School Board Meeting - December 16, 2025

001Check. One, two, three. This special meeting of the Independent School District 535 School Board is called to order at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 16th, 2025 in room 137 of the Edison building. Present at this meeting are school board members, Superintendent Kent Pel and non voting exeicio member and assistant school board clerk Miss Anne Kramer. Miss Kramer, will you please call the role? Here, >> here. The board acknowledges this site and all RPS sites are situated on the ancestral land of the Dakota people and we honor the Dakota nations and the sacred land of all indigenous peoples. At this time, we offer the opportunity to say the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the stand, indivisible, liberty, justice for all. >> Item 2.1 is approval of the agenda. Are there any changes to the

002agenda? >> Second. It has been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. All those in favor say I. >> I. opposed. The agenda has been approved. The agenda and documents for this meeting are available online at rochesterchools.orgsembly. The first item in our focus topic is our truth and taxation public meeting. Superintendent, this is a very important uh component of our public responsibilities to give our citizenry an update on the financial results of our school district and the that it has on the taxes that they pay for which we are very grateful and that we seem to be good stewards of. So our director of finance Andy Crost will give you an overview of those results this year and then the chair will invite anyone who is interested in doing so to make some comments. Andy,

003I want to thank you for your work on this. We saw seventh clean audit in a row. And so we know you and the team do a great job of monitoring where the money goes and this is an opportunity to take a step back and look at how our local community provides resources that we need to educate our wonderful. Thank you Dr. Dr. Pel Nathan members of the board. [clears throat] A lot of what um you're going to see tonight hasn't changed since you saw the property tax preliminary numbers in September. Actually, the those levy numbers have [clears throat] not changed at all. But this presentation by statute has to be held uh between these particular dates and after six o'clock, which is what we're doing. So, this is in statute. This is a requirement

004by law. And these three components must be presented as part of this public hearing and presentation. And as Dr. Patel mentioned, uh you do have to have an opportunity for the public to be heard when you open up the public hearing. The first component of of this presentation and it's required is to just again focus a little bit on how did we do last year. Uh these numbers have not changed since you saw them last month when our auditor was here presenting our audit results. Um so this is really just again a a requirement. Um, but I certainly want you to see how we've done I would note um and I think it was mentioned last uh with the auditor as well that uh we did increase our overall general fund by about 16 million

005but only 2 million or slightly more than 2 million of that uh is available in our unassigned fund balance. So the rest of those dollars that we actually added to the fund balance are reserved or restricted by MDE or other funding funders, primarily MDE, but there are some other sources in there that restricts how we spend those dollars. So, it doesn't mean that we have $16 million more to just spend spend freely, but we did save essentially about $14 million of uh revenues that we earned that we will then use in future years, but on restricted purposes. The rest of the funds are of course um unchanged. This these these numbers are unchanged from a month ago. Let's dig into where we are this year or where we're heading this year. So this is the

006budget that was approved by this board in June totaling about $410 million of overall revenue. You can see how that's split up by our four main uh categories. Tax levy of course is a major component almost a quarter of what we generate in revenue each year is paid by our local taxpayers. And so without the tax levy uh at bringing in almost hundred million dollars, we would have some significant uh concerns. And it should also be mentioned of course that the tax levy this year is increased because of the uh referendum that was approved last fall. This is the first year of those tax collections uh being part of our revenue for uh the fiscal year. On the expenditure side, uh uh there's about a $445 million uh expected uh budget or budget at this

007point in the original budget. Let me try that again. Let me also indicate that these numbers the board did approve a budget revision last month as well. That is not the detail that you're seeing here simply because we are presenting to you the original budget. Um and the revisions that are done throughout the year are accounting for additional revenues that are generally offset by additional expenses. So ultimately um we believe it's appropriate to show you the original budget that was produced that was produced in June and approved by the board. I do want to point out some may say well how do you have you know a $35 million difference in your you know in your budget primarily that is going to be in our capital expenditures. So if you remember in fiscal year 25

008we sold bonds and we recorded that revenue in fiscal year 25. However, those expenditures are coming in future years and in capital expenditures that category especially you'll see where we are having significant increase in our capital expenditures issue primarily driven by the Mayo male high school IAQ project. So that accounts for some of the differences in terms of our overall um budget. I want to take a couple of minutes and just remind the board of the cycle of our property tax cycle, I should say, that goes in with our budgeting process as well. So, the very first thing that this board does each July is approve our long-term facilities maintenance plan. It's a 10-year plan that's approved by this board. It then goes to MDE. that then becomes um that then provides information that MDE

009puts into the levy that we then will be looking at later this evening or in just a little while I should say. And so that really is the first thing that the board does that the district does that is part of this levy that you're approving today. Fast forward to September, you approved the certification of the proposed levy at maximum. Where we are today now is the actual certification. So this will be the certification that will be provided to the county auditors both Wabasha County and Homestead County and it would be what would show up on the taxes payable next year by our tax taxpayers in our community. Then we obviously have one year um we will start the fiscal year for the taxes that we are going to be levying starting January 1st. We'll

010actually record those revenues starting next June. So there's about a six months collection before we actually start to record those revenues. And then fast forward uh into November of 2027, the auditors. So what I'm trying to demonstrate to you here is the the life cycle between the first item that is approved by the board that is part of the the levy and then the final audit is about 28 months. And in that period of time, this department could be working on three budgets at a time. the one that just completed the current year and the upcoming budget which is what we're working on right now. So, always a lot of balancing uh going on. So, let's take a look at the uh property tax as proposed. These numbers again are unchanged from September. Uh so,

011I just wanted to make sure everyone understood a couple of things. Why did the general fund decrease? MDE while we were issuing working to issue our bonds last spring for our facilities maintenance it was recognized that there was some levy applied in our general fund that should have been otherwise put into our debt service fund that had been in there for quite some time. I can't tell you how long it it has been there, but those dollars were recognized as being misappropriated into the fund, meaning not misappropriated, but put in the wrong fund by MDE. The actual offsetting debt is in fund 8. And so they shifted those dollars that resulted in a a general fund decline. That's the only reason really there's a general fund decline is because the shift of that debt from

012general fund where it had been paid previously with taxes to the debt service where it continues to pay paid by taxes uh but is now in the appropriate debt service fund. It's actually legitimate debt, not what was previously um called as our lease levy. Lease levy is actually not technically debt by um uh by state statute. And so therefore that that required the shift And you can see again nothing is is has changed here. Our overall increase is about 5.64%. And I'll show you a little bit more information on that here in just a moment. What does that mean for a home price that's $350,000? That home price could have been assuming a 7% value increase, which is what um our financial planners provided to us. This is an information they provided. from others that

013on average home uh values were increasing about 7%. So a home that's priced at $350,000 this year last year was priced at $327,000. You can see the difference in that home's value and what it then ultimately meant in terms of the change in their taxes that they they paid. So things that impact a homeowner's taxes obviously is the value of their home and then obviously the levy that we assign. However, you have to remember that spread across the entire tax base. So as the tax base increases as a as a result of additional construction and new tax new properties coming online but also the value of properties it then dilutes our increase across more do more uh tax capacity and therefore an individual homeowner isn't going to experience necessarily that same um that same increase.

014How are the taxes uh now split? So this is some categories taxes have are based both on a referendum market value and a net tax capacity. So without getting into two different or too much of the weeds, there's really the c calculations that are done on two different uh groups of um property values. There's a referendum market value and then there's the net tax capacity. Very um complicated and uh I continue to learn about that myself. Uh but if there's additional questions on that I could certainly look into. It's important to understand where those dollars are are are being put to use. So, a $350,000 house, here are the different areas in which those taxes are being used. Um, there's obviously uh the top where it's our operating capital, LTFM, which is our long-term facilities

015maintenance. So, we levy dollars to help support that plan where we maintain our buildings. Um, community ed has levy. Um, our career and technical education and leases and other things. Those are approved by the board. They don't require voter approval. There's also board approved debt. And this m this primarily uh the green box consists of debt that we uh issue for our facility maintenance. So that's debt [clears throat] that you have the authority to issue as long as it's used to maintain the buildings per the long-term facility maintenance statutes. Voter approved building bonds are are are those bonds that we issued um previously to build the buildings that we now have in place overland and Dakota and and renovations elsewhere along with Longfellow. that is uh that represents the value that a homeowner would pay

016for those particular um for that those particular construction projects over the life of those those projects themselves. So actually it's it's the smallest category you can see of these particular categories. And then of course there's a couple of others and then the operating referendum is the bottom one. Those are the dollars we actually use then to help support our day-to-day operations. And that is the category that includes both the 2015 and then the 2025 operating referenda that um the one that was just again approved last year. Finally, I want to provide some taxpayer resources. This was something that came up last year. I I remember and it just seemed like a really good thing to do because we have obviously many many different kinds of taxpayers, different people in our community paying taxes and and

017it's not always easy. We recognize, as a matter of fact, I I received a call from a gentleman today who, you know, is on a fixed income and was asking about our tax levy and and had some questions about that and I was happy to help him. Uh, but I also provide him some assistance, some some guidance uh in terms of where he can go to receive some additional support, especially for some of our senior citizens who may be almost income. So there are programs out there to help various constituencies if they are having any difficulties with their tax payments. And of course the district I should say we don't establish the home values and so if there are people that need to question those those decisions of course those are county decisions and so

018that time is unfortunately passed for people to question their values of their homes but there will be obviously another I believe that occurs in the late fall or early fall I think where you have the opportunity to um to appeal your your value of your home the assess value. So anyway, just wanted to point these taxpayer resources out as well. So those that maybe get this information off the board uh agenda, we'll have that available to you. >> Thank you. Board members, you'll have an opportunity to ask questions of Mr. Crogad during the action item later in the regular meeting. But right now, u members of the community who have questions or comments on the 2026 property tax levy will be recognized at this time. Please limit your questions and comments to topics related to

019the 2026 property tax levy. A reminder that policy 207 governs public hearings and only those speakers recognized will be allowed to speak. Comments by others are out of order. Individuals who interfere with or interrupt speakers, the school board, or the proceedings may be directed to leave. Our assistant schoolboard clerk will come into the audience. If you would like to speak this evening, raise your hand and she will give you a number. When your number is called, please come forward to the tables here at the front of the room. Be seated and speak into a microphone. State your name, your connection to Rochester Public Schools, and direct your questions or comments to the board. You have three minutes to speak, and the timer will be displayed in front of me. Would anyone like to provide feedback

020on the uh property tax levy this evening? Would anyone like to provide feedback on the property tax levy this evening? Please come forward. >> Joanne Barkmeer, a parent of four students in the district. When we talk about school funding, it can start to feel abstract. But for families, this conversation is about something very real. whether our schools have the stability and support they need to serve kids well. That's why truth and taxation matters. It exists to put information out in the open. What was actually spent last year, what the current budget looks like, and what the proposed levy will support. Tonight's presentation did exactly that, clear, public, and documented. And because this topic often gets pulled off course, I want to ground us in facts, things that are verifiable and already available to the public

021on assembly. Fact. Rochester public schools is independently audited every single year by outside professionals whose job it is to verify the accuracy and compliance. Those audit reports are public and they have consistently come back clean. Independent audits exist to surface problems if they exist and they haven't. Fact. Minnesota law sets the framework for school levies. The legislature writes formulas and the Minnesota Department of Education calculates the maximum levy each district is allowed to certify. Local boards work within that limit and choosing to levy less doesn't make required costs disappear. You don't have to love this system, but you can't claim the district created it. It's the same for framework every Minnesota district operates under. Fact. The pressures facing our schools are not unique to Rochester. Districts across Minnesota are dealing with rising cost, staffing shortages,

022and higher student needs. And there's also a nationwide drop in birth rates, which is lowering enrollment across the country, including here. That is not a local decision or a local failure. That's a demographic reality affecting public schools everywhere. Fact: Strong schools depend on strong leadership. Principles, teachers, and specialists need training, support, and the ability to keep growing in their work. Every district in Minnesota invests in leadership development because strong leaders help create strong outcomes for kids. That's not controversial. That's common sense. Fact, none of this information is hidden. Budgets are public. Audit reports are public. Levy calculations and tax impacts are public. Schoolboard meetings are recorded and available to watch. There is nothing hidden here. There is nothing to uncover. There is no secret story. Everything that matters is already do documented and accessible. Here's

023what actually matters. The real work of public education happens in our classrooms and schools. Our kids benefit when adults put their energy into teaching, learning, and building stable schools. What does concern me as a parent in this community is when energy gets pulled away from that work and redirected into distractions even as this district and this board continue doing their jobs openly, professionally, and in public. So, thank you to this board and to district leadership for staying focused on this work even when it would be easier to be chase the noise. We can disagree on ideas, but we can't shouldn't disagree on facts. And our kids deserve a community that keeps its focus where it belongs on them. Thank you. >> And one last call. Would anyone like to provide feedback this evening? Hearing none,

024we'll move on to our next agenda item. The announcement of the 2026 levy certification date and time. The property tax levy for school district property taxes payable in 2026 will be certified by the school board at its regular meeting scheduled on December 16th, 2025, immediately following this special session. And hearing no other business, this special session is adjourned at 6:21 p.m. This regular meeting of the Independent School District 535 school board is called to order at 6:31 p.m. on Tuesday, December 16th, 2025 in room 137 of the Edison building. Present at this meeting are school board members, Superintendent Kent Pel, a non- voting exeicio member, and assistant school board clerk, Miss Anne Kramer. Miss Kramer, will you please call the role? here. >> Here >> the board acknowledges this site and all RPS sites are

025situated 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 indivisibley and justice for all. >> Our next agenda item is the Rochester Public Schools mission, vision, and values. During this agenda item, at every regular meeting, a board member will read a part of our mission, vision, or one of our six values to emphasize their importance in our work as a district and our decisions as a board. Director Barlo. >> Yes. Tonight, we focus on our second value, building belonging, and connection. By celebrating differences and embracing individual perspectives, we cultivate a vibrant sense of

026community and culture that benefits students, staff, and families. >> Thank you. Our next item is approval of the agenda. Are there any changes to the agenda? >> Move approval. >> Second. >> It has been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. 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 rochestererschools.org/simly. There are no comments to the board this evening. So we can move on to information and outreach activities recognition. Superintendent Pel. >> Thank you, Chair Nathan. I want to invite our three activities directors just to come on up here um while we kind of get ready. As board members know, in the four and a half years that I've been in Rochester, we have tried a number of

027different things to recognize our student athletes, performers, uh students who participate in robotics and speech. Um, and our kids are busy and so when we finish a season, they're very often on to the next sport or the next activity. And just candidly, I'm not sure if coming down to the schoolboard isn't what it used to be, but we haven't gotten as many students down here as uh uh certainly the accomplishments of our students would merit. And so, for the last several times, we've tried having these three uh amazing leaders come down and give a summary of their seasons. And we're going to do that tonight for the last time for our winter and spring recognitions. Um I'm going to go out and meet with the athletes and other students who have accomplishments and we're going

028to a video that is gonna we hope not only be shared with you in the board meeting, but will be widely available in our communities. And if that doesn't work, we'll keep trying something else. But we're really passionate about acknowledging what our students have done. So, I want to invite our three activities directors to um share with the board a wrap-up of what we saw with our fall sports. We will be finding other opportunities to celebrate um our artistic and other endeavors at board meetings um in the months ahead. So, let's jump in. Thanks again for having us. It's always a pleasure for us to come down here and uh talk about the great things that are happening with with the great kids that are uh in Rochester public schools. Um I'm David Perkins, the

029Century AD. I think I'm starting this presentation. Um so great place to start. Uh one of the um best programs we have in Rochester public schools are Rochester Raiders is our adaptive sports program. Um great program. Um if you haven't been out to a game, go check it out. just the energy and enthusiasm around that that team and that community is um outstanding. Had another another successful season this year with adaptive soccer, made it to state uh played state up at White Beer Lake High School um this fall and uh captured fourth place there which is very very strong finish for them. um they lost a very a couple of very important pieces. They graduated from the program last year. Um for them to go back to state and obtain fourth place was really a

030great accomplishment for them. Signing day. Here's some pictures from um the non-foot signing day that we had this fall. U pictured here from left to right, we have uh three century students. Uh Abby Holm is uh she's signed that she's going to Kansas University for rowing. Uh Khloe Magnus is a swimmer and she's going to the University of Northern Iowa and Sophie Blicks also a swimmer is going to South South Dakota. And these are all um female D1 sighted athletes. And um there's a was question or discussion around maybe this is the first time that this happened in the history of century having three female D1 athletes signing letter national letters of intent. So um outstanding athletes much better human beings. So really really good stuff there. On the individual side we had a couple

031of kids qualify individually for cross country. Um you here see them pictured here with their training partners. Unique thing about cross country um you when you qualify, you move on, you have a training partner, somebody to help you and push you while you're training. And so um they're a very important part of the accomplishments of the athletes that [clears throat] qualify for state. On the far left we have Evan Jenkins and pictured him with his training partner Josiah Church and then Stella Zner Zer. Stella's a sophomore and her training partner Ava Halverson. Um, so those two, Ev, Evan and Stella, had great seasons and qualified for state and cross country. Our girls swim and dive team had another very, very successful season. Um, I think they won their sixth straight Big Nine Championship. Um, qualified

032for state as a team for the second year in a row, I'm sure. Uh this is our 200 free relay team which took fourth place at state comprised of Alli Pool, Sarah Hammy, girls that were mentioned before, Khloe Magnus and Sophie Blicks were part of that team. We qualified as a team for state which is a great accomplishment and we qualified in several events. you see listed here, 200 free, 100 butterfly, the breaststroke, 200 medley, the 50, 100, and 400 free. Also qualified for state in diving. And once you get there, it's one thing to get there, but then you get there, you want to perform. And fortunately, we had historic finish by finishing eighth place at state, first time in history for a very, very successful girls swim and dive program. Um, John Marshall

033High School, Brian Irky, it's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having us. Um, great accomplishment for us this fall was our boys soccer team. Uh, big nine champions and and section one champions. Uh, we made it to the state tournament and we lost uh, heartbreaker one to zero to Buffalo at Spring Lake Park High School. But it was a great fall for our boys and and uh our coach, Coach Abdul Noir was coach of the year. Um David talked a lot about swimming. Uh we've got great traditions for all three high schools in uh our swim programs. uh fortunate enough Julia Ogrren was our state champion this year in the 100 meter butterfly and she took uh fifth place in the 100 meter free and she was all-American in both those events. One interesting

034thing about Julia is those races are backto back. So she was the state champion in the 100 butterfly and when everybody else was celebrating she jumped out of the pool and went in the cool down pool and swam for about two minutes and then she was back up on the starting blocks for uh for the 100 free. So um she is our uh section record holder in the 100 free and and I know when she can spray spread some of her events apart she will uh continue to excel. She is going to swim at [clears throat] Louisville next fall. So divi another division one swimmer from from our girls swim programs. Our girls uh swim and dive 200 free um relay team took uh seventh place. Uh so all state uh going clockwise, Julia Ogrren,

035Mason Pentingill, Maline Keller, and Abby Tree. Abby Tree was also a qualifier for us for state cross country meet. So, uh, she qualified in both swimming and cross country for the state. Okay. Uh, Dan Christopher, Rochester Mayo. Um, as these guys uh, alluded, uh, our our girls uh, swim team as well. Uh, had a fine season. Uh, strong programs for for all three of our our our teams with girls um, state swimming. our 200 yard medley relay. Our core core teams here with uh Elise Weingarten, Karina Ton, Maline Gao and Penel Penelopey Hower uh were seventh in that race. Uh 100yard butterfly uh eighth Maline Gao and 16th Karina Ton 100yard backstroke uh eighth for Elise Wearten and 10th for Maline Ga. uh 400 yard free freestyle relay. Uh we ended up with 15th with

036Penel Penelpy Hower and Haley Yan, Elise Wearten, and Maline Ga. Uh state football, we uh went down from uh 6A down to 5A this last year. Um section championship, we defeated North Northfield uh 17 to7. uh went to uh the state quarterfinal and we were the four seed and had to play the one seed. Um went up and played uh St. Thomas Academy. Uh lost uh 2114. Um fourth and one probably about the 15 20 yard line. Uh just came up short. Um so it was it was a close game, great game. Uh proud of the guys uh not quitting till the end and um it was a great season for them. Uh most importantly what you guys like to see as well uh team silver academic award um and Isaac Peterson academic all state

037um and he was also offensive district player of the year. Um our tennis team uh had a good year as well. Um, surprise surprise, right? Um, Ellie Elder, uh, Anna Medina, uh, doubles third place. Um, and then Malia Dean, uh, was singles runner up and EA Loftess was our singles champion. Uh, so the really cool thing with that was in the state championship for singles, we had two Rochester male players playing against each other. So that was really cool. Um, watching that. uh um both of them uh playing against each other for the state championship. Uh Jeff Demeray, our coach, uh was named the uh Minnesota Tennis Coaches Association head coach of the year. Um he is uh been nominated for national coach of the year, which is has gone on and um that hasn't

038been um uh announced yet, so it's it's still in process. Our girls uh team state uh they have a record of 25 and0 uh section and big nine champion 27 out of the last 28 years. Uh current team win streak of 76 consecutive wins. Last loss was 2022 state finals. Uh three times state champions. So they won the last three time three years in a row 2023 2024 2025 and most importantly academic gold award and we're only graduating one senior. So uh we have a good chance of obviously hopefully coming back next year to tell you that it will be 2026 on there. So thank you. >> Thank you board members. Any comments, questions, kudos? It's amazing. Thank you for coming. We're going to be looking for it. Superintendent, >> I just want to say,

039Madam Chair, that the apparel that these three gentlemen are wearing illustrate my fashion dilemma in Rochester with three high schools. I have swag from all of them, but if I wear Mayo, then I run into someone from JM. And if I wear JM, I run into someone from Century. And my worst mist mistake was once wearing just a blue sweater to a Century Mayo. basketball game and everyone interpreted it as a clandestine support for century and so uh >> that's okay. >> Yeah, [laughter] >> we we love the rivalry and the the work that the three of you do. It is uh it is is tireless. Um we know there's a lot of hours, but you know, this is youth development. We're we're building uh you know, young men and women through these programs. And

040so, thanks for your leadership. >> We can get you a black one. [laughter] Red and black looks great on everyone. >> Right, Will. >> Will doesn't hide it. >> I think [laughter] >> Thank you. >> The next item on our agenda are board member updates. Does any board member have updates from their committees or any other events since the last meeting that they would like to share? >> Director Marvin. Well, there were a number of um events that board members were able to attend um the last couple weeks. One of them was uh in Central Park where a statue of Amelia Witherstein was um >> unveiled. >> What you just said, unveiled. That was the thing. That was exactly right. She was the first woman to be elected to office in Rochester. She was elected

041in 1911. That was nine years before women could vote. She was elected to the school board and served we think for about 12 years and about eight of those she was the board they called it board president then. But it's a lovely um statue and um I think it's wonderful for everybody in Rochester to know about women including that one who've made a big difference in our city. >> Can I add a little to please? Um Kathy loves you. >> Um they just installed the statue and then next summer they're going to add a little flower garden around it. So it's going to be even more lovelier than it already is. But I would encourage people to take a look at it because it's just beautiful. I mean the the the detail that they put

042into her dress is just lovely. >> And there's also going to be another statue of a goose somewhere by the same artist somewhere else around town yet to be determined. So look for that too. The goose was never on school board though. >> And if you you haven't seen the statue yet, there's a chair that you can sit on next to it and have your photo taken with her. So that's exciting. >> Director Workman, um [clears throat] uh the delegate uh assembly was on December 5th and 6th a couple of weeks ago. And of the 36 resolutions, 22 of them um passed. The other 14 did not for various reasons. A couple of them had No second or one of them had no motion to move it forward. So that's always interesting when there are

043representatives who you know who wrote the resolutions who nonetheless have chosen for whatever reason. Um concerning our resolutions as I mentioned at our last meeting um the first resolution about um Minnesota comprehensive uh assessments being replaced by the ACT. That's an ongoing resolution from the uh from MSBA. um redesigning the components of the comprehensive achievement and civic readiness report um was passed by the the delegate assembly. Um the study group for PSO was not approved and although it was just personally disappointing to me I think that there were a couple of other resolutions that were sort of in the same kind of line but were very specific in terms of what steps they wanted the legislature to actually take plus which there's been a work on this issue since 2009, which hasn't inspired a whole

044lot of confidence in me, but I'm I'm convinced I'm I'm confident that we can move forward with our agenda through these um alternatives. >> Go ahead, director. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Um so, we did have some of us did attend the bridge builders award. Um and someone wants to they can as well. But it's a wonderful event. Um it's good to see community members that are in our city that are doing great things. Um several educators have been nominated and received the award over the last few years. >> I just lost the name. Yes. Received the award. Thank y'all. That was good. Um and it it's a really good event. Um and we also some of us were able to attend the mayor's um medal of honor award as well. Um, and it's just really

045good to see some of the people in our community who do a lot of work who don't often get recognized. Um, we have some really powerful people in our community that are doing some really awesome things. Um, behind the scenes that some people may not be aware of the work that they do. Um, I was really encouraged to see uh one of the directors from Listo Preschool be nominated and receive a award at the mayor's uh medal award. Um she's been doing amazing things. Shameless plug, they're doing their fundraiser February 7th. [laughter] Um but there are a lot of small programs that do a lot of work in our communities with families. Um and not for the recognition. Um so those are just really nice awards to see and to see how shocked those individuals

046are to even be nominated or receive the award because sometimes the doers in our communities really don't get seen because they're out there doing work. So it was Well, I'm gonna count on Oh, no. Go ahead. >> I had a different topic. Yes. Um, so, uh, Chair Nathan kindly recently appointed me to the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee, and I had my first opportunity to visit with them on Friday night. It was more of a social gathering, holiday party, but it was fun to be there in a non-committee meeting setting to meet the families and the students and people who support them, and it was a great event. So, I'm glad I was invited. I'm gonna count on Director Workman and Director Marvin to add anything that I missed about our last skip visit that

047we had at Jefferson two weeks ago. Um, and I can't say enough about how how great this visit was. We had a chance to be there during their intervention time. So when we talk about our mult multi-tered systems of support, Jefferson has organized their their schedule and has a dedicated intervention time and we focused on the uh well we visited first grade classes and second grade classes and saw work but we really saw what happens in the kindergarten group where um students are you know identified for the various uh needs and then they're doing their work in various groups but they all get to do all of the things. So there's some academic intervention time but Also, they'll have a chance at a different time to do the STEM building project that's happening out in

048the hallway or the art project that's happening in the hallway. Um, I always say this when I go into the buildings, it is dead quiet in these in these hallways. The mur it's the murmuring of the work in the classroom that you like to hear, you know, them at work. Um, everybody was very focused and I also have to say the um extra adult help that Jefferson is able to bring in. They have an excellent relationship with Americanore. Uh the reading specialist, there's a lot of communic uh a lot of coordination of the Americanore volunteers and those are really key to having extra adults to work one-on-one or in small groups with students who need um some additional uh literacy or math interventions. They have a partnership with the Century National Honor Society and National

049Honor Society students come in their free hour down the hill and we will work mostly with older students. They're finding that that's a really good matchup mostly on reading and on literacy. And um it was a really good visit to see a school in action intentionally sort of living out their goals for the skip and how they're managing it by managing all these these little people. So, anything else? >> Well, and and just uh you know having high school kids there working with elementary school kids was great. Um they do interventions also for kids who are really accelerated, who are reading way above uh grade level and they have um activities there and people there to work with them on going even further and faster. So it's not just kids who need additional academic support.

050It's those who are really benefiting from academic challenge. very quickly. >> I think um I would u certainly second director Marvin's um point about high school students being involved. I think it's just from my own experience as a teacher having high school students into work with younger students. It's they really have a connection sometimes that it's really much more difficult for an adult to achieve and the high school kids really excited about being here too. So I, you know, we really need to push the idea of yes, you could be a teacher someday in Rochester. [clears throat] >> Director Cook, >> it's the the time of year when there's lots of performances to showcase our our students abilities. I was so pleased to attend the the drum line showcase a couple weeks ago. Um, and

051to me the the the highlight of that, it's always fun every single year they put on a great show, but the highlight to me was watching the students who were not playing, observing their counterparts, the, you know, the students at Mayo and Century, observing what was happening with the JM drum line and kind of nodding along respectfully like, "Okay, yeah, these guys can drum, too. All right, they've got some moves." Um, it was just it was really a great evening. Um, and very well attended. Um and uh also had the the privilege of attending a a joint choir concert last night with students from Dakota and Century together. Um and really watching the the engagement um between both groups. Uh the Dakota students sort of seeing, oh, this is what choir could be like in

052high school. Um the Carol of the Bells uh rendition was uh phenomenal. Um and uh um well, Mr. Perkins has left, but I I think it was a surprise to him that he uh he was honored to have an opportunity to sing karaoke in front of a kazoo band um in a way that benefited Bear Creek um with a a memorable rendition of Let It Go uh from Frozen. So, not a traditional Christmas uh song maybe, but or holiday song, but um I'll certainly think of it that way from now on. [laughter] So, um yeah, great events. >> Anything else, board members? All right, we'll move on to our consent agenda. Item 5.1 through 5.7. Would any board member like any item removed from the consent agenda for separate consideration? >> Move approval. >> Second.

053It [clears throat] has been moved and seconded. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The consent agenda has been approved. Our next item is our focus topic, strategic plan in review part two. Superintendent. >> Thank you, Chair Nathan. Um, as board members are well aware, we are in the midst of uh planning for our next strategic plan and part of that includes taking stock of the outcomes of the plan that we have been engaged in. Um, when I proposed two sessions devoted to that subject, candidly board members, I sort of thought of it as the greatest hits tour through the strategic plan, a quick breezy tour through the 15 building blocks that we [laughter] have uh worked on together. >> In our first session, as is your prerogative, you went far

054down uh into the uh details of those um efforts and it was a rich discussion. I will say um I wouldn't schedule this many subjects again in a uh board meeting but that also is part of the point. The amount of work that we have accomplished over the last three years is extraordinary and so the number of colleagues I'm going to ask to come up here and sit on the dis is part of the message that this has been a team effort. It has been a comprehensive strategy. Um but I I have learned that uh less is more sometimes and so I think uh in future years the next next strategic plan uh we'll think about this. Board members do have extraordinarily detailed uh written summaries of each of these um uh efforts along with

055really rich data sets and links that are available at the end of each and so there is reading upon reading for not just you but community members who are interested in this. So we have asked one of the uh colleagues who has one or two worked on each of these building blocks um not my colleagues in the the cabinet to be ready to take board members uh comments and dialogue. Um this time around I'm going to very briefly before each building block as the chair moves us through frame why this was in our strategic plan and in very broadbrush terms what I see as uh us having accomplished. I shared with the board my highlevel conclusions from how our current strategic plan should influence the recommendation that I'll make to you in May for the

056next strategic plan at our last meeting. So tonight we'll just dive in. So I want to invite the folks who are going to be up here talking about uh these building blocks uh to come on up and join us um and take a seat. It's going to be a crowded uh uh couple of tables here, but we'll bring you on up. Let's do this. Yes. I know I know the whole audience I told you this was going to be an interesting thing. So um I I know board members uh board members know all of you as leaders well but still let's actually just uh go through and do some a brief introduction. So uh who who you are and what your title is and which of the building blocks that you're here to dialogue with

057about and then I'll jump in to uh the sequence. Billy, director of policy and philanthropic. >> Eric Johnson, director of leadership and school improvement. here talk about leadership development and school improvement. >> Jill Dunn, coordinator of tier supports and I'm here for multiear system. >> Heather Hogan, director of academic supports and I am here [clears throat] for secondary and career pathways. >> I'm Connie Grimshire, director of student well-being and I'm here to discuss the expanding and upgrading mental health. >> I'm Sarah Clark. I'm coordinator of mental health. I'm also here to discuss upgrading director of finance and redesign. >> So taking these in order as they're listed simply the first is implementing multi-tered systems of supports. When we spent a year during the 2021 2022 school year, we looked deeply at our data. We looked

058in particular at literacy and mathematics. Um, and we recognized that we had work to do with strengthening the uh instruction and curriculum that all students receive at what we call tier one, the base where we would hope about 85% of our kids have their needs met. But that we also had work to do with strengthening supports for students who needed um intensive and group supports. And so that led us to um an audit that we did with the University of Minnesota Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. And Jill did a fantastic job of coordinating that audit which led into a program of work. We decided initially to focus the work on literacy um in part because we know reading is a gateway skill for um all subjects but also because we knew we simply

059couldn't do everything well and the state of Minnesota was on the cusp of implementing the read act. Um as I shared with you last time it will be my recommendation that we emphasize uh multi-tered systems of support in our next strategic plan in both mathematics and positive student behavior. Um but that lies ahead. And so with that, Madam Chair, any observations or questions board members have? Um and I should just also add if any of you um uh feel compelled to comment on a building block that wasn't your baby, uh none of this was silent. [laughter] Well, I remember hearing the uh the presentation from the University of Minnesota and I thought it was great to have that foundation from them about what we were doing and what we what we needed to do. And

060what what sticks with me with this building block is that it's not hard to do something that's supposed to focus on 100% of students, but at the same time address each of their individual needs. And when I look at all of the work that was done, not just to bolster the and I'm going to ignore the fact that there that there was a redact because we were doing that work even before the redact told us that we had to do but to to overhaul that foundational we we're calling it core. I know we don't like necessarily like that word that core curriculum for everybody and then simultaneously to figure out how not not just how to find the students who need extra support, but to find the resources that teachers were telling us before they

061didn't have to support those students who needed extra support. Um, the number of balls in the air are sort of kind of mind-boggling. Um, and I also am so encouraged to see that not only are we intentioned to expand MTSS to other subject areas like science and um and student mental well-being, but it's already started. In your in your reflection, you talk that people it's almost like people are eager to adopt this model in other areas which for me, you know, a lot a lot of a lot of the strategic plan piece for me is remembering in the past how we started something, we stopped something. We started something, we stopped something. And to see so many of these components be sustainable and we're just already acknowledging that we're building it into what we're doing

062next. Um, I think It's just it's a testament to how well it was implemented, but just the commitment that everybody has had to just doing things better. >> Dr. Marvin, >> change my mind. Okay. Um >> and actually, I mean, this is an amazing group and um I am so impressed with the lengthy reports that you have for us. Um especially as you talk about what's worked and what you think needs to be tweaked. It's not like we said we're going to do it this way and we're going to do it this way whether it's working the best or not. The lessons learned as you go along I think is critically important and I love it that you're continuing to work with others hopefully working together too in making those changes. But my specific question

063is um for MTSS and belonging behavior and mental health services especially at least a couple of your groups mentioned the impact of screen time especially cell phones smartphones on kids. Do you get together and talk about that because it seems to me that that's an issue that may certainly it affects more than one element of kids lives and learning. Okay, next question. >> Well, you know, um, Angie Kendrews led our cell phone policy in schools and so certainly could that was a key part as Dr. Marvin's outlined in the reflection paper. It's interesting because as I give an introduction to a number of these things, it will certainly happen uh in a moment with belonging behavior. When we did our strategic plan, we were coming out of the pandemic >> and many of the factors

064that were in the plan were very much um informed by the crisis, this once in a century crisis that we were emerging from. As we have gotten further from the pandemic, um I think the challenges that we're seeing with literacy, with behavior, not just in Rochester by any means, are more influenced by screen time than the pandemic. Um the pandemic had a deep difference but there are some compensatory mechanisms that are happening. I think the experiment that we are engaged in as a society with the uh the development of young brains and emotions um and parents who normally would be engaged in serve and return with very young children and who themselves are staring at screen are only beginning um to be seen. Um and so I think that's a really foundational thing. Um maybe

065one thing Jill on MTSS that that kind of touches on this. How have we been thinking about that um in the tier one strategies but also in the tier two and three strategies trying to build on what kids are interested in? Because if we're in an era where screen time and and a sort of instant response is what kids are expecting, how have we saw it in our literacy work to be building in um the not only the the science of reading supports, but the kinds of things that engage kids interests and passions. >> I don't know that I have an eloquent answer to that other than to say that a lot of the text that we're using and that we're um um putting in front of students, especially at the elementary level, and I

066would say even at the secondary level, we're doing a better job of that. We're looking at complex text and complex grade level text that really um pulls on some background knowledge and introduces them to new world views and new concepts. Um we're not just saying we're going to think about decoding a word and then giving you a text where you can practice decoding that word in in a in a um in a sentence. Instead, we're giving them books and we're giving them resources and about ways to engage in multi-iteracy with um really some novel ideas and some new things like I think about um you know we have fourth grade students that are talking about how they are reading books and they're having really de in-depth conversations about dissection of the heart and that's happening

067in literacy work not necessarily in science. Um, we have students that are talking about, you know, like going to outer space and all of the amazing things that can happen when you leave outer space and all of the things that we learn. They feel like it's very much science, but it's happening within literacy. We're learning about our Native American heritage. We're learning about um different world views and that's all happening within the context of literacy. >> So, that might um I That's really well put. One of the biggest insights that I got from the two years we participated with grant funding in the deeper learning initiative with Harvard was that when you start to talk about deeper learning, which the board heard about from Mark Miles at our last uh greatest hits through the strategic

068plan, there's a sense that is very understandable that kids can get to deeper learning once they have all the foundational skills, but they can't do deeper learning until they have the foundational skills. And that in fact it is mastery, identity, and creativity that struggling students are actually starving for the most. That when you see I'll give that to kids who have all of their their toolkit, we lose the student engagement and we don't end up um uh getting them on the path to skill development um because there's not that investment in learning. And the one of the directors of the Harvard program had a a a analogy that even though I [clears throat] never grew up like really playing baseball really worked for me, which is when you're teaching a little kid to play baseball,

069you don't spend a full year working on hitting. And then when they get hitting exactly right, you move on to running the bases. And then when they get running the bases really right, you uh move on to playing second base or being the outfield. You play the whole game at the one time. And kids are better at some things than others. Um, and so that that's how learning needs to happen. And so, you know, you're engaging the kid in their interest and in ideas while we're helping them decode. Um, and so that for me was a big insight because I know when we first brought the idea of deeper learning, um, nobody opposed it in theory. It was all how do you do that? Well, how do you do that with a class that's bigger

070than you might want? How do you do that with state standards to cover? So there's lots of stuff, but the biggest thing was how do I do that with a kid who lacks some foundational skills? And that's not a simple task, but it really is saying, "No, no, deeper learning is for the kids that are actually struggling the most." >> Dr. took notes tonight, so I'm gonna read off my [laughter] stay on track because I I feel that you were talking about the time referred to me a bit. That's all right. [laughter] >> So [clears throat] um so when reading over all of this, I just want to say so my first this was there's a very strong assumption that the implementation of a program or the fidelity of a program will automatically produce a

071level of effort um and in some spaces I to that right it's very organized very well put together I think that these conversations are important because there's always a risk that even a system that is very well implemented can still produce uneven outcomes. Right? So even if we implemented some of these systems at the highest level, let's say everybody got on board today and it was running at perfection. Okay, that doesn't always guarantee that we will reduce gaps that we will always necessarily get to our goals. So I just want to lead with saying that I think these conversations are important to have right that the best laid plans right they they say you want to hear God laugh telling your plans right because even the best thought out plans with the best minds don't

072always produce the desired results. So, I do think that these are good conversations um to have and that's not to speak on the work or to um belittle any of the work that's being done, but I just wanted to start with that. That's kind of the thought process that I was having as I was um intaking all of this information that I'm big on consist consistency. Um but that process doesn't always guarantee fairness, right? Consistency doesn't always give us right to this space of fairness and equity and our kids are able to thrive and even though that is our goal, right? Um so I'm glad that we are reviewing these things and that we are really giving some thought into it. I want to say that I highly appreciate that uh we're addressing challenges that

073we are having with some of these very well thoughtout plans. I want to start with that a little bit um to the implementation of the multi-ter systems and supports. Um I think it's great. Um I I think there are some really some really powerful in there to keep things short. I got my short notes here. Um, so my two questions are this. How do we ensure that the MTSS is really supporting the students without unintentionally tracking them or limiting them over time and I say this with again with my previous statement because sometimes we get starting tracking and sometimes tracking leads to limitations. not and I feel it's an unintentional limitation and then from a parent perspective how will we know how how will they be able to measure the help versus limit right because

074um again I feel that when you look at the big thing when we you know when you start to track you start to watch things um you may unintentionally create a new uh barrier for lack of better words right so Um and I I I I only way I can do this real world example, right? You have a kid that's always messing up. You tend to look, you know, all the time, right? So you miss some other things. So I just wanted to ask and I know it's probably very general question, but you know, how do we what what is the vision, you know, for since we're having these kind of open-ended questions to ensure that we are um not creating a system that unintentionally creates a gap? That's two broad questions. If I could,

075Madam Chair, this ask Jill to give some thoughts about how when we're designing the tiers of intervention. By design, they are removing students from the mainstream classroom in very targeted ways and seeking to accelerate them to where they're moving with their peers as opposed to a tracked system in which they're never a part of those. >> In fact, I would say most often they're not removing students from their mainstream classroom. it's actually um it's in addition to and so we don't necessar first of all we think about it in terms of supports. So when we think about the tiers we think about the tiers being supports and not a label for students. So we're not saying this is a tier one student, this is a tier 2 student, right? It's the the intensity of the

076support that's provided within that tier. Um the other thing is is that they're always layered on top of each other. And so we never want to actually remove a student from their tier one group instruction. So for at elementary, we'll go with that because it's cleanest. We would never want to pull a student out of their wit and wisdom lesson to provide an intervention because in by doing that by default we are actually tracking that student. we're not we're we're removing their ability to um access or to achieve at a high level because we've really kind of set a cap at how high they can cheat because we're not giving them that opportunity. So, we want to always give that opportunity and hold them to that high standard while we're also then providing the support.

077So unfortunately because we do have limited instructional minutes, you know, we're confined by the number of hours that students are in front of us every day. In order to do that, we have there's a given a take. So we have to think about where what might be the the take from for this particular student. And if it's literacy that we're focused on, we don't want to pull that student from that tier one. But we might say for this kid, it's most it makes the most sense for them to maybe miss a little bit of social studies or it makes the most sense for them to maybe be missing part of their music instruction because we we want to be able to provide that for them. But as much as possible and especially with our tier

078one and our tier 2, our tier 2 is happening in the classroom during those moments. People are capitalizing on those moments of freedom. We're creating schedules within the classroom that allow that to support to happen so that we don't have to pull students out of instruction. >> Sure. >> Um, so how does that prepare with a student who has maybe an advanced IEP, right? Are they working and are they working together with that? I know some students have particular things that they remove from you know what I mean. >> Yep. Yep. So um a student who's receiving special education services through an IEP, that would be um a tier three support, but it's not necessarily the only tier three support. So, we have tier three support for general education, and we also have tier three

079support for special education. So, all of those students who are receiving tier three, whether it's through gened [clears throat] or special ed, should also be receiving tier 2 services and tier one services. So they wouldn't necessarily just go receive IEP services and then that's it. They're receiving the whole gamut. >> Dr. Mcclin, >> um first of all, I appreciate the discussion of the creativity in those classroom schedules that I've never heard anything like that at the board table before and that's really exciting to see people buying into different ways to think about things like that. >> Um my question though, I should have raised my hand earlier. I didn't succeed in that. It was sort of related to something Dr. had said and what I'm I've always been interested in is the implementation of the

080MTSS literacy supports in the high school environment that I just find that really interesting and what what what he focus on with what Dr. Pel said is about the students who don't have that foundational skill. How are we getting that to them at the high school level? So, this is the first time I'd seen reference to the literacy labs. Is that at all of our high schools, our primary schools? All of >> our high schools. >> And can you talk a little bit about how that's working? Do they get pulled out of other classes or is it during study hall or something like that? And what tell us more about the work in those labs? >> Yeah, so we have um a part-time FTE at each one of our high schools who is providing [clears

081throat] tier three support for our second our high school students who um need foundational reading support. And they are because we wouldn't want to remove them from their tier one services um and from their ELA classroom. So, they are receiving that. We had a couple of options and all all of our high schools have opted to do the study hall. So, they're pulling them students on their schedule um if they're in a study hall. Well, most they all are. They're all scheduled for a study hall. And then during that study hall time, then they're working with their literacy lab teacher to do those interventions. The interventions are not necessarily the entire length of the class period. Um they're meant to be shorter lessons and they're meant to be more frequent but shorter in duration. So

082they might get half of the hour is study hall and the second half the hour would be literacy lab or or flip that around. Um yeah, so some of those we do have one building that in particular they've scheduled the study hall to be in that particular classroom. Just some logistics we're finding at one of our buildings there's time that gets lost when teachers have to go get students and bring them. Um so there's just some logistical things we're still working out. But overall um yeah our high school students are able to receive foundational reading support as well if that is the need that is identified for them. >> And just to follow up is that individual or small group or both? >> It is for the most part small group. Um we try to

083cap it at less than 15 but most of our groups are around five or six. >> Wonderful. Thank you. So I wanted to ask one question about um one of the challenges you said uh challenges persisted in de deimplementing less effective or outdated practices and I can imagine that a lot of our teachers have materials or methods that they've relied on for a long time and here you are with this whole new approach. Are you finding, especially because we're going to be expanding this to other subjects, is there a decision process that you're using to say, you know, I know we did this commonly before, we're not we're not going to do that anymore. Or how are you blending the old and the new? [laughter] Um, well, I have learned recently that there is such

084a thing as deimplementation science, which I had never heard of. Um, And so I think that's something that we're like, "Oh, maybe you need to pay a little more attention to that." Um, generally I think right now I would say that there's we've been thinking about really looking at what's the evidence base tell us? And so when we're looking at what are we currently doing, does that align with the existing evidence base? And if it does, how can we maybe tweak that? and how can we um adjust that just a little to make that more effective. But if it's not aligning with the evidence base, then we have to have some tough conversations. And I think I would say that ultimately that's kind of our our rubric or our guidelines is what is what does

085the evidence tell us and what does the research say? And that can sometimes be really hard because people have personally invested time and energy and some of their own personal resources into creating things and getting programs up off the ground. But we also know that our students deserve and they deserve better and they deserve to be able to read. We shouldn't we shouldn't be at the point where we're having conversations about we have students leaving our K12 system. not being able to read at great level. >> Yeah. I would just say, Madam Chair, that as as I shared last week, I think thinking in our next strategic plan extremely hard about capacity is going to be imperative. Um because all this good work exists and now we're going to add to it. And so deimplementation

086is actually a thing. Um and I've looked at some of those methodologies. It's um really just a structured way to have the hard conversations and make tough decisions. And so I think it will be a part of uh our next strategic plan potentially in a very structured way during the first year of the plan that may be um a mix of planning and launching and de-implementation within very clear strategies that you approved this May. >> Anything else on MTSS before we move on to the next topic which is belonging and behavior? >> Thank you, Madam Chair. We uh uh the chair and I kind of called an audible and I'm just going to to get us uh started. I'm going to ask a first question of each of you that I think is kind of

087going to get at the heart. So um for Angie and Chris with belonging and behavior. When we did the strategic plan, we were very intentional in wanting to balance those two things. We didn't want this just to be about behavior, which many schools were seeing around the country, especially as kids returned from having been home, many having undergone trauma during the pandemic. Um we also wanted it to be about inclusion and belonging. Um and so what's one way in the work that we've done over the last several years um that we've tried to um address the belonging work um which we heard about uh through the perspectives project that will often led uh working with our kids who were caught up in behavior issues or struggling academically. I'm thinking of things like restorative practice and

088then what's one way where we also have um tightened up some of our behavioral expectations over the course because we were pretty intentional in saying it's not one or the other. Um, if we're all uh get get serious about behavior without working on the belonging piece, we're going to miss it. And the vice the opposite is true, too. >> I mean, I would say in terms of belonging, a couple of the best examples are the things that you already alluded to, which are gathering student voice and student perspective, which I think Sarah Louise and our behavior systems team are doing a great job of uh doing even right now. Um right now our behavior systems team is working specifically on uh gathering feedback from students about how they experience discipline following behavior and to understand

089like do they lack that sense of belonging um and and where how do they feel when we're addressing behaviors and responding to those behavior incidents. So I think that our work in that area is evolving. Um in terms of belonging too I think in over the last several years I think um you know asking for student perspective and feedback I one of the examples of that uh that you alluded to director Marvin was um our cell phone policy and I actually said to Dr. at one point. We really going to send this survey to students because we already kind of know what they're going to say. But I do think that we learned important things from listening to that feedback and they were things that we weren't getting from parents and we weren't getting from

090staff. And I think that really helps inform our work to make sure that we have a pulse on student voice and some of that work. Um, and what was the second part of your question? >> Something that we've done to uh tighten up our um implementation of behavior uh strategies or improve is better way. And then the other belonging piece was about restorative practice. I think we have some buildings that have really just gone after that and that has been uh great to see those connections and the belonging that's happening in those buildings. But um leading into the behavior response to that, I think the way that kids are able to repair relationships and maintain their uh presence and connection within the school building makes a huge difference in the belonging long term. So we

091don't truncate that when we send a student home for a few days and and and bring them back and think that everything's going to be better. Um, and then I do you want to talk about more things? >> Um, one thing with with the belonging piece, I'm going to tap you to talk more about it, but as far as talking to our parents about that have had a suspension happen to them and what their response is to that. Do you want to add more to that? I think that's an important piece that we're doing with some of our families. >> You mean like the re-entry? >> Yeah, the re-entry piece of that piece of it. Yeah, I think our buildings have done a nice job making sure that we're more intentional about re-entry when students

092return from a suspension so that parents understand really clearly what are the expectations that weren't being met, what kind of supports exist in the school system to help their child meet those expectations and then with some very clear intention about how we prevent that from happening again. I think when we use um alternatives to suspension and restorative practices, I think that feels more holistic in terms of how we address behavior. Uh but even just in simp simple repair to relationships um I think that we can accomplish the same thing through re-entry. Um and you know last fall we had a um a training um I don't remember what we called the series but Eric had organized a series um of professional principal develop or principal professional development um and one of our first sessions was

093about community building and how we create those relationships not just with our students but also with our staff to create that sense of belonging for adults and kids. I think that's one of the most important foundations of restorative practice that often gets overlooked. We think about restorative practice as repairing harm, but you can't repair harm if there wasn't some sort of relationship that existed that was harmed to begin with. Um, and so I think being really intentional about our language um and how um how we continue to refer back to how can we build those practices has been been critical in working with our with our building leaders, not just our administrators, but the leadership teams within our buildings. Second part of your question, it's about our notary practices that we continue to understand what

094those mean and what they are, whether it's a menu of things to to use with it. But that NE piece kind of drives our state piece right now and that's where some of our growth has come as far as question. >> Yeah. Uh and I've appreciated on that score how you have uh very intentionally you know you've had multiple belonging summits among administrators to both make sure that we're responding in to disciplinary infractions in an equitable and fair way but more importantly sharing what works what works to to help the student process understand shift shift behavior. Um because when administrators have to respond to disciplinary incidents, it's almost never in a perfect moment of calm where there's nothing else going on. They're doing so in the midst of and so how do you when the

095student gets up and walks out of class? The term elopment is one I've recently learned uh applies to this instant and it's an issue all across the country. How do you handle that as the teacher, as the assistant principal, as the counselor, and beginning to share effective strategies across our schools that result in a positive change in that behavior to get at what the issue was uh as a as a shift that I feel like you've made that I've really appreciated, too. So, glad to take any other comments or questions. >> Anything else board members? >> Okay. Well, I get to ask mine because my name was mentioned in this reflection and I I feel like I need to clarify. No, seriously. Um Angie and Jackie's efforts to update the uh student handbook have been

096um wonderful. It it's not an easy job to update that handbook every year because the statutes change and the language change and that has to be reflected. But it's also a very dense piece of work that is supposed to communicate some very important information to our students and our staff and our families. And it's hard to figure out how to do that while setting our expectations and giving our philosophies and and addressing all all the issues. But what I have hoped for is the great work that was done on the cell phone policy because what is reflected in the langage and how how it was received, how well it was understood, um contributed to the how well it was implemented was because of the language that we chose to use in describing it. So, I

097have hope for the student handbook going forward. Um especially looking at the MSBA, um that we're we're we're wrapping our head around that. We're wrapping our head about how to to describe it in such a way so that everyone is very clear, but it's it's a useful document that that that people will not never ever look at on the website. >> So, I I appreciate that. I know we've had lots of good conversations [clears throat] about it. >> I could just add one one comment about that. I think that the thing that's difficult for me when I look at the student handbook is I don't feel like I feel like from the principal or practitioner lens, I get it. But when I when I try to put myself in the shoes of a parent, I

098feel like for a student, it's really not very digestible. Um, and I think that that I think that that was on my radar as a concern, but then I went to a handbook workshop last spring, which is was a little late for us to be able to redo the whole handbook in that short time period. But um in the examples that I had looked at, there are really uh powerful ways that we can make it more digestible. Um and so that it can be more of a manual for families instead of just this like policy reference guide or something like that. And I and to your point about the cell phone policy, it was funny when Director Marvin brought up the cell phone policy earlier because I was thinking I mean I I've been at

099Dakota several times over the last couple weeks. It's not I mean it's just something that isn't even an issue. Like I mean there are there pockets where there might be kids using them. Yeah. But I literally I mean for all the days that I've been there and spending time there in a middle school where kids are all they want to do is do the thing that you're telling them not to do. They're not doing it. Um and I feel like it's just kind of ingrained in the work we do. And I think the communication about that and the language that we used about it did have did play a big part in that. And that remember that was all written by our principles. I mean they know what kinds of language our parents can receive

100and our kids can receive and that has been yeah their expertise was really instrumental. >> I did have a parent today that called upset about situation and uh she wrote up where do I find this in the handbook? Your handbook is very hard to follow and I didn't have an answer for that. Um but it was like we did find it in the handbook. Um but yeah very much this is very hard to follow. Just so you know thank you for working on it. Dr. McLaclin, >> I almost forgot this point because I did my homework for this uh topic in two different sessions, but one of the things that really jumped out to me that I absolutely loved and it shows that I'm doing my deeper learning homework is that the artifacts and evidence

101on here had some really helpful material. The focus of the behavior themes on both prevention and response I thought was amazing. and the non-exclusionary disciplinary data ideas. Um, it went on for pages. I was shocked that I think there's four pages of things. So, I think it's universally helpful for us as schoolboard members, for educators, and for parents to review that information because I think if you're if you're stuck on something with your student, I think those are great, easily accessible, easily applicable resources. And I had never seen anything like that. So, congratulations on putting that together. I can see how that can be extremely helpful for our whole district. >> Director White, >> I just want to say that um I that deimple deimplementation work, I like that um because maybe that needs to

102be done. But what I do want to say regarding the um belonging and behavior um is what is the plan to get that consistency across schools, right? Because we um as it was alluded to with some of our policies like the cell phone polic as that was created by staff, I think we got a little bit of a better outcome by from that, right? Because it it came from them and and the spread that way. Um because when I thought of this particular section, this particular topic, um we have some schools doing it very very well and you talk to those parents and they're having an amazing um experience at RPS. Um so how and I maybe like this this deeper, but how are we ensuring that things are being in the same way, you

103know, um because that's often the thing that you get the most feedback about or how we end up getting feedback, right? Because you have one kid and this happened over here at this school and this was the outcome and it happened over here and this was the outcome. Um and that sometimes creates that perception of offense or that perception of mistrust uh because it appears that the rule wasn't followed right because maybe one location is following it like this and one location is is using their leeway, right? So, when we look at that belonging and behavior, I guess my first thought is how do we keep a consistency or what is the plan to start to implement a consistency across our different schools? Um, where we don't have parents, you know, preferring this elementary school

104over, you know, over that one. You know, be nice to be in the district where um they're nice. >> Yeah. I actually I feel like you just teed up the uh model practices and structures that we're working on for the next strategic plan perfectly right now because I think one of the things especially that our behavior assistance team this year has really illuminated for us is those discrepancies building by building. Um, in fact, as we were starting to set goals and things, we talked about goal differentials, and it's really evident that um, it's hard for us to set kind of a uniform goal about um, how we respond to behavior and belonging types of issues uh, when the practices between buildings are so different. And so, one of the things our behavior systems team is

105working on is creating model practices and structures so that buildings really understand this is what should be in place for tier one in all of our buildings. Um, then to be able to have a really clear structure and how we provide support to buildings that are lacking in some of those systems. So um you know right now our s our team is working on putting together uh what those foundational structures and practices look like and then the next step is how do we provide supports for schools so that we do have more consistency. That's actually exactly the thing that worked well about the cell phone plan was that it was very clear about what the expectations are, what our responses are and How do we communicate it to students? How do we communicate it to

106families? How do we communicate it to our staff members? And then how like what is the accountability guideline to that? So, um one of the strategies that we used when we did the cell phone procedure was that we went back and asked for feedback and had different iterations of, you know, what are the changes we need to make, what's working well and what's not. I think the same thing will be true as we help kind of iron out what this behavior system looks like that we'll have to continue uh to make adjustments to that. And um just like the um the documents that director Mclofflin was uh referencing, those are things that were created by your principles who who have high levels of expertise in terms of behavior and those connections in schools. And so

107their insight into these pieces will be really critical. But our support of them uh carrying those those structures out will be really also very critical for success. >> Anything else on this topic board members? >> Thank you. We'll move on to restructure school improvement. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. So, when we began our strategic plan journey, u we pretty clearly acknowledge the fact that we did not have a robust school improvement process. I heard from many principals and others that they if they submitted it, it was often in October and they didn't get feedback on it. Now that may there may have been exceptions but that was pretty widely shared. Rochester is not unique. We moved into a structure where we did have a robust process but a lot of the content was decided centrally

108things like MTSS in literacy and that was because as we began this journey we centrally did not have the capacity and many of our sites did not have the capacity to to put in place clear actionable improvement plans. So um over the last year we've shifted this to uh Eric Johnson's small but mighty team and uh we are in the midst of building out that school improvement uh process 2.0 that uh the board has voted for and that we're very much in the midst of. So um Eric just to get the ball started and of course you uh were uh principal John Marshall before assuming this job. What's something that you think as we make this transition to the new school improvement process um is is feeling good to sites um and what's something that

109they're struggling with um as we're in the midst of it? [clears throat] >> Oh, great question. Um one of the things I think that's feeling really good to sites in my conversations with principles uh and with skip team members is the sustained focus especially around improving academic outcomes. I I met with a principal last week and he said, "I really I'm trying to gain clarity, help my team and and start thinking about what our goals are for next year." And I thought, "That's fantastic. We're in December and we're forward thinking next year." And he said, "I've got, you know, I've been doing the needs assessments, looking at the data, things are starting to jump out at me. I just want to start having these conversations and I want I want to talk with you so

110that we're ready to with the team and we can start having these conversations about where our data is now and where we need it to go and that's happening at building after building after building right now and that's what's really really exciting. Um if I were to say what what are the things that are [clears throat] making maybe principles nervous or um what might they be losing sleep over? There's just so much there is so much to the school improvement effort and one of the things that seems to always be in short supply in schools is time and so trying to get all the things done and trying to keep the trains on the tracks in every building. Um that's something that's high, you know, that they're thinking about quite a lot and they have

111all the other things happening in their buildings. They've got the behavior pieces happening. They, you know, they've got meetings after meetings, you know, they've got facilities things, staffing things, budget things, but keeping this right they're in the forefront is is really critical and they understand that but there's a little bit of tension as they're making that adjustment. You can start again. Um there were a lot of times in [clears throat] the reflection where um the broader implication of this um school improvement process was laid out. And one of the one of the um um descriptions was that it moves decision making beyond intuition and into a more evidence-based practice, more effective interventions, targeted professional development, smarter allocation of resources where they are needed the most. And I remember when we first um released the planning

112for purpose thick strategic plan document, we got some feedback um from some community members that it was so ambitious and that was not a necessarily a positive term because it was just perceived as how are you going to get all of this done? And for me, as I've seen the evolution of the skit process and and excited about its evolution next year, you know, this is the way we're going to manage the multiple things that we're doing. Um, and the fact that it is focused at the school level and that our school leaders um with the collaboration of the skip teams um it's innovative. It, you know, we've never we've never again had this consistent focus on um figuring out the way somebody's got a clicker. figuring out the ways to um to bring to

113to focus on improvement. I mean, the fact that one of our our biggest pieces of work, we're we're acknowledging we need to improve, but we are making it very transparent to the entire system and the and the community how we're improving school by school. And um the other piece that someone mentioned is um working on evolving our reporting of our data into storytelling. And I wanted to hear a little bit more about if you had any thoughts about that. But that was really um compelling for me because the summary data that the the team put together about how we had done in some of the the big metrics. But one of the most impactful things that I heard during a skip visit was when we went into a reading intervention classroom and it was a

114young man um who had struggled with reading for many years and it was combination of obviously the dedication of the reading interventionalist, the new approach to curriculum instruction we had, and then some of those targeted materials that they brought in that specifically addressed not only the reading uh skills that needed to be built, but the interests and that relationship between the student and the teacher. and that I want that story told for every component of everything that you're here to talk about tonight because it is those faces of our students um protected for privacy reasons etc. But um that are really showing the outcomes of the improvement work that we're doing. I don't know how we collect that information. I know it's part of what you talked about in terms of enhancing data collection, but

115I I really That's a great idea. Anything else on skips hearing? None. We'll move on to modifying funding formulas. >> Well, thank you, Madam Chair. As the board knows, we know that if you don't reallocate resources, uh, which is money, and in an educational institution, 85% or more are people, you aren't able to make significant change. And so, we launched an effort to rethink our funding strategies. Uh, it came to be called the balanced budget model. will be a subject of some decision making for you later tonight. Um so uh one question that I would just pose to Andy Crogstead who leads that work as our director of finance as we've been making the balanced budget model uh uh journey in general terms Andy how have sites used that 15% of the funding that is

116flexible in in broadbrush terms I know it's been different by site but can you generalize about some of what you've seen them choose to invest in? >> Well I think Obviously, the intent of those dollars is is all in the supports. And so that includes everything from uh our ESPs to instructional coaches to interventionists. Uh I saw a uh last year there was a really a focus on the interventions and the reading specialists uh last year uh with those uh with those flexible dollars especially obviously those are the the dollars they have available to make those decisions. And I think um you know I think there's there continues to be some challenges as we we try to fit within a a budget. We obviously have constraints uh but uh between obviously then the reallocation of

117title sites had sites did have an opportunity to make some I think some meaningful changes in terms of their their decisions. not significantly different last year other than um what I re again what I remember specifically was just uh the interventions um was really a focus uh for everyone as they went through their decision making. >> Yeah, thank you. That's what I saw in it too. Director Cook. >> Um, so putting together the the improvements to the skip process and the the redesign of the funding mechanisms, um, to me, these two things really sit together naturally and the the latest evolution of the the skip process where that's been made more explicit, I think is really exciting. And and my my hope or the appeal for for this change to me has been enabling especially

118our our building leaders, our principles um but also I think to a significant degree all the professionals in our schools to evolve from managers of the constant demand for time and put her outer of fires endlessly into real professionals who are practitioners and engaged in the process of advancing um the mission at the building level and and you know the the teams uh at each school site. So um that that's that's been my hope. I feel like I've seen that in the limited, you know, uh schools that I'm very closely connected to. Um, but is that do do you think that that that is starting to come through in the the redesign of the the funding systems or Eric if you have thoughts on that as well? Just the to the extent that we've enabled

119our our especially building uh leaders some additional agency to pursue the priorities that they see for their individual schools and then putting real resources behind it. Um, so I think I think definitely obviously this year is another transition year where we're bringing those two things even a little bit closer. Next year will be the year where they really are supposed to completely align. Uh the the strategy with the the balanced budget model of course is that those flexible dollars are there to support those needs to meet the goals of of the skip plan. Um, Eric can speak to the skip portion of that as well, but through Gretchen's uh, leadership in this process as well, I do think that the the two things are coming together very well. There hasn't been the expectation as we

120work into the budgeting now budget process which will be starting really soon for the learning sites. There isn't the expectation that they say in their process of this is going, you know, this decision supports this, this decision supports this. But we continue to remind them that the that the plan is working towards that and in you know next year's work it will definitely have to be a really cohesive alignment between the budget and the resources and how that supports those goals that they have. So bits and pieces over the course of the last two years but again we are certainly making head inroads to making that connection between uh those flexible funding dollars and how they the needs within their facilities as the flexible dollars are intended to do and with that autonomy that those

121flexible dollars are intended to provide. >> Absolutely. And as said, we're heading into the, you know, the budget season and looking at, you know, the balance budget model. Principles are going to look at the, you know, what they're going to be doing in terms of staffing next year. They're looking at their skips right now, looking at their needs, and thinking about how they are going to use those flexible dollars. I met with a middle school principal last week and and this principal was telling me we have needs in this area but we don't feel like we're really meeting right now. How are we going to get there? So remember you have these flexible dollars in your in your balanced budget model. We can start talking about how you can make some shifts and talk with

122your staff how we can make these shifts in order to accommodate that. And so that's a new piece that is really exciting and it's a new way of looking at allocating resources for our principles and our teams that I think is going It's going to be a dramatic adjustment, but I think it ultimately makes, >> you know, I think the one thing that I would also just, you know, Eric touched on a little bit is is we're building out that capacity with principles as well to do some of this work because previously, you know, I I I've gone through the budget process just um twice with them before we implemented the balanced budget model, you know, and there really was uh you know, really kind of this concept of what did I have last year?

123can I can I get it again next year with my compensatory dollars or you know is more about the numbers of people and the bodies I think whereas I saw that shift last year where there was more about wasn't I wouldn't say it was exclusively about that previously but there was you know I I'm looking for the numbers of people like I have a certain number of ESPs I have a certain number of this that wasn't as much the focus last year was really about okay how do I use those dollars effectively and in the best way to support the needs And that was a philosophical change and the principles uh you know are being are now expected to really think about those decisions. Um they're expected to think about dollars as opposed to just

124bodies now as well. And so there's been some of that learning that we've had to and teaching we've had to to give them as well. But I'd say generally they they are coming on board with that philosophy and u and approaching the work with a lot of uh thought around those decisions. >> Dr. Mclofflin, >> I just wanted to comment on the concept of what went well and and maybe even just in my own thoughts add something to that list that perhaps you hadn't viewed it this way, but um director Cook and I sit on the community budget advisory committee and I see that as something that did go well in this process that it was, as I understood it, fairly innovative. It was a big lift. We worked with some consultants. We worked with

125a lot of data. It was getting those community members up to speed on what we were doing as a district. I think to took a lot of effort and I see that as a success and something that was helpful. I think there's things that can still be improved on it for the next go round as we continue but I think it was very admirable effort to even attempt at that in this part of the process uh because I think it was really important to get that community input. So I just want to add that to that list. >> I would just say one thing director [clears throat] is that you're absolutely right right there. There's some changes we're looking to make for next year, but I think the one thing I'm really excited about, right,

126is that we are we've left we've left the balance budget model sort of open and it can it can flex and move as not just the budget changes, but as the needs of the district and the schools change. It wasn't intended to be a one-sizefits-all. It wasn't intended to be a one-stop, you know, we're going to get it and it's done. We've checked that off and, you know, we will continue to look at ways to improve it each and every year. uh beyond, you know, beyond this this change that we'll be talking about later tonight. And I think that is something that we walked away with it knowing, okay, we're going to try to do the best we can in year one, but knowing we're going to, you know, there's some things we're going to

127figure out that we could do differently. And that's the that's the the beauty of the model is that it allows for some flexibility and change as a as situational situation changes and develops. And I would put that concept on the success as well that I think it's innovative to have that type of flexibility in something that is financed driven and complicated but thinking ahead to what we can do in the future I think is really important. I want to build on something Director Cook said because I think in our current financial situation, it's really important that we developed a model that crosses between considering academic needs and then just what the finance numbers were. I mean, you talked about previous ways to do budget that staffing plan came out and it was mostly based on

128size, right? number of students and the fact that um this new model was developed taking into account how we were going to account for the academic needs of the students and that we're doing it at the building level and understanding that our buildings are different and have different needs. I think even though we're going into a year where we're going to be making some difficult financial decisions because of our budget deficit, we're in a better mindset to be able to justify whatever decisions [clears throat] we make based on the need of the students and we're going to be able to document that and and um justify it um because everybody's thinking around around that piece. Anything else? before we move on to post-secary career pathways. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. And I I I take

129ownership again. We're only halfway through, folks. So, um uh building postsecondary career pathways emerged from our strategic plan as a critical priority, especially as we heard it from students and parents. Um and Heather Hogan has really aly led that work. Something Heather that's gotten a lot of attention has been our Zello platform. Um and we've had, you know, many many many loginins. How have we um uh leveraged that software tool um to really begin this work and how are you now uh with school counselors and others going beyond it to create curriculum and dedicated time ultimately leading to the mindsets, behaviors and steps that we'll do um in the next strategic plan. I I admit that I cringe a little when I hear staff in our school uh though it makes complete sense to me

130describe the post-secary and career pathways work as Zello because I get it. It's a very tangible software platform and it's a powerful tool but of course it's just a software platform. So can you describe some of those things that we're doing that really leverage that tool as a broader strategy? >> Yeah, thank you. Um I think it's important to remember even though it may seem like it's been with much longer. This current year is our second year working with so and it's the first year that um at our high schools that they've had dedicated time to be able to uh deliver the lessons and do work with students in um and maybe it's just me that feels like it's been around forever. Um but it it's it's been with us a short period of time

131and that initial work with staff and students is really learning the logistics and um staff having to learn that and then teach that to students and families and getting them up to speed with that. Um we're seeing at our younger levels as students are uh entering into the work um earlier in their RPS career that that um it's more integrated in what they're doing. um introducing something like this um midstream for our high school students, you know, as juniors or seniors, it's much tougher to get it um integrated into everything that they're doing. But um the goal is as they're coming up through the system that that's that's what it's going to be. Our high school um counselors uh talk a lot about how do we make this not extra that students are doing but

132it's a part of everything that they are doing and I think that speaks to the going beyond the platform um because we don't want it to be considered doing Zello what we want it to be is that Zello is the resource that students and staff are using to support our students in putting together their plan for life after high Um, but we do recognize that the initial first couple of years is really the the learning piece of how do we use this tool? What all is available in the tool and where do we best um place this in the student experience and who is best to support the different components. For example, um this year we just brought on instructional facilitator of CT. And one of the things that she has been uh responsible for

133and actually just pushed out to staff um yesterday was getting the um workbased learning platform part of Zello um really up and running. Um, and so that's part of it too is who is best uh to work with the different areas within Zello uh to make sure that our students are really aware of the full capacity and all of the resources that they have within that tool. >> I It's amazing. It's been only two years. Thank you. >> I know. >> Dr. uh as you just indicated, Heather, uh we're still early in to this and so I'm not sure we're able well you or those that you work with are able to provide um percentage information, but I would be um curious to especially when I look at the potential equity impact uh to see

134how Many of our students are actually all are probably given opportunity. Access is probably made available to all. But how many of those who have access actually choose to? And correct me if I'm wrong. This is something you opt in something that you're not required to or am I just kind of thinking that or >> there are um four dedicated lessons at every grade level. um three and up. Um K12 is um structured a little differently. Um but there are lessons that all students are engaging in within the platform. >> So um as far as secondary students go >> and as I listened uh you're right for those who may already be well on their way their journey, they can see the sunlight at the end of the tunnel. uh we may not be able

135to actually they may not be able to take full advantage of this resource and and so as I I looked at the artifacts uh I thought it was very important uh to celebrate what we are doing and what the future does uh both in in regards to uh the offerings that are starting to occur at our elementary level. Uh final question has to deal with how are we making parents aware of are we and then how can we gain more of their active support and encouraging uh their children uh to become partners along with uh so that there are no surprises at the end. Uh there are no questions being asked at the board table as to why x amount of students aren't when perhaps if all students are being given opportunity, all households are

136being made aware. Uh can you and and I'm not expecting you to say well yeah we already have that online it's something we're going to roll out uh next year though if you were to say you guys are great people I wouldn't be surprised but but any insight to share any you know opportunities that might be there that uh we can support that as a pastor as a grandparent you know I can talk to my children about talking to their children and all that type of stuff. >> Yeah, sure. Um, so we have had um like at the beginning of the year this year and last year, we did push out um information to all families about uh the parent um account that they have access to and what they how how they could, you

137know, initiate their account. Um and we can track um you know how many um the connections have been made when a activates their account, we know how many students have a connected uh family member with their account. And then we can also see family login. Like it's just like we can student engagement, we can look at family engagement. And at this point, family engagement is much lower than student engagement and is definitely an area um that we can work on in uh the future as far as how do we boost that. Um some things that we have done so far in addition to um just that information about the family account. Um buildings are doing communications with families about the work that's being done, lessons that are being provided. Um we also just a couple

138weeks ago um Alex Aano and I hosted an online evening session for families um as like an uh targeted at our 11th grade families on how to utilize Zello um during the uh course registration process. And in that we do touch on some of the other resources that are available in Zello. Um and we had over 200 families who logged into that session um and they were highly engaged, had a lot of questions, really good questions. Um and so that is something that we're looking need to offer, for example, in the spring an online session for our uh families of uh juniors to get um them information about resources available for the college search and the college application process. Um so those are things that we're looking at. Um I'd also like to go back

139to your first question about um our tracking and there are there are a number of um ways that we can how many students are utilizing Zello. Um, every single one of the 67 steps is listed in Zello as a task and we can see at each grade level how many students have completed those. We can see how many students are tracking college applications at this time. we can see the um you know um the scholarships that um students are tracking. They're just it's a very robust um amount of data that we have access to through the platform. Um and there are the the sites this year are beginning to share that more with their staff. So for example um at Mayo High School after they do their monthly um postsecary readiness lesson. Um their counselors

140then share out information with their whole staff as to what their level of engagement was, how many of the students completed the lessons at the different grade level. Um so there's there's a lot more of that um tracking that information, making aware of that as well. And just super I really appreciate director you raising the point as we track that data we need to make sure that our young people who are uh going on to postsecary education um and competitive careers at lower rates are completing those steps um so that we're look watching for that equity agenda um for sure um because especially if you don't come from a family that has had experience with that journey we need to step in and provide support for both the student and parent and career >> Marvin

141you [clears throat] and u director Barlo alluded to the one of the questions I'm interested in is how do you um evaluate whether Zello is really being effective and I love that it has all so much information for parents who want to help their child um get the kind of education or determine what kind of education and then what the tools are to help that student get the do the applications. Um, in terms of career pathways, when I talk to high school kids, a bunch of them say, "I just wish we knew what jobs were available." and they want to hear from people and I'm wondering if um if classroom teachers and all said they're working overtime all the time but if they would just take periodically informally a few minutes saying so you're asking

142why we're studying this stuff right now. Well, here's how it can help you in the future. Or to talk about, so you're you're learning math. When are you going to use this? And then maybe just mention some of the different kinds of jobs that probably didn't exist when they were in high school, but what the future is and how can you use this? What kinds of things might excite you? But we just hear from a lot of kids especially who want to hear from people who are doing the work maybe in a position that they've never heard of before either. >> Yeah, absolutely. And um one of the projects that um we um started this fall um Don Lubon, our um instructional facilitator of CTE, um put together a survey for our secondary teachers um

143to get baseline data on what type of career connected learning um opportunities are happening currently in our secondary schools. And so um asking questions um for example, you know, are you doing exactly what you talked about all the way up to are we offering internship opportunities and just to find out what are we providing right now? Where is that happening and where are our gaps with that? And um we'll be analyzing the data from that um survey in January and then putting together looking can feel of that because yes, we hear that consistently from our students that they would like more of those opportunities. We hear it from our industry partners in the community that they would like to be able to provide more of those so that they are connecting directly with students um

144and hearing more from families as well that they want those opportunities for their students. >> Awesome. Thank you, >> Dr. W. So um a little bit different from uh what director said or or very similar as well but when I was reading through the challenges reading through the program um I do think it's a good opportunity I wouldn't necessarily say that everybody has access and the reason why I say that is because directly because of the barriers right um transportation um you know family support those types of things which I know is not necessarily something that we can do something about. But what we can do something about as I'm listening I'm really understanding more and more how all these things relate to one another, right? So one section really falls apart. It really, you

145know, you need one section to support the other, right? Like you need to bolster your the belonging and the behavior section so that um families and students feel welcome and belonging to get into these programs, right? My concern has always been um as being in Rochester a very long time, very long time, but [laughter] um there's always been great opportunities here, but there's always this mask of of access, right? So, if you got a vehicle, you know, you got a little bit more access or um if you you know, if your parents can move you around, you got a little bit more access. But we kind of drop the ball is for students that maybe don't have the family supports as mentioned in some of the challenges, right? Um I just want to know I

146know that we because we've address this challenge a lot and it's it's kind of a consistent challenge in a lot of areas and a lot of things that we do where there's a it's not that we don't have something to offer these students, but we don't have a way to get them there, right? Or we don't have a way to get to the to the parent, right? Um So, I'm just curious as to even though I know we we have already um addressed it as a challenge. Um I always have a concern that when we just keep moving, even though we've had the same challenge for years, right, but we're like we're going to do this new great thing, but we still have the same, you know, we're still leaving out the same group of

147kids, you know? So, I guess I'm just I'm I'm thinking of more of a solution based right question. And I just want to hear ideas of how I mean, as we grow these wonderful programs out and we know this is a challenge, so we know we're already missing this group of people, how do we stop missing it, right? How do we how do we get to a point where where we really have true access and true equity to the program? Um because unfortunately, if we look through all of them, the challenges are very similar from program to program. Um, and I'm not saying that they're not real, but I guess I'm just interested in how do we not keep making a new program, right, with the same challenge. Am I maybe I'm not making sense.

148Um, and I just say that because I feel that when we create a program with pre-existing barriers, we're not giving an opportunity we're giving false because we already know that we have the kids that we say we want to reach can't be there, right? So, how what what is the true plan to um to direct what director Barlo was saying. How are we really getting that there? And I appreciate you said you've done the um you know the virtual platform. I'm not saying we're not doing anything, but being that this is kind of a theme type of barrier. Um what solutions do we have? >> You want to start? >> Yeah, thank you Dr. Whitehorn. Um I'm going to keep the answer to this question uh uh in the area of postsecary career pathways that

149Heather is in, but your point applies across all of these agendas. Um when we did the previous strategic plan, it became very clear that post-secondary and career support was entirely on demand in RPS. It was not systematic for all kids. And we have kids who we couldn't keep them out of college if we wanted in this district. they're going and our counselors, our others were doing a good job responding to that point that Heather made in response to director Barlo's question is a profound one. Every kid is doing those lessons and that is if you've been a classroom teacher and you suddenly now have to help offer uh something on postsecary career readiness. That's not my subject area. I teach math. That's a big journey. or if you're a school counselor who has other responsibilities

150and now we're saying so the fact that that work is happening at scale for all kids and this board has approved that 67 steps is a profound step in that direction going from I'm I'm going to go somehow seek out a career and technical education class or uh fill out the FAFSA for higher ed to all kids are learning that we also have begun to address the infrastructure challenges that you're raising when we started a phabbotomy program uh which is a of course highly needed skill in health care um and which our wonderful students are significantly from uh communities that are underrepresented in healthcare. We have to transport them and we've needed to do that with Mayo Clinic to get them over to the clinic to do that partnership. That's a challenging issue. Um, this

151board as part of our facilities strategy in the spring um will need to face some important decisions about keeping uh our marquee career and technical education programs on the Rochester Community Technical College campus. That has some positives, but it limits the number of kids who can and will leave their high schools to go over to CEK or PEK. Um, if we really want to grow that programming, we need to grapple with putting it at John Marshall, at Mayo, at Century. Um and so you're absolutely right that the all kids agenda um you know is critical and some of that is within our buildings within our uh schedules. I mean creating the dedicated time that Heather mentioned for the high school work on postsecary pathways Zello was blood and guts work like changing the high school

152schedule is not for the faint of heart. Um and then there's the infrastructure piece that you rightly raised and in Rochester transportation is just a gigantic one. If we want more kids doing internships, community engaged learning, job shadows, that's going to be a huge one. I am told by the mayor and the city administrator um that this actually is a good time to be talking with them about getting more RPS kids onto public transit for some reasons that have to do with uh some changes that they're seeing in their ridership patterns. There's a lot of cities around the country, as of course you know, where older kids don't ever get on a yellow school bus. Um, and so that now right now we couldn't we couldn't the buses don't go where we need them to

153go, but a communitywide strategy that essentially begins to help us get connectors um could be a a powerful way to answer that access question. Um, but again, whether we're talking about MTSS or things like that, the ondemand option, which is kind of where we've been, we have it if you ask for it to all kids are getting it is a foundational piece. It's going to apply to the mental health issue as well too. >> Yeah. And I would just add um you know highlighting that building as much of the work into the student day as possible um is what we've been exploring is a that access piece. Um and you know the the platform being delivered um within the students schedule is a first step in that. Um some of those experiences making making that

154they're built into the school day on site. So, um we have started a um on-site uh college fair at every one of our high schools. Um and those have been very highly attended um and we this past year I think we had approximately 54 um postsecary institutions represented um and John Marshall um Mayo Century all hosted those and then transported their students there and then also had the opportunity to participate. Um Dr. Carol highlighted our phbotomy program which is built into our school day and students are transported from all of our um high schools. Um we also have at our high schools um successful um they're called different things at the different buildings but bringing in different programs and um different representatives of industry um for their uh career corners that take place um at

155Mayo High School. They're over the lunch hours. Um John Marshall hosted a very successful one this past fall. Um and as many of those opportunities that we can into the school for students I think helps to reduce those barriers >> and I think that speaking on >> but Roger Whitehorn >> I think that that's well I just want to say so my point was not to that we didn't have a system where that uh they were not doing it in the classrooms but we all know that there's a difference between putting it on a piece of paper and a and a student or a child being able to visualize themselves in those spaces right so I'm glad that we are offering it as you as to get that um thought going um but we do

156know that um from a different time but you know that people who tend to succeed and they have all books on this right it's because they can visualize or they can see themselves in that space so I think it's you know when I say access it's beyond just transportation but you know the the difference most times in you know success comes to that to the visual visualization be able to see yourself in a successful place. So, I'm glad we're getting it on paper and I'm glad that kids are being able to think about it. And I'm also glad to hear that we're doing more to actually bring things to the kids, you know, real time that they can actually see, not just hear about it, but actually see what the piece of paper looks like

157in person. So, any other questions or comments on postsecary board members? Thank you. Moving on. philanthropic increased philanthropic support. >> Um we have funded a lot of the innovation that has been described here through grants and Denise Moody has been our epicenter of that. And so I'm going to ask you Denise a personal question. Uh what has been your favorite grant that you've written in the last three years and why? >> Not not size maybe it's size not you know but when you think back and I uh you know uh Denise personally of course engages many colleagues in writing these grants but she cranks them out very >> yeah in an amazing way. So which one like if we were going to say Denise Moody's like number one hit from the last three years question

158um this is top of mind so I'm going to talk about um the practices grant because it was just at Kellogg today. This is a grant that we wrote in collaboration uh with the school to find an alternative program that they're offering and I'm currently working right now and they're due on Friday for the same grant um with uh two of our other middle schools for some ideas that they have around again supporting students that might be struggling in school. So that grant has been the implementations that going as well and so it was it was fun and top of mind. >> I was curious about um as you were looking forward saying how we can be a leader in the area of research and policy which would help our ability to partner with others

159to get the attention of large donors. >> What is that? I know. I was just reading this and I was >> I don't know if it was the research it was the research and policy or the large donors part I liked more >> as we've been doing research I guess about what funders large funders are funding school districts directly there does seem to be an interest in thinking about how do we bring in research and the idea of developing an evidence based around innovative practices that is appealing to these large funders and So I think we given Ken's background in research and some of the great things that are happening. I I think it's stamp that we can take that will place at the attention of funders because we got a lot of school districts

160across the US that all need money for what they're doing. And so that is where I see that there is some opportunity for us to um be something that entices funders to work with our schools. >> Great. Um, and I guess the other thing that as I was looking at all the efforts that we've made, I assume there's just some things about our operations that there's just not grants for that we'll that we wouldn't we wouldn't be able to get a grant to fund X. Can you give me an example of something that like there's just no money to fund ongoing expenses that I think funders view are part of schools, right? Like the basic educational program that is part of is not something there is a funding mechanism even though it may not be

161sufficient for all of the work that we want to do there is a funding mechanism for that and so that is something that I don't think attracts the interest of funders they're looking for innovation they're looking for maybe things that match a certain population to them whether that be a certain age of student or a certain demographic of students um so right we're usually looking for grants for things that are kind new innovative over the over and above maybe what the standard practices of director >> just want to throw this out there because I'm sure there's there's a billionaire that's watching right now [laughter] 850 >> 85 they're there I'm telling you it's coming so there >> um are there any programs any core programs I know we've had some great programs that unfortunately have

162had to end because the grant stopped or the funding stopped. Um, if today the billionaire is watching and he just got money to give RPS, I know you're out there. Um, are there any core any things that you would say, you know, we need to be focusing on or any areas that you know need funding more urgently or >> I would love to partner with this billionaire and see what's of interest to them. >> Yeah. And then Okay. And then really thinking about the work in our strategic plan, right? We >> we know that there are going to be some funding needs um associated with some of the ideas that we have in our strategic plan. So looking to those funders to think I think we have a career and u career pathway kind of

163idea that's going to be in our strategic plan. Is that something that they would be interested? We have more work to do around belonging and behavior. We have more work to do around mental health. So there there are definitely ways that I think that we are going to be seeking partners. I guess mindsets, behaviors, and success. There's a lot of camera. [laughter] There's a lot of exciting things we're doing here at Rochester public schools that we would love to partner with. >> Director Parkman. >> Um yeah, I have a question about the tension that exists between a grant that is doing wonderful things that runs up >> and then the expectation after you've had that grant for several years is that you continue it. >> Very thoughtful about that, >> you know. I mean I

164mean that's just the >> we're feeling it right now as we wrap up our federal grant that we you know were planning for for five years and we ended up only getting it for three, right? So um we're we're try that is part of our decision making process when we are determining whether this is the right grant for us to be applying for is that we want to be thinking about what is what's kind of the cliff that it might create if we are to get the grant funding for this. We're focusing on being able to build things in a creative way and an exploratory way. our grant funding to but knowing that we don't want to just get money to kind of fund things that really need to be part of our ongoing operating.

165>> I mean I I think it's it's relatively easy for example with the Rochester Public School Foundation where it's a specific relatively small grant for a very specific project that a teacher wants to do in their classroom as opposed to something that you might be doing building wide or Another I guess to go back to the original question, another really great grant and it brings to mind that is um our grant that we got that was able to support um the creation of our project that we have across the district and I think that's one example of something that has really highlighted a very positive impact across areas in the district and that's what I think what we're trying to Is this a viable option? And what what are the results that come from this

166might move us forward members? Thank you, Denise. We'll move on to develop leadership capacity. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. As we engaged in strategic plan in 2021 2022, it became clear that none of this happens unless we build the capacity of our leaders. um starting with our school principles and so Eric uh you shifted from being one of those school principles to uh leading the work. Um what is one area over the last three to four years that you think speaking in general the leadership capacity of our principles um has grown in um an aspect of school leadership um and of course there are many other very accomplished veteran leaders on the panel but I'll put it to you because you've been leading the work. If you thought back to three, four years ago where

167our principles were then and where they are now, what's something that broadly stated you think has been a a point of progress? >> You know, one of the things somebody earlier tonight alluded to our our principles, you know, not just being firefighters running around putting on fires all day and and that's always the case, but I I feel like our principles have really grown in their ability to be truly instructional leaders. That's the primary focus that we're going to work on improving student outcomes as job number one. Um I also think our principles have really grown in their ab ability to be data driven decision makers and to think strategically. It's we're still putting out fires all day long, but we're balancing it with really focusing on improving some outcomes. Anybody else? >> Dr. Marlin,

168>> I know you meant no offense, but I'm a retired firefighter. [laughter] I have to comment. >> Well, maybe you can offer some, you know, advice on the on the fire putting out fire. >> Yeah, there's not a thing wrong with putting fires out. [laughter] I'm sure you I'm sure you gathered data in your day as well, right? Um tell us a little bit more about what's happening next with the principal connect series. >> Oh what's happening next with the principal connect series. So the well the very next session of the principal connect series will be around um some HR training but so to explain the principal connect series briefly um we we've built in we we knew there was a need for in district ongoing uh principal opportunities to get together to talk with

169central office and have opportunities for professional learning and so we've developed the principal connect series which meets two times a month. Uh we run it twice that day. So there are two sessions each Thursday that we run it so that principles can come in the morning or the afternoon and get the exact same content. If they're a bigger building, they can divide their team. So two, you know, if it's John Marshall, two of the principles can the principal and assistant principles go in the morning. The other two assistant principles can go in the afternoon. But everybody gets the content that way. Um we try to have two or three topics at each session. Usually one of them is tied to skip in some capacity. Um a lot of really great opportunities for class cross collaboration

170with apps of academics. They've done some great work around digging deep into literacy and numeracy looking at tier one instruction. Um then we'll we'll add into that you know some crisis response or brainbased readiness to learn or uh Andy presented the last one on budgeting. So we we have all these different opportunities our principles able to connect with each other share best practices um and they can also give us ongoing feedback. They can say we really want to talk about this at our next meeting and we'll build that in so we can be responsive as well. feels like it's flexible enough to meet whatever the needs are at any at any given time and having the dedicated time that set up it doesn't fall by the wayside else board members on this one. All right,

171the last one. >> Yes, bringing us >> expand and upgrade our mental health. Um, as I've mentioned a number of times when we did this strategic plan, we were um sort of coming out of the pandemic and mental health concerns on the part of kids were um much on everyone's mind. The the strategy has been very complex, but um one key aspect I'd like to highlight is that um through your work, we carefully piloted multiple screening instruments that could help us identify kids who are struggling with things like anxiety, depression, uh other needs and also their social wellbeing in general. We landed on a tool. You landed on a tool that I the best three best that I'd never heard of that when I looked at it, I was like this is brilliant like practical

172but really accurate tool. So can you tell us about what selecting that screener has enabled us to do in terms of supporting kids and maybe what some of the challenges uh have been with that tool. >> I think our screening efforts have been I think the most exciting thing for me to talk about is that the majority of the work that has been done has been voluntary on the parts of buildings. They have selected to become a building that wants to begin to screen their children, their students, and they've opted in to it over and over and over again. This year we have 13 buildings who this fall wanted to screen and we're increasing that. There are five more buildings who are interested in starting in the spring. Um, we've been able to increase the

173number of students that have been screened. And what we've heard time and time again is kind of multiffactorial. Number one, buildings who do it overwhelmingly say, "Oh my gosh, this is way easier than I thought it was going to be. I thought this was going to be so hard, but it's way easier." Number two, they say, "Oh, we're not overidentifying students. We're not getting this massive wave of students who need our support." Most of the students that we're identifying, we had sort of a guess and a few of them we didn't know and now we can target target them and intervene with them and let parents know and we've heard sort of an anecdotal stories. So, director Nathan, you talked about wanting to hear those personal stories. We hear anecdotal stories from from buildings all

174the time where we were able to say, I made this group based on this this screening data and we got these kids in and we did an intervention and it went really well or we looked at the and we realized because of the screening data that our goals didn't actually meet what we're seeing with the data. So we shifted the goals just a little bit to to align it a little bit more. Um so when we talk about what we're excited to talk about with screening, I think that's a really important piece and my hope is that we continue to expand it. We continue to have buildings say this is exciting. This is great. It sounds easier than we thought we're into. >> And could you just add a word on how has the approval

175gone with that. >> The parental approval is what we call an opt out. So, we send out a notice to parents whose students have been selected to be screened. And the way that that works is most of our buildings pick a grade level or two grade levels or three grade levels and they send letters out to every single one of the parents that are in those grade levels just notifying them. We are screening for mental health concerns in the same way that we screen for vision concerns and hearing concerns because we know that challenges with a student's wellness can impact their ability to access education. Um, if you would not like your student to be screened, please let us know. We will not screen your student and that is completely okay. We also give students

176the opportunity to say, "I don't want to do it." And that's okay, too. There is no mandatory requirement. Um, so when parents call and let our principles know, they put them on a list and they just make sure Dr. Martin, >> um there's no question that schools are doing a really good job in terms of having kids not on their phones all day and I love that. Do you in your in your working with kids who are feeling stress, anxiety, depression? Are you feeling that social media I mean can you sort of fathom whether social media has sort of a inordinate effect on that and if so is there anything that you can do about it >> I think the answer is yes and yes of course social media has an impact on the way

177our students see themselves because we see the world through social media at this point right we we interact with each other our relationships occur freent over social media. Um, when we talk about some of the strategies that we are that we're working with in our mental health strategic plan, one that I'm excited about in this particular area here in this document is listed as NM or NME, but what Eric just said was brainbased readiness to learn. what that really it's a clunky name and I know it's a clunky name but what it really is is talking about how kids brains develop based on the developmental activities they're exposed to and the conversations around social media and phone usage absolutely come up when we offer these trainings educators are engaging with those trainings in ways that

178they're able to say oh I can put piece A and B and C together and understand why students behavior looks this way because of potentially social media or parents who are doing their very best but are also very tired and have to use their phones to access work and maybe are are navigating way too many things all at once. And so what we're seeing is educators are having a deeper understanding of that and starting to think about how we're going to do some inclassroom modifications to the way we interact with students to address those things. >> Back to record. So you mentioned about parents have to opt out. What if a parent do you ever have a situation in which a parent says no I don't want this for my student but the student says

179I want to be screened. Do you ever have those kinds of instances and if so how would you handle it? >> I have not personally heard of those instances. I think the way that we would navigate that conversation though is to remind students and remind parents that the screening data is only one source of data that we use along with multiple other sources of data to help students access the we would not exclude a student from accessing care because they chose not to right. you would be able to look at behavioral data and data and teacher report and parent report and all of the other pieces of data that we have access to to assist that student. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Cook. >> So, um uh and and actually before I say anything else,

180I just want to thank everybody for documenting the work that you did in this in this structured way. It's extremely helpful to have everything kind of um laid out this way. Um, as as you've been describing the upgrades to mental health services, I I am thinking back to the discussion that we just had on MTSS because um while the the superintendent um I think did a great job of capturing numbers that corresponded to each of these initiatives and and to me MTSS um thinking back to that presentation from University of Minnesota will always be one because The thing that I took away from that more than anything else, you can't intervene your way out of a poor tier one. So tier one has to be where you fight the battle. Um and and that's been

181something that's become very clear to me as we as we think about these things. And I'm wondering in terms of the the mental health services that we provide, is there something analogous to a tier one? something that is universal or as close to universal as you would characterize it and that enables us to have the capacity for additional interventions and supports. What how would you characterize that tier one if there is one? Yes, I think what you're hitting on is um a really excellent point that we continue to have conversations around in terms of resource allocation because we only have a certain number of hours during the day and do we have time for explicit instruction around all of the things that we need to instruct upon and include mental and we try and we're

182working on it. We have in our elementary schools our second step curriculum which is our curriculum and we've been working with our um curriculum directors around what they're teaching in their health curriculum. So they do there is a necessary component of mental health in their health curriculum and I think there's legislation um upgrading that requirement for 2627. So we'll be talking about upgrading some of those components in terms of our tier one and I think some of the work that we're doing around mindsets and steps will get us there as well because as we go through some of the mindsets and behaviors, those are those tied directly to a student's ability to interact with the world in a healthy way and in order to be mentally well, they need to be able to display some

183of these mindsets and behaviors. So, we've talked about sort of the interweaving of all of this work and I think mental health is one of the things that sort of weaves into every single pathway on this table. >> That's really helpful. So, fair to say it's more than just the screener. very much very helpful. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> And thanks again to >> I I think also to be >> much clearer when I said in my presentation last week and um again tonight that I anticipated MTSS in math and behavior being a focus of the next strategic plan. behavior actually is a subcomponent of what I actually anticipate being in the plan which is broadly I think we've all started to use the term well-being >> so yes absolutely and I wasn't thinking of

184it just in that space of behavior um it it it would be very innovative for a school district to Denise's point get your get your typing ready um to be able to build out a robust MTSS system around holistic well And if there's any place that could do it, I think it would be >> Mag. Um, so [clears throat] I guess I hadn't thought much until I heard you say it was that it's an opt out system, right? Um, so my thought would be that we know that family engagement is down. you said that we don't see families participate as often. It could be conclude that we're testing their kids anyway, right? So, we already know that parents are not responding or engaging and it's an opt out. Um, I would say there's a high

185percentage that we're testing a bunch of kids whose parents don't know that we're testing and not because we are not doing our due diligence, but um, and again, it's a perception, but because we are aware that families are not as engaged, right? So if we were to say we're testing 100 kids, but we know that typically only 25 parents engaged, we're kind of saying that we're testing 75 kids anyway, right? So, and I I'm just throwing it out there because the information could be construed as we are willingly testing kids without knowledge because we already know that parents don't respond. And I'm not I'm not saying it that we're that we're doing it incorrectly, but just in this conversation that we've had uh in all the different sections we we've discussed multiple times that family

186engagement is not where we want it to be and that we can track and see that families are not responding as often. And then for us to opt to a opt out system is it can be it can be perceived a few different ways, right? Because For instance, if I'm a parent that's not as engaged and I don't agree with mental health testing, but I'm not as engaged, so I'm not I don't know what's going on. And not because RPS is not sending out information. I just want to know what is our how do how are we addressing that? Right? Because I feel that if there's any push back, it would be coming from that way. It will be coming back from parents who don't want their kids tested. but either missed the opt out

187option or didn't read the email or you know jumped the response, you know what I mean? Um how how are we handling that? >> Let me um this would apply across uh different things. The it's the difference director horn it's a very important question between active consent and passive consent. This is a form of passive consent when the tool is a very safe validated tool that does not for instance us into um a treatment whether it's a reading group or a mental health passive consent is very appropriate. This is not something that especially given all the checks that Connie and Sarah and the team put in place could result in a student being misplaced in an intervention in any way. However, to your exact point, we would use active consent for anything that was more

188forwardleaning, which is the parent actually has to say, "I agree they can do that." And so we will be very attentive to that in this case with this particular screener. Uh and it's not just Rochester. This tool is used with passive consent uh all over the country in a very validated way because the nature of the tool. But you're absolutely right. Were we to be doing something that had um that that was more diagnostic, not a screener. So I'm actually going to diagnose something that would absolutely have active consent. And I can assure you that we would maintain that. And it's I do have to say that's just something that I would be glad to dialogue with you further about it. I don't think that it's something that in this early stage of our work

189has been a really present issue, but it's good for us to keep in mind because as you do go deeper with screening kids and of course we work with our school mental health providers, we discover uh uh ways that we need to support kids that are very intensive and so we calibrate that pretty carefully to the nature of what we're looking And I and I and to just to um just to to clarify I guess I don't I I understand but the the point of me asking this was the importance of the language that we use right so being that you just explained it to me is passive and you know uh consent. Uh there are um communities that there are trigger words right so mental health screener [clears throat] is a even though I

190you can understand it on this bigger level and this is just a suggestion that maybe we word it differently, right? Because we know people don't always hear the whole thing, right? So, you know, a parent just hears you're screening my kids for mental health, right? They don't hear that there's not enough. [laughter] I mean, I and I understand and I'm just speaking from trying to speak from a parent or community perspective because when information is shared, you don't get this full explanation or dialogue like you have given me um Dr. Pel. So just because I can foresee um that this could it could and I'm not saying that it will or it won't, but I am always on the proactive side, right? So instead of putting out a fire when it starts, we prevent forest

191fires. Um because I grew up in you too can prevent forest fire. [laughter] So, but I but just those things, you know, just um I am all for mental health, but we do have to be cautious that there are a lot of stigmas around mental health and screening, especially in communities of color and those things. So, I would I would implore us to and I don't think I don't we should never be dishonest, but either explain it more thoroughly what is happening or name it so that it doesn't have an implication that there could be a diagnosis. Right? So, very much. >> Um my question kind of um ties into that a little bit that I'm looking at the equity impact the last bullet about the ability to communicate with the non-English-speaking families. I'm wondering

192if we want to expand that to be um including resources and culturally culturally relevant topics as well. >> And I guess my question though as I was thinking about what Dr. Cal said as well that if this is being used all over the place, why don't we have this already and what will it take and can we get a grant to do it if we need to? >> All great questions. Um it is it is a tool that's been used nationwide. Um trying to go back to the very first part of your question which was the equity impact. I'm actually working with uh Natalyia Benjamin on on some resources that we can give to families that are in native languages. As we were working through this pilot, I I just want to be clear, this

193was a very small pilot. So, we began with [clears throat] 300 students. We've expanded quite a bit and with that expansion comes some growing pains and so we have continuous feedback coming from the buildings who are using this tool saying, "Hey, what about this? Hey, this is a fire that maybe we've had to put out. Can we can can we get director Barlo here to come put it out? Can we problem solve around this and find a different way to communicate with families?" And we've been working some of those things. So, we are continually refining processes and finding ways to communicate with families in ways that they receive it and to train our practitioners in culturally relevant and culturally flexible ways of dealing with our children that is not tied to very rigid standards of

194what wellness is and is not. >> Thank you. >> And then the last statement you talked about can we do this big in you know big time and what would it cost per student? >> Yeah. if it's being used all over, why don't we have this to us available cost per student right now? And that's what we've been able we've been able to fund all of the students that have all the buildings that have opted in this year, but certainly as we continue to upgrade that, there will be additional >> um long longtime fan of your work, but particularly the sessions that I've sat in where you've done um events for parents back in 2021 and I know there's middle schools that did the series with the movies and then afterwards you were there for

195the Q&A. Heard [clears throat] so much good feedback from parents on that. Parents are bombarded, we know these days, with media stories left and right, even if even if they haven't checked in with their own students about their mental wellness, but they are hearing that their child's me mental wellness is is in peril. And not that you don't need another thing to do on your agenda, but just to put in a plug for um beyond the screening, what can we do um to support our parents for that? What is it 85% of the time that they're not in our schools? Um because you have done a great job in the past with giving parents those materials. So would love to see what you can do going forward. speaking to a dream of mine to be

196able to do some of those at some point. >> Awesome. >> Well, superintendent, >> as I said when we were all young at the outset, [laughter] >> um uh part of the point was the volume and so you all have been uh just exemplary leaders. The folks uh sitting over here to the side of the board have been uh essential to this effort as well. And so thank you what we've done thus far and what we're going to do uh together through the next strategic plan and to this board that has uh shaped and made possible all of this good work. >> Appreciate all of you. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> All right. Our next agenda item is our first action item. the approval of the purchase agreement for the

197sale of Skyline School. Superintendent, any summary remarks? >> I would just say, Madam Chair, that um this fits with the briefing we gave the board on our facility strategy in general, uh which you approved in concept. This is the first step we're actually asking you to prove in practice. We got what our realtor says is a fair price. Uh there is an addendum that um uh if you read as director Whitehorn did the supporting document uh the initial price went up a bit. The addendum is for the $275,000 that is the actual sale price. So thank you for reading so closely. The resolution is uh correct and I urge you to support this um as a first step on the other issues that we'll be bringing before you later or early in 2026. >> So

198I will read the resolution. We have resolved that the school board of independent school district 535 does hereby approve the commercial purchase agreement between the district and infinity enterprises LLC for the sale of the Skyline Schoolhouse property in the amount of $275,000 and authorizes the superintendent and board officers to execute all necessary documents to complete [clears throat] the transaction. Move approval. >> Second. It has been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments, board members? Hearing none. All those in favor of the motion say I. >> I. Opposed. The resolution has been approved. Our second agenda item is the approval of the school district property tax payable in 2026. The details of the levy were presented during our truth and taxation meeting. So I will read the resolution. Be it resolved that the school board of

199Independent School District 535, Rochester, Minnesota, being a school district in Olmstead County, Minnesota, that there be and is hereby proposed a levy upon all taxable property in said school district, a new calendar year 2026 school tax for fiscal year 2027 in the amount of 104,475,566.92 allocated across the following categories of levy authority. General Fund 66,418,27561 Community Services Fund 5,834,571.15. General debt service fund 32,222,72016 for the total certified levy of $144,475,566.92. Move approval. >> It has been moved and seconded. Board members, any questions or comments? Director Workman. >> So we left, do we leave Wabasha County out of this since part of our district is also in Wabasha County? >> Is it says just county >> instead county? because we are technically in county as well or do they not aren't they? >> I I'm not

200sure that that would be we certainly could amend that to add you know servingstead and I don't think that would change the >> or is it because of where we're b you know where >> intent is but it certainly if you prefer to serve Yeah, I I think it's always good to be accurate. >> I think that the logic was our headquarters physically where we are now is in >> certainly if the board would like to amend that. >> Would you like to amend? >> I would like to amend it >> to Waw County. Okay. So, being a school district in Mstead County and or or Minnesota. >> All right. So, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion on the amendment? All those in favor of the amendment say I say I. >>

201I. >> All those opposed. The amendment has been approved. So, I will read the resolution as um amended. Be it resolved that school district independent school district number 535 Rochester, Minnesota being a school district of Mstead County and Wabashaw County, Minnesota, that there be and is hereby proposed a levy upon all taxable property in said school district a new calendar year 2026 school tax for fiscal year 2027 in the amount [clears throat] of 104,475,566.92 allocated across the following categories of levy authority. General fund 66,418,27561. Community services fund 5,834,571.15. General debt service fund 32,22,72016 with a total certified levy of $104,475,566.92. Move approval. It has been moved and >> seconded. Any other questions or discussions? >> Director Cook, >> I um I don't have any questions, but I just wanted to comment that on the uh

202the presentation that our director of finance prepared um as part of the truth and taxation hearing. I really appreciated the both the explanation of the changes in the debt service fund revenue and also the breakdown for an example um uh taxpayer household property taxes of how the different components of the levy maps into the different statutory authorities and uses. Um I thought that was very clear and something I hadn't seen before and I really appreciated it. Um and I think is helpful to the community in general. That's all. >> Jack, >> I just wanted to so um the [clears throat] discussion about the change in the general fund. I heard Mr. Kstad's presentation and just want to give him an opportunity just if we could clarify that just a wee bit more. I don't know

203if he wants to do you want to come up or >> Mr. Kstead please join us. [clears throat] given our current world and media environments. I just want to make sure we're 100% clear about that. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> You had talked about um it sounded like there was a change >> and that the change isn't based on an error by anyone here, but it was something about MDE. Do you want to talk about that a little bit more? Just how how that hap how that became known and managed? >> Absolutely. Director McLolin. Mclofflin. Thank you. Um, when we were going out to issue bonds uh, in the spring, as I mentioned, we looked at our levy authority because we also have to have approval by MDE to issue those bonds. And it was

204recognized at that time that we had three previous bond issuances for our CLPS that fund technology primarily the technology issuance. So those if you recall at the same time we issue bonds for uh for [clears throat] uh maintenance projects we're also issuing bonds to support technology purchases but those are in the form of certificates of participation. Those had been allocated uh in our general fund counting towards our lease levy limit when in fact they are actually just traditional debt that should have been in our debt service fund. So when that debt was added to our levy uh in each year what we do we provide a list and actually MDE keeps the list. They know exactly when we issue debt. They know exactly our debt payment schedule. They're the ones that on the levy report

205indicate which funding which fund the debt payment is in and how much the debt payment including principal and interest would be each year. uh they inadvertently put those particular payments coming out of our general fund and had for a period of time. I can't tell you without doing some research how long that had been. And so those dollars instead of being that the the the taxes are still being collected, but instead of them going into the general fund to pay debt going in that general fund, they've moved the debt to our debt service fund. So therefore, the revenue to support those debt payments are putting are put into the debt service fund. >> So just so that I'm clear and everybody else can be clear that it was not something that happened here at RPS

206in any way, but it was at MD. >> It was not I I I MDE is the one who indicates on the levy report where each one of our debt payments should be paid from. That is correct. >> And you referred to it as inadvertent rather than something somebody did intentionally or wrongfully. >> I would suspect it was inadvertent. I mean I don't once it was recognized and Ellers helped us in addition Ellers recognized this as well. They're our financial planner. MDE was very uh responsive and recognized that there was an error at some point in time um and uh changed that for our pay 26 levy. >> Is it a way to look at it then it was some sort of accounting error that is now fixed? >> Right. I mean there's there's humans

207up there as well that take our debt schedule and identify where uh that should be paid from and I suspect at some point in time uh you know there was just an inadvertent I I say inadvertent a mistake was made that um that put them in the wrong fund. It's important to note it doesn't change our tax levy. It just is which fund the payment and which fund the associated revenue goes into. That's all that's changing um with that shift. It's just a shift. I appreciate that and I just want to make sure you have the chance to clarify that. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> And um [clears throat] to Director Cook's point um about the impact on our taxpayers, attachment C, the packet from PMA Securities is always

208very informative every year and it always makes me happy to be able to say that if a houses if a if a residential homestead's property value did not increase their school district taxes would have decreased and it's sort of by an average of 2% of course depending on what the value of the houses. So because of the increase in the tax base even though we are getting more money out of our levy our taxpayers are paying less um in taxes if their um house value is the same. all things being equal from >> we are not responsible for the county is responsible for those and um all of that is explained very clearly in attachment C. So in addition to our fiscal responsibility of having a relatively low overall increase in the levy compared to

209some of our other local governments. The impact on homeowners directly from our tax is actually a decrease. Anything else? Board members hearing none. All those in favor of the resolution say I. I. Opposed. The resolution has been approved. Thank you, Mr. Garstead. Um, we're going to do one more um action item and then um Director Marvin reminded me we skipped be prep for action on policy. So, unfortunately, we're going to go back. Um, our next item is the balance budget model enhancements. This is an action item which was first discussed at the December 2nd meeting. Superintendent any updates? >> Uh, thank you, Chair Nathan. There are some significant changes um from the first version of this proposal that was in the prep for action category. We've already had a good discussion tonight of the purpose

210of the balanced budget model, which this board unanimously approved, that the core educational program is in a fixed funding uh structure, that the supports for learning are in a flexible funding structure, and that central uh functions like special education funding, multi- language learners, facilities, transportation are funded centrally because there are efficiencies there. And um this is year one of that model. And so we of course are bringing some enhancements. In retrospect, Andy and I were a bit more um zealous than I think we needed to be in terms of the enhancements that we presented to the board last time. There were three that really are technical changes that Andy and the team can make and that our auditors will review. Um uh that was the method through which we allocate funding for printing services, uh

211funding to inbuilding and copying and printing, and the methods for charging expenses to our state achievement integration aid. Um in retrospect, those were not policy decisions. We like to on the side of updating the board. But as we thought about bringing this before you tonight, we realized uh especially as you will recall, we ended up in a pretty uh lengthy discussion. These are not material for board approval. So I've removed those. More substantively, I've removed the recommendation to move school counselors into the flexible funding strategy. I did so based uh on both further analysis analysis and reflection that we did centrally. Um, we've talked tonight about the fact that this is the design year for the mindsets, behaviors, and steps to success, which gets to that vision of a multi-tered system of support for student

212well-being. And so to make a shift in the funding structure for school counselors this year, I concluded would be ill- advised because we are still developing that strategy. I think there also is an important point about the role school counselors play especially at middle and high schools in the core academic program because uh as anyone who has a middle or high school student knows they are often central to assigning the class placements. Um so I'm not recommending that school counselor piece. Um, in all uh cander about lessons learned, there also should have been uh more discussion with school counselors and school counselor leadership before that presentation came to the board. Um, just candidly, as you know, well, we're moving so fast and uh juggling so many balls. Um, but that's why we have items in

213prep for action. And so, um, we got good feedback on that. I've withdraw that recommendation for this year. um we can continue to dialogue about the fixed flex components of the balanced budget model, but that one's gone. So that leaves us with three recommendations that are before you in the resolution. One, moving the supply budgets into the flexible category. Those were essentially kept out of the model last year. We're confident there'll still be a minimum threshold and we'll still account for it, but that those are um resources that we are confident our principles can allocate well. Um most substantively, I am continuing my recommendation that we go from sending 100% of compensatory education revenue to directly to the school sites where the student uh uh poverty level generates that revenue to 80%. This is fully

214allowed in Minnesota law. Um it's only one year that Rochester has allocated 100 100% directly to the school sites and concurrent with that change we dramatically expanded title one funding to our schools which is also driven by poverty. And uh that I'm con very convinced was the right step. The federal calculation for title one funding means that there are some schools that serve significant numbers of low-income kids that don't qualify for title one funding. And so when you compound federal title one funding for low-income kids with Minnesota's very unique, generous compensatory funding that has not only dollars directed to low-income kids, but a concentration factor. So the higher percentage you are, the more dollars you get. Um, I've concluded that it is advisable to go back to the 8020 split. And Andy and I and

215our chief academic officer Mona Perkins spent quite a bit of time on getting this language as clear as I hope we can get for the board. We never resulted in a simple graphic, but um I'm going to very briefly uh touch on what is uh in your background materials because I know this discussion was not as clear uh in our last discussion of this. So of the 20% that we would now not be sending directly to the sites, approximately 30%, so 30% of the 20% would be set aside to go to the eight schools that generate limited compensatory revenue and do not qualify for any title one funding. Again, those are schools that serve significant numbers of low-income students uh who have additional learning needs, but they don't qualify because of the options the federal

216government gives us for uh allocating Title One funding. So, this would direct approximately $765,000 or $122 per eligible student to those eight schools. That would be projected from 41,000 on the low end to 222,000. So, um not a gigantic investment, but certainly when thinking about the intervention work that multiple board members talked about tonight um not insignificant uh to provide students with additional support for reading or social work or those other resources. So that would be 30% of the 20%. The remaining 70% and I think this is where we may not have been as clear last time. So approximately $1.8 8 million would be used to support expenses that we cover at the district level that are allowable uses of compensatory revenue like reading coaches, reading specialists, our lead school counselor. Um many of those

217costs are currently funded by the general fund. Spending the compensatory revenue on them would allow us to free up that general fund which does not have the constraints that compensatory revenue has which we are adhering to very very tightly in RPS right now. And the two big needs that many of our schools struggled to fund last year um were assistant principles and um clerical staff. Those are entirely allowable through uh general fund. And so that shift of the $1.8 million would allow those schools should they so choose to do to bear those costs. Last year Andy and his team had to uh find ways to fund those positions on the back end. And part of the board's direction in building this model is that it makes sense. It's coherent and transparent. Not simple, but um

218I'd love simple, but at least coherent transparent. So, anytime Andy tells me, well, we we'll do that in a way that the auditors will say it's fine, but can a regular person understand and follow the money? No. Um, so that recommendation would allow us to return some of those general fund dollars to the title one sites as well. So, they are I think that point wasn't as clear last week. they they are not um complete I don't like the term winners and losers but let's just be clear they are they are also seeing a return from the 20% set aside but in general fund dollars that are more flexible and so uh when we looked at that the final reduction that would acrue to those schools that are getting title one dollars in their compensatory

219would [clears throat] be 6% less than if we don't do the 8020 uh split and so that would range as you see from uh 300 $3,975 to $65,26 per site with an average of 29,258. Now those sites which again receive both title and compensatory will still see receive significantly more money than the schools that receive no title dollars and I believe um while we always could do more with more um are receiving an adequate amount to provide those services. the sites that are not receiving any title funding are really struggling to put in place interventions. And so, uh, and we want those students with additional needs in those sites to succeed. And so, that is why I'm, uh, continuing to recommend that we go to the, um, uh, 8020 split in commenatory. And the final

220change might seem like, uh, no big deal. And for next year, it won't be, but the creation of cost centers at the central office level is going to be tremendously important over time. Our um central office budgets have historically been, let's just say, opaque. Um uh if I had a dollar for every time a director said to me, I don't really know what my budget is, we might not have such a big deficit. Um this cost center structure is going to dramatically improve that. The um the central office budget structure that we've been using up to this point has [clears throat] been an amalgamation of previous org charts in central office department such that Andy and the team are looking at budget codes that are references to previous org charts that no longer exist. This

221has been a huge effort to conceptualize bodies of our work in the central office that can now be budgeted [clears throat] for and managed um very carefully. Initially for next year, I think it's going to look like it's going to enhance our ability to provide reporting to the board about how much funding we're spending on each of these cost centers. Over time, it's going to allow us to make decisions about resources and tradeoffs such that we are going to be more able to say, are we putting the central dollars where the strategic plan is, where the needs are in a way that would have been very labor intensive to do and not as accurate. So I'm also recommending that you approve the creation of these cost centers um that align with the org chart but

222extend beyond the ORC chart because they will capture things like technology expenses that are not just in one department um and thereby enabling us to have a comprehensive strategy for funding technology that we've lacked to this point. So it's not just Mona's budget versus Carl's, it's a technology budget that goes across. So, I know later tonight, Madam Chair, that was a lot, but um uh I I I recommend that you approve those three enhancements to our balance. >> Hand up. Director White, >> just really quickly, even though I I think I'm grasping this 8020 thing. Um you have you did mention that it'll be hard to explain to the community how that 70% of that 20% is being used. Um, and I guess that causes me to get paused because we want to be transparent.

223So how will how how can we explain that so that it looks I mean so that it is what it is um because the way I'm understanding it it's a it's a kind of a exchange right so they those those funds can be used for other things and therefore then they can use general funds for those things but um I just want to I guess I don't know if it's a question but I just want to make point that um if we go ahead and approve it that we will have to find a way to make that the does understand exactly how um that other 70% is dispersed. >> Uh thank you, Director White. I agree. We we spent till pretty late on Friday night last night trying to get this language down and it's

224clearer. I'm confident that our principles and our budget managers will be able to understand this. But you're right, that's not the only test. And I think we need to get continually clearer. It will be important to say to anybody who's this is entirely within state law. It's the way uh many many districts allocate these dollars because there are lowincome kids in schools with lower percentages of low-income kids who still need to be served. And so that's the core logic. But I take your point and we do need to and I'm not going to give up on a good graphic like it's not >> I drew a little pie chart. >> Okay, good. It didn't quite come to us yet, but we're going to keep working on it. >> I had started on a pie chart

225as I don't think it I I shared it with Dr. Pel, but I I didn't get any feedback from me. >> I'm not really sure. I asked the question, is this worse or better? I don't know which way. >> Only has to be >> Okay. And I also can't help but wonder if in the end what sta what staff and parents and teachers are going to be more concerned about is the the staff that this means a building can be stacked with >> and the trade-offs. I mean, Madam Chair, we that just like we are learning last year realizing that I mean to you know director Barlo I think very helpfully last uh meeting urged me not to just speak in unnamed schools when he referenced Elton Hills and I referenced Bamber Valley. Um we

226we will monitor this and if we find that this shift uh impacts our schools with the highest concentrations of poverty in a way that unlike what I expect they can't cover those costs. We will come back to you with adjustments just like we're coming back to you having realized that those eight schools that don't receive title funding didn't have some dollars that they needed for those interventions after year one. >> So I I I don't want your head to explode, so hang on to it. But I really appreciate the fact that after that lengthy discussion that we had at the end of the last meeting concerning our school counselors and continued discussions that you had with staff about that that you changed your recommendation. Um this is not flip-flopping. This is taking in new information

227and then making a recommendation on it. So I really very much appreciate that. Thank >> you. back. >> So for for this uh for this discussion, this decision and I think every future iteration that we have of considering how the board allocates its resources at least for the next five years, I think the starting point for me is always going to be the resolution that this board adopted last July uh mapping out our five-year budget strategy. uh because if we are taking seriously the idea that we're and I know we are uh that we're going to balance our budget for the next five years and that means cutting at least $10 million um maybe not this next year but um in the outy years each year then the only levers the way I'm thinking about

228it and I just want to be transparent for the benefit of the of the rest of the board um the way I'm thinking about it is we can either change the ratios for what the base level program is going to be or the fixed level program is going to be or we can uh empower the principles that we have invested significantly in in the boss strategic plan to make judgments that are best for their schools and I really think it is valuable for the board to approach this with humility and inquisitiveness and take seriously the idea that we don't know every single optimal arrangement of personel at every single uh school site. Designating a role in the flex budget versus the fixed budget is not the same thing as uh designating that role as less

229valuable than others. Um it is just acknowledging that principles at the building level are the ones best positioned to make difficult judgments that are only going to get more difficult in the future years. Um but thank you for the recommendation. I did have an actual question. Um, the cost [clears throat] centers seems like a no-brainer. It almost seems like, boy, this probably should have been the case for quite a while. But is there a downside to implementing this that isn't immediately obvious? It's not something I've really engaged in much because it just does seem so obvious. But am I missing something here? Is there a reason that we haven't done this a long time ago? >> It's hard. >> Yeah. I mean, I think it's just it was a large undertaking and and it's really

230an alignment of our of our chart of accounts and uh the 30,000 active accounts we have and how they align with some uh structure. You know, there that was a massive amount of work. I I think um you know, I think when I started here three years ago, there were just a lot of things we were doing because it's just the way we've done. And I I don't have a better reason for why there hasn't been this But what I really like about where we are, one cost centers are just like our balanced budget model in terms of there there's flexibility, right? As we realize the need for a different cost center or restructuring a cost center into a couple different, we will make those decisions, but also um that um uh the cost centers

231plus the learning sites, we can we can really identify this is how much we're spending in our cost centers. This is how much we're spending at our running sites and together they make our budget and that is that is a story we can more easily tell now the structure I don't see any downsides right downside right now ask me in a year it may be different I don't know but right now I don't see >> good enough thanks >> um I appreciate your point uh director Cook about the fixed versus flexed piece it says in my the memo Andy and I wrote but I didn't say it here tonight I anticipate returning to that issue uh for the following year's budget. I did not withdraw the recommendation perpetuity. I continue to see um merit in

232thinking about that role as a learning support, but there was important work and feedback that needs to be done before I feel confident in it. But uh I was very intentional in putting in there. I anticipate coming back to this issue in a subsequent recommendation. >> Dr. Mara >> uh briefly. So, uh, as we move to or towards, um, cost centers, uh, have you been engaged in any conversation with Ellers in terms of how this might, uh, potentially affect, uh, future audits or what there should there be any potential concern? >> I don't think there will be, Dr. Bar or Dr. Barlo be simply because it's just a method for how we're tracking particular groups of expenses. uh we still have to follow uh MDE and the state's UFAR's structure. Uh so that doesn't change.

233So no, I don't I don't see any impact there whatsoever. It's really an internal RPS local reporting structure. >> And I can imagine that the timing of this is also important given that we're moving to our new financial software system that we're we don't have to do it the old way and then change it to a new way. The timing, madam chair, is important uh because of that. It's also important because in your first meeting of the year, we are coming back to the budget cut targets that director Cook just mentioned. And so we need this conceptual work done now so that Andy and the team can get the budgets ready for our decision making at the building and central office levels and so that we can bring back to you an updated um recommendation

234for those reduction targets, which is um unfortunately how we're going to be starting the new year. Any other Dr. I just had one thought on the counselor issue when we were thinking about that before your memo came with the modification in some ways. I'm wondering if it's a little bit some of semantics as well and the words that you're using because I don't think it it's not about I I think the the counselors need to be clear that it's flexible funding in our model but I don't see it as flexible value in their role to students and maybe that's it's just it's something about the language that they're dependable and maybe that's tied to flexible that I don't see it that way. It's just a different way of a different maybe there's different wording that

235can be used as well board members. Um all right so I think I still have to read the resolution. Be it resolved that the RPS school board approves the following enhancements to the balance budget model for the 2026 2027 school year. Move the supplies budget into the flexible category with a minimum spending requirement. Allocate 80% compensatory education revenue to school sites and designate 20% centrally to advance equity and strengthen school level flexibility. Organize central office budgets around cost centers to increase efficiency and effectiveness of districtwide services. >> Move approval. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any other questions or comments? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I oppose. The resolution has been approved. Thank you. All right. We are going to jump back to prep for action. Uh

236this is our second policy committee um briefing of the policies on November 14th, 2025. And given the late hour, I will ask board members if they would like us to read the individual policies or if there are no desire to do that. It is in your board packet for your review. The opportunity to ask questions before we take action on it at the January sixth meeting. >> Good plan. >> That a good plan. We like that plan. All right. So, now we are moving on to other business. So, we have our updated ABCD which is available in the uh agenda item for reference. At our January 6th meeting, we have a focus topic, the RPS 2030 strategic plans stakeholder feedback summary, our monitoring skip team membership and process update, prep for action, the bud the

237aforementioned budget reduction target revision, and our schoolboard handbook and action schoolboard budget and member compensation. And then on January 20th, focus topic draft RPS 2030 strategic plan and give improvement targets prep for action student information system adoption and action our budget reduction target revision and the schoolboard handbook. Uh upcoming board meeting dates we mentioned uh January 6th and January 20th at 5:30 p.m. We also have meetings February 3rd and 17th. They are all regular meetings. And hearing no other business, this meeting is adjourned at 9:20 p.m. >> actually when Kent said at the beginning of this item when we were all young. I was going to say speak for yourself.