001Good afternoon and welcome to the Duth Public School June 17, 2025 listening session. We will begin by taking role. Um, clerk MSCL. Member Banks here. Chair Derek Eer present. Member Laughler Kemp here. Member Loal here. I am member Mike Cell and I'm here. Member Sidowski here. Member Williams here. Superintendent Maggus here. Assistant Superintendent Bonds present. Deputy Clerk uh Zunich here. Executive Director of HR and operations severance present. Board Secretary Pettz. And our student representatives are excused. Thank you, Clerk Micell. And before we move on to the um listening session, I just wanted to read a statement on behalf of the Duth School Board. I want to take a moment to remember and honor Melissa and Mark Hortman. Melissa Hortman was a shepherd for us, the people of Minnesota. She protected our vulnerable, provided for our
002communities, and guided and nurtured us, her Minnesota brothers and sisters. Her passing is not the end of her time as our shepherd. Her work and her vocation will live on in the duth public schools. Every time one of our students receives breakfast or lunch, regardless of their ability to pay or walks into one of our many schools that are more safe, more welcoming, and more full of opportunity. Speaker Maritime Melissa Hortman, she was a good shepherd. And a good shepherd is not afraid of the storm for herself, but for her herd, for us. Melissa faced storms with courage, not for her own sake, but for us, the people she served. She stood She stood strong so we could be safe. She spoke out so that we all could be heard. She gave so that we
003could thrive. This is the kind of leadership we will remember. This is the kind of courage and of love we will carry forward. Her greatest legacy, her children, Sophie and Colin, ask that we honor her memory. Honor the memory of Melissa and Mark by living the values that they held dear. compassion, joy, justice, peace, and love for the people and the places around us. They invited us to remember Melissa and Mark, not just with words, but through simple, meaningful acts. They asked us to love our neighbors, to treat one another with kindness and with respect, and to do something, whether big or small, to make our community, our Minnesota community, just a little bit better for someone else. Let us take this moment in this place where we meet to talk about the future. Let
004us take this moment together to honor Melissa and Mark's legacy by quietly planning one act, big or small, that we will do to make our community, our Minnesota community, better for our neighbors and for our community. Thank you. Let us move on to our listening session and we will now have the um privilege to listen to Tim P. Please come. Yes, I'm all off. We're gonna do our normal thing. Just give us a minute. Sorry. We're gonna re read our what is that, Sarah? Our listening session. Our listening session guidelines and stuff. Sorry about that. Uh, first we'll begin by reviewing our 11 tools of civility. The school board recognizes 11 tools of civility that will provide increased opportunities for civil discourse in order to find positive resolutions to the issues that face our community.
005These tools include paying attention, listening, be inclusive, don't gossip, show respect, be agreeable, apologize, give constructive criticism, take responsibility, be honest, and care for others, show your evidence, and share your reasoning. Additional information about our listening session um is that if you have handouts for the board, please uh provide them to our school board secretary at the side of the room. Persons addressing the board will have three minutes total. When speaking, the use of negatively personal identifiable information or language is not permitted. Um, persons addressing the board may not merge their time in order to allow one person to speak for more than 3 minutes. The clerk of the board will start the stoplight timer, which is here in front of me at the start of each person's time. Green means go. Yellow means wrap
006up. The red light means please stop. When the red light comes on, the chair will gavel to signal you to end. In the interest of every of respect for every listening session speaker, please hold any commentary during the speaker's time until they are finished. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Clerk. Mel, now we have the honor to listen to Tim. Thank you. All right. Now, can you hear me? All right. All right. I am writing to formally express my concern, deep concern regarding the recent and troubling departure of Miss Sheila White, the Indian education coordinator for ISD79. My family's affiliation with the district spans over three decades with four of my five children have successfully graduated from schools. My youngest daughter will be entering Denfell High School as a freshman this fall. My wife and children
007are enrolled members of Red Lake Nation and I am a descendant of a First Nation tribe in Canada. We have a long valued essential function of the Indian education department within 709. Miss Sheila White has been instrumental in fostering the educational, cultural, and personal development of my youngest daughter. a highly achieved student community act activate a advocate varsity letter and a student representative for both American Indian parent advisory committee APAC and title six. Miss White's leadership has had a positive impact on my daughter's academic and personal growth. I'm very disturbed by the circumstances surrounding Miss White's departure. As an active member of Apac, Title Six, and JM, I have personally observed behaviors within these committees that have been unprofessional, hostile, and in many instances inappropriate. The conduct has been directed not only to Miss Sheila
008White, but also to other district personnel, including the department secretary, assistant superintendent, and the superintendent. The hostile environment created by these actions had a chilling effect on the Indian Education Department's ability to serve the native students efficiently. Furthermore, the threat of the professional potential legal actions against the district personnel has intensified the situation. Destabilizing a department meant to protect and uplift our native youth. This toxic atmosphere has had a direct impact on my 14-year-old daughter's emotional well-being and sense of safety within the education system. I am therefore requesting assurances from both the school district administration and the school board that appropriate safeguards will be implemented to protect her and ensure her continuing academic success in safe and respectful environment. The negative conduct displayed within the surrounding of these committees has extended beyond internal relations, undermining
009the credibility of the Indian Education Department. By extension, the district's mission to support, challenge, and empower every student to reach their full potential. The resulting erosion of trust, native families, committee, stakeholders, and professional jeopardizes decades of progress and goodwill. Okay. Um, no, thank you so much that just the time ran out, but um yeah, if you'd like to send us in any information along here and thank you and fast. No, thank you. We appreciate your words. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Lydia Schnikel. Lydia, did I say that correctly? Shinkle. Shinkle. Okay, thank you. Is that better? Okay. Okay. Uh, thanks for having me here today. I will be following this up with um a formal letter that I will email to the board and to Mr. Maggus and Mr. Bonds as
010there's a lot of things that I want to say that will proceed um will exceed the three minutes. I am also here to speak on my concerns around the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee's behaviors and the impact that it has had on our students and continues to have. As this board knows, we have gone through multiple coordinators and have had a long stint where we had no coordinator for the American Indian Education Department. I have grave concerns that the departure of both former coordinator Miss Garbo, Miss Jen Garbo, and the current coordinator, Miss Sheila White, at the end of this month are due to the unprofessional and aggressive behaviors of the leadership of the JOM, Title 6, and Apac committees. Our students are suffering. They are losing out on services. We have not been able
011to have family engagement functions. We used to have monthly functions. I've been on this these committees for 10 years. And the last year and a half, we have done nothing. And a lot of this is due to the leadership of the committee, not the fault of the district as some publicly allege. We are unable to have programming due to the dysfunction within the district. And it is really upsetting that we are losing a coordinator that brings so much value to our district, to our community, and to our students. I also have a high schooler at Denfeld. She will be entering 10th grade, and when she learned that Miss White um and Aquayashik during um were going to be leaving the district, she was very upset and started to cry. These are strong women that our
012students need to see. They bring they are first language speakers. They bring knowledge both cultural and educational. They have over 30 years working in tribal and public schools in Canada and the United States. And I don't know what this board can do, but I urge you to take action to try and remedy the concerns and the issues with the leadership of these committees as the students are the ones who are missing out. It's hard as a parent to sit in these meetings and see nothing be done. But this isn't about me. This isn't about the parents. It's about our students. And they are the ones who are not getting what they need. Sorry. And the threat of legal action that is happening. I have grave concerns. Those actions were not brought to the committee. The
013actions that the board has seen the letters were done by individual committee members and those things were not voted on or presented to the committees as a whole. Thank you. [Music] Thank you to both our speakers this evening. We appreciate you coming and speaking with us. Um this concludes the listening session for June 17, 2025. Thank you.