001call our meeting to order. >> Did he poke us in? >> He said it with 30 seconds to go and >> All right, we're good. >> 30 seconds to go. [snorts] >> Will you help us with the roll call? Sure thing. >> Horton here. >> Hower >> Here. Santo [clears throat] >> here. Ben Rice >> here. >> Williams >> here. >> Young >> here. >> You have a motion to approve the agenda. >> Motion to approve the agenda. >> Second by >> All in favor? I >> I >> oppos. Motion passed. >> Rodrigo be. >> All right. This mission is teaching all reach all. Uh our district vision is urban 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
002and reach all through governance of board policy and operating protocol >> um under the more you know I just want to remind everybody of registration preschool registration pre registration started on January ary 22nd, but there's still time if you are have a preschool child that you want into theale schools and our online uh registration for kindergarten through 12th grade. I know I think I've said March 1st a bunch of times, that's a Sunday, so it's March 2nd technically that that opens online. Um kindergarten also their open enrollment goes through September 1st. Um, all families that have returning students must register and um, March 1st is the date for all other open enrollment applications to be in. So, I that's the only new thing I had for you. >> And then you have an update on
003our activities. >> I think Connor Lrron is going to give us that update. >> He can run. Is it in you? just the the down arrow. >> Okay. >> Should get you. [clears throat] >> Okay. School board. This is our athletics and activities update um for the fall seasons and then through the winter so far. Uh our athletics and activities office. There's Jared Power, our head AD. There's me, assistant AD. Carter Milm is our coordinator. And Stacy John is our admin assistant. This was actually supposed to be through here, but I'll do that. So, football, we had a coaching change this year. It's Pete Trainer's first year at the helm. Uh, we finished four and five on the season. We had three losses that were within two scores. So, that that four and five could
004have been a lot different. Um, we had four first team all district players, including sophomore Gabe Blanchin, who was second in total tackles and solo tackles in the class 5A, which is huge. Uh, he's got a bright future. And then there's junior Landon Ren Renan, who was kind of a do-it-all guy for us, who was also a first team all district. Uh, in volleyball, we had a tough season. We finished the season 2 and 31. We went to Musketine for the first round of the regionals. Uh we finished the year two and 32. We had seven players. Honorable mention all CIML. Five were seniors, one was a junior and one is a sophomore. For girls tennis, it was a first season where it was in uh the fall. They had so basically played backto-back seasons.
005We finished the regular season 9 and five, which is really good, especially playing in our conference. Um, the CIL kind of runs the the state in girls tennis. Um, so we got to play the best of the best every day. Uh, we beat Ames to advance to the class 2A region one championship. Then we fell to Cedar Falls. And then Danny Peterson and Sydney Theelman. They finished eighth at the 2A state doubles tournament, which was great. Boys golf, they finished seventh of of 14 teams at districts, which that was a really tough district. So finishing about half is really good. Uh we shot a season high 314 and placed fifth at Ankeny and we had very large participation numbers which is a trend for that program. Uh there were over 50 golfers so they are
006a big team cross country. So both our boys and girls uh participate in 10 meets uh high school boys and girls and our middle school teams had seven meets. Uh we had a head coaching change for the boys. It was uh Payton Mar's first year as our head coach. Uh our boys had three top five finishes this season and so did our girls. Um boys had sophomore Jack Triion, junior Kaden Miller, and senior Ashton Hensley uh qualify for the state individual uh meet. And the girls had Lillian Guyire senior qualify for the girls state uh meet. For cheer, we had 22 fall participants. They uh cheered at all five of our home football games. Uh we have 10 seniors on that team. Uh the Jay Walkers had 16 participants, performed at all five home football
007games with three seniors. Emily Auxberger placed fifth for solo dance at state dance championships. And then for girls swimming, we co-op with Johnson. We finished fifth in the CIML and placed 17 17th at state as a team. We had two swimmers participate at state. was Ashley Mullis and senior Maria Telus. Perform P performing arts. Uh we have two new directors, Adam and Rachel. They're doing a great job. We are gearing up for the 43rd USCI this coming weekend. Uh we finished second at Lindmar and first at Johnston. And then we had 10 performers at All State on the All State Chorus Group. the instrumental music. We had marching band performed before and at half of each of our five home football games and then they participated in our 27th uh annual um at uh high
008school uh jazz band is in full swing currently and we had 11 performers on the SKA honor band and two all state performers. Speech and drama, they performed the bosses valet uh November 7th, 8th and 9th. Um they currently are preparing for their spring musical which is Lost Girl and there those performances will be April 24th through the 26th. Our winter sports updates. It's our first season of J Jeff Sand as our head coach for boys wrestling. Uh our girls basketball team won their first conference game since 2019. They've actually now won two since we made this and put sent this to you guys. >> [clears throat] >> Um, our boys basketball team was ranked for three consecutive weeks. Highest ranked was seventh. Um, and they play three ranked teams this week. So, that that
009could change. We could be back up there. Our show choir got first place at Johnson's Showam. Uh, we completed uh the 20th Ed Winger Wrestling Invitational with some of the best wrestlers around the state coming to Urbanell High School to wrestle. And then girls bowling senior Kaylee Schae qualified for the state tournament as an individual. And since we put this out, sophomore Payton Trainer uh placed fourth at this two-way state girls wrestling tour tournament in 170 pound bracket. Other notable news, we [clears throat] finished our concession stands first phase of renovations. Uh Brian Pins was hired as our concessions manager thanks to our athletic booster club. Uh we hired Rick Isacson as our head girls soccer coach. Uh we played all our middle school football games at Frederick's Field which is really good opportunity for
010the young kids to get to play on the the big field in front of in the big stands. Uh we had changes in our fundra fundraising efforts by the athletic booster club. So each program is allowed to um each athletic program is allowed to individually fund raise and we've raised over 125,000 just for the fall and winter sports. So that's I mean it's like double what they were doing before. Uh currently pursuing bids for video boards at the stadium in South Gym and those are very uh exciting projects that we looking into. So that is our updates and then I have participation numbers for each of you guys. >> I think we're doing some uh improvements at the field too, right? The baseball field. Yes, we are doing the back stop I believe and some
011general seal maintenance >> and the batting cages. >> Yep. And the batting cages upstairs in the south gym. Is >> there some netting that's supposed to be? >> Yes. So, some back netting to replace the chain link fence and then yes, we have a batting cage going into the south gym so that our students don't have to ready to go and and get hitting done. So these are participation. The first page is high school. Uh second page is middle school. Um just through this season, so not we haven't looked at track yet obviously or soccer. But some notable ones are that I have explanations. Girls wrestling is down. That is because we are not hosting girls wrestling anymore. We are co-oping with Johnson. when we sent our girls to Johnston. So last year, these would
012have been um girls wrestlers that um were coming into to participate. Um but in the future, if you look at middle school girls wrestling, they are up almost a dozen kids. Um one notable downsizing was our boys basketball from 8th grade last year to eighth grade this year is about 30 less kids. So instead of playing five levels on a given night, we are now down to three levels. Um, but everything else is pretty steady as far as participation on this route. >> Do you know how the move for tennis impacted numbers? I know that's not on here, so if you don't know the top >> I don't know off the top of my head. I think it was pretty consistent. Yeah, >> I think um shout out to our coaches and athletics department on
013encouraging multiport participation. >> Is there a chance if girls wrestling increases that we could go back to hosting hours? >> I think there is. Um, I know that, uh, so our assistant, we have an, we hired an assistant coach for girls wrestling that goes over and is assistant coach at for the North Metro girls team and he said that they really enjoyed it. Um, and they found some success. So, I think we will do that at least for another year or two and see where our numbers stand and if it is feasible to um, bring it back and host it in a few years. Okay. How have the staffing changes in the last year helped your department? I know there were some kind of schedule tweaks and and new roles. How >> Yeah. Uh, I
014think just I I can't speak for Jared, but I know that just being fully staffed has probably has really like helped as far as not being spread too thin, getting it being able to get things done and not getting pulled in 100 different directions where he can now delegate to me or Carter or Stacy. Um, I know it's uh it's obviously taken some time to get our feet under us and it's going to continue, but we are getting a lot a lot of things accomplished. Um, just like this first half of the year that I've been here, I feel like I've done way more things than I than I did in three years at at Dallas and Grimes. So, this is it's exciting and there's a lot there's a lot of things that are are
015new and we're trying to push forward for the district. So I know that being fully staffed is has really helped that. So >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> Representative questions that were asked from us. One of them being students heard from former peers if they feel prepared once they get to college after graduating uhs. I've talked to a few of my classmates who graduated already and they said for the most part it does prepare us especially the advanced comm class that senior year offers cuz that class is very rigorous in their writing and reflect similar classes like college classes but the only struggle I've heard was that finals was difficult because Urbanale doesn't offer finals it can create a struggle for students in college to like have prepare for that and like not
016just study for test but prepare for like multiple tests like units for a final. So that's what I have. And then the boys and girls basketball have been doing really good. They have their senior night tonight at 6:15 for girls and I believe 7:30 for boys. >> Um we also had a question kind of about how the we've gone through a lot of grade grading system changes over the past few years. Overall, the grading's kind of settled, but a struggle that I feel like we're still kind of working on is the retake system. Kind of going off of what Adri was talking about being not having finals. The same kind of goes for retakes. Um, a lot of people have fallen into the pattern of I don't have to study the first time because I
017can retake it or I can retake it as many times as I want. Let me like practically have my teacher help me through my test essentially is what's kind of been. So, some people have been taking advantage of that. Um, and I would say like teachers are starting to find ways around that, but that's been kind of a struggle. Um, especially once you get to college and then there's no retakes. So, there's that. And then we are working on preparing for USCI right now. Um, we actually just our new brand new shipment of risers that we are given the money for to help with the transition just got um set up today. So, yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. We have no public comments tonight. So I would entertain a motion for the consent agenda
018number six. >> Presentation. >> I apologize. Let's do item number six. Stephanie, will you share open enrollment capacity Rex? I scrolled too far on my screen. That's fine. We can we can skip these. >> No, we can't. [laughter] Um Stephanie Davis, director of student services. Um here to talk this evening about our insufficient classroom space. This is all part of our open enrollment discussions. Um so um with uh with the state of Iowa, they set each year the dates for open enrollment. As Dr. Dan mentioned earlier, uh March 1st is the deadline for grades 1 through 12 and September 1st is the deadline for kindergarten open enrollment applications. Um we have over 20% of the students in Urbanddale schools are open enrolled, which I think speaks um to the quality of education that we're providing,
019our teachers, our coaches. Um and this has been rather consistent over the last 10 years, right around 20% of our students are open enrolled. So um um one thing to remember with these deadlines, this is for new open enrollments. Um students who are currently open enrolled remain open enrolled until they exit, till they leave and move um go to another district or until they graduate. So this is not something that um when you open enroll you need to apply every year. This is only for our new open enrollments >> and those that are currently our student who leave who move out of the district can apply for open enrollment as a continuationdeed and we approve those [snorts] >> and those are not necessarily bound by the same deadline because we we don't know exactly when
020we're going to move. Um, so a couple things that are really important to know about open enrollment is that when families apply for open enrollment, you are applying to the district, not to an attendance center. Um, so there is a spot on the open enrollment application where they can name which school they they would prefer. Um, and if we're able, we always um attempt to honor that. But it's important to know that it the open enrollment takes place from district to district, not school to school. Um, for newly open enrolled students, they will be notified within five days of the approval by the board. Um, our new open enrollment applications will be brought to you shortly after March 1st, but must be brought before June 1st. Um, with our elementary students, they will be notified
021at a later date, likely by July 1st, which attendance center um that they have been assigned. Um, our schoolboard policy 626 uh is says that we will review annually how to determine insufficient classroom space. Um, we may also limit open enrollment due to program space. For example, if we do not have the staffing for special special education to provide services um for an open enrolled student, we may need to deny >> [clears throat] >> um that application. A common misconception that comes up when talking about open enrollment and the insufficient classroom space is that the open enrollment capacity is the same thing as max class size. Um and so those are two different and distinct numbers. There's a third topic that comes up when thinking about open enrollment that I will address first. Um thinking
022about the number of sections that we offer in each grade. So, the number of sections we offer for each grade is determined by our current enrollment. So, that's our current enrollment of resident students, um, our currently enrolled open enrollment students. Um, and we check these weekly to make these determinations as far as how many sections of classes we should be offering traditionally at the elementary. Um, so if you think about um some of our elementarymentaries, our larger elementarymentaries with four sections per building, if there's a grade that's slightly smaller, say the first grade only has three sections, you have to address that as they metriculate to the next grade that likely the second grade would only need three sections the following year. Um, so again, if we we would monitor that during the registration process.
023Um we have an idea right now of how many sections [clears throat] we need. We need to do our staffing for teachers of course coming up. Um but if we would notice a large influx of resident students for example um we may need to adjust our numbers of sections that we're offering. So that may come up. Um new open enrollments do not determine the number of sections. um it's the current students again both resident students and currently openen enrolled students that help us make those decisions. So there was a question posed about what happens for example in here [clears throat] in Acres is setting their number of sections before the other schools how that might impact the district. Um so like I said we already have an idea very firm idea of the number of
024sections that we would need for staffing. Um, but for example, let's say that Karen Acres gets 40 new open enrollment applications at third grade. Again, open enrollment is for the district, not for the school, but for the purposes of this example. Um, would that close off open enrollment for the rest of the district? No. Because we're not adding class sections for new open enrollment. We're basing class sections off of currently enrolled students. Um so also those decisions are made on a case-byase basis. Uh but this example is one of the reasons that we take a look at the insufficient classroom space overall. Um so when we're looking at so class sections when we look at the maximum class size that's different from the open enrollment capacity number. Um so the a maximum class size was
025reviewed by the board and has been in place for about 10 years. So, maximum class size and then the open enrollment cap is set below that number. Um, because that's the number at which we would no longer accept any new open enrollments because we want to make sure that we've left room for resident students should they move in. Um, so it's often those two get confused that the two are the same number, but the open enrollment capacity will always be lower than the maximum class size. um to allow for those new resident students should they move in. When we look at the recommendations that we're asking to be approved for this year, um we have listed them as a grade as a whole. Partly thinking about the fact that you're um open enrolling to the
026district, not to a particular school. Open enrollment decisions are made case by case. So looking at each individual classroom and making those number we are looking at the individual um the individual courses the individual classes. Um so some of the additional um considerations that we we have taken as I said we res reserve seats for um resident students should they move in. um looking at the number of sections that are elementary. This is adjusted for the number of sections at each elementary. Um and then taking a look at the schedule at which would allow for 12 different places for students to go. Part of the reason the number increases as we get to the high school, there's a lot more flexibility in scheduling. Um additionally, many of our juniors and seniors are not in the
027building full-time. they might be taking classes at DMAC, participating in the coursework at Metro West. Um, and so there's there's additional movement and flexibility with with those particular numbers. Um, so thinking about our open enrollment capacity that we will be asking to be approved at our next board meeting, what questions might you have? [snorts] >> I want to clarify one thing you said. So if they're thinking you're 40 kids [clears throat] >> that apply for open enrollment and they all want to go to Karen Acres. We obviously can't put 40 new kids in Karen Acres. We could put a we could put some but they wouldn't be turned down if that let's say it's a kindergarten or 288. If that gives us 250, we we could say yes to them. But then once a school
028comes to be assigned, if we can't put them all there, we will offer them other seats in buildings that have space. Yes. And then it's the parents decision. >> Do [clears throat] I want to go there? I mean, Karen Acres is probably >> I mean, they people go there for that year round experience. So that might >> I get the example because it's July and that was the question. >> Yes. But just know that it's not like we're going to turn away 40 no >> open enrollments if they can be placed somewhere else in the district. >> But we're likely not going to create course sections based on open enrollment that's on currently enrolled students and trends over time. >> Will you still utilize the same class capacities then? So this includes yes the the
029entire um the entire district for that purpose of of communicating that it is a district as a whole. But as I said looking at the case by case if kindergarten maximum class size is 26 which we make every effort not to go to the maximum class size in kindergarten. Then the capacity is at 24. So looking at each individual section to make sure that we're not over um not over staffing but not over placing students in each class. So looking at each individual case to make those decisions. >> Would we still follow the same numbers from last year's open enrollment capacity though? >> They are the same. It's just um included with the number of sections that we have. If you have a kindergarten class, there's how likely is well, I shouldn't say how like
030how likely, but like if we want to ensure our kindergarten classes don't have 25 students, does this policy do that? >> Um, this tells us when we stop accepting new open enrollments. Class size is a different topic um that is not included with open enrollment. Okay. And so last year it was under the header open enrollment capacity and it was by grade level at upper grade levels but never. So what's the difference or what is the benefit of changing or was it marked incorrectly last year? Last year it was just divided by the cap per section and it is still the same capacity by section. It's just this is the number of the grade as a whole. So if there are 12 sections at kindergarten, first grade, um that would the the capacity is the
031open enrollment cap is at 24 and the maximum class size is at 26. Although we have done everything possible to keep the classes smaller than that and that is something that we would aim to continue to do. But open enrollment capacity, this decision of approving the open enrollment capacity [clears throat] does not impact the maximum class size. That would be a separate conversation, a separate um board approval for that. >> And do you plan to bring that to the board this year? >> I I do not. It has been working to my knowledge um very well over the past 10 years. We have not that's not been something that we've needed to revisit. Um and additionally we've offered the um promise that everything we can do to keep especially at the younger grades the class
032sizes below that. And we just changed the way that it's reported because of the confusion where people kept saying I have 26 and I'm only supposed to have 24. But that that's not what it meant. So we're not at capacity in these numbers. I don't anticipate there being an issue >> and I I would love to keep every kindergarten class at 20. That's what the principles asked for this year, but it was done largely because we didn't have extra kindergarten kids to put in those classes. >> I'm just thinking about going forward and what we know in terms of enrollment and budget cuts and things like that and how do we ensure um the best possible classroom environment? And I know that's your goal, but how do we as a board set restrictions in place
033that guarantee that? And so that makes me a little hesitant to shift. Even though I understand what you're saying, I think I as a board member also perceived it the same way as staff in that we won't go over, but we know there was weird scenarios last year where we ended up in not great situations. So yeah, >> I think you have to be really careful not to set your open enrollment capacity too low because open transfer [clears throat] so much money the district um and we talk every meeting about increasing our numbers and so if we're going to reduce those so we're not increasing our numbers we're not giving ourselves the ability to fill our buildings Stephanie how dynamic are these numbers like when when you've captured all of the resident students and there's
034a gap can we then extend more openings to open enrollment. >> This is the capacity that we're setting. Once the board approves this capacity, we cannot go past this until we revisit it um in the following year. So um this is this is done per board policy to make sure that we have that that guideline and guard rail to ensure that the class sizes are manageable and we're able to serve all of our students the best that we can. >> And based on our current enrollments, we're not going to come close to touching any of these. So it shouldn't be No, for most for most grade levels it leaves um 25 to 60 additional spaces for if we had an influx of resident students. We want to make sure that we're serving our resident students
035and providing them a place to go >> in the middle schools. Actually, we we have a preliminary um look at the schedule. We were focused on capacity because we've turned away more [snorts] middle school kids over the years than anything else because of the restrictions in their schedule. But now that that's being ironed out, we to take it to 315, we're at like 290 291 right now per grade level. So we have space that is not going to make classes 36 or 37. That's what we were trying to avoid. So we should be in a much more manageable class size once the schedule's finally confirmed. So we'll be able to take more middle school kids. So hopefully they apply. >> Where do we see the most open enroll kids coming? Like is it usually like
036in the early elementary, the middle school, the high school? Is it or is it just kind of pre? >> It used to be kindergarten >> but for a lot of reasons declining birth rate. non-public options maybe. I don't know. I haven't called them all, [snorts] but um now I' I'd say middle high requests. I mean, [clears throat] >> and we we've had fewer at middle just based on >> because we've been saying no. >> so that could be potentially 25. interesting spot. >> Yeah. Opening up, >> which would be 75 schoolwide. Yeah. >> Which is what we lost this year. >> 117. But >> it would help make it up. >> Yeah. >> Thanks. Thanks, Math Wiz. >> I just happened to pull up Steve's email. >> I guess you can probably tell my concern
037comes from changing the verbiage. I understand it doesn't change the policy, but I think I want to ensure that we're communicating that we value small class sizes, which I know is not what the policy is aimed at targeting. So, I'm wondering if there's a way that we can um revisit that as a board as a separate item or if that needs to be done, maybe doesn't need to be. >> I I think I value small class sizes, too. when I was in the classroom, everybody wants smaller class sizes, but I think there's kind of a >> there has to be a balance to be able to pay for them. And I don't want to get in a position where every year we're cutting because we don't have the open enrollment. Maybe they don't come next
038year, but they come this year. I I it can somewhat handicap budget discussions and I not having a section open because you have taken open enrollment I think is where Rachel was saying if you it's it is income for the district. It is money that helps the district run. If we put hard fast you can't have more than 25. I mean I've been in districts where you do that. What do you do when a 26th kid moves in? We had the five kids at Homestead last year, for example. That was an anomaly. I've never seen that before. But what do you do at that point? You hire a teacher for it's like it's might be too many for four sections, but it's not enough for five sections. So, how do you balance that out? And
039>> and the answer probably is you have to move open enrollment kids after you've >> and that is never >> it is it is legal. It is what we can do. But when you have open enroll kids that [clears throat] have been in a building for three years, I don't like doing that. >> It's the board. I mean, if the board wishes to make that happen, that of course we we will. But I I don't recommend it at this point. Do I think if you have questions between now and then if you will just send them Stephanie's way. Um so we're prepared for next board. >> So to reiterate this is capacity. [clears throat] This is not class size. So that is a complete other discussion. >> Right. As long as I've been on the
040board, this is my 11th year, those class size limitations have been in existence. They have not changed. There's been continued discussion. I would point out that since I came here 30 years ago, most of the classes are run around 300. So if you look at those capacities systemically, this is pretty generous. I I wish we could hit those. We're not going to at this point and particularly at K1. And so we're pretty much guaranteed. I mean, unless unless we have a dramatic uh birth rate increase, which wouldn't hit us for five years, this is [clears throat] that's not an issue. And so and you know again this is capacity it's not getting down and the best you can do at this point halfway through the year is to go on historical trends which again these
041are very generous historically and try to predict you know the continuations and maybe the open enrollments but you're not going to hit them. You're always going to have those anomalies. Um, that being said, I think everyone on this board and everyone in administration and certainly everyone in that's teaching our littles wants as small a class sizes as we can possibly arrange. I don't think we can call that at this point and I don't think that's the issue here. Um, but I think it's a worthy goal. Um, but we're always going to have weird little bubbles of population. >> That's why we monitor it weekly because once registration starts also, that's why we want parents to go in and register early so that we have more real data to look at. And once the open enrollments
042come in, we need we'll have that concrete in front of us. But to find out what [cough] these [clears throat] totals are, we need to make sure that people are actually registering. That's why we say that over and over again because you might think you're bringing your eighth grade kid to the high school and ninth grade, but until you actually register, we don't know that. So that makes it hard for scheduling because we schedule based on that assumption that all the eighth graders will go to nth grade and so on. But if that doesn't happen, then we we have [clears throat] staff that are employed that need to stay employed and we don't know necessarily then there's some shifting around on where do they go. So registration is very important. Might have mentioned it begins
043uh March 2nd for registration online [laughter] in the comfort of your own home. [cough] [clears throat] >> Thank you Stephanie. Thank you. >> Appreciate you all this capacity for us. >> Now the DDSDP. [clears throat] [snorts] >> All right. Um, so we're here to talk you through the district developed service delivery plan for special education. I'm Kyle Weavers. I'm behavior specialist. Melanie Hatch, director of special education. >> Um, so just some context um, for why we're here walking you through this service delivery plan. The Iowa administrative rules of special education require each uh, district in the state of Iowa to develop a plan for the delivery of special education services. Um, the content requirements for this plan will be met through questions and a series of insuranceances. We're going to walk through those questions and
044the asurances with you. Um so as we look at the first question, what process was used to develop the deliver delivery system for eligible individuals? Um if you look on page uh three and four, this looks through the steps the seven steps that we have to uh get this plan delivered as well as the committee members that were on the committee this year to develop the plan for us. Uh the second question, how will services be organized and provided to eligible individuals at the preschool and in our uh H5 through 21 students? So uh we look on the bottom of page four through page five. This looks at question 2A, how those services will be organized at the preschool level, options that we have to be able to provide uh students those special education services
045in that 3 to five age for preschool. Um, and then as we flip over to page six, question 2B. Um, and looking further on page eight, there is the graphic of the arrow of our continuum of services here at Urbandale. Looking at least restrictive to most restrictive, and those are more detailed on pages six and seven as well. Um, all of the options that are offered here at Urbandale. The committee did a really good job of reflecting and making sure all of those uh services were highlighted in this plan and updated from the previous plan. Um and then question three, how will case loads of teachers be determined and regularly monitored? Uh so we reviewed a lot of other district uh service plans in the state to see how they were evaluating case loads, what
046we felt was most appropriate for our staff. Uh we wanted was reflective of the work that they do but not so cumbersome that they were spending hours and hours filling out a case load document. Um, and so if we look on page nine, there is a table that highlights the information that we are collecting as part of that case load uh determination. And this is a process that teachers can go through if they have concerns or if they're feeling overwhelmed about their case load, they can go through um to determine what that case load uh point value would be. Um and then there's a process for um they have concerns to talk through with their building administrator. um and then Melanie if there's concerns about that case load. Um and we felt that this was
047very reflective of the work that our special education teachers do on not picking every single thing out that they do. Um still being very reflective of the work that they're doing um and all the the time and resources that the specific uh nuances of their the role are. Um and then looking at question five, how will the delivery system for eligible individuals meet the targets identified in the state's performance plan and the LEA determination as assigned by the state? Um we see here that we have um evaluating effectiveness of the delivery system through the individual student uh by school and district data and uh district level data as well. So >> awesome. there is a set of assurances uh that is part of the plan. Um it's just making sure that we are saying that
048we're doing all of these things. First of all, that we have a full continuum of services and placements for students. Um that we're serving students ages 3 through 21. Um and of course, you know, you think you're probably thinking, well, you know, students usually graduate at like 18 years old or so. Um, sometimes in special education, if there's a continued uh need in the areas of living, learning, and working, we're preparing them for those outcomes beyond high school. Um, and so if there's identified needs, we may be working with students until they're 21 years of age. Um, and it's the year that they turn 21. So, they would get that entire school year. It doesn't just like, oh, you're 21, you don't get to come to school tomorrow. So, um, we do serve students ages
0493 through 21. Um we do provide uh accommodations and modifications in that general education environment and program. Uh there's also what we call specially designed instruction which is in special [clears throat] education. Um that's what we call the teaching that we're doing that's beyond what they're getting for their core instruction. So uh that specially designed instruction and related activities is specific to the student and what they need um in that goal area. The other piece um is that there are some and there's sort of a I don't know how to explain it. Um there's a different level um so sometimes that students are are served more in that general ed environment um with the SDI then you know we're doing more pull out and then there's times where um students do need to be instructed
050in a in an environment um that's outside of that general education classroom. Um, and then there are some students that require curriculum and instruction um that is beyond the level of um of what we offer in our core. And so we use that modified curriculum. And you may have remember Mary uh we did that teach town encore uh something that we purchased last year which aligns with the essential elements curriculum. So exciting stuff. Um and then the other assurance is just that it's this is something that's adopted uh by the school board. um it's developed by a committee and that we're um you we're complying with those uh Iowa rules for uh special education. So [clears throat] hopefully you have been able to see the document. It's very pretty. Um I would say ours is
051much prettier than any of the other ones we reviewed. Uh but considering you know what you've heard tonight and what you've been able to review, what questions do you have? Uh it sounds like we'll be revisiting this next time we're together. >> [snorts] >> Oh, >> I was curious to know what a typical case load might look like once a teacher goes through and adds up all of their points. >> Yeah, a good great question. Um, so we actually said around 55 points would be the max amount. Um, we did have teachers go through it uh and fill it out and Kyle with all his his background with with data, he did a lot of charts and things and I don't know if you want to speak to that kind of the range that we
052got. >> Yeah. Um, so we had uh all of our teacher, most of our teachers from preschool all all the way through high school fill that out. And we did see um uh with some of the buildings maybe doing some of the departmentalization where uh certain teachers maybe are only taking uh reading specially design instruction and reading goals that their case loads were a little bit higher because they were serving more goals um because they had more reading students than maybe your departmentalized teacher that's serving math. So those numbers did did look a little bit different. I think the highest score that we had was a 58. Um, and looking at that, we were like, well, how can we um, maybe reallocate and support that teacher. Um, and then the feedback that we got as
053well. We had teachers, you know, that were scoring 4850 and they said, I really like how my case load is feeling right now. So, it wasn't the fact that they, you know, reported a 48 or a 50 and like I am drowning. Um, I I can't manage a 48 or a 50. So, we really felt like the 55 as a maximum is appropriate. um based on everything that we looked at and then kind of doing some hypo uh some hypothetical uh case loads as well of of what we feel like [snorts] okay this hypothetical case load we feel like that's pretty heavy and this is going to get us score of 55 so we don't want we don't want teachers going above that. >> We noticed that our preschool uh our preschool numbers were were
054pretty small in comparison to the other levels. I do think um most of our highest scores were um uh teachers who are dynamic learner teachers because not only are they teaching SDI or especially design instruction, they're also teaching all of the core instruction as well. So, they have a lot of minutes and time. Um but we feel like this is a good spot to start and and I want to say that this doesn't encompass all the things that teachers do. We know that they're all busy and that they're all working very hard. Um, and that was kind of that was part of our conversation that we had too because they were like, "Well, what about Medicaid? You don't have Medicaid on and you didn't you didn't put in this and what about the transition IPS?"
055And this is just it's a really it's a good place for us to start and have a conversation around concerns with case load. And to be honest with you, since since I've been here, um, I've had a couple of times where, you know, um, I'm I'm just really not able to fit all of these students into my day and am responsible for all of this instruction. And it was a conversation and we were able to remedy it. I mean, I don't know that anyone's actually went through the process of a of um uh trying to, you know, like do their case load and use that as a reason to change things. Typically, it's just a conversation. Um and so we've been able, in fact, my years prior to here, I didn't have anyone uh go
056through that process either, but it's still part of the expectation for us as schools to have this in place. So, teachers do have uh a way and means to, you know, to have it reviewed if they have concerns. Um, but typically teachers just reach out and say, "I'm struggling." Or they've already talked to their administrator. The administrator says, "Hey, can you help us here?" Uh, think about this differently. So, >> good question. Sorry, that was a really long answer. [snorts] >> It made me think, though, but how does this plan play into um or how do we have data [clears throat] to support how many um teachers and administrator is supporting, if that makes sense. So the case load of the teachers and then the administrators who are supporting them, how does that factor together
057or is there another metric you use to kind of assess that? >> I mean there's really not there. We do watch like number of students and um you know in in programs um our dynamic learner program and the buildings they're at, you know, obviously that if we don't have it at every building um and so that that can increase the number of teachers and the number of um like associates that they're evaluating. And so we do keep an eye on those things. Um we've also noticed that like sometimes there's pockets of students and so there's large numbers um of students at a certain grade level or something in a building. And so uh we do keep an eye on those things and try to try to provide support there. I know last year uh when
058we implemented the new reading or was that just this year? Just this year. Uh we started [clears throat] working on it last year. Uh but when we started with CKLA uh just the way that the uh curriculum is set up, it does it doesn't um allow a lot of extra time to be pulling students. We used to be able to pull them during the reading block uh for especially design instruction and we're not able to do that anymore. And so it really took us looking uh to make sure, you know, during those win times or those what I need times um you know, are we able to get everybody in and everybody gets a group and it's a an appropriate group. You know, they're not with other students that are leveled um way way differently
059from them. Um but so for like at Kieran Acres, we only had a couple of teachers. We had three teachers there. um we actually ended up having to add a teacher there just because we couldn't with with the limitations on time that we had, we weren't able to get all the all of the students served. So, does that make sense? Um I don't know that there's really a measurement for watching, you know, how many um students with IEPs in a building and the administrator. Um >> I'll think about that one. It's just the constant conversations with administrators, the one-on- ones that they have with Melanie or I, you know, teachers will speak up, bring those concerns forward. The principal can contact Melanie if if there's work that needs to be done, but I think just
060like the enrollment, that's a constant thing that has to be considered and looked at. and you might be perfect and then you have some kids move in that are much more high need then it tips that balance off and you just you have to pay attention to it regularly. I think we do a really good job at that. So I don't worry about the those balances. This is kind of a spitball left field question about just for mainly for the public about how many student like what percentage of our students are served in the district. So I think that number is a lot higher than most people think. >> So it's about 15% of our students. I don't know if I have an exact number. I think we have around 740 IEPs I believe in
061the district. Um you got to remember that that's everyone with an IEP. So that could be a student that only has speech goals and that also includes every student ages 3 through 21. So it does seem like a lot but um you know some of them aren't really served by our teachers. I mean they they are because they're here they're generalized students but they're not necessarily served through SDI through special education um by our by our teachers because they don't have any academic or behavior goals. So when we like with we get ISASP back, it doesn't take into account students that are just um like speech only goal. So when you get that number, it could be a student that has a level one IEP, a level two IEP, a level three IP, or they
062could just have just speech. Um and so that's it's just anyone with an IEP is counted in that number. Good question. >> Thank you, Melanie. Thanks for your work. >> Thank you guys. And >> I would say the same if as you go home and digest all of this, if you have additional questions, we want to make sure you're prepared for getting vote on the 23rd. >> That's a lot of info. [clears throat] [snorts] >> All right, we still have no public comments. So, I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> I would uh move to bring the consent agenda forward. >> Any discussion? >> Do I have a second? >> Williams. >> All right. Is this a roll call or >> Okay. >> No discussion. >> Yes. >> Hower? Yes. >>
063Kent. >> Yes. >> Santiso. >> Yes. >> Rice. >> Yes. >> Williams. >> Yes. >> Young. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. 7. >> All right. We [snorts] entertain a motion for number nine to go into close session. Someone needs to read it. >> I'll move that per Iowa code 21.5 I or one depending on how [laughter] you to evaluate. We go motion to code Nicole session to evaluate professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual's reputation and when the individual requests to close session. >> We'll start with Howard's time. >> Yes. >> Williams. Yes. >> Yes. 70. It's 652. We will reook. Okay. So, we are back in session at 9:52. >> I would entertain a motion. >> I
064would move to a jury. [laughter] >> Second. >> Oh, dang it. Secondton. >> All in favor? I >> hearing no nays. >> Nay. >> That's a move. >> It is a makey move. >> All right, >> guys. I just like spending my evenings with you guys so much.