001Good afternoon and welcome to um the December listening session for the Duth Public Schools. We will start out by having um the clerk with roll call. Member Banks >> here. >> Chair Durer >> present. Member Laughler Camp >> present. >> Member Loal >> here. >> I member Mel I am here. Member Sidowski >> here. >> Member Williams >> present. >> Superintendent Maggus >> present. >> Assistant Superintendent Bonds >> present. >> Deputy clerk Zunich say present. >> Simone present. [laughter] >> Uh board secretary Pquette >> here. and E student rep. Dean >> present. >> Excellent. Roll call is complete. >> Thank you. We will now have member Loal read the 11 tools of civility. Thank you, Chair Eer. We also start off with our mission, our vision, and our core values, but superintendent always covers that
002too further on. So, I'm going to go right to our 11 tools of civility. This 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 we face in our community and our schools. 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, and show your research and share your reasoning. Those are the 11 tools of civility. Thank you. >> Thank you, member Lald. Now, clerk Mike Excel, will you read the um guidelines? >> Sure. If you have any handouts for the board, please give them to our board secretary, Pquette. Persons addressing the board will have three minutes total. When speaking, the use of negative
003personally identifiable language is not permitted. Persons addressing the board may not merge their time in order to allow one person to speak more than 3 minutes. I will start the um stoplight timer, which is here at the start of each person's time. Green means go. Yellow means wrap up. Red means stop. When that red light comes on, the chair will gavel to signal you to end. And in the interest of respect for every listening session speaker, please hold any commentary during the speaker's time until they're finished. Thank you so much. Thank you. We will now um begin. So, if Stephen Samberg could please come to the microphone. Thank you and welcome. And when you pick the Yeah, just make sure the microphone is on. >> Thank you. >> My name is Steven Samberg and I'm
004a special education teacher and member of the Duth Federation of Teachers. As someone who identifies as progressive in a city that is both progressive and deeply pro labor, it is difficult to admit that my local public sector teachers union, the Duth Federation of Teachers, has a serious conflict of interest. But this community and anyone who cares about public education has a right to know. Last month, the DFT's own internal election committee privately acknowledged that the DFT leadership and the committee itself had violated federal labor laws regarding our elections. They further indicated in a district email that they had been breaking federal labor labor laws for 7 years. Why would the DFT leadership and a medium-sized public sector teachers union repeatedly break election labor laws? DFT leadership wants to control who is on the election board
005executive board because the board manages the unions roughly 4.7 million in assets and sets the salaries inside contracts and stipens that benefit them directly and this is this has been in the making for a few decades. The pattern of questionable contra conduct traces back to at least 2014 when a teacher served simultaneously as the treasur of the DFT and an executive board member of the $220 million DUTH Teacher Retirement Fund Association DTRFA. The DTRFA sold a commercial property to the DFT. Although he publicly abstained from the DTRA's vote on the sale, this transaction created significant long-term conflict. The DFT's ownership of that property generated revenue which largely enabled him to earn over 325,000 over the next decade as DFT treasurer. When he stepped down, he helped appoint his replacement, which happened to be the former
006DTRFA's president, who had voted for the original purchase and who is now a significant beneficiary of that purchase. This deep knowledge of financial loopholes and governance gray areas and little to no enforcement has led to my union evolving into something it was never intended to be, a top- down money management organization holding roughly 4.7 million in stocks, securities, a commercial property, and rife with structural cronyism. Our union leadership, the very people at the bargaining table are now landlords and money managers. Our union president earns about four times what a firstear teacher earns. And our executive board is one of, if not the highest paid in the state of Minnesota. All of this funded by the union structure they built for themselves. The bargaining table under the pretext of fighting for labor is currently being used
007to preserve financial privilege. This fundamentally undermines its purpose as a tool to transform our system and address the labor conditions of all staff and students, especially those without a voice. In fact, in 2022, an education Minnesota staff member acknowledged that there was nepotism and under the table contracts occurring within the DFT leadership. This person was fired from the union and had been silenced them as a gag order after this information was shared. The union leadership is not progressive. We are the Bellarus of teacher unions as representation is driven by nepotism, cornyism and financial interest which constitutes a clear and unacceptable conflict of interest. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next, we call Sarah Sandberg to the podium. And just make sure to check your microphone. And welcome. >> Thank you. Yeah, it's on. My name is
008Sarah Sandberg. The consequences of our union's conflict of interest have hit our classrooms directly. Let me be clear. DUTH teachers deserve historic wages and we support any movement toward them. However, that gain cannot come at the expense of our most vulnerable students and our support staff. I find it unbelievable that we must explain why landlords and investment stewards of nearly 5 million should not be negotiating class sizes, educator working conditions, and student learning conditions. In fact, my union has not seriously negotiated for these things. This situation highlights the urgent need for clear legislative conflict of interest protections for all public sector union negotiations. I believe members of this school board are well aware of this structure, but are too intimidated to say anything. The painful truth is no one is watching. There's no enforcement from
009state and national government watchd dogss, especially from our parent organization, Education Minnesota. In May of this year, their de their executive director, aware of the issues, defended the DFT's actions, stating, "Locals do not want to be policed." Our current public sector labor laws and governance frameworks are simply not set up for teachers unions to possess and manage millions in assets. Following everything you have heard about the structural cronyism within the DFT, the solution is not more secrecy secrecy but total transparency. I am asking this board and this community community to advocate for truly open negotiations between the DFT and the district. Just as we have the open schoolboard meetings streamed, recorded, time and place advertised. The part bargaining table does not belong solely to these benefiting from our financial loopholes. It belongs to the community
010that funds our schools, the families who rely on them, and the rank and file teachers who deliver their education. For too long, the critical decisions that shape our classrooms have been made behind closed doors. This only serves to shield conflicts of interest and obscure the devastating cost to our students and the integrity of public education. Open negotiations are a win for everyone. Open negotiations ensure the rank the voice of rank and file teachers, not just the many managers, is heard. This process compels all parties to prioritize the classroom over private gain. Our children, especially our most marginalized students, do not have a seat at the bargaining table. Transparency gives their needs a public voice and compels negotiators to shift from the focus from preserving opaque financial structures to securing the necessary resources that support equity
011that our most vulnerable students rely on. We must move beyond the claim that locals do not want to be policed. We must insist on sunlight. Open negotiations are the only way to this. Inclusivity, fairness, and the collective power to improve working conditions and learning conditions are why I joined my union. I am asking you tonight to join me in reaching out to legislators to create a real conflict of interest protection for rank and file members and students. But until those necessary legislative protections are in place, the minimum we can do to support an equitable education system is to immediately mandate truly open and transparent negotiations. Please do not be afraid of a good old boy club. Our public education deserves better. Thank you. Next we have Katie Lassie. Welcome. >> All right. Hi everybody. When
012does it start? It's my first time. We're all learning, right? [laughter] All right. Um, time begin. Sweet. Okay. Hi, everybody. Um, my name is Katie Lassie and I teach chemistry and biology for ALC AEO. Previous to this, I was the founding teacher of Starbase DUTH. And previous to that, I was a molecular biologist at UMD for seven years where I served on committees that determined the allocations and management of space for departments and programs. As a scientist who is very comfortable with data, especially when applied to space allocations, I'm a little bit befuddled by the choices that have been made by the district leadership. I can't make sense of this data. Maybe you guys can. I'm totally open to anybody sharing how they made these decisions. Um, but I don't feel that they were objectively
013and appropriately made. In a recent DNT article about our growing district, our superintendent was interviewed about how district leadership plans to respond to growth. As part of that response to growth, the district um presented plans to issue a proposal to pay for the comprehensive demographic study. Mr. Magus was quoted as saying, "The purpose for that would be the to responsibly manage our positive enrollment trends and resulting facility demands that ensure future student success." And really, as I mentioned, we've had positive enrollment pieces, but we really need objective data. I'm so glad you said that. I love objective data. You can ask my co-workers. Um, and it looks like the school district wants to make appropriate and responsible decisions based on objective data to plan for growth. Let's look at some data. All right. If you
014want to, you can scan the QR codes that are available to you. I've done data. I am totally transparent with how I calculated these and I am willing to change them. So, the QR code scans to something that can actually be altered. All right. ALC AEO feels that our students deserve more than what's been allocated, but we maybe just had to be put in a small space. So, let's compare our data with that of the program that we'll be sharing our second floor with, adult basic ed. Adult basic ed is an incredible program that I fully believe in. They should get everything they deserve. But they provide objective data points for us to share or us to see decisionmaking between ALC AEO and an exact program match in adult basic ed. All right. Quickly, ALC
015AEO is sorry um [laughter] uh this is bad. All right, ALCAO with around 90 students currently enrolled in an online drop-in credit recovery independent study program with over 730 students for the 2425 school year. Last year, ALC at Credit Recovery helped 10% of East High School seniors graduate and over 30% of DHS seniors graduate. AEO which is housed in the same place is taught by the same teachers had over 1,100 students enrolled with 215 students from out of district before um and sorry from this year. So taking a look at these scans and I do welcome you to scan these we can look at our totable usable space. Brian Brown spoke two weeks ago and he stated he just didn't have the data for AB to be able to compare with ALC AEO. I got
016that data. Let's compare. All right. Total usable square feet. What does ALC AEO get? Well, for our Is that time up? Nuts. Sorry. For all of this is available on here. It doesn't make sense. >> Thank you. >> This one. >> Thank you. Okay. Um, next we have Kathy Johnson. Welcome. >> Hi. I'm Kathy Johnson. and I'm really appreciative of this opportunity to speak. I'm starting my third year teaching at ALC AEO and among the ALC staff, I'm one of the most veteran teachers and have likely taught in the largest variety of schools in the district. Since 1998, I've subbed into the L schools, taught French at Denfeld and Central, English at East, and worked in all middle schools, some which no longer exist. My lens almost 30 years, high school and middle school, east
017and west, has allowed me to see the trust and connections teachers build between students, colleagues, and our community. I learned from Jill, watching her speech kids form identity and find a voice. I got to see Ros's husband guide destination imagination students to creative solutions. I've seen Sarah's son blossom from a middle schooler to one who could sing and dance on East stage. And I'm so glad to see Kage. If community members could view what I've seen in middle and high schools, East and West, they would know the tremendous difference that individuals are making for students. Unfortunately, our community often views the district through how they've navigated past issues like the red plan, changing boundaries, or developing new spaces like at the DSC. Members of the board, I know you. I know you as individuals who
018recognize and value all students in our district, those who have a voice as well as those who are forming one. I believe the DUTH community also cares about students. Clearly, as part of the ALC staff, it is my duty and privilege to validate my students. I want ALC kids to know that their previous struggles do not represent their future worth or ability to contribute to our community. They deserve to hold space figuratively and in a concrete and practical way. The space in the first street buildout is inadequate and reinforces my students views that they don't deserve what East and Denfeld students have. I encourage you to look at the data that Katie found. I didn't see a lot of board members pulling out their phones and I understand their respect for her time, but the
019data says it all. In addition, what I'm saying tonight goes beyond the scope of my current students. Our community mutters about mistrust based on district decisions that start down one path only to recalibrate when it's too late. This historical pattern results in students, staff, and a community who view the district as secretive, impractical, wasteful, or inequitable. As the district moves forward towards future decision-making about such things as boundaries and referenda, the board has an opportunity to regain further trust. Please consider your legacy. Be brave enough to recalibrate and show our community, students, and staff what ALC kids deserve. Think ahead five years. Will your names tied to this buildout have increased public trust and facilitated decisions that benefit not only ALC students, but all students in ISD 709? >> [applause] >> That was just Kathy,
020right? Lindsay Emerson. [clears throat] Welcome. Hello. [laughter] Hi. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me today. My name is Lindseay Emerson and I've been a special education teacher at ALC for about four years. [snorts] Just prior to that, I was a special education teacher at Denfeld. As a teacher, I focus on students and generally don't worry about buildings. When I first heard about all the things with the first street buildout that my colleagues have talked about and will be talking about, I really didn't worry about it. I was sure that administration would solve this problem and provide an appropriate school for our students. I'm very surprised that that isn't happening and that is why I'm compelled to add my voice to this conversation. As I said a second ago, I came to
021ALC from Denfeld. I love the teachers at Denfeld and the historic buildings and the programs, but that just isn't enough for some students. At Denfeld, there were kids who were overwhelmed, roaming the halls, being disruptive, and getting suspended. They didn't fit well at Denfeld. When I moved over to ALC, I saw many of those same kids trickling in. six or seven that I can think of right off the top of my head right now. ALC provided a calm, welcoming place for those students to feel comfortable and connect with adults. It was amazing to see the transformation of those students after they had spent a couple of weeks at ALC. They developed positive relationships with their teachers. They completed schoolwork, even asking for help when it was needed, and they graduated. Working at ALC, I feel
022like I'm part of something that is really making a difference in students lives. The kids that we're educating at ALC are some of the most disadvantaged students from all over our community. They're the kids with high anxiety. They come from poverty. They're minorities. They grow up in foster care. And they have traumatic backgrounds. [clears throat] Many of our kids have even lost a parent. It's crazy to me that when you sit down and get to know these kids, you find out that so many of them are struggling because one of their parents has died and they're just trying to cope. [snorts] They didn't do anything wrong. And so many of these kids have been failed by other programs because they just need something different. Just last week, I can think of four students and then
023two more again today that walked into their classroom and walked right back out because they thought it was too full. They didn't see a spot to sit. And I was able to convince some of them to come back in when I brought in extra chairs and made spaces for them along the wall. But due to the trauma, extra stressors, and anxiety that some of these kids have, they often need a little more space than your average student. Preferred seating, as we say in our IEPs. Some of our current classes do not have the space to meet this accommodation. This is alternative education and we need to recognize that our kids might have some different needs. I hope that we can give these students an appropriate school with appropriate space for classes and things like school
024assemblies that I think someone will be talking about later. These kids have already been through so much and we don't want to let them down again. If you could hear some of your their stories, your heart would break and I know that we all want to give them the best chance possible. >> [applause] >> Thank you, [applause] John Lindela. Welcome. Check, check, check. Good evening. My name is John Lindela and I've been teaching at the ALC for eight years. When I first started, we were at Historical Old Central, an incredible building that had everything we needed. Some of you have been on the school board long enough to remember when we had to move. We worked hard to convince the school board a site on the hill at Radio Centralual would be best for our
025students. The school board voted unanimously at the end of the school year to help us move into our chosen space. When school started the following year, we were told we would actually be moving to the tech village. We have never been given an explanation as to what happened. As we saw firsthand, even when plans seem to be set, they can and do change. Early on at the Tech Village, the superintendent challenged us to dream big about our future. I could never have imagined how small that big dream would need to be. Now, we are being moved again and again. I am struggling to see how the space we have been allotted is in the best interest of our students. Last week, we had the opportunity to hear Ricky White, an expert in cultural competency competency,
026address all secondary teachers. He kept returning to the theme of making our students feel at home. [sighs] That's what we're trying to do at the ALC. What better way to make our students feel at home than to break bread together? Currently, every day we use our commons area to have lunch with our students, host after school game days, a chili cookoff, whole school pizza parties. Many of you have attended our holiday feast and our holiday auction, and I would encourage you, if you haven't, please come. You'll you will be amazed. This is our most important community building event of the year. All staff work hard to make sure that every student has at least one really good holiday meal with plenty of leftovers to take home. Without a large enough space for our whole school
027to gather, it will be much harder to build community and make our school feel like home. A complete lack of natural light in our commons area will make it even more difficult to feel at home. Denfeld, East Ordin all have incredible common areas flooded with natural light. Despite an abundance of natural light in our in the new building, our commons will be drowned in fluorescent light. Natural light is a vital component of wellness in our dark winter months. As evidenced by the thought put into the design of every other school in our district, our students have faced enough adversity in their lives. If every student every day actually means something to you more than a catchy phrase to write on the side of a bus, I beg you to take action to make life better
028for our our for the students that you serve. [applause] Thank you, Jordan Wagner. Welcome. Okay. [clears throat] Good evening and thank you members of the school board. We appreciate you taking time to visit our school and listen to our concerns. My name is Jordan Wagner and this is my third year teaching special education at Laura MacArthur Elementary. I am here to speak about the direct impact of recent budget cuts on our students safety and educational outcomes. While the intention was to shield our students from these cuts, the reality in our classrooms is that they have severely impacted behavior support and our special education team's ability to meet student needs. With case loads of 20, we are unable to equitably provide necessary push-in services. On my case loan alone, I have 11 students with behavior plans
029and high needs behavior including physical aggression and destruction of classrooms. When a student becomes unsafe, we are forced to evacuate the remaining students for their safety. This creates a cycle of disruption. Students return to the classroom confused and disregulated, losing precious instructional time and focus. emotional and academic toll of this is completely unacceptable. I have heard students as young as six recognize this loss of learning. One recently told me that they're unable to learn because of evacuations and peers being removed from the room. These interruptions make lessons and just general learning completely unwelcoming and unattainable. We are stuck in a reactive model where we're only able to respond after behavior has escalated to an extreme. Our time is spent managing crisises rather than proactively preventing them. As educators, it should be our primary job to
030help children learn. But when we must dedicate all of our energy to the most extreme behavior, learning is lost for everyone. School should be a place where students feel safe and focused on being part of a learning community. Instead, our students are forced to shift their focus from learning to merely trying to get through a day, being ready to evacuate, ignoring disruptive peers, and attempted to stay regulated amidst chaos. We need to shift from a reactive crisis model to a prov a pro a proactive intervention model. This ensures that safety and learning is in the future for all of our students. But this requires investing sufficient staffing. Specifically, our behavior support. This would include an SEB and MTSS staff member as well as special education staff to lower case loads so that we can implement
031regular effective interventions that prevent behaviors from arising in the first place. Thank you. Thank you, Jordan. [applause] Hi Riich. Happy holidays. I am Haley Riich. I teach third grade at Laura MacArthur. I have been in third grade for nine years. I can't make it to fourth grade yet. And I have taught third grade at Laura for the past 5 years. I would specifically really like to thank Jill Loofald and Amber Saddowski for taking some time in our building last week over our lunch prep to get to see some of our students making some awesome holiday activities and um just seeing them in their true elements of getting the winter gear on. It certainly is not a secret that Laura MacArthur is having one of the most challenging years. It is the buzzword. And I would
032also like to thank Allison Hoffbower and Erica Drangler for fearlessly advocating for our needs. not only of our students but our teachers and sta certified staff and non-certified staff. Last year alone, our discretionary school budget was cut by 56%. Our school has gone from three classrooms in first and second grade, first and third grade to two. This has increased class sizes by six to eight kiddos and has funneled more behaviors into smaller spaces. We also lost a special education teacher and it raised our case loads to 19 to 20 kids per manager. That's as big as our class sizes. It's been really, really hard with our first grade sections because they're also at 63% of special education students and we're missing the staff to support them. Furthermore, we went from three to two building paras
033even though the data you showed us proved it was the best thing for students academically and socially. Our building needs preventative health measures and behavior to support safe learning spaces for our kiddos. Previously, we lost our SEB coordinator to pre-teach and use our data effectively to target interventions and minimize distractions. Duth Public Schools provides the motto of every student every day. And we need to recognize the amazing individuals at Laura MacArthur for keeping the building afloat in a time of physical safety and emotional crisis. Physical safety. I love being a teacher. I wouldn't be up here if I didn't believe in my kiddos and if I didn't believe what we are doing right now for our students is unequitable and it certainly is not conducive as a learning environment. Anyone who has worked at Laura
034MacArthur can tell you the amount of community and love and support for one another, but we cannot continue to tread water and expect different results. Our students are so amazing. Their Christmas program is on Friday. Come see it. They deserve an environment where they their needs are addressed and supported and where they can learn and be a future member of the DUTH community. Last year, our kindergarten celebrated the highest reading scores in the whole district, and that is a testament to the staff members and the hard work that Laura MacArthur is really putting in. I hope that our voices tonight can convince you to come into our building like Jill and Amber. I hope that you can consider adding a section of first grade for our first grade teachers that are in fight or flight.
035Thank you for choosing every kid every day. Do it for the kids. Thank you, [applause] Andrea Gle. Pretty sure I said it incorrectly. I was trying. Thank you. Hi, I'm Andrea Gelb and I am thankful that I have the mental and physical resources to address you this evening. I also have the benefit of having time to spend getting to this meeting. I don't take those privileges for granted. I think we can all agree that time is a valuable asset. For example, the school board only allows 45 minutes for a listening session once a month and speakers are limited to three minutes. So, here is my ask. It's a simple fix that you can implement until an updated equitable policy is in place. It is something you can do that will benefit students, their parents, caregivers,
036that will show respect to your teachers and staff and will improve student attendance. And it doesn't require any additional money. In fact, it gives back valuable time to our teachers and staff to devote to student needs. Students who need to change their address during the school year are facing barriers having their bus schedules changed. The district is at times requiring burdensome paperwork or requiring that individuals declare that they are homeless when they may not wish to take on that label. Your valued teachers and staff are being unnecessarily burdened when trying to advocate for student address changes. I'm asking you as a board who is responsible to the community and has the power to approve the policies providing equitable education to direct the district to allow bus changes for students when requested by their parent caregiver
037or when a district employee does so on their behalf. That's the ask. It comes from a group of parents, school district staff, and others in the community who recognize the value of providing quality education. Thank you for listening. You'll be hearing from other speakers on this issue in the coming months. They are people who are researching policies from the state and other districts, giving very valuable time. Thank you to the staff in the district who are already working on making some changes. Also, I'd like to acknowledge that there is a new director of advancing equity. May they be empowered with the support of the school district and board to accomplish much. Thank you. [applause] Thank you. Next we have Jim Jubenville. Welcome Jim. >> In regards to the individuals who spoke about the DFT, this
038small group has brought uh negativity to the union. Additionally, this group has been soundly defeated each time they have run for office. Instead of self-reflecting on their methods, they want to blame the DFT, the Exec Board, Education Minnesota, and any other organization for their toxicity. Please don't fall for their propaganda. Moving forward, dear school board members, I'm a special education teacher at ALCAO and I'm also the co-f facilitator of the labor management teams. I'm here to discuss the space a lot for the ALC buildout at the First Street Building. I know you've heard it already, but the labor management process was not followed when it came to the needs of the ALC at the First Street building. It's also very evident, as confirmed by attending the training that QSC did with the Minnesota Bureau of
039Mediation Services, that the process wasn't followed. I walked out of that training thinking either the school board or the Bureau of Mediation Services must step in to help solve this dilemma. I would like to see every program have a good landing spot at this new site, but ALC AEO needs more space. The reality is a wall is just a wall and a room is just a room. There's time to move space around at this buildout to accommodate our needs at this site. We are a growing school with multiple programs that have experienced an increase in enrollment. Our attendance rate for the seatbased program for the 2425 school year was approximately 86% and our grad rates are increasing at an impressive level. Please show us the data that was used to make this decision to give
040us the space allotted at the first street building. It's sadly the students at ALC that are paying the price because of the misjudgments by adults surrounding ISTD79. The decision making of the buildout at the DNT buildout was uh made in a silo. There wasn't collaboration with the experts that are doing the work right behind me. Um it became very punitive in my opinion because some people don't like or trust each other. Also was the community involved in this process. We work with some of the most disadvantaged and disenfranchised students in Duth public schools and deserve an equitable space. In the end, we were getting a smaller space than our temporary digs at an office building in the tech village. Where was the middle ground when it came to the decision making on a structure that'll
041be here 60 to 70 years from now? Moving forward, if nothing changes, ALC staff will be professional and continue our work with our high school students. Sadly, the damage done with district administration, the school board will be difficult, if not impossible, to repair. In conclusion, please tell me tonight what part of my speech or the op-ed article in the Duth News Tribune we recently wrote that wasn't uh wasn't 100% accurate. The question for the school board is, is equity really a priority in this district or does it just sound good to say out loud and have on our website? [applause] >> Thank you. And Ben Grahams, welcome. Where's the yellow light there? >> Hi. Uh my name is Ben Grahams. I'm the parent of two children at Laura MacArthur. Um I'm here to speak on
042behalf of uh those students and teachers and staff and administrators from Laura MacArthur. Um and as a parent, um I think the kind of issue has been laid out as far as what's going on there. I have a student in >> Could you hold your microphone up a little bit? Thank you. [clears throat] >> Thank you. Uh I have a a child in first grade and a child in kindergarten. So we've kind of gone back to back here. I'd say that the experience that my older child had in kindergarten last year was uh just wonderful. Uh when I talked to the teachers uh and they reflect on last year, they described as being just wonderful. Um you know that was our first experience at the Duth public schools. Uh we grew up in East Duth.
043We moved to West Luth. We loved it. Um we were told to watch out you know by all our peers and contemporaries and we had absolutely a fantastic experience there uh last year. Uh this year, as you understand, I think people have said there's been reductions in staffing. Um it really seems to have impacted the students. It really seems to have impacted the staff. Um I think it's to the detriment of our entire district. I think it's to the detriment of the neighborhood. And I would really really uh ask that people listen more to those to those folks in the building, whether it's um you know, principals, uh other people, teachers, staff, because I think they have a really good handle on what the kids need. I go into that school a lot. I walk
044my kids to school when they ask me. I every day I walk into the school uh when my kids are having a hard time. The teachers, the staff know every child's name. Um there's so much care and and compassion with that with that group of people. And it just I I guess it's it's painful for me to hear the stories, but I guess it's probably much more painful for them to feel so handcuffed and limited in what they can provide for students that they that they know have significant needs. And I think last year, as cited, the the performance of that kindergarten cohort was fantastic and I think it demonstrates what can be done with even high need, you know, disadvantaged children when we give them adequate support. Um, so, uh, that's that's my ask
045and I just I I would just say I applaud the the teachers and the staff at Lauren MacArthur. We love sending our kids there. [applause] Thank you so much. Um, Ava Stone, welcome. Thank you. Um, hi. My name is Ava Stone. I am an East student. Um, I'm going to talk about AI. We're living in a time where AI is being hailed as our future. It's fast, efficient, and everywhere. But I'm here to say something that most people ignore or put off. AI is not helping. In fact, it is hurting us, especially our mental health, our creativity, and our ability to communicate. Let's start with something personal. There was a time I was struggling with my mental health. I didn't feel good about myself. I would scroll through social media and see perfect faces, perfect
046bodies, and perfect likes, lives, all filtered, all fake. But I didn't see it as that. I saw it as a mirror I couldn't live up to. It made me feel like I wasn't good enough, like I had to change who I was to be seen. At the same time, I was falling behind in school. I didn't have the energy or motivation for learning or working. So, I turned to AI tools to write my essays and do my homework. I was trying to survive, but that made me feel worse. AI didn't help me. It numbed me. It made me feel invisible and it made me forget how capable I actually was. Now, let's zoom out. AI has a massive environmental impact. AI might be digital, but it's far from clean. Training AI models consume massive amounts
047of water and electricity. In fact, researcher research that took place in 2019 at the University of Massachusetts revealed that some models of AI use as much energy as five cars do in their lifespan. In school, students are already using AIS AI to write essays, do homework, and generate ideas. But when we let machines do all the thinking, we stop thinking for ourselves. We lose the struggle that builds creativity. We lose the mistakes that teach us resilience. We lose the joy of discovering things. And here's something we don't really talk about enough. We are forgetting how to talk to each other. We text instead of speak. We use emojis instead of emotions. We rely on AI to write our messages, emails, and even our apologies. As a result of it, we're losing the ability to express
048ourselves, to listen, to connect. We're being we're becoming fluent through our phones, but awkward in person. And that's not just sad, it's dangerous. So, what are the benefits of using AI in education? It can personalize learning. It can help teachers manage their workload. It can help with students with special needs. But ask yourself, are we using AI to enhance learning or to replace it? Can we teach responsible AI use? If we use AI in school, we need to learn about the risks. The education we must include is understanding bias and misinformation, protecting privacy and data, knowing when not to use it, and most importantly, learning how to think and speak for ourselves. Yes, it is up to the school board now to figure out figure out as we move on to the next step. But
049I have one more to AI is not just a tool is a test. A test of values. A test of our priorities. A test of whether we believe in human creativity, connection, and growth. [applause] Thank you so much, Ava. That was great. That concludes the listening session for the December regular school board meeting. We will be moving on next into our truth and taxation hearing. Thank you.