance and there's a huge family component whether they're 5 years old or 17 18 years old too. the importance of time there and being on time. So, thanks. >> Yeah, absolutely. Thank you all. Let me know if you have questions, send me. >> Thank you very much. >> Motion to accept the teaching and learning committee report. >> Second. >> Motion a second to accept the teaching and learning committee report. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Next. Are there any other reports by
079members of our board? Just like to mention that we do have our WASBY convention next week, the Wisconsin Association of School Boards convention in Milwaukee. And uh I think it's always pretty darn neat that the majority and again all of our board members are going to be attending and taking in seminars and learning more about many facets of schoolboard responsibilities and challenges in the in the state. So we look forward to that convention again. >> Any session tomorrow >> corners distance in session and then we have one >> school >> middle school on >> Thursday any other reports any other district or program highlights? >> Uh just a couple things. Um first January is school board recognition month. I think it's a national recognition whereas I think the state of Wisconsin recognizes that in the
080fall. But thank you for our school board. Um we had sent out a press release um in recent weeks that we have started a Spartan Clinic at the middle in the high school, a partnership with Essentia to be able to um allow for space in our schools for students and staff to be able to access uh teleaalth appointments if that's something um they're interested in. So they don't have to leave the building for those. So that is a convenience that we're it's new for us. Uh there's another district of Minnesota and I believe Maple is also um implementing it as well. And then lastly, I'm excited about our new podcast. We started a new podcast for our district interviewing different folks and trying to just um you know, another layer of transparency and getting information
081out. Uh some people appreciate that podcast format. So for those who get their information that way, hopefully it is another tool. >> It's fantastic. If you haven't listened to it already, it's really good. Next week is going to be our school forest teachers. >> You hold something. >> Um that didn't happen. Yeah. >> Okay. Uh finally, consideration of bills and pre-approved bills. Need a motion. >> Nick is not here, so I will make a motion to pay the bills. >> I'll second that. A >> motion and second to pay our bills. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Motion carries. It entertain. Motion for adjournment. >> Make a motion for meeting. >> Second. >> Motion and second to adjourn tonight's meeting. All in favor signify
082by saying I. >> I. I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you very much for being here this evening. Have a good evening.