##VIDEO ID:WtBZJBb8W7I## good evening welcome to the Little Falls school board meeting today is November 14th the year 2024 we are for the Independent School District 482 in Little Falls please stand at this time and call join me for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the pl of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible and liy and justice for all our district mission statement is Little Falls Community Schools works together for each learner to achieve academic and personal growth in a collaborative safe and engaging environment do we have any public comments this evening we do not thank you um I'll Now call for a motion to the for the approval of the agenda as printed so move I'll second okay we have a motion and a second on the floor any comments questions or concerns about the agenda as printed hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed I'll I'll accept a motion for the um consent agenda the consent agenda includes Personnel approval of the prior meeting minutes approval of the financial transactions a motion please so move second I'll second any comments questions or concerns about the consent agenda hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I'll now turn the meeting over to Kelsey for the resolution for the acceptance of gifts whereas the following have generously offered to donate to the Little Falls Community Schools mid Minnesota Federal Credit Union donation of $100 to the Little Falls Community Schools flyer Fest Anderson custom printing Incorporated donation $50 to Little Falls Community Schools flyer Fest oh boy bag bag neck Insurance got thank you glad you butchered I'm glad you're here donation of $200 to Little Falls Community Schools flyer Fest freaking freaking oh my gosh man you guys I'm struggling tonight okay Incorporated uh DBA as the Royal donation of $100 to liil Falls Community Schools flyer Fest cobs donation of $500 to liil Falls Community Schools flyer Fest Curtis Wilson VFW Post number 973 donation of $500 to the Little Falls Community Schools flyer Fest Randall cusheen Lions Club donation of $300 to the Little Falls Community Schools fill the bus American Legion Post Number 46 gambling an account donation of $1,000 to the Little Falls Community Schools flyer Fest um Little Falls dandelion donation of $132 56 to the Little Falls Community Schools flyer Pride packs and CTC donation of $3,340 123 to the Little Falls Community School's Esports program to cover trip expenses I will second for you okay and then a roll call Julie yes Mark yes Dan yes Sharon yes Doug Y and myself yes thank you Kelsey um next we're going into the reading of the flyer Pride cards and Doug would you start please sure uh first one is Jenny Hansen her role as the library boss I'd like to thank Jenny for her willingness to always go above and beyond she was always willing to help me out when I'm in need of extra books for my students I'd also like to thank her for always being flexible with her schedule to help teachers and students out when other things come up Peggy Rex said next is shirle Vanden hoval um who's a PA at Lindberg there's not a better way for a student to start out their day at school by having Shirley greeting them every day she's at our drop off location greeting students and waiting for and waving to the parents Larry ederton next one is just Melanie she's bus driver of bus 31 we are so thankful to have um Melanie as our bus driver she builds relationship with our kids keeps them accountable and communicates with us well she has turned around to go back for a child who forgot their band instrument she provides treat pizzas for all students on the bus and accommodates for our child with dietary needs our kids love Melanie and so do we we're thankful for her Matt and Sally hire and kids Glenda Davis second grade teacher I appreciate how Glenda brings humor and and her positive attitude to school it makes Dr Knight a great place to work Sarah Wester Ann gravy thank you for always being so kind and welcoming as a former student and now co-worker I've appreciated all of your support no matter how long or short the conversation is Alicia ginsky Joanne Neiman there's no way I could do my job well without the help of this wonderful woman she helps all of our students learn celebrates their win and encourages them to perform at their best the students love Mama Joanne and so do I Rachel Kota and finally Marin mikkelson she's our new fourth grade teacher Marin has done a remarkable job in her transition into the classroom her positive attitude and attention to details are sure to make this transition a success keep smiling and bringing the positivity you will do great Lisa salber thank you Doug my first one is Jess Olsen middle school dean of students being a middle school dean ranks high on the list of challenging jobs and Jess deals with our students uniquely with their unique choices with Grace respect and consistency thanks so much Jess for your support and organization skills this fall Rachel Kota Darla Thompson music teacher at Lindberg Darla did an amazing job with all of the hard work and time she put into making the fifth grade veterans program such a huge success the students sounded fabulous thank you Darla from Peggy reead Janice aan at the high school Janice does an amazing job at the high school she is always willing to help takes her job very seriously and does it with great pride I am proud to be working on the same team with Janice Rusty lost Chris stas Lincoln principal so thank you full for the leadership Chris has given Lincoln School he has L her students staff and families in our Community he has been very thorough in routines and expectations that make our schools run smoothly when our leaders lead well we can do what we are called to do and that is to teach Sally hire well done Mr dolas Lauren Martinson a special ed teacher thank you Lauren for coming so quickly when I reached out for an extra set of hands in the nurse's office the teamwork at linol is something we should all be very proud of Amanda Lincoln school nurse Jeremy statam thank you or he's a limberg PE teacher thank you Jeremy for all the extra work you put into helping Darla pull off such a fantastic fifth grade veterans program the three of you are an amazing team piggy reead student groups web student council our web where everyone belongs and our student council have been working hard to plan events and activities such as the pumpkin painting and the school dance our school climate is positive because of these two groups and their contributions Dan fiser Sharon Farber secretary one at Lincoln thank you for all you do for everyone you are wonderful to work with and I'm thankful you have joined the Lincoln team Amanda Lincoln School Nurse Kathy Crocker perah Kathy exemplifies what it means to be a team player her dedication to students shine through whether you see her at the cafeteria classroom Sack or hallways you are sure to be greeted by a smile from Kathy keep up the good work Aaron Johnson Hannah sininsky a par professional Hannah is Awesome with the students she is kind and always a great coworker to be with Nikki Henry and Steven Jon and Nathan matro cleaners stevenh and Nathan show up every day with a smile on their face and a fantastic work ethic thank you for keeping the Middle School looking great Chad cadit Dusty Parker limberg art teacher thank you Dusty for all the extra work you put into helping Darla make the fifth grade veterans program such a success the three of you are an amazing team Peggy rexed Tony Katherine special education teacher exceptional efforts in scheduling managing coverages and maintaining clear effective communication within the department your dedication has contributed to a well-coordinated and supportive Department Chris dois Jess Olsen Middle School DEA students thank you for being a leader who truly listens trusts and supports teachers and students you you work with us to hold students accountable while caring about them to help them be better and do better thank you Sarah philippy Jackie mes Dr Knight Pera thank you Jackie for always being willing to help out with whatever we have going on in the classroom I really appreciate everything you do for me and the second graders Glenda Davis Lisa NZ High School Lisa does an amazing job directing traffic and supporting students in the guidance counseling office Lisa is always smiling welcoming and hardworking Rusty was Michael Rey par professional Michael is great and jumps in at every moment to help he's willing to help all staff too Nikki Henry and Mara Roberts first grade teacher Mara is an amazing role model for students and staff alike she continually shows flyer pride in all she does from respecting her students and colleagues showing positive attitudes in meetings and training and taking her responsibility as an educator very seriously Little Fall school district is a better place because of her thank you Mara for being you Lisa solver Stephanie patno a middle school social worker did I pronounce that last name Stephanie brings a wealth of Knowledge from her past experiences which has a positive impact on all those she works with her willingness to be a part of different groups helps with the overall impact as well as as well thank you for joining the mtss team Lisa salber Christy Huck a special teacher High School Kristen was actively engaged in letters training her attention and focus was greatly appreciated thank you for driving in and soaking up the new information your students will benefit from your learning Lisa salber Alisa garbinsky Lincoln second grade teacher Kudos and lots of thanks to Alisa for being a big help to co-workers and subs in time of need all your efforts help hard work are very much appreciated Sharon Farber Stephanie k Pinsky secretary 2 St Stephanie went above and beyond to make sure teachers have easy access to materials thank you Amanda SKU zaa scuza I kind of thought that was it but I wasn't going to say till I knew for sure Kelly Conrad perah Kelly does an excellent job as a perah she understands that each child is unique and takes the time to build strong relationships with students she creates a safe space where children feel comfortable expressing themselves Aaron Johnson Abby Pula special education teacher at Li Lincoln I appreciate your help yesterday very much because of your help I was able to accomplish a very difficult task thanks again Amanda at Lincoln school nurse primary PLC at Dr KN kindergarten second grade class room thank you for providing breakfast for all of us for our PLC meetings it was thoughtful of you and very much appreciated Melanie Brown Pam par professional Pam is amazing she loves all the students and helps everyone whether staff or student she helps maintain my room when I'm out and keeps the kids in a better way Nikki Henry Little Falls Elementary PTA a shout out to the Little Falls Elementary PTA for a successful Fall fundraiser they also had a well attended Halloween dance for K through 5 at limberg the gym was packed fun was had by all Larry edgarton Cindy beasman par professional Cindy helps me every day with a smile on her face she is amazing with the students Nikki Henry Raquel tresco special ed teacher thank you for working so closely with me on the health needs of your students and willing to help out when I need a hand I appreciate you very much Amanda Lincoln school nurse Jan reer special ed teacher thank you for all the unsung work you do with and for people from your advises to your students and parents on your case load to after school homebound students and all of the staff you help you do so much more than people realize thank you Sarah philippy Alicia ginsky second grade teacher appreciation for stepping up to support a fellow teacher during a family emergency your planning ensured that students received high quality instruction without interruption Chris doas Stacy JX special ed teacher at the high school Stacy is a great leader and supporter she is not afraid to reach out and ask for support and advocate for her colleagues her dedication to her professional growth is yet another way that she EX simplifies par professionalism thank you Stacy Lisa silver thank you everybody at this time we will go into presentations with our first one being the student Representatives Molly Ellie and CE all right so this is our update okay so first I'm going to talk about the high school choir and band and so I'll start with the past events that we have already done this year we did a homecoming halftime show with our band and we did that with our n and 12th grade or 9th through 12th graders and then we also had a brass Ensemble play for our Veterans Day program and momy will talk about our Veterans Day program in a little bit and then for choir they had a fall choir concert and then a yccm concert and then upcoming events we have IMC which which stands for indoor marching band concert and that's a concert with our 9th through 12th graders that are in band and we play a bunch of fun songs like songs that you would hear on the radio or songs that are from like TV shows or movies and then after that we have a holiday concert coming up and then we just play a bunch of Christmas music and we have a concert that's open for the community and then we also have one that's just for like the students and teachers in our school and that's a choir and band concert so they're combined and then we also have magical magical is that how you say it magal okay magical and that's a Renaissance themed dinner and that's hosted by the choir and um a bunch of students can audition to be in it and it's a really fun fun that the choir has and then we're also going to Nashville this year for like our Bandon choir trip and then I think it's every 3 years right yeah it's every three years yeah so it's every three years and so three years ago we went to Disney World and now we're going to Nashville and then accomplishments we had let's see that's four students make it into 9th through 10th grade acda All State honor choirs and then those students are Emily Overton Magie gravy Emma Larson and Colin schlangen schlang schlangen yeah and then that's kind of it for that SL the same brass Ensemble that played at the Veterans Day program will also be playing at the magical dinner as well as a recorder Ensemble so and Molly's a part of the recorder Ensemble so yeah um on Monday we hosted our Veterans Day program which is something that student council does um it went really well I think the the script went well the flow of the day was really good so um the guest speaker was Major Tracy manowski and she did a lovely job she kept everyone very entertained and her words are very captivating um we also read a poem which is a Prelude to Taps and the student council officers read that so Ellie and I and then Mason cheetah and Natalie gravy um me and Ellie also introduced the quilts of Honor program which is an organization which where um group a group of men and women quilt um blankets for veterans and a veteran has to be nominated to receive quilt but the students have the opportunity to volunteer to deliver the quilt to the veteran as they receive it and then our last section of the Veterans Day program was a 21 gun salute by rvfw post um we had a couple performances at the program um our entire choir performed formed so that was 99 through 12 you can see them being all dressed up in their red white and blue and then our flyer brass emble performed a piece as well we had two trumpet players play the Taps which were Ben Henry and Elliot oberton and then the full brass Ensemble was Gabriel sa Joe brog Elliot oberton and Ben Henry and then the last thing we did at the pep Fest was announce the voice of democracy essay winners which is which is a scholarship competition that we do locally and then it also extends to a national competition but these were just our winners from our VFW Post so first place went to Ivan Patrick second place went to Brooklyn Vonberg and third place went to Ben norer um The Prompt for the essay was is America today our forefather's vision and I believe it was around 600 words so wasn't a crazy long essay but um they put the work in and then they got PR as well okay so the polar punch I'm going to be talking about that so we raised a total of oh it's so much 11,800 $15 that is so much and um the total amount of plungers is 15 and we did not hit our goal for that the goal was 200 but I think 15 is still so much like and seeing those people like line up you can see like you could just see them smiling and getting ready and it's like preparing cuz they know it's going to be cold but it's like they're doing it for a good cause and that causes people to push through that anyway and um I love seeing all the costumes and all the like groups of people I thought it was so funny to see and especially their faces when they went hit the water but I was really proud of the event even if we did not reach our goals did you three plunge we did we're actually the middle picture we dress up at I had to put them in the middle I was like but I did not because I was trying to with um my friend Abby and my friend Angela and then it ended up like for some reason it wasn't letting me do it over the website and then I ended up like getting scared of the cold water and not doing it Mr B is also the yeah I know it's good thing he went last I think most of the water came out of do you guys have any questions for us what is the date of the IMC so that's going to be next week on Monday and Tuesday and I believe it starts at 7:30 7 or 7:30 we're not completely what time do you plan to be there um I think our Call's on 6:15 oh so I'm not really sure but it's Monday and Tuesday yes yes our band director wanted to encourage you guys all to come yes it's an awesome event if you haven't been to it so very F we come out in the aisles that's why it's an indoor marching evand concert so it's fun gone to it for many years you guys are awesome your report is wonderful too thank you so much okay our next presentation is with Nate Selby with the east sports update welcome Nate thank you for letting us come here got a handful of kids that are going to talk for a little bit here um first and foremost will be our team captains uh Joseph and Chris isn't GNA come talk but he's gonna say hi and L W's going to talk and yeah have those pictures get there again weer you guys come up here come on up and okay bear with me I'm not great at public speaking but I'm here um so next slide uh what are orts kind of weird but uh Esports are engaging challenging team oriented and competitive Sports using video games to enable participants to gain the same valuable on the field uh life lessons as traditional Sports we practice and conven in person as a team in the Little Falls High School business lab um we reinforce the team atmosphere and encourage interaction with players participating in other games um all are welcome regardless of skill level as well as those that might be more interested in marke marketing social media broadcasting and streaming and graphic arts our progress in Camp encompasses encompasses gosh the Esports industry as a whole not just uh the games themselves so who are we um we are a team of students from nearly every social group um from robotic nerds to um Varsity Sports uh we have a large number students that don't typically join any club at All We Gather those students as well um our skill levels are from beginner casuals people who don't play very much to um State semi finalists um our mission statement uh we aim to give our team members the benefits of an organized competitive team sports in an Innovative environment we offer the uni unique opportunity for a student to learn all the same life lessons a student can from traditional Sports in a nontraditional setting as well as opportunities to give experience in video streaming broadcast production it support and administration social media management and marketing all with career and post-secondary education Readiness in mind so this is a special are you going last year we had a couple of seniors that are responsible for the logo and so Victoria and Jaden uh Victoria did it in hand drawing and then Jaden converted everything over to digital format and now inspector art and we've got it all over our stuff so we're try to try to get the students doing as much as we can talk all you want well well now I have to talk to you guys so got this so our orts began two years ago in 2023 is when it started we started out as a small group of about 15 students not doing anything competitive at all just going in there to have fun but other years have gone by we started to compete in state competitions and competing with other schools from around the district and from around Minnesota and as we got better and better we were able to make it up to state which we did last year for a few video games and we were able to compete with people from all around Minnesota we all met at St Cloud State University and we all had a great time up there next SL so we were going to do some game demos but the the logistics of that is a little bit difficult so we've got a couple of trailers up here just to kind of show you a couple of the games that we do play we just click it it should auto start last reaction time that's all I know you guys have a long meeting today we don't need your we try to zip through these a little bit let's get by the next one too yeah this one's just it's a it's racing game called Mario Kart yeah which actually some of you probably played when you were kids so this is kind of the review of our um season um last year fall and our last year fall and spring and this year our fall so was it two seasons then or uh yeah we do last year it was yeah last year we had two season we had a fall and a spring this year we kind of we have a fall a winter and a spring um so we're kind of all year um multiple games play in different seasons and also some games play specific Seasons all that um so our main can uh League that we run through is mvl has about 80 schools involved 2,000 parti ipants so all throughout Minnesota that's talk about this amazing so we had two fortnite Duos that qualified for State last year we had a junior vity and that was Ben and Luke and we had a substitute for Parker and then we had a vity team with Peter and Jay and the substitutes for them was bie and me and then next yep Varsity tied for second place overall with a score of s- one and junior varsity came in 5-3 in eighth place overall for finishing in the top eight during the regular season both teams received All-Star honors Peter and Ben were invited to play in the All-Star Game in for state finals we played at wisdom game studios in the Mall of America and then the final season results was Far City came in fourth place in Junior vity came in sixth place 16th Place what's next uh spring season so this was uh last spring we had um nice group there we had our Valiant team yeah that consisted of Morgan Chris Mason Bowden and Dam um we had our rocket League team which was Bowden uh Joe and Jackson not me different Joseph uh on our Minecraft varsity team we had Landon Aiden will and Tyler our junior varsity team was Jaden Ben Damian Elena and Hunter uh for social media and streaming we had Katie cat and Avery so they ran all of our twitch streams that we had running of um our games um I think we have Tik Tok and Instagram and Instagram there we go um so they ran all those um we got a lovely chance to go see St Cloud State University um they gave us a little tour do they offer classes in gaming uh they offer an undergrad in Esports and sports management as well they have a nice Esports like kind of thing up in holl there really nice facility up there and they have dorms specified for people that do that as well yeah they converted one of their entire dorms to be gaming focused um so at state finals this was all for the um spring competition we did our spring at St Cloud State University so that's where our competitions were held State fins um we have a lot of photos so I gave the kids a camera and I told them take some pictures they came home with over 3,000 pictures didn't run out of film we were trying I tried really hard took a lot so in total our JB team for Minecraft got 10th Place and our Varsity got Ninth Place and our rocket our rocket League team got 15th Place there a lot more photos um so that's all of our state qualifiers for last year 21 people that played on straight qualifying teams last year and dancing babies and the new season yes okay so new season began in full 2024 and we had new faces and uh new competitors do I have to list every member for all of you no no no don't have time for that a long meeting yeah so right there is our new members that just came in this year some are new freshman some are sophomores Juniors and seniors that want to give it a shot in our Homecoming in our lunchroom we test out for new people that are played Mario Kart to see if they want to get an experience to join Esports they had a little tournament too of course the seniors had to win of course and there's the whole roster for this year's season and our big sponsor CTC and then uh as part of the sponsorship CTC uh got us an invite to for me and one student to go down and speak at the uh ntca which is a rural Broadband Association Nationwide um they're uh they're having a pretty big focus on Esports as a way for Rural broadcast B companies to support local high schools and uh we were the Rural High School representative there everybody else was was College we were the only high school that was there they actually put me on stage and I don't talk in front of people I just fix computers but we did a good J there were a thousand people in that room well me and Aiden got to spend a little time in Indianapolis and it was uh it was a good experience and we we got to uh educate a lot of people about what Esports is and and how it can impact their high schools fall results we looking towards the winter 29 students completed fall Club season 19 teams 15 M nvl four HS HS is another Nationwide League that we participate in a little bit there were seven games nine BL teams qualified for the clubs Minecraft rocket League Smash Bros Mario Kart and fortnite hsel fortnite teams finished ranked 44th 87th and 104th out of O out of over 600 teams nationally 14 mnv teams registered for the winter Varsity season then we got our first uh student that got offered a scholarship for Esports this year so that's uh that's a pretty big deal and that is uh something that is more and more common all the time uh schools are really starting to seek out students that are Esports players they compete just like we do and St Cloud State they're they're uh they've got a team that travels all over the country competing against other colleges so this is uh more and more all the time so we'll see if Will de sites to go to WIA and cash all that scholarship or not very to be honest thank you very much all right thank you anybody have questions for the students I do when you guys say that you have like the Minecraft team are you playing the game as a team or is it individual yep so the format we play is a a game called bedw Wars and it's four players on a te so all of those teams are you're playing as a team so we'll play against one of the people and we'll play and and it's a it's an elimination game you have to uh destroy the bed and if once you destroy the bed the other team can't respa they don't come alive again and whichever team has people left standing wins as players do you have to come up with do you use your own name or do you have to come up with a player name we come up with a player player nameer name unless your name's Aiden Anderson then he's just Aiden Anderson one and only and do the players try out for you know to be one of the top four or how do you determine who the four players are uh yes so um as you seen like with Minecraft if we have enough players um we'll have like a varsity team and a JV team so our JV team originally was made of a bunch of casual players who've never really played competitively M and they ended up going to States so um they they worked really hard to get to State um you really have to like for some of those people you really have to push yourselves to practice and just get things down and come up with strategies and whatnot is state is there a state for each season so there's a little bit of flux with that as the leagues have changed and adjusted we're really kind of in the infancy of everything at the moment so the league the main League the mvl they used to run a big state tournament for both the fall and the spring but they don't do that anymore they're focusing on the winter season as they they they have an application in with the Minnesota State High School league to become uh sanctioned by the league which might happen for next year there's a good chance of that actually so this season the state that the state big State uh finals will just be in the winter we have some online lesser competitive stuff in the fall and spring which is what we just finished for the fall what is the higher goal of the students that are playing this is so that you can get into a a business that makes these games or a little bit of all of it some students who are interested in game development but there's also just some people that come into it for fun so that they can try and make this state or try to be the best overall well I'm just wondering because like when you say scholarship I always think that's for higher education to get you to the goal you're going to for employment yeah but just like a football scholarship you're not necessarily going and taking that football scholarship to go on into football you're using that scholarship to get you your higher education for whatever you're going after Esports is really no different it's just we're not out on a football field but as far as it's all the teamwork and it and and and the game itself the strategizing the working hard all that stuff is exactly the same it's just we're happen to be sitting in front of a computer rather than running around on a field thank you any other questions last call thank you for your presentation ni job guys thank you you're welcome to stay and for the rest of the meeting if you'd like um next we're going to move into our superintendent report so I'll turn it over to Mr Johnson I'll I'll say just a quick thank you I think back to two years ago when the esport group came and met with Mark deal and I in the conference room at the high school and and lanon was put in front of us with the rest of the team to pitch the idea of let's get this Esports team going let's invest in some more games they talked about the appropriateness of the games and just did a fabulous job of of selling their program and I'm just amazed to see where it's at right now so Mr Selby and Esports team well done kid I want to be proud of amaz you're welcome to stay we won't feel bad if you leave for me you have thank you so much for your time everybody thank you thank you for that permission they were waiting for that perion last Thursday was flyer Fest flyer Fest I know a few of you were there was a first time fundraiser for flyer activities they raised over $53,000 to support our activities program which is really exciting again another shout out to Kevin Jordan and Liz Morgan for helping organize that with their team today is National Community Education day and it's a great day to say thank you to cayb ruber and Sarah rustad for the work they doing Community Education and the program that they've developed for our community as our student reps mentioned we had some wonderful Veterans Day programs in the last week that were well attended by community members and I do also want to give a shout out I was able to attend three of the four to our music and band instructors who do most of the heavy lifting and organizing although the two of you MC quite a bit of the high school veterans program nice job last night we met in here two nights ago we met in here and Mark Dan and and Doug were a part of the facilities and finance task force which is charged with with helping the school district address priority two of the Strategic plan focused on finance and Facilities we had over 30 people here of Staff members board members community members business partners to take a look at the current scenario that we're in as a district so Mark deal and Chris muik did a great job of giving the the folks a deeper dive into finance and Facilities it was a an attentive audience they asked good questions and our goal is to split that group into two subgroups half will focus on facilities the other half on finances with a final goal of bringing a recommendation to the board sometime in March and April and that's a recommendation for you to consider certainly all decisions lie on your shoulders with what we do with finance and Facilities but I I think we'll get a pretty good look at what our best options are little Flyers child care center updates we had a business partner Tour on October 23rd that was well attended we're offering a room sponsorship opportunity for businesses that would like to be more involved so far we're at 20 registrations seven infants nine Toddlers and four preschoolers and we're hoping that tomorrow we hear the results of our application for a $300,000 deed Grant we're keeping our fingers crossed and we'll get that today we met with the Toma trust which I think most of you are familiar with that's been around for a while they purchase books for our media center and review which is really exciting a $21,000 purchase that was made for Lincoln's Library as they transitioned from a K5 school to a prek-2 school and then we approved another $22,000 for four of our buildings to purchase over a th books for their library and I would like to give a big thank you to Ann Becker an is the loan family member connected to the Toma trust that's a part of that board and she is such a strong little fall School supporter obviously advocate for media centers and libraries and I just want to publicly thank her for her work and support and I know looking at Lisa's slideshow which is coming up later in the presentation she talks a little bit about the appreciation for our staff and and our teachers who especially our teachers who've just had a huge workload put on there shoulders and I know that that's not uncommon for our teachers but I do want to acknowledge that tonight when you look at the work that goes into the startup of a school year and then the additional professional development and new learning that's taking place this year is exciting but it's a lot for them and they're doing a great job that's all I have thank you moving into new business I'll be turning it over to Kelsey for the resolutions there's two resolutions coming ahead see okay so is this the one I'm reading off can returns of vs okay let's see be it resolved by the school board of Independent School District number 482 state of Minnesota as follows it is hereby found determined and clared that the general election of the voters of the school district held on November 5th 2024 in conjunction with the state general election was in all respects duly and legally called and held as specified in the attached abstract and return of votes cast a total of year term vacancies on the board caused by expiration of term on the first Monday in January next following the general election as follows Julie Mueller 4,953 votes Doug dolberg 4, 433 votes and Kelsey Herzog 3,787 votes just want to clarify Julie Lam lamir probably say that wrong every time you said Mueller that's okay but I just wanted to make sure that we don't have a new person no Julie she's an hcal too Doug dolberg and Kelsey Herzog having received the highest number of votes are elected to fouryear terms beginning on the 1 Monday in January 2025 the clerk is hereby directed to certify the results of the election to the county auditor of each County in which the school district is located in whole or in part so I need a second I will second and a roll call vote Julia the Moore Mark yes Doug um oh my God I am like losing my mind tonight yes yes Dan Dan Sharon yes Doug yes and myself yes oh my goodness and you have another resolution of the certificates of election and directing school district for the related duties it says okay here we go okay let's make let's make sure I'm reading the right one whereas the board canvased okay yes it's been a long day you guys whereas the board has canvased the general election for the school board members held in conjunction with the state general election on November 5th 2024 now therefore be it resolved by the school board of Independent School District number 482 state of Minnesota as follows the chair and clerk are hereby authorized to execute certificates of election on behalf of the school board of Independent School District number 42 to the following candidates Kelsey Herzog Julie lamir Doug delberg who have received a sufficient sufficiently large number of votes to be elected to fill vacancies on the board caused by expiration of term on the 1 Monday of January next following the election based on the results of the canvas the certificate of election shall be substantially the form attached here to after the time for contesting the election has passed and the candidate has filled all campaign Financial reports required by Minnesota statutes chapter 21A the clerk of the school board is hereby directed to deliver a certificate to each person entitled th to personally or by certified mail the clerk is hereby directed to enclose uh with the certificate a form of acceptance of office an oath of office and substantially the form attached here too I need a second oh second okay here we go Julie yes Mark yes Dan yes Sharon yes Doug yes and myself yes thank you Kelsey next it says certificate of election and it is an action item is this a continuation of what Kelsey just I don't see a page in here for 59 no I think those were the two yep those were the two the rest are just the certificates okay y I think we're good okay so we go back on to number four uh so the cacr which stands for comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness report formerly known as the world best Workforce um so come forward please have a little presentation here Lisa solver who has probably put more miles on in the district visiting buildings with data Retreats and other work that she's doing uh thank you for being here to present this report yeah thank you for having me so tonight we'll talk about the world's best Workforce results and then now is Shifting to comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness and we'll talk about the goals for that but we'll start tonight with letters professional development Greg talked about it a little bit but um letters stands for language Essentials for teachers of reading and spelling it's an opportunity that came out of the read act and so sometimes legislation can feel pretty heavy when we're thinking of compliance and all the things but really trying to live in the mission of it which is all students reading at grade level and we know that that's what's best for our students in our community so um letters is about building capacities of teachers to teach students how to read and again it really ties into having every student reading at grade level so some of the highlights of the training that we've done so far is really talking about how the brain is wired for spoken language so for example young children develop speaking skills fairly easily some might need a little support along the way but for the most part that's most of us develop our spoken language quite easily reading is very different it's something that was kind of was created about 5,000 years ago the language or English alphabet um and so with that it is rewiring our brain to learn how to read text so our brain is not naturally developed for that we have to go through lots of practice and teaching breaking down the spoken language into individual sounds and then moving it on to letters and connecting the sounds to the letters so it gets pretty complex um one of the theoretical models that we cover which we cover a few but one of them is the simple view of reading and so on the next slide it shows how when we read words that would be word recognition and language comprehension so understanding spoken language um vocabulary those kinds of things are what equal reading comprehension so if a student is really good at both they're a skilled reader and can understand what they're reading our ultimate goal is reading or understanding what we're reading but if a student struggles with word recognition and then you multiply that their really great language comprehension they still are not going to be able to read and understand what they're reading because the mental load it will take to try and decode everything in front of them and if a student is really good at reading words on a page but maybe struggles with language comprehension maybe their vocabulary is lower or they struggle with understanding things within those sentence structure they also will not be able to understand what they're reading and so reading comprehension in both of those scenarios will suffer so it really focuses on that we need both in this um and helps it will help shape our district and how we have curriculum within our classrooms so what this entails is reading out of a manual that's pretty intense so it's um a pretty I should have brought them with me but it's a pretty big book and there's two volumes so this year is focusing on volume one with four units within it um and then there's online modules that go with it so some of our staff we had about 40 staff members go through letters already on through Elevate PD projects or through through the mde grant that came out and so some of our staff are ahead of the game in that and some staff are just starting this process now because of the redact and letters being one of those um professional development opportunities that they approve everyone this year will be doing bridge to practice activities which is applying that learning and connecting it to a student in their classroom so thinking about the simple view of reading and where a student in their classro might struggle with word recognition or language comprehension and then we do 24 hours of live s throughout this year so we're doing them in three-hour segments um we've done Lincoln cohort or some Lincoln teachers and other teachers around the district did two three-hour sessions already and limberg and other sped teachers around the district have done one and so we're making up another one coming up here in January but they will be doing those during PD days coming up and that's really more Hands-On kind of reaffirming some of the things they're learning because it is a lot of knowledge and so just trying to give them more opportunities to solidify that that information too so one quote that I forgot to mention earlier but one of the authors of letters is Louisa mootz and she says that informed teachers are the best insurance against reading failure while programs are very helpful tools programs do not teach stud teach teachers do and so this just reaffirms the importance of it for our staff and for our students that we have to understand why we're teaching things out of our curriculum and we're very blessed to have functional phonics this year is one of our that would teach more of that word recognition and reading piece but if we don't understand the why behind it and if we're not sure how to teach some of those components it's not going to be as beneficial so a huge shout out to our teachers because it is a heavy lift and it is a lot of work but we know that that is really going to pay off for our students in the long run so thank you to them for that so on to world's best Workforce are there any questions about letters before I move on to world's best Workforce okay so world's best Workforce had four goals all children ready for school uh closing the achievement Gap all students career in college ready and then all students graduate high school there used to be a readwell by grade three goal within there as well but that has now been absorbed by the read act and so their goal again is all students reading at grade level and that is reported through our literacy plan which can be found on our district website so the results for the world's best Workforce the first um all children ready for school actually had two goals underneath it so the first goal was 80% of School Readiness children will demonstrate proficiency and Early Child in childhood indicators of progress for emergent reading based on end of thee assessments so basically the standards for Early Childhood they were going to show progress and so we have some of those areas listed down below and you can see that students rhyming words 89% of our students were able to do that or and then um being able to point to 13 letters and name them 84% of our students and the next one was writing the 13 letters with their shapes um and 88% were able to do that being able to name parts of a book front cover back cover in the title we were at 64% and Jan and I have discussed this a lot and so that's really quite surprising to us we feel like that um usually is the higher one of all of them so we'll keep an eye on that one this year and then I can retell stories that I've listened to in correct order and that was 89% so we have met that goal um with an average of 83% proficient so you can see the trend from the years past down there as well can we go back Lisa so the 80% School Readiness M and the standards that are kind of on the right hand of the screen is this set by us as a district or the state so the state sets the standards and then we picked the standards that we felt were most helpful for being ready for kindergarten when looking at reading so the left goal number one is set by the state we picked those other five underneath it so I should clar we set the goal of 80% okay but the state is the one that makes the standards and then we picked out of those standards what we felt were the most got it um important to focus on for being ready to school for school and then the second one was 100% of our students in School Readiness showing growth in the standards and so there is one student who came in in distance learning and couldn't show growth because that's they maxed out already before in their first test so they couldn't show the growth but um we had 7.5% that didn't show growth and then you can see that we had um growth in most areas so in rhyming words 68% showed growth in pointing to letters 38% showed growth in writing letters uh 47% % showed growth and then in the title identifying the front cover back cover and the title of the book 58% showed growth and then in the last one retelling a story was 51% showed growth um some of these areas are a little bit tricky because there was students in those areas that were maxed out in that dis um in that deeper learning piece and so our percentages would be higher there's some really great achievement there to celebrate so and then for closing the achievement Gap last year's goal focused on the achievement Gap in Reading between special education students and their local counterpart increasing by 15% with both areas growing in proficiency um and unfortunately we did not meet that goal our proficiency actually stayed exactly the same in both areas the local counterpart was 46% and special education students were 16% so our Gap was still at 30% and then our College and Career Readiness goals were for the high school focusing on 100% of our students exploring postsecondary opportunities through our College and Career Readiness programs using School links and in 2023 24 100% of our Juniors and SE seniors participating in College and Career exploration opportunities so everyone was offered those opportunities if people were absent were still trying to collect that data it's a little bit trickier than we thought so um everyone was offer those opportunities but if people were out of school on the days that it was done they might not have taken part in that so I can share that data with you once we have it but for the Middle School um their goal was by May of 2024 100% of the middle school students complete a digital notebook that cataloges their learning about career in college readiness and they had 93% of their students participate due to absences there was about 6% that did not complete that digital notebook the next goal is all students will graduate by the end of the 23 24 school year this one is um we're hoping to decrease or to increase our graduation rate to 90% this one is a year behind because of how the data comes out on the Minnesota website and so for the 23 school year um Little Falls was at 89 I'm sorry combined at 77% the high school itself was at 89.2% and then the CC for that fouryear graduation rate was 39.6% um some things to consider the high school increased by 3% um or I'm sorry the school district as a whole increased by 3% the high school increased by 1.5% and the CC increased by 4% another thing to consider is that the C is a system that helps support students reach graduation even if it's beyond those four years and so the next slide will show you that um in the 5 years we've had in the 5year process 47% have graduated through 6 years 75 and or sorry yes I think that was supposed to be seven years in the bottom one um was 80% Lisa can I ask see question about um and I don't know if it how relevant it is but um if we have a kid who drops out and say they come back well two parts of the question first if we have a kid who drops out do we ever and maybe this question isn't for you but do we ever try to reach back out to them you know maybe try to get them to come back and then secondly if they do does that affect I'm assuming if I'm a class of 21 I'm still going to be a class of 21 if I have dropped out and come back yes I would agree with the that they would count as kind of that extended graduation rate um in my conversations with Christy H she does a great job of trying to connect with the students and bring them back but I can't speak to that entirely so sorry about that question so for the new comprehensive achievement and Civic Readiness goals for 2024 and 25 there are four goal areas that continue so all students ready for school closing the achievement Gap um all students career in college ready and all students graduate and there also is a new goal added to it preparing students to be lifelong learned ERS so are all children ready for school we have two goals again this year because we did reach our goal we increased it to 85% of students um being ready for kindergarten and although we were above that with our goal this year we started a new assessment system called TS gold and so that will help us see where students are at more on a spectrum so from one year 2 year 3 year talking about the age of a student and where they should typically be and then it will place them based on that assessment and showing that growth so it'll be an easier way to show growth people really can't max out of that um and with just learning that assessment system we wanted to make sure that we had a reasonable goal in place to show there and then 100% of our students showing growth using that assessment system as well for the next goal all racial and economic achievement gaps between students are closed we changed the goal up a little bit this year and now are comparing the students with free and reduced our free and reduced lunch population to their local counterparts by 8% is our goal to decrease that Gap um on the next slide it will show you that right now our Gap is about at 14% um our free and reduced population is actually achieving higher than the state average free and reduced lunch population which is a huge celebration but our goal is that both areas will increase in proficiency and close the gap the next goal all students ready for College and Career so 100% of students at the high school will explore postsecondary opportunities through College and Career Readiness um with School links and then at the middle school 100% of middle school students will complete a digital notebook that cataloges their learning about College and Career Readiness all students graduate high school this year we have two goals so the first is by the end of the for 25 school year the Little Falls Community School District fore graduation rate will increase to 90% And then the new goal that we added this year was by the end of 2024 2025 school year Little Falls High School stud High School will reduce failur by 5% in 9th through 12th grade one thing to note is that we're not expecting teachers to pad grades and and have less FS but instead giving students more opportunities to learn and to show that learning to improve their GR grades and the last one preparing students to be lifelong Learners during the 24 25 school year 80% of Middle School and High School classrooms will Implement Avid strategies to promote lifelong learning so Avid is a really positive program that we have in our middle school and high school right now and so just encouraging more use of that to help our students be more successful in the long run any questions lot of information yeah so what is our District's process in come like developing what our goals are who's meeting who's deciding that yep so um in situations like the Early Childhood one Jan and I have met to discuss those we run them by Greg as well and then we run them by the Admin team um and then they are shared out also with the staff um as for the other goals Greg and I have met to discuss those and then brought them into the admin team to get approval thank you thank you anyone else Lisa well done thank you thank you then we're back to Kelsey again resolution to nominate Doug dolberg as a candidate for one fouryear um four-year term on Source will which he currently sits on you do seriously you do I didn't even know that he was app pointed oh all and told whereas the LI Falls Community School Board of Education recognizes the importance of strong leadership and the value of qualified candidates on the board of directors for sourcewell sub Region 3 and whereas Doug dolberg has demonstrated qualifications experience and commitment that make him an exemplary candidate for this role and whereas the governing board of lilf Falls Community Schools Board of Education wishes to nominate Doug dber to serve a one 4-year term representing Source well sub Region 3 now therefore be it resolved uh the by the governing board of the lals Community Schools Board of Education that nomination approval Doug dalberg is hereby nominated as a candidate for a four-year term on the board of directors representing sourcewell sub Region 3 V voting approval this resolution is passed by a majority vote of the governing body in accordance with the requirements set forth for candidate nominations and the effective date this resolution shall take effect immediately upon its passage I need a second second and a roll call Julie yes Mark yes Dan yes Sharon yes I have to abstain you abstain I abstain V and myself yes thank you Kelsey um you were all given in in your packet and then um extra message was sent to you to consider the change for our school board schedule for the 2025 calendar year first I'd like to say thanks to um the office staff for reviewing these so that we don't have to do like this week have a school board meeting when we don't really have it on our schedule at the beginning of the year and that's what we're trying to avoid so once the schedule is ready we can go forward um it is an action item so before any other discussion I need a motion please I'll move and a second I'll second you have a motion in a second on the floor are there any comments questions or concerns about changing the 2025 calendar year meeting schedule Kelly I'm wondering if you could send out an invitation with these for us you want to be invited to come to the meeting well it's just a lot easier to click yes and it goes right in my calendar than agreed than having to manually put them in okay well you got lots of stuff to do he's important he's on swell for yeah maybe they'll do it for him any other comments questions or concern hearing none we'll vote on the motion to change from the 3D to the second Monday of each month except for I think it was October would stay on the 3D because of a conflict with holidays um all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed and this will pass then for the new year moving into old and unfinish business we have final reading of seven policies the seven policies are 69 staff development for standards 618 assessment of student achievement 613 graduation requirements 703 the annual audit 701 establishment and Adoption of School District budget 71.1 modification of the School District budget and 524 internet technology and cell phone acceptable use and safety policies I need a motion for those policies to vote on so moved a second second we have a motion in a second any comments questions or concerns or any statements from the policy board thank you for your hard work that's what I would echo of thank you so much thank you for not having me on that on that committee that's one I just really don't want to be part of it's a lot of work um hearing no other comments or questions all those in favor accepting those policies signify by saying I I opposed okay well all the policies have been accepted next reports from the board members uh Julie would you start us uh nothing to report today okay um Mark I met with chrisy at CC um the year is going surprisingly well with the big changes they had to make she had a very positive report she working very well with uh the principal Tim borgi on settling some minor issues and uh she I think as surprised as I was how easy the transition as far as the kids are going great and I guess one thing I didn't realize is that the majority of the kids in the C are not from Little Falls they're from anywhere from brainer to St Cloud so her program is is getting to be well known for what she does and her staff does and she wants to continue that with further uh training so I guess my hats are off to her anything else no Dan um kind of echoing off of the superintendent with his report I was able to attend the flyer Fest uh fundraiser and it was it was very well organized coordinated it was very good involvement um it was a great event overall it was very enjoyed thank you Kelsey I want to give a shout out to Kayla and Sarah for all their work um with Community Services I know I popped in there a few few times and they have a lot of data which is really exciting that's how they grow that program though is by the data that they're pulling um on what they're offering you know how many interested and Etc but I also know that they do a very good job of reaching out to families and you know asking for feedback on what they you know if people have ideas but um they do a very good job meeting the needs of all the individuals in our community whether they're you know infants all the way to you know senior citizens and whatnot I think they do a very good job so big shout out that's a that's big overhaul thank you DG um I would say again kind of what Greg talked about the the finance and facility meeting was I'm a really nice cross-section of people um the feedback I got was um from a lot of people um it was nice to see the numbers I mean they might hear something or see something for 2 minutes here while they're watching the meeting or here but they were really um kind of thankful to be able to get a deeper dive into those and and see exactly what they all mean and stuff so when will you meet again Mark Chris and I are meeting tomorrow to review the committee selection and then each member had to designate days and times that were best for them so I guesses will have one more meeting before the holiday break in December and then hit it hard in January thank you um for myself just happy T turkey day coming up for everybody and thank you to all of the board members that are attending the different activities and the programs I do get people that mention that they never used to see Schoolboard members at a lot of these things and they appreciate it especially the the kids in especially the high school and um some of the parents that realize that we actually are out there in and checking on things we're just not coming up to the meeting once a month and whatever comes in our little folder that's what we're we're talking about so it's it is appreciated and I appreciate that you all are are doing that so much so that was about it for me is there's any other business to come before the boards say so now or I will call for a motion to adjourn okay a motion to adjourn please so move second a second you have a motion and a second to adjourn the meeting for this evening all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed meeting adjourn thank you very much make sure for