001for my car and the camper. All right, I'm going to call this meeting to order. We met compliance with all official notifications. Roll call, please. Sarah Schubert McCone here. Laura Gapsky here. Ed Gallagher here. Nick Olsson here. Rick Kaylor here. Nick Schumacher here. Excused. President Steve Olsen. We're going to go pledge pledge of allegiance. Algiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. This meeting is a meeting of the board of education held in public for the purpose of conducting school district business and is not to be considered a public community meeting. There's a time for comments by members of the public during the meeting as indicated on the agenda. Members of the public
002wishing to address the board on any of the topics included on tonight's agenda may do so by signing up on the public comments signup sheet by the entrance prior to the start of this meeting. The board requests referring from making any comments involving personal personally identifiable information about student staff or administration. Comments should be respectful, focused on the items being considered by the board and will be restricted to three minutes in length. Action taken at tonight's uh meeting will be final approval unless otherwise noted. So first is comments by members of the public which we have one Mr. Lee Sims. Come on. Good evening. Uh, Brook Taylor, Ed Gallagher, uh, had quite the three years. Um, unusual business was the usual. Uh, so many so many big things happening. Uh, notably like $5 million deficit,
003school closure, transitions with board members, and the list goes on and on. Uh, your commitment to showing up was noticed and appreciated. Your presence in our buildings to see firsthand what was going on. Your presence at listening sessions and other meetings to hear what was going on firsthand. You two gave the issues that concern teachers the attention we hoped for. So on behalf of SFT, we'd like to thank you for your service to the schools of Superior and the youth of Superior. So thank you. Thank you. And to the entire school board, uh I want to thank you all for the commitment you're making by investing in our teaching staff with next year's raise. Uh it's no secret that we're in challenging financial times with declining enrollment and uh lack of state funding for public
004schools. We also know that a raise of anything less than the inflation means we are losing ground. We know that we are worth more and I believe that you know we are worth more too. And considering everything, I also believe that the Superior School Board is doing the best that they can in these challenging times. So, thank you again for your commitment to show how much you value the teachers of Superior. So, thank you. Next item on the agenda is the dispossession of minutes from March 17, 2025. Motion to approve. Second. Motion is second. Any discussion on the minutes? Hearing no discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Next item is the report of the superintendent. They have severalformational items. Ampful people coming to share some updates tonight. So Chris
005Cam O'Donnell, principal from four corners will give us an update. Welcome. Yeah, thank you. Good evening. Good to see all of you. It feels like it's always so weird when you come in the fall and then you present again in this. It feels like no time has passed, but a lot has happened. A lot of good things. So, um I'm going to share some of those things with you tonight as far as what's happening out at Four Corners. um the progress that we're making with our kids and all the good things that you see. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. I have a It's not working. Not going I don't want to press all the buttons and be really in trouble. Is it not working? Uhuh. Well, thank you, Kim. Any questions? Just twist the
006batteries. That's what I do at my house. Flip them around. Yeah. Switch them out with a remote. Yeah. Yep. Done that, too. And if you just want to plug the It's okay. Said batteries weren't in the budget. So, you can click it for me. Yes. All right. So, we'll go ahead. Um, this slide was in there from the spring. So, I did want to share just a little bit. You know, we had talked at the beginning of the year uh concerning the transition with new students and new families coming into uh not only our school community but but all the school communities and really what that was going to look like. Um, and I can say this year has it's the our new families that I don't consider our new families anymore. They're just they're
007just our families. And it's it's funny, you know, sometimes I have to think, were you here last year or not? Because the kids have really just kind of become part of our school community, which is an amazing thing. Um, our PTA has done a phenomenal job this year of bringing new families in and having lots of family events and making sure that everyone feels welcome and feels apart. Um, our PTA membership is up this year, which is great. We've got a a very active PTA president who's just really proactive about reaching out to our families. Um, so we've had a variety of events. We had our first trunk or treat this year. Um, we had a reading night. We've had a couple movie nights. We had a spring carnival. We had a roller skating night.
008We've got science night coming up in May. So, they've been really busy and it's it's been a a beautiful thing. Um celebrations as far as what's going on. So, first of all, our attendance rate as of Friday is at 97%. So, we feel really good about that. Our kids are are coming to school. They're there every day. How does that compare to previous years up or is that been pretty It's pretty consistent between 95 and 98. We hang right in there. So, um, taking a look at some of our our behavior data and our referrals, you know, this time of year, spring is always can be can be a little, you know, challenging. Kids are getting store crazy just like the rest of us. Um, but what's nice this year, looking at our data this
009year compared to last year, referrals are down 27% compared to this time last year with major referrals down 37%. And I really attribute a lot of that, of course, to my staff and my teachers. Um, but our PBIS team has been really active this year. They've they're recognizing positive behaviors in in individual kids. They're our staff is doing a really great job of that. Um, you know, we honor classes of the week every week with our specialists. So, every single week our all of our specialists um have a class of the week and they've come up with criteria with the kids of okay, if you want to be class of the week, what do we need to do? We need to do XYZ. And then they have the kids actually say, all right, how did
010we do? here's the list of the things. So, I think that's that's really um impacted what they see because they they see them, you know, 30 minutes or 60 minutes a week. And so, they've they've done a good job there. Um, couple other things, the picture, that's our that's the tube, as the kids call it, it's our our PBIS thermometer. So all of the tickets that the kids receive for positive behavior, they put them in um different little bins so they can, you know, decide what they want, whether it's extra recess or whether it's, you know, get to to play Pokemon cards at lunch or whether it's bring a stuffed animal, those kinds of things. Um, and then we dump them all into this too because we really want even if all the kids don't
011get tons and tons of recognition. Um, we want them to feel like they can own this as a school. So, every time we hit the next lineup, we have a a school celebration. So, and we're we're just about due for our next one. So, we got to figure out what that's going to look like. Um, and I think the most amazing thing everybody knows this is testing season. So, we are on track to have 100% of our kids assessed by the end of I was I'm sure Kate appreciates that. This my third year in a row. Yeah. So, we're we're in the 100% club. It's all or none, right? So, and they're taking it really seriously, which I like to see. Um, I'veed a few tests and the kids are really taking their time and
012and putting in the effort. So, that that feels good to see. Um, some challenges that we have. So, one of the things that we've really had to work through as a school this year is with our EMLSS teacher. Um, she is shared with Cooper and so we have her three days a week and then she's at Cooper Tuesday, two days a week. Um, she's an amazing teacher, an amazing individual. She she doesn't do anything halfway. She's all in all the time. And so it's been really tough for her and and for us to try to to problem solve through. She's there three days a week. She wants to see all of her groups. She wants to meet with the teachers and the PLC's. She wants to do all the progress monitoring. And that's a that's
013a I think that's a that's a what I want to say that causes her some stress because she wants to do it all because she's that amazing. So, we've we've worked around that. Um, but it's definitely been a challenge for our building. I think um time for our PLC teams to meet is always a challenge, especially at the elementary school. You know, there's there is no downtime. You are on all day from the time the kids walk into the building until the time they walk out. So having that protected time um for teachers to really collaborate with one another, go through the the data, take a look at where our kids um plan for small group interventions and extensions, things like that. And I would have to say I think this year and I know
014we did it last year too, but those professional development days have been really crucial in allowing teachers that those big chunks of time to actually work together, look at the data, really dig into what's going on with their kids to to um put together some some interventions that are really really meaningful. That takes time and you can't do it in, you know, one morning a week. It it takes more. So I am very appreciative of that and we're seeing the impact in our student our student data for sure. Um so our goals so our goal has been and always has been of course that we ideally want to see 100% of our students proficient in reading. Um but this year we want really wanted to focus on proficiency yes but also growth. Um so taking
015a look at uh we wanted 70% or more of our students in grades two through five on track or low risk according to the spring assessment. Um students in K1 at all of our students in K1 being at or above the 50th percentile that's according to the statemandated screener which we know now as Ames Webb and 100% of our students making typical or aggressive growth from fall to spring in reading. And so we don't have the spring data in yet because we are right in the middle of Ames testing and we haven't yet done the spring fast bridge. But just some highlights from fall to winter. Um our first grade early literacy scores are students that were meeting the benchmark. 65% were meeting the benchmark in the fall and we jumped to 85% of the
016first graders meeting that benchmark in the winter. So we're we're well on our way to that 100%. Um for our second grade the A reading scores. So that's an overall picture of their reading um skills at that point. 56% of our students at in the fall were met or exceeded the benchmark and in the winter 80% of our second graders and then our third graders 60%. So we at the winter check we were right on. So I'm excited to see what our what our spring scores look like. And the most exciting thing is, like I mentioned, our EMLSS teacher, we've exited 12 students from that program. Um, not because we don't have room, but because they closed the gap and they were ready to graduate out. So, it it's been pretty amazing. All right. So,
017as far as what are we doing between now and the end of the year, we still got time and we're still going. Um, we're going to continue the use of very specific structured interventions daily with small groups at K3. And our EMLSS teacher is working with those teachers as well to make sure that whatever she's doing with students in intervention is carrying over to what they're doing in small groups in the classroom, which is really making a big difference. Um, we need to continue to collect, monitor, and adjust our instruction as teachers always do, and they're doing a phenomenal job focusing on those foundational reading skills as well as community comprehension. Um, our PLC's have done a phenomenal job this year, state focused on the four PLC questions, really looking at common assessments, looking at
018their data, bringing data weekly to the table, and making decisions based on that. Um it's been really powerful utilizing our win time for interventions all the way till the end of the year. We go till June 12th and we need to run till the end of the marathon. Um and then the last thing will be really to evaluate and celebrate our spring data in May and then take a look at who didn't quite make it and make a plan for what do we need to do first day starting next school. That's where we are. I have a question. So, your EMLSS, so they're there three days a week. Now, I know obviously you don't have the same numbers as other schools, but what are do you see that there's less students at your school who
019need the service? Well, I don't know how many are at other buildings. I can tell you ours um she sees 31 students every day. So that's just the students that come to her for intervention. And right now we've got um a little more than 40 students that have the in the personalized reading plans that were triggered from the data in the winter from the Ames web. So um I don't want to say our need is greater or less than other buildings, but the the need is there. and and the fact that we've moved and graduated 12 students out of the program does make me wonder what we could do with that. But I guess that's just why I asked. You know, it's not necessarily that the need is greater or less. Oh, no. I mean,
020you're smaller, so it's tough with three days, but yeah. Thanks, Kim. And can you press? Yes, you're welcome. All right, Mr. Lieers, see you back there. Okay, the podium on the way here. Uh, so you were going to join us last week, but here last week, I promise. Thanks for coming. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, good to see everybody. Uh, before I jump in, Ed, Brooke, appreciate everything you've done for our school district and our community. It's pleasure working with you. Always enjoyed having you guys come into the building. I'm sure I'll still see you guys in a little. All right. So, I can use this keyboard, huh? Yes. Look at that. All right. There's the dream team right there. My new admin team for this school year. And uh we're we're doing a great job. I'm
021really proud of Jen's here, Sam, and Mr. Mr. John Raker. Uh they're working really hard and it's been a great great year. Um moving forward, I always I'd like to include some pictures of our kiddos. one of our sports dress up days. Um it's great to see our kids participating in some of those those uh fun activities that we have throughout the year. Um I'm going to pass out some some stuff for you guys. We are going to be sharing a little bit of data here in the next couple of weeks and I thought I'd share that with with you. So we put together a little one pager. I'm going to go through this. These are some great celebrations. Um, referrals, major referrals are down over the last three years, 60%. Um, that's a big
022that's a big number. We're hopeful that that, you know, we still have a few couple months left to go, but we're hopeful that we're going to we're going to land about 50% less than even just last year. Um, I think that number at the bottom right, number of kids that are participating in extracurricular inter murals, I think that'll be closer to 400. We had a couple more inter murals start up here recently. Um there's a lot of sort of reason for some of these successes. Oh, and the other graph, our attendance rate currently, and I think this is going to, you know, rise a little bit too as we as we get finished with the year, but we're under 10% right now with the number of kids that have 10 or more absences. That's a
023really big deal. That's a huge deal. uh when I when I started back at the middle school that number was you know 46 47%. And um you know we wanted to build a school make a school place where kids felt safe uh could come and learn and and have some fun and I think that uh I think these stats are kind of showing that we've been working really hard to make that the outcome for our kiddos. Hey Erin, the 329 does that include students who may be in other extracurriculars that are not inter murals? Do you know what I'm saying? Like some like some kids may not participate in inter murals but they're involved in other sports like basketball or volleyball. Yeah. This is just that's just inter mural involved right. So this is even
024higher when you look at sex. Yes. Did we ever get an update on the inter mural like if somebody's going to be heading it if it's Well Wendy like you to believe that she's not going to be around next year but I think she's still gonna she's doing a phenomenal job but I know it's a lot. What we are doing is to make that system a little more um put together and organized so that uh we're already having one of our secretaries take on some of those responsibilities like posting stuff and collecting uh information that that parents send in so that it's it's a little less cumbersome for for one person to take on. Absolutely. Uh some of the reasons for this uh it's people. We've built some nice programs, but we've got wonderful people
025um that are making all this happen. Uh I I'll start with our teachers. Spartan Start, they have the time to to um do our SEAL work and our and our universal literacy strategies. That's been a game changer. The teachers get an hour uh 55 minutes with our students at for first hour. Um they get a nice ease into the day and and I I think that's been a real a real big difference maker. Uh new this year uh we we if you recall we had check and connect mentors. Um this year we don't and we wanted to utilize a space for to support our students. So we started with a what's called the RNR room rest and reset return. um kids get get an opportunity to go to that space to avoid getting a referral
026from their classroom teacher and if it's a quick turnaround like hey just check in um and get what they need really our our data coming out of that space is really good our students are not spending a ton of time in there our goal with all of this is not get a referral but to be in classrooms where you can do your learning um really pleased with that I started in this district you know 16 years ago and I started a what was called back then a behavior lab and this was my dream for that space. It's kind of triage for kids. You know, a lot of kids just need a quick five minute turnaround and get back into class. Others might need a little bit more and so we've got some people that can
027help um navigate that and and support our students. So, that's been a really successful uh program. Again, people Yeah, I was going to say I think you know a lot of schools have in school suspension, right? or they have spaces, but I think what you've done is you've created a structure, a system in that space, and you put the right people in that place, right? And so I think that's really important. You can't just simply Yeah. And our vision is is for kids to stay in classrooms. Yeah. Right. Um that's where they that's where they need to be. That's where they learn. Um but we know that we have a we have a good amount of students that come to us with some high needs and so we can meet their needs um in this
028in one in one of these spaces. something that would the high school could benefit from. We've talked about it. Um, so yes, we're talking I want Mr. Lieers to kind or Mr. Fezi to kind of lead that charge, but yeah, we've we've talked about how to how could we do some of this replicated this up at what that could look like for sure. Yeah. Um, our deans and social workers um I wanted to collect some data. So January and February, I had my deans and our social worker just kind of track the number of students that they're working with. Um, our deans worked with, you know, it's not 800 different kids, right? But they've made 800 contacts during two months of time. I wanted them to keep track of that because I wanted to get
029a taste uh of I see all the students that they're connecting with and they're supporting too. Um, they process referrals, they help out with supervision, they do a lot of things in our building. Uh but they're also they took on a lot of the kids that were meeting uh with our check and connect mentors too. So they're they're working very hard. Our school social worker, you know, she she connects our families and our students with um with uh supports in the community. They check in with students as well. Uh more of those tier three kind of uh situations. Maybe a student's having a really difficult time at home and they need some support. they they she does a wonderful job of connecting with students and she's made over 200 contacts during that same time frame.
030A lot goes into making this thing making this thing work. Um bar is also on there. Uh it's been a wonderful opportunity for our teachers to do a couple of things. One, get organized uh around all of our students, make sure that every student we are talking about and supporting, right? And then a secondary thing that's been wonderful is that at once a week our teachers get to do an eye time activity, team building or some fun activity where they get to connect with their students on a deeper level. So bar helps a lot of those areas. Um and the and the point here rather than challenges I thought this there's a lot goes into making this thing work. Um, our teachers are working hard to improve outcomes for our kids and build relationships. Um,
031they've even started their own mentor program to connect with 15 or 20 of our students in the building. Uh, we really revamped our tier 2 and three reading and math interventions. Like I said, the the work that the APS are doing with our supporting our teachers and and our students and their families and our meetings, our instructional coaches developing our reading strategies and all the training for math that's that's going on this year, all the pullouts and and the trainings that happen monthly and our counselors uh jumping in and and supporting students and their families as well. a lot goes into making this uh supporting all 900 of our students. Okay. Our goal increase the number of students making modest, typical or aggressive growth on fastbridge reading scores. We want to get that number up
032to 100%. and and the line items here that we're working towards this year, building collective advocacy amongst our teachers and our staff around PLC's, grading practices, those literacy strategies, improving outcomes in the classroom, and restorative. So, that's been our continuous improvement goal uh all year long. There's some that hard work happening in the classroom. Um, next steps. I I really see our shared leadership team um kind of wrapping things up this year and continuing on. Uh, we want to build upon our momentum for next year. Uh, we want to boost our tier 2 interventions in the classrooms, continue with those tier three interventions, supporting our students with their behavior. We are a bar bar school now. I mean, we've been, this is our third year. Uh, I I see that sticking with us. for years
033to come. Uh our teachers really appreciate the opportunity to get together, talk about students, work with our counselors and assistant principles to support our students and then continue building community and stakeholder relationships. Think some fun stuff. Our sixth grade went to the uh down to the deck. Got some curling. Got to watch some curling. The entire sixth grade team went down. They had a blast. Any questions, guys? Thank you for this. This is very nice. This is going to be shared website. Well, we've got some opportunities to talk about some of the successes. Uh some other school districts have reached out. Uh we thought this would just be a wonderful way to highlight some of the things that are that are going into this. Um we're going to be talking about it at the bar
034conference. So, yeah, the middle school, they've reached out and the bar has reached out to us and asked, you know, about our success and how this has happened under Erin's leadership. And so being able to kind of share that with other districts will be good. It'll be really good. Yeah. Thanks, Aaron. Thanks, guys. Yeah. No, we got one more presentation. All right. And Taylor, it doesn't look like Taylor's here tonight. So, Caitlyn got a couple agenda items for us tonight and some students maybe. Yes. Okay. Couple students as well. So, wonderful. I'll try and keep it compact and you know, just the just the fun highlights. Um, so I'm going to share a little bit um about senior project academic and career planning um some highlights and then a little bit about Superior Days. And
035I have a couple students here who um are here to to talk a little bit about their experience at Spear Days as well. So, um just a quick review and reminder for anyone that doesn't know or has, you know, is not the obviously the forefront of most people's minds like it is mine. Um so, our high school students really have a 912 experience. Um and there's kind of two parts to this. So um each year has a community service component um and then at least one kind of universal career exploration piece. Obviously a lot more of that career exploration happens in individual classes and happens in you know various electives students might be you know taking but trying to make sure that there's at least some universal pieces that are open to all students no
036matter what class they're in um no matter what things they might be doing. Um, so in ninth grade, a lot of that happens in Keystone because all students take Keystone. Um, so that is a place where we can kind of support that. Um, in I I'll talk a little bit more about our career fairs in in a little bit. Those are actually open to all students, 912, but we do see um a lot of underassmen attend those. Um, a lot of our freshman, sophomores, some juniors um do attend those. Um, in junior year, students have the opportunity to participate in what we call career experience days, for lack of a a better term. Um, but those are are different things that take students outside the building. Um, to kind of explore some employers, some education
037institutions, things like that. Um and then culminating obviously senior year um with the like senior year capstone project experience where students do 15 hours of community service um and then an more extensive career research with a job shadow and interviews. So trying to build them up to that um starting in nth grade and making sure they have lots of those experiences along the way. Um so a couple things just to highlight our career fairs. We host three per year. Um, again, these are open to students in grades 9 through 12. Um, we see the majority of our attend attendance coming from our underassmen. They happen, you know, during the school day in the gym. Um, they are easy to access for those students and is a a good way to help introduce them to a
038lot of different people, a lot of different possibilities. Um, we average about 30 tables or so at each event. Um so that's employers you have been there. Um that's education institutions, other community organizations. Um we try and organize them by career clusters. So of the um 16 career clusters, we kind of group them and sort of divide them by ones that are somewhat connected. Um but there's there's a lot of variety in each of those just as a way to kind of organize and advertise things for students. Um I just included one one picture here. Um so you know the gym is full for the afternoon and students come in some um independently, some with classes and have a chance to to talk to a lot of different people. Um a lot of our our
039guests bring some fun interactive stuff and kids get to try out some some different things. You can see a flight simulator and a preeie baby and some firefighting gear. So, um, lots of cool experiences for our kids. Um, the career experience days, these are field trips outside the building. Um, so these are primarily targeted for our juniors. Um, and these are things where we go out into the community. So, these are organized again by career cluster. Um and so we will try and visit employers UWS um FondeLac, Northwood Tech. Um each day looks a little different depending on the career cluster. Um I put a number up here of about 12 to 15 of these types of days per school year. Um but that includes not just the ones that I plan specifically, but also
040some of the other events that we attend. So like UWS plans a transportation and logistics day. They set that up with Helver lines. They set that up with our department. So I don't have a whole lot to do with planning the logistics of that, but that's the one that we use to kind of meet that career cluster. So um some of them are kind of planned inhouse. Um some of them are things that we go out and attend, but those are things that all juniors um are invited to sign up for and attend. And the idea being that we get them out of the school, get them out into the community. um maybe, you know, help them see themselves in a a local employer or at a local education institution that they might not otherwise.
041Um and so that's been a really cool experience. Some kids attend several days, some kids attend one. Um we have some that don't attend any for a variety of reasons, too, but um trying to get kids to participate in at least one of those um in their junior year. So, we try and take them some cool places. Um, I pulled a couple pictures. One from um the fire department on our lawn public safety day. Um, one from the radio station at UMD on our communication arts and arts audiovisisual and communications day. There we go. Healthcare day. We went to Essentia and Lakes College. So, they got to tour some different programs there. Um, senior project presentations have um, kind of morphed and changed a little bit in the last few years. There's now two presentation
042options um, students can pick from. So, either a traditional presentation or um, a senior project showcase where they're set up at a table um, in the commons at the high school um, and they have various items and artifacts and documents that represent their project um, displayed at their table. and then of conversations with whoever might come up to their table. So, they're encouraged to invite people um family, friends, people that have helped with their project. Um we host them on nights that other things are happening in the building. So, there's usually teachers around or people in the building for other things as well. Um so that they might stop by the tables and and see what some of our seniors have done. Um so that's been really positive. We've gotten a lot of positive feedback
043on that. Um, the kids seem to have a good time. People seem to enjoy kind of the the atmosphere of the of the nights. Um, a couple just celebrations. The class of 2025 is the first class to have the full new senior project experience. Um so postco things being waved and adjusted like class of 2025 is the first like 912 all the requirements were there and have been expected of them. So that's kind of an exciting thing. Um they're also my first full group. Um I started at the high school when they were freshman. So um that's kind of an extra special group for me as well. Um, I think the senior project showcase presentations is a an exciting celebration and it helps make that process and make that final presentation feel kind of like
044a celebration in and of itself. Um, they get to show people what they did. It's not um, for a lot of them it's a lot less stressful and does feel more exciting and celebratory for students. um our ACP plan and website was chosen as an exemplar by DPI. Um so that is on the DPI website as well um as an exemplar for other districts. Um but that was that was an exciting celebration. Um and then just our continued partnership and student experiences with the employers and education institutions in our community. Um, we've had a lot of kids do some really cool job shadows. Um, had some really great volunteer experiences and that is thanks to everyone in our community being willing to open their doors to our students and work with our students. Um, this
045year in particular, our partnership with Assa has been great. Their job shadow program has allowed a lot of our students in um, to some careers that previously they weren't able to shadow and able to see. So, that's been an exciting addition as well. Before I move on to Superior Days, any questions about any of that? First of all, it's just awesome what you've done with the program. We just really appreciate it. The exposure to employee employers, schools and the just the ability to interact with adults and have those awkward conversations and they're just more comfortable as they do them more. It's just fantastic. It's only going to get better when these students come up here. So, thank you. Thank you. We've got we got some stuff I still like to do, but feels good. Thank
046you. Yeah. All right. I'm going to talk just a little bit about Superior Days and then I'm going to I'll turn it over to the kids and if you can ask them some questions, that'd be great. I didn't have them prepare anything formal. So, feel free to, you know, just just ask them some questions. They'll talk. Um, so, as some of you know, we took a group of students um and some staff members to Superior Days this year um with the um our primary issue and goal at least being to advocate for an increase and creating more equity in K12 public school funding. So, we were fortunate that the Superior Days organization um agreed to this, was on board with this um selected this as an issue um and we were able to do some
047work ahead of time to prepare our students um and make sure that they were good advocates for us down to Madison. And I have a couple here with me tonight who did a great job along with all of their classmates that went um down to Madison. So we had 18 students from Superior High School attend. Um they were about half of a 33 student um delegation. So there were also students from Maple and Solen um who attended as well. Um we provided five speaker introductions and they made lots of positive impressions I think on a variety of people that we encountered in Madison. um and they got to have a lot of cool cool experiences. And those of you who were there or have been there in the past or have talked to people who
048have gone know that um the student delegation is a sort of prized gem of Superior Days. Um they're always very proud of our students and very excited to talk to our students and we get a lot of positive feedback from representatives, from other people in the group um in terms of how well our our students represent us. So, and this year was no exception to that. Um, we also had some additional experiences for students. We brought them on a WMadison campus tour, um, a capital tour. They obviously had lots of opportunities to network with people on their lobby teams, other members of the Superior Days organization, um other students from other schools, and then obviously they had lobby meetings with representatives um advocating for specifically um public education funding along with the other issues brought
049down by the Superior Days group. A few photos of our of our students in action here. Um, you can see a couple students. The student in the bottom right corner with Senator Quinn. Um, the student on the left is a Superior High School student and the student on the right is a Northwestern High School student. Um, the entire student delegation from um, actually all the counties, Douglas County primarily, but then there were some students from Iron County and maybe Bayfields area I think as well. Um, in that picture, um, Callie, who's here tonight and I'm sure super happy that I put her picture, um, in the slideshow, presenting Governor Ivers with, um, a Superior Day sweater as well. So, some, you know, fun fun shenanigans that happened, too. He was a good sport and proudly
050wore the sweater. So, it helps when a kid, you know, romance Um, so like I said, I have a couple students here just to share a little bit of their perspective. Um, you know, maybe one or two things they took away from the experience. Um, and then answer any questions you would like to to ask them about that as well. Um, we very much appreciate the support. Um, this is, you know, a big endeavor, a financial endeavor, all those things. Um, but we very much appreciate the support from the board and from the community to make this happen and be able to not only bring our students down to Madison to advocate on our behalf, but to give them that experience and that real life experience of advocacy and, you know, speaking for themselves, speaking
051for their community, um, and being a part of that change. Kaitlyn, so I want to hear from the students. Totally. But I feel um it was down there. Uh and I just think there there's two things I just really want to give you and like all the folks that you worked with from the staff that helped out with that as well. Um one I know um David and other folks worked really hard to try to get some sponsorships um to support that so it wasn't as much of a financial burden which was much appreciated. Even did a lot of work on that. Yes. Yes. and he did a lot of capturing, you know, and the video that he put out was great. But then also, uh, I have to brag, we you all were so
052superior. The other students were great. they had no preparation and I felt awful for them um because they came there and were like didn't know the topics didn't you know there just wasn't a lot of prep and so I don't know if there's a way to like help those other students last year but I will say they were very jealous of our kids and how well-versed they were and prepared um and led a lot of that and David and I met with him on multiple occasions Actually, David went in to go educate them and then he quickly found out that they were wellversed in some things and yeah, we had Yeah. And we had a lot of support from the staff at the high school too. We ran a I and it was only one
053one day, but we ran like a like a mock practice session and we had you know some of our administrators and some other teachers and stuff like sit in as you know mock representatives too. It was just a drastic difference and I I don't want to minimize the other kids. It was awesome. they were there, but I had one of them there and it was like, "Okay, let's let's get you prepared in 15 minutes." And and that's not really fair to the kids. So, good job students and staff. All right. Come up and again, just share a little bit about, you know, maybe one or two things that stuck with you and I'm sure they'll have a question or two. Um, I'm Calli Peterson. I'm a junior at the high school. And I'm Addie Matek.
054I'm also a junior at the high school. Um, so when we were down at Superior Days, we got to do a lot of other things other than just lobbying. Um, we got to take a tour of the capitol, uh, which was really cool because I think most everyone except for a handful of students from Superior had never been to Madison and even then never been in the capital. So that was a really cool experience uh, for me. Um, yeah, and we also had an opportunity to tour Madison, like the school, which really helped people understand what happens down there and how big of an opportunity it could be to go there since it is a far drive if people don't all have that opportunity to go into it by themselves. Um, for me, the lobbying
055was definitely my favorite part of it. Uh it was definitely an very interesting experience that I was not necessarily aware of how it would go. Uh because it's such an odd thing that not many people actually know what happens. Um I definitely learned about a lot about how our state government works. um and like how legislation gets made and all the decisions that go into that which definitely opened my eyes as well as being able to see you know all the issues that were brought down there were really cool to learn about and there were so many professionals from the community that definitely taught me a lot while I was down there. Yeah, I think it was just cool that we were able to go down there and do like lobby for something that we're
056as important to us because school finance is obviously something that's important to us as we attend it and so we have future people that will attend our school so it's important that we're able to help with that and it was cool to be able to do something that meant a lot to us and for the future. Uh do you have any questions for us? First question is, did you guys feel like you were listened to and supported from the people you were speaking to? Definitely. Um, I think a lot of the time, at least in my meetings, um, they definitely listened to me more than they listened to the adults that I was in the room with. It's definitely I think it definitely caught them off guard to see a kid in there instead of,
057um, an adult, as well as someone who actually knew what they were talking about. Um there were some people um weren't as point verse uh but it worked out well. Yeah, I think it was um a lot of it was nice to have like our school specific statistics and being able to show that help them understand truly what's going on and be able to use our statistics to help and it's not just like we're so it look we looked more wellversed in what we're talking about. What was what was your biggest takeaway that you would tell someone else to advocate for someone else to go down there and do the same thing? What would be your biggest takeaway to present to someone else? Uh my like to like as like a plus for them to
058go down there. Um you learn so much like I had no idea about half of what goes on in our state government. We learn a lot about the federal government in school but not a lot about how our state government actually works. And the people that we met with, whether it was like the actual representatives themselves or their staffers were definitely very open to sharing on how it actually works. We gave them our we pitched to them what we wanted and they they definitely gave back feedback as well as what they could do and what they couldn't do with what we asked them to do. And I think it would also it's also like important for people to understand. It's hard to understand that it's not like you're talking it's not like you're talking with
059like some scary like they're actually people too and it's very like it's more relaxed than anyone thinks it is so it's not as like intimidating for people to do. Yeah. Before I actually went down there I definitely thought it was going to be like a room of 50 people staring at me while I stood there and presented. But it was a lot more relaxed than I expected. That's what I'm saying. Is this this is nothing tonight compared I mean, Cali, you know, was a a great representative, is a good sport about everything and probably got a little strong armed into going. Um, but I do think she, you know, like so that there's there's that element as well. And I think her experience and hopefully I can have both of these ladies along with quite
060a few others next year as well. Um, now that they kind of know, this was both of their first times going to Spiritize 2. So now that they kind of know what to expect, they'll be, you know, even better representatives. I kind of noticed that. Is that the plan of like, you know, 11th and 12th graders? So the 12th graders can kind of mentor the 11. I mean, it kind of seemed to work that way, but kind of works that way. I think because I think for the most part, um, once a in my experience once a student goes, they're usually game to go again. Um, you know, usually the the challenge is is letting kids know kind of what it's about and getting them kind of hooked in. But I think most likely, I
061mean, I won't put them on the spot entirely. I can probably get them to come again this year, but um, so yeah, it helps when they kind of know what to expect and can tell other students what to expect because I can, but that doesn't always translate as well. I know one of our other students or a couple of them are in mock trial and they were able to go observe part of the Supreme Court hearing and they were losing their minds. They were just like this is so dreamy like and like what a cool experience to go listen and sit in on a Supreme Court hearing. It they just really um seem to learn a lot just again that capital experience and really seeing what goes on there. So thanks ladies. You both are
062very well spoken and I know you so proud. I heard such wonderful things and no better people to advocate than our students. So thank you guys for doing that. You did awesome. Thank you, Caitlyn. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I got a couple action items. You want to take those, J? Right. First action item is consideration of overnight field trip for Spartan Spin students to attend the annual JEA NSPA fall conference is up there on the board. Motion to approve. Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing no discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Passes. Second one is consideration of overnight field trip for eighth grade science students who attend the Lakespare youth symposium. Motion to approve. Second. Motion to second. Any discussion? Hearing no discussion. All those
063in favor signified by saying I. I. Any opposed? Passes. Uh next category board committee report. Starting with budget insurance committee. We have one action item. It's gift grants and bequests. administration recommends the approval to accept gift grants and requests received in March of 2025. Motion to approve. Second. Motion to second. Any discussion? Thank you. Of course, as always. Our discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. A coupleformational items. First one is at the committee of the whole on April 7th, 2025. David C, director of business services, provided the equalization aid update. Then we also went through the fund and revenue and expenditure preliminary reports. Motion to accept the budget and insurance committee report. Second. Motion second. Any discussion? Hear no discussion. All those in favor signify by saying
064I. I. Any opposed? Passes. Next person on negotiations committee. Uh first action item is administration recommends the approval of the updated 2020 April 2025 new hires and separations report. Motion to approve. Motion a second. Any discussion? Hearing no discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Passes. Next one is administration re recommends approval of the changes to the employee handbook for the 2025 2026 school year per the attached summary. Motion to approve. Second. A motion and a second. Any discussion? I think the discussion that happened last week was, you know, important and good discussion to have. Obviously, um it was just for clarification purposes and and things. um with the 50% principal days or whatever. So again, good to have discussion about um we got clarification and so now we move forward.
065And I did go back and find some old SFT notes um that we had that talked about said staff preferred half work days in August this year as opposed to the full professional development day, full workday. I do think that there was other discussion that was hammered out with the language in that. So like Brook said again, it's it's our opportunity to have discussion. The only opportunity we do have to have discussion and so it's important that we do that and have our questions answered. But moving on, I know I had discussion last week. I don't have any changes to make in that. So any other discussion? Hearing no discussion. And all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed. Motion carries. Uh the next one is a new action item. Administration and
066the personnel and negotiation committee recommend the salary increase for teachers for the 2025 2026 school year as listed below. The proposed salary increase would increase was ratified by the superior federation of teachers on March 20th 2025. This would be to add a 2% of the base step to the bachelor and master schedule for a total increase of $314,485.76. You can see the attached new salary schedule. Motion to accept. Second. There's a motion and a second and I would prefer myself there. Nick will abstain from voting on this action item. I don't think Am I missing anybody else? No. motion and second. Is there any discussion? I just want to say this is new, right? You know, to add to the masters and um again, we we heard Dave um or Lee what you said earlier.
067Um and we're we're trying to do what we can. So, we hope this shows a a good faith gesture. And I want to thank the SFT for ratifying it and kind of acknowledging that. I think it's a good partnership, but we're all trying to work together and another. Any other discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Just for the record, I'm abstaining. And I assume Nick Schumacher is as well. Yes. Oh, and I should say that um Steve Bolson obviously isn't here, but he did express where he stands on all this and he supports these as we move forward. So, he can't vote obviously not being here, but he wanted to give that to us. All right, so that one passes. The next one is a new action item. Administration
068and Personnel Negotiation Committee recommend the salary increase for support staff for the 2025 2026 school year as listed below. It'll be add 2% to each step for a total increase of $161,3918. See the attached new salary schedule. Motion to accept. Second. A motion to accept and a second. Any discussion? Yes. Um I we as a board and and that may change moving forward, but have agreed to kind of just do a total re-evaluation um moving forward um as to where everyone's at. Um and we realize there are some inequities there. So we didn't have time this year. Um but that doesn't mean conversations are ending um in any way. And I'll add to that. I was going to share once we got kind of to the admins portion, but um as a board like you
069said, we've heard from so many of you at our listening sessions that there are some discrepancies that things need to be adjusted and we want to acknowledge that we do see the need. And so the board that is here and then the ones that are coming on have um committed to looking at that this summer. Um especially with some of our like our admin groups and um some of our other groups that are getting a little bit um of a bigger discrepancy there. So we acknowledge that. We've heard you guys and we're trying to do again what we can. So, so we're going to make make an effort this summer to meet as the personnel negotiations committee to look at all those groups and really comprehensively look at them and make sure that they're more
070equitable moving forward. Right. Any other discussion? Okay. I was just around the professional status. Um, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. The next one, the new action item, administration and personnel and negotiations committee recommend the salary increase for professional staff for the 202526 school year as listed below. So be add 2% to each step for a total increase of $24,65.20. See the attached new salary schedule. Motion to approve. Second. A motion a second. Any discussion? I think I just want to reiterate um from last year and this year, these are not intentionally to divide people in groups. Um, the board is trying to do the best that they can, trying to keep people, retain people, pay them what they're worth, while also looking at a budget deficit and
071and things of that nature. So, it's really hard um and we have to do most of this here in open session. So, again, it's an uncomfortable thing to talk about um and handle when we're sitting in front of a lot of people going through this. So, I hope everyone knows that they're all valued and important. Um, it's just this is what the board felt this year. So, I think that's why we're looking at it. Change the setup basically to help us make those changes fair. Yes. Definitely need more time to do that though. It was not Yeah. Any other discussion? Hear no discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Last one is the new action item. Administration personnel and negotiations committee recommend the salary increase for administration staff
072for the 202526 school year as listed below. So this would be add 2% of the base step for a total increase of $50,59647. See the attachment salary schedule. Motion to accept. Second. Motion to second. Any discussion? These were budgeted in. Uh we went to referendum, but we also had to budget, you know, raises for retention and keeping staff. So again, we're not just throwing this out there. This was all budgeted intentionally. Any other discussion? Hearing no discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Motion to accept the personnel negotiations committee report. Second. Motion and second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Teaching and learning committee. Oneformational item at the committee of the whole on April 7th, 2025. Crystal Hman, director of curriculum and instruction,
073providing an update on elementary literacy resource training. Motion to accept teaching learning committee report. Second. Motion is second. Any discussion? No discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Policy and rules committee administration proposes the approval of changes of the following policies based on Yola recommendations in order to be in compliance with state and federal legal updates. Uh the first action item is second reading of policy 7310 disposition of personal property. Motion to approve. Second. A motion a second. Any discussion? Hearing no discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Uh, the next one. In early 2025, federal court decision vicated 2024 title 9 regulations effectively reverting to the 2020 rules nationwide. This is a second reading. Um we'll be rescending policy 2264
074non-discrimination on the basis of sex and education programs or activities for addressing allegations of sex discrimination including sexbased harassment which occurs on or after 1st 2024 and we'll be reverting to policy 2266 all the same as the above. Motion to approve second. A motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing no discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. Any opposed? A close. Motion passes. Item in early 2025 federal federal court decision vacated 2024 title 9 regulation effectively reverting to the 2020 rules nationwide. The second reading. And this is for the administrative guidelines to resend administrative guideline 2264 and revert to administrative guideline 2266. All the same language as the policies. Motion to accept policies and rules committee report. Second. Motion a second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any
075opposed? Passes. Uh, next section, other reports by members of the board. Anybody have any reports? It's you and Brook's last meeting. So, I'll just start. I'll be super brief not to hold anybody's time. Um, obviously, it's my last meeting here. Um, first of all, I just want to say, um, congratulations to Katherine and Shelley. I fully support both them coming onto the board. I'm happy for them. And hope you guys will take them in um as as any other member of the board and treat them accordingly. But um I want to congratulate them and uh let them know I hope they do a wonderful job here. Um second, I want to show my appreciation uh to all the staff. Um, I think it's it's been a privilege to be able to, I guess, create and,
076uh, have relationships with staff, whether they be teachers, janitors, nurses, admin, principles, whatever, all across the board. I think over the last three years, um, we've built such incredible relationships, not only between myself and all of you, but I think all of you and the board in general. Um, so I want to thank you for um, you know, whether you like me or hate me, I I I I want to thank you for the I guess respect that everybody has shown and uh, I guess living up to the superior name within our district here. Um, it's really been a a great three years and I've enjoyed it and I will miss some of it. not all of it, but let's um because it has has been a challenging three years, but thank you to all
077the staff for your support. Um Amy, um again, I want to say I appreciate uh our work together. We have had our differences, but um we found ways to communicate with each other, be supportive of each other and and move forward in this district with opposing views and similar views. I've actually really enjoyed our time together and our in our meetings um and figuring out uh the best course for our district here. So, thank you, Amy. And then to the board again, um Dave paraphrased it earlier when when we talked to him, but I think this board has been a truly a wonderful board. Uh we have a lot of difference opinions here. I think this board has worked real well together, hearing each other out, communicating with each other, um and moving forward. And
078after disagreements are are had, um I'd ask you guys to move forward. keep this keep this board going in a positive direction. Keep listening to our staff. Uh keep hearing, keep asking questions, and be as involved as you possibly can. Um I think there's only positive things that can happen on this board should you continue down the path that you guys are already on. I will again miss the board. Um maybe it's not my last time here. Maybe I'll be here in the future. Who knows? some anxiety from Amy right now maybe. Uh, no, but I've truly enjoyed it. So, thank you everybody for um this time I've had on the board. No, I'll be echoing a lot of that. It's no surprise that I wanted to say something and I know there aren't a
079lot of people here, but maybe there's somebody watching online, maybe they'll watch it archived and maybe they won't at all, but I wanted to give thanks and credit where it's due. Um, I wanted to start with Amy. Thank you for the direction you have for our district. Um, I have appreciated working alongside of you the past three years, getting to know you better. Um, getting to see how much dedication, commitment, time, and energy you put into your your role. Um, it really doesn't go unnoticed. So, thank you very much. Um, to our directors, our admins, our teachers and staff. I know I've said it before. I know it sounds so cliche and I don't want to cry now. Sorry. Um, but sorry, we truly are blessed with some of the best in our district and
080I mean that I am so proud to be a part of the Superior School District and a Spartan community and I know that there's always work to be done and improvements to be made, but I do believe that we are moving in the right direction. So, thank you to my fellow board members. Thank you for your service. Um, we've obviously faced a lot of difficult decisions. Um, I definitely have a greater appreciation for our leadership and for our elected officials. So, thank you for the work that you've done. Thank you for the work that you're going to continue doing. Uh, to my family, um, thank you for the sacrifice that they have made when I decided to take on this role. Um, I definitely couldn't have done it without their love and support. And then
081last but not least to our community, um, sorry, thank you for entrusting me in this role. Um, it has been an honor and a privilege to serve in this capacity and I'm truly grateful for this opportunity. Um, it's going to be a position it it's been a difficult one of the most challenging roles I've ever served in, but one of the most rewarding as well. And I will really miss my time on the board. So, thank you for this opportunity. I appreciate it. And are there any other reports by board members? I got nothing. Thank you guys. We appreciate all the work that you put in. It's obvious you guys are dedicated and you care about the community and the kids. So, I just want to say thanks to you. All right, moving on. Maybe
082that should have been last. I don't know. Um, now we got to pay the bills. Not yet. Almost. Uh, district and program highlights. Anything? Well, I have a whole list, but I'm gonna just say thank you to to Brooke and Ed. Um, we have been through a lot together in the last three years. We've had a lot of challenges and a lot of um successes and celebrations as well. So, thanks for the many extra hours that you probably didn't know you were signing up for and we didn't know at that time either, all the extra meetings and the work that we were going to be doing these last three years. So, thank you very much. And you know, um, as you were talking, I think I'm a better superintendent having worked with you guys. So,
083thank you. I was going to buy you a new phone so Brooke wouldn't be able to call. New phone number, I guess. wasn't bad. Thank you. Thank you. And uh I'll miss working with both of you. So, thanks. Anything else? That's not important. All right. Consideration of bills and pre-approved bills. Make a motion to pay the bills. Second. Motion a second to pay the bills. Any discussion on the bills? Hear no discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? Passes. I think it's an air that there's another section for comments by members of the public. We'll scratch that. And I guess if somebody wants to make a motion to adjurnn. Motion to. I'll second it. The last word. I get the second. All those in favor signify by saying I.
084I any opposes. Yeah. Gav.