001Independent School District 535 School Board is called to order at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 8th, 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 Pel, a non- voting exeicio member and assistant school board clerk, Miss Anne Kramer. Miss Kramer, would you please call the role? Director Barlo here. Treasurer Cook here. Director here. Clerk here. Chair Nathan here. Director White here. Vice Chairman here. At this time, we offer the opportunity to say the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands
002one nation indivisibley 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 online at rochesterchools.org/simly. Comments to the board. It is important for the school board to hear from our stakeholders regarding issues that impact our students, staff, families, and schools. We welcome communication via email, phone call at our community engagement listening sessions and hear during comments to the board. The purpose of comments to the board is to give community members an opportunity to provide input directly to the school board about issues that fall within our authority. The board and superintendent do
003not respond directly to the speaker's comments during the meeting, but may follow up with the speaker if requested and appropriate. Persons who want to make comments to the board must fill out the online form by 5:00 p.m. on the Monday before the school board meeting to sign up for a time slot. The form is available on the RPS website and on these main page. Policy 206 and procedure 206A set the time, place, and manner, procedures, and restrictions on comments to the board. By participating in the public comment period, each speaker agrees to abide by this public comment procedure. Speakers, when your name is called, please come to this table. If you have written materials for the board, please provide them to our assistant school board clerk before your remarks and she will provide them to
004the board. Choose a microphone to speak into and be seated. Please direct your remarks to the school board. You will have three minutes to speak and the timer will be displayed right in front of me. Please begin your remarks by stating your name. Speaker one tonight is Amy Nelson. Our next item is 4.1 information and outreach, National School Librarian Day, and National Assistant Principles Week. Director Marvin, April 4th was National School Librarian Day. So, I'd like to say on behalf of all librarians, sh school librarians, or in Rochester, we call them uh library media specialists and library media pair professionals really contribute to student success by helping students find materials related to their learning and supporting staff with resources to supplement curriculum and instruction. We appreciate all the work an organization, library media specialists and
005pair of professionals do to keep our library medias centers um an essential district resource and to create welcoming library media centers where students are encouraged to grow and motivated to build their knowledge. We thank them for sparking a lifelong love of reading by connecting our students to books that provide windows into the experience of others, tools to be informed citizens, and keys to unlocking adventures far beyond their own world. We're also going to recognize tonight Assistant Principles Week, which is this week. Our dedicated Rochester Public Schools assistant principles work tirelessly to bolster teachers, motivate students, support their principal, create a positive learning community, and tackle the many unpredictable challenges that land on their desk. Thank you for all you do for our students and staff to make the school day run more smoothly. Item 4.2
006are board member updates. Does any board member have updates from any committees or any other updates to share? Director Murphy, I think I saw Kate Bruce walk in. Kate, would you come up here, please? Kate is a senior at uh Century High School and she's going to give the board an update on what the student school board has been working on. Thanks for coming, Kate. Hi, I'm Kate Bruce. Um, like Dr. Marvin said, I'm a senior at Century High School and I am on the student school board. And at our most recent March meeting, students from Century, John Marshall, and Mayo high schools met with consultants from the team that is working on the new strategic plan for our district. They really value student voice and feedback. So, we gave them our opinion on our
007high school experience and how it could be bettered. The students on our student school board have vast experiences. So, there's a vast array of opinions on our student school board. However, we all agree that high school gives students more independence, which seems like it might be a purely good thing, but it really is a double-edged sword because students need to make the right decisions when given this independence. And most importantly, students need to have the resources and information from the district to make the right decisions. One of the biggest decisions in a student's life is what they're going to do after high school. We feel that information about these opportunities such as vocational school, college, work experience, and more should start earlier than they normally do, which is our junior year of high school. We
008feel that information about these opportunities should begin from our teachers and counselors as early as middle school. And we also feel that a potential program where high school students could mentor and meet with elementary students could spark inspiration in the young kids. Another aspect of this issue is that there are so many courses available in Rochester that are very valuable to finding your path in life. However, many students expressed that they feel it's very hard to find information about these courses and oftentimes will find out about them too late and not be able to take them. We think that all the courses that are available to students should be talked about in classes more in-depth so that no student misses out. Another thing that came up in our discussions is that we all agree the
009three high schools in our district are more separate than they should be. We think that they should interact more because really the only time that the three high schools will come together to share ideas is on our student school board and we all find it extremely valuable. But there are only a certain amount of students that can be on our school board. And so we think that this opportunity should be available to many more students. Most of all, we want students to know how important an education is for all, not just those who want to go to college. Thank you. Any other reports from board members on committees or director Whitehorn? So, uh just a reminder for the community and for RPS, we have set a date for um the back to school event that
010we do every year. That's going to be this Saturday, August the 16th, um from 12 to 4. So, I know that we're coordinating with trying to work with the schools and the bands and those this year. Um, every year we've had a larger turnout than the previous year. Um, we're doing record numbers, so there's free food, there's backpacks, we get a lot of good donations. So, it's a really good way um for the community and the school to interact. Um, so I just put it out there because we have established the date. So, we would love to see um the members of RPS really out there. Hearing nothing else on updates. Item 4.3 is our winter sports report. Superintendent Cout. Well, I I want to thank you, Chair Nathan. I want to just uh take
011a moment and I want to thank uh Lucia, Connor, Clara, Arjent, and Kate for raising your voices. It is always great to hear from Amy Nelson as a a community leader, but you know, it's not quite the same, and I know you share that. You all did a fantastic job of sharing your thoughts, your ideas in a clear, cogent way. I know I heard them, our board heard them. We can't answer you while you're up there doing that, but I can say this now because if we answer one person, we gonna be answering everybody. Um, I also want you to know you don't have to stay for the whole rest of the meeting and we won't be offended if you decide to leave. Um, but, uh, we are now turning to something that I am
012quite excited about. We are trying something somewhat different this year which we invite feedback about which is not having all of our student teams at the end of our athletic seasons come down because frankly many of them were on to the next sport or activity or job and we really struggled. So this year we've asked our three activities directors to come down at the end of each season. And then we're going to be giving nonathletic activities the spotlight at each board meeting with some brief updates to highlight uh those kinds of activities. Um next year we may go back to trying to have uh teams come down, but we're trying it this way because it gives us a way uh with our three leaders who lead this work to get a comprehensive overview. So, um,
013I am excited to have David Perkins from Century High School, Brian Irky from John Marshall, and Dan Christopher from Mayo High School give us an overview of how things turned out in our most recent, uh, season that has ended. So, I think we have our PowerPoint, and if we can bring it up then, uh, come on up and, uh, we'll jump in. [Laughter] You dogged me. You were here before. That was intentional. So, um, our Century Boy swimming dive, um, a very strong team. um one of the strongest programs we have at Century. Um this was a um a team that was had a lot of upper classman leadership in that team. Um they have been multiple big nine champ conference champs um over the course of their careers with that upper classman, that group
014of upper classmen. And they also as a team this year qualified for state uh had a all state um medley relay team that finished seventh and seventh place at state um with these students pictured here, Andrew Lynon, Grady Barkreed, um William Trescowski, and Owen Kelly. They also um had a allstate 200 um free relay team that finished fifth comprised of Eli Holmes on Kelly Ever Nord and Andrew Lindon. Our Century John Marshall girls hockey team um had their first winning record in over 10 years are very successful. Um this is a picture of them um during the holiday break where they participated in one of the frozen river classic. Uh and they do a lot of community service work and I'm proud to say this is one of the um coolest things that they did
015this year was raise money for mental health awareness um during one of their games for organization called Sophie Sophie Squad and also raised $1,000 for the vanwald youth shelter. One of the high we had a we had a good winner at JM, but uh one of the biggest highlights was our uh section championship for uh boys basketball. It had been since 2003 since we've been in the state tournament at JM for uh boys basketball. Um and in that time, since 2013, we were the section runners up seven times. So it was uh it was getting uh a little bit tense when we were up by 22 in the section championship and then had to had to win right at the end. Uh but it was a how did you advance right here? It was a
016great experience uh for us. The first game was at at Target Center. We played Cretton Darren Hall who was the number number one seed and um as you look this is Cretton's fans in the opposite end but we filled one whole corner of the lower bowl for a 10 10:00 a.m. game. Uh we took seven fan buses up and uh we brought our band so so we had nine total buses take on Minneapolis that day as well as many students that that drove up. So, is just a a great experience for not only our school, but our our community. Um, here's a shot of our of our kids in that lower bowl. Um, one of the neat things when we had uh section championship, I had students from Mayo and Sentry and many many other
017um fans that were selling sending well-wishes to finally get a a Rochester team back to the state tournament. So, it was just a great experience. Uh, over the course of the tournament, Grayson Sawyer scored his thousandth point in our consolation game against Morehead, and it was just a a great overall experience for us. Finished uh consolation runner up sixth place in the state. All right. Uh, I think probably one of the most um things I was proud of this year was a lot of our teams overachieved in the winter and uh really tremendous growth and uh you know the culture and and building that has has been great. Uh congratulations obviously to JM. Um we played uh girls basketball Lakeville North as well uh in the civic center and couldn't quite get it done uh
018two points shy there uh from going to state but uh we have a good team coming back next year so hopefully uh we can we can take that on. Uh very proud of our boys swimming team. We gave uh Sentry a run for their money uh and uh in sections we came in second. We didn't quite close the gap, but uh we we sent some uh relays and individuals to state and the relays uh the 200 medley um Owen Pora, Nikil Kaufman, Ben Weingarten, Neil Taliffson, and they came in 12th. Uh 400 freestyle, Will Leisure, Owen Prada, Will Bourjen, uh Neil Talison came in 15th. Uh the 200 freestyle, Will Leisure, uh Neil Talison, Nick Gustoson, and Nikil Kaufman. Uh they they were DQed in the finals, but they did set a school record at
019the section meet um for the 200 freestyle. Uh individuals, 200 freestyle, Will Leisure came in 18th. Uh 50 freestyle, Nikil Kaufman, 27th. Um 100 freestyle, Will Leisure, 11th. 100 breaststroke, Nikil Kaufman 21st. And uh this was also a school record that he set set at the section meet too. So a very good um uh season for our boys swimming. Uh Scott Dirks was the one head coach of the year and our assistant Jessica Kemp uh was the one assistant coach of the year. Um team academic gold award uh 3.75 GPA for them. So getting it done in the classroom as well. Uh wrestling uh had a good season as well. Uh we sent uh three female wrestlers to the state tournament. Uh Tia Vicker, Chelsea Rodriguez, who came in sixth, and Olivia Martinez who came
020in fifth. Our boys, uh Carter Funk, uh Calder Sheen, who came in third, and Caleb Lumis, who excuse me, who came in fourth. Uh, wrestling also had a team academic gold award and this was a program record for them at uh, 3.665. So, very proud of uh, their accomplishments. Thank you. Thank you. Well, thank you for all you do to support those teams to be successful. We're really glad to see not just the day-to-day um experience that these students have, but the fact that we're sending so many students to state and that they're they're performing so well is really a testament to the growth that our program is having. So, thanks for everything. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Items 5.1 through 5.8 are our consent agenda. Would any board member like any
021item removed 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. Item 6.1 is our focus topic, a SAC update. Superintendent Pel. Thank you, Chair Nathan. can see uh Amy Ike, our executive director of community education and uh community partnerships um and Nate Shaver coming up, our youth programs manager for community education. Um to tee up this discussion, as board members are aware, some of our subjects at schoolboard meetings are purely informational and there are times in particular when board members have asked for more information or times when I think it would be good for board members to have more information. We have talked about the amazing work that Amy and Nate and
022their team did in eliminating waiting lists for our school age child care uh in a really uh strikingly uh brief amount of time, but we haven't talked a lot about the content of that programming. And so I wanted to loop back here and give them the floor to give you an overview of some of those things. I also just want to say by way of looking ahead to the next several months between now and the end of the school year, this will be your last purely informational presentation for quite a while because you have a very ambitious agenda going forward. Starting with approving the performance measures and the school improvement process that will guide the next at least three years of our improvement in RPS uh starting next week. Then moving on to the school
023calendar, the mindsets, behaviors, and experiences for student success, looking at some important enrollment projections that are forthcoming. Uh, and then of course turning to the budget. And so this is, I hope, uh, an enjoyable and informational uh, overview that doesn't require you to make a decision because you have lots of those in store in the next several months. So Amy and Nate, thanks for your leadership. Back and relax. Yes. Sit back and relax. That's exactly what I mean. All right. Well, thank you board members, superintendent. Appreciate the opportunity to come and talk with you today. Um, as the superintendent said, we are going to talk with you about the SAC program, which some of you may be uh familiar with from having your children or grandchildren or neighbors a part of. Um, but we want
024to give you a little bit of the background and talk to you a little bit about the process that went into expanding the program and also where we see some challenges. So, you can see our topics for the night there and we want to start with just that basic understanding of why school age child care is so important to offer for a school district. Uh our parents as you know uh benefit from school age child care in a number of ways but the most important is to have a place a safe and welcoming place for their children during their work time. And this is critical for our local economy. It's critical for our students to have a place uh that they feel at home. many times they're uh seeing some of their same friends from
025during the school day and the sack program. Um so it benefits the parents also benefits our students. Certainly it's an economic engine as well in terms of freeing up adults to uh to work in the economy and paying staff that we hire as well. Um you also are aware probably of the child care shortage not just in Rochester but across our country. Uh this is one thing we can do as well to alleviate that pressure on families and certainly we want to make it a warm and inviting child care environment. Our students are constantly learning both from each other and from our staff. So I'm gonna turn it over to Nate because this is what he does. on a daily basis. It's much easier talking to 200 kids than words. So um just kind of
026tell talk a little bit about start with the history. Um schoolage share started with one site. I believe that one site was at Sunset Terrace and uh believe it or not just seven kids were in the program. Um small little story and all couple of little stories in there as well. Um I happened to be not in the program but I lived across the street from Sunset Terrace and when it started I went to the uh Sack program. It was more open to uh a lot of kids that could come at any time especially in the summertime. So they had lots of activities that they started with. So definitely started very small and and as you can see uh you know 44 years later we've grown to a very big capacity uh in the district
027and in the community. So when we talk about um sack, we talk about a couple of major programs that we have. We talk about our school year program and we talk about our summer program. Uh obviously our school year program is going on right now runs in the morning uh from 6:30 until school starts and then it runs after school until 6 o'clock. Uh we run on non-school days, inclement weather days, uh longfellow breaks, so long fellow 15 day breaks as well. um off there. Um the bigger one is our summer programming. Uh our summer programming has started uh we start planning for that uh in December. So actually before Christmas break starts. Uh I'm already on to uh summer um planning activities, field trips. Uh believe it or not, staffing. Um March we really
028get going for staffing. So u and April as well. Um, last week was spring break. I did about somewhere between 27 and 30 32 interviews last week to get the process started for hiring for summer. Uh, and just to kind of give you a little um number-wise for hiring for summer. Last summer we hired about a 100 staff. Uh, we upped our numbers about 300 kids. Um, this summer going about the same. Um, and our retention is starting to get a little bit better. It has taken a few years to get to that and uh we're looking at probably about 3540 staff that we'll be looking at for summer. So quite a big change from last summer. And that's in addition to the people. That's in addition to the people that are coming back. Correct.
029Um activities. So we have a plethora of activities when we're at sack. Um obviously in the summertime, you know, people talk about field trips and going places. What what you don't hear is behind the scenes of the stuff that happens at the site. Um arts and crafts, community service projects, and I'm going to kind of pause on the community service project and just um say we're working on uh one we're partnering with the new Goldfish swimming school in town and working with them on presentations and different things that they will come in and share to the younger kids. Um different garden projects. We usually each summer work with uh a garden um program in town where they come in and teach the kids of gardening. We will garden for the entire summer. What they grow
030um we usually get a chance to uh uh enjoy by the end of the summer as well. Um I did see a gaga ball. I know uh gaga ball is the number one thing obviously in the summer which is uh no surprise. Uh we do have in the summertime we have a gaga ball day. So we have a gaga ball tournament uh which includes staff and kids and the kids get a big kick out of the staff playing go ball as well. But as you can see the the activities are endless. Um lots of things that are going on during the school the school day but the summer is filled with stuff from 6:30 in the morning until 6 o'clock at night. Yeah, you can go right ahead. um staffing. So, we have a wide
031range of staffing and we'll kind of talk about some of the staffing as we get into it, but uh high school kids all the way to staff that have retired um and are working with us. Um something that that is kind of uh interesting is that we are certified through the DHS, the Department of Human Services. Each year we have uh DHS come down and do uh site visits. They will do a site visit in the fall with all of our schools and then they also come in the summer and do site visits in the summertime. That's a chance for our my lensure to come down see the entire program. I get rated I get looked at. We go through everything with fine tooth comb. Um happy to say that during those site visits uh
032for over the past five years we've had very very little uh that we've had to change or do. So very proud of the staff that I have um and the accomplishments we've had because of that. Um oh no that's okay. Um resources and partnerships. Um we work with lots of people um in the community. Uh one of those is with the Jeremiah program um uh single women that need uh assistance as they are trying to get their feet on the ground. We offer them free care uh for the summer and school year. Um happy to say that we actually worked with them just this last week to get them all signed up and ready for summer so that they don't have to worry about uh summer registration as it comes up um in the next
033couple weeks. with that. We work with the IT and transition coordinator in the district and I always try to save some uh specifics um numbers at each site so that if there are kids that are in transition um that we save some spots for them. Um and it's kind of a soft spot in my heart too because my adoptive son uh lived out of a car so I know what those families are going through. So, uh, to be able to save some spots, to be able to have child care if they need it, um, to be able to go through that and any IT family gets, uh, free care, um, during that time as well. Uh, kind of the the source of the a little bit of the talk is the sack expansion. Um, we
034Oh, you're on that one. I'm sorry. See, I'm jumping ahead. Just want to give them a a quick break to reset. Also, um remind you that a little over a year ago, a year and a half ago, uh Dr. Cow gave us that uh stretch goal of 25% growth in the program. It corresponded with both the bell time changes, the changes in transportation, and then sort of this ongoing need for additional child care. So what we thought was um definitely a stretch goal at that point in time. Uh we took that to heart. Nate especially uh cleared his calendar as much as he could for uh beefing up the staffing. The staffing really was the challenge to be able to bring in enough staff. And so he's going to talk to you a little bit
035about the process of going after that. Uh the first one is the high school students. So when the bell time change happened, high school before that happened, the high school students got out after elementary and it was easier for us to have those high school students and hire them. Uh we really worked to um try to find ways to get uh high school students involved. One of those ways was to be able to um give them credit for working. Um, so currently I work with the high school admins and the counselors to go through hours, look at if high school students have met that 350 hours uh to get credit. Um, and it is a weekly thing that I work with those um admins on um or those uh students. Uh currently 104 students right
036now. Um but as we talked about sports, we have lots of those uh students that are in sports. So that fluctuates uh here and there. So on any given time currently right now about 82. I actually think that's a little less because that was just before uh spring sports started um on that as well. So um I did ask some of the high school students uh why what they had to say why they like to do that. And uh I just want to uh talk about Aurora from JM and she said that the environment uh I worked at is the biggest thing that makes uh me so eager to come back to work uh next summer. I had amazing co-workers and children. I grew closer to all the people that I worked with over time.
037Uh it made me have a consistent sleep schedule. Uh and there was a lot of responsibility and things to learn, but it was also a lot of fun. And uh I like what she said in that the especially the consistent sleep schedule but the responsibility as well because taking care of kids is quite the responsibility uh for a long period of time in the summer. Positive. Yep. Um, another one that we worked with uh to gain more staff was working with the ESPs. And those ESPs um while working for us previous than the start of this year was to gain they could get the same salary as what they were getting during the day and that was a big change uh for us. Um we did increase the number of ESPs that we had. Um,
038a huge benefit that I have talked with a lot of them was was to get up to those 40 hours. Um, we did have a lot of ESPs that did get enough hours to get benefits, but to have that to get to 40 hours was a huge thing um off of that. So, um, 55 ESPs, 42 of them currently working. That also fluctuates on different things um, with them, stuff going on home, schedules, all of that. Um, and one that I just like to talk about is uh Britney from Gage. She just talked about that she loves the bonds that she has created uh with her students uh and her co-workers. there's a great satisfaction and realization that I've made an impact to the students in my lives and I feel I'm connected in my
039family or community and and I kind of took as a community as in she gets to see the students during the school day and after school as well and those students get to see her in both kinds of aspects of the job which is good. [Music] Um creative uses of space um space is always a very tough thing especially when we are looking expanding. Um I have worked with almost all of the admins at each of the sites. We've looked at um adding space at art rooms and music rooms um classrooms. I will be uh even say we've done hallways. Um we've done different activities and different STEM projects where we could use a hallway and have a rotation in a hallway. So we've gotten very creative in the use of space that we can
040have. Um and sometimes there's been some challenges um with that but uh through that we've been able to uh make headway and because of being able to so I'm happy to say that Nate achieved this goal and he didn't just achieve it he blew it out of the water. 481 additional students served um through an amazing amount of recruitment of high quality staff and Nate um is committed to interviewing each one, making sure they are uh ready to commit to the kids in the program. Uh he's cleared our waiting list and was one of the first GOAT award recipients. So I don't know if everybody knew that and it's my job to wrap us up with a few of the challenges. One thing I'll just say broadly is that child care across the board faces
041workforce challenges oftentimes because the wages are on the low end of the wage scale across many environments and so you do end up with extra turnover in those lower wage jobs. I'm very excited to hear Nate talk about the um the improvement in the turnover rate because that's something we always deal with and what we try and do is make that a positive environment for our workers. There are some additional uh space challenges that you might imagine as we expanded into other spaces. Uh the sack program we actually impacted our own community programs that were using some of those spaces. So even within our department, we've got a little negotiating going on, but there are lots of other things that call for afterchool space. So those are really our two big challenges right now. Um
042I know we've begun talking uh with the superintendent about uh whether or not we're meeting the the need for uh care for uh folks that are underresourced in their families or u might face other barriers. So I think that'll be an ongoing conversation and that's about what we have for you board members. Any one more questions director Barlo? Well not so much in the form of questions but just comment to uh first of all guys are doing excellent work. Um I wanted to one of the partnerships uh Jeremiah u so important that uh you're part of that process that will uh interrupt that second generational poverty and uh I'm excited that RPS gets to be part of that and that you guys have u provided the supports uh to be part of that as well.
043And then also um students in transition. It's so easy to not see people or see need and there's an intentionality that I think uh Nate uh a heart as you expressed you know having that direct experience and and I think that's what we uh need more of just that heart. uh everyone is of great value. Uh no one is disposable and everyone is redeemable if you will. Uh so so thank you for the work and uh thank you for the data that supports the work. Keep up the good work. Dr. Mccclaclin, um thank you for your work and I'm so excited to see this expansion that I it was my son went through the program and it was incredible and having more and more of those spots is good. Um, and great. Do you have
044any sense or is it too early to know if there's going to be waiting lists for summer? For summer, um, I don't anticipate any weight lists. Um, we did 500 contracts at each of the three summer sites. When we raised to 500 last year, we did not have a wait list for summer last year. Um, I don't anticipate that. However, if we get to that point, I'll easily be able to hire a few more staff if we need to take some more kids. Wonderful. Thank you, Dr. Marvin. Two questions. Um, what first of all, thank you. The program is so so important for this community and for the families. Um, do you anticipate that it's going to continue to grow? Is the need going to be there so that you'll need more? You're nodding. Okay.
045And do you h have any I mean, when do you Well, you're starting to plan already for next fall, but any idea by how much? Crystal ball. That is the crystal ball question. Um I'll honestly I started planning for next school year also in December. So I start looking at what we plan for numbers. Um I've already sat down to figure out what registration is going to look like. Um we know school year registration will be in May. Um will there be weight list? Yes, I believe there will. Um I will I've already started to have those conversations about hiring. Some of those conversations I've already had in the summer interviews that I have had. Um, I have interviewed college students that will be in town staying in Rochester and I've also interviewed um, high
046school students, some that will be in high school next year. Some that are graduating that will still be in Rochester as well. And that'll be kind of working in both ways where we use them for summer and we also get school year being able to create some extra space or extra numbers for that as well. Thank you. And then the second part of this is you you heard from student school board member that high school kids in that group were interested in working with little kids. Now that you're employing high school students, other than the challenges of the schedules, you know, because of sports and because they get out of school later, what have you learned about having teenagers working as sort of you're smiling caretakers for little kids? Good. Good news. Bad news. Good
047news. Um, I am I'm a firm believer in hiring high schoolers. Um, since I've taken over this position, I continue to hire more high schoolers. I think it's great. The return for them is we'll get them through high school. If they leave for college, they'll come back for a few summers. If they stay in town at RCTC, we'll get them for a couple of summers as well. Um, I also believe that it's a good thing for them to learn. It's good responsibility. It's good work ethic. Um, I'll be honest, I started working at SAK when I was in high school. So, I was given that opportunity when I didn't have a ton of experience. So, giving those kids a chance and experience is very good and it's really rewarding, especially when you go out to
048the sites and get a chance to see. What I like about it also is the training that our SAK staff receive on deescalation, safety, uh, relationships, how to redirect behaviors, also directly relates to life, right? So, these are future parents and anything that we can provide that helps build those skills. The other piece is we do end up with a lot of former SAC staff as teachers in the district. So there we haven't done a reunion yet, but I still think we should at some point because there's a good stock of teachers that went through as stack employees. Director White, hi. I'm glad that we've gotten the weight list down. It's wonderful that we've eliminated that. I know that was a barrier um for a lot of parents for some time just from a parent
049perspective. Um but my big question because it wouldn't be me if I didn't have a big question is I see that we've done a lot of good things but I also see a long list of challenges. So, I'm excited to hear that we are being very innovative in how we're using our spaces, that we're not just saying, "Give me some more money, add another building on here." But with these challenges, I would just like to hear what are some of the solutions. A lot of the um challenges seem to be centered around dual use of the spaces, which I'm glad to hear that we are using, you know, other spaces and utilizing them. Um but to uh Dr. Marvin's um statement of you know the program increasing and us having more kids this this will
050probably be an ongoing issue right so what are we looking at for solutions so that we don't you know end up having to phase things out because of conflict of space some of that is a mindset shift I think to think about the afterchool use of space being you know a continuation it's the same group of kids who were there during the day. And so a mindset shift among the adults in the building to say, you know, the the whole building should be available for use as much as we can after school. Sometimes that causes some irritation type things. My things got moved. You know, my room isn't set up the way I left it. Things like that. We try to avoid major irritations, but some of that comes with the territory of using that
051space. So, I do think that's one piece that we will continue to work on. The other piece, we do partner with the Boys and Girls Club and they were able to secure state funding for three sites and so they are expanding at Riverside Gage and Longfellow under their grant to try and relieve some of that pressure as well. And so um where we can we have worked very closely at Longfellow especially sharing the different spaces we meet on a regular basis and discuss you know how can we make that work well so it doesn't become a permanent barrier just like I said it's getting very being very creative so uh example fell is a a site and it's a small gym we'll use that gym for four rotations. We'll have four different rotations going on
052to four different activities. So, we can have small groups in different areas. We can still use outside and use the art room. So, that's five spaces that we can use. So, we're not necessarily using it as a gym, but we're using it as four areas. So, we're trying to be very creative with whatever space we have. As we expand that, we'll continue to those talks and conversations will continue. Um, I think Director Whitehorn, it's a fantastic question and they gave a a very positive answer. I also made clear that it's not optional. Your classroom is not yours when you're not there and the the the that room in the school is not the schools if we need to serve kids because we have a child care crisis. We have one of the highest rates of
053working families uh in the country in Minnesota and Rochester's at the top of Minnesota. So I just said this is not a nice to have. This is a mustave. And I I think that Amy's put it very correctly. There's a mindset shift and we do have to mitigate it. I know I was a teacher. I didn't want people I was high school but I didn't want people messing up my classroom. But the reality is we have to serve uh working families. And and just to amplify a bit what Amy referred to the discussion that she and I native have begun is that you saw in the in the PowerPoint there's a county funding stream that we've been able to utilize and not exhaust in recent years to cover the cost of low-income families in SAC.
054What I'd like to do is also look at the economics of the model so that we can potentially uh make it available to more low-income families internally from our own resources because it's great content and we really want to make sure that our families who are also working families but who wouldn't be able to afford the fees directly can still take access. So, we're going to be looking at that. We are doing that now. The Jeremiah program is one example, but we are doing that for families now. I'm excited about uh trying to make sure we can increase um the soio economic diversity of the families that have a chance to utilize this programming. But we'll keep you up to date on that effort that we're we're looking at in the planning stage for next
055year and beyond. Can I just add one thing to I think the word that hasn't come up yet is the convenience of it that having your child at the same place where you drop them off in child care is worth every dollar. Your transition, right? And I also think this is a great example of um you know this this challenge for child care was partially as you said caused by decisions we had to make for our bell times and transportation. Um but you all have really demonstrated how to marshall the resources that we have in the district and then reach out to the community and involve them in different ways as partners to solve this because it really is a community issue that you know we could choose not to offer sack um but we
056do because we know it improves our students experience our families experience and I guess the one question I have and I think This is always a hard one is what do you know about the people who don't enroll? Is it because it's a cost issue? Um, you know, is there some way to know if there's something that you're offering that isn't attracting? I mean, we're filling our weight list, right? We don't have unlimited space, but what is it that we could do that might attract those people we're not attracting? Well, we did talk about some specific outreach to families who would um potentially be in that lower to lower middle income to see if the fees are a barrier. Um we also know that child care is the whole uh spectrum from family members caring
057siblings caring neighbors family friend and neighbor is what we call that group and then other centers of course. So without doing quite a bit more data gathering from our families, I don't know that we know the answer to that question about where they are if they're not at staff. Dr. White, I will add to that that I I do know a small barrier is hope is constantly transportation. Um that's it's just a big thing. That's that's I mean there's the financial part and there there's transportation. like she said, it's nice that the kids are at the location, but you know, there's not, as far as I to my understanding, there's not a transportation to sack in the morning, you know, so that is a barrier for parents. So, even parents that could benefit from the
058SAC program, I know are just not able, you know, if you work on the other side of town. Um, I mean, yes, it's a convenience, but you know, having been a mom of very small kids, you know, it's a big ask if you have to, you know, sometimes you have to make those sacrifices and, you know, have the older kids put the younger kids on the bus because even though sack will be nice, you know, getting multiple kids up at 6:00 in the morning and all these different things so that you can drop kids off, get to your job, transportation is a big issue. Um, you know, considering that, you know, lower income families, if they have a car, may only have one vehicle. Um, if there are multiple working adults in the house, that
059is also a barrier if they have a vehicle. Um, and child care is an additional barrier um for transportation. So, I do know that some people pass up on child care even when they qualify because that's great that they're going to pay for the child care, but how am I going to get the kids to the child care? Um, and another thing I've also heard is, you know, we base a lot of things around that 9 to5 work schedule and that's not everybody's um, work schedule. And I know we can't accommodate everybody, but I do know that those are barriers for why some families that could use utilize a program like this just may not be able because either their schedule doesn't fit or their transportation doesn't fit. And I know we can't um, accommodate
060every need. Um, but I mean I think that's a bigger much bigger issue um when we talk about the child care needs in our in our community. But I do think that SAC is doing a wonderful job within what they have. But I do know they're they're doing a a piece of the puzzle. But when we talk about what's needed for our community, for our parents and child care, we get into a little bit of a wider you open up a Pandora's box concerns of why Any other questions, comments, or accolades for this great team board members? Thank you. Thank you very much. I think the next time we have people come speak to us who have been goat award winners. I think we need to require that they bring their goat profession. Is there
061an actual goat? Well, it's a 3D printed goat made 3D printed goat. I think you should give them a real goat. A real goat. Okay. I like it. Uh, it shouldn't be. No. All right. Um, our next item is a prep for action. These are the policy committee recommendations from the March 28th meeting. The policy committee met on March 28th and we proposed the following recommendations to the school board. This is the first of two briefings on these policies and then they will be on the consent agenda on May 6th and we will now provide a summary of the policies starting with director work. So we have um nine policies and two procedures to brief tonight. MSBA policy 507.5 school resource officers is a new policy that's required by state statute. The purpose of this
062policy is to establish the contractual duties and training requirements of a school resource officer. The changes in MSBA policy model policy 512 school sponsored student publications and activities removes language that conflicted with Minnesota statutes 121A. 180. The proposed deletion in the policy reduces potential confusion when implementing the student journalism law that was enacted in 2024. So the purpose of this policy is to protect student rights to free speech in production of school sponsored media and activities while at the same time balancing the school district's role in supervising student publications and the operation of public schools. The changes in MSBA model policy 519, interview of students by outside agencies, reflect the changes in statute concerning the interviews conducted under the maltreatment of minors act. The purpose of this policy is to establish the procedures for access
063to students by authorized individuals during the school day. Policy 613, uh, graduation requirements, uh, delineates the requirements for graduation from our school district. Uh, the model policy changes include, uh, the students state graduation requirements, targeted instruction plans consistent with Minnesota statutes, um, and credits that have to be successfully completed for graduation from Rochester public schools. And then policy uh 613.1R uh establishes criteria for participation in graduation ceremonies. Uh again, this is just our school district policy. Two titles are updated. Language from Minnesota legislation passed in 2023 regarding American India, regalia, etc. at the graduation ceremonies also included. The procedure currently labeled as 625BB temporarily outlines the guidelines for use of therapy dogs within the Rochester public schools to provide social and emotional support for students. This is a new procedure and it will be renamed
064625B um and will replace the current procedure 625B after school board approval. uh policy 631.1R shared time co-curricular and extracurricular programs is to define parameters in accordance with state and federal regulations for student participation in shared time co-curricular and extracurricular activities governed by the Minnesota State High School League and RPS. The definition of independent provider activity from the independent provider agreement language has been added to this RPS only policy. Policy 901 community educations. There are no MSBA model policy or cabinet changes to this policy. The purpose is to convey to employees and the general public the important role of community education within the school district. Then policy 902 um is the use of school district facilities and equipment. uh provides guidelines for community use of district facilities and equipment. There aren't any changes uh to
065this policy. However, the procedure that accompanies this which is 902A um has been updated to reflect current requirements and practices. And board members, you may note that in this uh summary handout, policy 560 is listed, but it is not in the resolution. And that's because we still have some modifications to make to 5660. So that will be brought in the later uh agenda item. Any questions, comments? Thank you, policy committee members. We will return to this at our next regular meeting and then one more time on the consent agenda on May 6th. Item 8.1 is an action item. The schoolboard response to the APAC letter at the February 18th meeting. The board received a letter of non-concurrence from the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee. On March 25th, we review the first draft of the school
066board's response to the letter of non-concurrence. An updated draft is available in tonight's agenda item. The draft letter was slightly updated for clarification, but there have been no changes to the substance of any of the commitments made in the first draft letter. So, the resolution that we will uh ask for motion and second and then have discussion. Be it resolved that the school board of Independent School District 535 does hereby approve the response letter to the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee APAC regarding the letter of non-concurrency received by the district on March 19th, 2024. Move approval. Second. It has been moved and seconded. Any discussion, questions? Hearing none. All those in favor of the resolution say I. I opposed. The resolution has been approved. Other business 9.1 is our ABCD. The current version of the
067ABCD is available in the agenda item and it does include the recent updates that we've talked about at previous meetings. Um, are there any agenda items a board member would like to raise for consideration for a future meeting agenda? Hearing none, our upcoming meeting dates are April 15th at 5:30, a study session. April 22nd at 5:30 a regular meeting. May 6th at 5:30 a regular meeting and I believe we have confirmed that we are adding a study session on May 13th at 5:30. Uh so that will be a study session and then May 20th at 5:30 a regular meeting and hearing no other business. This meeting is adjourned at 6:43 p.m. Can we just sit here for a couple more hours?