School Board Meeting - May 20, 2025

001This regular meeting of the Independent School District 535 school board is called to order at 5:31 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20th, 2025 in room 137 of the Edison building. 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. Present at this meeting are school board members, Superintendent Kent Pquel, a non- voting exeicio member and assistant school board clerk, Miss Anne Kramer. Miss Kramer, will you please call the role? Director Barlo here. Treasurer Cook here. Director Mclofflin here. Clerk Marvin here. Chair Nathan here. Director Whitehorn here. Vice Chair Work here. At this time, we offer the opportunity to say the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States

002of America and to the stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Item 2.1 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 at rochesterchools.org/asssembly. There are no comments to the board this evening. So we'll move on to information and outreach. Our first item is a recognition National Speech and Language Pathologist Day. May is National Speech Language Hearing Month and May 18th was National Speech Language Pathologist Day. Speech language pathologists or speech or SLPs help our students improve their speech fluency, sounds, and patterns to help make them more understandable. Speech language pathologists work with

003students to increase their social communication and complex conversation skills and build their understanding of symbolic language, gestures, and other signals of speech. Speech language pathologists help students to become readers by working with them on rhyming and identifying the beginning sounds and words, building vocabulary by acting out words, retelling stories with new words or playing vocabulary games, and improving reading comprehension. And as partners with teachers and other school staff, speech language pathologists develop learning and support services plans for students and educate and empower parents to help them learn how to help their children. We are grateful for all the skills that our speech language pathologists bring to serving our RPS students. Our next information and outreach item 4.2 is the project search presentation. Superintendent Pal. Thank you, Chair Nathan. And I see Nicole Mueller, our uh

004director of uh special education or secondary, whose leadership I'm really grateful uh to on this issue, and Carell Corson. But I also see the Project Search uh scholars that are here. And so I want to invite you up to come on come on up and uh with with whoever else is going to be joining you for the presentation to take a seat up at the table. As board members are aware, this is really an extraordinary partnership with Mayo Clinic where we have the honor of supporting these uh young people as they move into young adulthood and a really extraordinary learning opportunity and we always are really excited to welcome them for uh a board meeting in the spring near the end of their internships. It was fun to get a chance to spend some time

005with several of them and thank you again for making this amazing opportunity possible. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Nathan, Superintendent Pel, and members of the RPS school board. My name is Nicole Miller, and I support and direct our special education work at the secondary schools. I'm excited to share with you tonight one of our secondary programs available to RPS students with disabilities, which is Project Search at Mayo Clinic. It's exciting to have students with disabilities working side by side with various Mayo Clinic staff and supervisors and we're really excited that this is our 10th year with Project Search at Mayo Clinic. Tonight you're going to hear from some of our current interns who will be sharing their experiences in this unique opportunity. So I would like to introduce Carile Corsen who is the Project Search

006instructor and then he will introduce our Project Search interns. All right. Thanks Nicole. All right. Thank you uh for giving us a little bit of your time tonight. Um these these guys have prepared um some speeches for you. That's the best part of of the whole deal. You guys get to hear from them. But it's uh my honor to introduce these guys. They've been working hard for uh nine months and they want to tell you a little bit about themselves in the program. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you for inviting us to attend your school meeting, allowing us to introduce ourselves. We are current interns and we would like to share how search has changed our lives. This year our theme is decision employment. We chose this competitive employment. My name is Crael. I believe

007that has helped me greatly. I would have to say I've learned to be patient and careful with my tone. I am set. I think before I speak and when I do hopefully informing I've also learned how to subscribe to my colleagues and managers. I believe I feel more comfortable asking them questions if I need assistance. The future plan is to hopefully become a team assistant services as I enjoyed my rotation there and later work as a career. Hello, my name is Andrew Otis. I wasn't sure if I want to be in church. I to being some place at 7:30 every day. Now I realize I've been a good program for me. I've learned new skills at my three rotations. I wouldn't have experience without being in Project Church. My co-workers have shared a lot of

008their site knowledge with me. I feel that I sorry I feel that I have a better understanding of what it would be like to be completely employed. My future employment plan is working out in the community for a male clinic full-time for a new opportunity. My name is Jose Hernandez. Project Search has helped me by getting on time. At the beginning of the year, I will often arrive late. I now realize the importance of showing up on time. While being an intern, I have gi I had the opportunity to work in new locations. After I graduate from Project Search, I hope to apply for a position at the PepsiCo warehouse. Hello, my name is Xander Stewart. While at Project Search, I learned to control my temper when I received feedback. I now listen to feedback

009and respond professionally and use it to improve my work skills. It was a challenge for me to get up at 5:30. Not going to be too surprised about that. Anyway, and dress professionally, so I set alarms on my cell phone to get to project satan time. My future goal is at is to work at the point where I enjoyed my internship at surgical services. I hope to apply to in that area in the future. Good evening. My name is Chase Pearson. When I first started Project Search, I wasn't prepared to start my day at 7:30 because I always carried my belt with me into the classroom and not tucked in my shirt and only did when I was told to do so. But now I am took took my shirt in and have my belt

010on at 7:30. Now I have learned to act and look more professional at while I'm at male clinic. When I graduate from Pre Church, I hope to find a more hands-on job that pays a decent wage um either in the community or at male. I for sure do not want to a job where I have to sit at a desk. My name is the G Muhammad. During project search, I realized I of I often been casual and use slang without noticing it as a greeting. So, I begin to appropriate a way uh a more appropriate way of speaking when I'm working or in a professional environment. My future appointment plan is to work at Mayo Clinic to helping patients or as a par elementary or daycare setting. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Amy

011Bachmann. When I started Project Search, I wasn't sure I wanted to be in the program. Project Search has changed me as it has new challenges for me every day. I have learned to use landmarks to find my way around my clinic. I've learned to be more independent by following my task list and checking things off as I do them and trying to problem solve on my own before I ask somebody for help. Before I ask somebody, I want to work out in the community when I complete Project Search. I would possibly like to apply for a job in food service because I enjoyed a previous internship I had at ACC Heights. We appreciate your support. Thank you for letting us speak tonight. Does anyone have any questions? Board members, go ahead. So, what was your

012favorite department that you worked at in Project Search? Which one did you like the most? Yeah, we'll start. We'll start with you and each We'll just go quick. Don't you don't over don't think too much about it. Which one did you like the most? Environmental services. Okay. Environmental services. My favorite will be nursing. Oh, who services? Okay. Environmental services, nursing, food. Okay. So, three different ones. Services at St. Mary's. Oh, four different ones. Okay. You can say the same one again. What was your favorite? Food service at the Eisenberg. Oh, the Eisenberg. Okay. Recycling. Recycling. Okay. Wow. Eisenberg. At Eisenberg. Okay. Those are that very interesting. That's great. A few of you said that you weren't sure that you were going to like it at the beginning. So, if there's somebody who's thinking about being

013a Project Search intern, what's the best advice you would give them to help make their decision? get up or make sure you're an early bird because you don't want to be a zombie. Wouldn't want to be like, "Oh, I wish I could hit the snooze button." They do start early. Hey, I wouldn't be surprised if that's everyone in this room right now. Start at 7:30. Yep. So, anybody else? Any other advice? For me, I'd say make sure you get there on time or at least early like Amy said before. Um, you have a you have a good chance of possibly giving getting into a male position or at least into a job because they they help you try to get at the end of the year they try to help you get get a job.

014Great. It's all good advice. Board members, any other questions? This is awesome. I think I'll be airhead. Oh, go ahead Rosie. If I were to give to advice to future intern is don't panic, don't fear, don't lose hope. Be calm. That's the best you can. Take this opportunity and leap forward. That's really good advice. And that is a good advice for any of us or any of the interns. Well, I have one last question. Is there anything uh you'd like to say about your teachers or the adults who mentored you while you were interns? They're rock stars. They're rock. They're great people. I say they're very patient for being with us for nine months. Yeah, especially Carla. No, I'm not getting Well, enjoy talking. I agree to that. The ones who can take stuff out

015and still have it be the exact same amount of time as it was before. Said they shortened it and didn't lose no time. Well, we think they're rock stars and we definitely think you're rock stars and I think they all deserve a round of applause. [Applause] Thank you all for sharing your story. It's really awesome. Thanks for coming and some of us will see you at graduation. All right. Thank you. Come on. That's good. Our next information and outreach item is the robotics presentation to the school board. Superintendent Pel. Well, we have many amazing students in this school system and we recognize uh many of them and we have our intrepid uh unbelievable robotics team here. We are so proud of all of you. I don't know Steve who's going to come up and give

016us a sense of uh the year that you had, but uh please come on up and give us a sense of how things uh played out. So, no, you can have a seat. Come on up. When you're ready, in the interest of time, I will start while everyone's filtering up. So, um unfortunately, Steve's traveling, so you're stuck with Amanda. Um that's never So, good evening um to all of the school board and to Superintendent Pel. Thank you for inviting us to present to you tonight. Um my name is Amanda Ebrite. I am one of four coaches and 18 mentor adults from the community who volunteer with the team. Team 2530 Inconceivable is Rochester Public Schools varsity high school robotics team. We represent Century, John Marshall, and Mayo High Schools. This year we had 37 students

017from grades 7 through 12. And while we are here to share with you all of the highlights of what we did in our competitive season, I would like to take this opportunity to mention that we are more than robots. So our students are involved in program management, business, fundraising, graphic design. Um they host a robotic summer camp for youth in the community. We do outreach with community partners and we do extensive fundraising. It's important that everyone know that we are not Lego robotics and we don't build a kit robot and we don't have our adult mentors design something that we ask our students to build. These students are designing, prototyping, building, programming, and taking our robot off to competition to drive all on their own. Our competitive season begins in January where we get a

018new uh challenge every year. We played this out on about a volleyball uh court-sized field. And this year, uh, the rules asked us to take pieces of PVC and place them, uh, on racks within the field and manipulate these, uh, large balls and toss them into various targets to score points. So, we had six weeks to build a robot that could accomplish those tasks and do it fast and efficiently and adeptly. So, in March and April, we took our robot on the road for two competitions. The first was in Wisconsin and I'm pleased to say that for the second year in a row we won a competition. So we won the Phantom Lakes regional competition. We were playing with teams from Mexico, India, Turkey, the United States. And then the week a week later, we

019went to Minneapolis and played at the Northstar tournament and we um won second place there. I'm not using the clicker. Maybe Ardan you can click the pictures for the first. That's our uh one of our wins later. Um with those finishes, we qualified to go to World Championships in uh Houston, Texas, which is an overwhelming experience of about 600 teams all gathered in one place. And um we considered a big achievement that we made it into the playoffs before being eliminated. Then because of those finishes, we also qualified for the second year in a row for the state tournament, the MSHSL state tournament, which was just two weekends ago. And at the end of the qualifying rounds, we were ranked number one. We got to choose our alliance of teams to to play with. And

020we ended up h it's painful to say losing in the tiebreaker by a hair uh and taking second place. However, we had some good news that came out of that tournament. Second place is good news as well, but we had uh two students win awards from the Minnesota Robotics Coaches Association. So, uh, Finn Bartholome won an award for robot design and Yunju Lee, who there's Finn. Yunju, I don't think is here, uh, won for her, uh, strategy and drive coach work. And two of our coaches won awards from the association as well. Um, I would like to say that our, uh, 2025 unofficial statistics placed us number four, number four out of 189 teams in the state of Minnesota and 116 out of nearly 3,700 teams in the world. Our coaches and our mentors are

021extremely proud of all of our team members, but we are especially proud of our seven graduating seniors this year. Uh they represent 18 years of collective time on the team. And they are all 2011 headed off to universities from California to Massachusetts in the Midwest and pursuing science and engineering degrees. Every single one of them. In fact, in the last three years, 90 more than 90% of our students have gone into post-secary education in the realms of uh science and technology or enter uh the trade skil trades. So, we believe that team 2530 prevents uh provides a really unique experience for our Rochester students and uh one that's unmatched by any other program and we are very grateful to Rochester public schools, our community sponsors, our families, and our public for supporting us this year

022and every year. Superintendent. Um, well, first of all, uh, Amanda, my apologies for referencing Steve. I walked in from my daughter's college graduation five minutes before the board meeting, and his name was on the bottom of the agenda item. So, thank you for your leadership. Not to worry, Steve. Um, uh, one well, but I know the the not just the team of all the coaches, but all of the students is just incredible. So, my first question is, what was a highlight of the season for a couple of you? just what was something that you'll you think you'll always remember a moment that you said, "Yep, that really worked." Just just don't overthink it. Who can share? Yep. I would say uh this is very unusual, but we had zero major failures all year. It's basically

023unheard of in our sport and certainly one of the top in the state, if not the country. Zero major failures. I like that's like a great title, too. It's like an album or a band or something. And who else? What one other thing that was like a highlight of the year? I think my favorite part of the season uh was actually not in competition season but in offseason walking into the room and we had approximately 19 new students this year. So it's phenomenal to see a bunch of new faces and a lot of new interest in what we're doing. Yeah. So uh somebody else what's a priority for next year? What do you guys want to what do you guys what do you think you need to work on for next year? Um, obviously as

024a team we want to continue to be uh competitive, return to worlds, return to state, win competitions, but we are al are also more focused on our impact and involvement in the community. And so this year for our summer camp that Amanda mentioned, we purchased FTC kits, which is kind of like the younger sister of F FRC, and they're much smaller. And then we're planning to find more contacts and make more connections to eventually start our own FTC team, not only to help with recruitment, but also just to reach out to students because we believe that this is a very, very, very valuable program in our community, and we want to reach as many youth as possible. Dr. Barlo, and you addressed one of my questions regarding recruitment. I am curious, do have any of

025you attended any of our programs at PEK or CEK? And if well okay well that then kind of So where are you getting your experience from? That really is what I'm driving at. Well, one thing about our team is that we've always acknowledged the difference between the knowledgeable and the new, as Luke likes to put it. And we really work on eliminating that barrier and providing students with those technical skills to be successful, not just while they're on the team and contributing to the team, but after they graduate, even when they're just in their garage and they're like, "Oh, my mentor taught me how to use this drill." But then it's also developing life skills like communication, program management, and collaboration that are critical in every field, no matter where you go. Director Cook, well,

026I I' I've had a ball uh following the season um this year. You you have just had a tremendous uh experience and an awful lot to be proud of. But one of the things that has struck me from early on is the tremendous amount of community engagement and involvement and really investment in team 2530. Um, one of the things that the board is going to do in just a few minutes is accept donations and contributions to the district for the month of April as part of our u monthly um financial responsibilities. and uh robotics uh in April uh represented a significant fraction of people that are investing in programming in our district. And it really shows the that material contribution really shows the level of um well in investment in in your success in your

027programs and the the belief of our community and what you're doing. Um, can anybody speak a little bit to how you engage with the community and what the community's investment in you both um through mentors and and certainly financial contributions, but also um in all of the the branding and logos and and and things? I mean, how how do you even go about that? Because it's pretty unique um as a high school activity to have that type of community engagement. So, the first thing I would like to mention is that as Manda said, we're from all three schools and that makes it hard to group behind one mascot and to say this is who we are. And so, that's really where our team identity comes into place. And really, ever since we were founded as

028a team, we've been focused on what we do for our community because the community, it's also our family, it's our environment, it's our support. And so, that's obviously super important for for us. And the main thing on our team is that there are passionate students and they have a goal that they want to reach. And it's not about getting them there. It's supporting them to allow them to figure out how to get there. And so a student comes on the team and they say, "I want to start an FTC team. I've seen what this program has done for others on my team and I want to I want my neighbors to be able to experience that. I want my younger siblings to be able to experience that." And it's helping them find those contacts, develop

029relationships, and have actionable steps to reach those goals. So, when the superintendent and I visited the shop, um you honored me by letting me drive the robot, which I I have to say, everyone should do that once in in their lifetime because it's pretty cool. Um, and you said you talked about some summer camps and uh recruiting new people for next year and donations. So, where can they follow that information? What's the best way? Your website, which is our website is the best way to do that. I believe it is fr FRC team2530.org. Great. And so that'll have information about camps, when your practices start up in the fall, and over the summer if anybody wants to start donating. I'm pretty sure you would accept those at any time. How much does it cost for

030your budget for your team? Oh, our team's total budget. Um, if we don't go to worlds, it's a different number. So this year our budget it included multiple um technological upgrades and developments as long as well as a trip to Houston, Texas when we went to world and so it total up totaled up to a little over $104,000. Great. It's a great investment by our our our district and our community board members. Any other questions? One more round of applause. We'll look forward to hearing about next year's challenge and your accomplishments. Thanks for coming. Thank you. Thank you. Our next agenda item uh 4.4 board member updates. Does any board member have updates from committees or any other information to share? Director Mark, our student school board, our high school student uh school board members

031had their last meeting today in this room and it was a wonderful celebration of the year they've had and of the uh value they've brought to the board and to the district. It was interesting as I was listening to the robotics team because you mentioned that you wanted to serve the community and work with younger kids and that was the theme that came up from our uh student schoolboard members as well is that they really they appreciated the format that we used this year because they were dealing with the same issues that our school board was dealing with and we're getting their feedback and next year they want to put more of an emphasis on serving and especially working with uh students, whether they're high school students or elementary students. So, um I I just

032think that this speaks well for your generation that you're thinking not only about your own accomplishments, but about how you can help others um find their dreams and and progress as well. Any other committees or events? All right. Oh, director. Um, I attended the Chamber of Commerce local government connect event. Um, I think that was last week. Um, and just want to congratulate Chair Nathan and Superintendent Bquel for your excellent presentations. I think that the, uh, community really valued all the information and such new and um, hot off the press information that we had available to us. But also the event is such a great way to connect to the other local government organizations that I learned things about um building in the community and kind of tying into the discussions that we've been having

033about enrollment and kind of how the different government organizations have a little bit different perspective on that than we do at this time. Um but just really great to connect with those organizations and the people at the table I was sitting with and having great conversations about how we can all work together and collaborate and and uh represent all of our community. Yeah, that was a it was a great event to be at um again this year and I think the mindsets, behaviors, and steps to did I say it right? Steps to success was very which we're going to be voting on tonight was very well uh received by the community. We had a a member of the audience come up and say that she had already taken pictures of it and texted it to

034her daughter who had a three-year-old and the daughter was worried that that she might be behind and we said, "No, this is this is K12. You've got some time." All right, board members. Our next item is 5.1 through 5.8, our consent agenda. Would anybody like to remove any item for separate consideration? Move approval. Second. It has been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? The consent agenda has been approved. Our next item is our focus topic, the deeper learning pilot project wrap-up. Superintendent Pel. Thank you, Chair Nathan. Um I see uh Mark Miles moving up here who has been our coordinator of this project. I want to uh in invite Mark up. Uh, as I do, I want to thank um, Mona Perkins, our chief

035academic officer, and Dr. Peter Ruck, um, our director of research, who have worked closely with Mark in developing this initiative. Um, we have, uh, been fortunate to receive a grant of slightly more than a million dollars from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative that has enabled teams in each of our schools to really uh, experiment with the idea of deeper learning. In particular, a framework that has been developed by Dr. Jal Ma and um uh one of his colleagues Sarah Fine uh for deeper learning and that framework is like a three-legged stool that I am increasingly hearing across the district as I'm talking in particular with teachers but also uh with administrators and others. And it really rests on mastery, identity, and creativity. And by design, we spent two years really defining what those three things are

036in the context of Rochester public schools. Then the question becomes, what's next? Where does this go? The grant is ending this summer. I will say um I am thrilled, having been a part of many grants in my career, that when the money is over, the whole project stops. That's not going to be the case with deeper learning in Rochester public schools. Partly because through the referendum that our voters approved in November of this year, we have sustained funding to integrate deeper learning into the curricula that we adopt in all subjects in Rochester public schools. But beyond that, we are going to take what we learned in these teams of teachers and educators who really ideulated around deeper learning over the past two years and bake it in to curriculum, instruction, professional development, professional learning communities

037across our school district. We're particularly emphasizing curriculum because curriculum uh a growing body of research is showing is really sort of the um secret sauce in improving outcomes for all kids. It's the what we teach. How we teach of course is just as important, but really making sure that we are both selecting and revising curriculum to continually be emphasizing mastery, identity, and create c creativity is the next wave for us. And so what I've asked Mark to do and Monom may jump in as well um is to give us a recap of what's happened in the last couple of years and then give us a preview of the work that lies ahead of us. And so thanks again for the leadership and I look forward to the discussion. Well, thank you Dr. Mkeel and uh

038members of the board. Uh I am Mark Miles. I'm the deeper learning coordinator for Rochester public schools and thank you for giving me some time to talk about where we've been, what we've learned, and where we're going with deeper learning in Rochester public schools. So, a little bit of background. I know uh Dr. Pel touched upon this a little bit, but last year school year 2324 through the grant uh from the Chan Zuckerberg initiative, we were able to form deeper learning teams at every single site. Those teams engaged in collaborative learning and prototyping of deeper learning practices. It was really about exploration and uh defining and building a shared understanding of the deeper learning framework of mastery, identity and creativity. We created tools we and models to define what deeper learning looked like in RPS.

039We elevated the teacher voice in shaping our approach to equity centered and whole child learning. And that really kind of set the foundation for this year where we were looking at how do we bring deeper learning into the classroom? How do we bring deeper learning into this curriculum centered integration for this school year of 24-25? So this year those deeper learning teams uh were piloting deeper learning across the district. Our teams expanded to over 260 educators across all grade bands, programs, sites that included classroom teachers, specialists, ESPs, coaches, site leaders, counselors. Really, it was people who are really, really engaged and really excited about the work of integrating mastery, identity, and creativity into the work that we do here at Rochester Public Schools. Those teams designed, implemented, and assessed deeper learning units of study. They

040integrated our framework of mastery, identity, and creativity. And those teams participated in cross school collaboration and coaching and learning within their own schools. They shared their own learning and understanding to help build a broader understanding of deeper learning across the district for members that weren't even a part of those deeper learning teams. Over the past two years, things that we learned uh we clarified what mastery and identity creativity look like in practice. So not just in theory, but what does it look like look like in the classrooms with our students with our practitioners in Rochester public schools. We deepened our understanding of where students experience relevance, rigor, and engagement. We utilize tools such as surveys to kind of identify where gaps may remain and have those critical conversations about, you know, what we were able

041to identify and what we can do to move forward. And we also learned that tools like surveys and templates and look for protocols and you know reflection tools, they matter most when they're coupled with PD and when they're used with intention and integrity to support that iteration and the growth. What we also learned was that if deeper learning is feels like an extra and it's not integral, a lot of the times that impacts the individual teacher more. Um and so then it doesn't really fully embed within the work that we do here in Rochester public schools. So we recognize that deeper learning must be built in from the beginning and not bolted on later. So what does that mean for us now as we look to the school year 2526? Well, right now we're transitioning

042from a pilot phase to systemic uh district-wide implementation. So deeper learning is going to become the foundation of how we build, select, and deliver curriculum. And our next chapter centers on alignment, sustainability, and instructional coherence. It's really about moving from that piloting to practice. It's really about moving from uh you know what can we do to this is what we do and this is how we do school. So when we talk about curriculum, instruction and assessment, I just kind of wanted to set the stage a little bit. So curriculum is what we teach, instruction is how we teach, and assessment is how do we know the students are learning and deeper learning isn't that extra layer. What it is is it strengthens all three of those through the framework of mastery, identity, and creativity. So

043it's the through line that connects curriculum, instruction, and assessment. And when we talk about curriculum, we are talking about kids experiencing uh curriculum that is strong in conceptual understanding and skill building that it's built on cultural relevance and personal connection and that really engages them in innovative thinking and problem solving. So that's the mastery, identity and creativity. So previously uh this schoolboard saw this art curriculum articulation phase. So, as we go through and develop and and revise our curriculum, uh, as a quick recap, we've got the current state, which is, uh, to assess, uh, we assess our current state, looking at what how we're currently doing things, our planning, planning and pilot phase, uh, moving into full implementation, and finally the revision and continued learning. And so as we think about where deeper learning lives

044within this curriculum process, so here's where deeper learning is going to live. So for the assessment of the current state, we'll examine how deeply mastery, identity, and creativity are already present. We'll look at surveys. We'll get student and teacher feedback to really kind of understand where uh our uh bright spots are and where we have areas for growth. for planning and pilot. We'll apply the deeper learning framework to help guide resource selection and unit uh and unit design. That means we'll be collaborating with PLC's uh grade level leaders um our district implementation facilitators to kind of work through that process. During full implementation, we'll support coaching professional learning and implementation tools. That way teachers are experiencing deeper learning not only through their professional development but through designing and delivering it. And finally, in that phase

045four, that revision and continued learning. That's where we get to revisit our deeper learning framework and look at uh look at what we're doing through a lens of iterative improvement, reflect on what we're doing, get feedback from students, look at our outcomes, and look at our evidence of impact. We've already seen evidence of of this work uh without it fully being formalized. Um, last year we went through a a long process of identifying a K5 ELA curriculum. And while we didn't have a formal deeper learning process included with that, um, as the deeper learning coordinator, I was involved during those meetings to support teacher leaders um, both at the district level and uh, the elementary teacher leaders to look at the different curricula and determine which ones uh, you know, were aligned with deeper learning.

046We chose Whitton Wisdom. This year we're doing something similar but a little different with our math uh elementary math curriculum. Next year it's going to be moving into its pilot in planning phase and so does this deeper learning curricular work. So uh from the very beginning as the deeper learning coordinator I've been involved with the math curricular work for the elementary team. And so we've been looking at how to fully implement a deeper learning grounded process. And so we're we're piloting that along with piloting uh the math curriculum. And not only that, and this number is a little out of date from when I created the slides, uh we have over a hundred units of study that have been aligned with deeper learning that were developed this year across all schools, reinforcing that design and

047development side of the curriculum process. So it's not just about adoption or purchase. It's also about enhancement, refinement, and creation. What we're talking about is moving from innovation and piloting to infrastructure. So we see deeper learning embedded in the curriculum selection, enhancement and creation, professional learning and coaching, data collection, implementation and support tools, PLC structures and instructional feedback. So it's moving from uh pilot to practice. It's moving from it's no longer an initiative. It's no longer a project. Um it's how we want to do curriculum moving forward. And this matters because every single student deserves instruction that is challenging, relevant and affirming, engaging, imaginative, equitable, and full of joy. And if we do this right, deeper learning is a way to get us to relevant and meaningful learning for every single one of our students.

048And curriculum is the engine for realizing that shared instructional vision. Thank you so much for your time to share what I have and what this has looked like these past two years. and our vision going forward. At this time, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Director, if I may, uh, first of all, thank you, Mark. Uh, and, uh, I know you didn't operate in a silo. So, uh, as well, the team, excellent, uh, a great grasp of, um, what deeper learning is all about, and I appreciate it. I am curious though on one minor point um the role that MDE plays as it rolls out curriculum every 10 years or whatever their cycle may be and how we're able to how do how does how do we keep either ahead

049of or in step with MD and this direction we're headed in. I think that's a great question. And I think that that this process I believe is trying to answer that question. So MD as they develop new standards and release them you know instead of being reactionary through through this iterative process. So curriculum some curriculum is not static. Curriculum should be iterative. There should be an iteration and through this process and through looking at what we're doing and whether or not it's effective. I I believe that this process will make us proactive and and make us look at what we're doing and what's coming down the pike two three years from now and and allowing us to build that in and not oh shoot here's new standards what are we going to do about it

050I by building this process and making iterative I think we're going to be incredibly responsive to what MDE you know is doing thank you appreciate it director work with uh sort of a a followup to director Barlo's question. So, um, schools still have the autonomy to choose their own curriculum, correct? In terms of I mean, I know the reading thing they you had like what, four or five different choices, but how is that spelled out for other areas? Uh, uh, thank you, Director Burkeman. Generally speaking, we do have district-wide curricula in all subjects. There are um some schools that have had a long-standing ability to uh have some differences from the district-wide curricula that we continue to um analyze uh for alignment with state standards that uh director Barlo was just asking about. So I

051would say there there are some examples of curricular uniqueness in RPS. Um but in general we do have districtwide curriculum. I I guess that thank you for that. But my question was more of does MDE say you must use X Y and Z curriculum like for math. I know we had some choice with reading and everything else but um I believe that school districts still have the autonomy to choose their own curriculum and work with it so long as they you know can teach the standards for the most part. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. The reading was a little unique. Yes. Yeah. They usually don't tell you that which curriculum to use. And one thing I will say just to add on to what Dr. Pel said is that the beauty of the deeper learning

052framework is that it is a a framework and that it's not a set curriculum. So when we have schools that have the you know autonomy to you know move to operate outside of the district curriculum. That framework keeps things coherent across the district and it keeps things focused on students engaging in mastery identity and creativity. Thank you, Dr. Cook. A question in a little bit different direction. I appreciate this update quite a bit. Um, so w with the implementation of of deeper learning throughout the district. It's always seemed to me that um certain subject areas might feel like they were pushing downhill a little bit more. um maybe um music performance or composition courses or courses that lended themselves to projectbased um things where it would just be more susceptible to um embracing this kind

053of deeper learning framework. And I don't know if that's right. That's just sort of the way that I've been thinking about it. Um but as you have spent two years um educating our our our teachers and uh and professionals throughout the district on this framework and trying to identify opportunities to embed it into our systems. Are there are there subject areas or are there um parts of our district where it is um a little more difficult or there sort of patterns emerging on um where there's maybe more opportunity to continue working? Well, I think there's always opportunity to continue working. I mean, it is it it's a it's a process and and I don't think it's ever an end state where we arrive. I think it's always, you know, deeper learning means that we're constantly

054moving forward and moving towards, you know, getting better at what we do. Um, I think you're right to identify that, um, this may seem easier for the elective classes, you know, where they're already project based, but, you know, our the units that have been created through our deeper learning teams have spanned um, every subject, um, every student demographic, you know, whether it's, you know, we have math, social studies, English units, we have units for students receiving special services, we have units for students who are advanced learners. ers, you know, so we we really empowered our teachers to grapple with the question that you have. And so the really nice thing about the piloting that we did was it came that that learning came from the teachers and having those examples will help us to move

055that work forward even for the teachers that weren't a part of this process. Superintendent, um, I I really appreciate the question, Director Cook. I would say um as opposed to a specific subject area in which deeper learning is let's just say a tougher cell harder to implement I would say in my experience the biggest tension and one that I think we've made some progress on in the last two years is the idea that kids who are lacking foundational knowledge and skills kids who are behind can't experience deeper learning until they get caught up. I think that runs really deep in uh our educational system. This idea that um kids who to take the subject area that has been the primary focus of this board's work uh don't read well enough. They'll get to deeper learning

056once they have phenemic awareness. And I think what we're seeing is that that is actually um the opposite of what needs to happen. those kids actually need deeper learning more. Um and that um this idea that there's a foundation of drill and kill that we have to get to and then we'll get to deeper learning uh is a recipe for losing a lot of kids. Uh losing them because they are learning process instead of the core concepts. Uh losing them because they're not connecting to the learning and losing them because it's not creative. It's it's it's wrote. And so I think one of the things for us going forward is making sure that we are using mastery, identity, and creativity when we're talking about accelerating learning of our kids who are struggling uh the most.

057Um, one of the analogies that we got from our collaboration with Harvard in the first two years of uh, this project um, that has stuck with me is the idea that a student who's learning baseball doesn't uh, learn to hit until they're perfect at it and then learn to run the bases until they're perfect at it and then learn to uh, pitch and then learn to play in the outfield. You play the whole game at the same time and you're better at some things than you are at other things. But there's not this idea that deeper learning is sequential. That we'll get to deeper learning once we've achieved this sort of theoretical nirvana that we're going to do it. I'm not very good at catching balls, but I can hit. I'm doing both at the

058same time. So that kids who are way behind need deeper learning as much as the kids who frankly if you ever want to see and I know board members have seen this. If you ever want to see deeper learning in action, go watch that robotics. It's it's deeper learning on steroids. I actually think project search is deeper in a lot of ways too. Um uh project search uh in that sense the mastery piece is a lot about job skills as opposed to academic learning. The the other thing I would I would say in addition to that point about kids who struggle versus, you know, kids who frankly always like craved deeper learning, I think the other tension is that deeper learning is about academic content. It's not just about student engagement. I think one of

059the tensions as I've talked with people, teachers around the district, the idea of content that connects to kids with their identity and their creativity has resonated deeply. I remember a teacher said to me, "Whatever you do, please don't take deeper learning away." I Well, I couldn't. I would I don't want to and I couldn't if I wanted to. Um, when we only see it as the the the second two parts of the framework, identity and creativity and not mastery, we're not getting at what you see if you go to robotics, which is that those kids are using mathematics, they're using engineering, they're using finance, they're using uh English in a very applied way. And so the mastery of academic content is so critical. And it it can be seductive to think because kids are highly

060engaged, it's inherently deeper learning. It's highly engaged kids. The deeper learning is that they're also using the academic content in a very deep interactive way. And that's hard as heck as a teacher to do. It's really, really hard to do. And our teachers have have embraced the challenge. But it's something that we have to keep coming back to. Um because because that's the heavy lift. I think that's like when you when you ask about the subject matter, I think that's where the connection to identity comes in because what you are connected to, what's relevant to you, what's affirming to you. It's it depends on the kid. And so um some project based things might be more and might be more challenging and create like like really be more interesting to some kids and something else

061might be way more interesting to somebody else. When um is this Dr. Harris was that his name? When I left his presentation I I was like he spoke about deeper learning. He talked about when you find something that you're interested in, learn deeply about it because that having deep knowledge about it matters because you're better at it. You can do more with it. And he talked a lot about that and he talked about having multiple careers and gaining that depth of knowledge and how important that that is. Um, so I think I I really believe that the deeper learning happens in every subject matter and I think that the engagement is is super important but it's really easy to understand the importance of mastery when we look at sports right because if you are just

062engaged and can I and and um find it affirming and relevant to you as a kid, you're really just playing pickup ball. But if you're if you're really trying to to play AAOU or whatever, you're engaged and you're trying to learn some some good skills. And we understand that like we have to do the same in the classroom. So, you have to engage in the in the deeper um the academic side of it. And it can be anything. It can go across the board. It doesn't necessarily have to be project based. It looks different and and it can be and I think that's that's okay. Um, but it's it's good. It's it's all subject areas and I think there's something for every kid and it's just finding that for for each of the kids. But

063you have to push the academic side and the identity and the c creativity piece is what really pulls the kids into it and they're willing to work for it because it is so engaging. You just got to push them. That's where like the push and the support comes in. Dr. Um you'd mentioned that you've developed 80 or 100 now uh units of study DL. Well, not me. I haven't developed our teachers. That was very very very kind as a team we've done this. Could you just give a real quick example of what a unit of study would look like? Yeah. So a unit of study so when we think about a unit of study it's it's more than just like an activity. It's more than just like a single lesson. We're talking about learning over

064time. So, as an example, um I know that um the I know there was a a group of advanced learning students that worked on uh redesigning the Gibbon uh habitat with the zoo, which was phenomenal. um at uh at John Adams, I was just a I was just a judge for like um a Shark Tank type thing. But basically, students students learned about inventors, learned about persuasive uh speech giving, learned about what what it takes to make a good pitch, uh really engaged in designing, finding a problem, designing a solution for it, and then kind of pitched their innovation. Um, that's another example that happened within, you know, a a middle school English class. Um, I know that there was a group of teachers at the social studies at the high school level that revamped

065their second semester to really look at uh really heavy topics like uh immigration and genocide and and a lot of really heavy topics and really making it personal to like what the you know to their kids' lives now. And so that was a super powerful uh change in how they redeveloped what they were doing second semester in social studies. So that's just a a handful. Um but but yes, that's they were it's it's been really fantastic to see the teachers uh working so hard and and seeing and seeing the fruits of their labor with their students. So thank you. Yep. Director White. So this is all amazing. Um, I'm really excited about it and and all of the stuff that I've seen thus far uh from the deeper learning and from the students. We had

066the presentation with the children showing an example of it and I think this is a really great program. I do have two questions I guess per se. So, one um how does this look on the special education side, right? Um is is this something that we're helping to implement with those students? And I know, you know, RPS, we're talking K through 12, but as you said, if it becomes an implemented part of the learning, it's a lot easier um to grasp. So that makes me think of the students that are on the IEPs and like our Head Start or early intervention um programs here that, you know, a lot of them are housed at RPS buildings um and they are, you know, dealing with RPS staff. So, have we thought of how that looks, you

067know, for either our special education learners and for our early learners that need to be implemented into our system? Have are we including them in this deeper learn learning thought process? Because we we do have students that have to enter into our system sooner and it would probably be even more change for them to start learning one way, hit kindergarten and, you know, shift it. So, have we also thought of how we're including early learners? Oh, yeah. So this our for our pilot teams it was early childhood through 12 plus and so um we and and to be honest like when you when you visit an early childhood class I mean do you see these kids really engaging in I mean it's learning through play but it's but it's it is learning and that is

068you know whether it's project based learning or learning through play that is aligned with the mastery identity and creativity framework. Um, we had teams, uh, like I said, we had teams that included special ed ESPs, special ed teachers. We had teams that were, um, from our LEAP program, from our, you know, from rail developing these units that really what it was was kind of identifying what they were already doing. So, because deeper learning exists in in all of these different pockets everywhere. And so what it really was was was giving it a name, calling it out and and building it up if it needed to be built up. And so when we talk about special education, while there while there may or may not be state standards, there are still skills that those kids are

069working on. And so we're talking about creating creating content and creating a unit that really is about where do we want these kids to go? What what sort of transfer skills do we want this kid to take away after they're with us? And so by engaging with their identity and creativity and working towards mastering those skills that is fully aligned with the deeper learning framework as well. And so um deeper learning by making it a framework by not making it a specific course or specific class or specific content. It really helps us have a common language that meets the needs of every kid, whether they are students who receive special education services or whether they're students who are advanced learning students or whether they're general education students and anywhere in between. Um, it really it

070really was about we wanted to make sure that we were very intentional that every student had the opportunity to learn deeply and it wasn't just for one group of kids. it was for all group of kids but intentional in how we apply the framework in each situation. I uh thank you director for that question. I think uh back to director Barlo's question about uh MDE and the state standards a moment ago. One of the things that is a drawback of the standards in our state and many others is that there's too many of them. It's it's a laundry list. It's simply the fact that you and I've been on standard setting committees. You you you just have too many standards to actually cover. And if you really want to do mastery, you have to be

071able to focus. And I think Dr. Whitehorn, your point about our students with disabilities is a great example of the point I was trying to make about baseball and playing the whole game. Those kids need it the most and we do have some heavy lifting to do there. What's really critical and Mona and her team have begun our work on this is when we look at our state standards, we have to identify the the limited number of standards that are truly fundamental. And right now we're calling them anchor standards. Some districts have called them power standards. I don't love that. But um it's identifying those bodies of knowledge and skill that are so foundational for student understanding in math and science and English and it's discipline specific and then being sure that our kids who

072have uh uh who are neurode divergent who have specific learning needs are mastering those critical standards. when you ask a teacher working with some of those students who do have very significant needs to cover the whole laundry list, you're setting them up uh for achieving nothing. And so this is a really critical effort that I think will be a key part of our next strategic plan. um which is to say what really is essential in the body of uh knowledge and skill in every content area and how do we make sure all kids are getting it and they're experiencing it through deeper learning. And so it was it was something that now seems to me like an obvious idea, but it actually was about midway through this project where we realized we can't do deeper

073learning unless we are much clearer on what the critical knowledge and skills are for kids to master. because you can't do mastery, identity, creativity for um a gigantic laundry list of concepts. We have to really know what's truly essential for kids moving forward. So, it's something that I we haven't talked a lot about yet with the board and I look forward to um sharing more uh on that work as we as we go forward. Let Director Mclofflin go first. Did you forget my name? No, I just explaining stuff. Um can um one question I do have is the deeper learning framework. Is that synonymous with the infrastructure that you talk about on one of your slides or is infrastructure broader than framework? This one. Yeah. Uh infrastructure is really about um embedding deeper learning in

074in what we do and how we how do we systematize it. So instead of it being this, you know, these uh pilot teams uh that could range from, you know, three teachers in in a maybe in a smaller program to 12 teachers in a larger comprehensive high school. It's really about building it into the what we do. The framework itself, and I probably should have included this in like extra materials, is is you probably have seen that the deeper learning. Yep. That guy right there. Um so when we talk about the framework we talk about the mastery identity and create creativity framework. So it's so the yes and no it's about embedding the framework within within the work that we do. So and then I have a second question too. I'm not quite clear on

075the slide that talks about um the process applying the deeper learning framework to the to guide the resource selection and unit design. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Yeah, absolutely. So, um, this year right now, we've been looking at different elementary math curriculum. And so, when we look at what teachers need, what our students need, um, we want to make sure that deeper learning isn't forgotten. So when we look at how have we typically evaluated curriculum of what's best for our district, what's best for our students in the past, you know, we want to make sure in the past when deeper learning hasn't been the framework that we've been looking at things um if we're not explicitly calling out mastery, identity, and creativity, one of those could be one of those could

076fall off. And then in that that's the case and then we came in later then we would have to figure out well how do we revise add you know augment etc. By putting it in at the very very beginning, we're able to look at what is already provided from whether it's a curriculum that is something that we acquire or purchase or whether it's something that we develop, you know, so a lot of our secondary teams, you know, help develop units. Um, since there's not necessarily a program that we would necessarily buy for a social studies class. Um, but when it starts from the very beginning, instead of saying like, "Hey, I plan this. Oh yeah, by the way now you need to think about mastery identity and creativity. It's from the very beginning. How are

077we engaging with the deeper learning framework to ensure that our students are engaging with that mastery identity and creativity? So um that is you usually have like some sort of rubric or list or something that you're really looking for. So when you're looking for like a reading curriculum, you want to make sure it's culturally relevant. What are the pieces that make it culturally relevant? I make sure it has a phonics piece of of phmic awareness like so you're checking these boxes as you're looking through the different curriculum and we wanted to make sure the deeper learning pieces are because we're doing the same exact thing with math. So the resources could be looking at things to purchase or it could be the people resources to develop things in house that we need to use. 100%

078of those. Y so I just wanted to add to uh what I did say earlier which is I just think that the deeper learning allows us to think outside of the box a little bit more. Um and I guess that was maybe where my question was headed with the early learners and the you know special education um learners uh because something you did say earlier um Dr. pal was, you know, that um you know, we're learning the whole game, which talking about baseball. I ain't got sports things now, but talking about baseball, but I just think it it allows us to reframe. Also, you had said how it's not something children need to um accomplish, right? You don't get, you know, so much and now we're giving you deeper learning. But I think that that

079would allow for us to be able to reook at how we do some of our um special education programing because Not that children can't learn, some kids learn differently. And I just think that this is a amazing opportunity that will hopefully help more students to excel, you know, outside of the traditional way that we've always taught students. So, I hope that um this is viewed from that opportunity that this allows for a kid that didn't get it this traditional way to maybe understand it under this new analogy, right? because we're now looking more into just not that skill but how it applies to life that Dr. Cook. Um, so I I've been I've been really excited about this framework for a long time and I'm glad to hear that it is proving to be pretty

080universal at least within our district. I know it's not a coincidence because it was grounded in a bunch of research and and all that, but um the reason that I have been so excited about this for so long is because this in my mind this has been the mechanism that uh that the board is trying to use to um create critical thinking skills or foster critical thinking skills in our students. Um and I just um th this question might be a little strange, but I how do we assess whether our deeper learning framework is successful? We we're we're doing a lot of good work in creating this coherent framework and building understanding around it and making sure that it's embedded in our curriculum selection and our in our instruction. But is the is the measure

081of success the measure of mastery of the subject content areas? I think that hopefully is aligned with what we're doing here. I would sure hope. But is there a way to measure critical thinking skills outcomes? I do we want to do that? Maybe it's food for thought. I I don't know the answer. That's a great question. I feel like you've asked a couple of questions in there because you almost asked like how do we measure our implementation of the framework like the success of the implementation of the framework then I heard you say how do we measure the critical thinking skills of our students which I'd love to do both like I don't I don't know you're the research guy or Peter where's Peter I do have some thoughts for the mark were you gonna

082um well so that was work that we that we were doing uh in parallel uh to this pilot. So we developed um some surveys for teacher and student feedback we developed and beyond surveys um just getting some feedback through uh interviews in terms of how students were experiencing deeper learning and how how teachers felt like they were implementing it. Um, but that was really about, you know, were they experiencing it? And it wasn't for these first for these two years, we didn't really tie it to student outcomes. I think ultimately that's where we want to go. Um, but for now, what we were but for what we were doing over these two years, we were really trying to determine were our efforts in integrating this framework being successful? Were they being noticed? Were they were

083they having at least a a you know students were feeling like they were engaging with their identity and they were feeling like they were given opportunities to be creative and they were feeling like they were given opportunities to master the subject that they were in. And that was what a lot of this work uh you know kind of to kind of measure how we were doing in terms of implementing the framework. But in terms of tying it to student outcomes, we haven't done that work yet. Um I I think that broad broadly stated um as Mon and Mark said that's the work that lies ahead of us. It's critical. There's two broad ways I think that you can measure deeper learning. One is you can ask the kids and two you can look at the

084quality of student work. Um kids will tell you if they are experiencing mastery, identity and creativity with striking clarity. Um, kids who do not fundamentally understand the core concepts in a class can quite quickly tell you, I'm basically lost. I am grasping uh at straws. My favorite example because it's such an intuitive one um is from early mathematics learning. If you talk to some uh first and second graders who are not uh well-grounded in arithmetic and you ask them what the equal sign means without prompting, they'll tell you it means the answer goes here. The answer well that's not what it means. What it means is what's on this side is the same as this side. So they do not have a fundamental understanding of equality and being that and so that they are going

085to struggle with all that's so there's a sense of and that plays out all the way across as a social studies teacher I can't tell you how many kids who can tell you the date of the battle but not why the war was fought um that is so kids can tell you if they're understanding the mastery kids can tell you if I am connecting my identity some of the examples Mark gave I think are a lot about connecting the learning to their personal experience. The other piece of identity is to stick with math. I'm not a math person. Well, identity means you are programming against that. No, you are a math person. Like we are going to completely flip the switch on this. I can't I can't with a subject. Um and then kids can

086tell you quite clearly, do I ever get to create stuff? Do I ever get to solve problem? So that first piece is asking the kids and the 5e survey that we're going to be adopting as part of our new school improvement profit uh process has a wonderful ambitious instruction uh domain that is all about do I get to see that. The second is looking at student work and that's really where you want to empower our educators because our teachers want to do this work. It's why they got into teaching. And so, how do we create ways for them to analyze student work through the lens of mastery, identity, and creativity? There are like novel new ways of trying to assess these things through, you know, simulations and stuff like that. I think that could be

087interesting work for us to get into. But it also is just saying to our teachers that the this is what the framework means and how are you going to um assess it through the uh learning that you're doing? um in the classroom. It's it's not a standardized test uh assessment in general. The mastery piece can be like there's a part of that, but then it's beyond that. It's, you know, it's the art of teaching um aspect of it. And so I think I think it's a critical point because if we can't measure it, we're three years from now, we're not going to be sitting here saying, "Wow, deep deeper learning really changed Rochester public schools." We're going to we won't be able to, you know, define it. So I think that's exactly the point I

088was getting at is how do we know three years from now whether this was successful? Absolutely. It's a it's a it's a great point. I think we this was a go slow to go fast strategy. We wanted to to seed the idea and especially so that teachers did not feel this was done unto them. Like I think director Cook you just said it really well. We put this framework which is based on a lot of good theory and research out there and basically it resonated. And so now the question is where do we go with it? How do we actually um bring it to life when we're choosing curricula, when we're doing professional development, when we're doing PLC's, when we're thinking about assessment, um that's really the the the work going forward. Can I ask

089a followup to that? Sure. Um Director Cook mentioned three years. Is that a good time frame based on the research or is it shorter, longer? Is it a generation of students? No, I think it's a very good time frame. I think if if three years from now uh we can't really say that we can point to schools in which deeper learning is really defining the student experience, we will not have succeeded. I think something longer than that is uh now will it will will we have fully realized the promise? No. Um and let's just be honest, high school's the hardest. Like high school is going to be a challenge, but I think this is what our high school students are craving. Um and so this is one of those things where I would add parents

090as well. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Dr. I would also say uh to add to what director Cook was saying is you know a lot of the principles in this are you know it's promote inclusion um resisting bias fairness these things. So my first thought when you asked about measurement was the achievement and opportunities gap right. So my thought process would be that if this is working, we would begin to see that gap start to to to narrow because if the principle of this deeper learning has that cultural um implication in it, you know, and we're trying to educate all children where they are. My assumption would be that we would start seeing a reduction in the opportunities gap and the achievement gaps which are unfortunately very uh race related. But I would I would like to

091see those numbers decline because if if it's working as a as a format or model I would think that we would have better interaction. I mean, I think that is a I would think that's a decent number to follow unless there's a different number that you all are looking to follow or you have a different goal, but I would think that this lines up very well with, you know, the opportunities and achievement there. I've been excited about this um well first I was excited about the curriculum articulation cycle um but am very excited about how we're integrating deeper learning because I think we hear from people who are looking at how well our district is doing for our students and they measure it against uh well that's not how I learned it in school or

092that's not what I learned in school. Well, it shouldn't be because standards change, things change, the students change. So, the fact that this is built into um a process that's going to keep our curriculum from being stale. I think if you just rely on that 10-year standards process and say, "Okay, we we did it. We got the new standards and we picked our curriculum and then we'll just kind of go with it until we get new marching orders from the state." This is definitely going to prevent that from happening because especially I the mastery and the ident the identity and creativity piece are going to have to be reactive to what our students are telling us. And I'm excited about that student feedback component. But on the other piece that we also hear from members

093of the community who are are are asking us how well we're doing as a district, the fact that mastery is at the center. If anybody doubts that we're about academics, academics is at the center of deeper learning and and and I think you know what Dr. Cook brought up and the measurement of three years and seeing student outcomes and closing achievement gaps, that's all in our broader district goals. So, you know, I I really like what you said in the in the in the slide deck that this is how we do curriculum moving forward. I feel like it's, you know, we whoever chose the tree, um, it really is at the roots and the trunk and the and the leaves of everything that we're doing. So, we're looking forward to more um, work and more

094feedback. Anything else, board members, before we let these people go, let them go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for uh, your time. And I just wanted to do one last invite. So, uh, on May 29th, we're going to have our deeper learning summit at John Marshall in the John Marshall cafeteria. Um, you'll actually get to hear from some schools and what they did. Um, so you don't have to, you know, just hear it from me, you can hear it from them. Uh, and then we'll get to eat some delicious food provided by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. So, um, so if you can make it, you are cordially invited. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Can I ask a followup to that actually because there's a bunch of things scheduled that day.

095Is that going to be recorded in any way for those of us who have to be other places? Um or could it be? Yeah. Yeah. That that you are the first you are the first person to ask that and um I'm not against it. So uh I'll let me let me see if I can figure that out. What time it will be on the Yeah. So it's at 4:30 on the 29th. So, and and I appreciate the fact that there are other demands on that on that day. It's very hard to pick a date at the end of the school year. So, I and I appreciate everyone who goes to one of those other school district events. So, and presentation first then at 4:30. Presentation is first. Yes, that might help manage things. Thank you.

096Thanks. Thank you. Our next item is 7.1 prep for action. These are the policy committee recommendations from our April 30th, 2025 meeting. This is the second of two prep for action briefings before the policies will be on the consent agenda on June 3rd. Any questions or comments on the policies or procedures? Hearing none, we'll move on to our first action item. 8.1 approval of the 2026 2027 district calendar. This is an action item. Be it resolved that the school board of independent school district 535 approves the 2026 2027 calendar for district schools. Move approval. Second. It has been moved and seconded. Are there any questions or discussion? And there are no changes to what we were presented last week. Hearing none. All those in favor of the resolution say I. I. Opposed. The resolution and

097the calendar has been approved. The next agenda item is approval and issuance and awarding of the sale of 7,35,000 full-term certificates of participation series 2 2025B. Superintendent. Thank you, Chair Nathan. You can see John Carlson, our chief administrative officer, and Erin Bushberger, who's from our financial advisor, uh, is here. Thank you, uh, both, and I will turn it over to you for this, uh, really important, uh, decision on the part of the board. All right. Thank you, Superintendent Pal. Chair Nathan and members of the school board, we're here to tell you the results of two sales this morning. We're going to take them in order. Uh we do need action approved tonight because uh bond sales require response within 24 hours of having the sale. So Erin's going to explain what happened today. Thank you,

098John. Good evening. Nice to see you all again. Uh so the first sale is your fullterm certificates of participation series 2025B. Um, so I'm just going to go through a couple of details related to this issue and then the next agenda item is your 2025A bond issue and I'll get into some more details uh when we get to that uh bond issue. So again, your full-term certificates of participation are used to finance purchase of technology for instructional use. And so that's why you'll see a three-year term with these certificates of participation because they match um generally speaking the useful life of of that technology equipment. So, you did receive uh five bids uh which is great because we like to see at least three bids. Uh so, we uh received five bids from underwriters this

099morning. Um the low bidder was Fidelity Capital Markets out of Boston. And uh the low uh their uh interest rate on these uh certificates of participation is uh 3.07%. So, um, when we were when I was here a couple months ago back in March, uh, we had estimated an interest rate of, uh, 4.12%. And so, we're well below that, uh, which is great. Uh, we do use conservative estimates, uh, during our pre-sale. Um, and we have also seen, uh, especially in that shorter term range, those interest rates uh, come down a little bit. So, we were able to see uh about $140,000 of of interest savings based on where we were back in March. So, uh, that pretty much covers, um, the certificates of participation. There's some other, um, kind of financial schedules in the

100back of that report that show some more details, but, um, with that would be more than happy to answer any questions. Board members, any questions on the, uh, item agenda 8.2, the 6,735,000 full-term certificates before we take action. So be it resolved that the school board of independent school district 535 does hereby authorize the lease purchase of district equipment providing for the financing thereof and issuance of certificates of participation with respect thereto and approving and authorizing the execution of documentation relating thereto is provided in attachments B, C, and D. Is there a motion to approve? Move approval. Second. It has been moved and seconded. All those in favor of the resolution say I. I. I. Opposed. The resolution has been approved. And we can move on to 8.3. Approval and issuance and awarding of a

101sale of 32,55,000 general obligation facilities maintenance bonds series 2025A. Uh same thing. Erin's going to explain this one real quick. All right. Uh so this issue uh is used to finance your health and safety and deferred maintenance projects that are included in your 10-year uh long-term facilities maintenance plan or LTFM plan. Um I'll just talk a little bit about the rating now and then and at the very end. So um you do participate in the state's credit enhancement program which means uh the state guarantee school district payments. So as a part of that uh you receive the state's credit enhance rating. So you can see that's listed there as a AAA. Again, your the district's uh bond rating is similar to like a credit score if you're applying for a mortgage or loan, things like

102that. So, right, generally speaking, the the higher uh the bond rating, the lower the interest cost. So, that's the state credit enhancement rating. You also receive an underlying rating which is specific to Rochester, and you can see that's listed there as a double A. And so from um standard and pores or S&P so that is the second highest rating that standard and pores has provided to a Minnesota or that a Minnesota school district currently has right now. So I'm going to uh touch on that at the very end as well. So for this issue we received eight bids uh and the low bidder was Hilltop Securities out of Dallas, Texas. Uh the overall interest cost uh for this issue is 3.97% and again this is a 17-year term, right? So very different than than the

103previous issue at a three-year term. Uh when we were here back in March, uh we had estimated at that time at about 3.90%. So we were pretty close to to what that final interest rate ended up being. Um you've got a little bit more in interest costs uh on this issue, but that's offset by the lower interest cost on the previous issue. So we're we're very close to where we were uh back in March. again um just some additional schedules um financial schedules in uh this document as well. Um on page uh nine, sorry I don't have a paper copy, but on page nine is is kind of our our debt plan in our chart again showing uh we're really shooting for that nice level consistent tax rate over time. Uh and so knowing that

104we've got some upcoming debt issues as well, uh we're looking to build that in into that plan and keep that as constant as we can. And then finally, I'll just uh on the last few pages are um the report from standard and pores related to your bond rating. I just wanted to to point out a couple of things. Um first uh just to give credit to John and his team. Um it's about an hourong call uh with standard and pores and they're asking lots of questions about the economy, the community, finances, enrollment, everything like that. So John and his team come very well prepared to that call and and can answer kind of any questions that S&P throws at them. So so first kudos to John. Um I wanted to point out a couple of

105things that they did mention in uh their credit report. Um so they're saying that uh the double A rating reflects our view of Rochester's strong financial track record, its sophisticated management with robust long-term planning and its economic strength due largely to the presence of the Mayo Clinic. They go on to reference the new operating referendum dollars that your community approved and state that the new referendum dollars along with proactive management and a balance sheet that is strong by historical standards should cushion downside risk during the two-year outlook horizon. Again, they're also focused on the national economy and they're also focused on the state economy as well when they're considering this rating. So, just wanted to mention that to all of you. It's an important piece of of this bond rating and um yeah, so with

106that be more than happy to answer any questions. I just have one cliff. Um when you're talking about those page numbers, you're talking about mainly for the audience. Um it's is it attachment C that I'm looking at? The sales day report? Uh attachment A attachment a sale day report. Thank you. Any other questions? Board members, Director Cook, can you elaborate on the 17 year term for the for the uh these this issue, I guess, because I I I think the the plan is to have a similar offering on an annual basis going forward. We used to do this kind of every three years or so, but um what's the significance of the 17-year window? Yeah. So, um, typically speaking, when we're looking at a bond issue like this facilities maintenance bond issue, we're looking at

107anywhere, generally speaking, from a 15 to 20-year term. And again, similar to the comment about the first issue being a three-year term to match the useful life, we follow that same kind of philosophy when you're looking at larger, longer term projects as well. So, if you think about the, you know, a standard kind of school building bond that a district does, it's typically for a 20-year term. So really that's that's kind of the goal is to um take into consideration the overall interest costs but also having to factor in things like construction inflation and things like that when determining term. So again it's really fitting all of that into that debt plan that I showed you. Thank you. Yep. All right. And I guess I will read the resolution. Be it resolved that the school

108board of independent school district 535 does hereby authorize the issuance awarding the sale prescribing the form in details providing for the payment of 32,55,000 general obligation facilities maintenance bonds series 2025A and authorizes the execution of documentation relating thereto as provided in attachment B. We have a motion. So move second. It has been moved and seconded. All those in favor of the resolution say I. I opposed. The resolution has been approved. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Our next uh action item is the resolution for mindsets, behaviors, and steps to success. I will read the resolution and if there's any discussion, we can have that. Be it resolved that the Rochester School Board adopts the following two resources as frameworks to guide the education of all students in Rochester public schools from early childhood

109through young adulthood. One, a framework of mindsets and behaviors for student success to help students develop critical competencies for thriving in school and in life. two, a framework of 67 steps for success after high school to prepare all students to enter and succeed in post-secary education and/or a career that advances their goals, interests, and abilities. Be it further resolved that the Rochester School Board direct staff at the school and central office levels to integrate these two resources into the next RPS strategic plan and into school continuous improvement plans, skips, to bring them to life throughout Rochester public schools in the years ahead. approval. Second. It has been moved and seconded. Any discussion, questions, additional information? Director, just a comment. The team that worked on both of these resources. I've continue to be impressed by the

110amount of thoughtfulness uh that they put into this, the research they did and the number of times they went to different groups to get feedback and then took that feedback and did more editing. So, I just think the process that was used was really impressive. All right, hearing no other discussion. All those in favor of the resolution say I. I. Opposed. The resolution has been approved. Item 9.1, other business is our ABCD. And the current version of the ABCD is available in this agenda item for reference for our agenda items for the remainder of the year and upcoming agenda items are being displayed on our slides. At our June 3rd meeting, our focus topic will be cell phone procedure review. Our monitoring item will be cradle to career partnership update and our prep for action

111will be the 2025 2026 budget proposal. And then the June 10th study session, a focus topic will be facilities recommendations and monitoring will be the community budget advisory council conversation. Are there any agenda items board members would like to add uh for consideration for a future meeting agenda? Hearing none, uh we already talked about our upcoming board meeting dates that they all start at 5:30. June 3rd is a regular meeting. June 10th is a study session and then two more meetings in June. June 17th and then July 15th. And hearing no other business, this meeting is adjourned at 7:04 p.m.