001I'm scared. Okay, we'll go ahead and call this meeting to order with roll call. >> Hower >> here. >> Kent >> here. >> Me [clears throat] >> here. Ny >> here. >> Senator Ricewe >> here. >> Williams >> here. Young >> here. >> Thank you. I would move to approve the agenda. >> Second. >> Thank you. All those in favor? I >> I opposed. Motion passes. We're going to jump into our favorite part showcase. stand here. >> Yep. Right here is just fine. >> Okay. Well, good evening. I'm Lindsay Cornwell. I'm the principal of the middle school. I have four amazing students with with me tonight. So, we have Elen Williams who is a sixth grader. We have um well, I could just go in order here. Avery G, eighth grader. Sheamus Murphy who is
002a seventh grader. and then Alex Schwiggler um sixth grader and we are going to talk about something new at um the middle school this year called connections. My connections teacher is Miss Dutello in sixth grade. Most days in connections we learn from the character strong curriculum. It helps us learn about our feelings, communication skills and social emotional health. >> Um my connections teachers Russell and the we learn to have healthy friendships. >> My connection my connections teacher is Mr. Fangman. Part of connections is playing games and watching videos to help us learn. One video is called rattle rapping. You rap with kindness. Some videos are a little bit cringy like rando in the market. That's much fun. >> Let me ask you this. Have you ever heard of rattle bapping? Hey, hey, >> you remember
003the time in basketball club and you was sparking up like Curry. Yo, Bars made the crowd freeze. Call him Mc Flurries. >> There was no joking when it comes to Trey. He does not play. He is here to stay. >> GIVE IT UP FOR BOTH THESE CONTESTANTS. [cheering] >> I'm Kristen and I'm one of the randos in this market. >> What does it mean to be an active listener? >> Really focusing on the other person. They're also typically not on their phones when people are talking to them. >> That was that was great. Could you say that again, Don? >> Why I feel like belonging is can be challenging is because maybe you just don't belong. >> Being someone you're not is not going to make you look good as a person. It's going to
004make >> talked to random people in the market about their values. >> My connection teacher is Mrs. Swanson. Each week we do a character dare. Some of these have to have been to write a letter to someone, hold open a door for some for people, invite someone to sit with you at lunch, or smile at someone. At times we do it together in class. Other times, we are to do it on our on our own. How about we try one? This slide tells us to write a letter to someone showing gratitude. However, with our short time together, would you please take out your phone? Well, they are legal at school. We are okay with you using them right now. Please text someone to let them know how much you appreciate them. >> Sorry. >> You
005can do it, too. Okay, good. You're being really thoughtful. for taking your time. >> No. >> Well, they're following the expectation. That's good. [laughter] >> It takes us. >> It's distracting now. They're texting back. [laughter and clears throat] >> We're in a board meeting today. >> Yeah. We're busy. [laughter] >> Done. How about we try another one of our activities? This one is ABC123. How about you, Elen? Pick a number one. >> Um, I'll do A1. >> Share one thing that you think is adorable and why. >> Um, one thing that I think is adorable is my dog because every time I see him, he likes to play with me and he comes running to see me every day. >> Um, what about question mark? Share six words that describe the best things about the
006school. >> Um, lunch, [clears throat] >> maybe PE and science, >> um, ELP. [clears throat] Oh, no, my teachers. You connected with one another, offered gratitude to a friend or family member, and learned a bit about our connections time. It's now time for you to get to work as a school board. To help you refocus, I'm going to ground you for work ahead. First, look around the room and silently say to yourself five things you see. Now, silently say to yourself four things you can feel, three things you can hear. Silently think of two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. Thank you for learning along with us tonight. If you would like to see more connections, come join us at S from 7:55 to 8:10 daily. [applause] Thank you. >> Thanks
007for letting us share connections with us. Yeah. >> Can you guys remind me? I've forgotten. What are the first two grades at S? [laughter] >> Okay, fine. >> Good job, guys. [laughter] Maybe that one's finally going. [laughter] >> All right. Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> It's Christmas. Thank you for waiting. >> Okay, we'll move into public comment. We have one public commenter. Murphy, you're here. Thank you for coming tonight. Board policy limits comments to three minutes per speaker. For confidentiality reasons, the boards cannot discuss um specific personnel matters, personnel or students. We appreciate your comments. The board has a significant interest in maintaining its decorum of its meetings and expects that members of the public and the board will address each other with civility. The orderly process of the board meeting will not
008be interfered with or disrupted by public comment and only individuals recognized by the board president will be allowed to speak. Comments by others are out of order and if disruptive individuals causing disruption may be asked to leave the board meeting and defamatory comments may be subject to legal matters. And you may join us here at the table and if you would start with your >> My name is Murphy uh Wit. I have uh three kids in the Urbanale School District. Um I came here mostly just to talk about, you know, what's going on in our community. We all know what happened with Miles. Um De Mo Register ran a full page, front page article about it. Every single local TV studio did a uh bit interviewing Ashley and talking about his suicide. And the school
009sent out an email on November 4th talking about the suicide. November 5th, they sent out another email talking about uh counselors were available. November 11th, they told me that my kids were involved in a student led walk out. Not in a single time, but they mentioned bullying. Not a single time have they talked about the reasons surrounding Miles's death. This is a massive learning experience for these kids. The kids that were involved in the bullying, they're mimicking the adults around them. But this is a massive learning experience for these kids. What are we doing? So far, the school district read a paper the day after Miles has died. Some of the kids walked out because they thought it was tonedeaf and just a form letter. They brought all the freshman in to the guidance counselor's
010offices one by one and said, "Uh, what is one thing you're really thankful for? Um, what do you want to be when you grow up? And is there anything you want to talk about?" And that's it. And as a dad in this district, I'm not privy to everything that's going on. I'm just a fat random guy that got angry about all this. But what are we doing? I mean, not a single thing about bullying. A kid died. This wasn't the bullying that we went through as kids where we got called fat or four eyes and went home. This is kids opening up their social media and seeing videos made about themselves, their property being destroyed on video, their journals being read online. That is so far beyond what all of us here, I'm assuming. I'm
01148. I'm assuming that, well, not us, but that the bullying we had is nowhere near what happens now on social media. I can't imagine going home and getting on Facebook or Snapchat or whatever the kids are doing these days and seeing a video made about what a horrible person I am and how mean I am. And here we have this great learning experience. And I don't see anything schoolwide assemblies being made, anything being talked about. And I know everybody in this room cares about the kids in this district, but why aren't we using this as a teachable moment? Why are we doing something? Now, I understand that the day-to-day operation is the schools, and I've talked to Principal Carver, but it really makes me sad that more isn't being done. [clears throat] I shouldn't be
012up here today. I'm a random fat dad who wants to be lazy watching Ted Lasso at home. And instead, I got off my lazy butt to come up here because I think we all should be teaching these kids. We don't need >> 10 seconds. >> We all have free speech, but why don't we use our free speech to lift each other up? Why don't we say thank you to our other people in our lives? Josh, thank you for reaching out and talking with me. >> I'm done. >> Anyway, I just hope we're doing more for these kids and that I see more talk about bullying for these kids because right now the kids are not feeling supported. Thank you. >> I would move to bring forward the consent agenda. Second question. Okay, we're ready for
013roll call. >> Start with Hower. >> Yes. >> Kent, >> yes. >> And Ricewag, >> yes. >> Williams, >> yes. Young, >> yes. >> Motion passes 70. And action items from the November 10th meeting. First one is the second reading and approval of updates to policy 535 which is about student records. >> So I would move to approve this policy um upon the second reading tonight. >> I will second. >> Thank you. All those in favor I >> I opposed. Motion passes. Next one is the 2627 UHS course description guide. >> I would move to approve the course description guide and I would also be express grateful appreciation for all the work that went into it to bring this to us. >> Many will second both the motion and the appreciation. >> Thank you. All
014those in favor I >> I opposed. Motion passes. The last one up is the preschool and Adventure Time fee proposal. >> I will move to approve the recommended 4% increase for Adventure Time child care and preschool programs for 2627 fiscal year. >> You have a little second. >> Yeah. >> And again, all those in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Motion passes. And [snorts] on to the examination of the financial accounting books. >> Administration recommends acknowledging the examination of the financial accounting books for fiscal year 25. part of the um Iowa code to have the board um make a examination of books >> questions. >> Yes. Requires a motion. >> I would move to um approve the uh year 25 fiscal year 25 financial accounting. >> I'll second that. Ben Risewake. Thank you. And again,
015those in favor? I >> I opposed. >> Motion passes. >> We'll give you a second, Julie. >> I apologize. I have tickled my throat. I'm good. [snorts] [clears throat] >> Okay. And then the approval of the depository limits for the 2526. Another Iowa code thing that the board must recognize the depository limits that we are setting to the financial institutions that we have. >> I would move to approve the the 2526 depository limits as proposed. >> Mickey will second. >> All those in favor I >> I opposed. Motion passes. Next is the approval of the SBRC application for increasing enrollment open enrollment E and ELLL beyond five years. >> Administration recommends the board's approval of the application for this um SBC uh in the amount of 730,170. [cough] This just generates spending authority for the
016district to recover the excess expenses for those areas and that we put out each year. And uh if you look in the details, it breaks it down by what amounts we get each one. Open enrollment out of 564,180 and ELP English um proficiency is 165,9.99. This does not come as a tax or anything. It's just for us to le level the spending authority for the next coming year. >> Tell them what SBRC is. >> The SBRC is a school budget review committee. Um and though they they we have to put this through for this approval as part of regulation in the state. >> So I would move to approve the SBRC application. for these categories. Beyond five years may second. [clears throat] Okay. All those in favor [snorts] I >> opposed. Motion passes and the
017acceptance of the abstract of votes from the November 4th, 2025 election. To approve the abstract that is attached to your agendas. [snorts] And so um sorry [clears throat] so we will approve that here and at our organizational meeting will be able to swear in the new officers. >> I would move to accept the abstract votes from the November 4th election. >> Minky will second. [laughter] [snorts] [clears throat] >> All those in favor I >> I opposed. Motion passes. And it's kind of with great sadness that we say goodbye to Jenny and Jason joining us at the table on Monday nights and a few other opportunities throughout the year. We have we have gifts for you both. Thank you so much. >> Oh, it's the $14,000 boardroom. [laughter] This is so >> Thank you. >> Very
018much. >> You've put in countless hours for the benefit of not just the board, but the entire district, and we are incredibly grateful for your service. Can I get one last photo of you? [cough] I'm so sorry. >> In this capacity, we might get more photos of [laughter] this capacity. [cough] [snorts] >> Okay. Ready? Here we go. One, two, three. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Mr. Okay. Take the honors, Mr. Mankey. >> Um, I would move to adjourn the annual meeting. >> I will second that. >> All those in favor? I >> I opposed. Motion carries >> and we will take a 10-minute recess. give you a thumbs up. [clears throat] All right, so it is 6:29 and I call the November 24th organizational meeting of the Urbanddale Community School District to order. Our first
019order of business is to swear in our newly elected board directors, Hannah Horton, Rachel Kent, and Rodrigo Santiso. So, if you guys would stand, please. Do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Iowa, and that you will faithfully and impartially, to the best of your ability, discharge the duties of the office of or director in the Urbanddale Community School District as now and hereafter required by law. >> Congratulations. Okay. So, before we proceed with the meeting, a little bit of housekeeping. Tonight, you're sitting in alphabetical order. Um, we ask that you remain at that seat um even after officer elections uh so we can proceed efficiently through tonight's agenda. We'll have a revised seating chart with the officers front and center at
020our next official board meeting on December 8th. [clears throat] With that, we'll go ahead to item 15. and [clears throat] start with officer elections. So, we'll be um nominating candidates for board president. I need you to know that nomination nominations do not need to be seconded. You can nominate yourself. Um, as has been our tradition, once we have all of our nominees for an office, each nominee will give be given time to say a few words as to why they believe they're the choice for that president and then when we get to it, vice president. Um, once statements are finished, there will be a modified roll call vote as there are no secret ballots. So, I'm just going to go down the row and ask you who you vote for. Um, with seven [clears throat]
021of you here tonight, the nominee must get a majority of the votes of the board's present. So that means four of you have to vote for the person in order for them to become the officer. Do you guys have any questions before we get started? Okay. My paper ready. All right. [clears throat] So I open the floor to nominations. >> I nominate Margaret [clears throat] Young. and I would nominate Director Kent. Kent any Okay, so we'll go ahead and open the floor. Um Margaret, you were nominated first. Uh my goal to run for president is to build communication, to build trust with each other, and to build transparency. I think our board can grow in its relationships with each other and build our relationships with the community. I think we also need to build a
022trusting and transparent relationship with their superintendent and work together so she can reach her goals. I think we all have unique perspectives that we bring and it's important that we learn from each other. And my goal is just to create a collaborative environment where we can all speak freely and learn. Um, I want to be a positive change agent and I'm ready to listen and to lead with kindness. Okay. Uh, being president requires someone who has the ability to set the job, the board members, and all our stakeholders as a top priority. Things happen without warning, and our stakeholders deserve a president who can step up with no delay. I've proven to be that president in the last year. I take a lot of time off of work, out of my family vacations, and away
023from family commitments to serve in this role. And I always do it without hesitation. There's always deadlines that have to be met. I've participated in all those deadlines, including superintendent evaluations, policy revisions, responding to letters written by our students, and so on. These are part of every director's uh position, including the president's. I am prompt and responding and um or reading and responding as necessary to all the emails that board the board receives not just from our constituents and stakeholders but from u the directors and the superintendent. I've met all the deadlines with one exception. Um so in the uh age of transparency my feedback for the most recent superintendent's uh evaluation was delayed and it was delayed as I prioritize the process of finding and hiring an interim superintendent. It is my opinion that
024the presidency requires someone who sees all stakeholders and constituents as equals. Regardless of whether someone voted for me or not at the uh ballot as a director in this role, I need to listen to and consider to all viewpoints. The president should model this at all times and I have done that. Obviously, I've not voted the way that all stakeholders and constituents want me to. Um, but I've always been open to listening to them and having conversations with anyone who reaches out. Uh, my attendance at board meetings and other board opportunities is fantastic. I've missed one special board meeting in my uh first four years, and I missed that because I was representing our district and board at a Metro board meeting uh for officers. So I was still doing the work of the board.
025As a director and officer, I've experienced a very large variety of situations that have been brought to the board and this has built my knowledge base and confidence to support all stakeholders and act effectively, efficiently and promptly. I don't know all the answers, but I do uh know how to use all resources that are available such as IASB, SAI and so on. Stability of the board right now with our officers is quite vital as we have an interim superintendent. Uh we'll be transitioning a superintendent back into her role hopefully soon and we have new board members. I'm going to go ahead and do a roll call now. We're going to start with Hannah. I just need to have you tell me the person you want to vote for. >> Yeah. Kent >> Young >> Williams
026Kent >> Young has four, Kent with three. So Margaret Young is our next president. So I'll go ahead and administer the oath of oath of office. It's the same the board members just took. We're all going to take the same one tonight. So Margaret, do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Iowa and that you will faithfully and impartially to the best of your ability discharge the duties of the office of board president in the Urbandale Community School District as now and hereafter required by law? >> Yes. Okay. Congratulations. I [clears throat] will bring over the gabble and [snorts] and we'll move on to vice president nominations. [clears throat] I open the floor. I would nominate director Van Risewake. Okay. Any other
027nominees? Okay. Well, since there's only one person that makes you the vice president, I'll go ahead. I'm not gonna make you all vote for that. Go ahead and stand up. >> You don't have to raise your hand. [clears throat] It's okay. It's okay. Um Josh, do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Iowa and that you will faithfully and impartially to the best of your ability discharge the duties of the office of vice president and the Urbanddale Community School District as now and hereafter required by law? >> Yes. >> Congratulations. Okay. Well, that concludes my portion of this evening's meeting. I turn the floor over to you now. [clears throat] We move to our next agenda item to appoint the board secretary
028and treasurer. >> Do we take nominations or do we ask if you're will? >> We need to approve it. So there will need to be a motion and a second and then you're going to give Steve and I that >> entertain a motion to nominate Julie as board secretary. >> We do both of them together. >> You do both of them together. Then I nom entertain a motion to nominate Julie as board secretary and Steve as board treasurer. >> So moved. >> Second. Okay. >> I'm sorry it's contagious. [laughter] >> I didn't mean to. [clears throat] >> Okay. All those in favor? I >> I >> opposed. >> All right. Julie and Steve, do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Iowa,
029and that you will faithfully and impartially, to the best of your ability, discharge the duties of the office of board secretary and board treasurer in the Urbanddale Community School District, as now and hereafter, required by law. >> I do. >> Thank you. Our next order of business is to establish [clears throat] the meeting day, time, and location. >> Currently hold them Monday evenings at 6:00 pm in this lovely room. Anyone have alternatives to propose or suggestions? >> Did we decide we're only going to have still only have one in July? Did we want to schedule? That's something you can discuss right now. >> Okay. >> So, traditionally in July and December, you have one meeting in those months, vacations, and then children out of school. It it's been difficult to get um a quorum >>
030sometimes, especially in the summer. Um but that's up for discussion. That's something that you guys can discuss now. >> I like didn't we have to schedule them in the past on one in the summer? Right. Well, we didn't talk about this last year. >> We talked about it, but I don't think this year in July we didn't need a second one. Was that sound accurate? >> We had um I think we had one Zoom meeting over the summer to approve >> like a work order. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, barring those special circumstances, >> and there I am kind of scraping for a quorum just to make sure that we can keep the work going, >> right? >> Um it used to be that we only had a meeting, one meeting in August as
031well. And so a couple of years ago, we did add that back in because with school starting, you know, especially with personnel >> Yeah. >> and facilities, we want to make sure that we're giving everybody the opportunity to get their work done and approved. >> So, >> what what's in the agenda are the proposed meeting dates for the 20 26 27 school year? It's weird to think that far out. Um, but looking at the schedules, those look like the most appropriate dates. Um, so that's something that if it's approved tonight, I'll post on the front page of the website and um, >> any other thoughts from the board? >> I would move that we approve the dates as written in the agenda. >> Williams second. >> All those in favor? I >> opposed. Motion passes.
032>> And next order of business is to name an official publication. Is this how we send minutes to the De Moine Register? >> It is. We're required by law to officially name our publication so everybody understands where they can expect our minutes to be. Um they're also posted in the assembly on our board website. So everybody, you can go back like seven years to see the minutes if you ever have questions about that, but legally we're required to send our minutes to the Demain register >> and then we'll publish it. >> Are there alternatives? >> Nope. Okay. >> Not in our area. [clears throat] >> Williams would move name De Mo Register official publication for the district. >> Will second. All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> All right. Our next order of business
033is to designate legal counsel. Um Allers and Cooney and then Dickinson Law Liby are the two primary firms that we've used and we continue to use. So >> and again we are required to do that. So >> why I will uh recommend make a motion to approve all's law and Dickinson as our law firms. >> Do I have a second? >> Countable second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. All right. Indoor athletic edition. Do you want to give us an update there, Steve? >> Yep. Um, we're going to table this because Booster Club has decided they're filing for a grant and they want to see if they can use part of their grant money that they're trying to get to fund the project before they just use whatever they would normally
034have in their general amount. So table this for now. >> Entertain a motion to table move to table athletic edition discussion. >> See a second. >> All those in favor >> motion carries. Kim, would you give us the superintendent report, please? >> Um, I have one thing that I've been thinking about. Um, I noticed at your last meeting you tabled, uh, policy that you, uh, it was up for second reading. And so, uh, I just really wanted to put that back on your radar that that should probably be a discussion item in December. And then after you've made your edits, you'll pass that back to the administrative team and they will make those edits and uh cross reference with legal so they can bring that back and you can have that as a first reading
035in January. So I just wanted to put that back on your radar as something that I was thinking about. Um another thing I'd like to comment on is enrollment and just really be looking for a report from Steve uh soon. And I know this time of the year is when school districts start really planning for next year and they really they need to look at enrollment history trends um who's open enrolled in, who's out, who's attending private school, those things. So we're starting to talk about that. Steve has a real good pulse on that. And so that there should be a report about that in December. >> When is the open enrollment deadline? Stephanie would know that >> for grades 1 through 12 and September 1st for kindergarten. >> Next up is the student record.
036So today we had our um student turkey hunt where student senate hid 50 plastic turkeys around the school with one gy golden turkey and the students then looked around and searched for the turkeys. Each student was limited to one each and the student who found the golden turkey got a cornucopia with snacks and the lucky student who ended up finding the golden turkey was Alejandro. And then next week is winter week. During winter week, students can dress up each day according to the theme for that day. For example, Tuesday is grumpit day and on that Friday there will be an assembly that will bring recognition to winter activities and then winter formal will be um December 6th. >> Well done. Thank you. >> And then um two weeks ago the theater department held a food
037pantry drive with dressup days throughout the whole week. They raised a bunch of canned goods for the Urbanale food pantry. Additionally, the week after core had their annual culture week and culture fair. This is the fourth year in a row that they've done this and on Wednesday was the culture fair where students from different cultures are able to share about their culture at booths that Friday or that Wednesday night and it's always a fun event to attend and some booths have food, candy and drinks. Additionally, singers, the choir group in studio, the show choir group had their alumni days today which a lot of past graduates came and visited and students and teachers and they had a lot of fun. >> Thank you. Last week we all had a chance to attend or some of
038us had a chance to attend the Iowa Association of School Board's annual convention as an opportunity to listen to speakers and we always come away with insights. So just like to open the floor to share some of your takeoffs. >> I can start. Um my big the one of the sessions I attended was uh the bullying and legal the legal ramifications of it and and harassment policy and dealing with what the new laws that have come into effect and their and how they kind of affect the schools. Um, and a lot of discussion was about the leaving the protected classes in or out of policy. And I feel like we when we got it explained to us, it was a little bit different than the way they explained it at the conference. And what the
039way they explained at the conference was that by removing the enumerated classes in the state law, it act actually lowered the threshold in order for uh harassment complaint to be um elevated through the system. So by you no longer have to prove that it doesn't have to fall into one of these sections of you know of bullying because of sex, bullying because of race, bullying because of XYZ. There were there was the list of the enumerated classes, but no longer do we have to worry about where does it fall just if there has been there's been multiple instances of harassment and bullying of the student that they can then file start the process of the investigation. So I think that's good to know that the state law has not [clears throat] um removed groups or
040removed protections. It has lowered the threshold for which the we have to prove for to start a harassment investigation and bullying investigation. I went to a session about um building stronger relationships between school districts and cities. Um and it was really interesting. The West De Moines school district has built a really strong partnership with the city of Clive. And so they had um a Clive council member, the Clive uh city manager, and then the West De Mo chamber president um were all there and they talked about all the things that they've done. Um in Clive particularly, they had a their one and only school in Clive had um a really high absent chronic absentee rate. Um, and so the city promised the students of the grade level or class, I don't remember which one it
041was, the class that had the lowest absentee um, numbers at the end of the year got to spend a couple hours with the goats on the playground. And um, their absenteeism went from like I I don't know exactly what it was, 20% plus down to like 7%. Um, and so it wasn't anything that cost anybody any money, but they had these two groups that were working for the common good. Um, and it, yeah, it just really sparked my my brain and I'm hopeful that we can get there, too, because there were other things like the students at that same school as they're um redoing I can't think of the name of the park on 86th Street. The city went into the school and the kids got to help design the playground and because they're the
042ones that are going to be using it. And so there's there's this great um partnership there. And then they also um as as the school is discussing redoing their playground, they want to make sure that they've got different things there than they have at at the playground at the park just a few blocks away. Um so it was just it was just really cool to see how they were really working together. They send out common newsletter letter letters um on a quarterly um timeline. They've got committee meetings of the board administration in the city. It's just a lot of really cool things happening for them all to work in the same direction. I didn't bring my notes with me. Um, but I went to a interesting meeting, I believe it was Williamsburg schools [sighs] talking
043about implementing the use of AI in their elementary schools. And it wasn't really so much a this is what you should do as a discussion about all of the ethics and pluses and minuses and drawbacks and benefits. And they had teachers who were saying initially we had a lot of hesitations and we didn't we didn't know what to do with little kids. And then they started using it and said this actually was really great. Um, and then they talked a lot about the concerns. They had to put a lot of guard rails in, especially for elementary students. So, they decided um on some very specific elementary school friendly AI apps that they use, which I don't have written down, but um I can share. So, it was really interesting. I went to one that talked
044about using storytelling as a way to engage with the community and build empathy. And a gentleman stood up and shared a story of a high school student who took work learning and um brought his family out of poverty. He was able to leave school with the certifications he needed. And it just kind of stirred you to want to give and support those initiatives. And I think that could be a cool tool for us to use in our district to elevate the students and the staff and put a face to what's going on to share out. >> I went to um Thomas Murray's he was one of the main speakers but then he had a session on future ready schools and um had a number of free resources that I'm sure probably that Darlene Widner has
045already accessed. But what made me feel really good was a lot of the pathways that we've been developing were exactly what he was recommending as a national speaker and um almost down to every item including you know the pathways, the career programming. Um, I I I hope um as we move forward that we'll be able to uh expand that programming and I hope that we won't be so financially limited that that that will be it will negate the possibilities there because um I think that there's remarkable things that we could do for our students that we're not able to do right now. Um, I was able to make some of those smaller sessions, but uh, at the very beginning, uh, was kind of inspiring was the, uh, Cedar Rapids Jefferson, I believe was the high
046school, the, uh, the band that played for everybody, and hearing the director speak, um, about the variety of intricacies when it comes to directing the band and how much work goes into it. in each individual performer. Um, you know, what all they have to concentrate on. You think it's all just plain enough, but there's a lot more to it. Uh, but it was just, um, inspiring to hear and just kind of led me to, um, obviously make sure we're supporting our, uh, fine arts within our school district as well. So, um, it was good to hear that and I don't know whether to necessarily get the accolades or the attention like sports do, but obviously I believe our fine arts should should. >> Thank you all for sharing. Some great things that we can implement
047here. >> Any final thoughts? I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll move to Second. >> All those in favor? >> Anyone opposed?