001Hello, Bloomington Public Schools community. I'm School Board Chair Tom Bennett. And I'm Superintendent Eric Melbye. And we'd like to share a few highlights from the April 27th school board meeting. Starting with some very encouraging news about graduation rates. Yeah, we're thrilled to report Bloomington Public Schools has seen great success in improving graduation outcomes. Both our four and seven year rates increased in 2025. Our seven year rate is now higher than the state average. We monitor the seven year rate as a measure of the school district's vision and strategy to ensure students graduate career and college ready. Another notable improvement is among our Hispanic-Latino student population. Students in this category saw a nearly eight point gain in their four-year graduation rate, and more than a five point increase in the seven year. Schools and students are
002still working to bounce back from the educational impacts of the pandemic. So we're really proud of the gains we're seeing. Some more good news to share this time of year: we get to celebrate many of our staff members and community partners as part of national appreciation days, weeks and months. This includes our teachers, school nurses, administrative professionals, and volunteers, with special reports from district leadership highlighting these groups. We can't thank our staff enough for the difference they make in our schools every day. Yeah, for sure. And our Bloomington high school robotics team stopped by the meeting to receive a well-deserved congratulations on their first regional competition victory since 2009. Team BJORG won the 2026 Granite City Regional in St. Cloud in early April. And they even brought one of their award winning robots to the
003board meeting. I was so impressed to hear about our students’ skills and passion for programming. Hey, Tom. Yes. What's a robot's favorite snack? I don't know. Microchips. That's it for our April 27th meeting recap. We'll see you again in May.