School Board Meeting - January 6, 2026

001Are you there? I can catch up now. This regular meeting of the Independent School District 5:35 School Board is called to order at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 6th, 2026 in room 137 of the Edison building. Present at this meeting are school board members, Superintendent Kent Pel, an a non- voting exeicio member, and assistant school board clerk, Miss Anne Kramer. Miss Kramer, will you please call the role? >> 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 sacred land of all indigenous peoples. At this time, we offer the opportunity to say the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty

002and justice for all. >> The next item, Rochester Public Schools [clears throat] mission, vision, and values. Usually during this agenda item, we uh read one portion of our mission, vision, or values. But tonight, we're going to move that to our later agenda item 4.3. Item 2.1 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 are comments to the board. Is our comments to the board speaker here tonight, Joanne Barkmeer? Seeing none, we'll move on to reorganization of the school board. Item one is election of officers. Minnesota statute 123b14 specifies

003that schoolboard officers, chair, clerk, and treasurer must be elected for a one-year term as soon after January 1st as practicable. In addition, schoolboard policy 202, schoolboard officers, specifies that a vice chair is also elected. We will now take officer nominations. Nominations do not require a second. If there is only one nomination for an office, the individual will be elected by acclamation. If there are multiple nominations for an office, a vote is required. And to keep track of the vote, you will make your vote by raising your hand. Nominations are now in order for the office of chair. >> Dr. Martin, I nominate Kathy Nathan. >> Are there any other nominations for the office of chair? Are there any other nominations for the office of chair? If there are no further nominations, nominations for the office

004of chair are closed. With only one nomination for the office of chair, Kathy Nathan is elected by acclamation. Thank you, board members. Nominations are now in order for the office of vice chair. Director McLaclin, I nominate Julie Workman. Are there any other nominations? Uh, Director Whitehorn, >> I'd like to nominate. >> Are there any other nominations for the office of vice chair? Are there any further nominations for the office of vice chair? If there are no further nominations, nominations for the office of vice chair are closed. With more than one candidate for the office of vice chair, a vote is required. We'll now give each candidate the opportunity to make a statement. Uh, director. Um, okay. So, since I've been on the board, I've been member of teams that have developed committee structures, totally redid

005the draft agenda structure to be more effective, uh, developed a catch-up schedule to review [clears throat] policies that hadn't been looked in quite a while, developed a three-year policy review and a process for policies that were required to be re reviewed annually. the board calendar draft was instituted. Uh I worked on creating a schoolboard handbook for new members that is reviewed [clears throat] and updated annually. I want to make a disclaimer. I had a lot of help doing this um work. It was a team effort and certainly not on my own. So these were developed to make to not only make our work more organized, but so that any new board members could take advantage of a welloiled machine that is constantly being monitored and streamlined to meet current needs. So the situation when I

006was elected in 2010 I took office in 2011. I was one of four newly elected board members, one appointed member. We had five new board members on our team. There was basically nothing. There was no handbook. There was the the guidance and instruction were kind of halfhazard sometimes after the fact. And at the very first meeting I was elected vice chair. A week later, I went to my first MSBA conference. Um, since then, I've taken all the MSBA trainings and everything that goes along with that. Um, those first few years were really difficult because I felt like I was out there on a limb because I was really interested in doing good schoolboard work. Nobody was interested in developing a legislative committee. Um, so I thank you for the the great interest we have on

007this board for that. But the primary reason we set all of this up so that a new board member could really be onboarded very quickly so that they had a manual of how to do things. You know, I'm sure it would have been a whole lot easier for me if I'd had all those annual all those um manuals. And the goal was basically that any school board member could step into that job without having had any prior training other than MSBA meetings and um you know going to going to school board meetings but you know no previous um experiences chair. So that goal has been met uh for the most part. We're still working on a lot of stuff. I would certainly um like to continue as vice chair for another year. Um if the

008board sees fit that it's time for a change, then of course, you know, that's possible, too. And I, you know, we'll accept whatever happens on that. Um let's see. I guess that's that kind of that kind of wraps it up. >> Thank you, Director Hook. Well, as the beneficiary of so much of the work that Director Workman just described, I'm uh very grateful for having those resources and of course um an admirer of Director Workman and her um significant service to our community and on this board in particular as well as on the executive committee. Um, I after a lot of consideration, I think that this is the right time in my tenure on the school board to step into the executive committee and serve in that role. I'd be very happy to do so.

009Um, and uh I'll await the the board's decision. >> All right, we will now give uh we will now take votes for each candidate. Please only vote for one candidate and raise your hand. All those in favor of Julie Workman for vice chair, please raise your hand. All those in favor of Justin Cook for vice chairs, please raise your hand. With a vote of four to three, Julie Workman is elected as vice chair. Nominations are now in order for the office of clerk. Uh, are there any nominations for the office of clerk? >> Director Mervin, >> I'd like to nominate Stephanie Whitehorn. >> Are there any other nominations for office of clerk? Are there any final nominations for office of clerk? There are no further nominations. Nominations for the office of clerk are closed. And

010with only one nomination for the office of clerk, Stephanie Whitehorn is elected by acclamation. Nominations are now in order for the office of treasurer. Director Workman. >> I nominate Director Mclofflin. >> Are there any other nominations for the office of treasurer? Are there any final nominations for the office of treasure? With only one nomination for the office of treasurer, director McLaclin is elected by acclamation. So having completed, let me make sure I have this right. Having completed the elections, I will now read the resolution for action. and our assistant school board clerk is updating this in Simly. Be it resolved that the school board of independent school district 535 elect as it elect Kathy Nathan as its chair for a term of one year effective upon election on January 6th, 2026. And be it resolved

011that the school board of independent school district 535 elect Julie Workman as its vice chair for a term of one year effective upon election on January 6th, 2026. And be it resolved that the school board of independent school district 535 elect Stephanie Whitehorn as its clerk for a term of one year effective upon election on January 6th, 2026. And be it resolved that the school board of independent school district 535 elect Karen McLaclin as its treasurer for a term of one year effective upon election on January 6th, 2026. >> Anybody need a second? >> Second. Thank you. There has been a motion and a second. All in favor of the resolution say I. >> I. Opposed. The resolution has been approved. Item 4.2 is review of the code of ethics. Policy 209 code of ethics

012requires that the school board review the policy on an annual basis. Um this is the time board members. If you have any recommendations for the policy committee to consider in reviewing um this policy at the next meeting, please note them tonight. The agenda item also includes some minor changes to procedure 209A to reflect the current process for board members to submit questions on agenda items and removes the reference to board meeting video recaps. So this is the time each year where we usually uh reflect on one or two items in the code of ethics that strikes us individually as board members as particularly relevant to their work or to particularly to the work of this year. Director Barlo, >> certainly. Thank you. Uh number four, which is vote my conscience after informed discussion unless I

013abstain because a conflict of interest exist is very important. um in some ways even how I cast my vote uh for the uh officers which were just elected uh I think our vote our voice matters our conscience for me it's important to be true to your conscience and your commitments what is voiced what is said and then uh secondly and I believe we were asked to perhaps comment regarding Uh number nine, recognize the need to represent all children, all parents, guardians, and all community members. uh so critically important especially at a time in which uh we find ourselves u not so much as a community but as a nation where it is so easy to u demonize the other or minimize u uh what others have to bring to the table and I'm thankful to

014be a part of a board and a district that uh believes in All means all and uh that the strength of our district and community is uh fully uh realized when when we recognize and represent all children, guardians, parents and and uh uh community members. So those are my comments. >> Who would like to go next? Director McLaclin, >> in thinking about what to say tonight in particularly with the other agenda items where we're launching into the um new strategic planning process, I think it's important to recognize um policy A seven be primarily motivated by a desire to provide the best possible education for the students of my district. I think that that's always the forefront of what we're doing, but particularly this year. And then I also um look to the fact that I

015was just elected treasurer that there's several things in um paragraph D. I would say two and three are both relevant to that role and I will happily do that on behalf of the board. >> And I guess five five as well. I didn't read that far down. D5. Director Murvin, >> I would just add to what um Director McL M Mc Macklin said um that our primary um motivation should be what's right for kids, what's best for kids. And I think if you're in any area of education, you have to consider yourself. You have to be a a servant leader. And so although we may have pep projects or we may have certain interests, um our job is to make sure and their caregivers and parents get what they need and that comes before what

016we may want. Um so I just want to echo that else there I can jump in. Um A3 listen to the opinions and views of others including but not limited to other schoolboard members, administration, staff, students and community members. Um, in addition to the direct ways that um, we offer to our community to communicate with the board, I think this board and thankfully our superintendent and our administration has um, we've been good partners in getting uh, community input built into the development process of the initiatives and recommendations that come to the board. I think we see that tonight in the strategic plan agenda item. Um, and so that it doesn't have to be someone sitting at a table here at a board meeting, you know, giving us uh public comments or sending us emails, but

017our responsibility as board members is to make sure it's infused in in the work of the district and and I appreciate the the partnership that we have to do that. Um, and also I one of my ones I think I mention every year is B3, consider myself a trustee of public education and do my best to protect, conserve, and advance its progress. Um my firm belief continues to be that public education is both a vehicle um for the future of our community and and a gift to our community and um supporting it is the f at the foundation of everything we do. >> Dr. Whitehorn went first because I had to reook at my remarks four or five times because everybody taking my numbers. Um just say that. >> Okay. So um but I I

018agree first off with with most of what has already been said. Um most of my uh original responses have already been used. But I also want to add to that C1 and respect and respect the right of others to have an express opinion. I just think it's powerful that we all have different backgrounds and we have different come from different walks of life. Um and that's why public education is so amazing because you get to continue to learn. Um, and when I was thinking of this, uh, I had a very interesting conversation with my father about some of the things that he has taught me over the years. And he said, "I didn't teach you anything, but I taught you how to learn." Right? And once you know how to learn, you can learn anything.

019Um, and I just I really it really resonated with me. I've been it's been running through my head, but it's important that we don't all think the same. So, I really like that how this board is set up. And I like uh that we have different opinions and I like that you shouldn't always agree because that's what diversity is. We all have different opinions from different spaces and I like that we're able to um handle that respectfully and then ditto on all the other remarks that were stolen from my brain before I got to say >> our apologies. Thank you, Director Cook. Um so C5 uh asks us to make decisions by voting in schoolboard meetings after all sides of debatable questions have been presented. Um and uh I think that flexibility for me it's

020almost an inquisitiveness. Uh I will al often have a an idea of course um after reviewing agenda items but kind of intentionally allowing myself to be open to the possibility that I don't know it all because I I surely don't. Um there's more to come. Um I want to hear the perspectives of others and just really authentically embracing that uh flexibility I think is important to making good decisions. And then the other uh thing that uh resonates here with me um is in section E6 uh that asks us to offer the superintendent counsel and advice. And I think he's probably come to appreciate that whether he wants it or not. Um he's going to get it. So um yeah, those those ones reate resonate with me. And then uh finally, I I just note that

021um I I really am so privileged to serve on this board where I feel very comfortable assuming positive intent from um everyone involved. It's certainly not the case for me and in all of my other professional endeavors. Um and uh I I really do value the opportunity to disagree agreeably um in pursuit of you know the best possible decisions that we can come up with as a group. So thank you all for that. >> Director Workman um two great minds were very close to thinking alike but I chose C4 which is keep an open mind about how I will vote on any proposition until the board has met and fully discussed the issue. I don't know how many times I've been asked by a member of the community, how are you going to vote on

022this? And if I'm thinking fast enough, I will say, well, what do you think? But it's always followed by I'm taking in information till the very last minute. Because we have six other board members who many times have presented perspectives that hadn't occurred to me for whatever reason, and that has to be a factor in my decision making. So, by saying that, it's not like I'm trying to, you know, flip-flop on something or but just to be open-minded to what people's concerns are and and what they have to say. I have learned so much from all of the members on this board. It's just been eye opening and fun. >> Thank you, board members. This does involve an action item, so I'll read the resolution. Be it resolved that the school board of independent school

023district 535 accept the recommendations as listed for procedure 209 code of ethics. >> Move approval. >> Second. >> Has been moved and seconded. Are there any questions or discussion on the procedure 209? >> Hearing none. All in favor of the resolution say I. >> I. Opposed. The resolution has been approved. We'll move on to review of the school district mission statement policy 104. Um, school district mission statement requires the school board will review the school district's mission, vision, and goals annually, especially with members of the school board change. The board adopted the new mission, vision, and values um at the October 7th, 2025 meeting, and we'll take this opportunity to review them. Director Cook, can you start us off? >> Yes. Uh our mission is to equip every student with the knowledge, independence and resilience

024to pursue a fulfilling path. Our vision is that every student thrives in school and in life >> and we have uh six values uh I'll read the first one uh which is [clears throat] providing exceptional opportunities to succeed. We offer an extraordinary level of opportunities, classes, and experiences. Our standard of excellence ensures more than one path to success. I will read the next value. Building belonging and connection. By celebrating differences and embracing individual perspectives, we cultivate a vibrant sense of community and culture that benefits students, staff, and families. Our third value is ensuring excellence through evidence guided by research and data. We enrich student learning and well-being through intentional decisions supported by proven practices. We also value supporting the whole student through nurturing social skills and emotional well-being. We meet each students needs to help

025them flourish on their unique path. The next value is digging deeper for real world application. We go beyond convention by fostering critical thinking skills, emotional intelligence, and deeper learning for success here in Rochester and beyond. >> And the final value is investing in our community's future. As the heart of a community focused on lifelong learning, we prepare the next generation of thinkers and doers. board members any comments on the mission, vision or values at this time? I think it's important to note for people who aren't uh in this room to remind that our back wall contains our mission, our vision, and our values. So board members see it in all the work that we're doing. And I really appreciate the new um upgrades that we've seen here at the Edison building and across the district

026that will allow all of us involved in this work to um have constant reminders of um these important words that will guide our our work going forward. Thank you board members. Our next item is 5.1 board member updates. Does any board member have updates from their committee since the last meeting or any information to share? Director Marvin our student speaker from student school board couldn't be here at the last minute tonight. So, uh she will be here or a few students will be here in two weeks to give me uh updates on both the December and the January meetings. Um but just very briefly in December um the administration asked our student uh school board to give them feedback on some of the input they have gotten from hundreds of adults in this committees uh

027in this community as it affects um and as it will inform the uh planned strategic plan. Um Dr. was there and it was amazing because the format was for the adult facilitators to ask the questions and then record what student said. We weren't the ones running the show. Students were amazing. And I guess the point I want to get to is we talk about student voice that is very important in this district. Not just having kids meet together, but really listening to what they have to say and act on what they have to say. And we're keenly aware that student voice isn't just one voice. Our kids are not a monol monolith. We have a really diverse amazing student body. And when these kids get together from all the high schools and talk about things

028that that are important to them and that the school district wants to know, um they do better. They learn how to listen. They learn how to problem solve. They learn how to look at things a little bit differently than maybe they did before. And I think their uh feedback continues to be vitally important. More from the kids in a couple of weeks. Anything else board members would like to report on? All right, we will move on to our consent agenda. Items 6.1 through 6.9. Um, and I'll have board members note that item 6.3, approval of financial resolutions following the schoolboard reorganization, has been updated to include the names of the elected officers. Would any board member like any item removed from the consent agenda for separate consideration? If not, could I have a motion to

029approve? >> So move. >> Second. It has been moved and seconded. Um, all those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? The consent agenda has been approved. So now we move on to our focus topic. Uh, the RPS 2030 community feedback summary. This is a lot of information items. Superintendent Pel. >> Thank you, Chair Nathan. You can see Dr. Denise Moody coming up uh who is um our director of policy and innovation and who is aly leading our strategic planning process. Um I I I hope uh you'll permit me for just a moment before I turn it over to Denise to um briefly recap where we are on this journey to a new strategic plan. As board members will recall, we began with the board approving a set of measurable performance measures that will

030guide both our system level efforts through the strategic plan and our school improvement process at the school level. That was last year. Um we moved on then as the chair just noted to a new set of mission, vision, and values which will also feature prominently in uh this plan. I did a series of interviews in all of our schools and programs last year that resulted in 10 kind of hot issues that the board then categorized and ranked um that we uh baked into some of the ongoing work that is happening. Um and we've dug into the data. Uh board members saw it recently in two discussions of the comprehensive achievement civic readiness and the achievement and integration. But there is much more going on um in looking at where we are quantifiably in terms of

031the educational outcomes that are the focus of our work. This tonight is an important Next step, we conducted a robust set of efforts to get feedback from our stakeholders um uh including the wonderful student schoolboard meeting that um uh Dr. uh um Marvin just mentioned. I'm stumbling a little because frankly the students shot down one of my favorite ideas with a brutality that was uh like surgical [laughter] um advisories. They did not want them. And so it was amazing. really and this is a diverse group of kids and they were united by that [laughter] that um um but we also have done written feedback forms uh focus groups and interviews um it's really important to say before uh we I turn over to Denise that when you solicit open feedback you get open feedback and

032so um we have got feedback from folks who may be crystal clear about their lived experience in their school in their community and often put the language in terms of RPS's like this and so I think we need to keep that uh in mind um after tonight's uh uh discussion the uh conversation by no means is complete we then move on to um taking a look at the work that three working groups one focused on elementary schools one middle schools and high schools are doing with support from a national um educational improvement organization education first um we'll be bringing back some conclusions which board members have already at significant length discussed about what worked uh and what uh didn't work so well from our current strategic plan. We'll be bringing you a set of improvement

033targets, measurable goals for improvement that we propose guide our work on the next strategic plan. We'll be receiving data from the five essentials survey that will take a look at the perspectives of our teachers, our uh parents and caregivers, and our students on the levers that research shows affects uh student achievement. Um and then we'll be bringing it all together for the board and the broader community to look at in a coherent strategic plan. Um and I think we're on track uh to have the board review and approve that by the end of May, though that's an ambitious agenda given the other things. So tonight is an important point where we're synthesizing the open feedback that we got and Denise has done a pretty extraordinary job of synthesizing hundreds of hundreds of comments. Um as

034I turn it over to her, I'll just tell board members two broad takeaways um that I have. One is that we did not hear concerns about the strategic plan initiatives that that have guided the last three years of our work. And I believe people thought we were off track, we would have heard that. We did not hear why are you emphasizing literacy? Why are you putting in place multi-tered systems of support? Why are you investing in deeper learning? Why are you concerned about uh mental health? Why are you trying to [clears throat] engage parents and caregivers? Why are you investing in school leaders? All the other things. Why did you change the start times? So, I think broadly stated, we heard um uh in part by the absence of objection, you're on track. But I

035also think we heard across very diverse communities that the status quo is not where Rochester wants us to be. This is not a ringing endorsement of every structure and practice that we have going on. I didn't expect that and we didn't get that. So, I see this as a nice mix of confidence in what we've done and a really strong uh hope and frankly insistence that we keep going further. And so, I know certainly board members are well aware of this. Anybody who doesn't want to be involved in change should probably be looking for new employment in the next four or five years. That doesn't mean we're going to have reckless change, uncolaborative change, not transparent change, not researchbased change, but as we're going to hear from Denise's summary, um we have our stakeholders saying,

036"Yep, keep going, but go further, go faster." So, thank you, Denise. I'll turn it over to you. And then this, uh uh discussion for board members tonight is obviously not an action item. We are looking for your thoughts, your reactions. will be taking all of this feedback and building it into that final process that I alluded to a moment ago. >> We've done so far. >> Not on. Here we go. Glad to be here to talk about the work that we've done so far. So to summarize kind of all of the things that have been happening this fall since we were here back in September, um we had an open response feedback form. So it was really just asking at the elementary and early childhood, middle school and high school level, what would you like

037to see changed? Um we did focus groups again focused at that elementary, middle and high school. Um there were multilingual world cafes conducted in both Somali and Spanish um that we'll talk about that are informing our work. There were student conversations as Dr. Marvin um discussed. And then we did 38 key informant interviews. There's a list of those interviews um that are in the final appendex as well as well as our work with the three design committees with our ED first consultants. This summary today isn't around the committee work that will be coming to you starting in March. Um, but this is a focus of those other bullets. And this feedback is ongoing. So, we know that all of you have lots of conversations with people in our community too about what they're seeing in

038our schools and what's important to them. So we are asking you to um share what's kind of at the forefront of your mind as I conclude this presentation to think about what are you hearing and what stands out for you. So if you are willing to do that we would love to hear from you as we continue to build on how we want to move forward. So starting in elementary and early childhood, the overwhelming kind of response we heard was around class size um and this need for differentiated individualized instruction. Um people it's important that their kids are learning and we know that we have some work to do and um this is really what the community is coming up with kind of as ideas is to really think about class size and that instruction

039piece. There was some concerns about excessive screen time versus hands-on learning. um how much kids time kids were spending on iPads was a concern that was brought up and then there was a lot of conversation too on insufficient recess and outdoor time and this also with lunch too. It feels like the kids schedule is kind of rushed. We're we're trying to maximize our time in the classroom and um making our schools run efficiently but then kids are feeling a little bit rushed in those resource [clears throat] and outdoor time. So there's a tension there um that exists that parents um definitely brought up. We're also seeing kindergarteners that um are showing up at school struggling to engage in learning um and seeing some gaps as they come from preschool to kindergarten and parents just really

040wanting clear communication with their school about how their child's doing, what's happening in their classrooms. Middle school was really kind of identified as a critical juncture as we are all aware. Um [clears throat] and that there middle school is not preparing students for high school the way that maybe they should be or they're arriving in high school unprepared. students were struggling to see that they're motivated by middle school um in needing a connection to why does this matter to me and what's the real world connection that might be happening here. Um they're struggling to find their motivation for learning in some of the classrooms and um really thinking about how do how do we excite kids for learning in middle school is really one of the themes. How do we get them engaged and how

041do we let them know that this matters? The other big theme coming out of middle school was around belonging. How do we again like get kids excited for learning but also feel like school is a place where that they belong. And one area was around extracurricular activities and some families felt that there were barriers fees but really other financial barriers too like transportation and schedule that also play into that. Um that some kids were able to be involved and other kids weren't. and really wanting that to be an opportunity for everybody. Theme both at middle school and high school was around um communication platforms that we try really hard to communicate out and we have a lot of different ways that we do that. But it was getting a little bit lost for some families

042to know when do I look in the Google classroom, when am I, you know, when am I going to what platform? [laughter] And so really thinking about how do we simplify that for families as they were pretty clear that it wasn't working the way it was. And then when families are considering leaving Rochester public schools um they are usually thinking about safety and school culture um considerations. And so it's really important that we have strategies and we have communication with our families to show that we have um safe schools and that there's strong cultures here. in high school. There the feedback around high school and the committee work too has really kind of gelled around this idea um preparing for kids for what they're doing after high school. And so right now we want to

043we there's some concern that the coursework that they're doing in some of their classroom isn't preparing them for college level expectations and want again this connection to real world and career pathways have some and a desire to really make sure that all kids are finding that pathway. Some families felt like even when they were trying to find the information, it was they were struggling to find it. And that was a theme that's come up in our design committees as well. That right now the ratios that we have with our counselors really don't allow for the advising that a lot of families want their children to have to be able to think about what their college and career pathways are. That's my next point there that really stronger post-secary transition support. How do we help them

044prepare for life after high school and allowing student choice and personalization in that in partnership with um Latino lead and the Minnesota Equity Education Partnership, RPS hosted some world cafes, one for Spanish speaking families and another for smallie speaking families. And some of the themes from that group was that >> also Native American if I can add. >> Yes. Yes. Thank you. Um what we heard was gratitude for welcoming educators that families they felt welcomed in the schools and that they felt like they belonged and that people really tried to engage them. Um but that there were sometimes inconsistent access to interpretation at critical meetings and a desire for home language instruction. Um some of the barriers that we um that they're experiencing to engaging in schools would be their work schedules, immigration concerns, and

045transportation. And they really want a consistent seat at those decision making tables. Some of the themes that were across all um sources of the feedback that we had, I mentioned it before, but was the class size and adequate staffing. This was probably the single most consistent concern that we've heard across all levels and frankly that's a little bit discouraging because it's one thing that we don't necessarily have um control over as we know as we consider what our what the budgetary costs of that but as I listened a little deeper I think that families know that things need to improve and they know that they see the teachers and the admin and the staff at the schools working really hard And so they go to class size and adequate staffing. If we have more if

046we have needs, we need to have more people. And I I think that's one thing that we really need to think about in our strategic plan as we move forward is what do we not need to do anymore and what can we do more efficiently. Communication and family ga engagement. Families want to be partners. Um they want clear communication. They want to know how to be involved. They want to be able to be in our buildings. and they want two-way communication about how their students are doing. The concern that we have equity and access across all schools, that all students have access to the things that help them belong, the things that motivate them for learning and um those activities that make school fun as well as rigorous instruction. School needs to be relevant. We

047have a generation of students that really want to know why I need to do this. And maybe that's not new, but I I do think that there's a new level of like this needs to make sense for me. And we have to be able to connect that for students and give them agency in their choices as they move forward. We have a duplicate with the communication and family engagement. And then the last crosscutting theme was around mental health and behavioral support that um a recognition that this is a prerequisite condition achievement that we need to be addressing those concerns and providing resources to families and students and partnerships to [clears throat] make sure that they can have the skills they need in order to be able to our next steps as we look forward. The

048design committees are wrapping up in January and they have lots of ideas for you too as well that weren't necessarily summarized here. And so their last meetings are in January and then recommendations will be going to Dr. Pel in early February and we will be reviewing those putting together a plan and bringing those forward to you in March where we are planning on getting another round of feedback. We had the opportunity with the students to really kind of float some of the ideas that we had that were coming out of the design committees and [laughter] as Dr. Belle said like there were a couple of ideas they shot down. So it was really helpful to get that kind of feedback in the moment to really see what ideas are resonating and so we we want

049to be in this continual loop of bringing forward ideas and getting feedback from our community. I am certainly open for questions and we would love to hear from all of you that you know as you read through this executive summary or full summary um what was one priority from the feedback that you want us to make sure that we're keeping at the forefront of our strategic planning work as we continue to move forward. >> Thank you for this board members. Does anybody want Director Marvin? >> This was a ton of work. It was very impressive, Denise. And the the attachment, the pages and pages long of that flushes this out more was extraordinary and specific and I I really really appreciate that. Um I a couple things I'll just start with. one this idea about

050the irony I guess the concern about screen time with kids >> I think is huge and and that's both related to how we are teaching you know that technology can do so much and are we sure that we're using it correctly and in the right amount and then beyond that the whole influence of social media and and I think that I think that ties directly to some of the stress, anxiety, and mental health issues that kids are having. So, I hope that that's there. That's about how we're teaching and what our expectations are at school, but also at home. And that's tricky because we um certainly can make recommendations about what kids do, what caregivers and parents do at home, but we can't make the requirements. So, that's one thing I'm concerned with, and I'll

051I'll wait for others to speak, >> please. Um, uh, I agree with what you said, Dr. Marvin. For me, one of the somewhat unexpected themes was both parents and caregivers and students saying they need to have a better ongoing current understanding of how the student is doing. >> That came up consistently. How do I know how my child is doing in class? not just the grade earning, but the the specific things they're struggling with or finding rewarding. And then the same for students. How do I know how I'm doing? And I, you know, for those of us who've been teachers, we know you do your grade book and you try and give that feedback, but I think we heard that request for ongoing specific feedback, which of course is not a simple thing to do

052in coming back to class size, a larger class. Um, so to me that was The good news is I think there's a lot we can do in that space. >> But they really were saying I want to know how I'm doing on things I can change like things I can you know uh act on. Um and we're going to have a presentation at an upcoming board meeting on a recommendation for a new student student information system. Um no technology solution in and of itself is going to fix that. But I think we are on the cusp of a quantum leap or whatever quantum leap times three is in the system that we use to connect kids to teachers to families. So we're going to have some technical resources that we sadly lack right now. But

053that in and of itself isn't isn't the face to [clears throat] to get at that get at that question. And I thought it was very interesting it came from both parents and students. wants to director >> say it was a lot of information um but a lot of good information um some things I I I probably say often here but um there was that air of transparency as we've already mentioned um and we briefly touched on that we have a lot of programs a lot of forms of access but it was interesting I I hadn't thought of that there may be too many you know it maybe is beneficial that we go to you know maybe just one or two forms um so that parents can find it easily um because I could see how

054that uh could be frustrating and as a parent I have been frustrated with those at certain times you have different educators communicating with you through different platforms and as and most of us have day jobs and other things right so you forget to check you check this platform and you say there's nothing going on, but it was sitting over here. So, and I I know that it's not as easy a fix, but with all of the things um that was there, it stuck out to me as one of the easier things um that we could begin to uh streamline. Um and I think that helps us with the transparency, right? Because it doesn't it can appear that we're hiding things when there's information [cough] over here and what you need to know is over there

055even though you have access. Um, in moving into access, um, another, uh, thing that always stands out to me is that we have great programming, but we keep having these things of families cannot access them due to means that are outside of our realm, right? I mean, we can't control everybody's home life, but it is concerning that it was a a continuous topic that we are creating these great programs and we're getting feedback that kids that want to be in them can't be in them. Um, you know, for transportation or finance or whatever and and I don't know what the fix is to that, but um and I I wrote stuff down and I didn't read that. Um, [laughter] but something that uh just came to my thought when we were talking, uh, they mentioned

056safety, and I guess I I glanced over that really quickly. Um, but when I was just sitting here this evening, I think we automatically assume safety is violence. Um, and as I'm thinking back to conversations that I've had with community members, it's not. So there's not a threat of physical safety, but it's more of a welcoming or uh a community feeling that it's it's a feeling of safety. It's a feeling that this is a place where my opinions are valued, where I'm respected as an individual. So it's not always safety and and I mean I know this is a bigger thing, but uh I just think it's we can look at safety from other means. I think some certain certain words get placed into this space, you know, where it's like we need metal detectors

057and things like that. But I just want to express to the board that safety uh oftent times is not always associated with physical harm. Uh sometimes it's mental harm from passive aggressiveness and things that people can't quite put their finger on, but it just doesn't feel safe, right? you've been in an environment where you don't think someone is going to harm you, but it doesn't feel like a place you want to be in. So, as we move forward in that, it would be nice to get more explanation on the safety piece and why people are concerned about safety because my first thought wouldn't be physical harm. So, what what aspects make you make you or your child, especially a young child. Um, and obviously enough of it was said that it was put on the

058paper. So I was very concerned with early education as to why a family would not feel safe in RPS. So >> Director McLaren, >> um I would add to what Director White was talking about in terms of access. Um it's always been a huge interest of mine to make sure and a goal of mine to make sure that all of our students have access to all of our programs. I look at it primarily um I shouldn't say primarily but one of the focuses that I've always been interested in to hear more about is about at our secondary schools and access to the upper level um academic and everything else that goes with that and also the um the post secondary planning that I wanted to make sure that all of the students have access to

059that and I think it was important to hear um that from the community but also recognizing in the materials that the issue of um the counselor ratios is a real challenge and I think seeing that in black and white was helpful. Um there so that's always been the forefront of my mind and something that I always want to make sure that we're focusing on. I do also want to mention something that um wasn't nec kind of tied to something Dr. Marvin had said that we're talking about um looking at things. Oh, I know what it was that we I want to make sure that we're explicit about this that there is um we're using funds from our budget to design this new strategic plan and that I think this tonight is kind of the beginning

060of seeing the benefit of using those funds, not only for the efficiency that this is going to create for us, but also relying on the expertise of the people that are helping you with this. That trying to do this on our own without that expertise, I think would be a mistake. And I think that that money is well spent in the sense that it's going to push us forward and help us be more efficient with the work rather than just trying to do this in house. I think is an important use of our funds. Um, and I guess the I do have one question as well that I had never seen this described before, the prerequisite conditions for achievement. When I read that the first time, I was like, what does that mean? you explained

061it a little bit and I get it from the sense of the mental health making sure students are supported as a condition that they need to have before they can um move forward with their achievement. How does that fit with the behavioral piece of that? Can you talk a little bit more about that? >> Well, I think about prerequisite. We need to know that there's a sense of safety. We're going to learn better when we belong. We learn better when we like our teacher, you know. So, there's some things that set us up for being able to be able to engage in learning. If if I'm not feeling safe, if I feel like I don't belong, if I feel like I don't matter in this classroom, it's going to be much harder for me to

062engage and learn. So, if whether that's I'm hungry or um I'm struggling with my [clears throat] own mental health or I haven't slept, we we know that there are some conditions that make it optimal for students to be able to learn and without those. So are you are you talking about things that then impact the student's behavior in the classroom? It's those underlying issues that um is that where you're going with that or or not? >> I guess I'm not necessarily going to behavior specifically. I mean behavior may be a part in there, but it's really thinking about what do kids need in order to be able to have the regulation in their own brain to be able to go to that next higher level of thinking to be able to engage in learning tasks.

063>> That's super helpful. Thank you, >> Dr. Bar. Uh thank you and congratulations. Uh one of the cross cutting themes uh communication and family engagement. Uh families want to be partners. I'm I'm glad you were able to uh call that out and to not necessarily put to bed that myth that families don't want to be partners, but in actuality they do want to be. Uh that is so important. I'm glad uh our district has undertaken the work of CAPE and I'm I'm sure that will continue to exist and move forward. Uh though I think there has been an an acknowledgement that uh uh far too few uh parents are able to participate in that. So I'd like to see um that expanded if not keep but just uh leveraging if you will uh this desireh

064families to be partners. I'm thinking of one of my um daughters had shared with me that she had went on a a field trip uh earlier today with uh uh one of her elementary age daughters at one of our partner locations. And um uh my granddaughter asked my [cough] daughter, "Well, will you ride the bus back with us?" And my daughter said to me, she said, "Dad, you know, I wish I would have known uh that they needed uh parent uh involvement because she would have loved to have, you know, written along with uh her daughter, my granddaughter." And but I think that also speaks to the uh variety of uh communication platforms that director Whitehorn alluded to. Not your problem, but I think it is a an acknowledgement that we have uh put out

065there that uh communication and these two go together, communication and family engagement. And and then finally, um, speaking of family engagement, I appreciate looking out in the audience and seeing a mom with her sons. I not that I hope you're their mom and sons could be their sister and brother, but uh, that's so important. And whether you're here because of a class assignment, uh, it it helps validate that families want to be partners. Uh, our students do as well, and that matters. much. Uh, growing up, I along one of my older brothers were avid uh, uh, science fiction readers and authors like Ray Bradbury or Isaac Asengh uh, come to mind and and I only mentioned them to suggest that we really need to be preparing our students for the not the world of today

066but the world of tomorrow. and and uh while screen time it's not necessarily an eitheror but it's an acknowledgement that there's a need for uh incorporating ideally uh technology AI uh in the classrooms uh as a partner if you will not as a uh standalone but but as a partner a tool and and so I'm looking forward to how we're able to accomplish that in a way that uh the community uh values, supports, and is on board uh along with us as we move forward. So, thank you for the good work you've done for >> your comments, Director Cook. Uh I I uh noted with interest the the comments in the the the summary that you put together about uh the the problems with the weighted GPA systems at the high school um level in

067particular and um how as described here creates perverse incentives fundamentally misaligning student choices with genuine interests. Um I feel like I've already seen that play out um when the high schoolers that that I'm um closest to. Um and I I think it is absolutely something that should be uh carefully considered in the strategic plan because I you know I'm sure all of us would agree that ideally we'd like to see kids pursuing their genuine interest because surely that is what is going to best prepare them for um whatever adventures they have the rest of their life. the um kind of transitory credential that the weighted GPA represents um is very unlikely to give them the same advantages as pursuing their genuine interests and finding out um what it is that uh lights them up. So

068um yeah, that one really resonated with me. So, um I was particularly struck but felt reinforced by all the comments about middle school because the the things that stood out about wanting more academic rigor relevance to real world curriculum and better preparation for high school. And um there was one comment in I think from one of the focus groups that the developmental intensity of early adolescents demands corresponding support and middle schools are underresourced for the challenges students face. I think we I think if you asked most people do they like middle school almost universally the answer might be no. it gets a bad rap, but I really think we have an opportunity here to make it um sort of a shining star because I think if we get middle school right, then it helps our

069elementary staff and parents know why they're doing what they're doing in elementary school to prepare kids for an amazing experience in middle school that can be transformational for students if we let them explore their interests. If we if we hold them accountable, if we help them learn the skills that are going to uh make them more ready for high school. And if we do that, then we may be able to shift resources in our high schools from helping students who are behind or unprepared to more opportunities, more pathways, more real life experiences. So, I was very excited to see in all the uh sources of feedback such community support for um supporting our our middle school experience because I I I I remember seeing the light bulbs that went on um with my kids in

070middle school for those opportunities. And some of them were during the day and some of them were after school. But by doing that they were able to know better what they wanted to do in high school. And um I see I see so many connections between the three levels of a piece. If we do it in elementary school, it will it will help support the middle school and then it will help support the high school. So that was I really I really appreciated you showing us the through lines um and the common themes that went across so that we're we're we're not working in silos. were working across the whole K12 system. >> Sure. >> I I I appreciate as as someone who uh is a high school person who's married to someone who was

071a middle school person, I do look across that divide and think, wow, that's a different thing. I just want to say um we have so much happening in our middle schools that is so exciting right now. And we've seen frankly our biggest uh achievement gains in both reading and math in eth grade. Um, and we have great middle school educators like Carrie Sparks who's here from Kellogg, uh, who I've seen with students who does spark that kind of extraordinary energy. So, um, even as we're grappling with some challenges with early adolescence that are not unique to Rochester, I just want to also say we have a ton of strength to build on, um, in our middle schools, uh, in some really exciting ways. But yes, I would agree. It's a it's a it's a it's

072a pivot point and we will have I think very the early recommendations I've heard from the middle school working group. Um and I don't want to foreshadow it. Um they're less structural than what's coming out of the elementary school and high school group which are very much we should do this with school configuration. The middle school is a lot about how do you build authentic ownership of learning in the kids. So it's not it's not programmatic right now at least and they're not they're not done with their process and so we'll see comes out of the group but it's it's it's pretty frankly I can't think of another term for it besides deep work you know it's really thinking how do we engage these emerging adolesccents if there's any thoughts you'd add to that >>

073I just read a review of literature looking at um middle school interventions around career pathways and so I I think there's also that's what comes to mind for me is I think there's also an opportunity. We think about that being secondary or you know high school work but we know it also needs to happen in elementary and middle school and how do we make that world real world re revalence [laughter] to um careers happen at middle school too. I think there's a lot of opportunities there. Um and I think our kids are asking for it. >> Director >> um I just want to add to that discussion particularly between the chair and Dr. Pel that we didn't say the words out loud early childhood. I think that's also important in that factor that we don't

074want to miss out on that as well. Um I did if I could just add one brief comment to something I'd said earlier about access. The one thing that I really liked about the material you presented here um in the first of all what I said earlier about um relying on the expertise we have a 58 page report that goes along with this PowerPoint. So just want to make sure that uh we are getting what our what we're paying for which I think is important. But it also makes reference to not only um parents articulating that the equity and access of our schools is something that they're favoring and appreciating about our district both in a retention sense, but I think it's also something that we can use in our goals for growing our enrollment

075that I think that that's something we really should focus on as well is to make sure that the broader community recognizes that because I think it that's one of the things that I see in our community that it's not ju it's super relevant to our students and our families and our staff, [clears throat] but I think it's also relevant to our the general our population of our community and I think that's another reason to keep that as a primary focus. >> Sure. >> Just uh director McGoffin, you you correctly mentioned a couple times that we are dedicating school district resources to development of our strategic plan. I I also want to note that we are utilizing a very generous grant from Mayo Clinic that is underwriting that as well. And so um we are we

076we could not be doing the kind of uh deep work we're doing absent that generous support from >> Dr. when we've been talking about pathways and I think that's so important. And when you talk to secondary students, they're all over the place with what that should be. And there's some that say, you know, by the time a kid's in eth grade, they got to know what they're going to do, what work they're going to have as a grown-up. And other kids are saying that's ridiculous. You're in eighth grade and you couldn't possibly know yet. And what happens if you get if we develop this pathway system and you have to choose the path least traveled or or whichever path you go on and then you get to be senior in high school and you think

077I I'm not into that anymore. And then are we preparing sort of the theme we had before is uh preparing for purpose was that it >> planning for purpose. That's the thing. If every student gets the kind of diverse education that they need so that they know that when I get done with school, my life matters and I've got something I can do and I may change my mind, but I have the skills I need so I can do that, too. So I guess with the pathways it's how narrow do we want it to be [clears throat] you know in terms of kids you need to choose right now and we're going to really guide you or do we just provide more emphasis across the board including teachers talking about you're into math here are

078some ways that math is used and here's some jobs you could get and just do that in the classroom. Clearly our counselors can't do everything. So which way do we go with that? And we have a group of high school kids too who are determined that they really want to work with middle school kids to give them a better idea of what to expect in high school. Not scaring them straight or anything, but just saying this is what this is what you get to do and this is what you better be ready for and this is what they're not going to put up with. And I think anytime we can use older kids to mentor, advise whatever younger kids, everybody um benefits. So I hope we're doing that. And >> these are great ideas that

079are happening. Yeah. In our design committee. So talking about near peers, like how do near peers, so they're just a couple of years above them in age act as mentors. And so yes, that's definitely an idea that's coming through in both middle school and high school group. >> Yeah. And interestingly, and we sometimes think about high school kids, they're just doing stuff so they get the grade. Um, we got a whole lot of kids who really want to do something meaningful to be leaders, to be mentors, to help other kids. And it would be great if we could expand the system. We got some of that going already so that more kids could feel what it's like to help somebody else in a real way. You know, not just volunteering for a couple of hours,

080but helping another young person really discover who they are and what their potential is. And so I think we can do that. And then just very quickly with the class size thing, which has been an issue forever and probably always will be. To me, that's there's sort of two parts of that. Do we think we need smaller class sizes so that kids can learn more efficiently or do we need smaller class sizes so that every kid really feels known and they don't get lost along the way? Or so that we can retain teachers longer because they don't feel overwhelmed. I think it's all three, but I think the answer to each of those questions is different and I think that's going to continue to be a complicated one. [clears throat] >> The early childhood piece

081really struck me a lot because we know that there's so much brain development that occurs between zero and five years of age. And concerns that have been expressed to me which are also reflected in this survey is the perceived lack of adequate recess and outdoor time or just letting kids play. >> And I think when you say the word play that a lot of adults just assume that that's not valuable. But I mean I remember when I was a kid it was like well go find something [clears throat] to do or I'll find something for you to do and you you learn through a lot of that. But I don't know how how doable is that in a classroom se sess session and to what extent can we balance the play because the lack of

082play is going to impact their academic learning at some point but on the other hand we have to have some academic learning going on as well. So, um, when I was at Jefferson a number of weeks ago, uh, to observe, I was really impressed with the intensity and the focus of some of the these young kids when they were at play and realizing how much they were learning through that. That's, you know, it's not maybe it's not measured, it's not recorded, it's not a portfolio somewhere, but is really important. So, I guess my concern would be keeping that balance and making sure that, you know, a kid can't read by the time they're three years old. Oh my gosh. You know, and um making allowances for the fact that students do develop at different stages.

083I mean, some kids, you know, maybe they're not talking very much by the time they're three, but oh my gosh, you know, when they're six, they're talking to woolly streak. Um, and putting kids in a box like you're five years old, you should be able to do this, but you're not because that can really I mean I think that can really impact their education positively or negatively all the way through. >> Director Ward >> um and in this conversation and something I didn't hear um today um is self- advocacy. So I just want to also mention that communication a lot of time we put that on our side of the table which is fine. Um but in working with both children and adults uh some things are helpful if children learn early to advocate for

084themselves as well. Um and kind of touching on what Dr. Marvin was saying um there could be some help there um especially in the early years right [clears throat] that that we I don't and again I don't know how what that looks like but I will say that children who can advocate for themselves usually have a better experience right because they can speak up when they want to move from program to program um sometimes uh to to to uh lost lost my words right there. Sorry. To direct a workman um point is we overstructure, right? So we take away the ability for a child to to advocate for themselves because we have preset their whole day. Um and there is a space for that as well. But I don't often hear a lot of conversation

085on teaching children how to advocate for themselves. And that is such a powerful skill that they will need in real world, you know, uh, training, not just the schools, you know, driving you and directing you in a path, even though it may look this way. Um, and I don't know how we incorporate that into but I think that that helps with that transparency and and the communication as well. Um, because the student is who has the most interaction with RPS, right? Um, so I think that that's a very powerful [clears throat] skill uh that we need to really consider when we're looking into those deeper learning models and things. How are we um encouraging our young people to speak up for themselves? Are are we trying to, you know, take steps with them, you know,

086because that will burn burn out eventually. We don't want um seniors or juniors getting through this system that we created and saying why am I over here because someone else sent me there. So um and I don't know what that looks like but I think that communication piece um and and I'm speaking as a parent who's um parented through a few generations where I'm noticing uh even my children don't advocate as much for themselves. When I look at the access that my older kids had, they knew what was going on. They came home, they advocated for themselves. They advocated to, you know, they they were getting things done. Whereas now, I hear a lot more where I don't know what's there and I don't know what's going on and I don't know who to ask.

087So, I think we need some to incorporate some some feedback to to encourage our students to advocate for themselves. >> I I Yeah, thank you, Dr. W. Just Very briefly in the uh as you recall the board has approved a set of mindsets, behaviors and steps and very prominent in those behaviors is advocacy skills for self and others and ability to assert self when necessary. And so we now actually were just about to start student interviews to ask students when this is and isn't happening all of those behaviors. And of course this year a major initiative for us is identifying when and how we'll help students develop all those mindsets, behaviors and skills. self advocacy is right in there explicitly which I'm I couldn't agree with you more about the importance of that and so

088look forward to talking about how we actually bring that to life. Another piece of the family communication um that stood out to me was not not just that they wanted to get information about the school or what was happening during the day, but um specifically supporting the students learning at home, wanting materials, wanting to know they worked on this today, I want to work on this at home. Um, and it wasn't explicitly stated, but um, I I don't know if it just came through as parent anxiety, [clears throat] but maybe also like how to help them socially and emotionally, right, at home, not just with what they were doing for their workday, but, you know, sort of I always say we we do pair, right, and we take them through, you know, birth to kindergarten.

089And then we need we kind of need a pair for K12 because we especially for maybe some adolescence um because parents are struggling with that social emotional development of their child that you know it's that prerequisite for their academic learning and that came I thought that came through a lot that a lot of parents were saying very explicitly not just what did they do in school but give me something I can use at home to match what they did in school so that we can work on it. >> Dr. I just add to that. And this is off maybe a little off topic, but that may have to do with this, you know, the no homework thing, you know, where we're not sending home homework. I know some parents feel less engaged by that because

090they they really don't know, you know, what's going on. And we I I see both sides of it, but I can see how parent you it's hard to get engaged when there isn't assignments coming home that you can help your child with or you can engage with. Um, so I don't know and I know the whole math behind that. But I know that that is often something that parents um complain about. You know, there's a plus side to it, but then the negative is that they don't know what's happening dayto day. They're not getting to see their children working at home. >> Anything else, board members? Well, you have given us a lot to think about and thank you for giving us the opportunity to give you feedback and we can't wait to hear about

091those next steps. I'll be back in March. >> Our next item is a monitoring item, the skip team membership and process update. Superintendent, >> thanks very much. I see uh Eric Johnson and Lita Casper coming uh up from our school improvement team. Um and uh Madam Chair and board members, I will just uh note uh that of course it is your prerogative to uh talk as long and as detailed as you want about any subject. Um but um as I work with the chair and vice chair to put together these agendas, I do think it's it's worth noting that by uh board design, the focus topic which we've just included is our deep dive. It's the longer one. A monitoring item is intended to be a relatively brief update for the board. Again, it's your

092prerogative to go as deep as you'd like, but the intention is that this is keeping you updated on ongoing work in a certainly with questions, but in a relatively bounded way because you've already approved the skip process and now we want to come and tell you how it's going. So, tonight we're giving you an update on the critical question of who's on our school improvement teams. We will be coming back to you uh in the coming weeks to give you an update on how we're engaging parents and caregivers. Um before I turn it over to Lita and Eric, I just probably many of you have had in your uh either personal or professional lives or maybe academic lives to read the book Good to Great, which was about a series of companies that went uh

093to the stratosphere compared to others that did not. And one of the key principles of the research about those corporations that did well that I have thought about often as we've been designing our strategy in RPS is what the author Jim Collins calls first who then what. And I think it's very relevant to this discussion of who's on our skip teams tonight. Um because this might seem like an unimportant subject, but I think it actually is key. Uh here's just a brief quote from that book. When we began the research project, we expected to find the first step in taking a company from good to great would be to set a new direction, a new vision and strategy for the company. Then to get people committed and aligned behind that new direction. We found something

094quite the opposite. The executives who ignited the transformations from good to great did not first figure out where to drive the bus and then get people to take it there. No, they first got the right people on the bus and then figured out where to drive it. They said in essence, look, I don't really know where we should take this bus, but I know this much if this much if we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats and the wrong people off the bus, then we'll figure out how to go somewhere great. So, this work around our skip teams is getting the people on the leadership bus um in our schools so that then they can design our skip plans that are the multi-year plans for the future.

095So, thank you, Eric and Lita, for your leadership. And um now that I've talked for all 10 minutes. I'll stop [laughter] and turn it over. >> Thank you. Um, as you know, the button, as you know, school continuous improvement work is happening all over the district. And when it comes to school improvement work, is all hands on deck. Um, when a lot of people are involved in that type of effort, it's really important to know and clear about who does what, when, and why. So, with that in mind, we wanted to give you this little glimpse tonight into the skip teams, who they are, what they do, when they're meeting, what's going on in a skip team. So, that's our brief uh little share with you this evening. When the diverse perspectives of the skip

096team from all the different parts of the school come together, they use their collective skills, their experience, and they look critically at data, make decisions. Thoughtful improvement work can then be aligned to the district party's performance measures and they can be implemented with support and monitoring from the skip team. As Eric mentioned, the skip team is a strategic ga g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g gathering of individuals who are reflective of our school community. And while these teams are small, their range of expertise is vast. Um and as will the strategies and the tools that we'll use to ensure strong representation of

097both students and caregivers within this skip process. Um so Eric and I were talking about analogies uh to to what to the skip process and I like the I like the bus analogy. Um, one of my favorite analogies is actually rowing. I was a I was a rower in college and so, um, which was over half my lifetime ago, I realize now. Um, but it's it's kind of an interesting and personal analogy to me. So, in rowing, you could have nine people in a boat and all nine people, they could be the best athletes, they could be mentally tough, they could be physically tough, right? And they could not move that that boat if they're not in alignment. If they're not working together, if they're not working in unison, right? Um, and so conversely, if

098they follow the if they have the same strategy, if they're following the same cadence, if they're working together, if they're catching together, that boat's going to fly. And it's really it's really it's really fun. Makes it easier to work harder, right? Um and so similarly in school improvement, we know that when our alignment is really strong, even small improvements in coordination can create efficiency and in turn can translate into really significant academic gains for all students, for all learners. And so that's that's the analogy that I like to think about when we're talking about the skip process. And that's why I find this work really exciting. Just gonna jump right ahead. Keeping the bus rolling here. >> Well, the skid team works collectively and they're looking at data. They're making decisions collaboratively. They're bringing all

099their perspectives together. Um, two places where it's really the principal's call. Um, [clears throat] the input is going to collect the input on budget, on staffing, but really the final decision maker. those two issues. Um, for all the rest before it goes to superintendent, it's it's a team decision. And so, it's really important to know that that's why that that team is rowing in the right directions. So, taking a little bit of a look at who comes from, you know, who's going to be comprised in the skip team, you can see the different parts of the school that's coming together. We have the principal, we have general education teachers, our special education teachers are there, and our student support services, counseling, social work, and [clears throat] then you can see there's also room for additional

100staff. It might be an equity specialist, it might be an ESP. Um, but all those perspectives are coming together. And the size of the team is going to vary usually by based on the size of the school. Um, our larger schools of course tend to have the larger teams. Our small schools have the smaller teams. We range skip teams anywhere between five and 20 people on a skip team. So, a lot of great voices coming together great ideas. >> So, in the next two slides, you're going to see you'll see the intention here is that there's a strong cross-section of expertise ranging a large range of expertise and a variety of staff to help reflect that school community. Um, one of the things that's really important on this, you can see there's there's a lot

101of different positions on this second These are the optional members of the team. Every one of these positions, somebody in is on in Rochester on a skip team from every one of these positions. So there is strong representation in almost every walk of school. A lot of voices coming together. I wanted to share an example of one of our larger school skip teams. This one happens to be Centuries. As you can see when you look at the names and the the the roles that they have there, there's a really great cross-section. You can see we have strong representation from the core general education teachers as well as elective area education teachers. Special ed is there. There's a counselor there. The full um principal team is there. And you can see there's also an ESP on

102staff as well. So 18 people coming together to help steer Century. A great example of a small school skip team. Uh I've sat in this skip team uh and they've met a couple of times and they are really focused and dialed in and they their voices they are definitely rowing the boat in the same direction. Um but you can see they have um representation from each of the general ed areas as well as special education. They have a multilingual teacher there, school counseling and their instructional coach. So again great representation from all the different areas. >> So the functions of the skip team are really that strong alignment like we talked about earlier, the coordination, database decisions, those course corrections along the way that create the conditions for really high levels of learning um and

103academic achievement for all students. Okay, so now you can you start to get into the real meat of it. can see where the district performance measures are at the very top of this and then where the skip teams are going to be digging in along the way for each part moving forward from putting the plan into action. You can see they're taking the improvement goals. They're they're looking at those. They're looking at data trying to set priorities and then they've got needs assessments. So for every one of our district performance measures, our skip teams are doing a deep dive in a needs assessment. >> [clears throat] >> And those needs assessments are kind of developed like funnels. So they're looking at very surface level data at the top. And as they're working their way through

104the needs assessment, they become much more focused in what they're they're determining as potential needs. And the idea is that they're starting to see which of the performance measures are going to be real priorities for their building. And so that by the end of this spring, they'll really know what their skip goals need to be. But that data they're looking at that for each of these improvement goals around the performance measures trying to decide is this one of the ones we really need to focus on. If it is okay let's work with central office digging into those improvement initiatives. Which levers do we need to pull to make this one work? Let's develop some action steps. What is the plan of action going to look like in our building? Let's implement it and then let's

105progress monitor looking at our data continually throughout the year. So that's really you can see the team is really deeply involved in every aspect of this. Um this is a a calendar that our team provided to each of the principles and skip teams in August. So they have this month by month. You can see there are team tasks, there are principal tasks. Um and there's a lot happening every single month. Um you'll see there's a 1.5 and a 2.0. It's important to know that our teams are really they have a foot in two different worlds this year. We know there's school continuous improvement work happening right now at every building and that's our skip 1.5. Meanwhile, they're really immersed in planning this skip 2.0 looking forward to the next three years and what the improvement

106measures they need to start thinking about. So each month they're going through each of these things. This calendar is what really drives their agenda. Of course there's going to be other building initiatives and things that come up, but there's a lot of alignment across the district because every single one of our sites. This is the work our skip team is doing month by month. Looking at this each one of those box boxes represents an important building system. Um starting with the skip team which is in going back at the beginning where we talked about you know the skip team is really the engine that drives school continuous improvement. You can see all the moving parts of the engine here. You can see our MTSS structures. You can see um the building specific initiatives that they're

107each school is working on. And then you can also see, you know, we've got our literacy and numeracy work happening in the academic leadership team. Got attendance and behavior work happening in the student well-being team. And then we have our PLC's that are happening all across the school where our teachers are looking at their tier one instruction data and think about how they can really refocus and retach as they need to. And then of course we've got our problem solving and child study teams that are really once we get to those tiers of student support. Um they're also really tied in with that as well. But it's the distributed leadership that's really coming from the skip team that's driving all of this and keeping the building aligned throughout the improvement process. >> We're we're we'll

108wrap it up really quick. Um the So, uh, the the tasks, um, the skip team builds strong plans first by developing a shared understanding, kind of get a getting a lay of the land of the current state. We're excited about the comprehensive needs assessment, which um, which are grounded in district-wide data to help identify priorities, to align our resources, to guide that to guide professional development, and monitor progress um, and allow teams mentioned earlier to make those course corrections. On the principal side, you can see, you know, the the principal is creating the conditions for improvement work, really setting the table, setting the table for that improvement work to happen. Um, guiding the improvement process. I think about our principles almost as Mellin. They're holding the compass, trying to help steer the ship as they're

109rowing. And in terms of that school improvement pathway, um, they're leading the data analysis work and really ensuring that there's fidelity to their plan, that there's some accountability that's happening. Um, they're they're leading the efforts, keeping the train on the track. We have every form of transportation except for planes right now covered in [clears throat] [laughter] um and of course again they're the chief decision maker on the budget and staffing decisions making the calls. So they are really keeping things in motion nuts and bolts of the skip team. So these are some of the basic things that you should know about every skip team. How often do they meet? Every skip team meets at least once a month for an hour. That's a challenge. If you think back to the calendar that we showed you

110for January, there's no way to get through that in an hour. And so when we talk with our skip teams about, you know, what what are the struggles, the first thing we hear about is time. We know the needs assessment work, they're they're doing it. They're really committed to it. They want to do a good job. They don't want to do just do surface level work. So they are going well beyond their aotted one hour. Um and principles are looking at solutions and ways to around that that time constraint. Some of them meet more often, some of them meet longer, some of them try to preload or frontload some of the work by maybe completing parts of the needs assessment with their instructional coach and then bringing that forward to the team and then letting

111them see getting them to that bottom of the funnel much more quickly. Um, but that that's a big challenge for them. Uh, who creates the agenda? Well, you saw the calendar. The calendar really drives the agenda, but the principles create that using that calendar and they get input from the rest of the team. What are some other building issues that we need to address? How can we get all that covered in the time that we have? Principal runs the meeting. They are the facilitator. Um, another member of the team takes notes for the group. How's that information get shared? Many skip teams share their information with staff via newsletter. It might be an email or at a staff meeting. Some do it through grade level department or PLC's between the meetings you saw the chart

112with all the different boxes of all those important school functions all that work is happening PLC's are happening talk the teachers are talking about their instruction making changes as they need to um and the needs assessment work continues all the time there's a lot of planning happening throughout all of this >> um we recognize this is a lot of information. Uh, and we recognize that our schools are doing a tremendous amount of work to support all students. Um, and we are really excited about this alignment and believe deeply in in this progress. And so, thanks for listening. We look forward to questions, >> Dr. Okay, so I'll admit this is really getting into the weeds. Um, but I figure if we're going to do that, this is a good time. Uh so on the skip

113team membership you have four categories. Principal, general ed, special ed, and student support services. The principal is pretty obvious, but how are people from those other categories selected? And is it the same in every building or how much um variation might there be from one building to another in terms of the selection process? >> That's a great question. Um in some buildings they are volunttoled um in other buildings are recruited and In some buildings, uh the the issue is everybody wants to be on the team and how do you you do that and you know are there some buildings use leadership stipens because they have you know the funding to do so and they want to use more time and so that becomes a piece. Um it's different in every building. There is not a

114formal selection process. There is not necessarily an election process although there some might have that. Um that's one area we don't have uniformity but it's a great question. >> Um well first of all I think in addition to thanking you for this work I want to thank everybody whose names appear on this second attachment that we also received. Um because uh the amount this this structure of of of having our schools drive improvement in our district is impossible without um a continuous focus on the work. And the fact that we've we've structured it and are supporting each school with things like calendars and time um you know it doesn't matter if we don't have those names that are on that list who are who are willing to commit. So um thank you to all of

115them. um whether they were volunttoled or not. Um it it's it's great to see um just just such such commitment. Um and I I I had to be reminded of this by the superintendent the other day that you said they had a foot in both worlds. So they're working on their implementing their uh skip 1.5 and they're working on the skip 2.0 which is actually a plan for the next three years. Um and so that It'll it'll be interesting to see once that happens the kind of feedback we get about what's the difference between putting together a plan for a year versus putting together a plan um that covers three years. >> Um that's all I have. Dr. Bara, >> uh just two quick things. Uh one, first of all, thank you Lita for the

116um analogy of the rowers. um got me thinking about the principal being the swain stroke board. So uh anyway that being said the question deals with uh the threeear cycle be it 1.5 or 2.0 know uh in that it's data driven. Um each year there are different students who potentially will influence affect the data. Uh what considerations how does that factor in or are there provisions to take that into consideration? >> It's a great question. Um I think it's really important to note that our you know these skip plans are not static by any means and That's that's perhaps one of the the the great changes from you know when I was a principal for many many years. We would do a a building goal plan we called them back then and we would do

117it in October and we probably got to hung on to it till about January and we lost interest and didn't really follow through necessarily. These plans we're coming back to time and time again monthly across every building there and there's room for course correction when we review the data and remember the progress monitoring was is happening continuously and and if the the the progress monitoring informs us that we we're doing really well on the goal we need to make a change great or if we're really struggling we need to really look at our action steps and maybe try something different there's room to do that as well so through continuous progress monitoring and the ability to make those course corrections. We can keep this to be a plan that is valuable and worth continuing on

118all three years. >> Board members, thank you very much. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you. Our next agenda item is a prep for action, the schoolboard handbook. Uh the school board committed to reviewing the schoolboard handbook annually and there's a draft handbook in our uh agenda item and it includes data and information that has changed since January 2025 when we last updated and other updates have just been made for clarity. So um as I said it's a prep for action. We'll take action at the next meeting. Does board members have any other comments or changes to the board handbook that they identified after their review? >> If Oh, director. >> Yeah, I just have a quick question. Um, is it safe to assume that any changes that MSBA makes in the wonderful

119materials that are referenced in here that those changes then will be accessible through the same link that's there? Now, >> um, the the MSBA documents were actually put in the RPS Google Drive. >> Okay. >> So, if they if MSBA updates it, we'll update it in the Google Drive and it'll be the same way. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Um and I think the way we have this handbook set up um is that we have uh a Google doc and then we copy it to a PDF version once we approve it. And then should we have to make any updates during the year to those kinds of things, it's easy to update and upload a new PDF. All right. So, we will approve this at our next meeting. Our next item 9.2 is the approval

120of fiscal year 2027 budget reduction target revision. Uh, this is also a prep for action item that we'll take action on at the January 20th meeting. Superintendent Pel. >> Thank you, Chair Nathan. As you all know, Andy Crocs, deputy director of finances, uh, coming up. Last year, after we conducted our updated enrollment projection and, uh, learned the findings of the funding year at the Minnesota legislature, I recommended and the board adopted a series of budget reduction targets to be sure that we, in preparing budgets for you, are meeting the charge [snorts] you've given us to make sure that we remain uh, fiscally not just solvent, but strong. Um, we have had some good news about enrollment and some other changes that have led me to uh recommend that you revise that reduction target. Fortunately, it's

121in the right direction. Um, and this is an important step because we will be using uh this revised target should you so approve it to develop the budget that you will see at the end of the school year. So Andy, thanks for giving the board an overview of what's happened and why we are recommending a somewhat less though not entirely pain-free target. >> No, absolutely. Chair Nathan, members of the board, Dr. Pel, thank you. Uh [clears throat] I I'll start out by really focusing on a little bit about where did we get to where we are, how did we get to where we are today. And there were three strategies that we implemented in July if you recall. Uh the first one was utilizing $6 million of unassigned fund balance and putting that as into

122what's called a committed fund balance. Meaning this board only by the authority of this board can those dollars be used uh finance department can allocate those dollars for any any or any purpose. The board must uh make that decision and it was really earmarked for technology in future facilities. So that was one strategy because that could be used in the future then as necessary. The other was to then use some fund balance, some additional unassigned fund balance uh for the foreseeable future until such time that we drew that fund balance down to somewhere near the 8% board uh approved um minimum. And then of course finally the direction was to ensure that our future budgets are balanced. And so uh as we think about that that structure uh it's important the one thing that we

123really didn't focus on in July that I think I want to draw some attention to is the fact that we talked about what what our final reduction might look like. But had we made no action or taken no action to think about it, we actually have an $18.7 million or at that time we had an $18.7 million uh deficit. So essentially that was our new revenues coming into the into the district minus our forecasted expenses. It didn't take into consideration fund balance use or any of our prior year's revenues. So it just said what if we made no changes and didn't do any of those things, we'd have an $18.7 million gap. Now, the choices that the board made to use fund balance is a very appropriate use to uh mitigate some of those reductions

124as was what we call prior year revenues because in reality those are revenues that we we have not used. We've not allocated them for any purpose and so therefore they are essentially unused revenues from one year we just roll forward to the next. So [clears throat] that's not that's not what I would consider a a tool to uh balance the budget or to to plug a hole. That is actually truly unused revenue with the intended purpose to use it in the future. So really the what this board voted on was the unassigned fund balance being used to help mitigate that. Ultimately it landed us at about a 13.5 million reduction in July as we looked ahead. As Dr. mentioned and I'm happy to also report we had an an an improvement in our enrollment based

125over based on what we expected after our enrollment study was done in April. Um I think it's Dr. Ruck who said many times one data point does not make a trend and so therefore we aren't projecting uh that there will be a continued upward trajectory at this point. We may look at at our modeling uh if we have another year of where we see some increases. But for now, what we're thinking about our enrollment increases, the new baseline. So, as we think about our enrollment projections for next year, we're starting with this year's enrollment and then taking into consideration the uh adjustments that our demographer suggests we do with our enrollment projections. So um that means that our enrollment projection for next year is greater than what we expected it to be in July when

126you approved the earlier reductions because our baseline for which at which we start making those projections increased by 500 students. In all that generated about $3.4 million or actually $4.1 million but um a net of 3.2 to because if we add revenue and we add students, we're going to add staff. We're going to add other expenditures. So, we know we're going to have some increased costs as well, giving us a net increase of about $3.2 million of additional new revenue to the district for our fiscal year 27. That is the anticipated uh estimated amount at this particular time. So, what does that mean and what are some other strategies? So, as we mentioned previously, the board approved the $3 million of unassigned fund balance. That money and that decision was based on our our fund

127balance at the end of fiscal year 24. So, we knew what our balance was at that time. We projected the use of that out for several years. We had an additional $2 million, just a little over $2 million added to that fund balance from the from our last fiscal year which closed on June 30th for which this board received the audit report in November. So what Dr. Keel is recommending when you vote on this next or in two weeks is that we use those $2 million which were not planned were not part of the initial unassigned fund balance use that we also roll those into the fiscal year 27 budget to mitigate uh further mitigate those uh reductions that uh we've mentioned previously. So where does that land? Uh you can see where we started

128$13.5 million uh the add and the subtract for the additional revenue and then some additional expenditures. If we were to utilize that additional $2 million of audit surplus um or unassigned fund balance as a result of our final audit, you can see that we're landing at about $8.3 million of reductions needed to balance our budget next year. And we've started to have some real conversations internally about just, you know, it's $ 8.3 million of reductions if we made no other changes to what we're doing this year to next year. So understanding that our forecast is simply taking this year's expenditures, inflating them and rolling them forward, doing the next the same thing for the following year and the following year. And so I think it's fair to say there will also be some adjustments just

129naturally occur as our as our needs our needs change. And so it shouldn't be presumed that we're going to make literally $8.3 million of cuts in people and other things that there's going to be other areas where we can assume or or where we can have the ability to to make that $ 8.3 million up. Uh, I just want to make sure that everyone understands it doesn't equate to $8.3 million of cuts to people, right? There's there's other ways where we'll address that. This is just the budget. So, here's where we are. Uh, finally, we we we look at this 13.5 million down to 8.3. Uh, if you approve the additional fund balance use along with the new revenue from the additional enrollment, ultimately that's going to be an added $5.2 million to the top

130line, meaning deduction is reduced by that same amount and that's where we end up at this point. And um again this is a a a prep for action and the will be on as an action item in two weeks. >> Dr. Bra, >> I just one basic question. Um, do we normally see or can we anticipate uh audit surpluses moving forward? As long as I've been here, there have been dollars left at the end of the year and that's so I've been through three audits now. We are working diligently to to better understand why those dollars are left at the end of the at the end of the year. It could be that there are vacant positions beyond what we are anticipating. Um, we know that out of 30,000 account codes, if you have a

131$100 here and $1,000 there, you add that all up, it starts to make uh it starts to add up into to real dollars. [clears throat] It's important to remember that we actually put more money back into the fund balance um from last fiscal year, but the majority of it was reserved dollars, so we can only use it for specific purposes, much of is directed by MD. So this $2 million just is the unassigned. This board has full discretion over how those dollars are spent. But but yes, I our our goal would try to be as even as we can, but I think if if we put $2 million back into our reserves out of a $310 million operating budget, we're budgeting pretty effectively. Um I'd rather go two million that way than two million the

132other. Um to amplify the importance of that question, Dr. Barlow, this year uh was our first year in actually budgeting for unfilled positions, which I think was a prudent thing to do. We were in previous years expecting all budgeting to have all of them filled and then saying, "Whoa, they weren't all filled. We ended up ahead. We are going to further uh enhance that pro that uh in the recommendation that I'll make to you in June." um as we get really smarter and smarter about how to budget for those unfilled positions that in a tight labor market are a fact of life um but that they happen episodically um in the aggregate. The other important point and the reason I uh wanted to briefly jump in the the whole theory behind the balanced budget model

133as we've been calling for is that budget managers whether you're a building principal or you're Melissa Stinky in our special education department or you know will roughen with family engagement you are making more efficient uh you are using funds more efficiently to achieve the mission in the strategic plan or your skip plan. So I think part of what Andy's referring to is that I do expect that we'll see increasing efficiencies. Those efficiencies are going to be found most powerfully by the people closest to the work as opposed to us centrally. When we cut 21 million my first two years, 157 people, it was largely decided at the central level because that was how we had to do it at the time. We didn't have that cost structure, cost center structure that you saw in the

134last board meeting. And so we were making these decisions quite remote which doesn't itself to rethinking the work to get it done more efficiently. So that's not going to happen magically, but I really do think the whole theory here is that that's what's going to happen um as we are um giving people the tools and the authority to be making those decisions. So it'll be a combination. >> Dr. White Oh, sorry, Dr. W. >> That's okay. Thank you. Um, is there any way to ascertain why we have almost 500 students incoming and do we have any way to keep track of why students might leave the district? I mean, obviously sometimes they just move away. Um, because I think if we had a handle on that, then that might impact how we how we do

135things and maybe catch some of these things if we see that there's a trend. I know one data point >> does not make a trend um to see if we can um ameliorate that before it happens. >> Great question and there's been a lot of discussion about that as well and I know that our CBACK group uh brought up that same question and it it's asked and perhaps uh Dr. Pel has some information to add to this as well. Um I I know that it's always been a challenge when people leave sometimes understanding why they left and where they're going because sometimes they just leave. Um, one area where I know we had uh greater um, enrollment than we clearly expected was at kindergarten. Uh, and that is, again, I'm I'm not a demographer. I'm

136not the expert. I don't know that I can answer those questions to the extent that you might want. Um, I I'm happy for the numbers, but I I don't know that I can say why. >> I I would say, Madam Chair, I think thank you for your question, Director Workman. We will be updating the board especially as we get into summer and the fall on our enrollment projections. It's important to say there was a fairly significant lesson learned in how we project enrollment for our high school area learning center. Uh highly mobile with a lot of kids who we are pleased to keep enrolled after they otherwise might have graduated. So we will fix that in future years. So that 500 does include some folks that some students that we actually should have known were

137going to be with us but because of that particular educational model. Um that doesn't explain all 500. The best theory is that actually um more people are moving into the geographic boundaries of RPS and finding housing um than the demographer projected because she projected very low rates of access to single family housing which has the highest ratio. And so one hypothesis and I've certainly talked about this with county and city leaders is that we have a lot more families with school age children moving into apartments and being willing to live in apartments potentially in order to take advantage of jobs that are in the community whereas the projection predicted and historically had been correct very low rates of uh children families with school age children living in so that's one thing but I guess I

138would ask so that I appreciate your question so I don't need to kind of hypothesize about what we don't know this is I understand the question and so we certainly will be monitoring this and look forward to bringing >> better analysis in the future >> may I'll follow Okay, thank you. So, I'm just trying to tie this together with our previous discussion about, you know, um, early childhood and kindergarten. And it seems to me that we would be wise to really, I don't want to say that we're not taking seriously what people have to say, but if the kids are having and the parents are having a great kindergarten experience, we're more likely to keep them. Not that they're not necessarily not having one now, but if there are things that we know that are

139easily addressed and solved, that might help with our long-term enrollment. >> Dr. White. >> So, my question is short um but loaded. So, if this is not the space, so I and I I just would like honest feedback and this is more um for the community that that will probably ask this question [snorts] um because we did pass the referendum and the taxes went up. How how um how can we explain the cut, right? Because that's often the question. I know it's very it's very loaded and I know it gets very deep but um as a board and as us you know full transparency um how how do we explain that you know because from the community perspective they hear I'm paying more taxes and then I'm hearing that we're cutting dollars. So and if

140it's inappropriate I apologize but I just want to know is there a clear way to explain >> I've had a request from the superintendent to answer that question. >> Yeah. Thank you Darren. question that I get as well. In short, we did not ask the community for the level of funding that would have been required to have no cuts. Um the reason for that was that the analysis that we did through the two uh surveys that we did in planning both referendums since I've been here indicated that it wouldn't have passed. And so the referendum level that we set it at um was designed to achieve three goals which I'm confident we can still uh achieve. Uh we won't need to raise size. We won't need to close schools unless the enrollment in a school

141is so low individually for the school, but not for reasons of um sheer budget savings and we won't have to eliminate major programs. So, those were the three commitments. I wish I could say we also made a commitment to no cuts, but the combination of declining enrollment and increasing costs would have made it impossible for us to say no cuts unless we had asked for upwards of $30 million per year in that referendum, which I think for reasons all of us appreciate would have been an even further strain on homeowners that, as you point out, are stepping up to support kids through this. The messaging is always tricky when you're trying to tell people with very very uh limited access to dialogue with them what the referendum is going to buy and what it's not.

142So I I I appreciate the same tension. I hear it as well. I think the best answer is we didn't say it meant no cuts. We said it was not going to u gut the district, but had the referendum failed uh we would be uh in a dramatically different place. Thank you for the explanation. Clarity, >> Dr. McLaren, >> um just to understand what you're saying then, Dr. Belle, is what you're saying is that the referendum was the community helping us, but there's still work we need to do as well. >> Absolutely. >> Dr. Cook, >> Mr. Kstead, you you mentioned a couple of times that in the $ 8.3 million or so that we project uh in reductions for the 27 fiscal year, uh that it wouldn't necessarily all be people that there's um

143other items or processes that will be rethought. And I I I fully expect that that will be the case. You know, one of the one of the things that happens in a belt tightening scenario is it's kind of an opportunity to rethink a lot of things, uh rep prioritize um an opportunity to break the mold a little bit and stop saying, "Well, that's just the way we do it here." Um, do you I I was just I wanted to invite you to expound on that a little bit. Is there um are there any examples that you have in mind or there is sort of a track record of those that character of reduction that you could elaborate on a little bit? >> Well, again, Dr. Pel mentioned this, but I'll I'll elaborate a bit. Um,

144we started this fiscal year not including the budget for every position that was authorized. So as positions are allocated to sites and to cost centers and as those particular cost centers and sites use flexible funds to to also determine their staffing. We know we have historical data and we've begun to use averaging over we look at it both over a three, five and a six over a three and a fiveyear period to say what has been the vacancy rate for each um employee group over that time period. And then use a percentage of that as a budget reduction tool because if we carry those dollars into the budget, we're going to have an $8 million or a five or $6 billion fund balance possibly at the end. And so we've used that as a strategy

145both started this year and we intend to use it um presuming the board would approve of that strategy again next year. Um, I don't have the exact dollar amount of what that would mean against that 8.3 million, but it is one of the fundamentals that we've started to use to say, you know what, why do we carry all of those dollars in the budget from day one when we know they're still going to be there at the end of the fiscal year unused and then we say, well, we've got to make these cuts. >> Yeah. No, that's a helpful example. Thank you. >> Uh, yeah. And I'd say Director Cook, also I appreciate the question to uh to Andy. Um, and the answer he gave is one that he knew I was completely on board

146with because it's it's happening in practice. So, it's a little tricky when we So, I'll give you an example that probably I don't think Andy probably wouldn't have felt uh here in real time competent to say had we not had a chance to talk. Um, in our transportation system, we certainly have got um I think appropriate, but not um super close walk distance for students who are walking. I I wish we could uh make it closer, but I don't I won't be recommending that because I think they're appropriate. We do, however, when students get transportation, we have strikingly uh short walk distances to the bus stop, in many cases, one block. So, as we have a a new director of transportation, um, and I've begun this discussion about the route structure, um, to walk three

147blocks to your bus stop with is not walking a mile and a half to your school, but it could significantly change the cost structure of our transit without a I'm sure someone will notice um, but without a demonstrable change in the the schedule and life experience of a student who's doing it. That's the kind of efficiency that um I'm fairly confident about that one. So I feel I can share that one. Um I love the question because it's exactly the kind of thing that we should be bringing you examples of. But that's one that I I you know we we have to design the route structure, but I I think there's some savings there that doesn't have a significant negative impact on our kids and families. Um, so if I may add on a little

148bit to the concern that director Whitehorn um brought up with the referendum in taxes and people saying, "Well, I just voted for this referendum, but my taxes went up." The folks sometimes forget that there's three components. There's a school district tax, the county tax, and the city tax if they live within the city. But in addition to that, their property might have been reassessed, which makes the property value go up, which really doesn't help a whole lot unless you're selling your house. Um, but that also means that rents can go up because I think that a lot of the those increases are then passed along from the apartment owner to the people who who rent apartments. So, um, us. >> It's not all us. No. >> Um, and I know that there's been a conversation

149so far about how this 8.3 million might um I don't know, mitigated is is the word, but um is it appropriate for you to give us a brief overview of um how how you're working through the cuts that might be related to the classroom or or our school buildings as opposed to more of the administrative operations. >> Uh we're uh thank you chair Nathan. We are um in fact Andy and the team uh last week got budget projections out uh to to building principles that would close about 40% of that deficit for next year. And the logic of the 40% is that that's the division of broadly stated uh where funds are allocated in RPS. 60% approximately 59 are allocated in central budgets. So everything from transportation to special ed to my salary and then

150about 40% are allocated at the site level. And so we have um asked our site level leaders to come up that we didn't ask that in the aggregate uniform. We looked at where schools are funded um uh more adequately um based upon the formulas that are in the balance budget model. So, so high schools took a big hit last year because we put in place the reallocation of dollars from the post-secary enrollment options strategy and so we were cognizant of that in asking our high school leaders. Um, middle school had a somewhat different experience. So, that is always a collaborative and challenging process because what happens is the principal gets their budget allocation, they look at their student projected enrollment staffing pattern and then we have a process that to the spring of putting pieces

151together. Concurrent with that, we're actually meeting tomorrow in this room with all of our central office directors and cabinet members. And we are going to um begin the process similarly of asking budget managers of that 60% to similarly begin looking at what it takes to get to about 60% of that reduction. In the end, it will all cascade up into a recommendation to the board in June. I will be keeping you updated. Anything else, board members? >> Thank you, Mr. Croxstead. We'll be back to vote on this next >> board meeting. Our next item are the policy committee recommendations from December 18th, 2025. Um the policy committee met on that date and proposes the the recommendations to the school board that are included in our agenda item. This is the first of two prep for

152action briefings before the policy will be on the consent agenda. As Director Marvin has suggested for our past practice, we would like to suggest that instead of reading aloud all of the different changes, those are available to board members um in the packet. And if board members have any questions or comments at this time, it can be raised or at the next meeting. But for efficiency, we we think we can go forward with um presenting offering the opportunity for comment and then perhaps moving on. anything. Great. We'll come back to it next meeting. Our next item is an action item. It's the approval of updated schoolboard meeting dates for 2026. Uh we originally approved our meeting dates for 2026 on September 23rd. The updates that have been included are a uh time change for the

153February 3rd regular meeting uh to 4 to 6 to accommodate Minnesota precinct caucuses that night. August 4th, our regular meeting time will change from 4 to 6 to accommodate National Night Out. Uh we added a special session on tooth and taxation at 6 o'clock p.m. Um and then we added a uh regular meeting um for December 16th, 2026 uh changed to immediately following the special session. We also added a special session on field trip fees for February 17th, 2026. Um and then we will add study sessions as needed uh scheduled through uh that the year. Um so I'll read the resolution. Be it resolved the school board of ISD 535 approve the updated dates, times, and locations for schoolboard meetings for 2026. Move approval. >> Second. >> It has been moved and seconded. Any questions

154or discussion? >> Director McCartland. I just wanted to point out that the uh change in time for the February 3rd for the precinct caucuses, I think there's a statute that requires that. >> Yes, that is correct. >> That's why it's changed. >> All right. Hearing no other questions. All those in favor of the resolution say I. >> I opposed. The resolution has been approved. >> Um speaking of budgets, the next agenda item is the schoolboard budget and member compensation. Um each year we review and discuss the components of the schoolboard budget so that we can give direction to the superintendent um regarding this piece of the budget in the uh next fiscal year 2027 budget. Um the first recommendation that's included is to establish the budget at the uh past year's 2026 levels with necessary

155increases for inflation or other cost increases um in the categories of salary benefits, insurance and taxes, contracted services, travel and conferences, dues, membership and licenses and supplies and materials. Um any any questions or comments on those areas of the budget? Those are all the areas of our budget other than schoolboard member compensation and we have been using uh I did check the the status of our budget and we have been using those budget amounts as we said that we would use them last year. So for example, we'll be spending them on our MSBA conference for travel and conferences in the next few weeks. Um the salaries and benefits share the cost of our um assistant school board clerk uh contracted services relates to our legal services. So, we're on track for being under budget, but

156we are using the budget as we predicted. So, hearing none, we'll move on to schoolboard compensation. Um, the board agreed to have a conversation about member compensation in January each year, and we're only required to discuss it. We are not required to take any action unless the board decides as a whole to do so. Um, and the current compensation amount for board members uh for community uh information is $16,000 a year with a $1600 additional stipend for the board chair for a total budget of 113,600. Any questions or comments or preferences regarding our compensation? Otherwise, I'm perhaps hearing a consensus that we will keep it at its current level. All right. Well, given that this is an action item, I'll read the resolution. Be it resolved that the school board of independent school district 535

157directs the superintendent to use the parameters agreed upon by the board at the January 6th, 2026 meeting to develop a draft budget for the school board for fiscal year 2027. Establish the budget at the fiscal year 2026 levels with necessary increases for inflation or cost increases in the categories of salaries, benefits, insurance, and taxes, contracted services, travel and conferences, dues, membership licenses, and supplies and materials, and maintain schoolboard compensation at $16,000 per year per board member with a $1,600 additional stipen for the board chair for a total budget of 113,600. >> Approval. Second. It has been moved and seconded. Any other discussion or comments? Hearing none, all in favor of the resolution say I. >> I. Opposed. The resolution has been approved. Uh the next item on our agenda is our updated ABCD. The current

158version of the ABCD for 2026 is available in this agenda item. And the upcoming agenda items at our January 20th meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monitoring is schoolboard committee assignments. Prep for action is student information system adoption and our action on the budget reduction target revision and schoolboard handbook. At the February 3rd meeting, which you heard us mention was going to be from 4 to 6 PM, we'll be talking about skip parent skip parent and caregiver engagement, our project momentum update, superintendent goals for 202526 mid-year progress check, um a prep for action uh where we can have our first discussion about the 2026 primary election and action on our student information system adoption. Any other agenda items board members would like to raise for consideration for a future meeting agenda? we have a whole year ahead

159of us. The next item is our upcoming board meeting dates. I mentioned January 20th was at 5:30. February 3rd from 4 to 6 will be a uh regular meeting. Um note the earlier time February 17th we'll have a special session for field trip fees and a regular meeting immediately following at 5:30. And hearing no other business, this meeting is adjourned at 7:44 p.m. Nobody.