001okay we're going to go ahead and call the meeting to order we're calling the meeting to order so uh as a reminder uh board member Jim McMullen is online so you may hear his voice um and it looks like we're going to start with reports from board advisory committees uh so I'm going to be the first one uh the diversity equity and inclusion committee uh met on Thursday November 2nd uh at that meeting we began with Adam lundine our K through2 Performing Arts coord coordinator along with six of our uh elementary middle and high school music educators who came in and talked about uh performance and how they go about picking diverse selections uh utilizing policy 4600 um they also talked about religious holidays and the music that they um use during that time it
002was a great discussion the uh committee had an opportunity to ask them several questions uh the last part of the meeting we just talked briefly kind of about the uh conflict that's going on in the Middle East and then the students and families and that are hurting in our community and had a great discussion about that the next uh meeting of the diversity Equity inclusion committee is not until January and it is on Thursday January 11 uh next up uh Dr Katie CER is going to come up and give both the curriculum and instruction advisory committee as well as the health and well-being the health and well-being uh committee met Wednesday uh November 8th and at that time they had a presentation regarding You Youth Mental Health First Aid in the district um some of
003our staff were present and they shared their experiences with uh youth Mental Health First Aid training and the teachers felt that the training helped them to initiate conversations with students that may be having issues and that would benefit from discussions with trusted adults at at the end of the three-year implementation period for uh first aid mental health um it was um defined that we will have up 900 trained staff at the end of that period additionally representative co-founder and execute director of screen sanity Tracy Foster was present uh to discuss with the committee um the resources and tools available to the district and to parents to support families on their um Journey of Digit digital parenting the next meeting is in January the cni board advisory committee met on October 18th and at that time
004um Kelly a shared proposed course changes which you'll hear more about this evening additionally Kelly out and J Jennifer lazinski also talked about growth growth measure process here in Blue Valley and how we go about defining growth measures and the building uh process to monitor those individual goals at each of their sites and the committee um will meet again uh this next month thank you and January thank you uh next up is Christine mcnarland with the communications committee thank you the uh Communications board advisory committee met on November 7th here at district office at 7:30 in the morning uh we started off by welcoming a new member to our committee Jeff tlli um I was also able to provide an update on communication initiatives currently underway the overview included a deeper dive into strategic storytelling
005the committee was asked to provide feedback on content and that included social media podcasts BB unmuted and the district's news magazine Blue Valley today as well as a special publication champions of learning that focused on academic success the committee was then asked to provide feedback on ways to to expand reach of content through existing or new communication channels and then we took a look at what's ahead a highlight of upcoming communication planning uh was previewed we reminded um folks about our community engagement opportunities scheduled through Community Connection point the next one is going to be on December 7th followed by February 29th and April 25th the meeting concluded at 8:30 in the morning and the next meeting is scheduled for January 9th and finally uh Kyle Hayden is going to give both finance and operations
006as well as Student Activities the finance and operations committee met on November 9th in the Board of Education room I welcomed committee members and shared District highlights and recognitions which have occurred over the course of the last month I presented information on the new open enrollment policy Kelly a uh shared information around the new graduation credits Jeremy mcfaden reviewed the bond 2020 and bond 2023 quarterly progress reports and the investment summary report Jake sodnik presented the bids and contracts the next finance committee is scheduled for December 7th the Student Activities Committee met on October 19th in the high plains conference room the meeting began with a brief review of bond and capital outlay projects followed by an explanation of the new Law related to homeschool and private school students who wish to participate in Casa
007activities in public schools the committee's beginning to work on establishing a five-year strategic plan for athletics and activities the high school middle school and Blue Valley Recreation uh provided activity and athletic updates the next me meeting is scheduled for November 16th and that concludes our committee reports all right so on to reports from board members and the superintendent on items not included on the agenda who who do we start with let's go Jan thank you um I attended three advisory committees the PTO PTA president's advisory committees um presented information on our on our uh performance uh new performance information the best advisory committee the same and Communications committee was there uh as you know Joe you and I had dinner with um board members from the OA school board and the shaie Mission School Board
008at the Shaunie Mission School District beastro we toured their facility and then also their their Farm their Greenhouse was quite fascinating um Jody and I also attended the Overland Park chamber breakfast where they highlighted their community achievements I was uh the best thing I did was I read to kindergarteners and first graders at Aspen Grove Elementary that was a last uh I didn't want to leave but I got pulled off the stage um I was a judge at uh distributive education clubs of America contest at or Lake North and that's a businesses uh where the students are they did some roleplay and presenting for me they were presenting their marketing plans for businesses but uh I had never heard of it it was fascinating uh then I uh had the joy of standing in the
009rain cold rain very cold rain for two hours watching the soccer playoff of Blue Valley Southwest and Northwest um I went to a Schoolhouse Rock at Aubrey bin Middle School Musical and then I judged a debate tournament at Blue Valley you still you still with me and then uh uh then four of us Tom and Sonia and jodu or yeah Jonie we uh delivered hundreds of thousands of dollars uh to uh more than 13 30 grants to teachers for special projects through Blue Valley Education Foundation and then uh uh Jody Tanya and I just got back from the uh Kansas Association of school boards uh convention Friday Saturday and Sunday that's all I'm I'm exhausted listening to his list so um I'm on the CI task force which most of the people in the room
010are here for tonight um so I've really enjoyed getting to know everybody on the task force that's been um a great process I want to say congratulations to uh Mr Hurley Miss Deets and Mr kessinger on your re-election from last week and then also to yeah and also to our newly elected board member in the back there Mr norki um really excited to continue working with you guys and I also want to say thank you to everyone who ran um they ran very passionately and I certainly appreciate their um love for our district and how engaged they are with the district and hope that they remain engaged and get more involved in our committees and stay around because we certainly appreciate all of their passion so thanks Jim do you have anything to add I
011I'm still covering for you tomorrow morning right PTO thanks Jim he's in a different time zone so we're just messing with him I'll a little bit yeah Jim I'll cover for you on Wednesday okay thanks Jim appreciate it all right Tom yeah Jim what time is it where you're at just out of total curiosity am I know okay appreciate your commitment uh yeah congratulations to my colleagues on the election Klay norki who's taken my spot congratulations to you clay um I I think we got to elevate the Blue Valley Foundation surprise Squad I got a I got a MC bus number three with jod Ds had a blast about $450,000 plus going to teachers throughout the community which a awesome day for sure um attended Student Activities finance and operations curcum instruction committees and then
012following up on Clay he's departing Blue Valley Rec commission we have an open spot uh for that area so we'll be conducting Blue Valley commission interviews I think myself and a couple other board members here coming up Sonia and and Gina coming up here I think in early to mid December so look forward to that yep uh application or the announcement will go out I believe Wednesday okay so we'll get those applicants for a couple weeks and we'll interview them and then fill clay Nory spot for Blue Valley Rec commission if you will that's so I got Madam president I'll be brief um we've got a lot going on I know a lot of sports and activities are in their final pursuit of a state championship I know football's still going strong I know marching
013bands have had a number of great successes um judged some debate tournaments with Jan um a couple times and so um there's a lot of really great things going on in the school uh schools and um we've got a lot of great parents and community members that are participating and and we couldn't be as successful as are without the parents and our community members being so involved um and so um the holidays are coming up and I know it's a busy time so I appreciate everybody who's here in the audience today coming out um and um presenting your your thoughts to the board um and so um happy holidays to everybody um and we look forward to seeing you soon on October the 19th I attended the Blue Valley women's giving Circle and our fearless
014leader awesome leader she was the keynote speaker and uh the women's giving Circle actually gives $155,000 to a school that has a a big project and that's awesome because I like seeing the innovative ways that teachers use those grants for the district and it's really awesome and on October the 20th my first time attending I I also attended the Overland Park chamber annual breakfast called good morning Overland Park and they have comedians there and then the Business Leaders or the people that are on the chamber they talk about what's going on within their businesses and also you hear the great news of what what is happening within Overland Park as far as building is concerned I found out that the construction on 69 will not be completed until so you know so that's all I
015have right [Laughter] now on that cheery note you're right Dr meran yeah Kyle will you put up the presentation there we go um so we've had a lot going on in our schools as well this first one it happened last week was National School psychology week and those are some shoutouts that went out on social media to four of our amazing School psychologists we have um we are so lucky to have that group uh as a part of our mental health teams um also uh here's Kelly uh we did a podcast a couple weeks was it just last week maybe it's just last week um Adam Wade our director of assessment and accountability and kellot uh came in and we talked about um learning and academics and um what we look at in our classrooms
016to determine success so that is out now the Blue Valley Southwest boys cross country team won the Class 5A State team title for the second year in a row um so congratulations to the Timberwolves and I think the girls got second um the Blue Valley High School marching band is competing um a four Pat Uh for the Kansas uh band Masters open class Grand Champions that's like the state um state champion so and I believe Blue Valley West was second um on that one or Southwest Southwest was second yeah Southwest was second and West was like fourth or fifth um we have two uh every year we select two teachers of the Year these are the announcements uh one is Sher Kenny who teaches at Cottonwood point and then uh Dan Freeman who is a
017band director at Blue Valley North and so we were very proud of them and able to support them as they go on in that competition um this is just a highlight of um some special um programs that we're doing not programs but special ways that we are recognizing programs within our buildings and so this is a a special program at Sunrise Point Elementary it's a kindness shout out and you can uh can nominate anybody but the what's really cool about it is that their special um needs students go around and collect those it's cute as can be they were little outfits and collect those every day so that's out on our social media as well um in early November uh we had some Blue Valley students uh comp compete or take part in the social
018change internship program and so you can see the three students from Blue Valley that are in there we are U proud of those three women uh blue valley Northwest Senior uh Lee Ray was selected to attend the nurman Museum's Young artist retreat in November she was nominated by her teachers at blue valley Northwest uh this is a student leadership Network Associated by the National Association of Secondary School principles and this is a student McKenna from Blue Valley Southwest and this is a national board that she is on um so we are proud of her for being a part of that Blue Valley West Sarah Yan was the 6A women's ten tennis single state champion um so congratulations to Sarah um on Friday was Veterans or excuse me Saturday was actually Veterans Day but last week
019uh we had veterans assemblies in several of our schools and this is just a few of them and that is such a special time because we're able to bring in um parents and some staff members who are veterans and to recognize them and then this is American Education week um give a a shout out to everybody uh in our schools because we really consider everybody in our schools an educator and um again I Christy highlighted this at the beginning we want to thank our parent clubs because they shower our schools um with love this week and they get all kinds of of great things and then um I'll just highlight that today started uh winter the winter season so uh Sports uh began practices today for um all of those winter sports we have a
020few uh football teams left Blue Valley High Tigers play this Friday night as well as a blue valley Southwest Timberwolves uh they're going in the semi-finals uh State uh cheer and dance is the this weekend in toeka and so we congrat congratulate those and we have musical starting Blue Valley Southwest musical this week and those will head up and then finally I just want to uh remind everybody that next week um we are off school uh students don't have school uh the week of Thanksgiving this is the second year in a row that we have done that and I think it's a a great break for everybody so we want to wish everybody a um relaxing and joyous Thanksgiving week right yeah all right so I guess last but not least here um in addition
021to the shoutouts from Jan and things I've attended with Jan and Sonia and and all um let's see yeah the price Patrol was absolutely fantastic um the number of uh teachers or staff members that um became so emotional about receiving a grant was um um so touching and so profound um because you know their ability then to uh do what they want to do with the students um is just it was just so emotional it was really fantastic Tom did an okay job as MC um out there but uh was pretty solid yes sure you were uh no he did a fantastic job um really blessed to have him leading the the bus on that one so um been to a best committee Dei um it was really um quite exciting to see um students
022from caps programs presenting at KB the Kansas Association of school boards um and their focus was on um real world real world learning um and um I can tell you the students that I've met that are associated with caps at that event are so excited about their learning experiences and um so incredibly professional um I'm just so proud to be associated with with a group that does that so that was a really great experience um I would like to just um do a shout out to all the veterans that we do have employed within the district whether they be teachers or other staff members um so proud to have them on board and helping um um our students and and supporting our students and and families so thanks um for veterans um I would like
023to say a little thing too because I just got something in the mail and I don't see Mark here but um posibility if anybody's looking for Holiday item uh gift items uh I subscribe and have for the last few years to um a program called plausibility that um our uh students uh who have they graduated or is that part of their 18 to 21 18 to 21 year old program um uh participate in and they create dog treats and dog toys and it's a subscription service and uh my little Ruby absolutely loves it when the little peanut but better treats come every month so you can either pick it up there or they can mail it to you so um I just uh it I just got some today so I was just reminded about
024that again so it's really um it's a great program so oh and uh yeah theater uh listen there's great Theater events going on take the kids to um Southwest has something this week in a couple weeks we've got many others that are rolling through so take a look at that it's probably one of the best deals out there um seven bucks for a ticket and it's in incredible quality so all right so I think I've said enough okay we're going to go ahead and go on to approve the November 13th regular Board of Education meeting agenda do I have a motion I move to the Board of Education approve the November 13 2023 regular Board of Education meeting agenda a second okay motion by Tom second by Jan any discussion all right all those in
025favor raise your right hand or say I I think that's Jim who said I um he might be nodding off any any opposed all right motion passes 7 Z so we're on to the consent agenda to entertain a motion I move the Board of Education approved the November 13th 2023 regular Board of Education meeting consent agenda as published motion by Tom you have a second second by Sonia oh we'll let Jim have this one is that okay all right all right um any discussion okay all those in favor raise your right hand or say I think I heard Jim uh so that would be uh any opposed no all right motion passes 70 okay on to new business got the Chinese emerging task force report and recommendation uh so this is the first of three
026new business items we have for you this evening and uh Kelly and Jennifer and Dr CER I think is going to come up here a little bit too um and they are going to go through the the Chinese immersion task force along with a recommendation so we will let them start and ready all right good evening my name is Kelly a and I serve as the executive director of academic services for the district I'm here with Jennifer Linsky director of curriculum and instruction together uh we led the facilitation of the Chinese immersion task force over the last year we're here to share with the board a proposal from the task force that provides a sustainable pathway forward for Chinese and instruction at the elementary level in Blue Valley at the board's Direction a task force
027was formed during the board of education's February 6th meeting as a way to engage multiple stakeholders in creating a recommendation regarding the future design of Chinese immersion we plan to take a few minutes about 10 to 12 uh to share the full report and proposal we'll then be happy to respond to your questions and any requests for clarification membership on the task force was representative of a wide range of stakeholders who generously shared their time effort and perspectives because of the breadth of membership listening co-creating and compromise would need to play a central role in our process before going any further we want to express our gratitude to these individuals on the screen not only were they willing to do the work they approached the task with the highest level of professionalism dialogue among the
028task force was Hardy yet kind forthright yet respectful and challenging yet hopeful we can't thank them enough for their participation at the beginning of our work we establish the purpose for the task force it is to identify options for the Board of Education to consider that address the long-term sustainability of Mandarin instruction in Blue Valley we also described our goals for how the work would be conducted offering to the task force that we would be collaborative forward-thinking student centered and focused it was also important to clarify the scope and focus of the task force so that our time together could be efficient and productive the focus of the task force was consideration of program design options for the 2425 school year that result in increased sustainability of mandrin at the elementary for years to come
029along the way several ideas that were more administrative in nature were also shared we have captured these and plan to use this input in the next phase as we Implement program changes you approve our presentation tonight will take you through a quick overview of the process provide you with the task force proposal and share details as they are currently known the work of the task force resulted in one proposal being moved forward for your consideration tonight the task force met six times since the spring we will give you a short overview of each meeting and share a few artifacts from the work of the task force it is important to note that all materials were made publicly available the week of the meeting and posted on the task force web page that is part of
030the main Blue Valley website our first meeting on March 28th was all about setting the stage the goals of this meeting were to welcome members get to know one another a bit and establish Norms that would guide our work additionally we determined a communication protocol that would inform other stakeholders who were interested but not a part of the task force perhaps the most important input from this session was the task force providing the district specific requests for information and data that would help them be highly informed decision makers we asked them what types of information or presentations do our task force need to be well informed in our discussions and dialogue and what additional considerations should be part of our work their responses directly impacted the content of the next meeting here on the screen
031you can see the task force Norms in the top left perhaps of note was the determination that a 2third majority was the goal for consensus but a simple majority would constitute consensus if 2third was not possible we spent time talking about dialogue versus discussion honing in on the concept cep that dialogue is the thinking approach to communication finally on this screen you can see the agreed to plan for communicating about the task force to the greater Blue Valley Community on April 25th we focused on providing a myriad of information and data that was requested and bringing in District leaders who could answer specific questions about their area it was also important that the task force course become aware of some of the non-negotiables related to the student experience this information was shared and explained at
032this meeting on the screen you can see the goals input and feedback opportunities and outcomes and products related to this April Session One decision that was made at this meeting was the decision to consider options for sustainability that were co-created by the task force rather than only evaluate options The District administration would put forth for evaluation and critique there were several categories covered in the information and data sharing portion of the meeting various District leaders presented specific information and everything shared was provided to task members in a written report as with all materials related to the task force the report and slides that were used used are posted on our district website of particular note is the conversations about Staffing and facility challenges members were able to hear from Dr Eric punswick about the efforts
033and challenges related to recruiting and retaining highquality appropriately licensed staff for the program at this point we believe it is important to share the specific non-negotiables that were a part of the process they include Elementary Core Curriculum literacy math science and social studies being the learning priority for students Mandarin instruction happening within normal school hours a resulting program accessible to all learners for whom it is appropriate and adherence to the negotiated agreement with the blue valley Education Association additional non-negotiables program teachers like all elementary teachers in Blue Valley are required to have the appropriate Elementary lure salary and benefits cannot be privately funded the determination of specific School sites is a function of administration and outside the scope of the task force the program must be fiscally responsible and the maintenance of the terminal goal
034of success on the AP Chinese test in high school the April meeting was heavy on providing information to the committee and providing members the opportunity to ask questions and receive responses from those who work most closely with the program at our third meeting school had just recessed for the summer and members availability was limited therefore we conducted this meeting on Zoom with two options at different times during the day this allowed for some of our Chinese Teachers who were traveling abroad in China and other absent members to participate this was a shorter meeting and fully focused on sharing the process by which members could design a proposal for the full task force to consider at our next meeting in August detailed information was shared that outlined the focus for the proposals program design it also
035supported task force members to consider the non-negotiables and various details related to their ideas task force members were asked to create proposals with the suggested changes to the program design to increase long-term sustainability paired with with this task they were provided a rubric to use as a guide task force members were not limited in their Creations Blue Valley Administration did not submit proposals and task force members were not limited in terms of what individuals they could work with to submit a proposal members had from June 7th or 8th depending on the zoom meeting until August 14th to design and submit their ideas for program changes that enhanced sustainability for each submission members used the same template so that there was common information and details provided with each proposal once submitted all proposals were shared with
036all members through email well in advance of our August meeting this was done in order to provide members ample time to review the ideas put forth by their peers these proposals were posted posted on the district website as well this brings us to August 29th when the committee convened for the purpose of reviewing each other's ideas noting commonalities and identifying which ideas had broader support among members this was a very Hardy meeting we as facilitators employed multiple protocols to ensure that each proposal was given the consideration it deserved and each member's voice was heard proposals were available digitally and in a spiral bound book for each member members were able to provide their individual feedback work in small table groups to identify common thinking and work as a task force team to narrow down the
037list of ideas to those that have wider support on the screen you can see some of the slides and artifacts related to this process on the screen now is a photo of the chart paper with the IDE ideas identified as a task force as those to move forward in the process these ideas were identified through the use of M multiple protocols that incorporated individual small group and full task force input after spending most of the me meeting and dialogue members were asked at the end of the meeting to once again provide their individual perspectives on the ideas through an online survey district and building administrators were not invited to complete the online survey the data from this survey of the task force members formed the basis of the dialogue in September in September the concept
038of high leverage ideas was introduced a high leverage idea was identified as an idea that has both broader task force support and administrative viability the previous meeting was focused on gleaning information about what ideas the task force members could support it was at this meeting we shared information from the district perspective related to the administrative viability for next year for each idea brought forward by the task force at the conclusion of the August meeting having these two pieces of information which ideas the task force could support and the administrative viability for next year were key to identifying those High leverage ideas that would become the basis of the pro proposal brought tonight some of the time at this meeting was spent sharing data from Individual surveys uh members were provided with that information both on
039screen and in print additionally time was spent on information related to the administrative viability of options on the screen now is the slide that captured the chart paper with the ideas that were brought forth from the August meeting and the visual for the concept of high leverage ideas the concept of Vin diagram where the middle represented High leverage ideas supported by task force and administratively bable was used from this point forward in the process here are examples of slides that demonstrate the depth to which information was shared all slides were posted and currently remain on the district website this first slide is a bar graphs of responses to one of the online questions from the individual survey in August we shared all information from the survey with members online and on paper the second slide
040is an example of information provided by the district that describes the impact on program sustainability of each idea from the chart paper and how it meets or doesn't meet the non-negotiables this information was provided online and on paper for each idea finally administrative viability of options was shared for each idea in September ideas were placed on a Continuum with three sections in the top section labeled more viable were ideas that could be implemented next year and would have a positive impact on the sustainability of the program the middle section labeled potentially viable were ideas that if coupled with other changes or were modified could potentially work for next year and finally the bottom section labeled less viable were ideas that were left un were ideas that left if left unchanged would not be doable for
041the 2425 school year it's important to note that it was shared that some ideas while not viable for next year could be considered as more long range goals as part of a district strategic planning process this was also shared online and on paper at the end of the meeting members were again asked to submit their individual perspectives on an online survey the data from that individual survey played the central role in our final task force meeting on October 24th members came together again and in what we sure began to fill routine re reviewed data from their peers and engaged in protocols to narrow down options using data from the survey and information about the administrative viability from September certain ideas met the criteria necessary deemed necessary to be deemed High leverage they were both supported
042by the task force and administratively aviable these high leverage ideas became the basis of the proposals offered to the committee for review and consideration on the screen are now examples of those slides the first slide shows the Continuum originally shared at the September meeting but with responses from the committee survey the committee survey from September attached those that were both relatively high in viability and task force support were colored green note the scale at the bottom with a lower number indicating more favorability from the committee a green idea was a high leverage idea green was used to visually indicate them on the set this slide on this screen is a list of all the green high leverage ideas that emerged after pairing the results from the online survey and administrative viability these ideas that these
043are the ideas that rest in the intersection of the VIN diagram using those green ideas as building blocks four proposals were pre presented to the task force for consideration and dialogue you see on this third slide on the screen T table teams were assigned one proposal and were asked to discuss and share the pros and cons of that Proposal with the full Task Force at the end of that exercise the task force was asked if there were any additional ideas or proposal proposals that needed to enter the conversation there were none brought forward we want to take this opportunity to share a little more information about the location aspect of the proposals on the screen the data from September online survey indicated that members sorry the data from the September online survey that members completed
044individually did not result in a significant preference between one or two sites average scorers were within. 22 on one another on a one through five scale because there was desire among some task force members to have two sites one in the northern part of the district and one in the southern part of the district we engaged various leaders in the district to more thoroughly examine the administrative viability of a site in the North or Northwest feeder the scope of our evaluation widened at that point as there had been discussion around the space Contra constraints at Valley Park and we wanted to know if there was an alternate site in the North or Northwest feeder that was viable to present back to the task force present at the October meeting were Kyle Hayden Deputy super superintendent
045and Eric palum assistant director of planning and operations who were available to share facility data and answer questions the committee learned that a one-site solution was most viable option for next year based on this additional enrollment data review finally the full after finally through full group discussion at the end the cap of 50 students per grade level was challenged and eventually removed from all proposals this reverted all options back to a 50 four student cap moving forward after that activity individuals individuals use an online tool minimeter to evaluate and rank proposals data from that survey was shared in real time after reviewing those results the task force removed two options for consideration A and C leaving two proposals B and D again the task force was asked if there were other viable options we were
046not considering none were brought forward the online survey exercise was repeated for the the remaining two proposals in the end the survey data pointed to one proposal being favored above the other proposal B at this point a vote on paper ballots was conducted members were asked if they supported proposal B being designated as the proposal to go to the Board of Education from the task force re results were 13 yeses and three NOS achieving a two3 majority as preferred in our task force norms here you can see proposal B The Proposal we present for you tonight for consideration the green high leverage ideas identified by the task force Incorporated in The Proposal are highlighted to the right proposal B would transition transition tinese immersion programming to one site beginning in the 2425 school year open
047to the entire District keeping open the possibility to expand the program in the future the program type and size of the kindergarten classes would remain unchanged each year up to 54 students would continue to enter the program at kindergarten and participate in a 50/50 dual language immersion program at one site administratively after the high leverage ideas were identified and the implementation considered wolf Springs has been identified as the site this information was shared with the task force during the October discussion prior to discussing and voting on proposals The Proposal also advances the idea of a new position on the instructional design team focused on supporting staff in the program consistently the T task force advocated for this position this individual be would be Mandarin speaking and work closely with program and District leaders if if
048approved by you tonight there are a multitude of transitional details to be determined we can share some known details tonight as they would relate to proposal be as it's submitted to you um those are on the screen wolf Springs would be the site for Chinese immersion transfers would be allowable as space allows esol Services would be established as needed Transportation would continue to be the responsibility of the family a new position on the instructional design team would be established and Par professionals would be hired uh based on classes who exceed board established pup pupil to teer ratios um the Valley Park program would sunset in the 2425 school year however current bpe students would continue in the program and have access to programming at Overland Trail Middle School and Blue Valley North all CI program
049teachers would have positions in Blue Valley per negotiate agreement and as allowable by immgration laws and a lottery system would continue to be used expansion of the program would be considered as part of the strategic planning process to evaluate the signature School option centralizing the program to increase access expansion of number of students in the program and then we also believe that the continued partnership with families allowing for Avenues of two-way communication will be Pro important as the program transitions finally here's our plan to communicate with the broader Community about the decision transition details and application for 2425 we plan to keep all information up toate in the Chinese immersion website throughout the process thank you for your attention as Jennifer and I shared our report and the recommendation from the task force and we
050are happy to answer any questions the color green yes if it's green on that slide it means it's a high leverage idea that is used in that proposal and as you can see you can't like the first two you can't have a first grade start and a kindergarten start so you have to kind of pick one yeah so those were the building blocks so I don't have uh questions because I was at almost all of the meetings um it was I thought it was a very thorough process um you know one of the things I want to highlight is that con constituents who were not on the task force did also have the opportunity to assist in creating proposals so there was um um you know our whole Community was able to uh provide their
051input and proposals which I thought was fantastic and it happened over the summer so there was a lot of time to um collaborate with other people um at the end of the day this was the solution that was widely accepted obviously 13 to3 in the in the task force meeting um there was lots of time for discussion of the different proposals during that meeting um in fact fact I think we sat in silence several times um during the meeting so there was um in my opinion plenty of time to discuss all of the proposals um and kind of got a feel for not just you know if you look at the list of people who were involved in the committee um there was three CI parents from Valley Park there was four from wolf Springs
052um there was one non-ci parent from each of the schools there was lots of teachers um and then and and Jim and I and then the principal from Valley Park um who I don't think was there in fairness on the day that we that we voted um but but there was a wide variety of representation um and it was still 13 to three so I certainly appreciated everything that you guys they they did it very evenly the whole time and allowed people in my opinion um the ability to provide input back throughout the process so um I fully support proposal B I think it's the best way for the district to move forward um at this time with Chinese immersion the one thing that I will say is you know we would like to see
053an annual um item on our agenda where we're talking about Chinese immersion and how we're progressing in that Second Sight option um especially when strategic planning hasn't started yet and we know that it'll be a big part of of strategic planning I think I'll speak for the whole board here I know we're all very supportive of world languages and this Chinese immersion program in particular and um just really appreciate you Kelly and Jennifer everything you did through this process good couple questions real quick so so Patrick and I were on the board when we uh put together Chinese immersion uh the original at Springs and we're on the board and approved it and we're obviously on the board when the approved Valley Park as well just for some context and some deep knowledge on the
054program um I have a file with 247 emails since this began that's probably a little light because I missed any I think Hardy and kind is what you said is a very good word so couple moments here and there but I appreciate it I think I've said that a few times U compared to perhaps some emails back in the day um if you will I with the six task for meetings I know we've been continuous updated the board board workshops board meetings and then obviously we're all the notes that are on the website and the followup notes from the meetings and plus updates from you um Gina and Jim um if you will just for some background and due diligence couple questions here um and and I I love that we have Jim and Gina
055on the committee because I think you need folks with different temperaments talents and convictions if you will great folks but they're a little different on their thoughts and so I think that's great so we don't have a couple folks with the same thoughts and some of the others so I it'll be healthy to hear Jim and then I think having both of them on the perspective was really really good um a couple times tonight Gina some folks mentioned administrative convenience if you will you hit on it a little bit in your little what you just talked about did you sense any of that as part of the committee that we were just going through motions but was easiest for the administration and easiest for this District no I don't think that that this was an
056administrative convenience issue okay at all I felt like they put in they put the number of people who showed up to task force besides Jennifer and Kelly were almost this whole crew over here was at almost every meeting okay um that's a lot of time from our district administrators plus others Jake was there uh a lot of people were there yeah um so no this was yeah been again I've been on sport I don't remember us having a task force so I I'm just it's positive that we put it together I think the only task force I remember is our gating criteria task force which you know gives me hives thinking about those days but from a task force to make sure we had patrons and we're really diving into stuff and so um a
057couple neighboring immersion programs were mention and I just wanted to get some context here um I don't think anybody said shiny Mission but they do not have a language immersion program correct correct they do okay okay so they'll put together strategic plan to see if it fits within that um AA KCK both have Spanish immersion programs is I'm right correct K start funded by themselves K is ksde involved no but K but um KSD the state of Kansas will sponsor okay Spanish speaking teachers so I know that o has at least one sponsored by kst no no Chinese ersion straight not available through kst okay any idea on their Staffing over there with those things or so k started and their model is a little different um but um their coordinator actually worked here so
058I know her well and um it's a good thing for them to start that program um they have a lot of Spanish speaking students and so they just have one one section so they're just starting out oh Lea is about a year behind us and I have talked to them and um so far they've been able to staff but I want to remind everybody that they don't have Elementary they don't have 21 or 22 Elementary Spanish teachers um that they're Staffing so were able to find um some Spanish speaking Elementary teachers within their own District um I asked if they would expand it and I don't think that they would at this point uh again because of Staffing they don't offer it in specials like we do right correct and then do they just carry
059it through third and fourth grade they're again they're one year behind us so I think they've gone through maybe fifth grade right now maybe maybe fourth or fifth grade they're through fourth or fifth grade though okay um couple other things back when Patrick and I were engaged in the approval so the confucious was discontinued couple couple years ago and it wasn't money it was teacher recruitment what was the programming um early on that's why we chose Chinese because when we um originally studied immersion um we had conversations about what language to start with and quite honestly people were like why wouldn't you start with Spanish because you have Spanish in your district and it was purposeful because we uh connected with the confucious Institute um The confucious Institute stood in here and we gave him
060a friend of Education award because they were so helpful in writing curriculum uh in helping to train teachers in helping us to establish kind of that pipeline um and then they abruptly closed uh the year after we started Valley Park um abruptly like announced of the year right announced and a couple months later they were closed so uh The confusious Institute did not provide money what they provided uh was the resources to help us write curriculum as well as to train and provide support to staff okay and then currently at Valley Park now I think we would we have five teachers and then one student teacher is that right who were providing resources for Chinese emersion I think well we have five grade levels five grade levels of that okay with that okay and then
061one is a student teacher right that we're providing resources okay correct that's all I got I'm just clarifying A few just give me little history on some knowledge I I want everybody to know that you know we I know this has been going on 9 months and we we spend a lot of time on this besides our two task for Members Plus a lot of us have some history here as well so thank you and thank you Gina and Jim for being a part of it so yeah I'd like to see I know I know Gina has made some comments do does Jim have any comments on the task force and what that process was um points let's talk a little if it's the former [Applause] appr OPP everybody AC the dist that's a great
062vising one location back out Loc future is I don't think it's a good ide allbody I think ibly a one a one we have those areally location to talk about if I start as a consult and and a little [Applause] so as so as I look through this I think one of the things that I have a question about is so so how did how do we end up with going from two sites to one site and and I know we had these four proposals M um originally back in um February or January of last year and now we have one um and so I guess what I'd kind of like to see is what one site looks like and what two sites looks like um you know the instructional design coach or coordinator uh
063sounds like a good idea um you know there's going to be a shrinkage of the program based on the proposal by 50% um and so you know that's headed in the direction that you know dealing with the challenges that we have um and so I appreciate all your guys' hard work and everything that you've put into this it was a difficult assignment um and you've gone through I think the process pretty methodically um but that would be kind of where I think right now is is there any uh opportunity to extend this out a couple months and have two options either a two- sight or a one-site proposal I know we've got many people here in the audience that are um at least articulating um today that they think a two site based on all
064the other components would be something that um they would prefer or favor um and in light of all the other um um changes to the program you know my question is how difficult is that because I'd like to see um you know either come back in December or January with um a two- sight proposal so I would say that we looked at the two sight proposal um we as Kelly and Jennifer stated Kyle and Eric palum were there we looked across the north feeder so the two site proposal is basically just leave it the way it is and not make any changes except adding IDC if if that we're not taking into account the issues that are that we have I mean we have space issues at Valley Park I don't think anybody can deny
065that we have staffing issues we um are doing our best to recruit and retain exemplary employees and that is our expectation is that every classroom has an exemplary employee and we're we're struggling honestly in english- speaking um cases in some cases and so we have gone to extraordinary efforts we'll continue to do that but the two side no change uh is not taking into consideration the two concerns and so we looked at the viability of um ideas from the task force based upon um that Ben diagram she had on there one of those and based on administrative um support and what we could we could do with that so nobody likes us would we like to it just the way it is sure it's just that it is again it's not addressing the long-term sustainability
066of Mandarin uh instruction in Blue Valley which at the elementary level which is we are committed to no and I appreciate that and I think I think everybody here on the board probably wouldn't like to not have to make any kind of change at all including both uh Jim and um Gina but I guess my question is is if you reduce the the program by half and you have one section instead of two at each of the two sites what does that look like so instead of 54 students at one site you have 27 at each is that what you're saying so that's a different model um that would that's not something that was brought up by the task force no and in short term you know the math works right the math works I
067would have um real concern about Staffing it because you're asking a teacher to do two grade levels um and I I think we'd have even a bigger challenge finding teachers to teach that particularly on the English side yeah for the long term so I just want to chime in on that thought when when it comes to equity because um I see a lot of equity signs here and where do kids who want to be in Chinese version who go to Valley Park or not Valley Park I'm sorry Indian Valley currently have to go no they would have to go to Wolf Springs they'd have to apply to Wolf Springs Mission Trails wolf Springs lewood Elementary wolf Springs so these are all our far north elementary schools and they're currently having to drive all the way
068to Wolf Springs so the equal access thing for me doesn't hold a lot of water because right now our 22,000 students do not have equal access to Chinese immersion when we have one Elementary area that has a specialized program um if we were going to move it keep it at two schools I feel like because you would only have 26 available or 27 available I feel like you would have to have it then open up so that the rest of the kids in our district would have an opportunity because if there was only 26 or 27 spaces at Wolf springs for the whole District that would be an even bigger Equity issue in my opinion so we would be closing off to everybody except for in the district except for those 27 for everybody else
069so the one you know half having it and having it at Valley Park and wolf Springs to me just makes it a bigger Equity issue for us as a school distri and we're looking at all of our kids you're en gec system I know we've Val issues but a lot last problem it's a problem the district didn't fore solu everybody so I think that's the goal of the proposal Pro proposal B is to expand to two sites in the future and knowing that based on the data we have today that we cannot find a building in this district for next school year that can house an entire Chinese immersion program we would move we would move the problem from the space problem from Valley Park uh to another school um in the North or Northwest
070feeder across the board um so yeah and the the central location the signature school um has again I think was strong support uh we just need time to do that I mean time and money is what you need to to be able to find a site and to make make that open so also to find a second site realistically time if we needed to say build classrooms like we did at Valley for the program right that's what we would need to do yep and that would be part of a bond is that what we're talking about it would have to be I don't think Kyle has any extra money I'm looking at him over there that he can cushion throw to this but it would have to be part of bond or Capital outl planning
071yeah it'd be a new building right most likely it' be it'd be like a buildon no but you'd have to renovate it I mean there would be some money involved Jim I agree you don't have to build a $25 million building and it it would be a language immersion building right more than Chinese perhaps Thinking Out Loud for a future whatever y Ian I mean I think that kind of Segways into one of the issues that we've talked about I think earlier today was about class size um not directly but indirectly because the question is is is what the capacity of our schools um as it relates to class size and subject matters and those kinds of things um I you know I guess I'm still at if if we want to continue the program
072and and and have it um fully developed I'd like to see what that plan is and and so I don't know if we can take just another UH 60 days or something to come up with what that looks like before we make this kind of change so I'd like I'd like to go ahead and make a motion um I move that the Board of Education approved the Chinese immersion recommendation as presented we have a motion by Gina second by Jan any discussion um I I would like to I don't know if how this works but I would like to put a caveat in to make for sure that it's part of discussion going forward an annual review and possibly an emphasis than within um when we do our next strategic plan um I don't want
073to you know this is important right um we know at this point it's it's not sustainable as is but like Jim had said um you know there's there's an appetite for possibly a centrally located um so I want to make for sure that that stays in the Forefront of our minds so I don't know how to mod I don't know if that needs to be modified or how to if that needs to be part of the motion or not I think you've given the superintendent that dir okay okay all right any other discussion okay all in favor raise your right hand or say I okay all opposed okay so motion passes 43 okay we need to take a break for the captioner right now uh about a 5 minute break all right it looks like
074we're going to go ahead and uh move on with the rest of the board meeting so board members Patrick Tom I'm assuming uh Jim is still online Jim are you there maybe you went to the bathroom I don't know okay so let's continue on uh the next is taking a look at uh approving the uh graduation requirements beginning with the class of 2028 so Kyle will you pull that up online um you have heard a presentation previously about um the state of Kansas has changed some of their graduation requirements nope wrong one uh and so uh Blue Valley needs to make some adjustments to their graduation requirements so up on the screen is our proposed new graduation uh requirements beginning with the class of 2028 which is our current eth graders we're asking for your
075consideration on this this evening because they start to enroll in January and we need to have this updated and so um what you will see here again this is not changed from what Kelly has presented in the past uh 4 and a half elect four and a half units of communications four units of English language arts along with a semester of communications that would be a um a new class or a new requirement seven stem classes three math three science and one elective four society and Humanities U which is three social studies classes which is the same in a fine arts they've just grouped them differently and eight and a half uh employability and life skills you can see those listed there and then the two postsecondary assets you'll see the caveat that the classes
076that are uh meet those different criterias will be approved each year uh with the course subcription guide in just a minute you're going to hear the proposed changes for next year so again this has been presented to you it's gone through many many groups Kelly has been on a road show doing presentations and so we are here this evening to ask uh for your approval of these new graduation requirements and so the Practical reality is it doesn't really change much because we've already been doing really these things all along and our yeah there's a few there are a few changes uh like Communications we've never required that before we've never required financial literacy um the stem elective uh many students took it but we didn't require that so there are a few changes within here
077um some of them based on what the state is now requiring right but those are classes we already have it's just a matter of now you have to take one right and or expanding some of the offerings for them yes but yes but we don't have any series of new classes it fits into what our current offerings are yes for the most part yes yes okay all right so you're putting yep all right so uh would anyone like to make a motion I move that the Board of Education approve the updated graduation requirements a recommendation beginning with a class of 2028 second good G we'll give it to Patrick all right okay any discussion all right uh all in favor raise your right hand or say I and that's Jim all right obviously nobody would
078be opposed because we've got a s0 passes right our final presentation this evening there's no action on this item this is is Kelly's annual um presentation that she comes in each November and does the proposed High School course changes for the 2425 school year that's right can't believe it um on the screen now you can see where we are in the process is a yearly process it's part of our um it's part of board policy that we uh bring this forth uh what we're I'm bringing you to you today are changes proposed changes to the course description guided High School uh these changes were initiated by teachers or teams of teachers that started um actually in the spring the due date for their proposals in was in September uh October uh these proposals were vetted
079by our high school cni assistant principles and the Board of Ed cni advisory committee and we're here today kind of just as an informational item uh after today after we get your feedback we will uh go again on Wednesday back to the board of ed cni for a second run uh by then and then we'll be back to you guys in December so you have about a month to to consider the proposals as you see them here tonight um on the screen now on the left are the different classes for um that that have a proposal for change there's different kinds of changes uh that we're proposing some are ads a new class A delete meaning taking a class off the books and then um modifying and then sometimes there's a combo pack with some
080of these classes and it's my plan here tonight to walk you through um the changes and what type of change and why first is this is pretty exciting um AP college board has added pre-calculus and we're really pretty thrilled to be able to uh um request to offer that um it would basically a swap out we have an honors precalculus class this would become um the the replacement for that um be 11 and 12 1.0 graduation it would take the box for Math and and continue to hold Algebra 2 as the prerequisite so that one um we're looking forward to to Bringing on and giving more opportunities for kids to take AP classes uh this is an art class Port portfolio seminar is a class that um some of our most talented students take um
081teachers would like to make this course repeatable because many Advanced students in the use the class in conjunction with their AP art class to develop their portfolios and it's something that they they've requested and we feel is is good for kids to just get extra time with the instructor to develop those portfolios this one is a request from teachers it's literally just a title change everything else would remain the same um currently we have a course called design fundamentals and teachers feel as if the title introduction to visual arts better describes the class Kelly that title's been there for 25 years I know it's I agree I know taking it but I'm not really sure what it was I that's the problem Jody I know it is that's the problem um this next one another
082retitle we're in the retitling right now um so teachers have asked to re retitle computer apps to business software applications it better just it truly does better describe what what the content of that class is that it's related to more of the business software in the business world and how how to use those to your advantage the next one this one I'm thrilled uh that is going to be part of our graduation requirements if I've heard anything over the years is that kids need these skills in financial literacy uh this is a a two-parter this is one of those combo packs one part of the change is a new title um we do have a really really um robust Financial uh personal finance class uh we would like to rename it to financial literacy to
083bring it in line with what the states the the term that the state is using and then um teachers would like to have this be a class for juniors and seniors currently it's 9th through 12th but they'd like to Target Juniors and seniors because they feel it's just more applicable um as kids are on the verge of going to college and doing the adult thing the next um several are purely um changes to course descriptions that are um that are part of changes from the state so some the state goes through and tweaks different classes and the next um several of them are a result of that so this is everything else Remains the Same title Remains the Same that updated description there's on the screen these you'll want to read through but they are
084literally copy paste based from the state so that type of change affects business law child development and human growth relationships and personal development interior design got got more culinary Essentials culinary arts one culinary arts 2 and then um fashion and apparel all those are course description changes um brought on by changes at the state of the updated description there are there is some curricular work that goes with that um for each of those um that we would undertake if those approve if those changes were approved and as Tanya mentioned a minute ago with the new graduation credit it's much like how we had in the past the the list of classes that would TI the Technology Credit box we'll now have a list that will take the the stem the stem credit and the communication
085credit so there is the stim list it is um a nice robust list we're really fortunate in blue alley to have so many options for kids um these are all our classes that are any type of computer science an advanced math class an advanced science class Advanced CTE or advanced technology class uh courses in blue are um CTE pathway courses part of our CTE career and Technical education programming and then classes with the gold box at the end the gold Square are classes that are available to students if they choose to attend caps so there's a nice range of of classes there um from which students can choose um I would say that most of our students already do one of those as a fourth math or something along those lines finally um we have
086the uh Communications credit these are the credits that are approved by the state to uh be to count for the communications uh credit I think most students will probably be in the speech Lane on this one but uh classes in debate and formerly known as forensics that competitive speaking and acting count as well as um a lot of our uh Publications and broadcast classes will also count for a Communications credit um and then that's just the list again just to refer to if you had any questions at this point I would say um after you review this a little more and you have questions for me I can definitely get you answers that you seek any questions tonight Patrick got a quick question so you seem particularly interested in the change from AP or from
087honors honors pre-calculus AP I should know what the difference is but what exactly is the difference between AP and honors so AP and honors so AP P um classes follow the College Board prescribed curriculum um whereas our honors pre-calculus class follows our state standards I would say that um the AP class is going to give us a little boost of rigor which we're we're we're excited to welcome we would still have to follow the state standards too correct 100% it's but I think it's a it's got a little bit more than the state standards here so plus so it's a little more robust but there's is there any GPA change or anything yeah with ap then it will count as this honors pre-calculus already had a waited credit so this class would also so there's
088no change there right but it's just a more robust program that's consistent with what the colleges already teach correct great corre and it's AP I mean that always looks great on a transcript and it's a a class that I think a lot of students will be able to access and they'll have the opportunity to sit for an AP exam at the end yep correct yep yep so this will be on the agenda in December for your action all right I think that's it so um um I move to Jour what I was hold on here I would entertain a motion Patrick okay I move to adjourn okay we journ thanks thanks Jim bye