001Pledge of Allegiance. >> Yes. >> Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. 1.4 Approval of the agenda. >> I'll approve it. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Yes. All those in favor? >> I >> All right. 2.0 old business. We have nothing. 3.0 new business. 3.1 Kayla Middle School update. >> Yeah. Mrs. Chair. No, I guess Mr. Chair. Um, so Mrs. Mr. Su and I met I don't know three weeks ago or so and um we were talking about the middle school middle school concept and here and I said you know I always want to do some sort of um thing to kind of showcase what's going
002on in the school here you showcase what's going on in the school. So Mrs. Sapu uh reached out to her middle school staff and worked on a presentation. I said that'd be great. So thank you Mrs. And thank you middle school staff for helping out. >> Yeah, no problem. >> All right, guys. Should we come up here? >> We're printing it out for you. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Would you mind Mrs. Sapu introduce everybody introduce themselves, too? >> Yes. Um, I am Kayla Sappu. I'm the health and fire teacher. >> Sappu? >> Yes. >> That was Sappu. >> Sapu. Fair. It doesn't look like it's either of us. >> No, no. Go ahead. >> Um, I'm Brooke Elki. I'm actually one of the special ed teachers here. So, I do work with high schoolers
003as well, but I'm primarily in the middle school and follow the middle school schedule um and do a lot of my actual instruction with middle school students. >> Conor Wasel, uh middle school social studies. >> Yeah, >> thank you. >> Tammy Lstrom, middle school win title. >> Yep. >> I'm Lauren Sabers. I am the middle school special education teacher. and Joe Barber, seven and eight, uh, English language arts. >> Thank you all for being here. >> Yeah. So, we have a presentation. So, we're going to do it from the computer and we made some printouts that we'll hand you guys that you can just kind of follow through when we're talking and then at the end if you guys have any questions or concerns, um, you can ask it. Thank you very much. >> Thanks
004for the copies. >> Oh, you're fine. >> Oh, no. >> All right. So, things that we're going to talk about today. So when we were discussing of what really important things that we want you guys to know about the middle school model, we discussed that we wanted to show the difference between the high school model, what's going on and what we're doing different in the middle school model. So we are going to talk about team time and interventions that we do during team time advisory which we turned into now power time that we're calling it what we do for studios and the huge positive changes that we've seen already at um our middle school model that we've had and we are now on year two of our middle school model. >> Three. This is three.
005Thank you. >> Okay. Um okay. So, uh, the first one is our team time and intervention. So, we have a cutout time every day to meet as a middle school. Um, so it's the special education department. It's the GED teachers. Um, Mrs. Zik is there. Um, occasionally we'll have Jamie, the school counselor there. Um, we've had the superintendent come in the past when there's big things that come up that we have to address. Um, yesterday we had our evaluation team coming to talk about a student um that we want to evaluate for an IEP. um hoping to get him some services. So, we all have that time to meet every day. So, like I kind of mentioned um we can talk about interventions. A lot of our students um they're in middle school. They have
006a lot of skills they need to learn and there's a lot of interventions that have to be given to those kids to help them be successful. So, we can talk about that and collaborate and see if it's a teacher specific thing or it's a content area. Um as special ed teachers, it's super nice to be able to meet every day. um cuz our students have a lot of things come up a lot of the time. So, being able to address that right away or know things that happen. Um before the middle school model, I was only here for a year. Uh but it was really hard that communication was not there. I didn't know half the things that were happening with my students. Um so, it's been really nice to have that because then it
007helps us hold them accountable, more consistent with things as well. Um as I mentioned, the bit and tat team, so that's like our behavior and academic concerns. We can have that team come in and address all of that. Um that's our time to brainstorm studios. Um which we'll touch on a little more later and do want to give Lori a huge shout out as well. Um she's been awesome to have included in that. Um especially when you're talking about behavior or interventions and how to help these kids be successful to have her involved in that is is super helpful and she's been awesome at that. Um but yeah, so this this model is kind of helping with that interdis disciplinary team approach. We can all meet every day and we can be cohesive and consistent
008with these kids. Um, and it helps us build that rapport and relationships with these kids. Like, I don't know. I feel like that hallway is just always such a fun place to be and the kids are always coming up to you and talking to you and it's just a really good environment. So, >> Brooke, can I add on to that before you move to the next one? Um, so before we didn't have the team time at all and so we never had time to say like, hey, this is what I am seeing with Sarah in my class. Are you seeing it in yours? So, it's more than just behaviors and interventions. This is like the social emotional thing um that we've been talking about. And in my health class that was also created because of
009my schedule, I'm able to do seventh grade health and we're able to bring in that social emotional learning that they have been lacking. Let's just say the least. When I was in West Fargo, um sixth graders had a whole quarter, actually a whole semester of health at our middle at our elementary. They don't have that. Um and so this year we even or last year we had the opportunity to work with the sixth grade teachers and we'd come and meet and they tell us like the things that they're seeing with certain students um maybe that emotional side or maybe a behavior that they're seeing or um just a grade thing that they're seeing. Last year one of the big things they were seeing is these sixth graders now seventh graders are so smart and we're
010we're seeing these high flyers but they don't treat each other well. And um we've really been working with that. I've been working with that with my uh seventh grade uh healthc curriculum, just learning how to um talk to each other, communicate effectively. Um stop, we even just got done talking about bullying and um how we treat people and that's been absolutely huge. And even what yesterday we found out in every class because we're able to get together that a student of ours has been really struggling because of the behaviors of others in their class and it wasn't just happening in mine, it was happening in all classes. So we had that time together that we could actually talk and we could not only help that student, but we could coach and talk to these kids
011that are treating each other wrong. And we never had that before. And so that's really nice. So, it's just it's more of just the behaviors, the IEPs. It's just helping these kids grow and just how to treat each other and be respectful. >> So, I can move on the next >> uh so um every day we have advisory. It's uh 19 minutes uh with our students. And one cool thing with that is we get them um both years right in a row. So, I have seventh grade in my advisory now. I will move up with those and have that same group in eighth grade. So that's super awesome building that relationship. Uh our advisory is very structured. Uh so we don't have like a full like 30 40 minutes like high school does. So we
012try to make sure we have something for every single day. So Mondays and Fridays are grade checks. we do um either a form or just uh meet with the uh students to check their grades, uh check their planners, binders, make sure everything's all good, help them with um organization skills because we've seen that that's kind of been lacking the past few years. Uh Tuesdays we're starting social emotional learning with the seven growth mindsets. Uh Wednesday we decided uh to do silent reading. Thursday, we saw that there was a deficiency in typing skills uh last year into this year, so we decided to continue with typing Thursdays. And then Friday, we just recheck the grades. Um this is awesome where we can see what deficiencies we have and we can change it up. It's not like
013this is set in stone. We have that time during team time to talk as a middle school to see where our deficiencies are and what we need to do to help these students be successful. Um, another thing that we do on Wednesdays is power time. It's during our studio time. So, at the end of the day, uh, we used to call it wind time. We're switching it over to power time, which is, uh, providing opportunities with extra resources. Uh, and this is a time where we can get kids into smaller groups um, in your class if they're struggling with your class. So, then you can help them. um instead of having 25 kids in a class and you're trying to help here, there everywhere, we can have the ones that are really struggling in our
014class with us, the maybe 10 kids and we can really focus and help those students. Um, one thing that we've been doing this year is with our high flyers, people who have been maintaining good grades and behavior wise, they've been going with Mrs. ZIC over to the Commons and just doing different uh projects, working on other work. Uh mostly focusing on school spirit improvement and uh just building that middle school community. >> I add one thing that too. Um at Power Time, we found out last year we have a lot of kids that are straight A's, they're doing awesome. So when it came to having extra time to do stuff, they would sit there and twiddle their thumbs because they had everything turned in and they knew everything that was going on. Um, so we
015gave an opportunity to have like student tutors or student leaders. They get a really cool official name badge. They love it and they get to actually help teach and tutor those other kids within their grades which is super cool. Um, and it gives those kids opportunity to be a leader and show their skills and teach other kids and that has been really helpful and that's been super cool thing that we started last year as well. I want to add to that too also saying the group I get are the ones that we find to need reading comprehension help or a different skill. So that is time that I get to work with my students that I'm not pulling them out of other classes. >> Thank you. Um this is what it works so well because
016of the structure that we have in it. Um before, you know, my first year it was advisory and it just kind of turned into slough hour. Do your homework. I don't have any. Um now with this, we're holding kids accountable for doing this stuff. And this has worked so well that now even uh our leadership, we get together, teachers um in the district. This has worked so well. Now the high school is adopting this model that we're doing just to help keep kids on task, get their work done, have a little mentoring. if they're done, they can help other students um in need. So, it's worked great during advisory time what what we've done here. >> I ask a quick question. Board members, if you have questions or comments, feel free to ask. Mrs. Sappu,
017um could you use the example um last week when you took your class out and just talked I assume that was his class where you did remember you were outside. >> Oh, that's my leadership class. >> Yeah. you want to? >> Yeah, I will talk about that, but I can talk about that now and then when we get to my side. So, the cool thing of being So, when I first came here from West Fargo, I taught um 9th grade PE, I had 10th grade health, I had eighth grade health, and I had an advanced course, juniors and seniors. So, do you see all the different levels of grades that I had? Um, and it was really hard and it was hard to build a rapport because I just knew a little bit of kids
018in every grade level. Um now with this model I am strictly seventh and eighth grade and with that I have been able to build such an awesome rapport with these amazing students that we have in our school. Um one of the things that they told me though with this new curriculum and this new that I have now a class that's going to be leadership and figured out what you're going to do with them every day. And these are the kids that don't want to be in the band or choir. And so what I've done is created a course that it's like service learning um where we go out and we help people. So for the school, especially like in fall and now after every football game, we're out there. We're picking up trash. We just
019got done two days last week um trimming up the whole school, cutting bushes, uh cutting the oriental grass. We go, we pull weeds. We want the school to look good. And it's giving these kids the ownership of the school that it matters. My first year here, everything was being broken left and right and nothing really mattered. They clean the schools, they clean the hallways, they help with steps. Um, it's hard to find janitors and we're down a lot of janitors. So, every day we have a list of things to do. Our wait room doesn't get cleaned very much. Our um locker rooms don't get cleaned very much and that's what my class does. When winter comes, then we start into our curriculum and we talk what a leader looks like and we do more um
020projects. But we've really been able to do awesome things. Feed my starving children. We've gotten to go to that and actually we went last year and um there was three schools there and we won for the most packing of the school. So we brought home a trophy to put in our case. So we were all really jacked about that. Um I've been able to go to my church and clean and help with a chicken dinner. Um we put out an outreach thing to help people in our community that maybe need help getting ready for um winter. um without having this model, my kids and my students wouldn't be able to do this. And it also benefits band and choir because then you're pulling those kids out that don't really want to be there. And those
021classes, if you've seen, are huge and they're really hard to teach, >> hard to manage, hard to teach. So that's one of the awesome things too about our um our younger kids. They're doing amazing things. >> Thank you. And you find awesome amazing things in the fields too, don't you? >> I do. And I love it, too, because I love I love giving back. >> I love giving back just like these kids do, too. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh moving on to a unique uh thing about our middle school is studios. Now, uh my first year here, I was teaching all throughout 7th through 11th and 12th graders. And when we started doing the middle school model, I had the choice to stay up or head down to just do the middle school. And
022one one thing that really helped me make that decision was the idea of studios and how uh innovative and interesting that that concept was. It's basically project-based learning, but without a set curriculum. you find something that you're passionate about, that the students are passionate about, and you get to make something based off of that. And it's um it might not be following a certain curriculum, but you're learning skills that are useful in the real world uh through studios. So, uh we do studios um all week at the end of uh the day. It's the last like 45 minutes besides Wednesdays. That's when we do power time. Um, but basically we get a survey out of what uh the students are interested in and us as teachers during team time decide kind of what studios we're
023going to offer for that four to six week period and uh we allow the students to choose which studio they want to be in for that four to six week period. Now you can do anything from any sport related thing like I've done an NFL draft studio to arts and crafts to I did a music production one last year. Okay. So it can go all over uh just depending on what the students are interested in, what you're interested in and they get to learn really cool skills. Um so uh really builds those 21st century skills, critical thinking, collaboration. Um it also it gives student choice. Okay, it um helps build motivation. It increases their ownership into what they're learning. Okay, it's not like we're telling them you're going to learn history today. Even though I
024believe every student should be really excited about learning history every single day, but uh it's hey, what what what are we going to learn for these next four to six weeks? What do you want to do? We're going to build something based off of your interest that you're going to learn something from. Um, on the next slide, I have some pictures of ones that I've done because there's a lot of different ones that we've done. It just I know more about the ones that I did. So, there are really cool ones we've done in the past. Uh, in the top left is uh the NFL draft studio where I grouped students uh into like groups of two or three. They got to pick an NFL team. This was right around April. uh when the NFL
025draft is and they had to analyze their team. So, they're looking at analytical skills. They're looking for they're researching for college players that they want to potentially draft. And in that particular one, we were able to go to NDSU and they told us all about their draft process and how they scout for players as well. Uh bottom left, um I did a middle school philanthropy where they went, it was fully studentled. I just facilitated very similar to pay at the high school level. I based it off of that. They went and they raised $1,000. They interviewed uh virtually, I believe it was three or four nonprofits that were important to them. And then what they did was decide how to allocate those funds. And when we did that, we uh brought in the administration and
026whatever I think a couple English teachers because we were presenting. So I was like, "Hey, come on down, check out this presentation." and they had a whole presentation of of why they chose that, why it was important to them, how much of the funds they're sending to the different nonprofits. So, they're learning presentation skills. They're learning to give back to the community. Uh, and then a couple others in the middle. I I'm currently doing just a basketball league one where we're looking at stats. They're doing mathematics. They're looking at shooting percentage. Uh, they're learning about filming and doing broadcasting. So, you're learning a bunch of different skills. And then on the bottom right, one of my favorites uh that I did the first year was Raider Escape Rooms. They built escape rooms, they designed them,
027and then we invited the community for two nights in to uh do that. And then it was a nice little fundraiser for us for studios. So, it's like I said, it's not um tied to different standards, but I'm sure you could find some that they are, but um you get to explore and learn really uh cool real world skills. So, I'm going to talk about social emotional. Um, just even one of the things like the studios. I mean, having voice and power, right? I know when I went to school here, it was you took this class and that's what you learned. Um, so it's really cool to hear what the kids want for studios and we write it down and we get to some of the stuff that they want to do and then they
028have a voice and a choice of what to pick, their first choice, their second choice. Um, and then it changes. These kids are so excited for the end of the day to get to do something that they have passion about and something that they get to create and do. Um, so I think that's really cool. And to be honest, everything that we've talked about is everything that I want my kid to be able to go through. Connor goes here as a seventh grader. I want this model here next year for him. I want this model here when my daughter is going to be a seventh grader. She's a fifth grader right now. This school, I think, has changed big time since I was here the first year. There was concerns. There was a lot of
029concerns that I had. But I feel like what we're doing in this middle school level is getting them ready for ninth, 10th, and 11th grade. It is a smooth transition. These kids have voice. They have power. They have an identity that I put here. They have an independence. Have you guys gone to any of the games around here? The football game. All these young kids, not just the smaller ones that are playing football on the side. You're seeing seventh graders and eighth graders, and they're excited to be here. and they're bringing the spirit and the pump. I was at a volleyball game recently. It was a breast cancer one. In four years I've been here and even coaching as a head coach, I have not seen the kids that it was completely full and they
030were cheering and doing chance. This is something I've always I've always wanted. I would go to those schools at a coach and be like, I want those kids in my school. I want that spirit. I never seen it here in my first or second year. But I believe what we're doing with this middle school model and how comfortable they're feeling that they feel like they matter and they have an identity and they are bringing the school spirit for what we're doing in our middle school. I really believe that and like I said that's something that I want. We have that extracurricular, we got clubs, we got my leadership class um that they can take that was not here when we had 7th through 12th grade. Um they have a sense of belonging. So again, when
031I was here, the first two years, these seventh and eighth graders traveled everywhere in the hallway. They were traveling with the ninth graders, the 10th, junior, seniors. They were everywhere. They were mixing and mingling. They were in the locker rooms together. They're going down the same hallways. We have made such a model that their seventh and eighth graders on one side of the building, they get to see the same teacher all year long. I get to see the same kids every day all year long. The relationships we're building with these kids at such a young age is huge. I'm not kidding you guys when I tell you I feel like um I'm Dr. Phil these days because these kids are finally communicating and talking and we've been talking so much about mental health and our
032emotions and talking. I'm having kids left and right knocking on my doors during my prep in the morning. So, who can I talk to? And I'm like, absolutely. and they tell me their struggles and what's going on and their relationship problems and how kids are being mean and I'm taking that and I'm bringing it into the classroom and I'm trying to help them all as a whole. You did not I did not see that my first or second year when I was in West Fargo. I loved it. I loved it. It was easy and I taught health and fed here because it's so small. All these kids are starting to get to know us and they're opening up and I feel like I matter so much to them and it's such a great feeling that
033they feel comfortable enough with our team and what we're doing to tell us what do you need? How can we help you? What do you think? And I never had that. I but to be honest, I didn't need it either. These kids need it these days. They need those relationships. They need that growth. They need that sense of belonging. And that is definitely what we are giving them. Um, again, I talked to you about the health class. Again, they wouldn't have that if we didn't have the middle school model. They won't have the studios. Um, another huge thing that we're seeing too is this year is the lowest we've ever seen in the eligibility check, the failing classes. Um, it used to be a whole bunch of kids that were on there, but because what
034we're doing with the power time, the wind time, the sense of belonging, the sense that they feel like they matter, the relationship we're building with them, they don't want to let us down and they want to work even harder. And we have never since I've been here, our eligibility list has been so low in middle school and we are so freaking proud of them. Um, so we even have we even had um was I think did you have them write why middle school matters and why why they love middle school? And even if you were to read that um it would make you feel dang good. Um because they feel like they belong. And I think it's not just what we did this year, but what we did for the seventh graders last year. We
035worked with the sixth grade teachers. We brought them over as sixth graders to have a a dance to meet us, to see us what we look like in our classroom. Um, there was just a lot of things that we just did to make them feel like they belong and I think they're just really doing awesome and I'm really proud of them. Like I said, I just went on a tangent. I'm sorry. Um, I think I did that. Yeah. So, any questions that you guys have for us? >> Of course I do. >> Yes, please. >> Um, my apologies in advance if I should already know these things, but I'm a newer school board member, so I'm not aware of all of it. Um, I do have three questions if I may. one who created this
036model where where did it originally >> I believe it come from >> came from Mr. Hannish >> probably Dr. Premister Hannish I think was the first person to really create it and then that was the first year that third that would be three years ago and then the last two years we've just made a lot a lot of modifications to things that we saw were not beneficial the first year and just keep making more changes to things that we see as we continue to grow it. >> And that's that team time working together. Before we didn't have that, we couldn't talk about student issues or um emotional health or behaviors or grades like other than an email. Oh, he's failing. Oh, here's the academic list. Here it is. You know, >> I know that first
037year a huge struggle um that I think we kind of all felt was uh Mr. Hannish was here like one to two days a week, but he was also halftime at the elementary. Um and so he was supporting both of the schools, but um having consistent administration in the middle school has huge >> literally been a game changer. Like our first year in the middle school model, I was like, I don't know if I can do this again. Like it was >> genuinely brutal. It was really tough. We had administration here, but when you have admin that's doing 9 through 12, they're very chaotic as well some days. So having consistent administration has been >> we are very thankful for Z. >> Yes, we are. She's done amazing things. >> Um, next question. Are there
038any changes or newer adaptations or development that you are looking into for next year now that you kind of have a three years under your belt and you guys made some changes after the first year because you figured out what worked and didn't work and so on and so forth. Do you have anything that um the beginning of this year you're like, hey, here's some new development we can make. Here's some >> minor things that we can tweak. Is there anything >> I guess on the bigger end that you are looking for? >> Um to be honest, because I'm a very honest person. >> Same. I love that. >> Okay. We are here because we're worried that this middle school model is going to be demolished and it's going to go back to the way
039it was my first and second year. So, we're here presenting just to show you the hard work we've put in and that this model is working. Can there be tweaks to everything and make it better? Absolutely. And that's what we talk about every day at team time. We also even have running notes of what we do in that team time every day. What we talk about, who is there? Um, just to keep everybody like, "Oh, I wonder if they're really doing team time today. What are they really talking about is there, the capability is there. We're there working hard every day." >> Awesome. I know one thing that um last year we had talked about but never came to fruition is with our studios. Um we talked about doing some kind of showcase and opening
040up that up for the community maybe during even like our um conference night when parents are here and having some kind of um place where we can demonstrate the things these kids have learned, the fun things I've gotten to do. Um I know that's one big thing we've talked about which I think we're hoping to do around conference is November I believe. So, um, with this first round, the studio is wrapping up that stuff. We're brainstorming on how we can showcase this information so kids can show the community what they're learning as well. Um, because it is a new concept and it's something that not a lot of people are familiar with, but there is a lot of good that comes from it. >> I I think a good example of something that we've changed
041even from just last year to this year was um our win Wednesday, which is now power time, just how that's structured. um just having it with smaller groups and then zip taking kind of our high flyers and having them do enrichment activities has made it so much easier for us to be able to just work with a smaller group. So we are constantly looking at different things that we can change to make better. I couldn't quite think of something right off the top of my head for like next year but as we go throughout the year we pick up on those things and try to become as efficient and as effective as possible. Even from like first year to last year, studio was originally an hour and a half every day, I think. And first
042year we're like an hour and a half at the end of the day with these kids for studio doesn't go well. So that quick >> even being able to switch things consistently throughout because it's just our middle school schedule is super helpful. Like when things come up, you can modify it. And >> last question. Um what can we as a board do to support this program? I think it's just that's why we wanted to tell you what we're doing. You know, you don't hear it, you don't see it, and maybe what you hear is not correct. Um I would love for you guys even to just come walk around in a day in our classrooms and see I don't even I don't care when you come into my classroom. I don't even need to know.
043Um just seeing what what we do and just walking down the hallways and seeing how these kids feel like they matter. Um like I said, as a parent, this is something that I really want really really bad for my kids. the model that we're doing for supporting us wise. I just not changing our schedules, keeping the middle school model, let us keep tweaking it and making it even better every year for these kids. Like I said, it's a big jump. Um, a lot of schools have middle schools where they're able to just be in that school with without 9th and 10th and 11th and 12th graders. And so that we're able to make this work in one school. >> I don't know you guys have any What what portion of the day is this? >>
044Which one? >> Middle school model. >> The the studio I mean how >> studio is at the end of the day >> that's about 45 40 45 >> that's 5 days a week >> time power time is on Wednesdays. >> Okay. So you said prior middle school, you as instructors didn't have the opportunity to to collaborate. Why did it take a middle school process or layout for you to collaborate as instructors for students? Because I I'm I'm as you're going through this, I'm trying to organize all because I'm kind of naive to what's all going on. I'm assuming we're still doing the reading, the writing, >> math classes a day, >> history, science. >> Y >> there was a portion of time that my kids came home and we were only doing math like every
045other day or something. >> Yeah, >> that was horrendous. >> That was the first year. >> That was horrendous. It was awful. My kid would go to math, >> ended up being sick one day, >> and then come back to school another day. Y >> and all of a sudden he didn't even have the course and but he was taking a test. >> Yes. >> So that was the his great moment of middle school. >> Right. So during that time they switched. It was every day these kids got it. They switched a b days. So it was a district. They're going to teach every other day. That was out of our control. >> Yeah. That was ridiculous. So my question goes back to why does it take the middle school concept for us to do
046what you say you're doing? I I guess I >> because it was never here in the school district and our former um principal decided that we should do this. And not only that, we should have teachers just teach either the middle or high school. Like I said, I was all over the place with different ones. And to be honest, I have never been a part of team times. Even even in West Fargo, I was the one that was always left out. Didn't know what the heck was going on. Only knew what was going on in my classes. Now we're finally able to get a schedule where I'm actually get to listen, get to be a part of it, get to make the changes, and I absolutely love it. >> But you guys answered. >> So,
047um, this is now my eighth year here. Uh, when I started, I was going to be seventh, ninth, and then sometimes juniors and seniors with econ. Um, and like those years I just remember uh yes, I got to know kind of like the staff and uh whatnot, but I didn't have time set where I could actually sit there and really collaborate because all of a sudden after school I got to go to football or coach this or that or different meetings for IEPs and whatnot. So, I felt like I personally didn't have a ton of time to really um especially being a first year to uh teacher to have those conversations and collaborate. Uh but now we have that time set where it's like we can communicate through all that stuff. So, >> and what
048what what is that called? What time of day is that? >> That's team time. So, that's at what time? That's their third >> third hour where they're going to their different uh special classes like uh art and >> uh even family tumor science. >> So they have the same classes every day. Like it's not the AB days, which I agree is chaos, but same classes every day. Third hour they go up to their like high school teachers for those elective courses. Um and then >> Yep. So we meet while they are in those classes and then um they come back to us for advisory time. We send them out to lunch. They come back for their other few core classes and then that last chunk of the day is that studio time. And maybe I'm
049speaking wrong, but we never had that set time where we all had that time together. Like I have a prep here and it never matched up with anybody. Um we would have meetings in the morning, but there was like an agenda we had to talk about, not where we worked together with our our core teachers that had the same kids. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. But isn't that something that can be managed properly by administration and our team within that sees the true value? because what everything you're talking about is great, but then we got high school. What's going on there? What's happening? It sounds to me that you probably have a very good core of uh organization here that needs to be adopted throughout the entire district. They shouldn't be just seventh and
050eighth graders seeing it. >> We are taking some of our stuff >> and you talked about I think part of seventh and eighth grade is we only have one math teacher, one language arts teacher, one science, one social work. In high school, you have two >> for each for seven or 9 through 12. >> So, for them to actually get everybody on the same schedule, it's a little bit harder to do because you can't correlate all of the they all teach different classes. Like our English teacher will teach 9th and 10th, 11th and 12th. So they teach a variety of classes where we only teach we only have one teacher set aside for two classes. So then with that we can change our schedule to make it so we have that collaboration time where the
051high school we don't have that capability. >> If we did not have those elective classes we wouldn't have that team time because then we would have students during that time. So without that without them getting those electives steam art facts and and without them having those electives, we wouldn't have team time. Um, and so >> it works out very fortunately for us. And I know that people >> are very jealous of the team time and they wish they could have it. And I wish everyone could because it is >> so much good comes out of it. It's crazy. So >> So you said, >> go ahead. >> The the seventh to eighth grade, you feel like they were coming into this not prepared. I'm still disconnected. PBIS on the elementary side. Isn't that for anyone
052here? Can explain PBI? Is it PBIS? >> Positive behavioral >> intervention. >> And I continue to hear how great it works. But yet I feel like I feel there's a disconnect when it comes to seventh eighth grade when this middle school model I've heard over the years is we need it because of behavioral issues. Well, if PBIS is working so well here, just because we switch buildings shouldn't mean that we have to have an entire different structure. >> I think you could still use the PBS model, don't you? >> We still use the PBS model over here, >> right? >> I just feel like one teacher here and how many do we have at the elementary? >> Seven. >> I I just I hear how great that's doing, but then we have a little we
053need more support. I I guess I'm just kind of it's kind of foggy for me to understand. I mean, if >> so, at the elementary and because I was there for three years, the green slips, you know, you got those kids that are always good. They don't get many green slips. So, the reward is for those kids with behavior problems, those with study problems. um you reward them when they actually are achieving at something to positively enforce them to keep going at it. You know what I'm saying? >> Yeah. >> You can't always re reward the good, reward the good, reward the good. >> That's an expectation. >> They do get rewarded, but we looked a lot at those that never get rewarded. you try to find something to positively push them. >> Maybe at
054some point we need to have a PBIS presentation like this. You know what I mean? And and I I get coming from I was a middle school principal for 10 years. >> And I think from my perspective is I would have loved to have this opportunity when I was a teacher to be able to collaborate, right? I know some people collaboration. Yeah, they're just sitting there checking their fantasy football and everything else, but they are working and they're collaborating about students and students needs. My personal opinion, I think the mental health of our students have really gone downhill the last so many years, right? For various reasons. That's my take, right? So, I think basically I I think you had said it too that you have the seventh graders and next year's eighth graders you
055have the same kids. It's kind of an an adult that they can identify with. We all have people. We all have kids that we say, "Oh, yeah, that kid really connects with me." But if you can have the same students for two years in a row, hopefully there'll be some connections. Do we need to have something going from ETH to high school? Absolutely. And you mentioned something about that at the beginning. The high school is doing something. Didn't you mention that advisory a little bit more? So, I don't know if Jade if we've answered your question regarding that, but I think it's a um a tool to use to help these students who might not always get the help. They're maybe not, you know, how we've talked about kids need to be recognized all kids.
056>> Yep. >> For sure. >> This is an example >> I think to Oh, sorry. I was just going to say, you know, the thing that probably for me as a parent, it's just because we got two different facilities, we operate so siloed up and what I just make sure that we don't continue to, you know, you're doing what you're doing. We got to collaborate that we got to get you mixed in with the elementary and ele, you know, get that so that transition isn't so abrupt. And we did that, we did that last year and we came together with the sixth grade teachers and talked about like academics and how the kids were doing that we're going to see. We talked about the behaviors, the emotional, whatever. And we sat together with that sixth
057grade um class so we knew coming up what it looked like. And then we went from our eighth grade classes and kind of told our nth grade um teachers of what to expect too. >> And I guess my last thing would be is so now when they go to 8th to 9th, are we just pushing the problem off? You know what I'm saying? You know, the hope isn't, but how do we create a soft transition so it is not so abrupt again? Because sixth to seventh was abrupt. Well, now it isn't so abrupt. Now 8th to 9th, is that going to be the next abrupt? >> I don't know. I I I don't have the answer, but how do we collaborate all what you're doing? There's passion here. And as a parent and as love,
058it's great to see it. So last we did and >> I'm sorry to interrupt you guys but we actually have a vote that we have to do on 3.2 if we can do that while we have a quorum and then we can come back and finish. >> Yeah, Mr. Wixel has to go. >> I will I will stay. Um I do I can Can we stay on this for because I just have >> No, I do I do have to go but >> um so I was I was able I had the opportunity last year to sell here one or two days a week. I got to see this this um you know both sides of the high school level and the middle school and also um have some experience teaching here uh quite a
059few years ago. One of the things one of the questions that I would have is um and and I wish we don't have a science teacher here today right here English ELA. Um >> I speaking to the science teacher last year who's down there um you know we have we have really nice science rooms here but we don't utilize them. >> We did. >> Did you? We he is coming up to do a lab. One thing that he said when I spoke with him personally was, you know, I wish I had a space to do a lab. >> We just did a lab in our science class for a >> this year. No, >> this year. >> Okay, that's my question. That's where we got that moving. >> So, we are we are um implementing
060labs in our middle school by using this room over here. >> Awesome. >> Perfect. >> Okay. >> Thank you guys for >> Yeah. No problem. Um, can we just do this real quick and then I know Mr. Wixo has to go and then if there's anything else for middle >> I just had one thing to add about like the transition stuff. So you guys do a thing and I'll go really quick because I got to get home the kids. >> The reason we have to do this, Madam Chair, with the vote on the election judges, it needs to be done >> 25 days before the election. That's why we can't wait till the end of this month. So thank you. >> Yes. >> Okay, taking a brief pause on 3.1. We're going to move to
0613.2. to approve the election judges for November special election. >> Just read. >> Just starting at the part where it says resolution. >> Okay. So, resolution appointing election judges for April 9th, 2024, school district special election be resolved by the school board of independent school district number 2889, state of Minnesota as follows. The individual the individuals specified on exhibit A attached here two each of whom is qualified to serve as an election judge are hereby appointed as judges of election for the school district special election on November 4th, 2025 to act as such as the polling place listed on set exhibit A. The election judges shall act as clerks of election, count the ballots cast ballots cast and submit the results to the school board for canvas in the manner provided for other school district
062elections. The school district clerk and the clerk's designate are hereby authorized to appoint additional election judges as needed to fill vacancies that may occur on or before election day. The motion for this adoption of the foregoing resolution was duly seconded by >> Oh, I just kept reading. >> That's fine. >> So, make a motion. >> Yeah. Can I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion >> to adopt this resolution. >> I'll make a motion to adopt the resolution. Do I have a second? >> Yes, second. >> Any discussion? Any discussion? >> Good job. >> Let's do a roll call vote. Um Jade, >> I >> Cole, >> Aaron, Sarah, I >> Yep. Great. >> Okay. Well, whereupon said resolution has declared duly passed and adopted. >> Great. So, it's Thank you. Oh, yeah. Hopefully
063you like that little thing. >> Thank you very much. >> We spent hundreds of dollars on those mugs. They're they're steel and everything else. >> Before you go call go out, it's school board appreciation month in September. I want the community members to know this board doesn't get paid. Right. We have meetings, quite a bit of meetings. >> What? >> Well, you're the only one that doesn't. No. Um, listen, I just really appreciate, I'm not saying because you're board members here, but I really appreciate all the time and dedication that you do as board members. We didn't do it September. They used to do uh school appreciation month in February. Moved it to September, but there's a little token of this is from our district from everybody here, the Raider Nation LPA month. So, I
064like it. >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you very much. >> Thanks, Cole. Thanks, Cole. >> Um, okay. middle school individuals, do you have any more questions or comments? >> I just wanted to add one thing about like the ninth grade, like the transition thing. So, I think one thing is when you're at the elementary school, the sixth graders, they're the big kids. They're the one that everyone looks up to and then they come over here and they're the little kids. They're the ones they totally switch their roles and they are suddenly the ones that are looking up to all these kids and it's a crazy transition. Um, so that's just one thing I thought of. think that's why it's really hard because they go from being the big dogs and then now they're way
065down here again and they have to almost work their way up. So I think that's tough. Um but as far as transitioning to ninth grade last year towards the end of the year we did a lot of organizational skills and trying to transition them up to that. We started talking about credits and graduation and you know they're they're used to the switching to classes so that's not a new thing. They're used to new teachers every day. Um but trying to teach them like you know in middle school if you fail like yes you have summer school but that doesn't mean that now you're behind for graduation starting in nth grade how you act and how you perform in class that starts to affect graduation potentially. So we tried to do a lot of that last
066year preparing them for that. Um, >> one thing we always >> one thing we didn't change for this year for fifth grade was to departmentalize so that the kids got used to transitioning. >> So they would be transitioning for math and science or the language arts. They still have their home concept, but we kind of started we knew that that was the struggle for kids when they came over here is just to transition from class to class. So, one thing we worked on last year >> and to implement for this year was the departmentalizing and being able to transfer from class to class for sixth grade to help them transition easier coming over. So, we kind of worked on that a lot last year with our sixth grade group. >> This was the first year
067we didn't have seventh graders crying in the hallway trying to find their classes. >> And years ago, there were a lot of kids crying in the hallways and freaking out and melting down. So, >> yeah. >> And then Lori, help me if I'm wrong. when we talked together too for leadership that was one of the things is kind of just to adopt what we're kind of doing in the middle school because we see that it's working and we talked about doing kind of like a flex day like we do so on certain days we're going to do possibly I don't know when but we're going to adapt like our studios and then what kids need to go to those home room teachers and get more help so more than just advising where it was going
068to be certain times the high school was going to switch their schedule around to help these kids that really need extra extra help. So, I'm not sure if that has started yet because like I said, I'm all in the middle school, but with our leadership team, that's one of the things that we really talked about, too, is just helping these kids um more not just in middle school, but higher up >> to roll off theirs. >> Yeah. >> The ninth grade teachers cuz we need, you know, mixed from PLC's. >> They said this is the best group of ninth graders they've had. >> Yeah. Just today. >> Yeah. Um, but I wanted to talk about the team time that we have here. Elementary, I was part of the wind team. We had eight teachers. Then
069we lost one, you know, budget cuts, didn't replace, but we have so many kids at the elementary that need things. um once they adopted the 95% program and the the UFly and we all got on the same page and we get together as wind teachers and discuss what these kids need but not actually students to come over here and have the team time has been a big big part of my day to know the and and I worked with the seventh eighth and nth graders at the elementary So the transition over here, they know me, I know them. That's been good. And we decided win, they don't want to go to win because win was elementary. That's the power of time change. The providing opportunities with extra resources. I'm working comprehension with them. That's going
070to help them throughout their whole school day and every subject matter that they have. My goal is not to get them to read 175 words a minute because I probably can't read that 175 words a minute. So that's not my goal right now. We are going to teach them what they need to improve everywhere. I >> think one last thing I want to add to give my two cents I guess. uh just coming from other school districts, going from a middle school model in Detroit Lakes going up to Wobin the last six years uh where they really had a a functional uh upper elementary model that sort of danced around trying to be a middle school model but didn't quite hit what you guys are doing here. It takes functional and competent leadership uh to
071make this happen. Um and that's Lori in a in a huge way. I've seen leadership try to be done peacemail and it just does not work. You need somebody that's completely excuse me completely devoted to what's going on with the middle school model to make it function properly and and Lori does that in spades for us and I've only been here a month you know and it's it's amazing. I love it. >> And what you asked about how are we going to change? We have three core teachers and myself that are new this year. >> Yeah. So we have a lot of new young mod with different >> every year we not teachers we're bringing in the middle school models that we have to teach. >> So that's hard too. >> How many teachers are
072in a middle school? >> Seven. >> We had three or four every year. We've had to fill. >> We hire new every year. >> No, just total. >> How many? >> Five. >> Two special teachers. >> Seven. >> Eight. And then we split like I um also have the elective teachers. So art elective teachers and then um the band and choir. >> Erin, is there anything you want to add or ask? >> What does wind stand for? >> What I need? >> Okay. Sorry. >> And he used to you know >> that's a great question. >> Early days of that was just title one. >> Yeah. >> You went to title one reading and math. Then they changed it to win. what I need. So now I'm going to win. It was a more positive
073aspect. Now I think when they're over here now, now we have power time. >> So not to associate it with the elementary because we're not running it the same as the elementary did. >> So the art teachers and >> what was the other one? >> The elective teachers, do they also teach high school or they Okay. So, how >> they do not they are not involved in our um >> time, but they get our notes and see what we're talking. >> All of our students are out with elective teachers. They we keep them informed through our notes or if there's specific things that we need to let them know about um student wise or things like that, then we've had a couple meetings with those teachers and bring them in. >> But the times don't
074match up though, right? >> No. All of our students are in >> all of our students are there. >> So if like the high school is in this time schedule and how do how does that work? How does that is there something >> making a schedule that fits both which is difficult? >> We share high school staff. >> We share electives and choir and then our music and choir also go to elementary. So our middle school schedule runs around what the high school and the elementary do. >> And so that's I mean when we do our schedule stuff, it has to be set by what the two other schools do before we set our schedule. >> Why the schedules vary? >> Yeah. Why Why don't the number like why is it this one ends at
075five after and this one ends at >> Because we don't want our students being in the hall at the same time as the high school students. One of the biggest things they separate in the building just >> the way you should see how many high school students got >> what happens a lot of times a lot of times not necessarily just here but parents don't want their seventh grader walking down the hall with the 12th grader >> or hearing what the 12th grader might be talking about that's >> kind of the premise behind that question >> right am I correct school staff >> and like yes all the core teachers are here But we also have like health and PE which is down there. So they still are going in the hallway sometimes. So we
076try to keep it a little separate. >> Sure. >> And then I think that was one of the positive things the kids said is they liked the hallway like that at their own time. So they felt like it was their own their own space. Well, middle school staff, I really appreciate you coming in and, you know, when we had that conversation. Thank you for your, uh, honesty and transparency regarding that. Um, I know when I taught, I mainly taught seventh and eighth grade, um, social studies actually, and I, uh, would go out and people would say, "What do you do?" I'm a teacher. What What do you teach? History, geography. What grade? Seventh and eighth grade. Oh man, you're crazy. you must be bouncing off the walls. I go, "Yeah, just like seventh and eighth
077graders." So, thank you, middle school staff. Thank you, Mrs. Zick, for uh taking part of this. And you guys, I appreciate your time. >> I would like to say thank you to you for just listening and uh letting us come in and and have a feature and be able to talk to you guys. Um >> we really appreciate that. So, thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> We appreciate you as well >> as a board. I mean, that's what I hope we can portray that we are an open book, >> right? >> And we're in it together to make this thing flow. >> Absolutely. >> Because the ultimate goal is that >> to enrich the lives of our student. >> Correct. Sarah, right? >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you very much. >> Madam Chair,
078may I just say a few more things that was just we don't have to do any action items. I just want to um you know I got to tell you I've been to a lot of extracurricular activities and I just amazed amazed at the students we have in this district. I mean that I'm not saying that because I don't even know if we're on yet or not. >> I have no idea. >> But we see these staff members to be honest with you. I wasn't expecting all of them to show up tonight cuz Mrs. sapoo, I guess, is how you say it. And I talked like three weeks ago, and you know, I haven't I I have nothing to hide. I have an open open door. People can come and see me. And I just
079I think it's a real credit that these staff members came in to support this group. And it's a real credit to Mrs. Zik as well. You know, I I'm just I'm I'm amazed. We've got a lot of work to do, but I'm really amazed at how great the students are here. Um, you know, I was I just want to talk about a few things. I did a video with Mr. Johnson this morning. Um, uh, because I do video announcements every day at at the school and you know, the kids are great. The kids are great in this district. And I go down the halls in Ottabon. I'm walking down the halls. The staff are great. Kids are learning. You know, it's hard being in education today, right? It is because kids Kids are different. Parents
080are different. But I absolutely love the kids here. Last night at volleyball, it was amazing. It was amazing. Right. The football game. Yeah, we didn't win, but it was packed. >> It was absolutely packed. Um, which I absolutely love. And maybe it's cuz it was, you know, whatever homecoming, but I went to the football game and I got I went to the dance. They have a seventh and eighth grade dance first, then a 9th through 12th. It was awesome. They had a potato bar at the same time going on. Yeah, I had a couple potatoes things on it. But I'll tell you what, I I feel like the pride is, at least from my perspective, I feel like the pride is really getting out there. Um, couple other things I want to um myself and
081Sher went to a Minnesota paid leave presentation yesterday uh with a bunch of superintendents. It's a thing that's going to happen on January 1st. Went to that. I want to thank Jade for sitting on the levy meeting with um Daley Layman, the levy person, and Kathy Ericson, the director of finance. Learned quite a bit in the meeting. Want to thank you for attending that. Um, >> you got my voicemail, right? >> Yeah, I did. I'm just back. I should That's okay. I just wanted to make sure you >> No, because the meeting was at that time and you couldn't be there. So, thank you. I should have sent some. >> No, you're fine. >> Uh, Janetta, our business manager, will be here in person on Monday at 10:00 to meet with Sher and I on
082some things. Um, I've been meeting with a number of parents last week. I met with a number of parent and community members. talked about some different things, some positive things and some things that we probably need to do a better job at. Um, one of the things that uh, and I did talk to these parents and tell them I appreciate their uh, input and I will definitely um, get back to them on some of the things that that they're they were talking about. So, we'll leave it at that. Um, had a meeting uh, I was two days ago, three, whatever it was with Mr. Meer, Miss Huners, and Tom Clive. He's in Detroit Lakes. He works with the Rotary Club >> maybe. Oh, I maybe said that before. We're going to talk about possibly building
083a tiny house >> for one of our classes. Um, and they have the money to help us with that. They've reached out to a couple other school districts. I won't say their names. and um I guess we were the only ones that at this point that got back to him and so pretty excited about that. We probably will need somebody some people who've got some construction experience so Cole Wixel will have to help out with that. >> Yeah, his name tag there. >> Yeah, sorry. Just kidding. Um I'm really excited about that and that would be I you know we had a great meeting. It's something that our kids, our students will be able to do hands-on and I'm I'm excited about that. Um, parent communication has been great. Um, this week, last week, homecoming
084was great. Uh, I dressed up like a pirate. I don't know if did you see that? Yeah. >> So, big goofy superintendent was on Facebook apparent. So, uh, that was fun. And I want to give a lot of credit to Susie. This um vote that we have coming up has been a lot of work on Sus's part. She's picked that up amongst other things and I really appreciate that. Last thing, congratulations to Mr. Art Meyer. He was inducted into the Barnesville Wrestling Hall of Fame uh last Friday. So >> nice. >> Does anybody have any questions or comments for me regarding any of this? I was really sad he wasn't here because I brought a pen tonight. >> Did you have cash? >> Two two pins. >> I'll make sure to tell him that. Oh,
085last but not least, seriously, Minnesota School Boards Appreciation Month is in September. Um, seriously, thanks for everything you do. Okay. I mean that. So, thanks. >> We're glad you're here, too. >> Well, thanks. I appreciate that. Thank you. >> All right. Anything else from anyone regarding section three? Uh, section four, succeeding meetings. Regular monthly monthly schoolboard meeting October 27th, 2025, 5:30 p.m. at Lake Park Otaban Elementary School Media Center. >> Madam Chair, we're I I was going to I'm going to try to do something like this every every month, right? You know, where we have a what's going on in our district. At the end of in October, we're gonna have Mr. Scott Masten. >> He's our Lake Agassy regional. >> I just spoke with him. >> Yes, I know. >> Yeah, >> I know.
086I I told him he needed to get out to you. So, I'm going to have him come and talk about Lake Agassy. Remember some of the things that when I started green board members, remember >> if you I just want you to know what's going on, right? They'll talk about special ed and funding and everything else. Again, I'm trying to be transparent in this district. nothing to hide, but I think knowledge is power, >> right? So, he'll be presenting um at the end of this month. Thank you. >> Nice. >> Yeah. >> Sure. >> All right. >> Dylan, on the 27th, we start getting in the playoffs football-wise. And those days get kind of wonky, don't they? >> Yeah, that's a that's a Monday. It should be a Monday night. >> It is. I don't
087know. It should be all right, but >> Well, let me double check because I will not miss a playoff game, >> right? So >> just just cautious on that board. >> Okay. Thank you. >> But just something to be thinking of. >> Susie, can you write that down so we can look at that, please? >> I think Mondays are all right, but I do >> usually they come Tuesdays of the games, but >> it change it changes up in there and I don't remember how it works, but >> I'll check into that, Jay. Thanks. >> Also, let's have it at the 50 yard line. >> You know, we could do that. >> Flexible. So, >> yeah, do that. >> All right. >> Anything else? >> The parka. >> Yeah. >> Be cold. Yeah. >> Is
088that Are they expecting that at the end of the month? You >> never know. >> We could have 90. We could have >> was 32 last night. >> I want to thank the police department here in Lake Park. Chief Brady Burnside and Chief Ben Weidman in Adaban. Met with both of them a number of times. I think they do a great job for our communities and our district. Also want to thank the fire department. I put a video out last week. the Lake Park Fire Department. I don't know. I don't want to leave anybody out. We had a little thing by the football field. Um I was trying to be transparent to let people know we're going to keep the kids inside. I don't want parents upset that the smoke was getting in the kids'
089lungs and everything else. So, thank you for that and the first responders as well. And you're coming here on the October 20th. >> Uh the Monday. The Monday before this meeting. >> Yeah, the 20th. >> Yep. do a little we'll be doing a little bit of training in in the building. >> Um we'll have our packs on. We'll be noisy. >> That's fine. >> So, >> it's kind of one of those things. Uh we're also at the elementary this Friday for the first half of the day. >> Oh, nice. >> So, for fire it's fire prevention week. So, we will be at the elementary school >> um >> letting the bells and whistles go off. That's >> keeps kids from running and hiding when they hear them. >> Perfect. No, I appreciate that. I'm glad
090that the fire department is able to use the buildings and >> Yep. >> you guys can come and use anytime you want. >> Should be fun. >> Uh we have grandparents day next Wednesday in Ottabon Elementary. So, >> I volunteered to come in that day. >> Oh, did you? Perfect. Thank you. Yeah, it's great. It's going to be packed. >> I'm have no doubt. >> Timmy coming in. >> Um I think the email said 9. The grandparents day for grandparents starts at 10:15, but they said the event starts at 9. I mean, I drop our youngest off at the elementary school at 8:15, so I'll probably just >> I don't know, wait out there cuz it doesn't I mean, I go too far away to drive all the way home and come back, but >>
091well, you know, we all live out there. But >> yeah, >> one more thing for upcoming events. November 8th, we have a benefit for our robotics coach's wife. Okay. >> Um, she has a brain tumor. >> Oh, yeah. I know. >> It's getting >> Yeah. >> She's she's able to get surgery on it and have it removed. But that's our robotics coach. >> Yep. I've talked with him and his son. >> Yep. >> I've checked it. >> Good. Yep. So, >> do you have any more? I have not heard about that. Do you have more information on the time or what that entails or what we do? >> Can we wait? Yep. >> Yeah. Why don't we just um Yeah, we can journ. So, >> anything else from anyone? >> No, thank you. >> Okay.
092521 adjourn the meeting. >> Motion to adjourn. >> I don't know how to shut any of this off. >> Yeah, I don't. >> Is this off? No. >> I have no idea.