001Pledge of >> Allegiance Gody. Good evening. Hi Tion. Good evening. Sounds like you have a good news report for us. >> We do. We have a good good news report this evening. Every time we come, we have a good news, great good news report. But tonight, um I especially love this one. Um, as you know, before the holiday break, many of our Sou Falls schools embrace uh community service learning projects. They do that all year round, but December is seems to be filled with just a whole lot of that collecting winter weather gear, socks, canned food. Um really we're looking for ways in our community where our students can recognize a need and then step forward and fulfill that need and see that uh their work really does matter to people and matter to the
002community. And of course this generosity teaches people of all ages that caring for our community can take many forms and it just doesn't need to happen during the holidays. It can be anytime. And at Robert Frost Challenge Center, the PPPAM family is a driving force behind the success of what is known as the Roadrunner Sharing Shelf. I'm not going to try to say that more than once fast. So, we've invited the PPP family here this evening. Drew is dad, Carrie is mom. Wyatt is a second grader at the challenge center. And Kora, a whole four and a half years old, participates in Learning Adventures Preschool over at Robert Frost. And of course, principal Jamie Bell is here to support them as well. And they are, as I said, the driving force behind the Roadrunner sharing
003shelf. So, come on forward. tell us a little bit about what you guys are up to. >> And if Wyatt talks, >> well, thank you for having us. Um, yeah, as Deian said, we >> Okay, go ahead. We um tried to do a service project together as a family. Um, we started the tradition last year and um, you know, I think like a lot of families think service is really important to teach your children. Um, and we are very fortunate that we're able to um, you know, provide for our kids, do birthday parties, do family dinners, things like that. But we know that that's not always the case for every family. And um we just want to help our kids to understand that there are people in our community who have needs that um they
004can't always meet and when we are able to help that it's important that we can help others in our community and especially um meaningful to help other children. So last year we did a project together um and we included some friends where we made birthday cake kits and we included um cake mix and decorations and frosting and things like that um because we we love a good party in our family. Um but then this year we were really inspired when Mrs. Bell introduced the Roadrunner sharing shelf. Um, and with both kids attending Robert Frost, it was really meaningful for them to be able to put the connection together that the food that we were providing goes to their classmates. Um so we kind of came up with the idea of um making a full meal
005kit because you know any pantry um any uh food donation is worthwhile but a lot of times when you look at a a sharing shelf or a pantry you see that there's a lot of kind of mismatched items and as a mom I think how could I make a full meal for my children um and I want other moms to be able to feel like they're able to provide a full meal. So, we included we kind of started with proteins. What you know, um what kind of shelf stable proteins are there? Included some side dishes and then um what else did we include, buddy? >> Um we included >> we included the main, a side, and a dessert. >> Yeah. because we feel like, you know, every kid needs a dessert, right? So, um, so
006it was a really fun project for us to do together as a family and then, um, to be able to come and deliver them to the school. And I think Wyatt wanted to share a little bit about the importance of it and what his favorite part was, right? >> Um, yeah. Um it's important to donate um food to comm um to help out our students, right? Our classmates and >> it's important to help out everyone. And what was your favorite part of >> And my favorite part was probably um putting together the like putting the dessert in >> and putting them on the sharing shelf. >> Yeah. Yes. And putting them on the shelf itself. Um, and I do want to share that, um, since Mrs. Bell shared the post on the Robert Frost Facebook
007page, I've had several parents reach out to me, um, asking how they can replicate this project with their families. Um, so other Robert Frost families, but also other families throughout the district, too. So, I'm really hopeful that, um, maybe we'll start seeing some more families sharing uh, similar similar meals when they can. So >> yeah, it was a it was very fun. And I will say as a mom, it was kind of fun to get the kids involved in the educational part. We got to do some budgeting. Wyatt helped with um figuring out how many meals we could make within our budget and Cora helped with the counting. >> Well, but >> yeah. Is there anything else you want to add? >> No. Okay. Well, thank you so much for having and here's our Do
008you want to tell them what meals we made? Maybe just to >> Okay, >> so this is >> Oh, yum. >> That's something we eat often at our house. >> Okay, why don't you maybe you can just tell them the other ones, honey. It's peace. >> And then the side is on this one. The side is appauce and is pie. And then the last one. >> It's a tongue twister. Yeah. >> So, there you go. >> Well, thank you for having us. >> Wyatt, did your sister help you as well? probably >> she did she was good at the grocery store, too. Picking out the picking out the groceries. >> Yeah. >> Well, thank you. And it's so great that the kids are learning too, not only the budget around it, but the the value,
009the nutritional value of what they can get and how to make dollars go farther. Um, when it's really uh better nutrients anyway. Um, and just curious, how many packets have you given out to your community there? >> Um, >> do you remember how many we made? We made 22 total. Um and >> and then we just made six. >> Yeah. And each meal um complete meal including the sides and desserts came in around $10 or so a piece. Um maybe slightly more or less depending on the meal. Um and then Mrs. Bell let us know that the 22 packs that we had brought were gone by midweek. Um, so I think that was a learning experience for us too, realizing that the need was a lot higher than what we anticipated. So we've made about
010six more we're going to drop off tomorrow as well. >> If there are others that are interested in helping out, how can they what's the best avenue to get a hold of you? Yeah. So, I'm always happy to speak to anyone whether it's over email or phone. Um, and I can provide my information. Um, and I do have like some templates that we used for the shopping list and the um, recipe cards and and all of that, too. >> So, can they Google Roadrunner sharing shelf? >> Yeah, but maybe we'll I don't know. We'll have to figure out the best way to share that information. Yes. If anybody's interested, they can contact me in the community relations office in the district and I can help connect them to Carrie and the lists and that type
011of thing. Um, so my direct is or deian.con.sd. us. >> Wonderful. for anybody that's engaged with um um PTOs around the district. Um sounds like it's something that is scalable. >> Uh yeah, and I've had um like I said, some parents reach out um for like youth groups and scout troops and things like that, too. So, it's kind of a fun project to get together. We put on some music and just, you know, put everything together and had fun while we were doing it. >> Yeah. Excellent. Well, thank Wyatt. Anything else? Wyatt, >> want to add anything? >> Wyatt, I got one for you. Stick with those dessert, baby. >> Yeah, that's the best part, right? >> That's my best part of the meal. >> All right. Well, thank you so much. >> Thank you.
012Okay. Can I please get an approval of the minutes of the meeting held 1222 2022? >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Those are approved. We do not have anybody wishing to address the Oh, we do. Thank you. Last minute here. >> Okay. We do have one person wishing to address the school board on a non-aggenda item. Um the is Vicki here? Okay, go ahead. Come forward. >> Hi Vicki, if you Thank you for being here this evening. If you could please state your name and your address. >> Okay. My name is Vicky Canson, 2801 South Marian Road. very unaccustomed to doing something like this, but I have become passionate about this as of late. >> You get five minutes. >> Yep. Sorry. The discipline policy. >> We'll start
013it now. >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. >> The discipline policy in the school district. I spent some time, probably several hours in the last couple of weeks trying to find the actual discipline policy and was directed to handbooks and directed to schools and uh I started at the school district website. So, long and short, I did not find what I was looking for and I was looking for some clarity as far as consequences for actions and not necessarily, you know, I wore the wrong t-shirt or my tennis shoes are tied backwards or whatnot. Um, the policy that I'm looking for or the information that I'm looking for has to do with um, and I think probably the best way for me to explain this to you so that I don't miss any details
014is I had sent an email to a principal at McGovern regarding the situation. And so, if you would allow me, um, I think it will explain what I'm talking about and then you'll have a better idea of kind of what perhaps I might be looking at. Um I do have a grandson at McGovern and of course that is what prompted this. I also am a concerned citizen always have been with regards to education. I've grown up in Sou Falls. In fact went to school with Mr. Min here a million years ago guy. Anyway, >> not quite but I'm close. >> Uhhuh. That's what I'm saying. All right. So I have a grandson who was suspended from school district bus transportation. And the story is in November of 2025, he and another student were riding the
015bus after school. The other student showed him a toy gun. He held it, said to the other boy, "This is a toy." and handed it back. After school that evening, the Sou Falls police came to his house and questioned him at great lengths regarding the events earlier on the bus. And as a result, he was suspended from school and told he could not ride the bus until the end of the school year. I kind of wanted to take a look at the student code to um find out what would dictate that kind of policy. And of course, the technicality is the year actually ended in 2025. Um with that being said, what he was charged with and why he suffered consequences is the fact that he didn't report the toy gun to someone. Um the
016other student was um I think he may have been expelled or suspended for a long period of time. Cameron was suspended from school for a short period of time but suspended from bus transportation upon which last week the principal of McGovern called um my daughter and advised that he would not be able to participate in sports because of this suspension. He's not a sport athlete, but he was considering a little basketball, little track, little exposure. Of course, now he's been told he cannot um be involved in those sports. You know, when I think about um how all of this works, I know that past behaviors are taken into account and this particular grandson does have issues with ADHD, ADHD, etc. So to look at a past behavior report there would be incidences but all related
017to too much medication not enough medication etc. With that being said I guess what I would like to know is what the policy is why the policy seems so extreme. The hardship on the family in that this child and many others do not have transportation now because they needed busing. all families would feel the impact of this, but single parent family homes, immediate and amazing impact. So, I guess with that being said, that kind of puts a wrap on it. I just didn't get the information I wanted. I think the policy seems to be arbitrary and extreme given the circumstances. Thank you. That's good enough. I have much more, but that'll do it. >> Thank you, Becky. somebody will uh respond back to you, you know, promptly and some of the questions that you addressed.
018>> Okay. >> Thank you again for coming. >> Okay, we do not have anybody wishing to address the school board on agenda items. Seeing none, we will move on to item number seven, approval of tonight's agenda. Can I please have a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. All in favor? I opposed. >> We have an approved agenda. Seeing no conflicts of interest, we will move on to approval of the consent agenda items. Items A through D. Can I get an a motion to approve the consent agenda items, please? >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Those are approved. uh reports of the superintendent. Dr. Nold, >> thank you. We do have uh two reports of the superintendent. The first one that we will start out with in
019in order here is the English language uh learner update report. And in the Sou Falls School District, we have uh almost 3,200 students that that qualify for our EL services and and the importance of the testing that they take uh outside of the state assessments, but with the WEDA access scores and and how that dictates whether they're still classified as English language learners or not. And so, Miss Clawson will uh give us that report this evening. Miss Clawson, >> Dr. N, and school board. >> Great. I thought I'd start with just a little brief four bullet overview of what our federal guidelines are. And just to summarize them, we are tasked with making sure our EL students can meaningfully participate in educational programs, develop English proficiency, listening, speaking, reading, and writing, meet all of the
020state standards, and then exit the EL program in a reasonable amount of time. Um, in order to measure our progress towards that, we take the WEDA access test as Dr. Null mentioned earlier. Um, and that is our English language proficiency test. 100% of our EEL students have to take that test. Our state accountability is uh that all students in order to reach proficiency must meet a 5.0 0 proficiency level on access or reach a 4.0 proficiency and a three or four on the South Dakota ELA assessment in the same year. And then uh growth towards that goal is part of the school performance index as well. in the spring of 2025. So almost a year ago, our access window opens at the end of January. So in January 25, we had 3,162 students participate in
021the test. Um and 10 students participate in the alternate access test. And then at the end of December, so about about now for this testing period, we have 3,114 EL students. Lots of data I could share on this assessment, but our exit percentages over the last five years, four years, um have remained pretty steady. Um at at the secondary level though, we've seen an increase and that's been exciting to see as well. something. Like I said, we have lots of data to review, but um in 2022, we had a committee come together to review how EL students are doing, not just on access, but also on our state assessments and on our district assessments, on math assessments, and really did a deep dive of of how the program is performing, what things are going well,
022what can we encourage more of, and what things might we need to shift or change or what's new out there to try out. Um that committee decided that we needed to focus more on access to grade level content and language development outcomes as we do that at the same time. So how we did that is two years ago we started a co-planning and co-eing pilot. Five schools participated in the first year of the pilot. five more schools um participated in the second year. So we have 10 total schools in year two and that's the data I'll be sharing. Um and we had schools at every level. So two high schools, two middle schools and six elementary schools. So the results of that um pilot is that we used our access data because that's how we're
023measuring uh language proficiency and take a took a look at their scaled score growth. So how much did the students grow on the scaled score report? So it's a little different than the proficiency level report um in each program model. And what we found is that in all levels, students who experienced co-eing had greater growth than students who didn't experience co-eing. And I'll point out that students who didn't experience co-eing still grew. So what we're what was happening is still helping students to grow, but co-eing helped them to grow more. Uh we all know data is just numbers. So there's always a story behind the numbers and these were some of the themes that we heard from uh teachers and principles who participated in the study in the pilot over the last few years. But
024especially principles saw stronger alignment and shared responsibility between our classroom teachers and our English learner teachers. They had increased uh support for the English learners in their classroom. uh especially at elementary, our e students are with their classroom teachers 90% of the day. So that's really where that collaboration between the two helps those strategies become apparent throughout the whole day instead of just in the 30 minutes of time they see their e teacher. We saw con consistent instructional strategies improving access to grade level content and that benefit was not just for EL students but for students across um who weren't EL as well. That wraps up. So now that we know this, what do we do next? We will be rolling out co-planning and co-eing. So over the next three years, it will become our
025primary instructional model for EEL. We'll still do some small groupoup instruction for students who need that who are newer to language learning, but as they go, we will do more co-eing and co-planning at all all schools with EL programs. Something else we shifted over the last year. Starting last school year, we um had kindergarten newcomers start at their centerbased or HAC school. Instead of attending our our newcomer program and then transitioning out, we really felt like kindergarteners had that full rich language experience right in kindergarten instead of having that extra transition. And that went well last year. Starting this year, all of our elementary newcomers are starting at their EL site or their uh home attendance center. And we have specialized teachers who travel to the schools to support both the students and the classroom
026teachers who are receiving them. They're doing a lot of work with both. Um, right now we have two teachers and two ESPs that are specializing across five schools. Um, and I communicate with them probably several times a month to see how things are going and I monitor growth uh, enrollments and see if we need to add or shift where that service is focused. So, all of these shifts just help us, if we remember where I started with our federal and state guidelines, that's what we're trying to do. Um, our goals are to equip students with language skills so they can access curriculum and successfully be part of the Sou Falls School District in all facets. And we're getting there by expanding co-planning and co-eing and refining our elementary newcomer model. ready for questions. >> We're
027going to first get a motion to acknowledge your report and then open up for discussion. So, just stay put for a second, please. Um, can I please get a motion to acknowledge the update report for English learners? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Discussion. We're going to open it up for discussion. Um, something that I just wanted to put out there is how critically important it is and that we're recognizing the growth versus the proficiency. >> Um, and that the district is really meeting students where they're at in a very real way. Um, we have 3,114 kids. um we educate all children and that there's some sort of acknowledgment of that for our South Dakota report card for example. >> Yes. um we have that population of EL kids and being able to measure
028the growth as you're doing is critically important um because it's not just proficiency we're getting them there but it's also that growth piece um and that you are implementing things like the co-eing so in very real time you are looking at the numbers and where the kids are at and that we're continuing to see that great growth. I just want to acknowledge the work that you all have done and are continuing to do uh and that that's also reflected in the um kindergarten there the centerbased homeschool um the special tweaks that you're making there to continue to meet those federal and state guidelines. So the work that you do um definitely does not go without notice and ultimately those are kids that go off to be employed in our area and without the English um
029it would make their ability to enter the job market uh challenging and that would have a greater impact on our society. So thank you. Thank you, Gail. I see. Okay. Or go ahead. Whoever wanted to go. >> Sure. >> Um I just have a question about um how we stack up either regionally or nationally. Do you do you track those kind of things, too? >> I do. Um of course notice how we do compared to our surrounding districts and then compare us to the state average as well. We're just below the state average, but our we have 40% of the state's EL population as well. >> Right. Yeah. It would be interesting to see kind of similarly situated school districts maybe from around the country that um you know what they do what if we
030have things to teach them maybe or if they have things to teach us. >> Um yeah, that would be interesting to hear. I have been able to participate in several committees at WEDA and been able to do this the same thing because in our state Sou Falls is unique in how many e we have. >> Yeah. >> Um so I've been able to collaborate with uh many people from 10 states I can think of right now. >> Great. >> And both I learn from them and sometimes they take a nugget from me too. >> That's good to hear. Thanks. So to measure the success of your program, it says you've used both quantitative data, which we see >> Yep. >> and qualitative feedback. Do you have any good feedback that you'd like to share with
031us or things that you can think of that that have been said to you about the program? >> Um, yes, I had Okay, so many. How do I narrow it down? a middle school EL teacher who was pretty hesitant to participate in co-eing. Her principal really said, "I think you'd be great at it. Let's do it." Um, and she jumped in with both feet and she's got she's co-eing with two teachers this year and two teachers last year. Um, and when she spoke about it at middle school collaboration, she said, "This is truly magical, the ability to collaborate with my peers and I get ideas from them and they get ideas from me." But to see students be able to participate without being separated is the what she was talking about in the magic. We
032need the numbers, but it's always great to hear the the other side of the story, the human element that's involved. And thank you very much for your work. >> One last question. Unfortunately, this is more quantitative than qualitative, but if you have something that you want to spin on that, you certainly can. Um, if we have 10 now for the last two years, what is the plan to move this co-eing into the other uh buildings? >> Yep. So, I've talked to all principal groups. Uh, for buildings who have an ELEL teacher, an EL program. So, that's not all of our elementarymentaries, but most. >> Okay. >> Um, we'll be rolling it out two grades at a time over the next three years. So, not ripping the band-aid off, but learning as we go in each
033building. And same for middle school. We'll go one content at a time over the next three years. um in the two that haven't done any of it yet and at high school one FTE at a time um just phase out some of the sheltered instruction and make it more collaborative. Go ahead, Don Murray. Thank you. Um quick question. Is there any federal or state possible funding impacts on some of the things that we're providing? Are we anticipating anything? Do we know of anything? What should we be prepared for? >> So, everything that I talked about here is locally funded out of our general fund. >> Um, everything we get federal funds, title three or title one part C is like frosting on the cake. Um, so this is doable within our our budget. >> Awesome.
034Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Makes sense. Go ahead. >> I taught Neil for more years than I think that last. But it was actually very rewarding. >> Yeah. >> And when the kids are mixed together, it's it's huge. It only takes a few days and pretty soon they're sitting together in the cafeteria and it's I'm glad they're in the classroom. They need to be in the classroom. Just my >> And thank you. >> We're doing immersion with Spanish. So yeah, flipping that over to the our English learners. I mean, a lot of what you're saying makes sense and you have some great, you know, data to support that. So, thank you. >> Okay. Um, we're going to take a vote to acknowledge your, um, all in favor? >> I opposed. >> Okay. We
035have acknowledged your updated report on the English learners. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Clawson. And I I agree with Mr. and the the incorporation of the where we would move that back into the classroom instead of a pull out class has been incredible. We saw that same thing with our special education resource classes and and the inclusion of that and and working within the classroom with both teachers. It's been incredible. So, the same models we utilize. Uh our next report that we have is with Head Start programming report and we will have Miss Kogal give that report. uh our our Head Start programming uh not to be missed. This is a five-year grant that we work through and Miss Kog will talk through quite a bit of that. Um it's also a part of
036the larger piece of what would be uh our overall uh early learning or early childhood learning programming, but Head Start is a very specific component of that. So, she'll go through and explain quite a bit more about that and help us to understand. >> Miss Goldber. >> Thank you, Dr. Null. like was mentioned in the introduction. I'm Erica Kovville. I'm the director of the Head Start program within the Sou Falls School District and I am excited to share with you all of the wonderful things that are happening with our youngest learners in the district. Please stand by. >> Um, >> Dr. Zeke, do you have it on yours that we can plug in? >> Awesome. >> We'll find a backup >> for you. >> Talk about that wonderful good news report again. Well, what a
037hard good news report to follow up with. >> If not, I can pull it. >> Maybe I'll tell you again. Erica, we could talk about our parent policy council and all the different languages of the parents, but their engagement. >> That's a good news report in itself. >> Do you want to share that while we're waiting? >> Absolutely. It's we'll get to some of that in our in our meeting and my presentation, but Nan has served on our parent policy council for the last several years. And this year, we've really opened it up trying to engage more families and doing more virtual abilities for families to join us during our parent policy council meetings. And some of the first ones of the year, we had an incredible turnout, upwards of 28 to 30 families. Some
038of the meetings we had five or six different languages spoken around the table. And so we had families set up with propriio in front of each family and in-person interpreters. And it was it was beautiful chaos as parents were giving input in their native languages and making decisions to help drive our program. It was truly it's been it's been very beautiful. >> Thanks for adding on our good news report. So to get started, I just wanted to highlight the Head Start priorities. These come straight from the office of Head Start from the federal government. Head Start is built on preparing our littles to enter into kindergarten, our most at risk youth. And so of course we have kindergarten readiness priorities, getting them academically ready to attend kindergarten. We also Head Start values student health. We
039know that if students don't have a healthy diet, if they haven't had their medical and oral health needs addressed, we see increased absenteeism. So that is part of the Head Start program that we address student health within the program model. And then family support. We extend the support provided not just to the student but to the family unit. So working with a family to identify resources within the community that they can benefit from to further benefit their children and their success in school. And then as part of the Head Start program, we encourage parent involvement. We acknowledge that parents are the first teacher of our students and that their voice and their child's education is so important. And so we spend those early years really forming a foundation and a relationship with the parents so
040that they can see their place and their value in their students education. We feel as though these priorities um directly align with the district's priority of educating and preparing each student to succeed in a changing world. Just a little history on Head Start. Head Start was initially established in in response to the war on poverty back in the 60s. It was initially founded as a summer program. The Sou Falls School District was awarded their first Head Start grant three years later in 1968 and have been a Head Start grantee ever since. So we're approaching our 60th year as a Head Start grantee here in the next couple of years. We know that Head Start programs across the country uh value a comprehensive approach to services for students ages three to five and that that family
041engagement is a cornerstone of the program. So to zoom out a little to see the big picture of the early childhood services offered within the Sou Falls School District, Head Start is a small component of that. The Supal School District serves around 800 students aged three to five annually. 253 of those students are their slots are funded through the Head Start grant. We have an additional 200 students that their slots are funded through title dollars. 250 students that their primary funding comes from special education. And then we do have 18 slots that are funded through a migrant migrant dollars. These 800 students are served in 32 classrooms in the district. We have classrooms in nine buildings across the district. 18 of the 32 classrooms are half-day programs. So, we serve one group of students in
042a morning session. They leave and a second group comes for a second session in the afternoon. We now have three or have nine full day classrooms. We had three and we've added six additional full day classrooms this year. Those nine full day classrooms run a schedule very similar to a kindergarten day, but Monday through Thursday. And then we do have five classrooms in the district that serve our three to 5 year olds that serve students who have more profound disabilities, and those are special education classrooms. Our Head Start grant, um, our most recent Head Start grant, they run five-year cycles. We were awarded our most recent five-year grant in July that will run for the next five years. We were awarded just over $3.3 million annually to serve our Head Start students. And there is
043a 20% f non-federal match requirement as part of this Head Start grant. Those are dollars that we generate as a program through parent volunteers, professional volunteers to our program. It can include any of the services that the district offers, the Head Start program that we don't have to pay for directly out of program funds. And then any of the donations that we take in from the community. So, churches, youth groups, banks that do school supply drives, diaper drives. We have several quilting groups across the state of South Dakota that make quilts for all of our napping students in our full day program. And that all contributes to our non-federal match requirement. of those 253 Head Start students. Now, the rest of the presentation will really hone in on those students because that is the data
044that I have to report back to the federal government as far as Head Start is concerned. Of the 253 students that we serve in Head Start, 139 of them attend in our half-day programs. You can see the hours and the days there. Those are regulated by the Office of Head Start. They tell us if you're operating half-day classrooms, how many hours a day and how many days a year are required of that program. And so we follow those guidelines. The remaining 114 of our students in that are funded through Head Start attend full day programming. You can see again slightly more days and significantly more hours of instruction because of their full their full day status. Who we serve? As mentioned previously, Headstart was founded during uh the war on poverty. And so Head Start
045provides guidelines as to who is eligible for programming. And these are some of the the cases that Head Start offers eligibility for. And so we look at family income to determine eligibility. Students who have been placed in foster care or are in a homeless situation are automatically eligible for programming. students whose families receive government aid are also uh eligible for programming and then students with a diagnosed disability. Our program and every program across the country has a method of determining and ranking students based on highest level of need. Head Start is intended to provide services to those students in our community that have the most needs to get them educated and ready for kindergarten. Our program goals within Head Start, obviously early learning and development. So these would be the pre-academic skills that we're wanting
046our kiddos to have as a foundation to get them ready for kindergarten. A lot of our families wouldn't otherwise have access to preschool education. And so these are those skills, the reading, the writing, the math, social studies, and science that we're giving them exposure to. They also have availability to all of the health services that our district and our program provides to them. We do health screenings. We make sure that families and students have access to health insurance. We make sure that they are up to date on medical and oral health screenings and immunizations. Social skills and behavior. This has become an increasingly um high area of need ever since COVID. We're noticing a trend of three, four, and 5-year-olds who are really needing a lot of social intervention and helping families regulate behaviors in
047the home. And then family engagement. We do a lot to help our parents be educated on how to be the best parents they can be and to provide services to their students when they're not in school. And then with Head Start having been around for the last 60 years, there's a lot of data surrounding Head Start and the impact on graduation rates, employment rates, and the long-term outcomes of the Head Start program as students graduate high school and enter into adulthood. Kindergarten readiness. This is the first program priority. And these are all of those curriculum-based skills that we teach in our classrooms. We obviously operate using researchbased curriculum. We cover all five domains of development. So we have the cognitive problem solving, academic kinds of skills as well as the social emotional skills, communication, motor
048and self-help, which in preschool often looks like toothbrushing, toilet training, all of those things that are very important as kids go off to kindergarten. This is the data that we have from last school year. The 13 indicators listed there are from the early learning guidelines. Um these are selected these are from the state. We've created a committee of early childhood professionals and administrators but also elementary teachers and administrators to ensure that the standards that we've selected vertically align with our kindergarten counterparts. so that as children are exiting our program that they have the skills that they need to enter into kindergarten. You can see that we collect data on student performance three times a year. So every November, February and May, our students go through rigorous assessments to um see what their growth potential is
049and then we use that data for professional development training for our staff as well as instruction. You can see the growth in the far right column was significant across all areas of development. It also highlights the areas that our students are coming in with really very little exposure to and that really goes back to highlighting those social emotional skills and the engagement which would be being able to sit and follow an adult directive if it's a task that's maybe not so fun. And so, um, being able to come in and show persistence and tenacity in those in those situations is something that we see is is really challenging for our kiddos and they're making incredible growth in a year's time. So, health and health services goals is the next area. Head Start has many standards
050related to the health services that our programs are required to complete and address with students. We are required to do hearing hearing, vision, and dental screens as well as heights and weights. We provide fluoride treatments to our Head Start students. We are charged with the task of ensuring that families in our program get access to healthc care insurance. We assist families in establishing a medical and dental home which pro proves to be quite challenging because a lot of our families are Medicaid funded insurance and there's very few dentists in town that accept Medicaid. And so that's continuing to be a challenge of our program, but we've created some great partnerships with local dentists that are willing to take on our families, which is wonderful. We also work with families to schedule needed dental appointments. We
051have several of our students every year that come in that have significant oral health seems to be kind of the trend. Bottle rot within their teeth and our Head Start nursing staff will work with the families to schedule those appointments, transport the families if needed to their appointments, send reminders for those appointments, and then follow up and make sure that they get the medical care that's needed to address those health concerns. In addition to that, our program provides lots of parent education. Last year, the parent education that we provided around health was nutrition, the importance of physical activity for our kiddos, getting off screens, um preventative health measures. Oral health tends to be an area that I I think most of our families understand the importance of if you have a broken leg, you need
052to see a doctor. Oral health tends to be an area that they don't see the importance of that quite as much and the impact on having a rotten tooth and what that can do to behavior and attention and being ready to learn in a classroom. And then mental and behavioral health services are kind of a new roll out from the office of Head Start. Mental health is really becoming something that's they're putting at the forefront of services being delivered. Here's our health services data from the 24-25 school year. We were able to get all eligible families health insurance by the end of the school year last year. Our number of students that were up to date on their medical care increased from 48% to 81% during the program year. 100% of our students that have
053chronic medical conditions, we were able to get them the medicare medical care that they needed throughout the school year. Same with 100% of our students. of those families that opt to be immunized, we were able to get those students as up to date as possible on their immunization schedule. Again, preparing them for kindergarten and those expectations. And then 90% of our students were able to receive preventative oral health care while they were in our program. And we were able to make referrals for 43 students to get mental health care consultations during the program year last year. Social skills and behavior. This is an area that we see has really become an area of interest ever since COVID. We're seeing a lot more students on tablets and screens. And so teaching them those social skills and
054how to regulate their behaviors has become very important in our program. And so we address things like behavior expectations, self-regulation, identifying and being able to communicate your emotions, those friendship skills. If you've been around three, four, and 5year-olds, the ability to have to share toys and deal with disappointment when somebody knocks over your tower is a very real thing. And helping kids learn how to deal with those emotions is also very real. Last year, we entered into our fifth year as a pyramid model implementation site, which in layman's terms just means that we use the pyramid model framework for addressing social emotional skills. The pyramid model is a method of conducting our classrooms with clear expectations of routines, clear teaching of social skills, clear teaching of friendship skills and um behavioral regulation. And all of
055those things are addressed within that pyramid model. And our program has been able to uphold that model with fidelity for the last five years. Our program data is showing that not just our new teachers but or not just our veteran teachers but also our new teachers are using our tier one teaching practices and that is because we have really done a ton of training and professional development in that area knowing that this is an area that is really an area that can impact a kiddos's performance in kindergarten and across all of our social emotional domains our students have demonstrated 44% growth family engagement ment is the foundation of Head Start and our teachers do two home visits a year. We sit down with families and families have the ability to not only write a family
056goal for their family but also student goals and we have dedicated staff that work with families to help them achieve those family goals that they've set for themselves and help them identify resources within the community to help them get to the goals that they've set for themselves. We host h family learning events, parent trainings, and offer our parents opportunities to serve in leadership roles in our program as well. Last year's family engagement data was very exciting to share. We had all of our staff meet with families a minimum of four times a year. Our family goal setting increased by 400%. Our participation in those policy council meetings that Nan had the luxury of sitting in with us increased by 600% last year. Parents attendance at parenting classes increased by 400%. And each of our nine
057sites provided at least two family education events per site. And we had a business sponsor that came to us in April of last year and asked if they could sponsor a year-end event um to connect all of our families to resources to help them transition into summer and ensure that education continues throughout the summer months. And we had 800 attendees attend that event at Certoma Park last May. Community partnerships is the other big component of our Head Start program. if it wasn't through partnerships like Delta Del Delta Dental, Falls Community Health, Alliance Club, um the SDSU nursing programs, physicians at Sanford and AA providing uh needed health services to our students that are in need and persons from Volunteers of America acting as a mental health consultation. We have tons of students that come in
058through the SDSU and uh Southeast Technical College early education programs that serve our classrooms and volunteer in our classrooms getting not only the practicum hours that they need but providing that volunteer hours in our classroom and helping maintain great student um adult ratios. And then we have had the luxury of getting several community grants that have also helped us be able to put on those largecale community events and parent education opportunities. As you can see, Head Start is making a positive difference in the Sou Falls School District and in the Sou Falls community. >> Excellent. Thank you. Um, hang on because we'll maybe have questions. Um, can I get a motion to acknowledge the Head Start programming report? >> Some move. >> Second. >> Questions, discussions for Erica? >> I have I have one. Um,
059when you talked about some of the behaviors that you're seeing and talked about COVID, I was just thinking CO's 2020. Our kids are three to five. So, that to me said, you know, those kids weren't born quite yet. Um, so now I'm thinking, all right, maybe the parent support for whatever reason that period of time and how it impacted parents. Um, and we talked about that family support being so critically important with the Head Start. Um I'm wondering if we can talk specifically maybe what we're doing um as a district to teach parents about the pyramid model so we have that homeschool connection that consistency um to help address what we're seeing right that has been a very large component of a lot of the parent education classes and events that we've done. pyramid model
060uses a lot of visuals for children because it makes sense for all of our student regardless of this the language spoken in the home and so when I'm having a problem when I'm having big feelings what is my response and there's lots of visuals that go with those during our family events we've been able to distribute those same visuals to the home so that our families have that same common language that they can use with their students and parents are reporting that kids' eyes light up because They recognize those visuals from school and are able to work through a lot of those same things. Similarly, we have our behavior staff that have worked and presented many parent education nights on fun things to do with your students at home that don't cost anything but don't
061include a screen. And so, we're just talking about decreasing screen time, increasing physical play, and the importance of bedtime. And I think that those are areas that through parent education, we're really starting to and I think that's the beauty of parent education is it's not just impacting the parenting of the student that's currently in Head Start, it's impacting any potentially um younger students and older students as well and the impact that that can have. >> Yeah. if there's anything that we can do to help educate the larger society on those um that pyramid model and getting students ready uh for school. It sounds like, you know, since we're in the sixth year now uh past COVID that it seems to me that this would speak to more of a family dynamic because those kids were
062not even born at that point. So, uh, if we're looking at root cause, um, I think we have to address that family and the educational piece, um, versus a student that wasn't even born. So, go ahead. >> Um, thank you. I, uh, volunteered a couple hours before Christmas break at Head Start in our district. I didn't know you could play puppy wrong, but I got scolded by a bunch of three-year-olds and it was super fun. Um, but it was just it was a fantastic afternoon. Um, bless all those workers for what they do and how they work with our little people. Um, I'm curious if we, and this might be a separate report, so I apologize for not asking this sooner, but do we follow our students who are in Head Start and go on
063to graduation? Like, are we tracking if they're more likely to graduate, more likely to go to college? I mean, I know nationally there's studies that show all the puking concept of them being healthier, live longer. I mean, mortality rates are less when they report being in a head start, like significantly. I think it's like 30ome percent. Um, so I'm wondering if we as a district have that working knowledge or we do collect that data. I don't know that as a district we've analyzed the data specifically for our district, but I know that the state asked for our data every year and so the state of South Dakota is analyzing that data specific to this the state and the comparison amongst all of the surrounding states around us and we are doing a phenomenal job in
064South Dakota. I think that we uh and I would say that when we get together with all of the Head Starts in the state of South Dakota and even as I talk to Head Starts across the country, our program model with being embedded within this within a school district is a very unique model compared to most Head Starts across the country. And so I think that our ability to access that kind of data is we have far more capability than most programs. >> Yeah. >> Something to add >> there was a study done on part of that with early childhood or or early learning uh which would include part of the head start and it did have a difference on you know the behavioral impact of the student when they got into the elementary schools
065moved up through. There's only a few studies done that that are more national that go up into the high school and I think it's now up to about 20 years beyond high school that showed a significant impact on less incarceration um you know less need of social services things like that. So it does have an absolute impact on it and this is one of several things that we want to make sure we bring in front of our community and the board. Uh many people think of the school district as a K12 school district and they educate from 8 to 4. Uh we saw a few weeks ago with our our CLC programming of what we do after school and before school for kids and we'll hear from Deian Conrad with some adult learning that we
066do also coming up in the next couple months. We want to make sure we get some of the early childhood and specifically Head Start because of the incredible work they do and and not only the work with the child to prepare them for school because we know of those kids have that head that jump uh they they perform so much better when they get to kindergarten. Uh but the work that they do with their parents and their families and going to the homes and truly working with them. So, it's an incredible program. We want to make sure our community knows that that we appreciate the support they give us and we want to make sure that we give that back to them and what we do for our community. >> I just think of it
067as like we're paying for it now so they don't pay for it later. Like it's a true prevention. That's how I think of after school, too. Like it's a prevention service for our students and families to be able to get ahead of stuff and prevent so many things. So, um yeah, big supporter of Head Start. My daughter went to Head Start, loved it. I felt like she was way more prepared for school and even just at home in life and shoe tying and getting our boots on without having a complete meltdown and like all that stuff. >> And if you're ever having a bad day, man, there's nothing like coming into a into an early childhood classroom and sitting down and playing puppy for 20 minutes to lift your spirits. >> Absolutely. On the qualitative
068side, we toured the Bishop Dudley House. So, you have listed um homelessness and those children. Um and towards the end of our tour, we asked, "What else can the Sup School District do to help you serve the 90 families that you have served up to to that particular date, which was just a couple months ago, and they said uh that the Sou Falls School District is on speed dial. our services um are recognized to do such good things for those families that are in a mode of crisis. So they're again serving all kids and um there's no doubt that specifically early childhood and the work that you're doing um is making an impact for those families. We have a staff member that serves on their board and they meet once a month so that we
069make sure that we are a first responder as soon as a family comes in with a child within our age frame that we can get them in immediately into programming. It's been a wonderful partnership. >> You made us really proud as board members on that tour and the work that you're doing. So, I wanted to publicly recognize that. >> Question. Any federal impacts, any dollar amounts? It's a grant. We were awarded. >> I know. But is there anything that's on the line? >> We were lucky in the fact that our grant cycle runs from June 1 to May 30th. And so because our grant cycle has those um dates attached to it. We weren't impacted by the shutdown, we we have programs in the state of South Dakota that were, but we were lucky enough
070to um to avoid that. And a shout out to our community. I was contacted by several agencies in Sou Falls that were asking if we needed support during the shutdown. And so that that screams volumes to the community that we live in that they wanted to ensure that programming would continue. And we were obviously lucky enough to be able to report to them that we weren't in we weren't one of the programs affected. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> And that 20% non-federal match is critically important to continuing to get the grant. So that speaks to our community. >> Okay. All right. All in favor? I opposed. >> We have acknowledged your report. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. We're going to move on to agenda item 11. I think we have Is Becky
071here? Okay, there she is. We are going into a public hearing on the application of waiverss of for administrative rule. Becky will explain more about that. Thank you. Yes, I am here this evening um to request permission from the board to apply for plan of intent waivers for um several of our teachers. Um I believe we have seven on the list this evening. A plan of intent waiver allows a teacher additional time to complete um certification requirements or endorsement requirements. For the individuals on the on the list this evening, they are all certified teachers and working toward full certification in the area for which they're teaching. >> Excellent. We um are opening this to a public hearing. Is there anybody that wishes to address the board at this time? All right, we will close the
072public hearing and we will look to get a motion. Is there anything else you want to >> No, I have nothing else. >> Thank you. We will move to get a motion to approve the application of waiverss. >> So move >> second. Any discussion? All in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Okay, we have approved. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, we will now Can I get a motion to move into executive session by South Dakota Codified Law 1-25-2 subsection 1? >> I move we recess until 6:40 p.m. and then after we reconvene, we move immediately into executive session. >> Second. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Thank you. Um we will now uh move to adjourn for this meeting but moving into recess.