001call to order the regular meeting of the school board for Monday, April 14th, 2025. Our first item on the agenda is the pledge of allegiance. Ask you to stand as you're able. The flags are in the southeast corner of the room. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 1 A. The reading of our school board meeting norms. Miss Flint. Be prepared. Be on time. Value and respect each other. Exercise thoughtful deliberation and conversation. Be professional at the board table and when visiting with the general public. Speak up when the norms are not being followed and advocate on behalf of students and keep the community in mind. Thank you. Item two is
002the approval of tonight's agenda. I would seek a motion to approve the agenda as written. It's been moved by Mr. Cleven. Is there a second? Is that Miss Flint? I will take a roll call vote. Hodak. Yes. Larson, yes. Manley, yes. Cleven, yes. Anderson, yes. Flynn, yes. Ponino, yes. Flun, yes. And Ber, yes. Nine, yes. Zero, no. Zero absent. Motion passes. Item three on the agenda, the public comment period. I do not have any public comment forms turned in. If there's anyone wishing to speak tonight, would you come forward? Just because you've just entered the room, we just opened the public comment uh period. If you if you were here for that, uh this would Okay. Okay. Just wanted to double check. Uh we'll move on then to item 4 A under superintendent's recommendations for
003discussion 4 A uh be legendary schoolboard goals update. Dr. Brener. Thank you, President Berger. Uh with me tonight co-presenting this uh be legendary information data information is chief academic officer Amy Barch. Um and so you have the cover memo in front of you and what we will illustrate tonight is um how well we're doing in both literacy and math uh from a K8 excuse me a K12 perspective. Um and I'm going to handle uh reading the goals and the outputs. Uh the outputs meaning what are the the data results and what are they telling us? And then Amy is going to uh talk about what the inputs would be to either improve or sustain uh or recommend what we might be doing moving forward. So uh I'm going to go ahead and start with uh
004the next slide. And just a just a reminder uh when we all went through the B legendary training school board and district leadership uh the superintendent is responsible for input output and board members are responsible for outcomes. And just another reminder that these uh goals that you'll see in front of you tonight uh were goals recommended by district administration but also adopted by the school board. And as you're seeing uh our schools come forward and present their B legendary data, you can see that there's alignment between school goals uh both at the elementary, middle, and high school uh and what the district goals are as well. So we are getting u soever closer to uh a system uh systems approach. Uh we will go ahead and go to the next slide. Uh the first goal
005is Grand Forks Public Schools will increase English language arts proficiency levels from 48% being proficient or advanced in 2022 23. So you can see we're getting two years into these goals now to 56% proficient or advanced by September of 2028 as measured by the North Dakota academic progression of learning and understanding of students. We'll go to the next slide. And I'm trying to toggle with my slides here as well. And so our K1 goal uh will increase ELA proficiency levels uh from 48% at or above bench benchmark in the fall of 23 to 56% at or above benchmark uh or the 50th percentile or higher in the fall of 2028 as measured by the Renaissance Star Early Literacy Assessment. And I should mention that after we go through each one of the goals uh and
006uh Miss Bart provides the uh the input, we'll we'll stop and and allow for questions after each one of these uh segments. So as you can see here on this slide uh the star early literacy uh for kindergarten and first grade u when we look at 2024 I'm looking in that left-handed table 2425 uh 49% at or above benchmark uh and then we want to see that grow through 2728 to 56%. So, as we talked about that in the 24-25 year, you can see in the spring of 24, uh, that would have been our benchmark for what percentage of our students were proficient and 64% were. Uh, last spring. In the fall, uh, 56% of our kids in K1 were proficient. And in the winter, we are at 65%. So, we're not even uh to
007our spring assessment yet. And so, we're doing quite well. We're on track. that subgroup. Our ML population, not quite yet. Um, but we still have a little bit of time this spring. And then our special education population is also a subgroup. Um, that did not meet the the winter benchmark. So, we'll see how our uh scores shake out this spring yet. And Miss Bartch, if you could just remind the the group right now when we would be assessing in the spring for that that third component. It'll be um miday. So starting early May to mid May is when the spring benchmark for star is and the A+ which is the summit of the outcomes is happening now. Thank you for that. Uh next slide please. And the next slide just happens to be yours. So
008thank you. So when we look at inputs these are the things that we're doing to have effect on the data right. So when we look at inputs for K1 really we focused on phonology, phonology was our first step in implementing the science of reading those sounds that you hear and manipulating those sounds that you hear and we used a program called Hagerty and really this is a celebration from our data after the implementation of bullet point 2 which is really great reading. They use programs at K1 called Countdown and Blast. We've actually found a need that that program is meeting our needs for phonology and phonics. So, starting next year, we'll look at phasing out um Hagerty in kindergarten and just use it for a tier 2 or tier three intervention. Um we're piloting K5
009Witten Wisdom. You've heard that before. You're like, "Wait, I've heard that before." We've adopted it at 6, 7, and 8. And now is the formal pilot and partial adoption of uh Whitten Wisdom K5. We'll be back in two weeks to ask you to approve that expenditure and adoption formally for K5 K12. Um, we continue to refine our assessment plan with screenings and diagnostic assessments. We look at CBMs, which is a curriculum based measure. It's that tiny slice. Think about going to the doctor and getting your blood pressure taken. It's a tiny slice of your overall health. Things like letter names, sounds, your ability to segment words. Those are screening tools along with STAR, the computer adaptive test, which is the scores you're seeing today to help us understand what students are, what they know and
010are able to do. And then we go deeper diagnostics. If that blood pressure check, that screener tells us that that student is where we expect them to be, we go deeper. Is it letter names? Is it letter sounds? Is the ability to segment? Is it the ability to blend? And when we go through those, one of the things that we have had to be really thoughtful on is data literacy training. Just like all of you around the board table, not all of us are experts in everything, self included, right? So we need to provide job embedded professional development. What do those CBMs tell us? What does star tell us? What does a diagnostic and when is it called for? What do we do when the diagnostic says that we need more support for that child?
011That's the data literacy training that we've been trying to do to understand what these numbers mean and what it means for our journey not only as a system but down to individual children. Um we've been really intentional about supporting data meetings and monitoring and responding to those screening datas. Our instructional coaches have engaged in a 96-hour course with Whiten Wisdom to become a train the trainer for that um program because we know it's different. Balanced literacy was all about finding levels and teaching to that level and we know that that just isn't based on research. So we have had to switch total thinking and in order to do that everyone needs time and support to make the shifts. So that is a really intentional move to make sure that our instructional coaches which are at
012every building have the capacity and knowledge to make those supports happen for everyone. Um curriculum leaders we've worked in even our supplemental like our pees our musics our gyms we want to make sure that there is a solid understanding of the PLC process and how we use that to make sure that all students get need get the support that they need and deserve. I believe this is where I'm supposed to ask you. Do you have any questions from board members? Miss Flyn, I just have a clear I don't know what's going on with my phone. Um I have a clarifying question. So the um goal that was set was 48 to 56. Um and then on the benchmark it's at 49. Um, but we started at like 64 overall. So, I can't remember how we
013came to 49. Was that all groups would be that or is it like that's the average? Cuz if we started at 64, I'm like, well, shouldn't we have started higher? But is is it all groups are at least at 49 is where we need to be? You got it. So, an outcome goal is based on that NDA plus assessment. So, that's our overall achievement in reading. where when you look at the next one which is the output goal semantics there that's that progress monitoring goal. What the purpose of today's presentation is is this is star data for the most part and it's showing you are you on track for when we come to that summitive this is a prediction of how we think kids will do on that summitive test. So the first goal is
014based on all overall. The second goal is based on that small slice that cohort of K1. So when we say um because the average works out where it's above that amount when we say yes, we've met goal for overall. Mhm. Yeah. So that one. Mhm. But there's a group in the next slice that like there's one that hasn't you know one thought could be well have we really met the goal until all groups say yes. Um but I just I don't know how um you know the kind of system is tracking. It seems like here overall we're meeting that but is there is there a train of thought where we would say we haven't technically met the goal until all of those groups are a yes you could I think what this is doing is
015it's um looking at all learners when setting the goal and the purpose of looking at data this way is to ensure that you are truly all means all right and it looks to ask is there a barrier for a specific student group that's inhibiting whether it's curricular, teaching, um, attendance, etc. All of those things factor into achievement. Is there something more that we need to do to support those students? I don't know that it necessarily means that you didn't meet your goal, but you're right. We always need our eye on all. So, other questions from board members on this section. Okay, on we go. Okay, our next uh goal is for grade two uh moving proficiency levels from 42% at or above benchmark in the fall of 23 to 50% at or above benchmark um
016using the star reading assessment. So next slide please. And so you can see the distribution on the lefth hand side again 2425 43% at or above benchmark. go to the right hand table. Our actuals for grade two in the spring of 24. Uh we met that uh excuse me Amy with the black box there. Is that when we changed changed the assessment? So that black box is because that's actually a cohort from last year. So the um distribution of improvements wouldn't apply because it hadn't been tested yet. So when we look at the spring of 2024 data, those kids are actually third graders this year, but that's how the third grade group performed last spring. So it just it's perspective to see data over time. Great. Thank you for that clarification. Uh so you can
017see the fall of 24 uh we met that goal in the winter. We did as well. So we're expecting uh more progress this spring and May. Next slide, please. Um here's our percent proficient in advance. the goal again, 43% um breaking down our subgroups, uh our uh Asian and black subgroups have met the goal. Hispanic has not, Native American did not. Um our white students, yes, and our econ economically disadvantaged met the goal, and our ML students did not, and special education did not. I believe you have the inputs now. Thank you, Amy. Correct. Thank you. So when we look at our inputs for second grade, they mirror our inputs for K1. Um so we're using really great reading at tier one for all second graders. We're also engaging in that pilot, same assessment plan,
018same data literacy meetings. Um same instructional um coach professional development and same work through professional learning communities. Questions or wonderings about second grade? Dr. L, if if we end up not being able to slice out those other groups, are there other ways we're going to be able to identify maybe at at least at an individual level, if not at a certain group level, this this students. I think you're exactly right. I think that if we're not allowed to report student subgroups based on some of of those student groups, we would still have the ability to consider each student individually. We do that as part of those data leadership meetings. when we see someone hasn't um progressed to meet those benchmarks, especially through those screening measures, that's when those diagnostics again kick in and those MTSS
019plans, multi-tered systems of support plans. What will be difficult is to tell our story and look holistically to ensure that we don't have barriers in place for a student group that we're not addressing. That's what will become more difficult and we don't we we can't predict. We'll allow our department to take a look but just not disseminate it too much to be unknown or we're going to do the right thing and allow it to keep happening. Other questions from board members? Okay. We know this is riveting information, so just you're all on the edge of your seats. It is if you're nerdy like me. Uh our next one, our next goal for grade three. Uh both Miss March and I took a a deep breath when we uh took a look at this because our
020grade three students um are not meeting the goal as well as as our other students. So I think we'll just go ahead and bypass this. 49% uh is where we'd like to be. 2425 50% at or above the benchmark. So, if you look at the table on the right hand side, um our our fall of 24 and winter of 25, that goal has not been met. We anticipated this to some degree knowing what their scores were like in grade two. And so, it begs the question for Miss Bart and her department, all of our principles, instructional coaches, and classroom teachers to ask why why is this? Um these aren't COVID related students. uh they it's not like they were in kindergarten and COVID and u masked up for half the time. So uh we're still
021exploring uh and why don't we just go to the next slide so I don't get ahead of your uh your inputs. Amy, I I do have a question on that. I mean it it's great to foresee it but what how do parents get engaged? what's the larger message to try to help discern what is the what is the issues involved you know I mean I don't doubt that the inschool stuff is all happening like it should but there seems to be more of a message and I don't know what's the process of finding that out I guess is the the larger question I'll let Miss Bart take that when she talks about the inputs so thank you you're just a half a slide ahead uh so you can see our subgroup uh breakdown our Asian
022students did meet the goal uh black students did not, Hispanic did, uh Native American did not, our white students did, and economically disadvantaged our ML students and special education students did not meet uh the proficiency goal. So now we will go to the inputs. There's some redundancies here for third grade as well. So I'll go Mr. Cleven, I'll go to your um question. I think we have to understand the data too. So, if you'll close your eyes while I go back here. So, here um when you look at the 2425 distribution of improvements and you see that it's set at 50% for this year, what you have to take in mind is that was set based on last year's third graders. So, they this was would be in two 2% increase. They would have performed
023around the 48th percentile. But if you go back and look at this year's third graders, they actually were testing last year at 41%. So if you think about the want of a 2% increase, they actually met their goal. But because we're talking about cohorts in a moment in time, the scores, the distribution was based on built on last year's third graders. And this year's third graders are trying to meet that benchmark. Even for them though, it would have been a 9 percentile point gain from where they were last year to this year. Clear as mud. But that's when you look at data, often we want it to be apples to apples when we're doing things like tracking over time, but it really becomes complex when you set goals for a cohort and the cohort isn't
024consistent. The cohort keeps moving down the road. And so that I don't it's a way for us to look and ask questions. So this group of third graders would be the last group to not have the full scope and sequence of the really great reading program. In kindergarten they were masked but and we didn't have really great reading and we didn't have Heerty. So they went through the traditional balanced literacy route in kindergarten and then in first grade they jumped into really great reading with a program called Countdown and or Blast and then they had HD word. So what we're seeing when we go through the diagnostics is that there are gaps within the phonics strand, the ability to decode. So what do we do? I think that we have to keep looking at programming.
025Do we need to back up and slow down with really great reading? Do we make an additional investment to have it repeated in fourth grade? Do we hire more interventionists to do the diagnostics and then the interventions as necessary from those diagnostics? Those are the questions that we have to wonder about. We also have to wonder Whitten wisdom. I don't know if you remember, but it's the upper strands of the rope. Thinking about comprehension. Lower strands of the rope are the decoding, the ability to read the words. Witten wisdom is the upper part. Really great reading is the lower part. after second grade really great reading is discontinued. So looking at program programmical changes how does that help our kids? Is it a cohort? Do we do it for all? Is it for some? That's
026where we have to dive into the data. And I would even have to argue that we dive into the data school by school, classroom by classroom and make some of those determinations. Something that's hard is all of the investments that we make and you make as a board come with value. But the the general fund is a finite resource. And when we look at how do we move kids, it's targeted. It's explicit instruction. And it's very difficult as a classroom teacher to teach all of tier one and be responsive and fill the gaps. So when we make some of those investments or we don't capture efficiencies, the unintended consequences, we also don't have the resources to buy or purchase the human capital to execute some of these needed interventions. So that's why every decision we
027all make is so important. Any questions or wonderings about that? I'm still hearing a little bit of buzz from people every once in a while that say, "Why do we let our kids out of school on Wednesdays early, you know, eight times this semester?" And I think like this is a perfect example of why. It's not just that we're deciding we want the kids to go home halfway through the day or, you know, teachers get a break. like it's it's for things like this where you know to hear you talk about maybe they don't have the time during the day to really fill in the gaps. Well, that's what the PLC's then help do is that they're talking about these students. They're talking about how do we do groups. I mean, I've seen it in
028my own kids where grades have taken and shifted kids. You know, I'll get these level readers. I'll get these level readers and the teachers really work together. So, it's interesting to see how things kind of come into practice and I think some of those stories that we can tell about why we do some of those things is happening in real life, you know. Um, so it again I was going to say before you articularly said it, I think we're always like three years behind with curriculum changes, right? because the teachers are piloting it, they're learning it and then it's kind of implemented and we kind of have data and then we make little kinks and then the third year it's kind of like okay let's really see how this is being implemented and so it
029seems like now we're kind of on year three or four with wit and wisdom and it's really benefiting the K1 students and so then how do we catch up the other one? So, it's good to see like the investment that the board made is in a really good program and it's not just like, oh, this thing that we tried and maybe we'll continue it. There's really hard data that we're collecting from it. So, thank you for that. Okay. And the other thing that you may have heard or maybe you didn't hear in uh with what Miss Bart just said is uh when she talked about the 9% growth, that doesn't really show up on the chart. Uh what you also don't hear about on a regular basis is how much growth students make when they're
030when they start so far behind. And what teachers do and instructional coaches working with those teachers and principles is really miraculous. And I I like to use the analogy of uh you know a mile runner in track. Uh you take a a runner who's running a six-minute mile and over time is able to get that down to a fiveminute mile still doesn't qualify for the state track meet. You take a kid who runs the the mile in 438 and gets down to a 428, qualifies for the state meet, only dropped off 10 seconds, not a full minute, but who made the most growth? And we see that across our district with some of our kids who are in that bottom quartile, really make lots of growth, just don't quite hit the standard. So, thank you
031for allowing me to go off script here a little bit. uh grades four and five uh we'd like them to be proficient from 47% at or above the benchmark in the fall of 23 to 55% in the fall of 2028. Next slide please. And so you can see in the right hand column I think you kind of know how this works from left to right now. Um in the uh fall of 2024 we did not make it but this winter we did just barely. So, we'll see what our spring uh assessment results look like coming up in May. So, we are on track there. Again, in grades I can stop. I'll finish and then Okay. Uh so, you can see our our subgroups, our Asian subgroup metal. Uh black, Hispanic, Native American did not. The
032our white subgroup did. And to the far right, economically disadvantaged ML and special education did not. Would you like to ask your question? Yeah. So the the fourth and fifth fourth and fifth grade, they would have the same reading curricula as the third graders. You had mentioned something that the third graders didn't have the same thing the first and sixth graders have now. Fourth and fifth graders would be in the same kind of curriculum group, if you will. Fourth grade and fourth grade would have had two years. they would have had blast as first graders, right? And then um HD word as third third grade. Fifth grade would just have had HD word. So when you think about HD word, you're thinking about vowel teams, you're thinking about diagraphs, triraphs, blend. When you're thinking about
033countdown and blast, you're thinking about letter name, letter sounds, how those go together to make words. So what we're realizing too is it's not as easy to as to just go back and retach it. You have to find the gap and that's where those diagnostic assessments come into place. We have to look is it letter names? Is it letter sounds? Is it vowel teams? Is it vowels and you have to find the breakdown and then you have to provide that personalized instruction. And it could be a small group, right? If you have a group of three or five that have that same need, you sure can provide that intervention, but again, it's the human capital, right? The teacher is still teaching. All of the tier one, this has to happen in addition to. So, that's
034what our schools are working to do. Our title schools have purchased um contracts for interventionists, additional reading specialists, our reading specialists at every campus. They're trying to push in and provide those supports. there just isn't enough people to provide all of the supports that the data is indicating is necessary. Other things that we haven't really talked about are our ML and special education um students. And really when we look So prior to budget reductions, we were looking at a $1.5 million allocation for curricular resources. Once we went through that exercise and it was all said and done, there wasn't enough left in the general fund to do that. So, we landed on 850,000. When you keep reducing like that, you make choices. Then that, for example, for wit and wisdom is going to allow us
035to buy the core research for K5 teachers. We have to get creative and we have been getting creative this last year trying to use grant dollars to buy the resources to support special ed. our multilingual education teachers and also it's just not our classroom teachers who need that background knowledge. We need to provide professional development time and support for our special ed teachers or ML teachers. You have those gaps and those skills and then you layer on if you're on an IEP, a disability, right? So all of that has to be accounted for in addressing that skill gap. Does it mean they can't learn? Absolutely not. Does it mean that they can't achieve proficiency rates? Absolutely not. But the additional time and support that's necessary to support them is different than someone who is finding
036success at tier one. So all of those again just to highlight all of the decisions that we make fiscally and those allocations have an impact every day in what we do in the classroom too. So it's important to have all of them. I 100% agree. My kiddos are in Grand Forks public schools. I want them to have everything, but I also want them to be able to read. So that's the conversation that we have to have, and they're hard conversations. The inputs look much like what you've seen for the rest of elementary. I think the the difference here is that really great reading, those decoding programs, they move to tier 2 and tier three rather than tier one. what everyone gets questions or wonderings just to clarify the um star test is in English correct
037it's offered in English and Spanish okay so if someone's um ILP would call for testing with in to be in Spanish it can be delivered in Spanish the question we have to ask as a team is is that giving us the information we need. Are we testing like for math it would make sense to have it delivered in Spanish. We want to test your computational skills, your procedural knowledge of math. Whereas in reading, it isn't always advantageous to offer it in Spanish because that doesn't necessarily translate to how you're reading in English and comprehending. And that was going to be my next question is, and I don't know if fair is the right word, but like is it fair to expect someone who's a multilingual student to sort of be on that same benchmark, you
038know, if they know, you know, little to no English, but we're testing on this benchmark where they're at, like how do you delineate, you know, or even like a special ed student who maybe um developmentally is like a grade behind, you know, but we're expecting them to test, you know, with this cohort of students. Such a good question. I think what we have to go back to is what we expect and we expect all learners to achieve at high levels. And usually the how I explain it to the people that I work with is all learners meets anyone that is expected to leave a reasonably independent life. So those students all of them have the ability to achieve at high levels which means proficiency. Now are there additional time and supports necessary? 100%. We all
039have a different journey right? If I said today, my goal is to get healthy, it's very different than what Katherine's journey is going to look like, runner extraordinaire. So, they're just very different journeys. It doesn't mean that mine is different or that I have different expectations. But when we look at all, we really do want to include all. But we ask ourselves questions like, what additional time and support does someone who is an ML learner need that would differ than someone who's experiencing tier one in their native language? I think too, we have to put into place like what a screening and diagnostic is. A screening is just to tell us are you on track for the moment in time that you're taking this assessment. If not, we ask why. If yes, we say on
040track or exceeding exceeding, how do we challenge? It's just it it probes more wondering, but the expectation can stay the same because in Grand Forks Public Schools, we believe in all. Mr. Glad did you have your mics open others? Okay, we'll continue with grades 6,8 and 10. Uh looking at moving from the 50th percent at or above benchmark in the fall of 23 to 58% at or above uh that benchmark in 2028. Next slide, please. Thank you. In the fall of 24, we're at 49%. So we're below that 51%. So we did not meet it and in the winter uh we actually dipped a little bit more. We did not meet it. So we are not on track uh with grades six, eight and 10. But you'll see maybe in another spot uh where we
041show some uh some marked improvement. Uh here again in our subgroups you can see the the groups that made it. Uh our Asian subgroup made it. Uh black, Hispanic, and Native American did not meet the goal. Our white students did. and all three columns on the right hand side did not meet this goal. Next slide please. Thank you Amy. So this is where we have uh the inputs vary. So what we've had to ask ourselves is okay we know better now we need to do better. We know that this cohort of students had access, the sixth graders had access to HD word, which is the last part of really great reading, but they didn't have access to the first part. So, we have to ask ourselves, where do the gaps lie? So, that's where we've
042looked at. We started with South um Carla Havin is the instructional coach there and she started in sixth grade. And the question was, what are we going to do? because we know that there are gaps in the lower strands of the rope. So, they've started a program that mirrors really great reading. It's EUI University of Florida literacy interventions and it's really allows us to take that diagnostic assessment, find where the breakdown is and then address it. Is it vowels? Is it vowel teams? Is it consonant blends? Is it segmenting? What is it? And then address that. Um, high school has looked at rider time. So, you've heard a lot about Red River's adventure into rider time. And that really is just an RTI, a response to intervention. Break it down. Give kids what they need.
043We know that something's missing. We got to give kids what they need. Um, again, data literacy training, data meetings, which is the same. Our IC's, instructional coaches at sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. So for our middle level, they also are participating in the wit and wisdom leaders cohort. So they are getting the background knowledge to be able to help and support that implementation. We're in year three for sixth grade, year two for seventh grade, and our first year for eighth grade in the implementation of wit and wisdom. We've also done a lot of work with our PLC curriculum leaders to understand what's the purpose of a priority standard. What do we want kids to know and be able to do? Scales. How do we know that they can do it? And then common assessments, again,
044what information are we gathering to see if that priority st standard is meant? And pacing guides. How do we ensure guaranteed and viable curriculum? Mr. Larson should not be in a classroom that gets through unit 7 and Miss Hodak should not be in a classroom that gets through unit 4. That's inequity in education. That's teacher lottery. It's not okay. We have to agree on pacing and still give students what they need. Questions or wonderings about six through 10th grade? Questions? Yes. Um I just had a question like um in general. So, do you have like um a lot of um multilingual students coming in every year that are not really um aware of like what this is for or like if they should be putting in like any effort into it? like it's just another
045test they have to take cuz I mean I know that I have a friend who's like a multilingual learner and uh she's like did a lot of classes that are above her grade level but now that she's here she's completely like doing stuff that are very easy for her and like completely like laid-back and I know that kind of can affect scoring and things like that. So I'm just kind of wondering if that have you had anything like that? I think you bring up a great point because as we look into testing everything that we do, you go to the doctor and they tell you, "I really want you to walk 10,000 steps, if that doctor sits you down and says, here are the things that I think will improve. Here's the things that I
046think that you'll avoid, you have a little buy in, right? But if we go and we don't set the purpose or we're not very articulate in the why, how are we going to use this to support you as a learner? You're right. Not everyone buys in. And that's part of the challenge with all of our assessments is building that cause to believe for teachers to look at data for teachers to give the assessment and then also students to try their best on the assessment. Because one thing we don't want them to do, a screening assessment should never be part of your grade. It should never be a part of whether you pass to the next course or not. But you're right, building purpose. That has to happen. Great question. Are there questions? Okay. I just
047like to add on to Miss Bart's input. Sometimes you can see on my calendar and Friday focus that uh Katherine, Matt, Amy and I have our learning walks and when we're going to schools and going into classrooms um we can affirm for you that the pacing guides that instructors are using uh at all levels K through 8 uh everybody is in lock step. Now teachers will tell you this is really difficult work. Uh it's high it's highly intensive. The the co-planning has to be ongoing. Um but just uh a week and a half ago we're in South Middle School seventh grade. I was in two seventh grade classrooms and in the same period I walked across from one classroom to another ELA and both teachers were spot-on uh with what they were doing. Now the
048environments had a little different feel u but the content and the standards uh and the workshopping that they were doing uh were very systematic. So it's been great to see that as we go out to buildings. But I will say uh that teachers have shared with us it's intensive work uh to get it right. Uh and when they see the results then I I do believe that they believe uh that the time they're putting in is worth it. Okay. We're pivoting on to mathematics. We'll follow I'm sorry. Yeah. Can I also add something to that to just emphasize Dr. Brener's point. um not only in the standpoint of classroom to classroom within school buildings, but I will also say from a personal standpoint of having a daughter and kids in the system, I've witnessed and
049heard uh students uh my daughter and friends of theirs talk about who go to different schools about the units they're on and being on the exact same unit, the exact same lessons, going through and talking about those subjects from a student that is at Discovery to a student that is at Kelly and to a student at Century who are all doing the exact same thing in class. It's really cool to see and it emphasizes the importance of having all of our curriculum and all of our pacing guides at the exact same point and it's it's truly remarkable to see that happening across our district. So, I just want to emphasize that as well, Dr. Brener, that we're seeing that and it's not just within one school building, it's across our district, which is outstanding to
050the work that's being done in our CIT department and in our buildings. Okay. So, on to on to math. The Grand Forks Public Schools will increase mathematics proficiency levels from 41% proficient or advanced in 2022 23 to 49% proficient or advanced uh by September of 2028. Next slide, please. Um, taking a look at grades two and three, uh, we'd like to move from 48% to 56% u by the fall of 2028. And let's take a look at where we're at on the next slide. So, you can see in the fall of 2024, we're still below. Um, but by the winter, we played a little catchup. And it will be interesting to see where we're at in May of this year. Uh, next slide, which is yours, I believe. No, it isn't. Or Yeah, sure. I
051skipped the slide. Thank you. Um, so as far as our subgroups making the goal, our Asian students did. Uh, our black, Hispanic, Native American students did not, our white students did, and to the right hand again, economically disadvantaged ML and special ed students uh, did not. One one thing that I will say about um our students who are on IEPs, uh when I was a principal, I I would say and through my training in in special education, I would say that the individualized education plan that's written by the team, which includes the parent, is that student's curriculum. Um but we adapted and modified that over time where we would take something like Wit and Wisdom, and incorporate that into the student's IEP and say, "This is still the standard that we want you to meet."
052Um, so I want you to say I I just want to, you know, kind of remark that that has evolved over time because it'd be very easy for us to look at the IEP and say student met goals, met objectives, yet not on grade level. So um, still a bit of a challenge. Next slide is yours now, Miss Barge. Thank you. Correct. So when we look at math, um, math is currently in its research phase of adoption, which means we're looking at the North Dakota state standards. We're looking at latest research and mathematics. We're looking at programs that might meet those needs. We're talking to vendors about what they have to offer. So, K8 um has been doing some summer work this past summer on standards alignment, making sure that everyone understands the standard and
053the level of rigor or what kids should know and be able to do within the standard. um third through fifth grade, we had a math grant and we um looked at focusing on interventions. What interventions can we use within mathematics to close some of those skill gaps? Um K through 12, we've done some PD with the Red River Valley Education Consortium and SEK, which is the Southeast one just based out of Fargo. We're in the research year, what I which I said, and we're currently um refining and developing our assessment plan. So, we have the star for math, but what we're working on is a more detailed diagnostic assessment plan that if you take the CAT and it shows you're not at benchmark, what do we do to find the gaps? Um, same thing with
054data literacy meetings, trainings, and then um our curriculum leaders for PLC's questions or wonderings around second and third grade math. Okay, no questions. We'll move on. Uh, grades four and five, we'd like to move from 45% at or above benchmark in the fall of 2023 to 53% at or a bunch uh at or above benchmark in the fall of 2028. Next slide, please. And so for the the actuals for grades four and five, the fall of 2024, we did meet the goal at 46% and the winter we met the goal as well. Uh the breakdown of our subgroups again uh our Asian students did meet the goal. Our black, Hispanic, Native American students did not. Our white students did. And then our uh three populations to the right, economically disadvantaged, ML, and special education did
055not meet the the goal. Inputs for um grades four and five look similar to the inputs for second and third with the exception, I would say, of the alignment and revitalization of everyday math at our upper level grades. We worked intensely with those teachers this summer to look at everyday math and find some of the things that they have identified as lacking within that curricular program and looked at ways in which we can address things like fact fluency. Questions or wonderings about fourth fifth grade math. Okay, we'll move on to grades six and seven. Uh we'd like to move from 41% at or above benchmark in the fall of 23 to 49% at or above benchmark u by the fall of 2028. Next slide please. And in the fall of 2024 we did not meet
056that goal and in the winter we did not meet that goal as well. So we are not on track. Um I'm not sure how much catchup we're going to see in May. Um but the good news is we know we have more time uh with with these students. Uh next slide please. So this shows more uh even more of the sub subgroups not making uh the goal. So the two subgroups that did why don't I just put it that way? Our Asian group and our uh white students did. The rest of our subgroups did not. Next slide please. Thank you. Um, one of the things that we did is we have um took the opportunity to engage with a grant that's a greater math grant for the state of North Dakota and we asked ourselves
057two questions within that grant. The grant was to focus on three through 8th grade mathematics. Third, fourth and fifth as we said we focused on interventions. what intervention is there a program that we can purchase or implement that would allow us to fill those gap school skills within sixth seventh and eth became apparent through um an internal audit that there was a need to provide professional development and support our teachers in the use of the curricular resource that was adopted by the board. Um, so what we did is we invested those monies into having trainers come several times through over the course of two years and make sure there was clear understanding of how to use the program and the resources that were embedded within the program. What we have come to find is while
058that program is fairly highly rated, it's an inquiry base and what we know about the science of math now is that that has its place but it does not have its place in first instruction. So we need to look within that program and see where can we move that inquiry to be not first instruction to support students in the conceptual and procedural knowledge within mathematics. Um we also establish criteria for sixth, seventh and eighth that is systematic or systematized through all of our middle level campuses. So we have criteria now when you're a fifth grader going to sixth grade who is going to embark in enriched math and who is going into general sixth grade math that established criteria is based on star scores, NDSA scores, the Nagley area achievement test as well as teacher
059input. So all of those have been clearly established criteria that we will now use for the second year. Um same granting opportunities and PDS through RVEC and seek. Um the main difference again was that professional development through the greater math grant. As we go into the research year, I think we have a better understanding much like the science of reading, the science of math, really understanding how those foundational skills um work to support the mathematics understanding for students also understanding much like balanced literacy versus structured literacy. There were camps of procedural versus conceptual knowledge in math. People would think you can't move on to procedural until you understand conceptual when really it's handinand. You can't get healthy unless you have a healthy diet and you exercise kind of thing. And so when we look at
060this going into this math adoption, we're looking at resources and what do they have that has both of those components that are strong. We also need to look at kind of the foundations of math. Algebra 1 is really hard if you don't know that 3 * 4 is 12. Algebra 1 is really hard if you don't understand that division is the inverse of multiplication and why it matters. That's when we look at those foundational skills. We have found a gap within everyday math or K5 programming in foundational skills. It's strong in other areas, but it needs to be supplemented. So that's what we're researching this year for a pilot into next year. Questions or wonderings on sixth, seventh grade math? Dr. Latch first and then we'll go over here. Yeah, this this isn't a well,
061it's more of a wondering than anything. This is not an excuse. Please don't interpret it as one. But I think one of the one of the interesting um things we need to remember about this cohort of kids is five years ago they were in those foundational grades, first grade, second grade, third grade. When we are teaching kids to read, we teaching kids foundational skills in mathematics. They're COVID kids. They were masked. They were at home. And so when we talk about nationwide recovering from the pandemic, this is one of those groups of kids that I strongly believe got caught in the pandemic and we still have work to do. I think one of the the ongoing struggles is as Amy said, we have really rich curriculum. We have excellent teachers working to deconstruct um as
062we get to the older levels. One of the things that we don't have resources well is some of those intervention persons and classes and courses. And so, um, we continue to work, we continue to, um, diagnose and and all of those sorts of things, but I think it's worth noting. Um, again, not an excuse, but an interesting observation. Mr. Cleven, are those, and I I hate to use the phrase COVID kids, but just for generalities, are those kids generally in the six through eight cohort right now? Yeah. So, the pandemic hit in 2020, right? So, five years ago. So, first grade, second grade, use my kids' benchmark. So, Pax was in first grade when we left halfway through the year and he's now a sixth grader. So, and and the reason I'm asking or wondering,
063I guess I'm going to start using that term. So, we've got maybe a year of middle school or two years of middle school and high school to kind of bring this cohort to where where they we want them to be by the time they graduate. we have some time and maybe math is easier. Like I it sounds like there's an identified gap that seems clear. I'm not saying it's easy to solve, but I liked hearing that there's a definable gap. Back to the ELA, is there I I'm wondering if there's a similar identifiable gap or is that still something ongoing? It's probably an oversimplification on my part. Math is as complex as ELA reading. Those foundational skills go all the way down to a crazy world. Subetization, right? Your ability to look at a a
064quantity and say that's five. Five tallies is five. Five cents is five. Five balloons is five. If we have deficits in those and we don't understand truly what five stands for. Then when we talk about five groups of four, we're either trying to do quick memorization, which is fine for automaticity. But then when we get down to solving in equations, it becomes really complex when you truly don't understand what five is. I think what's difficult too is it goes back to there's comorbid morbidities in these deficits. It's not singular. It's not that you're just missing your multiplication facts. There's a little subetization, a little facts, a little procedural knowledge. And so to try to break that out while you're also a classroom teacher who the train keeps moving, right? The standards don't stop just because
065you're in sixth grade and you have a deficit. Sixth grade keeps going. The standard keeps going. The bar keeps raising. It's finding the time. And that's why like a Red River is taking on a rider time. We have to provide intentional time and support to address the gaps to look at tier 2 even just today. What what didn't they get? And then we have to look even further. Tier three, those universal skills, skills from past grades, human capital is huge. Yes, Miss Flynn. Um, can you just touch really quickly on sixth grade math enrichment? Um, because from at least what I know, there's enrichment that starts at some or all of the middle school and sixth grade. Um, related in part due to some different factors. STAR test is one of them. And then do
066we somewhere um take that group out? So we are assessing what the enrichment students percentage of proficiency is. You sure could. We haven't set formal goals or you all didn't set formal goals which is why it's not presented. So the purpose of enrichment at sixth grade is it's the same content, same resource but the pace is accelerated. Then the intent if you continue to meet criteria, seventh grade would be pre-alggebra, eighth grade would be algebra 1 credit earning for high school. If you go into sixth grade general, you're learning the same things just at a slower pace, a typical pace is what I would call it. Seventh grade is a seventh grade general math. 8th grade is pre-alggebra. And both of those the intention is to be algebra one ready by eighth grade or ninth
067grade is the intent criteria star scores NDA plus the summitative state exam the negleiary um achievement test and then also teacher recommendations. Other questions. Okay. And we do have students coming out of middle school with um one to two credits in math, high school credits in math. Um so so we have students who are selftracking and they kind of know where they're going to be by the time they're a senior in high school. All right. Our next one is grade 8 uh moving from 42% at or above benchmark in the fall of 23 to 50% at a or above benchmark in the fall of 28. Next slide, please. And we have not met this goal as well. So we are off track. Uh we can go right on to the next slide. And you can
068see our subgroups are pretty similar uh to our seven our sixth and seventh grade uh subgroups as well. So why don't we go right to the inputs? Um same inputs for the sixth and seventh grade. really intentional work around the Envision curriculum and how we use that support, professional development, coaches, principles were also a part of that work. I think what's hard as a classroom teacher is to see a cohort of kids that isn't achieving, but keeping the pace the same, right? So, it's hard when you know that someone can't run the mile, why aren't you backing up to the 100 yard dash? And so what's happening is sometimes the best intentions using programs that aren't approved by the board trying to provide um support but the unintended consequence is the reduction of rigor and
069we've seen that at the middle level. So it's being addressed but it is a reality of we need to ensure that all kids get high level of instruction through the curricular resources that you've adopted. Again, there's no maliciousness in that. People are just trying to meet kids where they are. But if I continually teach Dr. L at second grade when he's in third grade, how do I expect him to be ready for fourth? And so those are some of the decisions that our teachers are trying to grapple with. How do I give them what they need while keeping the train on the tracks? Questions or wonderings about eighth grade? Miss Flynn, just curious because you have uh K through 8th grade summer work and I know elementary is a little bit different than maybe middle
070school, high school in terms of um you know catching up versus just having a program availability. Are we doing any tracking internally with elementary and then middle and high school as to how those students who do take advantage of summer school are improving or is that helping somewhat? Fair comment. I should have been more clear. The summer work is the teacher end. Oh, got it. Okay. But you're right. Students do. And so I believe that you have asked Mr. Peterson to prevent to um present that data and he did a little bit at this year's summer school report. But what we've done is we've created additional checks for him. And so what we'll do is we'll give um parts of the star depending on what course they're in to track that for you. So you'll
071be able to see overtime if you attend 3 weeks of summer school is it meeting the need. What is easier in elementary reading is that we have those curriculum based um assessments. When you look at the CBMs or curriculum based measures within math, they're mostly around your ability to add, subtract, and multiply. So, if there's a foundational skill, they're harder to track. To expect cat scores to increase significantly over 3 weeks of instruction isn't a realistic expectation. So finding the best way to report. We're going to try something new this summer and we'll see if it works. So trying to get you the best data so you can decide what's effective and what's not. Okay, I believe we're uh down to our final slides. Uh talking about grade 10 wanting to move proficiency levels from
072the 60 60% at or above benchmark in the fall of 23 to 68% u by the fall of 2028. Next slide, please. And here you can see the spring of 24. Uh we uh certainly met our goal the the fall of 24. Uh we did not uh but we rebounded this winter or excuse me the win yeah winter of 25 and then we expect to see something a little bit better here in May with these scores. Uh our subgroups um our uh Asian students did not meet the goal. Uh nor did our black, Hispanic, and Native American students. our white students did and economically disadvantaged multilingual uh ML students and special ed did not. Next slide please. Thank you. So when we look at the inputs for high school, it really is focused on that
073response to intervention, the rider time pilot at Red River and then the additional PD through our consortiums and then engaging in that research year for mathematics. questions or wonderings about 10th grade math. Miss Flynn, just curious about the 0% for multilingual learners. It could be a number of factors. One, it could be a different cohort. So, when we looked at I can tell you for a fact it's not the same kids as the 11%. It changed dramatically. Also, parents have the ability to opt out of testing. things to consider. So 0% necessarily isn't like 0% took that assessment of multilingual students. And of the students who took the assessment, which I can tell you is more than 10 because it's not blacked out, 0% of them were proficient. Okay. So maybe just in summation, I
074I would say that uh we still have work to do. Uh we're pleased with where we're at in some of our content areas in literacy and math and some of our grade levels. Uh but the work will never end and and I hope that you picked up and have picked up when Miss Bart has presented to the board uh that she is uh highly skilled. She's a highly skilled leader in the content areas um of all of our content areas. And she's systematized an approach with her instructional coaches, working with principles, working with classroom teachers. Um but anytime you're working with human beings, there are variables. Um, but we will continue to do this work and we'll continue to report this out to the board and hopefully you'll start to see when we have our
075B legendary reports from the campus level. Uh, you can refer back to what we what we reported out here and do some uh, comparing and contrasting. One thing um, Mr. Shandell asked me to clarify was what's why do we take STAR? Why NDA plus what how is ACT work in there? So, I just wanted to clarify the purpose of those assessments. Prior to this last few years, we were able to opt our 10th graders out of the North Dakota State Assessment and give ACT instead. And ACT counted for that accountability measures. The Department of Public Instruction set criteria. you have to be I can't remember the numbers a 21 in ELA to be proficient a 22 in math to be proficient. They have since rescended that um exception. You can no longer take the ACT
076as your accountability measure. That doesn't mean our students don't find value in the ACT. The other thing that it is a factor for is choice ready. You've probably heard Mr. Ripley talk about that, Mr. Strandell, Dr. Eric. to be choice ready. One of the measures is the ACT. There is no criteria currently for NDA plus or NDSA to qualify you as choice ready. So that's why even this year we had our juniors take the ACT to ensure that all of them that were truly choice ready, it was reflected in that measure. STAR is that benchmark along the way to check. It's a predictor. Are we on track to be proficient in the North Dakota state assessment? It's a benchmark. Our curriculum based measures are a breakdown of that STAR CAT score, that predictor. Are we
077on track? It's just that thin slice. I equate it to going to the doctor. STAR CBMs, it's like getting your weight, your blood pressure checked. If there's something that isn't quite right, we go further into diagnostics. Same as the doctor. The NDSA or NDA+ is like an autopsy. It's all done and over with. How did it go? What were the problems? What was going right? So, all of those assessments have a purpose, but they have different purposes. But I will caution us, none of them tell the entire story. So, you have to understand what the data is telling you and what it's not telling you. Any questions or wonderings? Final thoughts, Miss I just want to say thank you because we've come a long way as a board, I think, in the past, you know,
078three to five years of having more indepth and the breadth of conversations about academics. You know, we we've talked about like this is why we're kind of going through the be legendary cycle and we should be having more of these conversations. Um, I'm speaking for myself. If and when possible, I would love to see this same breakdown with sort of another column of how do we compare against state averages for grade two. Um, just curious about where Grand Forks Public Schools is sitting in relation to those numbers. So, what's tricky about the interms, which is our progress monitor checks, is they're not required by the state to be the same. Okay. So, I could use NDA plus interim. I could use NWA. I could use STAR. They're required by law to do it, but it
079doesn't um require us to use one, which is harder to compare. But what we can compare is when you get to third grade, that NDA plus because we'll get across the state results. Okay. But before that, third and above or third, third, fourth, fifth, 6th, 7th, eighth, and 10th. Okay. It's a little tricky. Others, Dr. Hodic. First of all, Amy and Dr. Brener, I would like to tell you how impressed I have been with this. I'm of course new to the board. Um, but what the school is doing is outstanding. Um from what I see the only part that I would like for more information on and it might be that the board has already had this would be the information regarding the process that happens with students so that students understand the importance the
080process with educating our parents so that they understand that as well. I'm interested to know how you assess the PLC's, how the teachers are seeing some of this. I was fortunate to supervise student teachers in the Grand Fork School District and I know that there are many many teachers that really take it personal if their children are not meeting to what they want and and they're able to articulate that and they'll say but this is what I'm doing but I should be over here and so I applaud you on that but I guess I would like to know more about the processes and then the assessments. ments that you when you talk about that we're putting investments into the curriculum and and the investments to time with teachers getting you know extra um relief and
081such. So, and then the last one is I would also like to know more information about the collaboration between um grade levels um how that's occurring and if you know are they just seeing it that this is for second grade this is do they see that I would venture absolutely I would venture that you're doing all of this I would just like it for some information okay other thoughts thoughts. Dr. L. I I worry a little bit that we're going to have information that we we can't use. Uh um and and I think if there's anything that the board can do to support administration in in those endeavors, I think the board would be interested in doing that. But I I I fear that we're going to have information that we aren't going to be
082able to use which will which will hinder us. And and I realize most of this is probably coming from the federal level and not the state level, but I suspect there may be stuff coming from the state level as well. And I think if if there's anything as a board we can do to help support the administrative team, I think we'd be willing to do that cuz I think information knowledge is how we move things along. And if we are lacking information, that's I think I'm afraid it'll hurt us in the long run. It's really as simple as understanding the data. And Dr. Brener and I have talked about is this a summer retreat where we do a deeper dive into what is a CBM? What does it look like and what does it tell
083us? Because you're right, Dr. Lun, we have to tell our story. You all have to tell our story that when it comes to some of the proposed bills or legislation, think critically. How does that affect our day-to-day? And then what do we advocate for? So, additional funding is always good. How do we pro How do we support families who have barriers in getting to school? How do we support families that have chronic absenteeism? It's really hard to teach someone when they're gone 75 days out of the school year, but there's something that's a barrier to your getting to class. So, how do we have the resources to address those barriers? And how do we talk about it and tell the story? because this data point that you saw today addresses none of that others. Okay,
084thank you both very much. 4B, as you can see in uh the memo that came from Dr. Brener. Uh, I recently attended the National School Boards Association annual conference and so I've just prepared a few remarks just as an update and some reporting, some food for thought and hopefully stir up some conversation. So, thank you for allowing me to share a bit about the NSBA conference was held just over a week ago in Atlanta, Georgia. Uh first and foremost, I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn from experts and leaders in various aspects of public education, to hear directly from policy makers and legal experts, to network with colleagues from our region and around the country, and perhaps most importantly, as I reflected uh on my return, to be reminded of the purpose behind our collective
085work to participate in the great American schooling experiment and educate all students who walk through our doors. At the close of each day, the keynote speakers lifted up important themes for attendees. U Melissa Stockwell uh spoke of resilience and perseverance. Uh Ravi Hutising uh how technology and AI are impacting the future of education. And the Bacon brothers spoke on arts, the arts, excuse me, education and inspiration. As I participated in various conversations, breakout groups, listening sessions, and workshops on topics as varied as a path to effective board meetings, governance in this new era of public education, connecting with the community about cell phones in schools, boards, superintendent, and the power of transformational leadership, social media and mental health, disability rights and inclusion. artificial intelligence, federal changes and impacts on local school boards. Um, three things
086became clear to me. First, with all of the various challenges and changes, our board is doing a remarkable job of setting policy and staying ahead of the curve as we navigate into the unknown. Furthermore, we understand that our governance role is equal in importance to but separate from the day-to-day operations of the district. Number two, we are not alone. The same things we are wrestling with, the things that are keeping us up at night are happening in every state. And three, there is still a lot of work to do. We must continue to advocate for public education, strive for excellence, collaborate with our various stakeholders, and communicate our collective vision. Admittedly, I'm still processing all I've heard and learned during my time at the conference, but I'm happy to open up the floor for any
087comments or clarifying questions. As highlighted in the memo, if there's a particular topic of interest, any board member can ask for that to be brought forward as an agenda item for a future meeting. So, open up for for comments and conversation at this time. Dr. L. Well, I haven't gone to a national meeting for a while, but I just think it it reinforces that it's important to to go to those conferences, go to those meetings. Uh I think I I think uh I look at other school districts in the region. When I think of Minnesota, North Dakota, and you see more participation on some of those meetings with some of the other school districts, I think that behooves them. But it does take time and effort and and on the district standpoint, it takes money,
088too. But I think it's well worth well worth it. I would assume you would agree with that. I would 100% agree. And thanks for taking the time from your life to go do that. Thank you. It's my pleasure. Thank you, Mr. Cleven. Others, if you uh uh would like to see a bit more, uh the website is still active. uh the NSBA National Conference, you could get a a deeper dive into specific topics, speakers, uh resources, handouts, etc. And as always, as we come to uh the part of our agenda each time regarding uh requests for future consideration, I'd be happy to put something together on one or more topics if if board members have have interest. So, thank you for the time and and for supporting that uh that endeavor. Move on to 5A.
089This is our consent agenda. I would seek a motion to approve the consent agenda in tonight's packet. It's been moved by Mr. Larson. Is there a second? A second by Dr. Lun. Take a roll call vote. Cleven? Yes. Manley? Yes. Hodak? Yes. Anderson? Yes. Flynn? Yes. Larson? Yes. Lun? Yes. Pomacino? Yes. Burger? Yes. Nine. Yes. Zero. No. Zero absent. Motion passes. Uh 5B, teacher resignation and waving of liquidated damages. Robert Wadd. This is Dr. Brener. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh you have a memo in your packet. I will just go ahead and read it. It's straightforward. Robert Robert Wadd has resigned his position as math teacher at Valley Middle School effective April 4th, 2025. Due to circumstances and reasons uh remaining undisclosed, the administrative recommendation is to accept Mr. Waddle's resignation and to wave the
090liquidated damages associated with his resignation and his letter is attached. Thank you. Okay. I would seek a motion to accept Mr. Waddle's resignation and to wave liquidated damages associated with his resignation. It's been moved by Mr. Cleven. Is there a second? Second. A second by Mr. Manley. Any discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. Flynn, yes. Cleven, yes. Anderson, yes. Hodak, yes. Paulino, yes. Lun, yes. Manley, yes. Larson, yes. Burger, yes. Nine, yes. Zero, no. Zero absent. Motion passes. 5C. Grand Forks Director's Association request to delay start of contract negotiations. Dr. Brener, thank you again. Uh you have a memo from me in your board packet and I think I will just go right down uh to the uh second and the last paragraph. Uh the Grand Forks Director's Association has submitted a request to
091delay the start of contract negotiations until after the conclusion of the current North Dakota legislative session and their request is attached and there'll be a similar one that follows this one as well. The administrative recommendation is for the board to agree to start contract negotiations with GFDA after May 2nd, 2025 when the North Dakota Legislative Assembly is scheduled to conclude. Thank you. Okay. I would seek a motion to uh agree to start contract negotiations with the GFDA after May 2nd, 2025. It's been moved by Mr. Palmino. Is there a second? Second. A second by Mr. Anderson. Any discussion? Yeah, Mr. Cleven. Does this have any bearing or impact on the negotiations with the education association, the teachers? It does not. Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion? Okay, we have a motion on the floor. We'll
092take a roll call vote. Manley, yes. Lun, yes. Larson, yes. Pomacino, yes. Hodak, yes. Cleven, yes. Flynn, yes. Anderson, yes. Burger, yes. Nine, yes. Zero, no. Zero absent. Motion passes. 5D. Grand Forks Principles Association request to delay start of contract negotiations. Dr. Brener. Uh, same memo, just a different group. So, I'll just go right down to the bottom, last paragraph. The administrative recommendation is for the board to agree to start contract negotiations with the Grand Forks Principles Association after May 2nd, 2025 when the 2025 North Dakota Legislative Assembly is scheduled to conclude. Thank you. Seek a motion to agree to start contract negotiations with the GFPA after May 2nd, 2025. It's been moved by Mr. Larson, second by Mr. Manley. Any discussion? We'll take a roll call vote. Anderson, yes. Hodc, yes. Flynn, yes. Manley,
093Lun, yes. Pomcino, Larson, yes. Cleven, yes. Burger, yes. Nine, yes. Zero, no. Zero absent. Motion passes. 7A. Announcements. Are there any announcements? Dr. Brent. Uh, the government affairs committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday of this week, the 17th. And the last couple of meetings we've met at 8 am and we do have a conflict that morning with uh needing to move up our joint administrative meeting starting at 8 am. So um we'll be planning this meeting for 4:00 in the afternoon again by Zoom and hopefully our our board members who are committee members can attend at that time. We just might catch some legislators coming home from Bismar at that time as well. Thank you. Are there other announcements? 7B, board requests for future consideration. A 7C, schoolboard meeting norms. Miss Flynn, how did
094we do on our norms for tonight? Would you just just for my sake, would you? I think you did great. Thank you. Thank you. We are journed. Thank you.