001Welcome back and we'll turn it back over to assistant superintendent Bonds. >> Thank you. Thank you um Chair Derk Eater and board. I would like to pull an audible again uh because I would like to introduce someone um new to the team and I'm really pleased that she's joined us. Uh in front of you is Marica Garvik Herrera. She is our new director of advancing equity. She just joined the district recently and so uh she's already hitting the ground running really really fast uh to uh you know gain a footing and um we're just so pleased to have her on board and I wanted to make sure I had an opportunity to introduce her. I'll allow her to introduce herself, tell a little bit about herself and and so forth. So I'll turn it over
002to you. >> Hello. Good evening. Good to see you all. Uh yes, as as an Mr. Ron said, uh, I am Marisa or Marica. Both are correct. Just not Marissa, that's what I say. Uh, really excited to be here with you all and be part of the team. Uh, I just want to I'm on day what is this like day nine? Uh, I think I've been in like six schools so far. So, like Anthony said, we're we're jumping into it. But, it was really nice. It's been really nice to be in schools this week and see students and and and everyone's been very warm and welcoming. Um, a little bit about me is I uh so I've been in Duth for about a year and a half. Um, and came from uh I'm I'm born
003and raised from central Ohio. So, a different part of the Midwest. I know sometimes motans think that Ohio's not the Midwest, but we do selfidentify as the Midwest. Um and uh so born and raised there but uh most of my career uh a lot of it was in um Denver, Colorado. So I started my career as a kindergarten teacher in Denver, Colorado. Uh and then I I did a lot of things and then I ended up at Denver public schools. Um so you know a major large district serves very diverse learners. Um, and I was a founding member of the culture responsive education team there. Um, and so was at the district level, a project manager, uh, responsible for rolling out major projects and initiatives, budgeting, those types of things. Um, and then, uh, transitioned
004into a specialist where I was really focused on 25 schools in Denver. Um, coaching on culture responsive practices to teachers and school leaders. Um, and then I transitioned into working for a K12 consulting company, uh, where I got to really work with, uh, districts nationwide, uh, from really tiny, small, rural, um, to some of our wealthiest districts in the country and even, uh, a school in Saudi Arabia. So, uh, really got to be in a lot of different educational settings. Uh I I sat you know really did just a lot of problem solving with schools um and seeing how the challenges that we face in education, how do they look in different landscapes, how are they similar, how are they different um but did a lot of a lot of different things. Anything from strategic
005planning to curriculum audit um to leading you know equity series for teachers and leaders all sorts of things. Um and then most recently I come from a nonprofit Jeremiah program if you're familiar. Yeah. Uh founded in the cities and that um I was a director uh of programming there focusing on adult education. So um the mission there is uh around supporting single moms who are experiencing poverty and want to uh earn their higher education degree. So um we had mentoring coaching, childcare centers, all the things. So, um I uh it's kind of been uh a long and short journey here for me because uh I I I moved here like I said a year and a half ago and and I messaged uh Mr. Maggus here on LinkedIn just coldly and was like, "Hey, I'm
006moving to the area thinking there's no way the superintendent's ever going to message me back." Uh he did very kindly and was like, "I just would love to get coffee and you know, learn more about the educational landscape." had no um you know interest of having getting a new job at that point. But um you know, long story short, I'm here and I'm just really excited to be back in K12 schools. It really feels like kind of another homecoming for me to be back in a district. Um I'm really passionate about supporting the adults that support our children. Um and so um for me, um it's really important to show up as um disrupting some of the narratives that are common around equity. Uh right. And so, you know, it being this separate thing over
007here that we think, you know, often is held by people of color for people of color or is just around cultural events and things. Sure, that's part of it, but also, um, for me, I really show up and want to be seen as an academic leader, uh, an instructional leader. Um and so you know making sure you know that we here at DUTH understand um you know going back to the adult behavior piece that we all have uh you know responsibility uh and that falls on all of us no matter what school we're in you know what our demographics are um and of course you know being culturally responsive to me means um you know providing windows and mirrors but it also means that kids are reading on grade level right so uh you know
008because I really do believe that you know high quality educ Education is a human right and I I am always starting with literacy. So, uh that's that's super important to me. So, that's a little bit about me. Would I'm excited to get to know you all a little better, >> member banks. >> Thank you very much. And um it's very awesome to meet you and welcome and wow, >> that's so much. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate you being here. Member >> Laughler. also welcome. Um I have you and in in your uh many different uh roles that you've played uh done training with uh school boards, you know, training with school boards, not so much interacting. Yes. >> Uh a lot of interacting, a lot of support for superintendent interacting in that relationship
009dynamic. Uh particularly in smaller districts. Um, and you know, in the reality of where we are, supporting a lot of districts that had a lot of different viewpoints represented and and and a lot of people showing up and and so a lot of relationship dynamics and responding and how we're showing up um and defending what's best for kids. Um, so no training formally. Uh, but I also have had, you know, I' I've had the honor of providing training for higher education uh folks uh other nonprofits. So I would say not specific to school boards but you know maybe we this could be the first >> Thank you member Derek Gater >> from here I have one contact in it looks like it was green. So, um I want to uh take this opportunity to say
010um you know, of course, welcome um and thank you to the board. Actually, um when we had the opportunity to uh revamp the position, um and create a director of advanced equity, um the board um graciously supported the direction and it shows uh and I want the the community and the district to know that it shows a commitment to our equity work. we are serious about it despite what's happening nationally. It's it's really um encouraging that DUTH is showing its commitment to really thinking about all kids. Um, and we believe this position um, shows that uh, the work, the expertise that Marissa uh, brings uh, to the district is going to really help us elevate that work um, and make sure it's integrated into our schools, preK12, into curriculum into into those adult behaviors, practices,
011ways of thinking and ways operating. That's what we, you know, are aspiring to do and that's what uh, deep involvement in equity work really will accomplish. So, I'm really um pleased to have her join the team. A lot of big work um ahead, but uh we have a team and so I really appreciate that. Superintendent Magnus, actually, you said pretty much exactly what I was going to say that that really uh when we think about the direction of the district, our three strategic areas of uh supporting every student, advancing equity, and improving systems, we need to make sure that we are focused clearly on advancing equity. And to your point, uh, Director Herrera, that that we want to make sure that that this is seen as deep academic work and not not just, uh, preuncterary
012symbolic tokenism. Uh, and so I think that that that that is really important and I appreciate that that you uh you u are leading from that nuance. And then also when when we talked about like what are the different board what are the different adult actions that make a difference. I think the actions that that Anthony pointed out from from a board perspective that you heard about the position change and in a time when resources are tight and but we were saying we wanted to that it was important for us systemically to double down on equity. uh for you to support that is is very meaningful and it shows um the community and uh that this is important to us and it also allows us to ensure that when we think about historically underserved populations
013that we're actually doing something meaningful about it rather than having it as as a checklist on a box. So we're really to have you part of the team. Welcome >> member Loot. Yeah, just a quick question too about um I know you're part of our director team, so you've got colleagues that are are working in this building to to continue, but I've never really known if there is a do you have a staff that supports you, whether that is in an executive secretary role or you know, what does your your little in you know, support team look like now that you're here? >> Yeah. So, there was a recent restructuring um and so the office of equity, right? So uh like I yeah the director position so that would be me and then I you
014I share a clerical executive assistant and then um under me would be uh the American Indian education department. Um and then we also have the ISP specs integration specialists right so those are 12 that are based in schools. So I will supervise them. Um and then you know um technically also like the families in transition um team would be under me. So we have one um person here um and then the rest are in schools um and so um you know a few other folks kind of on paper that are kind of under my the office of equity that also you know come from the funding that I oversee but you know report to school leaders because they're immersing teachers in schools and such. So um that's kind of Am I missing anyone Anthony? >>
015Nope. >> Okay. I I aced the organ or chart. Great. >> Good job. Good job. >> Yeah. Yes. Day >> I looked at that or chart. I think maybe more than anyone in the organization study against. >> Thank you. >> And we will be Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. And within the district, we will be updating and have already started updating district websites, org charts, and we're going to make sure the phone trees and so forth really show who oversees uh what in the teaching and learning uh department. So just just know that >> and uh really this this position and the other positions that we have really represent uh the restructuring that we've done over over the past six years. This is it feels like things are are really
016in place now. We have uh directors of elementary and secondary so that we can uh more properly support our our um principles and they have their coordinators working on curriculum. uh having the uh the director position for the equity position. There are different things that we've structured so that we can have uh greater focus, leadership and support to show differences. Um because really it's is every every element of the the the school district needs um the proper support to be effective. If if principles can't give feedback to teachers, they don't know how to improve. If directors are are uh supervising too many people and don't really have the support they need, they can't really provide that support. And thinking about the assistant superintendent role, for instance, uh when we started, there were, I believe, 30
01732 37 36 uh administrators that you supervised at that that point, which really it was hard to do anything more than than just like drive by supervision. And so I think making sure that we have proper structures of support uh is something that will continue to pay off uh with with results for kids. So really excited about like we're we're now uh poised even even more for for uh continued better results for our students and I thank the team to the other directors that have done so much to put this together as well and assistant superintendent bonds for all you've done to hire and structure this as well. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, um, we have our director of Head Start, um, and coordinator for preschool, Barbara Ecberg. She's going to share
018some information, uh, related to our Head Start data for the 2425 school year. And I'll just turn it quickly over to >> Thank you, Good evening everybody. I'm so glad to see you again. We we met earlier, some of us at an event. So, it's so nice to see you in in this setting. Uh I have three things this evening that we are going to go over. The first one is just a brief overview of Head Start from 24 and 25. So, I'm just reporting back to you. The second thing that we'll look at is um a paper version. You have it in a binder that is the desired results developmental profile data. And I really hesitated putting this in a PowerPoint because there's just so much. So I'd like to highlight a few things
019there and speak to that data. Um, and sadly as I flipped through it in the back, I noted there are no page numbers. So, I'm sorry about that. I'll hold things up or we can talk through some of the things and then as you review it if you have questions, I'm always available. You can call me, you can email me and I'm happy to share that um what I understand of the data with you. And then thirdly, we are required as a head start program to train our governance board. Uh and then I have that particular training in slides and then I'll take questions sort of at the end. So uh let's go ahead and get started and um administrative assistant Brown is going to help me through this as we're working through everything. So,
020we're going to start with the PowerPoint. Um, we um, as you are aware, were um, we have received one year of funding and extension. We're really in year six of five. And what I'll tell you is that um, because of the government shutdown, there is no Head Start support available. And so in the nation um in Washington DC there are 10 employees that are still working. Um and so there aren't a lot of folks to turn to our TNTA. So that's our technical assistance folks. That contract has not been awarded. I feel a little bit like I'm standing alone. Thank goodness I have really wonderful coordinators in the office who are helping me through things and um other directors in the state of Minnesota and the state organization to answer questions over this last month.
021Um go ahead Shannon. I want to just give you a quick snapshot of what Head Start looked like in 2425. So that's last program year. We had 190 head start slots. You can see the number of three year olds, four year olds, and one five-year-old. Um there were a total of 212 Head Start children. And the reason that that number is over the 190 is that children come and go often in our programs. You know that it's a very um sometimes a very transient group of folks that um access that. Last year, 123 of the children were projected to enter kindergarten. And I don't know the number, but but I do know that much. I don't know how many actually entered kindergarten here in Duth Public Schools, but I would like to find that out
022so I could report that to you. Um, I'm going to talk now about the the uh binder, you know, the unnumbered pages. So, let me tell you a little bit about what this is. It's called Drop. It's desired results developmental profile. When we look at this particular assessment, there's some important things for you to know as you're looking through it. What's important to know is that um it is observationbased. It's authentic assessment. And that means parents can give input, families can give input, teachers give input, and we look at what's happening in the natural environment, whether it's home and mom and dad are reporting, caregivers are reporting, or it's at school. So that's important to know as you're looking at this particular data. um dual language learners um when we talk with parents and when
023we work with parents that is accounted for in this particular assessment. In addition, studies using this particular assessment, which is on the menu of assessments that the state allows us to use in early childhood, um found no evidence of meaningful bias in this particular assessment tool. That's important. And I think when we look at development, we're not looking at grades. We're not comparing kids to kids. We're looking at each child's development. What you have before you is the overall group. So the group of children, there is a score or a percentage that children use 0 to 100%. And I think what's really important for you to know is that percentages are calculated for the group. So we have individual scores and what you're viewing are group scores. So as we look at children, what's happening
024in the group across the program? We have a variety of um options for you to see head start and then our overall preschool because we have VPK funding and school readiness funding. And so we have those categories of children and we also collect funding to support our program from great start which is child care. So um there's a number of ways that you can look at the data. Uh any questions about that just sort of what this is that you're looking at and you might have specific questions about the data but I wanted to give you an overview of what it is. Um, this is not a grade. So, it's important to know what it isn't. It's not grades. We're not comparing kids to national averages. We're not determining eligibility for special education or anything
025else. It really is developmental. So, I think that's important. It measures assessment across eight developmental domains. We also used creative curriculum as our curriculum pyramid model and second steps. So those are the last two are social emotional or seal curriculums and frameworks that we use with children. And what we know about our little people is that the social emotional piece is critical for them to be successful in a kindergarten setting. They need to know how to be self-regulated, how to solve problems, how to access adults, how to be with friends so that they can be successful in kindergarten. Go ahead, Shannon. You can go to the next slide. We can return to the binder in just a moment. Um, I wanted to give you sort of a sneak peek of who was in Head Start
026last year because I think this is important for us, especially as we're talking about equity. Um, there were 14 children were identified or parents identified them as dual language learners. Uh, 44 children identified as African-American and or black, two is Asian, 73 is white, and 54 is biracial. 54 of the children were referred for early intervention assessment. That's after they arrived. Like they came and we screened and we did assess and we did referrals. So that's really significant. We have a number of children who arrive with IEPs or IFSPs and then we add additional children to that number. 33 were determined to have a disability and often it's developmental delay which is that global view of development. Um 86 total children or 41% of our children in Head Start uh or DUTH preschool were supported
027through early intervention last year. So that's a very a very significant number of children. Go ahead, Shannon. Thank you. The families that we served, and this is important, especially in our current day conversations because we're talking a lot about food insecurity and SNAP and how we're going to support our families and what does that look like? And we're having lots of conversations now about that and over the last month. But it's important to see who came last year as well. 19 of our families last year experienced homelessness. 25 of the children were in foster care at some point. 136 of our families last year receive SNAP benefits. Significant conversation these days. 123 families reported at least one parent was employed. 21 of our parents had college degrees. and 64 p 64 parents had associate or
028vocational degrees or some college. So it's a just a beautiful cross-section of people who are here in Duth who are part of Duth public schools that are being served through duth preschool. Go ahead Shannon. Thank you. uh as I reviewed the broad goals, it is my understanding from all of the data that I gathered and everything that I read from the previous director that the broad goals from last year remained for this program year and then we've done some additions. Um so as you look at those broad goals around navigating trauma partnerships with early childhood special ed meeting the unique needs of our community and then fostering resilience. All of those remain the same for this year. They didn't change in the last slide. What we're doing this year are some additional things. So, um,
029when we talk about highquality inclusion, the early childhood leadership team, so that would be Jen Gerros, Becky Crane, and myself are meeting weekly to just make sure we're all on the same page, that we're serving the same children, that we're aligning our programming and having conversations about supporting one another. Um we are part of the P3 initiative uh from the state of Minnesota where really looks not only at um our uh prek to third grade, what's happening there, but also looks across the community, what's available in the community that supports our children and our families. So having those conversations, in fact, they were just up here a week or so ago. um doing some training with us and helping us through some of that. Um our teacher evaluations uh we are required to use class
030as a teacher evaluation tool. Um it beautifully crosswalks with the Danielson framework which is what the district is using. So, we're trying to make sure that we're crosswalking and um having some of those conversations around class. Um we are part of every child ready duth which is that broader um group of folks in in uh duth that are serving young children. Uh assistant superintendent Bonds talked about this earlier today in a meeting. We are having conversations about the first street buildout and what we might bring to that location that will serve families in that welcome center and in classrooms that we might have there. And then fostering staff wellness through reflective consultation is important. And so we have folks that are engaged in that particular um group led by our mental health folks talking about
031what's happening with them, processing families, making sure that the work is deep and authentic and really serving the families that folks are working with. And then we're spending a lot of time doing training around um challenging child behaviors. We're seeing an increase and I'm sure you've had conversations about that as a board and I know that we've had it here um as administrators and so we're doing a lot of work with that and working on um strategies with our staff um doing support that's immediate. We have an SOS chat so folks can call out if they need support immediately and myself, two of our coordinators and our two mental health folks are on it so we can go to the site and support and help folks through that or help children through a challenging behavior.
032Thank you, Shannon. Are there any questions? And I'm sure there are. Member Lara Kemp and then member banks. >> Just a quick one that um uh every child ready to luth. So are you the person that attends those meetings on behalf of the district or are there other staff that are >> There are other staff that do attend. So Jen Gerros and myself attend from the district and it is a uniquely early childhood group. You're probably familiar with it. Yes. So, the both of us do attend and it's it's really been a wonderful um collaborative partnership. I'm really grateful that they invited me. >> Any other Sure. Just a quick question with regard I was looking at the number of families on SNAP. Um and wondering if there are any provisions in place uh to
033help them with food or anything during this uh >> yes >> transition. So, um, we recently received information from Minnesota Head Start Association that we are allowed to develop a plan in Head Start to take food that is not used. Um, and it comes through our um, food um, partnership with CCAP. So, so we're able to take and we're working on it. We just received it a couple of days ago. How can we take that food that we're not using, unopened cereal, um you know, unopened kinds of go-gurts, those kinds of things, how can we get those home for families? So, our nutrition coordinator, Ashley, is um working with the um director of food service to make sure that we are packaging it correctly before we send it home. And it will require a few
034steps. Of course, it's the packaging. It's letting folks know. It's deciding what what we can actually send safely home to families. So, that's part of it. The other piece is that um one of our family advocates spoke today about the food. It's essentially a food pantry >> uh at Myers Wilkins and they're um working in other buildings as well, sending food home. So, we're we're doing our best with the resources we have. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> I had another question, too. Um uh from your first comments on because of the government shutdown, no Head Start support, only 10 people working in DC, how many had been working there or about like >> gosh, I don't think I even know the answer. That came from the um assistant director of Head Start. We
035are on weekly calls. We were on daily calls um across the nation. Now we're on weekly calls and we get uh two a by twice a week update from our Minnesota Head Start Association uh walking us through what we know is that across the nation currently in the last discussion. So it's about a week old 10 head starts had shut down none in Minnesota. So I'm really grateful for that. Um, and it it didn't wasn't in any specific geographic region. It was across the board. And so folks are figuring out ways to make this work. We're really fortunate that the district is supporting this work. And so we won't be in that situation, but certainly our families are in a precarious situation. >> Thank you for that. and just uh if if you you know
036because you're doing these weekly calls, there's information that could be shared on >> what you're hearing. Um I know uh there's a lot of concern out there uh on many programs, but I know I certainly heard a lot uh in the last few months and on Head Start in particular. And so I any updates that you can share with us on the challenges both of the shutdown or the other crisis we have in DC. >> Thank you. >> Superintendent Maggus. >> Uh just a recent update from the news that that there was a federal court judge that did um basically overturn the block of of the um um food aid. So there should be a resumption of of SNAP and other benefits by Friday. Uh but that has been appealed by the the administration as
037well. So, it's hard to see how that will play out necessarily, but we are uh really thinking about that as a community and also thinking about how from a nutritional services perspective and thinking about our work with our community partners and uh our community schools, how can we make sure that we're providing access to food, especially for uh families who are underserved. Mayor Mikeel. >> Um, thanks for sharing that information and I just want to point out it seems that our public schools are the safety net for so many things, not just education. Um, and a lot has asked of our our schools and our staff that work in them. Um, I just wanted to clarify, you had mentioned at the beginning of your report that you have received this year's funding. Is did I
038understand that correctly? Yes, this year's funding was awarded uh in July and that is for this program year. We are in a place where we will need to reapply in a competitive stance which means um when we look at Head Start funding it happens every five years, every five years and you just reapply and you just get it. We are not in that situation. We are in a competitive situation in which we must reapply for five years. The grant has not what we call dropped because everything's shut down. And so I haven't seen it. I don't know what it will look like. I don't know when it will arrive. So I've been gathering lots of data, doing lots of focus groups, doing lots of surveys, talking with people so that I'm ready when it does.
039But when we talk about competitive, that means nationwide. We are going to be competing for those dollars with all kinds of organizations. >> Well, thank you for all the work you do for our kids and our families. And the good thing is related to the competitive grant we've been blessed I'll use the word blessed um in duth because of our model um has afforded us some advantages uh in the past and I'm optimistic cautiously optimistic that our current model would also make us really um uh competitive for that grant um when it drops and unless they really make some significant changes that uh would you not allow us as a school district to receive those funds. So, we've been positioned well for a while. Hopefully, that will continue. Neighbor Lafer Camp. >> I just, you
040know, also want to reiterate because this is, I think, the only the second time you've been in front of us, but just I really uh are so grateful for your years of experience working in this area uh and working in other parts of the state uh that you're with us right now um during these times with with with Head Start and all of our programs. So, just a welcome and a thank you at the same time. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh the next piece that we're going to do is required by Head Start. It is a performance standard. Um we're going to wait here and for Shannon to pull it up and it is our governance training. It is not new to any of you. So we'll speed right through it noting the time. There
041it is. There it is. Okay. Nothing has changed here. It's exactly the same as it always has been. Um the first slide really talks about the history of Head Start. You are welcome to read that as we're going through. I think it's really important to note though that this Head Start is 60 years old. It's really exciting and we are the only Head Start where the school district is the grantee is that recipient. So that's exciting as well. Go ahead Shannon. There are four components to Head Start. Education, health, social services, and family engagement. We heard a little bit about family engagement here. Um and those components have specific staff and and specific um activities assigned to them as outlined through performance standards. Go ahead. When we look at Head Start, parents, family, and community,
042it's important to note that um we have a program foundation. We have impact areas. There are family outcomes that we're looking for. And what is so fantastic about Head Start is families are deciding what those outcomes are, what their goals are. We're not making those decisions for them. And then there are child outcomes. And really, you see safe at the top. That's an important important piece. Uh there's health and well-being, learning and developing, and that's all age within age appropriate guidelines, um engaged in positive relationships, being ready for school. So, it's that social emotional piece along with all the other great things they do in letters and numbers and literacy, and then being successful in school and life. Thank you. This is a super teeny tiny little wheel for you to see, but really it
043talks about the leadership and the governance working together to create a program. It's around quality child and family outcomes. Go ahead, Shannon. We have a number of performance standards and if you would love to read the binder I would be happy to provide that to you or you can access it online. Um we have requirements and we are very um strict around those requirements. I know when I came here one of the questions asked to me is how can you ensure that these requirements are followed? So we talk a lot about this with staff and coordinators and teachers and paras making sure that we are following all of these particular requirements. We are in a one-year cycle. We just talked about that. This slide is a graphic of the fiveyear cycle. And so when we
044write the next grant, it will be for five years. And this is the cycle. It's a continuous improvement. It's a continuous look at the data. It's a continuous way to engage parents and design programming along with those performance standards within that framework that serves the families in any particular community. Our head start doesn't look like the next community's head start or the next community's head start. And that's the beauty of Head Start. our leadership and governance board. So we have um the governing body, we have the management staff and the policy council and um they provide leadership and strategic direction. Our policy council amazing folks um we have met twice. We're about to meet next week for the third time and they are engaged. they are the the folks that are going to be um
045on your PTA. They're the people who are going to be involved in the school board. And so there's a lot of passion there and there's a lot of diversity in the folks who are on that particular policy council. So I'm really excited to work with them. Uh I don't need to read this through to you. Um, you can read this at your leisure, but I think it's important to note that there are policy council duties and there are governing board or school board duties that go with the role of being a governing board. Again, I don't need to read it to you. Go ahead, Shannon. Um this one talks about um I think it's really important um around the policy council. We are just about to vote on policy council leaders and several folks have
046stepped forward. So I'm excited about that. And then once those leaders step forward then we will dissolve last year's policy council. So that's important for you to know. Oh, go ahead. We um want to make sure that folks who do want to be a part of our policy council can be there. We provide a dinner. They bring their children, even their school aers, which is great to meet the whole family. We do a a brief family style meal. Uh parents separate from kids. We have child care providers. Um and then we go ahead and have our meeting. and it's been a really lovely experience. Finally, these are are things that you can access um if you want to know more, if you're dying to read all the performance standards or look at the Head Start
047Act um and that or if you're wanting to know about budgeting and how we do what we do with the money that we receive. And that's it. Are there any questions? >> Member Banks. >> Yeah, this is really quick. So, you mentioned 60 years here in Duth. Has there been a celebration or a community party or something? Because there may be other folks in the community that may not be aware. >> Yeah. So last spring, the policy council worked tirelessly to host a celebration. They did it at the zoo and they served um several hundred people dinner and they had a celebration and so the previous director really it's kudos to her and the policy council that was in place. So they did do a a celebration last spring. member Lafa Kemp. Um, I I
048just wanted to reiterate how you held up the uh the parents um that serve on the uh governing board and especially um that they do become the leaders in our schools and um one example that maybe I've shared with you but out at Stow many of the PTA leaders out there were parents that were on the governing council when I was the leazison and and they're wonderful leaders. leaders out there, but we see that across the district as well. And uh and and we welcome I know sometimes some of the directors in the past have brought some policy committee members if if they could u to some of these presentations in front of the board and um you know uh when available and and that would be wonderful too for everyone besides the leazison the
049schoolboard leazison to get to meet them. Um so maybe down the road. How about in April? How about in April? Okay. >> Thank you. I do not see >> you can you can always count on me. Assistant superintendent. No, I just want to say uh having spent uh the afternoon with you as well in and our quality uh or our our quality leadership team with the uh the Federation of Teachers and thinking about the many things we're working on to take a really good good good system and make it even greater. I really appreciate your leadership and thinking about these first experiences that many of our families have through preschool and Head Start, um early childhood. just very very very impressed with with uh what we do and also thinking about this as many many
050student and family first experience with our district and it's a vital part of uh ensuring that they remain in our our system we talked about our enrollment going up recently our enrollment is going up up we have to think about our capacity and everything that we're doing uh but I really think that when we have high quality first experiences like this it gets our our students students and families deeply involved in DUTH public schools and they don't want to leave. So, thank you for being a ambassador of first experiences. >> Thank you, Michelle. Thank you. I appreciate it. >> I want to remind the board that this will um come to the board on November 18th for approval. So, chair um deer that >> that concludes uh the presentations for tonight. Thank you. >> We're
051adjourned. >> Thank you.