001Wonderful. And welcome to today's April school board meeting listening session. I will turn it over to our clerk for roll call. Member Banks >> here. >> Chair Durker present. Member Lafa Kemp >> here. >> Member Loal >> here. >> I am member Mikeall here. Member Sidowski >> here. >> Member Williams >> here. >> Superintendent Maggus >> here. >> Assistant Superintendent Bonds >> present. >> Deputy Clerk Sunnich is excused. Uh board secretary Pette >> here. And our student rep Mattala >> here. Roll call is complete. >> Wonderful. Thank you. And I'll turn it over to um member Laughler Kemp for our 11 tools of civility. >> Thank you. So at each meeting we read the 11 tools of civility that each year our school board adopts. Um uh and uh we thank the Boreal Foundation for
002uh their support of this 11 tools of civility. The school board recognizes 11 tools of civility that will provide increased opportunities for civil discourse in order to find positive resolutions to the issues that face our community. These tools include pay attention, listen, be inclusive, don't gossip, show respect, be agreeable, apologize, give constructive criticism, take responsibility, be honest, and care for others, show your evidence, share your reasonings. >> Thank you, Member Laughler. I'll now turn it back to the clerk to talk about the logistics for today. Some information that you should know um before you speak. If you have any handouts for the board, please give them to our school board secretary who will disperse them. Persons addressing the board will have three minutes total. When speaking, the use of negative personally identifiable language is not
003permitted. Persons addressing the board may not merge their time in order to allow one person to speak for more than three minutes. I will start this stoplight timer right here at the start of each person's time. Green means go, yellow means wrap-up, and red means stop. When the red light comes on, the chair will gavvel to signal you to end. And in the interest and respect for every listening session speaker, please hold any commentary during a speaker's time until they're finished. Thank you. Thank you so much. And I just want to welcome everybody here today. It seems like a very joyous atmosphere. So, it's great to be here today to start this off with all of our students. So, I would like to start out um by asking if Margaret Johnson is here. And welcome
004Margaret to the podium. I don't see Margaret, so we'll try at the end. Next, we have um Cara Heg. Did I say that correctly? Welcome to the podium. We're so excited that you're here. >> Is this working? >> All right, we're gonna We're a collective here. My name is Levi and I like the forest. >> Hi, my name is Anders. I like the forest cuz I think it is a great way to start my day playing with my friends. >> My name is Cara Heg and I am a parent at Myers Wilkins Elementary. A Richard Low quote says, "When truly present in nature, we do use all our senses at the same time, which is the optimum state of learning. A school forest offers unparalleled hand-on learning experiences in nature. School forests foster resilience, curiosity,
005and deep focus, providing necessary balance to classroom learning. I have hands-on seen the power of having children in a school forest by hearing my children intricately intricately describe why they love the Myers Wilkins forest. It's not just about being outside. The children actually develop a a relationship with nature with their forest. Providing children time outside to explore and use all their senses truly makes focusing on learning more accessible when they return to the classroom. The school forest is my boy's favorite part of the school day. And I am immensely grateful to the Myers Wilkins School Forest Committee for their work establishing a school forest at Myers Wilkins. The educational benefits of establishing this forest in the Minnesota DNR school forest program will make the school forest more accessible to the whole Myers Wilkins school community.
006I encourage you to support the Myers Wilkins DNR school forest resolution today. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Next, I'd like to welcome to the podium Sierra Kennan. Welcome. We're so glad you're here. Good evening. My name is Sierra Keenan. I'm here with my son Charlie to advocate for approving the DNR school forest designation for Myers Wilkins Elementary. I think the forest um I like the forest because I think it's good to go outside and I think we should be be able to go out there more because scientists have proven that going outside and being with nature can get you can improve your grades. >> Thank you. Um for my children, they wake up excited to go to school not just because of their classroom, their teachers and activities, but because they start the
007day in the forest. And starting the day in the forest creates a connection to nature, a chance to play in unstructured environment with friends. The forest is a place where imagination thrives without screens or structured constraints. The children are creative. They explore. They invent. They develop creativity and problem solving and communication skills in ways that are difficult to replicate in the classroom. We see the value of our school forest at Myers Wilkins. It's being used. It's being loved. It's making a difference to our children. Approving the official DNR school forest designation will strengthen the program, provide additional support and recognition for our school forest, and ensure that future students continue to benefit from this incredible resource. We're so fortunate to have this opportunity, so let's make the most of it. We love our forest, and
008we're eager to see it formally recognized and supported for generations to come. Thank you. >> Thank you both. Next, we'd like to welcome Caitlyn Herpad. You told me how to say it and then I hope I did it correctly. Perfect. Oh, >> everybody loves a strawberry top >> and a rainbow skirt. My name is Caitlyn Urbanad and I'm a parent at Myers Wilkins of three students in the Spanish immersion program. I'm thrilled to be here tonight to support the Myers Wilkins DNR school forest resolution. Many of us live in Duth because of the outdoor access and recreation opportunities and we want our children to be outside as well. In my professional role as the preschool director at Heartley Nature Center, the number one question that families ask me and our teachers when they're picking a
009kindergarten for their family is what school in Duth has the most outside time. Families, children, and teachers know that outdoor time is good for youth. Kids who spend time outdoors are smarter, healthier, and happier. There are decades of research supporting the benefits of time outdoors for all students. And children who have experienced adverse childhood experiences benefit even more from time outdoors. We want all of our students in our school to have access to time outdoors, not just those whose teachers already happen to be comfortable going outside. Research and lived experience tells us that teachers need explicit support from district leadership, from the school board, and from building principles in order to believe that it's okay for them to take their students outdoors during the school day. The school forest resolution tells everyone in our school
010community that you all support time outdoors and believe it is important for student well-being and success. Teachers also need to feel confident in adapting lessons and in managing behaviors outdoors. And we need the school forest designation because it will unlock valuable resources from the DNR, including free professional development for our staff. Uh we all feel so passionately about students having time outdoors. I'm thrilled to let you know that the PTO has just gotten a $5,000 grant from the Boreal Waters Foundation to support outdoor time at our school, including buying rubber boots to break down barriers barriers to access to our school forest and professional development for our staff and on-site field trips to help mentor teachers in building their skills taking students outdoors. I can't uh wait to have this DNR school forest resolution approved
011and move forward to the next steps and I thank you for your support and your time tonight. Thank you so much. Next, I'd like to welcome or I said we would like to welcome Katie Green to the podium, please. Good evening, members of the school board, Superintendent Nangus, Maggus and Assistant Superintendent Bonds. My name is Katie Green. I am a teacher at Myers Wilkins, the district's elementary science content specialist and a parent of five ISD 709 students. This is my youngest, Kieran. He is in Senorita Linda's class in Spanish immersion at Myers Wilkins. I am here tonight to urge your appro approval of the Minnesota DNR designation for the Myers Wilkins School Forest. As a former botonist and environmental educator, I see this forest as a powerhouse for both academic excellence and emotional regulation. Currently,
012an inequity exists. While our Spanish immersion students use the forest daily, our English program students lack this same prioritized access. The DNR designation bridges this gap by providing professional development in the form of sightsp specific training for our educators in outdoor learning and specialized curriculum cross-curricular tools that help teachers integrate nature into their weekly schedules more efficiently. This is a matter of environmental justice. For students without access to backyards or state parks, this forest is their primary connection to green space. By formalizing this site, we dismantle the green ceiling that often excludes students of color and lower inome families from environmental career paths. Finally, we must recognize the forest as a space for healing. Many of our students navigate the stressors of poverty and historical trauma. Research proves that nature acts as a physiological reset
013button, lowering cortisol and improving focus. The forest isn't just a place to learn about biology. It is a place to learn how to breathe. Approving this designation is a lowcost high impact investment in the whole child. I urge you to ensure that every Myers look student has a place to grow, heal, and thrive. Thank you for your time and your commitment to our students. Thank you so much. Next, we would like to welcome Sepoistad. >> Welcome. and stand in front. >> Looking sharp. >> I wrote a poem poem. It's in Spanish about the forest and it's the word arbor. amigos. Thank you for that. That was wonderful. And last today we have Courtney Steen. Welcome. Hi. So, it's Courtney Stein. >> Oh, my apologies. Sorry about that. >> Um, I'm not I I just wanted
014to voice my support for everything that all of these parents just said. I'm not part of that same committee. I'm here as a parent of three kids at LOL. And I'm speaking in support of a citizen initiative that we've recently put out called Take Tech Out. And this campaign is about doing what's in our kids and our community's best interest, saving our staff by cutting computers. and with the ultimate goal of getting our kids outside instead of behind screens. We know like we all know that you all have had to figure out how to cut $4.2 million from the budget and I understand how difficult this is to do. I don't envy that job. Um but there are I know there are tough tradeoffs but excuse me I get nervous speaking in front of people.
015Um but the current plan includes displacing an estimated 43 staff positions and we think we should prioritize people over tech. Um this isn't a there isn't a public figure on what the district is spending on tech each year. And so the budget in and that budget includes the one take-home Chromebook program and all the software licenses and the upkeep for all of those which I'm sure is a lot when all kids are bringing them home every day. Um, our estimates are that the district is spending between three to five million a year on technology. That's based on like national standards when we're comparing. But we think that the balance between classroom staffing and educational technology deserves a public conversation before the reductions take effect. Um, we're not saying that we need to cut all tech.
016Like we want tech to be a tool that's used intentionally and not constantly. And um even a 25 or 30% reduction in edtech spending would close a substantial share of the budget shortfall without touching a single teacher. I understand that taking classwork off screens would be an adjustment. And but by one measure, a typical American child today is spending one-third of their waking life in front of a screen. And we all know like what happens when kids spend a lot of time in front of screens. Um, so it doesn't like it hasn't always been this way and it doesn't have to be this way. And this moment reminds me of when many districts in Minnesota and around the country realized that we were teaching reading in a way that wasn't serving a lot of kids.
017And so we followed the science and changed the way we're reading. We were teaching reading. Retrained teachers. And now the science of reading is actually like teaching so many more kids how to read. And I think that in this moment like we can do something similar where we got to this point because of COVID at least that spurred it. I mean our tech budgets and the use of technology because of like we had to be online but now we're back together and we can be less in front of a screen and more in the room together if we don't have every kid with a Chromebook all the time. And I'm not saying that they shouldn't have them at all. I just don't think that it should be how every assignment is done and how every
018kid is being taught. And so I just think we need to be more intentional. And I think the ultimate goal is to get kids like all of these kids and parents are saying outside more. So thank you. >> Thank you so much. Is Margaret here? I don't see Margaret. So, this concludes our listening session for April. And I just want to um give a special thank you to how well behaved all you students were today from Myers Wilkins. I can't wait to email your principal and say how amazing you all acted today in your maybe first act of civic engagement. So, great job, kids. We'd love to have you here. Thank you. Good evening.