##VIDEO ID:2CXEdERZqWw## good evening I'd like to call this meeting to order this is Independent School District 8:32 regular meeting on Tuesday November 12th 2024 at 7:00 p.m. for the mamei district uh School District please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance roll call of attendance please director doen here director Payne director Regan director Donna here director Peterson here director stout here thank you approval of the agenda have a motion moved by director doen second seconded by director Peterson any discussion all those in favor say I I I those opposed motion carries approval of the consent agenda items move by director Peterson second second by director doen any discussion these are listed in number 14 on the agenda all those favor say I I I those opposed motion carries okay presentations we have recognition and discussion of the zepher learning showcase and our school board walks do you want to start us off sure I can kick this off so every time we had uh zepher learning showcase before uh the meeting and every time we have a sepher learning showcase we take a little bit of time to just share what we saw and what we learned um from that and then this time around also we have been on three boardwalks at this point we've been to three three uh buildings and toured with the principal to see some of the either the new courses that are being offered or some of the strategies that you've been hearing about or um curriculum that you've been hearing about too so that the things that we've been talking about at the board table you can see in actions that was the purpose of the boardwalks and it's part of the school board goal so um this is just an opportunity to talk a little bit about what you've seen recently and just share with one another not everyone can go on every Boardwalk so that's part of this this conversation as well so with that I don't know if you want to start with Zephyr learning showcase tonight or sure I'll go um regarding the learning Showcase tonight I thought it was really cool to see all of the exhibits um one that really stood out to me personally was the DECA exhibit IIT I know we brought that back a couple years ago um but I feel like we've had so many conversations as a as a board like making sure that we're preparing kids for Real World experience and based on what they were sharing with me and what I've heard about it like that is exactly what it is right it's getting them prepared for life in a career focused real business so I thought that was super interesting I would add that uh what I with deca um I think I'm going to get this wrong but exponential growth from last year to this year 60% something like that if I remember right um so it just goes to you know serving the needs and and wants of of uh the families and the kids out there um NASA the NASA hunch Club um I'm just going to sum it up by saying one of the students in that group I think there's 12 members there's four present today when he looked when he was describing what was what they're doing the projects that they're working on he said yeah when we were talking to NASA that just sums it up for me right there as far as what they're doing and it's pretty amazing stuff and then Community Ed will hear from so we won't steal that Thunder um and then showstoppers which provides the opportunity for kids to go um all around the metro and attend plays and musicals things like that that's fantastic apparently that's they have a full bus load every time so that's just terrific so yeah I just want to add on on well all thank you for really pointing out everyone who was here tonight because again all of these things are aligned with our strategic plan to help students find where their interests are and then help them grow in that and and they're learning we want them to become lifelong Learners so we want that to to evolve into obviously areas where they're where they have these interests and I on the NASA thing I thought um first of all it's for juniors and seniors and so I think the fact that they have 12 already is amazing and the hope is to embed it in in in classroom learning in the upcoming year this is brand I mean this was really the first year they're participating so I just think the opportunities are you know DEA wasn't here a couple of years ago I just think the way we're moving in the direction of where students interests are is so important um obviously this is we're talking more at the high school because that's when kids are able to make there's so many clubs and teams and um classes of choice there so um and then I'll just go ahead and talk about my high school walk um because oh well there were numbers on the high school walk so I just um I think one of the ones that stood out to me we we we visited a number and I'll let Paul and Ryan jump into but uh one was pottery and I thought that was so great too because I do hear all the time about how these kids love Pottery um I think it's a really great place for them to discover something they wouldn't be otherwise exposed to so and it's not just sitting in a seat and learning it really breaks up their day I think they really it helps their learning throughout the rest of the day because they've had this um way to to learn in a different way and so that's and then I'll talk about I I also went to O in the middle school but I'll let you guys jump in if you want to about high school um yeah so I guess two things one and Barb I'm gonna put you on the spot a little bit here okay um the Avid class what's the purpose of that class again it's giving um students opportunities to well it's giving them opportunities to think about College and Career okay um but it's also teaching them some skills to prepare them to apply for schools um apply for career opportunities and so um not just giving the opportunity to explore but also teaching skills to help support them in that and and if I'm correct there's kind of like an application process and maybe even like a a wait list to get into the class or or something to that extent or I do not believe there's a wait list there's an application process um I I don't I think I you know what I'd have to it was kind of explained to me that way but my point is is it was really exciting to see a lot of these students that maybe have thought about it or haven't thought about it but get really excited about what the next step is and they were really you could hear them kind of thinking through like here's what I liked about this here's what I didn't like about that and why that matters right it was the why that matters part I thought was really interesting so that was great to see um and then they Ed a business class was again awesome because it was real world examples that they were discussing and so we happened to catch them discussing um kind of the franchise model and how that works and um getting exposure into how individuals or companies make money by leveraging a franchise model I think is a great con to be introduced at that age um and I'm sure everybody wants to know like what were the franchises they were interested in um it was overwhelmingly Taco Bell and Jersey miks so that was great now I'll just Echo what both Brian and Stacy said um but also um a little off topic uh so we all got texts recently about at least at the high school there's text going out for being tardy so we can relate because when we got there at when you know at the beginning of school the entryway was full of maybe 30 or 40 kids who were late to school and I think they multi they they weren't firsttime offenders so to speak so I can appreciate why those texts went out now because I saw firsthand what's happening so hopefully you know those texts can make help make a difference it was while the construction was still really bad so I'm hoping it's gone down yeah that that was fall construction was Happ so but no it's it's important there I don't think we can blame that anymore we're not going to let them off but no but it was a great it was a great tour great tour thanks for for putting that together so and then let's see we also I I went to the middle school we'll talk about that that I thought that was great we did um saw another class where Avid strategies I need to look at my notes um it was Avid Strate well first of all there's not just Avid there is an avid class but that we also have Avid strategy so um for those of you who didn't get to see the middle school or some of you weren't at the O so the aage strategies are also embedded in all the classrooms so I think again I it was it's really EX exciting to see how our students are learning study habits executive functioning skills things like that but embedded in their learning so that way it's it's as they continue to grow as a student um they just have the tools they need um we haven't always been doing that and I think it's I think we'll see a lot of success from this um also at the middle school it was um we visited the Middle School Success class um it they talk I think they cover a number of different things it was um bullying prevention week so they were focused on that issue at the time um but then we also saw the study strategies that are Avid strategies but embedded in um like the reading class there's there's an extra reading class for sixth or seventh grade uh sixth grade sixth grade and and they use the science curriculum so that the students then are better science students because they're learning how to read nonfiction te text from somebody who's teaching them those skills so that's in addition to their science class and in addition to their English class um and then oh and then in literacy they they did a the way she was teaching settings and in the stories they were covering again we saw the the strategy being used and so I think just seeing the strategies being used consistently is really important because again the students have to learn how to obviously develop these skills on their own eventually so but they you know it's good for them to be given the the direction how to do that um at such an early age um anything else from the Middle School um and then oh I'll just say we do have we got we were able to uh visit Mr meres I say correctly merges um a class which is really fun and he'll be here tonight but we I think that was a great one and Jenny I'll let you talk if you want but he had a great video on poetry so we I think um we were all wishing we could watch that video again I felt like I was learning as as I was watching it the theme of visiting o was to see the Hands-On and the work that wit and wisdom is doing that Jen keeps trying to explain to us the new reading curriculum and so we did a third grade classroom a fourth grade classroom and a fifth grade classroom to just see how an eight-year-old does it a nine-year-old can handle it and how a 10-year-old can handle this and I needed to see this because I thought how can an 8-year-old sit through um an hour and 50 minutes of literacy and it's intense and so we got there in third graders were watching Jack kusto um finding Treasures in the ocean so how you were it was fascinating every the room was quiet everyone was watching and then they have workbooks that what did you see what um colors art sounds that so uh fourth grade was poetry with Mr mgus and that was they kept kids going because um they are looking for Rhymes kids love rhyming then they did this whole rap video on on a manaia and just it kept it kept the temple going it wasn't poetry like you think of poetry um and that was what the video was about is poetry can be so fun and it doesn't have to rhyme then we went to fifth grade and that was just the teacher silently reading to her class of 10-year-olds and not a peep no one was monkeying around I just I I have a whole philosophy on reading aloud to kids that is really important to me um so to see that kind of made my heart swell that you're not too old to be read too and some were following I'm not sure if they had to be following along but some were just really listening to her and focused on Miss o and some were following along in the book any is that either way okay um so to in summary the in what Whitten wisdom and we've been told here but now we got to see it is that Whitten wisdom isn't just literacy it's art it's science it's vocabulary it's geography and its social studies all in that so it's broken up your brain is it just having to read for an hour and 50 minutes the art the science and the social studies and the geography so it's a little bit for every kid um they might really pay attention during the geography and then get sucked back in when they start talking about science so I can see how it keeps you going when you just think they might have hit their limit on Literacy for the morning and last thing is I like how it's been explained this is year one they'll give year two the same try and then year three figure out okay that lesson does not need to be that long but let's stretch out the next lesson it should be longer the kids love it there's so much to learn but let's scale back this chapter so it can be played within a few years chair can I just go back um and I know I I think I speak for the entire board but you know the these clubs Deca NASA hunch um you know even the showstoppers you know it they wouldn't be here without the leadership that they that they each have and so I know Brian farmer is with hunch um Miss witson who's Drew's wife who brought that idea to Community Ed and got it going um and then I'm going to for I forget the leader for Deca anll um just really appreciate their leadership and um making it happen for these kids so yeah and I would just Echo too just the teachers learning I I just I just can't imagine because they they teach the subjects year year after year but they're constantly um improving upon how they're teaching so to Jenny's Point like the way so you know in a few years they might be doing it a little differently because they've learned something else that works and just like all of us do in all of our jobs right where you can always do better and so I think um just highlighting too how much effort the teachers are putting in to ensure that that student learning is happening so want to highlight that too great okay that was a great summary and recap of um boardwalks and Seer learning showcase thanks childwood left we do so next time we'll be able to talk about oh I have to tell us what's next next on the agenda oh we have teacher recogn recognition Nick merus now I said it correctly you could have corrected me before no make sure to do the hard G everybody was looking at me but not telling me what I was doing wrong um welcome and we have Susie Prather who's going to uh share with us this recognition yeah you can stay right here you get stay right up here you are the spotlight um good evening um superintendent Duffin board and the community I am so excited to recognize one of the best we have amazing teachers at all of our schools but it is fun to get to recognize some of our colleagues to show the great work that they're doing so tonight um it was pretty easy to put together a staff recognition and you heard a little bit from the boardwalk um so Mr mgus um has been teaching for 10 years he was a fifth grade teacher in Utah prior to coming to mamei and he's been at o Anderson for four years now um he has made a difference and one of the things um that this board has been part of is kind of that refresh of our strategic plan and Nick was actually a member of the refresh team and and he actually lives the Strategic plan in a daily basis so some of the same themes you spoke about out from our learner showcase um our Zephyr showcase and um some of the boardwalks you'll see in this presentation um some of the things that Nick does that really aligns with our strategic plan he helps students pursue their passions he finds that relevance in learning he values and respects each person and he really brings those Innovative instructional practices um I think Stacy spoke about that how our teachers are constantly looking at how to engage kids and and be Innovative and change um uh the way that we do things um Joy is always seen in his classroom he collaborates wonderfully with families and some innovative ways and he's definitely a teacher leader both at o Anderson and in the district so I'm going to show just some examples and I just put some pictures so you can see a little peek into his classroom I know um this morning at our staff meeting we always start with Wows and wonders and one of our colleagues was just like wow um she knew uh Mr mgus was doing some of these things but didn't know to the extent and she's like I've got to learn from him I've got to hang out with him and learn some things so if you're in Mr mg's fourth grade class and he has shared this with some of his colleagues so there's some other colleagues that use this they have something they call a classroom economy with a Mal day and where students are earning money for doing jobs and they're keeping track of how much money they have and then they get to shop on Mall day and they get to start their own businesses they have business plans they make money and they spend their money on this m day so it is a real life experience of how how do we manage money how do we save money um and uh fun engaging place for kids um just one lesson I was in his classroom last year um if you think about math you know sometimes it can be kind of dry um well I love it and find the real life sorry sometimes it is but he finds ways to show the math why are we doing this so on his board he talks about what the learning Target is why we're learning it so when they were doing area um so they were looking at snow plowing so they were looking at um data and sets at looking mean median and mode on how much snow is in different places but then they use area to kind of find out how much area do we need to snowplow at OH Anderson and you can see the real life Maps kids are engaged they're doing these math thinking and it is that real life the why about why we're doing math fourth grade this is fourth grade yes yes it's awesome visit that you can come on the next Boardwalk um technology Nick is part of our technology uh lead team at OH Anderson and and has really shared um his excitement and tools with his colleagues um and one of the things that I know these are just experiences that I've been in his classroom so I know he has a whole uh slew of other things I just went through my iPhone and found some pictures but he does virtual field trips so in fourth grade um we find landforms and geography around the US and see how landforms affect life well the kids don't just read the book they're actually going on trips to these different landforms and experiencing them in a Virtual Field trips um on the next part of the slide you'll see some assessments and this is where kids are showing it's game like um in math so kids are doing assessments formative assessments they're holding up cards and he's scanning them and they're seeing their progress right on the screen um practicing their math so it really is an engaging happy place to be um he really values individuals um Mr mgus knows each student in his class and he knows what they need to succeed so he does small group um instruction one-on-one instruction gives feedback on a regular basis you'll see him moving around his classroom um the second piece is actually a MAA Grant um that we have um he actually had this from his past it was microphone balls and the kids actually toss these across and their microphones to really Elevate students voice and to really encourage kids to be sharing so he shared this idea um with some of the colleagues actually we did we do something called pineapple visits where we go and visit our colleagues and learn from them well the teachers all saw this ball and they're like wow W and so we did a MAA Grant and got that in more classrooms so he spread um a way to share voice um Joy is always seen in his class um on the left down syndrome day um we had a little dance party and Cake uh for that uh to celebrate some of our students and you can see um we had an empathy Day last year where kids um dress up like teachers and teachers dress up like um their teacher and you can see all the Beards that were there for Mr mgus um there as well um there's some other Joy um just actually acting out some of the math um there is a video that I'm not going to um show at this point but he was the wild teacher of the year last year and there's a little video showing him being celebrated at the Wild game um now this is a big piece we've been talking at o Anderson how do we get families connected see the work that we're doing um see the work that you saw on the boardwalks so he has started a virtual Showcase of learning and these are just a few examples of what he shares so he just adds to a slide deck and there's video um there's podcasts that families can see to get a peek into the classroom and why they're doing the things they're doing so you can see there's a little bit um with their collaboration that they're doing as a classroom with morning meetings there's some of the things about Socratic seminar how the kids um speak and discuss things together but it really is an informational way to show families a peak into the classroom and um his AI experience I have to say we're all like he's sharing the AI world with us but he takes some of this information puts it in Ai and all of a sudden it makes a podcast talking about what's happening in Mr mgus classroom with two people talking and they're real they sound like real people they're really not but they're talking about the facts that are in here so he's really looking at what are those next steps to bring families in to the learning that's happening um and then at the dinner table then there can be better discussions with kids about tell me about X and tell me about why and you can check those links out later I put them in for you as well um and as teacher leader um Mr mgus um he's he was a member as I said of our strategic planning um committee where we did that refresh very active uh voice and valuable voice to show what are the next steps and where do we want to go as a district and he really does live that he is part of our district literacy committee so um as you got to see some of the implementation of some of our new resources he's been one of those key people um working with our teaching and learning Department um K5 to see how do we implement this and then how do we monitor adjust and help and support so that we can have a smooth implementation for that he's part of our leadership team and our technology team as well and is just an act of an um important voice at our school um he's done other community outreach he had organized a Minnesota Wild visit to teach us about healthy habits um small group instruction he is just living our strategic plan and these are just some of the kids I have to say when I went into the lunchroom um more kids wanted to share and I said oh we can only take four but this is how they kids describe him so Jaden um a fourth grader said he's a fun teacher and he in literacy he just loves to make the posters and do gallery walk to get to see their friends work um Clara um she said he makes the class really fun with dad jokes and playing four square with us and he's also supportive um as well that's Clara in fourth grade um Lily a fifth grader that had him last year said he's fun and a funny teacher and she really liked feeding the birds there's a bird feeder outside his classroom and then uh George said I like Mr mgus because he's kind fun respectful and a good teacher so our kids voices say it all and then we have some of our colleagues so um Sydney Samson is uh one of a fourth grade teacher and she said Mr mgus has this way of just lifting up everyone's Spirits even on tough days he brings a positive vibe that energizes the whole team he's always coming up with new ideas that gets us thinking differently and trying fresh ways to improve our teaching plus he makes learning genuinely fun for kids and Kelsey G is one of our fifth grade teacher and she um describes Mr mgus as an innovator he's always looking for clever ways to improve his instruction and that of others so he's sharing that piece um he shares the great idea he has with colleagues so that all students at o Anderson can benefit not only does Nick's others focused mindset make OHA a better place for students to learn but his positivity welcoming demeanor and joy for teaching makes our school a better place to work so that sums it up we do have a parent quote as well um about uh the impact that he made on their daughter as well um so at this point I would like to honor Mr mgus and thank him for all the contributions he has made to O Anderson to our district and for truly doing what we want everyone to do here is to live our strategic plan and make it become a reality so I have a certificate for Mr M okay oh maybe would have something she'd want to say before we get up it I have to um parents will say oh um what do you know about Mr Mrs S I don't know or for fourth grade I don't know I've only had Nick margus for all my kids so um I'm lucky to repeat with him two years can I share a story about the school store yeah okay and it goes with the kid who was just up there George um you had school store which they love and then we saw George out in the community the next day and he's wearing this hat and my husband said oh I have a I have a hat like that George and Monty face went like this Monty sold George's Chris's hat to George at mall day and um and George still wears it it was just great so things things get sold at store day um it's great to run and do at Wild games kids I mean if we go we have to go find where you are you've gotten my kids so into National Parks um the fourth grade Pass Plus you just talking about it you small group the kids by national parks I love your small group learning that has just I can see that when I'm in there sometimes that group working just where they need to be in another group getting a little help and I just love that so much and you just been great than so much it's clear that you've just made a big impact not just with the students but with the teachers too so thank you for your leadership that means a lot yeah hearing those comments from teachers that's yeah yes I I certainly appreciate um the outside the box approaches that you have um because without Risk Takers we're not going to improve right until we need that and so really appreciate you bringing that um to the whole team I appreciate that yeah my um I just had to say to uh my head coach of baseball when I was in high school he hired me to my first coaching job when I was 19 and his first piece of advice for me was a good coach is a good thief and so you know that's even though it's a sharp way of saying that um you know basically I've been super fortunate to um teach and coach and work with so many awesome people and so just taking little pieces everywhere that I've been and um it's really benefited myself so everything that's been on there and that I've done has come from an idea or directly from someone else and and just mixing those together so I feel super fortunate um going all the way back to middle school high school sports uh and then now um teaching I've had a lot of people have a huge impact on me and um so I I feel pretty blessed to be able to have all those people um that have had a positive effect on me so well we are very fortunate to have you so thank you yeah all right we're going to get a photo with you little little to your max I'm gonna have you kind of move to your left a little bit a little to your left one more great thank you [Laughter] well it's I mean I know when you have little like attention is hey and then we have one more chatting doesn't know it's her turn hey it's your turn we're going to get an update from our Community Education director hello thanks for having me tonight um I'm here to give an update on last school year in community ed so um every year I make sure to have this graphic so you know all of the different things that Community ad does things that aren't typical um areas that I do a lot of talking about my English as a second language with our adult basic Ed um sometimes we don't aren't able to give a lot of our uh communication um communication and marketing piece so I just like to show that every time uh last year when I gave my update uh director Donna had a really good question and I made a note of it so I wanted to highlight and share a little bit about the funding that we receive in community ed um um if you look at the pi graph there only 14% of our $2.8 million budget is actual money that we receive from levies and state AIDS um most of our fees then obviously come from our child care in our preschool programs and of course fees that um individuals pay to attend our classes and courses and some of our events um the one place that we get most of our money for the levies um is each person within our school district we we receive $532 um that doesn't go very far as you know we will have an increase on that um coming up to over a little over $6 so I just wanted to share that because I think it is important for you to know that um we don't receive a lot of funding and we are in charge of um really offering the great classes and events and our facilities and all of that that um that our families want and choose um to pay for another thing about Community Ed is we are mandated by State Statute to have a community ed advisory Council this is a picture of our Council from last year um our Council needs to be made up of a variety of different people so we have to have City officials um some Faith entities a person from a faith entity um of course parents community members uh we also have some business and Partnerships that we hold so in this photo you'll see a variety of people and then of course we have our school board representative director Donna who sits on that right [Music] now so last year after we did this strategic plan refreshed uh Community Ed had an opportunity to look at different ways that we can support that um and these are some of the additional programming that we did for our secondary students which is second or sixth grade excuse me to um 12th grade and some of the strategies we were looking at was um the strategy about trust and partnership um and how we that's how we looked at our um Middle School Youth Event and I'm going to show you a quick video on that just so you can see what happened that day [Music] [Applause] fling lights spinning around in circles so we close our eyes let the moment take us while we hold on to high tomorrow never know so let's live for tonight for for in my high hands up screaming baby just enjoy the hey I found a happy place forever Happy Days I'm singing I'm singing I found a happy place it's written on my face we're singing we're [Music] [Applause] singing as you can there was a lot of fun at that event it was the first time we had put on a after school Youth Event in um several years and we had a we I know we had over 300 students attend so that was really great uh on the right side of that slide it to will show you we worked on a schools out service day for our middle school students we did a service project and then went to Wild Mountain uh tubing um we looked at some improv classes intro to golf and stock market personal finance and business we also this summer um because we were looking at um having real life experiences for our students and looking at their passions we partnered with 9916 to do a cosmetology camp that was a hit so some um activities that we were doing also to welcome and engage and partner with our Zephyr Community we um had a night at the Children's Museum some of these are for our early learning families but it did go um up into the beginning of K and um through two family nature night we have conscious discipline nights um the family nature walks these are all ways that we could bring um Partners in to provide programming with us and also to engage the community to come out that was one thing that we really wanted to work on when we um saw Community Ed in the Strategic plan also with that refresh um we were doing some discussion at our advisory Council and they had some questions for us that we weren't really able to um give a good answer to so we worked together with the council to come up with a community needs assessment uh it looked like we had never done one before and so we thought this was a good time we do do evaluations um for our classes we send them out afterwards to get input but we weren't sure we were maybe asking the right questions to get the right answers so these are just why we wanted to do the survey um again I told you there was no template or model we wanted to get a bigger picture of the performance of our programs and then um we really thought this would be a good opportunity to get um advice or suggestions from our community the first step was to create uh the survey itself we identif ified seven different objectives there accessing our community needs and interests really understanding what what they were looking for evaluating our um current programs seeing what we were doing well what things we needed to improve on identifying um barriers to participate um is it cost we asked things about that is it transportation is it location those types of things um we assess the level of performance to measure our Excellence that was a really good key for us I'll talk about that in the next slide identified our community assets the people that and partners and business entities that we already are using and how we can leverage more tracking the changes over time and then informing um our resource allocation based on what we heard so here's what we heard we had over 550 responses and that included um staff families and we also Al included our um secondary students so we had responses from them also 92% of the respondents um rated our program excellent or good um which is very these figures are um very similar to what the district here's responses for in the same not these same questions obviously but these percentages and 93% of our respondents would recommend our program to others this is a a sample of some of the questions or one of the questions that we asked in for one of our programs and as you can see 86% um who participated rated us excellent or good but if you look at those percentages you know they're both they're good right 35 and 51 but notice most of that is good we really are wanting to shoot for excellent right so this is letting us know what things we can do to move the dial on that and then these for some of the um feedback that we heard um based on this particular question you know lots of different things a lot of things we heard for that secondary was um our Middle School families was the opportunity for students to participate in athletic events that aren't necessarily team-based that they can just try out and um maybe it isn't something that they're going to have a team concept for um so we're looking at being able to try to do that that this coming year after we saw all of the data we looked and um we have to realize what are we going to do now how are we going to do this um we have had some changes in my staff this year which you'll I'll talk about um but we I did a broad overview of the data with the coordinators um last spring since then we have a new crop of coordinators with me um and then we did some quick fixes for the summer um doing some like I talked about this uh cosmetology the stock market um we also heard loud and clear from our families that Middle School families would like more communication letting us know you know letting them know when the deadlines are for registering um so we have worked on doing some Instagram posts getting them to know our coordinators that work in secondary so they can identify them um doing some more proactive information about those dates and then increase our marketing of special events um so we've we worked this past summer to do some new tricks on that and you'll see some of that uh future use of data we will be doing some um an analyzing of the data coming up at a retreat we're going to do um we're looking at doing some implementing some programming during Flex time um looking at partnering and maybe bringing in some speakers about real life experiences how to ride a rest res what does it look like to do a job interview those types of things a quick snippet with those students so increase our community involvement and then of course that real life learning that we've been talking about here is and then this is a sample of why we wanted to make sure we got open-ended questions or had those in there because we got really specific answers when you asked that um this particular question talked about um that Real World experience and it gives my coordinators who do that programming and planning specific things that we can Target and go for so those were some really good ideas that we're looking hopefully to be um really implementing more this this winter spring and for sure in the summer like you heard me say we have had some changes with our staff this year and so um we did have a resignation with our communication um coordinator in the spring and so we had an opportunity to bring in a Communications intern um Alice our director of communications was um able to do some supervising and training of of her uh we worked during the in excuse me during the internship Olivia managed all of our social media she worked on web page um updates and she was making sure to give me some um data analytics on what was working and what wasn't working um and as you can see on the bottom there we did a lot of growth um we were pretty stagnant um and so we did a we tried out a lot of new things this year and so we we increased our reach um in Instagram over 3,000% that was incredible um same thing with Facebook and we also had um quite a bit of new followers I think um part of this is because how many times I watched that t-ball video that she made I do I think I I contributed to that but she's the one that made that t-ball video if you remember that one go on I'm she did a great job she really did we were we were very lucky to have her and I think it was a really good opportunity for us to springboard off what we were going to need to look for for our next person um to take over our Communications Department in community ed and with that I'm going to let you welcome our new Community Education staff here um Angie l blad is her early childhood supervisor she started last spring Adam you'll see out and about taking photos and at a lot of different events he started right after Labor Day uh Kylie nyman is our new Administrative Assistant she also sits at the front here um she'll greet you when you come in for a meeting or um stopping in for something and then Sammy Wallace is our new secondary and adults coordinator and she started the end of August so we've had a lot of transition but a lot of really great things are happening can we play that real quick this is a little snippet of our staff so you can see some of our Instagram um so we can [Music] promote everywhere [Music] [Applause] everywhere again we realized that when we do these reals um super successful and engages a lot of um community members as well as meta I learned that word this summer a lot thanks Alice um really likes that so um I will tell you about some upcoming events and activities I always like to um invite you to certain things I will tell you I didn't write on here but on Thursday is National Community Ed day so um we will be sending out some postcards to certain people for so for being um High participants in our classes so watch for that our community lunch is December 9th we'd love to have any of you attend if you're able Social Security timing is everything maybe some of us are lucky and we'll be able to uh start utilizing that in the near future that's December 10th we have a family literacy night um Nordic ski is a new option that we're offering to our secondary students and we already have like 17 or 18 students signed up for that that'll begin right right after the new year and then of course Ashlin theater um Jamie our youth um enrichment coordinator is putting that on that will be in March uh we are currently finalizing our winter spring catalog and so mid December you'll see the that come to your homes as well as the online Link we're excited about that yes can you explain family literacy tonight so that is for our younger students um and it is I believe is they're going to be looking at the new some of our new curriculum that we're using in early learning and um having families come in and work on some of that and learn some of that good question and that is all I have for you thank you for engaging with Community Ed we wouldn't be here if our families didn't choose us and we know there's lots of options out there but we're super grateful that we can provide um wonderful programs for families here you have any questions I was just Kate I was just going to say that um the the survey was really interesting right and you got a lot of good feedback a lot of good information um that you're going to take from that and put into action as as needed so I and when I saw the the number of people who participated that struck me as relatively high for a a survey so yeah we were very we are very lucky manami families are in the community are really um they really they want we they know we value their opinion one of the things that we continue to keep trying to say when we're putting out information is you shared we listened it's like our little tagline so that people understand that when you give us that feedback we are going to try to provide the programming that we can that you want yeah that's an important point right people would just they wouldn't give it a second thought if they didn't think that you were listening and and thinking about their feedback so right app thank you back to the financing and the funding um last year we approved Community ad was going to bump up if you wanted to rent a field or rent a gym space correct correct was that starting this school year that started July first oh and is do you come back and do a financial thing for us if that if if you would like me to give you some data no I'd be happy to do that um I will say that you know costs have continued to go up um so yep yeah that is one thing that we just continually keep working on um it our our all of our athletic associations were super supportive they they were you know they've worked with us again I think last year I talked about how they partner with us and you know the baseball asso association had um partnered with us and did 60 5 69,000 of Renovations on things they want to see and all of our associations keep coming back and and helping when they can so we're super appreciative of that yeah so Kate I just wanted to uh comment Paul you stole my thunder a touch there on the survey but I think it's like you're doing a great job and and the group is doing a great job but um I really love how you proactively were seeking feedback from the community and that there's an acknowledgement that yeah things are going pretty good but there's an opportunity to improve on that so I love that that the aspiration to continue to get better there um one quick question though and seeing the video for the let's glow Zs P um has there been any consideration to bringing back middle school dances at any point good question well that was kind of our that was part of the the event right we had a DJ um but we also had to have you know other things to do with that many students y are you wanting to chaper own one of those FR I would absolutely participate but I'm just curious what's now I don't think my daughter would be very excited about that but I'll participate certainly um what's the hesitation is it Financial is it participation rates like what are your thoughts on that I think so one of the things that we talked about doing that is somewhat similar to that I would think and correct me if I'm wrong is we talked about the possibility of doing something called The Fifth Quarter which would be like after a football game and have like a dance right the kids are all right there we pull them into the middle school have that opportunity to do that um I think we're just getting a little hesitation because um how do I say this uh staff the the requirements they have of evening things gets to be a lot right and our in our program because we do have things on the weekends and on the evenings um I think now that we have some new staff too that you know they they're wanting to try new things that that might be something and if you wrote A Dance on here Ryan I'd be happy to bring it back well that's what I get for uh speaking up of course but I'm sure I could help bring in we love to do things that our Stu that's that's what we're that's the the mission of my program right is to do things that engage students and it is so important in that middle school age really to be able to bring the students in and have a variety of things I mean we even thought about we needed to have like a quiet area for our students where some of the um this it was overstimulating for them right so we had like a quieter area in the cafeteria for that where they could have snacks and those kinds of things but I appreciate the feedback yeah of course absolutely all right thank you so much as always I have to compliment you and your team and every year I talk about how you came in during covid and you've just done a phenomenal job year after year it just is so impressive so thank you for all your work and thanks to your I always yes I always appreciate that my team is great right it's been wonderful so thank you yes okay now our student representative I'm back up again yeah you're give me one second it seems like I just saw you guys two weeks ago uh there's been a couple big things that have gone on girls soccer won their state championship 3 to0 against the Holy Angels really fun game even though I don't think they had a chance going in so I was pretty confident there uh also we had the election we ran mock elections most of these schools had some sort of that the high school had a full-on election that was put on they brought kids down from all their history classes tallied votes just like in real life Wildwood had an election but it was for the name of their pet fish it's it's kind of similar but it's it's a little different and it looks like o had an election but it was for a special day that would happen later this month the choices were stuffy day which is you bring your stuffed animal in hat day and dress in a costume day and stuffy day was Victorious so I guess they're bringing some stuff in later this month and on the election day OHA had anything but a backpack day which I don't know if you have kids or know what that is but it's basically instead of a backpack you bring anything else I know kids in the high school had bicycles uh coolers shopping carts we're going to be a little more strict on that next year because I think somebody brought their little sibling I we got to crack down on that in the high school a little but it was great at OHA uh third graders in their classroom something I saw in the E news that I thought was interesting are learning about camouflage and how it's a defense mechanism for Animals I remember learning about this a while back about uh adapting and evolution it's it's a lot to cover I'm not going to go super into detail with it here a wa and wildwood they actually had that movie and popcorn day that they got from the fun run so that was really great they had a lot of popcorn I believe that was on Halloween or close to it which makes the day even better students at the middle school for Veterans Day actually compiled a list of every one of the students veterans that were related to them put them on put what branch they're on and posted them on the Windows of the media center which is really cool to honor all the veterans that have served now things that we're looking up to fourth and fifth grade actually has a spelling be coming up here but you have to sign up by November 15th so I guess that's a hard deadline but that would be really fun to watch there's also a family movie night at OHA on November 15th which is this Friday for Despicable me4 I might have to show up I haven't seen that one yet and I have seen the other three the doors open at 5:45 and the movie starting at 605 also AP exams uh have to be paid for by tomorrow I just paid for mine yesterday so I'm I'm good and the student council turkey Bingo is coming up here for Thanksgiving if you don't know what that is it's a schoolwide event of bingo at the beginning of the day each first teacher given Bingo cards and every student gets one card and throughout the day after every period at the end they call a couple numbers and if you win you come down to the office and get a prize I remember we started it last year and it was a massive hit so I'm really looking forward to that otherwise I hasn't been too much since it's only been about half the time as usual I'm signing out always great report hey now our superintendent report that's tough to always followall Max is it really is just trying to distract you with my pictures I'm not as entertaining okay right um okay just uh some things that have happened again only been a couple weeks so there are just a few things around the district um some awards and noteworthy news and upcoming events so OHA also had a veterans event and um this is just a really fun it's a really fun event where students bring in a family member a neighbor um a friend to introduce and um and as part of the program they also learn a little bit about about the H about Veterans Day um this year's um speaker featured speaker was Mr brisy the principal of Wildwood also a veteran and so it's just a it's a great event they they hear they introduce their special veteran they um they learn a little bit about Veterans Day they sing 50 nifty United Nifty 5050 Nifty whatever it may be um and they they really enjoy that as well so it's it's just a it's a wonderful event and so you have a few of those pictures there you've already talked about boardwalks but I'll just mention that it is here in my in the um superintendence report so this always gets sent down and so it's just an opportunity for people to see some of the pictures of the board going and engaging in our schools also our student cabinet continues to meet uh this most recent one discussing the strengths and areas of growth for for related to climate and culture and academics personal belongings spirit and pride so those were our topics and students went out got some feedback from their peers and we started our conversation there you have you seen this in your mailbox has everyone received you have one right here too a copy of uh the most recent Globe so I hope you'll take some time to you as board members will recognize a lot that is in there because you've heard about it here at the board table U nonetheless it's a it's a great publication Lots goes into it from our Communications Department our Communications Department of one uh so max already mentioned our girls soccer team won the the State title it's their 11th State title which is a state record here if you haven't seen it on social media you can see it and here the a video of the Champions the Walk of the Champions through OHA and through Wildwood which is always really fun fun event kids love it both the the students the soccer team and the the students who get to hold up their signs and get very excited to have them walk through the hall our volleyball team finished fifth place at state tournament they they lost their first match to the eventual winners of the whole thing so you know they fifth place might had they met them at a different time it may have been a little bit higher but uh they played very well and we do have I did go to the swim meet the section meet we have 11 athletes that are heading to the state meet so it was it was pretty exciting you heard about the zepher service project I mentioned it last time this is something we did last year where every building has a an area that they're focused on for collecting uh gifts for this project I think and I mentioned last time that Deca is involved in it this year I'll just highlight this a little bit more though they so last time it was just kind of coordinated each building took took the lead took part of um the project this time Deca is taking more of a lead including the project management of this they designed the logo for the zepher service project you see here uh in the first picture we have some Deca students who out at the elementary they're going to each of the schools to talk about the importance of service um in here they were making posters with Wildwood but the others are going to be talking to students about the important of service and they did want to add business Partnerships this time so last year we learned that families had a need for hats gloves and socks and so Deca decided to make this an opportunity for business Partnerships and that's what they've asked the business to advertise as part of the collection so it's expanded a little bit and um again another opportunity for students to take the lead and to practice some some real world school um skills again with that project management and then the advertising of the the project you heard about Community Ed but we I think it was at our last meeting at the same time as our last meeting Modi was happening so that's always a a nice a community event a common book read for the whole community and a new opportunity for the community women who walk it's free 9 to 10: a. on Thursdays academic Awards I think I I may have talked about it last year last time we were here to say that it was coming up but um you if you haven't had a chance to take a look at those academic Awards programs what's nice about is each student submits something about a teacher or a class an experience they've had that has really helped them as a student and helped them grow and it's it's it's fun to see the variety of teachers and classes that are recognized by students and and what it is that they value because I think you'll see in there um a lot that goes along with the lifelong learning theme that you were talking about so if you haven't had a chance to take a look please do and know that this um Awards I know director Donna was there um this Awards uh breakfast was really highly attended we had to go get more tables so this was a really great turnout for this one so how many of you have heard aah Thompson sing uh she's absolutely amazing so it's some point you need to hear aah Thompson sing and so she was selected for the National Honor fire and a real this is a really huge achievement I don't know of anyone who's been who was selected for the the um American coral Directors Association mxon choir since I've been here I think it's it's not certainly not common so this is this is a huge award or a huge recognition for her so and completely welld deserved if you've ever heard her sing so congratulations went to this Adams Family she was Mor Tisha um we had some 916 students of the month this is It's not that we have a a Mami student every month but this this month we happen to have two so that was wonderful congratulations to those students we also had uh we were featured in an article about AI in the white bear press recently and so if you want take a number of of districts um were interviewed for this and then just some upcoming events I'll just highlight Midsummer's Night stream Midsummer Night stream that's coming up um starting November 15th it's the um fall play that's all I have yes yeah great all right any questions thank you all right now for our action items we will begin with approval of donations or grants for October 2024 totaling $1,197 185 do I have a motion I move move by director doen I'll second seconded by director Stout uh any discussion uh all donations and grants are greatly appreciated the use of these funds will be to further the mission of the school district and they are used towards the wishes of the donors everyone in favor please say I I those opposed motion carries approval of policies this is the final did you are we going back to the board member calendar oh you're right I skipped one thank you only because I happen to have something to say um yes before moving on not good catch thank you okay uh let's take a look at the board member calendar so now we're back on item 10 a board member calendar would anyone like to point something out yes director pet thanks um I really have to put a plugin for Tuesday November 19th the msba zoom coffee and conversation the topic is open enrollment and it's usually not pre-planned it's just organically whatever comes up people get to talk and chat for an hour however at the end of the last one two weeks ago that came up and they've decided to just um there's so much interest so much confusion so many people wanted to talk and it hits nine o'clock and they cut it off at n so people can go to work or do what they want but they have decided to pick it up again and since that comes up in our district what's the date and time of that again Tuesday November 19th and it's all it's from 8 to 9: and you do you get the invites in your inbox yep just click the link Tuesday morning any other items to point out okay then we will move back to action items 11b approval of policies and this is our final reading is our final reading and so there have no change on most of these policies actually since the first reading but the one that I did update based on the last conversation uh was 806 we specifically were trying to work on an introduction to section four and um I did consult um one of the things we're trying to do is we're trying to follow msba policy because as they're updated then if we stick with msba policy as they're updated we don't Mis update so that's the typically why why we stick with msba however there's just some language in here that we wanted to kind of clarify and so that we wanted to put a little Preamble in here we didn't want to remove the language all the way because in the future you know we then we'd want to be able to just keep track of it I guess um so if you look at section four um I did ask our attorney like what would be the best way to kind of clarify what it is we mean by this even though we are acknowledging that there is statute um we also want to acknowledge that uh we're not going to be doing active shooter simulations or any of these um what's what's below so anyway what you have there is an acknowledgement that this this is new statute which um includes active shooter drills and active shooter simulations but it kind of captures what it is we do so don't if we have a chance to look at that but so it's essentially what we've talked about it just gives a little more specificity to what about the statute and why why this exists in our policy right now so with that I'll bring all of these um forward for final approval based on this being the final reading final or this doesn't include number two it's all so all of the policies um under so we have 11b approval of thought policies final reading um and the reason it's separated into 11 B1 and 11 B2 is um although this is the final reading for all of them 11 B2 is one that's an annual review policy so it's set aside just to make it clear that some of them are um due to legislative updates and this one's an annual review but we can pass them all together okay all right do I have a motion to approve all of the policies listed I'll make that motion director Donna second s okay this is our third reading so I feel like we've discussed everything we need right thank you all those in favor please say I I I those motion carries okay now approval of resolution canvasing return of votes of the school district General so we had an election recently and we have um three board members um who have been elected Stacy Stout and Kelly Regan reelected and Drew witson is our newest member and so this resolution is what we need to do to Canvas the the votes of the general election um regarding our School Board election so the Board needs to take action so I will ask for a motion to approve the resolution canvasing return of votes of the school district general election and authorizing issuance of certificates of election and directing school district clerk to perform other election duties do I have a motion no move move by director Peterson second seconded by director Donna all those in favor say I I I thank you welcome Drew witson who has been with us for many meetings um this year we you've been you're a regular so you'll get to join us up here very soon right in and then we will do an official we will officially welcome you in January congrats okay now I need a motion to approve resolution relating to authorizing the state safe routs to school application so I'll just if you want I'll give an intro and then if there are any questions Kate can answer them we brought this resolution to you last year we in order to submit a grant to get it's an a construction Grant an infrastructure Grant infrastructure Grant correct um to be able to build a sidewalk that goes from Stillwater Road up along the entrance along the Middle School Entrance um where the light is and going up along okay along the side the road the student um so it will actually kind of complete that route to Safe route to school because there'll be the um there'll be the bike and walk path on both the North and South sides of uh Stillwater Road and then at the light there'll be this walkway going into our campus and so um Kate put together the application last year and we we submitted the resolution for that last year we did not get the grant but we're going to resubmit and try again and so there is a cost related to in order to get this grant we are responsible for the soft costs um which is the engineering um and design I think yep engineering planning and that is sure sure um so right the resolution is that you would approve um the district to to pay for those soft costs we are estimating that to be around $35 $40,000 um because of the increase from one year to the next right um we applied we sent a letter of intent to mot who is in charge of this infrastructure Grant and they sent it back to us saying yes it looks like you would have a successful chance of um receiving this grant uh we have to do a proposed cost for it it was about $150 ,000 is what um we are going to apply for um because of costs it's probably a little bit we're estimating a little bit more than what it it actually could be um so we are not able to apply for the grant if we don't have approval to have the district pay for part of those soft costs because the grant does not pay for that by director doen second thank you question um I would just like to say I wholeheartedly support this I think that's we have a lot of teenagers driving in at that in cars going in and we have a lot of bikers going in and there's not really a safe space for them so I really appreciate you working at this to get this I think especially now with that improved path we'll have even more bikers and we'll still have teenagers driving or even parents who have kids yelling in the back seat of the car and distracted it's just it's just a little bit it'll be really nice when we can get that all um set up so yes yes Don oh Kate um Can local legislators help our success of for this grant that is not something that we've ever that they've mentioned that that would be an incentive um for them to approve it we do have to have County support and they are actually our Fiscal Agent um one of the suggestions that came back to um myself and meline from the county um was that are we looking could we do a partnership with it um and so Maddie at the county is looking into that to make sure that our both of our requests isn't over the $500,000 Mark and how that would look it would it sounds like it would give us more points if we're saying that we're doing this project together along with the project they're doing so we're working on that it's kind of behind the scenes type of thing but just idea I think so I'm sure we have we would have support from our local legislators to for what that's worth I think if it's not for this grant at least to elevate the need to them because if we don't get the grant perhaps they can also bring it up in the session that's this summer or this spring so that's a good suggestion yeah good suggestion thank you can dual track it so thanks all those in favor say I I those opposed motion carries excellent now we are on to our committee reports we'll start with I can do amsd so um at our most recent meeting we heard from the commissioner Brown from the Minnesota department of children youth and families just about that's a a newer department and so just a little bit about how they've organized and um some overview and then we actually heard from a few uh superintendant about working on their portrait of graduate so that was it's not we're not the only ones talking about it and in fact there was conversation about should there be a Statewide portrait of a graduate and that's where everyone said no no so um let's not do that let's just stick with our local so um but everyone just and each district that spoke had a a really different way of talking about it um and only one actually only Dana shared that they really call it their portrait of graduate others talk about it as foundational um learner uh I don't I can't remember it's not skills I'm sorry I can't remember the words for it but but uh just know that we're not the only District that is working on their portrait and talking about how important it is for our students as well so that was part an interesting part of amsd the May ma did not meet uh again since uh last report okay uh msba oh but I do want to point out I knew there was we did receive an email just reminding us that it is um fall fund drive for the uh for Ma and I did contribute today so that was a good reminder for me so I'll just highlight it in case you all haven't seen the email yet so and then msba any nothing okay that makes sense uh Metro 916 we have notes I think or I don't I don't know if we have notes um no okay they maybe you may not have met yet okay any other board reports okay I will share curriculum committee uh the curriculum advisory committee met on November 4th uh the group uh heard about two new courses for the high school that are being proposed I think this is very exciting um they're looking at introduction to computer science and introduction to data science so at the high school right now we have um there's engineering programs and there's um there there's usually an AP AP Computer Science and then there's Digital Electronics um and so we felt like I think the the curriculum committee and parents have weighed in for a number a couple of years now saying we really need more of a um some more classes around computer science before kids just jump right into AP Computer Science so I'm hoping that these will uh work out and I think they're they're on their way to doing that um in addition to that the group learned about a grant that mamei has recently been awarded for improving computer science experiences for students that is a K12 Grant um so I think we'll start seeing um that that start to take place in all the grade levels and that'll help us lead up to our students being more engaged in computer science once they get to high school so that's my report all right any any others no may I have a motion to adjourn that moved by director Peterson second second by director doen all those in favor say I I I it's