001Do you want to call actually? Oh, it's just a public hearing first. All right, so we'll have a public hearing for our certified budget for fiscal year 27 and I'll pass it over to our chief business officer. Yep, I have a statement before the public hearing. Um, prior to the public hearing, I have a statement of correction on the certified budget for FY27 that was published in the newspaper and posted on our assembly website. Uh, the re-estimation column on FY26, there was no entry for the nutrition program sales for FY26. It was an oversight on my behalf. I have reached out to the Department of Management and have a written approval that we can proceed with the hearing and adoption of the 27 budget provided the board's agreement. To be transparent to the community, I
002have uploaded the original um published uh certified budget and then the corrected one in our assembly system that we have on our board agenda. There are five lines on the budget that cannot be changed after the publication of the budget. They're lines 1, 24, 31A, 32, and 35A. I missed line six which can be changed at any time without canceling of the hearing or the budget or in the budget being adopted per the Iowa Department of Management. I apologize for my mistake and entry on this. We'll open the floor for questions. All right, hearing none, we will close the public hearing for the certified budget for fiscal year 27. And then we will call our regular work session to order. And Julie will help us with Thanks. Burton? Here. Hauser? Here. Kent? Here. Santizo? Here.
003Van Ryswyk? Here. Williams? Here. Young? Here. You have a quorum? I would move to approve the agenda. All those in favor say I. I. I. Give me a second. Oh. >> [clears throat] >> Oh. Kent will second. Kent? Thank you, ma'am. >> Okay. Uh, all in favor say I, please. I. I. Opposed, nay. Motion passes. All right, I will read our district mission which is to teach all and reach all. And our vision, Urbandale will be a school district that brings learning to life for everyone. And our school board mission is to partner with stakeholders to teach all and reach all through governance of board policy and operating protocol. And we have a special event this evening to celebrate and recognize our teachers. I'll pass it over to our director Sherman. Yeah. Well, we have
004a packed house tonight in celebrating 28 educators across our system uh with the teach and all reach and all recognition. This recognition is designed to honor teachers in our system that are regularly collaborating and engaging in processes uh to improve outcomes for students. And so I'm going to invite uh principals up to begin the recognition. Okay. Yep, you got it here. Okay, we'll start with Karen Acres. Oop. I'm Daniel Wilson. I'm the principal of Karen Acres. And this is Hannah and Emily Bettenny, Ellen Failin, and Aaron Kelly who make up our special education uh team at Karen Acres. And this is a new team to working together. Half the team is new to our building this year uh but all have been in the district before and they've really exemplified learning by doing um as
005they have kind of trusted the process that we've gone through with collaboration. Um and they have just naturally looked at student data, um given each other feedback, completely set ego aside and said it doesn't matter um who's better or whatever, we're just going to learn from each other and students have really benefited um from that. We've got tons of kids meet their goals, tons of kids drop um additional adult minutes um so that they can gain independence. So, this team has been fabulous together and they should be sitting somewhere saved. >> [laughter] >> Great job, you >> [laughter] [snorts] >> Well, hi everyone. I am Deb Berner. I'm the principal of Olmsted and we are recognizing our fantastic special education team. You guys, you can see they're united wearing their shirts. Come on up. We
006have Miss Terry Keesy, Julia Buman, Brooke McCoy, Caitlin Curtis, Laura Daddy Abrahamsen, and Fabiha Mamood. And Alice Pewick, also one of our great sped teachers, could not make it or be with us this evening. And this team is being recognized. They have worked really hard this year and one of the things I think they have become an exemplar group is we went and watched Valeria's model an awesome data protocol and this team jumped right in and we even refined that protocol to fit the needs at Olmsted and they have had a tremendous amount of success with that data protocol. In fact, we had about a 72% improvement with our special education students from fall to winter. And so we're really proud of this team. We've got the middle school coming again this week to watch
007them in action. Another area that they have been wonderful with is partnering with our families. We worked really hard to get all of our IEPs scheduled for the full year this year at the beginning of the year and that allowed for adequate coverage. That allowed for administrative presence without having a lot of conflicts. So they worked double time to get all of those meetings set up at the beginning of the year. And then lastly, they all dove right in with that expectation of we really strive to have a power slide presentation for our families so that we have one visual for everyone to be looking at and explaining that data versus giving them a big packet of IEP papers that can be very confusing for families. And so they have done such an exceptional job
008also of taking those slide decks and making them personal to the family's students and it's just been beautiful to watch the joy with the families and the teachers as they go through all of the data and the meetings. And I'm really proud of this team. Really well done. Can I get a photo of you all? >> [laughter] [laughter] >> Hi, I'm Laura Husmann, principal at Valeria's Elementary. And I have a phenomenal second grade team. Um we've got Aaron Bedke, Jacie Treadway, Deb Cadoun, and Tory Miller. And they are they are serious, driven. When they come in, they they actually meet every day and talk about students and curriculum and planning and um really what they're doing. When you go to one classroom, you're going to see the same thing across all the strategies that are
009shared with them. Um my my submission for them, I just highlighted a few of the statements that stood out. Um they have a deep understanding of grade level standards. They closely analyze unit outcomes and intentionally prioritize the major cluster standards reflected in the assessments, checkpoints, and cool downs. They proactively identify misconceptions. They determine effective approaches as a team. They make close analysis of student work. And most importantly, they believe that all students can learn. So, it's a joy when I come in and they're the very last group of the day. We have seven um collaborative team meetings every Wednesday. And they're the last group to come in and um it's been a long day for them but they just dial in and they get down to business and that's for both math and literacy. So,
010um this team's amazing and I just appreciate all of their hard WORK THIS YEAR. >> WELL, YOUR CERTIFICATE IS ON THANK YOU. ANN TIRET, principal at Webster Elementary. Um this is our fourth grade team. We have Shawn Llewellyn, Caitlin Potter, and Kaylee Brinker. Um I'm just really excited to showcase this team tonight. Um this is a really special group of people and they made a huge impact on our students. Our fourth grade group this year um came with a wide variety of personalities and needs, both academically and socially, and they have just went above and beyond to meet the needs of their students. Um They were a truly what these students needed, whether these students know knew that they needed them or not in the moment. Um and they have um really been an impact
011on them and will make an impact on them as they we went to fifth grade and beyond. Um what makes them so special is they truly are a team in every sense of the word. Um inside the classroom and outside of it, they show it up for each other and for their students and there's no my class or your class. It's always our kids and they're constantly talking, problem-solving, and figuring out how to support every single student. So they've created a lot of they've needed to create a lot of strong structures for their students this year and high expectations, but also have done so with so much care for their kids. Um and this care extends to each other as well. Um you could say that they're they're good friends and they really truly care
012about one one another. There's a lot of trust between them. And um they are honest with one another, they take risks, and they stay focused on what really matters, which is our kids. So um we've seen incredible growth in this fourth grade class and it's going to impact them for years to come. So I'm really proud of this team and truly represent what it means to teach all and reach all. >> [applause] [laughter] [clears throat] >> All right, I'm Lindsey Cornwell from the middle school and tonight I would like to honor our counseling team. Um they are typically kind of behind-the-scenes workers, doing all sorts of scheduling things and meeting with individual students, but this year they have stepped up and gone above and beyond. Um even they have reported that that this has been
013a different year. Um truly um data-focused, student-centered, and determined to ensure every UMS student is seen and heard. And I mean every student. They talked to every student in the school for 1 minute um and got to know them and collected that data and brought it back work as a school team. They work tirelessly as a tier two MTSS team um to have interventions running effectively for our students. And this year they've just been more collaborative than ever with each other and with other staff in our building. Um and our students notice. So thank you to this outstanding team of leaders. Um this is I forgot to introduce them. So Marissa Gabriel and Sterling Griner and Gerlanna Reina could not make it tonight. All right, I have the pleasure of introducing you to the high
014school world language team. I'm not Mr. Carver. However, I am his proxy tonight. >> [laughter] >> Uh so I will try to do it justice. Uh and so we have our world language team. We have Sierra Wessels, uh Melissa Geyer, Myra Gordino, uh Liliana Sarvina Gomez, Grace Arganbright, Horace Buckman, and then Scott Seeker wasn't able to join us tonight. And so what Mr. Carver wanted to make sure that you all heard is how this team goes above and beyond. Uh they collaborate collaborate regularly and make sure that not world language isn't just memorizing, but interacting with the language and that's often done through fun games, skits, uh and uh active dialogue uh in the world language classroom. He also wanted to make sure you knew that they are regularly looking at data and responding to
015it and making sure that students are getting what they need in our world language classrooms. So with that, congratulations. >> [snorts and laughter] >> Okay, here we go. One, two, three, go. You're welcome. You want to stay for the meeting? >> [laughter] >> All right, you're now going to go into an exact session uh pursuant to Iowa Code 20.173 because it involves negotiating sessions, strategy meetings with public employers and employee organizations, mediation, and the deliberate process of arbitration. So we will be back. >> Mhm. >> All right. Now we're back from our session and we'll look at the superintendent's report. And we'll let Rosalie get her computer ready, too. Okay. So, I do have more than normal um on the more you know, I just wanted to first remind families about registration. Again, that's where
016we need that information, so we're making staffing decisions. So, the more accurate, the better. Um we are going to have a registration night on the 21st at Homestead Elementary from 5:00 to 7:00. We will have laptops there if there are families that need access to a laptop, as well as some translation assistance. If you're not able to attend, we do also have the online registration registration request to hold a meeting, so we encourage everyone to take advantage of one of those. If you're somebody that needs help from your school, your current school secretaries can also help, but we're trying to get all those done as much as we can. Um yesterday I had an opportunity to go to the high school National Honor Society ceremony. I believe both of you guys were there, and it
017was I just wanted to bring this up cuz it was extremely well done. I think the organization, the speeches, the singing at the beginning was really, really well done. We had 62-ish new inductees and the stage was quite full. We had to get extra chairs. So, made you proud to see all of those kids and the accomplishments that they made. Um I want to call attention to a project that our Olmsted fifth graders are doing. You might remember a student named Blake who was fighting cancer. He's now cancer-free and as part of a collaboration with him, they're hoping that they can collect 20 comfort bags, Blake's suggestion, um to give these to the the kids battling cancer at the Stead Family Children's Hospital in Iowa City. And for those donations, he's talking about coloring or
018sticker books, crayons, markers, playing cards, card games like Uno, drawing books, art supplies, and soft, comfortable blankets. So, we're really happy that Blake is doing better and the fact that he's thinking about other kids really makes us proud and the fifth graders at Olmsted have taken this on. So, if anyone has anything they'd like to donate it, you can drop it off here. We'll make sure that we get it or you can drop it off at the Olmsted main office. Dr. Deckert, is it possible to share that list out in Courier Square? >> It was in our um Uplifting Urbandale last week. So, if you check that Um another Olmsted project, they announced the start of a garden project where uh two of the uh again, fifth grade students, we have some active fifth grade
019students at Olmsted and they're going to be planting a garden. They're going to start with flowers so they can get the pollinators and learn about the seasons and the water and all of the different things and eventually move into vegetables. But, two of the fifth grade students have asked if we would um make it aware that we are looking for donations of seeds, tools. They're looking for a wheelbarrow, possibly a shed. That one might be a dream, but they're they're still on their list and again, you can drop off donations in the main office. Um UMS has a color run on May 9th. Don't forget there's a 3.5 k k and a 5k option. You can walk or run. Uh registration opens at 9:00 and the race starts at 10:00. It's $25 a person or
020$90 for a group of four and there are scholarships available. So, if you know any students who are interested but might not be able to afford it, they can email UMSPTO [email protected]. And I'll put that in our um newsletter for tomorrow. Read Around the Bases. This is the second annual event on May 11th from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. All preschool to third grade students are invited to attend and listen to a story read by the UHS baseball and softball players. They can throw out some pitches and get a free ticket to an upcoming home game and that's on either the softball or the baseball field. So, looking forward to that second year in a row. We want to recognize our uh communications team, Deena Claire. Don't know if she's still in here. Um and uh
021Katie Noel from her department, they went to it's the Iowa chapter of communication personnel. I'm sorry, I can't remember what the ISPRA stands for, but we are we were able to Deena and Katie were able to win a best in class award for our district websites. They won award of excellence for our digital accessibility and an award of excellence for the Metro West video. So, I was very proud of them. Those are not easy things to win and the best in class is the top level award. So, um when you see Deena, congratulate her and Katie. And then the last thing I have on this list is I wanted to provide some clarification on the music program status. There's some untrue rumors going around. Um there were no wide reaching cuts to the music program.
022The only change was there was an FTE at the middle school due to a retirement that we are not going to fill. Um there are three band classes to teach, a sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade and they're on an AB day, so half the kids in each one of those. Um we are taking away music skills classes so the teachers do not have to teach music skills classes anymore. So, I don't I don't know where some of the rumors have come from, but there is no change at any other school and there's no change at um the high school. So, those are all I had. I have questions on the cuts to um the band position. Um so, I guess can you give us some information on if our participation Sorry, I spit
023while talking. Thanks, everyone. >> [laughter] >> Um participation is dropping in band or what would um justify the change? I know that we are looking at being cautious as we go forward and we want to make sure we set ourselves up for success in future years. Um but in in my opinion, this is one of the programs that we excel so strongly at. Um and I think it's because of the contact that our students get not just in those band sections, but in their lessons, in um the programming that happens before and after school. Um in terms of jazz band, show bands, marching band. Um and I worry about the impacts of losing one middle school position, how that spreads out into the elementary positions because I know there's some coverage overlap there and then
024up into high school because there's overlap there. Um and so, I just want to make sure that we um are making a decision that isn't just to couch for potential for later. Um but that's justified through current participation numbers, too. So, I guess my question is how do our participation numbers look over this year? Um well, they're either steady or down in a couple of areas, but I can tell you one of the things um when we built the uh practice rooms, we built them big enough that multiple kids could take lessons in a room at a time. Um we still have 55 students getting a one-on-one lesson every week. So, that could be combined and some of them do play the same instruments. I understand that it's not just as easy to say, "These
025are two clarinets, put them together." There's logistics in the scheduling and I understand that. I couldn't tell you what that would be next year because the group of kids projected in these numbers are from this year. So, you would have to kind of guess at those. But, the reduction of the music skills classes and the reduction of consolidating those one-on-one lessons should be able to fit in the other two um band teachers at the middle school. There's no change in the high school band teachers. They're still a 0.9. So, it's not a full 2.0, it's a 1.9 um at the middle school and then the that one person does a 0.1, which is about two periods at the high school. That's not changing. That's the same thing. And a lot of those things that you
026mentioned are stipended positions and they get paid to do those after school. I I'm not saying it's an enormous amount of money, but it is separate from their contract to teach classes. Um I I guess it would come down to >> [cough] >> I think [clears throat] it can be done. My team thinks it can be done philosophically. If if the board wants to not change FTE because we want to provide lessons, I would I would ask that we can also look to provide tutoring in math and English. We have a lot of needs where that could be beneficial as well. And I think some of the things they could do besides put more kids in a lesson, do they have to have it every single week? Could it be on a 10-day rotation? Could
027it be every other week? I don't I don't know. I mean, I'm I mean, it could be logistically. We're currently utilizing um some instructors for extra band lessons that are not part of our FTE staff. >> That's a parent. Brandon, correct me if I'm wrong. That's a parent paid through community ed. So, we they we allow them to come into the building and they we pay them, but then it's reimbursed to community ed from the money that the parents have paid. And there's only I think last month, I want to say there's less than 10 kids that have that extra lesson. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. And that's at UMS that there's Pardon? At UMS, not That's at UMS, yeah. I didn't I didn't look at the high school cuz
028spread that happens with the um position that is a middle school position, but that's assisting with lessons at elementary. Is that dictated by contract like the 1.9 for the middle school is 0.9 for one position and then 0.1 at the high school? Is that correct? The the 0.9, yes. The 1.0 >> any split to elementary for that or is that just happening because it's working or Um well, yeah, the we do have the person that resigned or that retired had a one period that they would go four days a week and work with the elementary fifth graders and there's varying numbers of kids. Olmsted has 112 kids. Karen Acres has 38. Um Valerius has 78 and Webster has 80. So, they do go to co-teach with the elementary band teacher and that that won't change
029either. It'll just be one of the two individuals that are left, not the one that goes to the high school, of course. I totally understand um the position that we're in. I disagree um which is my prerogative, I to I would be interested in hearing what other board members think and I would encourage the community to reach out to all board members if they have questions or concerns because one person alone can't make a board decision. So That's all I have. Are you able to share Chris some of what you're hearing so we might have some of the same concerns? >> think there's just some concern about the workload that we're asking to encompass and still provide the same quality of instruction to our students. I can I can speak for my own kids' experience
030and and then just general things that we all know to be true. An individual lesson is going to provide a better experience than a group lesson. I know that there's a level of we have to pay for that. So I recognize both sides of that. But my concern is we've already done budget reductions. We've already cut staff and just based on the timing of a retirement, I have hesitation to shrink the amount of FTE that we're putting into our band program based on the number. Question about other savings from the plan that you guys were given. We have at least six Mhm. >> [clears throat] >> off the top of my head at the high school or at um the middle school for staff that resigned that we were going to be shifting around so
031that this new schedule would work. So those were not in the plan. Um My thought process and our conversation, we're going to be sitting here again next year making cuts. So if we fill this and then next year we're in a position where we say, oh shoot, we have to cut another 1.5 million or another 2 million, then that person that we've just hired we have to say goodbye to. We're we're down to a handful of people that actually would be riffed from a job. We have tried to do everything through attrition. So I didn't cut this position. I just didn't fill this position. But again, there's we do that all the time regardless of needing to find efficiencies. >> 100% where you're coming from. I know why you're doing it. I support the decisions
032that you're making in terms of coaching for future effects. I get it. This is something I feel strongly about. I I think it's worth more discussion. I'll take the direction of the board. I I don't Would you like to see this as an agenda item in a future meeting for more discussion? >> I think I would like I guess my perception is that this is very important to our community. And so it may or may not be. So I guess I would encourage the community to communicate with the board and then I think you guys could make the decision on if it's an agenda item or not based on if you it might [clears throat] be my perception. The one thing that we all know is true is that the longer we wait, the harder
033it gets to fill the position. Um so with that said, yeah, it'd be great if it was on the agenda, but also I understand the position we're in. I understand the decisions they're making and I know that I don't speak for everyone. So >> [clears throat] >> I guess I would just caution that if Chris is saying, hey, let's listen to the community, the people in the community that are going to reach out about it are the ones that feel the same way that you do and not the people that feel like, oh, we should be providing tutoring for [snorts] our language arts and math skills and you know, and music helps feed the entire person, right? And it does help produce stronger academics, more sense of belonging. Like I I I think it's very
034important, but I also think we talk every week about our test scores and what we're doing to improve those. So I I just think if we're only going to rely on the community reaching out to decide whether it's an agenda item or not um then we should probably just put it on the agenda because that's all that's all we're going to hear. That's the only communication we're going >> That's fair. Yeah. Yeah, I just want to be on record. I love music. I I do. I I don't want you guys thinking that I'm trying to decimate the music program. I understand you guys could probably tell us hundreds of stories of of what your positive experiences are and I I totally understand that and I totally support that. I'm trying to balance the two. I
035just want to make sure people know I played the cymbals in the marching >> [clears throat] >> So you know, on that tongue and cheek. I do support the arts program. I don't want anyone thinking that that's my goal is to eliminate the arts program. We don't need to eliminate the arts program. We're not desperate. We're not in that kind of a position. I'm just trying not to put us in that kind >> also like to communicate that I don't think you're trying to do that just so everyone hears me. I don't think that either. And I think that we all have different viewpoints on what makes Urbandale the best that it it can be and is. And so again, for the everyone to hear, like I know we're balancing all these things. I know
036this could mean that we talk about cutting a different position next year, which is not a position any of us want to be in, but we have already made significant changes both in the budget and the middle school schedule in multiple ways and I think this position has a bigger impact percentage-wise than the rest of the cuts do just based on like number of people in that department. And so for me, that's where I'm coming from. I'm not saying that Dr. Decker is trying to cut the music program. Um but this is important enough to me that I will advocate a different position. [clears throat] So what does what you're saying that if we were to fill this position, we'd have to take take that money away from somewhere else? Another area. It would what
037What I'm saying, yes, in essence. But what I'm saying is we kick the can. How far down do you want to kick it, right? Could [clears throat] we hire this position? We could. But when we're sitting here again next year and we're talking about finding additional savings, you run out you run out of savings. I mean, I I have a couple things in my head that I think we could explore that will take more time than what we had [snorts] to initially come up with the plan, but I don't want to be in the position where we say, oh, well, sorry, you guys have to have 35 kids in a class cuz right now we're one of I think the best districts around for class size. I'd like to keep it there. We have a
038couple places that they're on the edge, but [clears throat] it it's where are you going to find it? It's got to come from somewhere. I don't know what next year will bring. We we're confident we're going to be back looking for cuts. It's just How much? where where and how much. I don't know how many kids we're going to hopefully not lose any, but if we lose kids in the October or the January count cuz they're going to do the average, then if it's more than 75, then we're going to be looking for a lot more money. We've kind of estimated 75 would be what we would lose just based on the financial projections. So we lost 117 this year, so that's better, but if we don't start gaining kids, then that's going to be
039our only our only option. And when more drastic you get when you start running out of options, it becomes very uncomfortable. And I don't want to be there. I've talked about this before, but the demographics are not in our favor over the next I mean, the bottom line is we the birth rate in the state is not This is This is not a problem that is going to go away. And I would conjecture that nearly every position that we would have to not fill would also have advocates for everything. Um I worked inside this system. I saw music do wonderful things for a lot of kids. I also saw a lot of other programming that did wonderful things for kids. And so at this point, not filling a position is much less painful for those
040of us on the board and in the community and certainly for the receiving teacher than having to riff someone. Um I'll just say that's a very painful experience from personal experience. And I don't want to have to be responsible for that. So I feel very strongly about that side of it, too. Um we are faced with circumstances, declining enrollment, declining money. >> [sighs and gasps] >> And you know, again, for those of you who will be on the board longer than I, I I don't envy you because there will be very difficult decisions ahead. And this won't be the last discussion like this. Um so again, you know, I want to appreciate the sentiment, but I also want to point out that this won't be the last time these situations come up. And those of
041you who are still going to be here are going to have to make these decisions and they're not easy. There's a human cost to every all of it. >> [clears throat] >> And that's all I want to say. Do you have a feel for how much the music program pulls students into our district? Because we're talking about declining enrollment, yet if that is a magnet that sets us apart and brings students to us. I did a survey. I I haven't closed it yet. I need to close it and finish consolidating the data, but they would have to as an open enrolled family specifically state that's what brought them here and I had that question on there. So for the people who responded, I could bring that to the board or share it in Friday's update
042so that you could see, but if they didn't specifically say that, I I'm not saying that's not the case, but if they don't state it, I can't assume that it is. And then the consolidation from a single an individual lesson to a group lesson, have we worked through the logistics just to understand if that's possible because one flute versus another can be at very different levels. One algebra student with a third grade level and one algebra student with a ninth grade level is also very different. And I'm I'm just being realistic is that our classroom teachers our core teachers are elementary classroom teachers have a variety of skill levels sitting in front of them every day as well. I think music for sure does, but I feel like that's easier to overcome when you have
04325 and you have 20 different levels of kids versus you have three or four kids and they're at a a little bit different. And I I would assume some of the scheduling that they did was to try to keep common level flute players together. But I could ask them to break all that down, but it's going to be completely different next year. We have 300 uh 308 elementary kids in band right now. Not all 308 of them are going to be signed up for band next year. So you'd have those numbers change. You'd have to figure every year. I don't know that it's stable enough. If what I'm getting at is it's theoretically possible, but is it practically possible? And that just gives a little more confidence if we thought through that process and the
044teacher says, "Yes, I can manage the three different levels." But I can't answer that not knowing who those band kids are going to be for sure next year. So we'd be asking them right now to figure out what that schedule look like and be sure that it could work. But I don't know who the band kids are. And just to be clear I don't think all kids are having private lessons right now as it is currently. That's not happening. I just don't want everybody to think that that's happening cuz Sam, my son, is in percussion and he is doing group lessons with someone else who is practicing for a solo and they're on different levels and learning from each other. So it's not every child is not getting private lessons right now. >> Right. There's
04555 individual kids that are scheduled private. Yeah. Out of the I'll look the number up again. So the majority 50 something. I one of the concerns that I have that I mentioned, but just to clarify a little more is that spillover into elementary and into high school and what we do at the middle school also impacts what happens at elementary and high school and to that point of lessons like one of my children has private lessons in high school outside of school, so she doesn't participate in school-based lessons. So there's already some pull off that way >> [cough] >> private lessons. So all students are not getting the same experience as it is now and that's not to fault anyone or to fault the system. It's making the system work with the resources that we
046have, but I just worry about the more we pull, the more it impacts the full system from K through 12, not just the middle school classes. How do they decide who gets a private lesson and who gets a group lesson? That's a good question. Right. And where's the equity there? I I I I don't know the answer. >> [cough and laughter] >> Can you take come back to us with that? >> Yeah, I would it's probably scheduling would be my guess, but I don't I couldn't speak for the program. Yeah, again, I mean I can I can find out based on this year's schedule, but that doesn't say necessarily that's going to be the same thing for next year's schedule. I mean, I know there's a there's one place in particular I I looked at
047today that I'll make up the time cuz I can't remember the time, but like Thursday at 8:00 I pull Steve for 20 minutes and he's a clarinet. At 8:20 from the same class, I'm pulling Julia and she's a clarinet. They're in the same class. Why can't they come to the same lesson? It's just one that sticks out in my head. I don't know that's not the rule, but there are places where I believe we can be more efficient in our scheduling. I think part of the loss is >> [clears throat] >> Mrs. Schultz And 30 years of um wonderful work in the district um and she will certainly be missed and that is part of the issue here because there's not another her. Mhm. Um and again, you know, she's had her influence on probably
048thousands of kids now. Mhm. >> [clears throat] >> And um that's a factor, I think, you know, of loss for the programming. So if you have maybe more questions or data that you'd like Dr. Decker to bring together, reach out to her and she can compile that. >> [cough] >> Okay, then under um superintendent report, [clears throat] we will have Director Schultz bring his team up and talk about the K-5 literacy implementation update. Yeah, as we get ready to get started, I'm going to ask each teacher to [clears throat] introduce themselves. I'm Jill Miller. I'm a curriculum facilitator. I'm Aaron Bedkey. I teach second grade at Folwell Area. I'm Danielle Miles. I teach first grade at Heron Acres. I'm Zach Marks, fifth grade at Webster. Yeah, so this fall we initiated the first year of
049new instructional materials in the garden through fifth grade. Um and so tonight we're updating you on the implementation uh as we've gone through the school year. Starting in January uh of last year, we began preparation with the full staff for literacy implementation. Uh we did professional learning. Each month we brought uh building teachers together, had an opportunity to talk about changes and updates and literacy instruction. Updates with science of reading. There's been [clears throat] a lot that has um of research that has been done since our last time literacy was in curriculum review. So making teachers making sure teachers were up to date with the latest research and best instructional practices. Um at the same time looking at the the resource that we had chosen, Amplify CKLA, and then what that best practice looked like
050in the resource. So teachers were able to make connections with that. We continued that professional learning this year with three uh half-day sessions where we brought K-2 and 3-5 [clears throat] teachers together um with an opportunity to [snorts] do more of that professional learning. Now that they're in the resource, what questions do they have? What issues are they are they finding and and needing to problem solve through? So part of that time was used for professional learning and then that other time that we were together for those half-day experiences, we were able to allow for grade level teams to do unit planning together. So teams could sit with their peers from the other buildings and also have an opportunity to problem solve things that had come up, ask questions, get feedback, >> [clears throat] >>
051uh and that's been a good useful time for teachers. We also provided an opportunity for 6 hours of before school this year uh time for grade level teams to be able to plan for that first unit with the materials in front of them so they could feel prepared and ready to go at the beginning of the school year. We know the beginning of the [clears throat] school year can be crazy with uh a thousand other things. So making sure they had that time and that they felt confident with that first unit. Behind the scenes last spring, we were also working on updates to the learning requirements and proficiency scales to ensure that uh there was a direct correlation between uh the standards and what we were teaching, what we were assessing, and then what we
052were reporting out on so that teachers could also see that those connections and uh same for families. And then instructional materials started arriving um May last year and although that seems like a very small bullet point, I learned firsthand that it is a whole process. So uh getting instructional materials into the district and then into the building and to the teachers that they were assigned to so that they could have those things uh right away at the beginning of the year and be ready to go with students um was a win, for sure. This year we added a new layer of implementation support as teachers were rolling out units with students. So, we had that continuous feed loop feedback loop going of surveys that went out um I believe every 6 weeks to every 2
053months to look for celebrations, always looking for that opportunity to uh bring to the forefront successes that teachers are having and celebrate that and then also opportunities where uh we could uh support the the teachers and the teams um in the ways that they needed the most. Uh we also did that collaborative problem-solving with the curriculum leads three that we have right here. We brought that team together once a month, looked at uh that feedback that we were [clears throat] getting from teachers and then got firsthand feedback from what they were seeing in their buildings and what others were saying to know um where there were pain points that we needed to spend some more time on and really uh find some solutions for teachers to better support them in their implementation. Uh we I
054I offered office hours once a month. So, when I went into the buildings uh before school during that teacher planning time just to be available to teachers as they had questions come up and then also I did some embedded coaching um modeling and co-teaching [clears throat] where I would work with a grade level for the course of the unit and just teach in each one of those spaces so that I could know what it looks like in action and see um if a teacher's saying I'm I'm having an issue with this, the best way for us to be able to problem-solve that together is to be able to to get in there and see how it's working with students. So, uh that was some great learning um I would say for the teachers and also
055for myself and I know that our curriculum leads also had that opportunity to have teachers come in, watch them in action, ask ask questions about the resource and how it was going. Um I know that what you probably want to hear most of all is uh feedback from the teachers, boots on the ground. So, I'll pass it over to them right now. Um Danielle, I think you're up first. Okay. So, once again, I'm Danielle Miles and I teach first grade at Karen Acres. Um so, last year I had the opportunity to actually field test CKLA for most of the year >> [clears throat] >> and I'll be honest, I was very skeptical at first. Um the structure of the reading block and the content was very different than anything I have ever taught before. Um
056but I decided to approach it with an open mind and the results surprised me. I didn't fully see or feel the impact of this program until around January when we began a unit on ancient Egypt. And at that point I had been teaching first grade for 12 years. So, when I saw that topic, my first reaction was, "Oh, no." But then I started looking through the lessons, seeing all the names of the people and the places from ancient Egypt and then I really thought, "Oh, no. How am I going to teach all of this to my first graders?" But I reminded myself to stay open-minded and we were going to try it and see what happened. And actually what happened next was amazing. To my surprise, my students fell in love with ancient Egypt. For
0573 weeks they were completely engaged and eager to learn more. Anyone who walked into our classroom during that time immediately was greeted with three facts about ancient Egypt. Parents were emailing me um items from home related to Egypt. Students were bringing in books from the public library to share and some were even trying to convince me to let them watch the National Geographic ancient Egypt specials at school. >> [laughter] >> So, it was without a doubt the highest level of engagement and excitement that I have seen for a particular topic in all of my 12 years of teaching first grade. Another powerful impact of this program has been the development of rich vocabulary. My students this year have truly latched on to the new words that we learn every day and it is so fun
058to hear them naturally incorporate that vocabulary into their everyday conversations. For example, just the other day when we were coming inside from recess, a student let us know that the weather was temperate outside from our learning from the temperate forest in our habitat unit. Um last week we also had our music concert and the students told me that they were trembling because they were so nervous. And I've also heard them tell me that they are furious because someone cut in front of them in line. All of these words they have learned through our stories and now they're using them in meaningful authentic ways. So, they're not just learning new words, but they're owning them. When I asked them what they enjoy most about this program, they have said that they like reading the decodable books.
059You get to learn new words that you're able to read. The fairy tales are interesting because they have magical characters and real characters. I love writing about the stories we are reading. I loved learning about the Revolutionary War and how we became a country and I like reading the books during phonics time. They are sometimes harder, but I like to challenge myself. Hearing these student responses has made me feel incredibly grateful. I feel lucky to be part of a program that allows me to introduce meaningful, engaging subject matter to my students. Content that not only fosters their love of learning, but also keeps me engaged and growing as well. It has reignited my own passion, not just for teaching, but for learning alongside my students. And if there's one thing this experience has showed me
060is that when we raise the level of what we teach, our students will rise to meet it. Thanks, Danielle. Aaron, thank you. Okay, again, I'm Aaron Betkey and I teach second grade at Valerius. From a teacher's perspective, I have felt CKLA has really increased the rigor of our literacy instruction just as Danielle had shared as well. I'm teaching more skills than I ever have in 15 years and exposing kids to topics that they have never heard about. They're able to apply them in so many different real-world situations now. I have students that were in a pilot classroom last year in first grade and they have come into second grade with a huge amount of background knowledge. They're standing apart from their peers. Um they've learned about certain topics from CKLA in first grade that travels
061to second grade and then brings up again in fourth grade. So, that the connections that we're seeing is incredible. Um next year when all of our students are coming into second grade knowing all of that first grade content, um it's going to we're even going to be able to dig in deeper. My students have engaged so much more in student discussion and student talk and a lot more peer collaboration reading together. So, you can see um the smiles on their faces. It's turn and talk is just a common thing that's happening all the time. They can easily turn and talk to each other. I've never had so many kids just be able to turn and engage in dialogue like they have this year. They love working together um in their workbooks, reading together. They're each
062other's coaches um and biggest fans. I have also had a huge amount of parent feedback at conferences this this year about how much they've loved the topics that we've been studying. Kids are coming home more than ever sharing about what they're learning at school. I've had a lot of families be able to connect with the topics because of things that they're also interested in. So, Greek myths, I know I have some parents in my class who are also love Greek myths. So, just knowing that their students are coming home and knowing all of these different names um has been a lot of fun for them to connect to. We've had um parent who's a pilot in my class come in when we're learning about aviation. So, we've been able to connect in so many ways.
063Um from my students' perspective, I asked a couple students about the use of CKLA this year. One shared, "I like that we get to listen to interesting stories. The fairy tales and tall tales were my favorite because they were so funny. I also liked all the Greek myths. It was fun to find Greek Greece on a map at my house. For skills, I like to learn about the sounds and words and the tricky parts of words. My favorite reader was Sir Gus because he had funny stories. I like working with my partner every day." Another student shared, "The celebration days at the end of the unit are my favorite. We get to do fun activities and go over topics that we learned. We have had speakers come, done fun projects like making insects out of
064egg cartons. We did a kindness march around our school, which you can see here. And this Thursday we're going to walk to Hy-Vee to celebrate nutrition. So, just it's the bringing learning to life again. We're having, you know, they get so excited. You're digging so much more deep into a concept. It's not just read a story, talk about it, tomorrow we're going to move on to another story. We're talking about a topic for 3 weeks and they get really invested in it. Thanks, Aaron. Uh Zach Martin, fifth grade at Webster. Ooh. Uh I asked my kids um the their favorite three things. We had to vote on it for our class meeting today on what they like most about the new curriculum and um I saw in the pictures, as you can see um up
065there, the big thing with this new program I've taught for 18 years in this district is now we have workbooks, like they said, and we have materials and every kid has a chapter book in their hand. Um that's a big big deal for reading and writing when um you have those materials for all students. Um you can really make an impact. The first thing they said was um they loved ancient civilizations, Maya, um Aztecs and Incas. You can see on the top left one, that's the one we're doing it as a fifth grade team. Uh we tried to do a big celebration at the end of each unit where the kids got to show off all the work they worked on. And the Mayan and Aztec was great cuz I started off the whole unit
066just kind of saying like, "You guys really think all these pyramids are real and there's lots of myths that go on cuz I just wanted to get them thinking." And by the next day, just like these girls said, um getting her coming home was saying, "Mr. Martins, last night well, I was working this is in the fall I was working I was reading a I was listening to a podcast and it was telling us that, you know who did the pyramids were giants." And you know, of course, with great teacher you can go anywhere with that stuff. >> [clears throat] [laughter] >> And so then all of a sudden another kid came and said, "Hey, can I bring my school Chromebook home so I can uh read about this?" And the beauty of this whole
067program is as they hit two the kids were doing so much work beyond what they even have to do and they were learning when they didn't even know they had they were learning. Um that's the neat part about this program. Um the far left picture up there is a it's an ancient Aztec death whistle. And I bought that on eBay actually. >> [laughter] >> And it just makes a screeching noise. And so at the unit if they all got their papers done they got to we got to blow this thing. And so that's >> [laughter] >> what that was. Um and then uh Well, the best part of my favorite part about the ancient civilizations and the kids hit this too looking out for their classmates. Um I have a student and her dad um
068her mom's born in Mexico and her dad's born born in Guatemala. And uh she came up to him one day in the morning and said, "Hey, Mr. Martins, uh guess what?" I said, "What?" Kids tell me random stuff every day. As you're in there she said, "I'm part Aztec." >> [laughter] >> And I'm like, "What?" The biggest deal out of that. And she had been talking to her dad he's like down the bloodline he's part Aztec. And he's >> [clears throat] >> like, "I truly believe he is." And for the first time the the daughter and the dad and it's I made a big deal about it and the daughter was so proud of her culture and who she was and um her and her dad are taking a trip. She gets to take a
069trip and it's been a big deal and that's what he talked to me about at conferences how proud he is of his culture and um all that. So that was my favorite part about the Aztec texts that we uh my Aztecs. And then we had to write a one-page paper on what happened to those civilizations. And just for the record she wrote six pages on what happened to the Aztecs. Why did she do that? Cuz she was so invested into the project. But nonetheless I I saved a copy just to show future years what my expectations are for the other kids. Um the next thing that the kids voted on this was a surprising one. I was kind of surprised they would like this was poetry. Um and it's best thing about it is we
070have materials and each kid has a little poetry book with the poems in there with the author of the poem and then they get to write right in it like a diary and they got to create their own poems. Um and we did the whole tradition when you're in a poetry bar or whatever like what do they do when they hear poetry? They snap. So throughout the whole unit all the kids were snapping and then we connected it to a West Des Moines poetry club. Right at the very end they came in and gave uh ran four stations for all of fifth grade. And they taught them how to present a poem, how to edit a poem um and all this stuff and um all they were were West Des Moines high schoolers but the
071kids thought that these were celebrities. You know, this is really impactful. So that was the poetry and then the last unit uh we got really lucky on this. Um speaking of the music program um we read the book Don Quixote and uh the best part about that it's one of the first books ever written in the history of the world that I had read before. Um many people had. Um number one of the number one best-selling books ever most trans one of the most translated books. We got to read that whole book and um you got to remember we're I'm sending all the kids to the middle school. In the past years we didn't always have a guided chapter book that we sent the kids off to reading. So all the kids and we have
072two or three of them this year. They're all going to go to the middle school knowing how to read a chapter book. And we do it out loud so no matter what your reading level is every kid's getting that knowledge and stuff. And then the coolest thing is we got really lucky the music program this year did Don Quixote for the musical. We just lucked out. We're going to be in trouble the next few years. I don't know what we're going to >> [laughter] >> Um and all fifth grade got sent the district bus [snorts] us to uh the Don Quixote studio, yeah. >> [laughter] >> Great job. Well, this the district bus us to the high school and we got to see the presentation all the fifth grade in district. So we read the
073book and you get to see the presentation live and we got to go back and talk to it and it was great one of the first conversations with with the kids was like, I won't even say who it is but "So-and-so, I don't think they read the book, Mr. Martins, cuz they didn't play that character [laughter] right." They did an amazing job and all those musicals full size at high school and everything really were good. >> [laughter] >> We start talking about our district what a cool district to be able to ship all the fifth graders to the high school and do that. Some of the big districts [clears throat] can't do that and um we took advantage of it. Um but the kids have loved this unit and their background knowledge is just off
074the charts. Just like these two said I have a daughter in third grade right now. Right now I'm teaching Native Americans and she comes home every day and she's telling me something about Native Americans and I'm just going, "Oh man, like when I get your grade up there like we're really going to get after this." The background [snorts] knowledge we're really going to go. So program's working. Um We got Iowa assessment coming up. We'll find out if it's really working but um very confident that the kids all know how to read and they know how to look through books and stuff and it's just really neat what I see lower elementary doing that's going to bring up to fifth grade. And talk about impact all these kids are going to go to middle school knowing
075how to do all these different kinds of reading and then think about their social studies background they're going to have their history background going into. So uh love the program and you know, Brandon have done a great job leading us and teaching us as teachers about the important things of the new new reading skills in the world and all that stuff. So been good. Any questions? I need to know if the giant Egypt book from the public library made it into your classroom. No, it probably just says it didn't fit in her backpack. >> [laughter] >> Someone gets checked out on the regular at her house. How much does your snaps >> [laughter] [clears throat] >> What questions might you have? Did anybody not like the program? >> [laughter] >> This is definitely um I
076think Daniel mentioned a philosophical change to how we have done literacy in the past. So I would say there has been a learning curve there. The one thing I have heard the one thing I have heard across the board from every teacher and every grade level is the kids love it. The kids are learning. The kids are excited about the topics. So I think for any teacher they can get over the learning curve of having to do something in a in a way that they haven't done it before because they see the impact it's having on students. They find it more engaging and more and more out of it. It's interesting I was talking with the teacher last week um and they were just talking about how much they themselves have learned not only the
077knowledge that they've learned but just how to be a better reading teacher um with the support of these instructional materials. So they could say that now. I think if we would have asked I'm not going to speak for them but I they alluded to the start was a little rough and tough uh because like they alluded to the expectations are much higher um not only for our students our teachers as well. I remember we were kind of laughing about the instructional materials. When those showed up it was like 12 pallets and a teacher got this much out of teaching guides and I thought to myself this is one year? Like uh but some of that is the level of explicitness and support for the teacher as well. It sounds like you did a all of
078you did a really good job of kind of piloting. >> [laughter] >> Um cuz sometimes when we bring in something brand new it isn't received happily. >> [laughter] >> So it sounds like that was and I really appreciate your time tonight. I know you all got to teach tomorrow. Very nice presentation. We don't always hear success. Well, we've been around through all of the programs going through >> [laughter] >> I I feel well, I mean I'm on the team but I've been on a lot of other teams too when we've rolled out new materials and like I feel like our district has gotten so much stronger at rolling these things out. You know, we have a whole year of just teaching about the philosophy of it. And then we bring in you know, we're not
079just handing people people stuff and just hoping that they're able to implement it in their classroom and not have any of the background. So I feel like we as a district we've gotten a lot stronger in that area. Well, and you're good you're great sales people. >> That's what I was going to say. They are. This is being recorded [clears throat] it's a reference. I love this so much. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. Thank you. All right, I'll pass it over to our student representative for this part. >> [clears throat] >> Okay, so Mr. Corvera has been talking to our board members about implementing new flexible seating at the high school. He's been working closely with a junior named Henry Wall I believe and he's working on it for his ELP passion project and
080it's just like about like sometimes maybe removing some lockers to implement some more flexible seating like Johnston or the other schools have so it can invite more a better environment for our students. So, Mr. Carver's been really adamant about that. Um prom is coming up on May 2nd. The theme is Night at the Bayou and the after prom theme is Wild West. And boys and girls soccer have been having a really good season so far and the boys have a game tonight. Um we have ISS coming up in here next I mean we don't but there's ISS going on the next few weeks so Everyone's going to get ready for that. That's what we're doing in connections this week so I've just been doing homework. Um and then we are we also both participated in
081a um kind of traditional game called senior splash with a very fun water game. Um and we both got out. I got out on the second day so it's fine. >> [laughter] >> But it's been fun day it's kind of been building community and getting seniors who are ready to be done a little bit more motivated so there's that. Um Band placements and choir placements are going on for the next years and so show choir auditions are coming up in May. Um and then everyone's just kind of preparing for final concerts and stuff. Um Band we're going to UNI on Thursday to play with the UNI band. Um and then also we had some students I was one of the students participate in the Burbs art contest last Friday. Um it is just with a
082bunch of school all the schools in the CIML. So it's really fun to we took we just took the day to go down and it was an art show and there were awards and we had lots of successful success and lots of winners so yeah. You had an entry didn't you? I had two yeah. >> Yeah. I I should share those with you guys. Amazing. So impressed with what I I thought they were photos. Some of them were so well done. Mr. Carver links it in his um weekly teacher newsletter. I can share the link with you guys. You'll you're going to be extremely impressed. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I'm going to pass it off to Brandon. Hey. For the rest of the night. >> [clears throat and laughter] >> I'll have
083a curve for you Brandon. I'll go first. Do you need a stretch? All right. So I'm here to provide you an overview of the remaining courses for the human services curriculum review. So we did a set last year and we finished [clears throat] with the last two courses this year. So we began in 2024 and part of that was we were engaged in the state of Iowa curriculum system [snorts] review which is all career and technical education programs go through these reviews on a rotating basis and that's what kicked us off and that allowed us to fully review our human services course courses as well as the programming that we're offering and that's what kind of brought on ProStart and the revamp of culinary arts within the program. And then it was ideation really looking
084at the current state and what do we want the desired state to be. I think with that came the revamping of one of the courses. It was renamed as well. It's called adulting essentials and really that course is you know once you've graduated what do you need to know to survive and thrive as an adult. And then housing and interior design. So those were the two final courses that we were finishing up with this year. These courses both align to the Iowa CTE or career and technical education standards and then we've interwoven the 9-12 employability standards as well. In courses we're also taking great care to talk with the instructors about ways that we can interconnect career connected learning and so for example in the adulting essentials having guest speakers like an insurance agent, tax
085preparer, apartment leasing agent to really talk through what are some skills you need to know when you go look at your first apartment or when you get ready to sign that first lease. And then for housing and interiors bringing in interior designer a partner to kind of routinely converse with the course. So our recommendation for instructional materials after working with the instructors for housing and interiors we'd like to update the textbook. It's just one class set of textbooks and that's really used as a technical guide for during the course for the students to go into a certain sections to learn more about those sections and then adoption of Floorplanner which is a widely used interior designing software to help students design um interiors. And then in adulting essentials those are planned all be teacher developed
086units and those are the units that they would cover. So the quote attached is for that new textbook and Floorplanner happens to be free for schools so it's a win. Any questions about the remaining 9-12 human services courses? Great. >> [snorts] >> Don't go too far Brandon. Yeah. Oh. I'll let Janine introduce herself. >> [cough] >> Hello I'm Janine Hauser and I'm one of the curriculum facilitators and one of the areas that I was supporting in curriculum review this year is manufacturing 6-12. We've got some exciting changes this year. And so manufacturing kicked off a very similar way. They were in their review with the state which allowed us to get some great feedback about strengths and then opportunities for growth which really led them into their process. Okay. So we started out a year
087ago looking at the current program what was happening in the manufacturing classrooms. We took a look at needs and interests of students and you know how could we make our manufacturing program better? We looked at what are some best practices that are happening within manufacturing and then we looked at industry partnerships that we could be aligning with in order to support our students especially in the development of relationships that would lead to possible internships for students into real world so they would be going into the workplace directly from from high school. We generated some new course pathways at the high school that will increase student interest and engagement in the in the program offerings that we have in manufacturing. We looked at industry aligned credentials at the high school and certifications that students can earn
088while they're taking the courses. And we looked at different enhancements and updates with the resources that are available to the teachers and the students within the courses. 6-8 grade with the increase in our elective programs we've got some exciting things going on there. Three courses one in each grade level will be offered in the manufacturing field. Eighth grade or sixth grade would be trade exploration. It's a project lead the way program called building for the future. Seventh grade is an introduction to construction and eighth grade is an actual woodworking course. I could explain a little bit what's happening in each if you'd like to to hear that information. Is that something that you'd be interested in at this time? Yeah. Okay. All right. So with the sixth grade they're going to be working with like
089scale and measure, two and three D modeling, hand tools and safety, looking at plumbing systems, HVAC systems, insulation and energy systems. They've got a sustainable design project that they're going to be working on and then they go into construction management like job site roles working collaboratively together in teams and working together to complete a project. With the introduction to construction we're going to be using the Paxton Patterson modules which we'll see on the next slide. But the use of hand tools, measuring, cutting, joinery, maintenance and safety of course in each one they'll be engaging with a pencil holder project a wooden box project, picture frame project. They'll also be looking at home maintenance with drywall repair, hardware installation, faucet repair, drain cleaning, basic wiring, all of that in that course which is kind of exciting
090super hands-on all of them. And then the woodworking they'll be engaging in again safety with the use of different tools basic tools, saws, hammers, chisels, planes, surface finishing tools. They'll be everyone will be building a birdhouse and then that will be followed by a choice project of either tool box or paper towel holder. And so there it's a really good progressive progression of skills and one course kind of supports the other with those prerequisite skills needed. So super hands-on and we're super excited about giving the kids the opportunity to engage in these things and hopefully make decisions moving into high school with regard to what they might want to do moving forward. In 9th and 12th grade, um we the order of the courses is very similar to what it has been in the past
091with the addition [snorts] of a home maintenance and repair course that will be offered. Uh we used our next gen engineering, technology, and science standards, also some physical science standards with regard to the middle school and CTE or career technical education standards. Those both in the middle school and the high school. Uh career connected learning, we looking for opportunities to bring uh real life uh work experience and work uh related uh guest speakers into the classroom so students can see what they're doing is applicable to what they're going to be doing outside of you know, just the school environment. Recommendations we have for the uh Project Lead the Way Building the Future 6th Grade um that is uh a course resource that we use already with some of our other offerings at the middle school.
092So, this is an additional [clears throat] module that they have uh available. In 7th grade, we have Paxton Patterson which we currently use at the high school. It has modules specifically designed uh for the courses that we uh experiences we want the kids to have. And then uh in 8th grade, the career connections in construction, the middle school will be focusing on their project book one. Um and at the [snorts] high school then we'll be using the Paxton Patterson modules. They're updated from what um we're currently using. They have um new modules with new design uh in the home maintenance and repair, they're going to be developing those modules themselves to fit the scope and sequence that they determined would be best for kids. And then the woodworking one and two, we'll use that same
093career connections in construction but focus on uh a little more challenging projects out of their project book two. Any questions about the manufacturing? Okay. So, yeah. Uh so, we kicked off physical education kindergarten through 12th grade last spring uh with some empathy interviews to learn about what's working and what opportunities we had. And then the team began its full deep dive this year. All right. So, again we uh did empathy interviews to start out with. We looked at the current curriculum and what was being taught across K-12. We reviewed the new Shape America standards that are um going to be implemented next year. They went from five standards down to four standards uh with a multitude of indicators. So, the teachers engaged in uh looking at [clears throat] each of the indicators within the four
094new standards and then just making decisions as to when they would best occur within each of the grade levels. Um the new standards are banded uh K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. So, the teachers had to engage in a lot of focused work in determining which of the indicators would occur in each of the grade levels within those grade bands. So, they did a a lot of really high-quality collaborative work in determine making those determinations so that it was a nice sequence from kindergarten through 12th grade. Um the courses reviewed were again the K-5 physical ed, the 6-8 [clears throat] physical ed, and then the 9-12 physical education and 9-12 strength and conditioning. We used the new uh Shape America standards. And then we're looking at ways to connect what the students are doing in physical
095education with not only career opportunities that they might be using those skills, but also in lifelong health and fitness. And where can they take the experiences from school and embed them into post-school into just lifelong personal physical fitness. So, attached to the agenda you see the learning requirements from kindergarten uh through high school. Uh and so that those learning requirements are uh the outcomes for each grade level where we're bundling multiple indicators together to create that overall learning requirement. And then you see um some material requests that we got from the high school uh to lift up some additional programming and units in relation to those standard updates. >> [cough] >> Any questions about K-12 physical education? The there's at least one piece of legislation that we're watching. I don't know if it's uh still
096alive. I didn't look today uh related to the presidential fitness test. And so, if that were to pass, we do essentially um execute skills related to that assessment. Um it would just be the formalizing of uh pieces and adding a few things. But, just wanted to make you aware of that that there's legislation [snorts] that we may need to pivot a little bit towards. Thank you for not asking us to demonstrate our physical fitness skills. [laughter] You're welcome to anytime. Uh so, uh the next uh curriculum review that we were finishing up was uh the science electives. And so, we started this one last year. We did a section of the electives, and then we did the remaining electives this year. Um and so now all of science will be complete at the conclusion of
097these. Okay. So, again we took a look at where our program is currently, [snorts] and we took a look at um what our beliefs and vision were moving forward, especially after our implementation of our new science with um biology, chemistry, and physics. So, we wanted to make sure that the processes that the kids were engaged in uh were consistent through our electives also, the ones that we were bringing up through our core science classes. Um we looked at our outcomes uh in working closely with the individual teachers um that were teaching these courses to decide what we wanted to bring forward, [clears throat] uh what how we were going to uh engage students uh with the phenomena-based learning that they're they're engaging in with the open sci-ed um resource. And then again focusing on project-based
098learning and inquiry-based learning. And embedding all of those science practices that we know are are the best way for students to learn. In 9th through 12th grade, we look at three courses: environmental science, AP environmental science, and then college physics. We used our next gen life science standards. Um also that includes earth and space science and the engineering and technology and applications. And then some of our courses uh that have DMACC credit that corresponds with them, we also needed to make sure we are embedding all of the core competencies in those learnings also. Uh with career connected learning, again we want to make this as uh real life as possible can making connections with what scientists are doing outside of you know, the educational realm. Uh we partner with DMACC and other universities for um
099different types of demonstrations and activities for students. And also engage in some virtual um activities that we wouldn't be able to see in person, but you know, through all of the technology that's available now, we're trying to highlight that as much as possible. So, the recommendation includes uh new instructional materials for environmental science uh which is STEMscopes, uh which aligns very well to um the materials that we use uh for biology, chemistry, and physics which is phenomena-based. And then environmental science for AP, uh continue to use the current resource that we're using. Uh and then college physics, uh we worked with that instructor uh to lift up their units that they've designed. Any questions about the remaining electives for science? >> [snorts] >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Sorry to leave you
100out. Thank you both. Do we have any public comment? Nope. All right. Uh the next item is uh to approve the certified budget for fiscal year 2027. Does anyone have any questions of our motion? I'll entertain a motion. Make sure that it is for the corrected one. I would move to approve the fiscal year 2027 certified budget with the stated corrections from the beginning of the meeting. Wharton will second. Wharton, okay. Mrs. A roll call? Mhm. So, Wharton? Yes. Howser? Yes. Kent? Yes. Santizo? Yes. Fenris White? Yes. Williams? >> Yes. Young? Yes. Motion passes 7-0. >> [clears throat] >> All right, we now have the second reading and approval to policy 454. That was the policy for carrying students in vehicles. I've received no feedback. I would move to approve the um second reading and
101approval of policy 454. Santizo seconds. Santizo, okay. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed, nay. Motion passes. All right, the next agenda item is approving the new administrative assistant to Adventure Time. Yep, the um administration recommends the board approve >> [clears throat] >> um the new position of a administrative assistant in Adventure Time. Right now Adventure Time, we've lost the assistant director due to retirement, and we're not replacing that position. So, what they would like to take is the administrative assistant that is currently shared between the the preschool and Adventure Time, and have that person be the administrative assistant to the preschool director, and then we would hire this position um to cover uh Adventure Time to do uh 50% of what the other person does. Um who is also part of Adventure Time,
102so they would be this new person would be doing that plus taking on other duties that would relieve the coordinator of Adventure Time to do more um supervising and management of his staff. And this is a enterprise account, it does not affect um the general fund. This is similar to nutrition services, community education, so the the >> [snorts] >> UAB is not affected at all for this. It'd be 100% paid out of enterprise account. Not with the switch of the preschool assistant being 50/50 to being 100%. No, they will still stay 50/50 because preschool is also part of wrap-around care in Adventure Time, so we're able to keep that salary at a 50/50 split, and not make it come out of the general fund full. Okay. Thank you for the explanation. So, no change to
103FTE? No change to FTE. No change to FTE. Right now FTE, we just have the um coordinator in Adventure Time is really the only full-time, and then the other position, that is the administrative assistant, is split 50/50. Thank you. I would move to approve the new administrative assistant to the Adventure Time program. I'll second. Fenris White? Sorry, Anna. This is a roll call. So, we'll have Hauser. Yes. Kent? Yes. Santizo? Yes. Fenris White? Yes. Williams? >> Yes. Young? Yes. Sovern? Yes. Motion passes 7-0. I would move to bring the consent agenda forward. And I would request that we pull the personnel report out to be voted on separately just to avoid any conflict of interest with And then I would also um when we get to approving the consent agenda, I just want to point
104out that there's a correction on the addendum um for open enrollment report to get the correct building on the first student listed. Just know third graders at UMS. And I can't remember which school, so I don't want to say I thought Homestead, but I want to be able to clarify, so yeah. The reason the grade and all of that is still accurate, it's just the school. We need to a motion for the consent agenda minus the personnel report, please. I would move to approve everything on the consent agenda except the personnel report. Sovern will second. Sovern? And this is another roll call. Any other conversation? Any other what? Points of issue? No. Kent? Yes. Santizo? Yes. Fenris White? Yes. Williams? Yes. Young? Yes. Sovern? Yes. Hauser? Yes. Motion passes 7-0. Okay, now a motion to
105approve the personnel report, So moved. Hauser? Second. Williams? I think I can [clears throat] second if I'm not voting, right? Can I second again? Yes, you can. >> [laughter] >> Just testing the boundaries here. Living on the wild side. But I assume you'll I will abstain. >> [laughter] >> It's all good. So, we start with Santizo. Yes. Fenris White? Yes. Williams? Abstain. Mhm. Young? Yes. Sovern? Yes. Hauser? Yes. Kent? Yes. Motion passes 6-0 with one abstention. I would move to adjourn. Hearing no seconds, we will stay here. >> [laughter] >> Santizo? All those in favor, I. I. 7:55. Thank you all. Thank you. Thanks, Brandon. Good job, buddy. Thanks for staying till the end, Morgan. I have to. That might be it.