Cedar Falls Board of Education Meeting, September 8, 2025

001[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Good evening. Good evening. I would like to welcome everyone to the meeting of the Cedar Falls uh board of education school board meeting tonight uh Monday, September 8th. Uh I am not President Stzman. I am uh Vice President Jenny Stipe and I'm sitting in for LOL today. He is zooming in with us, but he is not um in state right now. So, I will be calling the meeting to order and um running us through our business tonight. First of all, I would like to go to our consent agenda. It is a fairly small agenda tonight. We have the approval of our agenda, the approval of the August 11th, 2025 minutes, the approval of our accounts payable and open enrollment report. So, do I have a motion for the uh consent agenda

002approval? >> So, moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos? Same sign. >> All right. We have approved the consent agenda for tonight. We are going to move into our next um agenda item which is public comment. We do have some um people here for public comment tonight. I do want to run us through this. This is something that doesn't happen at every meeting. So I just want to um refresh everyone as to how you get on the agenda for the school board. So again, I want to thank our speakers who are going to be um sharing some comments with us tonight for being here. If you are not used to coming to the board meeting and hearing this, we typically do try and

003talk about this, but um our meetings are by Iowa code considered open meetings. An open meeting means the p the meeting is open to the public to observe and listen to the proceedings of the meeting. At the public comment section of the agenda, citizens have the opportunity to make brief statements to the board. To make a public comment, a citizen must simply notify the district office or board president by 4 p.m. the day of the board meeting. Make sure the comments are three minutes or less in length and keep the comments germaine to school district business. At this time, we do have individuals signed up for comment tonight. Um, I do want to let everyone know who will be speaking because this is not an agenda item that the board takes action on. We will

004not be responding during this section. During the communication section, which follows this agenda item, um, Dr. Pati and district staff will have the opportunity to provide any comments or answers to questions that would have arisen during public comment. Um again, as for board members, we do have the opportunity at the end of the meeting to provide comments. Um and typically that's where we would share our comments. Um if we have any after tonight's meeting and I think with that we can go ahead and move into our public comment session. So I would like to call Grace Rogers to the podium. and I will remind you if you can introduce yourself again. You'll have three minutes. We do time it so I apologize in advance. I may have to um >> I practiced. >> Awesome. I

005love it. Um but in case just so you know, we will um make a comment if needed, but other than that, please feel free to go ahead and share with us. >> All right. Perfect. Good evening. My name is Grace Rogers. I live at 516 Cohen Court, and I'm going to speak quickly for the sake of time. I'm here to speak against the removal of gender identity as a protected class in our district's anti-bullying and anti-harassment policy 504.5.1. When the Iowa legislature removed gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act, they did it quickly without public consideration. And this board seems to have followed the same path, choosing to remove protections from students over the summer without public discussion, despite the impact it will have on real lives and despite no legal requirement to do

006so. I've heard the financial argument that keeping gender identity in our local policy could mean delayed reimbursement from the Department of Education, but let's be honest, that's a potential bureaucratic inconvenience for adults. The actual risk is the safety, well-being, and even the lives of our trans and non-binary children. Here's the reality. According to the Trevor Project's 2020 national survey, 52% of LGBTQ plus students reported being bullied at school online or online in the last year with trans and non-binary students reporting 16% higher rates than their cisgender LGBTQ plus peers. And when LGBTQ plus students are bullied, they face three times greater odds of attempting suicide. More importantly for this decision, you should know that the same study found that LGBTQ plus students who attended an LGBTQ affirming school had 30% lower odds of being bullied.

007That's not abstract. Those are our children in our classrooms. There's also a practical issue. When protections are named explicitly, teachers and staff have a clear and standard to point to and enforce. A vague promise to protect all students sounds nice, but the data proves it simply doesn't work. If it did, history wouldn't show us decades of unequal treatment. Nor would LGBTQ plus students still be among the most targeted groups for bullying today. This board should know that civil rights protections don't appear by accident. Women, people with disabilities, and racial minorities all needed explicit protections because of historic systemic discrimination. This isn't about adding every category imaginable. It's about recognizing a group of students who are proven to face higher risks and ensuring they're safe at our schools. I know the people in this room genuinely

008want to protect every student every day. And you can do that. You can and should choose to reinstate gender identity in our anti-bullying and anti-harassment policies. Not because the law requires it, but because the trans and non-binary students in this district deserve it. their safety, their mental health, and in some cases their lives depend on it. For everybody in the audience, there are three open four-year seats on this school board for the upcoming November 4th election, and I'm running for one of them. You can find me on Facebook at GraceforCF School Board. Thank you for listening. >> Thank you, Grace. >> Sorry. Sorry, I have to get used to pushing the button. Normally, I don't have the button microphone. Big deal tonight. Thank you, Grace, for speaking. I would like to call Kim Jensen up

009for public comment. >> So, um I need to say that I spoke with Carrie today and my daughter Alyssa should be on the list too and she's sick and so she said I could read Alyssa's. >> So, we are going to allow that since Carrie did communicate that. For future reference, um I will say that we do unless there was a reason like this and we are allowing that tonight because it sounds like we have a health issue. So for future reference we would want the speaker to be here but thank you for communicating that and we are happy to let you speak for both yourself Kim and Alyssa. So would you like to do you want me to separate between those? We'll probably do a separate between those. So you have the three minutes

010for yourself and then the three minutes for Alyssa. Does that work? >> I will do Alyssa and and thank you for letting me do that. I didn't know the rules so I just kind of went on what they told me. >> That's fine. So you would like to start with Alyssa. Lisa and I timed I time my Do you have You used to have one of those things that >> We don't anymore. Sorry. >> Then you're just going to just cut me off cuz I we'll do my best. >> All right. Sounds good. Thank you. >> Okay. So, my name is not Alyssa Jensen, but I'm reading for Alyssa Jensen. Um, and she is here because this board minus Nate Gruber chose to erase gender identity protections from our district's policies. Your first responsibility is

011to protect students, not funding, not legal fears, not money. Every child deserves to feel safe, respected, and valued here. By literally crossing out gender identity, you have done the opposite. Here's the reality. Federal protections granted by the Supreme Court in 2020 for gender identity have been blocked in states like Iowa. Iowa law doesn't protect it. Our city doesn't protect it. and now the schools don't protect it. This leaves students and staff with no protection at all. This isn't just we'll handle bullying like we always have. Without protections, students can be misgendered, deadnamed, or denied. And I asked what deadnamed meant. And that means that they could be called a different name than what they want to be called by. And I understand that's what Trump has said, but let's put the students first. Um, okay.

012I'm Where did I Oh, or denied bathroom access with no policy to back them up. Teachers could even face discrimination or firing if their gender identity makes someone uncomfortable. Your defense is this was recommended by your attorney, which 75% of the schools in Iowa all use the same attorney. But recommended is not required. Other Iowa districts haven't done this. You chose this. And just because something is legal doesn't make it moral. School integration and happy birthday to Ruby Bridges today was once against the law. Would you have stood against that, too? Your decision told our most vulnerable students, you don't belong. You're not safe. You're erased. Crossed out. You may not control state or federal law, but you could control what happened here. Instead, you chose politics and fear over children and staff. And when

013this board hides information from parents in meeting emails or hides information in other ways that the community has been talking about, I think you know what I'm talking about. How could this community trust this decision wasn't just self-p protection? Your duty is to protect kids, not score political points. To you, crossing out protections is nothing, but to this community, it's everything. You erase vulnerable students right before the reelection. and three people are up for reelection. Let's make sure we vote Grace in so students can get real leaders. Um, thank you. >> So, we would like to thank Alyssa for those comments and we are now reset. So, Kim, would you like to go ahead and make your comments? >> Okay. I'm Kim Jensen. I uh grew up in Cedar Falls schools all the way through

014and this is my 30th back to school year. So, we've had kids in schools for 30 years. Currently, I have two kids uh that are seniors. Only four board members answered my email regarding the concern of the board voting to cross off and delete gender identity as a protected group, but left every other group on the list of protections. Um Dr. Patise stated that Title 9 and sexual orientation will cover the issue of bullying protection for transgender students. Andy, you said that we will follow the law and do no harm. You did harm. The minute you crossed off one group of protected people, you did harm. How do you think transgender students feel when they go to school and find out the school board literally cross cross and then they have to go into their

015school and somehow feel a part of that? If my name was crossed off like that and I had to go to school, I'd be like, "Okay, but my name won't be crossed off because I'm a white woman." Well, the woman part my Title N and sexual orientation does not cover gender identity since when do we follow and I did my research on Title N and sexual orientation. If you all like to do your research on how that does not cover gender identity, that would be great. Since when do we follow unjust laws that hurt people? Slavery, segregation, illegal to be gay, no inclusion for kids with disabilities. 1975 was the first year kids with disabilities could go to school. Um, that's not too far back to name a few of the unjust laws that were

016made by legislators. Kim Reynolds signed a law that removed gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act, ending anti-discrimination protections for transgender individuals. Not all schools in Iowa deleted gender identity as a protected group. I would be curious if any of you attempted to call those schools and ask how did they do that and why weren't they worried about their legal protections. I think that would have been good research to have. These schools chose to stand up for to do what was right. Do I need to remind you of the history of our country and civil rights? It is a grassroots movement. It is regular people standing up for what is right. taking that risk, standing in the gap for people that have rights being taken away or were never given rights to begin with.

017That's called civil disobedience. Have we forgotten the people that went before us in their sacrifices? What side of history are y'all on? As I watch the board meetings, what appears to me is you readily agree with anything that the superintendent says. I rarely see questions or discussions and which is that's very disappointing. Um, you are voted to represent us, the citizens of Cedar Falls schools and students. We should be able to trust you to think for yourselves, do your own research, do critical thinking on the decisions that impact the students and community. The only board member willing to stand up and do the right thing was Nate. The rest >> I'm going to ask you to wrap up. >> Okay. The rest of you cap capitulated. just one above all you have a duty to

018make sure your decisions are in line with helping all students feel safe, included, heard, and seen. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> All right, we're going to go ahead and reset. And our last speaker um tonight is Priscilla Neman. Niman Neman, I'm not sure. You can correct me when you get up to the board. >> Yes, it's Priscilla Neeman. and I live at 825 Bluegrass Circle number 221. Tonight, my first the part of my talk is speaking as a former school psychologist. Once upon a time, a boy came into my office and asked for protection. He was 15. He self-identified as gay. He was being bullied by the coaches and the jocks. There was not anything I could do to protect this child. When he couldn't take the bullying anymore, he'd go across

019the street to a very conservative religious school. And given that I had a relationship with him, I asked him, "How is that going for you?" He said, "It's okay. They're just trying to save my soul." I had a feeling this boy would make it. But the qu, you know, he had no business coming to a school where he felt threatened on a daily basis. and one person in that building was willing to fight for him. You know, we had an obligation to protect all of our children. Do we do it all the time? No. We don't always know what's going on. But when we do know something is going on, we have an obligation to step forward. Fast forward now to today. I now volunteer a lot. So, I manage a little food pantry. It's

020off Cedar Heights. The children come running to me because guess what? I have food. They are bullied primarily because of class. These are lowincome children living in a mobile home park. So they continue to this day to face bullying based on class, sometimes race, and yes, sometimes gender identity. the teenagers, you know, it's not so cool to come and talk to me, but sometimes they do, and I find out tons of what's going on when they come and talk to me. And gender ID, how they're feeling about themselves as individuals, what their sexual identity is, is very, very important to them. So, we as adults in this room and out in the community have an obligation to step up to the plate and protect all of our children, not just a few. Thank you. >>

021I would like to thank all of our speakers who came tonight. Um, it can be very overwhelming and kind of nerve-wracking to try and step up and speak at a at a meeting like this. So, we do appreciate everyone who is willing to do that. So, thank you for being here tonight. Um, I'm we're going to go and move into our communications at this point. So, I would first like to maybe open it to Dr. Pati and then we will probably move to Janelle for the district updates. >> Yes, we don't have a student yet at this time, but we will have our student at the next board meeting. So, um, I would I too would like to thank everybody for coming and speaking this evening. That's always really important for that to to happen.

022Um what I'm going to do is start with an analogy and and um I know there's so many different feelings and thoughts. So I'm going to try to explain some of the rationalization or at least the decision-m behind this. So the analogy is say you're a small business owner. Doesn't matter in what area entrepreneurialship could be manufacturing. Uh but a new laws passed for that small business and you know it's going to impact your small business in some way. Uh, one of the first things that you're going to going to do is talk to the association that represents you, that advocates for you. Um, in our case, that's Iowa Association of School Boards. It could be um a local entrepreneurial um organization. It could be a statewide group that focuses on manufacturing to advocate. You

023ask them what is the recommendation and they say X. Whatever X is or recommendation that you follow. The uh second group that you go to is legal advice. You talk to your attorney. Your attorney says, "You know what? Our recommendation is X." You do what the previous group told you or or said would be in their recommendation. Finally, you go to whoever the organization is that provides oversight for whatever that law is. In our case, that's Department of Education. Uh but it could be a local auditor. It could be a statewide uh government group. Uh and you say, "What is the recommendation knowing that ultimately we're accountable for you?" and they say our recommendation is X. It's the same three uh groups recommending the exact same thing, three different organizations. Most small business uh owners

024would say, well, I think we're probably going to move in the recommendation of those three organizations, those three groups. However, there might be some that would not. There are some school districts in the state of Iowa that did not uh based on those three groups and organizations. So, let's talk a little bit about that. Um, I'm saying this not to offend any board members, but they they kind of know the process. We are the lowest level of bureaucracy bureaucracy in the state. Uh, uh, federal government, federal proclamations, state governments, state proclamations, city government really trumps uh, anything that school boards do. We don't create law. We cannot enact law. What we do is we set policy based upon law. Uh and that is our role and responsibility. Um there are some people that wish and

025want us to be a politically focused board, an activist board. There are some that has shifted that way across the state. However, the great majority of uh school boards still stay with the intent of what school districts should do. And we are not an activist board. Um again it is very straightforward in Iowa code that we are to be a non-political board. Then the the final thing is uh you know I I've not um we've not talked money or or at least I have not about fear of government funding not happening but we've talked about liability and I think there are some liability. I I think it was Jeff that asked the question at the last board meeting and really the answer doesn't lie sometimes in the first decision you make the liability aspects because

026there are some districts it's not prohibited that you include uh nonprotected groups into your policies. However, once you make that decision you can't necessarily say no. And in our community we would get other groups that would come forward to say list us in this policy as well. Some of those might be ones we agree with, disagree with, but there will be other groups. And the the other liability comes into play when you start saying no. Um or you're going to have to say yes to all to all those different groups. Cuz again, what I have said is not do no harm, but what I've said is we will follow the law and create safe not only environments, but learning environments for all kids. And I think that's important to understand that um this is not

027something done in a vacuum. This is done as we've trained our building administrators and we've talked about uh ways that the the all students have protections because all students have protections. Uh and it's important to understand that bullying harassment does cover these things. Sections of Title 9 does cover these things and and it's important to do to know those are in place. >> Thank you. Dr. Petty Janelle, would you like to come forward and give us our district update for tonight? And for the student, we were referencing the student. We typically do have our um high school >> student >> uh student government president with us and he will be joining us probably in one of our upcoming meetings. So, we can't wait to see him. >> Yes, he will. And he's highlighted tonight. So,

028we we will mention him here. I have a few months to catch up on. So, um sorry this is a little bit longer than usual. Um but first of all, we're going to go back a little bit over the summer. Um over Sturgis Falls weekend, we were really happy to open up the new high school, if we can still call it new high school, I guess, but we um had a lot of alumni tours that we did and had a great group of students from the volunteer club that came and did that. These are all current um seniors now that came and we did tours on Friday for some of the um reunion groups and then had kind of an open house on Saturday for those that were coming back from Sergis Falls. Um it

029was a great time. People love to get into the building and to see the spaces and even better for those students to interact with some of those alumni. Also wanted to highlight we had some great things happening at the state fair for some of our students. So this was one of our students from Aldrich Elementary and she was first place in the youth spelling bee at the Iowa State Fair. And then we also had current senior Alicia Smith. She won the grand championship of the Bill Rally Talent Search Competition at the state fair as well. So congratulations to both of those ladies. And then here's our um Mr. James Pang there on the left. He was um he went to Boy State this last summer as part of the American Legion boys um nation was

030then elected delegate from Iowa to go to Washington DC as part of that. So he was one of two that were elected from the entire group um that then went to DC and he was the only the fourth person in CF history that has done that. And then on the right we have this um contingency of seven young ladies that attended um the American Legion girls state and were delegates. And there is Miss Marie Dar, Lydia Wesley Hansford, Diva Dodia, Caitlyn Willis, Emerson Bartlett, I forgot that E there, Isabella Haperman, and Julia Tilly. And um great thing to know we were the largest um number of students to come from a district. So that was a great experience for those girls. and really want to thank um our high school uh social studies staff for

031supporting these students in those efforts. Also wanted to mention the Leo Club, which is a newer club up at the high school. They partnered with the city and worked on a helmet and life jacket stand at the new Gateway River Park. There's a couple of the members there and the work that they did to put that together. You can follow them, that club on Instagram. And then we also have a couple great highlights. This is a Gaga ball pit that's at Lincoln Elementary. as a former student um and then also with their PALS group, but she did this as her final Girl Scout project to support those students at Lincoln. So that was able to be there for when um those students came back to school here in the fall. And then this is a

032highlight from Cedar Heights Elementary. This was a former student as well, Will, and for his Eagle Scout project. He took one of the um like playground blacktop areas and then painted all of these great activities that you can do on there as well for the students to enjoy. and also was done just in time for school to start back up in the fall. And I would probably say our biggest highlight over the summer um was our girls softball team. They made history in the district. It was so fun to watch them this season. And if you were at the spring sports kickoff um coach actually said, "This is our breakout year. This is the year that we're going to do it." And those girls really did it. So they went to um state tournament, finished

033fourth place. So, um, congratulations to all those girls and especially that, um, graduating class for their leadership. And then Sydney Renion pictured there on the right, is the first, um, CF student to be honored as part of the softball all tournament team for 5A. So, congratulations to all those young ladies. And then here is our class of new teachers that we welcomed in August. This a fabulous group. They had some days of orientation leading up to when they started. And then um we've been introducing them on our social media channels as well to share. Um we have I think it is four former students or more than that that are current teachers now. At least four if not more than that that are now um teachers back in the district and it's great just to

034hear from them uh and say why they really chose Cedar Falls and wanted to come back and teach here. So, it was really exciting to get to meet all of them and welcome them to the district and make sure you follow us on social to meet all of those new staff. And then, of course, we had our fall sports kickoff at the stadium. This was the first year where we actually recognize our ninth grade teams for volleyball and football as well. So, even bigger numbers. Um, it was a great night and also of course um they talked about the booster club and all of the support that they give to the students as well. So, that was a a great night to kick off all of our fall sports. Um, which of course leads us

035we had a pool record set um by those four young ladies at the Holmes pool, which they'll be going to a new pool soon, but this was still them at the Holmes pool. And then I wanted to highlight this great um project with the North Seedar PTO and Roberts Concrete and Products. They installed a new inclusive basketball court out in Norse playground and those some showing some of the students there enjoying it. And then of course we had our hallways and all the learning starting on the first day of school. And then of course welcomed our preschool students. This is a few photos from Southdale and these at Hansen. And just um we have of course preschool at all seven of our elementary buildings. So all of those um preschool groups started. And then just

036some events coming up. Wanted to mention there um the high school cheerleaders are doing a mini cheer clinic. You can use that QR code to scan and register for that. And then also they're doing tiger driveway paws. If you don't have yours yet, it's still time to get that. They'll be they did paint them this last weekend, but they can still fit those in in a couple weekends if you'd like to get one. So you can use that QR code there as well. And this is a great highlight. Um really exciting. U most of the tile is in at the pool. This was taken last Friday. Still, of course, some work to be done, but I believe filling that pool with water is going to be happening soon. Uh so that was really exciting to

037see. And then of course, here's some photos of the Tiger Performance Center. And this is a space that of course um will now be able to have that finished flooring as part of um that additional funding and grant that the district received. And then of course you can follow all of the junior high and high school events, um activities, and if there's going to be changes, Bound is the place to be. Um you can get all your booster club memberships still um online as well with the Bound app. And then also wanted to highlight uh we always try to look back at the last school year to celebrate all the great things. Um so this was our Tiger Pride magazine that we um did just digital this year. So you can find it online from

038the cfschools.org homepage. Click right there to read the magazine and all the great things that happened last school year. And please follow along and next time it probably won't be as long or not because there's always lots of things happening. So, any questions? >> Thank you, Janelle. It's good to have the updates back and we are looking forward to seeing our student board rep back here shortly. We are now going to move into item E, which is the secretary's July financial reports. And I will uh move to Danell. >> Yeah, absolutely. If we could go ahead and pull up the uh July financials. As a reminder, we do uh review our financials on a monthly basis. Obviously, we're in September, uh, but, uh, due to the timing of our meetings as well as holidays and

039different things, we are a month behind. So, we are currently in July and we'll review those rather quickly. Um, but we anticipate reviewing uh, August and September here uh, in the near future. Um, but again, as we normally do, um, I do provide a a general overview of the uses of those financial uh, different buckets that we have or I like to say. Um, we have our general fund which is our overall operations of our district. Uh, we had revenues of $572,18 with expenditures of $5,759.77 for a total cash investments of $16,577,21957. We do have our management fund and our management fund is utilized for our property insurance, liability insurance, all of those particular items that the expenses do occur at the time of July. Um and so you'll see that larger expense associated to

040that um because we do have to uh our our year runs on a fiscal year. So July through June therefore our premiums are due at that period of time. Uh you will note uh in July uh the board did approve uh inner fund loan and that's because of the need uh for those balances associated to that and that one-time payment that's required at that time. So you'll see the revenues associated to the management fund of $10,354. you'll see that inter fund loan of $500,000 which will be paid back uh prior to the end of this fiscal year uh once those uh property tax payments do begin uh to be received with the expenditures of a little over $1.3 million for total cash investments of $348,638. We do have our save or um other individuals call

041it lot. It's our our one cent sales tax. Uh we have our revenues of $828,74. We do have our expenditures of $389,264. And then we do have our transfer um out which is to our debt service to pay our debt service associated to our general obligation bonds of $357,929 for total cash investments of $15,256,94. Uh we do have our PPE. Our PEP is our physical plant levy uh that is currently being utilized for the uh construction of um of our natiatorum as well as our TPC. So you'll see uh some revenues and expenditures associated to that as we continue to move forward with that total cash investments of 8,228,60.90. And then finally, we do have our debt service. And our debt service is paid out um twice a year. Uh our first payment will be

042in December as well as then in uh May. uh and you'll see those revenues and expenditures associated to that. Obviously, there are no expenditures at this time with a balance of $427,445.95. Uh we can continue to the next page which will reflect those remaining uh buckets or balances associated to our funds. We have our student activity which is um associated to our athletics and activities. Um at the district uh we had revenues of $54,791 with expenditures of $64,673 for total cash investments of $924,97. And then we also do have our agency funds as well as our enterprise funds. our enterprise fund is our nutrition uh that is associated to um the food that we serve obviously our children but it's also the salaries and benefits associated to that program as well as a standalone pro

043program we had revenues obviously in in uh that were minor in um July due to the fact that students are not attending school at that time but $31,36 we did have some expenditures associated to the program of $64,192 for total cash investments of $3,700 $150,875. We add our coffee shop, obviously no activity, no students in, uh, but we do have a fantastic coffee shop at our high school, as well as then our River Hills Consortium, which is a flowth through for our communities or districts that do um have students attending our River Hills Consortium. We have revenues of $68,756 with no expenditures at this time for a balance of $103,34.90. And then those last two pages or last two screens do reflect where we are based on certified uh budget at the time in which

044it was determined back in March um to where we are currently um with July. As we move forward then uh you'll see that for those remaining funds. So any questions specific about July? >> No questions. >> Can you remind me what that agency fund is? >> Yeah, the a skipped over that just a little. >> Yeah. Yeah. agency fund um is uh it's it's scholarships as well as it is um we uh any PTO PTA uh it's a um a fiduciary fund where we hold those funds uh for them and uh make purchases and revenues and different things like that for them. So it's a flowthrough fund for them. So yeah, great question. All right. So, the July finance report will be put on file to have record. Um, it does not need a motion

045for approval. So, we will move to item F, which will need a motion in a short second, but we are it will be the approval of fiscal 2025 treasures reconciliation report. This is for the general fund and the schoolhouse fund. And we will go to Dell for that as well. >> Thank you. Uh there's no presentation this evening, just more um first of all, our treasures report is an annual report that is reviewed. Um as you may or may not be aware, um uh Mr. Dan Lynch is a volunteer uh throughout the community that has volunteered to be our treasurer uh for the Cedar Falls Community Schools. We work with him on an annual basis to ensure that our financials um are uh he reviews them and make sure that they are uh based on

046um investments criteria and uh that he reviews to make sure that we're we're okay. Um the one thing unfortunately he does teach at uni and so he's not able to make it this evening to express um his approval of the treas treasures report but there is a letter that he did send um and I'm going to go ahead and read that letter indicating uh his approval of this uh uh treasures report on July 24th 2025 as shown on the June 30th 2025 treasures reconciliation report for the Cedar Falls Community School District balances are as follows depository Checking account balances at Farmer State Bank totaled 14,667,642.19 spread over five different accounts. Our various investment accounts held by Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Lincoln Savings Bank, Collins Community Credit Union, and Farmer State Bank total 37,653651.71. For a

047total treasurer's balance effective June 30th, 2025 of 52,321,293.90. By comparison, the district's secretary's fund balance total 51,378,4334 combined with the difference for outstanding checks, Revtrack deposits, federal and state taxes, and deposits in transit in the amount of 942,860.86 86 for a total of 52,32152,321,293.90 as of the same date. I'm happy to report the balanced reconciling report totaling 52,321,293.90. Um, I want to thank Dan for uh the review and his volunteerism for the district. Um, but if there's any other questions, uh, we do, uh, recommend approval of this report and appreciate all of his help with that. >> Are there any questions for Denell before we move to the motion? May I have a motion? >> I move that the Cedar Falls Community School District Board of Education approve the June 30th, 2025 treasures report as

048presented. >> Is there a second? >> Second. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. The motion has passed. We will now move to item G, which is a presentation from Tara Eastep and Eric Rosberg on the ISASP and ACC data. There will be no motion with this. It's a presentation for all of our information. >> Wonderful. Thank you for having us. We're excited to talk a little bit about uh just where we are uh as it relates to district goals. Uh the goals we set out to achieve last year and then where we are uh looking to head this year as well. So, I'm Eric Rossberg. I'm the director of secondary education. >> I'm Terry Eastup, the director of elementary education. >> Great. So, uh again, we're going to talk a little bit

049about academic achievement. Uh to start off with, I'll I'll take us through a little bit of that. I have quite a bit of data. Uh really, I want to show you a five-year look back and see where we're headed, the trae trajectories we have, and some of the work that we still have yet to do. Tara will talk a little bit about our our work as collaborative teams in PLC and then uh some of the culture goal that we had as it related to student attendance. So, uh we'll go from there. So, last year we set out for 85% proficient in both ELA and math as measured by the ISASP, the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress. And then now that science is a state reported um subject area, we we also set goals in

050science this year. We we typically hadn't done that before. And so, uh, 80% was actually a stretch goal, uh, for us. That was that is one that's typically historically been a little bit lower. So, I'll report on out on that here in a little bit. So, uh, the the first one, just to lay it out there, uh, we we were hoping for 85% just based on trajectory where we're hoping to be, the work we're doing in our district. We now have a K through 12 uh, coherent curriculum. We feel very good about the work that we're doing. We've we've had we've really just put a lot of work in literacy and uh, we were so close. 84.5% of students were proficient or advanced proficient. Uh really close to our our target. Uh just just in

051comparison, the statewide average for that is 73.65. So we are sitting at 84.5. We feel really good. It's a strong mark for us. Uh but at the same time, just short of our 85% goal. Here's uh what it looks like in the last five years. So on the far left is the 2021 school year. On the far right is is the most recent school year. Uh this is a bar graph showing uh three different levels of proficiency. Our the blue part of the of the bar graph shows advanced proficient learners. Uh the green shows students who uh are proficient and then the red is students who are not yet proficient. So the goal for us would be to have more students be advanced proficient and fewer students be not yet proficient. So you can see

052on the far left in 2021 uh we had less students advanced proficient and more students not yet proficient and we're trending in an absolutely terrific uh trend line here. So we have more students in in uh that are advanced proficient uh than over the last five years and then fewer students who are not yet proficient. I want to dive into just a little bit some of the subgroups that are state reported as well. So I'm going to start with talented and gifted uh students who are identified as talented and gifted. So on the left and this is going to be consistent throughout the presentation that is all learners throughout the district and then on the on the right is the subgroup that we're diving into districtwide. So again state uh this is our students who

053are identified as talented and gifted. So the blue bar are students who uh are advanced proficient. Again we want to see a trend line of of growing that bar. Uh and so that is that is happening. has stayed relatively stable the last four years. Uh but we still have a really good trajectory on that as well. Um students who receive special education services again we want to be able to grow uh the blue and the green and and that's absolutely what's happening. And in fact we we are very proud uh of this of this mark right here. you can see that uh decrease in the number of students who are not yet proficient as an area in literacy that we've we've really worked hard uh to achieve and that has been a more drastic drop

054uh over the last five years uh than really any other time. So we're really proud of this and then you can even see that we've grown the students who are advanced proficient who re receive special education services. That is really tremendous work by our staff uh to be able to do that districtwide. uh students who received free and reduced lunch. Another state reported uh subgroup category. Again, uh we are trending in the right direction on this one as well. We feel very proud of that. Um and then finally, we're broken out into elementary. Uh you can see the trajectory here. Uh two years ago, we did uh adopt a new elementary literacy curriculum. uh we we we have high high quality instructional materials that we feel really good about, but we've also done extra work

055as it relates to uh some of the intensive literacy work that's really magnified here in the junior high. Uh so you can see whoops, I'm sorry about that. The um the sharp decrease in the number of students who are who are not yet proficient. We set some real really cool marks uh here in ninth and eighth grade uh as it relates to literacy at the junior highs. uh Holmes junior high in the ninth grade had 96% of their students proficient or advanced proficient. That's that's really tremendous work. It's very difficult to achieve. Uh in eighth grade at Pete Junior High, they had 94% uh proficient. I mean that is just those are just really tremendous metrics and they've done they've they put in a lot of work to achieve that. Um so very proud of

056the work there. And then the high school has been relatively stable over the last five years as it relates to this. I have some other data to show uh some really great work that's happening there. But I think we are uh we should be very proud of the number of students who are advanced proficient at the high school. So many different um rigorous course pathways that we that we have for students uh along with um really great uh high interest areas um for for high school learners. So we'll we'll dive more into the high school here in just a little bit. Uh this is a a chart showing us versus the state average in 2024 2025. Uh the dark blue bar is the state average for each of those. The state peaks in eighth grade

057at 80% proficient which is actually really tremendous for our state. Uh as a state I think we should be proud of that mark. Um and then but at those at those same places you know we're over 10% uh higher uh in terms of that. So it's it's kind of the trend is we're about 10 10% higher at each of those metrics. So again very very proud of of that work. Um our staff are really working hard and doing a great job um with our kids. This is just some internal data. This is our fast bridge data we we do through 9th grade. Uh this just kind of shows the the work behind the scenes that we that we keep internal metrics on. This is uh showing the last well since spring of 2019. Uh we

058we've we've been relatively stable. Um we keep track of this. We we want to stay above 80% on this as well. Uh but again when students uh are are not proficient on this and we take this assessment in the fall, in the winter and in the spring, uh we intervene. This is how we this is the data that we collect internally. Mathematics uh this was this was a much greater stretch goal for us. Uh 85% is what we're shooting for. Uh we landed at 82%, statewide average is 70.31. We have we have work to do here. Uh but uh you'll see here in a little bit we we are on a good trajectory for these as well. Very similarly over the last five years we've grown the students who are in the advanced proficiency category.

059Uh we we adopted a new curriculum in uh 2021 2022. And so same thing we have coherence K through 11 or 12 in this. Uh really it's kindergarten through algebra 2. Uh so whatever grade algebra 2 you would take that in. Um but we feel really great about the trajectory that we're on for mathematics. Again more students advanced proficient than five years ago and then fewer students who are not yet proficient. Same format. Oops. Sorry I skipped a slide here. Um again this is us versus the statewide average. The dark blue bar being the statewide average. The light blue bar being Cedar Falls Community School District. Uh again, uh we are about 10% higher than the state average in almost every grade level. Now we have the same format that we had prior. So again,

060all participants, all students in math uh at the district and then we are taking a look at um a subgroup and so in this case it's the students who are identified as talented and gifted. Uh this is this is really tremendous again growing the number of students who are advanced proficient. uh over the last five years by a pretty considerable margin. So uh a great trend uh students who re have who receive special education services very similar to what we saw in ELA. We are we are growing students who re receive special education services in both the advanced proficiency categories as well as decreasing the number of students who are not yet proficient. Students who receive free and reduced lunch. Again a great trend line uh in both advanced proficiency and students not yet proficient.

061uh and then breaking it down by elementary. You can see over the last three years since adopting a new curriculum uh with high quality instructional materials, good things are happening. But that's not really the only thing. Just again a lot of learning by our staff and how to work with students who are are not yet proficient has been has been really good for us. So good work all around there at the junior high level. Uh again, good trajectories. That's really what I'm aiming to show here is that we are on the right path. uh what we're doing as as as teachers, what we're doing with curriculum is working uh and and so when we're trying to chart our goals, 85% for this year seems attainable uh for us and that's really what we're shooting for.

062And in math at the high school level, you can see we have a a really great uh number of students who are advanced proficient and we're we are decreasing the number of students who are not yet proficient in that. Finally, science. uh science is a little trickier because we only measure that at grades five, eight, and 10. So, it's a little bit more difficult to chart year-over-year. Uh and so there's a little bit more volatility because of the decreased number of times that we collect that data. Uh and there's not as we don't have as much internal data as it relates to uh screening assessments. We we use common assessments that teachers have created. Uh it's notable that we are starting a K through 11 um curriculum this year and so we have we have

063a new curriculum adoption happening now. Uh but yet we still have uh really great numbers as as you can see. Um we did meet our goal this year of of over 80% which that is really tremendous work that is very difficult to do um as you'll see here in just a little bit. Okay. So just going by grade level uh at the elementary we have we have fewer students who are right now at the advanced proficient but we have a whole lot of students who are uh proficient or advanced. that grows a little bit um as as maybe a little bit more specialization uh of of teachers in teaching uh science and a really great this year in eighth grade as you can see uh a lot more students who are advanced proficient than in

064prior years and we've decreased the number of students who are not yet proficient and I think this is extremely commendable and has it says a lot about our programming and um giving students uh rigorous programming at the high school level. You can see in 10th grade we we have tremendous numbers of students who are advanced proficient. Uh that doesn't happen by accident. We have we have a lot of rigorous pathways and and we'll get to that here in just a second when you see uh our AP statistics. Um just really great work being done at the high school as it relates to science. So diving into AP, uh last year we we had 17 different AP courses. This year we have eight or this last year we had 18 courses. Um pretty similar numbers to

065previous year in terms of participation. Uh last year we had 629 uh just you know which was up from the previous year. This year we had 588. Uh we had a tenth of a a point higher average than previous. So this last year we we had an average score of 3.8 and 88% uh was were successful and and the AP uh college board defines success as a three or higher. It's typically what colleges will accept. uh from an AP score. So again, you can see what we offer as it relates to that. And you can see just a lot of different pathways for for students to be able to take advanced coursework um at at Cedar Falls High School. The one that was added this year was computer science A. Uh it was the new

066one. I just want to talk a little bit about a couple of of the different things as it relates to AP coursework. This tells a little bit of the story. uh out of the 18 uh that we teach, 12 out of the 18 uh had a 90% success rate or higher. That's that's pretty tremendous. Three of them were over one full point over state average. So if if state average was 3.5, they were 4.5. So I mean that's that's pretty incredible to have three of those over a full point. Um and then 16 out of the 18 courses uh the students scored over uh the state average. So, uh, students are doing really well and the teachers are are, um, preparing those students extremely well for the AP exam, which is pretty tremendous. Wrapping up

067some data. Uh, I'm finishing off with ACT. Uh, so this is a 5-year look back of our ACT data. Um, we are hovering pretty consistently or right around 24. Uh, you can see in 2021 we were at 24.1. Today, we sit at 23.7. Um and uh this year we did have one perfect score which uh we'll um be sharing that out at a later meeting but I but I do want to report that students are doing well. Uh and so just really excited about the the the work that we've done uh there. And then I' I've just broken it out for you by English where we've hovered around 22 23. Uh this last year we're at 22. Five years ago you can see we were at 23. So work to do. Um and just diving

068into why that's the case. uh our science score uh very high. We're at 24.5 this last year, but it's it's hovered around 24.5 for the last uh five years, so very stable. And then in uh mathematics, uh we've hovered around 23 for the past five years. So this last year 22.9. So right at it. So this next year, uh diving into next year's goals, uh we have the really the same exact goals. We we're aiming for 85% of our students or more to be proficient or advanced proficient on the uh ISASP and then in science 80%. So we want to be able to maintain that and have stability in science uh moving forward from there. So kick it over to Tara. >> Okay. I am going to be talking about a professional learning community goal

069and the results from last year as well as our goal for the 2526 year. And then thanks for hanging in there with us. Then I'm going to finish with our culture results from last year and then talk about the 2526 goal as well. So to start with professional learning communities, you know, this is the fiber of who we are. This is how we do our work. This is our foundation. And the goal that we worked on this year is to have a process for analyzing our data and informing our instruction. And we did that because we had some spring 2024 data that said, "Hey, we need to be able to make sure we're not just collecting data, but that we're truly using that and informing it to make interventions and enrichments." So that's what we

070did. And good news, we met that goal. And so our staff is using and collecting data and then informing the decisions. So what is our goal this year? Our goal is to strengthen our collaborative teams. So to really work on healthy and productive teams, we know that the professional learning community, the essential component of that is those teachers and is that team. And so we need them to be both healthy, meaning that we have trusted relationships where we build norms and we come with our materials and productive where we do things like that last slide, dig into data and build intervention groups and work on answering those four questions about what it is that we want our kids to know and how we're going to make sure that we get to that next level. So

071you can see on the right hand side of the screen there is a survey that all of our teams throughout our district and all of these goals that Erica and are talking about right now are our K12 preK12 goals. So that's all of us will be taking this survey and identifying areas within our team that is working really well because that's important to celebrate and then also areas where we want to grow. They'll create a goal around that that will align to the building and district goal. And so next up is our culture goal. So as you know we had some some work around attendance at the state level and legislative level. So we embraced that and said hey let's really look uh and dig into attendance and how we can create a goal around

072that. And so we wanted to reduce the number of chronically absent students and we wanted to maintain district attendance. So here are our results. We met it. Our average daily attendance was 95.2% last year. And here is a wonderful celebration. We reduced chronic absenteeism to 8% from 15%. When you look at that as actual students, we're talking about 365 students walking our hallways that once were chronically absent, meaning they were missing 18 or more days that were not. That is a huge celebration celebration and testament to our staff. That is the folks that are the boots on the ground meeting our kids every day. our teachers, our staff, our administrators working with our families and students. So huge celebration. So we are going to stick with attendance for our culture goal for this upcoming year.

073We want to reduce our chronically absent students from 8% to 6% and continue to maintain that average daily attendance. Well, how is that going to show up for us this year? What is that action look like? It's actually going to show up in action with durable skills. So last year around the same time, Eric and I were here telling you about durable skills. And as a reminder, durable skills is how we use what we know like critical thinking and communication, collaboration, but it's also then paired with how we show up in the world. That's our self-confidence, our leadership, our self-awareness, and our resilience. Okay? And we talked a little bit last year about some research that was done out of a nonprofit group out of Colorado called America Succeeds. and they looked at workforce data

074and they reviewed over 80 million job postings and out of over a multi-year out of those 80 million job postings they identified these top competencies that employers were looking for and employers were saying we are noticing gaps in our workforce we are noticing gaps in the young employees that are coming to us these are the skills that they don't have these are the skills that we're looking for if we know that's what our workforce needs needs if we know that our job is to help prepare them for that next step. How can we as a pre-K12 system really develop these skills in our students? So, we've showed you this wheel. Eric and I had an opportunity to share this with all of our staff. This is now as you walk around our buildings, this wheel

075is starting to pop up in our classrooms and it's really exciting. And our response this Oh, let me actually dig into part of this wheel here just so you can see it. So, fortitude is a great example. When you zoom into this part of the the wheel, what are those subsklls? Well, they're things like self-confidence and resilience and trying things again even when it's hard. Um, self-discipline, motivation, all of those are those subs skills again that we're have research to show that employers are looking for in employees. How can we help make sure and guarantee that our students in Cedar Falls aren't surprised by those things when they leave our school, but instead walk away from our school prepared to be successful. And that's our hope. And so, how are we doing that? Through the

076Tiger 10. We introduced this just here a couple weeks ago on our first day kickoff with our staff. These are those 10 competencies. These 10 competencies that we want to make sure are embedded within our learning for our students. And this is also a response to the work that that you you all have experienced with Lynn Lions. She has now talked to our families and to our staff for the last two years about anxiety in our students. And one of her main messages is one of the is to be able to develop the the skill gaps and to teach the skills that kids are missing. as well as the anxious generation work that we've had multiple book studies around our response to all of that learning along with the research I just shared is this

077Tiger 10 it is prek12 and again our hope is that all kids won't just be exposed to this but will be ready and successful for that next step and the good news is these things are happening throughout our district most notably they're happening in CAPS caps has been using this language for the last couple years I also want to tell you Last year I was excited to let you know that at sixth grade we were just starting all sixth grade having an authentic learning class and we had a great year and we're even leveling up this next year to make sure that that is even just even more rigorous for them. Also super exciting is that we now starting this year are offering a seventh grade caps experience. So at all of our levels there

078is intentional opportunities to build these skills. We wanted it to go further than just getting these skills in a class. It needs to be more than that. So, how can these start to be embedded in just the experiences in all classrooms? No matter the grade level, mo, no matter if you're in preschool and or if you're a junior. Now, how we teach those skills will look different for a four-year-old or a 16y old, but the skills still remain the same. And so, what are our next steps? I am wrapping up here. Thanks for hanging in. The next steps with culture, PLC, and academic achievement. with culture. We are implementing that Tiger 10. That is a preK12 implementation. Your parents that are elementary parents will see this actually on report cards this year. We are going

079to be reporting to parents what that looks like as well. We want to build those durable skills and not just in those three examples I gave you, which they're all wonderful, but throughout our system, throughout our classrooms. And also, we want to continue to partner with our families and continue to partner with our students to really promote that strong attendance because we know it's be we're better together when we all work together, right? And professional learning communities. We're really excited about the work of the goal this year and for for uh staff to really dive into that survey and identify areas that they're strong with, but also be able to find areas to grow and build a goal around. and also academic achievement. Eric talked a lot about the the growth in our data and

080what the trajectory is looking like. It's wonderful. We also want to lift up those elective areas too that maybe we didn't highlight tonight, but that all of us, no matter the staff member, no matter the the class that they're teaching, it takes all of us to provide those innovative learning experiences for kids. And we're doing that because of our staff and because of our amazing students and our amazing families. And uh just to to wrap up here, these are just a few pictures of the things we should be so proud of. People going above and beyond our dedicated folks that are just making great exceptional opportunities and learning experiences for our kids. So that brings us to the end. If you have questions, we would be happy to take them. >> Eric, one question I

081had was um the ACT scores. Do we have is there a big change in the number of students who are taking ACT over the last several years? >> You would think it's it's been deemphasized as a co college entrance uh requirement, but our students are still taking it and showing up and and uh we we have a relatively consistent number of students taking it year-over-year. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> And go ahead, B. >> I had that same question. I guess on that slide that you showed us with the ACT data, the N is that the number of students that was taking it? It is. And are they juniors and seniors? >> It can >> or anybody? >> Anybody? >> Yeah. >> Okay. The the number was extremely high. I thought I mean I

082was surprised at the number. So, right. >> And they're not required. ACT is typically not required by universities anymore. Is that correct? >> Not necessarily, but a lot of scholarship opportunities can come uh and be utilized. So, if you if you take the ACT >> and then also includes uh multiple attempts. >> Okay. Excellent. Thank you. And I would say most colleges have gone to test optional for admission and most colleges are still recognizing financial aid like automatic scholarships for both students without test scores and with test scores. However, if you do really well on the ACT or the SAT, you probably are finding a benefit for financial aid. Um there was a change as well that now science is not a required portion for the ACT. Um it is a going to be a

083for pay section. So I know that a lot of student or colleges including you and I for example is not requiring science um for the ACT moving forward. >> I have a couple questions. Um one is you know for our AP data that's all great. >> I know we're looking at those test scores. Um and I know you're doing this but I would just encourage us to continue to find ways to make sure those are courses that are not just teaching to a successful test result and are having experiential and hands-on opportunities. is I think we have a lot of students who may or may not be collegebound who still probably want to challenge themselves and don't have that ACT score of three or above as their ultimate goal. So still finding ways we can

084entice them into those classes without the AP score being the ultimate outcome. Um algebra 2 is there conversation I'm sure we are bound by ISASP to continue to teach algebra 2 and use that as a measure. I mean from the college level more and more algebra 2 is not necessarily a real relevant math content area, statistics, advanced financial literacy, um even college math. A lot of like you and I for instance, we do all have as regent schools math requirements that used to be up to algebra 2, but we are now looking at if you've taken math for um elementary education because that's a major requirement that can fulfill algebra 2, statistics, um some of those other courses. So just thoughts on algebra 2 can be a very difficult course that is not really relevant

085or applicable for a lot of professions. So >> yeah interesting it's it is a part of a lot of our kids' journey still. Uh most kids most of our kids still take algebra 2 but the pathways after algebra 2 have grown substantially. Uh statistics is a is a really big part of a lot of our students pathway as well. And so when you would see a lot of students maybe only stopping and taking three years of math uh per requirements. um most of our kids are a lot of our kids are now taking uh our statistics courses that we that we offer. Um and so um I would I would say if you take a look at our enrollments, many kids are taking statistics, some kids are taking the pre-calculus calculus route. And so um

086I think those those offerings are there and um so there's there's different offerings than than what we typically have, but but yes, algebra 2 is still part of our our core sequence. And do they so they still need to work through algebra 2 to get to some of those other a lot of those other pathways? >> Uh not I'd have to take a double check on the prerequisite, but yes, typically they they do. >> I could address a little bit of that with my experience. Um I would assume that if you're taking pre-calculus or calculus, you would want to have had but otherwise I I really tend to agree with you that I'm not sure that it's relevant that statistics would be a much better option for many of our students. But if they are

087on a professional course, they would probably want to take algebra 2. >> And now I'm gonna go to Tara with a couple questions. And I think these all end up I don't know Janelle or who or Tara, can we go back to maybe even the last one of the last slides you shared that kind of was maybe our goals or just that kind of had the PLC next. Perfect. That's perfect. So I would just like you to talk a little bit about when you talked about PLC's you were talking kind of about those big picture things but I think the academic achievement and the culture all tie back to what actually happens in that PLC. So even though you are talking about those big ideas and approaching it from that culture and academic achievement how

088does that translate to like an individual student in a classroom what does that look like in that PLC meeting for those individual students? >> Absolutely great question. So professional learning community is the fiber of the work right that is our foundation. So on a Wednesday or a Monday morning, what you might see is data being looked at from that, let's just say math. Um, a math CFA. A CFA is a common formative assessment. That means that is just a quick check of how that student is doing on that essential skill. We've identified essential skills that we can guarantee that we want all kids to walk out of second grade with. And we're looking, this week, we taught this essential skill. We did a quick check. We're looking to see how they did and with during

089that time we're also saying okay there is a group of students here that didn't quite get it how can we build an intervention group so that then talks uh some might call it just right reading just right math some might call it win time it's really an MTSS structured time which is multi-tered system of support we are alphabet soup here in in education but what that really means is you're getting just what you need so we have set aside time in reading and math to make sure we're providing intervention time. So, we share kids within that second grade group. You there was a group of kids that didn't get that essential skill. Boy, let's make sure that they get it. So, we're going to teach them in a maybe a different way u more hands-on

090to make sure that they have it. There may be some kids that totally had it already and their thinking was even above and beyond. We want to try to enrich those kids during that time. So, if you've ever heard anybody talk about skill by skill, student by student, that's what we mean because every single child uh deserves to to go to that next level. And we want to make sure that we have every child um getting those essential skills. Does that make sense? >> Perfect. >> Yeah. >> And I love that our classrooms are now it's not my students, your students, and Eric students, it's our students, and we're working together to meet that variety of needs. And Jenny, that's a per that's a that's perfect because that brings in our culture. It is an

091our kids culture, not a my kids culture. Gone are the days where we teach in silos and your kids are in your classroom all day long. They're just yours. That just doesn't happen. Again, I said this earlier, but we're better together. And we're better together as educators as well. And we all have different strengths. And uh when we can bring bring our strengths together, build our teams, build on those strengths, and make sure that we're we're meeting every kid's kids's needs, then then then we're doing then we're doing something right. >> I do want to say it's not lost in us how thankful and and how lucky we are to have that protected time. Uh our collaborative time that we have on Monday mornings for secondary and the and the protected time that we have

092in the elementaryaries on Wednesday afternoons, we feel very fortunate for. We feel like it's really part of our DNA and and and how we do business. And so we're thankful for the board for continuing to support that in our community. We recognize the investment that it that that is for our community. And so it's just really important time for us to be able to do exactly what Tara just talked about. >> And with our new teachers coming in, we're make sure we're onboarding and that's part of their onboarding is being brought into that PLC work. >> Absolutely. So um our onboarding starts even before the new teacher orientation. We bring our new teachers in and start some of those processes, get them into their curriculum because one of the the professional learning community answers four

093questions. What do we want our kids to know? That's really diving into our standards. How do we know if if they they've learned it? That's making sure that we're really good at using data and to inform our decisions. What do we do if they don't know? That's building interventions. And what do we do if they've already learned it? That's building enrichment. So, we try very hard to make sure even our new teachers have that information, but not just at the beginning of the year because it's kind of a fire hose at the beginning of the year. It's a lot of information to take in if you're just a brand new teacher. We have uh folks that continue to well, the collaborative team is huge, but then we also have uh more boots on the ground

094with our principles and instructional coaches that check in with those new teachers to make sure that they have everything they need to be successful in this, too. One other quick question. This might seem a little trivial after what we were just talking about, but back to the AP courses. Um, I noticed the numbers fluctuate a bit and had going down, but we're offering more courses. Am I right that the number of exams doesn't necessarily represent the number of students who are actually taking the courses? >> That's a great point. Yeah, I think we had about 380 students uh take 580 some exams is Yeah. So mo some kids are taking, you know, a high AP load >> and some choose not to take the exam at all. Correct. >> Correct. So you could take the

095AP course and choose not to take the AP exam. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I've got one real quick. First of all, great job. you too, Eric and uh Tara. But I I just have a real quick question on the that benchmark year of 2021 which was during COVID. I'm sure it's tough to quantify, but would did you find that there might have been some sampling bias there just I remember during COVID, you know, scores down >> uh especially that ELA portion uh if I remember correctly was really tough. Did you break it down by class, kindergarten, like did the younger kids improve even more because of that or did co play a part of that? >> Yeah, it's something we paid attention to all the way throughout. We we were really curious as to

096who would be most affected and we and we did have some some uh groups uh more highly affected. And if you remember from uh some of the funding that we that we got, we we deployed some reading interventionists just throughout our district that really went to go handle some some of that in some of our highest uh needed areas. And and and so we found some some groups that yes, we had to go deploy extra resources. And so I know last year I probably used the the the term we're back to prepandemic levels quite a bit. And we have found that we have rebounded. we are we are back to where we were or better as you as you saw from the data than where we were pre- pandemic. Um but but so much of

097that was was getting pretty explicit about what we were teaching and getting kids um who you know weren't able to learn some of that phonics or or some of that early on um just from some of the barriers that we had. But um yes, our data is showing that we're back to where we were prior. >> And R.J. it was it was really early intervention, right? like those those young readers. And so we had our ESSER funds that were that were provided to us during COVID. And we used those funds for for a variety of reasons, but the majority of them went to intervention, so extra support of those early readers to make sure that that um we were able to kind of get them to where they needed to be. Um and I will

098also say we have we have now surpassed uh our attendance as well from preand pandemic. So that's taken a little bit longer, but we've we've surpassed that now for attendance. That was a big celebration for us this year, too. >> Thank you. >> I'll have one question, too. Because we're not looking at cohort groups, you're able to drill down though to um to R.J.'s comment that you can take a student and follow him along or her along and you'll and you know, >> yes. Yes. and we're we're not seeing that, but I know we've seen other PowerPoints that actually so show us those groups as they move through. And that's pretty amazing, too. >> It is. >> Yep. We can watch cohorts in math, in ELA, and then within those cohorts drill down to the

099student. And and that's that's part of part of the the decision- making is is being able to make sure that that we are seeing all of those students again, student by student, skill by skill. Thank you. >> Yeah, >> we're talking about this quite a bit, but part of the reason that we uh spent so much time and resource into the junior high intensive literacy is because we were seeing some of those students still kind of linger uh into later elementary than maybe what we we saw in the past. Uh but we we found it extremely effective uh once we train teachers to be able to respond to students who had intensive literacy needs. of students who are multiple years behind as it related to their reading skills. Once teachers learned how to to be

100able to respond to that, our data uh really blossomed in the last few years. >> So would you say if they were struggling in reading though we may and it may it may and will probably affect our science scores too to some sort because I mean science science has you know we can use a lot of hands-on things but there are there's a lot of reading in science too. Sure. >> There's actually a high correlation in in all subject areas, math as well. Yep. >> I mean, we could we could stay all night and talk about this. We love it. >> Unrelated, but since you guys were at the mic, any any updates on the the cell phone uh policy >> because I know that was something we talked about a few months ago, how

101that's going. >> I would love to update at the secondary level. So, we we've we've gotten a lot of really great feedback. Um, and and we've been in the buildings quite a bit just kind of witnessing and experiencing. Uh, I would love to have, you know, teachers talk about this a little bit, too. Um, but just some early indicators. I've heard teachers say, "I have been looking for it." And and it's and it's not happening. Uh, students aren't really aren't really trying to to to sneak it. Typically, it's an accident. uh just out of a habit of of checking or doing or something. You know, at the high school, uh I I asked they're averaging about four or five turned in per day, which is >> out of 1350 kids, that's pretty tremendous. Um and

102no second offenses yet, which is again really tremendous. Um I I just observed lunch the other day just just watching how kids are interacting. They aren't reaching for the cell phones like they were before. so often they were just in it all day and now even though they can have it during lunch specifically they they don't as much and so that's true at both the junior highs as well there just hasn't been it hasn't been as difficult as as we had thought so >> building those durable skills that we were talking about at the elementary there really hasn't been much change so our policy before that was that it was always in your backpack not even on your person and that continues to be the case if anything it's the smart watches that we just

103have to make sure in airplane mode or a friendly reminder, but uh for the most part it's it's it it has remained the same and has not been a problem. >> To that point, I think probably the biggest change is the earbud at the high school level. Yeah. >> And junior high. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Thank you both so much. >> Thank you. >> So, we are nearing um the end of our meeting. Uh item H is the superintendence report. >> Yeah, just a couple different items. Uh September 22nd board meetings listed as needed. It doesn't appear at this time. We'll need that. October 13th meeting, uh we'll have the certified annual report. Uh as well as the the board goals and superintendent goals at that time, which we will put out

104a uh calendar invite to see when and and what times we can meet for that. So, um, other than that, the school year's been off to a really good start. Uh, just districtwide, it's been, um, really invigorating, exciting, uh, different work that's going on across the buildings. I think, uh, we all feel like we're in a really good spot and and have had a tremendous start to the year. >> All right. Now, we are on item I and this is when we can have questions, comments, or concerns from board members. Would anyone like to make a question, comment, or concern? >> I I guess I will say something. So, what what one thing that I will say is that what what I've learned um is that maybe I have taken for granted the ability for

105our community to follow what we're doing here. Even though we think um that we we're just talking I'm talking about policy right now. Even though we had our first reading of our policy in July and then we went a whole month and then we had the second reading in August. And I know that there are individuals in our community that felt they didn't know or have the opportunity to voice their opinions or concerns. right after that first reading. And I I I don't have an answer at all um because I I struggle knowing how much is too much information, how much is not enough. And I I think that's um some of it's personal. Um, and so I I do know that when we look at things and I don't know if there's a way

106that we can communicate with and I'm going to say parents for right now, but parents about when we update our policies. Um, I think that would be extremely helpful especially after the first reading because then they can go into our minutes very easily and they can see anything that has been removed or added. The other thing that I would say and I I I heard this from just one person. Um and this person said to me that we sit up here and look like we are scared and that we are scared of Dr. Pati that um what what Dr. PI says is that is what's going to happen and I will tell you from my experience I've never felt that way. I have always felt that when I've had a question and I was in

107your office, Andy, before um our last meeting and um just I sent you an email and then I went in and talked to you and just really had to do some soularching about this regardless of how I feel about it. But I do value the Iowa School Board Association's opinions. I do value our attorney's opinions, even our local attorney's opinions. So, not just the one that gives all school boards information, but the one that represents us. Um, so I I can I need to I'm only speaking for myself. Um, because I don't know how everyone else feels, but I know we can do better when it comes to communicating those difficult subjects. Um because not that not that we would have changed our mind but it may have given us a little more opportunity to

108talk talk with you between August, excuse me, between July and August. Um and I'm I'm again I'm not blaming anyone because I I all I can say is that I know it's hard to get information. I've went back into districts and and tried to find their policies and it is super confusing no matter where you go and look. But the other thing I did do is I went back to the Iowa School Board Association because I've really been on this board since dirt and so a long time. And I went back and some of the people that I really admired and respected are still on the Iowa School Board Association. there. Emily Piper, um Margaret Bucknham, she's not on the Iowa School Board Association, but she's part of the UEEN. And so I those women

109I admire and I have reached out to them before and asked difficult questions and they are they respond almost immediately. So, as we walk as I as Joyce Coyle walks away from here tonight, I know I can do better communicating with everyone. I I want to believe that we we treat all students. We want all students to be safe no matter no matter what. I I I mean we I'm sure we all struggled up here. I struggled with this because I know it's difficult for individuals. I I I'm in a school building sometimes and and I know it's it's it's hard, but I I can't tell you and Andy doesn't need anybody to defend him. He's a big guy. He can defend himself. But I will say that he h is honest, has humb humble

110to a fault, has great integrity. Has he misspoke maybe on something? I don't know. Uh someone said that tonight. And if that's the case, for heaven's sakes, let's pick up the phone and call him. You can call him. you can call any one of us to say, "Hey, please clarify this for me." Because I would walk into his office the next day and get that. Again, I've talked way more than I wanted to talk tonight, but I feel like I needed to share that with the community and I needed to share that with Andy. Um because I value every board member on this up here and I know we struggle with some difficult things and we need to be better communicators so that our parents know what's happening before it's done. >> If I if

111I could add just a little bit to that. Um, one of the things that people notice if they go back and look at schoolboard votes, they're almost always unanimous. And the reason for that, and in particular in Cedar Falls, we've done a good job of finding good staff and good administrators to give us recommendations. Whether they're easy or not, it it can be difficult, but we trust them, as Joyce said, and we know that some of these decisions are not easy. I've been through several of them already and this is just my second turnaround on the board here so far. So, we do appreciate what they have. I would like to take the opportunity to speak to individuals, but I don't want to speak as a member of the board right now. So, if you'd

112like to stick around and I would love to listen to what you have to say, >> Dr. Pet, um, a couple things I've come across just kind of since our last meeting. Um, idea I would like to maybe float. We don't have to commit to it or anything, but I would love to maybe start this tradition of each one of us being able to meet with you one-on-one once a month. Doesn't even have to be like in your office. We could do a Zoom phone call, but you know, just kind of a one-on-one. Each member can, you know, pick your brain. You can pick our brains. We can offer some feedback that we have, you know, concerning how we run things in the district. I heard another district that does that. That sounds like a

113fantastic idea. I feel like it might help some of the other members who are not in the president vice president roles to feel a little bit more connected with what's going on, you know, more than when we get our board packet on the Friday before our meetings. And then the other thing I would like to maybe propose is when we have another issue kind of like this that we as a board also get an opportunity to speak with council and visit with council as well so then we can ask some of the questions that we may have and we don't necessarily feel like we have to filter them through administration. So, two things I would like to maybe see considered by this board to do uh moving forward. But >> yeah, and I think that's

114always good insight. I think sometimes the challenge is with, you know, individual meetings, small group meetings, sometimes the perception is, well, you're making decisions behind the scenes and you're not doing that in a public way. um where we try to do that certainly at the board meetings and I'd agree with with everybody that you always want to to communicate each and everything out as best as you can and and if there's policy confusion we want to make sure we address that. That's that's really important. Kind of breaks my heart to think people think I'm scary because that's not my intent. Um and I would encourage anybody to reach out with questions because that's that's why we're here. We're not going to agree on every single issue, but we're going to do things in hopefully a

115way that's proactive and and positive. So, at least there's an understanding of why uh even if there's not a complete agreement on the what. Um, and I think that's something that uh we've always prided ourselves on districtwide that we're going to always have a reason behind our recommendations and our processes. Just we know not everybody's going to agree. >> Uh, one more thing. I'm sorry. It occurred to me with what we were saying here with with my invitation. Uh we can't all be at a meeting off of the so we can't in other words we can't have a quorum that speak to all of you at a time. But I would still again appreciate an opportunity to listen to you. >> So I also had a couple comments I wanted to make. So I'm gonna

116throw these out there because I do think a lot of people may not leave here completely satisfied. I think that's you know probably the reality of tonight. I'm going to say though, building off what Tara said, we are better together. So, I'm gonna ask that everyone does offer we can each of us to each other offer grace and consider context and intent. Um, again, board members, public members, I have always found in my board tenure, um, I am over a decade. I can't remember this is going to be my last term. Um, but I am Joyce, you would know better than I was, 12, 14 years on the board. Andy has been, um, a superintendent that I know I can always go to with a question. I can always call him and meet with him.

117Nate, I think it something we can certainly look at having it be more of a structured thing, but that has been always an open door for me and I know that um that is also open to our community. And though it does not speak to some concerns shared tonight, um limiting liability risk is part of our role as a board member. I know that's not satisfying. It's not palatable, but that is something that we do have to consider. And IASB Joyce did mention it. That is the lobbying organization for public schools in Iowa. They are fierce lobbyists for public education. You know, that was the also additional guidance we got. I do think we as board members do consider our conscience when we make votes. Um, but that doesn't necessarily always translates into a vote

118that is going to 100% reflect that. Um, I think our job is to review our practices, push our leadership to make improvements to ensure students feel validated, safe, and valued in our district. Our biggest responsibility that I believe on the school board is to, you know, we hire the superintendent and hold this person accountable to hold our leadership team, two of which are in the room with us tonight and, you know, celebrated some of our student success with us. Our job is to hold them to account to create these safe and supportive learning environments for our students. These are not just words for us, but it's also not simple. I wish we could just say and have our policies reflect that our intention and our context and our goal is to create um validated students

119who feel safe and valued in every aspect of our classrooms. We are always working to do better. Um and that I think is how we can help do that is to hold Andy or whoever is our superintendent to account. Um we need to have that trust there for our leadership team. that trust is not there then we need to look at the one person we can hire in the district and that is where I think you know our biggest value to the community lies whether words are in policy or not our practices and actions are what is truly going to matter and we have to continue to push our leadership team to review monitor hold our staff and students accountable for these learning environments um again it's not easy and we always can improve move,

120but our actions matter more than a couple words that are going to be in a policy. For anyone who is intending to run for school board, I want to remind you school board is not a political office. We do not run represented by our political affiliation. my tenures on the board, I have sat with members at this table that we all have a vast variety across the spectrum of beliefs, religious and political, social norms, values, and beliefs. Though we still may not agree on all things, the relationships that we've been able to create as board members has resulted in us being able to have hard conversations with each other so that we can try and have great discussion and dialogue and try to understand where each others are coming from. Um, I can't speak for

121all board members, but I would hope our current board would agree that our board is willing to listen, learn, and consider with intention the decisions that impact our district and our students. And those would be conversations with each other, with our community, and with our leadership team. I do think we all have different practices in terms of how we communicate with the community. I do believe that um Lel is board president. I like him to speak for the board. I had a lot of questions that I asked LL. I worked with Andy to provide additional context. So again, I would ask everybody to just provide a little grace and not assume the worst about people because sometimes we just have different norms and practices as board members. Um, and reaching out as Joyce said with

122a phone call or something is going to provide some context which I think is important and our role is to resent all students and families. Candidates should not run based on a single issue. Our role is larger than a single issue. I think the people who are passionate in this room understand that there are other groups that are just as passionate and we need to find consensus at this board so we can represent and support all students. we do not want political parties getting involved in the school board. That is not where we want to go as a state. There are many states that you do run on political affiliation. And I think the best thing that our um political parties can do is respect the history of of a aoliticism in the Iowa schoolboard

123system. So I would ask our candidates to become educated and informed. Offer grace to our current board, our former board, our teachers, our staff, and our parents who you agree with and don't agree with. Um, one of my best movies that I love is The American President. And he says, "Michael Douglas, it's a great uh it's a great monologue for anybody who's getting ready to vote. The best way to win an election is to tell you why you should be afraid of it and who's to blame for that fear." So, I would ask um our community members, our political parties, again, respect and honor that history. The commonality of our board is not political affiliation, but our care and concern for our students, our staff, and a strong public education institution. Everyone who's here tonight,

124please come to the board with the passion shared tonight. Any candidates, please bring that passion to your candidacy to ensure that we can protect public education, but come with a willingness to listen, learn, be informed, offer grace, and model tolerance. So, >> thank you. Michael Douglas is still much better as a so go watch that. But >> Jenny, I would just like to add I I'm I feel bad that I can't be there tonight. Um, this is a a meeting that I didn't want to miss, but I'm in another country on a different time zone right now. But thank you to all the board members that made statements very valuable and 100% agree, Jenny, with what you said about our role as a board and um that's what we're going to keep doing. So, thank

125you for those comments. So, we should end on that, but I'm the elephant in the room kind of guy. There was a groan with the Title N comment that I'd made and and from some of the members of the crowd, good, bad, or indifferent. And and maybe we're doing it wrong. We have to go through a different lens. There's a definition and difference of gender and sex within the law, but we train not only annually ourselves, but our school principles that if something is focused on sex, we are going to go through the title N lens to make sure that we are taking all the steps necessary and appropriate to ensure that um the right processes, the right protections are in place. if all of a sudden we it takes more time to do it

126that way, but we think it's the best process to do it that way to protect a students, our staff, our community. Uh but more importantly, just the processes we have in place. So, um and if I misspoke on that, I'm looking at the person that's the the kind of the guru on that to make sure I Yes. Thank you. >> Are there any further comments for board members tonight? The last thing I will share is that I want to thank or congratulate our Bill Riley talent sprouts. I was a talent sprout back in the day. So if anybody wants a great rendition of Boogie Wiggy Bugle Boy or Barry Manalow's Daybreak, just let me know. >> Other than that, I would like to ask for a motion to adjourn. >> So move. >> Do I

127have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I oppose. Same sign. >> We are adjourned. Thank you everybody for coming tonight. >> Thank you.