School Board Meeting - February 17, 2026

001Are you kidding me? as we're going to be. >> She just gave me a message. I think it's like cyanite or something. Take a deep breath. I'm going to hit the gel now. >> Okay. Go ahead. >> You're going to be okay. 199. This regular meeting of the Independent School District 535 school board is called to order at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026 in room 137 of the Edison building. Present at this meeting are school board members, Superintendent Kent Pel, a non- voting exeicio member and assistant school board clerk, Miss Anne Kramer. Miss Kramer, will you please call the role? >> here. here. >> Here. >> The board acknowledges this site and all RPS sites are situated on the ancestral land of the Dakota people and we honor the Dakota nations and the

002sacred land of all indigenous peoples. At this time, we offer the opportunity to say the pledge of allegiance. I alian to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Our next item is the Rochester Public Schools mission, vision, and values. During this agenda item, at every regular meeting, a board member will read our mission, our vision, or one of our six values to emphasize their importance in our work as a district and our decisions as a board. Director Whitehorn, tonight we focus on our fifth value, digging deeper for real world application. We go beyond convention and fostering critical thinking skills, emotional intelligence, and deeper learning for success here in Rochester and beyond. >> Thank you. >> Our

003next item is approval of the agenda. Are there any changes to the agenda? >> Move approval. >> Second. >> It has been moved and seconded. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? The agenda has been approved. The agenda and documents for this meeting are available online at rochesterchools.org. org/sembly. Our next item is comments to the board. It is important for the school board to hear from our stakeholders regarding issues that impact our students, staff, families, and schools. We welcome communication via email, phone call, and here during comments to the board. The purpose of comments to the board is to give community members an opportunity to provide input directly to the school board about issues that fall within our authority. The board and superintendent do not respond directly to the speaker's comments during

004the meeting, but may follow up with the speaker if necessary, if requested and appropriate. Persons who want to make comments to the board must fill out the online form by 5:00 p. p.m. on the Monday before the meeting. The form is available on the RPS website and on the assembly main page. By participating in the public comment period, each speaker agrees to abide by this public comment policy 206 and procedure 206A. Speakers, when your name is called, please come to this table. If you have written materials for the board, please provide them to our assistant schoolboard clerk prior to your remarks and she will distribute them to board members. Choose a microphone to speak into and be seated. Please direct your remarks to the school board. You will have three minutes to speak and the

005timer will be displayed right here in front of me. Please begin your remarks by stating your name. Our first speaker tonight is John Whan. Our next agenda item is item 4.1, information and outreach board member updates. Does any board member have updates from their committee since the last meeting or information to share? Director Marvin. >> Yes, we have some representatives here from student school board and I would like those we have a speaker here from student two speakers here from student school board. I invite you to come and sit here um in front of a microphone and first introduce yourselves. Please tell us your names and your grade not your academic grades but you know what grade you are in school and then um let us know what we need to know about student school

006board. >> Hello my name is >> and my name is Danielle and I'm the co-president of St. branch of student school board and I am a senior and we're here to give the updates of what's going on in student school board so far this year. So at last week's student school board meeting in the Edison building, we welcomed some high school students and adviserss from Zroa, Misepa, a number of neighboring districts sent representatives to our meetings so they can experience how we run our meetings and what issues we are involved with. It gives us a good opportunity to interact with students from other districts and to compare notes about how students voices are incorporated in decision making. We are excited about the work we're doing with the district regarding helping eighth graders make a successful

007transition to 9th grade. We have met with and received feedback from eighth graders across the district regarding three questions. What are you excited about as you enter 9th grade? What concerns do you have? and what questions do you have that the current high school students could talk about you with you? Although there were some unique questions and concerns that came from the different middle schools, for the most part, their fe feedback was pretty universal. At last Tuesday's meeting, we worked on creating panel presentations that will be a part of our visit to the middle schools in March and April. We started with a draft outline for what they would be like and then we made suggestions, which is what we do, about things that should be added or changed. We agreed we wanted eighth graders

008to hear from upper class people who are currently students at the high schools that they're going to be attending. We also shared with them that pretty much every student is at least a little bit nervous before making it to high school and that it's normal. And we know that not everyone is excited about moving to 9th grade, but high school is in the end so much better than middle school. So, we're going to help give more choices. And even though there is a lot more work, there's still a lot of people in the high schools that will help them. And then in our panels, we're going to incorporate the messages our high school principles say are the most important for incoming freshmen. Attendance is important. Show up to the school and go to all of

009your classes because they matter. Grades count. So, just do the work. And if you're struggling, just ask for support from teachers and friends. And then join at least one activity such as a club. There's pretty much something for everyone at the high schools. and being involved will make school more fun and it's a good way to make friends. Thank you for listening. >> Thank you. >> Thanks for thanks for all of your participation in your work. We're really excited about this opportunity that you're bringing to the eighth graders. >> Thank you. >> Are there any other updates? Board members, I want to talk about uh the Mayo Culture Night that um I was able to attend um on Valentine's Day. Um what an event. Um packed auditorium, uh packed uh lunchroom with uh displays from

010uh different cries and cultures all over the world. Uh food that you if you didn't go, you missed it. It was it was really amazing. And um performances, I think I counted 12 different performances by different groups of students um dancing um and doing other presentations about their cultures. And I know Superintendent Pel was there and he will back me up on this. the decibel level of the enthusiastic clapping and screaming in that auditorium of students supporting other students was just off the charts. So, I give a lot of credit to um our staff who support the cultural groups um at Mayo High School. Um, and I know that I I talked to a few of them and a few of the students and the way they empower the students to really run this event

011and organize this event and the way that they've persevered over the past few months and organizing it. Um, so really a lot of credit to them for for putting on a great event and I can't wait to go again next year. Director Marvin. >> And then just briefly uh briefly, what one of the great things about being on the school board is that we do get invited to so many events at individual schools. As uh Director Nathan just said, uh Century High School had a soul food and conversation evening, great food, great conversation. Alton Hills had a winter walk and other schoolboard members have attended both of these um where they got every every kid in the school out walking between uh around the block and about uh seven or eight blocks. The uh SRO's

012were there. Uh there were people there cheering us uh cheering the students on. You know, they could be outside in the winter. It was cold. They walked a good distance and they had so much fun. and I got to be the crossing board guard. >> So, that was fun, too. Um, and then I don't know if you're going to talk about the visit from the representatives from the Senate here, senators. >> Um, also at John Marshall, we had uh senators from state senators come and uh get a tour of John Marshall High School and then also uh listen to a panel of people from the district talk about a number of issues including our financial needs, what was working, what wasn't working. Um, but it was great that they came to to Rochester um to

013our schools to listen from the people who are in the buildings about what the needs were, what's working, and what the funding what funding we need that isn't there at this point. Um, and also for the students at John Marshall to be able to show off their building and they were the experts and uh they showed the uh these representatives from the um from Minneapolis some of the amazing opportunities that kids at John Marshall and at the other schools have. We also had a skip visit to Minsk and I don't know >> you can go ahead and start or director. >> Go ahead. Good. >> I talk too much. Um, but MSYNYNC is our online school and so much about that program is so impressive. And one thing that I think we were all taken

014with was how quickly they were able to accommodate what is that 168 additional students who in uh just recent months decided to switch from uh going to school face toface to doing online education. But they have done an incredible job of accommodating those kids just at a time when they need it the most. >> And it was it the In sync visit was unique because of course we did it in a conference room and we did it virtually by jumping into the the classroom um over Google Google classroom and it was uh we got to see a kindergarten classroom, a second grade classroom, a fifth grade classroom and and a high school classroom and a middle school classroom and we got to see the different techniques. Um there is a fabulous teacher who who really

015does teach all through emojis and um and is the interaction with the class. I mean you could see every student participating they were just communicating in in a different way and they were talking about literature. Um I also um we were invited to attend um one of the class parties for um uh Valentine's Day etc. Um and I jumped into that call and um it was one of our special education classes and it the reason they invite visitors is to help practice social skills and and to practice interaction and um to see the support just like you would in a regular classroom. They uh of each other, of the staff, for the teachers. Um they're just their heads are in little separate boxes. And I really give a lot of credit to our team who

016has brought Menync along and that it really reflects uh delivering instruction at the needs of where our students are. So, we're really glad to have that resource in our district. Director Whitehorn. >> Uh, so I just want to say one, I've just been very proud of, uh, the things that the district has done this month with Black History. Uh, we've had a couple of soul food nights and different things. Um, I've seen a lot of heavy involvement with the Black Student Union. So, that it's a proud moment. And I been in this district for a while, so it's really good to see um, all these children really getting involved. Um, I just have some future events coming up with Black History Month coming to a close. Uh so this Saturday is going to be the

017uh Ebony Nights which is going to be an event that is put on by uh UMR's Black Student Union as well as the NAACP. All students are free. Unfortunately, grown folks, we got to pay $25. They ain't letting us in for free. Um, also, uh, there is also upcoming, uh, they're going to do an H, the Black Student Union with John Marshall is going to be sponsoring a HBCU college tour, uh, for the students to visit Langston Hughes University as well as tour Tulsa, Oklahoma. So, I'm just putting it out there for parents and children that would like to be involved with that. Um, they're doing a great deal of fundraising to make it very affordable for all the students who would like to come. and we'd like to see more trips where our students

018get to experience culture in different places. Um, and I think that's all I got for tonight, but um, I just am very proud of our community and how we have been showing up for one another in spite of the things happening in our nation. And I just want to give a big shout out to Minnesota as a whole that, uh, we're coming together and doing things the right way. And I think we've made a good representation of what our nation should look like. >> Board members, any other reports? Great. Thank you very much. Our next items are our consent agenda items. Items 5.1 through 5.8. Would any board member like any item removed from the consent agenda for separate consideration? >> Approval. Second. It has been moved and seconded. Um all those in favor say

019I. >> I. I. Opposed. The consent agenda has been approved. We'll move on to our first monitoring item, the American Indian parent advisory committee annual vote on concurrence. Uh this is an information item. Um our usual procedure for this is to uh receive the letter uh from our APAC committee and then the board works to develop a response and we have that on the agenda for um a meeting in March and then uh to vote on it in April. Superintendent. >> Thank you, Chair Nathan. board members. I see our um fearless leaders uh our coordinator of American Indian and education um Kathy Capella and our Native American naan Joe Robbins coming up. Um I know we have Mr. Steer who's going to be representing APAC and then of course Dr. Baines coming in. Um and

020so we welcome you all up. Please uh take a seat, find a mic, and we look forward to hearing uh your conclusions of this year and then look forward to responding them and working together to improve in the year ahead. >> That's awesome. Thank you for being here. So before we get started, I just want to say So I just said uh hello relatives. My I introduced myself with my Dakota name which is Shunka. I said my Wishu name. My English name is David. I have uh I have Hunga family, adopted family from Prairie Island Indian community and their name is the Black Horse Camp. And so I kind of was put into this role semi- begrudgingly because no one else stepped forward. Um and yet it's a it's a perfect role. Uh at the

021same time um many of you may not know that this program as a whole Indian education goes all the way back beyond treaty rights. At one point in time, pre-olonization, Indian education meant you were taught by your tribe how to live, how to be a good relative, how to have compassion, basic survival skills, things like that. Colonization then came right which led to things like forced religion um boarding school error English only. We're now in a time of revital revitalization of that um with this opportunity to grow and to evolve as many of you have been a part of and I want to, you know, we'll get into the thank yous in here too, but I want to say thank you to the growth that has been, but there's a long a long time coming

022still. Um, programs that need to to shift from a a colonial mindset back to a tribal mindset when we start thinking about how to develop curriculum and implement it to teach Dakota language and culture. There's stuff in here that says that and we'll read that. But there's things that I wanted to say as well because there's words. I thought about this a lot. You know, I grew up I learned Spanish in high school and it's a it's a it's a romance language, right? It's it's very simple. These words mean this. Dakota isn't like that. Now, there are some like when you say how, that's hello. Women say huh with a almost like a n but it's not there. But there's words that have stories when you talk about the moon. H we son ha it's

023talking about like a woman and there's a whole story about the moon and where the moon got its name from. That's a part of the language and that's a part of the culture. And it's a tremendous responsibility as Apac to come here and represent all of our American Indian parents, all of our American Indian students and faculty and staff because we have to try as leaders to think about the voices of the people in the next generations to come, not think about what best serves our family or our individuals. So before I read this letter, I'm going to think about what my uncle Jerry taught me and what his brothers, Uncle Art, Dexi Sunskan, Natan from Prairie Island, and also a man Dexi Pate, Uncle Floyd out from Pine Ridge. And I'm going to not

024put this thing strapped back on, but I'm going to stand up and sing a song real quick. And that song says with difficult ironically it says with difficulties I stand and I send a voice to the four directions. I do this so that the people may live. Thank you, dear members of the Rochester Public School Board. We, the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee, APAC of Rochester Public Schools, RPS, serve in an advisory role to the district in accordance with the Minnesota Department of Education Indian Education Statutes Section 144D 78 and the United States Department of Education's title six or four. I was never good at Roman numerals. Math was not my strong suit. Environmental major in the uh in uh Indian education formula grant program. This letter serves as our annual submission of compliance to

025meet state requirements. We acknowledge and coordinate appreciate the support of Rochester public schools has provided including the work of our American Indian coordinator and the.5 FTE indigenous liaison. We also recognize progress such as the elder and residents position and the ongoing development of the Dakota culture and language course. We understand that creating an inclusive and equitable education environment is a long-term continuous process. Annual concurrence or compliance is Apac's opportunity to contribute to that process. It is not a negative reflection on the district, but a tool for relationship building and program growth for native students. We honor our central and south American indigenous relatives during this difficult time along with all first and second generation immigrant families in our community including our Somali students and families. Many are worried about their loved ones safety and current

026federal immigration actions have deep have created deep anxiety. Our stance is clear. Our school remains safe havens for every student regardless of background or immigration status. Indigenous communities have always supported relatives across the sexuality and gender spectrum. We know LGBTQ and twospirit students are concerned for their safety as well and we want to them to know that they are seen and valued. We appreciate the district's commitment to equity and view all RPS students as relatives. Our native advocates are concerned about the future of their programs and as a committee we stand with all of our relatives and ask RPS to do the same. We have reviewed and discussed the district's progress on three previously identified areas. As a result, the members of Apex submit a letter of non-concurrence to the Rochester public school district on

027this day and it is not the 10th. It is the what? >> 17th. 17th uh February 2026. In compliance with guidelines set forth by the Minnesota Department of Education, MDE, and the Office of American Indian Education, we submit these recommendations. Continue advancing recommendations from past and current school years to sustain momentum in support of indigenous students, families, and staff across Rochester public schools. Item one, staffing, recruitment, and representation commitments. uh point American Indian recruitment and retention to attend American Indian hiring events and maintain communication with tribal colleges, universities and local education departments uh Prairie Island, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Shakipi to support hiring and retention of American Indian staff. collaborate with the American Indian American Indian education coordinator and liaison to create a pathway for American Indian educators through existing grow your own and error to

028teachers programs. Conduct exit interviews with American Indian staff who resign to strengthen the retention process. Next point of sustainable staffing for Dakota language and culture. continue an act an active intentional search for highly qualified Dakota language and culture teachers prioritizing hiring indigenous educators or those with deep long-standing relationships within native communities ensure long long-term sustainability, authenticity and academic rigor of Dakota language programming across Rochester public schools. APAC hiring or APAC representation in hiring include APAC members on interview committees for indigenous specific roles and ensuring candidates demonstrate cultural humility and authentic community connections in addition to meeting academic and professional standards. Point two, with only 1.5 FTE serving more than 230 students across 27 school buildings, the American Indian Education Program is significantly overextended. This staffing level cannot meet the complex needs of our students or

029provide educators with the essential cultural support. To ensure families receive the ad advocacy they deserve, especially around IEPs, 504 plans, and mental health, we request expanding the part-time liaison position to a full-time 1.0 FTE role with the potential to transition into an indigenous social worker position. This shift would move the program from basic coordination toward meaningful social emotional support. We also urge the district to commit to long-term increased funding that allows the department to grow intentionally and sustainably, ensuring staffing levels remain proportional to student needs and that systemic support for native students is permanently a priority. Point three, provide approved cultural appropriate professional development for all staff on indigenous ways of learning and being and raise expectations for faculty to understand indigenous culture, historical trauma, and the importance of teaching accurate indigenous history. Bear with

030me. This is the most reading I've done since I broke this in December. This is the most amount of work I've done literally in the last two months. Point four, support and provide opportunities for teachers, staff working directly with indigenous students, APAC members, and students to attend relevant educational conferences such as the Dakota and Anosha language symposium, MIAM, and learning from place at Pedote. Point five. Elders hold a sacred and irreplaceable role in our community as keepers of oral history, traditional knowledge, and ancestral wisdom. Teachings that cannot be replicated in a standard classroom. Their presence offers students a vital sense of belonging and cultural grounding that supports both academic success and personal identity. To honor this, the district must continue to support and expand the elder and residents program. This program is not an add-on

031but a necess a necessary bridge between generations ensuring our children remain connected to their heritage throughout their educational journey. Six, continue holding regular meetings between schoolboard members and APAC to build maintain strong positive relationships. In addition to the initiatives carried over from last year, we also recommend set point 7 transitions and support for indigenous student success support for incoming indigenous students by providing immediate, intentional, and culturally specific transition planning for indigenous students and families entering the district district with liaison involved throughout the process. a formalized bridge program for sixth and ninth grade transitions. Developing and implementing structured transition supports at key grade levels to strengthen retention, emotional well-being, and cultural continuity. These supports may include relational continuity, warm handoffs facilitated by the American Indian coordinator and liaison to introduce students and families to new counselors

032and administrators before the school year begins. cultural cohort building, orientation events for indigenous students to build peer connections and a sense of belonging before entering a new school environment, academic and cultural mapping, reviewing of each student's progress in Dakota language and culture courses to ensure accurate placement and alignment within their cultural learning goals, family navigation sessions, guidance for families entering sixth and nth grade on school expectations, extracurricular opportunities, and continued involvement. velment within APAC at the secondary level. Point eight, collaborative oversight of curriculum and professional de development. To ensure the highest standards of cultural accuracy, the district will partner with APAC to review and approve all curriculum and professional development related to native language and culture. This work will also occur in close collaboration with and require approval from the Prairie Island Indian Community. This

033process ensures that all materials are historically accurate, linguistically sound, and respectful of the Dakota Oate on whose ancestral lands Rochester public schools resides. Point nine, formal partnership. The district will maintain a formal partnership with Prairie Island Indian Community in implementing the Dakota Language and Culture Program. This includes regular consultation with tribal leadership and tribal education department to ensure the district initiatives align with the trib's vision for language revitalization and culture preservation. We recognize the Prairie Island Indian community as the leading authority on Dakota heritage and will defer to their guidance on cultural protocol and traditional knowledge. We appreciate your collective continued support in helping our American Indian students and staff reach their fullest potential. American Indian Education strengthens learning for all students and staff across Rochester public schools. Respectfully submitted. American Indian parent advisory or

034education advisory committee. >> Thank you board members. Any questions or things you'd like clarified? We're we are going to be working on a letter in response. >> Dr. Bar, >> uh just two comments. Um, first of all, thank you for going beyond uh the historical reading of the letter of concurrence or non-concurrence, if you will, and um introducing um cultural awareness opportunity. I think the song was very important and uh reminds us reminded me of the importance of of uh this annual review. Uh, additionally, um, your comment in regards to, um, the acknowledgement of of not just um indigenous uh, families and students, but going well beyond that. Uh, acknowledging uh, the immigrants as well and and others who uh, as you have shared, we are all part of the same uh family, if you

035will, my words there. But uh thank you for having done so because sometimes we uh uh may simply view this as uh a one-way uh presentation uh and then uh your the AP pack presenting and our responding would thank you for giving us the opportunity for me the opportunity to uh see it as being much more than that tonight. Thank you that just to kind of follow up from what you shared and build on that that one man that I mentioned out from Pine Ridge Dshi Pate Ole that's his name means feeds the feeds the feeds the buffalo feeds the people one of the things he used to share with people is like if you don't know what to do to help people feed the people >> that didn't mean just feed the Indian people

036um he has a book little tiny book some of it's really easy to read other not so much um But in it, he speaks about the medicine wheel that everybody's familiar with. Those four directions and the four colors. And he says that there's those four directions and four colors, black, red, white, and yellow. They make up not only the four directions on the medicine wheel, but the four nations that represent this planet. There's no coincidence that that medicine wheel for the Lakota Oate and the Dakota people literally have the four nations. And so when we think about that, that those four nations also taught that those four nations also had responsibility. It's where it gets a little bit more into the traditional spirituality of things. Each nation being responsible for particular element that and not

037only that that each nation has failed with that including the indigenous people taking care of what they were supposed to take care of. But he shares that those four that's why it's important to view that medicine wheel in those four nations. There's times where ceremony and spirituality were kept only to indigenous people especially since the American Indian Freedom of Religion Act didn't come around until 1978 signed under Jimmy Carter. It was illegal to pray. It was illegal to sing like I did. That song was a Sundance song. I would have been put in jail for singing that. It would have been illegal back in the day for me to come around and offer smudge to all of you. But men like Uncle Floyd, men like Grandpa Amos Owen over from Prairie Island Indian Community alongside

038his son Ray Owen, Uncle Ray and Dexi Art Owen ran ceremony and allowed those four nations to attend full well knowing that it takes that medicine wheel and that togetherness of the community. So we knew we needed to speak to that with everything that's going on because if I say from Uncle Ray and his teachings, if we say Matakuas in all my relations, it doesn't just mean those sitting at this table. It doesn't just mean the indigenous relatives. It means all of my relations, including the ones that we struggle with. So I want to thank you for the acknowledgement of that as well. Director Whitehorn, >> I just want to say I appreciate the thorowness um of all of the items that you brought up. I would just like to say I would like to

039also see some of your thought process and ideas on implementation of some of your ideas. So, uh like number seven, you built that out pretty extensively with what that would look like. Um, and as you said, just not for your community, but I think some of these things could be used more district-wide for a lot of other uh communities and of c of color or um of different backgrounds. So, I guess I I love the thought process. Um, and I think these are things that a lot of uh minority communities or disenfranchised communities think of. Um, but I'd be interested to see more of like what seven is. what does that actually look like in in an implemented form? If that makes sense what I'm saying. Um I see the thought process, but it feels

040like it stopped a little bit. So I'd just like to see what that what some of the um steps look like implemented in the school. I mean kind of if we got if that was something that the district was interested in pursuing with us which I would love to think so it would take the collaboration of you know when you start thinking about what it takes to implement curriculum at a school level you're also implementing policy now so I'm assuming that not only coordinate with our two the one and the.5 FTE but also with will as well also within the schools because you're talking about collaboration and policy with counselors um you know it's going to take some time to implement that. This isn't something that should be done real quick. Nothing should be done

041real quick, right? Because it's creating a bridge program. You know, you're talking about getting the advice from these people at the table, APAC and the the staff and with Will to try and actually see what the students need and how and coordinating with all of the schools in which those sixth and ninth graders attend is going to take it's going to take some time, right? It's beyond I I worked I worked for some time at uh Minneapolis public schools Indian education as a school success program coordinator and we actually did that and it wasn't within our AP pack to do it wasn't within our concurrency and AP pack as Indian ed to do that. Um but it's something that we did and we took that time but we also had a bigger staff. Um, we

042had the ability. Um, we had at least three coordinators at one point in time. We had two social workers, we had a director, we had a secretary, we had high school, we had two high school coordinators that their whole job was to just solely focus on the high school. And right now, we're asking a 1.5 FTE basically to do all of that. to coordinate with our elementary, to coordinate with our middle school, to coordinate with our high school, to coordinate the social emotional learning support, to also because we had sped, we had sped to help as well through our social work program advocating for our IEPs and 504 plans. So in answer to your kind of question and threshing it out, I don't know what it would look like to ask people who are already

043overextended already just doing their basic job to help develop this. It would mean coord a lot of coordinating at levels above their head where they'd be pulled into meetings to help support and advocate on behalf of Apac to try and show and then the coordination at the district level within faculty who are maybe used to developing policies like this or if there's never been maybe actually reaching out to other school districts and seeing what they've already created, how they've created it and how we can bring to Rochester. >> Just just clarify. I didn't mean to get that deep. >> Um but >> but I I >> MAYBE I SHOULD MAYBE I SHOULD CLARIFY. Um but what I would say the reason why I asked that is as far as alignment with things that we are

044doing at RPS. You know, sometimes we have ideas and there are things that are in motion. Um because I I'm I'm I'm a work smarter not harder individual. So with all of the great thoughts, are there things that are in alignment with things that we, you know, already anticipating roll out on that we can, you know, expand upon? That's what I was thinking when I was thinking what does it look like to you. Um, just thinking of an idea. You you went way down over over to the >> I think the superintendent might have something to add to that. >> Well, yeah, just Yes. Um, and first of all, thank you for highlighting uh the the work you experienced in Minneapolis. I worked in previous lives closely with both Kathy Deon Wilkkey and Danielle Grant

045when they were there. So I have a sense of what it can look like when you are resourced differently. Great. >> Um but director Whitehorn to your point um interestingly board members at our next meeting will receive the um recommendations of our three working groups for the next strategic plan. And when I got the APAC letter, I uh was excited and surprised to note that transitions was one of your major recommendations. And that is a major recommendation of all three working groups coming out of our strategic plan. And so there's a lot of alignment happening there. um that I think really sets us up for something that to director Whitehorn's point really is systematic and leverages um the leaders of our work for native students but integrates into into a larger continuum where we're really

046thinking hard about those handoffs from grades and schools. Director, >> I wanted to speak um to your recommendation number six primarily because um I am the newly appointed by chair Nathan liaison with your committee and I was appointed to that last fall. I was apprehensive about joining in that time frame because I knew you were already working on this and I didn't want to disrupt this important process without having those relationships built first. So, I am looking forward to now jumping in and this gives me a really good um roadmap to know what it is that you're working on and hopefully can help um make that connection between the district and the school board and the committee uh so that we can further these things along that if there's things to bring back and forth

047I am happy to be that person. >> Looking forward to it. >> Director Workman. So, in a number of years on the board, um, I've had the opportunity to review a number of these these letters from from Apac, and as you said, this is a tool for building relationships and moving forward. So, looking back, I see that we have made a tremendous amount of progress, but I anticipate that this is always a work in progress and there's never an end because we can always be better. We can always do better. for each other and for our kids. So, I really appreciate your bringing this to us uh tonight. Thank you. >> Appreciate those words because yeah, like the non concurrence doesn't mean like a failure. It means that work to be done. And there's always

048progress, not perfection, right? We're always going to be able to improve. We're always going to be able to grow. And because let's face it, we can't go back to pre-colonial times at this point. Um but all we can do is grow off of that. and thrive for that revitalization aspect of things. And that at the district level is going to take a lot of collaboration between the staff with Will, Apac, our families getting involved as well and speaking that voice of what they need. And you know it, you know, it might mean occasionally pushing back and knowing that if that push back comes from Apac or that push back comes from Prairie Island, it's not coming in a malicious way. It's becoming because like what I said in the beginning like there's times where young

049men are taught that they have to stake themselves into the ground. I got to witness that when I witnessed my at my brother's funeral not two weeks ago where they made sash warriors of 12 men ranging from young boys like high school age all the way up to middle age and older. And they told them what importance it meant to be a sash warrior. And they had that literal sash with a stake that was carved out tied with a rope. They told those young men, "This isn't just a symbolism. At some point in time, you're going to have to stake this into the ground and you're going to have to stand firm and you're going to have to be there until whatever comes." Back in the day, that meant if it was a battle, they

050wouldn't move from that spot. And they were telling the enemy, "Right here, I'm standing until the end." And there were only three ways that they could move about. If another sash warrior came and took their stake out, they were free to go. If the battle was won, they could remove it themselves. And if they fell, another one would remove it, take care of their and do their doings. And so when we talk about language and culture and professional development and certain things being taught, there may be times where Prairie Island Indian community has strong feelings about what should be done. There may be time that APAC members have strong feelings on the way things need to be approached. And that's not to be it's hard to it's hard to come about it. always in a

051professional way because at some point in time you're just like even I can speak for myself. I've been there already in talking about the Dakota language and culture program being staffed by non- indigenous people that have no knowledge of our language and culture. And I've gotten aggressive so much so that my wife and my mother-in-law have gotten mad at me after meetings. So much so that my marriage was in jeopardy because I literally was like, "No, this is not the way." And it was even firmer than that. And that's hard because I'm not from Prairie Island. When I say and I say I'm hung, I am adopted. Uncle Art, Uncle Jerry explains that there's two ways to be hung. You can do the ceremony where I literally feed you something to drink and something to

052eat and vice versa. And if we were going to become brothers in front of everybody, you would do that and somebody would lead that. Or you could go really old school where I could just call you brother all the time. And then when you finally wanted to actually acknowledge it, you could call me brother back or uncle or nephew and vice versa. And Dexi Art Owen was that man for me. He called me nephew and I called him uncle. Same with uncle Jerry dearly. He called me uncle or called me nephew, I called him uncle. Right. And so it's hard because with blonde hair and blue eyes and more European descent than any native descent that I may have inside of me, I still have my commitment to that way of life because as my

053late quote unquote used to say, there were 38 men that hung on that scaffold back in Mano in 1862. Two of them were not full-blooded. One of their names was Yesa, which translates to half breed, but actually translates to translators because half breeds were translators because they could speak both Indian and English. And the other was na. He was a little white. That name literally means little white man. And he was a French fur trader that gave up that way of life and lived with the Dakota 38 or Dakota people. And at that time in Mano when every other 37 other men stood on that scaffold, the one that could have easily had the way out was because he could have said, "Hey, they kidnapped me. I'm out." And instead he was like, "No, I

054am Dakota." And so it's hard when I see certain things being done and thinking about men that I could have pulled in, but men that are no longer here with us that could have had a say and could have sat at this school board and helped read this better than I could have ever done it. But because of them, I sit here today and I'm grateful for that. And I think every year when we have this presentation, um, I'm compelled to thank the members, the especially the parent and family members, the APAC, our staff who make the APAC happen and coordinate and work. Um, you know, you were doing continuous improvement with us before we invented this school continuous improvement process. And as I've said every time you come here, you're a great example of

055how we can get our parents and families feedback and direction for what will help um our students be successful. You know, Dr. Workman talked about Director White talked about how detailed this was. I appreciate all the learning that you do to know what it is that we're doing and to know what it is that the students need. and um I look forward to putting together our response and continuing to work with with all of you. We appreciate you. Thank you. >> Thank you. I think you win. >> We're very familiar. >> That's impressive. >> That is very impressive. Our next monitoring item is the project momentum update. Superintendent Pel. >> Thank you, Chair Nathan. Let me um ask uh our colleagues who are going to be doing this presentation to come on up um and

056join us and then we'll do some introductions up here up here at the table. Do we have enough seats? Okay. So board members, um as you well know in our um strategic plan that we are finishing this year, even as we're designing the new one that I just mentioned, we've had quite a number of efforts underway to increase the number of our staff who can meet critical needs in our school district. We have had efforts to um increase the number of our staff who earn lensure in special education in order to serve students with disabilities. Uh we've had uh efforts to increase staff who are able to provide mental health with clinical social work. We've had efforts to increase our staff who are from backgrounds that uh are culturally, racially, and ethnically similar to our

057students. Um and then we've had an effort to uh increase the number of our staff who can help meet the um multilingual and educational and developmental needs of our students um uh in an area that we know is of critical importance to um students growing up in families uh whose first language is not English. Um and Project Momentum came along with um really extraordinary leadership and a great response from our staff. Um it's really truly been a model I think community partnership in terms of leadership uh from within our system but leadership also from community partners. And so as I was thinking about um the board agenda this winter, I thought this would be a really um appropriate positive point of progress the kind of the type of which I hope we can do more

058of through our next strategic plan. So with that, let me just invite our colleagues to maybe introduce each of you and then we will jump into this uh presentation about what I think is a truly innovative and accomplished model that um ought to be not only sustained here but replicated elsewhere. >> Madam Chair, uh Superintendent Pel, schoolboard members and cabinet members, thank you for having us. It's a pleasure to be here today. Um Natalyia Benjamin, director of multilingual learning. And I'll let everybody introduce themselves. Cassidy Harmon, early childhood special education teacher. >> Margarita Roas, um, Dakota ML teacher from Project Momentum. >> Um, before we get started, I I know our AP pack members have left, but I want to just thank them for the comments they made. And as we talk about the need

059to have learning environments that are inclusive of diverse languages and cultures who reflect our student body and our communities um that we stand in solidarity with them and I think what we'll talk about today actually it's an example of the things we can do to make sure that our classrooms reflect um culturally linguistically responsive environments. All right. So we'll talk a little bit about what project momentum is and then we'll go a little bit more in depth in our partnership with them and then some future possibilities. >> So about project momentum, what is um project momentum? Our goal we're initiative locally funded in part by federal grants but housed in Rochester, Minnesota at the Southeast Service Cooperative. Our goal is to provide um and expand e access or ESL access for our students across the

060state and the country. We do that by um different means that we will see in a minute and it helps district meet the evolving need of both multilingual learners and policy requirements. So things that we do to achieve our goals of enhancing and improving the educational pathway of multilingual learners is we have comprehensive professional development. We have CU courses that range from two hours to four hours about 20 of them all offered online as synchronous developed by u experts in the field not just a few people but we outsource our experts from universities across the country PhDs in the University of Minnesota University of Michigan and those are easily accessible you just go online register start taking the course um there as a course especially for early childhood, there's one for ESPs, um there's ones

061on culturally responsive communication with parents, family engagement, and all the topics that would involve working with multilingual learners in our schools. Our biggest chunk um and the one that Rochester public schools has been most involved with and that we're bringing up today is a lensure pathway. We are um state approved licensing um program. So that means is whether you take your licensing course for ESL at a university or with us, the outcome is the same license, exactly the same license. The big difference is that we are nimble and we are able to offer it a synchronously. Um and depending on the timing, we have been able to offer for free like we have with public with Rochester public schools. uh it is facilitated again by experts in the field and it brings opportunities not only

062for the teachers who are taking the course or taking the program but also other teachers in the district who were able to jump into positions of leadership with this. We also have um the next slide sorry evidence-based resources. We have a resource library that it keeps on growing and growing with um easily adaptable materials that teachers can use in the classroom. We have, for example, a multilingual coordinator handbook that multilingual coordinators can apply to their schools. We have a family engagement manual that is about 60 pages long and translated into 10 different languages. So, schools can again adapt them to fit their needs. So we can move family engagement from beyond just like the cultural night and events like that. Um we have national national reach and funding. Our funding is partly provided by a

063national uh grant from the department of ed. And we have partnership with uh departments of state education in Michigan, Hawaii and Colorado. So we have participants in our CU courses from about 32 states right now. Um yes and then uh we in our partnership with Rochester public schools the case of trace lensure pathway it is um we have two wonderful examples of that cohort that we just uh did. So I wanted to just uh bring up some numbers of the outcomes of having you guys as a cohort in in our in our in our district. So after completing the first cohort is a year-long program, 19 teachers received the KSL ESL language additional license recommendation. Participating educators in this cohort received a stipend directly supporting district staff as they engaged in advanced professional learning. Cumulatively,

064these educators completing over 1500 hours of practicum directly in the classroom. Here, RPS educators going through our program showed an average of 8.7 growth point in teacher dispositions, 74% increase in confidence teaching language, 84% increase in confidence designing lessons for multilingual learners, and 87% increase in confidence supporting linguistically and culturally diverse students. So, that's a huge jump, guys. Um, another thing that we do, we propose in the partnership that we accomplish is teacher leadership. As part of this work, 13 educators from the district served in compensated roles, supporting candidates as supervisors, cooperating teachers and instructors, therefore strengthening local capacity and honoring education leadership. We also have a partnership in our portfolio pathway. Right now we have one teacher going through the portfolio process that Natalie is going to explain a little bit more what the

065portfolio process means. >> I think we're gonna jump to that right now. >> Okay, you're gonna jump through that right now. Perfect. >> Um so really briefly what the lensure pathways are. Um if you're not familiar with this, Minnesota has four tiers of lensure with our tier three and our tier four teachers, those who have gone through the teacher preparation program. uh tier 2 teachers usually have a bachelor's degree um and a master's or some sort of uh or are enrolled in the teacher preparation program. And so um Project Momentum really supports our tier three and tier four teachers and adding a license uh in K12 ESL, which is one of the biggest shortage areas in Minnesota. Um and so I'm I wanted to share quickly what that means for us. So of the teachers

066that completed this program, four teachers were already teaching with us in our multilingual learning department and out of field permissions. And so they have been able to secure their license, which means uh during the staffing cycles, they have now a permanent position and we don't have to repost those positions yeartoear. Um, we also had five special education teachers, six general education teachers, and several district-wide staff that participated in the program, which supports uh linguistic supports within the classroom in that tier one instruction as well as supports to our teachers um because of our uh district-wide staff. Um, one benefit for our teachers is that, uh, you guys approved the board credits for them last year. And so they're able to move that lane in advancements because of the literally hundreds of hours that they spent,

067uh, in this year for this program. And so we want to touch on the teacher impact. And so we have two amazing teachers. One who has taught for 13 years and been in the district for 16 years. And another one who is this is her second year as a teacher. And so we have kind of like both ends of the spectrum. So, I'd love for them to share a little bit about their experience. >> Okay. Um, uh, again, my name is Cassidy Harmon. I'm an early childhood special education or ECSE teacher. Um, I recently completed my ESL lensure and just wanted to share how it strengthens the support that we provide in my department to our multilingual students. Um, in ECSE, we're often the very first point of contact families have with our district and

068we as we serve children from birth until age seven. However, we do not have dedicated ESL staff within our department. So, completing this program has helped me better understand how to support multilingual students and families in meaningful practical ways. The lure directly impacts how I approach special education evaluations and IEPs, especially given the over representation of multilingual learners in special education. It has strengthened my ability to more thoughtfully and accurately distinguish between language acquisition and a potential disability. It has also improved my lesson planning, data collection, and IEP communication. Additionally, it enhances collaboration with kindergarten teachers and case managers as we support students transitioning into elementary settings. My practicum experiences um in middle and high school uh provided valuable perspective and very different perspective than ECSE um on where our students are headed and um

069where my students are going and it allowed me to build connections across those buildings. Um, we also have uh readaloud companions that are created and I'm helping to create some of those through Project Momentum. They pair with books about language and identity and include simple activities that build skills while helping students see their language and cultures as strengths. In the current climate, many multilingual families are navigating fear and uncertainty. It is more important than ever that we build trust, communicate clearly, and ensure families know that school is safe and it supportive place for their children. Um, I'm grateful to the Project Momentum staff. It has been um the most wonderful, most supportive program that I've been a part of through my undergrad, associates degree, master's degree. It's been truly wonderful. Um and to all of

070you, thank you for your time. Um and thank you for your continued support of professional development, professional learning that directly benefits our students and our families. >> Thank you. Sorry, I'm going to give you 20 seconds. You're >> okay. Um, as a teacher who just came into this field, it was kind of stressful going back to school. But after being in there for a couple weeks, I noticed that a lot of the um staff from Project Momentum was very supportive. It was able to let me keep my job. >> It was able I was one of the four that was able to get their ESL license. Um, so Even though I went for elementary education, I was able to thankfully stay with ML students and it was the greatest thing ever. Um, just the teachers

071overall were very uh very helpful and very positive. Pushed me through it even through those hard times and I'm very grateful for all of you guys. And for you guys, >> I take a couple minutes to run through the rest of the slides. >> We're not gonna kick you out. We we have a couple of quotes that really exemplify what these two wonderful teachers uh have shared. So I think I may do you want to read them quickly >> or you can we can skip them and go to Yeah. >> This is going to be better than >> um but as you read the feedback from staff that have participated this is the message the program has been life-changing and it has really impacted how they um serve the students in their classrooms. Um we

072the difference with the portfolio pathway is that we have teachers who have this expertise either through experience or other training. Uh outside of Minnesota, there are teachers who receive an ESL endorsement uh or maybe have a master's in ESL, but that doesn't transfer to a license in Minnesota. And so being supported through that process to show their expertise um is is a great way to move them into that permanent position in our department. Um, I'll let you touch on this one. >> We've also been able to co um collaborate and cooperate with professional development. Last year, we did a training for ESPs and for educators in general about family engagement with multilingual learners. And just yesterday, we did another three-hour training on culturally responsive multilingual and family engagement with multilingual learners. Um, 60 people. We

073were sold out right away within a day. Uh, it was great experience. We got feedback. Part of the feedback that we received yesterday, they described it as impactful, thoughtprovoking, important, and informative. Um, it's it's something that we look forward to bringing to Rochester public schools for the way it is received and appreciated. >> Um, and through all this really teacher leadership is important. This program does not work without our current staff that are in our schools. And so, um, actually, we've got several that have presented. This is Danielle and Allison that are uh our instructional facilitators for elementary presenting at cradle to career. Uh others have presented a led through through a panel teacher panel. One of our teachers did. Uh but it really enhances what our teachers are doing in the classroom. So they

074they get to partner with somebody that's in the classroom as a cooperating teacher. Some of them also become their supervisory teachers. So they take that role that a university professor would take in observations and having those conversations with their peers. And we also have a teacher who has become a teacher educator and and meets the requirements to actually teach some of the courses that teachers have done. So it really takes the whole department and the the um the human um power that our department has to support each other and grow in their leadership as well. And so when we think of future processibilities um we are also working with project momentum to design a program evaluation for the ML department. Um there are current curriculum overlays that support tier one instruction in general education. So

075those are plans that we have for next year. And then when thinking of our teachers like in Spanish immersion for example that could go through this process and have a cohort so that EL services are embedded through our program rather than having our teachers uh pull out students because they don't speak Spanish. And so it's it's too hard to do co-eing in that programming. um and then future cohorts of gen ed teachers that can gain the expertise as our as Maggie and Cassidy have shared tonight. That's what we have to share tonight. Uh what questions do you have for us? >> Go ahead. >> Um first of all, thank you. Um I mentioned that we've had quite a few efforts uh to develop educators. I think the numbers you've achieved are very uh strikingly successful

076and I think there's many reasons the quality of the programming and things but I think one thing that was really ingenious was that you focused on teachers who are already in the classroom with a license in one area a lot of efforts which are wonderful aspirationally but they want to start for instance with someone who's an education support professional help them go to college that's important we're actually on the cusp of a new effort to try that too but that's a very heavy lift so I'm wondering for both of you what was the motivation? You talked about the part, but why did you do it? Because um part of my hypothesis is that project momentum with the support of Natalia and the department, which wasn't easy, but it was possible and that if we're going

077to really do this, we have to actually design these strategies that are, you know, demanding and rigorous, but possible. And so that partly started with people who were already in the classroom. So if you could say a little bit about why and given all that you're already doing especially your second year of teaching because like I >> um why did you decide to do it? What was what motivated you to say yes? >> Um one thing that motivated me was um so since I was on a variance I wanted I experienced my first couple months without my license and being with ML students was my motivation. I wanted to keep helping them as much as possible. I wanted to advocate for them because I could relate to them. >> I wasn't able to have the

078teachers that I wanted when I was growing up. So, I wanted to motivate them and keep going that which meant that I needed to keep learning and knowing more about their backgrounds. And it was the students and then staff around Dakota, Natalia, Pia, everybody from Project Momentum were always there motivating me to keep going. I I think um somewhat similar just in um I wanted to learn and and grow um continue uh my own education and my own personal growth, but also just working with the families and students I work with. Um I just wanted to be able to better better better be a better teacher. And I have um one of my closest friends is an a longtime ESL teacher here in the district and she um still loves her job every day and

079talks about it so highly that I just um she she was a big motivator for me. Um I'll add to those two things. One is um we were only able to take maybe half or a third of the applicants that applied for the cohorts. And so um there's a lot of interest in that. I think the other piece that Claudia didn't mention is through a lot of the surveys there was a lot of um regaining that inspiration to the daily job that is so taxing for our teachers and so it was able to infuse a little bit of that okay here's something right that's exciting and that I can bring to my to my job um in times where teachers are taxed and tired and overworked and I think uh being able to invest in

080them um I I think supports that as well. >> The options to do online synchronous and different variables like that was a huge factor for me and I think any others that have additional jobs, parenting and all of the pieces. So that was >> Dr. Cook. >> Um yeah, I I I just wanted to back up a step because I I think it's probably intuitive for most of us that well-prepared teachers are better able to meet the needs of uh the students that they're serving. Um and uh you presented some uh some wonderful metrics of the ways that teachers that have completed this curriculum increased their confidence and their uh their self-reported capacity to engage in lesson planning and things like that. But do we have any information or is there anything that you can

081share on how this uh this course impacts the students? So that is a question that we get frequently and the answer is long and winding and it starts with that we don't have that data for several reasons. Confidentiality the students that are being impacted directly by one teacher right now would be too easy to identify. So we can't outside of you guys we can't have that data. The second reason is that it takes more than one teacher for a few months working for the student. That's why this program needs to grow and continue because you will get the students in first grade. But if they're receiving their when they go into second grade, they are received by a teacher who is not prepared to work with them. This needs to be across grades and when

082they get to high school, it has to be a across subject matters. Like if you're teaching chemistry, the chemistry teacher needs to be prepared to work with multilingual learners. Every teacher is an EL teacher. Every teacher is a language development teacher. Every member of your staff is going to interact with multilingual learners and should be prepared to do it in a culturally responsive way. So the answer is no. We don't have that data. We would love to have it. We need more teachers to be prepared to work with students like like you or my kids when they were growing up or your kids when they were growing up. >> No, I understand. Thank you, >> Director Arlo. >> Uh yes. Um so perhaps 11% of our students are multi- lingual learners and um I'm curious

083um with Spanish, Somali and Arabic being our perhaps primary uh langu world languages that are spoken uh not to uh suggest that the others aren't primary but in terms of numbers Um I'm wondering how um what your direct experience is. Um not that I well perhaps I aired in make making an assumption that uh it may seem like the emphasis has been geared toward uh Spanish speaking uh students. I have nothing to base that on, but I'm more curious about how this is transferable to our Somali, Arabic or multi- uh lingual learners across the board. And um Director Cook uh touched on uh a question I had in terms of how can we um measure uh this I do recall in the presentation that I had viewed prior to the meeting uh that there are

084there is ongoing outreach design uh for parents uh uh other community events that uh potentially can can help bridge that gap. uh is talking points does talking points factor in any in terms of I know it was not perhaps part of the uh project momentum effort. I shouldn't say no maybe it was but uh does talking points figure uh any at all in in helping to move the needle in respect to our MLO? >> Yeah, I think I'll take this one. Um first one according to languages. So, I'll say that as a multilingual speaker, French, Spanish, and English, um I never use those languages other than English because my students didn't represent those languages. So, the in the later years, we've had a higher um percentage of Spanish speakers in the building where I was

085at, but for the majority of that, I had all other languages. And so when we're meeting the needs of our multilingual speakers, um we we rely more on language supports for all of them regardless of of the language um rather than uh relying on speakers of that language as the facilitators. So I would say so that I would say that's first. A lot of what project momentum has parallels a lot of the work that we are doing on trans languaging which is preparing our teachers to facilitate that communication across languages. Uh and so in that respect what we do for our Spanish speakers um can have the same strategies as we do for our Vietnamese speakers. Uh resources in other languages are different and sometimes trickier for less commonly taught languages. Um, and I think

086that's a different um a different topic. Um, the second one was as far as data. Um, I believe that as I'm engaging in conversation with Ashley who's with Project Momentum on what our program evaluation means, we will be able to tease out that a little bit um more granularly. um we have to look not just at the data that we have, but what other data do we want to collect as we're evaluating the impact of our program. Uh and so this is the first time we're going to engage in the program evaluation and a formal process. And so this spring we are planning what that looks like so that we can do that evaluation next year. So I will have to get back to you on on that data. And then lastly, what talking points?

087Um, I feel like Jennifer is better equipped to answer that question. She's not here today. Uh, but I do believe that it has bridged the communication. What I have heard from staff is um it's so much easier and and better to be able to communicate with our parents so that we can figure out what is it our students need. Um, and I think vice versa with uh parents being able to request that they need. So jumping on talking points, we had direct experience for mental health facilitate a world cafe with uh Rochester public schools and Latino lead and I was facilit helping facilitate one of the groups and that's what we constantly heard about talking points. Parents really enjoy and appreciate the quick feedback that they can get from teachers real time communications about things

088that are happening in the classroom. Not necessarily when there is the need for uh u something bad happen and we need a formal communication, but it's little day-to-day things that are being communicated in in ways that are accessible to parents that are very very meaningful to parents. >> Dr. Director Whitehorn. >> Uh so I guess my question is really just about long-term sustainability of the program. Um I believe on one of the slides I think it was what 2.7 million backed by the US Department of Education. Um so what is there a sustainability plan for this program? Right. Um and I just asked that because I think the program is awesome. I can I can um even though I like data as well um I do know that sometimes preventative data is very hard to

089track, right? Because it's a lot easier to track once there's an issue. But if you're doing more work on the front end that's preventing um issues down the road, it's going to be a little bit harder to see those um effects, you know, maybe until those numbers catch up, right? So, they've gone through the program and then we can see if the data begins to shift. So, um, even though I I would love to have numbers, um, to Director Cook's point, I do think this is one of those slow burns where it we're not going to necessarily see the impact. Um, but maybe, you know, at least one, you know, one school cycle through, you know what I mean? These kids will have to get through to, you know, a higher level education for us

090to have good, measurable data. But my question really is behind the sustainability of the program and um just knowing the volatility of um funding and how things have been um I'd hate to see us lose a program such as this um and not be able to get long-term data because we are no longer able to adequately fund it, right? So it kind of withers away. So um and that may be on your radar as well, but what but are there thoughts or in place for how we sustain? Yes, we are currently working on a sustainability model that not only allows us to sustain what we're doing but to grow and expand. It is well underrated. >> And I would say when you compare the cost of this program to a traditional uh university, the cost

091is exponentially more affordable. So it it takes about $5,000 for a teacher to go through this program. um when you compare that to tuition like it's not even it's up in oranges and so it's trying to find the funding that can continue to do that and so we continue to work in partnership and look at different ways to to find that funding >> members great thank you so much for coming thank you so much for doing your program and for what you're bringing to our students Right. Our next agenda item is a a prep for action item, the RPS improvement targets proposal. And we're scheduled to take action on this item at the March 3rd meeting. Superintendent Pel. >> Thank you, Chair Nathan. I'd like to invite uh Mona Perkins, our chief academic officer, to

092join us and uh Dr. Peter Ruck, our director of research and evidence. Um, first of all, I want to stress that um, this item is in a prep for action and so um, this is not board members one opportunity to both hear about this but also provide us with feedback on it. Um, of course that's a very important part of our process, but um, there may be some issues and questions you raised tonight that we will want to take time to reflect upon and answer. uh and so um we may need to come back to you at uh your next meeting when this is in the action category to um provide some additional information. Taking a step back from the discussion we're about to have, as you are all very well aware, we are on

093a uh journey toward a very different type of strategic plan and school improvement process. And last spring toward that end, you approved um a set of quantifiable measures that we are now working to build everything around. I was at Bamber Valley Elementary today meeting with their school improvement team and um they are thinking hard about their literacy, their math scores, where they are um on attendance, which actually looks great. Um and um it was a a glimpse of what I'm seeing in all of our schools, which is beginning to align around those indicators. We are doing the same thing with the systemwide work we're doing. You'll hear about that next week from our um uh working groups that the strategic plan has engaged. We have reorganized our central office around performance measure teams so that

094our teams are literally organized around these uh performance measures. That brings us to a really critical question. How much do we want to improve? How much do we seek to get better over a timeertain period? Um that matters for a number of reasons. Number one, it matters so we can learn from success. We can identify schools that are succeeding uh with all students or with particular groups of students. It also matters so we can identify schools that are struggling and need support or that we need to take some steps to intervene with because we clearly have a standard that we're expecting. It also matters for our community because it provides them with some accountability. So, it's it's kind of a no-brainer that this matters. And that said, I will tell you in my now pretty

095close to 40 years in education, um it's something very very few districts do well. Um, we set uh utopian goals and have no methods to achieve them in a way that mystifies my friends in the business community and the research community. For more than a decade, the United States as a national enterprise under the No Child Left Behind law, literally set goals for every single school in this country that no school had ever achieved. And then we had tangible consequences for not achieving those goals and rewards for achieving in theory those goals that no school had ever achieved. Alternatively, if I had a dollar for every one of us who's been an educator who's been a part of some school district or working group where we said, well, we have to set our goals at

096100% because we don't want to leave any kid out of the goal. You've just set a useless goal, a beautiful aspirational goal. And I take some ownership in the goals that we set in the first strategic plan that we developed when I came to Rochester, which we're concluding. First of all, as we acknowledged last spring when you approved this much narrower set of goals, we had too many goals. We had 33 goals. The second was we set a very nerdy improvement objective uh and I say that with affection that we were going to improve every year on every goal at a statistically significant level. That is of course a wonderful aspiration because it means the change is not due to chance. Kids really got better. It also is wildly unrealistic and more than that it

097was not useful for improvement. If you were a teacher, an instructional coach, a principal or district staff and I said, "How much are you going to approve next year in math in fifth grade?" All you could say was, "Well, whatever is statistically significant." And that is like call Dr. Ruck. So, a lot of lessons learned. So, we have spent um quite a bit of time on the goals that um Mona and Peter are going to walk you through and that I'm asking you to formally approve and we have sought to make them meaningful but realistic. And that also sounds like a no-brainer, but as I tried to mention before, it's one that we often in education have um failed to pay attention to. So, at this meeting, we're asking you to focus on the big

098picture objectives for improvement in district-wide goals. As Peter will explain to you, if you approve those goals at your next meeting, that will determine the improvement goals that individual schools will be assigned each year of the plan. The thing that's uh important about tonight is the district-wide goals were based upon realistic evaluation of the school level goals, not only for schools that are behind and therefore need to make more progress, but the schools that are already meeting their benchmarks that we need to keep improving. So the district-wide goals that you approve, uh we hope will drive the goals for annual improvement that every school receives and that we evaluate. One final point that you are not receiving tonight because we want to actually begin with these district-wide goals um are a set of what we

099might call gap closing goals that we will recommend to you as part of two upcoming required um accountability mechanisms in Minnesota. On one hand, our achievement and integration goals and on the other hand our comprehensive achievement and civic readiness goals. So, taking what you approve here in the district-wide goals for all kids through those two required um efforts, which you will uh look at the achievement and integration plan this spring and the comprehensive achievement and civic readiness uh report next fall, we will add gap closing goals between groups. Now, I don't want to get too far down into that discussion, but gap closing goals are very, very, very problematic to use for improvement because one group, let's call it the group at the top of the gap, has to hold completely still for you to

100know how much you have to improve with the group at the lower part of the gap to catch up. But none of us want any group to be static. We want the students at the top of the gap. I don't like hierarchical language. We're talking about kids. Um, we want them to get better and we want them to get better. So, the gap closing piece is technically complex, but we're all committed to the kids who are furthest behind catching up. So, the gap closing subject is not our focus tonight, but I want you to know based upon what you approve at the next meeting, that will be forthcoming as we bring you our achievement and integration and CACR uh recommendations, both of which we'll also ask you to approve as a board. Final point, whenever

101you look at a benchmark, whether it's a test score in a standardized test, a graduation rate, um an attendance rate, uh a collegegoing rate, a suspension rate, it's really important to remember that this is to some extent an arbitrary point in a big distribution. It's not exactly an average, but that's a helpful way to think about it. that there are going to be students that are way above that who could be moving much further or frankly declining and then there could be students below that who could be making a lot of progress or declining. And neither of those inherently directly influences the proficiency rate, the grad rate. That's not to say it's not important, but it's an indicator. It's like the canary in the coal mine or whatever the analogy might be. Um, but it's

102not the endall and be all. um because there's a lot of movement across the distribution that happens and one of the fallacies of that no child left behind law which I actually supported for its focus on kids that schools had never served well but one of the problems with that law was it had a single pivot point as success or failure. Um and if the kid didn't hit that exact test score they might have been just a bit above it or just a bit below it. We called just a bit above it success and we called just a bit below it failure. When in fact if you looked at what kids really did in subsequent grade levels and then if you followed them on to postsecary education or career, the kids who were above or

103below that single test score did not track directly to the kids who did better later on. It's it's a slope. So um with all of that, let me turn it over. We're going to um get uh walk through what is a pretty technical uh system. I want to um thank Peter in particular for working very hard to boil it down into its essentials. Um and then we'll be pleased to throw it open for you know questions and um observations and then um bring back to you uh whatever other information you're interested in at uh your next meeting. >> All right. Well, good evening. Uh as Dr. Pel just mentioned, we are here for our new strategic uh plan goals through 2030. uh working on both what those goals are uh how the model practices and

104structures could support them for schools that are implementing. So we will talk about the performance measures uh a slate that you did approve uh last May. We'll talk about the methods that we use to uh go through the goal setting process and refinement. I will touch on uh the district-wide goals as a whole. I'll show you what those look like. the proposal. Um, we'll also go through with the method that we're proposing to use for the school targets themselves, though they don't yet. And then what comes next? So, this is a listing of the performance measures that the board approved uh the unanimous resolution back on May 6th. For all schools, attendance, the five essentials outcomes and suspensions uh were were part of the mix. for elementary, middle, and high school. Uh, reading and math

105success rates on our two different versions of standardized tests was the other side. But now that we have that, we need goals. Uh, we actually have to know what we're shooting for. So, we've heard a little bit about performance measure teams before. And those teams are comprised of central office staff and experts and leaders that uh have a depth of knowledge surrounding whatever the given performance measure is. So there's a team for graduation rates, there's a team for reading and so forth. Uh each of those teams took the initial lead and produced a set of recommendations uh through the research and time that they had put into that work during meetings through the fall. Uh we evaluated more research and evidence. Uh we looked at the shape of the data. When I say shape, what

106I mean is if you put it on a graph and look at it, how steep is the curve? How flat is the curve? Is it spread out? Is it all clustered around one thing? We looked at states that have achieved relatively consistent growth year-over-year for uh many years in a row. That was primarily Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and California. Uh very different education systems between those states. As a former resident of California, that uh we also looked at comparison districts in the state of Minnesota. We used a simple mathematic uh process to look at the demographics that the schools serve that the communities that they are situated in are uh reflecting and then also enrollment size and those six popped. So even though an OKAN is twice our size their demographic breakdown is actually similar. So

107it's informative for us. We took those PMT recommendations and then we incorporated a lot of additional evidence to propose these baseline district measures. Um depending on which area it is, they are differentiated by level or even by school. We'll go through some of that in a bit. Then we had to calculate what annual performance uh goals should be to get there by 2030. The key uh that Dr. Pel mentioned earlier is they had to be realistic, achievable, and ambitious. uh realistic meaning it's a number of students that based upon the literature we reasonably expect would be able to increase their performance given what we're inputting into the system through instruction. In other words, um how many kids can we actually expect if we're all putting in the kind of effort that we're putting in? And

108that was part of the determination. Then I had to determine a margin factor. I'm going to come back to that uh later. And then all schools will be given an improvement target in order to meet that goal. But the key is that that district-wide goal remains our anchor point and that the other goals support. We then transform those into unduplicated headcounts. Uh so that you actually know how many kids we're talking about rather than simply percentages. So simple graphic to back up what I just said. Some schools are above or below whatever that goal might be. as they move up, the district-wide goal is the anchor that they're always supporting. Even a school that's above average, as they continue to improve, the average will improve. Um, schools below that target may have more a more

109aggressive annual goal to make. Uh, but nonetheless also support the district. >> Well, they will definitely have much more ambition. >> Yes, absolutely. Yes. Um, which you'll see in the slideshow. Uh, so level and subject. This would be district-wide goals proposed for reading and math uh based upon the subject area and the grade level. This is MCA only uh for grades three through eight. The district-wide proficiency rate goal is that first one. Wherever you see that anchor column, I'm coming or anchor icon, I'm coming back to the district-wide goal. You then have our current rate and how many points it would take to get there. The annual district-wide improvement goal then becomes what you see on the screen. 1.6 points a year for math, three to five, 1.1 reading. Why a difference between subjects and

110grade levels? It's actually very important. Math scores according to the literature tend to improve faster than reading scores. For us, our math data is also much more clustered together. Our reading data is more spread out. In addition, as we all know, uh, our little brains are exploding at these ages, but the amount that they can take in declines every year as we're brains finish growing. And by the time we're 25, it's all downhill anyway because the brain gets smaller every year. >> Oh, wow. >> Um, oh, trust me, I'm research. >> Anyway, um, so a little bit of a different uh, perspective and rate uh, for reading and math and also by age group. These were the other performance goals broken out by what you saw on your first slide. ACT reading and math at

111benchmark. Benchmark is ACT's definition for college and career ready. Uh you'll see the breakdown there. Uh generally that's a score of 22 on reading and math percent consistently attending. Our elementary schools have better attendance than the other two levels as you can see on the screen. Um, nonetheless, none of our schools would meet those thresholds yet, except one, and they'll still have a stretch goal. Suspensions. Uh, the goal articulated here is 3% of students in any given school or at the district-wide level having a suspension, any suspension. Right now, we're at about 4.8%. So, the goal would be to reduce that uh by about 310 a year. This is a good example of where not every school could set a meaningful goal around this particular outcome because there were schools that did not log any

112suspensions last year. And so having a goal around that, we would be encouraging them to either think about discipline differently or put it in the monitoring area and focus on a different graduation rates. Well, five essentials, we don't have data yet. It's baseline here. Grad rates, you can see there most of our high schools are already very close. and then postsecary enrollment within 16 months of graduation hoping to move that three quarters versus the current 59%. >> We apolog just just think it's as board members don't yet know that but you know that the survey survey measures five critical areas of school improvement and that we're saying the goal is you are green meaning you are organized for improvement in three of the five areas. So, we will have schools that have green in maybe

113ambitious instruction and um are in to take the other end of the spectrum, red in family engagement. And the goal is to have three of your five. >> Yep, that would be exactly right. We will have those results in the produce some pretty nice reports that will make this easy. I actually have the reporting structure already done. I just need the data. Thank you for that. Uh so what about our schools? If they are at or above that district-wide goal, they have to continue to contribute to it given that we anticipate growth. Um even our schools that may already exceed that final 2030 goal. It also still contributes to the district-wide average. Schools below that, so it's like a minimum continuous improvement target. Schools below that will also have improvement targets uh to achieve the

114district-wide goal, but they'll be calculated on the basis of reaching the goal within four years. Obviously, some schools will have substantially larger annual targets versus others when it comes to this particular area. Um, we also will have an alternative uh target pathway. If a school and their PMT that they've worked with believes there may be a good reason to shape it a little bit differently, we'd be having that conversation at the central. Hey, pictures sometimes are worth way more than listening to me. It's a line. It's a number line. I know that dozens and dozens of students stream these meetings every week. And so, yes, you did need to know this for all those students. It is the best kind of line because it's an MCA math proficiency number line. It tells us what percent

115of our students are proficient on math right now in grades three through five. That's where the district stands. By 2030, that's our goal for grades three to five in math proficiency on the MCA, which is the same 6.4 points I showed you earlier on the table. And there's that anchor again. Now, let's say we have schools above and below. How does that play out? Oh, I apologize. Divided into four. Um, some increments are more volatile. So, smaller numbers mean bigger swings in percentages each year. And not all schools will make their target each year. We have to consider the fact that that's not only um I mean it's expected, right? Uh the populations are different every year. Not every place will be able to make their target annually. And so what percent of schools need

116to be able to make their target for the district to still meet it. Um and then head counts, you know, percentage points were hard to actualize. So how can we get some headcounts? So we had to make goals that averaged out across schools, accounted for the shape. That's that margin factor I was talking about. So an individual school's minimum uh target for a year will be higher than the school districts as a whole. And that's because a proportion of our schools have to exceed that in order for the district to meet as a whole. In addition, it accounts for the spread of the data. Like I mentioned before, math scores being more confined. So if we look at an example, I understand century was almost named Roosevelt. So I picked Roosevelt. 10%. This is all

117made up data. 10% proficient. They have 47.45 points to meet that target, which means their annual improvement target would be just shy of 12 points per year. Kennedy, which I understand is what Mayo is almost, uh, is, let's say, 69.5% efficient. They're already over the target by 14 points. So they'll get an annual improvement continuous improvement target to meet and continue to grow nonetheless at a level that uh for the district would be 1.54 points. So, this is revisiting a table you saw earlier, except we've added what those continuous improvement targets for schools would be if they exceeded the district-wide goal. So, that all the math matches up and is one big happy system. When schools meet those targets, rough if roughly 62% of our schools meet those targets, the district will achieve its district

118goals. That varies for a lot of factors, but that's a good sort of the gate in the background. This the actual tool has like 49 columns I think most of which are hidden but schools will be given this type of information. So this is a table of the same data that you just saw in that picture example except what I've done is I've broken it out uh by subject area for those schools and calculated out what the actual headcount would be required to achieve that annual target. The key here is you have to assume that the same count of students that were proficient the year before stays the same. Right? So if my number stays the same and I add three more, I've met my annual target. If my number drops three, I need to

119add six to get back to that target. Does that make sense for everyone? I'm seeing Okay, great. That one I was a little worried might other performance measures with their targets. Again, you saw this table earlier. Uh just a reminder to bring it back towards the end of the presentation. So you have it again. So what happens next? Uh we incorporate what we discuss and learn here. Uh we will return to the PMTs. They they are working hard on model practices and structures to uh roll out with schools or continue to build out with schools uh to meet these goals. The skip teams will use the district-wide anchor goals. That's not a term that is settled by any means. I just like acres apparently um with school improvement targets for their skip plans. And the

120skip 2.0 process will play out as you've seen before in in previous presentations with the teams digging into the data meeting deadlines for budgeting. We then review and approve plans. If a school proposed different annual targets, that would also be reviewed and approved. And then they will continue to work on those model targets and structures while we roll up the data each year to monitor the district's progress. Thought that might be my last slide. So with that, I would love questions. I threw out a ton of technical information in a short amount of time so that I did not get the angry beeper on the timer. So go right. I know, right? >> Director work. >> Okay. So I was going to have you refer to um slide 11, but you don't have to go

121back that far because it's the same as slide 33. Um so I noticed under the district goals um the goals are all higher except for than the current goals except for graduation rates. So the districtwide goal is 86% but our current goal current goal is that current goal is 93% or is that where we're at? >> Those are backwards. Thank you for catching that. >> Those numbers are backwards. So our current state for graduation rates districtwide is 86%. Our comprehensive high schools are 89 and a half to 91.7 the last time I looked. They're all really close in that neighborhood. So an annual target there might not necessarily make sense. But yes, with those numbers being backwards, that would make no sense. And we actually want more kids. >> I thought it was just me.

122So >> clearly I stared at this for far too long. >> It's right resolution. >> What's it? >> It's right in the resolutions. >> Perfect. >> Well, at least I got that right. >> My apologies. That was that was totally back. >> Anybody else want to delve in? Director Cook. Well, um I was really excited last spring when we aligned on the measures um as a board. I thought that was a really useful discussion and um and trying to select those things those those aspects that we're going to measure that we decide matter recognizing that not everything that matters can be measured. At the same time, I I like this this concept of setting some specific goals. I'm very sympathetic to the um introductory comment, superintendent, that um you know, of course, we do authentically

123want 100% of kids to read proficiently. Um but the purpose here is to establish um some accountability. Um, and I I think that that's a a really healthy instinct and something that will serve our students well. The art of course is in deciding on, you know, what quantum of improvement is in fact realistic and ambitious given um the resources that we have, the limitations that we have and so forth. Um and so thank you for taking the time to um ensure that these measures would be uh reflective of realistic ambitious targets. I um don't have a whole lot to add beyond that. I other than of course I'll I'll just note that um if any school should happen to increase by a surprising amount, they surely would not be penalized. Um and there there there

124isn't any benefit to be gained by sandbagging or something. So um but yeah, thank you. Thank you for this effort. It makes a lot of sense to me and uh um look forward to see how this works in practice and how the skip teams react to these targets. So >> director, >> um so yeah, I I I may have asked this before um with our performance measurement goals. I think that I was going to ask that same question that director workman asked like the graduation rates but um also how are we measuring that postsecary enrollment within 16 months um and I just asked that because um what are the specifics behind that I know we have given some great length of discussion as to making sure that we are creating adequate career career path goals

125for our students that are not all just direct to college based. Um, so I guess I'm just concerned with how we will measure, you know, that success because we can have students that are very successful coming out of RPS that maybe do not choose um a college route who may salarywise out make a college student. So I just wonder what are the what are going to be the measurements to really hit that number? >> That's a it's a fantastic question. if I could uh take that one. Uh the uh the data comes from something called the state longitudinal education data system which is sleds for short. >> Okay. >> So sleds takes data from a variety of sources including us school districts. Takes it from the higher ed system. It takes it from the national

126clearing house. They use tax returns uh from uh students if they can track them. uh and the information that we get is actually relatively uh we don't get I can't tell you individual kids but as a group the um know sort of the general labor sector if they went to get a job and what the average wages you know number of hours average work but on the education side it would be u whether they enrolled within 16 months at a institution that's accredited and grants credits uh as a postsecary institution that can include technical colleges. They are, you know, RCTC is one institution whether you're a liberal arts student or a technical student. We have really good partnerships with them that we hope to continue. So, it just depends on on what your I think

127perspective is depending on on the outcome of interest. But you are correct. It's that uh apprenticeships programs would not include in that figure because they are not postary credit. And I guess I just asked because we've spent a great deal of time with the board um speaking with a lot of different programs that are moving I don't want to say away from but exploring um those votech paths and I would hate to not be able to track that total success as well because that that could be inaccurate if we end up having more students take that pathway. >> Superintendent. >> Yeah, Dr. Dr. Whitehorn, thank you. Uh when we looked at the performance measures, we thought a lot about percentage of students who go into directly into the workforce and make a certain salary. And

128the challenge is the data we can get through sleds on that is really only an aggregate um of all employed people. And so it would be very hard to break it down for Rochester public schools. Whereas if you have a transcript from RPS to enroll in a technical college, four-year college, the national uh student clearing house gets the direct data. And so it I think as we look at the degree to which our students achieve that 75% goal, we're going to have to remember that that doesn't mean the other 25% didn't end up in a good location. They may be exactly the students that you're talking to that went in directly into the workforce. And I think as the the longitudinal data system, which I'm that old. I was directly involved in creating for Minnesota

129continues to involve. We should uh consider adding that if it's trackable to Rochester. Um right now you'd have to have a grant and a study to do it. Um, Bloomington public schools up in the cities happened to have a a major grant and two very smart economists from the University of Texas were able to access a raw data set and they were able to look at that precise issue of Bloomington kids that went into certain uh workplaces, but the system itself doesn't do that yet. Um, I would hope we could evolve toward that and I would be the first to recommend to this board that you consider adding students who go into the workplace and um, attain The big question is how do we define a good job? You know, is it income? Is it

130benefits? Um, but I think we should keep watching that and we should consider potentially adding that if we find that we have a way to accurately measure it. >> It's also an deed. >> Yeah, I was going to say doesn't >> the deed data is in sleds right now the best you can get. So >> the only other thing I want to add to that is one of the things that's been really important to me as we've gone we've gone through this is looking at like our kids aspirations and we have that data. So the kids when they through Zello they they uh and actually through ACT as well >> um we ask they get the kids tell us what their post um like what they want to do when they graduate from high school.

131And the percentage of kids that want that say they want to go to college is really high like at our comprehensive high schools. And so what I just feel like if we want um we want our post-secary enrollment to match because that's what the kids are saying they want and we should be preparing them for what they what their true goals are. Um, the other piece that I think is a a way not it doesn't track the kids you're talking about, but it ensures we're getting them prepared is the ACT. The ACT doesn't just measure college readiness, but it's the it measures readiness like what the what the employers are saying they need the kids to be able to do if they're going straight into the workforce. So, if you're if we're looking at are

132we um are we really doing what we need to do for for the for both college and career, the ACT score would be like that measure would be a good measure to look at. >> Sure. I just so my my question is so is this data movable? And the reason why I asked that is because we're seeing shifts of kids moving away from college tracks just because there's a shortage of plumbers. There's a shortage of electricians, right? So they go in saying, "I want to be a doctor," but get out and find out that the plumber is making more money because there's a shortage, right? So will we be able to adjust our data as like you said if the children's mindsets begin to change? Well, we'll keep collecting it so we'll know if what

133what where their aspirations are and I think we come back and talk to >> Yeah. The tricky part is there isn't a great way to track some of that information, but the kids that are going into programs where they do have some schooling that is tracked. >> Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And every year we get a new batch of kids. Dr. >> I I was just recalling the discussion that we had when we aligned as a board on these uh these metrics and and and part of the discussion about the post-secary enrollment was a recognition that there are lots of fulfilling paths into a you know a a a life where students are uh thriving in school and in life um that don't involve post-secary enrollment. But at the same time, we recognize

134as a board that um the rate of graduates that enroll in post-secondary institutions is a meaningful indicator of the overall health of the district. And so I think that's that we we sort of endorse that measure recognizing its limitations and recognizing that it didn't necessarily capture every single fulfilling path out of Rochester public schools. >> Oh, Dr. McLaclin. Um I have a couple things. um thinking about this presentation and that the depth of the information in here. Um Dr. Ruck, could you update those slides with that correction and send those to us that I think I think this is something that I think we may want to refer back to as we're going through this process. And I think it would be helpful to so that we can all remember that that's where that um

135information came from. >> Absolutely. And it is correct in the resolution. So that document and there's the exact same table is there. So yes, I'll fix it. But I can see going back to the presentation as well as a as a resource. >> Um I appreciate this discussion only because I think back when I was first running for school board and on the school board >> and thinking about, you know, getting on the school board and asking questions about as a new school board member, how are we measuring progress? And it was a real headscratcher to be honest with you. So Dr. Pel, your comments were helpful and and this presentation as well to help provide some clarity to that. Um, so I think it's it's really excited to see this and also see um

136how this then moves forward. The one question I did have though um about the reference to the comprehensive high schools, how does this translate into the ALC's of our world? >> Would that be about uh the graduation rates in particular? >> Um any of the data really? I mean that how how does this I mean like I I understand the concepts of of the other D like these are the benchmarks and this is our current data but what or maybe it's the annual percentage points to district goal how does that translate between comprehensive and not comprehensive are the how can you help me understand that >> yeah it it does translate but it it varies more because of the student populations served so high school ALC and Minsk both um they also have more volatile

137graduate graduation rates because the populations are very unique and change every year. High school ALC has made some tremendous progress on their graduation rate even though it's below the the district goal still and Minsk um it's been a lot of unique circumstances based upon seniors that's pushed some of that. Um so they would have larger annual increments to make which I know I I have save somewhere um in terms of what the distance would be but those would be your two schools improving graduation rates and then along with John Marshall which they're at 89 something those three schools are making that progress forward that goal. Um, Mayo and Century are not at 93% but very close. And so that might be more of a monitoring. >> And I guess my questions are related to really

138all of the goal like even things like the ACT reading and math that are they just going to be more of a gap filling. Is that maybe a way to look at it or how >> they might they might be depending on where they start off. they might be um a school that would work with us on um on just adjusting the goal because if you did it straight mathematically it would be >> you don't want the goals to be so massive that you're not going to meet them year to year and then people give up right >> and we we want to encourage kids to truly reach their their potential so we just met with the principles the high school principles yesterday and the ALC principal was was with us and it was all

139digging into the ACT data and disagregating it. And I mean, he was in there and looking at where their data was decent, where they really needed improvement, where they were missing data. If kids are opting out, because if you're not if you don't have it, you want to start really pushing the kids to >> because the kids at the ALC also deserve to have great lives. And so, it's our job to make sure that they're they're all reaching their full potential. And so, they're engaged in all of this work. >> Superintendent. >> Um, thank you, Chair Nathan. I I want to say just uh to director Mclofflin just the same to director Whitehorn I mentioned at the outset that not only because this is in the prep for action category but because this is designing

140a new system in some instances I want to say thank you we need to work on that. So with when you mentioned kids headed for the workforce I think we need to say great point we we need to be attentive to that. Similarly, Director Mclofflin, uh the um alternative learning center in particular, not just our high school, but our middle school, which I'm very proud of. Uh we need to be attentive to that because by definition, these are students who need an alternative environment. We we are not bringing you a proposal that exempts them from the district-wide goals because I think that would send a very problematic. These are realistic but meaningful district-wide goals and we have goals that cascade from that and yet these are different learning environments by definition as I think you

141raised and so in both instances of uh that both of you raised I I don't think we have the exact answer and I think both between now and when you vote on this but uh this is an ongoing journey I think we should commit to be attentive to those tensions in the system um and continue to look for ways to um reflect those aspirations and also the instructional model that we want our ALC to be adopting. >> Can I add to my com and I think where I come from that is that watching as I've been on the board the measurements of these different things and comparing it to maybe our neighborhood districts that don't or neighboring districts that don't have the same um student populations. They don't have an ALC. They don't have MSYNYNC.

142and that if someone outside the district is looking at our data, they might think we're not performing as well as we are >> because of those different student populations that I want to make sure that we're able to um both measure that and convey it in a way that properly demonstrates our student success. So when we um when we get the skip plans, we eventually look at them. Will the individual school level performance targets be in those skip plans >> for the individual schools? Yes, they will be in those when you get the first draft of the skip plans in July. This July, um I think they will be there. Uh we also are going to be doing a massive review of those plans in June and before you receive them for the first time

143in July because we don't even get the 5e data uh nationally normed until May. Um and so over the course of the next strategic plan absolutely you'll get that whether you'll get the exact goals in July. I want to give us a little bit of um flexibility, but I think so. I think that the objective will be to give you that so that as you look at the school improvement plans, you can say this is the goal for their improvement on each of these performance measures based on the site level contribution to the districtwide goal. If for some reason we can't get that done by July when you receive the skip plans, we definitely could have it by fall so we can share. >> And these measures um historically, traditionally have been among the most

144visible to our community. Obviously, we know there's a lot made of the MCA scores every year. Um all of these um other measures are things that um uh they've been there before. They've they've been part of our community's expectations for our performance. Um, and I I appreciate the detail that you've given us about how you got to the goals that you looked at other states and other districts, but what do you say to people that say they're too low that without any knowledge of education, perhaps without any knowledge of the research, without knowing um, you know, why isn't it 100%. >> Can I Can I take that? I'm gonna take just a second on that. Peter and I spent a lot of time in my office. I had graphs up on my board and it

145the a really one of the articles I read was an article about the Southern Surge that's happening and the the growth that they've seen in reading scores. And the growth is super impressive. It's not a straight line. It's up and down, up and down, but but trending up the whole time over the last was it 22 years. Okay. >> And it was about 12 points maybe >> for a statewide system over that time. Each of the states that had that growth made roughly 12 points growth. And it was I was like, okay, we're setting people are setting five, six percentage points growth annually, but the states that are truly seeing the growth over time, it's it's a half of a percentage point a year. Now, when your size is bigger, it's a smaller number. And

146I and I get that. So then we really started looking at like what does it really mean for a system our size? Because what we want is sustained growth over time. I don't want to make a five percentage point increase one year and then it drops the next and we don't make the growth. So part of it is just what do you actually see? And then when we started looking at other districts that have seen growth year after year, what is the percentage point growth that they're seeing? The way I've explained this in the past uh is there's a difference between a continuous improvement goal for improvement and a goal for where we hope to be. Um I don't know that any of us would say that 57% proficiency on reading or whichever one it

147is is like our end state if the system was perfect that's how it would look. Um so I do think there's a difference in terms of are you are you engaging in continuous improvement work with goals to measure whether that's actually functioning well or are you working with a goal towards like a north star at the end of the road? And I I think they're both important but just for different reasons. That's how I've I've handled that. Superintendent >> uh I certainly agree uh with both our chief academic officer and our director of research. Um in addition to the point about um look that improvement takes uh more than four years which we are approving with this plan and this is about improvement. Most of the examples of improvement that have been talked about are

148in one content area. So even the work in uh the south or Chicago public schools once thought of as the worst school district in the country became over 20 years the fastest improving school district in the country and in most every one of those instances it was in one subject area in the case of Chicago at the elementary level only it was two. The new system this board has approved aims for meaningful improvement across every one of these performance measures. So when you actually look at the breadth of improvement we are seeking, it is extraordinarily ambitious because we are talking about quality of schools through the 5e, student engagement through attendance, uh school climate through suspensions, uh academic outcomes through reading and math, uh student motivation and support through graduation rates and post-secondary enrollment. And

149we are setting goals for improvement in all of those. And if I should say when we achieve those objectives and you look at it as a composite it will be an extraordinary rate of improvement. Were you to set um sky-high goals in even one area as I think Mona and Peter accurately explained that's almost certainly a recipe for frustration and not achieving it. Were you to set sky-high goals in this breadth of areas it would be just delusional. So this agenda is so ambitious in its effort to produce these improvements in every area that you've really got to set I sat there today with the team at Bamber Valley just thinking because the I'm doing these these visits in every school and I go through this whole checklist. I say and tell me how you're

150thinking about attendance. Tell me how I think about parent involvement. And like it almost is a tiring hour because you're going through all of this kind of stuff. You're not just let's talk literacy. You're talking about all of these. So, I think that'd be the additional point that I would make to the point that both make >> and I think that in terms of communication um especially to the community um I think those of us here who talk about these at multiple meetings and that we've seen all the different components of the system MTSS and the the literacy work, what we'll prioritize in our strategic plan. I just think we have to keep remembering that in our communication, we have to talk about um all of the initiatives that we're doing and how they might

151affect those students who aren't going to meet the proficiency or the graduation because I know that there are a number of initiatives that we do every day that we that are focused on those students being aware that they're not meeting those benchmarks and that we we're implementing that as Well, as we look at these broader overall goals, um I don't I don't want us to lose sight of those that I I want it to be clear that we are not losing sight of those students. It's not just the headcount of the kids we need to get over that proficiency line. We are clearly aware of all of our students and where their performance levels are and we have multiple strategies to address all of their needs. Anything else? board members. >> Thank you, >> Madam

152Chair. Can we take a three minute break or something? >> I think we can take a five minute break. So, we'll be back at 7:49. So, just by way of introduction for the board and anybody watching, Rochester Public Schools currently operates under a unique alley system established by Minnesota law based on legislation passed in 1974. This alley system requires candidates for at large school board positions to file for a specific position number 1 through seven. The Minnesota legislature would have to pass a bill to change the law to allow RPS to move from our current alley system to an alternative system of election for schoolboard member. If we approve the resolution, it would ask the Minnesota State Legislature to pass a law to allow Rochester public schools to change our method of election for schoolboard

153members. The agenda item refers to the alternative system as the atlarge standard, just in case we're trying to keep our terms clear, where all candidates compete against all other candidates, not by individual position. Just want to point out some time frame issues related to the 2026 election cycle. Should the board decide that it wants to implement it this for this election cycle. Um because the language we choose for the resolution is related. The time frame for action by the legislature is dependent on whether the board takes action to revoke the resolution to choose nominees for the school board office by primary, which is our action items tonight. If the board takes action to not have a primary election, we would choose uh language in the resolution to uh have them take action um until June

15430th or later. Um I'm sorry. Minnesota legislature would have until the end of the legislative session to take action because we don't have to complete any time frames for the general election until June 30th or later. And if the board takes action to keep the primary election, we would have to ask the Minnesota legislature to take their action by early April because the primary election deadlines begin at the end of April and candidate filing begins May 19th. So, we can talk about that piece of the resolution. Uh, but we can also talk about your questions and comments. And maybe Director Cook, you want to kick us off? >> Uh, I'd be happy to. Thank you, Chair Nathan. Um, so, uh, hopefully no one at the board table at least is surprised that I, uh, think

155that this system for elections that is used specifically for Rochester public schools is utterly ridiculous. Um, I ran a campaign um, in 2022, I guess, where I tried to make every single conversation about reading proficiency as best as I could. And I estimate I answered more questions about this ridiculous idiosyncratic election system than any other. And to me, that is the strongest uh reason that this should be repealed because any electoral system that struggles to intuitively reflect the will of the electorate is noxious to fundamental democratic values of transparency and fairness. Um, and I have also I this has been in force for five decades now. I have tried to find anyone to defend this system and I would welcome them to contact me. I really would like to understand anyone that thinks that this

156system makes sense at all. Um, but as best I can tell, it is utterly indefensible. Um, and uh, yeah, if if by chance anyone has uh any reasons why this is a good system, I' I'd love to hear those views. But just to add on to Chair Nathan's remarks, the purpose of this resolution, the the resolution actually has no legal effect whatsoever. The purpose of the resolution is to formally uh give this board an opportunity to state its position to the Minnesota legislature to request that they repeal the special law that applies specifically to Rochester public schools and requires it to conduct elections in this alley system where each seat is arbitrarily conducted in parallel where the exact same electorate elects people separately for the exact same position and instead have Rochester public schools conduct

157its elections in the same way that every other school district that uses an atlarge system does where all candidates that are interested run in a single pool and the ballots would instruct voters to vote for up to four or up to three depending on how many seats are up in each election cycle. Um I think that makes a lot more sense. It's what the voters expect already, especially if they've happened to have lived in any other community anywhere in the state of Minnesota. Um, yeah, that's all. >> Director Marvin, >> first of all, Director Cook, I don't know how you really feel about this. Um, no. And a lot of people, including me, share your I'm not quite as adamant as you are, but share your opinion that it doesn't make any sense. Um, two

158issues I have is one, I'm wondering if we shouldn't um before we we get to this if we shouldn't first if we leave this until our next meeting and if we first bullet on the primaries issue because that's going to affect to some degree um what we present to the legislature when we do and I think we should ask them to repeal this law. Um but secondly that we asked them to repeal it um effective for not for 20 uh but for the next um two years after for the next schoolboard campaign. I I just think that even if they are able to get it repealed uh this spring, I think springing it on our population who may agree with us completely that it should be repealed. I just think it's too close to the

159election. >> Any other perspectives, Dr. Barl? >> Yes. >> Um I've run actually support the idea of primary elections. They are central to um I think large picture. not just thinking of Rochester public schools though that's exactly what we're doing but uh I do want to offer my general view that uh I am a proponent of primary elections um and um I have only received a modum amount of calls and or been engaged in conversations regarding you know uh why we should or shouldn't uh continue our current methods. The alley system is a separate comp uh discussion for me. Uh uh I definitely agree that we should eliminate that. But in terms of um to have a primary or not u that is the question and uh >> so actually oh I apologize director Barlo

160this resolution is specifically about the alley and it is not it uh it doesn't have anything to do with whether or not there's a primary. >> We can we can do either both and none. Director Whitehorn. >> Um, so I I also agree with the Ally uh with that. I agree that, you know, similar position. I I don't I even as a person who ran, I didn't understand what difference did it make, what number seat, you just chose the seat that didn't have any people on it, I guess, and nobody else ran against you. Um, which was kind of crazy. Um, but I I guess my my only question about it, um, and I don't know how other districts may handle this and, um, to you, Director Cook, since you did a little bit more

161research, is, um, what do they do with a like, is there a number, right? I mean, I I would still feel like I'm still a person of order, right? So I personally I'm not opposed to there being 15 selections but I think to any person if we got 50 people on the list that's that just it be you know become you know un unmanageable for for a lot of people. So so how would we prevent um is there a way to set any measures with the alley or is it just >> or am I am I am I in two worlds? Are you talking the number of candidates? Are you talking Are you talking about concerns about the number of candidates who might file? >> Well, I guess so that's what would happen, right? So

162the prime if we agree to have a primary, then we'd only have a select number of people in the in the alley. Is that what that would be? And we don't >> Go ahead. >> Lord, I'm so confused. Please. >> Well, so yeah, I I think I think there's two different issues. Director Whitehorn. Um if the board so the again the board does not have the authority to do away with the alley system that responsibility lies with the state legislature. This resolution is about the board's position on whether the alley system should continue or whether the legislature should repeal the special law that applies only to Rochester public schools that establishes this idiosyncratic form of election. As far as the number of candidates that would be in the election in the general election, that would

163depend on whether the board, which does have discretion to dis to establish whether or not there would be a primary. And if the board to take the example of the upcoming election where there will be four seats up for election. If the that was to um change to an atlarge standard form of election and there was a primary, then if more than eight candidates registered an affidavit for candidacy for uh uh the board, then there would be a primary election to eliminate all but eight. So, if there were 10 that registered um then the primary would eliminate two of them and then in the general election there would be eight. If there was no primary then everyone that filed an affidavit for candidacy would be in the pool of candidates on the general election ballot.

164Does that >> separate it for you? >> So, in the primary there can only be two two per open position period >> that would come out of the primary >> if we if we have a primary. >> Right. Okay. So, can I make a recommendation because I think we're um >> in two worlds. >> Well, yeah, we are in two worlds. Um I think we can discuss all of these issues and I'm keeping notes. um when we talk about the primary um and maybe it'll be it would be easier if we knew we were going to take action on this either at the next meeting or as an action item after we decide on the primary. >> I I haven't heard anyone in favor of the alley system. And given that the legislature convened today,

165I think um unless there's an objection, I would suggest that this be delayed to a certain time immediately following the board's action on the uh primary question. >> Are you making that motion? >> Yes. I move to uh delay this for action after the board takes action on item 9.1. >> Okay. So you would like to add it as agenda item 8.2. >> I'll second. >> Okay. So we have a motion and a second that we will take action on this after we decide on the primary which will help us to craft the resolution for this much more specifically. Um and any questions or discussion on moving it to action as action item 8.2? Hearing none. All those in favor of the motion to add um it as item 8.2 say I >> I opposed.

166It passes. Great. So we have an option at this point. We can either move the discussion of this item at when we talk about it as an as an action item as as 8.2 and then and talk about the primary issues. Now would that be okay? >> Yeah. >> All right. So we'll move on to Um action item 2026 primary election. So um if you remember the conversation from last week um this would um eliminate a primary election. The um filing period would begin May uh July 14th through July 28th. Early voting would begin on September 18th and the general election would be November 3rd. Also, if we were to pass this um resolution as it relates to the structure of the um schoolboard election that we may choose to do, if we were to

167keep the alley system that we have today, anybody who files for any one of our seats would progress directly to the general election. So, it's possible you would have two, one or two or three or four people filing for seats. But if you remember that the history of our recent elections, we have not had um and that's it. That's that's actually in the information on the alley system versus the atlarge standard. Um we had six total candidates in 2024, 11 in 2022, six in 2020, 10 in 2018, seven in 2016, and eight in 2014. So only only uh two of the previous years have we exceeded you know the number. So that one of the reasons we've talked about having uh eliminating a primary was the certainty for our community because we've had some years

168where we've had a primary, some years we haven't had a primary. And in our seat system, we've had some seats that haven't had a primary and some seats that have. And I I know Director Workman mentioned last time she got phone calls and people saying, "What happened to you? You're not in the primary. You're not on the ballot for the primary." Well, that's because she didn't need a primary because there were only two candidates for her position. So, for me, that certainty of knowing it's one election. Um, and particularly in these times where um people might need more time to determine whether or not they want to participate um in the in the campaign and be an elected official, we're giving them more time to make that decision. Um, and we've talked about the cost

169savings both for minor cost savings for the district since we share our election costs, but uh savings on our staff time for having two sets of candidates that they have to track campaign forms for, finance forms for, and also the cost savings for individuals who might want to run for office, which might broaden the diversity of um people, their experience, and their abilities to run for for a school Any other questions or comments? Director Rick, >> I I think your last point is really important because um as a firsttime candidate, it's really hard to figure out how much money do you want to spend on a primary knowing that um you might very well not go on to the general election. You know, once you've won an election, you probably have leftover signs and stuff,

170so it's a little bit less of an issue. But I mean, I've known of candidates where um perhaps if they had been able to um get past that idea of I can't, you know, how much do I want to invest in a primary to not go on to the general election? We've had a couple good candidates where that's really been the case, whereas this would at least remove that uncertainty for them that they would be able to um be in the general election um and they would know that upfront. Dr. White Uh so this is something uh I' I've struggled with a little bit uh going back and forth. Uh having a competitive spirit is is you know I think the primary uh uh ignites that a little bit right gives you that um uh

171that early set. So I guess my my question is how long how much additional time and I guess my big thought with the school board is that being that it's nonpartisan. So this is this was this was one of the questions I got often asked. Even though this is supposed to be nonpartisan, the issue is when you get down to two candidates, there's an automatic assumption of of um sides per se, right? Republican, Democrat, even though it's not supposed to be that way. So the primary kind of causes that, if I if I'm making sense when I say that. Um my bigger concern is okay so looking at the numbers if they were as they were I feel like that this is still a competitive election you know there's there's 10 people it's still a

172competitive um still a competitive election and I don't know um and I don't know this is a concern and again I don't know if I'm muddying the waters if I'm walking in both the world because I may be because I'm I do what I want um but my thought is It's good for what we have historically, but my concern again would be what happens when you get 38 people that want to run, right? I think it works for the number of people that we have. I think it's a healthy election. I think if we have 12 people running for three seats, I don't think that that's astronomical. I don't think that that's too much pressure on the people that are voting, right? I think that that that that's a decent number of people based on

173the number of seats. People can make an informed decision based on the number of people running. And I think if that number were to be that number, I think that would be great. My concern is setting a precedent and that changes as our community grows and now every now you know we've got 40 people running for office. I don't think that it becomes as helpful. Am I am I any sense here? I I I mean I see I think it works great here, but my concern is how does it work on a bigger I'm I'm I'm I'm sharing right now. >> I can I can maybe give you some data that reassures you that um for those so remember there's only seven districts in the state that have a primary. >> So everybody else is

174in that same situation. >> They can have as many candidates file as as that they want. And looking at the history of elections in Minnesota over the past few years, um there were only five only five districts that held election out of the I think 36 that had more than twice the number of candidates filing for election. And these are all in the in the at large, not in seats like us. So in the big pool, only five elections that had more than twice the number of candidates and no one had more than three times the number of c the number of uh three times the number of candidates as positions open. So if there were three positions open, the highest number of candidates who filed were 11. So there's nowhere in the state in

175the history of this structure of elections where you're seeing 38 people or even 20 people file for these offices. >> I and I like I just ask those because I think beyond right I think when we make policies we have to think to to to out think out right because that's that's what we do when we make rules laws policies right we I so I that's why I'm over in Wonderland um because we don't want to a rule that then becomes an issue. That that's just that's where Stephanie's >> director. Um, listening to Director Whitehorn, it kind of raised some questions for me that I hadn't asked before in this process of does number one, does changing this do anything to deter candidates? And number two, um, does having a longer list of candidates potentially

176deter candidates? For instance, if they're not filing in the first day of the filing period, but later and there's already eight, does someone go in there and because they're going to be able to see that and say, "I don't want to do that." And those been things that that have been considered here. >> I I don't know that we'd have any any data to think about that. But if we if we were to change to a pool, sorry, at large standard, I'm trying not to use that word pool. Um, it's very Someone could see eight candidates because that would be two people per position in a four position race and they could see six or more in a three position race and that would be the same number of candidates that were in the race

177technically when we had seats. It's just instead of seeing it seat by seat by seat, you'd be seeing them all together >> in one. >> A little bit better about that. Uh yes. So I um and again right now we're talking about whether the board should um revoke its previous resolution calling for a primary or leave it as it is and continue to hold a primary. And um and I I I I am sympathetic to the comments the board has heard today. Um I I also reflecting on my experience as a candidate and just sort of common sense. I think uh any system that uh favors turnover in board seats and does not act to the advantage of incumbents is healthy for the district and good for students. Um, I have to balance that as

178I think we all need to in every decision that we make uh for the foreseeable future against the cost to the district. And uh realistically given the precedent for what these elections cost um we're talking about on the order of $50,000 for a uh primary election. Um, just to pick an example of the way that that amount affects students, that's about 10 varsity sports coaches. Um, it's hard to, you know, I mean, it's not an easy choice here. I think that both things are quite good for students, but on balance, I'd rather have the coaches. Um, but I think this is a tough call. To Director Whitehorn's point, though, this is not something that is fixed permanently. Um the board actually by statute has the opportunity to revisit this decision before April 15th of every

179single election year. So if somehow there is an election with 38 candidates, I am confident that a subsequent board would take account of that and decide whether it made sense to have a primary or not. Um >> thank you for that point. >> Thank you. >> Uh director Mark, good point. Um, Director Cook and you know Karen as you've mentioned your concern about um scaring people away um >> detouring. >> Detro. Thank you. >> Detering. >> Um it seems to me that when you know how schoolboard elections go and if there is if you are going to be involved in a primary, it's going to take significantly more personal time. it's going to take some more cash that you're going to have to raise and that that might be the deterrent. Um, you know, it's

180it's a it's a a few more months of being on a campaign trail and then uh, you know, few more months of needing to get out the whatever kind of campaign material you're going to use. So, I'm I'm thinking that if we do not p have primaries, we may attract more candidates rather than fewer. But, you know, as you noted, um I don't know. I think if we had 38 people who really wanted to be on the school board, that wouldn't be such a bad thing. Hasn't happened in my lifetime. And I'm not looking for it to happen. >> I might. Yeah. >> Uh, yes. Um, well, I like to lead first with um I'm always hesitant to um vote on or consider um I'm going to use the term self potentially selfserving um policies

181and or votes. Uh, this happens to be an election year. Uh, if this were an off year, I'd probably be Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because we're then clearly communicating. There's nothing uh uh nefarious potentially about why we want to do this now, you know, especially this year with there being four seats up. Okay. Uh, so I just want to put that into play. Uh, I would probably be much more uh open to u this if this were presented during an off year versus a an election year. And then to just reiterate my earlier point of I am a proponent of primary elections. I do believe that they help bill for um civic engagement uh issue awareness and uh uh potentially encourages wider um participation. And um um I I hear where um the majority of uh

182my peers are and I may be the only uh dissenting vote on this but um I full well ready to vote whenever that's called for >> um yeah as to give me a moment. Um, I think, uh, Director Barlo, to your point, um, I think that removing a primary gives all candidates the same benefits. Um, all candidates operate under the same timeline. We don't have any in anybody who's an incumbent has no insider information that would be different than anybody who would choose to run. Um and also in terms of the civic engagement, while the filing date would be later and the actual election would be later, um candidates could start campaigning tomorrow if they chose. I mean, we know that there we know that no candidate, I think, for any office that's up for

183election next year has actually officially filed for the elections, but we know that we've heard of candidates who have already announced that they're running and already started started their campaigns in other in other positions. So, if people wanted to choose to have the election cycle be two years long, they could choose to do that, making it clear that they would be when they would be on the ballot. Those are the two things I think of in terms of um as I think about this, my my whole focus is on expanding access and interest and uh drawing uh to the conversation of the community, choosing who should be on this board, the broadest amount of experience and ideas and people. and then let the let the campaign play out in terms of the community selecting their

184board members. >> Director White, >> so what what would more officially be like how we keep saying it's kind of arbitrary, but what are we talking for time? So what what would the difference be? So if we had a primary, the filing date would be approximately what? May 9th and without the primary when would the filing date be? >> July 14th. And I mean to director Barlo's point, I do understand, but unfortunately I don't think that this particular decision is would be in the favor of the incumbent to be able to have more people running against you. So you're kind of voting against yourself a little bit because now you have the opportunity to have, you know, more people whereas any other system. Um, Director Barlo, I sort of recognize what you're talking about in

185the sense that this issue did come up a couple years ago and I think you and I were like minds at that time that it was an election year when you and I were running and I was really hesitant to have to vote on something that could be viewed as something I'm doing in my self-interest. Where I look at things now, I think we have a lot more information and background and what really influences me is that we've learned through that background a lot more about how the different districts in the state operate and that we're kind of the outlier rather than not. Um so that part of the alley system um you know kind of changes perspective for me a little bit. Um the concerns that I have and I understand what you say

186um chair Nathan about someone could start campaigning now. Um and I look at this kind of from a perspective of you know what the strategy is of now versus filing dead filing period or not. And I think that that's just something that people will have to make their decisions about. One of the concerns that I do have is that I I'm concerned that not having a primary in some ways may favor incumbents in the sense of it's more of a compressed time frame. So if people don't choose to start campaigning early, then the filing period is July 14th and the 28th, the end of it is the 28th. that is fairly close to September 18th when people can actually start voting. So, I worry that a non-incumbent candidate would feel that it would be challenging

187for them to get their name out to the public in such a large voter base in our district compared to incumbents whose name is already recognized. Um, so I'm worried that that may deter people from running um because of that later filing period. Um, but I think that that's just something strategy wise that people are going to have to decide and incumbents as well. Um, but that is one of the things that came to mind for me is a deterrent in the sense that um I do think that somewhat favors incumbents if people aren't jumping into the race earlier than the filing period. And I think it's part of it is that the early voting is also fairly new in our state and that that complicates the issue a little bit. >> Yeah. And just

188very quickly, the uh last time we talked about this, we encouraged the public, I'm not sure how many people were listening, but it was reported then in the um in the news um to let the board know what they thought. And Director Barlo, clearly you have more people who respect you than me, but uh our speaker tonight was the only person I'd heard from who had anything to say about it one way or the other. So I'm thinking if the community uh you know is okay with this um there has not been any kind of from my perspective at least my experience any kind of blowback against going to this change >> director. Okay. And I'm Okay, I'm going somewhere else. My brain it's it's so I So now my thought is if we have

189the if we have the primary, if we exclude the primary and we're not on this alley system. So what you're saying potentially is seven people could say they want C5 >> under our current system. >> Right. But that's what I'm saying. So my concern is that the two systems don't favor each other as well as they should. Am I making sense? So if it's a if it's an open thing, then it makes perfect sense. That's why I'm struggling >> as opposed to the seats, >> right? Because if we're still going to have the seats and you know, nobody wants Julie's seat, but everybody wants Justin. You know what I mean? It it gets it gets kind of funky because you we're still I mean I think the I would I would be all for the

190the the getting rid of the primary if um we were going to be running a system that made sense as we all say where it's not by the seat because a lot of people ask what does that seat number mean? It means nothing. Um but then if we still have the seat number we really didn't fix anything because we can still potentially have you know, four people and I mean, I don't want to name names, but one person who nobody's running against them in their in that seat. We can have a seat where eight people are running against one guy's seat. You know, it still doesn't allow that open. So, >> do you see what I'm saying? We got more people in the pool, but not necessarily more people in the pool. We can have

191everybody go after one seat and still have three people running. So without the other system, it almost makes the primary necessary if we don't have the other system. I don't know. >> But it for me it still regardless of the system I I think we're and and I don't I I don't have any concrete basis to say that more candidates are better, but I think more candidates are better. No, I mean I agree. >> Even if it's one more candidate, um we're opening the system to give people >> a more direct path to being a candidate for school board. Whether it whether it works out with the seats or not, we can take that vote right separately. If you feel that's if you feel that's the right combination is for example no primary in the

192pool you'll have a chance to express that by voting for that structure. But regardless of it, not having a primary gives a longer timeline for people to learn about the job, uh, attend our schoolboard academy, raise money, and spend less money perhaps on a campaign, which might open it up to people who ordinarily would not have thought about putting their name down as candidates. >> I just think we're, you know, just becomes a chicken and egg. >> Director Um, so the other thing people need to realize is that you don't have to actually run for the seat that you filed for initially. You can change which seat you file for five minutes before the filing closes. So um, in 2010 when I first ran, there were a lot of school board candidates. I think we

193had a total of 15 spread among four seats. There was one incumbent um who was targeted and there were five people who signed up for that seat and then that incumbent decided that they would run for another seat that only had two candidates. and they actually said, "Yes, I filed for that seat because there were only two candidates." The incumbent lost in the primary for whatever that's worth. But I mean, there's still all kinds of things that can be at play. Um, personally, I feel if you, you know, if you say you're going to file for a specific seat, then, you know, you should stick with it, but you don't have to. Director Cook. >> So, if I may, Director Workman, I I completely agree that that is another major deficiency of the alley system.

194It does not, however, relate to uh whether or not there's a primary. It it's a it's a structural flaw um in the the way that the alley system was uh envisioned, I suppose. Um, I'd like to think it was a bug and not a feature, but yes, it is absolutely a a flaw that allows candidates to engage in gamesmanship because of the separate statutory provisions that allow candidates to withdraw candidacy. Um, and that doesn't bar them, as you noted, from filing for a different seat. And given that each seat is precisely an identical position on the board, um that is a unfortunate feature of the alley system and yet another reason that it should absolutely be repealed. Um but but again we're right now the matter before the board is not that it is whether

195there should be a primary election >> and as director point out whether there should be a primary election for 2026 because we have the option to make that decision every year we have an election. >> Call the question. >> Okay the question has been called and seconded. I will read the resolution. >> I think we have to move about to call the question. No, when the question's called, the question's called, right? >> Well, the question ends the discussion, >> right? >> We still have to vote on the resolution. >> Yeah, I know that, >> right? Um, do you want to do you want me to check to make sure we don't have to have a vote on calling the question? >> I think we'd ended. >> Okay. Calling the question ends the discussion. So, I'll

196read the resolution. Be it resolved that the School Board of Independent School District 535 that its resolution dated February 16. This is not the right resolution. Sorry. Be it resolved that the school board of independent school district 535 that it resolution dated February 16th, 2010, which established that nominees for school board shall be determined in a primary election, is hereby revoked, and instead candidates who submit an affidavit of candidacy for the office of school board director shall proceed directly to the regularly scheduled regular scheduled general election. And be it further resolved that this resolution upon adoption shall be effective for all ensuing elections of schoolboard members in this school district until such time as a subsequent resolution is adopted pursuant to Minnesota statute 205A3. Do we have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >>

197Second. >> Has been moved and seconded. Any other questions or discussion now that you've heard the resolution? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I >> opposed. >> Nay. >> The resolution passes 61. So now we will move on to our new action item 8.2, the support of repealing the special law establishing the alley system for schoolboard elections. If you reference your agenda item and um you look at the resolution because of the vote we just took um the language in the resolution where there are two options. Option one if the primary election resolution passes and option two if the primary election resolution does not pass. So we would be using the language for option two. I'm sorry. We would be using the language for option one. That's the first uh change to that.

198Um and I'm going to go back to my notes that I took from prior discussion. Um I think there was one issue uh as the resolution is currently written the um uh if if the legislature were to take action in time for um us to meet our deadlines for the general election cycle. Uh the resolution states the intent that we would change from the alley system to the ATL large standard system for the 2026 elections. I did hear a board member express an opinion that that was not um their preference. Do we have any any other comments on that? Because it's specific to the language of the resolution, the 2026 versus a later election. not here. Director Mur um I know that we've moved this to an action item that it would be also be

199my suggest suggestion that we not vote on this tonight. Um that it's the first time I think that the public has heard about it and that we provide time at least another meeting or two for the uh general public to give feedback. So, are you making a motion to postpone um action to a time certain which would be the March 3rd meeting? >> March 3rd or >> we have to set it to a time certain. >> Yeah. Right. Or meeting after that. Um sorry. And part of that, let's say till March 3rd, could be postponed again because I want to be sure that we give the public enough time to respond to this. But beyond that, I still think that h um if the legislation passes, putting it into effect for this election cycle is

200too soon. >> Director Workman, then Director Cook. >> Um I think two arguments could be made for having this be an action item tonight. Um the first one, we have had such overwhelming response from the public on primary question. That was a sarcastic remark. Um, but the far the longer we put it off, the less time it has to go to the legislature for them to make a decision. So, if we took the vote tonight, that would give us a little bit more time in making an argument to the legislature as to why it would be a good idea if that's what we choose to do to repeal this. Director Cook. >> Uh, Director Marvin, I would completely agree with you if this resolution had any legal effect at all. Um, the intention here is

201to give the board an opportunity to state its preference to the legislature. The action to be taken here is entirely with the legislature. Um, and I will also represent to you that I have earnestly attempted to find anyone that can defend this system for years. No one does. No one thinks this makes any sense at all. Um but uh you know I I I think time is also of the essence here because the legislative session has just begun. They only have a couple of months to do their work. And so the earlier this board is able to indicate um its preference for a change that again I think is just long overdue and a total slam dunk no-brainer that benefits everyone, costs nothing. Um and uh there's no reason at all that this should be

202partisan in any way whatsoever. Um so I I would I would hope that the board would endorse this resolution. Um, but either way, I fully intend to advocate for its passage at the legislature as an individual, if nothing else. But I I do think the board has it as is as well positioned as anyone possibly could be to understand the effect of this um special law. Director Cook, just to clarify, in your conversations uh with uh one of our state representatives, did they indicate that they wanted a resolution from the board expressing our preference before they would introduce legislation? >> Uh no. They said they would stay tuned for anything that the board decided to do. Um but no, that wasn't a request. Uh, director Whitehorn. >> So again, timeline what I know you said

203that legislation is opening, but uh pushing this back um what would be the implications of that to doing it? And then again, because I I am me. Is there is there any other way to pass a vote on this? So does it have to be the third? Is there any other way to take the vote by proxy in a week or we have to actually So I didn't know if there's >> so the >> the the resolution um charges the legislative committee with conveying the import of this resolution to uh the legislature. So if the board were to not adopt this resolution until some later time then it would just delay the time that that would occur at. Um but if >> and this resolution would give the legislature a deadline of um June 1st.

204>> So so that I guess that's my more of my question like if the if the early if the filing date is by May 9th, right? Like in order for this to be implemented in this election by what day would this need to be in law for this to >> June 1st? Because now that we decided not to have a primary, our deadlines for passing our resolution, calling an election, and doing our official posting doesn't begin until the end of June. director. >> Um I haven't done as in-depth um consideration or research on this issue, but it seems to me that the answer to director Marvin's question is sort of up to the legislature that they can act this session or next session and it's we're it's their it's their statute so they can decide.

205um that I think that I I feel I understand the concern, but I think that that because it's their law, they get to make that decision as well. Um and either way, we would need to live with it. >> Well, I I'd go further. Oh, sorry, >> director Barlo. >> Uh thank you. Uh I too, similar to Dr. Marvin um am of the opinion that uh we should always um allow our uh constituents um to uh share their viewpoints. there there's no uh being a retired firefighter, I don't believe there's an exigency uh situation that requires us to act upon this immediately. Uh I am in favor, yes, of of of eliminating the alley system. No ifs or buts about that. But I I also believe that it is always important to allow u even

206if it's only one person from the public who uh cares enough to come and and speak before the board. I think it's always well worth that time and uh so that's all I would say on that. Did you have a question? >> Well, I was just going to point out that the the request for an effective date that's in the resolution is a request. The legislature may or may not do that. If they pass a law that repeals the um the alley system for Rochester public schools, then of course we're going to follow the law. Um but it it's it's not so much a deadline for the legislature as a statement of our requested preference. That's really all it is. >> Um one question that did occur to me, are we aware of any committee

207deadlines or what committees may need to go to that would be that's the thing that I could see as the first deadline. I think the policy deadline is March 27th that they have to pass both they have to go through the committees of both houses by March 27th. >> Are there any other related deadlines that happen before that so that then it can be ready to go for that? I don't know how I guess it would be the priority of the legislature that because even though we would express this to our legislators and ask them to carry the bill, I guess it would have to fit in with their priorities of what their legislation is. And I would just be concerned that given all the world's uncertainties these days that if we don't pass this

208now, something could happen with their agendas that make this less of a priority for them to address for us. >> Dr. Marvin, >> well, the question is, will waiting two weeks change that? I mean, I I really really think that at minimum, it's going to make people aware. And I I absolutely think that our public needs um the opportunity at least to say something about the way they vote. This isn't a schoolboard decision. And even when, you know, changing the primary thing was strictly a schoolboard decision, we still allowed time for input. And I'm thinking that we are making decisions and we have a right to if the legislation changes um about how the public votes, you know, um in deciding schoolboard members that they should have an opportunity to speak up. >> Dr. Mclofflin,

209>> um I guess Dr. M, I guess the question I would have is could that still happen here either. the school board public comments even after our vote or with the local legislators. Is that sufficient to fix that or would it influence the vote that we're going to take on this resolution when it's >> mean to vote now and then get comments later? >> There still be an opportunity to give comments like we didn't like your action. You know that it wouldn't necessarily change anything but it would still give that opportunity for voice >> for sure. It just seems to me a little disingenuous that we'd say, "Oh, no." >> Director, >> um, once again, we simply would request the legislature to make this decision. We're not making a decision. >> But if the but

210if the legislature were to take action before the deadline, the way the resolution is written, we are committing to implementing it for the 2026 election. >> Right. But the leg legislature might say, "We don't care about that. You're going to implement this regardless of your deadline." Or they might say, "No, I'm sorry. You're going to have to wait until the 2028 election." That's certainly within their perview. >> They they could not pass it. And the legislation um or the sorry the resolution indicates that were they not to meet that deadline for 2026, we would continue to we would share this with them again and say we'd like you to introduce it in the 2027. >> It it's not whether or not they would meet the deadline. It would be how would they actually vote on

211it. >> If the legislature said no, we're not going to vote to repeal this, then we don't have any choice moving forward. >> Right. Exactly. >> Director Mc >> I guess the question would be in my mind if I were sitting here as a legislator I would would people ask the question did they seek community input? Did they seek public comment before voting or not? I don't know if that would be important to a legislator. Well, if they have to take a vote on changing our election structure and their constit and we're asking our legislators to carry the vote who have the same constituents as we do, they probably would want to know what our constituents had to say about it because they're also their constituents, >> right? I think that's an important point. >>

212So, I'm certain that all of us have had conversations with our constituents on this particular topic. I I I just um I don't think that this is the proper forum for continuing to discern the public's interest in this question of the special law at the legislature. The intention here is to allow the board an opportunity to state its preference to the legislature. But if there is if there if there does emerge a viewpoint that finds some virtue in this alley system, um the legislature would then be the proper forum to raise those views to. Um I certainly haven't found it, but it may exist. I I'm actually quite curious. Um but uh I I do think it is it would be beneficial to pass this today if at all possible to give the legislature an

213opportunity to consider the the board's input as experts in this area who have had these conversations with constituents many many times I'm sure. Um, >> so I would >> go ahead. >> I just want to say quickly too that it was I mean I see I see um Director Marvin's point, but um it was on the agenda, you know, and people can comment on anything on the agenda. We have moved other items um from prep into action. Uh I I see your point of the disingenuousness of it, but was listed, it would not I don't think it would be far-fetched um in in moving it if that's what the board decides to do. I do think that the public is aware that it's a topic that we are in discussion of and they could have

214very well um spoke on it today. Um as well >> I would say though it was listed as a prep for action item and it was not available on Friday when the agenda went public. It was a late added item on Monday. So generally it it wasn't at the same amount of time technically. >> Dr. Marvin >> and my last comment. Um so we make the request to the legislature to uh consider this and then we wait and then everybody else who's thinking that they might want to run for school board, they wait and they say, "Well, when will we know? Do we have to file for a seat or is this going to be at large?" And our answer will be I don't know. >> No. Well, no. >> What do you mean no?

215>> Well, we know that the legislature would have to act by June 1st to take action and the filing period doesn't start until July 14th, which is a very short time frame. So, between now and um June 1st, our answer would be I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe seats, maybe something else. And I just think that's that's just not That's not right. >> So now, so now you're talking about a separate item though because there's one there's one question about whether we vote on this tonight or vote on it next time. What you're talking about is actually a change in the resolution that would indicate the date the first election cycle in which we would use no matter when the no matter when the uh legisla the leg legislation was passed. And that would

216be something I would raise at our next meeting if this thing is tabled till the next meeting. Um because I I I do think that between you know June 1st and filing is a very short period of time. Um first of all not knowing and then even if it does pass then informing the public and this is how it's going to be this time around. My my choice would be for this to go into effect in 2028, but at minimum I would really uh encourage us to table this till the next meeting. >> So to vote at the next meeting, let me let me tell board members what our what our options are. If there is someone who would like to postpone the action to a specific future date, just like we made the motion

217to move it later in the agenda, someone would have to make that motion. It would have to be seconded. It's debatable and it would require a majority vote to pass. So, if somebody wants to make that motion, that would be how we would resolve whether or not we're going to vote on it tonight or whether we're going to vote on it next week. Right now we're talking about tableabling till next >> but somebody has to make that motion >> and I thought I thought I did that. >> Oh, I did not hear a specific >> and I may not have stated it as a motion. My motion would be to table um this item until the May 3rd u >> March March M words u March 3rd meeting. >> So postpone the action to the

218March 3rd meeting. >> Yes, >> I would second. Okay. So we have a motion and we have a second Marvin and McLaclin. All right. So it is debatable. So does anybody have any comments um regarding postponing to March 3rd that we haven't already heard? Director McW um I made the second primarily because it occurred to me as we were the just the most recent com comments about this is that I don't want us to be accused of monkeying with an election that would have a short timeline between the June 1st or earlier approval and a July July 14th filing period now that we voted not to have a I'm sorry. >> Yep. Is that right? So, we don't have a primary. So, it's July 14th. >> It's June 1st to July 14th. >> It's a

219short time period. I worry that that could be perceived by people not listening to the details of this discussion as something that would have the perception that could favor incumbents because of adding confusion and not having answers to whether it's a it's and I think about it from a someone who's not been elected office that if you're trying to strategize how to run and how to do that as a new candidate, this might be a deterrent. So that would be a conversation for um whenever we take action which if this motion passes would be at the next meeting and if it doesn't pass we could discuss that before we take action tonight. Any other comments on the motion to postpone action to May to March 3rd? Hearing none. We'll take a vote on postponing action

220to March 3rd. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed? >> Nay. >> That's five to two. So, we will postpone this to action on March 3rd. And if I could just clarify, I think that my statement I just made does have some implication in that sense that we're giving the community opportunity to give us feedback between now and March 3rd. That I think could prevent that perception that we're doing something without public notice, public comment. They have their opportunity to tell us on March 3rd and then we would have more information when we take a final vote. and the agenda item information that is in the agenda for tonight's meeting. Um, should members of the community want to review the background, it is available already and will also be available

221in the March 3rd agenda. >> That will change the way it's legislation. No, we could we you we could at when we're talking about taking action on it on March 3rd also adjust the resolution itself should the board want to change the implementation date. Yes. All right. Our next agenda item get there is our ABCD on our March 3rd meeting. We have our focus topic which is the RPS 2030 strategic plan elementary school options. Our action item is the RPS improvement targets proposal and the action item we just added now which is action to support repealing the special law establishing the alley system for schoolboard elections in ISD 535. On March 17th, uh we have a focus topic of the RPS 2030 strategic plan, middle school options, and a prep for action with our school

222board draft response to the APAC letter of non-concurrence that we received this evening. Any other items board members would like to raise for consideration for a future meeting agenda. Upcoming meeting dates the 3rd of March, the 17th of March, April 7th, and April 21st are all regular meetings that begin at 5:30 p.m. And hearing no other business, the meeting is adjourned at 8:55 p.m. >> I was worried that This