##VIDEO ID:nwZc4tudJHE## morning you [Music] Welcome to our September 9th regular school board meeting I'm going to go ahead and call tonight's meeting to order with r calls here GRE here here Le here mallister here S Young here right please stand for thege of flag United States America the for stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all all right got our agenda for the evening can I get a motion to approve tonight's agenda second by Cathy any [Music] discussion all those in favor anybody opposed motion passes okay our first um couple of agenda items are tax evat requests we're going to hear the first um from new and homes with Executive Director of Finance operations conver good evening chairperson Dubay Dr paig School Board I'm here to talk about two tax abatements the first one is New Horizon homes the project address is 1312 18th Street Northeast lot one block 2 major Ridge 3D the estimated project valuation is $460,000 is there a motion to approve the New Horizon home AC request motion by Kathy second by Peggy discussion all those in favor any opposed I right motion passes next tax abatement is the request from Bigalow and London Construction yes the second one is Bigalow London Construction the address is 13 31 18th Street Northeast lot 16 block one nature Ridge 3 and the estimated project valuation is 345,000 there a motion to approve the bigal and construction ta request motion by CCE second by Cy any discussion all those in favor any opposed right motion passes are there any delegations visiting I don't know that I see any Vis so we will move forward with our superintendent Report with Dr Gage thank you Chair Bay members of the board uh first of all I just want to take a moment uh to extend my sincere appreciation for all the hard work and dedication our staff have shown this kicked off from another school year uh from the preparation the planning uh the warm welcomes and the positive energy across the districts it's clear that each of our staff members has played a really important role into uh having a strong start for our students success and it's great to see also the transition completed with our kindergarten and Ne childood programs our science specialist in our neighborhood schools getting kicked off bars being implemented across grades seven and nine our pack of profile suer class is off and running we have new playgrounds uh one completed the other one's on the way getting completed uh but it's really been a commitment creating a really connected experience across the school district so I'm really excited about everyone's hard work so I appreciate all of that the Minnesota Department of Education announced us across the state of Minnesota 78 schools for being recognized uh for their commitment to PBIS and I just want to congratulate IJ Holton and Su Elementary School being recognized for their aing Exemplar efforts in pis today shared out and then our awesome siany Orchestra is going to be performing at the Minnesota music education convention here in February so we're really excited to Showcase uh our past and their legacy and utilizing the past and present uh students who have laid a groundw work uh for everything in the music department so we're really excited about that we also have three students to recognize uh on the College Board National recognition program uh these three students um Amber foresight Liam mayor and Claudia McDonald were all part of the national rural small town award recipients which is a great accomplishment uh we have over 1.3 million uh Juniors across the country and 21,000 high schools that enter the National Merit program and we have pre plalist uh here for the rural and small town award so congratulations to them we also have four students from Austin High School Chloe AAA saine and Isabelle will be taking part in the global youth Institute uh world food prize Foundation champ contest uh these students are among 150 students from around the world who participate in the world food prize conference in De Mo Iowa in October and we'll have them after this conference to highlight their work with uh their teacher M Sanders so congratulates to them for all of their work U and getting uh the opportunity to participate also thank Our Community Partners horal foods and the Hometown Food security project for their support in this endeav uh over the weekend we found out that our very own Chris fadness was inducted into the Minnesota basketball coaches association Hall of Fame uh so that will take place on October 26th uh so we shared out some information today and hopefully uh we'll be able to have him join us in October so we can recognize him congratulations to him obviously an outstanding career all the lives and these impacted in communities as well so congratulations to coach adness uh homecoming uh we have uh our home roll Foods United Way more County and home town uh food security project are going to be here and we're probably going to hear about this in a little bit so I won't say too much uh because we have some guest speakers but we're really excited about uh homecoming that's coming up in a new project uh that we hear more about a little bit later I want to walk with uh School Board student school board members um back and welcome to Michael who will be here in a few minutes um as well and then finally uh September is Minnesota school board recognition month this usually takes place in February so it feels like we're fast forward in the year we're not we're still in September uh but this is really a great time for us to recognize our elected community members who selflessly give um their time and energy support high quality public schooling and for our youth and the community usts awesome public school board members seeing $113 million budget over 5,2 students 850 employees and nine sites so thank you for your hard work as school board members for you do in our school district and for our community and I also have certificates that I want to hand out to you as well as part of my report GI certificates not GI certificates but I put a dollar sign on here you want not Jo thank you very much is that the conclusion of your report anybody [Music] question you know we all read our board minutes and uh we we've all gotten information from you but I would like you know it's one to read but could you Dr paig talk to us a little bit about the new principal I think his name is Raymond Diaz is who comes to us and could you tell us a little bit about his background and where he's been and uh how he came here and what some of his uh vision is and his job and just so we just so we can hear it listen sure yes we've hired Dr Raymond Diaz uh as the new assistant principal for a uh Public Schools uh he's worked in public schools and the private sector uh for nearly 25 years um and is uh as we shared all in I release and two uh both of his experiences in the classroom and with leadership positions uh as a music teacher band teacher and also running an online school uh up in the cities so he brings a great wealth of experience and instructional leadership uh to the awesome public schools and we're excited for him to join our team and his last place was eeden Prairie last schol system yep Eden Prairie online I had a Bo from meting PR you r on the school today didn't we U we did yes what's his name uh Eric cper thank you any other questions okay are there any school board reports go Carol I just wanted to Echo Dr Pig's thanks to everyone who had a hand in getting the schools ready the students ready the staff ready um for the new school year and Dr basin's academic and admin Services report states that we welcome 57 new teachers so that is amazing and onboarding sessions and orientation for all laptops I mean it's just amazing when I read through that all the work that goes into it so sincere thank you um and then I had the honor of serving lunch to our dedicated staff um in the newly designed cafeteria um for the welcome back kickoff event on August 22nd and that was a lot of fun I could really seriously do that if you ever needed somebody to pitch in be careful about how you're GNA be fall soon anybody else have anything I just want to make a comment about um last Friday's football game the student section was full of spirit and I remember I was listening to them uh do the class cheers oh I love that they do that so kudos to our students at the high school for showing the rest of us how it's done look like you were gonna say something yeah if you've concluded I'll say a couple things I just like to kind of fig your t on what Dr page said about Coach fness there's been a lot of talk about coaches over the last uh couple weeks in the National media I think most know why and there was an interesting article the other day in the paper about um the difference between a transactional coach a coach who does something only for his or her own benefit if you play for me today and you're not that good tomorrow that and then there's a transformational coach someone who empowers students makes them better kind of the person who 10 years later that athlete will look back and say wow I was a power I think coach F this face fits into the transformation uh pocket and um I just can't think of anyone more deserving than Mr F that he has transformed the lives of a lot of students and he's wrapped up a lot of winds over the years and kept the tradition of Austin basketball going I just like to say a couple things number one I was driving bus today had to pick a lady up lunch lady by the way at nice moon at summer school and I had a couple minutes I was going to just uh sit in the shade and close my eyes for about three minutes and uh I look to my right and I see this beautiful playground equipment I'm going to age myself and say it was a jungle gym but what a wonderful piece of equipment and then I looked over and there was a artificial service and two soccer events and I thought well I picture said Dr Paige he used to play over there he played sball before they had displayed on many years ago and uh just for the one night I drove by there about 7:30 at night and I looked out there and it was a jungle JY I bet you there were 20 kids on that diesel equipment playing unsupervised from kids in the neighborhood and actually there were just as many kids playing soccer it was just awesome so uh that playground equipment is important thing the kindergarten and now teachers and I'm glad that we're uh up the promise that we made to them and then just uh I kind of do random things I just decid that uh I'm going to go visit every one of the um kindergarten classes in the next couple weeks and I just happed more summer the other day and um I started out in the lunchroom and I can't tell we talked about staff I can't tell you the work that these Pais and these lunch AIDS do and the cooks to keep the children fed and to get the lunch room clean and stuff off the place it was fantastic and then I went down to the rooms and things are going really well just just you know I could drive by the school and say it's looking good but I just wanted to go inside and those four teachers I saw were right on they were doing a lot of good things so uh it's a good start I'm sure it'll be just about the same at Nevin South Gate Manfield but I'll go over there and I encourage anybody to go over there and one thing they did say I've seen this as a bus drier one of the good things is that they might see their brother or their sister who's older in school uh that's really a good thing so I was a Woodson proponent I think the transition's gone well I think it's what it should be now and and that's one good quality that having the students in the inary schools so thank you I just want to follow that say I talked with the teacher from South Gate who um made the comment that it just felt like they've been been there forever and it was great to see those little Kinders and first graders because we have two grades that are new to that build to those buildings this year be able to look up to the older classes and just know what to do how to line up so I think we got some good things happening all right anybody else have any reports to invite our student Representatives up and give another Welcome to our returning uh representative Lita R and our new representative Michael g hi it's good to be back superintendent page chairperson dub and members of the board my name is an and I'm your 12th grade representative for this year and I will be presenting to you the first path of the student report before the beginning of the school year L crew helped welcome the Inc incoming Freshman Class of 2028 to Austin High School L crew is made up of Juniors and seniors who support our nth graders by teaching them what the high school is about and helping them feel welcome Linker leaders go through two six-hour training sessions and learn how a lead group activities and strategies to help the nth graders on orientation day the nth graders get to know each other better and understand the high school's culture as you can see the student body has been busy even before the first day of school along with link crew the new Packer profile seminar class has been added to make the transition to high school easier for the Freshman this course is incorporated to each nth graders schedule and teaches skills like time management and career Readiness it also gives them the opportunity to catch up on school work and connect with teachers in their new school the new phone policy has also been implemented through throughout the high school and has made a notable difference in The Learning Experience teachers have started to focus on the importance of connecting with peers face tobas and have leaned to use more group based work while teaching AHS has also welcomed a new assistant principal to the Packer Family finally homecoming prep preparations are beginning to take place the big week will take place the 24th through the 27th with the dance on the following Saturday battle connect shirt sales ended last Thursday and many shirts were sold along with other activities like the field day taking place Friday jph days and the bon fire are being planned for the big week a new service activity has been added to the week's list of activities where all of AHS will volunteer to P SN B through the Hometown Food security we are so excited to see how this year's homecoming turns out but there's still so much more to do and plan it has been a great year it has been a great start to the 20224 2025 school year with so much student involvement thank you so much and this concludes the first half of the student report do you guys have any questions you know those those uh snacks are being packed and do you know what what goes into those bags I'm not quite sure but I know it's going to be like a big truck that comes off and drops it off and everyone's going to be packing snacks usually on Thursday we do battle connects but this year it's a more service B activity and then they moved the Battle of to Friday and I know it will be taking place at the field this year and it will have like a bunch of field activities but they're also expanding battle connects into the year Beyond just homecoming week so people will be able to use their battle connect shirts and have more fun activities throughout the school year that's really the PO for yeah thank you superintendent page chairperson du and members of the board my name is Michael Gary and I your 11th grade representative this year today I'll be presenting the second half of the student report first I'd like to highlight our four students who made the global youth institution Conference held in D Iowa this conference brings together young leaders from around the nation to discuss Global issues and innovative solutions these students are Chloe K isab Rosen Mela du poach and Sabrina nit in addition to these conferences the starts of B Sports have been a major highlight this season our athletes have been working hard preparing and now completing and now competing the energy and school Spirits at these games have incredible and it's clear that our fall sports teams are ready for a successful season the first pet band of this year was at the football game was a success energizing both the athletes and Spectators with Lively music and support of atmosphere to make it easier for our communities to attend these games we've introduced an online TI system fans can now purchase tickets at AHS games through our website making the process easier and ensuring everyone has the opportunity to support our teams looking ahead we're excited about the upcoming Washington DC trip plan for this fall trips will provide our students with a chance to explore our nation's cap capital visit historical landmarks and engage in educational activities that complete their classroom learning this group is designed to deeper the understanding of America history and government and it promises to be an enriching experience for all participants in addition to that the language strip student the language strip last year students got to immerse themselves in a new culture and enhance their language skills through direct exposure this trip was very successful and fun and broaden students Global perspectives and practice language practices in real world setting lastly we're looking forward to the upcoming CEO class and the businesses they create so far the students had three speakers and did a team building event and thank you for thank you for your attention to these exciting developments is it has been great to start the 2024 20125 school year filled with lots of opportunities for student growth and involvement I look forward to sharing more updates as the year progresses this concludes the second half of the any questions yeah Michael I have a very important serious question I want to ask you get ready well I guess you can't find it super let me just say welcome to Austin School Board you do a great job you did a great job tonight and whatever need does you follow okayy Michael before you can you just give us a quick what what what do you do do you do sports music what's what what are your passions um my name is Mike Gary my passions are I a wrestler and I play tennis I own my own la care company and I'm in I'm also in Austin aome thanks for sharing look forward to getting to know you this year anybody else have questions for good nice job all right next item is our consent agenda is there a motion to approve the consent agenda by CE Peggy any discussion allvor wait you got to be a little I just had a question and a comment and Todd forgive me if I'm like putting you on the spot this is just more for my um knowledge on under the bills it's on page 472 there is a fy4 reset access Fe for 3,479 32 what is that I believe that bill was paid to Southern Minnesota education Consortium or smck so they are um that is a level four setting that smck has and they have the ability to charge a feed in non- membering districts that have access access to the building for the lease payment in that so that is peral statute those are for level four students that are attending smck building and they have the right to char that okay perfect thank you reset access the description reset is the name of their program is at sorry that's the name of their programming so that's why they put the reset on there okay perfect thank you very much I have a follow up on that then is that part of what we've been talk excuse me okay I'll just answer your question say no thank you and then I just had one comment to Sher on her report congratulations on down to five un pair of positions from 18 last year would have known that we'd be so excited to have only five that's amazing congratulations I'm sure well I give the principles all the credit they the principes and Spud supervisors have worked very hard to fill those positions and yourselves for create for approving a better contract that easier to recruit people [Music] under thank you H it's okay just got to stop me before I keep moving um anybody else have any comments questions we had a motion from CC and a second from Peggy correct yes all right all those in favor anybody opposed motion passing all right our next agenda item is a homecoming update which we do get a little bit of a preview from our student representative so we're going to invite up principal management and student council advisor Emily H are you not ready that good work that's why page members of the board em and I are here to report on the changes so our mission of the district is to inspire Empower and accelerate and that mission is not just carried out in the classroom is carried out in our sports activities and clubs and so our students have come to us with ideas of how they would like to see homecoming be different there we go so when you think about our desired daily experiences that our students are asking from us they want to have a voice and choice of how and what they learn they want their learnings to be hand on meaningful challenging and helps them prepared for the future to have teachers and staff work with them that benefits all students and finally the school should be about them and not the teachers and so when you look at this and the changes that they want to make it doesn't just stop there that's fine you want to make these Chang but how are you going to go about making them what are all the logistical things that are going to go into those changes so these are the recommendations from our students and the changes that they're wanting to see not only that when we talk about our Val thank you our core values as students are working through these they're learning to be responsible and resilient and a learner and a communicator and a contributor because like you said when Mrs huband is working through this she's not just saying okay I got it I'll take it from here I'll do all the planning oh that's great okay now it's on you to plan and they've done a wonderful job okay superintendent paig chers today board members um first of all I also like to say the students do a fabulous job um we have a CEO alumni and a current student that and they I have to to be the C mom so good job guys um so homecoming week we have spent a lot of time during the summer um some of our student council members give up lots and lots of hours to spend extra time in the summer with me planning for homecoming and what is um kind of on their agenda for that year so we spent I think we were in here one day for like 6 hours in August with um probably about 20 plus members of our Council helping to go through this um but also in the spring we started planning some different things and looking at how we can make homecoming something that our students can engage in and um feel good about but also they're looking at the broader picture of how do we do that throughout the entire year because traditionally homecoming is um a really big week for our students uh so big that sometimes it can be overwhelming to some of our student body um I know to our parents and staff sometimes that can also be overwhelming because it's just a lot in one week and then the feedback we hear from our students is and then there's nothing and we go through the rest of the year and student council Works to do activities um but they don't always get the same level of Engagement from our students so we looking at that we hear feedback on we'll just do another battle of next which um would be a massive undertaking in itself but also um we we also know that it wouldn't be the same field just because it's uh it would be doing the same thing twice so they put a lot of work in and I'll give you kind of some highlights of the week and what that's going to look like so um B connect Shir orders were due today so those numbers are all out and that's one thing off the list um our schedule for the week so that Friday prior to homecoming week which would be September 20th we will have our kickoff kickoff petfest at that petfest we will be sharing about the dress up days for the week um with our students and we will hear from our Administration about some things that are necessary to um just discussed prior to that week uh Monday there is no school which our seniors were quite I see your face n our seniors are quite sad about that because they like what no school on Monday of homecoming week but um I told them they could organize a activity together uh Tuesday we have spam day we will be announcing the court at our petfest at the end of the day we will also have the spam truck on the front um lawn giving out free Spam sliders at the end of the day um um Wednesday will be neon day Thursday will be our class color day uh we will have our distinguished alumni event that morning our service competition that morning and then there will be a bonfire that evening at westop Friday is red and white day with our coronation um taking place Friday morning we will be having kickball in the afternoon our closing petfest and then our pring and then Saturday we will be having our dance activity night out at w field so these are just some of the schedules for that week we are trying to kind of keep our keep a balance of our school schedule and not have so many disruptions so we're having just a short pet Fest on the Friday and Tuesday as we kick off and announce the court Wednesday is a normal day with the exception of everybody wearing their neon colors but it will be a normal day of school uh Thursday we will be having our um distinguished alumni assembly in the morning and then students will remain in Auditorium uh between 9:30 and 9:40 they're going to get a kickoff to that service project that we'll be doing as an entire school so this this is one of the um changes that is coming in for our homecoming week and we're super excited about this because we've been talking for a couple years with our student council members about how we could do a service project that we can give back to our community and we this year were like you know it's no better time than homecoming for us to show our community how much we care about them as well because that's they're a big part of why we're here and what we do so uh it just kind of fell into our lap with Hometown Food security when we were planning a service activity they approached the school and and um we are working with them to do these Food Packs and we will be packing a look at my notes Here 24,000 snack packs through a company called matter boox with um in in connection with Hometown Food Security in that pack there is going to be a protein which is called W butter um there'll be a whole graen cracker which is the carb there will be a buddy fruit which is like applesauce or fruit combo so that they'll get their fruit and then there's also going to be notes that the students are writing um about um you matter which connects with the company matter box that's working with um with us and with Hometown Food security and they'll also then be learning about how they can help with different food needs within our community but also um ways for them to access food if they need that as well so they'll be doing that service project that will be a a competition for them with earning battle that'll be the first step earning battle con points for the year so they will be split up into their grade levels we will be having all of our class colors spread out across the front lawn and it is not going to rain and then we will be able to um um tally points from that as well Friday then we'll go back to normal schedule Friday morning we will be doing our um coordination and then Friday afternoon our kickball game will take place we are going to be walking to Westcott as a school and there'll be kickball our closing pfest will take place at the field and then the parade is to follow just tell us about that a little bit um this was just to staff so and school board members I believe that Miss Ms sent this out to you so in case you're interested we're always looking for shaer for this amazing night at westcot field um or anyone in the room really and if you like tacos and ice cream and pizza you as Shon get that so it's amazing um we have long games so if you don't like to dance with the kids that's fine you can do some of the long games and just be the Observer and help us if you are interested so we'd love to have you there it's a great night our kids we moved out a couple years ago and it's been a huge hit over the years and that is all about homecoming you have any questions so the t-shirts their orders were due today do you have any idea of what kind of participation numbers we have with students with that I should because I sent all those numbers in um it was a lot of math I'm sorry I don't I can get the numbers to Dr paage and let you know the other nice thing with it is um because our our battle connects so that'll be the first time that they can earn points then it'll also be food and um hygiene product drive that week where they can earn points kickball will be worth points but then four times throughout the year we'll be having um different events on different school days where they will do be able to wear their class shirts again and earn more points and then um in the spring we will be doing our full scale Battle of connects with all our traditional games but as a way to kind of like cap our year off and we've also had students approaching myself and Miss Carter saying hey this would be an idea for us to earn more battle con next M so of course they're starting to come up with all the ideas of how they can do that so there will probably be a second order of shirts this year which is kind of nice for our our student body as well that was my next question I said can kids you know join as the yeah the hope is that we'll be able to do a second order because as you can imagine sometimes people forget to order I might have saved someone in this room [Music] today any other questions homec coming these changes sound fun thank you thank you our next agenda item is our summer school update with our principal of alternative Services Jessica and our summer school coordinators going it's just Rebecca with us tonight so Rebecca welcome all right thank you very much Sher har superintendent paage members of the board uh my name is Jessica cabine I'm the principal alternative programming and I'm here with theca just the Rebecca she's pretty very incredible so I'm going to talk a little bit more about it later but I'm here to just give some updates around the summer programming and then we also get to all hear a little bit about the 912 program as well so that'll be part of our presentation uh as we think about the Strategic plan oh am I off again sorry thec here I shouldn't touch the there it is okay sorry with that so when we pi about our strategic plan when we focus on programming in the summer we always want to make sure that we're continuing to look at those strategies Mission Vision core values and the Strategic priorities and this year we're really excited to talk a little bit more about those core values how we've integrated it and some of you actually help participate in that this summer we're going to talk a little bit later when we talk about those desired daily experiences so I'll touch on that as we get closer to the surveys that we did with um students and staff and we really just want to make sure that our design design daily experience sets the foundation for students families and staff experiences so this was really driving a lot of the work that we did and I want to just really thank Rebecca and Gina because um without them I certainly wouldn't be up here so they have been phenomenal workers and supporters of Target service and really onboarded a novice principal into this work and we're really excited to share some of the data with you today so uh for those of you new to the board targeted service is an intervention or prevention program uh really focusing on that K8 and so really we want to look at providing interventions and preventions outside of the traditional schoolway so that might be we have what we call targeted service extended day so that's actually starting tomorrow in our elementaries in IG and Ellis and then we also have the targeted service extended year and so that's the summer programming piece to that um again grateful for these incredible leaders Gina Williams was our primary summer school Lead Teacher and you guys have both been five years four or five years four four years they keep coming back so I I just wish you could and some of you have seen their work um but they do so much work behind the scenes starting January if not sooner giving input advice guidance um you'll see later in our staff surveys that a number of our staff really rely on these two as incredible leaders that are boots on the ground really supporting them and continuing to really Elevate the experience for all participants by the Numbers uh 561 students participated in summer school this summer uh there's 50 staff when we think about staff we had teachers lead teachers Care Professionals special education support subs and substitute teachers the neat numbers is we had eight AHS students that volunteered all summer as teacher aids and so when I say all summer that was all six weeks um we had a mix of our aspiring teacher group and we also had a number of students in the uh African Student Association uh they did the math and I think if you did it all all of June you got your 50 hours in for your volunteer so we had a number of students that committed to June and July and really elevated the experience for our staff and students I was just reflecting on with Sheila Burger I walked in on Nancy Bron's readers readers theater at Danfield and a student was reciting the whole home in Spanish so high schooler was and so it's so neat to see that and the feedback from the students was really positive and I want to thank Dr Basin too because the students our high school students transport was going to be a barrier because a lot of them were freshman and sophomores we were able to navigate Transportation so they could actually ride the bus to participate so we just see that growing because I think that was an editent of it too okay now I'm really excited about this data and very anxious because I really wanted Cory to present this and he said no so data I know but like oh that's a lot of data okay but I had not I practiced all weekend I was here Saturday okay so I have the barographs up here but I want to talk first about reading and I'm going to just talk through some of the key findings I'm going to do the verbal and there's the visual so overall performance in Reading in summer school are you ready for this I almost feel like a drum rolls necessary but Ryan MERS won't do it for me uh 14.2% gain wow wow we'll just sit with that so an increase of 47.5% to 61.7% the largest Gams were observed in grade six with a 27.7% increase followed closely by grade 1 with a 26.2% Improvement grades 2 five and four exhibited study progress with gains ranging from 10.4 to 12.8% grade seven and eight showed three games a little bit smaller games 6.8 to 7.7 um where we might look at further support and we always want to continue to think about those middle levels and in part of some uh targeted Service Groups up in the metro in midd School engagement and involvement is something that we're going to continue to work on and that's actually a focus for our learning work this year around the state and then we look at gender comparison we want females had a gain of 14.9 and males had a lower gain of 13.4 still improving from 45 to 58 5% I'm so nervous is he smiling that or no okay there's another page okay shaking I don't know why I'm shaking up here I don't know okay so we're still on reading and we're going to move to our ethnic group performances so again it's really did it help you I'm okay thank you go slow yeah yes that's it right don't touch know I'm not a kindergarten sweaty and okay ethnic performance so when we look at this um we want to talk specifically first off our Asian students achieved the largest improvement with a 17.2% gain then the next category would be our black students that black students showed significant improvement with the 17.6% gain in Hispanics was a 12.9 our white students had a 13.8 and again these are just I'm just giving it again but you can see it up here as well um and then our lowest performing was a native Hawaiian students with the smallest gain which is only 3.3% so again we want to continue to celebrate the success we have but then also narrow in on some additional focuses students identifying as two or more races saw at 12.5% Improvement our English language Learners are nonel demonstrated a 14.6 gain our e students improved by 13.9 we talk about our special education our non-sp special education had a 13.4 but our special education students exhibited the highest improvement with a 17.9% gain so across the board in Reading we just really saw some incredible gains I would definitely anecdotally contribute that to a few factors one of which is the um we increased our instructional day but I would also say from a hiring standpoint we some of the best of the best teachers in those classrooms um we saw very seasoned Educators that come back year after year and um we had I think four or five teachers from other districts that came and worked for us for the summer and then back to their their District so we're drawing um teachers from other districts as well we've also the flexibility of our professional development we've gone to a playlist so teachers have access to that playlist in May and they have curriculum writing time but they can go ahead and access the modules when it's beneficial to them instead of having everyone come like the day before summer earlier in may they might have their own graduations or travel plans and so letting them have that um instructional time ahead of time was really beneficial feedback so improve by really focused on number sets I should have clarified that too so we really that was really the focus of all the grades and again uh we're going to look at female students showed a gain of 14.2 and na showed a slightly lower gain of 12.8 when we look across white and native Hawaiian Pacific Islander was a 7.4% students identifying as two or more races had a notable gain of 12.5 and education 13.2 in special education students demonstrated a strong progress of the gain of 15. it would be hard not [Music] to happenings and and as Educators we can kind of gloss over the successes and really focus on the things that didn't go well but um we're really grateful for this time to be able to share some really great data that really shows talk a little bit more about the qualitative data too because I think that's important to share and one of the biggest things that we incorporated now that we extended our day was that incorporation of the Packer profile and this P's still here so we want to really attribute the success to this to her as well between her Gina and our district and what does that look like at the primary grades and the intermediate grades so we had some really cool journals and journal prompts and some incredible guest speakers that came in and spoke to our student different experiences for kids e e side of that this year we also at the primary connected to Kids Corner so students had um Kids Corner access right there on site and we really as Ryan's right here we had increased communication including social media so pledge of allegiance that Rebecca coordinated at Holton so you could really stay engaged and I think that was helpful for families because um they're working too and they kind of want to know what their kids are doing during the day African Student Association volunte [Music] e e um but I think we're really going to try to house everything within our system so that that is accessible whether or not you teaching it you can still see that you continually looking at e that was that wased I also attributed so as we continue to look we we probably will TR focus on previous years we may have moved too far ahead maybe look at multiplication and division but really that summer is about like building mindset growth mindset you can do these things and those that number Sense is a great reach for them like oh I can do this and the teachers but extend it during where there is very powerful and one of the comments sidebar of school board members were it would be really nice to try to incorporate school board members into that ceremony much like in the spring um I think just it would it I think it would it would be a very nice thing for board members but I think it would it would rash up the level of authenticity for the event so just put that in your your pocket for absolutely as soon as we pick the date we'll we'll let you know that would be great to have you again that was that was really powerful event I'll let Allison and gab know too thank you very much this is the day is phenomenal I like data so I was excited to see the remarkable results my question is about the attendance did you have any issues with attendance in the summer or was it like not really any different than the school year um I would say we usually start large number and we have a lot of um I have worked really closely with success coaches this summer too that we help make personal phone calls to those that might be gone a few days to really try to keep them going so usually when the year starts we we do lose some as we get into the first second week but I was really surprised and happy with how many especially the seventh and eighth graders kept coming back because to me that was the hardest grade level to try to get to want to come to school so um hopefully that would like she talked about would be something that we can really work on well I think too usually in the past couple years we've always had to decrease a section or two come the July session and this year we didn't have to cut any teachers we were able to maintain our staffing June and July so that I think also shows that the students were were coming and excited about learning because sometimes you get that break that we usually take the first week of the July off and then we start back and we see a dip but this year we were able to retain all our teachers K8 thank you oh uh Rebecca you do a fantastic job and thank you thank you Jessica for uh laying it out in L's terms you know I've had probably four or five people come to me just this summer and say Don I really love ausome Public Schools but you got to do something about those test scores and I say we're doing everything we possibly can and those numbers are amazing but everybody in this room wants those scores to go up will is there any because I I believe the test scores in high school across the state are pretty flat aren't they I mean they're not going like you're not did right is there any is there any way that this is going to translate into those scores that people come to me and say Don you got to do something here I would I mean like we would really hope to see that too as we move forward into the school year and really continue um again I stepped away from that K8 instruction time during the school year but I would have to say just anecdotally hearing what Dr Basin and Sheila and Andre are doing to support teachers and school leaders at that Elementary in middle and with the read act there's some really strong instructional practices that are going to be in place and the heightened sense of looking at data and I'm really excited about the PLC process to and really having teachers talk about how their kids are doing in intentional ways to elevate that instruction um we are in a really incredible District that has strong support from the board and incredible District leaders that are going to really continue to help us see that growth and I would I would have to before I step down from this so they turn the mic off on me um really want to say that the cabinet has been amazing because I can come up with some really wackadoodle ideas yeah right there from middle school um and so like every time we said let's try this or let's look at this I never got a no I got a let's look at this or let's do this and when I had a question or a problem they all came Todd Katie Jen Sherry Corey like they all jumped in and help so I think the success in the data just shows the comprehensive backround support that our district is providing to support students in summer and I know they're doing the same thing to the the elementary and middle principles too so really um and they don't get a lot of Kudos they get a lot of phone calls and complaints I'm sure um in questions for me but they really do deserve a lot of go for the the work and support they've given us to be able to do what we were able to show you tonight can I just kind of you back on that and just make an observation that um the the numbers that you saw and the fact that you were so focused on that foundational number sense and those foundational elements is really about making sure that the kids have the confidence in their knowledge and they are feeling really solid coming into the school year and I think that is the kind of work that that you do that is going to eventually um lead to um changes in in test scores um so thanks for putting in that that that work we appreciate you I just have question about the staff is it hard to find teachers that want to work in the summer or how is that's a great one is that uh normally like the less tenure teachers that want to do it you know I'm really actually glad you said that because I probably should have highlighted that I would say our most veteran teachers are actually teaching summer school now when I first started it would have been the the newer teachers um and I don't know what shifted um the feedback we get from the veteran teachers is the curriculum is already developed it's already prescribed this open and sequence is there they're coming in and just and teaching and using the art of what they know how to do and engage with kids because they already know here's the curriculum here's the supplemental materials uh and so we've seen S I would say I think my favorite was two years ago when we had the Bron mom and then we had the Bron daughter who had just graduated from oir and came and taught it was awesome but for the most part they are or season teachers um we did open it up outside of the district too just because we want to offer that and we did get a number of teachers from other districts that don't have that extended summer programming and they also said that they would come back but when I called their references they were like you can have them for 6 weeks and you better return them so I'm taking that and I know one of the principles I'm like I'm pretty sure that they would be TR true on on that endorsement but thank you em yeah it's that's what I was going to say is can we start recruiting them there's a bling princip that would say no but we did um but I think that is also a great recruiting tool too and we do open it up if we have openings to our new hires so if we hire anyone in the spring that's going to be starting in the fall we do offer that opportunity if they want to either sub or pick up a July series we'll offer that to our new employees too so Sue's great about letting me know when there's a new hire and then I'll just answer any questions and see but we this year we didn't have to tell a student no we had enough teachers to support and it was one of our highest enroll I think for yeah it was big this year was really big it was big anybody else thank you for coming and sharing please um pass on our thank you to Gina as well thank you all right our next item on the agenda is the request for the approval of guaranteed Energy savings requests for proposals and this is an action item with Executive Director of Finance and [Music] operations good evening chair person today Dr school board we're here tonight to talk about ano statute 123b 65 which gives school districts the procurement tool to go out and look at energy saving projects so we had started this project in 2022 2023 school year where the board had asked amorisco to go out do a feasibility study to see if there is anything out there that we could look at this goes into like LED lighting um and other um saving projects so we went through that study we heard back from them uh when I started in January we been working with them on and off and we talked about this at the last work session where we are now at the time where we need to go out and do an RFP so what we're asking for tonight is your permission to for us to submit this to the paper put it on our website and reach out to three vendors for them to come in and do analysis on what cost saving projects we could have out there so I'll just open up to any question questions comments concerns so Todd will you be actually soliciting these or do we have a company that will do that for us we will actually be doing it in house we will send it to the three vendors that plus putting it in the newspaper and on our website we have to publish it for two straight weeks for the Statue and then we'll have them submit um sealed bids and then we'll take a look through all this um when we get that in we'll bring it back on the timeline we'll bring it toil committee and then we will bring it back to the board in October for you guys to approve if we find the savings are there is there a motion to approve the guaranteed Energy savings request for Don second by Evan further discussion talk about the last stud session yes we did yes all those in favor anybody oppose motion passes our next agenda item is our request for the approval of our donations also an action item thank you it is a great honor to stand up here tonight and walk through on the gifts that we have received that are in accordance with policy 706 acceptance of yes so I'll will read these off they meet that policy and we're look for you guys guys to accept them the first one is Fraternal Order of Eagles Faith Church early risers Colonus $5,000 recipients all elementaries in CLC the next chapter two boxes of Native American books recipient Native American parent advisory committee paternal Order of Eagles $500 recipient I interia scho is there a motion to approve this month's donations motion by Carol second by P [Music] discussion all those in favor anybody opposed motion passes thank you um our next item on the agenda is the request for the deletion of policy 723 accounting and financial procedures manual with superintendent Beach thank you chair MERS of the board uh this item was brought to uh the board at our last work session uh to repeal policy 723 as we talked about at the work session this is a pol it's a manual uh not a policy uh and so we feel like this is better served as a resource within the office of finance and operations other than board policy so something we won't have a manual for this for I just recommendation as discussed at the work session is to repeal policy 73 there a motion to delete repal policy 723 accounting and financial procedures manual by CCE second by n anybody have questions comments all those in favor anybody oppos motion passes thanks for helping keep our policies clean all right it's a reminder that our next School Board special meeting is scheduled for Monday September 23r 2024 at 4M in the AHS district office conference room there a motion to adjourn motion by Peggy second second by Kathy all those in favor thank you have a wonderful e