001- Good evening. We are reconvening the strategic plan update session of October 27th, 2025. - I move the Board of Education approve the agenda as submitted. - [Board Member] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the agenda as submitted. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. - I move the Board of Education approve the publication of the public notice for request for qualifications for a construction manager at risk. - [Board Member] Second. - It's been moved and seconded that the Board of Education approve the publication of the public notice for a request for qualifications for a construction manager at risk. Any discussion or information? - Yeah, so as you know, when we talked about
002with the bond referendum, if the bond passes next Tuesday, we're looking at using a construction manager to move forward so that we could get that construction completed by 2029. And so in order to get that process started, envisions architect team, our architects, have said that we kind of need to get that process going. Now, just know that if the bond wouldn't pass, then this is null and void. So we're just trying to keep the process moving, so that if it would pass, we are in a position that we're ready and prepared. - Fantastic. Any other discussion from the board? All those in favor say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Any opposed? That motion carries. So now we're happy to turn it over to Superintendent Hawkins to lead us through the district strategic plan review.
003- Yeah, well, welcome. It's the end of October. It's hard to believe we're already at checkpoint number one, right, of the school year. I wanna welcome the Board, obviously, and then look at all of our friends. We have a big audience. So again, this is the wonderful team that I get to work with each and every day. So I appreciate all of you being here and supporting the mission of the district. So, thanks so much. If you look at your handout, again, that Mike and Trisha always put together for us and keep us all organized, I just wanna remind you that this is from our strategic plan. Each year, we put together priority initiatives. And then three times a year, we report out to you to how we're doing on those priority initiatives. Because we
004really value the fact that our strategic plan does not sit on the shelf. That we are living it, breathing it every single day. And that not only are we breathing it at this table, but I'm looking right ahead and Megan Elsinger shaking her head at me to mean that we're doing this in our schools as well. And so our staff, our district, they know what our goals are for each year, that we put out our priority initiatives. So if you look at the status updates just as a reminder, you can see started, on track, on hold, completed, operational, and canceled. So those are just the markers that we use, so you kind of know where we're at in the plan. Since it is our first report out, most of them are gonna say they're started
005or on track. Again, we use on hold if maybe we've gotten some more information and we've decided, you know, maybe we're not gonna move forward with that priority initiative. And then, obviously, we hope that we get them completed and make them operational. So tonight, really, we're gonna go through each of the five priority initiatives, and we've got some special guests that are gonna come up and do some talking because I know how wonderful it is to hear me talk all night long, right? (board members chuckling) Not fun. So I appreciate everybody's here that's gonna share with the board from some experiences that you're already having with the information. So if we turn to priority number one, that's really about strengthening the district's efforts to engage our families, students, and staff in student success-focused initiatives. Okay.
006And so you can see that we actually have three priorities that are in this bullet. And each time we meet, we try to focus on one of those with a guest speaker, okay? So 1.1 is really around attendance, and you can see that we're on track with that initiative. And if you look at the bottom of that page, you can see there's key action items, and those are listed for each that we can read through. And then what are our next steps look like for each of those initiatives that are listed up on the screen. And so, Becky and her team are doing lots of great work with attendance. We've actually done some work with our principals and district leadership team already this year as well. 1.2. That's the one we're gonna focus on tonight.
007And that's about launching an updated parent-teacher conference model. Something that really focuses on that Xello system and then updated report cards. And so we've got some people here to share what's going well with that and key actions that have happened. And then 1.3 is we've got a priority initiative to review our current preschool program offerings. We wanna research our best practices and really see if what we're offering in the school district is fitting the needs, not only of our community, but the future of our district as well. And so we've got a team that's been meeting regularly, so I'll be anxious to report on that when we meet in February. So to get us started for 1.2, I believe Andy Peterson's gonna kick us off. Look at him. And talk a little bit about elementary
008parent-teacher conference update. - [Andy] Where do I get to go? - You get to go right up to the microphone in the front. Yeah. - [Andy] Any specific questions or just hop in? - Hop in. - Okay. - Yeah, you're here to share. - So I sat as a part of a group last year that looked at conferences K-12 throughout the district, and it was a really good to be working K-12. I think that's really important to do that when we can. At the elementary, specifically looked at, we have really good attendance at elementary conferences. How do we capitalize on that? How do we continue to align what we're doing to make a system work with secondary as well? And then we looked at how could we begin to think about our 21st century skills
009a little bit differently. And the 21st century skills are what we've used in the past to talk with parents about the way kids are behaving in class, the things that they're displaying, and that kind of a thing. And we've started to look at some employment skills and how those might be able to connect K-12. And so I think that's been a really good point of conversation for us. And then thinking about Xello, which is a move that 6-12 is gonna make, but it's also gonna come down into fifth grade, and how some of those post-secondary and career type options as they flow down into fifth grade, how we can incorporate those and work those in together as well. - Awesome, thank you. Any questions for Andy? Andy's the new principal at Kennedy this year, so
010he's left Carver and now he's a Kennedy Mustang. (board members chuckling) - [Andy] Thanks guys very much. - Greg Lehman. - Good evening. I've been told that I am a bit of a storyteller, so I'm going to try to keep it brief tonight. (board members laughing) Thank you Andy for being the opening act about parent-teacher conferences, and also as part of that same committee, had families, parents, community members, we met together and tried to figure out how can we make conferences more meaningful for our parents as well. As Mr. Peterson talked about, elementary attendance is really good, very strong. We wanna build on that. And so secondary was taking a look at how can we reorganize and provide a different focus for conferences. We talked about, in sixth grade, we could focus the conversation on
011more than just grades and attendance, and start talking about that transition from our elementary partners to middle school. What's that looking like? The October conferences are a great time to do that. Parents are new to our buildings and they're anxious to meet those teachers and talk with them. Seventh grade, we're talking about academic skills. What are those skills you need to be successful in classes? Because grades are important. We're getting them ready for high school to earn those credits. And then in eighth grade, we're talking about that transition to high school. So we're talking about Xello and what does that mean for their career planning and career exploration. And we were wanting to take a look at, not only how we do conferences, the conversations, but also, when are we offering them? Should we be
012flexing our times to make it more accessible for our parents to come in and visit with us. So at the secondary level, we've been talking a lot about how can we make those things meaningful to parents, so that we're not just talking about grades and attendance. You can see that in Infinite Campus. And at Jefferson, we're following up our conferences with parent surveys. I don't know if other schools are, I think elementaries are. So we're also building on that idea to follow up with other families, and what can we do in February and March to make it even better for our families. So that's a little bit about middle school. - Thanks, Greg. - Other questions? - One question, Greg. - Yeah. - Before conferences, or maybe you do this, you're talking about survey to
013the parents. - Yeah. - Is there a survey, and maybe it's gonna happen later. What do parents really wanna talk about? Like you said, they can see their grades, they know their attendance. What is their topic that when they come to the school and they wanna talk to the teacher about? Is that survey happening? - Yeah, thanks for asking that question. I skipped over that part. So for us, we ask parents to schedule us a conference time, so they can reserve a time. And part of that then, we send out a survey and we ask them exactly that. What is it that you would like to visit with? And that way, our teachers are very prepared to hold those conversations, to address those things that are most pressing to our parents. And we have had
014good feedback from our parents. They want to talk about how are they with their friendships, how are they getting along organization in classes, and things like that. So the survey has helped direct the conversations we have with our families. - Because those are life skills that a student, if they are selling in friendships and life, listening to directions and following through. That makes a better person. - A lot of it is, how is my child doing, now that we don't have cellphones in the school? Those would be in a lot of conversations. - [Lisa] That's important to know. - Yeah, in our family- - [Amy] That's coming, that's coming. Ed program. - Okay. Oh okay, I'll keep that on hold. - Okay. (board members laughing) - Okay, good. - [Board Member] That's a preview for
015ed program. - [Amy] Yeah. - I think it's a great idea to survey and get feedback from parents. New implementation. Find out how's it looking at the beginning. You said your school is doing that. Are other schools, middle and high schools doing that? I saw that elementary is. - You know, Nancy, I don't wanna speak for them. I don't know that off the top of my head. I think other buildings are doing that, but I don't wanna say yes or no. - Sure. - I see the Roosevelt principal shaking his head. - Okay, so we know Roosevelt's on board, so- - Julia is shaking her head. - Julia, okay. (Amy laughing) You're behind Greg, I can't see your face (laughs). - Well, I think it'll be critical to further refining and defining the conference format
016as you go forward. - Yeah, if we wanna make it meaningful to parents, we need to hear from our parents. - Exactly. - That was our thought. - Yeah. Great. - And I think all of these are are strategies to get kids into the school building. And so, probably not now, maybe in future, just understanding what the data is showing us with attendance overall. Because I know we hear good things, but for the viewers just saying, "Hey, attendance this year was x, this year it's y and our strategy is working." I think the viewers would wanna hear some of that down the road. - Yeah, we've been very encouraged so far this year with attendance and also academic performance. - [Board Member] Yeah. - Great. Hey, Julia. - All right. Thank you. - Julia's next.
017We gotta get the high school perspective. - Hello. So, high school, one of the changes we made this year was, our advisory teachers are calling and inviting families to conferences. Middle school similar to high school where you have a lot of teachers to visit, right? Your kid might be in seven classes, so that's seven different people to visit. And to have that contact person to help you out with that a little bit, I think, has made a difference. I also think at the high school level, our conference numbers are lower than middle and elementary school. And I think, oftentimes, parents see their kids going into high school and let go a little bit to see how they do, and just encouraging parents to still come in for those conferences to check in on their kids
018and how their progress is. And I think, like Greg was saying, now that we can see attendance and grades all the time, some of those conversations are more along the lines of how do you see my kid working in a group, in class, or is my kid participating in class? How are they adjusting? Those freshmen parents are often, "How are they adjusting to high school?" Obviously, a much bigger building than what kids are used to in the middle school. And so some of those conversations around the adjustment to high school, and a lot of conversations at the freshman level about how grades matter now. I mean they always matter, but now credits are tied to those grades and graduation is tied to credits, and so how all that comes together. Our advisory teachers spent some
019time talking to parents about that, and if their children were on track to graduate, based on their credit numbers, or not. And then Xello, that they both mentioned, college and career readiness. We're also gonna do course registration through Xello this year, as well as, I think, scholarships come springtime this year. So a lot of information about Xello for every grade level at Hempstead and senior, and ABC for our students, and thus, to keep track of. And some of the parent conversations helped. I think we're gonna launch Xello a little earlier than we were anticipating and opening up that parent portal. Because that was something we were gonna maybe wait till springtime, but we had some parents asking some good questions about that and asking if they could get in to see what their kids are
020doing in Xello. So even though it's new and there's not much in there yet, they're still curious about what's in there. So that started a conversation just among secondary principals and David Moeller, and some tech people about opening that up a little bit earlier. - [Amy] Great. - You know, I have a sophomore, and the amount of teachers when we went to our visit that were asking my son, "So what's next? Do you have any plans? Hey, we know in eighth grade, this was your career track, have you thought about X, Y, and Z?" And so I was very appreciative as a parent that multiple teachers were asking my son that question to make sure he was taking the right class. And I'm assuming that's by design that- - Yep - The secondary teachers are
021all collectively trying to help the child get to wherever they want to be and helping parents. Because you think you know how to navigate the system, but they're like, "Well, I don't know." - [Amy] Yeah (laughs). - I mean we really have so much to offer at the high school level. There are so many elective classes. We are so lucky that we have so many elective classes, so many concurrent classes, so many AP classes that whatever path that child wants, and they might change their mind, right? You do this four-year plan in eighth grade and that could change. And so knowing what are some of those class options then for the child when, you know, they make some of those, they think career path decisions and maybe they do become those, maybe they don't, but
022just the options they have in the building to try things out, to see if it is even something they would like or not. - [Board Member] One more thing. - Yeah. - Not only did my counselor for my son walk my son through the process, she gave us a binder with all of the curriculum things in them and then emailed us right away afterwards and say, "Hey, if you're looking to go to college, consider these options. If you're not, consider these options right here." And so again, I'm just very thankful. It seems like everyone's on the same page trying to help each individual child and family. So I thought that was, from my experience, very good. - [Julia] Yeah. - Great. - Any other questions? Okay. - Thanks you guys for coming tonight. You don't
023have to stay. You can head out if you'd like. I know you got a busy day. (attendees laughing) So again, that was priority number one, really about how we're working to engage families and their student successes. So we're gonna move on to priority number two. And priority number two really talks about deepening support for educators in systematizing collaboration. Collaboration to analyze, plan, and implement best practice instructional methods. So the first one that we have on here for our priority initiative is to develop more frequent, informal evidence of student learning. So looking at common formative assessments to drive teaching and learning in a way that best meets the students' needs. And that's currently on track. And the one we're gonna go into some more detail tonight is 2.2, increase the frequency and depth of collaborative learning
024communities, or what we call CLCs. And so how do we extend learning differentiation, whoops, in core instruction, deliver interventions and provide learning extensions. So we're gonna start at the elementary again. So, Megan Elsinger, gosh, I can't speak tonight, is gonna come up and talk a little bit about CLCs. - Yeah, good evening. This is a topic that we're really excited about at the elementary level, as we really seek to systematize the way that we're having these conversations. And it really takes 2.1 and makes it a very purposeful conversation around how students are doing, and how as a teacher team, we're gonna do some action research to really make sure that our students are learning and have data to prove that. So it really is an infrastructure for continuous improvement. It's based around four questions. So
025what do we want students to know and be able to do? How will we know that they are able to do it? What will we do if they don't? And how will we respond if they already know what we're asking them to learn? And so that really is embedded in the work that we do through our MTSS system. It also really hits to the concept of a guaranteed and viable curriculum. Meaning that it shouldn't matter what second grade teacher my child gets. They're going to have equitable services. They're gonna have equitable assessments to make sure that they're successful. And it really brings those teachers together to look at that data and to problem-solve to make sure that we're bringing our collective knowledge to the table versus each teacher having to kind of figure it out
026on their own. So that has helped, I know, in my building. Sometimes we have newer teachers where they're really benefiting from the collective knowledge of our entire team. So we've seen a lot of success with that, and that is district-wide. We've really supported this in the elementary through the work of the KUD Vault, where we've looked at what are our essential standards, how are we making sure that we have assessment practices that are tied to those standards, and how are we supporting teachers as they're analyzing data. So the KUD vault has really focused on re-looking at what those essential standards should be and then creating some assessments that are going to allow our teachers to really accurately know what our students are currently able to do and then respond. So to model that, the elementary
027principals are working together as CLCs. So there's three clusters of four principals, where we're coming together, we're talking about what are we trying to improve in our own buildings and using the collective knowledge of our colleagues to get some feedback on our goals. So we started that process through our first instructional rounding, which happened at Lincoln for our cluster, which was great for us to have some feedback from outside principals just giving us some suggestions on how we can continue to improve. So, really, this is an infrastructure for continuous improvement across the system. - Great. Thank you. Any questions for Megan? - No, but I wanna commend the principals for collaborating with other schools. Because if you're just in your own silo and not listening to what is happening at the other schools, you know,
028that's for all of us to learn from our peers. - Absolutely. - So I'm really happy to hear that. - [Amy] Thank you. - [Megan] All right. Thanks. - Hey, Jeff Johll, I believe he's here to talk about middle school. - [Jeff] Good evening, everyone. Second time this month presenting to you guys. - Yeah. (board members laughing) - Call of duty. - It's your lucky month. - Call of duty. (board members laughing) - All right. So at Roosevelt, we utilize response to intervention to kind of guide the work that we do in strengthening MTSS at all three tier levels. And so it's really in with response to intervention. Our school focuses on the teaching and assessing cycle, and we use that to kind of drive the four questions, I won't repeat them again, but the
029same ones that she said, to do our CLC work. All right, so our teachers collaborate at least 45 minutes together once per week. All right. Twice a month, our instructional coaches will be with them. So we're embedding coaching there to help kind of move our CLCs forward. It's really a focus of our professional learning on Friday mornings. Just a couple of weeks ago, we did a fishbowl activity. We broke the staff into three different groups. We had three different CLCs. They're high-functioning CLCs right now. And they just did, for 20 minutes, what they do all the time. And then we had an inner group that was watching the fishbowl activity and an outer group. They each had questions to reflect on. And then they came back together and they looked at what strengths from this
030CLC discussion are evident in your own team, and how did the continuous loop of teaching, assessing, and adjusting, how did you see that in this CLC meeting and how are you doing it in yours? And then we also talked about, because this is an important part of CLC work is, where did you see trust, communication, accountability, and vulnerability showing up in that meeting? And then finally, we finish it up what's kind of guiding our work, how we are measuring where CLCs are at, is we're asking them to take a look at an article written from Solution Tree on the seven stages of an effective CLC or PLC. And they went back and they reflected then on those seven stages, where they are at, what they learned, and how they can move forward with it. We're
031also doing something I think that is very much tied with the CLC work as a middle school guiding coalition. And we're taking a look at standards-based grading right now. And, really, what this all drives, when you're talking about response to intervention, one of the guiding principles is, is that every student has the opportunity and will be able to learn at grade-level standards, right? Well, to do that, you have to have a common definition of what grading practices are, et cetera. And to do that, you have to have a common definition of assessment of and for learning. That was a few years ago, a huge initiative here in our school district. We have found that in order to move forward with standards-based grading, we really need to come back and look at assessment for learning, and
032really set, I guess, if you think of that as the foundation for the house, and then moving forward then with our work with standards-based grading. Megan talked about how middle school principals, or CLC, we're doing it as a middle school kind of guiding coalition and CLC as a group. We also do the three middle school principals also CLC together. - I think you call this out for me, but just again for the viewers, 'cause they hear CLC, PLC, like these various acronyms. And some will say, schools need to get back to the basics teaching kids how to read, write, and math. Can you just talk a little bit more on how these concepts are being incorporated to address any educational gaps within our district? - Sure. First of all, let me talk about PLCs and
033CLCs. They are synonymous. (Amy laughs) In the national language, it's PLCs, Professional Learning Communities. Here in Dubuque, we use Collaborative Learning Communities. One and the same. So if you're reading any kind of literature about PLCs, you're reading about our CLC process. Okay? I'll go back to what I just shared. It is being committed. To me, the definition of equity, Anderson, is assuring that every student has the opportunity and is afforded the setting, the teaching, the instruction that will allow them to be successful with that grade-level standards, and that there's no more getting back to basics than that. You are truly giving them at their grade level what they need to know and learn through these essential standards to be successful at the next grade level. - Jeff, when you say you're taking a look at
034standards-based practices, what does that mean? Where are you then in that progression, that journey? - For standards-based grading? - [Nancy] Right. - We're in year two right now. - [Nancy] So you're doing standards-based grading? - No, no. We are in year two of studying- - Of studying. - And moving towards it. - [Nancy] That's what I wondered. Thank you. - We need to get that foundational piece, Nancy, set in place. - Sure. - With assessment of and for learning. You know how fundamentally important that is to doing anything with us moving forward with grading. - Absolutely. - And we have to have a common understanding around that. - So you're rebuilding the assessment for learning? - [Jeff] We are focusing, on Friday, professional learning at all three middle schools on assessment of and for learning.
035- Awesome. - [Jeff] That's really a high priority this year. - Awesome. Thank you. - Thanks, Jeff. - [Jeff] Yeah. Anything else? - Julia. She's coming back up. (board members chuckling) (Amy laughs) - Twice in one night. - I know. (board member laughs) - I've been twice in one night. (Amy chuckles) (Kate laughs) So, high school professional learning, again, around the CLC process, we are focusing a lot on data and looking at formative assessment data. So teachers are really good at their content and I think, probably, we would all agree with that, but something you don't really learn in teaching school is how to look at data. And so that's been a lot of professional learning we've done with our staff is, what part of that formative assessment should you be looking at, how do
036you determine if that student has met proficiency of that standard, which is harder than you think. And so coming to those agreements within a CLC and then looking at your data and determining what types of interventions that your students might need. It might be a whole class intervention. It might be five of your students that need that intervention. But figuring out what that looks like and then having some pretty honest conversations of, "Man, my students really did not do well, but yours did. And so what did you do differently in your classroom with that instruction that I maybe need to try with my students to see if that worked." And so we spent a lot of Friday morning professional learning, looking at data and analyzing that data, and helping teachers do that. And then they
037go through and plan interventions for their students and classrooms. But again, going through those same four questions that Megan talked about. We're really good at the "what should they know." And so we gotta just work on the "how do we know they knew it" part, which teachers are doing really well with. - So an example of that collaboration is like, say, all the science-related teachers are getting together, the math, the- - Even like more specific than that, like our algebra 1 teachers are getting together, our algebra 2 teachers, our geometry teachers, our biology teachers. - [Lisa] That are actually teaching the same thing. - The same course. Yep. - If one of them has success in delivery, they're gonna share it with the other teachers. - [Julia] Yep. Yep, and- - That's good. - Sharing
038those interventions and talking about like, sometimes that intervention needs to be a whole class intervention because, man, I really missed the mark on that lesson with those kids. So we gotta try again tomorrow. We gotta try something different tomorrow, and what could that look like? So, finding those resources. And again, we tell teachers all the time, the experts are in this room, so it's not, you know, it just didn't work that day. Like, what can we talk to your colleagues? What could you do differently that maybe could help your students? - I bet that's really good for your newer teachers. - [Julia] Mm-hmm. Absolutely. - Yeah. - And I know this is happening, but just out loud. So for students who have an IEP or disability, we'd still have teachers coming together to develop strategies
039to support all of our kids. Is that true? - Yeah, I would say in all of our core content. So that would be like algebra 1, geometry. Our freshman level sciences, which is PS9 chemistry, PS9 physics, biology, next-gen global science, all those core level graduation requirement courses have a co-teacher within those. And so within that CLC, that co-teacher is meeting with them as well. And so, yep, would have strategies, also like what kind of modifications might some students need for their assessments and planning those together. - And a co-teacher is a special education teacher working- - [Julia] Yep, the co-teacher would be a special education teacher. Yep. - Yeah. - And that person is usually, that teacher, if they're in biology, they are only co-teaching biology for the most part. Like a really good thing,
040obviously, that they can be in those co-taught classes throughout the day and work with that CLC. Good for the kids and the adults. - Yeah. - Awesome. - Any other questions? - Thank you. - [Julia] Yeah. Thanks. - And I would just like to add, Mark Burns is getting up, so maybe he's coming to the... You were coming up to talk for a second? (attendees laughing) - I'm just trying to- - You can come up. One thing that we did this year in a shift is, we've made our district leadership team a CLC as well. And so each month, when we meet with our district leadership team, we are now doing a deep dive around the four questions, so that we look at something from a district lens, and then how do we break that
041down so they can look at that in a school lens. So for example, the last month, we really did a deep dive into attendance. And not only attendance of our students, but attendance of our staff. And then looked at, so what are some, you know, let's look at data, what does this look like? What's it showing us? And then what conclusions can we come to that we can help, obviously, our attendance of our students and staff district-wide. And then how can you take this information and take that back to your BLTs or your school-led teams, or your coalition. So we think that that's been very well. We put them into different CLCs, tried to be in pretty light groups, and it's been going really well. And I think, in general, people have really enjoyed that
042process. And we're also bringing in, not only our academic side of that, but our operational side of that as well. So it's been great discussion so far. - I just have to say, I'm very excited by what I've just heard from the three of you. If we go to the research on teaching and learning and effective teaching and learning, it's doing the things you just described. - [Board Member] Mm-hmm. - Very exciting. Bravo. Excellent. - Yeah, it's good work. And you know, we felt like at the district level too, it's really important for us to model that CLC practice if we expect that from our schools and our staff within those buildings. - Excellent. - So it's been really good. Okay. Is there anything else on priority number two? Okay, we'll move to priority number
043three. And this is about providing an optimal learning environment through honing instructional knowledge of educators to engage our students in their learning. How do we make sure that students are engaged in their learning? So if you look at our two priorities, 3.1 is talking about the launch to Teach to Heal. And if you remember at our district-wide kickoff in the fall, we had a great visitor and guest speaker who really did the intro to Teach to Heal. But you know, we've done more than that as the year has progressed. So I have Dan Powers here tonight who, Dan is the assistant principal at AVC in Cornerstone. And so he's here to share about their experience with Teach to Heal in their building this year. They probably haven't met you, maybe, Dan, so I was excited
044about this. - Mm-hmm. - Yeah, so I'm excited to have the chance to be here and speak with you about it. So yeah, I'm Dan Powers, I'm the assistant principal at the AVC. We consider ourselves really fortunate this year to really be able to dig in deep with this Teach to Heal initiative, especially with Cornerstone. It's a really complicated population of students with really unique needs. And so it's been giving us a lot of opportunity to hone our skills in working with them. I've been trying for the last year and a half to come up with a really succinct way to explain what Teach to Heal is and how it works. And I haven't been super successful in that. (Amy chuckles) I think the best way to really explain it is, overall, what we're asking
045our staff to do is to look at all situations with students as an opportunity to teach new skills. We are trying to let go of some of the mindset of just compliance-based ways to address things that we're seeing. My staff is really excited about it, they're really optimistic about the direction we're going. You can just feel it in the programs where that sense of calm is increasing. The opportunity for students to really learn these new skills and develop them, and practice them in a safe environment is increasing. The biggest thing, I think, that's helped us a lot is the intervention model that we've learned through it. It's really helping us get to the bottom of, maybe some of the emotions that are underlying, some of the behaviors that we'll see in helping our students dig
046into that themselves and kind of learn how to analyze where it came from and how to make those improvements. It's definitely a work in progress. Our staff is aware that it's gonna take us a while. We're certainly not there yet. They're always anxious to know when we're gonna see Danielle again. When are we gonna get some more training? When are we gonna learn some of those new skills that we're working on with our students? Just today, they were anxiously asking about when other schools are gonna be able to adopt some of this, 'cause we're just really seeing that it's a pretty effective way to go about our business. We know that what we do is really unique, but it's becoming more and more obvious to us that this is something that everybody's gonna be able
047to benefit from. Any questions about that? - No, but if your staff and teachers are excited, that's gonna follow through to the kids. So I'm hoping, keep reevaluating and finding success, and that's going to keep them excited for years to come. - Thanks. Yeah, it's- - That's great. - Yeah, you can feel a shift. - I know it's a lot of effort now, but it'll be worth it. - Just a little humor, but if you prompt AI with that question on how to make that simple, it might pop something out for you. (board members laughing) - You know, I... Not gonna say I didn't look into that. (attendees laughing) - [Board Member] Can't confirm nor deny. I understand, I understand. - Oh. Yeah, we've been very fortunate this year with Danielle's support. We have three
048schools that are implementing Teach to Heal right now. So that's Audubon, Prescott, and AVC in Cornerstone. On those district-wide PD days, they've been doing some full days with Danielle to get some more information, and then she's been helping them with their practice and things. So we're excited to have those three schools on board and look forward to the next layer that we'll add as we go through next year. The other thing that we're also doing throughout this school year is, as we gave the training to some instructional coaches and our leadership team last spring, we continue to have schools invite so many staff members to sessions so that we're still bringing more people on board, just not as in a formal way as we are with those three buildings. So, Brenda, I hope I explained
049that well enough, but yeah. And the principals are saying we need more slots. You know, they're excited. So, many of our schools are doing some more informal things with Teach to Heal from their training, but those three schools are doing all that formal training with the hope that we'll just keep adding schools each and every year. - So is the goal then that everyone eventually will get the full training? - [Amy] It is. Yeah. - Perfect. - Yep. Any other questions? - Nice to meet you, Dan. (board members laughing) - You as well. - Thanks for being here, Dan. - All right. Thank you. - Okay. So we'll go to priority number four. And this one is to study and implement strategies to streamline operations in ways focused on student success. And so the first,
0504.1, is really to talk about the bond referendum. And I think if the community doesn't know that we're going out for a bond referendum on November 4th, they really haven't been paying too close of attention. We have really, as a district, done community sessions. We've been going into different groups that are asking us to come in and speak. Mike and I did our first podcast with the Chamber, which was kind of fun. But we've been going into people's homes, we've been answering questions. There's been flyers that have gone out, and our social media has just been, every day, it seems like there's active with more and more information. And so we are really excited for next Tuesday. Again, as a district, we can't tell people how to vote. We can't say vote yes or vote
051no. But we do really encourage all people to go out and vote. And if you still have questions about the bond referendum or don't understand something, or you've heard something, I really encourage people to reach out and to ask those questions, and get those answered before you go to the polls. We do have early voting sites that are open, and those are at our schools during parent-teacher conferences. And so, tomorrow, those will be at Carver and Table Mound, and tonight we're at Washington. - Tomorrow. - Maybe I have that backwards. Tomorrow in Washington. Yeah. - Wednesday at the other two. - Wednesday at the other two other schools. So those are all out on social media. We've given that on ParentSquare, but I think that's important for people to know. - [Board Member] What are
052the hours again? - The hours for the polling sites are three o'clock to nine o'clock. - I know we can't say vote yay or nay, but there is a lot of information out. And one of our trusted assets in the community, our local papers, had an amazing editorial, that if you haven't had the chance to just get information, I strongly encourage you to pick up the papers and read what they have to say because it was very insightful, I would say. - Yeah, I agree. And there was a great three-page article that was in there just to explain and answer people's questions that are frequently asked. And I thought that did a really nice job of explaining things to the public, and so I appreciate that piece as well. - So I'll just give you
053the rundown of locations and times. So, tomorrow, from 2:45 to 8:45 at Washington Middle School, and then Wednesday at both Carver Elementary School and Table Mound Elementary School. Both of those are from 3:30 to 9:30. So those will be satellite locations for voting. - And who can show up? Is it just parents? Who can show up? - So that is open to any eligible voter in Dubuque County. It doesn't matter your precinct, you can show up and they will have the appropriate ballot for you depending on what your precinct is. And it is a full ballot. It is not just the district issues, it is the entire regular ballot. - Okay. - We just wanna thank you also for all of the work that you've been doing and the Yes Committee's been doing to make
054sure that information is available. You've been incredibly responsive to people's questions and providing good information, and it's been a transparent process from the beginning. We've been talking about this for over three years, maybe even longer. So I just want to give you some kudos for all of the information that's been available, and being willing to answer people's questions and meet them where they are. - Thanks. Thank you. So under priority number four, the other two priorities that we'll be working on are to further develop middle school efficiency plans, to ensure a high-quality experience for all students. So that's obviously been started with the process we're doing now, and then we'll continue as we see what happens with the bond referendum. And then 4.3 is to really complete an efficiency review. Like, what do we need
055to look at in the district? What do we need to start doing? What do we need to continue doing and what do we need to stop doing? And so that's gonna be some things that we do with our CLC through district leadership as we move forward. And so we're excited to see what that brings us and how we can report that out to you as well. Okay. And then our last priority that we're here to talk about tonight is, obviously, priority number five. Priority number five really focuses on enhanced staff development that bolsters leadership opportunities and supports staff retention and longevity. And so Brian Kuhle is gonna talk to us a little bit about 5.1, about how we're creating a paraprofessional mentoring program. So, Brian. - Thanks. If you look across the, not just the
056district, but the state and the country, that you see a shortage of paraprofessionals, and the turnover rate is pretty high. And so we've delved into that to take a look at, like ask ourselves the why, what's the why behind it, and how do we create an experience that is just better for our paraprofessionals to make them wanna stay around, to be part of our programs for longer periods of time. And so what I've done is I started by reaching out to my colleagues across the state, and we've had conversations at UEN meetings, talking about what programs different places use, different districts use, and what success rates they've had. And then to look to the research, what does the research show us? And so I've looked into other's program, a study out by University of Minnesota,
057and we've looked into that program, and the DEA has a program that's out. And so there's lots of different mentoring programs, so what's gonna be the best fit for us? And I don't wanna make that decision by myself. So what I did is I reached out to our principals and had them suggest what paras from their buildings do we think would make good team members for this, along with the principals and some of the people in our executive team as well, to just talk about what does this program look like. How are we gonna get the most out of it and what's lacking currently? What are we not offering? And so far, I would say that our status has started. Our next step is to kind of narrow down the number of people that we
058have. I had some great, an outpouring from our principals of people that would be good examples to be on this team. And it can't be 50 people, (board member laugh) but that's what we have to narrow it down a little bit. And I'm just excited that there was that much, our principal say, "Oh, you have to have this person. These people are gonna be really good." So I'm excited to work with those paraprofessionals and really work on building, from what I've heard from across the state and through the research so far, I want to give our paras a chance to look at the research and the rest of the team members. But it's that peer mentoring piece, which seems to be so popular and seems to be so positive. So the teams that have done
059really well with it in their districts, it's been a peer mentoring process where you get leadership opportunities, where you have mentors in each building that are kind of the go-to person for each of those new mentors. There are new paraprofessionals that come in. So it gives them the opportunity to lead, be proud of the work that they're doing, and show somebody else what successes they've had along the way. So I look forward to continuing that work with our crew and bringing everybody together to work on it some more. - When I think of mentoring, I think of new persons in positions, is that the focus of this or is this a coaching model for all paras? - You know, it's a good question. I'm not sure yet. I mean, we'll continue to look at the
060research. It's definitely gonna be the new paraprofessionals, but I'm curious to hear once we start to survey our paras, well, what's missing? Even if you're a veteran para, what's missing? And if that's something that we can extend to our veteran paras, then we'll do that as well. - [Nancy] Great. - Having this, I guess, mentoring with the paras, it's all about money too, that I wish we could pay them a lot more than what they are being paid. So as they achieve these higher levels, is the pay going up for them? Are they asking that? - Well, we haven't really talked about what that looks like, as far as what levels, but we have talked about some monetary gain there. - Right. - Some incentive at some point. - Yeah. - Right. - That you
061incentivize the program and we have to come up with ways to look at that, the dollar amount and see what that would cost, and find ways to incentivize financially as well. - [Lisa] Mm-hmm. Thanks so much. - Do you see this as a tool also to help us to build our own workforce, too, as the next teachers? Do you see this being a vehicle to do that? - Are you talking about not just paraprofessionals, but other work groups or- - No, as you support the paraprofessionals, maybe helping them to get whatever additional tool that they need to become a teacher. - Yeah. Yep. And we're very lucky though. We're in the middle of our 2.0 grant, the TPRA grant. And it's a long process, but we have teachers that are coming through that, and they're
062still in the system. And we've got another year to go in that program and to see how many teachers we can get out of that program, and how many paraprofessionals we can get with that certification piece too, which is a raise in pay when they get that. So we're definitely seeing some progress. - Is there one group going through that or is it a new group every- - It's one group. - One? - Yep. - So a new group won't start until that one has completed its cycle? Yep, and the state would have to re-offer that program. - [Nancy] Oh, wow. - But, and that covers them for both years through it? - Mm-hmm, well, the last one, it was a year and a half. - Through their education. A year and a half? -
063They've been covered for a year and a half, and it's as fast as they could work for a year and a half. - Okay. - But it is a great way for them to go and get their degree, and not have to take out student loans. - Absolutely. - That's great. Brian, would you mind talking quickly about the incentive that we have for hourly staff that's currently happening right now? - Based off of attendance? - Yeah. So for our hourly staff, we have an attendance program where, if you are present for 90% or more between September 15th and December 15th, then you get the Senate File 660, I believe, don't quote me, but I think it's 660 was the senate file that funded this, that gave money to schools to give to hourly staff, and
064then you could choose how you wanted to incentivize that. So we did it through attendance and I've talked to many of my colleagues across the state that are doing similar things, but it's hopefully keeping our hourly staff showing up on a more regular basis and not using as much sick time. Vacation time, personal time does not count towards that attendance. It's just sick time. So we're hoping that we can look at those numbers for the last three months or that three-month stretch there and see what kind of progress we made comparing it to previous months. - [Board Member 1] And what is the incentive? - [Board Member 2] What do they get? - So it's a monetary, it all depends on, we have to figure out the number based on everybody getting it. And that's
065gonna be tough to do. So roughly, it starts out at like $300 range to $350 range, and then depending on the number of people that qualify for it, it changes what that monetary amount looks like. - [Board Member] Mm-hmm. - Well, we're hopeful that we'll be able to give them that extra three or $350 right after the holidays, when our hourly staff isn't working. So I think it's been a good plan and we've seen some great attendance (chuckles) since we incentivized that. So that's exciting. - Like Amy mentioned, as we talked about attendance earlier as one of our initiatives, that we spent time with the employee attendance as well, and it's been fun to dive into that and to see trends and compare those trends to national trends. - [Lisa] And just to clarify, I
066think I know this. It's not those teachers under contract where it's an annual salary, it's your hourly- - Correct. - Hourly. - Paid people. - Yep. - Yeah. So again, this is a report out. It's kind of a quick sneak peek of what's going on in the district. Obviously, we have lots of initiatives and lots of things going on, but these are the things that we find are our priorities. And I just really wanna thank, not only our team, but our guests tonight. I thought they did a great job coming in and giving you exact experience of what they're seeing in their buildings as well. So as always, I appreciate our team here at the district office. I couldn't do this work without them. And we appreciate all of your support for all of our
067buildings, all of our schools, and everybody needs to go vote on November 4th. But thanks again for going through the priority initiatives and we'll be anxious to share more with you in February. - [Kate] Amazing. Sounds like we're off to a great start. - Yeah. - Any other items? Seeing none, we are adjourned. Thanks, everyone. - Thank you. (bright music)