001That's one page. This should take what? 17 minutes. That's all my schedule. This study session of the Independent School District 535 School Board is called to order at 5:33 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25th, 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 exopicio member and assistant school board clerk, Miss Anne Kramer. Miss Kramer, would you please call the role? Director Barlo here. Treasurer Cook here. Director Mclofflin here. Clerk Marvin here. Chair Nathan here. Director here. Vice Chair here. At this time, we offer the opportunity to say the pledge of
002allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, 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. I. All those opposed. The agenda has been approved. The agenda and documents for this meeting are available at rochesterchools.org/simly. Our only item on the agenda tonight is our focus topic, mission, vision, and values kickoff. Superintendent account. Thank you, Chair Nathan. And I think that um it's in order uh chair agrees to go around and do a few uh introductions just so that people have a sense of uh who's here. But I'll
003preface that by saying that tonight begins uh a really important process of developing a new mission, vision, and value statement, and then ultimately a new brand identity for Rochester public schools. Um, as most if not all board members will recall, when I got here to Rochester a bit more than three years ago and we began development of our strategic plan, we talked about doing this then and we spent quite a bit of time uh considering the value of launching into redeveloping our mission statement, our vision, our values. Um but we decided we had more urgent issues to focus on at that time and that became those 15 building blocks that have occupied our work for the last three years. But we also know that the what is sometimes described as the soft stuff really matters
004and that organizations are not just bricks and mortars and org charts but that they are collections of values and uh aspirations for kids and that in a competitive environment we need to distinguish how Rochester public schools does that from other people who'd like to educate the children of this community. So, we reached out and did an RFP process and we discovered some talented folks at uh the firm Fieldrip who are here with us tonight who have a lot of experience in this space. And so, we're going to turn this study session over to them. I've assured them that this uh study session format in Rochester is much less formal than our formal board meetings and then maybe some others. Um, final point I'll say as I ask folks just to go around and if you're
005uh an employee of RPS, please just also say what your role is. Um, we absolutely are encouraging and expecting cabinet members to participate fully in this. This is not a defer to the board members evening. Um, and so I really am going to I know as I look at Mona over there, she's going to come through for me on that. But um so we really do we have designed this so that this is board members and senior staff uh interacting. Uh we want to make sure that it is um truly that in spirit. So let me actually just start with our vice chair and we can loop around and then we'll turn it over. And actually I'm going to edit the directions for your introduction. So as after you introduce yourself I want you to
006think there's one additional command. If you're meeting someone for the first time um they're unfamiliar. Maybe they're new to Rochester. If you only had three to four words to describe Rochester public schools to that unfamiliar person, what would they be? And can you add that to the end of your introduction? My my name is Julie Workman. I'm currently vice chair of the school board. I've been on the board of first elected since 2010. I'm also um an educator and my three words would be all are welcome. Uh, I'm Mona Perkins. Um, I'm the chief academic officer. I'm new to Rochester public schools and to Rochester um to the community. And I would say the first couple of things that words that have come to my mind since I've been here is warm and welcome and
007um I think we have incredible kids. Um Karen Mclofflin. I am in my second term on the board. I uh was reelected in November and attorney by training. Um in terms of words, I feel like we're put a little bit on the spot, but that's okay. We need that. Um I keep focusing on amazing staff. Okay. Uh I'm Andrew Spalding. I'm creative director at Field Trip. So, not on the board or cabinet, but I'm here to listen to you guys and work with you all tonight to hopefully get this thing rolling. I'm Kudson. I'm director of communications for the district. Um, my words would be vast, uh, diverse, and um, I can't get it down to one word. Stuff are amazing. Good afternoon. My name is Don Barlo. I'm beginning my third term on the
008board. Uh my three words would be a community, uh family, and future. Will Ruff the second fourth year in this role as executive director of equity and engagement. I'm going to go with on the right path. On the right path. On the right path. Okay. We're on our way. I'm Amy. I'm the director of community education partnerships. 12th year in the district and in the community. The strongest word that comes to mind is collaborative. I believe both our community and our district are collaborative. Hi, I'm John Carlson. I'm chief administrative officer. So I have oversight over finance, facilities, technology, transportation, food service, some other things too. And when I think of our district, I think of it as a big district but small schools. Okay. I'm Jackie Peterson, chief of schools. This is my I
009don't know 34 some 35th year in the district. I grew up in Rochester. Um so my words are tradition which is could you take it either way, good or bad, community and evolving. Just going to put a double up there. And the last one was evolving, right? Thanks for giving me time to catch up. I'm Carl Bachan, director of human resources. I've been in this role nine years. I've been in the district 20ome. Um, I I wrote down innovative, hardworking staff and invested. Invested or invested? Invested. Invested. While she does that, I can introduce myself. Uh, my name is Ryan Simpson. I am an account executive at Fieldrip. And so my role on this project is um leading the project um project management connecting our team with your all's team um and really at this
010stage learning as much as possible understanding the district as much as possible gathering as many perspectives as possible and really making sure that all the work that we do is uh reflective of what you all have and also u sort of a vision for the future. Oh, you didn't have to do it? I did have to do that. Um, Jean Marvin, I'm a was a long time teacher in Rochester, currently a recovering secondary teacher and a third term on the school board. And I have four words, but pronouns, prepositions don't count. So, it's um all kinds of possibilities. Don't write that out. I said three to four words, so it works. I also don't three to four. I'm sorry. You can you can add a fourth word. Okay. I'm Justin Cook. I'm in my third
011year on the school board. Um I have four kids attending Rochester public schools between elementary and high school. Um and uh I'm an attorney when I'm not on the school board or doing other things. Um, and when I think of Rochester Public Schools, I really do think of RPS as the community's growth engine. I'm only going to write those three words, but can you just tell me a little bit more about that? Um, Rochester is uh continues to be fairly unusual for a community of our size in this part of the country in particular in that we are expected to grow. Um, and that is largely driven by the economic impact of Mayo Clinic. But the opportunity to really realize the potential that that offers, I really think comes down to um, RPS being excellent
012and helping to recruit and retain top tier staff for an employer like Mayo Clinic. um and also to you know create the the future entrepreneurs and contributors and civic contributors of our community. So I I think it's uh you know Rochester's future state is dependent on what we're doing right here. Okay. Thank you. I go behind that just um I'm Stephanie Whitehorn. Um I am a Mayo High School graduate. uh been here that long. I have fi five five Rochester graduates. Six. I got a lot of kids. Maybe five. Maybe six. Five. Yes. Five. I have five Rochester graduates and well, I've got four and one on the way. One about to graduate out of eight. Um I've been in this community a little while. I serve on the school board. It's my first term.
013I'm brand new to all of this. Um, and I'm glad I didn't have to go first because I would have been stuttering. Um, but I think my state, well, he gave a statement. He three word three-word statement. Um, I would say able we Okay, I'm just going to give you my sentence because I can't do this first. I'm I'm I'm trying y'all. But I would say that Rochester has the ability and the the the tools for transformative change. I'm Ann Kramer, executive assistant to the superintendent in the school board. Um, I've been in this role what, not quite, well, yeah, two and a half months. So, in that and I'm new, fairly new to Rochester, not quite a year. Um but um what I see around here, I just want to tell you all I
014see everyone is devoted to excellence. Those are my three. It's a phrase. Um I don't think I've ever worked with such a group of people that like you all come in and focused. You're not goofing off throughout the day. You have you're focused. So I appreciate that. So I'm Kathy Nathan. the school board chair. This is my second term. I have two Rochester public school graduates and um gosh, getting me down to three or four words you all knew was hard. You had time. Yeah. I would say uh we have the plans and resources for success. Um well Kemp Pel superintendent if um Dr. Marvin can say that um prepositions don't count neither do articles. Articles count. No no they don't. Um heart of a learning community. Heart or part? heart. Okay, I think some
015of the people got some question. We had a poetic bunch here. I like it. Right. I thought of hub and hub is like very mechanist. I think some people got the question in advance. That's all. Put it out there. Stephanie, you made it over here. I mean, this is the special board. So, you did Did Did you have another word that you'd like to add? No. Okay. All right. So, you're probably wondering if there's any rhyme or reason to why there are three different columns, and there are, but you're going to have to wait. We're going to pay that off um after we break into special groups. We're going to talk about why this very short definition matters and how it influences our work. Okay. Oh, yes. Hi, my name is Jane Fefeifer. I'm founder
016and president of Fieldrip. Um so just so you understand my role in this work um is really right now as we're learning and discovering and then helping to set really what are going to be the the outcomes the things that this work has to not just be done but uplift and create and to make sure that our work is enabling that positive change and shift and empowering everybody and lifting up the entire district and its students and staff. Okay. So, uh we'll go ahead and jump in. Uh so, our work um as we've discussed is um it's about uh establishing, you know, a mission, vision, values, possibly a visual brand. Um, and really what that is is helping the district um, be able to identify and state really firmly, this is who we are and
017this is what we care about and this is what we're going to do. Um, obviously we are getting ready to be in the transition between strategic plans. This work precedes the next strategic plan work. And so what we're really hoping to do is establish um, a firm voice that says uh, this is sort of the goal that we can set as a foundation for this plan. So obviously there's a lot of conversations that are already had about this. There's probably a lot of notes about okay what worked in the last strategic plan that we should carry over. Um we are you know not here to to change any of that. We're here really to help uh the district understand what are the perspectives, who are our audiences, what are um the things that we care
018the most about from a philosophical standpoint that we can put out into the world. Um because when we say that we care about something, when we say that we're going to do something, it just goes a lot further in helping us do it. And so hopefully if this work precedes the strate strategic plan, the strategic plan is better guided by uh the people it will impact. Um so we are having a lot of conversations right now. Today already we've spoken to the student school board. Uh we did a number of school visits where we got to speak to administrators uh employees, students, uh see the the sort of work that you all do in action. Uh we just came out of a really great session with our um teaching staff. Um and so this next
019session is of course with you all. Um so we've got a number of questions. Um we'll start in a large group and then we'll do some small group breakout work. Uh we've got some exercises and then in the end we'll come back discuss and this will all make sense. Um I know it's like I'm sure as you're putting out your words you're like okay there's only two over here and she's already created a second page over here. This is very confusing. Um and I agree. Um we'll explain it. So we're we're going to start this is just open discussion. Um and as Dr. Pel said obviously we've got board and cabinet here so I want everyone to feel like they can speak freely and comfortably and honestly. Um so our first question is a little
020bit of fluff but can anyone tell us why you choose to work with Rochester Public Schools specifically? Why us? Well, I'm not working for the schools, the community, but u I will open by saying um as a a parent of six children and grandparent of 20 um and coming from a background of where uh both my parents grew up in the segregated south where educational advancement was not u freely available or limited. Uh I was raised with a an awareness um coupled with a modeling on uh both of my parents' part where uh barriers were not necessarily uh structures which could not be moved but they were barriers which existed to be recognized and and perhaps overcome which um led me to ultimately in my work as a pastor uh and serving the community I
021realized that there were many uh children and adults who struggled u with literacy and um uh both my wife and I were of the mindset that it wasn't really a result of inability but more so a result of um access and perhaps denied opportunity. Uh so within our church, we developed educational development opportunities uh which uh led me to begin to attend local schoolboard meetings uh where I observed, learned, uh oftentimes commented during the public comment period. uh ultimately running for um a seat on the board. Uh and there's just that ingrain belief that uh everyone has value. Everyone is fully capable. It's simply a matter of making one aware and and uh uh not creating barriers but helping overcome those barriers and establishing the belief that uh everyone is of equal value. That's glad
022you didn't put a three-word limit on this. Yeah. Anyone else? Um, I will say because of exactly what my statement was that I believe that Rochester has a lot of the tools and at this space and time, we have a lot of people who are accepting um to transformation. Um, I can't say that's always been true of this community. I'm being transparent. Um, but I think that we are in a space now where we have a willingness um to want to change and make some of the changes that will impact our community as it changes uh would be why I more specifically chose Rochester as as I think the question posed. Um but also for me uh being a parent as well and being a grandparent um you know my passion in being on the
023board um and as coming from a community advocate and moving to the board uh was because from the community standpoint um we we're not seeing the change right so when we look at just numbers you know of black and Hispanic boys they're still coming in behind in kindergarten um where we have done very little work to dismantle the school to prison pipeline. And these are not opinions. These are just what the the numbers say, right? We're not slowing down uh black and Hispanic boys being locked up. We're not seeing a huge decrease in numbers in them coming to kindergarten more prepared. So, um as a mother of six black sons and four black grandsons, I said, "Oh my god, I'm not going to do this again." um because I felt as though we were having
024a lot of the same conversations over and over again. And it's not that people are unaware. Um but I I felt that Rochester has the potential to be an example for how we can actually implement change and not just talk about change as we are a very resourcerrich community. Uh there are a lot of barriers that Rochester doesn't have um that some of the other maybe urban populations have, but I think this is an opportunity for us to show an example of how a community can come together and how we actually can show that we can do a part in dismantling the school of prison pipeline, how we can um make those numbers change with our discipline records. um because we're just big enough and we're just small enough um I believe to really make
025a a shining example and with us being the land of the male clinic I feel like that would be a wonderful thing if we could come on one accord and really create a true um inclusive environment that is just not in speech but that our numbers actually support that our kids are graduating from college that our the the black and Hispanic boys that graduate out of here are not going to prison. When those numbers start to decrease, when we can show that we have an increase in home ownership, um numbers that if y'all can Google on your own, have not changed in a very long time. But I think uh the school board is an opportunity uh to be preventative and not reactive to those numbers. I can go next. Um my comments kind of
026take off some of the things that Stephanie was talking about that um I very much value public education. I think it's a critical piece of our community. Um kind of taking off what Stephanie was talking about about the um schoolto prison pipeline. I as an attorney practiced in juvenile court for many years and I was part of that pipeline and I own that. Um, but it also um led me down a path of looking for ways that I can contribute to this community to make changes um like Stephanie's talking about that I think there's value in advocating um for that systemic change wherever I could and it brought me to the school board. Um, one of the reasons I ran for the board is I wanted I could hear in the community that people were
027talking about ways to provide a more equitable education, but I wasn't see I was just hearing talk about that. I didn't see evidence of that. Now that I'm on the board, I do see evidence of that. And I think it's really important that we convey that work to the community to show that we are supportive of all of our students because I think it is something that does differentiate us um from other nearby communities. Um but I think it's important for all of us just to really think about um how we can support our students and staff and their work um so that we can u make that systemic change in our community because I think it's needed. Can I ask a clarifying question? Sure. So, you mentioned about um you didn't see the equity
028happening until you came on the board. Obviously, it would be great if everyone in the community could go through that change in perspective, but there's only so many board positions. Um, so what might you I'm trying to figure out if I'm looking future or past. So, let's go in the If you were still outside of the school board, what would you have liked to have heard or understood that maybe would have made you feel that progress was happening? Sure. Um, at the time I was looking at running for the board, I knew that there was an equity statement equity policy in the works, but maybe I was impatient, maybe it was taking too long, I don't know, but it just wasn't coming to the board for approval and implementation, and I wanted to do something
029that I could do to push that implementation forward because I think it was important not only for our students, but for our community. I guess the way I heard the question was Why why do any of us spend time with RPS? Because there's a whole bunch of different ways that we can go about trying to make a world in the way that we want it to be and lots of different passions to pursue. And and what I find amongst all all people that I interact with at RPS is everybody just really cares about kids. And that that is um that makes the whole enterprise of spending time engaged with RPS people uh really fulfilling because we can all align on what's going to be best for kids. So I mean that that's why I um
030really enjoy the time that I spend with RPS folks. How do you know? And I I've heard that. Well, so the the reason the reason I know is because, you know, in my day job, everybody aligns around um things like uh uh profit margins and things, you know, typical things. Um but when discussing um kind of decision spaces around school board items or things that relate to management of the district, um it's always really easy to just bring the conversation back to what is going to benefit kids and everybody kind of snaps to like, oh yeah, that's that's the right framework. That's exactly and it it's I mean not that that kind of redirection is ever even necessary. It's like where everything starts. So, um I I just I think that's a really um nice
031place to spend my thoughts and energy. I'm curious if there are any answers from any cabinet members. I think we've heard from board members just now, but obviously board members work with the district then, but but are elected cabinet members, you know, you could you could work somewhere else maybe technically, but I Why are you here specifically? I can say having grown up in Rochester and left here to go to college and not I never intended to come back to Rochester. That wasn't a you know I was probably one of those kids that didn't want to come back home. You know I didn't set out to do that but I was hired when there really weren't teaching jobs and um this is where there was a job. So, I came back to Rochester um with
032my husband right when we were just married and realized um I felt very well prepared for college. Um and I was grateful for that, having a great education here in Rochester. And so, um I should have been looking to come back to the district that prepared me so well. And um and I I was quickly very grateful for the opportunities I had in this district for all kinds of leadership um as a teacher leader. And um I could name a bunch of them. I don't want to take all the time, but there were a lot of like risk-free ways that I could try out leadership. Um and so I look back at my career and think of all the things I got to do aside from being a teacher that led me to the career
033path that I took. And so, um, I stayed in Rochester because of all the opportunity that I had, um, to grow as a person working with with students and, um, realized along the way how important school is to our community and the the difference we can make as people working with our young people in the in in schools. And so, um, it's not lost on me when I walk into Ben Franklin and think about my, you know, first grade experience there. I still see my third grade teacher who inspired me to be a teacher. Um, when I go to Mayo Clinic, I ran into her recently and I think about um, that influence. I go down to talk to Carl and I remember being a young kid interviewing in the conference room next door to
034his office and the life-changing moment I mean that I got the call to come and interview one summer day. So, um, it wasn't a like it wasn't a, um, sadly it wasn't like I've got to go back and work in my home district, but luckily that's what happened. And I committed my whole career to to Rochester and how beautiful it is that the community has changed. Like I I said tradition and I said you could take it either way. To me, the tradition that we've held on to, I mean, there's some really great things about it, but there's some really detrimental things about tradition here, too. I hold on to some things that um that I'll always love about Rochester, but there's some things that need to change about Rochester, too, so that we can
035embrace all students and make sure everyone has the great opportunities that that I got to experience here. But yeah, I came and stayed because I love the city and I love our schools and I it's not lost on me every day that I get to do what I do here in a district that is a great place to grow up. All right. Well, I'll move on to the next question. So, um part of our work is um looking at mission and vision and values and of course that is um a balance of who are we but it's a balance of who do we want to be um you know how are what is what is the aspirations that we're searching for. So when you look at the words on the board, you know that those
036all feel very much like who we are right now. And there's obviously future and there's, you know, moving in the right direction. There's there's some forward- facing words. Um, and on the wall here is the current mission statement, which I know has been around for quite a while. So I'm I'm curious as we work towards this in in your perspective, what do you all see as the current and aspirational mission of the district? you know, especially if there has been change in the community, what what are we looking to the future for? I would say thriving young adults. Our job is to get kids to young adulthood ready to thrive. And thriving is an intentionally broad word. And I'm putting it at young adulthood because I really do believe our mission is the cumulative uh
037path from early childhood to that that point where our students are going out on their own. And that that is uh a broad construct for success broader than getting a job or buying a house or all those are really critical. It's very hard to thrive if you can't support yourself. But that thriving is about happiness and about a positive sense of self. And so for me that's if I have to distill the the mission is that idea that we have young people walking across those stages who are ready for life. And I think what what Dr. just said, um, I'm always torn between a a mission statement being about who we are or what we do and you know who we are. We want to be that community that is that where kids feel that
038they belong and we're we're diverse and we're inclusive and we challenge people. But the thing is the kids will tell you, the kids will tell you it's what happens that prepares them for the next thing. And it was awesome that Dr. Vel is involved with the student school board all the time listening to the kids today, the high school kids talk about the experiences they have in high school. Um, some of them mentioned specific classes, but they kept talking about so we'll be ready for the next thing. And some of them were all about going to college, others were all about going to career. But it's about the experiences they have that get them ready so that they will be successful adults so that they can engage with the community so that they can do
039something good, something important with what they know. And I think that most people who work with kids in this district understand that that that's what we're about. I'm not sure that our community does. And for me, that's a lot what we're doing here is to make sure that the 80% of people I think it's about 80% who don't have kids in the district or the larger percentage of people who see the district through the eyes of their one child or their three or their six kids understand All that we have, all that we can provide to help every single kid become that adult who feels confident, who has the skills, who has the mindset that they want to keep growing. And kids get that. And I think we need to convey that to the communities,
040some of whom who still really believe reading, writing, and arithmetic. give them the facts and then send them on. Kids don't buy that. And and when they're talking about school, it's so much bigger than that. So that that's a long way of probably not answering the question, but I think that's what we need to do better is just invite the community into that mindset of our students so they can see how powerful, how much potential this education is for them. Well, when I I think about like the outcomes we want for the kids, but then I also think about the how do we get there and that and the change that it's going to require, the transformation it's going to require within the system because the system is still set up in in a really
041old way, right? like it's and so the innovation and the just the change in how we do school that that is going to be required but that's not really the ask but that's automatically we're like because I I think that the both are going to for us to you have to consider both for you to really get the outcomes that we're hoping for for the kids and I think that goes back to what you were talking about like we're there like you've got um we have the tools here and where better can can you can't be better positioned than in the in the home of Mayo, right? Like place of innovation like so like when I think about the future for us, I I would love to see us be more innovative um as a
042system for the benefit of the kids. I mean because I think that that is the direction that the kids are headed as well. My thought is how do we get all the kids to have your experience Jackie right how do we how do we get to a place where kids are all have that same sense of pride you know coming out of RPS and if we're all honest sitting here that is currently not what we have we currently do not have students that want to return to our district um a lot of times the ones who say I ain't coming back they really ain't ain't coming back um and why is that, you know, um, and when you start to look into this, and if you've ever got to speak to any of the kids
043that decided not to come back, you start hearing things about safety, you start hearing things about not feeling welcomed, um, you start hearing, even though we desire. So, I think that we have a desire to do some things and it looks good in writing and and, you know, it's well worded, but the action behind it is not really happening. um you know when I'm thinking of our future as as some people have said here but I'm also thinking mental health I'm thinking a whole person well-being right I'm thinking um can we might be able to convince you to stay but do you want your family here right is is I'm thinking community uh of just within our our our school district right so you know um some of us came out of big cities and
044we love our high school that the whole town could burn around around doesn't matter We love that school. We love that town. And I think Rochester is missing that. We we don't have that sense of pride in our community. Um we don't have that connection uh with our community. And our and and we're all sitting in these little kind of silos. Um and it'd be nice if people would come out of their silos. Um and to a bigger picture, and I know I I I use bigger picture so I don't over talk, but you know what we're seeing when we're talking to employers, right? You got these really smart kids, but they have no social skills. They don't have good mental health. You know, everybody could work behind a computer. So, when I think of
045where we want as a mission, not as um as Dr. Pel said, we want to create a a whole individual, an entire individual, a a thriving person, just not someone who can read and write really well and put things into pretty statements, but someone who has good mental health. you know, they're very intelligent people who are socially awkward or or can't express even their intelligence. Um, we have students now that are not communicating well due to mental health. Uh, I know we don't like to say the co word, but postcoid a lot of things have changed um with education, with how kids are receiving information. Um, so I would say looking towards a statement that is inclusive and and when you read it, you feel like I feel good about this. And when kids read
046it, they want to repeat it. Um, not so much wordy, but when we think of of statements of pride, it's not about a lot of words, right? It's about, you know, when you think back to your high school, like I went to Lynen High in Jersey, it was just go Tigers, but everybody who knew that knew that, right? or if you went to Michigan State, it was go blue. All statements don't have to be big statements, but it's what that statement empowers. It's how and how it's how it makes you feel. It could be worded wonderfully, but if it doesn't make you feel good, it's just a lot of words. So, I would say that we should be looking to a statement that our kids want to repeat and they want to stand behind and
047they want to say, "Yes, this is the mission of my school district and and the adults that stand behind me." So I I my suggestion would be to make it more taglining. Is that a bad word? But something that says this is who we are. This is where we stand and without all the fluff from the lady with all the fluff. Yeah. We met with the student school board today and you know mom Sue asked at the beginning of the the session, who here can tell me the mission statement? Um it was behind them. They were facing this way. Um but no one could. I mean so to your point, you know, what is a mission statement if no one can repeat it? You know, it's um Yeah. Yes. So go ahead. As a member
048of the school board, you know, we see that mission statement every time we have a meeting here, but um John Barlo and I were on the strategic planning committee back in 2012, and I recall correctly, I think we spent an entire day developing that mission statement. And I think I still really believe the first line is is important for our students to inspire them so that they can meet challenges and be empowered. But it als and the rest of it has the whole the idea of the academics and being you know part of community and everything else but I think we can really sort a lot more of that out. really really like adult that really can I push us to think also about the adults because if I think in my world we are
049working with adults who need to learn new skills we're um working with parents who appreciate learning so they can be good parents Um, we're working with our community partners who are adults who want to positively our kids. And so I do think that a school district does more than the student the um K12 student or preK12 student development. We are actually impacting the tapestry of the whole community. And every act we make of connection is another thread in that tapestry, if you will. And communities that lose their schools weaken their tapestry. Communities that don't have that collaborative connection across different organizations. They have weaker, call it fabric or call it a safety net, whatever it is. But I think it's the connecting the adult and the students or the adults on behalf of the students
050is also a critical part of what a school district does what RPS does. Yeah. So let's um we're going to call not a timeout but we're going to kind of change direction um and break into smaller discussion groups. Andrew is gonna um kind of give an overview of an exercise that we'll do once we break into those smaller groups and then um we'll have some open-ended questions in those discussion groups and then we'll we'll come back together and and continue the larger group discussion. Yeah. So, on the subject of kind of how do we phrase it? How do we build that? This is where we get a little bit more into the weeds. And you know, our job isn't just a sentence or a paragraph. It's going to be an entire uh you know plan
051of me messaging materials and market how do we get that out there to parents students faculty staff community etc. So what we'll do here little worksheets uh we'll do them as a group but it is we call the benefit of the benefit and the same way the students in the classroom will ask why and you give them an answer I say well why and they give an answer they why it's kind of that so you start with the a tangible rational surface level benefit that RPS is offering um and you can do this for students for staff that's where we're going to kind of focus tonight and then you ask well what's the benefit of that and then what's the benefit of that what's and that leads you all the way over to more intangible
052emot emotional and abstract benefits. And that helps our team kind of sort out different levels and layers of uh what those offerings are and how do we talk about them and when is it appropriate to talk tangible service level benefits and when should we be talking in that more kind of not fluffy but high level emotional language. So we'll have um a foundation that our team can go build from that is getting your all's input there. So we're going to do that and then we have a few more I think specific type questions that we want to ask in a smaller setting. So, and then we'll come back together to that. Do you want to set a time limit on this part real quick? Yeah, let's uh what it's uh 6:20 right now. Um do
053you think 20 25 minutes? Yeah. Do you all normally take a break in the middle of this for anybody to Yeah, I depends on the length of the meeting. Usually not in a study session. We usually kind of say if people need that's the chair's prerogative if you want. Do you have a sense of how you want us to break into small groups or should we just Ideally three groups so we can kind of pull some chairs and and tables off to the side a little bit? Um why don't we number? We did that this morning with the students. It worked well. So yeah, that fun. Do you want to uh start with you as one and then we'll just go around. Two, three. One, two, three, one, two, three. One, two, and three. One,
054two, three. That was just as just as good as the students this morning. So, I'm so glad. I'm so glad it got to be. Do you want to do any ones, twos, and threes? Take twos over here and over here. Perfect. I'll kind of gather some in the same room and then stick us musicians over there together. I thought y'all were slick with your little number. I know. Okay. So, um again, thanks for the time. So, we want to we're going to come back to this and explain um you know some of the the questions that we're asking why we're getting into this kind of benefit benefit and tangible versus intangible, rational versus emotional. So, We all as humans make buying decisions. And I know that's a a weird word buying to use uh for
055a public school district. But when you think about buying, it's a choice. That investment doesn't have to be financial. That investment can be time or I'm choosing this over something else. Every buying decision starts and ends in an emotional state, but we use rationale, pricing, facts, and figures to either confirm that first split-second emotional response or to override that emotional response. And only when we do that, then do we think about how is this going to work? what do I need to do? Or if I'm saying no to that buying decision, what does that mean? Or I might not even get that far because I've decided no. So when we think about messaging, we use what's called the ERT, what we call the ERT framework that when we're marketing, the more often we can start
056our messaging with an emotional response. So something that creates a split second of curiosity, interest, some type of emotional resonance. Then and only then do we have an opportunity to explain the rationale and the reasons why you can believe in this emotional response that Rochester public schools, Hoover, JM, whatever it is, is something speaks to me. Now, I'm not going to make a decision until I go through the reasoning to see if yeah, that still feels good or not. But if it does feel good and I believe these are the reasons to believe, only then do the tactics and the descriptions of what we do. And what we find in working with, you know, public entities like school districts and nonprofits is because of the nature of our work, because it is often passiondriven over
057profit driven, we expect that our passion is contagious and it's not. It would be a lot easier if it was, right? And so we tend to start although this group did not with very tactical reasons of what we do. We have this many programs. We can do this. We offer that right the very nuts and bolts of what might be at a particular school or within the district or within a particular job. And then we think if we explain what we do, why it's important, people will care. The formula actually works better when we reverse that. So we want to in our messaging save all the tactical information. It has a place and a time but we always want to start in that emotional space. So what does that mean? Think about a number of
058marketing executions. So if it's a billboard, right? I'm not saying that we're buying billboards, but if it was, you've got seven words pops. So, do those seven words need to create an emotional or do I need to give you directions on how to find the school? It's the homepage of our website. What does that first headline say? It should be in this emotional space. It's an email newsletter. The first thing that headline again just continue to feed that kind of emotional connection and then obviously we have to prove that we can be believed and that proof is the things that we do every day. Now again we could sit here and argue these were just my interpretations of what I thought felt like emotional versus rational versus tactical language. So that's why these discussions, these
059kind of open-ended um kind of wandering conversations because we pick up on just nuggets that could be a word, two words or a really big idea that help us build a framework and that's one of the things that we'll come back with. So first of all, what questions do you have about this framework if any? As I'm sure you know, it's tried and proven, but um you know, prior to you explaining it, um uh I really hadn't considered um what we do or even what I do from uh this point of view. I I probably tend to operate well from the passion point of view. You know, our kids matter and doesn't education matter to you uh versus um realizing that well, you need to maybe have a different approach. And so I appreciate what
060I'm hearing thus far. I'm sure it's only better, but I I like how you've broken it down. uh not being familiar with uh either your company or the theory of the of of the work. Are these um prescriptive um or are these unique to your company in terms of design? Um do you mean this framework or these particular um yeah this framework is very specific to field trip. Okay. Now the buying decisions that is scientific data. Okay. So, um, I'm not just saying that because it sounds good. And just a little bit back on our history, the agency is 18 years old. For our first iteration, we were in retail advertising. So, it was all about buying decisions every day, day in and day out. And as we shifted and decided who we wanted to
061be when we grew up and rebranded and and redid our messaging, we applied some of that science. And we see it again in such a passion-driven area where we now work that again, you know, it's it's just like if I was talking to one of my old furniture retail clients, they would be, "Well, here's the Darcy. It's 3.99 and it seats three and it comes in four colors." and that's all they would want to advertise, right? Well, which column is that in? And so our job was always, well, let's think about what's the benefit of having a sofa that sits three people, right? And so, yes, the the retail science is out there and bigger than Field Drip, but this particular framework is specific to us. Thanks. Can the can the tactic be also kind
062of aspirational like a call to action as opposed to really nuts and bolts? Typically that is where you see the call to action occurs in this column because again we have to provoke an interest give a reason to believe and now here's what you can do with that belief in information. So it's you know come to this event or enrollment or those types of things. Okay. Is there anything that you wish we would have asked? Do we ever talk about the people who don't like us and why? Our group. We did. Oh, good. We decided that everyone likes us. Not necessary. I promise I wouldn't change. Um, so we did at least I know a little bit. It was kind of rushed at the end. Um, but I don't know if that's something that we
063should talk through in terms of what are the misconceptions or if you as a group feel like we've covered that. I don't know why. What are your thoughts? I mean, we we didn't go into you were in my group. Yeah. We didn't say okay, who doesn't like us and why? But we did try to think of it from the lens of how how is RPS different? What are the advantages or differentiators we have against alternate options which is sort of different way of looking at that but I I don't know if that covers let's look at it this way. What do you think we should know? Well, generally I think there's a lot of misinformation about public education in general in in our current environment. And I don't know if it really requires an analysis
064of, you know, our community to to look at the pro public education versus people who have negative things to say about the schools or if it's better to say what is our story and putting more information out there is enough to push back against the misinformation. I think maybe part of the problem with the people who don't like us is they're stuck in their emotion and they don't want to hear anything rational or rationale as to maybe why they might want to adjust their emotion. I mean, you can't argue with how people feel, right? And then all the facts in the world don't matter. So, I don't know how you get around that. You I'll get that to you. I I think I think change historically though invokes fear. I I just think it does.
065I I don't think there's any way around it. I think that that you know because change one thing you when you start talking about change one you are making some implica implications that something is wrong. Right? So, first there's and I'm sorry I got my little treatment hat on right now because I I taught treatment today. But first you have to accept that there's something that needs to be changed. Um and in accepting that something needs to be changed. That means that there in in many ways there was something either wrong or doesn't always have to be a negative negative but it it you know if it's not broke why fix it right so when you start talking about change that there's a natural implication that there was an error and I think that that
066automatically invokes a fear with people. So when we talk about changing public education and we talk about changing the format, so in essence, you are telling people that weren't taught in this way that the way you were taught was wrong or the way my grandmother learned was wrong. So you you you're up against this natural adversion because one, who wants to be called a liar? And who wants to be told that everything I was taught ain't right? Right. Um, we're older. A lot of people here, we're a little older. We come from a different generation. Discipline was different. Um, when I started school, they they just made it illegal for teachers to pop you in the hand, right? But again, you're telling a whole generation of people that are now doctors and lawyers and educators
067and maybe even teachers now that the way they taught you that wasn't right. So I think change just evokes a natural fear because in order to accept change you have to accept that change is needed and in order to accept that change is needed you need to accept that something needs to be corrected. So I I think that it's this endless kind of hamster wheel because you cannot change something you don't think is broken or you cannot accept a change of something that you don't see an error in. Right. And I think that applies to whether it's a change in the public school system or a change in your own uh belief systems and perceptions. When go ahead. Well, I so you were you were asking about what you haven't asked yet. Um I I
068don't know that we've really been very clear on who our target audience is for this information. like who who is the persuadable audience that we want to reach with this emotional hook? And I I guess I think of people who are ideologically opposed to public education are probably not part of the persuadable audience, but but who is it? Um I I I don't think we explicitly define it, at least in in our group. And and I think that's a very fair question. And I know you know as we plan discussion guides that is one of the things that we typically um get into and when we look at audiences we look at a little differently. So I could say it's families and staffs and student but that's rolebased and so what we'll typically come with
069is more of a attitudinal focus. So there's an audience that believes these set of things not about Rochester public schools but maybe about you know education for their child or or just the belief around education in general and is it a you know is it a what was your comment about the uh growth engine or is it you know well I need childare right it's like the choice between growth or stagnation like which one do you align with right and so will divine addit attitudes and there's going to be at least one or two groups that we just have to recognize that they're there. But where are the attitudes where we can have the most impact and create more support because we we can't change everybody and we have to break it down into pieces.
070So not directly answering your question, but that's one of the things that we'll come back with is what are the attitudinal segments of the world around us and how might we leverage a framework like this to lift everybody up? Sounds good. Okay. Okay. Last chance. Any parting thoughts, questions? I had one thought that I guess we really haven't talked because you talk about retail and you know that aspect of things. um we haven't really talked about influencers and how to how people make the decision about what schools they're I mean you think so I kind of look at it that when I was making a decision about a school for my son I looked at all the different options and there were a lot of different options then that I was kind of able to
071differentiate but I didn't even consider different districts for that choice I mean I I knew it was RPS that that's I wasn't making that decision so I think it's like or also the other thought that crossed my mind is like not only influencing but um do people um like recommend things to their friends and family? Is that part of this thought process? It is, but it comes at a later part when we're thinking about the execution and the introduction and how the messaging and these things are used. in the future is when we'll come more into like tactics and you know how do we the how do we influence right now we're focusing on where are we headed what do we stand for okay at the risk of interjecting because I know we're ready to
072uh end at of a big theme I'm prompted a little bit by the point about the the two points about Um, have we defined, you know, who doesn't like us or I've always thought that the unique history of social movements is interesting because every great social movement was clearly against something. The civil rights movement was against racial oppression. The environmental movement is against degradation of the earth. The women's movement was against gender bias. And if you don't define what you're against, I think you have less chance of that kind of a transformative. So I'm going to pull a politically safe but I believe accurate example out because it's was neither a Democrat or Republican. But when I was a young administrator in St. Paul schools, Jesse Ventura was governor and our superintendent was trying to
073do all these various things and she was very popular at that point. So he kept coming to stuff. I remember vividly realizing this man does not believe in education. Foundationally he does not believe in the enterprise of education. Everything in his life was survival of the fittest, you know, brute force of personality, physical brute force, Navy Seal wrestler. And I would remember and he would come visit these schools. I'd be like, why is this guy talking to our kids? He fundamentally doesn't believe in the enterprise that we are undertaking here. And I think for those of us who are in education, there's such a presumption that everybody basically agrees with like what director Barlo just said the you know and you know sharing the story of your parents and things. I think when I think
074about our messaging vision that's what we're against. Now, I'm not naming who that is, but like the forces that fundamentally do not believe that education can do all of the things that are in society. I believe those people also exist today. There are forces that do not believe in the enterprise that we are engaged in. So, when I think we think about mission, vision, and values, we're against Jesse Ventura. And so, he's safe because God knows where he is. He's like on a ranch in Mex Mexico and he's not a Republican or a Democrat. And so that's why I choose. But I've literally for 20 years I've thought about that when I would sit there and I would be like everything I'm trying to do this guy does not believe really matters. Um so I
075just want to push us to sort of define the what this mission and vision and values are actually against. Um and that's one of the things that comes to mind. Well, thank you for spending time with us today and thank you also for the the roles and responsibilities you've taken to make uh the Rochester community stronger. I'll turn it back over to you. Great. So, item 4.1 is our other business, our annual uh board calendar draft or ABCD. Is there any items that a board member would like to bring forward for consideration on a future meeting agenda? hearing none. Our upcoming board meeting dates are April 8th at 5:30, a regular meeting, 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 and
076that's the last meeting on the agenda um on my list. And hearing no other business, this meeting is adjourned at 7:29 p.m.