##VIDEO ID:szAHIL2Wyfw## Drake is a fantastic leader in the classroom Drake is often pushing himself to learn the most he can every day it's very common for him to think about ways he can extend the practice to challenge himself to think on a deeper level Drake is commonly raising his hand leading the way for his class to fully participate Drake is a solid friend to those around him he is positive helpful and kind Drake is a fantastic addition to Lincoln Elementary way to go Drake we are proud of you congratulations Dr joining Drake up here next is Zoe kilm is that right clim sorry Zoe I even practiced Zoe was new to Lincoln last year but she was a spark from day one for those of you who don't know Lincoln is the lightning bolts so she was a spark Zoe's hard work makes her successful in everything she tries she always has a smile on her face and is such a positive influence to her peers her ambitiousness to want to learn everything she can get her hands on and do it well is noticeable every day Zoe has wonderful manners and is one of the most respectful students I have ever met lastly Zoe is always willing to lend a helping hand to staff and peers the most common word her peers use to describe her is kind way to go Zoe we are proud of you congratulations I'd like to invite Drake and Zoe's families up and any staff from Lincoln Elementary you're in the middle fill kids in there you go you can be right in the front here good job awesome [Applause] congratulations and last but not least we have Twin Lakes Elementary School and I'm going to call a whole crew up here we have Lucy Ames Aubrey Duffy Dia Peterson Rosie Smith Arya penck Emma Flynn you guys could line up here that'd be great they even came looking the part tonight so Twin Lakes uh they selected us the our school Corner Patrol to receive this recognition for their leadership and responsibility the corner Patrol is such a huge commitment they go out in all kinds of weather to help students safely Cross Roads for the whole school year they have to be good communicators follow the guidelines of safety and be responsible with time and accountability I'm proud of the safety patrol members because they act as role models and exhibit leadership and good citizenship for our students I actually had an opportunity to connect with the corner Patrol on the second day of school this year and they knocked my socks off they had already created a special surprise to get in the groove of this corner Patrol to help keep all the Otters at Twin Lake safe so I'm going to turn it over to them for a surprise for all of you tonight ready girls go for it team te go team te go team te and keep the kids SA wooo all right way to go I'd like to welcome family members and School staff up from Twin Lakes Elementary thanks so much for sharing that girls take a couple steps back girls there you go perfect thank you congratulations congratulations to all of our award recipients this evening this is I was a highlight of the board meeting families and students you're welcome to leave if you have other commitments tonight how cute are they they yes so much to celebrate so while we're letting the room kind of get settled here for a moment I will just say for me it's one of the highlights of the board meeting and I have to say this time I was watching as everybody was taking pictures this way I was watching the audience and what you see is a lot of people beaming with grins of Pride whether it was Administration teachers parents everybody there was beaming and I wish I'd had my camera to take a picture of that Pride that you see that's coming this way and it it almost you just feel deep sense of Pride right for our community when you see how the hope you see in these Future Leaders is people are just beaming with pride and seeing how these kids are being recognized and so it truly is one of the best parts of our board meeting is to see these Future Leaders being recognized for their efforts in school and how our community Embraces them and the pride our community has in them so it's just truly is one of the best parts of our board meeting and so it's something I hope that we continue to do going forward because it is such a such a neat opportunity because it is such a small group of students that we have the opportunity to recognize and when I see these young people up here and I hope it'll be great to see what they do in the future as they become older and hope we hopefully we planted a seed so any other comments from other board members was perfectly said perfectly but very welcome okay so thank you all for making that happen I appreciate that it really is very special so with that we will move on to the next portion of our meeting uh public comment and this evening we have one person that signed up this evening e e e e e e with that that concludes our public comment portion of the meeting um of course there's updates if you'd like to um speak at public comment information is in the um agenda on how to um speak to or sign up for public comment with that we will move on to General reports item a I will turn it over to the superintendent Dr bitman Madam chair members of the board this is available online as well um just want to congratulate the school board for their selection of Mr alos as well as Mr alos for uh his new role in isd728 isd728 is a special place and he will no doubt uh lead the District into really good things moving forward so congratulations we have been meeting regularly already to ensure that the transition goes smoothly and we continue to do that in coordination with both the chair and the vice chair so this is my letting you know that things are going well we're meeting a lot and there should be no hiccup in terms of the transition of authority um our next report is really relates to the October 1 enrollment in IST 728 no surprise we continue to grow that growth is in the south of the district and at the next work session you'll get specifics around enrollment growth throughout our area um we had uh a a pretty even split between Elementary and secondary we had 114 new elementary students and5 new secondary students and so again more information at our next work session um and that will look familiar as we have been letting you know that that was expected so no surprise there um we are in collaboration with a number of businesses as well as Chambers Etc uh doing a cool jobs tour for manufacturing month so we're really excited about the things that are happening for our kids and with our kids we're appreciative for our staff Our Community Partners and all of those that are involved in that so would encourage you to uh take notice of that and get involved if you haven't been part of that would encourage you to do so it's it's a really neat event and then finally just want to point out that uh Rogers High School is going to be hosting the North West Suburban Music Festival this year on February 2nd and 3rd and that is a huge event um that takes a lot of coordination and it highlights the special talents of students throughout the state in our conference uh in relation to that so again really excited to be hosting that in IST 728 and excited for our kids families and staff so would encourage folks to to get involved as they're able with that I'd be happy to take any questions any questions or comments for Dr bitman this evening all righty thank you Dr bitman uh School Board member reports first up this evening we have the public comment report director Hamlin one individual requested to speak to the school board tonight and that individual was given the opportunity to do so the topic identified on the request form was school happenings on behalf of the school board I would like to thank the individual for signing up to speak tonight and we'll share the appr the feedback with the appropriate staff perfect thank you um uh and then I have the work session report from the work session on September 23rd and the summary uh there was school board discussed various topics individual board members had brought up throughout the year including but not limited to the 20242 Schoolboard goals listening sessions student engagement at board meetings Etc topics that were not addressed due to time limitations will be brought back later this month for further discussion and then we also had um Miss Barb Dorne the msba director of leadership development and executive searches worked with the board to identify finalists and to finalize review questions and procedures for the superintendent search she also reviewed the interview protocols and training then I will turn it over um the third report is the superintendent search update and I'll will turn it over to Vice chair Weiss thank you chair Thompson uh the IST 728 School Board voted unan unanimously to select Andrew Almar as the direct District next Superintendent at a special board meeting held Thursday September 26 at the isd728 district office almost currently serves as a 728 Executive Director of Business Services a position he has held since the summer of 2022 formerly the superintendent of East Central Schools where he began in 2013 AL almost also uh served as a K12 principal in Goodrich a 712 principal in Maple Lake and a CTE teacher in shaki he is active in the state and Le at the state and National leadership level where he's recently served on the Minnesota Association of school administrators board of directors the school board is currently conducting contract negotiations um with alal and a contract is expected to be approved by the school board at the IST 728 meeting on October 28th um pending start date as superintendent will be January 1st 2025 wonderful thank you okay so we will move on to governance um item a policies uh first reading we will be asked the school board will be asked to review at a first reading the following policies as part of a three-year review cycle policy 414 mandated reporting of child neglect or physical or sexual abuse policy 415 mandated reporting of Mal treatment of vulnerable adults the school board will be asked to approve these policies at the October 28th October 28th meeting any board members have any questions or comments right now and if any come up between between now and then please email myself and or Dr bitman item two is a second reading approval it's been recommended the school board approve the following policies as part of a three-year review cycle policy 408 subpoena of a school district employee and 422 policies Incorporated by reference could I get a motion in a second so moved second I have a motion in a second any questions or comments from the board hearing none I'll call the question it's been recommended the school board approve the following policy IES as part of a three-year review cycle as previously stated all in favor say I I opposed say nay motion passes we will move on to learning and tonight we will start with item a is the Strategic plan and achievement update superintendent bitman and assistant superintendent nordon Rock will provide the annual update of progress made on the Strategic plan and comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness goals as attached and stakeholders will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the data in this report welcome thank you and just on behalf of our executive cabinet as well as folks throughout the district we are proud to be able to do this annually and oftentimes more in work sessions I think what you'll see tonight is a continued uh continued efforts and progress as we work toward the community develop strategic plan as well as our achievement that has been set out in a number of legislative requirements throughout so with that I will turn it over to both Dr Rock and assistant superintendent Nord Madam Madam chair members of the board superintendent bitman thank you for the opportunity to share um updates regarding both of these important topics this evening the purpose of our presentation tonight is really to give an update around our strategic plan um looking back to last school year so we're going to report out on progress from the 2324 school year as well as share where we're headed this school year and we we decided to add in the world's best Workforce results um because really when we're talking about our world's best Workforce results that's an indicator of success for us on our strategic plan so instead of reporting out on both of these topics separately we decided to do that simultaneously just given the overlap between the two so as we work our way through the presentation you'll start to see where that overlap happens so the first area that we're going to cover um and just a reminder our strategic plan has three big areas excellence and academics excellence and operations and excellence and Partnerships the first area we're going to talk about this evening is excellence and academics um and most of our discussion around academics tonight is really going to be digging into our data um around academics but we also want to mention the strategies um that we have in place that we worked on last school year as as well as looking ahead to this school year to really ensure that all students have access to a guaranteed and viable curriculum enrichments and interventions to meet their individual learning needs so you can see on the slide here in 2324 we really work to enhance our multi-tiered system of supports to meet the needs of all Learners and for those of you who maybe are less familiar with a multi-tiered system of supports it's really around designing not not just focusing on our core instruction um a lot of emphasis is there because we try to have that meet the needs of most of our learners but also looking to have intervention services and additional layers of support for our students who might need that both academically and social emotionally we also continued our review of content areas for standards um in the areas of K12 math physics chemistry and biology and we've had a lot of conversation at the board table around our efforts in refining our literacy practices and Miss Olsson actually referenced that as well um in her report this evening just around the redact requirements and the work that's happening with professional learning and resource alignment there so on the screen here you can see these are the five goals that are set forth in our world's best Workforce plan as we look at the different academic data we'll be reporting out on whether or not we met the goals in each of these areas so starting with our youngest Learners looking at our Early Childhood results um you all know that our academic achievement really starts here and so for us I'm excited to share that um last school year we had a total of 626 students ages 3 through five enrolled in our Discovery Learning Preschool classes and you can see the breakdown there of the students ages three or four or four and five because we offer a little different programming options for our families and then on the right side you can see um the different uh data that we report out on for our early childhood Learners uh and it's really geared towards development so we use a tool that's called teaching strategies gold or TS gold to monitor our students development in six different C uh do domain areas social emotional physical language cognitive literacy and math and the black bar on there represents uh where we were at in terms of our percentage of Meeting those developmental milestones in each of the domains in the fall of 23 and then the gold bar represents the progress that we made so the percentage that we're meeting it in the spring so just to highlight one of those in the social emotional domain in the fall 46.7% of students were meeting that Milestone and in the spring that went up to 87.4 so a significant increase and you can see across all six domains that that gold bar really grew from um the black bar in the fall so in terms of our world's best Workforce goal that ties in our early childhood results what we're looking for here was last school year was really an increase from 90.67% to 91.6 but we're headed in the right Direction and feel like um we'll continue to enhance that programming um to meet those different developmental domains the next section is focused on our Minnesota comprehensive assessments or MCA results so before we dig into the data um just we thought it would be helpful to provide a few reminders and context for the board so each year um we are really assessing a new group of students at each grade level so as we look at some of the STA specific specifically around um grade three um which is called out in the world's best Workforce legislation it's important to remember that we're comparing grade three from one year to who's in grade three the next year and so when we're looking at data oftentimes what we're we're looking at is monitoring that cohort's growth over time so we will follow the students as they progress throughout our system and that's really a more meaningful way to look at um how our system is is performing in addition I think it's important to emphasize that the MCA is a data point for our students and we really want to be having our school staff review our academic data with multiple data points so we're also looking at student data using fastbridge which is a measure that allows us to look at growth from Fall to Spring the MCA doesn't allow that and other classroom measures that we have in place as well um and this helps us really know what students need and if we're needing to provide some of those extra supports through that multi-tiered system of supports so starting with math um our math results you can see on the screen here over the last four years have shown incremental increases uh ISD 728 is represented by the blue bar um so from 2021 to 2024 We Grew From 55.7% to 62.1% each year um a nice increment increase last spring we were nearly 177% higher than the state average so the Red Bar on this graph represents the state average so you can see the the discrepancy in in how we're outperform outperforming that state average so that's a peek at our math results on the reading end of things our reading results over the last four years have been much more stable right around 60% and this really highlights um what we've been feeling as a system and really putting our emphasis on literacy so we're excited to see what our new core literacy resource does focusing on those foundational skills for our students to increase our scores in this area as well as uh the professional learning that we're providing through um Ola this year and early letters to our Educators uh so that both our resources and our instructional practices in the classroom are really aligned to that science of read the next slide looks at our reading and math achievement Gap this is another uh goal area in the world's best Workforce plan and on here it highlights um the difference between it should be the red is the state and the district is the blue and so again our achievement Gap is slightly less than what the state achievement Gap is we're at 28% for both math and reading as of last spring so just to cap on the second goal of the works world's best Workforce plan this is the one looking at grade three reading on the MCA measure uh the goal was set to increase from 64 to 67 unfortunately we did not meet that goal we saw a slight decrease and then goal three we are um looking at that achievement Gap and in that area uh we actually did Clos the achievement Gap Gap by 1 percentage so we went from 29% in 2023 to 28% in 2024 and last but not least we have science results for our MCAS and here you can see um again the state and red and isd728 and blue um you might be wondering we kind of were hovering around that 52 53 what happened in 2023 2023 was year one of implementation of a new research ource and when we do Implement a new resource often times we see a slight decline there um you can see last year we did see then bouncing back up to the 50.6% which is typical um in year two of implementation to see a little bit of that rebound um in 2025 just to have on your radar the state will be uh releasing a new MCA for science so we'll have a different assessment so then this is really hard to start comparing Apples to Apples as we transition into a new assessment and I turn it over to Dr Rock to share a little bit about how we compare um across the state and more regionally thanks so much for having us today um we wanted to talk a little bit about the state rankings to give you kind of perspective of how we perform relative across the district so in math our math data shows that we're ranked 25th in the state out of 327 districts which puts us in the top 8% of all districts when we look at the top 10 districts sizewise and I think we Shar this information with you before we're number two in terms of our math achievement and when we look at the top 25 districts size-wise we're ranked number four in reading similarly our state rank across all 327 districts is 33 which is in the top 11% number three for our top 10 largest school districts in the state and number seven for top 2 in terms of the top 25 largest districts science were 34 in the state again top 11% rank number three in the top 10 districts by size and number six in the top 25 districts by size so we're performing really well relative to um performance across the state and I think you can see that in the information that Miss Nord shared in terms of where we relate terms of our student achievement to where the State student achievement is we outperform in all of the areas the other thing we wanted you to take a look at for the board is how do we do regionally so districts that are close to us um and serve similar populations of students how are we doing comparatively so in this chart you're going to be able to see where istd 728 compares to districts that are in close proximity to us in terms of student achievement um in each area so Math Science and reading proficiency so you can see we're right near the top in all those areas we also included um local Charter Schools um as we know that they serve a number number of students in our community as well so we thought that the board might find that information interesting as well to review um as Miss Nord shared um we're going to share some more information around the world's best Workforce goals so one of the areas where we me measure um career in college readiness is the ACT results and so we were super hopeful that this uh data would be ready for us um but that's actually made available to us um on October 16th so it didn't come out that's like on Wednesday right um so we will share that information at another time but we look at the ACT assessment which is available to all of our Juniors and they have take for free um to look at that college readiness standard which is one of the world's best Workforce goals so we'll get that information as soon as it's available to us um the last year we want to highlight is our graduation rate and I know we've talked about this enough uh regularly over the last few years and the work that we've done to increase our graduation rate so you you can see in 2021 our graduation rate was 86.3% and in 2023 our graduation rate is 90.5% so this tracks four-year graduation so students who enter as a nth grader and successfully complete during their 12th grade year so we have seen tremendous increase in that area I'd also like to note that the state achievement has been flat in that area so you can see that our goal was to increase from 89.1% to 90.5 5 uh 89.1 to 90.2 and we're at 90.5 so we achieved that goal you might also be wondering why is there only 2023 data on there because we just graduated 2024 students graduation rate data gets released in April or April or May of each year so we'll share that data when we have it so that covers the main um content in terms of academic achievement aligned to um specific data measures we also want to highlight for you some specific areas that are more implementation measures um that we're using in terms of our strategic action plan so um in that area the first area we want to talk about is social emotional learning and our support for students in that area one of the areas that's specific to this is our work with positive behavior intervention systems which we speak about spoken about previously to the school board this has been a long-standing district initiative that we utilize to ensure a safe um and safe learning environment for all kids and really teaches them Str IES of how to act in certain environments I am proud to share that we are one of three Exemplar districts in the state the other two are St Cloud and Cambridge ianti and we have a number of Exemplar buildings in our district which is how we earn Exemplar status so we're very excited about that the other area that we wanted to highlight is in excellence and operations so in addition to academics our operational pieces support our work to support academic achievement in students so I wanted to highlight two areas for you in here um that I think would be interesting for you so last year under the direction of um director samic and director Anderson we created a technology plan that aligns with our strategic action plan which has three goals student learning aligned to digital use professional learning aligned to digital design and equity and digital access for our students so that plan is attached and then coupled with that we have also started a series where we are supporting educating our parents around the use of technology so link to this slide deck is our most recent um newsletter that's available to families called cell phones and devices a guide for parents there's a website link at the bottom and all of that information can be found on the website next month's topic is managing screen time for your learners so we're excited about the work that that team is doing to support our parents as they look to manage um their students technology usage and finally um Miss Nord and I wanted to just share some of the highlights for next year's strategic action plan so as we do this work each year we really look at where we at and what do we need to do to enhance our system so we can achieve our strategic action plan over the next few years so the first one we're continuing to work on is a guaranteed and viable curriculum you've heard us speak about this before but we're really doing intentional work to ensure that we have alignment across our system in all content areas across all courses and we have some um opportunity to do that because we have increased professional learning time because of the literacy professional development that we're being offered to our elementary Educators do you want to talk about the literacy piece you want me to okay um we also have a new literacy research which we've talked to you about before which is functional phonics and functional morphology which will build the foundational skills for our students um which we are really excited about and the impact that that will have on our Learners as they progress through our system um we talked about the science of learning professional development that will start on November 4th is our first day of that training um the other piece we wanted to highlight is a workaround portrait of a graduate we have a team working to start the work to identify what does it mean to graduate from istd 728 what skills will our students have and how will they show up in our world when they graduate from our system so we're really excited to do that work and we're going to bring some of that to the board as we continue throughout this school year we're continuing to enhance our multi-tiered systems of support um we're also doing some work with our administrative team on non-exclusionary disciplinary practices to support our Learners and then continuing our implementation of PBIS so we've linked our current plan in there with the action steps for this year for more review if needed and now we'd like to open it up for an opportunity for Community feedback for anyone in the [Music] room that includes board members as well I have questions um on the MCA you know there's a lot of confusion around that what if I look at it in terms of economics like full employment in an economic model is like three and a half to 4% depending on what Economist you talk to when when would you say you had arrived with the MCA where you can you know you hit a point where you're not going to get any better does that make sense yeah I think I hear what you're saying and I'll um turn it over to miss Nord if she has think to add after I share I think we're always looking for improvement because every number represents a student right so every student in our system we're working to create a plan to help them become successful and grow from wherever they're at sometimes that shows in an increase in proficiency for them as they transition from being non-proficient to being proficient and sometimes um we need to support them in different ways and we look to continue to do that so I just think our work is never done in this area because we're always looking to help every kid be successful in their academic achievement agreed on that I I I see I hear your point it's like we want everybody working in the employment situation so you don't you're not satisfied at 3% unemployment right it's just like we're not satisfied with you know let's say 60% but what you know I can speak to that yeah it's a really good question and the answer is there is no point there is no data because the MCA test is a voluntary test test that people don't have to take so this is the example we've given before it's like asking kids to work on a farm really hard for 10 hours a day for three weeks and say we're not going to pay you but you're going to have the opportunity to work on the farm so kids don't have to take it there's no impact for the kid if they pass or they exceed some kids are motivated some kids are not I have that even within my family within different kids have different ideas so it's impossible for us to say you know if we got 10% more we'll be happy it really is not meant for that at all because there's no implication for students at all the conversation that uh assistant superintendent Nord and rock talked about in terms of growth that's what we want to see so we have a number of measures in place that say okay where are you coming to us with we're going to do all these things and teach you instructionally and give you all these opportunities to do that and we're going to expect that at the end of the year because we've done intentional work with you academically and provided support that you are going to show tremendous growth in that area now if that student doesn't show tremendous growth we use that as an opportunity to say maybe we need to think about something different or we need to think about dig deeper about what's happening with that particular child sometime it might be special needs sometimes it's English as a second language Etc but the MCA test is not meant for districts to say okay our kids are achieving at high levels because there's no there there's no benefit for students for doing that right and our participation rate's in the 90s isn't it it is but uh as I would say we have a number of students if you go into the high school for example or the Middle School you have a number of students who are not trying their hardest and may just put C's all the way down so yes we ask our kids to participate but I'm guessing that within your family just like mine that some of your kids may try a little harder on the MCA test than than others so yeah we do we do promote that we ask that we want that but and I think any teacher or principal or anyone in school for tests will let you know that not all students are are trying hard to get that MCA score where they need it to be I I get that thank you for the explanation I'm just wondering what other metrics or what other things we talked about fastbridge you know how does that work and is that an alternate measurement so fastbridge we use to measure more of that growth from Fall to spring for students um and we also we will look at that you know by building at the class level at the grade level at the class level at the individual student level so it really allows us to dig into the data in a a really meaningful way for students um it also allows us to have information that's helpful if it's a student who needs some additional support um for intervention planning and so we use the screening measures to help identify who might need some more support but it also has progress monitoring measures built in it so that we're able to monitor the progress of students who are receiving those additional layers um to know if what we're what we've planned is having the desired impact and if not the group gets back together to problem solve around that I'm you know I'm just curious as a board you know when we're looking at metrics you know what what should we expect you know in terms of growth and have goals yeah it's a really good question director Anderson and like last year when we came to the board and did a work session and provided a number of those opportunities some of them we talked about tonight with fastbridge and MCA she also mentioned TSA gold we could go on for 15 or 20 different measurements and so um should the board be interested we'd be happy to do that again this year if the board would like more of an understanding of how we measure success in the classroom particularly academically we do that we do that every day uh in and out and we've had work sessions with the board every sing year on that so we're happy to talk about each one of those but at the end of the day each one of those test measures something different and as we've talked about as an executive cabinet we would hope that the board would continue to challenge me as superintendent as well as our executive team to say make the case show us that what you're doing is making a difference with kids and that they're achieving because we wouldn't expect an individual board member to know the intricacies of the tsse Golder fast Bridge right so we would welcome those conversation should the board want to do that in the future and we'd be excited to show the the great work that's happening in our classrooms and schools okay thank you questions comments can just um share how the special education scores factor into the MCAS it's a great question director Hamlin uh so we do have most of our students participate that are receiving special education services so the majority of them do participate in the MCA they may have it written in their IEP that they have accommodations on the assessment that's an IEP team decision um there are there is a very small percentage of students who do not take the MCA but take What's called the M toss and so that's an alternate measure that is geared more to our towards our students who have pretty significant disabilities that have more functional programming in place thank you any other questions I was going to ask you about the achievement Gap too I I know we decreased it from a point um but we were trying to get it down to 26 was our goal and we didn't hit the goal on the previous school year either is there something that we need to be doing differently I can speak to that and then if you want to to enter in um this is a great topic and one that we are excited to explore um and last year when we had this exact conversation with the board I gave you an example of a previous School District where I was in when the school district was named um a school that was performing poorly and in the lowest quartile in this particular category particularly the Gap and the very next year that school was if not the top school in the state they were the second or third and the reason for that is because all the kids in fifth grade then went to the middle school at this board table we know that we've had a significant increase in the number of students for example that are coming from Ukraine and Russia you know in the middle of the war so when we get hundreds of new students or or tens of of new students with significant need that will impact the Gap when we have significant increases for example with students who speak English as a second language as the board has been thoughtful and added staff because of those significant numbers of increase we can expect that in that first couple years we're going to have kids that are going to need more time because they're either focused on the trauma or the language Etc so while we don't make excuses we did improve the Gap even with all of those things and the 2% or 3% that's an arbitrary number that we choose sure we could we could say we want 1% every year we just want to see as much growth as we possibly can and so again we're excited that we made Improvement on that and and did that but the the number can be any number that's something that we choose yeah I think it would be interesting you know on that Gap as long as the Gap is going up does that make sense I mean if if the Gap stayed the same but it overall things went up for both groups that good too right yep yeah so just for folks in the audience so they're aware we improved with at a faster rate for students in that so we did close the gap on the on the achievement we just wanted to close it more ourselves than we did sure yeah I was thinking you know sometimes just a trend line would be helpful you know pictorially to see what the Improvement is because we could this this this goal here we could say well we didn't meet our goal but if we really looked at the data we did really well but you can't tell it from what we're presented with if that makes sense it's a really good point I think this is I'm glad that you brought that up because this is the conversation with the board I think each of the board members have a different idea on how they would like the data to be presented and so I would just ask respectfully for the incoming superintendent and executive team that the board during our work sessions when you're having that if you have particular ideas of how you would like things presented talk about that as a board and when the board decides on that we're happy to present it however the board would like to do that but it's hard to do hard to know where each person is kind of at and that's why we typically include them in a work session so we can have dialogue about those things so we can ask questions and get information from the experts I have one question it's for you Dr Rock because it relates to graduation rates and I know with the world's best Workforce we were always required to to record a four-year graduation rate however I don't believe that that's the accurate really the truly accurate picture because I think that if we include those that so and then you may not have that information on hand for 2023 but I think that the graduation rate actually is higher if we include those that either had to go to summer school or had to finish some credits so we actually get data on both on the four-year graduation rate The Five-Year graduation rate and the six year graduation rate and so we can include that in a board update for you but by and large almost all of our students by the time they're through six years have graduated we work really hard with kids that don't meet the four-year graduation rate to ensure they have opportunities to graduate because we know how important it is to have a high school diploma and so our teams just work exceptionally hard to provide them with opportunities that we have throughout our system to achieve that so that's one of those things and thank you because I know that's one of those projects that that are near and dear to your heart and so when we talk about 100% or something that we can get really close to 100% graduation is something we can do that that isn't reflected in this report but that I know that those that information is because we keep tracking those students and we want them to graduate so that we make sure it's not truly a 90% graduation rate exactly and that like right now at our high schools we are working with every single senior who is not on track to graduate I meet um quarterly with the principles to go through individually those students to say what can we do to help them meet that Target and they work just exceptionally hard we have amazing Educators throughout our system who really want kids to be successful we're so lucky yeah thank you that yeah but what's important that's part of why we're here absolutely that students cross the finish line so um to conclude is there anyone else that has any questions comments yep Mr nordos yes just trying to more understanding on the achievement Gap something I'm passionate about yeah please so I just had a question on the achievement Gap that you were mentioning and I was just looking to get more information on it because a few years ago you change the way you measure it from bringing the at risk Learners proficiency rates up so more of them are achieving their desired proficiency rates to closing the Gap so now we're measuring the Gap being closed so did you collect data on those atrisk Learners and the amount that are meeting their required proficiencies and have we actually increase those is that how we Clos the gap or did we bring the top down or a little of each thanks yeah I think that that's a really good question and thank you for asking that it's true that it can be complex in terms of the way the Gap gets closed and we can provide more I don't have the specific data on that but our goal would be um as director Anderson said that everybody is improving but that our at RIS students are improving at a faster rate to close that Gap that's that the preferred method to close the achievement Gap and that's what we look for we do track data on all of our identified um student group so we can see who is or is not performing and then as Miss Nord said we develop plans to help ensure that they can be successful perfect thanks for the question any other questions or comments no okay wonderful thank you very much we appreciate the report update okay we will move on to Item B this evening uh it's the 2425 School Board goals uh they are present in a revised draft for the 2425 Schoolboard goals um we have they've been updated based on feedback from previous work sessions they'll be asked to be approved at the October 28th meeting they've been attached um um director Weiss do you have any comments or anything that you'd like to add to those from uh yeah they have they've been refined a bit they haven't uh changed significantly but based on the feedback trying to refine these goals a bit so that we can bring those forward for approval um at the next at the next work session uh and special special meeting um the three goals really focusing in on improved board Effectiveness which leans in on a lot of professional development um and and you know kind of bringing our best selves forward to this uh this particular goal came directly uh from various feedback that we received but also from the superintendent survey um where uh the the community and the constituents um raised concerns about uh potential division amongst the board and our ability to collaborate effectively and work effectively together so um took that as an opportunity to say you know it starts with us and bringing our best selves for forward and and focusing on professional development and um and bringing bringing our a commitment um you know to to bring our best self to the meeting and to the work sessions and to the places where where we're representing um you know is is important it is common for boards to to do that um to have um you know goals that focus on professional development focus on you know building collaborative relationships um focus on you know cultures of improvement and things like that so really wanted to refine that put measurement there um ask ask for um sharing of that and we have opportunities to do surveys um Andor self assessments and workshops with msba to to measure that so that's really the first goal the leadership framework really want to make sure that um with the leadership changes that are in place um and coming forward with uh uh with the superintendent transition in January as well as um Board elections and potentially changes there that we are bringing again a leadership framework that offers um us to set you know everyone that comes in kind of new in January up for Success so want to make sure we have a strong transition plan in place want to make sure we have measurable um goals for the superintendent um and you know participating in that process in the feedback process with that um so that's the second um proposed goal again we've talked about these in the last couple of sessions and then Community engagement um continuing to sure that we are looking at um engaging with the community outside of just the board meetings and work sessions um and putting those things forward and again there's opportunities for us to continue to engage on ways to improve and enhance and those opportunities so uh the feedback you know received has has been discussed multiple times in the last couple work sessions I haven't received new feedback um per se um but if anybody does have any new feedback um certainly feel free to bring those forward but we will bring these ahead to vote um at the next meeting all right any questions comments anything new I would just say goal number one is not measurable because it's so arbitrary uh that it can actually be measured particularly um when you're looking at professional development opportunities um and self assessment we could do that through self assessment tools um of ourself and and of each other but also they our uh tools through msba where we could do a board Effectiveness Workshop um survey things like that so it absolutely is something that can be um effectively measured yeah professional development can be measured attend you know one or two professional development sessions by the msba I I get that but when it comes to some of the others the other two bullet points it would be very difficult to put measurements on that I think there's a variety different ways where we can again self assess um and or bring in professionals to do an assessment Workshop those those measurement opportunities do exist so do are you thinking of possibly having an msba Workshop um if we felt that that was um an action item to measure then that's something we can absolutely bring forward or maybe a retreat and we have done that historically Jen 100% we've had msba come in and do even board self- evaluations I think sometimes that's a useful tool particularly if the B board is having a hard time working together as a group it's very useful to have them come in and kind of facilitate how are we working together as an as as a board and go through that process it can actually be a very a very useful tool I mean there's a lot of conversations um and feedback we've had around um different ways to articulate student achievement obviously we saw the results of that here again we have lots of opportunities to do that through superintendent goals and even reevaluation of of these goals but these three goals really put us in a position where we as a current board can prepare ourselves for what the board looks like in January uh getting uh Mr Al set up for a successful transition as superintendent and really putting that best foot forward and that's really what we what we owe the district at this point in time um if there's an evaluation of goals to you know add an additional goal um Beyond beond beond what we would do within superintendent goals as it relates to student achievement we can look at doing that but these um keep us moving forward keep us putting our best foot forward and supporting our district effectively any other questions comments I'm okay with the goals as they are uh we it's a work in progress as we've discussed and we've had lots of conversation about that and I do appreciate all the all our conversation um I do prefer to have something more measurable but we will talk about that in the future yes and I think yes the the action items and how we specifically measure those things we can determine as we go but if we can agree to the goals then we can continue to progress continuous Improvement is a very common goal amongst organizations uh particularly in Corporate America as well as in school systems and large organization so um we will Embrace that um along the way perfect okay so any other additional comments feedback can either go to either Sarah or myself um and we will see it again on the 28th of October uh we will move on then to item C which is student reports and that again Vice chair is going to lead a follow-up discussion about uh with us regarding the plan to incorporate student voices in future meetings particularly focused on secondary students and the goal of this conversation is to offer Direction and Clarity to the incoming superintendent to ensure ing appropriate arrangements are made so I'm going to turn it over to you Vice CH yes thank you um in the uh board update that I sent uh about transition and whatnot last week um there was a quick question there um look for each each Boardman member to respond there's two different specific areas we've discussed the last couple work sessions one on student engagement um and the other on stakeholder engagement um it was a agreed upon I think through the the course of the conversation that the broader stakeholder engagement conversation um will kind of hold a little bit until again we look at the the the board goals the superintendent um transition plan and the new um leadership coming in in January to determine if we want to change the broader stakeholder engagement plan that we'll have more discussion but as it relates to more immediately just student engagement just really want to give some feedback um to Dr bitman as well as as we move um forward into January on student engagement um there's a question in that email I've only heard responses from one board member at this point in time on that but really need everybody to respond to uh student reports um in the format they are do we feel like they're effective and valuable in the form that they are and to continue as they are um or change and then the student advisory again uh is it effective and valuable as it is currently in its state um and continue to to do so or no so if everybody could please respond to that question via email um we will provide that direction to uh Dr Ritman and then uh leadership moving forward any questions on stakeholder engagement and engagement andent reports perfect so when do you want that feedback by if we could have that by the end of the week then we can Comm communicate that effectively um going forward okay thank you can you follow up with the two board members that are not here tonight I will to make sure absolutely I will send a reminder out to all okay thank you wonderful okay so we will move on to the consent agenda is there anything anyone would like move removed from the consent agenda before make a motion all righty I will entertain a motion in a second to approve the consent agenda so moved second I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda all in favor say I I hi oppos say nay motion passes board members please look at the upcoming dates of uh importance uh we have conferences this week and we have mea at the end of this week Thursday Friday and remember we do have a work session on the 28th correct correct just want to double check yes October 28th and with that I will entertain a motion in a second to adjourn so moves a motion in a second to adjourn all in favor say I hi oppos say nay motion passes we are adjourned thank you all for attending and have a lovely evening thank you thanks everybody thank you