001I'm going to call our listening session to order. Welcome. This is ISD79 Duth Public Schools. It is Tuesday, September 16th and it is 5:35. Again, this is our listening session and we are pleased and welcome to have all of you here in the boardroom and for those that are watching on live stream. I'll turn it over to to clerk Mike Cell who will take role. >> Member Banks >> here. >> Member Derk Eater is excused. Member Laughler Kemp >> here. >> Member Loel >> here. >> I am member Mikeell. I'm here. Member Sidowski >> here. >> Member Williams >> here. >> Superintendent Maggus >> here. >> Assistant Superintendent Bonds is excused. Deputy Clerk Zunich >> present. >> Executive Director of HR and operations severance >> present. >> Board Secretary Pquette >> here. >> And roll
002call is complete. >> Thank you. I'll now turn it over to um board member Zadowski and she is going to um share with us our mission, vision, values, and our civility codes. Thanks. Our mission here at Duth Public Schools is that every student every day will be empowered with learning opportunities for growth, creativity, and curiosity in preparation for their future in a global community. Our vision um DUTH public schools provides an academically engaging, safe and inclusive environment with high expectations and responsible use of resources. Our core values include learning, excellence, equity, collaboration, and belonging. The 11 tools of civility. This school board recognizes 11 tools of civility that will provide increased opportunities for civil discourse in order to to find positive resolutions to the issues that face our community. These tools include pay attention, listen,
003be inclusive, don't gossip, show respect, be agreeable, apologize, give constructive criticism, take responsibility, be honest and care for others, and show your evidence. Share your reasoning. >> Thank you. And now, um, clerk Mike Cell will read, um, some just guidelines for our listening session. >> Uh, information to know when you speak up to speak at a listening session. If you have handouts for the board, please give them to our school board secretary Pette sitting over there. Persons addressing the board will have three minutes total. When speaking, the use of negatively personally identifiable language is not permitted. Persons addressing the board may not merge their time in order to allow one person to speak more than three minutes. The clerk of the board will start our stoplight timer, which is here, the start of each person's
004time. Green means go, yellow means wrap up, red means stop. When the red light comes on, the chair will gavvel to signal you to end. 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. With that, again, we're pleased to have our community come before us in the listening session tonight. Our speaker is Sierra Keenan. And then yeah, the mic will have a green light if it's on. So press the button. >> Okay. Is that good? >> Okay. Okay. Good evening. My name is Sarah Keenan. I'm a parent to three children in the Spanish immersion program at Myers Wilkins. and I'm here today to talk about some of my concerns regarding the recent expansion of the Spanish program to Myers Wilkins and
005to ask for increased support from the district in order to make this expansion a success. The first issue is the limited district support. The funding materials and resources promised to support the program thriving across two schools has not yet been adequately provided. One of the strengths of the Spanish program is the rich learning that happens in peer-to-peer environments, speaking Spanish with groups and peers. With a program split across two schools, opportunities for crosschool collaboration requires intentional planning and additional support from the district. Another issue is cramped classrooms. The decision to split the Spanish program was made to address the overcrowding that was occurring at LOL. Now crowding has been alleviated for some, but our Spanish immersion students at Myers Wilkins are moved into even more crowded classroom conditions than ever. It is not a sustainable
006solution to simply push the overcrowding problem from one pinch point to another, specifically at the expense of our Myers Wilkins Spanish immersion students who find themselves in extremely tight quarters. These are inadequate and unequal learning conditions with the Spanish immersion students being placed into these physically smaller classroom sizes with a higher number of students including at least one classroom with no windows. The conditions not only affect comfort and focus but also raise equity and safety concerns. Natural light is identified as a criteria for classroom adequacy by the Minnesota Department of Education. This issue must be addressed so all classrooms have natural light and adequate space. Um, perhaps most concerning is the feeling that families have not had their voices heard and concerns have gone unanswered. There has not appeared to be adequate transparency around how
007decisions are being made and how support is being provided to this transition. The district stated in January 2025 that support to families, the program, and both schools would be provided and emphasize they would do whatever it takes to make the expansion successful. So, these resources appear to have not yet been delivered, but it's not too late. The community remains deeply invested in the success of the Spanish program, and timely support from the district is critical to make it a success. So, I ask that the district prioritize the delivery of the promised resources and support. Provide a meeting or listening session to families and staff to hear from the school um about how things are going. provide a thorough assessment of the facility conditions and the space usage, including a plan to alleviate the overcrowding that
008is now occurring at Myers Wilkins and assure all classrooms are equitable and conducive for learning and provide transparent and consistent communication with families with opportunities for feedback and collaboration. I do think the district has the opportunity to make this program expansion a success, but it will require listening to the community and acting with urgency and care as we get this school year underway. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. Thank you. That being our last um public comment for this evening, our listening session is now closed.