School Board Meeting - Study Session: October 2, 2025

001So, let's get started. And we are we are glad to see so many people here. Thank you for being here with us. It is Thursday the 2nd of October and we are meeting in the boardroom on Legacy Campus and I will lead the pledge. Please rise. >> Do we need to do roll call first? >> We'll do it now. >> Okay. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Scott, will you adjust our uh minutes so that we have our roll call before the >> Yes. >> Uh we'll begin with roll call starting with Brian. Brian Chambers, board member. >> Roger Pulzer, board member. >> Alan Grunick, board member. >> Kathy

002Christensen, board member. >> Todd McKe, superintendent. >> Randall Bagley, board member. >> Terry Rhodess, board member. Scott >> Scott Rigby, subbing in for Jared Black. >> Excellent. And our mission statement is to educate students for success in a changing world. So we will begin with uh on our reports agenda our in our systems of support uh associated with our systems of support in our strategic plan we have Don Adams here our famous facilities supervisor >> famous or infamous >> famous well thank you poor for having me here tonight I'll I'll become your slide picture guy uh for for the evening. Uh wanted to bring I think some solid progress on the two middle schools and what I think is exciting progress on the elementary school tonight. So let's start out with Hyde Park Middle School.

003Uh again, just orienting to what's been going on. Uh main gym, you'll notice all of the roofing's on, all of the mechanical units are there, and a lot of sight grading has taken place. And uh this picture uh gathered a lot of water in the storm water detention pond uh that just hasn't been connected up to the storm drain system yet. So we we kind of have a little bit of duck habitat going in the fall. You can see more field grading curbon gutter uh starting to take place on the main roadways. We've graded out baseball and softball and we're starting to see uh concrete road base etc. there for the fire lane and shortly uh we'll start to see that for the parking lots as well. It will be nice. Uh our attempt is

004to get asphalt down before winter and mud season and so we we try not to uh track it into the school. So we've had some good advancements. We're complete with our structural steel, complete with our roof deck. The roofing is still at 95%. We've got to do some parabits and things like that. Uh but for the most part, everything is starting to become watertight. Our interior framing is at about 95%. Uh our interior, our exterior block is at 98%. So we're we're starting to check off those almost dons to dons. Uh mechanical units on the roof, I call it 80%, we've got a little bit of work to do to to tighten those up. Internal drywall is at 50%. Windows 80%. So we're almost going to be closed in for the winter here shortly. Fire

005sprinklers are at 60% and we're starting to see ceiling grid go in even though it's just at 5%. Looking at the lecture hall, you're starting to see that we're framing the set. We have drywall done. Middle is showing uh the the ceiling grids are starting. So, we're getting the seismic ties in. We're laying the grid, setting the elevations, everything is starting to feel like a classroom in some of them. You're uh also the main staircase sophets. So, here's a picture of the first floor and uh pay attention to the second picture down below. This is what's happening at Hide Park on on the second floor. Committed to memory because the one at Nively is staggered and further along. So, you get to see the skeleton side and then the the pretty side. Uh we are

006framing in some temporary doors in preparation for winter. Those are going to be woodframed and and just uh chipboard. We do that because we don't want all of the material coming in and out to damage the nice aluminum storefront. So, this is a it can get hit with something and we're okay with it. Uh the hallways uh the HVAC is starting to to finish up in the main trunk lines and we have paint. There's uh I call it a battleship gray. Uh hides the dust and etc. So, in that open ceiling, we're starting to see what it's going to look uh in its finished state. We have an awful lot of the classrooms painted and this gentleman is is adding in a reheat coil down at the bottom uh to tie in that would be

007part of our our boiler system and our heating. So, we're starting to to put things together for occupancy upcoming more paint. Uh the next three weeks are paint and more paint. We'll start to put our boilers together. We're starting to see large electrical equipment uh come together in our closets and our panels. the HVAC distribution. You've seen the trunk lines. Now, we're going to start tying in the distribution and then we'll start to even get tile in our restrooms. Again, uh uh I'll I'll put up the new elementary and hide park. I still stay with the illustration because everything is still on the ground and there's nothing to really show what what the building will look like. Uh but and in case um garden member pruning uh you get the calls because we do this

008at five o'clock in the morning. That's why it's dark. These are our cement pores that have to start early. So we've been flying the drone as the cement starts to show up for our panels. You can see a lot of a lot of change coming up. And this is why I say it's fairly exciting. the the footing and foundation package is taking shape. Uh most of it's done. You see a lot of panels being poured, a lot of concrete coming in. Uh this was Friday, two weeks ago where we started to get uh a lot of concrete down, get our panels going. Uh this is us just getting those those uh the textures in, vibrating them, making sure there are no bubbles, making sure we get structural integrity. And uh you can see how early

009they start. And this would be an image from about 11:00 uh in the morning down below as it's getting ready and curing. The block wall progress. We have uh some block wall in the building. Uh this is a photo that's about 5 days old. The wall is probably four feet taller today. Uh almost ready to top out on that wall. And then the the wall that you see on the left side, uh that's uh that's actually formed up and they'll be pouring concrete in that in the next couple of weeks. So we're really uh getting going on on the structure here. Footing is about 85% done. The layout and pouring of the the till panels about 60%. Underground utilities, the power has reached the site, so we're very excited. The big one that that you'll

010see is that the crane is scheduled to arrive October 6. So, a 500 ton crane's going to be on site. It'll take them a couple of days to assemble and then they'll start uh setting the the concrete panels up. The we we are we have achieved full strength. We call it a 14-day break. We want to make sure that the concrete's reached the the strength that we need. It's reached in in 7 to 10 depending upon each panel. So, we're really happy with the concrete performance. So, we'll be able to get things uh standing up. Uh now, moving over to the new middle school in Nibi, you're starting to see a lot of that curb and gutter and and base going in. This is a public road that we'll be working on. This is the

011back parking lot, bus circulation, etc. I what we'll really see is is asphalt coming in the week of the October 10 to 15. So, we're going to start seeing some asphalt going down at these facilities. Um, and and that will that will kind of change the exterior perception. Um, in this image, the auxiliary gym roofing was not on. It's on this week and then they'll be working on the main gym and this little bit over the office. So, we'll be able to get weathered in at Nibi as well. So, advancements. We've completed our structural steel. Roof deck's complete. Roofing's at 85%. The interior framing is a typo. That's 55% complete. I apologize. I didn't catch that. Windows were 95% complete and exterior block again at 98%. We're starting to to see progression into the large

012areas. Core drilling for fire sprinklers. U we framed up the sides of the stages. We'll start to drywall these large areas in the not too distant future. A nice look at the art room and ceramics. Uh I got that picture uh because we're starting to get it framed in over here. Yet the light in the art room and ceramics room is just perfect. The the architects did a very nice design. It really set up to be a great facility for the kids. This is the main staircase. This is what a framed out and drywalled uh ceiling looks like. A little bit different than the one that we showed you uh at the other school. Our boilers are on site. That's very exciting for us. Uh that means big progress when you start doing those mechanical

013rooms. Uh very important steps in the build. You can see the large group lecture hall again is getting its drywall and set. They're they're a little bit behind on the ceiling. There's a bunch of seismic wires hanging down. So they're about 5 days behind um Hide Park on on the ceilings here. Uh this is Spencer. uh he was out doing an inspection of the IT items and so I he froze when he saw me take that picture so I I wished he was here at the meeting. Uh we're we're also painting in the hallways here uh again that battleship gray going going uh up into the ceiling area. We're uh soldering some of the main water supply lines in this image. Uh so we're starting to really get a lot of good distribution of the

014uh the water system upcoming. Uh we should complete uh the roofing in the next week. Uh we'll complete the windows. Uh paving the second week of October. Continuing that drywall, that's a big focus. Continuing the fire sprinklers is a big focus. And really completing all the trunk lines. They're they're about two weeks behind Hyde Park. And remember the schools were staggered in their start. So it's two weeks behind but really performing close enough to schedule that we'll say we're we're we're there. Okay. So when when when it's comparing niply to to High Park, it's not that it's it's not that it's not on schedule. It just happens to be behind the other school as planned. >> So any questions, concerns? >> Where's your anxiety level at the elementary school? >> Where's my anxiety level at

015the elementary school? it is still there. Uh we talked a lot about uh what to to work on uh as the weather starts getting colder. Uh we're working out some alternatives on the roofing. Uh we wanted the roofing in 3 weeks earlier than it will get. So that's an important thing to keep the water out. We think we have a very good workable solution. The the subcontractor on roofing gave us a good hey this is how we can get you through roofing down not finish the parapits etc etc. After hearing that news, after seeing the structural steel, um my my nerves will be on end until we get in and through January, quite honestly. >> Can you not do the roof during the winter? >> Absolutely, we can to a certain level and we just

016can't the material changes going up the parapit and so we'll we'll do an interim stop. So, we'll get the base of the the roofing and insulation in, just not finished the way we like before winter sets. Uh, we have to do it at 40 degrees and rising. And my gut tells me that once we hit this the the first week of December, I will have very very few of those days. We'll we'll do it when we can, if we can. We're just we have our reality in front of us and we're trying to respond to that. >> Welcome to Cash Valley. >> Yeah, Cash Valley. Wonderful. Just be ready for the January thaw. >> Yes. >> In the middle of the winter. >> Yeah. January for about a week and then we're back in winter.

017>> Yeah. We had we had January thaw in Salt Lake, but but now January is just warm. >> A >> So, yeah. No, we're I think we're prepared. I think we're facing realistically the realities of of where we're at in the build and dealing with winter conditions. >> Well, how do we know this year, right? I mean, it's October 2nd and we haven't had one freeze yet. >> I think if I've watched enough YouTube videos of meteorologists on their long-term predictions, I am expecting colder than traditional temperatures. >> Oh. >> So, so I am acting that way and pressing to to the contractors that >> spend your spare time watching meteorologist. Yeah, I I am spending spare time watching meteorologists. It is the life of a guy in construction. Uh when winter happens, I I

018am fost I'm a Dodgers guy. That's the other league. So, >> yeah. No, great questions. We're We're preparing as best we can. Truly. and and and and and all of the contractors and subcontractors are responding with due concern and urgency. >> Awesome. >> They're they're not trying to push it off. They get the position we're in. >> My only other question for you is, did you find a house yet? >> No, ma'am. >> Oh, I'm so sorry. It >> It's okay. We'll get there. >> All right. >> Patience is a virtue, right? >> Okay. things next to me that are available. >> Really? >> I think there's some in my neighborhood, too, which is just >> I want a big toy box, and I don't want the neighbors to yell at me. >> All right.

019[Music] Thank you, Don. >> Uh, next up is Sher Anderson, and she is going to talk with us about the proposal for middle school names. We have this is the second round of proposal for middle school names. >> Is that better? >> Oh yeah, that's really loud. Okay. Okay. Yes, this definitely is the second round and I'm going to give you a little update or reminder of the process here of what has happened so far. Okay, how does this work? >> This way. Sorry. Okay. So, the first phase of this process, we sent out an initial community input survey to all of um the families within school boundaries and they were able to give suggestions for names. It went to a naming committee who then um took those findings, evaluated them and um recommended five

020names in each areas of a mascot, a school name and colors. Um the second phase then um a second survey with those top five names was distributed to the school communities. Um and the top two names were then um presented to the board of education which was the last time we met. Um and after that meeting it was recommended by administration to re-evaluate and recommend school names that would avoid confusion with existing school names are a good representation of the overall community in which they reside and have a clear majority preference. some of those votes were very close and so that was taken back to the principles of those schools. So the third phase then was began and and this is where it's a little bit different for each school. So, Nibbi um they took

021it back to community input because they did not feel that the the top five names that they had met those three c those three um requirements. So, they they looked at those names and Maple was used in in a couple of those different um school names. So they used Maple View Middle School and Horizon Middle School were the two that they recommended. And then a third survey was distributed back to the communities. And here is um here are the responses for the two school names. And you can see on the right they gave they wanted to give um some background information to residents and to you as a board why they chose those two names. Um and you can see from the voting there was a clear majority for Maple View Middle School. So we

022are recommending that that school name for Nibi is Maple View Middle School. They would like to stick with the previous recommendations of the mascot being a hawk and the colors blue and silver. Questions before we go to the next one. >> How many surveys were sent out in total? >> Um it was I would have to look it up for each school but it was like 1,200. One school was 1,200 and I think one was like 1500. So you've got a response rate of of of over 40 >> okay >> percent which I think is a a very good representation when you look at you know statistics. >> Yes. >> So other questions? >> Great. Um the third phase for um Hyde Parks Middle School, the committee was notified um administration chose to use the

023second and third choice school names from the the initial survey because they met the requirements for the new recommendations. So that survey was distributed again sent to all families who will have students within those schools the year they open. Um, and here's the response for that. Again, we feel like this is a a clear majority, you know, a clear separation, and they're recommending the name of Hide Park Middle School as Juniper Ridge Middle School. The mascot would remain from the first recommendation as a fox, the colors royal blue, gray, and white. Any questions? So yeah, those are the recommendations from administration. >> Great. Anybody have questions? >> I like them. Good. >> I'm just trying to picture trees. >> Yeah, that's true. >> I'm just trying to picture a blue, gray, and white fox. That's

024where our design folks will have some fun, I think. >> Chariots middle school. No problem. >> That's true. We have orange Mustangs in higher school. >> That's true. >> Fire that. >> Good point. Good point. >> All right. If there are no questions on this um item on the agenda, then we'll move on to the communications plan that will also be presented by Sherry. Okay. I didn't know if it was me. I needed to push something here. Great. Believe it or not, I'm excited about this a little bit. For those of you who know me know that. Um so the purpose um for the communication department um is to ensure timely, transparent and effective communication that supports student safety and education while fostering trust and engagement among students, parents, staff, and the wider community across

025all schools and departments in the Cash County School District. With all communication, you identify immediately who your audiences are. So the audiences that we've identified internally are our teachers, our support staff, administrators, and the board of education. Externally, our primary audience is students, parents, and guardians. They're our our first priority externally. Secondary is community members, the media, local businesses and government leaders. >> So when you say key audiences, does that mean for key audiences of the plan or of communication? >> Of communication. Okay. >> Yeah. So this is how we how we would view the communication. >> Yeah. The core values and core messaging of all communication um is aligned with the district's core values. This first being student focused. Core messaging would be the district is committed to student learning, safety, and well-being. Community

026um our family and community partnerships are vital to educational success. Character, transparency, trust, and accountability are central to the district leadership. We encourage and foster character development in students. So, there's kind of two messages there. Um, under excellence, we celebrate student and staff achievement, innovation, and community. So, this slide here shows all of the communication then that goes out from the district will fall into one of these categories. it should. If it doesn't, then we need to reevaluate what we're doing. Um, the overarching goal for communication is to leverage the communication to build trust through consistent, honest, and I think those two words are really important, transparent and responsive communication. Engage families and the community in student success and district initiatives while supporting the core values. impact student learning by supporting school and staff with

027communication tools, messaging, and training. So that's, you know, giving the schools the support they need. Enhance the district's image through positive storytelling and brand and reputation management. So meaning um brands, logos, how we look, and reputation management meaning, you know, negative PR or things like that. So, we've set some specific goals for this first year. Um, as I as I came in, I really saw immediately that our digital communication needed some attention and primarily because digital communication is how the world communicates today. Um, I know I've shared with the board a little bit some of some of the statistics from the usage on our digital platforms, but you'll you'll see more of that. That's part of this plan. So, you're going to see a lot of the focus this first year is on digital communication.

028So, these are the overarching, you know, I have more details underneath that we won't get into today. Um the first is to improve that website so it's secure, accessible, meaningful, and searchable. Um some examples of that would bringing it into ADA compliance with, you know, the disabilities act. Um making sure that we have data compliance. Um and making sure that you can find it in search engines that we have search engine optimization happening. um questions on that piece. I I feel like out of everything else here, that's number one. So, it's there first. >> So, so for the other board members who are here, um Kathy and I attended the superintendent um student district student council meeting yesterday. So, he had nine 10 students from the four largest bicycles in the district and um when

029at the end of the meeting he asked the students so and Sherry was there presenting to them and Sherry asked what can we do for you and the and the superintendent at the end of the meeting said what can we do for you >> uh or what do you feel like we need to do and it was interesting because I didn't think that students really um my my feeling is that students don't really access their school websites much and um one of the students who was there requested shik to sherry can you please make our website better and this is exactly what he talked about that it could be accessible meaningful and searchable especially for parents and so um anyway this is exciting >> thank you yeah the students are you know I wish we

030had a little more time I was told by the rest of the administration not to take too long. So, I didn't bring in a lot of data at this point. I'm I'm always happy to share that with you if you're interested in that. So, >> did I throw you under the bus? >> I was just happy that >> I was just interested to note that there are students who care about that. >> Yeah, they really do. Well, yeah, they're and that's how they communicate. So, >> for sure. Um going on um goals are also to update communications related policies into a cohesive digital communications policy that might be you know maybe it's just a communications policy and one piece is digital. We'll look at that but we need to update those policies. Um provide needed

031communication tools and training for employees and getting a lot of requests for that. um and then improve our communication with employees. Specific um initiatives with media and public relations. We have a goal to build personal relationships with local and kiwis. So local front local news reporters and then kiwaset front reporters. Also a 5 to1 ratio of positive news versus negative news. you know, they will always cover the negative news, but we want to to share our positive news and then also to protect the district's reputation. Um, under social media, our initiatives this year, we have four different social media campaigns. Um, and one two of these these these first two are are larger than us. The first is an a statewide attendance campaign. So, we will integrate that along with a favorite thing about school

032today video series that you'll see throughout the year. Um, we'll support the America 250 national campaign for the celebration. And then this will affect the board of education. We want to highlight administration and schoolboard members as well as your messages to increase trust within the community through kind of a see and know campaign. So sharing your messages and also letting the community see what administration and the board of education is doing when you're out and serving because you do serve. >> Sharing the message will involve our thank yous to the um this district, >> right? We've added pictures to those and we'll share them in more than this really I social media is bigger than just social media. We house that on the website. So, it's a social media campaign, but it's in several different

033locations. Um, and then we'll celebrate and connect with schools and students by cross-osting on Instagram and Facebook stories with their accounts, which both um Kathy and Terry saw yesterday at the student council. That's an example of that. >> Are you um I have a question about the first bullet point. So, the video series, are you and Carrie going to shoot those videos? >> Yes. Yes. And then we also have two new interns that work with us. Um, and they'll help as well. One of them has extensive video experience, >> so we'll use those skills. We're also getting some new equipment. As superintendent knows, we did a video with him. I didn't realize how outdated some of our equipment is. So I'll be using um budget for out of the communication kind of shifting what's been

034done in the past towards some of the tools that we need to to communicate better digitally. >> Um I don't know if this is a good place to interject this but the the school and trust office is um sponsoring a video campaign again or a video competition again this year. they did last year for the first time and uh the elementary in Garland won with their video of and it kind of goes along with favorite things about school today. Um anyway, so they won $2,500 for their school. >> Oh, that's awesome. >> So, and that was they had four entries last year from the whole state. So, I think that we could get in on that and really if if you're already going to be shooting videos, >> we could do something um about or

035something about just throw something in with your school or the school land trust. >> Absolutely. >> Like what it's doing in the school or something like that. >> Will you connect with me on on the details on that and we'll for sure for sure do that. Um so communication standards I yeah this could come I mean this really kind of comes before some of the goals I guess but um we'll be implementing standards in these following areas. Um the one is just general standards and some examples of that of general standards would be um to use professional inclusive and student focused languages. So these would be things that um implementing not just from my the communications department but throughout the district um following FURPA um always having two sets of eyes on materials before they're

036going out etc. Um the equity and accessibility would be our translation tools that we've been using. We'll continue to do that. Um ensure ADA compliance are a couple examples there. evaluation and improvement. Um tracking engagement metrics through website traffic, social media, um our open rates on newsletters and then also administering um surveys as needed for you know parents, staff etc. communication strategies. Um, specific would be our crisis communication, which I mean, I could spend a whole hour just talking about crisis communication, but making sure that we're following those protocols, that we have the training, that we have templates in place so we can have quick communication. um the community support. Some examples of that um is a two-way communication system which um I've been working with the technology department on and building trust um promptly

037track and respond to inquiries. So so we get a lot of you know questions and emails and things. So putting in some strategies there to communicate better and then celebrating the successes which we have talked about a little bit. Um you'll see more some more of that. I don't think I had included in here our new there was one other campaign communication ways for the social media doing a spill the sweet tea campaign that we introduced to the students and that's all about celebrating success. So that would be an example of implementing those strategies. the strategies would stay, you know, those aren't your specific, but those are implementing appropriate good communication strategies within the district. >> Any questions? Other questions? You're doing great. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, that's great. >> Thanks so much. >>

038Have a question real quick. Sherry, great job. Um, communications department is you and how many people do we have on your team? >> That's a great question. And we have Carrie Phillips who I think most of you have have interacted with her a little bit. Her main role, she is our social media um coordinator and and she's the primary writer. She's a specialist focusing in in the messaging, if you will. She's also been trained on the website. All of us have been trained on the website um to help that way. But those are her primary roles is the messaging that kind of the sharing the good news, managing the social media. She um answers most of the questions that come through from our um our online forms and emails that we get from the public,

039which is quite extensive in in monitoring that and filtering that. Um and then we have two part-time interns that we've just hired that replaced Bailey, if you remember Bailey. So Spencer Young and Amber Alletz, who both are very qualified during their senior year at Utah State, we're grateful to have them. And I have them working on the website, which we still have some website needs with three new websites to build. And um just so you're aware that the search engine optimization if I don't know if anybody's even familiar with with that or knows what I'm talking about. But none of that has really each page there's metadata that goes on the back end and that that is not something that AI can do. That's not not something that the website company that we contract with

040can do. It has to be technical work from a from a person. So that's a that's an area that we're hoping to feel temporary to get some some work done and caught up. So there's four of us. And then >> and when a school needs help updating their school websites, do they do it themselves or do they contact a member of your team? >> So we have website editors at each location and and that involves training which there's been extensive training bringing it all into the new website platform. So, we have some video training and then we also go out to the schools. So, depending on who's available, sometimes that's me, sometimes it's Carrie, sometimes it's both of us. Um, we're we're working on getting our our new employees up to speed on doing that

041as well. They just went on their first training giving trainings last week. We also um have an online form now so they can request when those web editors need assistance because it's a lot of email and falling through the cracks. So, we're trying to work a little more efficiently on a very small staff. Yeah, >> that's great. updating our um school websites will be so helpful for our parents and students um to have accurate data or accurate information on those. That'll be really awesome. >> Yeah. And there was a lot of great information there previously from the folks that you know were before me. But things change and the technology changes. It's an ever growing huge document. we we brought over over 10,000 pages from when we brought from the old platform to the new

042platform. Um, and that's something there's a lot of content there that needs to be removed and gone through. So, there's a I mean there's a lot of work to be done to get it functioning as efficient as it possibly could. I should have maybe pulled the stats for you, but we've had um well over a couple million hits on the website in the short time that we've started collecting data. Um I've been sharing with the schools a little bit some of the schools, you know, when one month we'll have 500,000 use and it's not just I can track the difference between the bots and and people actually engaging and using it. So, we know that it's being used and people want to find information easier. >> Just making sure it's on there and accurate is

043still >> Yeah. And and there's I I wish I could sit here and tell you, you know what, it's up to date and the content's accurate. It's it's not as far as the communications plan. This first year is really getting the tools functioning how they should. Next year is content, focusing more on the content. We'll be doing of course managing the content the best we can, but next year I'd like to focus on really updating navigations and the content within those websites. >> You mentioned that there's 10,000 pages that you pulled over into the new site. >> Do you have a sense of how many of those pages are in PDF which makes it nearly impossible for searchability? >> Yeah, that need to go into a different format to be accessible. I I wish I

044I can pull a report on that, but it's hundreds. I mean, we have been working on that and pulling it's probably into the thousands to be honest with you. Um because that was the standard. I mean, that was what was okay a few years ago. It's not okay now. And and that puts us in um in really not being ADA compliant at all. That's the one thing that that isn't >> it's the searchability that that makes it not okay, right? >> Well, it's both searchability and its usage. So, if you have somebody that is using an assisted device to help them read, a PDF is just a picture. So, it's a picture of words. And if you use a device that connects to that to read a page for you, like a a screen reader,

045it cannot read it. So, you have somebody >> with >> because it's a picture. >> Okay. Does that make sense? >> I know some of you in this room have heard me say this before, but it's no different >> than having not an entrance into this building for somebody in a wheelchair or on crutches. So, I mean it's the law is the same with ADA compliance for digital use as it is, you know, we spend millions on our buildings to make sure that they're accessible >> and there's a lot of work to be done digitally to bring it up to accessibility. In addition to that, training our employees on accessibility. What that looks like is taking a PDF and copying, editing it, actually import, you know, putting it inside the platform that we build the

046website in which is not always easy. >> Still limitations to PDFs. Um, do they apply to translation for language? >> Yes. Yes, >> we have somebody whose language is other than English that was trying to access, they wouldn't be able to use a translator, not a PDF. >> Correct. And and I don't know if you're aware the new platform we have for our website, we have a translation tool built right in the website. So it already translates it for us so that we are in, you know, doing the >> correct. So none of the PDFs Yeah. They're they're not able to be translated or viewed with a screen reader. So, how we've been managing that is just looking at what are our top pages, kind of like fixing the front doors first, if you will.

047Um, so we've been fixing a lot of front doors, but there are a lot of smaller doors, especially within the school's websites and and educating our our web editors and providing the resources for them also moving forward. So, I I met with um a compliance representative not long ago and they said, "As long as we're continue to make progress, but you can't put new PDFs on your website, if that makes sense." So, putting in those best practices and putting a stop to a practice that has been done, you know, for 15 years. Yep. Other questions or are we good? >> I think you deserve to. Well, so I I'm like, "Okay, I'll eat those." >> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> I'm not a baseball fan, so I don't care. >> Next, we'll move to the

048uh relationships arm of our strategic plan. This reports agenda uh begins with uh student sponsored school clubs presented by Britney Foster. All right, we have a number of student clubs um that um are hoping to be approved. A handful from Green Canyon, Mountain Crest, and Ridgeline. Sky View did not submit any this year. Um so would you like me to go through them one by one or do you want to just ask me questions if you have any? >> We can read them. >> Okay. >> Well, we definitely have a magnifying glass. We can >> I know. I read through them earlier and I just had a question. I mean, I support this, but I just want to make sure we're okay with it. The religious >> clubs, we're okay to do that. >> Well,

049it's up to you guys. I would suggest we should be neutral in all areas. So, if a student club wants to to discuss that, we would allow them to do that. I just want to make sure we're in compliance with >> what we couldn't do is allow one or two and not allow others. >> That was the only one I had a question about. The other ones I thought were fine and I fine at some level with the religious ones as well, but I could just see it becoming complicated down the road. So, I think we should think through that. Well, and in and I agree with you on the on the religion one, but the political one, >> yes, >> is also a concern. >> Yes, I I thought the same. >> Um, and

050the note from admin. >> Mhm. >> Who is that from? >> That was from Danna Stallings. um this and it actually came from the student I believe um had had said that there was concerns about using the name of the club >> and um so John reached out or I think he actually had another colleague reach out to that sk that um school and they said that they did not have concerns. So, I'm not sure if there was misinformation or misunderstanding. Um, but they didn't seem to have a concern. I did, this is a I did look it up a little bit online. Um, there's a map of all the different charters in the state. So, there are multiple chapters in the state along the Wasatch front as well as in Washington County. Um, so

051we could reach out to any of those schools and ask them questions. Um, one of the things I thought was interesting when to apply for a charter, you have to be 18. So, they've either the students are applying for a charter on their own or their adviser is doing it for them. I hope their adviser is doing it for them, but um there are some the organization does give a lot of free posters and things. When I saw a couple of the posters, there were they were not politically neutral and wouldn't follow our instructional materials policy as far as being um hung in a school because our instructional materials policy says everything needs to be politically neutral. >> So, in that case, those particular posters wouldn't most likely meet that criteria or wouldn't be allowed

052to unless we feel differently and we feel like there's an appropriate place where those wouldn't be considered an instructional material. So we'd need to consider that if we wanted to allow those posters. >> So So do does the um advisor and the students who are starting this club understand that they have to have approval for any posters? >> Yes, they do. They've been talking with um Diana Stallings. They want to hang posters tomorrow. So they're probably going to be disappointed when they learn that they have to wait another couple of weeks. Um, but they're really excited to start their club. And the adviser is a I I think that they couldn't have picked a better adviser. She's a a great um teacher who knows how to navigate political discussions in a very neutral way. So,

053I feel like in her classroom, they'll have a safe environment to do that. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? All right. Then moving on, the second item in our relationships uh reports agenda is uh school choice data. It will be presented by Alden Jack. Alden Jack, executive director of student services. I should tell all your titles. Sorry. I'll do better next time. All right. Well, my primary purpose tonight is to um share with you information regarding the upcoming open enrollment window and application process for the upcoming school year. We'll look at that together. But before we did that, I thought it would be interesting for you to see um just a little bit of data from this last year and kind of where we sit on things. We, this is a just the chart shows,

054you know, our enrollment by type and 90% of our students attend the boundary school that they're assigned that they reside in. But we've got about 10% of our enrollment that are students who are attending a school out of their assigned boundary. uh majority of those are are Cash County residents uh Cash County district residents that are attending another school for some reason and then about 2 and a half% that are attending uh one of the cash schools out of district. So that typically tends to be Logan and Boxelder County school districts. So this is the total number of students currently on record in our our total enrollment out of about almost 2 thou 20,000 students we have about 1,500 students who attend uh by an outofboundary permit. Um >> we not have any from Preston.

055>> So Preston is a different issue because it's across a state border and so those individuals would have to pay Utah tuition. So that's very very rare. Okay. >> For us to have someone from Idaho who actually attends a Utah school. Um, >> out of those that um are enrolled with us out of district, I thought it'd be interesting for you to see we have about 429 students who come to us from Logan City School District boundaries and then about 41 or so that come from Boxelder. So, Beaver Dam, Collinsston, Manowway, sometimes as far as Tmont or Garland, we sometimes will have a student that'll come here for some reason. Um, this is showing just all of those uh students, those almost 1500 students. This shows how many attend by certain grade level. and by

056grade level it shows those that are within our district and and just attending another school by choice or how many are out of district um just by grade level generally there just for your interest sake. So it uh we see you know generally it's it's fairly even across the board. >> I I have a question with that. I was noticing middle school is so much lower than the others. Why is that? Yeah, my suspicion is simply that our just we're going through our building process right now. Our our middle schools are very very full. So their ability to accept out of boundary students right now is is fairly limited. Um this is showing um enrollment by school and the number of students that attend by choice with or without the district. And then I've also

057tried to put there an indicator of uh the most common outof area city that students attend uh from that school. And so for example um I'll I'll point to you at sunrise maybe for a minute here. There are that is one of our DLI schools. And so about 49 of those school choice designations are students attending the dual language immersion program. So it doesn't surprise me that they have 66 students plus the two out of district 68 students attending out of boundary. Uh they often have students from other Smithfield schools. So Smithfield has three elementaryaries. Sometimes we've got Smithfield students attending a different Smithfield school. So though so that we see that in Hyum. We see that in Smithfield especially. We see that a little bit in North Logan between Greenville and North Park. So

058that just kind of gives you a quick idea of where some of our students come from. Um this is the same for our secondary schools and um you know interesting we do uh tend to have quite a few students attend our secondary schools from Logan City boundaries. Uh this current uh school choice window began back on November 15th of last year and an early application window ran from November to February and we are still actively receiving requests even today of individuals that'd like to attend an out of boundary school for certain reason. Out of those 750 requests that we've processed, we've approved 493 of those across our 25 schools. And there's a number, you know, 203 that have been denied. Some that um their application was approved and then they said, "Oh, actually, I changed

059my mind. I'll withdraw." So, you see a number of those that withdrew and we're still currently processing some. This is something that happens through through the whole entire year, but the majority of these are received before August usually. So, um just a quick reminder, uh last year we revised, uh the board revised our policy and procedure that helps us address, um school choice applications for cash schools. Um we are in greater alignment now with the state statutes in that regard and have a little more clarity for principles on how to handle these. But uh what was new as of last year is that we should propose um capacities for our buildings and then an open enrollment designation of whether a school is open or full when it comes to that school choice application window that

060will happen. So that that would be set by you as the board. Um the way this works is if a school's capacity is below an open enrollment threshold, again that's set by the state, uh then we are open for enrollment and and accept applications. If a school is designated as full, that means we're not obligated to process those applications, but we may. Um so here is a a sheet that shows you that how that capacity works. And this will be very different for us this coming year than it was just previously. Again, our buildings are shifting. We have some boundary changes, some grade level configuration changes, things like that. So, for example, I'll I'll just take Birch Creek there at the top. The maximum capacity is the brick and mortar space of the building, what

061it what it could hold if we fill up those instructional spaces. And the open enrollment threshold is the next column over. That's the maximum capacity minus 40 students. The reason the state does that is to allow some flexibility so that we uh have room for people to move in and out in any given year and there's room to accommodate that in a building. The third column over you or fourth column over you see is the um our projected enrollments of what we anticipate our our schools will start with as we begin the year next year. And again, where sixth grade is moving out of elementary and other things like that, it's significantly different than it has been. So that last column there would show if if our projected enrollment is lower than our early open

062enrollment threshold, then that school by the state statute would be designated as open for enrollment. And so that shows there those schools that would be open. Cedar Ridge is is becoming our dual language magnet. And that would the the participation in that program K5 would determine enrollment there which is why that school would be closed. It's based on that dual language immersion lottery and and enrollments. Um same thing with the Spring Creek Elementary. So this is the next group of our elementary schools. So we anticipate that all elementary schools would be open for enrollment under this open enrollment and school choice process. Um, elementary schools may consider the capacity of an individual grade level separate from the capacity of the total building. So that's something we consider for elementary applications. The secondary schools are listed

063here. Um, and again, a school might be designated as full if our anticipated or projected enrollment is above that early open enrollment threshold. So that that will be true next year for North Cache and Ridgeline just simply meaning that we are not obligated to approve out of boundary requests for those schools but we may. So this this proposal for you today is uh to um consider these designations of open enrollment status and this report suggesting the building capacities and the projected enrollments and that's something we'd ask you to um take action on in the next uh meeting in October. Um this last uh last couple of slides, the board in our uh procedures helped us establish some priorities for how we handle applications during the early open enrollment application window. And these are the priorities

064that were established last year. And we'd also want to uh look at those and make sure they look adequate for this year. So, for example, if we have a junior student who had attended a high school and moved out of that area, but has applied to remain at that school out of boundary now that they've moved, that's our number one priority is to process those applications in the first position on the lottery list and so on. And you see that those uh priorities are slightly different between high school, middle, and elementary. Um, you'll also see other things like a a preference for um children of employees who work in the school district or a preference over Cash County residents, Cash County district residents versus out of district residents. Um, and so that's something to consider

065as well to to make sure those priorities um meet our needs for this coming year. >> You might have to take out number two on elementary school. >> Yeah, actually we do. I just noticed that with you. We do need to revise that where the configuration's changing for elementary. So, we need to edit that. Thank you. Um, one more item of business for you to make sure you understand. Um, in the state statutes, the early in uh application window for open enrollment is typically November 15 through the 3rd Friday in February. Um, it does stipulate though that for a school district that is drawing or revising boundaries or experiencing grade level configuration changes, that window is designated to be August 1st through November 1st. So the question, why did we not open this window on

066August 1st? Well, the answer is simply that we were not ready. That third bullet down says, "Notwithstanding all of those timelines above, we may delay uh those dates if we're unable to accurately make a reasonable projection of enrollments and capacities. So, we now have some clarity on what we believe those school capacities enrollments will be. And so, we would like to um alter that uh application window. What we do need to do though, there's a requirement that if we do alter that because of a a reason listed above that we needed to delay, we do need to notify parents um of anyone within our school district as well as other interested parties. So, who would that be? That might be our Logan City residents who might wish to apply. We need to let them know

067that we've revised the the window. So, what I would like to propose as well is that our early open enrollment application window be set for October 18th and run through December 12th. The reason for modifying that window again is because we can now predict the enrollments that we need, but we'd like to end that by December 12th because we need time to process applications and make teacher allocations for the buildings for the capacities that they will hold. And then anything after December 12th would be considered a late application as far as our our processing of the applications and the lottery process and assignments go. >> So since the board won't take action on the proposed boundary changes until the meeting on the 18th, shouldn't that be the night? >> Let's see. I may I apologize

068if I got that date incorrect here. So the that's correct. the um the board meeting will be is that the 16th? >> 16th. >> Yeah. So that so that gives us we'll take the day the following day to prepare if the board approves that and then we'd open that on the 18th I think. So, are there any other questions I could take now that about how the application process works or why we've delayed the enrollment application window or how the approval of those capacities or any of those items? Any other questions? Um, I'm curious about the the difference between the High Park Middle School and North Cash in the projected enrollment for 2026 because I thought opening the two new middle schools we were supposed to be more even evenly distributed with our students across

069the middle schools. because this shows that this um spreadsheet shows that High Park Middle School would only have 900 students where North Cash would have um 11 almost 1,200. >> I I I don't know if I can speak to that today, but I can find the answer for you and verify that that number is correct. And why is there a difference? Uh my understanding is it may be related to how we're trying to keep the high school boundary to mirror a middle boundary. Um so let me verify that and and I can get back with you on that piece. >> That'd be great. >> John, if he were here, may be able to answer that, but I I don't see him here today. So >> Well, then I have one quick question. So with the

070lottery priorities um item two and high school children of school employees. So those school employees would also consist of coaches. >> It depends. U some coaches are volunteer some are employed. So it depends. There's also some rules that we have to follow in the Utah High School Athletics Association about um students of coaches. So there there are some some things we have to watch for on that. >> I asked that because from time to time I get community members asking about that if the lottery priority is because the student's parent is an assistant coach or was hired as an assistant coach so that kid can maybe go to that school. So >> yeah, I I've heard that question as well. I I don't see it being as I process the applications. I don't see it

071being a thing that's abused in my opinion, although it may happen from time to time. >> Do you have to process all 750? >> Yes. Yeah, we do. Um but you know I think that what's important is we've got lots of individuals that want to attend cash schools and then we've got in district residents that have a you know some reason or another why why they it helps their family to attend another building and uh it's incredible to me how many of those requests were able to accommodate. I'm also grateful that we have some procedure and process to it. It's we have more process to it now than we've had previously, which gives some safeguards and parameters around it that to make sure it stays in check and doesn't get out of hand. Um, but

072it's amazing to me how many how many families were able to accommodate for the many requests that come in. So, >> wow. Wow. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Well, I I will um get an answer for you there, uh Terry, on on the middle school capacities and then um I'll correct Kathy. I'll correct the typo I have there where our grade levels have changed. I'll make sure that happens as well. So, okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Alvin. Uh moving on in our agenda, we are on our learning and growth agenda, reports agenda, and we will hear about the assessment plan. It will be presented by Britney Foster who is our executive director of teaching and learning. >> You gave the beans away. >> Oh, I forgive you. Um, all right. This is a requirement um

073with USB that we have an assessment plan, but it's also, I think, really helpful for you to to see the many assessments we use to um assess student learning. Um, so these are the different assessments that we offer or we administer I should say and then the testing window for when the test is administered and um when we choose to to test within that window that we're allowed to assess. So um I'm happy to go through each one if you'd like. We've got rise. No, that's uh 3rd through 8th grade. Aspire Plus is just 9th and 10th. Um so do you guys have questions about any of these? >> No, there's a lot of them, but glad it's all listed. >> Yeah, we have a plan in place for all of them. Yes. >> How

074are the schools selected for the NATE test? >> I'm not sure. We just get a letter telling us these are the schools that have been selected. So I don't know if they draw them from a hat or do you know? I it's a random selection. >> Okay. >> And it's done. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> What test is that one? >> The NAPE. >> National Assessment of Education. >> Educational Progress. >> I You guys might remember better than me. >> The one that's used to compare country to country. >> Yes. >> What What is the stamp one? >> I don't know. I'm sorry. This is Jeremy's plan and he couldn't be here today, so I'm presenting it for him. Does anyone here know what the stamp is? The stamp assessment? Jeremy would know it. Um,

075it must be a a specialized one. I I don't know for sure what it is. The DM is >> language proficiency. >> Oh, yes. Yes. It used to be called the Apple, so they changed the test. Thank you for looking that up. The DM is our alternate assessment for students with disabilities. That would be our students who are in essential elements and wouldn't have the skills to take the rise or Aspire or ACT. Um we are required to offer professional development on how to use the assessments and administer the assessments. So there's our plan for offering on page two the pa the plan for offering that professional development and training. Um on page three, we're required to provide um training on testing ethics and um also training on how to use the data. So those

076are our our training plans on the following pages. So >> do the teachers get a copy of this like now? >> The those that are affected or implement administer one of these tests are given the dates. I don't think that we've shared this entire plan with them. Okay. Do you think it's a good idea? Cuz sometimes it was like, okay, we're going to be testing in two weeks, you know, and you've got your lesson plans already out and what you were going to do. >> The assessments that they are they're given. They should have mo more than a couple of weeks to notice. Some of the things it's really we let the schools determine which dates are best for them. So for RISE, that's really at the school level. They determine that. We just say

077we'll test within this window. Aspire Plus, we're trying and at ACT, we're trying to get all the schools on the same page. So, we administer those on the same day. And I know Jeremy's working with the testing coordinators to do that in the next week or so. So, those dates haven't been determined yet. Um ACT has um but the Aspire Plus hasn't. They're working on that one. >> I I just think it would be nice for them to have them well in advance. >> Yeah. and the WEDA we have that entire window. So the schools just test those students individually any time during that window. So >> all right. >> Okay. >> Great. Thank you Britney. >> I think I'm next. >> Oh yes you are. >> And now Britney will present our uh reading

078data. >> Yeah. So this is just a summary of our reading data for Aadians. It's um Acadians is the reading screener that's used universally. Um across the state. It's also used across the country. Um so if we'll scroll Oh, I have a control thing here. Okay. Um so some of the things we'll talk about today are reading on grade level or it's sometimes called rogal. You'll hear that called that at USB. Um, rogal is the percent of students who are above benchmark on the acad accadience reading test. So that's kind of a unique assessment. Most of the time we don't use above benchmark as one of our measures, but the state does do that because it correlates to proficiency on the rise and um they want to show that if a student is doing well

079on a cadence, they will also be proficient on rice. So that's why that's been determined. Um our goal as a district, as a board, you've made that we would like all of our students to be at or above grade level by third grade. So reading on grade level is technically above. So I just want to keep that in mind as I get to the next slide. >> So yeah. So what you're saying is in our district we consider um on benchmark and above benchmark. >> Yes. Thank you. >> As on grade level. >> Yes. Yes. >> But the state only considers above benchmark. >> Yes. Thank you. >> On grade level. Is that right? >> Yes. You worded this much better than I did. So thank you. >> Um >> not sure how I feel

080about >> it's uh it's a tricky one. So when we publish our data on the the dashboard that Jeremy has created, we are presenting the students who are at benchmark or above benchmark because those are the students that typically if you are at benchmark or above benchmark, you will most likely be at benchmark or above benchmark the next time we assess you. And so that's how we're using them as a measure of >> being on grade level. Um, that's not to say we don't appreciate the correlation to rise, but it also helps us to know which students we have to provide an intervention for and which ones it's nice to provide an intervention for. We have to provide it for those who are below benchmark. So, um, so here's our district rogal data. Just a

081reminder, this is the students who are above um, benchmark. the state of Utah is as the top line and our data is the the bottom line and we've got 23 24 and 25 data. So you can see that our students the percentage of students who were above grade level has dropped over the last couple of years. the um 23 24 school years the state changed the criteria from using a 750 Lexile score to a 405 endofear reading composite score. So they went stopped using the Lexile and started using an endofear composite. So that does potentially contribute a little bit to the change in the numbers but not really. So is Lexile specific to a particular assessment? Is a Lexile score specific to a specific assessment? >> It's yes and no. >> And the reading comp

082end of your reading composite is a different. >> So they're they're both came from a cadence, the same assessment, >> but you can only get the end of your reading composite from a cadence. You can use multiple assessments to get Lexile. So yes and no. >> So this is our data of students who are at benchmark or above benchmark and this data shows that we are improving rather than not improving. um from 2022 to 2025 you can see that our data interestingly if we look at the percentage of students who who and I should mention that it's a it's beginning of the year middle of the year and end of the year is what we're looking at for each of the different years. So we've got state on the left and we've got our district

083on the right. Beginning is the dark blue, light blue is middle of the year and the royal bluish is the end of year. Our percentage of students who move from their improvement from beginning to end of year is about the same as the percentage of improvement of the state from beginning to end of the year. We just start at a higher percentage at the beginning of the year. >> Do you have any questions on that? >> Much better. >> It does. So, we're consistently our students are are consistently about 80% are at or above benchmark. slightly below 80% I should say. This next one will take a little bit of explaining. So each colored line represents a current grade in our school. So over on the right hand side is the legend. So the purple

084is our our current first graders and the blue at the top is our current 10th graders. And so you can see how they've done on the endofear assessment for Aadians each year. So you can see if you go all the way across to fifth grade, those students who have have finished fifth grade and and where they're ending, we're ending at about 80%. At the end of the year, >> that's called regression, too. >> I'm not a statistician, so I I will believe you. >> Is this just for last year? >> This is current students right now and where they were in fifth grade. If they weren't haven't gotten to fifth grade, it's where they were at the end of the year last year. >> Okay. So we stopped doing a cadence test in fifth grade

085which is why our data stops at fifth grade of each current of current kids where they're at for kindergarten to fifth grade. >> See an interesting thing is you'll see most of the time we start at the be or the end of the year we were closer to 80% up in the upper grades a little bit less in the lower grades. This is or no this is when we're talking about what grade they're in now. So this is the current 10th grade class. they were a little bit higher when they tested at the end of kindergarten than our last year's kindergarteners were. And we see that consistently in the last like the the students who are older did a little bit better at the end of year of kindergarten than our more recent kindergarteners. And

086then you'll see that they actually digress a little bit most of the time when end of year first grade. Then they go back up end of your second grade and then they kind of steady out go down a well depends on the grade level we're looking at but then we kind of go back down to about 80%. An interesting thing here in third grade. The end of third grade is is when we stop teaching how to read and we start using we start teaching reading to learn. And so we are going to see that our scores are going to go down a little bit because we're no longer focusing on how to read, but we're focusing on using reading to help us learn. So we'll see our data drop a little bit there. >> That's

087interesting to in this one for for me for the board is this to me demonstrates it's difficult to compare a year year to year because each group is uniquely different and it's better to look at that particular group's progression over time. I think it's interesting too like you mentioned Britney that the kids that started several years ago their scores are higher than what the kids are today >> in their reading comprehension. So I mean this data is interesting as a parent do parents understand what's happening and can they be more involved in preparing their kids so they they do come into school at a higher level. >> That's something's different. there is something different and we we're having a lot of talks about this um as an instructional and executive council and and what do

088we do to address learning and teaching in a in a different way um to meet the needs of these learners. So it you could wonder if we're doing our best to meet their needs if we need to make some changes if we're not okay with with the data as it is. So we had a we had as the board is aware we had a visit yesterday from the lieutenant governor. We had a teacher have brought together uh K through third grade. Was interesting to me is they do a reading week bring parents in in one night and talk about literacy and young learners. Um and to a te those teachers were talking about how difficult it is to get parents to understand the importance of reading to their children at home. That seemed to be

089the practice. In my my kids, my own personal experience, we're always talking about how important it is for parents to reach their children at home. And the ch the new challenge is is the electronic devices are ruling the day at home and it's getting perhaps becoming a barrier to those early literacy skills that are so important that parents have a partnership with us in helping develop. Yeah, >> Sherry's left already, but I think this is a great slide that illustrates to be communicated to the wider community to help parents see this is the data we're pulling. If you want your kids to come into this at a higher level, here's maybe some suggestions. >> That's a great um suggestion. Um, one of the kindergarten teachers on that panel talked about the Upstart program, which is

090a online preschool program, which is kind of funny that we're talking about screens, but um, cuz it is online, but she mentioned that the students who've completed that program come into kindergarten much more prepared than the other the students who haven't. So, that's another thing that we could really push Oh, I'm think I'm pushing through the buttons here. That's another thing we could talk about with parents is encouraging them to use it. I guess it's only 10 minutes a day with the parent. So, >> I think there's just so many engagement points that we could help communicate with our community, with parents, so they understand this. This isn't just us speculating. This is like real data >> and that should hopefully help them see, all right, we need to step up as parents these first

091four years of their lives so they're ready to get into school, be where they need to be. >> Yeah. So, perhaps some more outreach before they get to us to help us. Do we expect um all day kindergarten to increase these scores for the low for our youngest kids? >> Yes, we do. We do anticipate seeing these scores increase because students will be in all day K almost I mean every elementary now has it. So we hope to see these numbers increase as a result of that. Um, but as you can see, we still are a little concerned that there's other things that we need to address besides increasing the school day for kindergarteners. >> So, one of my soap boxes is um our teachers reading in class to the kids. Um, and it seems

092like that has dropped off a lot. That used to be I mean all the way up through high school they were being read to at different times and in the elementary every single day. So, I suggest that maybe you see if that would be a factor. And then I don't know if this is the place to say this or not, but um I am um I do a a literacy philanthropic project with the ladies club that I belong to and we have little bookmarks that we give to the new moms and babies and other organizations throughout Cash Valley on the importance of reading. It has 10 tips on it, how you can raise a reader. And I'm just wondering, would you be interested in seeing that bookmark? Because if >> that's something that would work

093for all of the kindergarten kids or whatever, I think that our organization would be willing to provide those. >> Yeah, if you'll get me a copy, I'll share it with our literacy team and see if they'd like to use that. Thank you. >> Spanish. >> Okay. Um, let me I had a thought, but now it's lost me. I have two granddaughters doing the Upstar right now. >> Oh, good to hear. >> Uh, and they're doing very well. I had a grandson that did it a couple years ago and it really helps. So, if we can encourage parents to get on that, these kids just get on and do it themselves and make big improvements. So, >> is there a cost for it? >> The state covers the cost. Yeah, I believe it's the state that

094covers it. All right. Um, so just a couple of conclusions and and I think we've already kind of mentioned these, but by the end of fifth grade, um, our students are about 80% that at or above benchmark by, um, by the time they leave us in fifth grade to go to the middle school. Um, our percent of proficiencies in Acadians are consistently between 9 and 10% above the state proficiencies, but our growth in proficiency is consistent with the same growth. We're seeing this growth amounts the same at the state and then our third grade reading on grade level has decreased in the last three years although USB state data has increased each year. Um oh I forgot to mention the state's goal while our goal is we want 100% of our students at or above

095benchmark by the end of third grade. The state would like us to have 70% of students at um above benchmark or at rogal. That's their goal by 2027. >> Why do they have this so low? >> That's high. >> 70% is are is the students who are above benchmark. >> That doesn't count on grade level. That counts only the ones above grade level. >> Yeah. So, it's quite high and we have quite a ways to go to get there. But we are going to keep working at it. Any other questions? Okay. Thanks. >> Thank you. for your box. And >> last but not least on our learning and growth reports agenda is elementary school systems of support presented by Derek Gar, our executive director of elementary school support. >> Okay. Well, um, thank you. I

096my my presentation will be fairly brief, but this is just in response to a question that came up a couple months ago in this meeting. just what what types of supports do we have available for our students and our teachers? Um, this is kind of a a broad look on our our framework, our systems. Um, I will hone in on a couple of components uh of of our supports. Um, and if you have any questions along the way, feel free to jump in and ask. I've got our two key players on our systems of support here with Britney and Alden. So, if I can't answer it, I I have people that can. But, um, we we use what's called MTSS, multi-tiered system of supports. And, um, it's a it's a proactive approach that is evidence-based.

097And it's an integrated framework. And at the core of all of the decisions with a multi-tered uh, system approach is um, individualizing the needs of the students. And we have we have systems in place um that allow teachers that that ability to look at that on an individual basis on a regular basis and we'll go over that in in just a minute. Um some of the key components that we have in our district um we have academic and behavioral screening processes. So academic uh screening process, some of those might be a cadence that's been talked about uh tonight that's given three times a year. um that's both uh math and reading. Um we have um core phonics that's also given to to some of the grade levels. I ready with math. Uh we have kindergarten

098screeners. Um we have some behavioral screening processes. We have um our our well-being scale that's uh given a couple times throughout the year that allow teachers a chance to really sit down and look um and see how they feel the each of their students are doing. And again, the each of these uh screening processes allows our our our teachers to look at it on an individual basis and make decisions based on that. That's not the only thing that's used as decision as decisions are made, but it's one of the key pieces uh to determine some initial grouping and um some followup as we as we've done interventions. We have PLC's in place at all of our schools. Um PLC's that's been a huge focus recently. And I would say that's the key piece that allows

099our teachers to have a chance to um work with their team and decide what's best for for each of those students on a regular basis. Um what I what I love about the PLC format is it is it removes the mentality that my students in my class are just my responsibility. Um it's a shared responsibility. It allows teams to not only look at their students, but also to assess how well they're doing. Maybe there's strengths and weaknesses that come out of their data and allows them to adjust. Uh maybe one teacher teaches one component of a lesson um really well and they had the other teacher had some students that need to have that retaught. Then shuffling some students around. It takes alignment and coordination um with the with the teachers, but when it's done

100and done effectively, it's it's powerful. Um and that process can be done not only just for uh academics, it it can be done for behaviors as well. Um response to intervention, uh that's just a a process that we use as we go through and and look at that. Teachers are always looking to see how their students have responded to that intervention. that's dependent on assessments and then adjusted afterwards. That's a part that was supposed to be part of the PLC um bullets there. PBIS um positive behavior intervention supports um that's been in place the last few years, especially in the elementary schools. Uh each of our schools have gone through kind of a tiered approach at implementing that. Um it's it's a way for uh schools to just have a positive approach to social emotional

101um and in turn hopefully academic improvement on that. Um it focuses on proactive um proactive expectations that are set on a tier one level and allows every school to have you um uniform terminology to be used. uh throughout uh uniform expectations as they go through that. And then within the PBIS system, it allows a tiered approach if there's other other needs. Um so just really quick to go over some of our tiered um systems within if I go back here uh down in that bottom right corner, the you know, you've seen the triangle before. Tier one is the bottom of the triangle, tier two, um and then tier three. Tier one is our whole whole class. All students receive that. Tier two is more individualized and tier three is is highly intensive. So I'll go

102through those really quick. Um tier one uh it's what you traditionally think of happens every day in our classes. All students receive that um high quality standards aligned uh instruction. It's aligned with our Utah core standards. um what teachers use to determine progress on that are just the general assessments that come through our our adopted curriculum. With that tier two would be more targeted support. Um that's all determined from that data that the teachers gather. Uh ideally that um that should be reviewed in those PLC formats and determined what those needs are from there. term. A tier 2 is usually more of a short shorter intervention approach. Um, it could be even just a day depending on what the what the needs are. Usually small group uh interventions. Again, this could be both academic and

103um behavioral. Academic, it would be within the team. It might be within some pareducators that they have available to help with this. um with behaviors. The tier 2 approach could be our school counselors uh taking some time um reteing some skills that that we see need to that can be on a small group or even a grade level basis as needed. Um on the PBIS focus, one of the things that's been really successful and most of our elementary schools have this running pretty well is a check-in checkout system. It allows us to target some some students that were determined through uh tier one approach that maybe need an a little bit of extra support. So each day those students are able to check in with an adult at the beginning of the day. They they

104have a quick retach teach the expectations. maybe there's some specific goals for those students and then uh be able to set a goal for the day and then check out at the end of the day and follow up with that. So that would be an example of a behavioral tier 2 support there. Tier three would be more intensive individualized support. So um a lot of people think that tier three is just special education. It doesn't it does not have to be just special education. It can be uh targeted uh behaviors that we see um maybe working one-on-one with a student um as needs arise with academics. It also doesn't have to be just one-on-one. If we have a group that has some intensive needs that we can group together and still um get some results

105out of that. Um, a lot of times this does in involve some parents at this level, especially if we're going the special ed route with our tier three approach. Um, some of the additional supports, there's so many different supports that we have going on within our schools and our districts, but just some that I wanted to mention uh tonight. Just at every school uh this year, we have a school support. Every elementary school, we have a school support leader and they've been key. their their role is to help with the literacy component, helping determine and work with the teachers to decide what kind of tiered approach we need to do through reading and math and and those kinds of things. And then um they're also there to help with some of the administration um components

106that might free up a principal to help with some of the behaviors or you know they can help with with some of that as well. school counselor in every school. That's been a huge addition in our elementary schools. That's something that I I think we you know, we talk a lot about behaviors increasing, but I think without the proactive approach that those counselors are doing on a regular basis, we'd be seeing a lot more. We've got our student services team that's always uh providing support, training, teaching, learning as well. um our special education team plays a a really important key part in this. And then we do also partner with Bear River Mental Health that can come in. A lot of times that's our tier three behavior support if if a student doesn't have behavior

107IEP goals uh and things like that. Any questions for me? That's all I've got on my presentation. >> I have a question. Yeah, you should probably know this, but say there's a tier three intervention. >> Uhhuh. and that student is transitioning or moving from sixth grade or fifth grade to the next school, teacher spent a lot of time helping improve that child's learning. Is that information passed along to that next grade so that teacher understands and knows? >> Yeah. And um every elementary school that I've been at has had a little bit different process on that, but it's usually run through our uh secondary counselors at the middle school level. they will have um some information sheets that that the teachers will fill out. Obviously, if there's set plans like IEPs, 504s, some of those

108kinds of things that we have, we have transition meetings. But then on um the general education front, when those counselors send that allows our teachers to put down some specific information, we include data with that and then we we schedule a time to meet with those counselors to review that and then it it just flags some situations for those counselors to to be aware of. Um, especially we really want to be aware if if we have a student maybe that we don't have a clear picture of where their supports might be, we want to carry that over to that to the middle school setting and allow them to in a in a different setting to be able to follow up with that work. You know, we might have a movein student that um we're we're

109still unsure where where their supports are at that point um and and be able to communicate that. So, yeah, every school that I've been at has had a little bit different system. They all seem to work really well. The last school I was at, you know, we fed into North Cash, they had a a fantastic system in place for that. That's a great question. >> Do you think that information gets filtered on down to the teacher who had or teachers who have that student? >> It um I would I would hope it does. I I would guess that more importantly the first step is those counselors are looking at class placement and then following up with teachers. A lot of times they have uh different classes that are offered that they'll look at putting those

110students in that need a little bit more intensive um they'll have different levels of reading classes or math classes that um have some co-eing models maybe things like that. So, um, just I think by the natural placement of where they're put, I think it allows the teachers to know that >> thinking more of the behavior situation. >> Yeah. And the behaviors um, yes, there's there's um, conversations I know that have happened. There's plans put in place. You know, a lot of times our our resource officers work in in a specific area and are able to follow up that way. So yes, if there's behaviors, I know that those are followed up and and >> that would be a big >> communicated. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions for me? >> Any other questions for

111Derek? >> Great. >> So much. >> Anybody have any to add? Any board members have questions? I I just want to say I really appreciate that on these presentations where the public can see this and also I can see it that the acronyms are being written out >> so that I personally know what we're talking about. >> We're moving to ban all acronyms in the district. >> We got a lot of work to do. >> Alvin laughs but >> I like that goal. >> You like the goal? >> Yeah. Be a lot of them. Yeah, exactly. All right. Any other anything else? >> All right, seeing we have arrived at the end of our agenda, we will adjourn. >> Thank you all for being here.