001I'd like to call the meeting to order. Please join me to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with all. Welcome everybody. Glad you're here. All right, we'll start the meeting. We need a motion and a second to accept the agenda for today. We'll make the motion. I'll second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. Again, same sign. The agenda is passed. Um we have no one signed up for open forum tonight. So we will move on to communications. We'll start with the director of services. Madam chair, members of the board. Just give a little start with enrollment. Yeah. So, our enrollment is at 3214 as of the 19th of May. So, pretty stable. Um, we
002were at 3216 last month. So, 324 1614. So, we're kind of just at that stable mark right now. So, um can there we go. The TDS report. So, this is our report. Um our revenues and expenditures as of April 30th. Everything is pretty much on track. This is the first month that we have the revised budget in there since that was approved last month. So, we've got our revised budget in there and this is where we'll end with that budget for the year. Um, like I said, all our expenditures seem to be on track. We're uh, obviously we were pretty conservative on our revenue and community service. You go down a little bit. I think there's some graphs. Yep. Um, in the general fund graph is looking really good. Revenues over expenditures pretty similar. A
003little higher in revenues here compared. So, that's a good thing. Keep going down. Then food service revenues not quite as high, but it's always a month behind there. And then community ed you can see or community service you can see where we were conservative on our revenue. Um the only thing is there we do have some revenue that we defer into next year with some of the fees that have been paid already for this year like preschool and some summer things. I'm assuming Dan there's some of that. Yeah. And so we'll have some of that coming in too. So we're I mean we're feeling good about everything there as well. So now we're just working on next year's budget. So that'll be just riveting next month for all of you to listen to. It'll be
004a lot of robin in June. A lot of robin. love the budget. I know Brenda loves that. I do love the budget and the long-term love the 10-year long-term facility plan as well. Um the other thing I do have to share with you tonight is we have our milk quote on there. Um last year there are so few milk companies out there right now to bid. We have not had anybody but chems the last few years. Last year we actually signed a four-year agreement with them. So I'm just sharing what that quote is for this current year. about a five and a half percent increase on chocolate skin milk and a seven% increase on 1% milk. Those are the two uh bulk milks that we purchase right now. So we don't there's no approval on
005that. I'm just sharing those numbers with you because we had already done that last year. So any questions on anything the exciting month of April and May? Hopefully we don't lose camps. I know. I know. That's our lone bidder. Yes. Okay. Thanks for having us. You're welcome. Thank you. All right, we're going to move on to the student representative update. And tonight is the last meeting for Dave. Um, and I just wanted to say a few things. First of all, um, I think it's special when students are willing to take the risk to apply and go for a leadership position. Your your lives are so busy. you both are involved in so much and yet you raised your hand again and said I want to find out more about the school board and I just
006I commend you for that step alone but then also you took it and you found your voice and you brought your passion of like trying to make a difference and being in the room when the decisions were made and you're both so bright and talented and we've just benefited from the voice table. So, I just want to personally say thanks and then open it up if anyone else wants to say something to you. I agree with Gloria. I think it was really brave of you guys to to do this. And not only that, you have shared the insides not always glamorous of the schools and and the joys that the school brings to us too. So, thank you for that. It's always nice to hear the students perspectives. you do a good job of representing
007the whole building that's going on in the whole building. I think that's not always easy probably. But and then I will give you guys time to Did you want to say anything? Sorry. Your hand covered it. Good job. I want to give you guys time to share your last update to the board. All right. Hello. Um so not Not a ton. Kind of just like recap of what has happened up to this date from last time we met. Um, student council has been pretty busy for over the month of April in the beginning of May. Uh, we just wrapped up a couple weeks ago our teacher appreciation week. So we do it over the actual national teacher appreciation week and then through that week we had a um a coffee cart or like a coffee
008there was like s but we had that for them on Friday of the week before it was the day after conferences so it's kind of like you know they were there all night so like refresh in the morning and then throughout the whole week we did like coloring sheets and stuff like that and then on Friday we did a big teacher appreciation ceremony where we had the students vote on little like superlatives for the teachers like most or like biggest wildat spirit you know stuff like that and then the students vote and we awarded them trophies with the big ceremony and we hear very good feedback from the teachers. They thought it was probably the most involved pep test we've had um in many years. So that's we'll probably we'll keep that for years to
009come and we'll probably just keep adding on different programs, change it up each year. Um Katie will touch more on this, but we did last week. Last week. Last week. Last week we finished up our mental health week. Um very important week for us. We've done different things each year. This is our biggest year doing um our most involvement with that and we just plan to keep getting more more involved. But she'll cover more of that. Um, prom we had was very successful. We had a lot of ticket sales. Um, and then overall, I just think people had a blast this year. It's always fun prom. Um, we had a lot of sophomores get asked this year, so they enjoyed that, too. Um, we have our senior sunset. This is something new that we're doing
010this year. We were originally going to do a spring carnival, but we just again fell just so slightly short. So, we're going to postpone that till next year. Hopefully, they can get everything settled. So, we're going to do all the things we're going to do there just for the seniors because we don't have it's not as big as we wanted it to be, but we're going to open this up for seniors. It's going to be like yard games, music, um a photo op. People like to get pictures and then it's just kind of a bonding opportunity for us to watch the sunset. It's from 7:00 to 9:00 on May 30th. So, that's our plan for that. Um, and then we're I believe we are having the the Taco Box. Have you guys heard of that?
011It's like a local business. It's like dirty soda and ice cream. They're they've offered to bring their food truck. So, they'll get business there. And so, that's a little plus for us and a plus for them as well. And then last thing student councilwise is we have our last meeting today. Um, and this kind of ties into like part of like my thank you to the board is like I gave them a spiel today saying like we are the people that take what everybody else complains about and we do a little more research and we actually do something about it. So, I think that's kind of what's important about us is we hear so many complaints from people outside of this board here and we take those and we actually do something about it because
012I think it's I personally learned so much more about the school itself and like what happens in the processes of it. Um whereas a lot of people don't take the time to do that and they just, you know, it's easier to complain than it is to do something about it. So, I'm thankful to have the opportunity to do my part in that and to um represent my student body. Um so, that's it for student council wise. Choir, we had our last choir concert last Monday. It was very good concerts. I you know, bittersweet senior year, but I think it went very well. Um we have our stage choir versus Jazz Bank uh kickball next Tuesday. It's very competitive. Stage choir for the longest time had a streak and then two years ago we lost it.
013But we're we're starting over. Um and then they're finishing up stage choir auditions this week for the next year stage choir and I can't wait to see what they do because I've been in stage choir since sophomore year. So I'm kind of like, you know, that guy that wants everybody else to join. Track and field. I got a couple updates because it's it's exciting. We're at the end of the year here. Um track and field. the girl girls portion of it because I asked a girl. So, um she says the girls have a good chance to go to to get conference champs today because they're at conference today at North Branch. Um the 4x8 girls team just broke the school record today. Four girls took um first at true team state championship and last Saturday
014and then sections is next Wednesday and Saturday. So that's exciting for them overall for everybody. Um, and then tennis-wise, I also got tennis updates. Um, Will Walker says they play Delete East tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. It's home and quarterfinal. It's a quarter quarterfinal round and semi-finals and finals are Tuesday the 27th at Forest Lake. They're doing pretty well, so we're excited about that. Girls lacrosse also doing very good. I talked to a couple of the members today and they said that um sections is next week sometime and then they're number one in the conference and the section I think. So past few years we've done really well as a team. Uh and then graduation June 4th coming up. I'm I'm ready. But uh if anybody wants to come on it's June 4th 6:30. We'll all
015be will in the blazing sun. And then summer enrichment week is my next thing after school. I'm summer week and kids club all summer long and I'm so excited. I love working with the kids. They're some days it's less fun than others, but overall it's a good it's a good time. And then last thing I have is just my overall thank you again. So thanks to the board for allowing myself to be a part of it. I know. I've enjoyed it. I've uh I always get sad when I can't go to the meetings because it's it's exciting. But to be able to work with the people that make decisions with us instead of for us, you know, it's good to collaborate. That way it's easier to make decisions that'll benefit us. And I'm also thank
016the community for letting me be a part of this. I've been active on the Facebook page, so thanks for hearing me. And then the student body for letting me be the representative of what goes on in the school. I mean, I believe that I'm pretty knowledgeable on what goes on because I'm pretty involved. And so that thank you for everybody that allowed me to relay the messages and then help benefit our school as a whole. That's everything I have as I was say as for the usual name has taken a lot of things. Um, and for once in my life, there actually is not that many things that I have. So that's kind of exciting in itself. I guess I'll start off with mental health week, which is last week. Um so that was one
017of the student council initiatives uh that following kind of one of our like regional state meetings um through EMASKS we kind of decided that we wanted to put more of a serious spotlight on um mental health awareness. I know that we do do social emotional learning um I think every Monday or Wednesday in schools. Um, but you know, often times I think that students themselves I think they need a little bit more kind of um to be able to feel more heard and uh kind of be more receptive of like how they're doing or what the culture of the school is. So um we decided to kind of put that spotlight by having two videos. Um so Anukica was the chair of the committee and helped to do a significant amount of work in these
018videos. The first one was kind of interviewing teachers and explaining, you know, like um that the students mental health matters so much and that teachers, you know, are more than just people who you sit in the classroom and listen to every single day, but they really can be there not just as a mentor, but also as kind of like a pillar of support. And I um that video was very good up on Monday. And then uh kind of throughout that week, I worked with some senior students, including myself and Gabe. Um and worked on a video that was kind of student testimonials about um like hardships with mental illness that they've experienced. Um you know, how they've gotten over it, what that experience was like. And I think that truly getting student testimonials and very
019honest and also students in the school um that people know was really important and that was received very well by both staff members and students I in fact today I had two other staff members come up to me and like kind of like commend me like like thank you for doing that because um it takes a lot. I mean, not a lot of students want to talk about uh mental illness, shockingly, especially those, you know, who had really intimate experiences with it, but um those who were willing, definitely I want to thank, you know, them for their involvement. And I truly feel as though like it made a difference and um it it was a very impactful video from what I've heard. And so that week or spotlight on mental health I think was in
020my four years of high school it was the most um it was the most meaningful I think that I've kind of experienced. I know I plan to do even more next year. Um and so hopefully that's a tradition like we keep going and it can you know make a little bit more of a difference in the culture of our school which at times especially around finals week which is trying to work on healthy falls can be pretty difficult. So then my next update is um kind of all my activities have closed out for the year. So speech ended uh like the beginning of May. Um and then of course Business Professionals of America, we had our national leadership conference. I don't know if the dates were I think it was like May 7th through May
02111th. Um it was myself and another student going down to Florida, Orlando to compete against everyone. Um some international places like China and South Korea were there as well and then the first 50 states. um in that I was the national runner up in one of my competitions and then the national champion in my other which was very exciting and you know I I really like being able to not only get recognition for like Minnesota but also for like just lakes because at those award ceremonies I will say um schools like Wisetta tend to eat up most of those awards. So, um I do like being able to say that recognition back to like our school because our students do work um very hard. And so I will just say on that note, um next
022year we do not know if BPA will be continuing as an activity as of now. I reached out to school administration. Um and I do just want to emphasize that I did not intend to join BPA when I was a freshman. I think I did recruiting over the announcements and I said business professionals of America sounds really boring and really nerdy. And you know what, it is very nerdy, but it's it's one of those activities that you get in that you put out and that regardless of whether or not you want to go into business, which personally I do not. Um it has truly changed my life. The people that I've got to meet, the opportunities I've experienced, um getting to network with people from across the nation, across the world, I I can't really
023express the value of those experiences. And it's something that like you won't really realize until you experience it. So um so whatever happens next year, it is you know my almost intention to somehow keep this program going because it truly has been um so instrumental for the students involved as well as you know bringing national recognition to our community for the last four years. And so something that is very important to me and would very much make a difference. Um then I think that's mainly for the activities I have. Um the next update would be in early June. So some students who received individual awards throughout the musical will be going to um perform a number at the spotlight showcase. So last year for the musical um received an outstanding overall. They did not receive
024that same ranking this year. However, our individual students received honors including myself who have the opportunity to go down and perform um in the showcase which I believe is June 11th. There are two dates. Maybe don't quote me on that but I believe it is June 11. Um, and then my last update is that uh the Shagled Marching Band had their first official practice I think last weekend and from what I've heard from leadership um we're off to a very strong start. They've got um a nice big group of students uh in all aspects and that um I know that the students have received like the songs that are going to be playing. They're pretty popular. So I know that they're all very excited and it's shaping up to be a good season for them.
025And finally, um I guess I just want to say thank you to all of you. Um I think I remember that Gabe and I had our first experience at the school board when we were in sixth grade. Uh and we were just little sixth graders, you know, like hiding behind our papers reading our student testimonials to you guys. And I know like Jeff and Lori, like that's the first time um like we ever met you through that experience. And you know, here we are six years later. Um lots of experiences, lots of activities. um and quite frankly very different people. Um but a lot of that experience I would just like to thank you guys for letting us be a part of this program. Um a lot of schools do not do this and this
026has been extremely instrumental not only in allowing students to be kind of a part of the decision-m process but also to help guide their decisions. Um, I do want to point out that as of February 26, the Minnesota Senate file actually passed uh file 197, which now requires school board student delegates, um, across the state at every school board for each district. And so, um, I had a friend who helped offer that bill and, uh, was just very surprised that like our district was so ahead of the curve in that manner and that, um, we we've kind of set the bar for the rest of the state, which I think is, um, it's it's been really good. And so, I just want to thank you guys for being so ahead. Um, and I know the
027community appreciates it. I know the students appreciate it. And so, thank you for being such a big part of my life and our lives. and um yeah, I look forward to the future of the community and it's in good hands. Thanks. First of all, congratulations on the national level. Like, you deserve a round of applause. Both of you are so accomplished and don't be strangers. Like, we want to hear from you and hear how you're doing. And we just wish you all the best and knowing you two, you're going to do great. Do great. So, thank you so much. Thank you. All right, let's move on to other board committee updates. Does anyone have any community updates for us? Uh, community edet, uh, we went over their strategic plan. They have a great plan. So,
028if you get a chance, check it out. It was pretty informative. Are you saying that because I'm here? No. No. Um, any other So, staff, sorry. Um, staffnet today. So, I mean, and I was telling Brian, I was online. He was there in person. You can fill in gaps for me. Um, as we know, we're in special session. And so, nothing was definite. Um, they just went over kind of where things were at. And I got three phone calls while I was listening to the meeting. So, it's a little disjointed for me, but if I were to say that there were highlights, um, it sounds I'll go with like the joint agreement amount. So basically what they said is for the 26 27 school years they both agreed to keep it financial support for schools
029at zero. So does that mean everything's going to get a zero? No. They said they can move things around but if they give here they're going to take from somewhere else. So that's where we're at for 2627. And for 2829 they will make reductions of approximately 420 is what they said for their targets. the cuts will likely come in the areas of like formula caps and special education. Um they did talk about the Senate is talking about pausing our inflationary increase that they just put into place, but that hasn't been determined yet and that wouldn't start until 2829. So they said that they'll honor it for now, but we'll see where that lands. Um they did talk about uh local um optional revenue um the levy that districts are able to put in place up
030to $724. They said there is some talk about possibly increasing that or adding a tier of $40 to that. Um and it would be straight state aid they said. So it's bas basically an addition of an aid category. So we'll see where that lands. Um there is some talk of potentially putting a new levy in for roofs, but again the amount of money does not even cover what Chicago would need and it has to go across the whole state. So even if we do get some extra money for roofs, it's a very small amount. Um next year they said you can count on next year getting your 2.74 um for that inflationary increase. Um they talked about one of the big trouble spots right now for the legislature is the compensatory aid um moving into
031direct certification because they talked about how there's big winners and there's big losers. So there's districts like AIO who could lose $5 million and there's districts like Bloomington and then a couple charters are on top where they could gain millions of dollars. And so the there's problems with what they're um with this new compensatory problem. So they are still discussing that as we speak. Um the good news for teachers and staff is they did pass the pension adjustments. So um they modified it to age 60 and something about a TRA sufficiency contribution which I didn't completely understand. All I know is they did pass the pension. Do you know more about that? Yeah, I do. So on the pension though, there's it's I think everyone's very happy it passed. Two things that just bring a
032little pause to it. One, the state's going to fund about um some of the cost of that is about 19 to20 million a year. The bigger than sufficiency piece was that they recognize it's still not enough. So, they're going to take some of the belief some of the beliefs in what they think they're going to earn in investments over time and leverage dollars to help pay for that uh additional part. There's concerns about that because apparently for the people that were in the room, they said number one, TR was not in favor of that. They were told they had to do it. And second, if you remember back to the 201s, we went through a process where they were deeming that TRA was in trouble and that the state need to bail them out a
033little bit to get to their obligations long term. And the goal is to give them the money, get to solveny, meaning that they are good to go moving forward. And they were hoping to get there in the 2030s, 2040s, and they're progressing that way. But with this piece that they're potentially take money out, there's worries that that might compromise things. And obviously, it all depends on where the economy goes. So there's so many loose pieces that I think there's just people that are just like glad we did it. Don't know if that's a way we can support it long term. So let's be careful not to take what we've already built away as well. So was there anything else that was key that I missed, Ryan? Those are the notes I had. No, I think
034that's a mixed Yeah, absolutely. But I did send you all the video if you want to watch it, but again, so much is yet to be determined. So Mark Kanso, was there anything particular there that stood out about Mark's? He spoke more on defining what the new legislation came out like 2018 2019 on building storm shelters as part of new building projects. So it was just more information on that and gave an appraisal in the session just said his his comment was there were 17 education bills and nine of them have not been resolved and they were nowhere near. I did sit on a YouTube session today with the Senate They had all the education people, sorry, Senate House and joint committee piece and they didn't get much done. I mean, they they went through
035everything saying, "Here's what we want to do. Here's what we're need to come together." They sort of read through and that was a budget to them because they thought there might be an announcement at 2:30 today or something. Some things would get closed up, but it sounds like over half is not so correct. That was staff today. Any other committees? Custodian negotiation. Oh, yeah. We're still in negotiations. We're just We had our first meeting. We're off to a great start. Um we're on the same team. Yes. Perfect. Thank you. Okay. Um we'll move on to Superintendent Update. So, I wanted to start by also thanking both of you for your service. You are shining examples of this district. We're very proud of you and I'm excited what's going to happen in your life moving forward.
036Um, so just thank you for your service. I think all the board members talked about that piece too, but just thanks for just being that that positive light. You know, it's a tough time right now, not only in the district and the communities, but in our world, too. I just appreciate your energy that you bring to the table. Um, your desire to want to make things better, and that's going to carry beyond you. And I'm proud of that piece, too, because I know you've influenced people to carry the torch moving forward. And that's a huge piece for me when you talk about legacy. You've left a legacy here. So, thank you. And personally, I've had kids at EPA and DECA and I want to thank you because that's a heck of an accomplishment. My kids
037went through as well. And congratulations. Happy for you, happy for us as well. So, kudos on that. I just have a few things to talk about. We sort of touched on the session already and I think I'll just globalize by saying there's some cause for concern in the next four years. Um we'll see where the session goes. Right now the prognostication today was from our lobbyists and people that are actually at capital was that this might come back together maybe mid June. Um generally people are more pessimistic at this point thinking they might not get done. did feel a little bit of that that it might get to that close to June 30th deadline, but let's just be hopeful that they can get through stuff, but um not feeling very encouraged the next four years.
038I just think that we knew that was coming, but with a $6 billion deficit the next bum, we're going to have some major conversations. Everyone's going to at this point. So, just need to keep doing the right work and moving it forward. Last one is just on the bond. I'd be remiss to not start out by saying thank you to anyone and everyone that helped out with the campaign. Uh, as much as sometimes it's hard, especially for someone that hasn't been in this community that long and hasn't gone through some of the pain in the past, it's hard sometimes to see the light, but I'm going to share a couple things I think are important. A lot of you already heard this early, too. One, we lost by 3200 votes in 2022 down to 500.
039We're making progress. nights like tonight before we came into a listing session, our first we were held with some community members. Didn't have a lot of people show up, but I can tell you that I'm encouraged that there's dialogue happening that we can sit down and break bread and just talk about things overall whether in that time of meeting or had my soup of the soup again this week as well, which we have people coming in learning about thirsty. There's a lot of good things happening here. Communities care about us. We'll get there. But just for the meantime, a couple things just to give you some things to think about for the future for our general public. We're going to start the process gathering information. I've had two conversations with Peter Leman, who's the partner
040in Morris Leman Group, which does all the surveying for most of the districts in the state. Uh we will do a post election survey and get those results. I'm hoping in June, keep your fingers crossed. Otherwise, we're sure early July. He understands sort of our passion to get some of this data and start working on stuff. But a really good conversation to gain some perspective for him because he's got his pulse not only on schools but also on the general public, the state of Minnesota and the country. So I think he's going to offer some really good perspective and things to think about the next time we go out. On that note, you didn't hear me wrong. We are going to come back out. We have to come back out. That's our only option because
041as school districts again we are toggled with the fact that we have to ask only entity and government to ask for voter approval to get stuff done. So just know that we're going to take a lot of the good feedback we received. I know all of you shared some of that with me and throughout my journey of presentations and talk to our community. I think there's some pieces we'll we'll think about consider and then take some of the feedback and put together a package and come right back up. Um when that's going to happen, I don't know. I think that's going to be a part of our work in the summer in June, July, and really sort of dive into this and see, but uh you know, we're going to get there. Uh it just
042sometimes things take time and but I I will say again, I was very encouraged by just a general spirit. I know we're moving people in the right direction. We've got good people that care about our schools. We move. So just again, thank you in case I didn't get a chance to talk to you election or if you were just not there. anyone that did anything to help us out, to share our story, to talk to people, to convince people to come vote and just make sure their voices were heard. Thank you and stick with us. We're going to get there. Thanks. All right, we will move on to the consent agenda, including the fun, resations, retirements, certified contracts, notices of higher contracts, um, and past meeting minutes. So, we need a motion and a second
043to the consent agenda including all those things. I make a motion to accept the consent agenda. I will second it. Any questions about the consent agenda? If not, all in favor say I. I same sign. That motion passes. Uh looks like we have no old business, but we have new business. We have a number of donations. We have the um Taylor Falls parents for education. They donated $3,600 for the brain pop. Um Shawa City Department donated $2,000 for trap shooting,000 for boys and and thousand for girls. The Lions Club donated $500 for student council. Hazelton um donated $2,000 for the community education scholarship. The Gene Haw Foundation um donated $1,000 for scholarship. The Stacy Lions donated $1,000 for scholarship. Lake Region EMS um donated $1,000 for scholarship. And Peterson Company's donated $500 for a tennis
044for boys tennis for a ball machine. Uh so we will need a promotion and then we'll call for a reser resolution. I'll make a motion to accept the donations as listed. Sarah I Josh I Bren I Jen I and Lori I that resolution passes we have lovely Michelle here with us this evening and she's production well you are love and she's going to share with us our annual complebec I'm the comp director I am wrapping up my second year as comp director and um I just have to say I find it a very rewarding position to be in. Um, you all know this, but the staff is amazing here and there is such good work going on that I feel like I've always been at the elementary level, but the UC count director lets me
045be at the secondary level too and I've got to know them as well and it's it's been a really good journey. So, oh, do I do this? Yes, I think. All right. So, just kind of a quick overview on what Q comp is. It is our um quality compensation program that we get from the state. Um we're one of the districts in the state that are part of the UC compon program and it's all about improving student learning um from recruiting and retaining our highly qualified teachers encouraging the teachers that we do have to take on challenging assignments and then also providing incentives to encourage teachers to improve their knowledge and instructional skills. The QC count program have has four core components um that we are required by MDE. Um so I'm going to go
046through each core component and what we do to implement it, what our impact has been this year and then our findings and that'll help us move forward our program next year. So the first core component in Q comp is our career advancement options and that means that's we also call it career ladder. So that's beside our base statements that we have. We have what's called career ladder positions that staff apply to and then um be a part of. So we have one director position, that's me. We have eight oversight members and that's f one from each building for teachers and then three admin. We have eight peer coach facilitators that oversee our peer coaching in each building. We have eight PLC facilitators that again oversee the PLC's in each building. This year we had 55
047PLC leaders and that was some groups had co-leaders and then we had 52 staff that chose to do to be peer coaches or their peers. Um the impact on that was that PLC uh lead facilitators I'm sorry effectively guided um the PLC group to impact our student learning. And I'm just going to go across to our findings with that. We found that when we can focus our teamwork and our PLC work on student learning that can increase our student outcomes. Um and then peer coach facilitators were able to really deliver um a very comprehensive training in the fall for anybody that wanted to be a peer coach. And this year we focused on how do we present um data to the teachers on how they're teaching. So training them not just to go in and
048observe but collecting some really good data and then presenting the data to the teachers and then having that conversation. um how do we move our instructional strategies forward? So by doing that then the observational data that was gathered by the coaches was was shared out with our our coaches. Our second component is job embedded professional development and we do that in two ways. Um one is our PLC's is also considered our professional development. So we have 48 PLC's across the district and within that we have 213 um PLC participants. This year um we were honored to have Casey Perkins who is a nationally um is a national speaker for solution tree. She came in October. Um she was phenomenal. Um she was able to reach all of our teachers. In the past, we've sent our
049teachers to Solution Tree, but over the years, you know, it's dwindled. We've got new teachers with children, and we've got new teachers getting married, and they have this they they don't have a lot of time in June. And so, we found that if we bring a solution tree speaker in, we could reach all of the staff. So, she presented um in the morning to elementary and in the afternoon to secondary. Um, but she really focused on how can we look at student data in our PLC's to move our instruction forward. And to do that, we really need to have those common assessments. So, what does that look like? Um, and she was phenomenal. So based on a lot of her work um some of the PLC's were actually able to adjust what their common assessment
050looked like which was really exciting. I the week afterwards I'd be in buildings and teachers would pull me into their classroom and they'd be like this is what we're doing and Cassie was very exciting. So everything from um we have kindergarten teachers or sorry first grade teacher that she took what Cassie said and she made a whole system where she pre-ests all of her kids to see what they actually need to learn but then she shares that with the children and then she asks the children what do you think your goal should be? So it it all puts it back on them and then she teaches based on their data and their student goals and then she post tests them. She's had a lot of success with that. Some of our other and again I
051speak a lot from elementary because those are the buildings I'm in and out of so much but um I've had other teams that have made exit tickets that they can talk about give and then they bring them to the PLC's. But lots of really good work in our PLC's analyzing that student data and what our our teams need. Um with that though we are still finding that some of our PLC's we have these four essential questions that are based in our note takingaking document and the teachers have really good conversations but they still are really struggling with how to fill out the note takingaking document. So, our PLC facilitators, I had this great conversation with them doing some brainstorming. I'm going to try this year coming year to add some more life scaffles in it
052for them so that they have a clearer idea and it's not just the four open-ended questions with that. Um, but for the most part overall, the teachers have adjusted instruction based on their assessment datas. And that's not just the summit, that's the formative assessments that teachers do every week. Um our sec our third core component is the teacher evaluation. So implementing that um we have 43 staff that are in the mentorship program. Right now we have 160 staff that are on year A and B and then they receive their evaluation from um peer coaches. It's not an evaluation but that's the way they term it um for pure in pure coaching. and then 54 staff are on year C and they receive their coaching or evaluation from their administration. So the impact of that has
053been um this has been you know I just have to say the facilitators that I work with I said there was eight peer coach facilitators and eight PLC they're all phenomenal they just work so hard I really enjoy both groups we had a whole day session PD session um with our coach facilitator that we looked at a framework called simply coaching um by Nicola Turner. It was really good and it was kind of I she had some really big eyeopening ideas that we want to bring back to the staff and that's one of our goals for next year. Um and then the other really big thing that we did was we had to align our teacher evaluation rubrics, our TAP rubrics to the new standards for culturally responsive teaching. So we had to redo those.
054So, we got that, but now um MDE requires us to align our peer coaching rubrics to that as well. So, um we realigned all those and then to help peer coaching be the most impactful on student learning to help them like hone in and really focus in so it's not like just a reflection anymore, an open-ended reflection, but really scaffold those rubrics. So we've taken each line in the um TAP rubric, broke it down sentence by sentence and then showed um how you can collect data. So when you go in to do a an observation, so it might be did you see these things and it's a check box or it might be how many times did you see um uh a positive affirmation and tally marks and stuff like that. So they have a
055very good structure to give data back to the teacher with. So um we've got we'll be implementing that next year. We've got all the teacher ones done but like the text and the nurses and the speech those will all be summer work. Um but we did find especially from the training for the simply coaching that we it was kind of one of those big ahas. We do a lot of training with our actual coaches every year because that's a requirement, but we don't always address how to be to receive that coaching, right? And and what that feels like. And we all know as adult learners, it's really hard. It's hard to be a coach to give strategies to an adult and it's also hard to receive. So, um, we do need to to do a
056little bit more training with all staff on how and even for our our brand new teachers, how to take that those that information and then implement it. And the whole idea is like everything that we should do, every single thing, whether it's peer coaching or PLC, it has to impact student learning. Bottom line, number one. And I think sometimes when we look at things like when we see teacher evaluation, we tend to think the word teacher is in there, we tend to put it on ourselves and it really needs to be student focused. Everything we should do should be student focused. And so that's what we're going to talk about um next year as well. And then the last thing, just the performance pay is the core component. um we get $260 per it's approximately
057um per student this year. We figured our budget about being $844,900. And Rob's going to help me if I get anything wrong. Robin's been I told her she's like my safety buddy tonight because I have to say like my biggest thing like I I know I mean I feel pretty confident in a lot of things but the whole budget thing has been a huge learning curve to me. I said if you don't know Lauren like I she was helping me like again trying to wrap my head around this mysterious money that comes in and all this mysterious money goes out and like all these budget goes and she like she's working all this through me and I was just like I don't know how you do this every day. I would cry and then I
058left her and I said I need to go find some children and make my world happy again. But um thank thank goodness for Robin who's been so Robin has been so very patient with me. So um yeah. So when we look at that big number there basically we're talking about two pots of money. The one where all staff are eligible for what I call that base stipen. And this year 99% of our staff um received that base site. Um and then um the other part that goes is for our career letter positions and then that is that number there. The remaining part is all of our um like our PD and our staff development, our resources um stuff like that. Um lastly looking at our um our findings and then how can we improve our
059program for next year. So our two big components are always peer coaching and then student learning through our PLC's. So peer coaching um one of the things that we are focusing on is we have not really done a deep dive into what our peer coaching system looks like. Our model that we currently have is based on a model called co cognitive coaching. Most of us were trained under Jim Rine and it is a very open-ended conversation. Um there is much better research out there. There's research from Jim Knight who is one of our biggest national gurus in instructional coaching for teachers. um my biggest fan I yeah I love Jan Hesbra um because hers is all about focusing on student learning and then um Nicole Turner as well. So looking at them and seeing is
060there a better way to do what we're doing. So we're going to continue that work. Um on October 6th we're going to have that training that I talked with um Sarah and I are going to do it. um really focusing on what it is like to receive coaching and um helping staff understand the new rubrics and then the impact cycle like how can we make this impactful for our student learning. Um, we're also in implementing our new peer coaching rubrics. And then from our student learning through the PLC's, um, we're going to realign, we are realigning some of our PLC groups to make it more equitable, um, through our PLC facilitators. What we found was last year we had um it it was based on student numbers which seemed fair at the time when we
061made it because it was a different system but now the system is that they oversee groups. So at like Taylor's Falls there were one facilitator for nine groups and then at the high school there was two facilitators for 12 groups. So they you know it was unequitable. So we made some adjustments. The facilitators were great. they were like, "Yeah, that doesn't make any sense why Molly is doing like almost twice the work and giving paid the same." So, they were really great and we're going to redistribute those groups. Um, and then also under their recommendation, we're gonna create some supplementary scaffolds within those PLC note-taking documents just to help teachers understand what those four questions are and that when they talk about things, where they go in the note takingaking document. everything. And that is
062all of our leadership committee. And I just want to thank you all for all the hard work that you do. And I tell you, I you guys work hard and I have a lot of respect for you and that whole bond. I mean, I know that I know you put your heart and soul to that. And you know, for everybody that was out there, it was it was tough. But anyway, thank you all. Thank you so much. Any questions about Michelle's? I have a question. I know we talked earlier about legislation. Has there been any movement talk about and part of our funding comes through local levy? Part of it comes through state. Has there been any discussion about that? It was in the governor's proposal to remove it and had not heard it since.
063So, we'll find a worth the special session and that's what I did because I I tried to read through all of that and anything that I heard that it was not on the table anymore. Like there was no more talk about that. I think that was something that he had decided that he wanted to try to do and I don't think that's going to happen. And then I you I'm not go through the whole length of time. I'd like to say a couple of things because it was such a part of what I did as a union president on the other side of that. I always found that what was good for staff was always usually the best thing for students and one of the value added things is to be able to develop those
064relationships to go into your peers even though it's not the main focus of of QC comp is to go in and to observe someone. It certainly is a value added thing to be able to see other people teach and it really does help those. So I'm glad we're still holding on to the ability to have peer coaches to go into classrooms and it's kind of nice that I know we shift we shifted a little bit over the years but I'm still glad to see that that is part of what does I think that's really wonderful value added part of comp. So, thanks a lot for, you know, I I don't hear much about it and I think that's really good. I mean, cuc has somewhat over the years historically been somewhat of a contentious thing
065over the years and it's good to have it run smoothly and I think that's an attribute to you and I think teachers. So, thank you very much. Yes. Thank you for all your work. No, I just want to say while you were talking, and this isn't just because you played a really big role in my kids' life as one of their favorite teachers, but there's like this magical thing of the, you know, a great teacher feels like a bit of magic, right? Like it has this impact on the kids and the family and, you know, ripples out through the rest of their lives. But I love when you come to speech because we get to peer behind some of the like real strategy behind it and the the peer support and the data driven how
066do we impact these kids in the best way possible. So thank you for the whole like I always learn something. Oh well thanks appreciate that. All right comments actually I feel like the board the rest everyone is very familiar with education and I'm not. Yeah. So, if you could actually I don't want to take too much time take a couple minutes and just kind of break you apart. I'm seeing um there's kind of peer evaluations then there's PLC's. Could you just spend just a little bit of time kind of briefly explain just the general structure of the program kind of how it plays out and then like what type of evaluations are teachers because I know you touched on it. You just maybe touch on it again and talk about the different types of evaluations
067that teachers go through. Yeah. Absolutely. So there like I touched on the four components, but when we look at our QC comp program, you know, the career letter position, that's those are pretty straightforward, I think, but when we are talking about those base stipins, it's really three main things. Um it's the student learning goal and those are supported in our PLC's, which are our um learning communities. So the student learning goal is made by the teacher at the beginning of the year and that's with their administrator and then they work all year to meet that student goal. So I can give you an example of that. Like for instance, I'm I'm also the literacy coach for the district. So I don't have my own classroom anymore and I look at Sarah because I have her
068kids in in school. But like I can just share my my student learning goal was for all of second grade to be at a certain point in functional phonics um scoring 80% or higher on accuracy. And so then for me I would work all year to achieve that goal. And then um and if I was in a PLC that had that same goal, those are the things that we would work on at the end of the year. Then we evaluate that. Did I meet the goal? Did I not meet the goal? With the SLG or the student learning goal, you can still earn your money because you worked really hard for it and then you can say I didn't make it because or I came to school because so that's the one component. Um the
069other component and it's the biggest biggest pay part of um that base salary is what we call peer coaching. and um that the teachers get I mean it's it's like$,750 and for that they have um if you're in the mentorship program you have to complete the whole mentor program. So um you're observed by your mentor three times. Um if you're a tenure teacher you're either on we are on cycles. So, um, year A and year B, um, so like this year I'm on year B, but next year I'll be year C, and in the following year, so this year I was on, um, year B, and so I was in a peer coaching program. Um, and so I need three observations. So I would have uh, a peer that's been trained to be a peer
070coach come in and watch me. And then they have rubrics and it's based on um like there's behavior management and instructional strategies and engagement and those pieces. So they would come in observe me and give me feedback and we talk and then I could try to implement something. If a tenure teacher is on year C that's all administration. So that would be our uh TAP rubric. So again same components. Now, we used to be based on, you know, Danielson um and had those very specific rubrics, but we had to make some adjustments coming up due to MBE and so we I think they're really good. I mean, I really really like the work. We had a committee do it, admin worked on it. I think they're solid. like it really gets into instructional strategies, engagement,
071behavior management. Um, I'm trying to think what else is on there, but they're they're they're pretty solid and they give um teachers really a good outline of this is what's proficient to be a teacher. Um, and then the last the third piece of um that base statement is called the site goal. And so each each building makes a goal um and then they try to hit it as a team. So I can just speak for TF because that one's in my head right now. Um TF had based their um whole site goal on a fluency rate of going up in their ORP scores um by 2%. And so they they made their goal this year. And so that's that we'll get the their each one will get $250 for that. And if a if a
072if a building does not make their site goal, that money actually goes back to the building in a staff development fund so that they can do more curriculum work and staff development for that. Did I answer your question much at all? You did. Okay. In a lot of sense, just kind of you did a nice job kind of fleshing out how the program works. Yeah. And that's that's super helpful. Yeah. And um I could we could talk other time. You could I would talk anytime. I am a good talker, right, Tara? But my my hope for all of this is and and Je probably know this too. Like there's there's been times where you know, okay, we had Edmond doing this over here with TEP and we had mentorship over here doing this with our
073new teachers and we had QC comp over here doing this. And the goal really is to have a whole system that is um it all fits under that same umbrella. So we're all talking that same language. And Sarah and I have even been tossing around the idea of like we have our peer coaches come in to do peer training. But shouldn't our mentors also be part of that like receive that same in information? And we've even talked about like sharing our Q our QC comp um rubrics with admin. So we're all talking that same language. So if it is A, B, and C, it is very consistent across the board and it's not like we're doing this here and we're doing this here. So it's nice to see that we're all coming together. I'm very
074excited about it. You feel like that'll make it easier for the teachers. I think so. Yeah. I've gotten really really good feedback honestly across the board, especially with the new the new rubrics and how it's so nicely laid out and it makes sense to everybody and we're all talking about the same language now. Can I put you on the spot? Absolutely. I have my safety buddy. I'm constantly looking for benchmarks and it's that just it just crossed my mind. What how did your kids do out of the 80% if that was your I made it. Yes, I made it. What percent did have their phonics? I had So mine it was all by the the assessment we have as an assessment tracker for functional phonics and I had a goal that all the second graders
075would reach that goal and they would all be 80% accurate on their mixed assessment, their summitive assessments. and I made it by the skin of my teeth, but there were 80% accurate and so yeah, I couldn't get any closer, but um yeah, it is it is something always to really work at. So, yeah. Well, I just think there's a lot of individual benchmarks out there we probably don't aren't privy to just because they're your goals and the kids achieve them at different grade levels. But to me, I do think that moves us to the point where some of our benchmarks have been res been removed. We just don't use certain tests anymore. And some of the tests we use have not become very accurate indicators of our achievement. But that certainly is one. It's almost
076like we need teachers to speak to our benchmarks as we're defending our our academics over and over and over again. It's just one other thing that I've never even thought about before that there's actually a benchmark there. Yeah. I think that's the really that I think that's the really hard part is, you know, we focus so much on all this testing and that's what's published out there. But we have to remember that that's just like this this one piece at this one little tiny but when you look at the the actual work that they do on their formative assessments and their summitative assessments and where they are I mean the the work that they're doing in the classroom and the assessments that we're doing that we are successful and I know this time of year
077and I'm I'm kind of getting off and I started crying like I told I told him I'm like I'm a talker like you can cut me off at any time. Um, but you know, as the literacy coach for I know I told them all like this, but I'm also the literacy coach for the district. So, the literacy piece is like what I'm most passionate about over and above anything else. And this time of year is so hard because it is it is a balance. Like we we put our kids through immense amount of testing. They're children and and they do their best. And our teachers, they work hard. I I tell them every day like and anytime I see them, every one of our teachers, no matter what has happened to them at home, no
078matter what craziness has happened to them, they walk through that building giving 100% like whatever it is. and um whatever happens to them during the day, they are so student focused and it is heartbreaking when you get those final state scores and they just like what happened and you feel like and they are working so hard. Um, but I want to say that I' I've been in a lot of data meetings this this week especially and the groundwork that we're laying in K12 and third grade, our very basic primary grades is amazing. and and as we watched them go up, like our fifth grade really benefited from all of the work that K12 did, but they don't always get to see the benefits until they're in fifth grade. And then they get to middle school
079and we've been going through like the interventions and and where we're placing kids and very few kids need those decoding skills anymore because of the work we're doing down below. So it doesn't always those assessments don't always tell the story. That's exciting to hear it kind of trickle up, but I know Sarah has talked to us about that before, but watching it move up through the grades as this new program really gets solidified. That's awesome. It is. I love your message because I think too often we hear out there, you know, that we're not measuring up somehow and yet when you gave a testimony of the teachers that you see, and I felt the same way. I think we all do when we get a chance to actually talk to teachers. I just think it's
080such an encouragement. You're just few sentences there of how hard our teachers work. Yeah. And then we hear this cacaphony sometimes that's really not an accurate description of how schools are achieving especially lakes how we're achieving compared to other schools. It's really frustrating to me and I gotta think it's probably good those teachers don't maybe listen to that. They just keep keep going and you know how hard they work. I think we all know how hard they work and that's why it's so discouraging sometimes to hear somebody who has no handle on anything that's going on and making comments and statements about the achievement of our students here. And I think Gabe you spoke to that even on social media which I think it's just really cool to be able to stand up and give
081an account that you're wrong and that's not accurate what you're saying. So I know it's a little small thing here. I wish everybody in the community could see those those comments and and I just want to I just think it's encouraging to hear how our teachers work hard and the things that they do that are really progressing our students achievements. I mean, if I had more time, I have story after story about how student how teachers have analyzed. They they've looked at their data. They they've seen an issue and we've I just I have to share this because I think this is amazing. This is just one example of how hard our teachers are working. I had a grade level team and it was a big grade level team and they identified a problem and
082their problem was our children are having a hard time spelling. our students are having a hard time spelling and so you know listening to them and at first at the beginning of school you go like okay whatever you know but then you know continuing to listen to them and then you know taking one teacher and saying you know if you really think it's a problem why don't why don't I take a letter a spelling screener and let's just do one and then being able to like identify that one and then the teacher's like oh that's really good data I'm going to do that with my whole class let's identify where the spelling issues are. And then it kind of spread like wildfire and then all of a sudden another teacher was like, "Hey, I'm going
083to do that." And then pretty soon the whole grade level did a spelling screener and what we found out is what we thought these children can't spell um turned out to be we realized that they were having these problems spelling triaphs t and they were having a hard time identifying what vowel team should be in these words. We also realized that they were struggling with adding some suffixes. So we identified the hole that they had. Now the exciting thing is and I'm going to relate this to QC count because now they then after we did this they went on in their own PLC identified a plan that they are going to have for next year. um I help them as the literacy coach just find some free resources um to help them um give them
084things to work on in the classroom and then they sent me an email telling about what their plan is and then that's going to be their SLG for next year is for them to improve their spelling for their grade level team. So that's just a huge success story not only for Q but also for for our teachers like how hard they work at. So that's a great story and now I have a note in here to contact you any good stories. I need a good example of Yeah. what's going right. Yeah. And I've got a lot of them. So like Yeah. But anyway, that's that's probably my biggest exciting one. Okay. Thank you, Michelle. Yeah, we do still need a motion and a second to accept the comp report for this year. I'll make a
085motion to accept. Second it. We have a motion second. All in favor say I. I. Again, same sign comp report is accepted. Thank you again, Michelle. Okay, it comes to the time we have to um canvas the special election results. So, um I'm going to skip to the part that says so. Yes, votes we received, 1874. No votes, we received 2385. So, the ballot question, having not received the approval of a majority of the votes cast, is hereby declared not to have carried. and we will need a resolution vote to canvas these results. So, let's just take a motion to start and then we'll do a roll call vote. We'll make a motion. Okay. Do you mind starting again? I and I any other words or thoughts about that? Um if not, that resolution passes
086canvasing the results. Um we're moving on to the cliff lease agreement. Looks like Mr. Deetsz is gonna talk to us about that. Yeah. Annual uh item that we do and it's just basically renewal the uh space that SCR uses to run their program for the work. There's no increase this year. Well, that makes it easy. All right. Um we have a motion second to accept this lease with no increase for next year. Can I ask the question? Yes. Okay. here. Uh, just a quick question. Um, so 20 26, right? Um, I I'm always curious, how does that number get established? Based on square footage, based on square footage, I don't think it's been changed since I got here. So, is this kind of like kind of a just because most of it would come back
087on us anyway because most most of the kids there are. So I think that's the superintendent that decision at SOC to do correct there's no increase in other program they're always yeah it's based on the square footage footage it's kind of been this way for at least five years five years is it does it get talked about like as far as whether or not the numbers have had a good reflection I know I know there's shared cost or at least Yep I mean it's going to get built back to us or whatever but yeah we talked about both last year and this year I think we came to conclusion with is knowing there's some tough times coming ahead. We want to control some of the cost and keep it the same. So that's that's what
088came up in the conversation not only with collect but also the other programs that are serving our students and others around the region as well. So is it like because they spread they rent space from other districts as well, right? Um, is it kind of across the board? Everyone's just kind of saying, it's kind of what everyone does. Yes. Questions. Absolutely. Thanks, Josh. Questions? I'll take a motion to accept the CL. I'll make um any other questions about the CL. Okay, we need a second. I'll second it. Have a motion. Second. All in favor say I. Again, same sim Clinton's agreement has passed. Um, we had to change to the calendar which was brought to us by actually our middle school principal in collaboration with the staff had decided that they could move their dates
089from February 17th and 24th to February 26th and March 3rd. This would allow the middle school teachers to connect with families right before spring grade to ensure students have time to get car work. So it just made more sense to their system and so that's why we're altering we need a board vote when we're going to change the calendar. So we're just changing the middle school conference dates. Any questions about that? Okay, we'll take a motion a second to um amend the make a motion to accept the revisions to the 202526 school year calendar. I'll second it. I have a motion and second. Again, same signed. Um, and then we have a TEPOU. Again, that's our evaluation program that Michelle was referring to and it's new. Is there any comments to be made about that?
090No, as Michelle talked about earlier, we did some modifications based on new language requirements. So, just want to shout out to our leadership team, our committee work, and our administrators, everyone that came together to do this work. This is a power. Okay. Any more questions about that? We'll need a motion and second to accept the TW. I'll make it. Second. All in favor say I. Again, same time that we have a resolution for non-renewal of a probationary teacher contract. And this is a resolution. So we will need motion and then we'll do a little call vote. I don't know that we give specific information in this but are there any general questions? Okay, I'll make the motion and we'll start with you Sarah. Ira, Jen, I and Lori I that resolution passes um at our
091last work session last week. this week, last week, this week. Um, we talked about potentially having a monthly work session. And so we were trying to come up with like a broad guideline of what day we could do it and what time. It looks here that um 8 a.m. on Tuesdays, the week before the board meeting. So that is what we're bringing forward to see how that would work. week of the board meeting week of the board meeting Tuesday the week of the board meeting so that we're not as Jeff said you know taking separate weeks here and there one week of board so for June it would be the 24th since the board meeting is not the 26th correct correct got correct so um if we're all in favor of this we need a
092motion and second to generally speaking have these work sessions on the 8 a.m. Tuesday meeting. I make a motion to have the uh work sessions on the Tuesday before the uh Thursday school board meeting. I'll second it. Any questions? All in favor say I. I. Again, same sign. That motion passes and we're down to adjournment. So we'll need a motion and a second to adjurnn. I'll make a motion. Second. Have a motion second. All in favor of adjourning say I. Again, same second. The meeting is Thanks everybody. Good luck to Brenda again. [Music]