January 6, 2026 at 4:30 PM - Monthly Committee of the Whole Board Meeting

00130 second warning um that we're getting ready. >> Correct. Chair >> 30 seconds. I call this um January meeting of the committee of the whole to order. And I would just remind all of us we have a very exciting event today at 6:00 which is our tenure teacher celebration. So, we have that hard stop at 6:00 to do that celebration for our newly tenure teachers. And after that, I will turn it over to Assistant Superintendent Bonds. >> Oh, roll call. Uh, member Banks >> here. >> Chair Derk. >> Yep. >> Member Laughler Kemp >> here. >> Member Lo >> here. >> And member Mixel, I'm here. Member Sidowski >> here. >> Member Williams is excused. Superintendent Maggus >> here. >> Assistant Superintendent Bonds >> present. Deputy Clerk Sunnich >> and Assistant Shannon Brown >> here.

002>> We will now turn it over to Assistant Superintendent Bonds. >> Thank you, Chair, and thank you, board, and uh welcome everyone. Um first up uh we have under supporting every student we have a presentation related to the 2627 course changes uh led by director Lara our secondary director as well as uh individuals that she has with her who will be presenting this information. So I'll turn it over to director Larva who will do the introductions. >> Yeah, greetings. You know, it's always exciting when we get to come every year and share with you any course catalog changes that we have. Um, so this is Julie Stabber. I I know most of you have met her before, but I'm going to publicly say it's Julie Stabber. She is currently our secondary Minnesota MTSS coordinator. Oh,

003wait. And curriculum and instruction coordinator. It is a really long title, but you know, so she does everything in our district related to MTSS, but then she also is our lead on our secondary stuff when it comes to our um working with our content leads and specialists and our course catalog development. And so um this is you know accumulation of the great work that's been done. I would like to say that the third well there's two other members of our team. Um really truly Darcy Machinimbacher. you can't like not do stuff without Darcy. Um she's, you know, she puts the course catalog together. Everything's um done with her. Um also though, um Danette Sibo, who could not be here tonight, so there are some things related to CTE that um we're going to attempt to

004address if you have any questions, but if they're very specific CTE questions, they might be best answered by Dette if it's something very specific. So, I just wanted to lay that out. She's at a trauma training of some sort today up on the range. So, she's not with us today. So, just so you're aware of that. I don't have a presentation. However, you have been provided with our course catalog changes. Um, this is something just to re to reiterate for the public as well as for for you all. Um, it is the responsibility of the board to approve our courses. And so this is something that we talk about here at the committee of the whole meeting and needs to be approved during your schoolboard meeting in January. Um we do have registration opening up

005soon after. And so our high school and our middle school students will be engaging in that process um in the very near future. So just kind of wanted to lay that out there with you. Um, usually what we do and we can talk about any questions that you have and we can go through specific um, courses if you want to have more details about things, but pretty much what we've kind of done in the past is kind of give you the bigger picture of things like why we made some of these changes um, without getting into every single course. We don't necessarily go line by line and go through each and every course. Um, that's not how we've really done it in the past. But what you see in this document is you see courses

006that are being added. Um, and that's the first section. You will see beginning on I think it's, let's see, one, two, three, four, page four, you're going to see any changes that are happening to current courses that we have. It could be just a title change. It could be a description change. It could be that we're adding a prerequisite or something like that. And then on the very last page, you are going to see where we have some courses that are being deleted. And so we can talk about any of those things if you have questions about some of those. Um we don't have any I mean we can talk about anything that you want to talk about. I do want to add though some of the big picture things. Um as far as like

007where our priorities are with our course catalog. I just want to reiterate the standard and curriculum review cycle. Currently we are um engaging in we call them the big four like we've already had science that had been done and so in the past couple years we've brought some science changes to you. Um this year it was ELA that was being done. So next year it is social studies and so what you're seeing as a reflection here um are some changes with social studies and I I I I am going to let you talk a little bit about those social studies standards and how how we're trying to focus our attention on um some of the cultural components of those standards. If you want to like talk about that now that's fine. Well, you'll see on

008the the very last page that we are deleting a couple of social studies standards. One is the civics course and um the other one is international studies, but you'll see that we're adding different things earlier in the pages. But um one of the the things that we're specifically you know social studies has a lot of um cultural responsiveness and um we're really focusing on getting all of those standards um making sure that all students have access to all of the standards in social studies and we're focusing more on um required courses versus electives. Uh there is a possibility that in the future if um you know once we spend a little more time with the brand new standards that an elective course could come back you know um but it would have to meet the

009current standards not the old set of standards. So we're really focused on getting those all the standards within the required social studies courses. That's um first and foremost what we're trying to do. So, so dovetailing onto that, um, when you look at the ad on the first page at the bottom, there's social studies 9. Um, in the past it has been called civics. There's also a, um, human geography component that we have not really been addressing very well in the district. Um, it is a requirement. So what we have done is um we we will still be able to address some of the this the civic standards that make sense in 9th grade but civics is a big focus in 12th grade and so there's a heavier impact or emphasis I guess on civics in

01012th grade. So there'll still be some civics components and standards that are addressed in nth grade, but it is going to be more focused around using those geographical tools and methods and and talking about how the humans have shaped the shaped our globe. And so um that that is um a piece that is different. Um so I just want to make sure that you were all aware of that. Um the other piece when she says there's a deletion of an elective um we we're really focusing in on the world history standards. We know that there's like um an international studies course that's been an elective that has been highly um desirable. It does popular I guess um it does not align with the current standards. So it is currently being deleted while we're focusing on

011those required standards and those required courses and that's the course that she specifically is talking about that potentially would be um something that we could bring back in the future but having it aligned with different standards. So that is um just something to kind of reiterate. Um as you go through this you're going to see things like um our world language expansion is our first topic you know right at the top like American Sign Language has been popular. Um we offered [snorts] that beginning two years ago. This is our second year. So we have kids that had taken American Sign Language 1 have taken American Sign Language 2. And so we're at that point of expansion um into the college and the schools for American Sign Language. So that's just a natural kind of flow

012and progression. Um so that's that's why that one is being added on. You're going to see quite a few related to CTE. Again, we have some pathway cleanup that um is being done. We have um enterprises which is really exciting. Um, if Danette was here to talk about it, when we talk about our schoolbased enterprise work, it's like, um, I'm sure you get the emails for like the Greyhound Cafe and and all those different businesses that were actually running from from the schools. But a lot of these programmatic things that are happening in CTE are on the recommendation, this is I'm hoping I'm getting this right from Danette's text. She sent me on the recommendation of their advisory boards. So if you think about college or career and technical education courses, they have to be

013to industry standards. And so we have an advisory board that um works with our teacher and works with Danette and they have made some recommendation for some of these pathway pieces too. So some of it is cleaning up and just ensuring that we have things that are um lining up into the pathway and being at industry standards. And so I she wanted me just to kind of share that with you all. Um I do think one thing of note that we should probably pop into with the CT courses. Um page bottom of page three. Um, last year we came to you and we had a lot of conversations about journalism and we needed to take a pause of a year and really identify how we are going to address journalism in the changing society that

014we are currently in. And so at the bottom of page three, you'll see digital media design and production media lab one. Um, and if you look at that description, we're really taking it from ink and analog kind of maybe you think about the changes that have happened um into the new age with some of the um media production. So, it is it's going to be a studentrun digital journalism and media production course. They will be having things that are respon so it's going into the CTE realm too. So, it's going into a pathway of CTE. Um, they're going to be creating the social media for our schools, doing the announcements, doing the newsletters, doing podcasts, doing videos. It's kind of getting into what journalism looks like today. Um, so that is the first class. And

015then there's a second class. So, we're actually expanding on that journalism pathway. Remember with CTE, we have to have multiple steps in a pathway. Um so as part of our communications pathway um there's an advanced production um and broadcasting which is lab two. Um so just kind of is expanding upon that media production um that we have. So all of this is now in a communications pathway for students um in our CTE world. The next addition that you'll see is the reading acceleration course and that is a direct response to the read act. Um now that we will have um some screening data uh in the high school grades 4 through 12, we are required to screen um our students. Uh we'll we need to have a plan of what we'll do for any student

016who's not reading at grade level. So uh at the high school we we will have a course available for students to to take and uh move in and out depending upon you know if we can work with them and improve their reading reading scores and and whatnot uh they'll have a place where they can go and get extra instruction >> and that is a requirement of the legislation that we have interventions for our students. Yeah. So, >> chair uh Derek Ger, >> this is just a quick question just because I don't remember. Is.5 that essentially is that a half credit? So, that's half a semester or excuse me, a semester and then one is for the full. Yeah. >> Okay, that is correct. >> Yep. >> Member Saddowski >> or did you want to wait

017till the end or >> It's okay. Okay. I'm going to ask my question then. um for the digital media design and production that's taking the place of the newspaper. I don't see I'm just curious. Are we going to have a digital newspaper then? Um because I don't see that anywhere in here. It's journalism. Journalism looks different in today's world. So I don't know if it's going to be a specific newspaper and you would have to get more information I guess from Dette would know like she's working with the CT teachers around how that's gonna actually look newsletters articles podcasts videos it's more than just a newspaper and I think that's great but I also I mean I would be curious to learn more about the newspaper component because we do have online newspapers as well

018in today's society so I would just be curious and look for more information on that >> I think it's more around like writing articles and the skills behind it I think is really what they're talking about. So when I you know I'm thinking newsletter versus like putting together a full newspaper is what I think is what is where they're leaning. Okay. And then um one little comment I guess that would be at least helpful for me and maybe maybe not everyone else, but um when we look at the deletions and we see just replacing with updated program offerings, it'd be really helpful if we for me if I could see like well which ones were replacing those deletions. I guess um I can kind of tell just by looking at it, but it' be um

019helpful to have it in that column. Oh yeah, we haven't spoken to the art one yet. So do you want to talk about those art changes that we have? Because I look at that like graph well graphic arts is a little bit different. Um yeah, I think all the different classes that are in there because we now have introduction to graphic arts and design, advanced graphic arts and commercial applications. Um so they've rechanged it a little bit. They've rewritten the the pathway for that one. But yeah, I see what you're saying though. >> Great. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Member Lafler Kemp. >> Yeah. Thank you. Um, thank you for this information ahead of time as well. I appreciate it having a chance to look it over. Um, I uh and I'm really

020glad about the sign language. I heard a lot of really positive things. I was actually just talking about this over the weekend uh at a party with a parent whose ch child was in uh ASL. So really glad to see the success of that uh and and many of the the new classes. I I'm excited about um I am though very disappointed about the journalism. Um I think kids were led to believe that there was just going to be a pause in the newspaper for example at East High School and that it was going to come back but not in a drastically new form. And while I think the course offering looks really uh great uh and would appeal to maybe some other students as well, I I'm just like were students involved in this

021decision? Uh was there input from families? Um I'm I'm really really disappointed. I have it's coming from that whole CTE lens again. So having to to think about industry standards. I do know that there have been people that have been consulted with. Danette's not here to really talk about um who that who she's consulted with on that. Um I know that Adele has helped a little bit with some of this as well. Um because we're thinking about like what does communications and journalism look like in the future and what are those standards that we have now? Um so it's it's it's a broader base. Yes, I I would agree that there's more than it's it's it's not just focusing in on on um creating and drafting a newspaper and it's more around those skills of

022communicating. How do we communicate for the broader public? And there's many different ways of doing that. Um does that mean that they're not doing a newspaper at all? I I mean it's not going to be like that's just the main focus of it and they're going to have a monthly newspaper. there's going to be things that they're writing and articles and all those different things, all those skills that go with it. Um, I just don't know the I don't know the cadence right now of that. >> Yeah. I I I I guess my disappointment lies with I I I I I remember sitting at this board table hearing many students and uh and a lot of support for our journalism program. Um and and particularly um the newspaper piece of it and all the skills

023that students have learned from that uh that they have taken with them um uh as they went on to do other things. And um uh I was led to believe that it was just going to be a pause. Um and we look at it. Um but this seems like it's taking it away. Uh and that's concerning. And frankly, I think it's concerning in this day and age that we are saying this is the new look of the media. Well, it is. You know, journalism, paper, newspapers, all of that do play a big role. And so, um, I I don't want to get hung up on this because there's many good things, um, that you are sharing, but I am, um, very disappointed and, um, I I hear industry standards. I I'd be curious who is

024on the advisory board. Were there people from the media uh, in our community on that advisory board with this particular topic? Um, so I I'd like more information on that. Uh, and I I guess I um like to know what kind of student input we we had on on this um particular uh class. >> Thank you um member Kim for that feedback and we will make sure that at the board meeting that we will provide that uh additional clarification that you are seeking um at the board meeting. So uh I appreciate that feedback. Member Michael. Yeah, thank you so much for the presentation. Um, I'll echo member Laughafler Kemp. I look forward to hearing from Danette Sibo a little bit more about the um the process and uh what the journalism classes are going to

025be looking like going in. I understand she couldn't be here tonight because of important work, but um there's just some uh holes in the in the background there that I would also like clarification on. Um quick questions. Um and it was stated and I just want to state it even more clearly. Um, the Duth public schools are not deleting civics. We think civics are very important. We're putting them into social studies 9. You also mentioned that there's a lot of emphasis on the civic standards in the 12th grade civics class. >> Um, I don't see is that new or different or >> that's the same course. We're not changing that course, but they are aligning the required courses with the new standards. And so that one is still a course that we have on our

026course catalog. It's just going to be um they just have to take the old standards and retire them and take the new standards and rewrite what they're doing as far as the curriculum part goes for that. >> Okay. And so that doesn't require us to update the description in our course catalog then. Okay. Is that's all right. Um and then the last question I had under the uh new reading acceleration course um which is required by the read act as you said um is that something that students are able to choose for themselves or they have to be recommended and promoted into that class by a staff member or teacher. >> It's going to be based on their results from from our screening assessments. Um if we determine that they need some support, it's going

027to be offered to them that it's not going to be something that kids can just generally um register for. or it has to be like we have other courses that are kind of similar where it's like um people are targeted to be enrolled in certain courses >> and so if a student is offered that class that means they're required to take it or they can choose not to take it. >> Um so the read act is really interesting because there are some parental rights involved in a lot of things too. So parents can decline testing, parents can decline, there's different things. So, it's not like you're going to be required to take it. You're going to be encouraged to take it because maybe you have a skill gap. >> And how what does that process

028look like then? Is it the counselors reaching out to the student and saying that this should be on your schedule? Like is how is that? >> Well, we haven't gone through a complete screening. It's all brand new to us. So, we just needed to have a placeholder. We haven't even given the screening assessment yet this year to know what this is going to potentially look like, but we needed to make sure that we had something in our course catalog. so that we could be in alignment with the um readact legislation. Um so we're kind of still like we're not sure how like how many kids is this really going to look like for? I mean we don't know any of those details yet because we're still in the process of getting this um first step

029done this year. >> Okay. And so then when does the screening actually start? >> This this month. Um this year's different than next year um because of the read act component being new newly placed on us for this year. Um we had a little more flexibility on when it would be offered. Next year the um the screening has to happen at the very beginning of the year. >> Great. >> So >> okay. Thank you so much. >> I think it was member Lo and then Superintendent Maggus. I defer to you if you think you've got some clarification that needs before we >> share even more. >> You're gonna share. >> So go ahead. >> I'm going to share. >> I would say that uh based on the the number of questions related to journalism and

030uh you mentioned that we would share more information at the board meeting. I think we could prepare information prior to that because I think this is something that people would want to have answers on and be able to reflect on it prior to the voting night. So, I think we need to uh take a moment and and take pause just just because there are a number of other people involved in it and we want to make sure that we we share all the information and and aren't just coming back with it at the last minute before you're taking a vote. So, I was suggesting that we have something ready u prior to the the publishing on board book. >> Okay. I I was going to just share what hap what I know about the Denfeld

031media um classes and what they've been doing the last three years which is really more aligned to what you you see somewhat the direction that we see in CTE and so sometimes there are different needs at different high schools and I don't know where the board's ideas are as far as having to have you know exact replica at each school but we have been moving towards that in my career here that what one school is offering the other schools should or do we allow to have some different needs at different so you know great for the clarification and more work on journalism but I want you to know that Denfeld has had an online newspaper that is how they've been working the last three years they do do the announcements they have been doing some

032podcasting and some in insider interviews I think this looks more robust and more intentional and I like that direction too so just that's my input on that side but um I just my general question is this does look wonderful and exciting. And I just want clarification that these are our offerings going into our catalog. If students apply, we run the course. If they don't, >> we don't, right? I mean, >> it's an elective. Um, so we have staffing um budget thresholds that we pretty much get, FTE thresholds. Um, so >> and each site is different. um you know there's different resources available at different at our different sites and so the there's no like set number threshold. I can't say like we have to have 20 kids to run a course because that would look

033very different at Denfeld than it would look at East with um class sizes. So um we offer the course catalog is put together. we offer um we get the registration and then it's really student driven and what students are interested in taking um sometimes like we've had we've had wonderful growth in some of our CTE courses but there's only one Adam Wasaki over at East High School he can only teach so many classes and so then we have kids that are trying to get into those courses and they may be denied like you we we we don't have space for you at this point in time um and then we have to go to their alternatives. Um, but then there's also some classes that we're offering that we might only have one or two kids

034that have been interested in it and so then we we can't run it or or um we might be in this weird place and we have to make some judgment calls like is this important enough that we really want to run this course if we only have like let's say there's 18 students like at Denfeld that might be easier for them to run at 18 but at East it's like okay but is this like a prior like do we really just want to push this one through like we have to decisions based on their FTE a lotment >> and some I I think we sometimes get a report back in the fall with what classes so we see all of this incredibly wonderful stuff and we we do but you know my question too when

035I was looking at at it over the weekend was that you know do we do we have space and capacity to run all of the art classes that we've listed because I I know what the art rooms look like in the high school at Denfeld but if if they do fill you know is our district ready to step up and is the board ready to to push that we're going to we're going to allow those, but I think there's only so many se uh teacher slots we can pay for and and and so many capacity issues as we're seeing in other areas of our of our needs. So, um but I'm excited for that and um and and have some good work for what your curriculum is doing. I I would support um member Zidowski

036with when we say we're deleting business management, leadership, and coaching and replacing with updated programming offering. You know, granted, I could look back on all of this and try to make sure I connect which one is offered. You don't have to do this now, Jen. We know that. But just um what you know, we could go back and put what it is it's replacing and that would help us just as we're looking at. Okay. I'm glad I'm glad that we're still doing um the intro to marketing, but it's called something different and it might be under I don't know hospitality trending. The only other concern I have is sometimes when we go for a c CIT or even like the AP business and personal finance is how um are our college campuses and how are

037our lensures for our teachers going to meet the needs that we have and and I'm excited that we'll figure that out and people will come to our district and apply for our jobs because these are the kind of jobs that some people are looking for in education. So, thank you. >> Yeah, thank you. Um, I do want to also point out, um, because it's on this document as well as the board report. Um, so I didn't know where it would be the most appropriate to talk about it, but let's talk about it, I guess, right now. I think would be great. Um, there had been an ask about the um, four required courses that we had added with the seven period day. and she actually has them up on this particular I don't know which

038page this is you know in your handouts but um yeah I wanted to talk about these before we step away from the course catalog nope nope just just oh page four okay so um you'll start seeing like computer science 10 we are um changing the name from computer science 10 to just be computer science it is no longer going to be the required course that we have so that we it will free up some of that space for those students to be able to have some make some choices. Um it is going to um become an elective where students can still choose to do that. The reason why we had put computer science in as a required course a few years ago was that there were computer science standards that were coming out and we

039just were not trained up very well for us to address those. Um just like like we have American Indian standards that are being embedded in all of the different content areas like ELA and social studies. Um all the different areas will have like different topics. Computer science is one of those that are being embedded as they're doing all of these revisions. Um so it is going to be something where teachers are just going to have to embed computer science standards within their content areas. And so um it is an elective still um but it is not going to be a required course. We have also moved um futures 9 that course that we had for all ninth graders and college career and life readiness courses. Um we're changing them a little bit. Um we're putting

040them into the CTE world. Right now they've been taught by different people. It could be like um like um I don't know like a >> English teacher who has like >> one hour that they had available and so then they're teaching that course maybe a social studies teacher is teaching another course and maybe a business teacher's teaching it was really peacem which doesn't make it consistent which is what I feel like was the concern that most of our students are bringing forward to us is like well it looks very different in that person's class and this person's class we're putting those two courses into the CTE world. Um they so have some consistency and it becomes part of a pathway for work work experience. So kids will be able to get basic learning and stuff

041that in 9th grade in 11th grade will make sure that we have all those things that we need for for um the comprehensive achievement and civic readiness plan. Um that that's embedded that's heavily embedded there in the formerly known as worlds west workforce. heavily embedded in that 11th grade. But once I take those two classes, we had added last year, I don't know if you remember, we added work experience, which we had not had in our district for a very very long time, but um we we have um a teacher that is licensed and so we've offered it this year. It has been been very popular. It's also keeping some of our students in school with us instead of um of um leaving for other other opportunities like they're staying they're they're getting credit for

042going and having a job. And so this is going to be a way for us to be able to keep some of our kids and be able to keep some of that ADM that we have lost over time. Um, so by the time they get to 11th grade, after they have their their semester, they're they're ready for they can do work experience and get their um high school credit for employment. So they can use that as a pathway now. And I So those two courses are still things that we want kids to take and it's a lot of opportunities for kids, but it is um going to be different um in that it's going to have more consistency around those two courses. >> Thank you. We have a few questions. Um, member Larle Kemp and

043member Saddowski. >> Yeah, just u a couple more questions. Uh, going to kind of go back to the journalism just because of the comments member LoDold made, but um, can uh or or were there uh teachers involved with creating um this new digital media design production class? Were there teachers who had been involved with the journalism program as it was involved with creating this new class? >> I don't have that answer. >> I don't know. >> I'd like to know that before. >> Yeah. Um I I I would like to know that because I think they would have would bring great experience on why what what excited uh students um with and making sure it was uh built into this new class. Um and then um if uh there is not going to be an

044opportunity for uh like I think some people thought uh for um the newspaper to come back uh will they be able to start that as a uh afterchool club or something like that because it was pretty self-funded anyways at least at east I am very familiar with that. Uh and so I I I guess have there were there discussions around that? Uh and then just back to the course catalog um with the social studies standards. Um I I uh appreciate uh the changes. I I know a bit about the the 12th grade uh civic standards because I've been following it very closely as it's been lobbied on at the Capitol. Uh and and this is the topic of civics comes up. We have many advocates for it at the state capital. Um, and I remember

045as a parent when it was introduced for our ninth graders, I felt it was very important for my ninth grader to have and all four of my kids had the opportunity to have nth grade civics. Um and and so I I guess I ask again with taking that away, how were civic teachers who were teaching the current 9th grade civics involved with um how it's going to be added into this new um this new class so that we're not missing out on some of the key things that teachers felt students gained from having nth grade civics. >> I would say yes. Um Susan Schmidt, who many of you know um kind of our guru um regarding regarding social studies in the district um used to be the content specialist that had a full-time position in

046the district regarding social studies. She's the one that's been leading the work in the effort, has worked with committee members. They have had lots of discussion about this. Um there had been a little push back. Um civic standards really are met in 12th grade from the state standards perspective. um we did not want to lose civics in 9th grade having components of that but we were deficient in that geography component that piece we were not offering and they are state standards so we had to make a correction um those have to be offered somewhere. So, by having social studies 9, we can still offer some of those civic standards that are pertinent and relevant and are are great to have with those beginning civic concepts for 9th grade, but we can also dive into those

047those that that strand that we're that we've been missing in our in our offerings. Um, kids are required to to have the um the social studies like what is it? Three and a half credits, I think. So I think it's three and a half credits they're required to have and and over that time they need to meet all of those standards. So um yes, our teachers have been involved through Susan Schmidt and the committee that she has put together. >> And what was the push back? You said there was some push back. What was that about? Yeah, I heard you say that. >> Um just just missing like taking civics out. There's been a lot of questions, a lot of concerns. Um so you know we had lot there was a couple of principles who

048are social studies teachers that were very concerned about that and so we had lots of discussion around that and um having it be more of an approach of social studies 9 where we can embed the two different kinds of standards um was something that we decided would be the most reasonable and made most sense. Have you seen that in other districts where they've removed the ninth grade uh uh civics? Um I mean I I know when we >> most of them don't have civics n in nth grade. Most of them don't have civics in nth grade. We were unique in that most of them have like the human geography um in nth grade. >> Um but there are some districts and that was one of the things we looked at. There are some districts that

049do have a social studies nine. So it can be a little bit where we can blend a few more of those strands. and Susan Schmidt did look at other districts to see how they were making sure that that all standards were provided for students. So, um she did look at other districts, she and her committee. Thank you, >> member Sowski. >> Just a couple more comments. Um one about the newspaper. Um, maybe I misheard, but I'm a I'm was just a little more of a comment, but I'm a little uncomfortable with the idea that taking away the newspaper uh course. Um, and and this is really great curriculum, but the idea that this will prepare students, I mean, I think it is more well-rounded, but I'm a little uncomfortable with the fact uh that I

050heard that the newspaper wasn't preparing kids to work in a digital literacy future that we're in it right now. Um, I know that we have one student from East who now works for the PBS NewsHour who indicates that she learned so much from the uh newspaper class. So, I just wanted to make that comment because we do have newspapers. They're just on online now and and you know there are paper ones too, but I just wanted to add that. Um and I agree with member Laughafler Kemp that um kind of that from what I heard from parent communication and from my own students at East um the idea was that it would be paused for a year and then brought back. So feeling like um it'll be a great idea to get more information before

051the board meeting. Thank you Superintendent Magus on that. And then a couple other um just comments when it comes to member Lald you were mentioning you know with electives or someone was when maybe we don't have enough um students sign up for one class and the other and I know I've talked to Superintendent Maggus about this but I would just say it here just to encourage we're we're always talking about career and teched h how do we use technology to make sure that students who maybe a section is cut because we don't have enough students. How do we use technology to make sure that doesn't happen? So, just a just a comment. And um and then my last one was just really appreciated the update on the computer science 10 class. I think that that

052I really appreciate you listening to our students on that one and our our teachers. Thank you. Thank you for that feedback and and uh again we will make sure we provide the board with additional information prior to the board meeting and have a opportunity at the board meeting to have additional clarification for the public as well u regarding um the asks and the clarifications. Um I also will um appreciate the feedback regarding um the inclusion of uh stakeholders that were involved in some of the uh decisions that are being made in the future. That would be something that we can easily add to the reports in terms of the you know individuals that were involved in the uh development of the curriculum or the course. So we can make sure we include those kind of

053uh that kind of information if not titles uh individuals names as well. So we'll we'll include that information as feedback as well. So I appreciate it. Um >> member Superintendent Magnus, but now I'll go to um uh Chair Derek Ger. >> Thank you. And I would just caution us as a board. We actually don't know whether or not there's a newspaper. We don't have that answer and I think we're all making some assumptions right now. So, I think um we need to hold off and wait to figure out exactly what that's going to look like before we make any assumptions moving forward about those two courses. The second thing I would say is I'm thrilled to see that um when we went through the new high school schedule, we have these courses. Educators, we love

054to open up a section and then say, you know what, we're going to do we're going to add this class because we know that students need it. You know, it happens at the college level all the time, too. I love the thoughtfulness and um the critical thinking that the district has is looking to see how those courses were serving students and then making those changes to make sure that they serve the students in the district better. And I always think um [clears throat] it's important that and I'm super supportive of this change of moving those courses into CTE because another thing we consistently see in education is we decide we want to do some of these life skills or some of these other courses and then we pull an English teacher, a math teacher, a

055science teacher and this teacher because they have a schedule open and there is not the consistency that we need across those courses. Um, so I like to see that it's moving into a place and those teachers then can have some consistency across program outcomes, schedule, you know, all those pieces that will better serve students so that a student taking it at fourth hour doesn't have a dramatically different course than a student taking it at seventh hour. So, I I'm just very appreciative that the administration and the teachers and and all the leadership was looking at how those courses were being served and if the courses that we were serving students if they were quality or not. And so, I think these improvements have made um huge. So, I'm really glad to see this. So, thank

056you. [snorts] Member Law Food, >> just a point of clarification and and maybe Jen and and Julie know this and then I called it up on on the government site, but um civics is actually in 20 probably in the 2022 23 legislative session. It Senator S Swisinski made this into the bill. I think it came into the bill. I we listened to it as well. Civics, he they the state legislature demanded that we put civics in 11 and 12. I think it was it was fourth foresight that this district decided that they'll do a little bit of tweaking to make sure that ninth graders have a little bit the the most basic of civics that are going to add to that. But the reason that we changed that is because state legislators said we want

057that our we want our graduates in 11th or 12th grade as part of their 3.5 credits in social studies to have it in 11th and 12th grade because they didn't think that students took it seriously in 9th grade and they were moving it to 11th and 12th. So, it's really a state legislative act that made our district have to revamp that. >> Thank you for looking that up. >> Dr. Kim, >> yeah, I would just say member Loel, you kind of simplified that discussion on them saying that in nth grade they weren't getting uh that that they felt that they took it more seriously in 11th and 12th grade. I think there were there were >> a private one. >> There were many I I was with Yeah. Uh there were many districts that didn't

058even offer civics in the way that I mean I I think it was just the offering of civics overall and being more comprehensive, but we can debate that one. So, as we um seeing no additional lights, I want to just remind that we have four more reports and then there's a celebration upstairs and I don't want to make sure that we have a chance the board has a chance to really enjoy the celebration as well. So, just just keeping that in mind. Any additional um questions related to uh this topic here and thank you for that feedback. I mean uh received and we will uh seek clarification for those items that surfaced and we will get that in the hands of the board and we'll have additional conversations at the board meeting. So thank you.

059>> Yeah, thank you for the opportunity for us to come forward with this. So like to hear your feedback. >> Also I do thank you. Also, I would like to uh point out that in the board presentation also that as it relates to courses, uh Jen actually is going to be coming back up in a little bit um after uh our community presentation, our partner um that in the presentation you will see courses that have been of uh interest such as ethnic studies, uh the uh CITS um courses are American uh African-American literature courses or diversity University and perspectives courses. Those are courses that have been offered and are running. So, you might not see them on this document here because those are things that passed last year, but we will have uh further discussion.

060I just know that was something that was of interest or those topics with uh diverse perspectives as as well as um just high interest. So, thank you. >> And I excuse me and I will have questions in that section. >> Thank you. So, next up we have a our community partner uh with us uh Keyzone uh YMCA. Uh they will provide they won't provide an uh a an update. You have received a board summary report uh relating to their programming. Uh you've had that information. Um so just wanted to um ask the board if there are any questions related to the board summary from our Keyzone partners and programming. Chair Derek Eater. >> Um I sound like I'm at a conference right now. I don't have a question, more of a statement, but what I

061really want to do is just thank Keyzone. They provide such a vital service for um for the district. I've had two kids that went through Keyzone at Pedmont, and I just can't speak highly enough of the good work that happens at at Keyzone. So that that's my comment versus question. Thank you, >> member Michael. Um I also have a comment but then also a question. So if you wanted to come up you feel free to. Um the thing that brought me the most joy was to see that um the weight list was only nine students long and um having students who have also gone through Keyzone over the years knowing that sometimes we were 30 40 people deep on that weight list. Um just um I it brings me joy that there's not as many

062families who are having to experience that. Is that something that's just been this year that we've improved upon or is that been a re like a >> Yeah. Um I'm Kate Corbett. Oh, thanks. I'm Kate Corbett. I'm the out of school time director. Um so our weight list issues previously were mostly at Lowel Elementary where we had a wait list of almost 70 kids a couple years back. Um and that was due to space issues in the school. We couldn't register more than 200 because we couldn't fit any more in that school after school. Um and so the immersion program switch this year helped that situation. Um and so at Lel now we have 150 kids registered and no weight list. Um the the problem did kind of move to Myers Wilkins because we're busting

063at the seams at Myers Wilkins this year, but um we went from 39 kids registered at Myers Wilkins to 110 and we have a weight list of six kids at Myers Wilkins now. But we can fit them all. So, it's pretty much solved our weight list issue. >> So, great to hear. Um, the other thing I was curious about, um, you talk about our staff ratios and how making sure that we're, um, keeping special attention to ensure our eligibility for CCAP, which is our childare assistance program. So, that's Minnesota's way of funding um, through the federal government, the the um, funds that we get there. Have you noticed any difference or changes with the um the freeze at the federal level for child care assistance to our state? >> Yeah, as far as I know,

064we have no no um issues with that yet. Um from what I'm hearing, the state is doing investigations for fraud. Um but there is not a hold on our CCAP payments yet. >> Okay. And do we have plans in place or is that something that's happening at different levels like within the state legislature to make sure that we have plans in place going forward if that were to come down to the site level? I would say right now we definitely don't haven't heard anything like specific about that but as a YMCA we would work with our financial assistance program to provide that to those families to ensure they can continue in our afterchool plan in in our afterchool care and come up with some plans of how to help support those families so they are

065not turned away from our programs. >> That's great to hear. >> Yeah, the the only notification we've gotten is that there might be investigations or visits um for those investigations. I guess I should ask and this might not be information you off the top of your head. Is that a substantial amount of funding um for our programs for after school care? >> Um you know I wouldn't say we have a huge amount of families using CCAP. We would love more. >> Um but I would say only maybe 10% of our families. >> You have someone coming up behind you. Oh, well across the association we have 50 families using CCAP butif [laughter] 50 to 80 is what I read in an email, but that also includes our early child early childcare programming. >> Correct. >>

066Thank you so much for staying on top of that. >> Member Lara Kemp. >> Yeah, I I uh echo everything that's been said about um the great programming and I remember when Keystone started and uh out at Lester Park and uh it's just been great to see the growth of it. across the district. Um I had I guess a couple questions uh in terms of the enrollment piece. Um so where where you have that listed is that a a cap or like could there be more than 30 students at Stow for example? But >> yes, we can take more kids. It depends on the school. Some sites we do have a cap of about 200 kids is probably about the max that we can have just based on the availability of the space that we

067can use after school. Um but like at Stowe, we for sure could take more youth in. There's just not families that are registering with our program at that site. And then it would be based on our um staffing. So then we have to make sure that we're in that ratio of 1 to 15. So it would be based on if can we hire a staff person to ensure that we have that safe um safety measures in place with a staff person to bring in more youth. But yes, we could. >> Okay. Okay. And then a followup to the CCAP because I'm in my work I'm um I know quite a bit about this right now. Uh and um do you think that it's because of the uh the paperwork that's involved for parents that you're

068not getting parents to do it? I mean 50 to 80 is great, but >> would that uh help maybe in some of our sites like Stow if parents if the paperwork wasn't so difficult to get in that way? I do I do feel like that is a deterrent. I do feel like we had more kids before COVID that were on CK CAP and what happened is they found different means during that time and they figured it out and they just continue to use those different ways um of supporting themselves after school. Um but I do feel like we try we bring people from the county to our our open houses after school to walk through with families of how to do that process. And I do think that that can be something that hinders them

069to sign up for it. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you again for all you offer. I hear really good things from families that have key zone kids across the district. So, thank you. >> Thank you. And I also have uh Superintendent Maggus. Um then I'll close out with a comment as well. Superintendent Magus. >> No, I just wanted to say thank you to the YMCA for Keystone. Thank you for all your partnership. Thanks for what you do for the community overall. And also just wanted to celebrate I I saw today that uh the DUTH YMCA will be combining with Superior YMCA. So you'll become a strong anchor in in both sides of the Twin Ports. So congratulations and thanks for your service to the community. >> Thank you. John beat me to it. So I

070just say thank you uh for your partnership over the last six years that I've been here and uh previous to me. So thank you. >> Yes. Thanks. >> Next up, we have a board summary report. uh that was provided for our um for the board regarding our check and connect programming. So the board had an opportunity to uh see a summary report uh of our uh programming. So I will ask the board any questions um or clarification needed for our check and connect program. Member Sowski. >> Hi. We have Sarah Lulin here with us today. Um she's our check and connect coordinator for the district. Hi Sarah, I noticed um this report was originally submitted in November. So I was just really curious uh well not really but on for the five of the six

071positions that are currently filled at Denfeld. Um this says that the position was offered to a candidate in on November 20th. So I'm just curious if that was filled or not. >> That position has been filled. >> Wonderful. Thank you for your work on that. Chair Derek Eater. >> Um I [clears throat] I just check and connect is a program that um through data demonstrates its worth and demonstrates how it is life-changing for kids. Um especially not just that they graduate high school, but they also learn when they screw up how to get back, which is an incredibly important skill throughout the entire life. So, I know that we have gone through um a shrinking or a realignment of our check and connect resources. So, we have fewer resources and fewer check and connect counselors

072this year than we did last year. And I see that we're serving what was it 2425 with 78 students at Denfeld and 27 students at East. What does it look like this year for the number of students that we're able that we are able to serve? Because we have what have we shrunk? Did we shrink it down by four? >> We shrunk from 15 to eight. We lost seven of our mentors, which really pulled them completely out of middle school. Um, so that was a struggle, right? Because we're not on the preventive preventative end anymore. At the top end, each mentor can roughly support around 25 students. Um, at Denfeld, we have a couple mentors that support specifically students on IEPs and their case load is often a little smaller just because of the high

073needs of those students. Um, our number is a little low at East right now because originally we had only had one mentor allocated there. Um, that changed to two, so we'd closed some out and then we had a mentor out with some family medical stuff. So, we're building his case load back up. So, >> okay. And then um I had talked to a lot of families that were so appreciative of the check and connect counselors in middle school and again what we want to try to do is get problems upstream. So if we can teach our you know seventh and eighth graders how to deal with this then we're not dealing with 12th graders that are getting ready. So, um, is there thought through the district or is there any thoughts? Have you thought about

074how we maybe bring some of those skills back into the middle schools? And how are we going to So, we know we have a vacuum because we had check and connect in the middle schools. Th those check-in connects counselors are no longer in the middle school. So, how is that vacuum being filled? Is it how are we doing that? What are we doing with those kids in middle school that at one time were served by our check and connect counselors? [snorts] >> I think I would default to something. >> Yeah, that's Yeah, that's yeah, different. >> So, we we don't have that um that [snorts] one to one one-on-one kind of counseling per se of the check and connect counselor with a with a student. Um but what we did do is we had um

075created with the middle school model advisory. So we do have an advisory time that is is running um twice a week. Um and I know that some things related to skills are embedded in that. So um Wednesdays and Thursdays during their block days, those longer periods of time, we do have advisory adviserss are meeting with kids and we've we've worked the schedule a little bit so they can do more checking in on how they're doing in their courses. So there's a little bit I wouldn't say that it is at the level of what we were at with check and connect. However, we do have some some space for it. >> Okay. But we have pulled it's a less formal process than what we had previously and we really don't have a way to track any

076of that stuff. Okay. All right. I just want to say thank you for all that work because this is um an incredibly amazing program that you can look in the data and just see how it affects kids. So thank you >> and I will chime in um chair deer ger with also when it comes to uh staffing decisions for next year. Uh obviously um how we support students with mentoring such as check connect will be one of the things that we will have deep conversations around um regarding you know the continuation at the high school level and even the possibility of the middle school. But again that uh that will come through a lot of dialogue with our principles and leaders and and looking at our staffing levels and what we can offer and what

077we should prioritize. Uh in addition, I want to know let you let the community know and the board know that we also started I want to say two years ago started introducing some of the check and connect strategies not total programming uh with some of our other uh staff who have great connections with kids and that's our integration specialists and our homeschoolons. Now they have they're not fully check connect mentors by uh any means but they provide mentorship and they provide additional strategies with those students. So we've started um started providing them with some training uh last year and we still are um figuring out um how to continue to uh leverage that FTE their support their expertise in some kind of formal mentoring. And so that is under consideration uh as well as a

078way to meet and close that gap that you expressed that exist in our middle schools as well as in our high schools. So we are thinking about a number of things. It's we just have to figure out um strategically how to leverage the resources we have to prioritize the things that we think will uh continue to meet the needs of kids. I agree with it and I think it's a great reminder for us as a board as we go into thinking about what the budget looks like for the following year, how we're prioritizing things and and what and what things because I would say it's a heck of a lot easier for a kid to figure out when they fail a course in seventh grade than it is when they fail it at 11th grade.

079So, thank you. >> I would like to add that we did just train our um families and transition workers. So, and they will be doing check and connect with a portion of their um population, not all because not all students would be appropriate. And they will be doing it to the same fidelity benchmarks that my check and connect mentors do. So, I'm excited to see some data because that will be at an elementary level. They're going to get some joint training with our mentors. So, they are fully on board with using this intervention at an elementary level. We have some tailoring because we've never done it at an elementary level in the district, but I'm hopeful that it can help a full family with an elementary. >> Great. Because the success of Check and Connect

080comes from the fidelity to all of these researchbased tools and stuff. So, great. Thank you. >> Yep. Thank you. Just wanted to make sure that you know for the community and everyone that that we are really um aware and and trying to be thoughtful on how we meet those those needs that um you share that are important and that we believe are important as well. I'm not sure who was next, but I'll go with um member Saddowski, then I'll come to Member Lamp. >> Yeah, I'll be I'll be brief. I just wanted to echo uh what Chair Eer said. Um this is one of those programs that I always love looking at the data because um it's just a really effective program and I really appreciate all of your work. I just wanted to highlight

081I was so impressed, you know, in the 2425 school year, 27 of 28 check and connect students graduated with one remaining student entering the bridge program. And that is so incredible. So, thank you, >> Amber Lafa Kim. >> Uh, and echo uh I think we all um as a board have been very supportive of the check and connect program. Um, and it's been great again to see the growth of it in my time on the board. Um, I um I would like to have some followup. Um, and you can get back to me on this uh and the rest of us. How many students because of the cutbacks at East? How many students uh were served last year that now aren't being served this year? Um because of the cut back in uh check and

082connect uh and I I just like a little bit more of data on that. Um because I know that was a big concern from the east uh uh community uh with the cut back with check and connect um mentors there. and I appreciate the new ways that you're working to train others like the the family and transition. So, if I could get that feedback or that that information um following this meeting, I'd appreciate that. >> I can share with you it is roughly 40 kids, but I will get exact data. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> The next board summary that was provided was related to Oh, sorry. >> I did have my light on. Just a quick question about um I know that we've had various funding streams and maybe um CFO

083Simone can answer too. We've had some various funding streams for Check and Connect. Um that's why we could have we did expand it in other areas. So, where where are we funding check and connect right now through our general education budget or are there still some grants that are coming in to help supplement some some some staff? The grant that we received from St. Louis County um is in existence uh for this year. Um they do expire at the end of this year. Um so um the resource that we received from Czech uh from St. Louis County as well as uh partial from the district. So it's a shared um expenditure. So >> but that grant from St. Louis County is done after this year. >> It is. >> Okay. So, are there other grants?

084Are there advocacy routes you would, you know, that schoolboard members can do at the state level for is Yeah, we'll we'll we'll talk about that. >> We'll talk about it. But, but again, that goes I shared that as a district, we're going to have to uh really consider our budget, our priorities um and staffing levels um this year as we know these things are going to expire. But um more more dialogue and more conversations on how we continue some of these things if this is something that we deem as a priority that we want to do. So thank you appreciate it. You received a uh Jen Larva I guess she's going to stay up for it's the Jen Larva show today. So, um there was a summary report a summary um board summary report provided

085related to the secondary schedule update and I'll turn over to Jen and then also she will go right into the credit course update uh as well. So, Jen, I'll turn to you. >> Yeah. Um you know, so I provided this schedule update um where we were at. I think really the only new thing um that really has happened is that there was some conversations um and some adjustments to what we had called opportunity days which was kind of like a um a place where we could put some of those clubs and and stuff in. And so it does look a little bit different at East than it does at Denfeld, but they really worked with their um teams at their sites, their department leads um and those teams in order to have um a plan

086in place for how they wanted to address it at their site. So th those are really the the only um new things that have happened. Um you know there you you'll see on those those other parts here the outcomes and the results that there was a recommendation that was made. I know that senior leaders and labor management were planning on having a meeting to have further conversation about um next steps as to where we go with the purpose or or the um trying to get that high school committee back together. Like what would be the purpose behind that? >> Any questions about the schedule? Sorry, [laughter] >> Mayor Maxel. >> Um I'll start just with um a basic one. So looking at or how many students do we have in our high schools? >> Oh,

087okay. Um it's what probably about 2600 kids, 2500 kids, something like that. Um just looking at our our action two that you have listed here in terms of um getting their feedback. >> Um we had 356 students complete a survey out of 2600. >> And so it's hard for me to then look at that information that we gathered knowing that it's most likely not representative >> of um the students that we have in our schools. >> I would say that it's been very hard for us to get students and families to engage in surveys recently. Um, I also work with the SRO committee and that is another area where it's just we just don't get the survey results that we're hoping for. Um, I think when we had win it became like a part of

088win that we could have kids do them and now it just it's just really hard to get that their feedback or it has been. We have new tools that we haven't tried yet. But >> thank you. I'm just going to continue to look over this here. member Loot. I guess I could share with board members too that um member Laughler Kemp and I sit on the quality steering committee and so a lot a lot of this information has been percolated or if you read the minutes on the district news you'll see that that these have been concerns um on in the middle school and high school and and um I think that I'm I'm I'm glad that they're they gather together and they talk to each other and they figure out what what they can

089do to make the the high school and middle school um days since the change, you know, we we what is this? Our second full year of our seven period day and then the new model in the middle school. So really um they had to take a year to just get >> to see what what was working and what wasn't. And then now last year they met and and tried to come up with some improvements that they were seeing. And so I've I've followed it that way as as we've gone and and you know, you're right. um member Mike Cell that surveys don't always give us the amount the the the number um to respond to and and that has been um something that I think other other organizations I'm a part of that do surveys

090struggle with that. Um we've certainly struggled in past um years where we've wanted feedback and I just will continue to see what other methods but maybe because the at least the high school I I don't know about the middle schools work with opportunity I middle school didn't have opportunities but the way that I see uh you know some of the discussion I think it's also on our agenda this week at the quality steering committee if I'm on that committee I don't know yet but um I know that that that this is there as well um with some some information and some sharing in that in that arena. So, I think that surveys might very well be a something that they could do better with when with some of the options they're doing with meeting twice

091a week to to get kids. So, thank you, >> Mayor Michael. >> Um yeah, so uh we talked about the committee that's been looking at the high school schedule. Can you explain who's on the committee then? Um, boy, I would have to go back and and know everybody who's on the committee, but it does have teacher representatives. Um, Ethan Fischer, the DFT president, and I kind of work together to make sure that we have like a lot of different areas covered like special education, making sure we have a special education teacher, making sure that we have somebody that's involved in CTE courses, you know, like the different areas. Um, so we've got um and and some of his exec board, too. he wants to ensure that he's got some of his exact word on there.

092Um, principles, um, senior leaders have been invited. Um, but they I I think they come as they can. Um, I think that's about it. >> So, it sounds like you have a very wide variety um, of um, staff and um, stakeholders. I assume music is also represented in those conversations as well since they seem to have a big um, impact on the schedule changes. Um, so that's good to hear. So I'm just trying to understand when I hear um member uh Loof then also say that at quality steering committee like these topics have come up with concerns and wanting to find changes but I'm the way I'm reading the summary report is that one sticking point is just is with some of our bargaining units and having to make those changes when we have contracts

093in place now that are are set. Um am I understanding that correctly that that's kind of one of the sticking points in making major changes at this time? >> Yeah. Yes. I meanus can always be developed. Um so the a recommendation had come from the committee last year. It just kind of has just sat there and so we're just waiting for some next steps and guidance. >> Okay. And so is that committee continuing to engage those different stakeholders so that we kind of purpose again like what like are we going to move forward with this? Are we having to like is there some other way that you want us to function? Um it doesn't make sense to bring the committee back to do the same work that we just did. Well, and it seems as

094though many of the stakeholders are part of the leadership and different groups that can, you know, be having those conversations amongst themselves as well. So, it'll be interesting to hear more about that. Um, and so I'm just when I look at the next steps in your summary report, it just seems um that we're waiting then for um our next round of contract negotiations to actually address some of the um the issues that the seven period day um has raised. So, there's so many good things about our seven period day and that we're able to get more students into the classes they need to be successfully graduating from our programs, but obviously we also have been hearing from many community members and students that there's um certain deficits that they've now are facing. Um so, it

095seems as though trying to correct some of those things, the way I'm reading the summer report is that we're just going to be waiting until the next round of contract negotiations. Is that >> correct before the last round of QLTS too? Like I had submitted this quite a while ago. Um and then um QLTS have met since then and an agreement was made at that time that senior leaders would meet with um labor manage well with just with Ethan I suppose the coming together for an initial conversation. So I think that is actually the next step that's going to happen. Um I'm not sure any of the details about that though right now. >> So that is correct. And so, uh, point of clarification, um, we're not waiting for the contract negotiations because, um, as

096been shared, are written all the time, um, in the midst of contracts, um, when they're not, uh, we're not in the formal process of negotiations. So, we do have the ability to always amend things through theUS. And so what we agreed to was to have an additional conversation with Ethan Fischer, uh myself, uh John to talk about what would be the charge of the subcommittee's next work and things that might result in anou for this coming school year uh to resolve some of those things. So we're not waiting for contract negotiations formally becauseus allow us to make those changes. We're just trying to identify what things we want to accomplish so that we can then decide, do we pull back the middle school committee in this case or do we pull the high school committee

097together again to um work through some of those challenges that we've identified. >> Great. I just appreciate that there's so many people who are recognizing that, you know, there's improvements that can be made and it seems as though many people are trying to address those and so just, you know, giving that um, you know, encouragement that we continue to to to work through all those um, different processes to do what's best for kids. >> Thank you. And another thing I just want to add and I'll go to the next person is just know that these uh, two subcommittees came out of labor management. So we are in partnership with the DFT uh through the labor management process to uh you know develop these committees and uh work with them. In partnership we uh it ensures

098that we have good representation because they want to make sure also that the right teachers are at the table you know having the right conversations related to again middle school schedules or the high school schedules. So these subcommittees came out of the labor management process. We're continuing to partner with our, you know, teachers teachers union to to fill the gaps and to course correct and to make changes. >> Member Laughler Kemp. >> Yep. >> Uh certainly there has been a lot of discussion in all of the different committees that have been mentioned on this topic. Um just a real quick question. Um how have we um let parents at both East and Denfeld know the changes that have been made to the PA date? because I know um uh I I guess I want to

099make sure parents are clear that we have made some changes from um last year. >> Well um those communications have come from those individual principles regarding when there's opportunity days or pause days. Um I call them opportunity days because pause means different things at both different sites. So I want to make sure I have more of an umbrella term. Um but they are they are responsible for that communication. So I can't say what each site has done but they've been directly communicating with their families when opportunity days are coming up and what type of things are happening on those days. >> Thank you. See no additional light. Um we have another summary report uh related to the um credit course updates again classes that we offered last year. There was uh we want to provide

100a status update on how those classes are fairing. if they're running, how many students are participating in those courses, and I'll turn it over to again, uh, Director Larva. >> Yep. And I I brought Julie Stubbber back up with me again. Um, just to be clear that this was written quite a while ago, so we tried to address many of the things that are and some of the content here in that course catalog presentation. This was kind of like an update before the update. Um but specifically um just wanting to make sure that you were aware that those courses that we had been asked to do some development of around ethnic studies, the global and indigenous sports um the CITS Anesnab of Lake Superior course, the African-American literature course and the diverse perspectives course. Those

101courses have been um fully developed and have um been offered through our course catalog. And you can see that um students are um engaging in some of those courses. Um there is definitely courses that are um running more at Denfeld than there are at East, but again that comes down to student um student selection and that process that we have around the registration process. Um I do think there are some improvements that can be made. our counselors do highlight some courses for our um students when they're addressing class um class you know different as they're coming into registration they have those meetings with them registration meetings um and you know if we could highlight maybe some of these particular courses they might have more registrations behind them so that is one area that we are

102asking our counselors to to improve upon is like which courses that they might want to highlight the students that these are options and opportunities that we can run. >> Member Banks. >> Sure. Thank you. So, I know I just have like five minutes left, so I'm going to try to get through this. Um, so as I look at this outcomes and results as it relates to the ethnic studies, global and indigenous sports, etc. a mere 187 students um out of 8,000 plus students in the district are enrolled in these courses. Uh that concerns me. So I I would uh like information as to how the counselors are presenting the courses and their availability to our students on both campuses. I find it ironic that the majority of the students that are taking the courses are

103at Danfeld High School when in fact all of our kids need these courses when they graduate from our system. Uh many of them are not prepared for the real world as it relates to our diverse communities. And so I think um what I'm trying to say here is or what I am saying is um when I look at diverse perspectives running one section at Denfield 46 students east not running three interest students interested in the class African-American literature Denfeld running one section first semester 26 students um that's disconcerting as Well, and the list goes on and on. And so I'm saying that to say that if we are going to truly prepare our kids for the real world, uh it's incumbent upon us to uh make sure folks are are doing due diligence in making

104sure our kids have access to these very important courses because it is about their future and their interactions with diverse communities. And so when I see this and I see that East is not getting that opportunity, uh they deserve that opportunity also. And uh so I'm wondering what kind of efforts uh can be made or amplified at East High School to encourage our kids, white kids, kids of color to take these courses. These courses are not just for kids of color. white kids should take these kids these courses because they're a part of the global perspective. >> Agreed. I I would like to point out that these are electives which is >> right >> part of the um the the bigger broader issue here that's coming. Kids have a lot of opportunities and a lot

105of choices that they get to make which is why we find that sometimes we offer we have a we have a very very deep course catalog and it's really like about what the students would like to see offered. Thankfully, our social studies standards are more culturally responsive and so we're taking that approach or Susan Schmidt and Julie were doing a lot of work around those are the courses that everyone is required to take. It's not going to have the name or the title that says ethnic or diverse, but it's going to be embedded in those required courses. So, we're going to ensure that those culturally responsive courses and standards are being addressed in those required courses. So, that that's for all. That's the hard part when we get to electives versus what's required of students.

106Because when we have electives, we're going to have kids that are going to want to be in choir and so they're not going to have space to take a course around diverse perspectives. or we're going to have a kid that's like, I'm really trying to get to college and I want to take the CTI CITS class and I want to take this advanced placement class and course. Um, and so they're making choices which is where it's hard which is why we really are are shifting to like making sure that with that within our social studies as we're developing with the new standards that we're really addressing that >> oh NDLA and yeah, you can talk a little bit more about the standard. >> I want to say this. So when [snorts] I look at African-American

107literature, I don't see African-American or black history as an a course offering. Um, is there a reason for that or has that not been talked about or brought up? I think this was one where we had a staff member who was willing to develop the course in in collaboration with some few people and he felt because of his lure the literature piece and teaching some history of African-American people through literature was more his strength area. So you know sometimes it's really about who we have that can write the curriculum too. um not a social studies teacher but um an um a person who had that English ELA um lure, he took this approach because that's where he had strength. Does that make sense? >> Yes. So, how can we amplify uh the possibility of making

108sure we have African-American black history uh courses on both of our campuses, our high school campuses? >> Well, there is a huge need for that >> and the required. So, so the within those standards, a lot of that history is going to be embedded in those social studies courses for required >> for required for all students. >> Okay. Thank you for that clarification. But let me ask you, is are any of these courses weighted? >> We don't have weighted courses in our district. >> You don't have any weighted courses. Correct. No. >> AP and CPS, which you might consider weighted. Well, AP are any of these? Um, the reason I asked that question is because we have students who may need stuff like that to graduate. And so, is there any consideration or conversation on

109those kind of topics? >> We have not waited. Um, we we are on a 4.0 um grade [clears throat] scale. Um, and waiting would be like a kid could graduate with like a 4.8 eight or you know like so we don't we don't have that we we that's just been our scale we have not had any further conversations around that. I mean we're we're really getting into this year like grading practices. So like waiting grades is a whole another level of things and we're trying to calibrate around our grading practices in the district. So, >> so member, yes, I don't want to interrupt you. >> So, I I would love to see uh I'm just one board member, but I would love to see um more being done as it relates to uh these elective

110classes here or courses that are here. And I would love to see uh the opportunity happen at East High School as well. It's just not enough being done. I don't know what that's going to take, but all of our students, all of our high school students need to have these opportunities in front of them as much as possible. >> Thank you. And thank you for that feedback, uh, member banks and and everyone. And as a reminder, you know, these courses, uh, didn't exist before, and so we're really happy that, uh, we do have them in place and that that, um, they're running. They are running mostly at Denfield. Um, and there is opportunity. So um similar to I think about journalism course uh as well as other courses you know students do have choices as

111um Jennifer as director larva was sharing um but how teachers promote classes and um pathways that is something that we are always looking at and trying to make sure that how do we encourage kids uh to take different things and and how do we go about making them aware of all these different opportunities and at the end of the day um because they are elective students choose right they vote with feet and and then we have to as a district make decisions on whether we offer the course or not. Um but I agree that we need to uh find ways to um make all students and families aware of the opportunities and and and provide staff with opportunities to promote these different classes whether it's all of the classes that are being added that you

112heard about you know we just need to make sure we do a better job. So, I appreciate that feedback. Uh, member banks, member loot. >> Yeah, I know we're on a six o'clock hard start. Hopefully, there's a lot of good food up there that they're just milling. But, just a point to u member banks, thanks for advocating. Thanks for reminding as a teacher too of an elective. I taught electives my whole career. And it really does take some time to develop the um the reputation of a class that is, you know, other kids are talking about. And so I I hope that that will happen and and transcend between the east students and the and the Denfeld students so that there's more awareness. Again, this is the first roll out of these electives. It takes

113some time to build, you know, to build that reputation, to build that knowledge and just brothers will take it and then their sister will take it and it will build. It will build at both buildings. We just have to give it some time. But I do want to support to what um director Larva says about African-American literature as an English teacher. Um one, it's embedded in nth grade. It's embedded in 10th grade. It's embedded in junior American literature. all kinds of um opportunities to learn not only the writers that are significant in the African-American community, but the history of it as well. I don't know who's teaching it at Denfeld. I'm glad that I have a colleague, probably one that I taught with that saw the desire to really go after this because you can't

114teach American um African-American literature without teaching African-American history. Most of the writers are already telling it to us. So they're the kids are getting it within the stories that they're reading with the within the poetry, the dramas, you know, and that's just a rich thing. So I'm I know that that class will gain in both areas and you can you can cover a lot of territory and expose kids to a nice healthy way. But it is embedded in a lot of the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, not only in literature, but also in our social in our history departments as well. So um but it it I'm glad they're there. I mean, and thanks for your report on it because, you know, we were interested in it. >> Julie, um, and, um, Jen, uh, I was

115going to say because she Shannon whispered something to my ear at the same time. I know who you are. Um, she was trying to let me know that superintendent was trying to say something, but I want to say thank you first and then, u appreciate all your hard work um, for getting ready for tonight and uh, doing all of the due diligence to prepare the reports. And so, just want to say thank you and and again, thank you board for all of the feedback. we we hear you and we're going to make sure that we um take all those things under consideration as we adjust. Superintendent Maggus, >> I was going to say very similar to what you did. So I you stole I stole your thunder earlier and you stole mine now. So I

116just want to say thank you and uh really appreciate it and uh I think it's important for us to to make sure that all cultures are deeply embedded in our curriculum in the required classes as well as the electives. And that's that's part of why we believe in advancing equity here in Duth Public Schools. And uh thank you very much. Thank you for this. Um, and we