001- [Chairman] Good. (gavel Knocking) I'd like to call this special call meeting to order for Independent School District 624. Before I ask the call roll, I just wanna say that I appreciate the fact that everybody was, to continue the meeting for Monday night, regarding the governor's curfew, so that we can finish the business of the month. So, with that, I will ask the clerk to please call the roll. - [Clerk] Chapman. - [Chapman] Here. - [Clerk] Ellison. - [Ellison] Here. - [Clerk] Mullin. - [Mullin] Here. - [Clerk] Newmaster. - [Newmaster] Here. - [Clerk] Thompson. - [Angela] Here. - [Clerk] Scott Arcand. - [Scott] Here. - [Clerk] Beloyed. - [Beloyed] Here. - [Chairman] All right, thank you all very much. Before we get into our first operational, our next operational item is what I should say.
002I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Kazmierczak, I believe he wanted to give an update on the week. - [Dr. Kazmierczak] Yeah. - [Chairman] And we really appreciate that Dr. Kazmierczak. - [Dr. Kazmierczak] All right, thank you chairman and members of the board. Before we get into the regular business I wanted to pause for a moment and just reflect on the week that's been. The last week has been challenging for our school community. Our world is again, been shaken by the death of 20 year old Dante Wright, who was shot and killed by police. I'm sensitive to the pain caused by death. I know that losing a loved one stays with you forever. So, I want each of us to remember that each of the incidents we hear about in the news means that
003someone lost a brother, father, uncle, or friend and their lives will forever be changed. Our team will continue to keep at the forefront of our minds, the trauma that many black, indigenous, and people of color are experiencing at this time. And of course, we are anxiously awaiting resolution in the Chauvin trial. It is a tense time in our state's history, and we wanna be there to support students and families. Our work this week has been difficult, but anti-racism and equity is important work. And the magnitude of this moment can't be lost. If we believe that change starts with me, we must each look into our hearts and minds to consider what we as an individual, school and community can do to advance anti-racism work and ensure that each of our students and neighbors feels respected,
004supported and valued. We have started work towards redesigning our schools following an equity audit that found systemic problems, but that work has not progressed quickly enough. And we have not yet worked closely enough with our community. I've asked Dr. Marcellus Davis, and Dr. Alison Gillespie, to provide a brief overview of our overall work, as well as an update on work that has been done in recent days. So, Dr. Gillespie and Dr. Davis, would you mind, probably more so focusing on the last few days and where we've been. - [Dr. Gillespie] Good afternoon, everybody. - [All] Good afternoon. - [Dr. Gillespie] I just wrote this. It is important to note that this has been a very difficult week, not difficult due to the daily trials and tribulations of being a district administrator, rather due to experience
005and the hurt of students, and families due to a moderate of events within our schools. The Chauvin trial, and having to explain to youth and myself of another murder, of the murder of Dante Wright, in our community. I've been encouraged with the work that has started with student leaders who were committed to the eradication in partnership with the administration within our district. The students are focused on creating two action plans, one for South, one, well, one actually just one that's aligned between South and North. One short term and one longterm goals to help eradicate and expedite the work that's already been happening towards our equity work within our district. So, we have committed young people that have stayed after school today. They began their work yesterday throughout the day, in collaboration with committed with administrators.
006Tiffany has been there. We will continue our work next week, but we are hopeful in the words of Dr. K, I mean, he's been very committed to saying that we are hopeful that we have the talent with our scholars, with our parents and our community members, with our school board, with other administrators to do the work that's necessary to eradicate racism in our community, and to deepen our equity, in our schools and deepen our equity work. So, with that, I will pass it on to my colleague who will explain how some of her work that she's leading with teaching and learning will deepen the work. - [Chairman] Get to the podium. (laughing) - [Dr. Davis] Good afternoon. I want to sincerely say that I understand my role in our district. I'm committed to action. And
007I promised our kids that when I heard their voices it wouldn't just be speaking, that I would move. And that is what I have done this week. I am not someone who's out front in this current role. So, I've been supporting our buildings and I have spent time investigating what I heard from our students. And so, first and foremost, the students talked of lessons that occurred in our schools that should never have occurred. And I issued a directive that they're done immediately and that we need to do an audit and figure out how that, how they happened. And so, we're working on that, and working through supporting our principals and educators to look at our standards and make sure that we, our curriculum continues to be responsive to our students but it's not done so
008in a way that is racist and creates harm to our students. And so, that is one action that we've done this week. I've also worked really closely in investigating the students report of our district following a three strikes process with in regards to hate speech. That is not a practice that we have nor has it played out in consequences. We absolutely apply a variety of different consequences based on the different discipline we have. However, if our students are feeling that in our schools we need to find out why and remedy that, and figure out what the disconnect is. And so that's what we're working on right now. I'm still investigating, talking with staff and students and figuring out exactly where the disconnect is. However, one thing is, we are going to implement a centralized reporting
009system for issue, incidents of race racism, or excuse me, racism, discrimination and bias, much like we have for bullying in our school district. And so, when an incident is reported it immediately goes to my assistant. She alerts the principal and myself, and we have a protocol on how we're able to centralize the response to that, while that's happening, we'll be able to look really around the consistency of our followup how we connect with families, our community, students. Provide professional development for our leaders and our staff, and make sure that we really are having a more consistent response and one that students see change. 'Cause when I hear students say, "You're doing nothing." Really what they're saying is nothing's changing, and that's not okay and it needs to change. And so, that's what we've been working
010on this week. Additionally, our leaders have been engaged in professional development around being culturally responsive leaders for quite some time now. And we're as, at a spot where our leaders need one-on-one coaching. This has been really difficult. I see people who are committed and I see people who don't wanna make an error. And so, I'm working with some local consultants to figure out what that could look like for all of us. As we continue to move forward, being, committed to being in the district that we know we can be and understanding our response, and then looking into creative ways around how can we continue to partner with our community and our students, school board leader, district leaders, to implement rapid change, 'cause we've been engaged in a lot of systemic change. But again, what I
011heard from our students is it's, they're not feeling it in their daily experience. And so, how can we implement significant change but that's felt immediately so that while the system is changing and that'll get faster that the two meet in the middle and change the experience for our students. So, I'm proud of our work this week. This week has been extremely hard. Our student leadership, we hear you and we're moving. It's not just that we hear you. We are moving. - [Both] Thank you. - [Chairman] Dr. K, is that, include the rep? - [Dr K] That's all we have here (indistinct) - [Chairman] So, if you, can we open it up for any questions and just to make sure anybody has any questions are you okay with that? - [Dr. K] Sure, yep. - [Chairman]
012Any, Ms. Ellison? - [Dr Ellison] I'm ordering that there'll be one more training, I've always wanted to train them. - [Chairman] Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if that's the wish of the board, absolutely. We would, that's been part of our communication is that we, again, we're all in this and we all need to continue growing, so, yes, absolutely. And I know that's a desire from all of you, so. - [Man] Mr. Chapman. - [Chapman] Yeah, just playing off from, or following up on what Ms. Ellison's question was. Dr. K, you had mentioned that it starts with you change and quite frankly I wanna, I guess clarify that it starts with us, with the board all the way down. - [Dr. Kazmierczak] Yeah, Mr. Chapman, let me clarify. When I said change starts with me, I did
013not need me. I meant quote, unquote, it starts with me meaning all of us. - [Chapman] Okay. - [Dr. Kazmierczak] Yes, that's what I meant. - [Chapman] I just wanna make sure. - [Dr. Kazmierczak] That's what I meant by that. And I know I have a role, but we all do. And that, sort of, that was not meant to be that it starts here, at all, okay. I just wanna, yeah, thank you, right. That's not what I meant. - [Chapman] Okay, thank you for that. And I'm glad to hear that there's an audit that's taking place. You're going to take place because again, you know, without belaboring the point, what we heard the other night, Monday night, was extremely troubling in terms of this whole three strikes. You're, out type thing and all of that,
014you know, if there's been any basis in any merit to that which I have no reason to doubt, I think we need to know what happened and why? And what's going to be done to again, correct at all. So, thank you. - [Chairman] Thank you, others? Ms. Thompson. - [Angela] I'd just like to make a point of clarification in the work that we're doing. And we, and I understand and I am fully committed to our BiPAP students and our marginalized student population but I wanna ensure as a person of color myself, that when I think of this work and what needs to happen, I want to say that we need to ensure that we are helping all of our students, right? Because our white students also have felt traumatized in this horrific event that has
015occurred in our district, and things that have happened in this last weekend. We need to make sure that the conversations that are taking place, and I'm sure they are, are all of our students coming together and learning from each other so that they can find commonality between each other and that they can connect and understand that they all have their own pain and trauma that they endure in their lives no matter who they are. And so, when they can look at each other and see that they have things in common, they may be completely different but we all want the same goals I would think. And that is that everybody feels safe and comfortable in our schools, no matter who they are. And that's just what I would say. - [Chairman] Thank you, are there
016anybody else? Okay cool, oh, sorry, Ms. Beloyed. - [Beloyed] I just have a question. So, my youngest goes to Central, and Mrs. Peterson has sent out an email about some of the work that they're doing. It's Central and some of the meeting groups, I was just trying to look up the email and I'm not finding it fast enough but, I don't know if the term was healing circle, I may be saying that wrong, but it was an open invitation for the students to get together to discuss, I don't know, who's facilitating it, but I was wondering if you had some information on that. And if that works, is that something we can look at using at North and South Campus and maybe community large? - [Chairman] Yes, a great question. And thank you for that.
017I want to say that, prior to the events that took place, with the Instagram post, racist Instagram posts and the racist terroristic threats, we had already been, we'd been, the cultural liaison center had already been planning how can we try to quell the atmosphere that is becoming increasingly more and more on a daily basis racially very tense. We knew that the Chauvin trial was in process and could conclude at any point. So, we really wanted to start priming in our community all four schools, students in particular on how we could deal with this within our space. And that only wasn't reserved for students, but it was also for staff as well. But due to that event, that event being the post, Instagram posts, it just has been accelerated. So, we are extending it to all
018four schools. - [Beloyed] Is the only place I haven't seen it come out is for Central. - [Chairman] Yep, - [Beloyed] Obviously I wouldn't get it for Sunrise but I would get it for South Campus. - [Beloyed] Yep, we are, look, we actually are on it Monday, Sunrise as well and we are planning to be at South and North. We understand the severity and the urgency and the immediacy of responding to the needs of our students. And part of that is healing circles. So, like I said it's just been expedited due to our current situation, but it was already in motion. Due to the overall climates around racial tension that hurt around us. - [Chairman] Mr. Chapman. - [Chapman] Dr. Davis, or Dr. K, or Dr. Gillespie, if you could speak a little more on
019the steps that are being taken to prevent reprisal and retaliation in protecting our students, primarily of color. I mean, anybody could be hurt in this whole thing white or any other color but I guess I'm most concerned at this point as to any retaliatory actions that may be taken against our students of color, and what is, you know, by other students, white students in particular, what's being done? - [Dr. Kazmierczak] I would say, no, I don't think it's, like we could go back and forth. I would say we have really tried to support our leaders in getting a safe environment again in our schools. Presence, hallway presence, not in a hallway presence of a security type of version but one that's really intrusive to checking in with students, say, hey, how you doing? To a
020different degree than it was because after the situation of the cities. So, really being intrusive, really being visible, hyper visible, hyper communicative to our students, just checking in trying to see what they need in a different way. I think yesterday we probably had an additional 20 to 30 staff on multiple departments supporting in our high schools. Why? It's because we just wanna support our students, we want to create a safe environment for everybody. - [Woman] Then if there is a specific concern that students have, or we have, we work with the students and families to develop a safety plan. And so, that can include having an adult more closely shadow alternative passing times, work through restorative circles and restorative healing circles. You know, we've talked about different ways to make sure that how can we
021bring school back or to a new not even back, to a new environment that feels safer for our students and that we can move to learning. And so, it's a combination of all of those things and really supporting our building leaders and counselors and everyone that are working to support the students. But that positive adult presence really matters in terms of getting us back to learning. And it really it's a testimony to all the people we work with because our schools are absolutely wrapped around in terms of presence of people that we're trying to infuse joy into our schools and show that we're there to support our kids. - [Chairman] Okay, thank you. Dr. Newmaster. - [Newmaster] I would just support what everyone's been saying that I've been having conversations about the, this is not
022sudden, this is not happening just now. And as people testified to, graduates in the 90s and they're busy talking about that in. And the most important thing, and I heard this from more than one. I mean, I have two graduates in my home, of what, year 93 and 97, and they have friends that have been talking and they talk about the people that were that friendly back up in the hall and how important it was to have that teacher who had that ears. And I mean, the kind of hearing that hears that sub vocalized crap that the kids would hear in the hallway on a daily basis. How important that is. How important it is to be acknowledged. And our teachers play such a huge role 'cause they're there every single day knowing those kids
023and it's your other staff too, whether it's the media center what I knew people for four years instead of two passing through or whatever. But it, the adults make a huge difference and not to worry that you're saying it right or wrong. It's good to know the vocabulary you're using with your BiPAP kids, but just be there and care. And they remember 25 years later, who did and it made a difference. You felt a little safer in somebody's whole life. So, it's important and I know we can do it, with our staff, change the feeling. - [Chairman] Thank you. Anybody else? Ms. Thompson. - [Newmaster] Oh, one more question, I guess, and maybe a point of clarification. I'm sure in this work, we have our counselors and our social workers involved in supporting our students.
024And I mean, the trauma that happened in this room on Monday night was some of the heaviest I have been in the room while it is occurring. And I was sad in that we didn't have that support here at that time because it was needed and necessary. What are we doing as far as bringing our community like our parents? And we've gotten so many emails on this where parents are screaming for help and demanding action and immediate results. And I know we can't fix it with a blink of an eye. It would be wonderful if we could, but we can't. And I know we're doing the work and I know we're committed and I'm thankful to be here in this space with all of the people I've worked with and the equity work we are
025doing. And I am hopeful for the future of our district. Are we getting ready to bring, I mean, I know what's COVID and there's so many complications with that, but are we finding ways that we can bring community together to have conversations with these families, with the adults and have all of our students, right throughout, no matter what have things that they would want to share and be able to say in a space that could be safe for everybody. - [Angela] Well, we absolutely are. And we heard from parents right away that I'm wanting to continue having a community town hall and wanting to continue having that conversation. And so, we met as a teaching and learning system which really encompasses the majority of our departments. And so Dr. Davis, and Tim Maurer, Community Services
026have worked closely and I'll let Dr. Davis talk more about all the different things, but absolutely. And I think it's really important to continue to lean into the fact that we absolutely own our responsibility, but we need help. This is a community, it's gonna continue and unless we come together as a community and anything we can do, we need partners. And I think it's really easy to turn on each other when it's really emotional and we have to come together for our kids. And so, I just wanna make sure that we keep that at the forefront, and Dr. Davidson Tim Maurer has done really great things. - [Man] Thank you, for your question. - [Man] School board member Thompson. - [Man] Let me take this down. It's a little hot in there. To respond to
027your question, first and foremost, we wanna make sure that we maintain the safety of our children. And we are not trying to do that exclusively. We're trying to do that in a partnership. We have been collaborating in multiple ways and we understand this. I was once told in my conditioning as an administrator that schools are a microcosm of society, and it was what is happening in society is wanting to happen in schools and vice versa. So, with that understanding we understand that we own our responsibilities. We believe that racism is real than our school district as well as we believe it is in our community. So, individuals like Tim Maurer is connecting with different organizations like the many faces organizations. We're really trying to identify members that we can work with and the religious fields,
028as well as other non-profit organizations that are doing this work in our community so that we can do with the collaboratively because it's not just you do it in the school district and you set it with everything. Our students have told us that they're not only getting it here but they're also getting it in our communities. So, we wanna make sure that we're working with both at the same time. But at the forefront is our working with our students and working with our parents. There have been some discussions about potentially putting together some community forums to hear the needs and concerns of our parents. Most recently, I was on a parent conversation last night where there's organizing going to figure out how we can start some conversations. So, the work at multiple levels, very comprehensive
029of working with our parents, as well as working with the organizations in the community who are committed to addressing racism in our community, eradicating in community as well as partnering with us to do it in our community or our internal school district. It's a daily progress, the work is in progress. It was already established but we're just doing a continuance of what we were doing and we're gonna be accelerating in partnership with our community in particular parents. - [Chairman] All right, thank you. - [Man] You're welcome. - [Chairman] Others? All right, thank you, all very much for the update. And we look forward to continuing to get updates as this moves on. - [Man] Thank you. - [Chairman] The next item on the agenda is the action on the school start time and dismissal times,
030Dr. Kazmierczak. - [Dr. Kazmierczak] All right, thank you, chairman and members of the board. So, I think we can advance one. We got, yeah, so we'll just, we'll put it up. So, this is the recommendation and this is not been, this is, this was the original recommendation back when we started this conversation. And I'm just gonna, again, talk through the key elements, the key factors driving this change. And I'll try to be brief, but so the recommendation aligns with our school district strategic plan. We will provide expanding access to a broad range of opportunities for students. Specific results. Type A, academic scheduling is critical to the social and emotional wellbeing of the student. And we would evaluate and revise start times of elementary, middle and high schools using evidence-based best practices. The recommendation before you
031aligns with research on adolescent sleep, the recommended change is consistent with the commitment we made to the city of White Bear Lake and the current White Bear Lake Gary High School North Campus neighborhood residents, to prioritize the mitigation of traffic impact. And we know from a very comprehensive traffic study that start time of 8:30 or later for the high school is going to be essential. And the recommended change allows the district to run a more efficient three tier transportation system. And we end up, we're estimating approximately $600,000 in savings per year. So, I won't read through the, I won't read through the times but that's the, that's it upfront. So, the recommended action is that we approve to start, the school start and dismissal times for the 2021-2022 school year as recommended. - [Chairman] Thank
032you, Dr Kazmierczak. So, I think the best way to do this would be, I'm gonna open it up to questions and allow board members ask questions. And then I will, after that, I'll ask for a recommendation or I will ask for a motion to vote on the recommended action or on the action. So, let's start and just allow the all board members to ask questions. Is there any, anybody have any questions regarding the proposed changes? Dr. Arcand? - [Dr Arcand] Okay, my first question would be who have we talked to that have made this change and how they, how was their transition then? - [Chairman] Well, yeah, several of us have talked to different school districts based on our particular area of oversight. I've worked, I've lived through this before. I've had like conversations with
033White Zeta, you know, I've had, I had conversations with, you know, other districts that have, you know, not as extensive as White Zeta, but, you know, throughout the US and others. And I know other different portions or departments of our districts have reached out too as they plan for the change. So, yeah, we've reached out to other districts. Thank you. - [Man] Thank you, I apologize, Dr. Newmaster, I did see your hand first and I just, my mind skipped. So, I apologize for the little lapse in memory there. Right, Dr. Newmaster. - [Dr Newmaster] And you're just going alphabetical, okay (group chattering) - [Man] Thank you. - [Dr Newmaster] That's automatic I'm sure. And I will know what I'm looking at my list of when different people start. Was that it does start at 8:30
034with the elementary? And I'm sure folks would be thrilled if that's when our kids were gonna start. They want, does to 8:30. I don't know what they were at before later. I guess my questions are gonna be the questions that have been sent to me. And I have four basic areas and I've got it down to just aligning. So, I won't take up any time but I did get 28 emails this week alone. I'm not talking about the ones I got before and you know me, I've copied down, I save them forever. And I went through and read just to get a summary of the questions that people think or are issues that they really feel haven't been dealt with yet. They would love to have some answers. A lot of the families, a majority
035of the 28 that were supportive and I mean, or opposing the early elementary start. There were five that were supportive of it. And I had 28 that sent emails that said, "We have big questions about this." And a common one was that the first they heard any detailed plan was the 21st of February. And I went back and looked and that was first time, the elementary times came out. And they feel this is short notice. It gives a little time to plan alternative school district changes or other afterschool plans and or if a survey to go out. So, there's a whole lot of people that feel they haven't had time. And a lot of people talked about the lack of equity and that the burden was on marginalized or middle income, lower middle income families
036that don't qualify for free lunch, but they sure can't afford extra daycare. And now there will be a long time in the afternoon and their siblings aren't available. And I know I asked this question the first time, what survey have we done of the district elementary families that asks who relies on sibling care? And I'm sure community services that would be a good thing to note. We don't know what the hell king beast is out there but from the number of people that talk about it and more than one said the cost of the proposed slot that has to have daycare is impacting us far more than the fact we voted for an increased property tax because that's twice a year and it didn't go up that much, but the increased daycare would be more
037than that was every month. So, they were really looking and saying the impact of this is huge. Several, you know, they really talked about the equity. They also said they feel we're an outliner, outlier that our neighboring districts may benefit from this but they like, wait there. They really don't wanna have to leave. And many, almost all of them know that the safety concerns. And even if we cut it down to two months of dark when the sidewalks aren't cleared and the streets aren't shoveled, that's tough for little ones. So, there were other questions, and that was the middle school kids, mostly their families that participate in sports and clubs sports, and church activities. And they all start earlier. So, they said it's gonna impact a whole lot of activities but the big issues were
038financial and equity and safety. And how much surveying have we done? That's my questions. - [Chairman] We did not conduct a survey of our elementary staff. We have certainly elicited feedback. We held a listening session and informational session but we've taken phone calls. We've taken emails and we've responded. And, you know, we've pulled, we have a very robust website with a lot of information. And so, I think a lot of the things you're bringing up have been answered. So, I don't know if you have like a specific, other than was there a specific survey to elementary families? - [Dr Newmaster] Yes, that's what they asked. - [Chairman] They wasn't. - [Dr Newmaster] They said remind me that. So, they wanted to know, did we? I don't know. [Chairman] No we did not. [Dr Newmaster] It's
039been two, not quite two months since the hours came out. So I don't know how much hard data we have. And I do know that people didn't attend. And I said that in a response to somebody you have the program on the 30th of March, that was, you know, maybe a handful of elementary parents came. Some said we were watching it at home but we couldn't submit questions. So, I don't know if you have a count of how many people logged in to watch it, but I just think people felt. - [Chairman] I think it was about 40. - [Dr Newmaster] And again, that's kind of an equity thing. How many people were home? How many people have good Wi-Fi? I'm just wondering how much input do we have from the vast, what do we
040have? 4,000 elementary kids, something like that. It's a lot of our student population impact. Those are the questions I keep getting. And I didn't count people that sent me emails the first time around. Most of them just suddenly got it, the end of March and figured out what was coming. Those are my questions. And the big one is the sibling care was a big one, that financial piece of it. And the amount of time that little kids have with their families, if they have to go to bed at seven o'clock. The statement was made that little kids, their sleep time is easily changed. Or maybe you can kind of tell them to go to bed when you can't tell your teen to go to bed that's a lot harder, but they still need according to
041all those studies I read through, again, they still need 10 to 12 hours of sleep. So, they really do have to go to bed early if they're getting up that early. - [Chairman] Yup, (indistinct) - [Dr Newmaster] I don't know that's answered, and I didn't try to answer them. I just sent the link to everything that was on the webpage. - [Man] Yeah, again, I don't, are you asking me to answer particular question about elementary? Because I, again, the informational session, the experts we brought in talked about that and that the sleep is malleable for elementary students, that at the age of 11 or 12 things change for children significantly. And that's when it no longer becomes malleable. - [Dr Newmaster] But they still need to sleep. They all need it. - [Man] absolutely, Yep,
042no, one's questioning that. - [Man] Is that all you have documented? - [Dr Newmaster] I don't know. There's no answer to some of this. It's just a difficult choice. - [Man] Okay. - [Dr Newmaster] And the other specific question that people asked that was specific, 'cause he asked for specifics. They wanted to know what are some, what's some of the data on the various scenarios. Was there any way to shift it differently? - [Man] Yeah, and we looked at many different scenarios. We looked at, you know, if we ideally we could shift to elementary a little bit later, if we could shift middle school a little bit earlier but any, basically any shift with what you see is going to move everything, it's gonna be the entire system that shifts. So, you know, we, if
043we took it and rotated it 15 minutes then you would just change everything by 15 minutes. So, then el, you know, elementary could potentially be eight o'clock but then middle school would be 9:30, and you know, and then high school would be, you know, nine o'clock at South campus. So, that's what would happen. There isn't another scenario that like, I know one scenario we ran that was, it's not realistic to do this. We have a three tier system. If we went to a two tier system, so we could eliminate one of those time slots where we have to, like we have to have three start times, essentially, you know, roughly three, if we went to roughly two, we would have to go to a two tier system. That means we'd have to add a lot
044of buses. And I think the number was 28 buses to our fleet in order to pull off a two tier system so that, you know, then we can have like an eight o'clock time slot and the nine o'clock time slot. That's not realistic for us to do, but we've certainly looked at that and we certainly looked at, you know, we looked at a 7:35 elementary start, we looked at, if you look at an eight o'clock start, but again, everything has to shift to that, with what you have there. And yes, we looked at many different scenarios. This is where we planned in taking into account many factors. And this the recommendation before. - [Man] Okay, thank you, Ms. Beloyed. - [Beloyed] But I just wanted to maybe just make a couple points. One for me,
045for my families, daily lives doesn't work the greatest for us, but (laughing) that's just kinda how it rolls. And when it comes to, everyone's got their own specific circumstances. I've got my circumstances that this doesn't lead itself to be the best for. I've heard from, I've mine's more 50-50. I've heard from about 50% that said, "Oh, my God, I no longer have to do childcare from 6:00 AM till 9:00 AM, thank you." And then I've heard the other side. But I've really heard a consistent 50-50, for and against. And I haven't heard much from high school. Everyone at the high school level seems to agree that this is how we need to do it. Mostly what we've initially started hearing was from middle school, and it was almost completely middle-school and it was barely any
046families, it was mainly staff. So, that was the first wave of everything we received. And then when all of this stuff became real and people started realizing that their school times are potentially gonna change. Then we started hearing from more of the elementary and then some of the parents from the middle school. I get that this feels like it's been, it may feel like this came out of nowhere but it's been in the process for a long time. I mean, we had 200 community members in 2017 and 18, when we were coming up with the strategic plan. And this is specifically not these times but these specific things were determined to be part of our strategic plan going forward was to look at the research and to adjust our start and stop times based on
047the research. What I keep going back to is, if I've got 50-50, the only thing I can rely on is the data. And if everything that I've read, at least 90% of what I've read says that each and every one of these levels that this type of a system works better, then that's what I have to go by. Because I can't go off my circumstances, that isn't fair to anybody else. And I can't go off of your particular circumstances 'cause then that's not fair to the rest of you. So, this whole year has been follow science, follow the data. That's what I'm looking at when I'm looking at this because I can go down the rabbit hole with many people and feel bad about their circumstances. But equity and a lot of this stuff is
048in the behind, in the eye of the beholder. What's equitable for you in the terms of this because you don't have to pay for childcare ends up not being equitable for somebody else. And a lot of this, in my particular neighborhood I was the house that when the kid is, 'cause the bus stop is right there in front of my house. When it was raining, when it was snowing if kids needed somebody out there I was the one that was out there, but the parents contacted me and the parents came and talked to me about it. I said, yeah, I'll open up my garage. Everyone can stand in here. Everybody's welcome. But that was a conversation between parents. Some of this can be solved by some of these neighborhoods 'cause we all know where the
049bus stops are. I mean, it stops there every day (laughing) So, a lot of this could be solved with at least somewhat getting together with our different community members in our particular neighborhoods and saying, "Hey, what can we do to help? I'm here, what can I do to help? No, you're not here what can I do to help you?" Because we can't as a school district, we can't make this perfect for everybody. It's never gonna be perfect for everybody. The bottom line, everything we've read, 90% not everything, has said that this type of a system, for these types of hours, for these different ages follows the science. And I've done it all year, and I'm gonna continue to do so. That's it, thank you. - [Man] Thank you, Ms. Beloyed. Other questions, comments? Ms. Thompson.
050- [Ms. Thompson] I was, you know, originally when I heard this being proposed I was very excited because I have long been a proponent for letting our older students have a later start time. I, however, have an issue with the middle school time. It's too late. It's gonna be hot in the buildings for one thing as the summer and the fall, and all those months ago. Our students are going to, I think this is going to cause more division in our community as it rolls out and it plays out and we discover that families are now going to not have anybody to support their little kids who are coming home early, and not everybody has a neighbor that they can talk to. You know, this whole last week has shown us how divided we are
051as a people. So, you might live in a neighborhood that you don't feel comfortable talking to any of your neighbors, or none of your neighbors are home, because they're at work. I have looked into this, I have read the research. I don't have any researchers data that says that middle-school starting and ending at that time is going to be beneficial to our middle school students. I, myself, my mom stayed home When I was little. We didn't have the money to afford another vehicle. She had asthma and health issues and she tried to work in different factories and that never played out well. She ended up in the hospital sick and blah-blah-blah. She went without eating, because we couldn't have and afford food enough to feed everyone in the house. So, she made sure we ate.
052And then my father ate because he had to work and she sacrificed her own nutritional needs for us. In our strategic plan, we have two statements. One says we will foster community engagement and partnerships. And one says that we will engage families as partners in the education of their children. This is fast. This whole year has been one trauma after another. This is happening too fast. I understand we need to save money but we're going to save money so that we do better but it'll be at the burden of other families in our district who don't have that opportunity to cut things out of their budget. And if they do cut it out of their budget, it tends to be food or it tends to be well, now we can't pay this bill. So, now,
053the lights are not at home or we don't have internet at home. So, our kids, I mean, we've learned what this pandemic has done to our marginalized families. And when we talk about equity, we have to remember that economics is part of that, right? Economically our families are just as diverse as we are in our ethnicities and our racial and all of that stuff. I really want this. I really want our older students to have this. I know the science says it's important for them, I understand that. But I have an issue with this middle school. It is going to cause families who are already suffering to suffer more, and you know, I could read all the questions that parents have sent us. And it is, I believe that an offer, I feel it's like
054every two or three that say I'm against this. I get one that comes in that says they're for it. It has been probably one of the most, evened out communications we've gotten from community members on this. But I feel like so much stuff is happening in people's lives that they were unable to attend the thing on March 30th, or they weren't safe to come into a building on March 30th, or maybe they were working because some families work two, three jobs and their kids are home alone for innumerable amount of hours because their families are all working. I would like to see that we re-look at this. I'm not suggesting that we can afford to put buses back into our system because we all know what the budget says. If families out there listen today
055to our discussions I would say that they need to contact their representatives and tell them that we need fully funded public education, because it would solve all of this. We could go to a two tier system. In North Dakota, they've been doing this for years. Their schools start, high school and middle school pretty much start at about the same time. Their kids get to sleep in a little bit. They start at about 8:30, and the little ones started at the same time. The nine o'clock time that our kids start at now. If there's any way we could move our elementary students to the later time which I also know isn't going to satisfy everybody. My, I have a child who went to before school and afterschool care when we were working. It's not ideal, but
056for the families who are privileged to be able to afford that and, in my privilege and being able to afford that was barely, like, it affected our budget drastically. And we had to be very careful of how and what we spent money on, but we were able to make it work. But there are families who can't. There isn't a penny that they have available to make it work. So, I just, I see an issue with the middle school being late. And so many kids in middle school go home and take care of their younger siblings. And high school students, oftentimes in those families don't because they go to work because they have to earn income, because they don't have a choice. So, they don't get to go home and help out with the family, if,
057you know, because there are other needs that they also participate in the budget of their household that they live in. So, I don't really have a question because I don't think there is like, there isn't one question to this. I feel like maybe we need more time. And I know we don't really have the time because, I don't, you know, if we don't do this the budget is gonna be affected and something else is gonna suffer because of it. So, if it is another tough decision in a year full of tough decisions. And I guess I don't have a question. I just felt, I had to say that. - [Man] Thank you Ms. Thompson. Anybody else? I'm gonna get back here. I'm gonna let Ms. Ellison go and then I'll come back to you. -
058[Dr Ellison] I agree with Ms. Thompson, that this is just another hard decision in a year of really hard decisions. And I guess it comes down to how we make decisions in this district. Would it be ideal to take more time? Yeah, but do we have the time? Do we have the ability to make a systemic change? And this is a systemic change based in research, based in scientific research, which is where I agree with Ms. Beloyed, that all year long we've been using the science. This systematic change will be unequally difficult and unequally better for everybody, with 8,500 kids in the district. And the responses that we've gotten over email, I agree again, with Ms. Thompson, it's been really 50-50. It makes me wonder who we're not hearing from. And that the fact that
059there are people we're not hearing from, they, do they think this is okay? I am the only one on the board with elementary kids. I've got three, they're in the corner over there, on iPads, 'cause I had to go pick them up after school. And we are lower middle-class like, this would be, this will be difficult on our family. My husband lost his job after COVID, and, but how many individual scenarios are we talking about as opposed to making a decision for an entire system? Which like it or not, number one is our education of our kids. Like, all of our kids go to school. Most of them do activities too but all of them go to school. That also includes the budget, which is the worst thing to have to talk about when talking
060about something like this, but it's there. And then transportation, which until I became a school board member, I had no idea how complicated transportation was. You send the kids outside, the bus picks them up, they go to school. And so, I feel like the moving pieces in this situation and the fact that the district along with Mike at transportation have looked at all the different scenarios, knowing that we need to get our high school kids more sleep, we have to. And that the science says largely that for elementary kids, and again, it's science. So, it's most not all, it's better for them to be up in the morning. It's completely imperfect but it's, is this the solution out of all of the imperfect solutions that will help move our district in a direction that will
061support our kids and families. This makes me nervous for my own family, but it's not about my family. It's about, we've got 8,500 kids in this district, and it is our responsibility as the board to make the best decision with all the evidence possible which in this case includes families lives, kids education, budget, transportation, and science. So, you're right, Ms. Thompson, this is super hard. But I think we need to think holistically on this one. And I also want to say I have read every single email and I know that sometimes community members could get frustrated if they don't get an immediate response. I promise you, I read every single email, sometimes a couple of times to make sure that I've got it. So, please be assured anybody who is listening, just because you didn't
062receive a response, does not mean that I have not read every single one and taken that all into consideration. - [Man] Thank you, Dr. Newmaster. - [Dr Newmaster] No, it is a very difficult decision. I do agree with Angela and I do believe there's a big equity part of this. And yes, we look at the whole, but our little kids are almost half of the whole, and they are the ones most impacted. The sciences with teens circadian rhythm changes. And they wanna sleep later. They do better. And there is science there, and we've known that for the 20, 30 years I've been in, was in the high school system. But wouldn't it be nice if our older kids could start later? And we've got some information saying that the sleep patterns of younger kids are
063more malleable. Not that they need less sleep, but it's a little easier to get them to bed early. And our families are saying, but we wanna see our kids at night too. If they're getting up at 5:30 to get on the bus, or six o'clock to get dressed and fed and on the bus then do they have to go to bed at six o'clock, just as I'm getting home from work? So, I mean, it makes a difference. I don't think it's giving anyone preference and no one is selfish and saying, oh well, only it's me. But the reality is elementary Kids all need somebody at home. And daycare is a big piece of it. And it's not selfish to look at how many people can't afford it. I just think that was a piece of
064data we needed to know what percent of our families are going to be hit by this? But I guess we don't know that. If we're looking at it through the equity lens, I have a hard time with this. 'Cause of what? It's been a bumpy year. Lots of people lost work. They're barely getting back to work, some of them full time. And a lot of these emails that you've all read said, "Please don't do this this year, give us a longer runway." And the decision may come from the board and administration that we don't have a long runway. This is the only solution we could see. But then the reality is that solution is the cost of that solution. So, I don't know, there is no easy way. It's like your own budget. Maybe you
065sell a car, I've done that. But you gotta find the money someplace. So, I leave it there, but it is equity. - [Man] Thank you, Dr. Newmaster, Mr. Chairman. - [Chairman] I don't - [Man] Okay - [Chairman] Need you at this point, thank you. - [Man] Thank you. Is there anybody else, Ms. Thompson? - [Ms. Thompson] Just one little addition is when they, when we say the science is there, we all keep saying for the high school students, I completely agree. I just feel like we could flop the middle school and elementary and we could solve this problem. To me that's how I see it, because I would hate to do this. And then a year from now, or two years or three years, it needs to be corrected because it doesn't work. And you
066know, like Marge just pointed out there were many emails that came in and the parents said, 'You know, I understand that this is, you know, whether they were for it or against it. And most of them were against it. They didn't say, just give us a little more time to process and figure this out so that we can be on board with it, right? When we went for the bond we worked for a year. Well, I shouldn't say we, I should say there are people that, I know Wayne went to, I can't even tell you how many meetings I saw him at, it was amazing. The work that the district did to get that to happen. This is a big decision that will impact lives and whether it will, what way of impacts those lives
067and how the differences, it will make an impaction. And I feel like we, and I know we don't have time. So, again, I don't know. I guess I'm just rambling. I'm, I just feel like this is, it's a big decision - [Man] Dr. Kazmierczak, is that, the scenario that you guys looked at? - [Dr. Kazmierczak] Switching - [Man] Elementary? - [Dr. Kazmierczak] Yeah, well, that wouldn't that recommendation wouldn't align with the adolescent sleep research, that would actually move our middle schools earlier so that we didn't do that as a viable option, but would be consistent with the driving factors. - [Man] Okay, Ms. Ellison. - [Dr Ellison] That was my question. - [Man] Sorry, I didn't mean to, - [Dr Ellison] No, that's okay. That's, yeah, that was something that I've wondered about as far
068as middle school, but. - [Man] Dr. Newmaster. - [Dr Newmaster] I just had two or three parents that said exactly that. My middle schooler used to be part of the elementary school. They're closer to that. Why don't we just switch? And I wondered what that would cost. - [Man] It would, my estimate is that it would be roughly the same as what it is now, but again it would not, if it does not align with the adolescent sleep research. So, we would be going against what the science says. We would actually be moving earlier. And 11 and 12 year olds that's when the change occurs. So, we would actually be making it even worse for middle schoolers. And I won't, I'm not recommending that. - [Man] Other questions, comments? Ms. Beloyed. - [Beloyed] Just to
069put a fine point that we're talking, the change really happens when puberty begins. - [Man] Yep. - [Beloyed] That's when, so you've got your early bloomers you get your late bloomers. So, it's, I mean, it starts with middle school. Okay, that's my point point, I'm sorry. - [Man] Okay, seeing no more questions, we have a recommended action which is to approve the school start and dismissal times for the 2021, 2022 school year as recommended. Is there a motion to approve those start times? - [Beloyed] I move. - [Man] There's been a motion by Ms. Beloyed. Is there a second? - [Chapman] Second. - [Man] A second by Mr. Chapman. Any discussion regarding the recommended? Any other discussion regarding the recommended start times? - [Man] I just have one quick question Dr. Kazmierczak, So, is the
070vision after however the vote comes out, right? If it's voted in favor of, is the vision to look at the data next April, and then reevaluate or evaluate to see if we're on the right track or how is that? - [Man] Yeah, we are working. - [Man] We certainly will. And I've said this before publicly, and I don't want to overly commit to this but you know, if you know, if we can shift elementary a little bit later and we won't, we need to get into the year and see how things go. This were to move ahead. We would, you know, we would, we could attempt to try and move elementary a little bit later perhaps middle school a little bit earlier but I don't wanna over-commit that right now. But once we get into
071the year, that's what, you know, a year from now that's what we'd be looking into it. Another wholesale change, I don't, I know, you know, that would be reluctant to commit to that sort of a plan. I think we need to, we would need to give this some time to, you know, to be implemented and that does not change the, you know, again, the driving factors would remain. And so, coming back with a recommendation, contrary to those I would have a hard time doing that here, but modifications within the model we would be attempting to do absolutely. - [Man] Okay. - [Man] Is there any other discussion? You and I see none, so, this will require a roll call book because it has financial implications. And I would ask the clerk to please call the
072roll. - [Clerk] Chapman. - [Chapman] Aye. - [Clerk] Ellison aye. - [Clerk] Mullin. - [Mullin] Aye. - [Clerk] Newmaster. - [Newmaster] No. - [Clerk] Thompson. - [Thompson] No. - [Clerk] Arcand. - [Arcand] Aye. - [Clerk] Beloyed. - [Beloyed] Aye. - [Man] With, by a five to two vote, the motion passes. (knocking gavel) We will now move into our next agenda item, which is the action on the second reading of several school board policies. So, because you know, I can't see anymore because I'm old. I will say that policy 417, chemical use and abuse. Policy 522, excuse me, student sex nondiscrimination. Policy 714, fund balance, balances, excuse me. Policy 901, community education. Policy 903, visitors to school district property and facilities. Policy 905, advertising. Policy 906, community notification of predatory offenders. And then policy 910, awarding
073an honorary diploma. You've seen the policies that come before the second reading. Is there a motion to approve and adopt those policies? - [Woman] Can I ask a question before we make a movement? - [Man] Sure. - [Woman] Are we missing one from the other packet? 'Cause there was, unless I've completely lost my mind, there was one that related to world's best workforce and, - (speaking faintly) - All right, so. - [Man] So, there was the other package. - [Woman] Did we adjust that in the meeting Monday? - [Man] Yeah, we talked about the first reading of all of those policies and I said, "Hey, if you have any corrections or changes, - [Woman] Okay, you're right. - [Man] Because we were working on timing that you would please take them to Dr. Kazmierczak, so
074that he can get it and then he can get it out through his network to get it out to all of us. - [Woman] Wednesday. - [Man] This is not that batch, this is the, - [Man] This is the second reading one. So, these were in front of us last month. They're coming for their second reading this month. - [Woman] I've just conflated the two things, so, my bad. - [Man] Okay. - [Woman] I'm sorry. - [Man] It's all good. So you've seen and heard the policies for coming for the second reading. Is there a motion to adopt those policies? - [Chapman] So moved. - [Man] There's been a motion by Mr. Chapman. Is there a second? - [Arcand] Second. - [Man] Second by Dr. Arcand. Any discussion regarding that? We will do all of
075these in one fall swoop. All those in favor of adopting the policies, please say, aye. - [All] Aye. - [Man] Oppose same sign. Hearing no oppose, the policies are adopted. With that, I will thank you all for your continued support of the special session. And I would ask for a motion to adjourn. - [Man] Chair Mullin, I motion to adjourn. - [Man] We've got a motion. Is there a second? - [Beloyed] Second, - [Man] Second by Ms. Beloyed. All those in favor of adjournment please say, aye. - [All] Aye. - [Man] Oppose same sign. The ayes have it, we are adjourned. (knocking gavel)