001All right, it is 11:46. We'll go ahead and call the meeting to order and we'll stop start with roll call, please. >> Here. >> Stephanie, >> here. >> Heman >> here. >> Sarah Spear >> here. >> Don War >> here. >> Thanks, Kelly. Pledge of Allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the Americ. >> This meeting of the Brainard School Board is being conducted in accordance with Minnesota statutes 13D.02. The interviews are being recorded. Access to the interviews of the candidates chosen to be finalists will be made available on the school district's website as soon as reasonably possible. All right, we'll look for an approval of the agenda as presented. >> So move second. >> We've got a motion by Director Breen, a second by Director Dondelinger. Any discussion? If not, we'll do a roll
002call vote for approval, please. >> DJ Dunnelinger, >> yes. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Randy Hidman, [snorts] >> yes. Yes. >> John Ward. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Kelly. Public input. Due to this being a special school board meeting, there will be no public input allowed during the meeting. And the first thing on our agenda today is getting ready for our first interview. And we've got Barb Dorne with us from MSBA. Thanks for coming, Barb. >> Thank you very much. um looking forward to the next two days today and tomorrow for the interviews for the Brainer superintendent position. I did want to do a couple of housekeeping items before we start. So the first thing if you would uh take a look at is the Brainer round one questions and it's the EMD form
003and I gave each of you three. Uh Director Ward has this electronically also. And so there's one for each of the three interviews today. So please put your name on those. That's really important as well as the candidate that you're evaluating. This is not ultimately how it's going to be tabulated. It will be electronic. But we always tell folks, please do the first three interviews manually because you'll end up finding kind of your your sea legs or you'll level set about what is an excellent answer, what's a disappointing answer. So, we don't want anyone doing electronically right away, but I will send you the link later today and you can input all of your results this evening for the three interviews today. The first thing I'd like to do is figure out who's going to
004ask which question. So, Chair Spear, I'll turn it over to you. You could go around. Uh it's just a matter of deciding when director Ward will chime in with a question, but we do want all board members asking questions. And on the left, there's a blank area here. Um that column could be used for you to put your name by your question. So I'll turn it back over to you. >> Who who what are we writing on these on the top? Our name. >> Our name and the candidates's name. >> Gotcha. >> Yep. And then I think we'll use the same um probably rotation for introductions. So maybe Michelle if we start with you on this end and you take the first question. Does that work? And then we just go around this way. So
005it would be Michelle number three, DJ number four. I'll take number five, Randy number six, Stephanie number seven, and then John you're number eight. And then we'll start again at 9ine with Michelle, DJ 10. I'll do 11. And then Randy 12, Bethany 13. And that one might be a little tricky. And then um number 14 >> has to just be you, sir. >> Yeah, John, if you're okay with that, I'm just going to have that come back to the room and I'll ask what questions the candidates have for us. >> Okay, thank you. You'll >> do the same order on all three. >> Yeah, let's do the same thing for all three. A couple of things you'll notice at the very end of the form I had space and so I left space for you
006to write down maybe the top couple of things that you liked about the candidate. A couple of areas if you have concerns about their answers. Keep in mind that all of your notes would be subject to a data request. So whatever you jot down that you liked about them or had some concerns um keep them appropriate and professional. Do not violate any of the classes that we talked about in terms of protected classes when conducting interviews for jobs such as this. Uh, so that's yours to take notes as you see fit because during deliberations tomorrow after the last candidate, you are going to be speaking to all five of these interviews and sometimes they blur together. So do jot down the top two or three things that you really liked about them as well as
007if there was one or two things that concerned you. Um, let's see. Please don't ask follow-up questions unless it's clarifying. So if, for example, a candidate uses an acronym or a term you don't know, you're more than welcome to say, "I'd like to please clarify. what do you mean by letters training or something like that? Uh, let them answer those questions, but we want to ensure a level playing field for all of your interviewees. Um, and they will not all get follow-up questions from the same people every single time. So, please stick to the questions um, in the form. And at the end, their last question, hopefully they'll have time, will be, what questions do you have for us? If they ask questions, and I hope they do, they'll address them to the chair, and
008I would hope that you feel comfortable answering them. We want more than one or two people to answer questions. It's a chance for dialogue with these folks. So, do step up and, you know, if you want to say something, just let her know and uh hopefully you'll get to know them a little bit better in terms of the questions they're asking you as well. It might help to say thank you after they've answered your question. Sometimes there's this awkward silence where they've stopped talking, but you don't know if they're done or not, and the next board member doesn't know if they should ask a question. So, it sometimes just facilitates it. If you've asked a question, you could say thank you and then the next person has the cue. I get to ask a question
009next. So that's just something that occasionally makes things run a little more smoothly during the interview itself. How do you feel about candidates coming in and shaking hands with those of you who are here today? They always want to make sure that they walk in. I'll have them put their stuff here um and I'll introduce them, but then may they walk around and shake hands of board members or is anyone who prefer not to do that? I don't care. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. We will do that then for all of the candidates. And in terms of >> I'm plugged in right here. So just >> don't fall down. >> Yeah. Don't. >> Got it. I'll caution them about Okay. Maybe I'll have them go to the right then. Start over here with >> Stephanie.
010Good. Okay. [snorts] >> And I get asked about formality. When they do have questions, would you prefer they say Director Breen or they don't know your first name >> usually unless they've been watching your board meetings. So we would go with what's in front of you unless some of you want to be called by your first name. Then I'm have to tell them to do that. >> Okay, >> that's fine. We don't even know. >> Director Donn Linger. Okay, >> got it. So we will go with that. Any names that are unusual to pronounce? I don't think so. >> Fine stuff. [laughter] >> Dinger. Correct. >> Sound it out. Donald Donner. I'll make sure. And it does say Ward on John's screen, so they'll know that that is director Ward on the screen. [clears throat]
011Okay. Does anyone want a copy of the interview script? Remember, this is just a really quick outline. Sarah's going to welcome them. Tell them that there are 12 questions. A brief round of introductions. You'll say your name and how long you've been on the board. That's it. Does anyone want this? It's how the interviews usually proceed, but you do not have to have this. Sarah has one. >> You want one? >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Is that in our packet? >> Thank you. Does anyone else want this? I know you have one. >> I'll take one. >> I have one. Yep. Thanks, Barb. That's good. Okay, that is all I have for you, unless you have any questions. Otherwise, I will go down and get the first candidate. Um, >> you might have mentioned this,
012but what happens to these at the end of the interviews? >> Correct. So, after the interviews, keep them. Uh, because you're going to want to compare and contrast the first three. Uh, if you'd like, you can take them home with you tonight or you can turn them into me. It's up to you. But you will need to enter your results into that electronic form. >> That's right. Yeah. >> And I think last time when I was here a couple years ago, you all gave them to me and I input them for you. >> I was I remember doing that. >> You don't. >> Is that was that the Revel thing? >> No, it's in an EMD link. It's a survey. It's super easy. However, um you could give them to me if you want. I
013just want to make sure that you are also comfortable doing it because tomorrow it'll go a lot faster if you empty enter tomorrow's two by yourself. But you um you will eventually turn them in >> at the end of the search. Those get turned into your HR. >> That's right. Okay. Correct. >> Yeah. So that's why we always say be careful what you write down because these will be on file in your HR office in accordance with data practices act. So >> you're number seven too. >> Yeah. Number seven. >> Okay. Thank you for asking that, Michelle. Other questions before we get rolling? >> Seven and 13. >> Okay. I will be back in less than five minutes. It's 5 minutes to 12. So I shall return. Thank you. >> Thanks. That one's >> This
014one's me. >> Look at it. That's John. >> Oh, well, I thought we I thought we had moved. >> You had is already on so you don't need to turn it on or anything. Okay. >> Um so Brainard School Board, I'd like to introduce you to your first interviewee. This is Chip Ranken. Chip. >> Hi. >> The board. >> Hi there. >> I'm Steph. I'm Stephanie. >> Nice to meet you. Try to meet your chair. Oh, [cough] me cough [clears throat] all over. >> Yeah, thank you for having me. >> Nice to meet you, sir. >> Nice to meet you. >> Hi, Michelle Breen. >> Watch your step. >> Little Falls for a long time. >> Yeah, I was. >> I was I'm a Flyer graduate, so >> Oh, you are? Okay. Good. Good district.
015>> Well, good afternoon. And I'm going to um >> Oh, sorry. >> I marked a board, too. Sorry. [laughter] >> We've got one attending remotely. And we'll go around here and do introductions for you in a minute to Mr. ranking. But thank you for coming in. Uh we've got an about an hour to spend together today and we're going to rotate questions around between each of us. We've got about 12 questions and our last question is basically going to be what questions do you have for us just so you can kind of gauge um how you want to spend your time. And we've got Barb Dorne with MSBA with us and she'll give us some time checks. So, she's going to hold up a 30 and a 15 and I think a five minute so
016that um we can kind of keep track of where we're at. So, uh let's go ahead and do some introductions. I think we'll start over here with Michelle. Okay. Again, I'm Michelle Breen and this is my third year on the board. >> Oh, it's starting my fourth. That's right. Okay. >> Well, good morning, Michelle. >> That math crap again. Uh DJ Downinger. Uh this started my fourth year. Graduated from here. Grew up here. Kids went to school here. My parents went to school here. Been around for a while. Brainard. >> Nice to meet you. >> Thanks TJ. Sarah Spear and I've been on the board I believe five going into six years. >> Randy Haidman. I'm going on my fourth year on the board. >> Stephanie Edman and I'm going on my second year. Okay,
017>> John Ward. I'm going on my fourth year. >> Thank you, Director Ward. All right. Well, let's get started. We are going to start with Michelle with questions just like we did for introductions, and we'll just go around this way. And I I think you've got a copy of the questions if I'm not mistaken. >> But we're we're glad to clarify if or ask the question again if you'd like as well. So, we're pretty informal crew. >> I'll let you go ahead and start. I will start then. Tell us about yourself and why you are interested in becoming the Brainer Public School Superintendent. >> Well, I would tell you that uh I think uh my entire professional career has per pro uh actually prepared me for this moment. I I grew up about actually 12
018miles south here and as funny as it might be, I was actually born right over here at St. Joe and and two of my four children were born here. My grandparents from moved here in the late 60s and they own a couple mom and pow resorts on Lake Edward and Round Lake. And so my uncles graduated from Brainard. Uh they would have been Lily L I L L I E. Um my parents are married here. My my kids were all uh baptized in this area. Uh we're lifetime Well, we're we are active still active members at St. Chris Catholic Church in Nisah. Um, I honestly started my career in 1991 at Little Falls because I was a summer custodian. Uh, and so I really started working in school as a young age. Um, my parents
019married, like I said, here in Brainard and I actually grew up on a dairy farm about 12 miles south of here. I lived right on the county line. Uh, my mom worked at Muning. We're in Little Falls, so I end up going to Little Falls. I'm a Lindberg kid or a Lincoln kid. Uh, stinking Lincoln back in those days. Um but um I uh I graduated 93 from Little Falls. I enlisted in the Minnesota Guard in 1994 to pay for college right down the road at Camp Ripley. And um you know I would say over the last 27 years I've grown as a leader. And most importantly is I'm not um I'm not running from anything. I'm running to Brainer as a, you know, a once in a-lifetime opportunity because even though you've kind of
020gone through some superintendent, um, I'm hoping if everything goes right, this is my last job. I'm 51 years old. I have four children. I've been married to my wife, Dr. Rebecca Rankin, for 23 years. Uh, my oldest is, uh, 22. He's a senior at SDSU in pharmacy. My wife is a pharmacist. She worked in, uh, uh, actually up in Peekquat. Um, and then I have three daughters. And so coming to Brainard is once in a lifetime opportunity for me professionally. Um, and I I I have to apologize. I am a little nervous. This is the only job I've applied for in nine years and I'm hoping this is my last interview. Um, because your community survey is is pretty clear. You you've kind of have a revolving door of superintendent and uh and I'm hoping
021that I'm your leader that that that can, you know, finish my career here because I'm not going to just be your superintendent. And I'm also going to be a dad. I'm going to I have a seventh grade, uh, ninth grade and 11th grade daughters. Um, I applied a couple years ago, but honestly, my my son was just starting his sophomore year. He goes to Brookings. We live south of Alexandria, and he was coming home often, and my wife's like, "Not now." And so, we put it on hold. And, uh, I've been I've actually been a I've been working for this possible interview for two years, not two months. um when I didn't uh pursue the opportunity two years ago, I was really like heartbroken because uh I've been wanting to be part a brainer warrior
022for a long time. And so what have I done? Um I'm not like I said, I'm not going to just be your superintendent. I'm also going to be a dad. I'm also going to be a taxpayer because I'm going to live here because my kids are going to be brainer warriors and I'm going to have three brainer warrior graduates. Professionally, I started my career as a teacher. I I taught for eight years. Um, I was, you know, a science teacher, a math teacher by trade, uh, at peak at Lichfield High School. I was, uh, I I coached about every sport because I was a young teacher and I coached football. I end up being the head wrestling coach halfway through, uh, the season. Um, and then I became the head girls softball coach. I was
023a student council adviser. Uh, if they could down and ask me, I said, "Sure, I I'll give it a try." And so um I [snorts] taught for uh like I said eight years. I also got deployed during that time to Iraq and I was a commander of 250 soldiers, marines and sailors in Fallujah, Iraq. And I think that's really where I uh I really fostered as a leader because I was in some very challenging situations. You can Google it. I'm sure there's been a lot of Googling of Chip Rankin. Um but I think what it crowned me was being a servant leader. You know, mission first, people always. And um I did that and then that launched me into my admin life. When I came back, I actually became an assistant principal at Mora. I
024became the next year the superintendent came and asked me if I'd be the principal. I did. Uh my family moved. Uh my family has always moved to where I work. I think uh the other thing in your your survey is visibility. I I live and work where I you know I'm going to be very active in your community. I became a principal. I was a principal for 10 years. Uh I I finished my principal career up at Peekqua Lakes just up the road. I was a high school principal for seven years and then you know I uh my superintendents had always encouraged me like we need you to become a superintendent. They're hard to find. Um and so I I applied uh at Minowasa in West Central area. They were actually interviewed within 48 hours
025of each other. I got offered both jobs and I was like, "Oh boy." Uh, so my family and I met and we prayed about it and I have been at Menowasa for nine years straight. And so I would just say professionally um this isn't just about coming to Brainard for a job. I have a good job. This is an exceptional opportunity for me but also my family. This is something my family and I have talked about for the last year. My daughter is prepared to be her the class president. She's uh all my daughters are very active in activities, music. Um they're good students. And so my wife and I just said, "Hey, this is where we want to be." Grandma, grandpa lived on a little farm just uh southwest of here, just south of
026Salt Long Lake. My other grand and and I have to say all my grandparents have now passed. Uh but this is home and uh honestly, we just want to come home. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Oh, [clears throat] it's my turn. uh describe a time when you identified a persistent challenge in the district and introduced a new approach that improved outcomes for students or staff. How did you support staff through the implementation? >> Um I think what I would hit on here is uh I was a principal for 10 years and I went to the principal's academy. So I spent two and a half years trying to become the best principal possible. during that experience uh you know a thing that I'm I I I also know that Brainard went through the same
027process because I was good friends with you know um uh Principal Rosk I know a lot of your principles and so uh we implemented PBIS which I'm sure you're well aware of uh John I believe or Director Ward I believe you're a former teacher I'm sure you're well aware of PBIS I'm sure um director Breen you are and so we became a P PBS certified school when I got to Menowasa they had quite not had that uh I'm a science teacher by trade. I'm a data nerd. And so when I got to Menowasa, one of the things I noticed is how we manage behaviors. Uh behaviors have been kind of spiking at Menowasa. And you know, you had a lot of frustrated teachers much like your community survey. You have some frustrated staff. So we
028started pulling data. When you have student information systems, and I know you're on Skyward, I had Skyward at Pequat. Um you need to pull data to know where are the disciplines happening and you want to empower teachers. So what I was uh pretty adamant when I got to Minowaska is like let's pull our data, let's empower our staff and we talked majors and minors. Uh you know my first year at Minowaska, our high school principal had over 722 discipline referrals. Everything was coming to him. When you stop allowing teachers to manage their classrooms effectively, behaviors will boil over. So we pulled data when, where, what time of year, we're located. And what you found is, you know, if you've been through PBS training, active supervision, you need to put your place and know where um
029these these kind of encounters are happening and you need to pull data to provide, you know, data driven decisions. So we got student assistant teams uh are and we empowered our teachers to majors and minors and teachers had the ability to assign certain levels of discipline and allow to take part back of their class to make sure that there was accountability for students. And so when I brought that to Minowasa, you know, at first teachers like, I don't know if I want I I want the principal to do all that. And you know what? You work with the staff and there's always a little bit of reluctance because a lot of teachers I'm a five voices person. I'm a pioneer by trade. 3% of the people are pioneers. Probably drives some people crazy, but I'm
030always three to five years out. A lot of teachers are guardians. That's because they like the trude and um proven tactics that they've used that they've trained with and to learn something new is hard. Um but once they started using this, it empowered them to make decisions right in their classrooms. And then we've reduced our discipline referrals down to like 394 as of last year. And that's a benchmark I use with my board to make sure that at the end of the day we have effective learning environments for all kids. And so that's kind of what I used. Um, and then that's kind we worked through and how we used our support staff honestly was to help triage because you're going to have some kids that are you know Director Breck and I believe you
031were school counselor. >> You are a true asset because when you start to see you know you know now we've even taken it we have um uh this past system it's all digital. We know that we have some kids missing class like 13 15 times a day. Those are little spikes and we need to get our support staff and say what's going on and bring a person like you and that's an expert to say, "Okay, let's get to the root cause." That's a common thing you're going to need to meet. You got to get to the root cause. Otherwise, you're just dealing with the symptoms. What's really going on? So, that's how we used our support staff to help. >> What's what's PBIS? >> Positive behavior intervention and supports. really what it is, director Doninger,
032instead of calling you on your behavior, I thank uh Director Breen for all the good choices he made and I just ignore his naughty behavior. And what we find is kids do want to get patted on the back. The re this is research proven. I'm director Ward, I'm guessing you even went through this before you retired. Pretty effective. So that's what I brought to Minowask and we've been still using it. You've got him muted so he can't answer [laughter] your word. >> I'm just kidding. It's Ward. Oh, >> got the mute on. I can see it. >> Oh, yeah. >> I agree by languages. >> No, I I [laughter] just unmuted and I I Yes, I agree. >> I was an EBD teacher, so obviously I had a lot of PBIS. >> Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
033And honestly, what PBS is also the goal is to get early interventions. So you do not have the student work to special ed. That's another thing in your survey that's also affecting your budget. This state is about 18%. You're hovering around 24%. You know, you know this, you're a business owner. 68 cents on the dollar is all you're getting reimbursed. So 32 cents on the dollar, you're not getting reimbursed. So, if you can work that MTSS systems, multi-tered systems of support, you really want to get kids successful with the least amount of barriers. And that's why you want to fully implement with fidelity these systems. They're proven. >> Thank you. All right, I've got the next question for you. What does an effective superintendent schoolboard relationship look like in practice, particularly when addressing complex or
034controversial issues? >> Well, I think one of the reasons I'm uh the right choice for you as your next superintendent is I went through exactly where you're at right now 9 years ago. A little bit announce when I got I was excited to go be a superintendent. Uh, some people said I probably should get my head examined because when I arrived at Minowasa, little did I know that I was really inherent a very um challenging board situation. Um, love my board, but uh, you know, I would say one, the first rule I always have is no surprises. I won't surprise you and I'd ask you not to surprise me. And so at the cornerstone of all schoolboard superintendent relationship is trust. I think all about this interviews is do I trust you? I mean, do
035you trust me? When I got to Menowasa, there wasn't a lot of trust. There were a lot of meetings, you know, outside the meetings. And uh what I found is, you know, sometimes when you have a leadership void, all of you are passionate. I've watched you for the last two years. It's boring, but I've watched a lot of your school board videos um because this is my dream job. It's probably the only chance in my career I'll have an opportunity to be your superintendent. And I'm hoping I'm going to be your last only because uh I've been on the I've been in my same job for nine years. There's one board member that hired me that's still on the board. He was my chair for five years and uh this is last year and so
036he's letting somebody else step in to be the chair as he kind of mentors them. But >> um [clears throat] boards come and they they kind of change over time. And what I worked with my board is to have a very effective board uh relationship is we we worked really hard with different consultants. In fact, I just before you I got a call from Julie Critz. I think you've worked really close with her, partner Ed. Um she's a near and dear friend because she was a superintendent Alexandria when I was a superintendent at Minowasa. She shared, you know, she doesn't share the work she's done personally with your team, but I I would hope if I'm your superintendent that we would continue that work because clearly there's work to be done. um the schoolboard fieldbook.
037You know, a lot of this I have this noted here because we we have rules for uh how we interact with each other. And so I just want to give you an example and borrow if that's okay. I know you got to collect these up at the end. Um but I you know I went through this exact work. The work I use is I used giant um it was all through Sourcewell funded through it was a grant we got um but I used Giant Worldwide and we went through an academy together. Uh we all graduated. So this is this is the score on my board my very first year uh the uh late fall spring of 2017 and then a year later after graduating from the academy um it was unhealthy um lot of like
038you what's different about Menowasa is you're talking about a smaller community and uh five of my seven board members were classmates um between different years um sometimes when you know each other really well that can be good But can also be a disadvantage because you have things that may have happened. But my first year uh we we hit a C in a lot of areas and uh we all went through a a one-year academy. You know, this is kind of what we work on and you can see discover your leadership. Uh John, can you hear me? Okay. Director of work as best we can. >> Yeah. >> Yes, I can hear you. I can hear you. >> This is this is the areas in which we grew. Um and we spent a lot of time
039working together. We worked our way through this uh field book. Um we went from uh we still had committees and we still have committees today but for the first three years we went to a a board of the whole and we did work sessions. We did work for sessions the first Wednesday of the month and we had a facilitator there that we did not violate the code of ethics that they have all agreed to this academy and um we were you know we were able to call each other on it >> and um my very first year I would say my first three years I have not had a split vote for four years now I realize that's not the environment I'm walking in here okay but I do think that um working with partner
040Ed or however you choose the next I would just say this it took us two years to get in a good place and right now we're humming at a pretty good speed and really when we go to MSBA um it's really about this is our kind of our Bible this is what we agree the non-negotiables you know and the reason why it's not a split vote because we do we have kind of an agreement it's two phase for decisions You can come in here and you can you can wrestle about how you feel about it because watching your videos, I think you're a lot more connected than you might think. You're all passionate about kids and you all have different ideas about what you want to do for kids. Okay, that's probably the piece that's
041a little different, but the bottom line is you all care. You're all very engaged. Now, you just have to generate some rules of how you're going to work in the public because at the end of the day, you are modeling behavior. We are going to be a team. Okay? Uh I'm hopefully going to be your captain and I'm going to work with your different different leadership teams. We need to model the behavior we're going to have when we have disagreements. So, our two phase is you can come in here during the work session and and talk it all out. when we get at the board table uh during our business meeting um the board speaks and we move on. There are no scorecards. There's no meeting after the meeting. There's no rehashing it. We move
042on and we're one team because that's what we want to do. The other thing is is you know in my district we've used you know at the end of the day I don't care what your strategic road map says culture trumps strategy every single time. If you don't have a healthy culture, you can throw your strategic road map away because at the end of the day, people got to believe that you have their back and you're going to support them when you're going to bring challenge. And so that's what I think is uh really healthy when you have uh controversial issues. And at the end of the day, if we have to bring it to two work sessions, if it's controversial, um I'll just give an example from mine was um we have a we
043we host an amateur tournament and one of the split votes we had was should we allow beer on our baseball field? You know, in a small town it brought 3,500 people in for three weekends. That's a big deal in a small community. Um you know, for me, I I advocated uh hey, we have policy around this. We are a chemical-free environment. Uh I have some board members that are business owners and like this is a big deal. I'm like, "Hey, at the end of the day, you we we we went over this for 5 months, brought our attorney in, and my job as a superintendent is to bring every piece of data to you so you make an informed decision, but we went back to our field book. When we leave here, we are not
044the board has decided we move on." And so ultimately, it passed 4-3. Um, but there were no scorecards taken and it happened. And now, I hate to say 5 years later, it's 70. It passed. Um, but during the time we had to realize this is how we treat each other. I I've watched all your videos. I know you don't get along as well as you'd like, but I would say the underlying it all, you're passionate about kids. I can work with that. Um, so I would expect that maybe if I become your superintendent, we continue to work with partner ed wherever you choose and we get to a better place because I you can hear I will say this today. I know you're all thinking like, well, you don't have to decide till August, but
045I hope you all will stay on the board because I think continuity trumps this continuous change. And so, if I'm going to if I'm going to commit to you, I hope you'd commit to me. We got in this situation. Let's give it three years to get out of it. So, thank you. >> Thank you. And I also am a pioneer voice as well. Hi, my fellow pioneer. >> So, I know where you're coming from. >> Um, my question is to you, Superintendent Rank, and give an example of how you have held an administrator accountable for behavior that conflicted with district values or ethical expectations. How did you approach the conversation and what did you learn from it? I'm going to give you a copy of our strategic road map. I I've read your strategic road
046map and honestly other than a few words that have changed our strategic road map at Menowaska and I initiate I think I want to put out there like right off the get-go because I thought one of the weird things that you should I'm going to be the only candidate that I'm aware of that's got a military background. I think what's really important is I think for some people they look at oh this this army guy. I'm at the strategic level. People text me, are are you down in the cities? Like, listen, when we go to like World War III, I will get engaged. Right now, this is solved at a captain in a major level. I'm a colonel and I don't I I I'm careful what I might say, but if the government would stop
047shutting down, my pack would finally get approved to become a brigger general. My point is is I went to the war college, I spent two and a half years um learning about being a strategic, you know, a strategic planner. um mo and you know measures of effectiveness um and um when you put a strategic road map it needs to connect down to every classroom every department every PLC if you want to see this given and you're like where's he going with this let me give you a copy of my strategic road map so I started this work my very first year when I arrived at because I was fortunate to have a mentor in Chris L home at Pqua who came from Burnsville who had just gone through executive level training to research to word.
048I can get to these digitally. Um, but unfortunately, uh, I didn't know if I'd actually use it, so I didn't want to bombard your email with a bunch of things, but I can get a copy to you. But I would say, >> thank you. >> The key takeaway what happened here is, you know, when I first came involved, my my board was all over the place. And I think what happened is uh we they had lost the chain of command. You know, not because I'm the military, it's chain of command. You need to stay at the governance level. you're not going to be down in a third grade classroom deciding what we're going to teach in a classroom that day. Um you have classroom teachers, you have administrators to do that. But when you write
049a strategic road map and says we're going to be, you know, these are the four directions. U we're going to provide rigorous, relevant, personalized learning, we're going to be effective and efficient operations, partnership and communications, and safe and welcoming learning and community. When you do that at the board level, and I have your strategic road map, like I said, ours, right? When I page through this, other than a few different words, it's almost the same information. But when I have an administrator, first of all, I have a pre we have a data retreat always the first week of August. My board um you know sets the goals for the year in July at our you know, as we come in to get plan for the school year. And then I sit down with the other
050administrator because uh we I put in incentive pay three contracts ago and every my principles their job is to deliver on your strategic roadmap. My board gets a dashboard quarterly on where we're at with it. That's your direct feedback so you make decisions. Um when I sit down with every administrator, this is about growth mindset. It's not about a catch you what are we doing over the next three years to move the needle and how we're doing in math whatever goal that might be. And so I don't make every building doesn't connect with every one of these goals, but I can tell you like the very first thing when I got there was we didn't have a pacing guide and curriculum map for every classroom. And so I can just tell you from my I
051had an administrator that was a really good manager. You know, his was all about, you know, how many suspensions, how quick he would suspend kids, but our math scores were lagging. Well, the problem is we didn't have a pacing guide. You could walk into a classroom, they're teaching math, looks like math, you don't know if they're three weeks behind or three weeks ahead or what they've skipped or what they have. And then all of a sudden, you get data on the math and we're not doing so well. And you have to ask yourself, well, what's going on here? And so when we set his goals, it was all about getting math up a 3% gain. We had just um worked our entire math department with curriculum leads um to invest in math. He wasn't doing
052that work. And so we met quarterly uh on the dashboard and uh you know I can also say one of our values is accountable and um you know so I'd meet with him and and it wasn't going so well. He's like well you know I I I was a PE teacher. I don't really know all about this math. I'm like listen you're a licensed school administrator given a task. The board has set the goal. Um my job is to help deliver on that and first I'm going to ask you what tools do you need? You know so I got him a job coach. um every center of excellence. So, uh in in Menowasa, we're part of region six lace country service co-op. There's principles that work with principles and uh you know, a graduate of
053the principal academy. I got him a job coach, worked through this. um you know we we moved and we moved and we moved and we tried to get the needle to move and ultimately you know he just uh struggled that and so at his mid review which I'm doing right now with all my administrators because every part of their evaluations connected right to our strategic roadmap because we set building goals and that's what administrators are are are sent to go out and do um is well we didn't move math we didn't move at all in fact we went a point below what's going on well I just didn't get a chance to mute And so, you know, um we we you know, I had a verbal conversation, but I put pen to paper because here's
054the thing. My job as a superintendent is to hold people accountable, too. And sometimes that's not easy to do. Uh I've been doing this for 19 years uh as a principal and now superintendent. So, I brought the job coach in. We had a conversation uh and then I met with my personnel committee and just said hey um because my personality me we meet uh and we go through every evaluation because you're also every one of you board members you're also community members you're going to get feedback and our math was below where we wanted to be and uh and then we bought curriculum the year before and the board uh that's one of the things you have is you make decision about budgets. We spent $239,000 on everyday math curriculum K through 12. And uh
055this is after two years of investing in researching our math and our principal just wasn't getting it done. We met again and uh we worked through it and ultimately at the end of the day um he just said, "I'm I don't think I'm the guy that can lead this academic work. I'm really good at discipline. I'm really good at making sure we the bells run on time and all that." And ultimately he left. um you know he actually became a superintendent uh for a while um and my new principal has been in there for five years and uh I'm just happy to report now that we won our conference and I I call it the triple crown mowa led the conference in math reading and science last year in every grade level and so you
056have to kind of keep pushing to make sure the leaders are delivering on what you put in here and so like what I did is I you know growth mindset set goals in the beginning. Bleed your go bleed your building. If you don't have the tools, I'll get you the tools. This isn't punitive. But at the end of the day, you are providing a professional service. If you're not able to provide that service, I'll get you the coaching, the mentoring, developing, whatever you need. I'll be there to help you. But ultimately, when you find that maybe this isn't this isn't really what you signed up to do, and you really want to be a manager, um we have managers. Uh we manage budgets. We lead buildings and so ultimately I counsel him all the profession
057and and now honestly sorry director Donner but he sells used cars >> really good person. >> He's not too bad of a guy though. >> No he's a good dude but just found that maybe this wasn't in his wheelhouse. >> Yep. All right. Thank you. >> Um I have the next question. It is financial constraints sometimes conf conflict with propagandic or instructional priorities. How do you balance fiscal responsibility with the district's goals for its students? >> Well, we're on question seven. I know we got 13 last questions, so I'm going to speed up a little bit. First of all, I I did read your survey and I think class sizes are important. I think it's really important is um the thing I've learned about being a superintendent is I hate to say this um you
058have to prioritize. It's why you have a strategic road map. You'll never have enough money. You'll never have enough time. You have to prioritize what you want to get done. And so I'd say I I did a lot of research. I actually know a lot of your staff. Um they've reached out to me and I think the issue really is probably class sizes at the elementary level have to be preserved. I think the research is very clear. If you're not grade level coming out of third grade, you are going to be prone to be a dropout. Um, I would tell you I was a pri I prized myself as a principal at Pqual Lakes for two years in a row. We had 100% grad rate. That's because I started working with kids in seventh grade.
059Okay? I was a 9 through 12 principal. If you're not grade level ready and we keep shoving you up, we're going to shove you out the door and you're going to be a dropout. And so, you have to fix this uh as early as possible. If I had a magic wand and I had my way, there'd be universal preschool. Because when I grew up in Little Falls down the road is every other day kindergarten. Well, what I did in kindergarten is what they do at like three year olds. Now, our kindergarters are reading by Christmas. And so, I think you really have to prioritize the lowest class sizes at all possible down low. I think you got to have those supports to make sure those behaviors. I'm really impressed what's happened at Forest View in
060the last five years because I think the paper was pretty rigid. When I was the principal of Peekquat, it seemed like Forest View was kind of a center of some bullying, some negative behaviors. I think your leaders have done a really good job, but those are adolescence. Those I hate to say that you mix in all these elementary schools. I think you have six, they all go to Forest View and you have a big school. So these small neighborhood schools to a big middle school. If they don't walk in already grade level already and then they go to this adolescent o I was a middle school teacher for a while a lot of energy but if it's not harnessed and you don't have a kid they get frustrated that's also I think you where you're
061losing the most of your kids for open enrollment they get frustrated and they're looking for something different so I'd say if you want to keep kids and you want to fix your enrollment P3 is where it's at. And this is a high school principal talking but I'm also talking as a dad. >> Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> I've got the next question and it is Mr. Ranken, Superintendent Reagan, what does a strong coherent academic program from prek through high school look like and what role should the superintendent or the school board play in building and sustaining it? >> Well, there's a few things that you control, director Ward, at your level. You control treasure. You control funding and you also control time. How you use time is all in your different contracts. And so
062I would say when I got to Menowasa, what I learned right away is because Menowaska and Peekquad are very alike demographically but significantly behind in test scores when I got there. And what I found is we did not have a robust um prek12 curriculum map resource. What I found is teachers were finding their own curriculum, which is fine. a master teacher like you, you know, director Ward who had done it for a lot of years, you had a whole toolbox. We had kids coming out of college, you you can't experiment with kids. And so we want to make sure we had, you know, a robust K12 curriculum map with pacing guides. So that way it's non-experiment. So if director spear is teaching English and director hyman are teaching English you and and you know director
063Spear is an exceptional teacher and director Hman's a first year teacher we can't experiment with kids so we want to make sure there's a guaranteed viable curriculum for every single kid and so what we did is and I would love for you to come down and visit and if I could project for you are it's I kind of call it the tool chest you know we have all the tools for any teacher from master to beginner to make sure we have a guaranteed viable curriculum We initiated that the first three years and we paid teachers uh to come in and do some summer work and I'll guess a prime example was reading. Everybody was teaching reading their own way uh how they were ever taught. And I think the thing you're going through right now
064because everyone's doing it the research is very clear. That's why we're doing the read act. And I think that when you come out of it, the most important thing the board will have to do here is make sure you can resource the curriculum because they're going to come looking for curriculum uh researchbased. And we invested heavily in benchmark. That's not researchbased. And so as we transition to it, you as a board control the treasure to make sure that hey once these I think you have like over 350 teachers that went through this training, they spend 80 hours relearning how to teach reading. And when they need new curriculum, I can imagine at the brainer level if it's going to cost me $200,000 at Metawaska, it's probably more in the $650 to $800,000 here. So my
065job as a superintendent is to make sure I get every tool those teachers need to make sure they're successful and that's how I prioritize you know money and ultimately you make the decisions because you pass the bills but I work with and what I example here is is it Cornier Dr. Cornier. My research says she's phenomenal. In fact, I was trying to find a way to steal her if I don't get hired. So, I've researched a lot of your people. It's just a tough commute, but you've got some phenomenal people. Empower them to lead. So, I think that's how it looks. >> Thank you. >> Okay. I have the next question. [clears throat] Describe a time when you led or supported the implementation of practices aimed at improving student safety or mental health. What prompted
066the work and what changed as a result? >> Um, with your permission, I'd like to answer uh probably question number um I think it's your number nine and probably number 11 together. This last uh 18 months I led the facilitation. And if you haven't read this book, I think everybody needs to read it. It's called The Anxious Generation. Okay, I'm a science guy, so I I want I want data proven results. Uh what this is is this book was very clear research. And what they did is they did a 5-year study on adolescence. What they're finding is um as soon as they took the cell phone and they reversed this camera to be forward facing, and I have three daughters. I'm sure you're all parents or or possibly maybe even have grandkids. I don't know.
067Um, but what they found is the research is very clear. And I have three teenage daughters. Katherine just turned 13 on last Thursday. And what this book will tell you is they measured it. And as soon as they put this forward- facing camera to look at you, um, just the amount of stress it puts on kids. And you got to ask yourself, um, well, Dr. Well, you know, Director Breen, you were a counselor for 25, 32 years. Why now is mental health a crisis? >> Social media, forward- facing phones, Snapchat, and I hate to say, um, social media, like I just post about my daughter. Uh, I got the chance to go down and I' I help out with wrestling and she went down to the ninth grade state tournament and she took fourth. She
068won a match. I don't post that she lost two matches and kind of got crushed. I hope Clara never gets to watch this video. So, um, but I mean on social media shows her smiling with her hand risen. Doesn't show that she was in tears when she kind of got beat from a a girl from Rosemont that was just better than her. And so I think sometimes we have this depiction everything's perfect in our world. None of our worlds are perfect. This morning I was very depressed getting out of bed because Pakatani Phil saw his shadow. So we got six more weeks of winter. Um, but my point is is I think through social media, cell phones, and then what do we do? And I don't I'm not I think technology has its place, but
069I sometimes feel like Chromebooks, iPads, uh are the I don't want to say I don't want to call it a scam, but we're going to spend millions of dollars. At Menowasa, I'm spending $328,000 a year to throw devices away. I'm guessing that's a Chromebook director Spear in front of you. Okay. They're about $349 if you can get them cheap. We give our kids in fifth, seventh, and ninth grade a new Chromebook. Every, you know, you get it and they get it for four years. And then at the end of those four years, we throw it away. And all we did is we took pen and paper and we put everything digital. Well, that Chromebook doesn't just do math. Like my own daughter, I love my daughter to death, but if you don't watch Clara, Clara's
070going to be on YouTube shorts. Claire's going to be seeing things that she probably doesn't need to see as a ninth grader. And I think that when I look at the research that Chromebooks, cell phones, um I think the research is pretty clear and if you read this book, it's all researchbased. It's leading to a a pandemic u with our teenagers. And so one of the things we did, you know, Peekquat or Minowaska this last year is cell phones are put away. Middle school, you can't even have them. [snorts] Um a lot of it's just because of the distractions. And so when you start charting behaviors in class, this is the distraction. At least in our class, if I want to get, you know, director spear note, it had to get from you to him
071to her. And sometimes it got thrown away in between. Um, now I can reach director spear 24 hours a day. And, uh, unfortunately, she's going to look at her Snapchat and she's not going to have the support. Her parents don't know what's going on. And it can lead to an absolute crisis. So what we've done is we've actually thrown the chrome, you know, sorry, not thrown away. We've closed the lids and got more to active play. So we we protect recess. Right now it's it's a real pain because of indoor recess. So teachers are it's a little stress for teachers. We we we have mental health practitioners in each one of our schools and we try to educate our kids uh on the dangers and but most importantly, I led all of our staff through
072this book study. Not just me, my principles and teachers led it uh chapter by chapter by allowing a grade level to lead the discussion and it's changing behaviors and practices in our schools. I I just think it's imperative that we look at the research and see what could we do differently to protect our students. So I I think that helps with nine and probably 11. That's okay. >> Thank you. I would say you should really if you haven't read this book, you really should read it as a school board. I'm guessing even you're aren't you the technology? Sorry. I watch a lot of board meetings and I think you're the wizard behind the the screen, [laughter] but I mean have you heard of this book? Have you read it? >> It's uh we're doing something
073we probably should stop doing. I've been seeing a lot of uh snippets like on Instagram and out of that book, you know, the little deal. >> This isn't the US. This is you're talking what Australia did is this this author worked a lot of research in Australia. There's a reason they banned social media. This is why. >> All right. You ready? Yes. What systems or structures are most important for sustaining continuous improvement across multiple schools and departments? >> Well, I'd come back to what I said probably earlier. Every school district and every school board has got a strategic road map. You know, so in our in our school district currently, the road map I just shared this in front of you is in every classroom. Um, in our school in our conference room where on
074my board meets, right above director or chairman Spear's uh shoulder would be our strategic road map. Every one of my board reports is tailored to the board strategic roadmap. All my report cards forever of my administrators from my director of transportation, director of food service. So I look at effective and efficient operations, you know, it's all tied to uh effective is okay, we take surveys on our lunch menus. If there's certain meals that kids don't like, they have QR codes. They're allowed to have their phones in the lunchroom and they get to rate menus. if they don't like a particular menu, we're item. We're not going to keep serving it. And so I tether, and this is the army guy and me. If it doesn't touch a PLC, which is a professional learning community, a
075a grade, you know, a grade level or department, then it's just a nice little document that sits on the shelf and says got a strategic road map. And my conversation I've had with Julie Critz is you did a lot of work with at partners. You've got a lot of work laid out through 27, 28, and 29. And what I give my board quarterly is the dashboard. And so whenever one of my So you could go pull up the Poke County Tribune. It's our little paper, but it's a great little paper. I just read it this morning. My middle school team just presented our board meeting here in uh uh January 26, last Monday. Well, first of all, my board meetings moved to that school. So, you know, I know you're used to being in this
076room, but I I make my board travel to that location. you get because you get the preview, you walk the hallways, you talk to the teachers, and that's your time to fully engage with them and listen to them and let them tell you your issues, your concerns, your problems. Um, but they just presented. So, I would encourage you to look at the article, but they're in continue their um full board report is tethered to the strategic road map. What are they doing in, you know, safe and welcoming environments to ensure every student is welcome? And and at the end of the day, our our teachers set building goals. Administrators deliver them. Make sure you hear that very clearly. I think teachers are a cornerstone of everything we do. And you've got some great ones. Your
077community survey, 87% of your kids say a teacher cares. I looked at that. I'm like, can do we have that in my district? I think we do, but we're not measuring it. And so I think part of this this work you've done is you've identified some real strengths. And so teachers set building goals, principles are working to coordinate to reach it, but it all tethers to your strategic road map. So for me, if you go to effective and efficient operations, I I talked to my business manager being less than 1% of budget to actual. So, I'm guessing right now you're going to go through a, you know, you're going to you you're going to take a look at your current budget, uh, do any corrections, but we want to be within 1% as we bring
078the audit in. Um, and those every one of these connects. Uh, and I think that's where you have to deliver it for you as a board. You got to have a dashboard so you know where we're at. Then you hold me accountable. That's how I get my board, you know, my my evaluation. But I think that's how you you have to connect your strategic road map to every classroom, every department. My custodians, customer service, there's a QR code. You walk in the building, you know, December, it's concert season. Over 5,000 people are coming to our building and those are all taxpayers. Grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles are all coming in. How do you feel about our school? It's five questions, but it's a measure of how we're doing. >> Yep. Thank you. And if you are
079comfortable with that, we'll skip 11 unless you wanted to add in. >> I think I'm good. >> Okay. >> Thank you. I have the next question then. Uh with reading proficiency below 52% and math below 43% in the Brainer School District, what would be your plan in the first two to three years to raise academic performance? How would you measure successes? What evidence from your previous leadership experience shows that you can approach uh and and produce measurable gains in reading and math? >> Well, I didn't know what questions you'd asked, but I use three different AI. I use cloud. I use chat GPT. I use uh Meta to just kind of see where it would be. And I did say I would think if your strategic road map, your number one goals about academic performance
080should be the I I thought it'd be question two after tell me about yourself. But I think first of all reading and math. Okay. I think when I look at this most your reading has dipped significantly since uh 2017 6% and you used to be a blue ribbon school. Now I think there's a lot of turbulence with the read act because I did talk to I know a few of your elementary teachers and I know some of your special ed staff because you stole them from Peekquat and they're good ones. So you should be proud of them. But um I didn't I didn't pester them so I didn't waste a lot of their time. But I think right now they they feel like some of the supports you took, you know, through budget cuts is
081really impacting classes. The second thing is they're all writing curriculum right now coming out of the Read Act. And so, okay, you get a little bit of that, but I think the turbulence you've had probably with budgets is having an impact on the classroom. There's no doubt about that. The other thing is in your survey, 67% of your teachers reporting being stressed. Morale is a little a little low right now. And so I think that's another continuous budget concern. And so you need to take a look at it. Um, one thing you do, like I said, 87% of students say teachers care. Um, and so, you know, you got attendance at 84%. That's exceptional. That's better than the state average by far. And, uh, your graduation's at 88%. I know you want to get above
08290. Um, but you got some things going. I think the big thing is first of all when it comes to um let's just talk reading specifically, you got uh 323 teachers that have all completed their 80 hours of training and they're going to get ready to launch curriculum. And so I think you need to take a look at that. I pulled all your fastbridge information, you know, so I use your screener data that you have out there and I just ran a little analytics. I know a couple elementary principles. I think right now they they're probably feeling the stress of having some some items taken away from them. Everybody raised about Dr. corny. So, she's on the right path. It's just that we're going to need to put some benchmarks in there. One of the
083things I think you're kind of lacking with strategic road map is what are you looking at for analytics? When you make budget decisions, do you know what's happening in each one of your classrooms? Because you're going to make decisions. And here's the thing, I hate to say it. You're going to have to prioritize what funding you have. And you have to decide what you want to invest in. I would encourage your literature. you know, literacy is where it's at. If a kid leaves third grade not at benchmark ready to read, you are going to produce a potential drop off. At least it's going to go to high risk. And so, you have a great literacy plan. I actually ran it by my reading guru. It's very comprehensive. It's really good, but it's a lot of
084data. And so, I would say the first thing I do is set out a three-year plan of where you want to be. And then you got to, you know, got everybody on the same sheet of music. What I see in Brainer is a phenomenal orchestra that's out of tune. You used to be a top 50 in the state. My job is my got to be lucky enough to be your superintendent is return that before I retire. It's not going to happen overnight. You're going to need some funds and put some people back in classrooms. You need to get some class sizes back down to manageable and then you have some right people. Um you just got to be consistent on the work. For me personally, what I've done is I've seen a 12-point gain in
085our reading in the last three years. Like I said, we went to benchmark and then um we bring reading uh specialists from Lakes Country Service Cop to work side of our teachers and then we have a mentorship program to bring every teacher in. You got as a 23-year-old graduating from college is well-intentioned but does not have the experience your master teacher does. So we want to make sure every, you know, beginning teacher through our mentorship program knows where this tool chest is, knows how to utilize it and uh helps our young teachers bring kids along. But you know, when you look at this dashboard, I think I would change for you is okay, how does a board use this as a tool to make decisions as you're deciding finances? You got to decide where you
086want your money spent to get what you want. And that's what I do as a superintendent. I provide this data to you and make recommendations. Not me. I am not a reading guru. I'm a math and science teacher. You have experts right here. Really good ones. Put them at this table. Let them make recommendations. And then, you know, let's work over a 3 to 5 year period to make sure we finance this. Um, and then I think the next thing is you got to let you got to get your families involved. You got some great organizations. There's a lot of a lot of pride in your school, but you got to get families involved. And I think that's what led you to before is you had some really um powerful parents, but your K12 systems
087uh are really important uh to make sure there's alignment. So, as you hand kids off from third or sorry, um what is it? Uh the Forest View, uh fifth grade. as they come out to fifth grade, they got to be ready because I think what you're watching in Forest View is if you're not, they go into a lot bigger system, a lot larger class sizes. Catching kids up doesn't happen very easily. You have some great people over there. Um, but I just talked to a teacher just two days ago. Uh, some of their core English classes, they got 34 kids. 34 with 24% being special ed. That just tells you you got seven kids in there probably on IEPs. Uh, and then you know, not to pick on you, but you have a little bit
088of poverty here, which means you have probably some more at risk kids. That means probably 12 of those 34 kids are at risk. What supports do we have them? Because those are your buckets because you look at your data, your high performing kids are reading as well as they've ever read. You're talking about your free reduced lunch population, your special ed population. So, you really got to empower those professionals to get those kids across the finish line. So, that's what I look at. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, question number 13, and I think you've answered some of it, but I will ask, what are some things you would do in each areas to address one, student achievement, two, behavior, discipline problems, and three, declining enrollment. >> I think we talked a little bit about student
089achievement, so I'd like to focus on behavior and discipline. and your community survey, uh, you had a lot of, I think 268 staff weigh in. Um, and I think behaviors are are are something we really need to get a handle on. Um, I don't know if PBIS is being implemented across the board, but I think that tier one interventions uh, with instruction, uh, you want to make sure every every individual, so what does tier one mean? That I don't pull director Doninger out because of his IEP. He needs to get the math instruction before he leaves the classroom. you want to make sure they get the guaranteed viable curriculum that you've all approved on and you invested in before director Donier goes and gets his, you know, his assistance and his IP. Um, I I
090think that those behaviors are preventing academic achievement. And so you get some frustrated kids and that's why I think when you look at the next one, declining enrollment, it's really talking about fifth through 9th graders. you're losing kids to fifth through ninth and a lot of that's because you have some behaviors that we really need to get a handle on. Now, I did not bother and say Tammy over at the middle school. I did not talk to Tammy. I know four teachers over there to give me some insight, but that's a teacher. Tammy is a veteran here. She would know better than anybody. It sounds like she's a great one. You'd really want to sit down, have a cup of coffee, and really dive in and see what's happening there. But I think the you
091know for inance my school district uh we started a care and treatment facility and the reason we did that is because uh there's some loopholes with MD to get you to fully funded so intermediates get that. So director uh director Ward I think one of the things that I would really want to do with you before you even think about getting off the board is I pull up both your house file and senate file. We need to get you're going to have to pass a referendum in the next two years. I'm just going to say it. I'm your superintendent. That's you're going to hear that every day all day. You can make all the cuts you want, but you cannot cut your way to excellence. If you want to address those three issues there, you're
092going to need some supports. Classroom teacher can handle, but if you're going to put 34 in there, and 12 of them are going to probably be on IEPs and some behavior issues, you're going to need some supports. But you know, director Ward, you're you went a long way last year with MA that I just looked at the loose initiatives and we need to take your experience of being in uh you know, as a representative and and really champion this across the finish line. Taxpayers here, if you're going to pass anything, you got to the tax burden is being felt. I I passed one referendum, but I could see this little waveark coming five years ago at Menowaska. That's why I passed our capital projects levy. one, just the tax impact uh made it beneficial to
093pass, but it's an extra million dollars a year for 10 years, and I think that's a direct reason why we're crushing it on our test scores, and we're at 100% grad rate. But that's nine years of me being study leadership. My principles all have five to seven years. My elementary principles been there one year before me. Steady leadership on the same plan, fully funded. We're getting results. That's where I would want Brainer to be too. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Five minutes. >> All right, Mr. Ranking. Great news. We've gotten to question number 14, which is um with five minutes or so left, what questions do you have for us? >> How would you describe your working relationship do you envision for your next superintendent? And what does effective communication look like from your perspective?
094I can tell you from my perspective uh every two at least every two to three weeks I do a video and I have my entire leadership team uh put this together and it's your walking dashboard so you know what's going on in the district. How would you want your what is that relationship you you aspire because right now you you know you had a transition. I'm dear friends with Heidi. Love her to death. Uh, I I had I've met with Peter a couple times and he seems to be doing a great job. But you're going to go from having an interim to a a strong leader. Are you prepared to have a strong leader leading and what does that look like in your opinion? I'll I'll leave to you guys. >> Yeah, that's a great
095question. I can jump in and start and then um somebody else wants to take a shot at that too. I um this would be the fourth superintendent that I'd get to work with in the in the five years that I've been here. And I would say, you know, the relationship and the communication style of each one has been different. Um I wouldn't say one more effective or less effective than another, just different. And I I I know managing a board is very time consuming and done well uh really pays off, I think, for the district. And so the the communication style that I appreciate is just transparency. I think when you said no surprises, we've gotten much better at that as a as a board and in relationship with our superintendent, I think, too. So
096that's where I would start anyway. >> For [clears throat] me, it's uh uh communication. Uh I I think right now we don't know in some cases what's going on uh in the district and uh there's that fine line between governance and oversight and management and uh I think it's okay once in a while to stray into the management area by asking questions but not doing the day-to-day. And uh uh I think that's something that I would be uh looking for uh as far as leadership from yourself. And uh uh the communication is to me the most important thing. And then my three things you just talked about them. I mean student achievement, behavior, and and enrollment are are key things that if we can solve those issues, I think uh >> Well, I think I
097have special insight. I was I was your competitor just north here about 30 minutes and um you know one of the things I did put together and I give to you I created an exit survey. One of the things I would do for enrollment is I create an exit survey I'd give to every family and every student that's left in the last three years and get that data right now because until you fix the holes in your bucket and director Dongler I know that you you want to make sure we have all the efficiencies first before we go out for a referendum. I think you've done that with Peter and I think that's why you've kept him on and Peter assured me that he's going to have this budget concern kind of really wrapped up
098and so after we leave this and you find that you're going to need more funds. Uh I think you've done that but I think until you fix the holes in your bucket of why people are leaving you kind of like just you're probably just putting more water into a you know a colander and so you want to fix that before you move on. So I think you're there. Um out of respect for time I think we're down to a minute so I just want to say this. I'm running to this opportunity for not just me, but for my family. Uh, I'm going to live here. Uh, I'm hoping this is my last position. I'm hoping I'm your last superintendent you're going to work with, unless you want to stay on the board for 20 years.
099Um, but I'm 51. I got nine years to go. I spent 27 years. Uh, eight in the classroom, 10 as a principal, and nine as a superintendent. Um, in the army, I've grown from private to colonel and soon to be brigadier general. That's like less than 1% of 1% of people. It's not about me. Uh the book I didn't talk about is leaders eat last. I'm a servant leader. I'm going to take care of teachers because I think they're the core of our mission delivery. They are going to make or break you. And I'm a student centered because unless they're healthy and they're safe, they're not going to learn. So you want to make sure that balancing act between providing every support system for students uh empowering teachers is what's going to deliver results. And
100I think steady um strategic leadership over the next 5 years is going to take Brainer from where it was a phenomenal orchestra that everybody looked as the northstar example back to what it can be. It just needs a little tuning. So thank you for the opportunity today. >> Thank you. >> Thanks for coming in. >> Thank you. And I think as far as next steps, um, you know that we'll be doing interviews today and tomorrow and after deliberations, we'll get we'll get back to you. >> I sure hope to see you next Tuesday. >> Thank you. >> Okay.